Soon after I graduated from Chatham College, Chris Jernstedt and I married. We lived in Baltimore in Johns Hopkins housing while I attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work and worked with unwed mothers and TB patients at City Hospital in Baltimore. That job was a very significant life experience for me.
Our first daughter was born in Baltimore, and we moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, where our younger daughter was born two years later. While our daughters were young, I enjoyed singing with choral groups at Dartmouth College, a variety of community volunteer activities, and research assisting.
Over the years, I found that I was drawn to teaching, and teaching brain science in the psychology department at Dartmouth College was a gratifying experience for Chris, so we have remained in Hanover and plan to stay here in retirement.
My most recent teaching position was for twenty-five years in the town of Hanover with kindergarten and first grade students. I found music to be a wonderful vehicle for teaching reading and building community. I learned to play the guitar just well enough to support young voices with all of the seasonal and animal songs we could think of. ("Mr. Sun" was one of my favorites.) I loved every bit of my time with the children, their parents, and my colleagues at the Ray School. I retired two years ago from that teaching. I now coordinate and sing with the Evergreen Singers, a group of twenty-five hospice singers here in the Upper Connecticut River Valley.
We enjoy spending time with our family and especially holding camp for our grandson, Aidan, each summer, hosting alumni trips for the College, and catching up with the outdoor world around us.
We enjoyed seeing so many of you at this recent reunion, and we encourage you to call when you may think of heading our way.