Crystal Debose by Jolene Strand
Crystal Debose (Class of 1976)
Crystal Debose was born on September 6, 1958 in the City of Edmonds. Up until she left for college Crystal lived with her parents and three younger siblings. As a young, ambitious girl, she enjoyed playing piano as well as reading challenging novels. Having three younger siblings left her with great responsibility and allowed Crystal to become a strong role model that she still maintains today. Crystal graduated from Cascade High School in the year of 1976 with a very acceptable GPA of 3.7. Her dedication and willingness to challenge herself helped her not only keep an impressive grade point average throughout her four years of high school but enabled her to take on the task of going to Washington State University where she studied to become a veterinarian. After finishing at Washington State Crystal took on a veterinarian job in Everett bringing her back to the same house she grew up in. Shortly after returning home to Everett she got engaged to her high school boyfriend and they happily married one year later. Within her first few years of marriage Crystal and her husband had two children, and moved into a larger home close to her parents. Today Crystal is still working as a veterinarian in the city of Lynwood and she still enjoys playing piano and catching up on those challenging novels.
I loved high school! It was challenging and hard but those were a great four years of my life. I didn't end up getting my license until I was nearly eighteen but driving was a huge part of becoming independent and being able to do what I wanted. It made it kind of tough when our family only had one car when I started driving but that was a major memory.
I wasn't real athletic growing up but I was always involved in band, throughout middle school and high school. Music was one thing my parents really pushed for and I absolutely loved it. I played the piano ever since I can remember because our grandmother had a beautiful baby grand and then going into middle school I tried the flute. Other than that I was pretty much focused on school.
[Crystal talking about groups she associated with.]
Probably the band geeks if anything. Most of us band kids spent time together during and outside of school, often times to practice. I was usually the quiet, reserved one of the family so the band kids kind of helped me grow out of my shell a bit.
For the most part, my classes were often extremely tough but I always loved the challenge. I remember studying a lot, that was another thing my parents really pushed for while us kids were growing up... good study habits
I liked most of my teachers. There really isn't one teacher that I can pick out that I completely hated or anything so I think I lucked out with pretty good ones. All of my teachers were fairly strict and straight to the point which was somewhat tiring after a while but I liked that.
Going to football games was our main source of entertainment. The entire school and community would come out and support our boys so that was always super exciting. We also went skating quite a bit, and it was my favorite thing to do. That's actually where I met my husband, a completely busy skating rink with tons of other girls but he found me. Our family always had game nights! Usually on Thursday nights after dinner we would roast popcorn and lay out all the board games we had. Often times our school friends came and we would listen to music or they would bring games too.
We never had any school dress up days or spirit days but going to football and basketball games was always the thing to do. The whole community would come out and watch and that's what we did to show our school spirit.
My biggest fear was not being able to go to college. That was always a major hope of my parents was for me to get a scholarship and go to college before getting married and starting a family... but I knew that if I worked extremely hard throughout high school I would be able to do that so I wasn't too worried. It just made me work harder.
I had many dreams. Other than always wanting to go to college I used to want to be a cook because I absolutely loved to bake and cook for my family. Don't really know if I was anything good at it but I enjoyed that as a hobby. Other than that I didn't really have any major dreams, just little things. I for sure wanted to get married though; I wanted a big family, with a dog and hopefully eventually my grandmother's baby grand.
Probably my biggest accomplishment was completing high school with above a 3.7 GPA. I worked so hard for that! It was definitely worth the work and late nights studying but I can't say that it was easy. My parents really pushed me to do well in school so that was my biggest help and drive, to do well for them."
I always love to read, so English was always my favorite subject. It was probably my most challenging subject as well but I think that helped me love it even more because I uh practiced and practiced at it. I can't even remember going anywhere without a book! Reading was always my hide-away, I found it relaxing and I had no problem burying my nose in a book."
I once in a while get coffee with a few girl friends of mine but other than that I really haven't kept in touch with anyone. There is one teacher I send letters to fairly often but those are slowly declining, she's getting older.
[Crystal on what she misses about high school.]
Being young! Life has gone by so fast and I really can't believe it. I do miss being in band though, I haven't touched my flute in maybe twenty years! I probably couldn't even play it anymore but I miss being able to sit down with my friends and just start making music. Those were good times.
My advice is to work hard! I know it's probably a hassle now but all of your hard work will someday pay off. Just grit your teeth and focus and before you know it, it will be time to graduate!
I wouldn't say they were the best years, getting married and having kids were probably my best years but those four years of high school are definitely high up on the list. I really miss being in band and being able to just drive the town with my friends. The good old days!
To tell you the truth our family really didn't focus on the occurring events of the world. Sometimes our dad would listen to the radio or watch the news but we just didn't really spend time learning about the news of the world. I remember a huge thing though was when our US hockey team beat Russia in the Olympics... our school went crazy! I can't remember if we heard it over the radio of if we were even in school at the time but boy did that create an uproar! It was so exciting. I can remember when Mount Saint Helens erupted too. I can't really say that it felt like an earthquake but we knew something had happened, we just didn't know what.
[Crystal on what fashion was like.]
Dresses and skirts were probably the usual. Our parents always thought it was more proper for us to wear long skirts or dresses, especially to school so us kids often wore those. Except when it was freezing outside though, then they allowed us sometimes to wear pants but that was rare. Other than that I don't really remember. My dresses were often print patterned and I wore them with a jean jacket. That's about it.
