After Staples, I drifted away from Westport-- though I am always happy to return for reunions! I went to college in Massachusetts, at Radcliffe. My father sold our house in Westport immediately after I left, to move to Boston and obtain tenure at Brandies. My mother had died of cancer when I was 12; and in my senior year of high school, my father had finally met someone … a British woman living in the US. He pursued her to England, where they married, and many years later retired, bringing England into my life as another home. I did spend my first college summer at a job in Westport living with my two unmarried great aunts at their house in Greens Farms. I worked at “Trendex” market research, in a factory-like brick building down by the river near the train station. I rode my bike from Greens Farms to Trendex. The job was to write in the margins of questionnaires the coded numbers that represented the answers people had given to marketing survey questions, so those answers could later be coded onto computer cards. Those were the early days of computers! After college, where I had majored in English literature, I spent a year in a Ph. D graduate program in English literature at Brandeis,and got an MA. Our Brandeis professors warned us that as baby boomers, we were the peak of university enrollments; university teaching jobs would likely become scarcer. As I really wanted a job to afford my own apartment, and didn’t love the type of critical writing that was prized in the graduate school, I applied to Harvard Law School and got in, graduating in 1972. I went to Washington DC for my first job with a law firm. I have stayed In DC ever since. After several years at a large law firm, I ended up spending a long and satisfying career as a legislation counsel on the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan staff of the US Congress that provides technical analysis of Federal Tax legislation to any member of Congress, of any party, and for both the House and Senate. The staff also assists in drafting the tax laws. I arrived there 1985, just as the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was getting underway. Working on that legislation was probably the most exciting professional experience of my life. I ended up staying with the staff for 30 years, observing many changes in tax policy, and finally retired in 2015. In retirement I became interested in music. I had never learned to read music or play the piano as a child, even though my mother had gone to Juilliard school of music and played the piano every day in our house while she lived. I had always preferred playing outside to sitting at the piano; and no one made me do otherwise. Now, in older age, I love learning music and singing with the chorale. Since I’m starting from zero, there is a small sense of progress whenever I learn something new! In 2022, my stepmother died in England, where she and my father had retired and lived for decades. I had visited every summer with my daughter; so, the little town on the South Coast where they lived had become another home to me. My husband and I spent two months there clearing the house for sale and getting the necessary UK probate underway. My stepmother had kept everything of my fathers in the house, exactly as it had been when he died in 2003. She (and he before her) just couldn’t quite bear to throw anything away. The items were not valuable monetarily—but told the story of their lives. I sat in my stepmother’s favorite big chair, watching the light at sunset play on the colored glasses she had set in the window, and felt how much she had loved these surroundings, including her collection of opera tickets, museum catalogs, their 5,000 books (yes!) and her prize-winning quilts. This experience brought us home with the keen sense that we didn’t want to leave our children a similar task. We are now busy trying to reduce our own accumulations of photos, books, papers, children’s drawings, and the many things handed down to us by our parents. I am hoping to record some of the memories by writing their stories for my family. By this time, I imagine most of us from Staples 1964 have buried a parent and cleared out a house, taken up new interests, looked back on a sometimes-meandering past, and just been glad to be alive with whatever strength we have left to us. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion. Many thanks to the reunion committee and all who have helped make this happen!

