These bios – and more! – can be found on the individual profile pages. We’re putting them here so they’re easy to find – and to inspire YOU to send us yours! But there’s more interesting news and photos on each person’s site – including a new question for everyone to answer: What were your most or least favorite events and activities at Hastings?

We have led interesting and inspiring lives … What have you done that would surprise us?

Linda Amoroso -- lives in Tampa, FL

I've lived in Tampa, FL, for 26 years. I was an AVP at Bankers Trust Co. in NYC for 17 years. When the Corporate Finance Department I worked in shut down I took a year off and decided to move to Florida since my parents were moving. Worked at Smith Barney for 6 years.  My dad was not doing well so I settled for doing part-time jobs and taking care of the folks.  Took care of my parents until they passed. Now just selling Real Estate part-time for something to do.

I was married to Bob Senita for 8 months before he passed. Then I married a musician on a cruise ship, Gabriele.  We married in Bologna, Italy. He got off the ship but I got tired of schlepping to Scranton, PA, where he and the band worked...at that time I was focused on my career at Bankers Trust Co.  We parted friends.

Jay Balloffet – lives in Belmont, MA

Busy 50 years. Retired 2 years ago after career as medical and science administrator- But I am slowly getting over it. Look forward to seeing folks at reunion...

Bob Batchellor – lives in West Hurley, NY

After high school I joined the Marine Corps. I graduated in the top ten percent of my platoon of 113 recruits and was promoted to private first class. I learned one thing about boot camp training; it ain't for sissies! After Parris Island my orders sent me to Camp Pendleton, California, where I joined the 27th Marines until I volunteered for Vietnam service. OK, I know. But remember that was 1966 and the Communist threat was a very real thing at the time. Our fathers fought in WWII and I felt that it was my turn to stand up and serve my country. With President Kennedy's inaugural words in my head, I joined the famous 2ND Battalion 4th Marines who were fighting the VC and hard Corps NVA. READ MORE ABOUT BOB'S VIETNAM EXPERIENCE ON HIS PROFILE PAGE

Dick Baumbusch – lives in Denver, CO

I'm still not much of a writer, so not too much to say... graduated college with engineering degree, then got MBA. Had long corporate career with companies ranging from General Foods to Mattel. Moved back and forth across the country and settled in Denver 25 years ago. We celebrated our 45 wedding anniversary last summer and our seventh grandchild is 4 months old. He keeps us returning to NY area since he and his three brothers live in Connecticut.

Laurie Bean Ross – lives in Fairfax, VA

I went to Smith College – choosing an all-girls school partly because I knew I wouldn’t get any studying or learning done at a coed school. It worked a little bit. I majored in English because, “Well, I like to read books, so why not?” My freshman English professor told me I couldn’t write … but unlike many, I’ve actually gone on to use my degree. I’ve worked with words – first in radio, then in print.

After college graduation, I grabbed a chance to work for the BBC in London. Again – why not?!! A behind-the-scenes job, but tons of fun and hands-on learning about production. Moving back to the States – to Washington, DC, where Jeff was stationed in the Army -- I got a job with Voice of America, broadcasting in English to Africa – actually writing and hosting radio magazine shows.

I met Jeff while in London -- he was from my childhood church in Los Angeles, and our parents had met one day and exchanged our addresses. When he left the Army, he went to work for the Defense Dept., and we’ve been here in the DC area ever since. Jeff’s an architect by training and has transformed our homes through the 43 years we’ve been married. Three kids: David (born in 1980), Megan (1984) and Alanna (1993).

After Megan was born, I quit the hectic broadcasting life and began freelance proofreading for magazines and newsletters. One of those clients was Allergy & Asthma Network, a nonprofit that I’ve now been with for 22 years as a writer and editor. Still playing with words.

Hastings holds a special place in my heart. I’ve idealized it, I know, but the simple life we led, walking everywhere, the small school that allowed us to participate in a wide range of activities without too much competition – with the museums and theatres of New York just a short train ride away – was something I really missed bringing up our kids in the chaos of Northern Virginia.

I’ve not been back much – my parents moved back to LA and I lost track of high school friends after college and London. But working with Eddie and others to organize this reunion has been a fantastic opportunity to reconnect. It’s given me a huge appreciation for what our classmates have done and the people we’ve become – the friendships that go back to early childhood for many of you, and the family ties that keep some living in the area. I haven’t got those, but I do have happy – though admittedly foggy – memories of good times.

Bob Bedoukian -- lives in Redding, CT

I went to Tufts intending to get an Arts & Engineering degree.  Like Laurie, my freshman English professor told me I couldn’t write but unlike Laurie I listened to him and stuck to Chemical Engineering.  From there, I went to Purdue for my Ph.D. in Chemistry and joined my father who, in his mid-60s, had started his own company in Danbury, CT making Flavor and Fragrance ingredients.  I’m still here! 

For the past 20-25 years I’ve served on the boards of the International Fragrance Association and the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials.  In addition to industry boards, I am on the board of Ability Beyond, an organization that supports people with disabilities, and chair the Western Connecticut Health Network Research Institute Advisory Committee.  I’m having a great time.

