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Hometown

I was born in Omaha, Nebraska

Places I've been

I was the second daughter and youngest child in my family. I was born on my sister's 3-year old birthday. We lived in Missouri, Minnesota, and then moved to Lincoln, Nebraska when I was 4. We lived there until I had finished 5th grade, and then moved to Normal, Illinois where I would live through high school. I graduated from University High School in 1954 and started DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana the next fall. I worked in Cleveland one summer during college and in Michigan another summer. I graduated in 1958 with a B.A. in English and Secondary Education. I was married in August 1958 to Clark Taylor, and we moved to Naperville IL where we lived for two years while he finished seminary. In 1960 we moved to Des Plaines, IL where we would stay for 5 years, while Clark was the pastor of a small church. Jeff was born in 1960 and we adopted Heidi in 1963. We left Des Plaines in 1965 and moved to Peoria, where we lived for the next 5 years. During those years we adopted Ellen in 1967, and I got my MA from Bradley University in 1969 in counseling and psychology. In 1970 we moved to Piscataway, NJ where Clark was in graduate school in urban planning, and I worked as a school counselor. In 1972 we moved to Needham, MA where Clark joined the faculty at UMass Boston, and I became a counselor in the Needham Schools. We still live in Needham.

More about me

At this writing, I have been married for 49 years.  I have three grown children, who all live within about a half hour's drive from us.  I have 6 grandchildren, ranging in age from 7 to 18. 

 I have always had a lot of energy, and have been able to maintain a fulltime job , while at the same time doing lots of other activities.  I was a public school counselor for 25 years, starting in Illinois, then in East Brunswick, NJ and finally in Needham, MA. I got my MA in counseling in 1969  from Bradley University and my EdD in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard in 1987.  My dissertation was on teachers in 6 New England high schools, looking at the interface between mid-career and middle-age.  I did lots of teacher and administrator workshops all over Massachusetts and taught counseling at Lesley University for 12 years.  I retired from the Needham Schools in 1994, but continued to teach at Lesley.  I then worked part time for World Learning, directing a program for Japanese students and taking a group of high school students to Costa Rica in 1995.  I later did an interim 16 months at our local church, while they conducted a search for an associate minister.  After that, I worked for another 16 months at Elderhostel, making calls for a capital campaign.  I retired from all paid employment in 2003.  

 I ran three miles a day for 18 years until shortly after I retired.  I would leave the house at 6:15 a.m. and get back in time to be with the family and then to leave for work at 7:30.  I now work out 6 mornings a week at the local YMCA.  In the past 10 years, I have developed an intense interest in gardening.  We have a large garden of perennials, annuals, tropicals, and bulbs. We also have a community vegetable garden.  I do most of the gardening work, and my husband admires, takes photos, mows the lawn, and gives suggestions.  Several years ago we turned our attached garage into a greenhouse, so I can play in the dirt all winter. 

Twenty years ago we started a partnership between a Mayan community in Guatemala and the Congregational Church of Needham, MA, and church members have made twice yearly trips there.  My husband has been to Guatemala probably 30 times, and has led August delegations there every year since 1987.  He published a book on Guatemala entitled The Return of Guatemala's Refugees.  I have been to Guatemala 17 times, and led February delegations there for 14 of those years.  We have seen the development of this small village over the years so that now close to 100% of the children are in school and many have gone on to high school and college.  We have raised a lot of money for development goals set by the village's elected leaders.  This is primarily a solidarity relationship, and we don't teach each other religion. 

I have taken major leadership positions in most organizations that I have been part of.  I am a Master Gardener through the Mass Horticultural Society.  I have led tours at the New England Wildflower Society and been a member of their Awards Committee for 10 years, in charge of the annual education award.   I have been active in the Needham Garden Club.  Our garden has been on many national and local tours and has been featured in various publications. 

 I love to be creative, and have expressed that creativity in different ways through the years.  In the early years of our marriage, I made many of our clothes, and also made drapes and braided rugs.  I have made hooked rugs, quilts for each of our 6 grandchildren, pillows and curtains. I have reupholstered furniture, stripped and hung wallpaper, and painted too many rooms to count.  For our daughter's wedding in 1991 I made her wedding dress, my dress, and all the bridesmaids' dresses. 

We have loved camping as a family, and my husband and I have continued to camp regularly since the kids have gone.  We have a favorite place in the White Mountains.  We also love to go snorkeling at Maho Bay on St. John.  For the past 12 years, we have taken month-long trips in January, going to most of the South American countries, and recently to South Africa, India, and Vietnam.  We plan to go to China in March 2008 as part of our 50th wedding annniversary year. We decided to learn Spanish in the early 1980s and spent parts of two summers in Costa Rica and Guatemala in language schools.  I wouldn't call myself fluent, but I can get along in Spanish, after a lot of hard work. 

 I have had a number of health issues through the years, but I'm thankful that none of them have been life threatening.  I had a stress fracture in one foot, and later broke three metatarsal bones by dropping a landscape timber on my foot.  Casts followed both incidents.  I later had knee surgery and three shoulder surgeries.  In 2000 I had surgery for spinal stenosis, followed by a back fusion.  In 2006 I had a neck fusion and carpal tunnel repair on my left wrist.  Believe it or not, I have no physical limitations, except for the ongoing effects of osteoarthritis in lots of joints.  By doing regular exercise and keeping moving, I manage to keep ahead of all the aging aches and pains.   

Nourishing a marriage relationship has been very important to us, and we have weathered the changes brought on by the feminist movement and women's liberation.  We have both changed a lot over the years, but have kept the lines of communication open, and have molded our changes to work with each other.  We have both been employed fulltime for much of our marriage, sharing the work of raising children and caring for a home.  We have worked hard at our marriage, and we also consider ourselves very lucky to have picked each other in the beginning. 

Lastly, I feel strongly about the state of the world, and the ways in which the United States' government is leading us.  I worked hard on Deval Patrick's successful campaign for governor of Massachusetts.  I will work hard to elect a president that will care deeply about humanity all over the world and will change some of the detrimental policies that have been put in place in recent years. 

Activities

gardening, reading, traveling, snorkeling, photography, Unitarian Universalist church, social justice, aging, health, adult development

Favorite Charities

Unitarian Universalist Church, United Church of Christ, Grassroots International, Guatemala Partnership, NRDC, Amnesty International, The Wilderness Society, American Diabetes Association

Favorite Music

folk music, social protest music, jazz, blues

Favorite Places

White Mountains in New Hampshire, St John in the Virgin Islands, Guatemala, our garden

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