Bio in Depth
I was born and raised in the mile square town of Palisades Park, New Jersey. My parents had my brother Tom, in 1944, my sister Marianne, in 1946, and me in 1947. I enjoyed taking long walks through town, visiting Dad at his summer job, where he sold lemonade at the now defunct Palisades Amusement Park, playing at a nearby swamp where I once almost drowned, attending Broadway plays, and “teaching” neighborhood kids in my backyard. My mother, an avid reader, was a wannabee teacher, but opted instead to stay home and raise us kids and be the bookkeeper for Dad’s businesses.
This family portrait was taken in 1962. Background: my brother, Tom, my mother, and my father. Foreground: my sister, Marianne, and me.
I studied elementary education at Duquesne University and live in Pittsburgh to this day. After graduation from Duquesne, I accepted a teaching job in Rankin, Pennsylvania, a district that merged – due to a court order in 1982 – into Woodland Hills, a large suburban school district.
Another of my interests stemmed from my father, a plumber by trade. Through one of his customers, he became involved in real estate and encouraged my husband and me to do the same, sharing his expertise with us and helping us financially. He and Mom also passed on their love of travel, often taking us kids and our spouses on their trips.
Jim often drove with me to New Jersey for family events. He nicknamed my brother, Tom, the “Italian Stallion” because Tom had five children and eleven grandchildren. My sister has two children and one grandchild.
Tom died in 1998 and my father, in 2000. After 36 years of teaching, I retired in 2008 and was able to spend a lot of time with Mom, who lived a long, healthy life and passed away at 97 in 2019. A year later, my husband died at age 73. Despite and because of the losses that punctuate all of our lives, I am able to dedicate much more time to writing and hopping all over the globe to visit my family!
Jim and I celebrated a wedding anniversary at a favorite restaurant.
Here is my sister, Marianne, with her husband, Frank, celebrating at their 50th wedding anniversary party.