Meet your neighbor

Name: Cathy Guinn

Occupation: Cathy is a Spanish instructor at North Idaho College and has been teaching Spanish and English since 1978.

Hometown: Athol.

Family: Cathy lives in a log home with a huge fireplace with her husband Jon, two dogs – a white German sheperd named Angel and a black Lab mix named Sophie; and a calico cat named Daisy, after Cathy’s favorite flower.

Cathy grew up as an “Army brat,” spending six years in El Paso Texas, and more than three years in Alaska at Fort Richardson. She lived in Turkey for 13 years before coming to North Idaho full-time in 2000.

In Turkey, she lived in the capital city, Ankara, teaching for the Department of Defense. She “thoroughly loved Turkey,” but Ankara (population 5 million) was too big a city for her tastes. She met Jon in Turkey in 1991 where he was a security/anti-terrorist officer for a company contracted by the military.

They were planning to move to the Bitterroot Valley in Montana, but decided on this area for several reasons, one of which is that Jon’s folks live in Twin Lakes.

Favorite color: Purple.

Favorite foods: Italian and Mexican.

Hobbies: She loves to travel, to be in the outdoors, hiking, camping and stamping. She was a runner for more than 20 years and has run a marathon.