Stephanie Zimmerman Nystrom was born in West Virginia as the oldest of three girls and a boy. When Stephanie was 14, her mom and stepdad moved the family to Texas for better schools and jobs. It was a complete culture shock for everyone in the family! Moving from a small rural town in West Virginia to big city Houston, Texas was a difficult transition. The family moved back in less than three years. Stephanie graduated from her original high school and then the family again went back to Texas for a great job opportunity. They moved to Waco, Texas this time and Stephanie began attending community college. When Stephanie was a child, she was a self-proclaimed tomboy. She played the trumpet, and math, science, and writing were her favorite school subjects. In third grade, her world "opened up" when a brand new library was built just two blocks from the family home. Stephanie proceeded to read EVERY book in the children's section of the new library. Then, Stephanie read every single book in the young adult's section before she tried tackling the adult books. She literally read HUNDREDS of books. In the eighth grade in West Virginia, Stephanie received an award for each academic subject she studied. When the family moved to the much larger city of Houston, she received a math award. This made her feel validated, being that she was now in an extremely large school. Her world opened up once again when she began living in the city and was now exposed to a variety of people and lots of them! Growing up, meals and clothing were sometimes hard to come by for Stephanie's family. She worked hard to get into the community college in Waco, Texas. The Pell Grant and Veteran's benefits helped her as well as Work Study. She also lived at home the entire two years to save money. After graduating with her Associate's degree, she began attending the Univ. of Texas at Arlington. While at the community college, she met Pat, her husband. They both shared a love of science and math. They shared classes and studied together. The Challenger Space Shuttle exploded on Jan. 28, 1986 and as a result of being shocked and overwhelmed, Stephanie invited Pat to have lunch to talk about it. They have literally been together ever since. Pat and Stephanie finished community college and began attending the University of Texas at Arlington together. They married in 1987 in Waco, Texas despite hesitations from all of the parents. They eventually moved to Dallas where Pat got a job. Stephanie began classes at the Univ. of Texas at Dallas. In 1987 their son Parker was born. Stephanie was juggling school, work, and motherhood. The family moved to Gresham, Oregon just before second son Marshall was born in 1991. Stephanie wanted to live somewhere that reminded her of West Virginia. In 1993 daughter Zoe was born. Stephanie was still taking college classes and working a variety of jobs as she was raising the children with Pat. In 2003 they longed for a larger home for their family. A Gresham neighbor mentioned a home for Corbett that was for sale and they drove out to take a look and fell in love. They have lived in the same home ever since. Stephanie homeschooled all three kids, so none attended the Corbett Schools except two ended up participating in band. They also had a homeschool band, and Stephanie started book groups, game days, rock wall climbs and Eastside Park Days for the homeschoolers. In 1994 she finished her Bachelor of Science degree in math from the Univ. of Texas at Arlington. In 1999, Stephanie began working at home with Pat on a business they started together. Nystrom Engineering does industrial and scientific product design. All three children graduated from Portland State University with honors and all live in the PNW. Pat and Stephanie are enjoying the empty nest as they share favorite TV shows together, hike and spend time together at the beach. They previously had gone years without any TV in the home! Today Stephanie is the facilitator and organizer for the Corbett Ladies Who Read book group, is on the Budget Committee for the Corbett School District and is the district leader for the House District 52 Democratic Party. She loves yard work and also cooking. She is a vegetarian.
