There are some great novels that often start with the ending. In that spirit, I am starting my story with the ending: I am at peace. As I write this, I am at the window in my kitchen looking out towards the Blue Ridge mountains in North Carolina. Like most people, the journey to get here wasn’t always smooth, sometimes filled with heartbreak and challenges which I thought might never end. But they did and I’m here, and as I said, at peace and looking forward.

My husband Brian and I took the giant leap from Port Jervis, New York to Bethlehem, North Carolina in 2021 which we discovered on a trip to Florida and traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway route. For those that may have not ever traveled this route through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and North Carolina, this is the scenic route that transverses the Blue Ridge Mountains. While a little slower than the I-95 corridor, it is breathtakingly beautiful and highly recommended.

It all started pretty typical for a Livingston kid starting third grade at Collins School. My father was incredibly involved in all facets of real estate and enjoyed designing and outfitting homes. As a result, my family, which included my brother and a sister actually lived in three different houses in nearly 20 years in Livingston on Falcon Road, Shrewsbury Drive and Bear Brook Court. At Heritage, I met my now lifelong friends in Janet, Kris and Donna with whom I have shared every high and low and I am grateful to them in every way. I enjoyed both Heritage and LHS immensely and engaged in an eclectic mix of activities including choral groups, drama productions, sewing and shop (the first ever girl’s shop class with our fearful leader Mr. Donald) and Lancerettes. In high school, I began college prep coursework and switched midway to a business curriculum to prepare for a job quickly after school so I could earn money to attend college at some point. I had some great teachers in Mrs. Gompf who guided me through my secretarial courses, and Mrs. Glick, who as my Earth Science teacher said something to me that I remember to this day. More on that later. Once graduated, I worked at Sears for several years and thoroughly enjoyed the hustle and bustle of “mall” life which we know has a much different feel these days. Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School after high school prepared me for my first administrative assistant position, as personal assistant to the head of a satellite office of a pharmaceutical advertising agency. I found myself at a very young age traveling for work when many of my peers were still in the midst of their college degree work. These experiences provided me a great sense independence while still in my teens.

I left the workplace shortly after my marriage and the birth of a daughter and son. Parenthood was definitely for me – I loved it. I was the stereotypical mom – a Donna Reid type, if you will. We lived in Rockaway, New Jersey and enjoyed all of the activities a family could. Things took a turn, and a difficult and challenging divorce placed me in a tight rope situation and impacted every facet of my life, including my children and my long-term relationship with them. I needed to get myself up off the ground and reinvent myself, and quickly.

Technology had evolved, and my secretarial skills were lagging so I needed to dive into that world and educate myself. I obtained an administrative job at Morristown Memorial Hospital. And then, in a pivotal moment, I got a job as a kindergarten aide in the Montague, New Jersey school district. I took some classes at Sussex Community College. And during this time, I met Brian who worked at Picatinny Arsenal and in time, we married. Brian has three children. And then we welcomed Lili and settled in an old Victorian home in Port Jervis in New York.

I took student loans to continue my education and with a very young Lili in tow, traveled each day to State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz, about one hour each way. Concurrently, I started substitute teaching and conducted my student teaching in Port Jervis. I proudly graduated SUNY Summa Cum Laude and then started teaching fifth grade.

It is often said you should not let your job define who you are, but I don’t believe that applies to educators. The best teachers I know use their gifts in every aspect of life and are born into the field. And that was where Mrs. Glick returns because I remember one day in Earth Sciences where I was assisting another student. Mrs. Glick overheard me and quietly said to me that I had quite a knack for sharing knowledge and that I “should be a teacher”. At the time, I knew my planned career path was different, and it took many years to realize how accurately Mrs. Glick sized me up. I was thrilled to connect with Mrs. Glick’s daughter on Facebook and let her know how important – and correct – her mother was many years before.

What began as four years of substituting for every grade level from K-12 turned into my first full time teaching position in 5th grade where I was a Social Studies specialist. Besides teaching several sections, I acted as Social Studies Coordinator for the entire school and brought an entirely new curriculum to every grade from K-6. I was also the testing coordinator for the school and their New York State mandated 5th grade Social Studies test. While I enjoyed working with curriculum development and administrative responsibilities, the public school system is ruled by the needs of the district, and my principal needed more teachers in 1st grade, due to a surge in that population, and so I quickly adapted.

