Season’s greetings to all in the Class of ’77!
I’m delighted that I was asked to share my life history after graduation from Livingston High. I’ve been enjoying reading about other classmate’s lives and reconnecting with friends through social media and in person. My story here is a simple timeline of recollections of some personal moments leading up to where I am today. Looking back over the past 50 (!) years to remember our collective colorful past has been an insightful journey.
“What a long strange trip it’s been”-Jerry Garcia
After high school I attended Montclair State College (now University) while living at home and working at Bambergers(?!) at the Livingston Mall. I had forgotten about that place until right now… I’m sure many of you have memories from there, too, LOL! Do share them in the comments for fun. My summers were spent camping and living/working on Long Beach Island, while my winters were filled with hockey and ski trips up to Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. I graduated in three years with degrees in Consumer Affairs and Social Psychology while working at Scholastic Publishing on 54th St in NYC. This experience of creating teacher resource materials was the start of my lifelong interest in supporting curiosity and learning for all ages, especially children. It also influenced my decision to homeschool my children at a time when that choice was not the norm.
During my college time is when I also met my husband, Tom, who was attending NJIT in Newark and was in the same engineering fraternity with my older brother. We were soulmates from the start and have shared over 40 years together. More on that later…After college we moved cross country to Santa Clara, California where I had planned to go to law school. Yes indeed, I wanted to be a consumer advocate just like Ralph Nader in the day so I trained and started working as a paralegal at the largest law firm in San Jose. I realized early on that a legal career was not something I wanted to pursue. That decision was reinforced for me as I was unceremoniously fired after six months for ‘not typing fast enough’ when preparing documents and transcribing *dictaphone tape recordings* of my attorney’s notes, ha ha. Now that’s one ‘technology’ that the current generation will never know about or use!
I pursued my MBA degree and moved on into the semiconductor industry (AMD and Tandem Computers), and later joined AT&T at the time of divestiture in the early 80’s. As an External Affairs manager I was responsible for closing out monthly business accounts of the 11 western states in my territory and then reporting in person before the Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco to justify the service rates that we were requesting. I thrived in this challenging role that required some travel and felt I was actually using my college degree to help consumers around the country.
The years that Tom and I spent in the Bay area created some of my best and happiest memories. We went skiing up in Lake Tahoe every winter, had beautiful camping experiences up and down the west coast, explored all the natural beauty of the parks and outdoor scenes, traveled internationally, and enjoyed attending numerous concerts tours from Bruce to Tom’s favorite, The Grateful Dead. I personally think the 70’s and 80’s had the best bands ever and want to know who is/was your favorite from that awesome era. I had returned for a week to San Francisco last year and although so much has changed downtown, I was reminded of many happy times I spent by re-visiting iconic locations like Golden Gate Park, Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, the Bridge to Sausalito, and the Haight-Ashbury district. Also traveling to Europe with friends for several years and visiting with my family in Warsaw are activities I still fit into my ‘retirement schedule’ today. Did you know I grew up speaking Polish at home and moved to Poland for a year during Jr. High? I spent additional summer vacations there and today feel a deep heart connection to the country, the incredible history of Europe, and love my large extended family.
Although West coast living was ideal in the ’80’s, after having our first daughter we decided to return to the east coast, settling in Cary, North Carolina to eventually raise our three children. I fell completely in love with parenting and embraced motherhood as my most important job in the moment. Knowing I didn’t want to return to the corporate grind got me searching for a fun and productive way to keep financially supporting our family while connecting with people and organizations in the community. I found my niche in working with direct sales from home and have been sharing quality educational products and health and wellness options for over 35 years.
It was my goal to keep our family close together, and as the kids were growing up Tom and I decided to embrace the homeschool lifestyle. I found it was a really fun, challenging and fulfilling 20 years being the self-proclaimed principal and professor of the L.I.F.E. Academy for Kids – Learning is Fun Everyday! We had by now moved from the Raleigh area to a small farm property in northern Virginia, Round Hill in Loudoun County, an hour west of the Capital. Thoe years were filled with co-op teaching groups, exploring DC museums, and mostly outdoors in our fields raising llamas and being involved in the horse-riding world. Like many of you I was actively volunteering as a 4-H leader, Girl Scout leader, youth choir and Church camp coordinator, minibus driver and #1 cheerleader for soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, dance and music recitals, just to name a few of our many activities.