Right after high school, I went to The College of Wooster in Ohio, while my parents moved from Westport to Washington state, where they had grown up and I had lived until fourth grade. After a year at Wooster, I transferred to the University of Washington, where I studied English and Education. I was an elementary teacher for about 40 years, with kindergarten my favorite grade to teach, and then becoming a reading specialist. I fell in love with Konrad Peterson, and married him as soon as he got out of the Naval Reserve, with Merrily Manchester flying out to be my maid of honor. I had introduced her to my dear friend Jim Bronson, and the two of them even spent the first evening of our married life with us before we left on our honeymoon the next day. Jim and Mer were engaged a week later and married soon after, and continued to be our close friends over the years to come. Konrad was also an elementary teacher, and we had 3 wonderful kids, and an idyllic life for 23 years...until he died of sarcoidosis in 1991. Our kids were 10, 13 and 15, and we were living in the dream home Kon had designed for us in Gig Harbor, Washington. I decided to get my MEd degree to raise my teaching salary. It was a challenge for a single mom who was working full time. Once I got through that, I had no idea what the rest of my life would bring; I felt like I wasn't even sure who I was without Kon. I enrolled in a series of personal growth classes called The Excellence Series. They were life changing for me, and put me on a path to becoming a life coach as an encore career some years later. The classes were also life changing in another way, as I met and eventually fell in love with Jeff Goldie, a Canadian who worked for the federal government. In 1995 Jeff and I were married and I moved to join him in North Vancouver, BC, with my 14 year old son; the girls were in college already. Sadly, my dear friend Merrily died after a long battle with breast cancer that same year. In our last conversation, Mer had told me that she was happy for me that I had found Jeff, but that she was also disappointed because she had me picked out for Jim My son adjusted quickly to life in Canada, and I resumed my teaching career there. Jeff and I had an adventurous life for over 20 years, until he died of brain cancer in March of 2016. Two months earlier, I had gotten the news that Jim Bronson's second wife had died in a car accident. Jim and I were grief buddies once again. A year or so later, Jim and I started to wonder if there might be something more than the friendship we had shared over so many years, and we began to go back and forth with a few weeks at his home in Ashland, Oregon and then at mine in North Vancouver. In November of 2017, Jim went with me and my two daughters to my son's wedding in at a Shinto Temple in Japan. Jim was with me, my son Lance and his wife and new baby Kai in North Vancouver for a year and a half when the border between the US and Canada was closed due to Covid beginning in March of 2020. By then it was clear to me that Jim was the third love of my life. Jim and I got married in 2022, sold both our homes and moved to OUR first home in River Song Cohousing Community in Eugene, Oregon soon after, and life's adventure continues!

My years at Staples are among my most special memories – how I loved growing up with all of you and many of those who have passed on. We are so fortunate that friendships forged then remain strong today, while others have been renewed. After leaving Staples, I attended Otterbein College in Ohio where I met my future husband, Bob. We married young and have loved our life together for the past 58 years! We spent most of our lives in South Jersey before relocating to Jupiter, Florida. After 15 years, we moved 9 miles north to Hobe Sound and much lower taxes. The laidback lifestyle is perfect for us and we love the life we’ve built! I spent my career as a Human Resources professional in the retail and hospitality industries, was able to travel around the country and found the work fascinating. After retiring, I found satisfaction in consulting continuing with my specialties of Employee Relations and Training for quite a few years. We have 2 beautiful, dynamic and accomplished daughters who have blessed us with 5 grandchildren and 4 bonus grandkids. Both our girls and their children suffered through difficult divorces when their kids were you… thankfully not simultaneously. One of our sons-in-law tragically took his life, which has left a mark on us all. Bob and I spent years supporting our daughters, being present and involved and doing our best to offer guidance, companionship and protection for our young grandchildren through the upheaval and intense pain. I’m happy to report that all have found coping mechanisms that work for them and are happy, productive and excelling in their chosen fields. My days now are spent playing golf (poorly, but having fun), playing in our gardens, assisting various neighbors with their needs, and joining in various committees that keep our HOA humming. As several health challenges encroach on our lives, our motto has become: “Welcome to God’s amusement park, where everyday there is a new ‘ride’ AND admission is FREE!!” We’re having fun traveling, loving and caring for each other, and are delighted to wake up each day!

