Susan Stauffer Neil

none, and do not desire any, much as I love children and find them refreshing...not in this world.

Well, there WERE plans, but all of mine, EVER, seem to go awry...like now with coronavirus, which, mind you, I'm glad to be retired for, but all the same, one wishes to travel, to take a class (not zoom) work out at the gym and SWIM...and we have this. That said, I never PLANNED to go to medical school, or to have a daughter, etc. I PLANNED to move after 5 years and have been in Pittsburgh for 40 years, OMG. So many years I threatened to return to Michigan "where the winters are real".

Garfield (Chicago) Lincoln (Freeport) Poupard (Detroit)

Parcells (Detroit)

Grosse Pointe High School (Detroit). Moved to Battle Creek for junior and senior years at BCC

Staying on the I-94 theme, I went to Kalamazoo College(BA biology) and then on to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.(MD) and finally, in Pittsburgh, at University of, to the Graduate School of Public Health (MPH)

I almost forgot: I attended the Kellogg Community College for selected courses during the junior and senior year of high school. I'm sure, nay, I KNOW I wasn't a favorite of my academic counselor.

I remember that when I came in my junior year, I had a study hall. I didn't know anything about them since I'd never had one anywhere else. I had moved around a lot, and was pretty used to the fact that people do things a little differently and the clothes and hairstyles are always different. But I was pretty surprised to hear, from the guy in back of me, "Hey, whas this in fronta me, a mohaia sweata?" I think I was the only one with long straight hair then.
I never did change the style, although once I got a permanent that really did a "head job" on me. After work one night, my haircutter said "why don't we do something a little different?" and as I'm very weak on the day after an overnight, I agreed and away went the eyeglasses. When I looked, my hair was all cut off, and I quite liked it, so it has remained short since then.
One would not necessarily recognize me from this picture. (not, of course, that I've put on weight!) Honestly, I just read the obit. of LaVaughn Cole, and the "mohair sweater" story I just had to recant! He was the sweetest.

Debate. I was not a good debater, and the concept was inadequately explained to me. (Just as the basic rudiments of football weren't explained to me at another high school, causing me to leave the marching band and my entire career in music)

Speech. Not much better than debate. I was given "dramatic" pieces to compete with, and I really wanted funny things. Standup comedy. I got my chance later in life, as an ER doctor. Who would've thought.

Kudos to T.R. Harrison and James Conley, the REAL debaters!

Swimming teacher, grade 6, (name forgotten) for overcoming my fear of the water.
Mr. Coury, who taught the World History summer school class (yes, it gave FULL CREDIT and I took it in summer to make room for things I was interested in during the year). who taught me to love history!
Dr. Reid, who deigned to teach HS sophomore English in his retirement. He taught us to learn big words but not use them, and that grammar matters because it is not true that "I don't like peanut butter because it sticks to the roof of YOUR mouth".

Why did I write all of those things? they were from different schools!! I honestly don't remember the names of my BCCHS teachers, but I remember the Spanish teacher who was from the south and taught us that Y'all is the plural of You (which to native Pittsburghers applies to Yinz)

Honey, I NEVER hung out! I was home with homework and
cooking supper for my parents. But I had a group of friends and there were parties with real dancing...like the"boogaloo",( nothing to do with the current gang). A person could learn a lot from watching Kossouth Snyder compete in a boogaloo "dance-off"...about life, loving, learning.

Dashiki, T-shirt, and Jeans. A sort of college uniform, and no one could tell how poor I was.

Well, there WERE the Beatles, who I saw in Detroit when I was 13 or so, and of course they were covered by MOTOWN....so, stuff like that. and jazz. I remember wanting to play the flute like Yusef Lateef until I got a look at the score!! And thank you, John Coltrane, your LOVE SUPREME helped me to scare away my first college roommate. My second "rock" concert was to see/hear Richie Havens when he came to Kalamazoo.

I only lived in Battle Creek for two years, but there was this HUGE SNOWSTORM. I remember loving that. Somewhere there are pictures, and I'll bet you have some, too. And the black squirrels were very special.

