Hometown? Belleville, Michigan, a small town about 30 miles west of Detroit.

When did you become a member of UMRA? As soon as I was eligible! In 2016.

What was your very first job? When I was 16, I was hired as a waitress at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on the shore of Belleville Lake. The restaurant was in a building that also housed a shoe store, a teenage nightclub, and a marina. Any day at that job might include waiting tables, packing buckets and barrels of chicken, selling shoes, cleaning the nightclub, or pumping gas for boats. (We washed our hands frequently.)

What was your occupation when you retired from FT work? Director of the Parent Program in the Office for Student Affairs—working with parents of undergraduate students.

Where were you in 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon? I watched the moon landing in my boyfriend’s apartment in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with all my roommates and all his roommates. 

If you could learn a new skill, what would you like it to be? Last fall my son refurbished a dulcimer for me, and I’ve been trying to learn to play it. I’m a terrible musician, but it’s a beautiful instrument, and it has a lovely tone.

Do you have a favorite place on the U of M campus? The Horticultural Display Gardens on the St. Paul campus provide a quiet and peaceful block of color, and they are a great place to get ideas for my garden. 

What is a fun fact about you we might not know? The first house my husband and I bought was a one-room schoolhouse in Allegan, Michigan, that had been unused for about 20 years. We bought it on a sealed auction for $1,812 (bid number inspired by the war and the overture). It came complete with a flagpole and a hitching post in front of the building and blackboards on the walls. In the spring, the entire perimeter of the property bloomed with tulips and daffodils planted by generations of children. Many of those former students stopped by to tell us their stories of attending the school.

What is something you currently enjoy doing with your time? After a lifetime of working at jobs related to the humanities, I am embracing retirement as a chance to be a “citizen scientist.” I signed up for the U of M Extension’s Master Naturalist course (like becoming a master gardener, only “woodsier”). Continuing certification requires 40 hours of volunteer service annually. Among my volunteer projects are monitoring bluebird nests and participating in a wetlands health evaluation project.