I was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on Christmas Day 1945. I went to elementary school at PS 23. That school is now called the Mahatma Gandi school because of many continental Indians living there. In 1955, my father worked on the Erie Railroad which went through Port Jervis.  So, my family moved to Port Jervis, New York when I was ten years old. I graduated from Port Jervis High School in 1964. I attended Orange County Community College and graduated with an AA degree in History. I transferred to the State University of New York's campus at Brockport. I married Eva Hipsman in 1969. Eve and I secured teaching jobs in Georgetown, NY. Eve taught kindergarten and I taught Social Studies grades 7-12. When Eve and I found out at the end of the school year that both of our jobs were done away with for the next year that is when we also discovered Eve was pregnant with our daughter Aimee. We moved to Syracuse, New York and did substitute teaching and other part time jobs to keep us afloat. We moved back to Port Jervis with the hope of landing another teaching job. I did a lot of substitute teaching but could not connect with a job. Eve found a job with the Middletown School District, and I found a job with New York State at Wassaic Developmental Center. Wassaic was about 80 miles away and round trip it was 160 miles. I transferred to the Middletown Unit of Letchworth Developmental Center. That unit closed and I had to go down to Theills, NY just off the Palisades Parkway. I was laid off from Letchworth in 1988 and began working for Rockland Psychiatric Center for a year and then was hired by Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center working in Peekskill, NY. Harlem Valley closed in 1993 and I was transferred to Rockland Psychiatric Center but still worked in Peekskill. In 1996 I was transferred to the In-Patient Services of Rockland as the Supervisor of the Work for Pay Program. In 1999 I was hired by RPC's Computer department as a Helpdesk Analyst. I retired from NYS in 2004 after 30 years of working for New York State. For the first six months after retirement, I volunteered at a local soup kitchen. I applied for a teaching assistant position at Pine Bush High School in December of 2004 and was hired. I worked for over seven years in that position. I had been working with students in the High Schools Library and helping the High school teachers with their computer problems. I really enjoyed this work. It kept me very busy, and the days went very quickly. I have completed several of the projects that I planned to work on in retirement. I have been enjoying myself in “semi” retirement. I really hate the term retirement. I have decided to become fully retired and left my position at Pine Bush high school as a teaching assistant. My new adventure is volunteering as a computer instructor at the Middletown Senior Center. I have now been volunteering at Mulberry House Senior center for over twelve years. As of 2024,

      I was elected President of the Chapter 9 Public Employee's Federation Retirees representing over 1, 700 NYS professional retired employees. I he lp put together four luncheon meetings a year with approximately eighty in attendance at each meeting. A few years ago, we had over 100 in attendance. I also attend four Statewide Chapter Presidents meetings each year and one of which usually aligns with the active PEF Members annual Convention.

     I have been working on my Family Tree for almost three decades and have run into many family mysteries in my searches. I will be turning 79 this year so I am getting close to that magic 80 mark.