Comments:
After Grant, I went to Harvard and graduated in 1961. After returning to Portland in '61, I worked at Portland State for a year and then moved to Seattle to attend University of Washington for my MPA in Public Administration and took coursework for my doctorate in Political Science with a minor in economics. Carol Anne taught school in Bellevue during this time and I worked on a research grant.
Before finishing all of my graduate work, I accepted a position with the Mayor's Office and started a long career in local government. I moved from staff assistant to the Mayor to Lead Budget Analyst where I designed a new budget system for the City and then I was a division head in the Department of Community Development. The new Mayor selected me to be the first director of the Office of Management and Budget at age 29. After a high pressure three years in the position I chose to step out of City government to work on my dissertation.
During this time, Carol Anne (Grant, '58; UO,'62) and I adopted our two sons. I was being pressured by both the Mayor and City Council to come back, and I accepted the newly created position of Director of Policy Planning in late 1974. The Mayor ran for Governor and did not win, so I became Deputy Mayor to manage the process of transitioning to a new administration in 1978-79.
I was asked to join the administrative team at the Seattle School District and became and Executive Director/Assistant Superintendent in 1979 where I was made responsible for all the business functions of the district - everything but the teaching side. I ran the processes that closed schools, managed the desegregation process, and handled all the money. Heavy duty times!
After three superintendents, I left the school district when a fourth decided I didn't have a teaching certificate so I shouldn't be in administration. That was in 1986.
I joined a public affairs consulting practice at that time and stayed for four years. I subsequently went back to the City and spent my last 12 years as a division head in the Parks Department. These were wonderful days with much less pressure than past jobs. I retired in July, 2006.
Carol Anne had moved from Bellevue to Kent School District and finally retired at the end of the academic year in 2005. We had put off travel while working for a variety of reasons. We have a very nice home which we got for a steal in the 70's. It has a large swimming pool and a tennis/sport court. It was our vacation spa during those summers when CA was free. Our children were growing up and very active in multiple sports, so we focused on them over those years.
Subsequently, we decided to travel. Our first significant trip was a cruise to Alaska in 2006. We then discovered the joys of river cruises in Europe and have made two such cruises in 2007 and 2008 with a third scheduled early in 2009. We also spent a month in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in early 2008 and have recently returned from an extensive cruise that began in San Diego and eventually ended up in Santiago, Chile. In addition to our Spring Trip to Europe, we are scheduled for an October Trip to Japan and China. So we have broadened our horizons.
Neither one of us looks at all like we did. When I graduated from Grant I weighed 140 lbs. My heaviest has been 285 and I am now at just about 250 and hoping to go down much more. CA has had similar expansions of her horizons as well. Alas, I love to cook and that means we try way too many gourmet dishes.
Age is whittling away. My wife has a brand new titanium knee for 2009 and I have mulitple joint problems with my left leg. I used to be an inch over six feet tall and find now that I top the scale at 5'11" so gravity is taking hold.
Everyone has some regrets, and I could list quite a few, but overall ours has been a very rich and full life and we are biding our time before launching into something else.
We have lived in the same home in Seattle for over 30 years which means we don't worry about our mortgage anymore. Portland is our first home, and I have lots of relatives there; but Seattle is where we are who we are so we don't anticipate moving back as some have.
