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Don and I are both retired educators. I taught pre-school through 12th. grade age students during my teaching career. I started out in elementary education, and after 9 years went back to school and received a masters degree in Exceptional Children. I taught many different exceptionalities during my teaching career. After a number of years teaching exceptional children, I went back to school and received an Education Specialist Degree in Administration. The last 8 1/2 years of my career, I served as an Assistant Principal at the middle school and high school levels. I retired in 1997. Evidently teaching is not out of my system. I went back to the middle school where I had served as an Assistant Principal and taught a Behaviorally Emotionally Disabled class for 3 months this past year because there was no certified teacher for the class. What a challenge that was! Also, I was recruited to teach another interim exceptional children's position at an elementary school in the county this year until a certified teacher could be be found. I taught at that school from mid August to mid October. In January, 2000, I was hired part time to teach a Focused Intervention class at another elementary school to try get children who were struggling to pass ready for the end -of-grade test. I am proud to say that all the children I taught (about 32 in all) passed the End-Of-Grade test. Of course much credit should be given to the regular classroom teachers as well who worked very hard also in preparing the students for the test. My favorite pastime is line-dancing. I am in a performing group called the Nash Line Dancers. We dance at many different events in eastern North Carolina throughout the year.
Don retired in January, 1999. In his career, he taught junior high and high school level students in Physical Education, Social Studies, and Drivers Education. He coached football, baseball, and basketball during his career. He also taught at the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf for several years teaching deaf students to drive. Don is the President of the Alliance for a Responsible Swine Industry (ARSI), a grassroots organization who fight for rural citizens' right to live in odor-free and contamination-free home environments. Large industrial hog farming which has invaded poor and middle-class rural areas has ruined the lives of many citizens' right to live in an odor-free, contamination free environment. Don's belief is that the destruction of the family farmer by corporate takeover of American agriculture will be devastating to the future of this nation. I am very proud of the work that Don does and the many hours he has volunteerd his time to fight this problem. Don has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN ,various national and local daily news shows, and many different newpapers and magazines across the United States. If you are interested in joining ARSI or have questions about the organization and what it may be able to do to help you, a link with the e-mail address appears at the bottom of this page.
Don and I met at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC where we both went to school. We married on August 7, 1965 after a one year courtship.
Our precious beloved Maltese pictured below have passed on now. They were a joy to us for many years. Sophie passed away October 22, 2003 and Sampson passed away January 23, 2004. Their memory will live with us for a lifetime.
