Karen Heiny Matthews

Good to see those of you who made it to the reunion this year! And for those who didn't, see you in 5 years if not before. Thanks to everyone who helped put the picnic together and for all those who cooked. (I didn't cook. Yes, I won the home ec. award when we graduated, but I hate cooking. How about a catered meal for our 40th?)
Oh, and name tags would be nice for those of us with failing memories and those who don't live near the hometown anymore. Best wishes from the Matthews family. KLM

BS in Elementary Ed. and Environmental Studies, East Stroudsburg Univ., 1979
Continuing Ed. Classes at Cal State-San Bernardino and UC-Riverside, 1981-1984

My favorite memories from High School revolve around German Club, Kinderchor, and my one year on the softball team. I remember my softball nickname was Keiny, but forget who gave me that name. I finally had to quit playing softball for health reasons in 2009, but Peg Stoudt gave me a good foundation which led to some wonderful coaching experiences. It was great when I was coaching in East Stroudsburg in 1985 against a team whose scorekeeper was Mr. Walter Stann, my 5th Grade teacher. Since graduation I have been a sewing machine operator, classroom teacher, a Park Ranger, a naturalist at several nature centers, a river guide and canoe instructor on the Delaware, an instructor at the field campus of a university, and mostly an educator for the YMCA. I guess variety is the spice of life and who knew how much public speaking I'd be doing after the speech I had to do in 9th Grade?!!

Today most of my work is volunteer work as a Master Gardener for Rutgers, a 4-H shooting sports instructor for Penn State Extension, and church activities. I'm a 7th degree (national) member of the Grange, and I still do some sub teaching. When my husband retires (for the 2nd time) in a few years, I hope to finally work on a masters degree. (Earned lots of credits, but not all in one subject area, so no degree yet.)

My funniest high school memory occurred at the McDonalds on 7th Street when Ellen Lerch, Linda Schwartz, Jane Seiple, and I got Linda F. (from Nazareth) laughing so hard that she started to snort, fell out of the booth into the aisle, and almost got us kicked out. Steve Ressler spilling the wave tank in Physics class was pretty funny too.

Too many favorites to choose from: Kresge, Pany, Czar, and the list goes on. However the one who influenced me and my career the most was Robert Snyder (physics and natural history.)