I’ve personally become interested in research on insect repellents over the last 10 years (insect pheromones have become a significant part of our business), and hope to have discovered some things of significance.  As I said, I’m having a great time.

Much more importantly, I married my wife Gail in 1977, and have three sons (two in the business with me) and two (three very soon!) grandsons.  We all live in or near Redding, CT.  (A great time, and very, very fortunate!)

I’m really glad that Laurie and Ed have organized this reunion because for whatever reason, I still feel a strong connection to old friends from Hastings that I haven’t seen for 50 years.  (I met Tom Murray and Neil Martin for dinner a couple months ago and it was fantastic!)  I can’t wait to see everyone!  Wow.

Bob Bock - lives in North Falmouth, MA

Moved to Cape Cod in 1974 to get an MEd and run a drop-out prevention program at Falmouth High School. Did that for 15 years then moved into the Business Department and taught Accounting, Economics, and Small Business Management. Continued playing softball (old-guy baseball) until shoulder gave out. Did the whole coaching routine with my kids. Rediscovered my interest in Theatre... took some classes...ran the Drama program at the High School for another 15 years. Been acting and directing in local and regional theaters for the last 25 years. Still married to the love of my life whom I met in college. Two kids, two grandkids, living by the ocean, mostly healthy....life is good.

Kathy Braginetz Hughes -- lives in North Myrtle Beach, SC

I currently live in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina after residing and working 23 years in Danbury, Connecticut for a pharmaceutical company. I have two children, one still living in Connecticut and one relocated to Raleigh, NC. I also have 2 wonderful grandsons. ages 6 and 2. My husband Rick and I are enjoying retirement near the beach, keeping very active and enjoying life.

Anne Carmalt Stokes -- lives in Pleasantville, NY

What have I done since High School... well, I went off to Vassar College and was a history major and a psych minor. There I learned that studying child development through teaching could be both fascinating and fun! Academics being fun was an entirely new concept for me. My other college memory was the way to start a conversation was to say “I am so depressed!” Not the best way to have fun.

I did meet my husband while a senior in college and a year and half later we were married. At the time he was teaching part time and working in New Haven, CT. We lived there for a year. Or rather I sort of lived there as I was also getting my master’s degree in teaching from Bank Street College in NYC. We then spent a summer in Cambridge, MA while he taught summer school at Harvard before moving to Ballston Spa, NY. I taught in a local kindergarten and he was a leave replacement at Union College. Ballston Spa at that time was the film location for The Way You Were because all they had to do to make the town look like the 1930’s was take out the parking meters, paint over any road markings and give all the buildings a fresh coat of paint.

My husband was then appointed to teach Visual Arts at the newly formed Purchase College and we were back in Westchester (he had grown up in Yonkers). We found an apartment in Irvington. Two years later I was teaching 2nd grade in Bedford. We put a compass on the map with a ten-mile radius from our jobs. The circles intersected in Pleasantville where we found a house, thinking we would be there for about two or three years at most. We are still living here 41 years later!

We did do some traveling. We spent a summer camping in Europe and were in Rome when Nixon resigned, learning about it only because the only word in the Italian newspapers we could read was a very large banner headline NIXON! Also, Len went back to school for a year in Basel, Switzerland in 1977-78. We then we settled down to raise two boys, returning to Europe for a half a year in 1989 to the south of France in a little town called Lacoste. Lacoste’s only claim to fame is that the Marqui de Sade was exiled to a castle at the top of the hill. That castle is now in ruins and looks best the farther you get from it – especially at night when bats are flying around.

While the boys were growing up I worked part time: substitute teaching, working on educational programs for a local software company, clerking at a local bookstore, and for a short time doing administrative work at GE Capital. In the mean time I was active in the PTA, Cub Scouts, etc. and eventually spent six years on the local school board. Towards the end of my active volunteer life, I started volunteering and later being hired by the Westchester County Archives, eventually running the joint Westchester Historical Society/Westchester Archives reading room. There I spent a good deal of time teaching people to do genealogical research. I went back to get a degree in archival studies which at that time was part of a library degree. Having completed the introductory course work, I happened to see in the paper a listing for a leave replacement for a librarian in an elementary school library in Scarsdale. As I was just about to specialize, and knowing that the part of working at the archives that I liked best was working with the researchers, I decided to apply, knowing the worst that could happen would be a rejection. I’ve been at Scarsdale ever since. 

Changes in the past 15 years? My husband retired from Purchase and now works in his studio and recently started cartooning a great deal. My children graduated, and then graduated and then graduated. I would say that they are on their own, except my youngest, his wife and two-year old son have just moved in with us to save a few pennies before buying a house of their own. Grandma is actually very glad to be back at work on a regular schedule! 

The constant since college? Laughter! I look forward to seeing all of you!

