1. How long have you been an Encore Learning Member?  

I joined Encore Learning several months after we moved back from Europe in January, 2011. I'd never heard of Encore (ALRI then) before, but when I met Sharon Bisdee and asked if she knew anyone who played Bridge, she said she played and that Encore had a social Bridge Club. Well, those were key words for me. So, after getting settled back in the US, I checked into Encore and decided it was the place for me to meet new people, to play some Bridge and to keep my brain active by taking some of the interesting classes.

3. What is your favorite thing about Encore Learning, so far?  

I love meeting new people when I take some of our interesting classes.  Class participants are usually very smart folks, and the instructors I've had are usually well prepared and knowledgeable about their topic. I also enjoy the Bridge Club which was my introduction to Encore Learning. 

4. Where did you grow up?  

I grew up in Boston, MA, but my parents moved to Alabama when I was in college. Hence, my last two years of undergraduate were at Auburn University. When I arrived at Auburn as a junior (in the mid-60's), most of the students I met had never known anyone from the northeast, let alone from Boston. People kept asking me to '"say something," as they'd not heard a Massachusetts accent before -- interesting experience, very hard to think of something to say when someone says, "Say something.".

5. What else do you do in your spare time, when you are not volunteering for Encore Learning?  

I'm a pretty busy person in "retirement," and enjoy a great many activities. I serve as a volunteer usher at four area theaters--Arena Stage, Signature Theater, Folger Library and Washington Stage Guild. I volunteer on the Activities Committee of Fairlington Villages Condo Association, and at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. I belong to two book clubs and a dinner group (we make reservations, not dinner). I'm a big exercise nut so I work out at my gym at least four or five times a week, do lots of walking and biking, and play Bridge and Scrabble. We also have a house on Cape Cod, so I have spent the last three summers there enjoying the salt air, fresh seafood and hosting several rounds of visitors each year. I also love to travel and this year did a three-week trip to Russia and Sweden with a friend in June.

9. Where is your favorite place in the world to be?

I've traveled to many places throughout the world and seen many cities and towns, and lots of countryside. But, my favorite place to be, still, is London, England. I just love the city as a whole, and the theater there, museums and historical sites cannot be beat. We lived for two years in Bury St. Edmonds, UK, so got to spend lots of time with English friends and in London. Actually, we weren't ready to move back to the US from England when the Air Force told us that our time overseas was up. Of course, I love my life in the Washington area too, and on Cape Cod in the summers.