Comments
I taught for 30 years at Illinois State University as a Distinguished Professor of Romance Languages, the field in which I completed by BA at the University of Oregon in 1974 and my PhD at The Johns Hopkins University in 1977. Before going to Illinois State University I taught for a year at the University of Puget Sound, and then 3 years at Fontbonne College, and Washington University, in St. Louis. I took early retirement a few years ago to move back to Oregon, skiing, camping, fishing, hiking. Although I miss teaching terribly, I still do writing and publication on literary criticism, primarily of Spanish, and Classical literature.
I have traveled to Europe almost every year, primarily in Spain, but also in other countries to attend conferences and present papers.
When my sons were young, we always took them on our trips, primarily to Spain, but we often flew into Luxemburg and drove down and back. We made our first trip with them when my oldest son, Matthew, was 5 months old. I led a study group in Spain when he was 2, and brought him along. He certainly got a lot of attention.
My grandchildren are the lights of my life. Unfortunately they live in Wisconsin and Colorado. This fall we drove our old RV out to Wisconsin and down to Colorado to visit them and my sons. It was a great trip, too, stopping at a number or wonderful places along the way.
I am glad to be back to Oregon, and Newport is a nice place to live- a mix of fishermen and plays and symphonies. Newport has its own symphony orchestra. We live on a forested piece of land overlooking the Yaquina Bay, with a few of the ocean in the distance.