Our lifestyle gave us plenty of time to travel and we camped extensively across the USA and also took three family trips to explore Europe. I called those times ‘homeschool enrichment experiences’ and am proud that all three of the kids have developed a great curiosity to keep exploring the world, a keen sense of respect for our planet, a sincere interest in others and compassion for helping those in need. While in Europe we stayed for weeks in Poland to continue to maintain a strong bond with my family. Over the years we’ve hosted my aunt, uncles and cousins here and I cherish all the great memories we’ve created.
After the kids graduated from college Tom and I resettled in Sunset Beach, North Carolina where we had a vacation home on the island for 30 years. I now worked as the Education Coordinator for the local nonprofit Museum of Coastal Carolina and Planetarium which felt just like running a homeschool but on a much larger scale. And I was even getting paid for creating programs and for playing along side the guests, lol! Tom continued to work as a programmer for the IRS from home and we had an active social life and enjoyed serving the community and going to the beach for walks, picnics and summertime swims.
Our idyllic life was disrupted with Tom’s sudden diagnosis at age 55 of an incurable glioblastoma brain tumor (GBM). My life was changed in an instant and I still feel the pain from this shocking situation every day. Although the prognosis for this most aggressive and fatal cancer is 3-15 months, I was not one to accept this situation before researching all the facts. Through what can only be attributed to divine intervention and being in the right place at the right time, I was able to get him into a Phase II clinical trial at the Duke University Brain Tumor Center, four hours away from our home. The costly experimental protocols and monthly travels for medical support gave us almost six more years of quality life together. The brave positive attitude that Tom possessed inspired his medical team and fellow GBM fighters. He was the longest survivor amongst the clinical trial participants and he felt his life had meaning as he gave hope and inspiration to those facing the same challenge. His passing almost four years ago has left a huge wound in my heart and there are no words to describe how deeply I miss his presence in my life.
On a happier note, I’m now in love with the new man in my life-my first grandson, Antonio (Tony)! His arrival in October 2022 has brought such joy and happiness into my heart, and I’m looking forward to watching him grow up surrounded by a loving family. Per my son’s request for privacy I (unhappily) won’t be posting pics on FB… but I’m able to share by text to my friends.
I currently keep involved with supporting brain cancer research and fundraising at Duke through their Angels Among Us organization. I also work with my daughter who manages the North Carolina Brain Registry initiative as an outreach of her position at the ECU Medical School in Greenville North Carolina. By attending national conferences and symposiums I’m encouraged to see continued medical advances that I hope will eventually lead to a cure. I’m also an active member of the local GFWC (General Federation of Woman Club), a national philanthropic organization that raises funds for community needs. Fun Fact-the organization is responsible for establishing 70% of all public libraries in the USA, with literacy and education being key to our work. I serve as an Ambassador with our local Chamber of Commerce and connect businesses and individuals with networking opportunities. Using my consumer affairs background, I work with our County extension office as a master food volunteer. I provide classes, camps for kids, in-school programs for nutrition education, food preparation and safety information, senior resources and assistance with food insecurity situations in the area. My Church runs a food pantry and we have an interfaith council that works together to serve our ever-growing community. I also sing in our choir, participate in ongoing Bible study classes, and am active in our Columbiettes ladies auxiliary.
In addition to my community service interests, I’m a busy curious traveler. In the past four years I’ve had many amazing opportunities that I’ve shared on FB. For example this year I returned to Poland, took an amazing cruise along the Danube, explored Budapest and reconnected with a dear friend, and had a fantastic two week United Kingdom cruise that included Ireland, Iceland and Scotland I traveled with my new kindred spirit friend who I met while on a trip around all the Hawaiian islands last year. I’m ending the year with a much-anticipated sail around the eastern Caribbean in December. I share this to encourage you all to look for ways near and far to connect with people everywhere and to experience all the good that can be found around world. I’ve been blessed to have a close friend and business partner who lost her husband just a month before me, and who also has a passion for travel and new experiences. My kids have also joined me on some of my adventures. I feel certain that this next chapter of adventures in my life will continue to inspire me to stay active, positive and to keep family first.
Thank you my friends for indulging me here in this space, and for reading through my reflections. I wish you all good health, continued fulfilment and happiness in life, and most of all wonderful times surrounded by those you love. Peace XO
PS – I’m sharing with you a link from my company, Neora, that gives you a fun private skin scan for your information only. Use it as often as you like and be sure to ‘save’ it so you can compare yourself over time. Enjoy life and stay happy always! https://mariak2.neora.com/us/en/skin-scan