Angie Cifone Simone – lives in NY

Graduated masters program from NYU. First job teaching in NYC. Moved to Manhattan to a studio apartment, (loved it) made friends, met my husband who I have been married to since 1975. Took various, sometimes odd, freelance jobs while continuing my education (fashion coordinator for America's Junior Miss in Mobile Alabama for CBS and senior researcher verifying questions used for the televised 30th anniversary of the College Bowl). Son born in 1988 who lives and works in DC (a grad student and congressional intern). Finished my Ph.D. - did clinical psychology at Columbia, in private practice specializing in Reproductive Medicine, couples and individuals. Even met Miss Mabel Snell at the Metropolitan Museum. She asked "what are you doing here." Huh!? Still love NY - hate the winters.

Lee Winship Cook -- lives in Los Angeles

After graduating from HHS, the best thing I did was to go all the way to California to a small, private women’s college - Scripps College - that is one of a cluster of 5 colleges and a graduate school with all the campuses butting up to each other (Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer,  Claremont Graduate University,  Claremont School of Theology ).   I started out as a History Major thinking that I would go into International Relations but then switched over to majoring in Theatre & Dance minoring in History.  Being in college at the time of Ronald Reagan as Governor, my campus was - as were all the others in California - going through great changes brought on by the turmoil of our times (1966- 1970) - the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, the Watts Riots, the advent of the Black Power Movement, the Vietnam War and the famed “sexual revolution” coupled with the infamous LOVE-INS in Griffith Park, THE DOORS, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, JIMI HENRIX, JANIS JOPLIN, the Cheetah, Woodstock. . . . .  I protested, sat-in, marched, performed with a rock band, visited Watts and spent my Spring breaks in Mexico, and danced my heart out at the Cheetah on the Santa Monica Pier and in Griffith Park.

Sadly, my parents were separated and then divorced by the end of my Freshman Year.   So after  the summer of my freshman year, I made the decision to transfer to Hunter College (the campus on Park Avenue in NYC) for the first semester of my Sophomore year to be home in Hastings helping out my mother as my parents sold our house on Circle Drive and each moved into separate apartments in the New York City.  Taking advantage of being at Hunter, I was lucky enough to be in some amazing theatre classes – one in particular - a directing class taught by Harold Clurman who was one of the founders of The Group Theatre.  The class was inspiring and challenging. I directed a scene from Tea and Sympathy by Robert Anderson which to my delight was very well received.  I even cast a HHS student (can’t remember his name) to play the young prep school boy.  I also had a part-time job as an assistant to one of the program directors at The Council on Foreign Relations which was across the street at 68th & Park.  I got a little help from my father as he was a member of the Council and over the years I had gone to their annual Christmas parties.  My job included helping to map out the research trip my boss was taking to Vietnam.  Now thinking back this was 1967-68, the early years of the war and just about the time of the My Lai Massacre.  In retrospect, I was helping to manage a rather dangerous trip.

After my mother got settled, I was back at Scripps for the rest of my college years and luckily all my credits easily transferred transferred. I was cast in many plays and was the founding member of an improv group that counted among its members Robin Williams who at the time was attending Claremont Men’s College.  We performed together and also the two of us were invited to work out with the famed Committee Theater in Los Angeles on the Sunset Strip.  We also were in the 4-College production of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He hilariously played one or two of the Mechanicals and I was Puck.  I also danced, choreographed.  I took advantage of being close to Los Angeles and drove in to take jazz classes on Hollywood Boulevard. I attended concerts in small venues to hear groups like Jim Morrison &THE DOORS and Grace Slick & JEFFERSON AIRPLANE.  4 years flew by and for our graduation speaker we manage to get the famous social anthropologist Margaret Meade to send us off with life lessons for what lay ahead...

...read more on Lee's profile page!
 

Dorothy DeMichele - lived in Naples, FL

Went to BU, lived in Germany, Atlanta and Berkeley. I have been in Naples, FL since 1980. Came with former husband and Erin. Divorced 1982. Very active in community especially with Mental Health Association, but other charities and socially active organizations as well as business. Studied languages and still love studying/using them which was not easy early on because Naples was so white bread in 1980. Things have changed! Much more culturally diverse now, too, thank heavens. Love the arts, people, animals and laughing with friends. Also personal growth stuff I suspect most of us have dabbled in by the sounds of Facebook comments. Thanks to Laurie and Eddie for all their work so we could reconnect!

Jack Derogopian – lives in Stratford, CT

Started in 1970 with Sales Consultants / Management Recruiters International . In 1973 became there Global Top Gun. Continued In that role until 1980 . Started a Global Firm with two partners called Garjanel Inc from 1980 until 1990 continued in the placing of sales and marketing talent with fortune 1000 company's as President Group III ... In 1990 Started Dera International Inc as CEO / President...Placing CEO'S... Presidents... EVP's VP's of Marketing & Sales and Directors of the ever changing Top fortune 1000 company's..... now involved in Mergers and Acquisitions of Multiple corporations as well

Tim Duncan – lives in Dedham, MA

After 10 years in the Hastings schools (starting with Ms. Schmidt in Kindergarten), left after Freshman year for prep school (never got the hang of being a preppie). After the right-on years in college went into advertising in NY in the ‘70s, then into television in Boston in the early ‘80s. Established a media consulting practice in 1985 which is still going, though at a reduced pace.

