Susan Darlene Blind

Born in 1944 at Centinella Hospital in Inglewood, CA. My Parents bought a house in Westchester, Ca. I was sick a lot and the Dr. told them to get me out of that foggy climate. We moved to Tarzana, CA, and we all loved it there. We raised most of our food. We had chickens, rabbits, and goats. Goats are really playful and sweet. We also had a pig until we ate him.

My best friend’s grandpa had horses, so horses were a huge part of my life; they were even my crying shoulders.

After High School I had wanted to go to The Art Center school or Choinard, but we couldn’t afford either of them, so I went to Pierce College. I thought I wanted to be a commercial artist, but 2 of my instructors had been there and warned me that it was a dog eat dog profession. I had been tutoring a couple of my Jobs Daughters friends, and I loved it, so I changed majors from art to English. That idea of teaching never got off the ground because my future mother-in-law was teaching keypunch at Rocketdyne. The money was pretty good “for a woman”, but I hated it.

Back when I was 9 my grandparents took us to Washington DC. Back then you could go up to the top of the Washington Monument, and we did. We saw the Smithsonian which was awesome, the White House, The Capital and the Pentagon. Mt. Vernon was cool, but Arlington was so impressive at the “Tomb of the unknown Soldier.

When we moved to Simi we helped start Fidelity Rainbow and my husband was the first “Rainbow Dad” for them.

Right after we had our first baby we moved to Burbank in 1970. I went back to work and worked nights at Bobs Big Boy in Toluca Lake. I was a Hostess/cashier, and for the most part it was fun. A lot of movie and TV people came in there I spent 11 years there.

While I was at Bobs our son grew up and joined Cub Scouts, and I became a Den Mother. Later I did it for my youngest son. I also was working with my husband with Reseda DeMolay, and later when my husband became League Dad the XO of the Southern Jurisdiction noticed the sweethearts would go to me and I would take their concerns to my husband. He created the job of Director of Sweethearts, and I was the first.

I’ve always loved working with kids so when our youngest started school I worked a couple of years as a volunteer aide in Kindergarten. I used to call that my “Love job” since I didn’t get paid money, but got hugs instead. That was at Bret Harte Elementary school.

After that I worked with Bethel208. That’s where I met Vicki Foster. I was already in OES and had been since 1965. Star was wonderful and still is. Three times through the line has worn me out, so I hope I will soon get to be an old sideliner. I’ve had several surgeries, and they have taken a toll on me. I’ve bumped a few things off of my bucket list, like seeing Neuschwanstein Castle, going to a Nascar race and seeing Kennedy space center. I think I’ve crammed quite a bit into this life. Maybe I can cram a few more things in. I hope I can.