Paula Payne:1977, Dayton, Ohio
Paula Jean Payne was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 2nd, 1957. She was the daughter of Kathryn Elizabeth Thomas Payne and Herbert Payne. She and her sister Ana Abigail Payne grew up in Dayton, Ohio. Paula graduated from Dayton’s Colonel White High School in 1975. She then went on to Earlham College. In 1977, she was 20 years old and was working as an instructor at Dayton’s Natural History Museum. That must have been a dream job for her. As a college student, to land a job where you aren’t waiting tables is a big accomplishment. She worked in the “Living Museum” which was a wooded area where tour groups of children would be led to spots in outdoor classrooms for short presentations on various natural history topics. That’s a great idea. That’s an excellent field trip activity or summer camp activity. It’s especially good if the class involved as many of the kids as possible. When kids a...