gloriajean on Family Tree Circles

About gloriajean

Byline

by gloriajean Profile | Research | Contact | Follow

gloriajean , from Florida, has been a Family Tree Circles member since Nov 2012.

Bio

My life began August 27, 1940, in Jacksonville, Florida. I was eldest of three girls; my sisters, twins, were born in 1943. We lived with mom's parents in a rural north Florida community during the World War II years while dad served in the US Navy. Both my parents' families were Florida natives for several generations back.

Dad remained in the service after the war ended, switching from the USN to the USAF. We were based in Germany from 1948-1950. While we moved often during our growing-up years, we usually remained in the south.

My adult life in Tampa, Florida began in the 1960's, when my spouse Fred Van Lengen Jr. (1938-1994) and I moved here with the first three of our five children (twins Jon Mark and Jan Marie were born in 1969). Fred and I divorced in the mid 1970s, and each remarried. Neither of us had children with our second spouses. My second marriage to Tampa native Oscar Aguayo was very brief, and he has since passed away.

During the 1970s, I attended and graduated from Hillsborough Community College, earning a partial scholarship to the University of South Florida in Tampa, where I earned a B.A. degree in Journalism, graduating in Mar. 1978. During my time as a student, I wrote for student publications. I had one article published in the Tampa Tribune newspaper supplement "Friday Extra" in 1978.

In the same year, I was hired by the State of Florida as an Eligibility Specialist in the welfare program, retiring from service with the state in 2007. My last ten years were spent with AHCA, the Agency for Healthcare Administration (which oversees the Medicaid program), in the Tampa office.

My youngest son Jon Mark, twin to Jan Marie, died in 1996 at the age of twenty seven. It has been difficult for our family to adjust to the loss, and we will never forget him.

I am active in my church, enjoy researching my family's roots online, and keeping up with my children and grandchildren's lives. For the past three years, I have served on the Executive Board of the Learning Center at St. John Presbyterian Church. I am also doing some free-lancing.

I try to enjoy each day, and learn the lessons life is teaching me, both painful and pleasant!