Selma Aweeka Brooks Loves to Move

Selma Ann Aweeka Brooks

My life at Acalanes seemed hectic and busy but boy would I love to spend four years at high school again. It would be a piece of cake.

After graduating I went to Contra Costa Jr. College for a year and a half. I then was offered an opportunity to work for the FBI in San Francisco. After they investigated me for three months, I was accepted. It was not as a Secret Agent of course but as an administrative assistant. It was a great experience for me and I met lots of very fine people including my husband who was an FBI Agent.

After we married we lived in San Francisco for another year and then we were transferred to New York. In the four years we lived in New York we had two daughters, Caron and Leslie. We lived on Long Island and I got to experience the culture of the Eastern part of the United States. Boy, am I a Westerner.

We then had another job change so we moved back to California and the Bay Area. I had my third child, a boy, who we named Hinton after his father. We lived in the Bay Area for about three years.
Then my husband was hired by United Airlines and again we moved this time to Chicago, Illinois. Chicago is the home base for United Airlines. We were there for a few years, surviving the cold winters and winds. One of the nice things about Chicago is the wonderful people. They were the greatest.

Then our family moved again. This time we moved to Washington DC. We were all hoping to stay in one place for a change when my husband was offered a job in Geneva, Switzerland. This was my most challenging move. My husband worked for an international company where most of his colleagues spoke English, my children went to private school that taught them in French and little ole me was home trying to learn French. The Swiss spoke many languages but refused to speak English at that time. I think it is different now, so I’m told. Fortunately I had a Canadian friend that would take me out shopping and translate for me and speak for me. Even my Swiss French teacher gave up on me. Not an easy language for me to learn!

After a year in Geneva, I came back to the United States and settled in Reno, Nevada. Finally I started a profession for myself other than being a housewife, mother, mover, entertainer, etc. I became a Commercial Lines Insurance Underwriter in Reno for
Mastos & Assoc. for the next 20 years, then for Markel Southwest Underwriters in Scottsdale, Arizona for the next 8 years. Another move, so why are you surprised?

After retiring I made my final move back to Reno, Nevada. I seemed to have learned a lot about moving over the years so this last move was quite easy. Of course I was only moving for one person this time.

I am currently living “happily ever after”. My first daughter Caron lives in the area as she works for the State of Nevada. My second daughter Leslie lives in Virginia and works for the FBI while raising three of my grand children. My son lives in Australia and is a pilot in the Australian Air Force. He and his wife are proud parents of my forth grand child.