Karen
I am a child of the beginning of the baby boomers, born in Nebraska among my mother's relatives and spent most of the next 3½ decades in the Bay Area: Burlingame, San Francisco, Mountain View, Los Altos. I remember fondly the 3 years we spent in Brownsville, OR on our strawberry farm when I was really little. Somewhere in there I contributed to the political movements and the hippie culture in San Francisco during the 60's and even got my Social Work degree at San Francisco State in the late sixties. The influences of that era have inspired my lifestyle especially in teaching by modeling and always responding to life with gentleness, fervor and clarity. I've been to Sweden 4 times visiting and living with my dad's relatives, and I speak swedish almost fluently.
I married Don Heilesen in 1969 and spent 20 years in our partnership of traveling, homesteading and raising 2 terrific daughters. We lived in the Catskills in upstate NY for almost 2 years and in the Ozarks in Missouri for almost 2 years living on the land in an intentional community. We raised Jenna and Cassia in Corvallis since 1980. They are now living in Portland and Greeley, CO both doing well. I've had the desire to have siblings all my life, so we have always had some type of roommates in our households, including a disabled man in foster care for 13 years and 2 foreign exchange students.
My profession is a vocational rehabilitation counselor helping people with disabilities get employed. I have done this for about 25 years and still love doing it. Prior to this I had a series of social work jobs for over 15 years. I have recently retired and now spend my free time playing with grandchildren, traveling, gardening, white water rafting, writing my autobiography, cat appreciation and more traveling. I love the opportunity of sharing our uniquenesses with each other, learning from each other and experiencing the natural closeness that cohousing provides. I'm really enjoying the new friendships in Corvallis Cohousing.
