My parents met in graduate school at the University of Michigan, so my sisters and I were Ann Arbor kids right from the start. We went to Northside Elementary School and those were the days when everyone walked to school, dogs ran free, the girls could play soccer with the boys, and there was just one class per grade.
My mom was a close friend of the mothers of Mim Streiff and Julie Burnes, so we all did a lot together. I remember falling out of a big tree in front of Mim’s house, and Julie was the one who told me “the facts of life.” I also used to play with Diane Ellis and Bonnie Buchholz and Julie’s cousin, Gail Franklin. Claudia Bond lived right up the street from Mim, and she and John Sharum were the best artists in the class. John was as smart and funny then as he is now. Stephanie Collins was really lively and fun, too, and she hasn’t changed, either!
When I was in the 7th grade, we moved across town to Lincoln Avenue by Burns Park. Martha Pott lived just down the street, Alan Stevens’ house was almost opposite ours and Bob Carow’s was around the corner on Wells. I have great memories of skating on the rink in the park every winter and walking to and from Tappan, usually via Hermitage. I remember Jim Reach coming by just as I was passing Monique Scanio’s house one time, and getting off his bike to walk me home. I also recall having a mad crush on Tim Falls but he was more interested in Joan Campbell.
Chris Williams and Kathy McDonald lived one block over on Martin Place, and Molly O’Neill was another block over on Baldwin. We eventually put together a bridge club with Wendy Leonard, Ruth Ryan, and some other friends. Pretty bad bridge but lots of fun.
By some incredible fluke, I managed to become a cheerleader in 7th grade. Carol Martin was also picked that year. That meant getting to know the football teams over the next three years; the White team from 8th grade is the one that sticks in my mind. Dave Rea and Skip Odell were both on it. Dave, Skip and Bobbie Goddard were class officers with me at one point, with Fred Bigelow as our faculty advisor. Skip was a master of the wry and witty comment even as a 14-year-old.
Gordon Johnston was my favorite teacher and taught me how to write. Miss Rich scared me to death; her algebra class was the beginning of the end of math for me.
Another move took us to Melrose Avenue, on the opposite end of the street from Ann Ratliff’s house. I could cross Devonshire and walk through the block to Joan Campbell’s on Berkshire. I thought she was so lucky because she had her own bathroom. She became one of my closest friends. Carol Martin lived a couple of blocks down on Devonshire and her parents sometimes came past our house while taking a walk in the evening. I was fascinated by the way they were always holding hands. It wasn’t common to see “older” people doing that. (They were probably barely 40 at the time.)
To my eternal regret, I gave up orchestra for Student Council. The priorities of a teenager… I am envious of classmates, such as Sara Stubbins, Ted Fosdick, and Chris Kyprie, who are still playing their instruments. But I did enjoy school quite a bit and remember a lot of small things, like Jim Osterberg sitting in front of me in a Humanities breakout class and turning around all the time to make ironic observations on anything and everything.
Or the time I stuck a worm I had been dissecting in Mr. Sooby’s biology class in Nancy Schweitzer’s ice cream sandwich at lunch. When she bit into it she gave such a loud scream the cafeteria went silent. Mr. McEwen had me down to his office for a chat after that one. And Garth Black invited me to one of the proms but I didn’t accept because I was dating some guy away in military school. Oh, the things we would do over if we could!
Like a fair number of our classmates, I stayed in Ann Arbor to get my undergraduate degree from the U of M, although a year in Paris and another in Cambridge, England (the same year that Dave Rea was there on a Fulbright scholarship) gave me some “away” experience. After graduation, I left Michigan for ten years in New York, followed by three decades in California, including four years in Los Angeles and 26 in and around San Francisco. While in the Bay Area, I earned a master’s degree at Stanford.
After the 40-year reunion, a small group of class members in the Bay Area started getting together, usually at Duane Brown’s beautiful place near Union Square in San Francisco. Jamie and Martha Payne Harris, John and Sandy Kuhn Sharum, George and Barb Henry, and Dale Withers were regulars. Out of town visitors – Mim Streiff Poag, Denny Olmsted, Camille Procassini, Bill Kirchen, Sharon Gingras and Dawn Cole Kirk - were always an excuse to get together and we had some great dinner parties.
Regarding my career: I got to New York in 1972 by accepting an offer to be editorial assistant to the Food & Wine Editor of Esquire Magazine, a great introduction to the working world if there ever was one. We ate and drank our way across Manhattan, France, the Scottish highlands and the California wine country before I moved on.
The rest of my career alternated between marketing and agency stints with L’Oréal/Lancôme, Wunderman Worldwide, Showtime Networks, Lexicon Branding and a couple of start-ups. My last company in the corporate world was Cisco Systems, where I spent 11 years in various communications roles. When they offered me an early retirement package in 2011, I jumped at the chance. It would make possible something I had long hoped for: a move to Europe.
At the end of April 2012, I began living in Rome, in the centro storico (historic center), a few minutes from Piazza Navona with its three fountains and the Campo de’ Fiori outdoor market, among winding cobblestone streets lined with small shops, trattorias, churches and coffee bars. Every good thing you have heard about Italy is true! It was a wonderful place to live.
But after 2½ years, it felt like time to come back to the U.S.
On the first day of spring in 2019, I was married for the first time, to Tim Williams. We live in the Seattle area and are grateful to be retired and able to stay involved in all the things we care about most -- the arts, travel, and especially visiting family and friends across the country and abroad.
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