From March 2022
Allow me to introduce……Kathy McGregor!
If you’re reading this newsletter you, mostly likely, know Kathy from her active involvement in CGMGA. A member since 2005, Kathy has held numerous leadership positions with the organization as well as the acting president in 2006. But there is so much more to this woman than that small glimpse we see during Master Gardener events.
Kathy was born in central Illinois with one younger sister. She always knew she wanted to teach. Both parents were educators; her Mom taught math, Dad taught English and her grandmother taught piano….DNA! While attending the University of Illinois, at the encouragement of her advisor, she and a friend decided to spend a summer in Mexico City……”that summer changed my life! Watching all the families enjoying Sundays in the park was just joyous!” Kathy was no stranger to the Spanish language, having studied it throughout high school and college, but she wanted to know more than a text book had to offer; more of what she had seen that glorious summer in Mexico! Graduating a semester early, she decided to stay on and enroll in grad classes including bi-lingual/bi-cultural education.
Following graduation came indecision, like so many young grads, but the VISTA (Volunteers In Service to America) program offered opportunity. She was assigned to a little town in Texas to work as a para-legal for Texas Legal Aid because of her fluency in Spanish. During her year with VISTA her future became clear and she began applying for teaching positions, ultimately accepting a position in a rural Illinois grammar school, teaching a bi-lingual/bi-cultural program.
Life went on………after a summer in Mexico, on a fellowship to study special education, Kathy relocated to California and eventually decided to head north, choosing Hood River for a fresh start. A substitute teaching position eventually came along, then a full-time position at Wy’East and ultimately an opportunity to teach Spanish at HRVHS, where she taught for four years. Following a summer in Europe, in the late 80’s, she accepted a position at Columbia Gorge Community College, in The Dalles, where she spent the next 25 years doing what she truly loves….teaching!
While teaching at the college was important to Kathy, so was the Hispanic community; therefore, due to her past legal experience and fluent Spanish, she was the perfect candidate to assist in the opening of the Hood River Valley Legalization Project, helping people realize their goal of citizenship!
Kathy no longer holds a paid teaching position; however, that part of her is still very active! A longtime member of CGMGA she is Project Leader for the Fish Food Bank garden and can be found at most meetings and events. This will be Kathy’s 17th year as a Master Gardener, so I had to ask……what keeps you coming back? Her answer was swift……”The people and being a part of things that impact the community; meeting new members, helping out in community gardens and helping people understand the importance of growing food.” A lifelong student and educator, Kathy is the epitome of a Master Gardener……always learning, always teaching……and always with a ready smile!
Submitted by Jewel McKenzie
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