Paula Ann Johnson Holmes

After graduation, I headed off to Pacific Lutheran University, near Tacoma, WA, where I graduated with a BA in Education. I began teaching first grade in the Anacortes, WA, school district, and a year later, married my college sweetheart, Tom. Our daughter, Brooke, was born four years later, followed by her sister, Bethany, four years after that. Sadly, Tom became ill when the girls were young and passed away in 1991.

I continued working in Anacortes and got my MA in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in the Arts in 1997. I mostly taught third grade, but taught Title I reading K-6 for the last seven years of my thirty-five year career. After retirement I missed working with the kids, so I began private tutoring of a few students who have dyslexia. Teaching reading was always my passion, and I thoroughly enjoy working with these children and seeing them blossom and grow.

While at Sequoia, I loved singing with the Treble Clef and have continued singing with groups (church choirs, community chorales) throughout the years. I take advantage of my proximity to the mountains here in the Puget Sound Region to hike. There are lots of walking trails closer to home that I also enjoy.

Both of my daughters and their families live on the East Coast, one in New York City and the other in Philadelphia, so I spend quite a bit of time flying across the country to visit them and to be a part of my grandchildren's lives. I'm not ready to move there yet because I love the Pacific Northwest and have wonderful friends here. So I feel like I have the best of both worlds for now anyway.