use your browser back button to return

email from Nona Emery sent 10/28/07

Subject: Re: website

Hi Bill,

The reason I have been slow in responding is that my computer died- Clyde loves analyzing and correcting computers- but at the present time I am unable to email photos etc. Will do so soon.

I am real curious about the photo of the shark on my HGH site. What does it mean? Am I the shark? Is someone else the shark? Who sent it? (Editor's note.  The shark, no longer on Nona's web page, was meant to illustrate the difficulty involved in getting some patients to say aah.)

I am loving viewing the daily update on the reunion photos. Jane and I are frequently communicating- she is the only person I have kept in contact with all these years. I remember her the first day of kindergarten- waiting "all by herself" at the bus stop and totally concerned that the bus driver would drive away without waiting for Janet McNeal who evidently was late. Jane was always a good friend- totally risk-taking and enthusiastic and a good person to tag along with. One time when we were only twelve we went into the " City" alone- in high heels, eventually ending up barefoot, and having dinner at "Mama Leone's" where the violinist played for us and we went out of control with laughter. She and I and
Donald Murphy spent many adolescent summer days at the Seven Bridges Field Club just "shooting the bull" and being basically bored.

My eldest of four boys lives in West Harrison so I frequently re-visit Chappaqua. My 10-yo granddaughter played soccer while we were there recently at a Seven Bridges School field. No more dirt roads or abandoned 19th century school houses etc. But the basic feeling is still the same, don't you think?

You and your wife seem to be having a great life together in a great retirement spot. Do you have grandchildren? I would love to visit. I am really fascinated by you and people like Debbie Wedgewood and Judy Fay who have led such "unconventional lives"- raising pigs, space research and all that. And Claire Grant the machinist?

Everyone's life is really interesting- I am so disappointed not to have been at the re-union. You have been really great at helping people to come back together.

My life- conventional but like everyone else's with good and bad and unexpected. I am really enjoying the last part of my life with my husband of 40 plus years. We have four sons, three granddaughters, three grandsons. We have a virtual clan, two sons live in Del Mar California, one 10 minutes from us and one near Chappaqua. No family feuds. We lived in Bangkok during the Vietnam era and traveled a lot then. The bulk of our mid life here in LA raising the family. Love to travel- Turkey, Chile and Argentina, Borneo, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma last year, Scandanavia, this year the Balkans.

I am still working and have the most wonderful patients with interesting lives. I have a flexible schedule and can spend most afternoons home. I love to cook. Have been struggling with the piano for thirty some years now- love to read, walk and swim and argue. Hate Bush. Ambivalent about Hillary (from my alma mater) and generally distrust all politicians and generals. Don't like laws and regulations- but recognize we need them. I have been accused by my sister of being opinionated.

We live in a condo right on the Pacific Coast, view of Catalina Island, not far from the L Harbor. LA is quite a place, not comfortable, or peaceful, but where it's all at. We have a peaceful spot. I never would have imagined I would have ended up here- being a "camp-follower" has its advantages.

Jane reminded me that you were part of the "physics group"- I think I remember you, John Volkhausen etc after school with Mr. Barlow (PhD) trying to change our grades. John was always convinced that he was really the salutatorian (is that the spelling for second fiddle)- not me- which was probably correct. My last academic memory is sitting in the gym taking the state exams and feeling totally out of control and sweating it out on the solid geometry section-like my life was threatened.

What I love about getting old is you don't have to spend too much time on appearances, success, expectations. It seems all of a sudden I can understand so much more (maybe even solid geometry). The world becomes so much more interesting, puzzling, and exciting. My grandchildren are so great to me and Clyde- two of them age 6 and 3 we see several times a week- they keep us connected in a big way. Nona