Wow! Great bios so far. I really enjoyed reading them. My son, Michael, suggested I lie to make mine more interesting, so I apologize in advance if mine isn't among the great ones.

Right after graduation Marian Schneid and I entered Elmira College in upstate NY as roommates. Jane Asbury was also a classmate there. Good school, but b-r-r, cold morning classes.

After 2 years, I left Elmira to marry my honey, Bernie, and enrolled at Jersey City State just two days after our wedding. I was somewhat of any oddity at school, apparently having chosen to spend my honeymoon there (Can you say "belated honeymoon"?). I graduated in 1960 with a BA in Education and got a job teaching 6th grade in West New York, NJ (a very poor area). I loved this job! The children were so excited to have a young teacher (most of the faculty was over 45) that I had to force them to go home at the end of the day.

In 1962 I left teaching to start our family. Marci was born in Oct. of that year and Craig in 1964. I enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom for 8 years. In 1966 we moved from NJ to Orlando, FL to be closer to my parents. Surprise! Michael was born in 1970 and, regretfully, I went back to work. To this day, he still uses the guilt card with me (very effective on a Jewish mother). In 1978, after several years of night and summer school, I earned my M.Ed.

I retired in May, 2001, after teaching 31 years in Orlando. We then moved to Atlanta, GA, to be near our children and two grandchildren--Jenna 2 1/2 and Seth 15 mos. (Marci's offspring). Being a mom with young children was challenging because Bernie worked long hours, but being a grandma is pure JOY! I can hardly wait to bore everyone with stories.

Bernie and I like to travel. We've been to Israel (when it was much safer), Mexico, Canada, and have a time share in North Carolina which we've traded for locations in many other states.

I'm so excited about this reunion. It's been 17 years since I've seen most of you (I was only able to attend our 30th). Sadly, our numbers are dwindling, so STAY WELL everyone.

Gayle Zeidwig Ollanove

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