I have retired from endless boardmanships--still active with the Junior League in Buffalo (where it does NOT snow every day) and in Sarasota, FL. Tom has shut down his businesses, but persists in teaching college math. He spends half of the winter in Florida with me. We were knighted by Cardinal O'Connor in St. Patrick's Cathedral just before he died--very moving. We travel as much as we are able--Bavaria last summer. Our pharmacist daughter, Eileen, is married to a high school principal with two children, Thomas, age 8 (in the school's gifted program and doesn't take after his grandma) and Kelley, age 5.
In 1992, I was wondering if I was going to "survive" daughters Aimee and Adrienne who were both teenagers; ten years later, I am pleased to report that we've all survived each other. Audra Strange, the oldest by 5 years, has graduated from Saint Louis University and very self-sufficient, is now a senior business manager for a major drug firm in St. Louis County, MO; Aimee, another Saint Louis University grad, is a middle school Mathematics/Social Studies teacher in Clayton, MO; and Adrienne, a graduate of Regis University in Denver, CO, is a technical writer for an environmental consulting firm in San Diego, CA (St. Louis is just TOO conservative for her!) They are witty, brigiht, socially conscious young women, each with a distinctive personality, and the Burke and Beeson families are extremely proud of them. My mom, who lived with me the last year of her life, died in 1994. Despite her age, she was still the best bargain shopper I ever met! On a Sunday morning in September 1999, on my way back to LaGuardia after a weekend in Connecticut, I visited the CNR campus for the first time since graduation. Now that was CULTURE SHOCK!
In August of 2000, I retired from Harris-Stowe State College, St. Louis, MO, after 31 years as an Instructor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education, Chairperson of the Mathematics Department, and Director of Admissions and Academic Advisement. Additionally, I was the College's Faculty Athletics Representative, responsible for certifying athletes' eligibility to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Since retiremennt, I continue to work on special projects for the HSSC President and by serving as the American Midwest Conference Eligibility Chair and as a member of the NAIA National Eligibility Committee. In March of this year, at the NAIA Convention, I was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame, Meritorious Service Category. A truly humbling experience!
While I don't miss working 60+ hours a week, I do miss daily interactions with students, and have been amazed at those who keep in touch by phone calls, eMails, etc. My health is great, my hair is gray/blond and the light of my life is my 2 year old granddaughter--we have the best times together!
In 1992, I was still a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, living in LA, and liking it very much. However, the Times offered a buyout that November and Clinton was elected. Thus, after 12 1/2 years, I took the buyout, left the paper and came to Washington to try to get a job in the new Administration. It took time, but in August 1993, I went to work for the State Department, first as a speechwriter for the Deputy Secretary, Clifton Wharton. No sooner did I get there than he left, in November.
Luckily, the US was preparing to participate in the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and needed help. I had covered the previous1985 UN Women's Conference in Nairobi for the LA Times, and had written about a lot of the issues, so I worked full time on the CHina Women's Conference, first in preparation and later, after we came back from Beijing, on follow-up.
I worked at the State Department full time until 1998 when I became a consultant. I accepted a six-month annual contract with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, evaluating nominees for outstanding humanitarian work, which I've loved doing. It's a lot of travel, some of it not too glamorous, but life-affirming. And certainly interesting! Also, I continued to work for the State Department on a consultant basis until the end of the Clinton administration and since then, have taken on a number of other short-term contracts. When I'm in Washington, I work out of my home, which I love. I bought a house in Canandaigua in upstate New York which I currently rent out, but tell myself I will someday live in. Who knows. Sorry, there isn't space to describe my numerous hobbies. (Those of you who know me, know this to be a joke.)
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