And what about the worst memories? Well, the police did come to our senior prom (remember?) when I turned up with Calvin Mitchell,Jr. ('67) as my date. I wanted to stay and dance, but Calvin was adamant about leaving the scene.

Carmen Gorum, but she's dead. Shot in the head by some random drive-by in Detroit, leaving about 5 children.
Brad, who was my original prom date before he turned into "Skye" over the spring break and was a stranger to me. We were interested in the same things though, in the end; but he's dead, too.
Marilyn. The old gang. (so many gone) Everyone who is alive yet and has a story or two to tell. I promise to make the trip for the next reunion if I'm still alive.

Really? Isn't everyone's first job BABYSITTING?

I think I'm passing middle age just now, and wondering, now that I'm grown up, just what I wanted to "be".// Too bad, isn't it, that we only have one life to live. I found out too late that I love languages but only to talk to people...and I wonder what being a Berkeley trained entomologist would have made of me (would I be in a winery now instead of a pit?) Well, I'm thinking of what to do, but apparently not fast enough.
Since 1968 I've been to college and medical school with many different majors and probably as many threats to drop out. I found it all quite interesting, but very grueling and sometimes cruel. I've lived with family, in a communal house, went to the twin cities from Ann Arbor and from there dropped out of the program and moved to Jamaica during the worst violence of the 1970's, they say..I wimped out and "came home" to make my mark in East Tawas but mother made a real convincing speech about being closer in Ohio. I then ended up where I am and haven't budged. I live in the city, my house is too big, so I host visiting (mostly foreign) academics and the occasional medical student interviewing for residency positions....and I travel, to visit family and friends and hear a young man named Felix Hell play the organ.(I came late to the "groupie" stage) In fact, I shall be doing that in the coming week, and then off into the Colorado Mtns to see my daughter, who would have me live there.
I try to learn more about the computer, but after I gave Obama advice on facebook today, his friendship disappeared...it didn't sound revolutionary to me, just that if there were some malpractice reform it would save a lot on repeated and unnecessary tests, and if it is not done, the profession is looking a lot less attractive all the time. All the bright people will go into computers and teaching, and many who are able will retire. Who does that leave to be my doctor? (I know He'll always find one)...okay, enough, and I want to add that the 1-800-Junk people charge way too much and don't give the workers health insurance. that's all I have to say, and I've probably said too much.

I did not become a French teacher or interpreter. Non, I did not.
I went to Kalamazoo College to be a French teacher but the required courses for obtaining a student teaching certificate were off-putting, ...oh, by that time I was a history major anyway. I took an ECOLOGY course to fulfill a distributional science requirement and did the "hard science" project because the T.A. was really cute. The side benefit was that I found that, working side by side with biology majors and pre-med, I could do science with the best of them, thus began my biology major. Thinking about my future, I decided without any encouragement to take the MCAT exam, and it was all an accident, really. One day my mother asked me why I didn't marry that nice John McDonald (BCCHS '67) he's going to be a doctor...(she was afraid I was going to Berkeley to study entomology)...and I announced that I, too, would be a doctor. It was all a dreadful accident which I would never, ever do over.

I went to U of M Medical School..I hiked Isle Royale alone for 2 weeks, I did a rotation in Jamaica to study leprosy and met my husband and his entire family at his father's wake on my 2nd night there. My picture made the front page of the Pittsburgh Gazette cross-country skiing with my German Shepherd in a city park (slow news day) and thankfully never since. I really was an ER doc. So much so that the first episode of "the PITT" gave me flashbacks from my PTSD.

I am an addict. Books, puzzles, certain music I will crave and not be able to tear myself away from in order to be social. I'm so much happier when I can tear myself away from MSNBC and just listen to NPR. I have loved squash and cross-country skiing and hiking which I don't do anymore, but have failed to develop any of those retirement-friendly sports. At the present I host "movie-night" twice weekly and Poetry on the Patio monthly at the small apartment complex where I live in retirement in an incredibly diverse neighborhood.