PART ONE, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, AND COLLEGE

Well, here I am moving closer and closer to the end of my days. How do I know this? Well, I know that I turned seventy-four on my last birthday, on May 24^th. 2025. I remember so well when my mother turned seventy-seven. Because that was the year she passed away. My dear father had passed the year before. He died of lung cancer. He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. They were Pall Malls. I remember this because he usually gave me the money to go to the store, which was several blocks away from our home, to buy him a pack. Back in the day, the store owners didn’t question children about their purchases. They just took the money and handed you whatever it was you just paid for. They probably don’t do that now. But, back in the day, that’s how things worked. At the time, I didn’t know that smoking caused cancer.

But when my father developed lung cancer when he was sixty-seven, I guess I made the connection—smoking/ Cancer. My mother smoked as well, but not as heavily as my father did. My mother died of congestive heart failure when she was seventy-six, a year after my father.

I have congestive heart failure as well. I started showing symptoms in my early fifties. I made an appointment with a cardiologist very soon after I started having shortness of breath. It is a gene that is passed down to progeny. I was diagnosed at fifty-two with heart failure. But here I am, seventy-four. And generally I feel fine. I have t take six pills a day for my heart. And a handful of vitamins too. And I think well overall. I go to the heart doctor once a year for a check-up. My health is good overall. I have been a vegetarian for forty years, never drank, never smoked. So, all in all, I don’t have anything to complain about. I just take one day at a time.

As I reflect on my life, I feel overall that I am satisfied. Generally, I made good choices. I got married in 1974, when I was twenty-three. I married my best girlfriend’s cousin. And here we are now, retired and living in North Carolina for the past nine years. We have been married for fifty-one years. That is a long time, and we have had our ups and downs. But, still here we are in the nader of our years.

We also lived in California, where Bob attended Brooks Institute for Photography. We lived there for almost four years. California is a beautiful place to live. I worked at St.Vincent’s School as a counselor working with mentally handicapped teenagers. I have to admit that working there was the best experience I have ever had. I came to love those girls who were ages twelve to about sixteen, with all my heart. It was a great experience. It was hard for me to say goodbye to them when Bob completed his education and graduated.

After Bob graduated, we decided to move back to New Jersey, as there were more job opportunities in the Northeast. We pack up all our worldly belongings. And headed back to New Jersey. We ended up living with my parent for almost a year until we had the means to purchase a home of our own after Bob found employment. Unfortunately, it turned out there wasn’t a lot of need for photographers. And Bob eventually found a job in electronics at GE in Camden, NJ.

Meanwhile, we started looking for an affordable home in South Jersey. We found a home in Pennsauken, New Jersey, which was about a twenty-minute drive from my parents. It was a vast and expensive home. But it was ours. And we put a lot of work into it, inside and out. We lived there for fourteen years. During that time, we started our family and had two daughters, Jeanette and Bridget, three years apart. They are now in their early forties.

When I was thirty-six, I decided that I wanted to go to college, since both of my kids were in school. And I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college after high school. I got a job right out of high school working as a dental assistant for Dr. Edward G. Wozinak. He trained me to be a chairside assistant, and I worked there for five years. I applied to all the art schools in the Philadelphia area. And after they looked at my resume and my artwork, I was accepted at all the schools. Temple University offered me financial assistance, and I went for it. I was the oldest Freshman at Temple that year. I was as old as or older than some of the professors. Well, I won’t lie. It was a struggle to go to college full-time with two little kids. Nonetheless, I did it. I graduated Magna cum Laude when I was forty-one years old. It was hard, but it was the best choice I ever made.
I learned a whole lot while I attended Temple. And I graduated magnum cum laude (Great with Honors) I graduated with teaching credentials and a BFA Art Degree at the top of my class. It was hard work going to college full-time and taking care of two young children, a house, and a yard. Not to mention the hours and hours I spent studying for my classes and writing papers. Nonetheless, I graduated at the top of my class, and my younger fellow students gave me a standing ovation when my name was called out at graduation. My family came to my graduation. It was a great day, and I felt some relief, but I was proud of myself for not giving up. And succeeding at my goal and achieving it.

