Hello!
December 2004
We are pleased to be sending our combined 2003 & 2004 letter.
We started a letter a year ago, but lost it sometime during the spring.
Helen
& Lee celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year by
first attending our church’s Family Camp and then touring Yellowstone & the
Grand Teton
National Parks
.
Sadly, Julia, Helen’s mom, died in early 2003
following a brief illness compounded by knee replacement surgery about four
weeks earlier. We spent New Years
with Julia in
Yosemite
, and then Helen was able to be with her for her first week of recovery from the
knee surgery.
Paul
Paul graduated from high school in June, and entered
Pomona
College
this fall. At the new student
orientation, the College Dean
donned a pair of Mickey Mouse ears saying “Welcome to the happiest college on
earth” (US News & World Report’s
recent ranking). Based on visits in
October, and then his returning to
Oakland
for Thanksgiving, Paul is adapting wonderfully to his new life.
However Yoda, Paul’s cat, is not the happiest cat on earth.
She reports that snuggling with Helen or being brushed by Lee is just not
a fair replacement for her “boy.” And
Lee’s
Hartford
based coworkers and bosses are starting to ask about the strange, purring and
love-forlorn yowling during Lee’s long hours of phone meetings.
At
Pomona
, Paul splits his time between seeking the perfect dining hall, working at the
computer center on Linux projects, watching Netflix movies, serving as the
dorm’s informal calculus and computers expert, and occasionally studying.
Karen
Karen graduated from
Wellesley
in June 2003, and moved to
Brooklyn
,
NY
where she shares the third floor of a row house on a quiet residential street
with trees. She is now in her second
year as a physics teacher at
Saint Ann
’s School. She teaches two
sections of sixth graders and two of high school juniors and seniors.
Her classes include Physical Science (for the 6th graders),
Physics for Poets, and traditional physics.
Karen, now car-less, is taking full advantage of
New York
. She is a wiz at the subways and
buses; loves to explore ethnic food and chocolate boutiques; and generally feels
at home. In addition to playing
volleyball on two teams, she has taken up softball.
Helen
Helen remains incredibly busy. She
is one of two Vice President (there continues to be no President)
of the League of Woman Voters of Oakland. She
is on the governing body of our church, and recently was appointed as chair of
the church’s building design committee, working on plans for seismic
retrofitting and significant accompanying renovation.
Helen continues as a foster parent for the SPCA.
She cares for orphan kittens from around 4 weeks old until they weigh two
pounds and are old enough to be neutered and placed for permanent adoption.
Currently we have two lovely kittens, Andy & Annie.
They will enjoy Christmas with the four of us plus Lee’s parents.
Lee
Lee continues to split his
time between
Hartford
and a home office. When in
Oakland
, his day
routinely starts with chairing a meeting of 30+ people at
9am eastern time (6am
his time). He describes his life as
working on east coast time in the morning, and then living on west coast time
with his family in the evening. He
regularly complains of sleep deprivation.
In his spare time, Lee continues to enjoy photography and is busy planning new
expeditions. Other times, he is
considering joining the Slow Life Movement.
To stay out of trouble, he is reading a 700+ page tome on Molecular
Biology.
Déjà vu
Karen described her recent election experience as “the candidates I vote for
don’t seem to win” – seems like the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Hopefully, this too will pass.
Yours in peace,
Lee & Helen
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last updated 2004-12-27