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Today's Featured Biography

 
Martha Luke Rowland

It seems so long ago and yet just yesterday. As I look at the photos and bios of my high school friends, they come to life. So many have accomplished so much… we should all be proud!
I followed my brother Tom Luke to LA High, even though we were both slated to attend Hollywood High School. I attended John Burroughs Junior High with a core of girls including Linda (Sturges) Plonsky, Cathy Cole, Susan Laughlin, Charlene Teed, Merrie (Hagger) Hewitt, to name a few. Britta (Mornestam) Barber was a great friend through high school, and even though we stayed in contact until sometime in the 1970s, I eventually lost touch with her. In 2006 she found me via the Web… she was living in Maryland, and I was able to visit and we re-connected. Hallelujah!
At LA High, I remember most my time in the music department with Mrs. Hutchison, and harmony classes with Mrs. Fall. I fondly remember Candide, Kiss Me Kate, and songs from West Side Story. In my junior or senior year, the choir worked with Peter Schickele who was on a Fullbright scholarship, and performed some of his compositions… I was astonished and proud to see him morph into P.D.Q. Bach some years later. I was also a member of the Thalians.
After high school, I spent one semester at LACC, then transferred to Whittier College. I majored in music (thanks to Mrs. Hutchison & Mrs. Fall) and graduated in 1965 with a teaching credential. I taught briefly in East L.A. and eventually took a position in Mill Valley, CA where I taught for 10 years. I married in 1968 and in 1976 Joshua was born. My husband finished school with his credential, and at that time there were absolutely no teaching jobs in Marin County. So, we re-located to El Dorado County where we lived near Pollock Pines for another decade.
In 1986 we headed to Lumberton, North Carolina toting along our parents and four children… by then we had added twins Travis and David, and daughter Sarah. We both taught there, but after 3 years, longed to go back home. We returned to teaching jobs in Fresno, where we hoped to stay for just a brief time. Having fallen in love with school libraries while in North Carolina, I went back to school at Fresno Pacific University and earned my masters’ degree and a library media services credential. I embarked on a new career in Clovis USD as a full-time teacher librarian at two schools over the next 10 years, and 2 years as a district librarian in a small charter school district in Kingsburg, just south of Fresno.
In 2000 I was offered a school library consultant position at the CA Department of Education in Sacramento. My daughter had just finished high school and it seemed a perfect time to take on a new adventure. She joined us in Sacramento where she continued her education and has enjoyed working in community theatre. By 2006 my husband and I had separated… we remain friends but it is a whole new single world for me.
I left the CDE in 2004 to take a position with the Sacramento City USD as the coordinator of library and textbook services… it is a huge job, but honestly, great fun. I served as President of the CA School Library Association in 2006 and continue to advocate for strong school libraries. I retired from public education in 2012 and wanting to continue working, accepted a position as a teacher librarian in a private school where I remain today.

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