Valley PR Blog

The Linda VandeVrede 8

By Linda VandeVrede on January 23rd, 2008 In Valley PR Blog

Responding to Dan Wool’s tag meme from last week, here are 8 Things You Didn’t Know About Me:

1.  I’m a direct descendant of several Mayflower passengers, including John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.   One of my ancestors validated the research in the 1940s, and turns out my family lineage goes back to multiple lines on the Mayflower.   I went to Carver and Middleboro, Mass. a few years ago to look up the tombstones of many of these illustrious folks.   Unfortunately, none of them had the foresight to acquire land, jewelry, or titles to pass on to future generations.   Like Charlie Brown, “[All] I got [was] a rock.”

2.  I was voted “Quietest” in high school.    I will always contest this moniker, since I believe Kathi E. was the quietest in high school, but she was so silent that no one knew who she was.   One of the student council members later told me that I had earned the most votes for two superlatives, “Quietest” and “Most Likely to Succeed,” but because they didn’t think it fair to give two distinctions to one student, they gave “Most Likely…” away to someone else.   Had I known about THAT, I definitely would have dispelled my “quiet” image and punched someone in the face.

3.  I wore a POW bracelet during the Vietnam War.   One of the popular gifts when I was in my early teens in Quonset, Rhode Island was a POW bracelet.  For my 13th birthday, Cindy G. gave me the bracelet for Navy Captain Gerald Coffee, a pilot who had been captured and imprisoned for seven years, before his eventual release in 1973.   I had one of the most surreal moments of my life in 1995 when Viasoft hired Mr. Coffee as a guest speaker for their annual sales and marketing conference.   We all stood in line after his presentation to meet him personally, and when my turn came, I was so choked up I couldn’t speak.  

4.  I lost my only spelling bee in grade school on the word “pancreas.”  Jack Fitzpatrick, wherever you are, I should have been a contender!  And who says you can’t spell it p-a-n-c-r-i-u-s?

5.  My first job in college was on a factory assembly line for Bic products.   This was a real jolt of reality - standing on various assembly lines with other part-time college kids and full-time workers.   We packaged up Bic pens, lighters, and panty-hose.   (Yes, Bic made panty-hose at one time).   Every now and then the heat of the machine that put the plastic “blisters” over the lighters would cause a lighter to blow up.   It was great motivation to hurry up and finish college.  

6.  I am in PR because of Paul Gillin, Michael Klatman, and an empty room.  Boston University periodically held “Career Nights” for its graduate students, during which alumni would return to campus to talk about various careers in communications.   On this particular night, I wandered into the student union and found the “Film,” and “Advertising” rooms just chock-full of students - no way to barge in and get to the alumni.  I saw a sign on another room for “High-Tech,” and poked my head in.  Sitting there by themselves were B.U. alumni Paul Gillin of Computerworld and Michael Klatman of Data General.    What luck!  A private audience with two successful graduates!  After hearing their descriptions of what the world of high-tech PR was like, I was sold.   

7.  How I got in trouble with the CEO.  In the mid-80s, I was working for Data General as a public relations specialist.   When tough times hit the company, management moved us into other departments in order to avoid layoffs, and I ended up in competitive analysis.  I had to spend my days helping sales reps analyze and compare technical workstation configurations, right down to the storage and operating system requirements.   I would rather have undergone several root canals or listened to Barry Manilow records non-stop.  One day when a co-worker sympathetically emailed me to see how things were going, I sent a particularly blunt email back about how much I hated my new assignment - but I emailed my boss by mistake!  Not a great moment in Linda VandeVrede history.  So I learned the dangers of email early on from Comprehensive Electronic Office, or CEO – Data General’s internal email system in the 80s.

 8.  U.S. History is my passion.   Living in Arizona is a bit tricky when you’re really into American history.    Seeing signs that proudy claim “In business since 1991″ don’t impress me.   I can tell you after living in roach- and mice-infested apartments in Boston, however, that history definitely can have its drawbacks. 

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