Lauralee Foote is good with numbers.
To keep straight her seven children, 20 grandchildren, 36
immediate family members, 10-year-old dance company, six acre-home
and 27 years of blissful life in San Juan Bautista, she has to
be.
San Juan Bautista – Lauralee Foote is good with numbers.
To keep straight her seven children, 20 grandchildren, 36 immediate family members, 10-year-old dance company, six acre-home and 27 years of blissful life in San Juan Bautista, she has to be.
Foote and her husband, Derrell, moved to San Juan almost three decades ago from San Jose to live the simple life only a small town can provide. The Idaho natives, who both graduated from Brigham Young University in Utah, moved to California for work and settled in San Juan.
Foote had her first child after being married for three years and never looked back. Although she had a teaching degree from a prestigious university, she made it her goal to be the best mother and housewife she could be.
“It was more important that I influence my children and be there for them,” Foote said. “I feel fulfilled for that. They’ve done all the things we asked them to do.”
Because of her higher education, Foote made it a priority for her three sons and four daughters to receive the best education available to them. Six of her children graduated from Brigham Young, and her youngest is working toward her degree at California State University, Stanislaus. Of the seven, two are engineers and a third is an orthopedic surgeon in Tucson, Arizona, who is thinking about returning to his hometown to practice at Hazel Hawkins Hospital, she said.
While she was devoted to her children, she taught as a substitutefor the Hollister School District, spent 12 years as a school board member in San Juan and volunteered for a number of community and religious organizations.
And for the last 10 years, she has managed a dance company for pre-school students in Hollister, Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Her love of dance and children has allowed her small company to grow to employ three teachers who instruct a group of 150 3- to 5-year-olds in ballet and tap, she said.
And over the years, in everything she’s done and all the projects she’s lent her time to, her roots in San Benito County have grown deep and strong. Until they put her in the ground, Foote’s feet won’t stray far from the beautiful valleys of her beloved San Juan.
“We have so many friends here,” she said. “I just love going to town and people know me by my first name. It gives me the feeling that I’ve helped out the community through the years.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
