Susan Gerbic-Forsyth
Susan Gerbic-Forsyth
I just hate having to write about me, this page has been ignored every time I update our site. Finally I am making some changes to it. Who really wants to read about me, truly I don't think I'm that interesting (my kids would say this but they do seem to think I'm weird). But I have visited many web sites lately and have found myself reading these bio pages in order to gain some incite into the reasoning of the writer. So I can assume that maybe one or two of you might like to listen to me drone on about myself. Sorry if there seems to be a lot of detail, I'm just that kind of person, besides I am writing this with the assumption that you know nothing of me or where I live.
Born and raised and still live in Salinas, CA I have done some traveling to New York, Hawaii, Arkansas, Washington DC and Kansas City, MO. And of course all the areas nearby, Reno, Oregon, LA, and so on. I like to see and experience new things but am always glad to be home. The last two summers Stirling and I have gone on a couple driving vacations. Summer '05 we flew to Orlando, Fl and started driving North. We stopped where ever we felt like it and visited caves and historical sites, one Baltimore baseball game and anything of interest. We finished in Buffalo, NY seeing Niagara Falls the morning we flew home. Harry Potter book on tapes kept me driving. Summer '06 Stirling and I flew into Cleveland, Ohio and drove around visiting presidential homes. We stopped and had lunch with Tommy Gerbic and stayed the night with my sister Toni Gerbic. We drove all over the place visiting historical sites and stopping where ever. We went through Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and ending up in Minnesota where Stirling flew home and I stayed for my companies 70th anniversary party.
I am very interested in history and science, and education in general. I have been taking college classes almost half of my life, taking classes just to take them. I have a AA in General Studies from our local Jr. College (Hartnell) in 1993. Then I kept taking classes finally someone pointed out to me that I had enough to get another AA this time in History in 1998. Finally I decided that I should get my BA and did so a few years after they opened CSUMB (Calif State University Monterey Bay) located at the old army base Fort Ord. This time I got my BA in Social and Behavioral Sciences which is kinda a catch all for the "ology" classes, my emphasis was on History. I had to write a short thesis on a research question, and I did mine on Science Education. I did a lot of reading about how Science is taught, how America is doing globally with science education, why are most Americans scientifically illiterate, plus I interviewed several science educators.
My home is decorated with clutter and books, which I both love. I guess my style of decorating as the "old professor look" but very organized. I keep buying books and have bookcases installed just about everywhere there is room (definitely got this from my dad who loved to read also) I also love to garden, I have my backyard all set up for it too. Every year it gets bigger and more organized, I love to wander around it seeing what is new. Salinas has wonderful weather, rarely very hot or cold, the climate is great for growing plants (guess that is why we are the "Salad Bowl of the World")
Winter '05 I started taking History classes at San Jose State which is about an hour drive North of me. I love the teaching style which focuses more on social history than on military history. We learn about how events effect everyone and not just the rich/white/famous/men that we normally associate with history classes. For example I've taken classes on the American Revolution, The American Civil War and German history, while all these eras encompass great wars, including WWI and WWII we did not discuss tactics or blow-by-blow military actions. Instead we discussed why the war happened, what were the changing attitudes of all the different groups of people affected. What was happening with the economy, music, policy, ect... Far more interesting than what I learned in high school.
I have a long way to go before I get my Masters in History, sometimes I am very discouraged. I have been told that I lack the writing skills necessary for the higher level graduate classes. I completely understand and currently taking a history writing class to improve. I was also badly advised and have taken more classes in the Open University program than I can transfer into the Master's program. I was very upset but after thinking about it I re-grouped and have come up with a new plan to graduate in '09 or '10. In the end I hope to have a Master's in History and teach part-time at our local Jr. College.
Photography and pictures have always been a major interest of mine. I have surrounded myself with them, taped on all wall space of my room during my teenage years. I love to look at them and just keep them around. I put together scrap books and have 20+ all completed all with names and dates, sometimes with stories and comments, I started this way before scrap booking got popular. I am very frugal when it comes to scrap booking, and most books are full of xmas cards and brochures and the like. I have scrapbooks for each child full of their childhood pictures and memories for them when they start their own families. (they aren't taking mine). This web site is sort of a large Gerbic scrapbook, a little bit of everything gathered in one place.
You will see throughout this website as many pictures as I can find, this isn't by accident, I really think that pictures can tell the story better than any narrative can. I truly believe that we are more than just birth and death certificates, and pictures help tell the story of who we are and were. I am extremely organized, and love cleaning out junk drawers and closets. I spend my money not on shoes but on organizing supplies.
I guess I should mention that I am a photographer by trade as well. I started working as a baby photographer in 1982 at J.C. Penney's. It was a big challenge, I knew nothing about children, having almost no relatives. I managed to last longer than any of the other employees and so they were forced to make me manager.
One thing that I wanted to mention upon reflection that really influenced me about pictures was the lack of my baby pictures. I was the third child, and they already had a girl and a boy so I was just extra. There are very few baby pictures of me, especially with me alone. The few I have alone were ones that my siblings jumped out of the picture at the last moment.
I think that maybe I should end with the reasons for this web site, my motivation to do this insane thing. Lets see if I can explain it....being raised out here on the West coast I was far away from all relatives (some of my friends think this is a good thing). As far as I knew I didn't really have any (my mom's family was mostly all in Arkansas and we rarely saw anyone). My father left Ohio (read all about it on his site) settling in this area, he met and married my mom. My dad used to talk about what he knew of his family (very little, and a lot of it wrong) and always asked that I start looking for them. I was a teenager and didn't pay a lot of attention to what he used to say, luckily he wrote down a bunch of stories on this really really old computer my brother gave him. I have cleaned up most of the typing errors edited them and lots are located on his page.