Crystal Debose was born on September 6, 1958 in the City of Edmonds. Up until she left for college Crystal lived with her parents and three younger siblings. As a young, ambitious girl, she enjoyed playing piano as well as reading challenging novels. Having three younger siblings left her with great responsibility and allowed Crystal to become a strong role model that she still maintains today. Crystal graduated from Cascade High School in the year of 1976 with a very acceptable GPA of 3.7. Her dedication and willingness to challenge herself helped her not only keep an impressive grade point average throughout her four years of high school but enabled her to take on the task of going to Washington State University where she studied to become a veterinarian. After finishing at Washington State Crystal took on a veterinarian job in Everett bringing her back to the same house she grew up in. Shortly after returning home to Everett she got engaged to her high school boyfriend and they happily married one year later. Within her first few years of marriage Crystal and her husband had two children, and moved into a larger home close to her parents. Today Crystal is still working as a veterinarian in the city of Lynwood and she still enjoys playing piano and catching up on those challenging novels.
I loved high school! It was challenging and hard but those were a great four years of my life. I didn't end up getting my license until I was nearly eighteen but driving was a huge part of becoming independent and being able to do what I wanted. It made it kind of tough when our family only had one car when I started driving but that was a major memory.
I wasn't real athletic growing up but I was always involved in band, throughout middle school and high school. Music was one thing my parents really pushed for and I absolutely loved it. I played the piano ever since I can remember because our grandmother had a beautiful baby grand and then going into middle school I tried the flute. Other than that I was pretty much focused on school.
[Crystal talking about groups she associated with.]
Probably the band geeks if anything. Most of us band kids spent time together during and outside of school, often times to practice. I was usually the quiet, reserved one of the family so the band kids kind of helped me grow out of my shell a bit.
For the most part, my classes were often extremely tough but I always loved the challenge. I remember studying a lot, that was another thing my parents really pushed for while us kids were growing up... good study habits
I liked most of my teachers. There really isn't one teacher that I can pick out that I completely hated or anything so I think I lucked out with pretty good ones. All of my teachers were fairly strict and straight to the point which was somewhat tiring after a while but I liked that.
Going to football games was our main source of entertainment. The entire school and community would come out and support our boys so that was always super exciting. We also went skating quite a bit, and it was my favorite thing to do. That's actually where I met my husband, a completely busy skating rink with tons of other girls but he found me. Our family always had game nights! Usually on Thursday nights after dinner we would roast popcorn and lay out all the board games we had. Often times our school friends came and we would listen to music or they would bring games too.
We never had any school dress up days or spirit days but going to football and basketball games was always the thing to do. The whole community would come out and watch and that's what we did to show our school spirit.
My biggest fear was not being able to go to college. That was always a major hope of my parents was for me to get a scholarship and go to college before getting married and starting a family... but I knew that if I worked extremely hard throughout high school I would be able to do that so I wasn't too worried. It just made me work harder.
I had many dreams. Other than always wanting to go to college I used to want to be a cook because I absolutely loved to bake and cook for my family. Don't really know if I was anything good at it but I enjoyed that as a hobby. Other than that I didn't really have any major dreams, just little things. I for sure wanted to get married though; I wanted a big family, with a dog and hopefully eventually my grandmother's baby grand.
Probably my biggest accomplishment was completing high school with above a 3.7 GPA. I worked so hard for that! It was definitely worth the work and late nights studying but I can't say that it was easy. My parents really pushed me to do well in school so that was my biggest help and drive, to do well for them."
I always love to read, so English was always my favorite subject. It was probably my most challenging subject as well but I think that helped me love it even more because I uh practiced and practiced at it. I can't even remember going anywhere without a book! Reading was always my hide-away, I found it relaxing and I had no problem burying my nose in a book."
I once in a while get coffee with a few girl friends of mine but other than that I really haven't kept in touch with anyone. There is one teacher I send letters to fairly often but those are slowly declining, she's getting older.
[Crystal on what she misses about high school.]
Being young! Life has gone by so fast and I really can't believe it. I do miss being in band though, I haven't touched my flute in maybe twenty years! I probably couldn't even play it anymore but I miss being able to sit down with my friends and just start making music. Those were good times.
My advice is to work hard! I know it's probably a hassle now but all of your hard work will someday pay off. Just grit your teeth and focus and before you know it, it will be time to graduate!
I wouldn't say they were the best years, getting married and having kids were probably my best years but those four years of high school are definitely high up on the list. I really miss being in band and being able to just drive the town with my friends. The good old days!
To tell you the truth our family really didn't focus on the occurring events of the world. Sometimes our dad would listen to the radio or watch the news but we just didn't really spend time learning about the news of the world. I remember a huge thing though was when our US hockey team beat Russia in the Olympics... our school went crazy! I can't remember if we heard it over the radio of if we were even in school at the time but boy did that create an uproar! It was so exciting. I can remember when Mount Saint Helens erupted too. I can't really say that it felt like an earthquake but we knew something had happened, we just didn't know what.
[Crystal on what fashion was like.]
Dresses and skirts were probably the usual. Our parents always thought it was more proper for us to wear long skirts or dresses, especially to school so us kids often wore those. Except when it was freezing outside though, then they allowed us sometimes to wear pants but that was rare. Other than that I don't really remember. My dresses were often print patterned and I wore them with a jean jacket. That's about it.