After "THEN":
     I went to Dartmouth College, with Ted Judson. After college Callie Dean and I married and moved into student housing at Rutgers.  Five years and a doctorate later we left for Ann Arbor, MI. I taught and researched freshwater and math ecology. Callie raised three kids and learned pottery. After several years we bought a house in New Zealand and I left the University. But we didn't go. Instead we worked from our Ann Arbor home, making and selling pottery and enjoying the kids.
     Four years later we went our separate ways, Callie with our two girls and I with our son. I remarried, taught and farmed, and developed a fascination with what was then the infancy of personal computing. Two years later I started work as a computer scientist. Over the next five years I programmed the machines that measure gas mileage for EPA stickers on new cars. Then another separation.
     My son and I moved to Cape Cod, where I spent the next three years programming and doing restoration carpentry. Then back to Ann Arbor where I resumed my consulting work with EPA, but doing math modeling of Great Lakes pollution. After a couple more years enjoying single life, I married Carol (now twenty years) and settled on Grosse Ile, an island at the west end of L. Erie, the site of the EPA research station. Having done with ten years of pollution research for EPA, Carol and I camped out for three months on family forest/farm property in eastern Ohio and built a simple home in the woods. For a while Carol continued with her travel consulting and I did research from home for NASA, the Air Force and Army. Now we just take care of our forty acres, do gardening, and play with six grandchildren. Lots to do!

Before "NOW":
     I love music, all kinds, and have a computer/keyboard system that's fun to play with. I like to invent and build things. I love quiet and natural surroundings -- living in the woods suits me. Carol and I co-founded a nature conservancy for Grosse Ile. We like adventure travel. Between the two of us we've been all over the US, Canada, the Carribean, Central America and Europe. I was in Russia two months before Yeltsin sank the USSR. Carol recently spent time in Africa and has gone up the Amazon. I think the world and its living things are neat. I study as much as I can about what's out there and how it works.
     So that's what's been moulding me between SHS and now. Given these assets, the end game looks good.

After Summit High School, I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY for two years and then transferred to Babson College in Wellesley Hills, MA.  In my senior year, I met Valerie at Babson in the musical “Oklahoma”.   I graduated from Babson in 1963 with a BS in Accounting and went to work for the CPA firm, Arthur Young & Co. Valerie graduated from Newton College of the Sacred Heart in 1966 with a BA in Psychology and went to work for AT&T.

Valerie and I got married in September 1965.  Our son Michael was born in 1969 and our daughter Suzanne was born in 1970.  Both Mike and Sue went to Cornell University for their undergraduate degrees. 

After graduation, Mike worked for a few years and then attended Kellogg Graduate School (at Northwestern University) to get his MBA in Marketing.  He married Dawn Mc Dermott of Summit, NJ and they have two children: Gene age 17 and Lindsey age 8. He works for a regional CPA firm here in NJ as Director of Marketing and Dawn works for a consulting firm, also in marketing.

Sue worked a few years after graduation and then went to University of Massachusetts Medical School to become a pediatrician.  She married John Duval of Andover, MA, who she met at Cornell.  Sue and John have three children: Marion age 10, Abby age 7, and James 6.  Sue practices medicine in MA and John is a computer programmer.

After AT&T, Val taught learning disabled children in grade and middle school and later was a TV director at TV-36 in Summit.  She was also on the Board of the local United Way. 

I began at Arthur Young in June of 1963 and was an Auditor for 6 years.  A few of my clients were RCA, Western Electric and Hooker Chemical. For the next 8 years I was a systems consultant designing and implementing accounting and cost accounting systems for clients including AMF, Harley Davidson and Fruit of the Loom.   After working those 14 years with clients, I became the firm’s Director of International Finance.  For the next 9 years I traveled around the world including trips to Southeast Asia, South America and Europe.

I spent the remainder of my career in our National Office, first as Director of Finance until the merger with Ernst & Whinney in 1989 when the firm became Ernst & Young. As Director of Finance, I was responsible for the firm’s Payroll, Retirement, Accounting and Partnership Departments.  After the merger announcement, I became responsible for the development and implementation of the firm’s on-line real-time partnership systems.  In addition I worked with our Partners to provide them with financial and retirement information until my own retirement in July 2002 with 39 years of service.

