Read Brief Bios

It is a problem to be brief because I have had a most interesting and varied life since I left Mac but will try to "hit the high spots".

I never married; my first job was the YWCA (’58-’63) of Minneapolis working with young high school women in a program called Y-Teens. Then I became a Volunteer Director at Abbott Hospital for five years (’63-’68) where I recruited, supervised and trained 150 women and men for volunteer service in the hospital. My boss, Robert Miller, asked me to set up a Community Relations Department for the hospital and sent me to a three-day seminar in Chicago to learn all about Public Relations. I learned how to write a press release and how to produce a newsletter (thank you Pat Kane, Millie Schickler and Roger Blakely). After organizing the department for Abbott, we merged with Northwestern Hospital and so I did community relations for both institutions.

I got interested in local politics in 1976 and ran for City Council. I lost but tried again and got elected from the 10th ward of Minneapolis. Served that district form 1978-1983. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to do good and change things that need changing. I thought I would stay in Politics for 10 years but quit after six (I was getting close to 50 and knew I needed to look for a job while still "young"). Landed a job at the University of Minnesota setting up a Public Relations Office for the Academic Health Center; my clients were the hospital, medical school, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health and vet medicine. It was a wonderful job, full of challenge and excitement (remember Jamie Fisk and her liver transplant?). I worked there from 1983-1995, retired and began the current chapter.

In 1998, a friend invited me to spend a month in Greece. She and her husband had bought and renovated an old house in a beautiful valley near Vivari on the Peloponissos. After I retired I missed the stress of running a busy office and having several balloons in the air at the same time. So, when I got to Greece and enjoyed it a lot, it occurred to me that if I could find five other like-minded people to invest a small amount of money we could buy an old house and fix it up. With the help of my friends who connected me with a builder and a lawyer I came home and made a few calls. The result was two, three-bedroom houses build new in Lefkakia (near Nafplio) on the Peloponissos. Also, trust me, I don't need anymore stress! It's a time-share with 22 partners — we use it six months and rent it enough to pay our expenses.

For the last 35 years I have been spending time in the winter in Mexico. When I retired, I rented a large house with house staff and pool in Acapulco. I couldn't afford to do it by myself (same as Greece) so I invited friends to join me and charged them a fee for the week and their share of the food, cooked by our chef. It has been wonderful to be away from winter for three months.

I don't do guilt, but try to give back to the community by serving on several boards including Presbyterian Homes of Minnesota, Hospice of the Twin Cities, and Minnesota Visiting Nurse Association. I do some volunteer work with the retired employees group at the University and committee work for a couple of local artists.

I still play tennis a couple of times a week, live in a condo, and exercise as often as possible but am still ten pounds too much.