My Lifelong Journeys to Africa started at Staples High School As I reflect upon my 20 journeys to Africa, I realize they all began at Staples. With the help of the COVID – 19 pandemic and my desire to share my African stories with my family and grandchildren, I embarked on a writing journey that has taken almost a full year to complete. Through this process I have been able to discover the power these journeys had on my life, both personally and professionally. I realized through my storytelling how these journeys have shaped my being, my professional interests, and my journey through life. There were threads that run through each of these journeys related to adventure, learning, understanding, and making a difference as a global citizen. I was a young kid of 16 when I first started my engagement with Africa. Thanks to the American Field Service (AFS) program at Staples, I took my first steps forward on a life-long journey to the African continent. I would like to now share this journey with my colleagues from our Class of 1964. My African journeys started at Staples in the fall of 1963. Why did I decide to apply to be an AFS international exchange student? What was motiving me? I certainly thought it would be a unique opportunity to study abroad, but I had very little capacity to learn a foreign language. I was enjoying my junior year at Staples, with lots of friends and activities, especially sports and student government, which made me feel very lucky. The first reason for my application was that it was not a commitment. I was simply testing the waters. The fear of something new and challenging did not bother me. I wrote my application to AFS and then just waited to hear back. Finally, right before the New Year, I heard I was selected as one of 12 students to go to South Africa for six months. I had 4-days to make up my mind if I would accept this opportunity. The biggest issue for me was the politics of South Africa. I would be living for six months under the oppressive apartheid system, a system of racial separation and injustice that was put in place by the white South Africans in 1948. It was a brutal system of racial repression. I did not feel any pressure from my family. My parents just wanted me to make the right decision for myself and to undertake this experience with my eyes wide-open. However, our principal at Staples, Stan Lorenzen, did not want me to participate. Amazingly, he was connected with Chief Luthuli, the head of the National African Congress, which was at the forefront of trying to end the apartheid system. He thought I should turn down this opportunity. He believed it was very important to take a political and moral stand and refuse this invitation. When the four days were up, my parents and I talked, and I remember my Dad saying “There is a lot of evil in this world, and you can’t just hide from it. However, it is your decision. I said, “ Yes, I wanted to go.” Now, 63 years later, I realize I want to tell the story of my 20 Journeys to Africa that shaped by Soul and Spirit. My professional career has been diverse and challenging. I started my career with the have National League of Cities in Washington, DC. I then entered into the world of city management in Portland, Maine and Boulder, Colorado. After that I served as Director of Sister Cities International back in Washington, DC and then ended my career working in many African countries as a consultant and trainer to African mayors, council members and city managers. Citizen Diplomacy and Global Citizenship were constant threads of my work. Looking to the future, I hope to share the magic of Africa with my family, and friends. I have written a book that will be on Amazon soon. Copies will be available on kindle, paperback, and hard copy. It will be available by the end of August. We are still having a few issues with the formatting. The name of the book is: “My African Journeys – Shaping my Soul and Spirit.” Sharing my love for African with my High School friends brings so much joy to my spirit and soul. I treasure the time I spent with all of you at Staples. It was an amazing experience as we learned to grow, learn, and share our lives with each other. We are now coming together for our 60th reunion, and I know we will all bond together. I am so looking forward to our weekend together in late September.

I don't have any really recent photos, and I wouldn't like to show them if I did! This is a promo photo I used for a book I wrote in 2000.

You asked for before and after, so this is my Staples photo.

Since everyone else seems to be posting personal histories, I thought I should do one too: After Staples and 4 years at Trinity, I joined Vista and spent the next year as basically a community organizer. From there I went to Penn for graduate work, taught inner city kids and became director of an alternative high school in 1974. We left in 1979 and moved to Israel where I worked in the Department for Gifted Children, becoming its acting director in 1981. After my first divorce (Ugh!), I came back to CT and spent 20 years running gifted and talented and arts programs for the schools in Westchester County, NY. I moved to Waterbury CT in 2003 and became the founding principal of a large arts magnet school. From there, I went to Goodwin University as Dean of Magnet Schools, retiring in 2018. After a second divorce (Double Ugh!), I moved to Virginia where I’m concentrating on my writing career. While working, I had written and published 20 short plays, worked off-Broadway for a number of years and co-founded a theater dance company in NYC. I’m now working on the development of a cabaret show and finishing my third Young Adult novel. I have three spectacular children and two grandchildren. No more divorces. Having fun! Living the life!!

