This is rather long . . . well, I do write novels, after all . . . you have been warned!

 

The very English "Headlee" surname is courtesy of my husband, Christopher Randolph Headlee. As for myself -- Kim Deirdre Iverson Headlee -- I am mostly German, with varying bits of Norwegian, Russian and Spanish thrown in for good measure. Some of my ancestors were explorers, accompanying Coronado and, centuries more recently, Thor Heyerdahl. The German side produced a line of military officers, back in the days when commissions were hereditary. Tradition also asserts there were the requisite horse-thieves and politicians swinging through the family tree throughout the American midwest, and even a Heisman Trophy winner (Bruce Smith, Minnesota, 1941). On the Russian side, I am the great-great-great niece of composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Perhaps my German military ancestry influenced me -- though not consciously! -- to apply for admittance in the US Air Force Academy. Due to my decade-plus experience as a competitive swimmer, my abysmal eyesight was waived so that I could be accepted into the Class of '81, the second class to admit women.

During the two years I spent at the Academy, by far the most important thing that happened to me was the decision to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Currently I'm a member of Centreville Presbyterian Church, although I've had memberships in Lutheran and Baptist churches over the years, and have enjoyed worshiping with many other Christian groups as circumstances permit. As an avowed non-denominationalist, I try to remain sensitive to the Spirit's leading in this regard.

The second most important "meeting" during my Academy days was of my (then) future husband, Chris. In 1979 he graduated and went on to his first posting at Griffiss AFB, Rome, NY, blissfully unaware at the time that he was fated to marry me. I disenrolled and went in the opposite direction, back home to Seattle, where I launched my computer career at Boeing. We finally got our acts (and ourselves) together three years later to be married in the Griffiss chapel on 12 June 1982. No, I did not leave the Academy to get married! In fact if I had been pilot-qualified, I probably would have stayed. As a cadet I got opportunities to fly T-37 and T-33 jet trainers, and absolutely LOVED it.

But then, who knows what this page would have looked like? <grin>

Another memorable meeting occurred during the summer between doolie and three-degree (freshman and sophomore, for you non-Academy types) years, when I had the unique honor of spending the day with (then) Prince Reza Pahlavi II, now His Majesty Reza Shah II, son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran. I will spare you the details: as part of the Academy's requisite survival training program it was no genteel tea party, I assure you!

After Griffiss, Chris was selected to get his Master's degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, while I kept my computer contractor job and minded the home fires (plus dog and two cats) in Rome.

Then we hoofed it back to the Academy so that Chris could be a Math instructor. I was fortunate enough to land another computer consulting job, but without an undergrad degree to my name I knew my luck would run out sooner or later. So with my Academy credits, plus miscellaneous courses I'd taken at the University of Washington and State University of New York, I applied to Colorado Technical College of Colorado Springs, and enrolled in their program of Defense Systems Management (a cross between computer programming and DoD contracting). In 1989 -- after a grueling year of being employed full-time, enrolled as a full-time student, and mother of our (then) 3-year-old son, I finally finished the degree as one of the first graduates of such a program in the country.

My drawn-out and at times extremely intensive academic career can be best summed up as: "Kids, don't do this at home!" In all seriousness, if you're in high school now, please do yourself a favor: graduate from high school, go to college when you're able to afford it, and get it over with!! You'll be a lot better off in the long run; trust me.

Besides being a mom, a computer software engineer and student, an activity I became involved with while in Colorado Springs was classical oratorio singing. As a first-soprano member of the Soli Deo Gloria Chorus, I performed (among other works) Haydn's The Creation, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Handel's Messiah. I also helped premiere a new Christmas oratorio written by a member of the USAFA concert band, and participated with members of three other choruses in a concert to commemorate the bicentennial of the signing of the Constitution.

From Colorado Springs we moved to Fayetteville, NC, where Chris was assigned to Pope AFB -- on the eve of Operation Desert Shield, which ultimately became Desert Storm. Since Fort Bragg deployed the first troops to the Middle East, it was a very interesting time indeed.

With school out of the way -- which left spouse, child and professional duties to contend with (not to mention writing!) -- I became involved in the effort to establish an oratorio chorus in Fayetteville, the Cumberland Oratorio Singers, organized in the wake of an emotional performance of Mozart's Requiem to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death (1991). I served on the Steering Committee and later on the first Board of Directors. The group performed Messiah and The Creation before Chris was transferred to the Washington, DC area in the fall of 1993.

We currently live in Centreville, VA with our kids, cats and a fluid population of freshwater tropical fish. Our daughter was born in December 1995 -- 9.5 years almost to the day after the birth of her brother -- and none of our lives have been the same since! A few of my favorite DC-area sites to visit, in person as well as via the Web, are the Smithsonian, Wolf Trap Park (featuring a 6-day run of Robert Goulet's Camelot in September 1998, which I enjoyed immensely; my comprehensive review is available here), the West End Dinner Theatre (which offered Camelot Sept. 10-Nov. 24, 1998), and the National Cathedral.

One day I hope life will settle down enough for me to join another classical chorus -- there are many fine groups in this area -- but for now I must content myself with performing the occasional church solo and humming along to my classical favorites on WGMS.

As far as visual media goes, I'm a great fan of (surprise!) anything Arthurian, including off-beat productions such as First Knight and Quest For Camelot. I also like animated movies in general (especially Disney neo-classics like Beauty and the Beast), Star Wars, and television shows Star Trek:Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, Touched By An Angel and Promised Land.

And yes, as implied in an article posted elsewhere on this site, I really did make my wedding dress, and spent about six months on the local craft circuit in 1994, mostly with crib quilts and art-deco-ish stuffed coyotes. Other interests include downhill skiing, gardening, collecting unicorns and reading. Oh yeah, and writing. <grin> Bet you couldn't tell that at all, could you? Nope, not at all!