I met my first husband the first day I arrived at college and we were married in December, 1969.  He passed away in September of 2002.  My sons were still teenagers at the time since we had waited eleven years to start a family.  I remarried six years later.  I managed to get both of my sons through high school, college, marriage and now they are starting families of their own.  I have four delightful grandsons, 6,2, 6 months and a new born as of July 25, 2018.   

Professionally, I specialized in working with students having reading difficulties.  This lead to developing a reading program for early readers, training professionals in early reading techniques and teaching graduate school.  I also started my own business after I retired so that I could provide professional development to teachers and received contracts from publishing companies to represent their reading materials in the state of Maryland.  

I am now completely retired.  My husband is a pilot and we travel a great deal both within the US and abroad.  

I’m very excited about our 50th reunion.  I attended the 20th reunion, so it has been almost 30 years since I have connected with anyone in our class.  Thank you to those who have organized this. 

When I heard about the 50th Reunion event for the Class of ’68, I decided I wanted to be there to reunite with the classmates I had until 1966. After my year in Australia (’66-’67) I returned to join up with the class of ’69. This wasn’t an easy decision but made sense as I was a year younger than most of you and I needed the credits to apply for colleges. Other than my neighbor, Candy Cadman, I lost touch with you until a joint reunion about 25 or 30 years ago and then Facebook reconnected some of us. I’ve enjoyed reading the life summaries of those who have written.

After graduating in 1969 I left for Chatham College in Pittsburgh where I have lived ever since, except one year in Vermont and one year back in Arlington. I taught middle school PE and Health for four years and left because I didn’t like being a disciplinarian and I didn’t want to become a burned out teacher. I then got my MBA in Finance from Pitt and settled into four years of real estate finance with Mellon Bank but that wasn’t a good fit for me either. So back to Pitt for a PhD in Counseling Psychology which was a great fit. Phew! I still have a private practice working mostly with adults with trauma histories, couples, and a bit of executive coaching. I also own and help run a green cemetery with my husband, Pete. We started Penn Forest Natural Burial Park because we both wanted a green burial and there was no green cemetery in Pennsylvania. Now we live on 35 acres, just 13 miles from downtown Pittsburgh and have a barn with sheep, goats, ducks, bunnies, chickens and a donkey. Oh and two dogs and a cat. There is a lot more life than death on the land, which I prefer.

I spent 23 years in relationships with women and had two great kids. Emma earned her PhD in Art History and is a curator of contemporary art at Smith College Museum of Art. Nick works for the City of Pittsburgh Planning Dept and is working on a Masters of Public Management at Carnegie Mellon University. Pete and I have been together for 15 years (we met on match.com); his daughter has 4 kids so I get to do some occasional grandparenting.

My  brother lives in the family home near Old Dominion Dr, and my sister lives in Westover, so I get back to Arlington several times a year. I have regular reunions with Candace Cadman, Linda Deem Jennings, and Susie McIntosh. I am very grateful that I got a good education in Arlington and lived in the best neighborhood ever. My memories of the class of “68 include the Moo Pals (Jamestown, 6th grade); navigating puberty; Kennedy being shot (I’m pretty sure I was in 8th grade math class); getting to be the first girl hall patrol in 9th grade because I lobbied Ralph Janoschka successfully; cheerleading at Williamsburg; and flunking 10th grade biology one grading period because I was talking to Charlie McDonald and Skip Simpson too much. So even though I didn’t graduate with you I grew up with you. Looking forward to seeing you and learning more about your life’s adventures at the reunion! Much appreciation for the organizers!