I was born Valerie Barnard on March 27, 1955 in Provo, Utah. When I was a child, my family lived in Utah, Washington, and Colorado. We moved to Salt Lake City when I was ten so that my father could complete his PhD. (He finally finished when my older sister was a senior in high school. (They both graduated the same day!) I met my future husband, Bradly Wride, when we were both fourteen, when my family moved into his neighborhood. We dated through high school; I wrote to him when he left to serve a two-year mission in Venezuela for our church, and we were married September 3, 1976, three months after he returned home.I thought he was going to be a dentist. WRONG! He entered law school in 1981, and within days after his graduation in 1983, we were headed to Washington DC to enter the Foreign Service. Since then we have been posted to San Francisco, California (1983-1985); Lima, Peru (1985-1988); Caracas, Venezuela (1988-1991), Santiago, Chile (1991-1994) and Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic (1994-1997). We have just broken a record in our marriage; we have never lived anywhere longer than three years. This past August we celebrated our third anniversary in our home here in Leesburg, Virginia and we hope to be here for at least a few more years.
We are the proud parents of five fabulous children: Emily, 23, who will graduate in Elementary Education from Brigham Young University in April 2001, Adam, 19, who is serving in the Argentina Buenos Aires West mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; Peter, 17, Katie, 13,and Laura, 7.
One of the many blessings of living back in the United States again has been the opportunity to renew my enthusiasm for music, specifically playing my cello. I am now playing my fourth season with the Loudoun Symphony, and am thoroughly enjoying the experience of playing with Jean, Sheri, and Catharine in the Catoctin Quartet. I started playing cello at the age of fourteen. My teacher throughout high school was David Freed, the principal cellist of the Utah Symphony. He was a wonderful teacher, and was very dedicated to his profession. After I was married, I played in the Camellia Symphony in Sacramento, CA and later inthe Oakland Mormon Symphony. I am now studying cello with Betty Kellogg Grauerholtz, who must be the nicest, most patient, most supportive, most encouraging teacher ever!
The other things that I spend time on are: I am president of the women's organization in the Goose Creek Ward, the local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This could be a 24/7 job, but I enjoy working alongside and serving with the women in our group. I also enjoy reading, scrapbooking, running, and hanging out with my family.
A note from the Webmaster's Apprentice:
Valerie surprises us with her many talents. Most recently she surprised us with homemade chocolate candy. I wish there were a way to offer taste testing over the internet. These candies put my favorite Russell Stover to shame, and this is no slam to the Stovers.
I recently asked Valerie who her cello heroes are. She said that her former teacher, Steve Freed of the Utah symphony has to take first place. She also loves Mistislav Rostropovitch. He happens to be one of my favorites, too.
