Jean McElligott Fryer
1968
Name in High School: Jean McElligott
Favorite High School Memories: Riding the blue bus to and from school with Patti and Chuck. Although as soon as he turned 16, Chuck started riding his little Honda instead. I loved the dances, especially dancing to “Louie Louie”.
Senior year was my favorite year because I got to hang out with Karl.
Mr. Murray issued an assignment to write a poem. I remember that mine was pretty stupid although it rhymed. Karl’s, however, was deep; it contained imagery of deep dives into dark water and really impressed me. Years later it occurred to me that it might have been about sex.
Favorite Teachers: Troy Horton, Francis Murray, Annabel Ashley, Jean Chisholm, Merle Meinicke
Now…
2018
Name: Jean Fryer
Spouse/Partner: Chuck Fryer, Wilson ’67
Children: Carly is a barn manager, horse trainer and riding instructor, and married to Joe.
James is a banker, heading toward law school this fall. Both of them are graduates of U of O.
Occupation: As owner of High Performance Quality Management, I am semi-retired, working part time as a quality management consultant. My career at Tektronix prepared me for this role. After 32 years I retired from Tek as the World Wide Quality Systems Manager. The best part of the job was the opportunity to travel the world and work with, and be friends with, people of many different cultures. I tried to learn Chinese but it turned out I can’t discern the four tones.
Favorite Pastimes: My pastimes include riding horses, training dogs, gardening, reading and Revolutions podcasts. Since retiring, I reserve one or two days a week to volunteer in a second grade classroom. The teacher is my friend and she lets me teach reading and math in small groups. In return I do most of her prep work like copying and sorting and filing and cutting shapes. She thinks she’s getting the better part of this deal. And then each summer, I help Carly run horse camps for the kids.
Highlights of My Life Since High School: Chuck and I met in 1962, thanks to Patti Johnson. After an on and off again relationship, we married in 1971. I was really attracted to his motorcycle. It’s been 47 years; I think it’s going to work out. Chuck is a retired attorney who successfully defended over 25 capital murder cases and is now a classic car and motorcycle aficionado.
Except for moving around while Chuck was in the army, to Lawton, Oklahoma, and Tacoma, Washington, and then to Ann Arbor, Michigan while he attended law school, we have lived in the Portland area. When living elsewhere, our goal was always to return. We have family and friends abounding in this place.
My career at Tektronix was very satisfactory. I didn’t imagine myself as a corporate manager, but it became apparent that I really liked telling other people what they should be doing.
We live in Beaverton and have not yet downsized from the big house where we raised our children. This is mostly because we have three large dogs and three cats and we need the big yard. Every Thursday is family dinner night and lots of people show up: Carly and Joe, James and Ting, Robert and Aurora, Barbara and John, and Sharon are frequent guests. So we need the room and I love to cook.
I loved learning stuff in school, but the friendships were the most important. My best and closest friends are those from high school, which I find to be a marvelous thing these days.
A paraphrase from a favorite movie – …sometimes the memories are so thick you have to brush them away from your face.
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Such a full and vibrant life, Jean! You have a delightful sense of humor.
Your dogs are so beautiful, Jean! And a beautiful family…