I grew up in a military family with three brothers and one sister. My mother was an Army nurse and my father spent 22 years in the US Air Force serving in WWII and the Korean War. We were stationed at Walker Air Force Base (AFB) in Roswell, NM where I was born and then transferred to Pease AFB in Portsmouth, NH. When my father retired in the early 1960’s, we moved to NJ, which was where my mother grew up. I played field hockey and basketball in high school and loved it. I was a Health and Physical Education major at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA and graduated in 1973. At Ursinus, I played field hockey, basketball, softball and lacrosse and graduated with honors.
After graduation I wanted to become a physical therapist but did not have the money to continue my schooling so I joined the US Air Force and completed Officer Training School in July 1974. After serving in the US Air Force in Syracuse, NY; Rockville, Iceland, and Bad Munder, Germany for a little over five years as a Weapons Controller, controlling fighters for intercepts and refueling missions, I was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an Air Traffic Controller. My FAA career lasted a little over 25 years working at San Francisco Tower, Oakland Bay Approach, Air Traffic Evaluation, Salt Lake City Tower/Terminal Radar Approach Control and Eugene Tower/TRACON. RACON. I worked as a controller, staff specialist, supervisor and manager. I retired in November 2006 with a little over 31 years of government service.
About a year before retiring, my mother was diagnosed with dementia. I spent several years going back and forth between Oregon and NJ to help her but eventually she came and lived with me for about 3 years. But she wanted to go home so we took her back to her home in NJ and hired a caregiver to live with her, which worked out well. I flew back regularly to give the caregiver vacations and my brothers and sister helped out in town.
I am a strong supporter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the NARFE Alzheimer’s Research Fund. I have participated in three Alzheimer’s clinical trials over the past 6 years. I am currently in the Ahead-45 Study at Summit Research in Portland, OR.
I am active in NARFE, serving as the Oregon Federation President, 1st VP for Legislation and Newsletter Editor. I am also the Eugene Chapter 79 President and Newsletter Editor among other responsibilities.
I enjoy traveling and watching all sports especially baseball.