Here's a song I wrote for our 60th: I’m wearing someone else’s teeth – How could that be? Implants above. Dentures beneath – How could that be? Just yesterday, I snuck a smoke, hit the dorm for an evening toke. Now it seems like some old joke. How could that be? My clothes, I’m told, they aren’t cool. – How could that be? Sometimes I feel like some old fool. – How could that be? Just yesterday, I had a plan. And I’ve come pretty far from where I began. Though I shuffle now, where once I ran. Could that be me? Those pictures there in black and white – sixty years gone. Is that really me? Is that really you? We looked so young. Could that be right? But we moved on. What else could we do? I’m dreaming someone else’s dreams. – What can I say? It’s my children’s future now, it seems. What can I say? Just yesterday,… well, that was then. Don’t tell me I’m done. Don’t sing amen. Hell, I’d do it all over again. I’ve seen what I could see. Been what I could be. Sixty years, and I’m still me.

I went to college in Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville University. Florida was still in 100% segregation. Black schools and white schools. The high school athletic conferences were also separate. I majored in physical education. I wanted to be a coach. When I graduated I decided I would apply to coach at one of the black high schools. William M Raines HS had the best football program in the black athletic conference. So I went there for a job interview with the principal and the athletic Director. They said they had a job opening for the head JV football coach and I could have the job. The principal also said that integration was coming and we don’t have a soccer team or a tennis team. Soccer is a winter sport in Florida and I had played college soccer. So I started the soccer and tennis programs. When soccer started, no one had soccer cleats. The athletic Director said I could not ask them to buy cleats. So I called Albie Loeffler and told him about the problem. A few weeks later I got 20+ pairs of soccer cleats donated by the Staples soccer players. I am still in touch with many of those Raines HS players. My wife and I have been going to Jacksonville Beach for the last 20+ years. And we always go out to breakfast or lunch with a group of those former players. I’ll put some more photos on the photo page

• My wife Lynn and I have lived in beautiful Naples, FL for the past ten years, moving here from Manhasset, LI, NY. • We have two children and six wonderful grandchildren. • I moved to Westport junior year from New Orleans. • After school and on Saturdays, I worked at Gristede’s, filling grocery orders for celebrities like Paul and Joanne Newman and Balanchine. • Earned a BA from Yale and MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth. • Enjoyed a 40-year career in marketing and general management at consumer companies including General Mills, Citibank, MasterCard, Montefiore Medical Center, and Right Management. • Served as Chief Judge of the 1973 World Monopoly Tournament in Monaco. • Have had life-long involvements in not-for-profit leadership, with an emphasis on children’s needs and issues. Elected to the Manhasset School Board. • Raced my beloved classic wooden sailboat “Frolic” on Long Island Sound for 35 years. • We love to travel. Recent highlights include Germany, Norway, and Morocco. Forever highlights include China, New Zealand, Myanmar, and the Galapagos. • I am into photography, with a special interest in capturing the gorgeous and ever-changing Naples sunsets. • We are not sure yet about reunion attendance, but I want to offer a SHOUT OUT to the 60th Reunion Committee for doing a fantastic organizing job. I know it will be a great event. • Best regards to Class of ’64 friends and all classmates. At our advancing age, I wish you the best possible health and much happiness.

Why does it take a life time to to feel good about o oneself? At 11 I arrived to Westport from Israel, only speaking one English word, “Dea”

The story is straightforward. After college, I headed west to California with the lemmings of 1968 to escape what I viewed at the time as a button-down East Coast culture. San Francisco became my reference point. After spending some quality time in an intentional community on the Sechelt Peninsula of B.C., I had a pang of social conscience and went to Berkeley Law School. I've since spent 50 years representing a number of innocent people who were convicted of serious crimes due to malfunctions in the criminal justice system, and a number of innocent-ish people who got unfairly steamrolled by the criminal justice system. Along the way I met Julia Lewis in 1977, then a Ph.D. candidate in Clinical Psychology. I was smitten, and she took a flyer and eventually made a man out of me. See recent photo of us plus two adult children at a recent family wedding. We live in Mill Valley, a very pleasant town just north of San Francisco. I plan to retire when my synapses give out on me. Otherwise, I am involved a various recreational organizations including the Mycological Society of Marin County (wild mushroom pickers) and the Sausalito Cruising Club, a non-yacht club that promotes aquatic activities, rock and roll music, and a laid-back vibe.

