SO o o 40 years have passed, eh? - Path from GDA took me to Wesleyan University and Middletown CT. While pursuing academic excellence (with emphasis on "pursuit"), I continued playing hockey for four years and some lacrosse with Stan Healy until I decided I wanted to take an afternoon sculpture class. No regrets there, just wish I had more time now for sculpture.

After Wesleyan I was 2A, not a good classification in 1966, and was accepted into the Teacher Corps to head for Georgia and a potential Masters in Teaching (a GDA influence). However, I decided I was unsure about this approach and enlisted. I then spent almost three years in the Army including Officer's Candidate School and a tour as a Transportation Officer at Continental Army HDQTRS at Fort Monroe, VA. Fort Monroe and its officer's club beach are located on Chesapeake Bay. In other words, I was very fortunate and escaped shipment to Vietnam.

While in the Army I did some court martial work, mostly defense side, and decided last minute coming out of the Army to go to law school. But before law school and while on leave toward the end of my Army career, I met my wife and in 1970, after her college graduation and my first year of law school, we were married. Patricia has been the love and support of my life and a super role model for our three daughters. She has been a stalwart in the area of children and family services beginning with her work in the Junior League's public affairs committee and as President of the Junior League of Hartford. She presently performs volunteer and consulting work for the Connecticut Department of Children and Families and is Chairperson of the Regional Advisory Council of the Southwest Region of the Department and on the State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior League of Eastern Fairfield. She is also my current affairs person and personal clipping service as a devouring NY Times reader. Now on to the kids --------

Our oldest daughter went to Hobart-William Smith Colleges and then worked for a couple of years to earn money to go back to school. She graduated a week ago from Univ. of Connecticut Law School and is gainfully employed with a very good Hartford law firm and of all things interested in tax and ERISA stuff. She has worked through law school so no small accomplishment. She just moved back home to study during June and July for her bar exams. Will be a traumatic time for us all to readjust and get through this stress especially since her boyfriend is heading with the PA National Guard to Bosnia for a few months and more stress inducement.

Our middle daughter graduated from Univ. of Michigan three years ago. She played field hockey while there and we all got a first hand look at the pluses and minuses of big time athletic departments. She is now living in the Chicago area working as a business analyst for Hewitt Associates, an international compensation and corporate benefits administrator and consulting firm. Miss not having her closer to us. She just announced her engagement so these are exciting times.

Our youngest daughter went a year plus to Parsons School of Design here in the City to fulfill a long standing desire to be fashion designer. She dropped out in October of the second year with no warning and has taken a path which has her sisters, her mother and father heartbroken and mystified. We keep our fingers crossed, pray and hope for the best. Nobody said life is easy. Fortunately, I am blessed with a wonderful wife and two other super daughters and a great Soft Coated Wheaten terrier, all of whom bring sanity to my life.

Fast reverse - Following law school, I went into private practice with the largest firm in Schenectady NY which was heavily into estates and trusts, bank and real estate work. In addition to those things, I did some litigation and divorce work. Interestingly, probably my most satisfying work was acting as a guardian ad litem doing pro bono work in Family Court. I became a partner and ultimately in 1982 moved to Connecticut to set up branch office of the firm in Hartford CT to accompany a major client's headquarter's move to Hartford. Not a good experience which brings to mind the following: "Sent up a creek without a paddle" and Hartford lawyers like dogs are very territorial. (Exception to the last statement and ironic, our oldest daughter ends up a lawyer in Harford). I closed that office and commuted weekly back to Schenectady. However, my family was nicely settled in Avon CT so I left the firm after 10 years and went with a commercial finance subsidiary of Barcalys Bank. I concentrated in commercial real estate law supporting Barclays' commercial real estate operations across the country and managing the attorneys and support staff for that effort. However, nothing is permanent. Barclays, in its wisdom, decided it wanted to change direction in the U.S. and shut down numerous subsidiaries across the country including the one I was with, as the last one. I literally was the last one out turning off the lights and locking up after ten years. Found a job in the law department with The Guardian Life Insurance Company to again do commercial real estate transactional work for the investment area of the company. Guardian took advantage of my varied background and used me to also work on corporate acquisitions, reinsurance and now, to what has become my full time plus work, providing legal support in the areas of intellectual property, information technology and e-commerce.

I was head of the commercial real estate group and the information technology group but have dropped the first to concentrate on the burgeoning workload in the information technology area. I have had to learn on the fly about technology, intellectual property, internet privacy and security issues and such things as ASPs (application service providers), India outsourcing and all of the the associated jargon. It is nice to be learning new tricks as an old dog but the resources are limited and the pace hectic - some time in the sun for this dog might be nice. Never dreamed in a million years I would end up working in New York City and never had (read that still do not - sorry you diehard New Yorkers) any desire to do so. I commute in from Easton, CT. Commute is a bear -over 2 hours so I am sleep-deprived big time. Our offices are in lower Manhattan and folks watched the horrors of Sept 11 from our windows as our view of the towers collapsed in the background. We were closed for a week and returning was like coming into a war zone. Ironically, I was home for a long overdue vacation so was not at work September 11th but watched the horror on television.

What else is there? Guess I can thank those of you who hit me in hockey and lacrosse for contributing to 2 separated shoulders, 1 left hip osteotomy (for you medical types) and a left and right hip replacement. The hip work was all done at Brigham & Womens' Hospital in Boston which I have learned is the bailiwick of Andy Whittemore. I sing its praises and those of my orthopedic surgeon who Andy informed me has now retired. Andy has promised a good referral.

The other relevant "what else" of my world has been the family's love of Vermont in the summer, sailing on Lake Champlain and swimming with Champ, (Lake Champlain's version of the Loch Ness monster and local folklore). Woodworking is the final "what else" which I have enjoyed in the past and I dream I will someday soon enjoy again. If, together with all of your bios, there is not enough here for a good conversation, I'll try harder in the next 40 years. Look forward to the reunion.