After graduation (the day after, I believe) I headed off to the big city to join the working world.  I spent about two years with the Federal Reserve Bank of  NY.  During that time John Brenner convinced me to walk down the aisle (he’s a good talker) and  I went promising to love, honor and obey.   What was I thinking – forever is a long, long time.  Yet, when I reflect on the past 50 years they seem to have gone so quickly and I wish we could have forever.

The first of our offspring was John, Jr. (1960) and while he would have liked to have been an only child -- he was soon joined by his adoring sisters Michele (’62) and Christine (’65) and a delightful little brother, Mark (’69).    Now life was not a “bowl of cherries” as we soon found out.  There were cut lips and spilled milk; peewee football and girl scouts; band practice and dance lessons, and then there was “new math” (the old stuff wasn’t good enough, I guess).  Fortunately, John always thought that “bringing home the bacon” was his job and mine was to stay home and raise the kids.  It was a great experience and a job that I must say still gives me much satisfaction today as they are all interesting people and, I think, you would like them. .  Oh, by the way, there is a small circle of people (10 to be exact) that now call me TuTu which happens to be the Hawaiian word for grandmother.  So, John, Ian, Michael, Alexander, Zachary, Heather, Nicholas, Jacob, Dylan, and Gabrielle keep us busy with more football games, plays to watch, kites to fly and fish to catch…..

I am getting ahead of myself though.  Along about ’76 John and I decided it was time to leave the New York metropolitan area and discover what lay beyond the Mississippi.  We drove 10,000 miles one summer and it sure is one beautiful country.  California beckoned us and we decided to move our family to the San Francisco area.  The kids were not very happy, but they survived, and now tell us it was the right thing to do.  We later relocated to El Dorado Hills which is about 30 miles east of the city of Sacramento and we have been here over 20 years. 

When my last child headed off to college I decided to seek employment outside the home.  California was experiencing flooding at this time and the federal government had a temporary disaster field office, in Sacramento, that needed someone willing to work long hours, deal with the general public and perhaps hold a hand while folks told of their devastation.  Also needed was the ability to travel.   I figured that having four kids would probably qualify me and I was right.  So for about 20 years now the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been my on-the-road family.  It has been an amazing experience that has given me the chance to see many parts of the US and the US Territories in the Pacific, while interfacing with people whose lives are vastly different.   These deployments have given me greater insight into different types of government, terrain, and also people-- it’s a long way from Staten Island to the islands of the Pacific.

Before I forget (my memory isn’t all that good, never was!), I would like to mention that not many people know you over 50 years and still care.  But, Carol Cooke and I have remained friends all these years and still enjoy each others company whenever we can.

During my life I have traveled quite a bit and seen a lot but I am still proud to say that I was born and raised in New York, and happily share that thought, as it is a city that helps provide a great foundation, for life, to those that have lived and grown up there.  However, I do feel that when all is said and done, much of what you need to know in life “you learned in kindergarten”.