Adda Quinn

 

If I have 5 minutes of fame, it is probably having been married 7 years to Larry Ellison who started Oracle Corp.  He was the most charismatic man I had ever met, but our 7 years together was like being on a roller coaster.  I got off the ride in 1974 and went to work for the Environmental Division of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto as their Business Manager, overseeing 45 PhDs and a $45m annual budget.   Our research spanned various disciplines from global climate, to ecology, to land and water quality, and risk assessment.  I read every publication we produced during this time to expand my knowledge, and helped my Vice President become a world leader in the global climate debate.  I held this job ten years until offered a Project Management position in the Land and Water Quality Program at EPRI.  This was a totally new horizon that allowed me to manage research on MGP sites, treated wood poles and PCBs.  During this time, for fun, I snow skied all over the West and in Europe, sailed bare boats in the Caribbean/Tahiti/Hawaii, and backpacked the Sierras on my vacations.
 
I married my second husband, George Sublett, in 1990.  He had traveled extensively in his career and lived abroad several times.  My new job was really ramping up and required world travel to contaminated sites, and George was able to travel with me.  He had two lovely sons with whom I have become close, and as a result I now have 4 fabulous grandkids.  George and I had horses and rode extensively.  I have ridden the 165 mile Tahoe Rim Trail, the 100 mile Tevis Trail, and other long routes.  In 2000 George had a bad fall from one of our horses suffering brain damage, a stroke, and a slow debilitation over the next decade, resulting in his death in 2010.  We had a fabulous life right up to the end.  We had a few more challenges and learned to do things a bit differently to accommodate the handicaps, but we had great fun!
 
I have continued to travel heavily the past two years to Europe, Africa, SE Asia, SW Asia and the Indian Ocean Islands, China, Mexico, the Americas and Japan.   I did a dental mission to the Huarpe Indians in Mendoza, Argentina last year and look forward to volunteering with them again in the future.  I also love to cook, read, needlepoint and garden.  I am beginning to focus on doing more of the latter in preparation for my impending old age and infirmity even though I firmly feel that life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "WOW-- What a Ride!"