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Editorial Note: We were saddened
to hear that Flo passed away on February 28, 2007.
Please go to Flo Bergt 2007 for
more information. Surrounded by the intellectual (classmates and siblings), I didn't think I was smart enough to go to college, so I enrolled in the University of Life and got my M.A. in Experience. I pursued my dream to "get a job, get married, and raise a family", "Father Knows Best"-style, but the spotless house, well-mannered children, and conclusion to every episode were not in my script.
After graduation, I worked for Vicky Downs in the ASIJ library for one wonderful year. Our family then returned to St. Louis, MO, where I got a job and met my husband, Bob Schick, through our church. For our wedding, all six in our family attended. We were together for one day, and were not all together for another 18 years, till our first family reunion, after which my father passed away. Bob and I bought a house in West County and have lived here all of our married life. Bob worked for McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft Corp. for most of his career, retiring three years ago as General Manager. During the time when we were raising our three children, I was involved in all areas of our small church, including planning events, from church campouts to national women's conferences, and being piano accompanist for my best friend, a Christian soloist.
I entered the business world as our children entered college. I enjoyed working as a secretary for seven years for Spectrum Emergency Care, and was one of the first secretaries there to enter the computer world. When I tired of the job, I decided to do computer work out of my home. Instead, in 1991, I ended up working for a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, publishing his three international mathematics journals. I managed his publication office, where all the typesetting is done (AMS-TEX™, LATEX) on Macintosh computers. After three years of 60-hour weeks, in 1994, I switched to the fun job of typesetting/proofreading and working with graphics, finally in my home. I retired this past December.
In 1994, I entered a different field of learning as I began taking care of my mother in her declining years, moving her into a retirement home, selling her home, and her final year of hospital/nursing home care following several strokes. She passed away in April, 2000 and was 86 years old.
Our oldest son, David, is an electrical engineer for Motorola in Seattle, seriously pursuing a career in music in his spare time. Andrew graduated from Memphis State, and lives in the Arkansas Ozarks doing computer programming, with Martha (midwife/nurse) and our granddaughter, Mia. Barbara studied in Germany where she met David Haertl in her junior year from Valparaiso. They married and now live in Memphis. Barb worked at Memphis State as webmaster for the international departments and currently works out of her home as typesetter/proofreader for our Wash. U. office.
My interests include crocheting Afghans for battered women's shelters, cross-stitching, gardening, computers, graphics, fontography, reading, hosting our many out-of-town guests, and helping Bob with the digital end of his hobby of photography. We love to travel the country, from camp to condo. If I had gone to college, I probably would have studied in the field of church work or graphic design, but so far, "life's been good to me".
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