Since retirement, we built a house in Florida after Hurricane Charley destroyed the house we purchased in 2003.  Val and I spend our winters in Florida, our summers on LBI and our holidays with our children and grandchildren. Val likes to quilt and go to the beach.  We both like sailing and we race our Mariner sail boat together.  Each year our grandchildren spend time with us on LBI.  We go to the beach, amusement park and play miniature golf with them.  I teach sailing at the yacht club and run the races. Val makes great piñatas for the annual children’s party at the club.  I like to do DIY projects around the house.  Sometimes our children and grandchildren visit us in Florida.

Working on our Summit High School Reunions has been great fun and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next one.

I found out about the SHS 1958 class reunion just a couple of days ago, went to the website and have already made contact with a classmate who lives within 20 miles of me here in Florida! We don't have a clue who the other one is, but at least we have SHS in common and we'll go from there.

My husband, Gordon, and I moved into the Penney Farms Retirement Community (started by J.C. Penney back in 1926) in June 2007. Previous to that, we had been in Africa (mostly Kenya) for over 30 years. Although Gordon has a PhD in engineering and taught in the EE Department at the University of Pittsburgh for several years, our lives changed as a result of doing a volunteer missions trip in 1971-72 (to Zambia, Africa). We returned as full-time missionaries in 1976 with Gordon working with churches and other Christian organizations in the area of development. We had thought we'd retire there, but circumstances dictated otherwise.

Although our kids (2) and grandkids (6) live in the north, we didn't want to settle back in the states and have to endure winter weather. Previously we had to travel 8500 miles to visit family; now it's down to 850.
And they come down to visit us. Works well.

We won't be able to make it to the reunion as we have other travel plans at that time, but I would enjoy meeting up with any of you via the website.

I live on a farm in a very remote corner of rural Cortland County, New York with my husband of 45 years, two horses and a Beagle puppy.  The place is called Elm Tree Farm and while we are not at the end of the earth, you can see it from here. Our house was built in 1830 and the barn even earlier.

“ Oh, dear”, I hear you say, “how did such a thing happen to a nice little suburban girl from New Providence”. Let me tell you briefly how I got from there to here. 

After college I taught for a year in Berkeley Heights and then married Tom whom I had met while I was a student at Green Mountain College.  We moved to upstate New York while Tom finished at Cornell and then Syracuse Law School.  I supported us by teaching in a six room school house where I served as “school marm” to classes of young farm children.  Quite a change from the upscale school in Berkeley Heights ! The change was refreshing and the children were wonderful.  Our first child, Andrew, was born in 1967.

After law school we were off to 4 years + of military service.  Tom was an Air Force JAG officer and we were stationed first near Los Angeles and later at Incirlik AFB in southeast Turkey near the Syrian and Iraqi borders.  We lived off base in the Turkish community and I taught school on the air base.  Our daughter Betsey was born in Turkey.

After the USAF it was back to Cortland, New York where Tom’s family has lived for many generations. He practiced law and I returned to teaching after our third child, Daniel, was born in 1977.

In 1985 I became the Education Supervisor for a countywide Head Start Program.  Trying to make a difference in the lives of children living in poverty became my life’s work for almost 20 years until I retired.

They say that an interest in politics is something you inherit.  In my case I inherited my interest in politics from our oldest son. Andy was our Republican County Chairman and at his urging I became the GOP Chairperson for our hometown.  I presided at Town Caucuses and learned the nuts and bolts of finding good candidates for public office and helping to get them elected.  Andy and I co-chaired Tom’s three campaigns for District Attorney and I worked on the campaigns of friends running for Sheriff, County Judge and NY Supreme Court Justice.

We retired about 4 years ago and spend our time running the farm and enjoying our children and grandchildren.  We get away to Ireland about every 18 months.  Just before the Reunion we are taking a three week river cruise on the Danube.

I attended the 30^th and the 35^th Reunion and I am excited about the prospect of seeing each of you in October to reaffirm old friendships and to share again the wonderful times we spent together at SHS.