User:Qtktray86

Katie Ray's Social Biography

Born: November 23, 1986 in Tampa, FL.

Ancestry
Record for my ancestry and background is almost non-existent. No one in my family has truly cared enough to research it. Also, if they were inspired it would be a horribly difficult task because I am a bit of a mutt. My culture, traditions, appearance, and religion have all been thrown together to create almost a neutral or unique being.

Paternal family
My paternal grandfather’s family was mostly of Swiss origin. However, as far back as I can go it to his parents. My great grandfather was in the cavalry during WWI. However, he came out injured and had to choose an occupation with less physical labor. He purchased his own truck in Indiana and drove coal to and from the mines. This was not a high paying job, but he was still able to be the provider during the Great Depression. His injury brought in a whooping $32 a month. My grandfather still says that that was what kept his family alive. I am unsure how my German background great grandmother and great grandfather met, but her family lived in the same area. Her family used mules for all their crops too. Electricity was not readily available yet. When they were married she became a homemaker and gave birth to my grandfather in 1932.

My paternal grandmother grew up in Indiana as well. Both her mother and her father were farmers in the area. My great grandfather lived in Jackson Township and grew corn, wheat, and oats. His livestock consisted of pigs and cows. He even graduated from Ohio State University. His ancestry was a mix of English, Swiss, and German. My grandmother said she will never forget how her father would pour milk over popcorn during the Great depression because they could not afford cereal or much of a variety of food. My great grandmother came from a bit of a better situation. She lived in a gorgeous home and had a fairly prominent German ancestry family. She did not, personally, experience much hardship during hard times in the U.S. She did take part in the farming, however. She was involved more for the prizes and awards at the fair though. She was an excellent chicken farmer. My great grandfather was an excellent pig farmer and it is likely they did cross paths and perhaps meet at one of the fairs. When they married, they remained farming families and had three daughters. My grandmother was one of them.

My family still has those farms in Indiana. I have only been once when I was really young. It was right before my pig farming great grandfather passed away at age 98. There are long and healthy lives on this side of the family. I’ll never forget the pig house when we visited. Little piglets everywhere! I was very excited as a 5 year old. But of course the origin of bacon, ham, etc… had not occurred to me yet. Many of my great aunts and uncles live in Indiana, but we don’t keep in touch.

My paternal grandfather was a transport plane pilot the whole time and caused the family to uproot and move about a lot. My dad lived in Louisiana, Japan, North Carolina, Florida, and a few more states. He was an “air force brat” (and according to his mother – he was a brat). I think it would be very difficult to get up and move so often. My dad has never been a very open person and I think some of it might relate back to the fact he never could be open with friends during his childhood. He would only make friends and have to leave. Perhaps that is why he led a bit of a rebellious childhood. I, personally, don’t even know details. I just hear he was more than a handful and at one point was not even speaking to his dad. My father’s family was pretty well off, but he always insisted on buying his own stuff. He paid from sailboats, water skies, surf boards, cars, etc… in high school (in Niceville, FL). He was stubborn like that. Sometimes I think him and I have a lot in common. My grandparents both became teachers after the war was over. My grandma (or “Grandmommie”) was an English teacher and my grandpa (or “Paw Paw”) was a history teacher. (You can imagine what his favorite topic was.) Not only was my dad very smart, he had two parents in the education system. He was able to skip 2 grades in school, take high school math classes in middle school, and usually got good grades, but still couldn’t eat lunch in the cafeteria because of a particular food fight he began. After high school he went to Florida State University (FSU) while holding many jobs as a restaurant cook.

Maternal family
My maternal grandfather was born in Hogansville, GA. His father was an only son whose father was a Baptist preacher with Scottish/Norwegian origins. His occupation was a mechanical engineer. He had graduated from Georgia Tech and owned his own company for a time. When the Great Depression hit he was out of work though. He was forced to work in a factory just after having marring my great grandmother and having my grandfather. He worked in a shoe factory, but got the flu (during the flu epidemic) and died. My great grandmother was a school teacher for a long time, but after she married my great grandfather she could no longer teach. That was a rule in those days. A woman could not teach if married and became a housewife. It sounds ridiculous today. The majority of teachers are married now. She came from a good family that owned an ice house in Georgia. The old ice house is currently a restraint named The Ice House. I’d like to visit it someday just for kicks.

