Dear Fellow Classmates

It was a surprise to find information about the 40th Class Reunion at mv parent's house when I visited them in Florida in April, 1998. What an adventure to leap the 40 vears and begin to catch up with many of you through the wonderful website. Let's see if I can get 40 years into a few paragraphs without leaving out too much!

I went to Willamette U. for two years after M-A. Then, deciding to get a bachelor's of science in Nursing, I headed to Columbia University in NYC for another three years. There, I met and married Bob Lewis, a medical student at Columbia. I worked in nursing until our first child, Karen, was born in 1965. We remained in NYC until the fall of 1969 when Bob joined the Air Force and we headed to Texas, Iran, and Spain. We had some wonderful adventures and traveled as much as we could.

In 1971, we moved to Houston where Bob completed a cancer surgery residency. We then traveled across the country searching for THE place to settle and ended up in Seattle. I continued to be full-time mom and volunteer, mostly in school activities and scouts, (and a short stint as a radio show host on Armed Forces Radio in Spain!) In 1977, just as I was beginning to think about a career outside the home, we had our second child, Greg, and I continued to be mom and volunteer! I did return to the workplace, starting a gift shop for the local Episcopal Cathedral, working for a corporate gift company, and starting a retail packaging store.

In 1989, Bob and I divorced and I learned what a privilege it is to stay home with your family! When Greg was old enough to drive, I earned a certificate in Fundraising Management at the U. of Washington and became a development professional at a small private school in Redmond. After five years, I am still at The Overlake School, enjoying the fun of working with teachers and students and parents. I am an active member of a masters (over 30) women's crew which I helped to start 13 years ago. There are 45 of us who travel to regattas and have a wonderful time keeping fit. I also volunteer at Landmark Education with their programs for teens and young people.

Two years ago, I sold my house with the BIG yard and decided to try houseboat living. (NO yard at all!) I liked it so much, I bought one, tore it down, and completely rebuilt it. Enclosed is a photo of the finished product. While the remodeling was going on, I roomed with my daughter (now a professional artist), her two roommates and their three cats ... but that is another story.

NEW 10/31/2003:
October 2003 In 1999, after six years as Associate Director of Development at a small independent school near Seattle, I became the Director of Development at the Arboretum Foundation in Seattle. As the first professional fundraiser for this organization in its 65 year history, I had my work cut out for me! Over the past four years, I have helped to raised lots of money to support Seattle¹s 230-acre regional treasure with over 10,000 woody plants from all over the world. I loved my work and Arboretum. It also kept me very busy, too busy to do many to the things I have on my "to do before I can¹t" list.

So in July 2003, I retired and left a month later to travel with friends, compete in the World Masters Rowing Championships in Vichy, France and participate in a traveling watercolor workshop in the Lanquedoc region of France. It was a wonderful trip9one I enjoyed immensely, especially since just before my retirement, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was LUCKY! I found it early and was able to have fairly simple surgery that removed all traces of the tumor. And I was able to travel and compete and for awhile, forget about the whole thing.

We spent a week in Vichy, competing with over 3000 rowers from 34 countries! In my fifth and final race, our boat won a gold medal by less than a second! Very exciting! The workshop was another new challenge, as I only have been painting since January. What a wonderful challenge in a very beautiful and friendly part of our world!

I am now home and will have radiation therapy for two months to make certain my cancer does not return. I am feeling just fine. However, here is my cautionary note to all my classmates9 Mammograms are important but they don¹t catch everything! Do your self-breast exams (and encourage the women in your life to do them!) It can save you life!

So what¹s next for me? I have not yet decided, but I know I won¹t sit still for long. In the meantime, I am enjoying my family, painting and my wonderful houseboat. Seattle is a great place to live!

Penny Post Lewis

Write Penny at plewis@overlake.org.