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Bio Update & Picture for 50th Reunion Bio Update & Update for 60th Reunion
Mark Oldham and Libby McCluskey Oldham - 2003-08-10 What a shared history! As some of you may remember, Mark and I have been together since we were in 7th grade. We married in 1967 after I graduated from Mizzou and I spent the next four years teaching high school French and English while Mark completed his education: an architecture degree from Kansas University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania. We spent the next 22 years in the St. Louis area where Mark worked for several architectural firms. I spent about half of that time as a stay-at-home mom. It took me until mid-life to figure out that I really wanted to be a school counselor rather than a teacher when I grew up. Loved the kids; hated the discipline, lesson planning, and paper grading. I therefore went back to school in my 40’s to get a master’s degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In 1993, we moved to Rolla, Missouri, hoping for a more peaceful life. In some ways we have found that; in other ways we miss the city. I have been in vocational education since we moved here as the regional director for central Missouri of a special program called New Traditions, which helps adult students who have various barriers to success. Mark was in charge of a branch of a larger engineering and architectural firm and now has his own firm here in Rolla. Although we married in our early 20’s, we didn’t feel grown up enough to have children until our early 30’s. We have two sons. Neal is 25 and has recently completed a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in accounting. His goal is to return to the city, so he is currently looking for a job in St. Louis. Nick is 22 and still has two more years at the University of Memphis where he is majoring in commercial music. In terms of hobbies, we seem to spend most of our time “fixing things up.” We are a good team. Mark designs and builds things; I sew, paint, reupholster, and refinish. We spent almost 20 of our years in St. Louis gutting and rebuilding our house, doing 90% of the work ourselves. Mark is currently building a big, beautiful screened porch addition to our house in Rolla. Although life is never perfect, in general the last 40 years have been good ones for us. We have two fine sons, we are still perking along, and we are still together. We consider ourselves lucky and remember our years at Hickman HS with fondness.
Mark Oldham and Libby McCluskey
Oldham (August 16, 2013)
Update for 60th
Reunion, Mark Oldham and Libby McCluskey Oldham (9-5-2023)
Dear Classmates,
Since we last met for our 50th reunion,
Mark and I have had some busy years. Many of those years were spent
caregiving. Some of you may remember my dad “Mac” McCluskey (HHS
class of 1937) as the manager of Gene Glenn’s Shoes and Sportswear
during our HS years. He was always an energetic guy and took pride
in riding his motorcycle into his 90s. Not his best idea. We spent a
lot of time in Columbia as his health declined. When he died at the age
of 93, we held a memorial for him at Booche’s, his favorite place in
Columbia. He would have loved it! My mother (HHS class of 1940,
Homecoming Queen her senior year) could not live alone, so we moved her
to Rolla to live with us for several years. She made it to age 95. Jim
Bryan conducted a small family service for her as he had done for my
dad, which we appreciated very much. Now Mark and I are doing well
to just take care of ourselves and each other.
Mark retired several years before I did. I
was still enjoying my job as the counselor for Rolla Technical
Institute/Center and wondering when I would feel like retiring. When I
turned 70, I realized it was time. That year we bought our retirement
house in AZ in an “active adult community” in the foothills of the Santa
Catalina mountains north of Tucson. My sister Nancy (HHS class of
1968) and her husband had lived there since 2006 and we had visited
them almost every year for Spring Break, so we knew we liked the
community. We bought a house on a ridge with a beautiful view of the
mountains. The house will need some remodeling to really suit our
needs, but I know a good architect. For now, we have two
houses and have been spending time in both of them. We have lived in
the Rolla house for 30 years, so you can imagine how much “stuff” has
been accumulated. When in Rolla, we work on making the house ready to
sell; when in AZ, we work on making the house ready to move into. But
in AZ we also have fun. Mark enjoys playing golf with his buddies 3x a
week and I enjoy doing things with my sister and her friends. Our goal
is to retire in AZ full time…and I am ready.
Our son Neal and his wife Kris live in
Springfield and are actually the only relatives we have left in MO.
Neal is now 45 years old and works as a radiologic technologist in
the emergency room of a local hospital. After several years as a
paralegal for the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, Kris now works as
a paralegal for the US District Court, MO Western Division.
As the years have passed and we have been to
other places and met other people, Mark and I realize how very
fortunate we were to have grown up in the 1950s and 60s in Columbia,
MO where education was valued, the public schools were good, higher
education was easily accessible and affordable, and we felt safe. And,
of course, we got to be in the outstanding HHS class of 1963 with all of
you! We look forward to seeing everyone who will be able to attend the
60th reunion
and send good thoughts to those of you who will be unable to attend.
Best wishes to all,
Libby
August 11, 1967 - 50th Anniversary 2017
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