Met Sharyn Cook in college, and we re-met and married ten years later. Lost our first daughter, Alyssa, to meningitis. Daughter Amanda lives and works in NYC; son Alex lives near us.

Elaine Greene Ramos – College Point, NY

College, work, marriage, children, divorce, remarriage, divorce, work, grandchildren and actually enjoying life now.

Steve Hall – lives in the Adirondacks

Too much Ernest Hemingway. Went from high school straight into the Marines with friend Bob “Batch” Bliss, about two months after Larry, my older brother, went to boot camp on Parris Island, SC. We all spent time in Camp Pendleton, Calif, and then survived I Corps in Vietnam. I was a squad leader with 3rd Bn/27th Marines, Bob was with 2/4. Ed McKernan called the other night to ask for Marine photos, which I haven't looked at in probably 45 years. I believe they went to Colorado, when my folks moved there. We looked through our old family albums, and couldn't even find the boot camp photos. Ed, if any turn up, I'll email them to you. Ironically, in a fit of nostalgia, I visited Parris Island while on a camping trip south to the Everglades and Great Cypress in January, and took some flicks. Bob and Franny, if I get a little more organized, and catch up, I'll send some to you. The old wood barracks are gone, but Elliot's Beach and the parade ground look the same.

Married Suzi Kling about a year after returning. We were thinking green, going to Columbia GS in NYC, living on the Upper West Side, vacationing in Vermont at every opportunity. We had turned angry and active over the war, marching and protesting, etc. Drove a checker cab out of Harlem for years, when I wasn't in classes. We eventually moved in different directions and broke up, Suzi moving to the Oregon coast, where that fine lady still lives. Me? I was dreaming about Alaska and the Adirondacks, and trying to figure out how to live in either place.

Drifting a bit, found myself back in Hastings, bartending, working odd jobs, sharing a bachelor house for about three years with, among others, Chris Lillard, George Pattison and Bob Boyles. Too much partying, but a great deal of fun.

Met Wendy Berke from Hastings, and discovered a mutual love for nature generally and wildlife in particular. I was smitten! Our oldest, Dan, was born in ’76, and three more followed over fourteen years. I spent 25 years in communications, first as an engineer, but mainly as a public speaker and “executive briefer” at IBM, Lucent and finally, Avaya, where I ran the Briefing Center next to Rockefeller Center, and across from St. Pats. I always found it odd that I went from being fairly quiet and introverted in HS, to the guy who didn’t need a mike, but for whatever reason, it worked for me, and entailed a great deal of international travel and fun. Wendy was a nurse, masseuse, EMT lieutenant and a very fine artist, particularly in sketching and pastels.

We spent the Summer of 1990 in Alaska, and everyone’s life changed. READ MORE ABOUT STEVE'S ALASKA LIFE AND CAREER ON HIS PROFILE PAGE 

Mary Beth Koslap-Petrayco -- lives in Massapequa Park, NY

I followed my dream that I had since I was 3 years old and became a Registered Nurse and it has been a great ride that still is not over. I graduated from the Bellevue School of Nursing 1969 and worked in several positions in hospitals in pediatrics, adult medicine, new born nursery, ICU, and then the ER which proved to be my favorite hospital position. I married the love of my life Nick Petraco at St. Matthew's in Hastings in 1970. We moved to Whitestone, Queens and then to Massapequa Park where we still live. We celebrated our 46 wedding anniversary this past June. Nick is a forensic scientist who is retired from the NYPD. Met him while I was at Bellevue. We have 2 wonderful sons and 4 darling grand children. Nick has 4 year old and 17 month old boys. John has a 4 year old son and 17 and a half month old daughter. Nick encouraged me to go back to school and I went to Excelsior College and finished BSN 1982. That gave me the opportunity to teach and I worked in staff education for several years when I got tired of the hospital politics and moved on to Public Health. I became a Public Health Nurse with Suffolk County Departmet of Health Services on Long Island. I became more involved in vaccine preventable diseases and communicable diseases once I started working for the health department. The Nurse Practitiomer movement was beginning to take off and I felt frustrated because I saw children whom I knew I could treat on my own so I went to Stony Brook University School of Nursing and received an MS Child Health and Pediatrics (Nurse Practitioner) 1991. I had a very large primary care practice at one of the county health centers in addition to running the immunization and lead programs for children and managing the grants associated with those programs. As part of my position with the county I became associated with the CDC and became one of the first nurse immunization experts educated by the CDC. That gave me the opportunity to speak, write and publish on the local, state, national, and international levels. It's been great fun to speak not just all over the US but in Europe as well. When Stony Brook opened its Doctor of Nursing Practice program I was in the first class and graduated in 2009 with a DNP in child health and pediatrics. Two years ago the health department turned over the operation of its primary health care centers to a private company and I lost my primary care practice. It was and still is a big loss for me since I had cared for these mostly immigrant families for so many years and had seen their children grow up and go on to college and then have children of their own. It was and is truly an honor to care for these wonderful, kind and caring people. I still do see children through our shots for tots program which I started and provide immunizations and health screenings for children through adolescence. I also am an adjunct professor in the graduate nursing programs at Stony Brook University and Long Island University Post. Retire from the health department, just not sure when because I still love my work. It is becoming increasingly more difficult due to the severe budget constraints in the county government. Nick and I traveled a lot with our children visiting lots of national parks when the children were young. Now we are working on Europe and have been to many countries in both eastern and western Europe. I fulfilled another dream and that was to be a wedding minister. I've done several weddings and even a couple of funerals since I started about 2 years ago. The weddings are just so much fun! So if you are I need of a wedding minister in NY just let me know. Life has thrown us a few curve balls and it has not always been easy, but for me the cup has always been half full not half empty. I too have so many wonderful memories of growing up in Hastings, attending St. Matthews School and then Hastings High School. Those teachers we had in high school were really an inspiration in so many ways and really set me on an academic and civic minded path that I still follow.

