Matthew, me, Tom, Megan, and Jim --2002
Our five grandchildren
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Education: University of Michigan,
University of Illinois 1968 BSN University of Michigan 1979 MS University of Rochester Nurse Practitioner certification Marriages: Jim Ayers 1966 (divorced--thank goodness--1976) Tom Herceg 1979 Children: Jim 1970 sales rep in MA divorced 2011 3 children Matt 1973 geologist in NY married 2002 2 children Megan 1983 orthopedic resident at Vanderbilt married 2009 Lived in many states--MI, IL, IN, PA, NY, OR, and currently in NH (live free or die) Last job as an NP with Kaiser Permanente in OR. Currently contemplating retirement!!! Tom is 7 years younger and still working. Would like to find a fun part time job--probably not in medicine. We love being back on the East Coast and closer to our children and grand-children. Oregon was rather whacky! My folks have died (2006 and 2009). Tom and I have both had cancer--Tom--colon cancer 2006 and breast cancer for me in 2008. So far we are survivors and hope to stay that way! I haven't been back to Plymouth in years. My folks moved to Florida following retirement. I've seen pictures of Irvin St houses--can't believe how everything has changed. Tom and I spent more years in Pittsford, NY than we had in our hometowns in Michigan. So consider ourselves New Yorkers. I do follow University of Michigan football and Tom is a graduate of Michigan State!!! Makes for an interesting Fall rivalry. "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." ---Lewis Carroll |
50 Years in a Nutshell:
I retired 3 years ago from teaching Special Education at Lincoln High School in Ypsilanti Michigan. I taught 31 years with some great kids and staff and still miss it. I am called in to school still to do testing on autistic kids so that keeps me in the teaching field still. Work and teaching experiences. 1964-68: I attended Eastern Mich. University where I graduated with a Special Education degree in Mental Impairment, worked at the Ann Arbor Juvenile Detention Facility evening hours. 1970-74: Special Education Teacher for Northville Public Schools. Evening hours I taught at Northville State Hospital. 1975 -82: Special Education Teacher at Monroe High School and the Monroe Juvenile Detention Facility - evening classes at E.M.U. for my second degree in Special Education for the Emotionally Impaired / Learning Disabled. 1983-85: Worked for the State of Michigan at the Ypsilanti State Hospital where I was a patient advisor for the Mentally/Criminally Insane. 1986-09: Special Ed. Teacher for Lincoln Consolidated Schools where I taught at the high school with various disabilities of special ed. students. I finally earned my EdD in Administration when I turned 50. Retired in 2009. Probably the most challenging experience for me over the years was working with the criminally insane at Ypsi. State Hospital. This was like stepping into a totally different world. Each day I would go in to work I was checked to make sure no weapons or items ( pencils, pens, bobby pins,any items you might wear in your hair, all jewelry had to be removed, you were requested, to wear shoes with no laces or ties, no belts or they had to be taken off on entering that part of the facility. I took any notes on a recorder which after speaking to the inmates ( WHICH WERE BEHIND VERY LOCKED DOORS) had to be played to a State Police Officer before I was allowed to take it with me. I also had one of the male attendants with me each day during the time I spoke with the inmates. These guys were usually quite muscular in stature and hired by the state mainly as a body guard for whoever went in the back to see the inmates. I traveled to Mexico once. That’s about it for travel. Most of my time was spent teaching, with family and friends, with student enrollment into Washtenaw Community College, teaching at night at the college [GED program] and educational seminars. Doesn't sound real exciting, but I loved all of it. I have a wonderful family and friends that I spend more time with now that I am retired and I still manage to keep my foot in the door of education by testing kids. I hope to see everyone in 2014 at the reunion. |
My wife of 37 years, Susan, and I are downsizing. We recently unloaded 1000 pounds (literally!) of books… but saved the 1964 Plythean. Looking through it removed the overlay of 50 years and got me excited about next year’s reunion. Also motivating me was the 34 pictures of the deceased. I feel like I dodged a bullet.
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Chuck and Susan Ruge
37th Wedding Anniversary – Desenzano del Garda, Italy |
The Ruge Clan - North Carolina beach in June, 2012
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For me, the past 50 years look like this:
College at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois U. S. Air Force 1969 Married - 1975 Son Stephen - 1979 Springfield, Illinois Daughter Elizabeth – 1982 RAF Lakenheath, England Son James – 1985 Torrejon Air Base, Spain Air Force retirement – 1992 Langley AFB, Virginia (Still here after 23 years.) |