Paula (Barbuto) & David Carlson

 (Editor's Note.  The following was received from Paula & Dave on 07/15/07)

We are so looking forward to the BIG reunion (especially Paula who missed our 40th due to a flu bug).

We are at our cottage in Ocean Park, Maine for the summer and have just started our annual family reunion.  Our daughters, Pam and Bonnie, and their collective five children 6-11 years old are with us for most of the summer.  Our sons-in-law Bill and Tom are here on the weekends. For these next two weeks, our son Craig, his wife Alison and their 3 children ages 4,5, and 7 join us from Santa Barbara, CA. and our cottage is more than full with the 16 of us.  Paula’s sister, Dee (class of ’55) and her husband Don have a cottage minutes away and their children, spouses and 5 grandchildren will also be there as well.  We wish for days filled with sunshine for boating and fishing and long days on the beach (only snow would keep us cottage -bound with that many children).  Our children and Dee’s spent every summer in Maine when they were growing up and now they all plan their schedules to be together for the MAINE EVENT.

Paula joined Dave in retirement in 2001.  Her focus had been literacy throughout her career.  She gained experience teaching across many grade levels and ages – first grade through graduate school and spent the last ten years of her career as a literacy specialist for the town of Westborough, MA and adjunct faculty for Wheelock College in Boston. After retiring from a full-time position, she continued teaching for Wheelock’s off-campus weekend graduate program until 2005.

Our home is still in Westborough, 30 miles from Boston, but our neighbors consider it an event when we are there.  We both have always enjoyed travel and are fortunate to have long-time friends who enjoy taking turns planning month long trips with us. Our latest trips were a month in Greece and Turkey last fall and Norway and Sweden last month. We traded skis for golf clubs long ago and spend several winter months in Florida’s warmth every year. We used to be in Delray but our friends drew us to Naples and we have enjoyed exploring the area for the last few years.  And of course we are drawn to Craig and  family in California and so spend about 6 weeks split between fall and spring in Santa Barbara.

When we are home, Dave continues his woodworking, his latest a table that expands to 13 ft. for our cottage to accommodate our crew. He also bikes both at home, in Florida, Maine and in the hills of California. Dave and his brother Ron (class of ’52) have participated in Bike NY a number of times. Paula and Dee also travel together and enjoy attending ballet in New York. Paula is involved with friends, daughters and grandchildren (East coast grandchildren live in Bolton, MA and Concord, NH) and planning and plotting the next adventure with family and friends. Her last big project was designing the expansion of the Maine cottage to accommodate our brood.  Dave’s love of working with wood is evident throughout the new construction as he did all of the finish work himself.  We spend hours at soccer, hockey, baseball, gymnastics and dance with our eight budding stars. We also enjoy taking them individually to museums, theater, sports and ballet.  We have also committed to taking each one at age eleven on a special trip. Abigail, our first to turn eleven chose Paris and we spent 12 wonderful days with her there.

Can't wait to see everyone at our fiftieth!

1997 recap. Dave retired from Polaroid after 32 years. Paula teaches at Westboro Schools as a Reading Specialist working with grades 1-3. Her greatest joy is helping children with reading difficulties. Dave is into woodworking and makes toasting goblets, humidors, and brandy snifters out of exotic woods. He plans to bike across the USA in 2000 with his brother and a friend.

1982 recap. Dave graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Paula from Syracuse University. Dave continued to graduate school at WPI for his MS ('63) . Paula taught 2 years, retired to raise a family, and returned to teaching in '73. They have 3 children, Craig, Pam, and Bonnie. They have been living in Westborough, MA since '63 and have a summer cottage in Ocean park. Dave plays tennis and bikes. In the summer of '81 Dave and Craig biked 500 miles through Nova Scotia in one week.