Leilani Atkins

Ancestors

Daughter of Joe Atkins Jr and [private mother (1950s - unknown)]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Leilani Atkins [send private message]

Biography

Leilani was born on 17 May 1983, at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower, CA. She is the daughter of George Atkins and Beth Brunken. She grew up in a trailer that was parked in her grandparents driveway in La Puente with her parents until the age of 5.

For kindergarden the family moved to Baldwin Park, Leilani attended Center Elementary School. The apartment complex they lived in was infested with gangs so before Leilani started first grade they moved to an apartment complex in West Covina.

From 1st to halfway through 4th grade, Leilani attending Hollingworth Elementary. She was active in the girlscouts and GATE (Gifted and Talented Education). In 1990 her brother Steven was born and a year later her mother suffered a stroke at the young age of 30. In 1993 her father's job relocated the family to Omaha, NE.

From the middle of grade 4 through 6th grade, she attended Joslyn Elementary School. In 5th grade she starting learning how to play the oboe but by grade 8 she gave it up. She was a member of an elite local chorale group called the Omaha Mini Singers between 5th-8th grade. In 1994 her sister Danielle was born, in an attempt to make sure the siblings were close (unlike with her and her brother) her parents wanted 11 year old Leilani to be apart of the process. She attended all lamaze classes and was in the delivery room. She was the only one who saw her sister born. The doctor had not arrived yet, the nurses had their backs turned while they set up the room and her father was by her mother's side when the newborn self delivered. It was Leilani who said to the nurses "I think I have a sister now" to get their attention to the newborn on the table.

Leilani was accepted through a lottery to McMillan Jr. High School. She participated in dance, drama, track and field, gymnastics and volleyball. She attended advanced and honors classes and took a liking to woodshop. Before the school year started for 8th grade her parents bought a house close to her school, they still live there to this day.

Leilani attended grades 9 to 12 at Omaha North High School which was a math and computer magnet school. She was co-captain of the freshman volleyball team in 1998. In 1999 she played on the JV team and in 2000 she returned to the co-captain position of the JV team. Her senior year the coaching staff was changed and requirements for making varsity said that players had to join a summer league, being unable to afford the club sports she worked all summer to do what she could to practice daily and improve her skills but despite her effort the coaching staff said she was unqualified to play varsity her senior year. Not making the varsity volleyball team was the most upsetting moment in her life for it was the first time she realized that no matter how hard she worked no amount of effort could beat having money. So instead she joined the varsity bowling club and they placed 4th in the state the year.

She began working when she was 15 in order to pay for a high school sponsored trip to France. She was the only student who paid for the trip themselves. She worked a summer office job, taught elementary students volleyball, worked at a local movie theater and sold candy bars to her fellow students in order to afford the trip.

From 2001 to 2004, Leilani studied Architecture at Woodbury University in Burbank, CA, she did not complete her Bachelor of Arts due to its high cost. Her goal was to become a set designer for the motion picture industry, like many things in her life that never came to happen.

From 2005-2013 she worked at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim as an entertainment costumer, this is where she grew to hate corporations and became bitter about growing up in poverty. Between the years of 2006 - 2009 she could not afford rent and lived in her car despite working 40+ hours a week at Disney. During this period of time she also regularly suffered hunger being unable to afford food. There were times sometimes for months at a time that her friends would help her out by letting her stay with them or buying her lunch. She was a fiercely independent person though and never asked for help and only excepted it when it was forced upon her.

It took her 7 years to find a better job and from 2013-2019 she worked at a digital media company. In 2016 she was awarded an all expense paid trip to Seoul, Korea for 10 days in recognition of her hard work. Leilani listened to kpop and watched Korean television shows almost exclusively so it was a dream trip for her. Despite being a dedicated employee and hard worker she was fired in 2019 for her honesty when she brought up to management that employees were not happy about being overworked and underpaid.

That leads to now in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is still out of work and the pandemic isn't making her job search any easier.

She maintained her love volleyball as an adult and has played in coed leagues for that and recreational softball. She also has taken incredible trips to national parks in the western US and visited Mexico, France, Sri Lanka and Korea. She has never been in a relationship and has no future plans to have any children. Her brother suffers from Asperger Syndrome, which is a form of autism, and will also probably never have children. Continuing the family line is being left up to her sister, but her parents hopes for grandchildren aren't looking good.

Leilani has been working on her family tree on and off since 2013, when she finally decided to help her mother after years of her mother trying to get her interested. She has no interest in knowing who her family is but does enjoy puzzles and it turns out genealogy is very much a giant puzzle.

Digital Afterlife In the event of my untimely demise I want to be sure that none of my hard work on WikiTree ends up neglected. I am still young but in the event of my sudden death I hereby give permission for all of my private profiles of deceased individuals to be changed to open privacy and my private profiles of living individuals to be transferred to any of the following slightly-active WikiTreers, whether or not they are currently on the trusted lists:

• Beth Atkins
• Marcy Pugh

Sources

• First-hand information, I think I know myself. Entered by Leilani Atkins.
• Paternal relationship is confirmed by a GEDmatch test match between Leilani GEDmatch M611746 and her father George Atkins GEDmatch PE3882650. Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 1, based on sharing 3559.6 cM across 64 half-match segments.