Carol McCarty - Greenough

After graduation, I went to the University of Oregon in the Fall of 1960 where I spent four years studying and enjoying the good life of an undergrad in Sociology. During that time, I met my future husband Bill Greenough and followed him to the University of California at Los Angeles in the fall of 1964 where I had received a fellowship in the School of Social Welfare and he pursued at PhD in the Department of Psychology. We married in the fall of 1965 in Lake Oswego and continued our studies at UCLA. After getting my MSW degree, I worked for two years for the Los Angeles County Department of Adoptions - logged lots of miles in heavy LA traffic with crying infants and toddlers.

In 1968, Bill landed a faculty appointment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In February 1970, we became the proud parents of a daughter, Jennifer. I had interesting social services jobs, first with a local school district, and later with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. By 1979, our marriage was no longer viable and my tolerance for the Midwest weather and environment was exhausted. I moved to Seattle with my daughter and completed a Master's Degree in Public Administration (MPA) at the University of Washington.

I put down deep roots in NE Seattle where I have lived in the same modest older home since the summer of 1980. I rose through the ranks at King County government from a Social Services Planner to Division Director, having the pleasure to serve directly under former King County Executive Gary Locke (Now US Secretary of Commerce) and also worked for Ron Sims (now Assistant Secretary of US Housing and Urban Development (HUD)). These were exciting, hard-working,but often stressful years.

By 2004, I decided that I was very fortunate to have survived Stage III melanoma for six years and to have sufficient resources to be able to retire. By retiring early, I have been able to be a major influence in the lives of my grandchildren (Alec born in 2002 and Mateo in 2003), to assist my daughter Jennifer who has a busy professional career. and to help my wonderful son-in-law Jorge by being there for the boys. Since retiring, I have taken some interesting trips (Guatemala, Mexico and Alaska) and spent more time at my slope side condo at Whistler, BC where I have served for the past three years as the president of the Strata Corporation (condo owners' association). I've made many Canadian friends and share my love of skiing with my grandsons - Whistler is our second home.

I'm looking forward to the WLHS Class of 1960 reunion in August. See you there!