MONROE - For Christie Strait, family is the most important thing in life. But she also finds time to be involved in her community and says the enjoyment she receives from giving back is well worth the effort she puts in.

Strait was born in Monroe and lived with her family near the fairgrounds. After her father purchased a grocery store, the family moved to the south side, where she attended South School.

Being in Monroe as a youngster was lots of fun, she said. She recalled playing in the leaves - making leaf homes, having wiener roasts with neighbors on their dead-end street and watching horse races from the top of the fence on a ladder her father would set up. She was one of three children and enjoyed having her mother's extended family close by to spend time with, along with great neighborhood friends.

In high school, Strait worked at her father's grocery store, Wittwer's Food Market, and did anything that needed to be done. She loved the work, saying it was where she first learned to socialize with others.

"I think that's where I started being a people person," she said.

She has memories of often helping at the store and recalled once she even cut meat for someone while her parents were away.

In high school, she was most actively involved in band, playing the flute. She's proud that her daughter played, and now her granddaughter plays the flute as well. She remembers marching in a Chicago parade and practicing at Rec Park - a highlight of her high school career.

After graduation in 1961, Strait had a plan - jobs were limited for women, but she had several aunts who were teachers and she decided that was what she wanted to do. She headed to the Green County Teachers College for two years before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville where she graduated in 1965.

Shortly after graduation, she married her husband, Stewart, who was in the Navy at the time. The couple was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, and she worked as a second-grade teacher in Virginia Beach. It was the year the tornado hit Monroe, and she remembers trying to call home but was unable to get through for a while to make sure her family was OK.

After teaching in Virginia for two years, her husband was transferred to Naval Station Great Lakes, where he went to school, and she taught for a year before becoming pregnant with their daughter, Amy, who was born in 1969.

After she decided to be a stay-at-home mother, the family soon received orders to go to Newport, Rhode Island. They bought a home there after selling their house in Illinois and their son Jed was born.

When the Navy pulled ships from Newport, the couple felt bad leaving such close friends and neighbors who had adopted them as family, she said. They were uprooted once again to California for two years before Stewart retired from the Navy and the family was able to return to Monroe in 1976.

The children were still young by the time they got to Monroe. Strait's daughter wanted to join Girl Scouts, but they needed a leader. That prompted Strait to volunteer, and even after Amy decided to get out of Scouting, Strait stayed as the leader of the Scouts for more than a decade and remains close with several she led.

She has fond memories of her time as a Scout leader, recalling a trip to National Center West in Wyoming with them and Washington D.C. and Williamsburg with a council trip. In the summer of 1990, Strait thought she was done traveling with the Scouts but received a call to ask if she would take a group to Switzerland, which is the World Center. It was something she had always wanted to do, and the group visited Switzerland, Austria, Germany and were in Paris on Bastille Day. Being the granddaughter of a Swiss immigrant, she was happy to make the trek.

"It was an awesome trip," she said. "It was just beautiful."

While her children attended Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, although Strait was no longer teaching, she was seemingly always at the school volunteering or helping out. When the secretary suggested she get her substitute teaching license, she decided to go for it, and she ended up subbing for 10 years before jumping back into the classroom completely. She was hired as a full-time fourth-grade teacher at Parkside and loved being back in her own classroom.

She recalls projects she took on with the kids, including one in 1998 where they made a booklet of the history of Monroe's Square and presented it downtown, inviting parents and local businesses to come and learn.

"I had great students and great faculty," she said. "Those were wonderful years with a wonderful staff and great students."

That love for teaching shows, as Strait has each year scrapbooked and labeled with each of her students, including news clippings and projects they did over the years. She still clips articles, always hoping to keep up.

"Each year was different," she said of teaching. "There were always different students and different dynamics." She also taught Sunday school at St. John's until a couple years ago.

In 2001, her husband retired and she decided to as well. They have a camper and loved taking trips, although they don't travel as much today. She enjoys keeping up with past coworkers at retired teachers' luncheons, and she also joined a retired educators group to stay close.

When Strait's mother was ill, St. John's Parish Visitors came to see her about once a month. Strait said she appreciated that greatly. It inspired her to also become a Parish Visitor, where she visits people and shares a card and the church newsletter and chats with them while they're going through a rough time. The program is through St. John's and today, Strait heads up the program, which has about 10 visitors.

In 2005, Strait decided to join the Green County Historical Society. Both she and her husband enjoy history, and they wanted to do something together. They work at the museum as docents and now help with anything that's needed.

Strait loves dolls, and when a woman from Arizona called to donate some that were made in Monroe to the historical society, she and Stewart drove there to get them. She now gives programs on the dolls.

"I like it," she said of helping at the historical society. "I'm so proud of the Monroe community for supporting the museum updates."

She said there's always things to help with and new projects to work on.

After her retirement, one of her previous students became a third-grade teacher at Northside and asked Strait if she would help out in the classroom twice a week during reading. She took on that role for about six years and said it was an honor to come back to a former student's class.

"I just knew she'd be a teacher someday," she said, noting that she still loves to attend the music program each year.

She is also a part of the Colonel Benjamin Harrison Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which she joined with her cousins; it was easy to prove their lineage back to the Revolutionary War because their aunts were members. She is proud that her ancestor, Robert Bailey, is the only known Revolutionary War soldier to be buried in Green County.

Recently crossed off of her bucket list was a DAR Continental Congress in Washington D.C., a trip she took in June. "It was a fabulous trip," she said, noting that she hopes to go back in a few years.

Strait is also a member of the Swiss Attic Fanciers group Questers that studies, educates and researches antiques and donates to such things. They also donate to worthy projects that are often local.

But her biggest joy is her family. She's been married for 50 years and has two children and three grandchildren. They loves the family trip they take each year. She's a big reader, enjoys collecting and presenting about dolls and working in her yard.

"I have been blessed these many years growing up in Monroe, raising a family here, as this community has so much to offer," she said.