Well, I guess the place to start is in the beginning like all of the rest of you did! Or maybe it’s at the end – of high school. Whichever..I left HHS and went to Hood College in Frederick Md with Barbara Olsen, Mary Ann Brush and Margaret Cederholm. It was a great four years and a really solid education. I have leaned on it more than once!

Right after graduation I married Fred Allsopp, a man I had met 2 years prior in Little Rock. He was a native Floridian so of course that’s where we lived. And boy did I get sand in my shoes – have been here in Central Florida ever since so it really seems like home.

I taught ninth grade for a year and then our 2 boys came along – Chip (Now an OT professor at Princeton Theological Seminary) and Dave (now an insuranceClaims Adjuster). They are both married to great gals and Chip has 2 sons – both are delights, of course. Fred and I moved several times around Central Florida, always in jobs related to citrus. In 1968 I retuned to teaching Jr. Hi and decided that if this was going to be a career path, I needed a Masters degree. Got that and got a job at the local Community College in Winter Haven where I really found my niche. Later I received my PhD from Florida State (although I always root for the Gators!)

I spent 21 years at the College doing all sorts of neat stuff ranging from teaching Humanities and Fine Arts to working with Business and Industry and directing an Institute of Government and Continuing Education. Sadly Fred died of lung cancer in 1988. Several years later I met a man from Bartow, a little town 11 miles from Winter Haven, who was making up at my Rotary Club. One thing led to the obvious, and we have now been married nearly 11 years. Ernest Smith is a gentle, gentle man and an incredible human being. God smiled on me the day we met. I am more retired than he is - he has a Ford dealership in town and goes to work every day – though the afternoons are pretty much ours.

We travel a good deal and enjoy our five children. We are both Elders in the Presbyterian Church, Rotarians, tennis players and on several boards ..so we’re busy and loving it! I am most blessed and realize more than ever that every day is a precious gift. Bartow is a little out of the way (thank goodness) but if you are ever in Central Fl give us a call. We are right next door to Cypress Gardens and just 40 minutes from Disney. We’d love to hear from you and the guest rooms are waiting...Be of good cheer –

Ginger