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I spent 4 years getting my degree at the College of Wooster. Majored in German, minored in math. At the end of it I had no idea what to do with my life. So I stalled. Joined VISTA - Volunteers in Service to America - and was sent to Tuskegee, Alabama and Jasper County, Arkansas, for a year of living and working among the poor. Then to Kent State to get a teaching degree and then Munich, Germany to work part time in a boys' school for a year.
Had to get serious about work then - got a job teaching German and math in junior high in Parma. That lasted 8 years - way too hard and not rewarding. By then I had married Bob, a fellow teacher (English), and we were raising his son together. I diddled around with tutoring until at age 36 I enrolled in Cuyahoga Community College and became a physical therapist assistant. Got a rewarding job at the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities where I worked in centers all over the Cleveland area for 16 years.
After retirement in 2000, I began volunteering in a nearby nursing home, activities dep't. Always loved the elderly. After 7 months I agreed to work there part time. At this point many of the residents are younger than I am! Always a shock to realize this. My husband, 4 yrs. younger, retired in 1999, so we continued our traveling life - to the American West (Arizona the favorite), England, Poland (he's Polish). After my mother's surgery for lymphoma in 2005, I began making more trips to her condo at Shepherd of the Valley in Poland, Ohio. In 2011 she landed at the Cleveland Clinic to determine whether she qualified to be part of a trial for nonsurgical heart valve replacement. Her small blood vessels disqualified her and I then placed her at Kemper House in Strongsville for assisted living. We celebrated her 100th birthday in October, 2012, and 1 month later she passed away. I miss her every day.
Bob and I entertain ourselves with movies - in 2010 we attended the documentary 'Youngstown: Still Standing', featured at the Cleveland International Film Festival in March. Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini, who had produced it, was there to answer questions. Very macho film but totally engrossing. We began traveling again in 2013 when we spent 2 weeks in Barcelona,Spain, then Iceland in 2014 and 2 weeks in Leiden, Netherlands in 2015. In August 2016 we will start a 2 week stay in Prague. The travel company Untours lets us choose an apartment, provides a cell phone and a local contact person. Otherwise we are on our own.
We continue to be hugely entertained by our 2 kitties, Shadow and Cloud. Cloud adopted us in 2014. The two are instrumental in keeping peace in the house. :)
In 2009 I began a vegetarian diet after learning of the horrors of factory farming. It was an easy transition. Now being vegan is a little tougher but I work at it constantly.
I enjoyed my 50 year College of Wooster reunion in June, 2015. Meeting up with fellow Woosterite Mark Fulcomer, a member of the reunion committee, made the weekend thoroughly enjoyable. We missed Jan Jones but I did get to catch up with her by phone.
Bob and I are lucky to be able to walk around the block at our ages and we know it. We keep moving our limbs, hoping they don't disappoint us. Yoga helps me stay more flexible and balanced. Life continues to evolve in so many interesting ways.
