Life Lessons And Revelations Easley, SC

• Born mid-20th century • Easley SC small community – economy then moving from

farming to cotton mills • Lessons instilled: Respect and love self so that you may

respect and love others for you never know who you are talking to; always do your best; someone is always watching; do as you say when you say; be trustworthy

• When I left Easley, the population had grown to 10,000

Bennett College • BS Bennett College – small all-girls Methodist liberal arts &

“finishing school” school in Greensboro NC. When I graduated the student body had grown to 600.

• Bennett Lesson: Disrespect must be met with swift strength and resolve for once outside family, friends and community – respect is often viewed as weakness.

Cornell University

• Accept at Penn State and Cornell • Applied lessons from home and Bennett • Met Arthur • Consumer Education and Economic from school of

Human Ecology: emphasis Family Financial Planning - Certified Financial Planner designation did not exist until later

• Cornell Revelation: grown up below the poverty line. Lived on land acquired by great grandmother, parents built our home, car, truck, two parents/three jobs, garden, freezer filled with food. Never wanted for anything. Poverty is more about outlook than about income.

Married

• Between grad school and first jobs • Son – mechanical engineer in San Jose, CA • Daughter – attorney in Evanston, IL

Living 1

• First job after grad school was as head therapeutic dietitian at Benedictine Hospital in Kingston, NY

• Pre school children attended ask that I monitor the playground during lunch in return for discounted tuition. Considered first foray into volunteering since I did not receive a pay check.

• Spouse participant in the Presidential Interchange Executive program in DC under President Ford – Dove and Hawk lesson from General Haig

• In 1978 started an after school enrichment program at George Washington Elementary School, Kingston, NY. Last I checked in 1999 there was still an after school program.

• In Pound Ridge, NY headed a committee to draft the application and screen applicants for a scholarship awarded by the library and was on a high school committee seeking ways to enrich the English department curriculum.

• Took real estate courses in continuing education for personal use in appraising and analyzing buys and sells

• When it came to the fork in the road, it was a matter of elimination – learned teaching was out during undergrad practice teaching, had already been in the hospital setting, real estate was for personal use, by now I was deep into motherhood and lost interest in financial planning for others, had participated in discussion groups and been a member of a serious writer’s group.

• Back to continuing education courses to become a travel

agent because it was a portable business and I could be self employed. I am a Certified Travel Counselor. Was in travel for 23 years – owned Wise Traveler located in the Prado.

• Moved to Sandy Springs in 1987 from Pound Ridge and brought my travel business with me.

• Daughter graduated from Riverwood Living 2

• Coming from NY state and the music training acquired there our daughter auditioned and was seated as first chair flutist on the Atlanta Symphony Young Orchestra – at that time the only minority in the ASYO. Arthur and I were approached to help design a program that would groom other minority children to earn positions in the youth orchestra. The program designed 15 years ago is now a template for other orchestras around the country. The students have received scholarships (some full) to all top music schools – Curtis, Manhattan School of Music, Boston, Cleveland, one graduate has played with Yo Yo Ma and early graduates of the program are now working their way into orchestras. CNN highlighted this training program last June 24, 27, & 28 of this year.

• Served on the board of the Atlanta Symphony Associates, the fundraising arm for the symphony.

• Served as president of the High Point Civic Association during a time when re-zoning request were before the Fulton County Commissioners monthly. We never lost a case – even when they went to court – and we never hired an attorney. In the capacity of president, I was a member of the Sandy Springs Civic Round Table and on a committee to draft county resolutions affecting communities.

• Campaign manager for Arthur, which means creating literature, scheduling, ordering supplies – the works. That is doing all, except the tasks of the attorney and CPA. And of course the candidate appears for himself.

• Leadership Sandy Springs graduate. • Rotary: pursued by PP Mary Scott Christfield for seven

years to join SS Rotary. She moved to NC and David Evans was my sponsor.

• Latest Revelation: It has taken Rotary and this classification talk to crystallize for me that the two constants in my life have been volunteering and writing. I have been drawn to what I find most satisfying – being a travel agent was a sidebar.

• Rotary has brought me full circle - it’s not about the money, it’s about outlook. My life lessons have made me who I am and have set my expectations of others.