PART ONE, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, AND COLLEGE

Well, here I am moving closer and closer to the end of my days. How do I know this? Well, I know that I turned seventy-four on my last birthday, on May 24^th. 2025. I remember so well when my mother turned seventy-seven. Because that was the year she passed away. My dear father had passed the year before. He died of lung cancer. He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. They were Pall Malls. I remember this because he usually gave me the money to go to the store, which was several blocks away from our home, to buy him a pack. Back in the day, the store owners didn’t question children about their purchases. They just took the money and handed you whatever it was you just paid for. They probably don’t do that now. But, back in the day, that’s how things worked. At the time, I didn’t know that smoking caused cancer.

But when my father developed lung cancer when he was sixty-seven, I guess I made the connection—smoking/ Cancer. My mother smoked as well but not has heavily as my father did. My mother died of congestive heart failure when she was seventy-six, a year after my father.

I have congestive heart failure as well. I started showing symptoms in my early fifties. I made an appointment with a cardiologist very soon after I started having shortness of breath. It is a gene that is passed down to progeny. I was diagnosed at fifty-two with heart failure. But here I am, seventy-four. And generally I feel fine. I have t take six pills a day for my heart. And a handful of vitamins too. And I think well overall. I go to the heart doctor once a year for a check-up. My health is good overall. I have been a vegetarian for forty years, never drank, never smoked. So, all in all, I don’t have anything to complain about. I just take one day at a time.

As I reflect on my life, I feel overall that I am satisfied. Generally, I made good choices. I got married in 1974, when I was twenty-three. I married my best girlfriend’s cousin. And here we are now, retired and living in North Carolina for the past nine years. We have been married for fifty-one years. That is a long time, and we have had our ups and downs. But, still here we are in the nader of our years.

We also lived in California, where Bob attended Brooks Institute for Photography. We lived there for almost four years. California is a beautiful place to live. I worked at St.Vincent’s School as a counselor working with mentally handicapped teenagers. I have to admit that working there was the best experience I have ever had. I came to love those girls who were ages twelve to about sixteen, with all my heart. It was a great experience. It was hard for me to say goodbye to them when Bob completed his education and graduated.

After Bob graduated, we decided to move back to New Jersey, as there were more job opportunities in the Northeast. We pack up all our worldly belongings. And headed back to New Jersey. We ended up living with my parent for almost a year until we had the means to purchase a home of our own after Bob found employment. Unfortunately, it turned out there wasn’t a lot of need for photographers. And Bob eventually found a job in electronics at GE in Camden, NJ.

Meanwhile, we started looking for an affordable home in South Jersey. We found a home in Pennsauken, New Jersey, which was about a twenty-minute drive from my parents. It was a huge or expensive home. But it was ours. And we put a lot of work into it, inside and out. We lived there for fourteen years. During that time, we started our family and had two daughters, Jeanette and Bridget, three years apart. They are now in their early forties.

When I was thirty-six, I decided that I wanted to go to college, since both of my kids were in school. And I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college after high school. I got a job right out of high school working as a dental assistant for Dr. Edward G. Wozinak. He trained me to be a chairside assistant, and I worked there for five years. I applied to all the art schools in the Philadelphia area. And after they looked at my resume and my artwork, I was accepted at all the schools. Temple University offered me financial assistance, and I went for it. I was the oldest Freshman at Temple that year. I was as old as or older than some of the professors. Well, I won’t lie. It was a struggle to go to college full-time with two little kids. Nonetheless, I did it. I graduated Magna cum Laude when I was forty-one years old. It was hard, but it was the best choice I ever made.
I learned a whole lot while I attended Temple. And I graduated magnum cum laude (Great with Honors). I graduated with teaching credentials and a BFA Art Degree at the top of my class. It was hard work going to college full-time and taking care of two young children, a house, and a yard. Not to mention the hours and hours I spent studying for my classes and writing papers.  I graduated at the top of my class, and my younger fellow students gave me a standing ovation when my name was called out at graduation. My family came to my graduation. It was a great day, and I felt some relief, but I was proud of myself for not giving up and achieving my goal.