Leah Linzer Shaver – lives in Bradenton, FL

What a long, strange trip it's been. After high school, I spent two years at Syracuse University, graduated NYU 1970. Moved to San Francisco November 1, 1971. Lived 2 years in Mendocino County, 5 years in Los Angeles, 1 year in Florida, 21 years in Garberville, CA. Since October 2001, Anna Maria Island/Bradenton, Florida on the Gulf Coast.

Nancy Lovell Martin

I've lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for 36 years.

I'm semi-retired, teaching Pilates-based movement in my own studio. I continued to study dance and movement after graduating from HHS, then Skidmore, then Antioch New England Graduate School.

My son, his wife, and 3 lovely granddaughters live nearby-- so lucky!

I am still singing, and in the past 5 years have been a member of Toronto Chamber Choir, which specializes in early music.

Neil Martin – lives in NYC

After college I got a reporting job with the hometown daily, The Herald Statesman. Married Kathy Flanz in 1974; we broke up in 1980. I worked for the Westchester papers for 14 years, then joined up with my father's PR firm, which long represented a group of European tourist offices. Advertising, PR, producing newspaper supplements, setting up websites, etc. I still turn out a twice-monthly newsletter on the trans-Atlantic travel, but it's much more a hobby than an income provider. Married Mary Ann Poust in 1986; we have a daughter, Alison, and Mary Ann has three older children from a previous marriage. I've been living in Manhattan for the past 30 years.

Hans Mayr – lives in Largo, FL

College, 28 years with Nestle USA in White Plains and Purchase NY. Finished up as Mgr Facilities services for USA headquarters. Was extremely fortunate to retire in 2000 and moved to Florida in 2001 and have enjoyed retirement!

Fran McCabe

Yorktown High School 1966; Vietnam 1968; University of West Florida, BS 1973; St. Michaels College, VT, MS 1974;; McNeese St, Lake Charles, LA, Doctoral Candidate; SUNY New Paltz, NY, MS Ed. Admin

College coach, high school coach and Phys Ed teacher; Athletic Director, Dean of Students, Asst. Principal and Principal last 12 years before retiring in 2005

Ed McKernan -- lives in Emporia, KS

I left Hastings in August of '66 to go to College in Emporia, Kansas. The College of Emporia, C of E, aka College of the East. 1,200 students? 1,150 of them from N.Y., N.J., Conn. and Penn. Only a few were Kansans. The first week the President welcomed back students and in his speech he said, "Some of you will meet your mates here on campus and be in Emporia the rest of your lives." To which I muttered “B.S.! Four months and I'm out of here.” Well, this August it will be 50 years here in Emporia. While I didn't meet my wife Mona on the campus of C.of E., I did meet her at Kansas State Teachers College, just a mile down the road. We've been together since 1968, got married and started our family in 1971. Mona graduated with a Psychology/Sociology degree and I quickly became her lifetime case study. She has been by my side the whole time, the good and the not so good times. The death of my Mother, after helping care for her in our home for years, and death of my middle brother Jack were the bad. The marriage of our three daughters and birth of our 6 grand kids are the good. And as in most families she is the real reason we have such great children. I'm retired, after working on the Santa Fe Rail Road.

Holly McLaughlin Cole – lives in Vail, CO

After Hastings I went to Becker Jr. College in Worcester MA...just a 2 year secretarial college....very fun and my roomate was from Provincetown on Cape Cod so she said I could live with her family for the summer and work on the Cape.....so I did...loved the cape and then after Becker moved to the Cape....worked there till 1974 and in winter would do the waitress circuit. That's what I did on Cape Cod...worked at the Sheraton Hyannis and Patti's Rib House in West Yarmouth and then would go to Palm Beach Florida in the winter and work at the Breakers Hotel and Mama Gilda's in West Palm....had fun, made great money and then in Winter of 1974 a gal that I worked with at Patti's Rib House would work in a place called Vail, CO....never had been out West so two girlfriends and I took off in two cars and drove to Vail......tons of jobs...found place to live but very difficult and worked that winter for Vail Food Service at Gold Peak.....loved my boss and he said stay on for the summer (you'll love it)....the two girlfriends went back to the Cape I stayed and the rest is history....never left.....