My maternal grandmother was from a long line of farmers, and to this day has her own garden and grows many of her own fruits and vegetable in Jackson, GA. He father was born May 20, 1902. He never had to serve in the military (just born the right year) and he completed school and did part of college. He was a successful farmer and was skilled at crop rotation. He never let the same crop grow in the same spot each year. He grew pimento, corn, cotton, wheat, oats, anything he could in the Georgia weather. He had a tractor and combines and would even send my grandmother out to round up any additional black tenants that wanted to work on the farm during bus seasons. They had their own black tenants, but not enough. He got sick at a young age, however, and died at age 59. My great grandmother was one of the few older relatives I have met. She was supposedly a very stunning youth. She was one-quarter Cherokee Indian but had the most beautiful red hair. We are unsure what the rest of her ancestry was, but I cannot help but suspect Irish. She lived a long life. She had a total of 8 kids, but one died as a baby. The first 5 were girls and the last 2 were boys. My great grandfather was determined to have some males to help him on the farm. Unfortunately they came a little too late. He was already ill. My great grandmother’s father was a school superattendant in Atlanta. She gained an extensive amount of land and great amount of money when her husband passed away. And since she passed away about 5 years ago, her children have been arguing, suing, fighting, etc… over her unclear will. If you talk on the phone for 5 minutes with my grandmother you are likely to hear a little bit about those crazy sisters and their fights. One of my distant relatives on that side of the family was clinically insane, and now I have a great aunt that is on medication for a similar problem. I worry for mother. I don’t know if I could handle her if she grew crazier.

My maternal grandfather met my grandmother at a young age while he was in school to become a Presbyterian minister. My grandfather was one of those handsome ministers that always had the women swooning over his voice, trumpet skills, or just good looks. My grandmother (or Mommie Jo as we call her) had 3 children. My mother was the oldest and bore the majority of child raising. Her mother was there but would be involved with the church so often or personal matters that she became a fairly absent parent. My uncle was 5 years younger than my mom and she was babysitting him when she was about 3. My mother did not have a very good childhood. He father may have been a minister, but he was also an alcoholic, violent, and a chain smoker. He was also an absent parent. My mom always had a job and always had to pay for things she needed. No one could ever call her spoiled. She struggled. Her parents did not have a healthy marriage either, and just after my mother reached college and completed one year at a community college he parents got a divorce. My mom was paying her way through FSU at this time now, and very thankful to be away from the mess in the panhandle of Florida. Her parents literally threw my aunt and uncle out of the house (their suitcases were in the yard) and made them find places to stay when they remarried other people.

One of the most painful stories I heard from my mother was when she came back fro Christmas her sophomore year of college and no one was home. He house was sold and unoccupied. No one had called her, no one had told her. She wasn’t sure where to go, but remembered where her mother’s boyfriend lived and stopped by. She was there, but my mom was not very inclined to spend Christmas with her. She also found where her dad was at his girlfriend’s home an when my mother knocked on the door and asked his fiancé if she could see him. She was met with a “No. He is sleeping.” She drove about 400 miles just to hear that. She ended up spending Christmas at my dad’s house.

My parents met while working in restaurants. My mom was a new server at a seafood restaurant named Barnacle Bills and my dad was a cook that came back and worked during fall and spring. The boss did not realize my mom was too young to be serving alcohol and was going to have to fire her after 2 months. So he offered her a cooking position. My mom looked back and saw a bunch of cute guys throwing hush puppies at each other through the window and agreed. Next thing she knew she got to meat the hot shot cook – my dad. They dated for a few years, but then my dad was working hard in business school and involvement with his fraternity, Sigma Chi, and they sort of had a falling out. My mother was even proposed to by another guy over that time span. If it hadn’t been for my dad’s car accident and evil trickery of my aunt (trapped my mother in a hospital room with him) I don’t think they would be together today. My mom couldn’t resist how helpless my dad was.

