Resident Spotlight: Fiona Knox

Fiona Knox moved to Valle Verde 5 years ago and said, “The people are wonderful, and I really like it here. I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and lived many other places. I’ve had a very exciting and wonderful life!”

“I went to Antioch College in Ohio, majored in sociology and liked my classes and all the friends I met there. When I graduated, I looked at my girlfriend and asked what we were going to do now? We decided to go to San Francisco and to Berkeley. I was hunting for a job and had talked to ladies from Antioch who suggested several jobs. The first thing I did was work as Office Administrator for the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Minister who was Director of the West Coast Unitarian Universalist Churches. It was great fun!”

“Five years later, I decided to move on. I heard about a job for America women in the army in Germany. I applied and got the job with 17 other American women. We were trained for a job in the Service Club to keep it open in the morning for soldiers to play and relax, and in the evening for them to play records and enjoy games. I was there when Elvis Presley was there in the army so we saw a lot of him! Also, when I was there, I married Doug Knox and had the opportunity to travel in Europe.”

She continued, “After that I came back to Berkeley and worked there for a couple of years. I decided to go to college to become a social worker in L.A. Then I went to USC for a degree as a teacher in elementary school. I taught in Torrance for 19 years. I really liked teaching kindergartners and first graders who were eager students. I quit teaching when I became 55 years old.”

“Then I became a full time volunteer with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in Torrance. While volunteering, I was the leading protests with others for shoppers to stop buying at the Boys Market. We invited people not to shop there to boycott the lettuce picked by mostly Mexican pickers. We carried big red signs that explained why they were asked to boycott certain vegetables.”

“I met Caesar Chavez and he was grateful to us. I did that for a couple years, and our group was very successful because enough people would leave and go to another store that wasn’t being boycotted. I continued to volunteer every week, making a better, safer workplace for everyone.”

Fiona added, “At that time I married Dick Leuba whom I met at Antioch College, and we moved to Valle Verde. I like it here! And… I’ve had a very interesting and wonderful life!”

A special thank you to resident, Dorothy Steck for this article.