After Staples I attended LaSalle Jr. College for a year, transferred to Parson School of Design in NYC and, when given the opportunity, transferred to the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico City. Still not ready to settle down, I spent several years traveling and living in South America and Europe. Coming back to the states I moved to Dener and got married. Marriage, motherhood and a full time job kept me busy. From Denver we moved to San Diego, and then to Naperville, IL - just outside of Chicago. Here I discovered porcelain doll making. I owned and operated a porcelain doll studio, teaching doll making classes while sculpting, casting and creating my own original porcelain dolls. I earned the designation of Master Dollmaker from The Seeley Doll Company. Can’t do much with his title, but it was lots of fun in the making. My husband, Bob, and I retired to Canyon Lake, TX in 2013. In retirement I had time to re-discover my love of drawing, then expanded into pastel and watercolor. I’m an active member of the Canyon Lake Art Guild and the New Braunfels Art League. In addition, I forgot to mention that I’m passionate about scuba diving and a prolific underwater photographer.

First, big ups to the Reunion Team for putting together the 60th reunion and this excellent website. Thank you all! Listening to radio dramas as a kid, I became enamored of radio, which led to electronics as a hobby. I built a low power AM station called "WJX" while at Long Lots. That was, until getting a driver's license.... Bill Briggs, Paul Lanning and Jeff Williams did shows on the station. Later I did the Canteen Record Hops after basketball games and on Saturday nights at Staples. In college at RPI I earned an EE degree, but figuring radio was not a serious career (too much fun!) I became a radar design engineer at Norden Systems in Norwalk. Four years was enough, and by 1973 I had to pursue a passion for broadcasting. So I worked part-time on an MBA at UConn while doing the morning show on WMMM and later WEZN. Then to news, sales, management, and ownership. I've done most every job in radio and started a dozen or more FM stations. However, today radio ain't what it was, and I'm hoping to divest what's left while I still have the energy. I still enjoy consulting part-time. In a field in Redding, I married Maureen Hassan (Staples '67) in 1975. We have a son and daughter, grandson and granddaughter. We've lived in Westport, Burlington, VT, the Berkshires, and Wilton on and off since 1971 and now permanently since 1981. We spent Summers in Martha's Vineyard while the kids were growing up, and until recently, Winters in Florida. Much of Summer is now spent at Ferry Beach on the Maine coast, but we love traveling and exploring the world, working to tick experiences off the bucket list. It's great to catch up with classmates after all these years. Even if not close at Staples, we all have the experience that connects us. It's very interesting to learn what our classmates have been up to, so I hope more of us will post their stories here. Here's wishing good health and much happiness to all our classmates and their families!

After Staples I moved to New Hampshire, where I spend most of my life. I went to Franklin Pierce University, was graduated in 1969. My days at FPU were fantastic! Later I served three terms on the FPU Alumni Board of Directors. After graduation, I was employed by ALCOA, working out of the West Hartford, CT Office. After a few years with ALCOA, my desire was to move back to NH. I worked for New Hampshire Ball Bearing in Peterborough and remained in Peterborough for most of my life. I was part of the Peterborough Fire Department and Ambulance Squad for 20 years. In 1976 I started my own manufacturers' representative firm which continues today. Subsequently we organized a manufacturing and wholesale distribution company, moved south and is now located in Blue Ridge, GA. As the winters became trying with age, my wife and I moved to Naples, FL. We now go back and forth from FL to GA, have two daughters, six grandchildren and one great grandchild. Life is wonderful for us, and we are quite happy!