Forty years in just a few paragraphs??! When was I ever concise??

In 1970, I graduated with an education degree from Buffalo State, and began teaching in Tonawanda. The following year I married Chuck Burrows, and soon after we moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where Chuck took a job as research chemist for 3M Company. With teaching jobs scarce, I weaseled my way into a parochial school by telling them I was a practicing Catholic. It was partly true. Don’t ask which part.

Chuck and I loved the Twin Cities. We discovered camping in the Minnesota north woods, biking along the Mississippi River, cross-country skiing during the cold Midwest winters, and getting involved in the running community. Chuck had been a track and XC runner in high school and college and continued with this interest, adding marathoning to his passion for running, and I became a race groupie. We were thrilled when Chuck broke 2:20 in the Boston Marathon, and then went on to make the Olympic trials in this event, which happened to be held in Buffalo that year.

After two years at 3M, Chuck entered Dental School at the University of Minnesota, where I was taking graduate courses in education. For the next four years I continued teaching at St. Mark’s in St. Paul, making a salary of peanuts. We made a hard decision to join the Air Force prior to Chuck’s last year of Dental School, since the military made us an offer we couldn’t refuse! Consequently, we owed the Air Force three years, which were spent at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. While there, our sons Christopher and Michael were born (1977 & 1979) and I joyfully embraced being a stay-at-home mom.

In 1980, we moved to Pease AFB in New Hampshire. Years earlier on a trip through New England, we’d fallen in love with seacoast N.H., and this is where we wanted to settle (it’s a great place to meet presidential candidates up close and personal!). By this time, the boys were getting older. I was anxious to return to education and decided to get a Master’s in Library Science so as to work in school libraries. While getting my degree, the marriage fell apart. Soon after I took my first library job, Chuck and I were divorced. I bought a house and moved the boys to Dover, NH where I was a teacher-librarian, a.k.a. Media Specialist.

The next twenty years flew by. Raising two boys as a single mom was my greatest challenge, as well as my greatest joy. Chris and Mike spent time with their dad, which gave me an opportunity to explore my own interests, including running (later switched to yoga… easier on the knees), hiking, and biking. I traveled to many parts of the United States, Canada, and Europe, volunteered at a rape crisis center and later joined the staff part time, and began to research my family history. One of my most memorable trips was a second journey to Ireland where I volunteered at a Peace and Reconciliation center and traveled with a group to Belfast to meet with several leaders of both sides of the Irish conflict. It was truly an eye opener, and taught me to look for ways to make my life more intentional.

Sons Chris and Michael are delightful young men, and my greatest hope for them is that they will contribute good things to their world and help to take care of it. Chris just received his Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Technology Management at Central Connecticut University. He has been an Environmental Health and Safety Specialist for Pratt Whitney in the Hartford area since getting his undergraduate degree. Michael is currently heading into his junior year at the University of New Hampshire, planning to become a Special Ed teacher.

I love my work as a Library Media Specialist. Since the early ‘90’s, I have been at the Oyster River Middle School in Durham, NH. Technology and changes in education have dramatically altered the job from what it was when I began. Keeping up with the technology piece, and expanding the teaching component by collaborating with teachers has kept the work interesting and challenging. And the kids keep my thinking youthful!

Finally, my best news is that I found a wonderful partner with whom to share the rest of my life. Paul had moved from NH to teach Civil Engineering in California, but missed the seacoast and moved back. We were introduced by a mutual friend, and were married two years ago. I gained not only a dream of a husband (he made me write that), but the bonus of an expanded family: Paul’s daughter Gretchen, her husband Rich, and their children Sarah (age 5) and Robert (age 4), who live in Syracuse, and Paul’s son and daughter-in-law, Paul and Amy, who live in San Francisco. (Woops! I almost forgot to mention my step-dog Diva, an Old English sheepdog!)

Well, do I get the prize for the longest bio? Hey, I’m a detail person! You wouldn’t believe how much I edited out… Oh, I just need to say that I still have my mom who is living in Lockport, and all my sisters and my brother Dan and their families, so I visit the area often.

Will miss those who can’t make it to the reunion, but I’ve so enjoyed reading about your lives. May we all be here for the 50th.