Debora Curry
English Dept - Administrative Assistant
Email: debora.curry@gcccd.edu
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8am to 10am and 2pm to 4pm - email Debora for link for her Zoom Office hours
Source: The Gallery: A 25th Anniversary Photographic Directory of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community Faculty, Administration, and Staff. El Cajon, CA: Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, 1987. p88.
Source: The Gallery, 1970: A Photographic Directory of the Grossmont College Staff. El Cajon, CA: Grossmont Junior College District, 1970. p29.
Source: Statesman Yearbook, Class of 1967. San Diego, CA: Abraham Lincoln High School, 1967. p8. Reprinted with permission PENDING; copyright Abraham Lincoln High School; used in accordance with fair use doctrine for educational and non-commercial archival research, as set forth in 17 U.S.C. § 107, the fair use section of the Copyright Act of 1976.
Glenda Kay Richter attended University of Arizona's College of Education, where, in 1958, as part of the College’s "Junior Year Abroad" plan, she was selected by the board of foreign missions of the Presbyterian Church of America to study at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. When Richter returned to the U.S. in 1959, she completed her studies, earned her teaching degree in elementary education the following year, then moved to California to take a position as an English and History instructor for Pomona Junior High School.
In California, Richter completed a San Diego State College graduate program in English with a Creative Writing emphasis while, during those same years, teaching American Government and World History courses at Abraham Lincoln High School. In 1968, with the submission of her thesis collection of short fiction, Richter earned her Master’s degree and received an offer of hire to join the Grossmont Junior College English Department.1
Glenda Richter's career at Grossmont started successfully with the 1969 publication of a 10th grade literature textbook she co-edited with Clarence Irving, A New World of Ideas (Harcourt Brace). For the next thirty years she would be one of the Department's most valued instructors of composition and literature, including Mythology. Additionally, Richter chaired the Department from August 1983 until August 1984. With fiction writing also in her wheelhouse, Richter, during the decades of the eighties and nineties, became one of the Grossmont College's primary Creative Writing instructors, from the introductory level to the Poetry Writing and Fiction Writing workshops.
The events of 1993, however, pulled Richter into the spotlight of national news coverage when one of her students, James Buquet, took the lives of four people during a killing spree/suicide at an El Cajon Family Fitness. In the days prior to the mass shooting, Buquet had submitted to Richter’s workshop a short story featuring a protagonist who fantasizes about a random shooting rampage. The tragedy and the predictive nature of Buquet's disturbing story generated a national conversation about the responsibility of teachers to identify red flags in student compositions.
In the years that followed, Richter remained indefatigable in her commitment to teaching creative writing, which she continued to do until her retirement in 1997. After, she remained in the El Cajon area and, for many years, continued to participate in the Grossmont College writing and literary community. She also authored an historical book for younger readers about Latinx role model and California pioneer Juana Briones, who is considered by many to be the "Clara Barton of California." The book was lovingly illustrated by artist Della Heywood, and Richter, already experienced in the art of regional history writing, deftly spun the book's collection of historically accurate tales through the voice and style she imagined Briones, herself, would have used to narrate them to Richter’s own granddaughter.
1 Glenda Richter was not the only Lincoln High School instructor to find a home at Grossmont College. Fred Stollenwerk and Mary H. Donnelly, both of whom had worked alongside Richter at some point during her time at Lincoln, would also be added to the ranks of the Grossmont College English Deprtment, and Lincoln High School would later gift Sue Jensen to the GC English Department, as well.
Co-Authored
Debora Curry
English Dept - Administrative Assistant
Email: debora.curry@gcccd.edu
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8am to 10am and 2pm to 4pm - email Debora for link for her Zoom Office hours
8800 Grossmont College Drive
El Cajon, California 92020
619-644-7000
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