First Grade is universally the foundation of reading, phonics and math skills, so much so that in many districts only reading specialists are permitted to be classroom teachers. I took a summers’ worth of phonics training and began my master’s in education work in Reading and Special Education while maintaining and enriching my Social Studies and Linguistics background. My first few years in 1st grade were a learning experience for everyone involved, but I quickly adapted and applied everything I learned, turning my classroom into a prime learning laboratory for my school. While working with five local colleges, I developed relationships with several directors of student placement, and through these years teaching, I supervised and graded eleven student teachers who conducted their final college placement in my classroom, as well as dozens more high school and college students of every level observing and aiding in my room. Through my relationships with several college deans, I was primed to become a Student Teacher Supervisor and adjunct professor within the SUNY system upon my retirement from teaching in the classroom. I enjoyed my many years of guiding and educating children aged five to young adults aged twenty-three.

Back to the little ones. Because I was a specialist, in my later teaching years my classroom became the Inclusion class, and I was the Inclusion teacher. Inclusion classrooms serve students of all abilities from developmentally challenged to being on the autism spectrum to gifted and talented. Because of this, I often had 20 different curriculums going on at one time in my classroom, to serve the individual needs of every single student that came through my doors. From the student learning to sound out the alphabet with picture cues to the student learning pre-calculus, my classroom housed everything. I had many guests in my room, from magicians and robotic experts to my daughter Lili giving lectures with her pet ball python. Because of their unique needs, I became very close to all my children and their families, and I have enjoyed through the years watching them grow up, graduate high school and college, attend their weddings and baby showers, and participate in every aspect of their growth through Facebook and emails. So even though I retired a few years ago in the midst of Covid, I hold my work as a teacher close to my heart and will forever.

I do want to tell you something unique about the Port Jervis school building where I taught. This particular elementary school (one of three in the town) and the high school were all in one large building. It was common for the younger students to see the older ones, and vice versa. I would often take the children to other parts of the building, and along the way they would wave and be waved at by the high schoolers. The older students often returned to visit with their previous teachers and in some cases, served in my classroom as an aide or with special projects. The school’s football rivalry with Middletown (NY) High School consisted of the “Bell Game” where the winning school housed a large bell (think Liberty Bell) and the younger grades admired it as if it were their own. And when graduation for the seniors came, they treated the entire school to a “Graduation Walk” in their cap and gowns through the hallways. It was a favorite tradition, and it fostered what has now become a lifelong connection that I have had with my former students, and one that I appreciate immensely.

Lili was a student at Port Jervis High School and following her own Graduation Walk, she attended SUNY Potsdam, which is not far from the Canadian border. Her interests were Microbiology, Genetics and Clarinet and she found the perfect school for them. As a child, Lili dealt with chronic allergies which has framed the focus of her interest in Microbiology and research into allergy prevention and/or relief. Working around the pandemic, she graduated and set her sights initially on a master’s. Most of the schools that interested her were in the North Carolina area. However, as an alternative to a master’s, she opted to work as a research assistant at Duke University. And now as I write this, Lili is just days away from starting her PHD fellowship at North Carolina State as well as planning a wedding with her fiancé Daniel, who works in information technology. And let’s not forget her aforementioned pet ball python, Pip, who lives with them.

So, what’s up now? I’m right back where I started this…at peace. Brian and I just love where we are in life and living. Plenty to keep us busy. Our neighbors are wonderful. I am very engrossed in cross stitching, a specific form of sewing that I’ve done for many years but now can dedicate more time. I’ve made great friends in the cross-stitch world both on Facebook and elsewhere – I host a local group at my house and have attended retreats where 200 people join to network, teach and learn. I also enjoy water yoga in my pool which is great for my bionic knees. Brian has bee hives, and we enjoy the honey and other honey by-products that we create.

I think about Livingston often. Over the many years, I have reached out to my classmates for a variety of reasons, including once to my often co-star in high school plays Jay Greenspan, who very sweetly guided me when my daughter was being considered for a part in the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall. I really have enjoyed reading these stories from people I’ve known for a lifetime and those I never knew but feel like I have. I think about the impact each of my classmates have had in their own worlds, with their own families, in their careers, and it makes me smile. And I hope in some way, my story makes you smile or encourages and reminds you that you’re never too old to do what you want to achieve.

For more information on the Blue Ridge Parkway, click Blue Ridge Parkway (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
For more information on cross stitching, visit What is Cross-stitch?