Met my husband who is from Toronto here and eventually worked in the Marketing Department of Vail Resorts and then became an on-mountain photographer for Images Unlimited for 10 years....my boss lost his contract in '91 and then I did the retail thing for years working in clothing shops....

In the last 10 years I became the society photographer for the Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine and go to all kinds of events and then part time work as a greeter up at Two Elk Lodge...which is so much fun....if you see me on Facebook you'll see how much fun I am having up there....anyway this is enough....can't wait to see everybody in September !!!

Vanessa Merton -- lives in Hastings-on-Hudson

Some people say that from the time they were very young, they always knew what they wanted to become: a firefighter or a doctor or even a lawyer. I must have been born to be a clinical law professor. When I left the nurturing environment of Radcliffe College to become one of the few women students at NYU Law School, I took all the clinical courses available. After several years in my first job, as a criminal defense trial attorney with the Legal Aid Society of New York City, I was invited to join the faculty of the NYU Criminal Defense Clinic. Later I switched to the civil side (which I always describe as kind of like a brain surgeon's trying to become a psychiatrist), and directed NYU's Employee Rights Clinic. Seven years later I joined the founding faculty of the new City University of New York Law School, where I taught a wide range of subjects, from torts and criminal law to evidence and professional responsibility, all through a new model (for law schools) of experiential, cooperative, and public interest practice-oriented learning that I played a substantial part in developing. Eventually I became Director of Clinical Programs at CUNY and co-founder of the Health in the Workplace Clinic, a joint venture with the Mt. Sinai Medical School Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

In 1989, I came to Pace University School of Law in White Plains as Associate Dean for Clinical Education, drawn by the fact that so many Pace faculty bring extensive practice experience, refreshingly undogmatic views about legal education, and a strong student-centered focus to their work. Here I have used all that I learned from my prior law teaching to design and maintain client representation clinics, simulated lawyering programs, externships, and clinically-oriented classroom courses. My primary focus was establishing the first Prosecution of Domestic Violence Clinic in tandem with the New York County DA's Office, but I continually try, working with the faculty involved, to keep the entire clinical curriculum at Pace one of the most innovative and effective (in terms of preparation not only for practice but for lifelong professional development) programs in the country.   ***READ MORE ABOUT VANESSA ON HER PROFILE PAGE***

[Her profile concludes.....]So for over forty years (gulp!), my work has frustrated, enraged, and depressed me at times, but it has never, ever, been dull, and it has always used every ounce of all I have to give. Becoming a lawyer, especially a lawyer representing the disadvantaged, the disabled, workers and working families - speaking not just about, or to, but for those who need voices - has empowered and enriched me (not in dollars, though that part has been OK) far beyond what I could have dreamed when I entered law school so long ago.

Helping new lawyers become the best advocates they can be for those whom they choose to serve is a rewarding renewal for me of some of the best parts of my life. I feel very fortunate to have found this niche.

Julie Michaels – lives in Housatonic, MA

Happily living in the Berkshires. Still working as a writer/editor after 15 years as a editor for The Boston Globe. Darling husband Pad died two years ago, so making my way on my own. Daughter Lily 24 and living in Boston, where she works for Patagonia. Stepsons in California; step-grandmother of two. Comfortable enough to travel; Still in touch with Lolya, Lee Cook, and now Laurie. Through brother Nick, have kept up with the Fred Barnes and Kenny Z. Lived next door to Paul Dryfoos in Boston; our daughters are still best friends (small world!). Have nothing but fond memories of HHS.

Bill Morroni – lives in Sylmar, CA

www.williammorroni.com; www.littlecoreygorey.com; www.thesafehousemovie.com; www.afewstepsmore. com; www.thecondomovie.com; www.therustyyears.com; www.africanlovestory.com

These are my websites. Some are movies I made that you watch on line. Some are just production sites for scripts I wrote and may make.

Steve Nemeth – lives in NYC

After coming to understand how factory farmed animals are treated (www.peaceablekingdom.com), how factory farming and cattle production impacts the environment (www.cowspiracy.com) and how consuming animal products effects your health (www.forksoverknives.com), about nine years ago I became a vegan.

Patty Peck Nocella – lives in San Diego, CA

Went to Lesley College in Cambridge MA. Spent a lot of time in Cape Cod. After college lived in Boulder CO for a few years and then back to Boston and finally to California where I still live. Met my wonderful hubby in Calfornia and of course he was from NY. We had 2 wonderful sons and now I have one beautiful granddaughter with another coming in May. I work from home for a bank and life is good. Unfortunately I lost my hubby, my soul mate, in 2009. But life goes on! Being a grandma is the best ever! 