They were together for sometimes, my dad proposed, they moved to Tampa, FL. My dad was working for first Florida Bank and my mom was an elementary school teacher. After a few years and the purchase of one dog to appease my mother’s want for children, they had me! On November 23, 1986 in Humana Women’s hospital overlooking an ongoing Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. I had and awful cause of jaundice and very bad food allergies, but I pulled through.

Early years
Half a year later we moved to St. Petersburg, FL where my younger sister was born on December 1, 1988. She was one little devil child (hence the name “Carrie”). She had terrible twos for about 4 years. I loved her to death, but when I got to close I always managed to get my hair pulled. She and I have had our off and on years. We were best friends during the time of Barbie and dress up, but by middle school I thought I was too cool for her. In high school the gap increased even more. It was all the family vacations that kept us together. Our parents took us somewhere almost every year. We’ve been to the British Virgin Islands, the Florida Keys, the Grand Canyon, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, and soon to be the Grand Cayman Islands to scuba dive. I’m excited that now I am in college. She and I can talk about more things and laugh at the silly things our parents still do.

After 5 years in St. Pete we moved again because my dad received a better business offer with Barnett Bank in Sarasota, FL. I began 1st grade here. I hated elementary school. Think ultimate loser/nerd and that was me. I had the glasses and braces (head-gear in the evenings) in second grade, thought I knew everything, and was bossy. I was not too good at making close friends those years. I invested most of my time in sports and school. I was swimming and doing gymnastics and then decided to quit both and begin playing soccer and basketball. By middle school I was very involved and in excellent athletic shape. I made friends really easy, and all around had some great years.

High school
High school was even more exciting. I was playing on the junior varsity soccer team and varsity track team freshman year and involved in a lot of clubs. I was enduring the pre-IB program and keeping good grades. I finally found my 3 best friends, and we were inseparable. And that was when it happened.

Halfway through sophomore year my dad got a better job offer and moved us to Naples, FL. It was January and I was in a town where I knew not a soul and starting the Spring Semester at a new school. It was one of the most miserable months of my life. I didn’t know how to meet people. I just always knew everyone. So I was the mute in class that tried to laugh at jokes and meet people, but still struggled. Then I started practicing with the HS soccer team. I could only play for JV at my new school (even though my school in Sarasota had bumped me up to varsity that year). It was the rules. After soccer came track. That was when I shined. A track team consists of over a hundred boys and girls. I met so many people because I could run it was unbelievable. They all knew each other from the year before and wanted to know more about ‘the new girl”. I was flattered. I even met some of my best friends today through track. (Perhaps that is the root for my love of running so much.)

In all of school I was the most straight-edge, AP classes, church going kid you could have ever met. I hardly knew about such things as drugs, alcohol, and sex. I was as innocent as they come. I worked hard in my classes to get that GPA that was so important. I took almost all the science offered at my school and did take every math available. I avoided all English and history as possible. I was never one of the kids that participated a lot, but almost always knew the answer when called on.

Then came senior year… I was working hard on a scholarship research paper and trying the long distance relationship thing the first semester. I also was playing club and HS soccer and working more often as a server at Outback Steakhouse. My friends hardly saw me. Finally soccer season finished, I completed my paper, and found out my boyfriend had been cheating on me for 4 months. I was basically a free kid. So maybe it was for the wrong reasons, but I started drinking alcohol a lot. I knew it to be unwise because Alcoholism is something about three-fourths of my family has. I still did it. Came to work hung over, or slacked in my school work. I figured I was already in college. I stopped going to church because I finally felt strong enough to tell my mom I think it is bogus. In many respects I took one giant leap away from my parents and family. The school year ended and I still passed my APs. Summer consisted of camping, road trips, the beach and parties. I’m not going to lie… we got a little wild.

College
Now I am here in Gainesville, FL and a freshman at the University of Florida. I have rushed and become a sister in Pi Beta Phi. My major has been changed twice already and soon to be a third. First it was Microbiology, then Criminology, and soon to by Psychology. I’d like to minor in business as well. I’m just a 19 year old trying to find her place in the world. We will see where I go…