Editor's note: In the day of $4 gasoline, health costs that can bankrupt a family, soaring

college tuition and disappearing jobs, it is easy to forget the classic American dream of pulling

oneself up by the bootstraps.

Here is the second half of Debbie Simpson's story.

In 2001, the same June her younger son, Gavin, graduated from Lompoc High School, Debbie Simpson received her associate's degree from Allan Hancock College. It had taken six years.

“There's this thing called Financial Aid. I used every ounce of it to get through Hancock. I got a Pell Grant to pay for books.”

Seven months later she began classes at Chapman University at Vandenberg Air Force Base. A CAL Grant she won for her A- grades at Hancock allowed her to work only one job despite the higher cost of the private school.

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She kept her pace of two classes each semester. “That was really hard. Chapman has nine-week terms. You had a mid-term, a 15-page paper and a final. You had to nail all three or you couldn't get an A.”

In the fall of 2002 she received good news at work. She became Fillmore Elementary's head librarian. That meant a big jump in pay. And, despite her lack of a bachelor's degree, the position gave her a platform to choreograph a whirlwind of activity. She blossomed.

“She's one of the mainstays of the school,” Principal Jan Boehme said recently. “She's always coming up with motivational ideas to get kids going. She does Battle of the Books, where we send seven to 10 kids to Santa Barbara to compete. She's our social person. When somebody gets sick, she sends flowers. She helped with Relay For Life. She runs our after-school program. She started the Book Fair. We never used to have a book fair.”

In 20005 Chapman awarded her a Bachelor's Degree in psychology with honors. Her grade-point average was a near-perfect 3.957. She had received all A's but one.

“She did an incredible thesis,” said Boehme. “On Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD); it was incredibly well researched. It looked like a paper that could have been for a master's or doctorate. I think it could have been published.”

For the past three years, Simpson took classes and did her practice teaching toward a state teaching credential. She targeted 2008 for a job.

But this year the state budget crisis forced layoffs for dozens of teachers in Lompoc. Would it mean heartbreak instead of joy for Simpson?

She had not plotted her course all those years without thinking of next-best alternatives. She had a Plan B waiting.

“The layoffs aren't usually in Special Education. That's why I got two credentials, Elementary Education and Special Ed. It made me more employable.”

In April, at the age of 55, she was hired by the Santa Maria-Bonita School District as a teacher in Special Education to begin in the fall.

“I called my fiancé and my children,” she said, chuckling. “And I went shopping.” She needed clothes to teach in.

She would have preferred to work in Lompoc, but with layoffs it was not possible. She will be able to teach summer school in Lompoc, at Fillmore.

Simpson has an uncommon ability to make sense of all that she has done.

“Quitting was not an option. My sons and I had a very rich life. Between their academics and athletics, our life was full. They don't think back at how poor we were. We did things that didn't cost money. We didn't have cable TV. We went to the library. We played Scrabble on Game Night. And we read aloud. We read at least 14 Wizard of Oz books.”

The hardest part was not the poverty, she reflects. It was the loneliness. She played softball for 15 years. “That's what helped me keep my sanity.”

All the Simpsons got involved in athletics. The boys played every sport available. By high school Torin was league champion in wrestling and Gavin was captain of the football team.

“Between football, wrestling and track, life was going on!” Simpson said. Both boys won scholarships to St. Mary's College. Torin now works for a pro basketball team as a graphic designer. Gavin is a manager, personal trainer and designer in Lompoc.

“Education is the great equalizer,” said their mom. “I was 20 years older than people in my classes but it didn't matter. School gave me hope for our future.

“What I want women to learn is they can use the services the system offers to get on their feet. We were on welfare for five years. You can't make a life of it but it can be an opportunity. It's not easy. Poverty of that kind is debilitating. It sucks the very joy out of you. When you slip into the fear, it's all gone. My sons brought me moments of great joy that kept me going.”

Her student loans leave her $38,000 in debt. Was it worth it? “Yes, it was worth it because it was what I wanted. It opens so many doors.”

What will that first day as a teacher feel like? The down-to-earth Simpson beamed.

“Exceptional.”

Then she added, “There's a quote by George Eliot I've always liked.

“‘It's never too late to be who you might have been.'”

Correspondent John McReynolds can be reached at 736-6352 or johnny544@verizon.net.

June 13, 2008