Jay Prather – lives in O’Fallon, IL

Spent 20 years in the Air Force. I was very lucky in that I got to do something I always wanted to do and that was to fly. I completed Air Force pilot training in 1971. Our final training aircraft was the T-38, affectionately know as the White Rocket. You may have seen the this supersonic jet trainer on TV as astronauts used it for training and travel - its a two seat (front and rear) fighter type aircraft. Then on to the C-130 Lockheed Hercules a four engine (16,000 horsepower) turbo prop cargo aircraft, 137 foot wing span, 97 feet long and when loaded weighing 155,000 pounds (small by today's commercial aircraft standards but capable of landing and taking off in less the 3,500 feet of unpaved dirt surface).

Have about 2,500 hours (hauling cargo, passengers, and also air dropping paratroopers and cargo) in the C-130 flying throughout the world. Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Hawaii, Wake Island, Midway, Guam, Alaska, the Aleutian chain, the North Slope of Alaska, transporting up to 30,000 pounds of fuel in rubber blatter tanks from Anchorage supporting early warning radar sites on the Alaskan coast of the Arctic Ocean. Flown throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa, Europe, the Berlin Corridor into Berlin, East Germany before the wall fell and to Warsaw, Poland when it was behind the Iron Curtain (These were Embassy runs of supplies. Our government liked to irritate the communists by sending in a military looking camouflaged cargo plane to Warsaw and the other Warsaw Pact communist countries .

Pilot training at Craig AFB in Selma, Alabama, C-130s at Langley AFB, Hampton, Virginia, McChord AFB, Tacoma, Washington and Little Rock AFB, Jacksonville, Arkansas. Also stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio for a Masters Degree program in Logistics, Incirlik AB Turkey where I was the Air Terminal Manager [during the early stages of the taking of hostages at the American Embassy in Tehran - I also met my future spouse, Dala, (36 years) an Air Force nurse also stationed in Turkey] , Scott AFB, just outside of St. Louis, as a transportation officer on the Military Airlift Command staff, transportation squadron commander at Andrews Air Force Base (responsible for all Air Force surface transportation in the Washington DC area and finally the Pentagon in Air Force transportation.

I finished my career in the Air Force retiring as a Lt Col in 1990.

So how does an ex-long-term military officer go into legal aid and public housing authority work? Always have wanted to serve and have seen poverty around the world, whether the slums of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil or the same surrounding Lagos, Nigeria. Living just outside of St. Louis and close to the City of East St. Louis, I felt maybe I could make just a little positive impact helping people in difficult and challenging situations. 

See Jay's profile page for more AF stories...

Bill Starkgraf -- lives in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

After graduating from HHS, I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where I graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Having a low number in the draft lottery, I thought it was best to enlist than be drafted. I spoke with all services and the Navy was the winner.  I served with the Naval Security Group and my entire tour was in Washington, DC.

Upon my discharge from the Navy, I landed a job as a contractor for the Department of Transportation working in Cambridge, MA and I was living in NH.  I got married to a woman from MA. Spending a few years there, I moved on to an Aero-Space company but they were in financial trouble.  I moved on to Digital Equipment Corporation and spent 14 years with them. I started with them writing computer diagnostics and an opportunity arose that allowed me to transfer to Colorado Springs, CO where I became an Engineering Supervisor and wrote disk diagnostics.  While in CO, I was blessed to have the birth of my two daughters and in 1983 when Lorie was 1 month old, I relocated to Nashua, NH to work in the company’s compiler group where I was project leader of FORTRAN-77.

My older daughter was allergic to the vegetation on the east coast so we moved to Albuquerque, NM where I managed an engineering department supporting the PC manufacturing line. 

I reached as high as I could go in Albuquerque, so I transferred to Los Angeles, CA with Digital to work in Pre-sales supporting the Sales Force.  I had most of Southern California until I was also given the task of supporting the secure hardware and software for classified information making my coverage area essentially worldwide. I never had to leave the country but support the products in California and one trip to Fort Huachuca, AZ. 

After 14 years with Digital, I was caught in a downsize so I moved on to NCR supporting their database software.  I spent 5 years in worldwide support and then transferred to their test engineering department working there for 4 years. The transferring of many jobs to India caught me and I was out of a job. That is when I made a career change.

It was in CA where I got divorced and remarried to a CA girl. She had 2 older adult children.

I started doing Audio Engineering, sound mixing of bands and singers.
I worked at a large church in Los Angeles that had a very good media department and the shows they put on were large. Since many artists attended that church, I got to work with them. In October 2003, I traveled with my wife to Lima, Peru where I did sound for a big crusade.  There were 35,000+ in the stadium.  Seeing Peru was a wonderful experience.  We did take a side trip to visit Machu Picchu. This trip was 8 months before our next move.

After doing sound for 10 years, I decide it is time to move on. Many computer engineering jobs were in Honolulu so I packed up and moved us to the islands.

