Email

3524 Valwood Court

bakere663@aol.com

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I was born on Nov. 21, in Los Angles, to Merchant Marine Captain Ted Story and Emily Story. I am the older sister of my brother, Greg, also a St. Charles graduate and now a teacher in the L.A. County School District’s “No Child Left Behind” program. After kindergarten at Vine St. School and one semester of first grade at Blessed Sacramento School in Hollywood, my family re-located to North Hollywood (now Studio City) on Camellia Avenue. I entered St. Charles grade school during the second semester and graduated in 1960. I then attended Providence High School in Burbank, working summers as a camp counselor at Camp Mariastella in Wrightwood.

In the fall, after graduation from Providence, I entered the Sisters of Social Service and remained in that religious community for 7 ½ years. I attended various Catholic colleges part time while working in East Los Angeles and Wilmington. I also worked at Bayside Settlement House and Catholic Youth Organization in San Diego. I was also a unit coordinator at Camp Mariastella. A year before final vows, I decided to see if I wanted to make this final commitment or if I was meant for something else, so I came home for a few months and then moved to Sacramento to work at Stanford Settlement. In 1973, and finish my undergraduate work at CSU Sacramento and earned a BA degree in Social Welfare. I then went on for a Masters Degree in Social Work there in 1975 and a State license as an LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) in 1977. A year later, as fate would have it, I met my husband, Gene Baker, who now works for the State Department of Public Health. Gene just retired from the Army National Guard this December. We married on June 9, 1979 and have had two sons, Eric (1981) and Paul (1985). In between the boys’ births, I started a private counseling practice which I still run. I received a second Masters Degree, this one in "Public Administration", in 1982. Since my first Masters degree in '75, I've worked for a year for Catholic Social Service here in Sacramento and then the past 30 years for the Sacramento County’s Department of Health and Human Services. I am currently the Health Program Manager for the Alcohol and Drug Services Division in the county, which is “second in command” under the administrator. I worked my way up from counselor to "Program Coordinator" in charge of "Youth Treatment and the Adult System of Care".