I was married and had my first child, Caspian when my dad died in 1989. I guess I had been in my own little world, working, going to school, raising my son ect.... and didn't understand how important it was that my dad get back his past. Older and wiser I started putting it all together, I wrote letters to names I found on the Internet, I had no idea what I was doing. So I took a class on genealogy research at the local Jr. College and my instructor set me straight. You need to start with what you know, interview your family, write everything down, look at all the family documents ect. I did a lot of this and have a long way to go. I got a few answers to my letters and from other things I learned I was able to really piece together a lot of history. I traveled to Ohio in 1997 and met with several first cousins that were my parents age (I was their grandchildren's age in a lot of cases) I copied every picture I could and spent a lot of time at government buildings getting certificates. On this first trip to Cleveland, I rented a car and pasted my dads picture on the dashboard and we had long conversations, (he mainly listened).
I went to places he grew up at and did a lot of driving around, getting lost and then getting more lost. Cleveland is a long way from Salinas (in a lot of ways other than distance). I went back in 2000 to locate my grandmothers grave (I found it), I didn't have a great plan that trip and got really homesick (ended up coming home a day earlier). I started up www.Gerbic.com a couple of years ago hoping to put all the Gerbics in order. I understand that most of us (including myself) are not "real" Gerbics probably many different spellings and I don't expect that we are all related (at least not in the last few hundred years). I just want to figure out who belongs with who and get some order to this mess. All my fellow genealogists are following one family tree branching off as little as possible. Many of them are looking back to the Civil War and the Revolution War having many generations living in the U.S. and Canada. I am still looking for my grandparents history, other researchers are on the great great great great parents. Oh well, that is what makes us different, when I have to do the European history part that will be something else. I am hoping to use the skills of Tommy Gerbic (T2) for this is his main area of interest. He has already found the origins of the name Gerbic, plus tons of info about where many of the Gerbics came from. For right now I just want to get this organized, and if I can acquire a few new pictures on the way I'll be a lot happier.
Susan Gerbic-Forsyth
November 29, 2007
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Please contact me at sgf8@yahoo.com
Some of my favorite sites
www.tommy2.com (Tom Gerbic's site, check out his history area)
Susan Gerbic-Forsyth
Salinas, CA
Salinas, CA is located in Central California. We are about a 20 minute drive to the Pacific Ocean, 45 minutes from Santa Cruz, 2 hours south of San Francisco, 1 hour south of San Jose. Hollister and the San Andres fault are only 20 minutes East of us and we get our share of earthquakes. The weather in Monterey County is like no other place. People describe it as if we have no real weather at all, most of the year it is mild in the mid 60's. We never have snow and rarely have extreme weather only a couple days a year over 100F. Uncomfortable humidity is unheard of here, and almost no one has air conditioners.
Salinas is the largest city in Monterey County with a population of about 144K people. Agriculture is its main industry and land is at a premium price. This is one of the top 10 most expensive places to live in the U.S. Fort Ord (near Monterey) closed its doors over 10 years ago after being used as an Army training facility, we still have a large military population. Salinas's ethnicity is 50% Hispanic and about 40% white, Spanish speakers are very common in this area as well as many other languages due to the large fishing industry located in Monterey area.
Salinas is famous for the novels John Steinbeck wrote about the area, East of Eden, Cannery Row, The Red Pony and many others. Salinas has recently built a museum in his honor. I live within walking distance of his boyhood Victorian home and the museum. See http://www.steinbeck.org/MainFrame.html
Other popular sites you might visit to better understand this area....
Monterey Bay Aquarium (I had an unlimited membership for this place for many years) http://www.mbayaq.org/
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (amazing view, old time rides) http://www.beachboardwalk.com/
This is a list of National Parks within a days drive, some much closer http://www3.thingstodo.com/states/CA/nationalparks/
One of the most beautiful views in the world, Big Sur about 35 minutes from me http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/
Local newspaper The Californian http://www.californianonline.com/
The
Homestead, Salinas, CA
Susan, Tressie and Mary Gerbic 2003 Tressie, Caspian and Stirling Summer 2004
Caspian, Stirling and Susan Fall 2002 January 2007
Here I am at the Hollister Rally July 2, 2004 1998 Sportster
Xmas 2004 we are playing Pit (family favorite for years). We are wearing the crowns from British Crackers as we usually do on Xmas day. My friend Marina (who has never heard of this silly British tradition) asked "why are you all wearing crowns?" to which I said, "you wouldn't understand, its a white thing". Anyway from left to right, Tressie (mom), Stirling, Me, Mike Deatras (my boyfriend), Mark, Mary (my sister) and Caspian.
Mother's Day 2004 San Jose, CA Mary & Tressie Mom playing Caspian's Drums
Easter 2004
Mike ready to go to the Teddy Bear Run in
Monterey. Oct. 2004. My bike is in the background.
Our bikes outside of Target where we went to purchase more stuffed animals for the Teddy Bear Run
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Caspian's B-Day - April 2007
Caspian's Graduation 2006
Susan visits the Lincolns. Summer '06
Susan & Toni Gerbic - Millersburg, OH - June '06
September '06 - refinishing the front door
http://www.ci.salinas.ca.us/