Kathy Barnhouse

    I live in South Seattle, between Renton and Rainier Beach. I've been married 14 years, have an 8 year daughter and a 5 year old son. I've been an attorney for almost 17 years--and shocked that I'm still in the field. The only way I've been able to handle being a lawyer for the past 11 years is to do something I think is important and have great clients! I work part-time for Superior Court, representing CASA volunteers when they go to Court. The CASAs advocate for the best interest of abused and neglected kids, mostly those in foster care. As you might imagine, it's not a lucrative field but I usually feel lucky to have a job I enjoy. My husband, Scott, is an auditor with the Dept. of Defense--he audits Boeing. Yawn. Fortunately for our family, he is also able to work part-time so we share parenting responsibilities!

    Parenting-related activities (school committees, co-op preschool, dance class, swim team, soccer, music lessons, etc.) occupy a lot of our time. We are also active members of a small urban church in the Leschi area. We travel at least once a year to Hawaii as
my parents still live there--they moved the day after graduation--and try to squeeze in a European adventure when we can. We actually just returned from France in April--our last trip was in 1997--and I don't know when we'll get back but I hope it's in sooner than 4 years because I really love to travel! Scott is less enthusiastic about it but always enjoys our trips if I'll do the planning. The kids are finally at a great age for exploration (they particularly loved the castles). Most of our other vacations are pretty much around the Northwest. Our best friends live in Boise and we try to think of fun places to meet. We're going camping at Lake Winchester this August.

    Although my parents have lived in Hawaii for 25 years, I have stayed in the Seattle area most of the time since graduation. I went to the UW for over 7 years (undergrad and law school), lived in the U district, Capital Hill and now, Lakeridge. 4 years ago, my office moved (from Juvenile Hall) to the Regional Justice Center in Kent, about a half mile from where my dad's drugstore was while I was in high school! I stay in touch with a few other MRHS grads --Ann Blake, Lisa Strain, Jeanine Kraft (75), Rod Schlecht (75), Alexa Gregores Marshall, Dawn Crowell Malaspina and Tonja Crow Clark, though I don't see many of them very often. I went to both the 10 year and 20 year reunion and even helped try to locate folks for the 20th. (It was really hard to track people down, esp. women who did not retain their maiden names, but these types of internet/websites will help a lot for the next reunion.) It was great fun seeing everyone at the reunions and Mike's effort to put together a forum for keeping in touch has been great!

Please swing by if you're ever on jury duty at the RJC--my office is in Family Services on the 1st floor. I haven't changed my last name (though I do go by "Kathryn") so I'm easy to find!"