Subject: Re: Greetings from the past
Shirien: What a wonderful surprise. I'm so pleased to hear from you.
But, how did the news get to UO that I'm retiring in June? Yes, June
7--age 65 and 20 years here at UC.
I still have and occasionally look at that wonderful photo album you put
together for me when I left UO. That was the absolutely nicest thing
you could have done.
I, too, am remarried. Married a '59 Oberlin classmate in November of
1993 in Boston. We had a commuting romance and marriage for a while.
Then I took a year's sabbatical and spent it in Boston. During that
year, Larry's business partner (they were business management
consultants) died, so Larry closed the business and moved back to
Cincinnati when I returned here that June. He was a gypsy scholar for
a couple years teaching business and finance at various colleges and
universities in the area, but then he essentially retired about 1997,
doing a few consulting jobs on the side.
I have four grandchildren now: a five year old granddaughter who lives
here in Cincinnati, twin granddaughters in Portland, and an eight month
old granddaughter in Chicago. We went to Chicago about two weeks ago to
see the one, and I'm leaving for Portland tomorrow to see the twins.
I've been doing a lot of traveling the past four years, some by myself,
some with my husband: China, South America--Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia,
Peru, Mexico, Sicily, Egypt, Jordan, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet-Nam. In
August we go to Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Scandanavian.
I'm hoping to do a lot of traveling the next few years once I'm free of
"asking" for vacation time. Both my son and oldest daughter would like
to see Grandma Ginny become a permanent babysitter, but I'm not so sure
about that--and I'm certainly not jumping into it.
What are you doing at UO now? Still in the library system? Still
circulation? I noted in my professional journals that George Shipman
retired a couple years ago. It's been interesting reading in the alumni
magazine about all the changes to the now Knight Library. Certainly
appears to be a lot nicer (physically at least) place that 20-30 years
ago.
Have also noted the deaths of several people I knew: Heard about Holly
Jones, read about Perry Morrison, Ed Soule, Gene Barnes. Who else I
wonder. I hear from Jodie McCoy about once a year. If you see anyone
I knew, please say "Hello," to them for me.
Delightful, absolutely wonderful, to hear from you. So glad for you
that your life is moving along happily now. I'll keep in touch. Will
have a new email address (don't know what yet) after the first of June.
Fondly, Virginia
Virginia.Parr@uc.edu
513-556-1993
April 2, 2002