Little did I know that employers were skeptical about hiring newly relocated people for many got “Island Fever” and moved back to the mainland.  I stuck it out and continued to do sound. I found another church here that did large productions and worked there along with doing audio on their TV show.  I also was doing sound for a couple of shows in Waikiki at the same time.  Looking back now, I was sitting behind a sound board 20 times a week.  That was a lot. I then moved on to a church where I now attend and do sound for them.  I mix the weekend services sending the service online as a livestream broadcast on the internet and also do the church’s radio shows.

I guess sound is my niche for after 25 years on computers I switched to sound.  I have been doing sound professionally now for 22 years and love it.  I have had the pleasure to meet and work with some named artists in both the secular world and the Christian world.  I am in demand but do not overwork myself.  I can relax on our patio and watch the Naval ships leave and enter port here at Pearl Harbor.  The ocean is in walking distance from my home.  If you look at a map of O’ahu, look for the mouth to Pearl Harbor.  I live on the land to the left at the mouth of the channel with Hickam Air Force Base on the other side of the channel and Pearl Harbor Naval Base a little farther Mauka,  Sorry directions here are given in terms of landmarks.  Mauka is toward the mountains.  Where I am Mauka is translated North.

If anyone does come to O’hau, give a shout for I would love to get together to share some old times.  Mahalo and a hui hou (thank you and until we meet again).   Aloha.

Diana Strayer Sample -- lives in Tucson, AZ

I've lived in Tucson for 19 years. Before that, I lived in Connecticut at the end of a very steep driveway. In the winter, it was miserable getting up the driveway, the drive to work was miserable, and I had to defrost my car door locks with a cigarette lighter because most of the time, the steep, icy driveway was impassable and I had to park on the street. Many times I was out of heating oil because the fuel company couldn't get down the driveway. My husband was transferred to Tucson, but I had a life in Connecticut, a house and a job that I loved. It took a year, but my company finally offered to let me work long distance, so I packed up my life and called the movers (who had trouble getting down the icy driveway, of course). My kids were gone and I was sick of the snow, ice, white-knuckled driving, mosquitoes, poison ivy and mowing the lawn. Now I have tarantulas, scorpions, a yard full of wildlife and enough heat to keep me happy. When it rains, it makes the front page of the newspaper. Fall tugs on my heartstrings every year because I miss it so much, but pansies bloom in pots in the gas stations here in February while someone else tries to get up my former driveway. There are times in the spring when I still pull off the road to see the desert in bloom. We live right down the street from a national park (Saguaro National Park East). No leaves to rake, no snow to shovel, no boots or heavy jackets, no sweaters. My son lives in downtown Chicago; my daughter lives in northwest Indiana. She's a veterinarian and has four kids. I visit them both, but NEVER in the winter!! 

Lee Waddell McCarthy -- lives in Jupiter, FL

I went back to Georgia to college, majoring in Romance languages (thank you Hastings, for starting French in 4th grade!). Right after graduation I joined TWA, flying mostly to Europe and the Middle East for the next 30 years. My first flight was to be to Madrid (yay, I could use my Spanish). At the last minute I was switched to Shannon, Ireland, where I met my husband…some things are meant to be. We were married for 35 years until he passed away in 2005. As you see, my children didn't come until after that when I adopted my boys: Luis and Jesus, first cousins from Guatemala, and Ismael, from Mexico. I had been volunteer coordinator at a new labor center we had established in Jupiter where most of the workers were from Mexico and Guatemala. Since I had studied in both countries and everyone had been so welcoming to me, I was happy when I found a way to welcome them, little knowing how involved I'd become! Friends said, "You're so brave, adopting 3 teenage boys who don't speak English" and I, childless my whole life, said, "How hard could it be??" Ha! Then, I mainstreamed them in English-speaking schools: one in each: middle school, high school, community college (well, he spoke some English and had graduated high school before coming). We all survived and now Luis is back in Guatemala teaching high school English and going to law school at night. Ismael is in his last year of engineering at Florida Atlantic University, and Jesus is in his second year of business at Palm Beach State College. Ismael and Jesus are both married to great women and each have a son. Luckily for me they live next door to each other two miles from me so I get quality time with the grandchildren! And, with my retiree free travel (American bought TWA) I get to see Luis quite a bit; it's just over a 2 hour flight from Miami.

Bill White – lives in Cortlandt Manor NY

Fought in a war. Owned and operated a body shop; worked dream job as a tech in a Harley Davidson Dealership. Still playing with cars, Harleys and skiing.

Gail Wright – lives in Danville, KY

When I graduated from Wagner College in 1970, I taught for a year in NYC; then 5 years in NJ where husband was in grad school. Moved to KY to a small college town in 1976. Received my Masters and Ed Specialist degrees in counseling and gifted education from Univ. of KY (GO WILDCATS!!!). Jen was born in 1980 and I began a career in education that lasted until retirement in 2011. I now work part time as a volunteer coordinator with CASA where we advocate for the needs of abused, neglected or dependent children involved in our family court system. I enjoy the beach, travel and especially traveling to see Jen and her family. I am single.