Dorothy Drennen

617-922-5662

Dancing with stingrays, April 2011 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2117364&id=1340928741&l=41f57639db

ddrennen@gmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/ddrennen

http://hinduheart.blogspot.com/

Well, let's see... a quick summary of the past sixty years...

I graduated from Daemen in 1969, married a nice man with whom I had nothing in common, and moved to Boston. We separated in 1972.

Worked with emotionally disturbed kids from 1972 to 1979, earning a masters in education along the way.

Next era... Boston University, an MBA in 1981. I intended to go back into human services, but was seduced by the Dark Side... I began working in high tech in 1981, and have been there on and off (mostly on) ever since.

I joined IBM in 1998, and retired in 2015.

In the 1980's, after painful decades of separation from all things theological, I found myself back in the presence of God at the feet of an Indian teacher. I study and practice Hinduism - it makes my heart sing. I have enjoyed seven trips to India, and will always treasure the two years I spent at Harvard Divinity School earning a master's degree in Hinduism.

April and I have been together since 1996. We were married in a large church service in 1998, and we celebrated a civil marriage ceremony in 2004. April has two grown daughters. No grandchildren. We traveled to India twice together -- 1998 to Varanasi and Agra after our wedding, and 2001 to Mumbai and Rajasthan.

We lived in Waltham MA for years, then moved to Pittsburgh in 2012.

Hobbies and interests... I enjoy cooking and reading cookbooks. Especially enjoy Indian cooking! I was involved in country-western dancing for decades... dancer, instructor, DJ. (My knees are no longer interested, alas.) In 2007, the year I turned 60, I certified for scuba, although my last dive was before the pandemic. I swim. (I enjoy swimming laps.... it's peaceful!) I play and teach the Chinese game of Mah Jongg.

Lunches... my mother had high blood pressure, and used spices and seasonings instead of salt in our food at home. Lunch at Stella was the first time I actually needed to *salt* my food.

Glee Club. So many songs: The Rain is Raining. How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings. Carol of the Bells. And finally, in 1964, talking the director (Sister Sheila) into adding "Halls of Ivy" for our Class Night performance.

Third Order, and and a lifelong love for Francis of Assisi.

Dances in the gym under the *watchful* eyes of the nuns. The Diocesan uproar about The Twist.

Editing The Star with Carole.

Writing terrible poetry. (I still have some of it!)

Wearing knee socks and loafers on the school bus, and changing to crew socks and saddle shoes at Stella... and getting into trouble when I somehow managed to forget my saddle shoes, and was therefore out of uniform for the day.

Tottering down those marble stairs in high heels for ... well, I do not remember why we were all descending that staircase in pretty dresses and high heels, but there we were.

Wanting badly to be good at basketball. Alas, being terrible at basketball despite a) my height, and b) my good intentions. (And remembering the crowd cheering for Susan Caruso, who had a fraction of my height and a hundred times my talent for basketball!)

Falling in love with Tim Loree. Many dates. Three proms. Much happiness. Many heartbreaks. Tim stayed with us when he came up from Virginia for our senior prom... he and my mother were great friends -- my mother called him "Ol' Red." (At last report, Tim was alive and well, married and living in California.)

Hating Latin. One of the few times I successfully stood up to my parents... despite a ton of parental pressure, I was *NOT* going to take Latin II! (Oddly enough, decades later I studied Sanskrit, which is sort of Latin on steroids in terms of complexity.)

Being thrilled when my parents went to Virginia for a wedding and I was allowed to board for a few days. What a treat that was!

Academically - I was a chronic underachiever. This drove all of the adults in my life - parents, teachers, close relatives - absolutely nuts. In my junior year (might have been senior), finally had a term where I qualified for the honor roll - only to be barred because one of the sisters caught me chewing gum at 8PM while I was working late on the school paper. No honor roll for this miscreant. Sigh.