Ginny Payeur

Current location: San Francisco Bay Area, Marin County

Current status: Married

General info: Down the street from the Academy is the Adrian Dominican’s college — now called Siena Heights University. I graduated in 1974 from there with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Psychology. Two weeks later I was on my way to San Francisco with a suitcase, guitar, and $200. Getting a job wasn’t easy because we were in a recession. (Did that affect any of you?)

Asking myself what I wanted to do with my life became a question of paramount importance. Where can one use an undergraduate degree in social work or psychology? Finally, I came up with a plan. Do pre-med while I waited in a lottery for a space in nursing school. Becoming an RN meant that I’d always be able to support myself and, perhaps, provide some funds for med school, were I lucky enough to get in. So, I graduated in 1980 with an associate’s degree in nursing. Two years later, circumstances dictated that I leave the Bay Area and I moved to Madison, WI for 15 years.  

I continued to work as an RN in Labor and Delivery while doing more pre-med classes at University of Wisconsin. Like many aspiring physicians, organic chemistry weeded me out and I turned my attention to the business side of medicine.  

In the years from 1985 through 1995, I sold pharmaceuticals, worked with the developers of bone density measurement and began a career in pharmaceutical development. In 1990 I married a Madison attorney and in 1995 I was transferred back to the Bay Area. I have been here ever since.

The most interesting position I’ve held was as the first American in a Russian pharmaceutical contract research organization. It was 2001 and many clients were still using Cold War terms: i.e., Soviet Bloc, Iron Curtain, etc. Yet in going to Russia, I found professionals who valued my abilities and knew the meaning of customer service! Over 13 years, I progressed, growing our US customer base and developing the global sales team. I got my “million miles” during this stint and had the privilege of traveling all over the world while getting paid. (That’s what you tell yourself late on Friday when you have a ground delay in Frankfurt!)

I divorced in 2005 and my fiancé, Mike, died suddenly in 2011. Of course, life doesn’t throw shit without a flower blooming! Enter Eric Van Soest in 2014. By this time, I knew what I wanted in a partner and I got it! We married in November of 2015 and are extending our honeymoon through this pandemic. Eric is writing books and I’m editing. We are avid readers, students of US presidential history and world history of the 19th and 20th centuries. We’re also starting our Babel French lessons. When there isn’t a pandemic, we love to travel to Western & Central Europe, hear world class jazz, go to any other concerts that strike our fancy (Bocelli, Rush, Ringo’s All-Stars, Carlos Santana, SF Symphony, etc.).  While I was studying throughout the 70’s and working strange shifts during the 80’s, I didn’t go to concerts. (While Eric, on the other hand, was working with such groups as Jefferson Starship, Doobie Brothers, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Eddie Money, Ira Walker, Craig Chaquico.) He’s a walking encyclopedia of rock and roll history and loves to tell me stories and introduce me to people he’s known in the music scene.

It’s been an interesting life — and, in hindsight, I can see that I wasted very little of the time and abilities given to me.

Favorite memories from St. Thomas years: I didn’t graduate from St. Thomas and spent only 3 semesters there. However, so many 1970 class members were kids with whom I had spent 8 years at St. Francis. I did freshman year at St. Joseph’s Academy; an all-girls boarding school with the Adrian Dominicans.  Beginning sophomore year at St. Thomas was a blast. It was so much fun renewing old friendships, now as teenagers, and being welcomed by the St. Thomas crowd.  In fact, I had so much fun that I needed to return to the Academy as a 2nd semester junior, just for the disciplined environment. My grades had tanked and it was my choice. However, all of you are the “class of my heart” and I’m so happy to be included in the festivities/reunions!