MaryAnn Waborg

 

"I was so happy when I could finally become a Rotarian.  My father was a Rotarian and my husband was a founding member of the Rotary Club of Bastrop County.  At that time Rotary had an attendance requirement, and because my business was import/wholesale/retail of decorative pieces for the home and office, I was unable to meet the attendance requirements.  I am one of the relatively few Native Born Texans, and while I have lived abroad several times, I have only lived in Texas in the U.S.  My husband, now deceased, and I had 6 children, 3 natural and 3 adopted siblings. Our natural  daughter married a Guatemalan and was living in Antigua G, Guatemala.  She and her husband were having our grandchildren there.  I wanted to be involved in their lives, so I developed a business that would allow me to travel to Guatemala for 4-6 weeks at a time several times a year to purchase and export products sold to my import/wholesale/retail businesses in Texas.  It sounds somewhat complicated, but it worked very well for me.  

 

Through my husband's profession in cancer research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, we lived in Sweden and The Netherlands where he worked and I developed an interest in their wonderful folk art.  I fell in love with beautiful products people developed to make their lives easier and then went on to produce them for sale to others.  I am and always have been interested in people's individual creativity and 'folk art' expressed this for me.  I describe 'folk art' to be those items one develops to make their life easier as well as satisfy a creativity need in their life.  My college degree in Home Economics (along with a minor in Education) from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, trained me to be competent in home decor, so my interest in folk art was natural.  My work experience has run the gamut from teacher in 5th grade as well as Junior and High School, secretary in a legal office as well as Departmental Secretary in a Medical School and in an attorney's office.  

 

Perhaps one might say I am a 'Jack of all Trades' and master of few.  Through it all I have discovered that teaching a non-required subject in schools requires the same skills as selling non-essential products for the home...flexibility.  This is, I assume, my dominant quality.

 

I am very happy to be the secretary of the Rotary EClub of Central Texas (and elsewhere)!"

 

MaryAnn (Owen) Walborg