WEBVTT
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Um, so I started my own business last year, and I also at the same time decided I wanted to start a podcast because I've always wanted to do a podcast.
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And so I said, you know what?
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I'm gonna do it.
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The first season, um podcast is called Unexpected Advice, and the first season was just about hearing from people and then unexpected advice that they give that you wouldn't you really wouldn't expect to hear from them.
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So I have a friend who'd been a daycare worker for over 30 years, and she talked about how to fire your clients.
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And I had a friend who is an artist and a DJ, and he talked about collecting.
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He collects all kinds of things.
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So he talked about collecting and how do you get joy out of the stuff that you collect?
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Like how do you actually make use of it and enjoy the things that you collect?
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Because a lot of people collect crap and don't get any joy of it.
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So just all kinds of things.
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We did 10 of them.
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And then um I wanted to st stop the season, and this season I decided I wanted to do one called Right Next Door.
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And for season two is just about my neighbors and my neighborhood, because I think in our culture and society, we don't spend enough time getting to know the people that are right around us.
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Yeah, and this neighborhood's a little different.
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A few people have said that.
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It is, but it's not, I mean, at the same time.
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Like the only difference is that people are willing to have the conversation.
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Uh when we lived in Houston, so we we're not from here.
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I'm originally from Oklahoma.
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I don't know if I've told you this whole thing.
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I knew you moved here from Texas because you had Texas tags and carb.
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Um so we moved from Texas, um, but I'm originally from Oklahoma.
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And when we lived in Texas, we lived in neighborhoods where you kind of got to know people, but it was the willingness of people to be open.
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And I think in any neighborhood, if we're willing to be open, if we're willing to be kind, if we're willing to build relationships with the people around us, then you can have this neighborhood too.
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Because that's all it is.
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It's not like we're some we we're interesting people, but we're not some kind of magical unicorns.
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We're just people.
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The world is just full of people.
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It's how we choose as a people to build our community.
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And I think that people who've been here a long time, and I talked to um Pete about this, Pete Moore, people who've been here a long time has kind of set that foundational work to have that community.
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The kids are playing together, they built that.
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And then as people have come in, we're still willing to build that.
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Yeah.
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Um and when I moved here, I got some really good advice.
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My um husband's cousin is military and his wife is he's an officer too, so his wife's always expected to do the officer thing.
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And she told me yesterday, people don't care if there's boxes sitting in your living room.
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Invite him over, invite him over for a cup of coffee.
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Just invite people over, be present.
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So that's what I decided to do, and I think that's helped continue, and people were willing to have that conversation, so that helped continue build that community.
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But I'm a firm believer in building community.
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So I'm curious because I actually don't know a lot about you.
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I mean, we've gone walks together, but I actually don't know that much about you.
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So I'd like to learn some more.
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Um Judy told me a little bit about your background, so my mind started racing when I was starting to think, oh, I want to ask Raleigh's questions.
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But my first question is, how long have you lived in this neighborhood?
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Since 1987.
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So it's been a minute.
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Yes.
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It's been a minute.
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Now, did you grow up in Lancaster?
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Are you from here?
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I grew up in Effreda.
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Okay, so it's not far.
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Although people here, and it's funny, because people here would be like, Oh, I didn't grow up here, I grew up in Effreda, and I'm like, same county.
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Like, I grew up in Oklahoma, it's different, right?
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Um, okay, so you got to grow up in the area, not here, but you grew up in the area.
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And then what brought you to move here?
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Because you've lived here for a long time, so this is where Oh, actually, I've lived in Lancaster my entire adult life, except I was in Pittsburgh, sorta, for five years, like commuting.
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Oh, okay.
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That's not fun.
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That's all right.
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I enjoyed it actually.
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Did you?
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Yes.
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How did you go back and forth to train or car?
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Well, it varied because it was in the 70s during that gas shortage.
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Oh, yeah.
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And you couldn't buy gas on Sunday.
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Oh.
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So I I did I'd found out I had a Volkswagen bug at the time, and I finally learned by the way, your cool level level just went up because you own a bug.
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I think that's a good thing.
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Actually, I own two of them.
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Nice.
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But um I did finally learn that I could make it driving there on Sunday.
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Okay.
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But for a while I was using public transportation.
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Oh, yeah.
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And that's not like no, they didn't did they have a train that went to Damtrack or they do, but but it was slow.
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Yeah.
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I think mostly because of the mountains.
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So typically I took the bus.
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Okay.
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The Greyhound bus that came into Harrisburg.
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And then when I came on Friday, I could get a train.
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The bus station in Harrisburg is at the train station.
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I could get a train to Lancaster.
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Okay.
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Usually on Sunday when I went back, my husband drove me to Harrisburg.
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Okay.
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Okay.
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I did take the train already, which was more comfortable.
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Mm-hmm.
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Yeah.
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But uh What were you doing there in Pittsburgh?
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I taught at what's Chatham College, which is now Chatham University.
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Oh, okay, because you have a background in math.
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So you were a math professor?
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I was a math professor, yes.
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Wow, fantastic.
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What introdu what brought you into mathematics?
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Like when is this something that was always interesting you're good at, or is it something you had to push through?
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I come from a family of people who are mathematically oriented.
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Oh, okay.
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So was it your mom and dad?
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Was it well my father was an engineer, my brother was an engineer, my mother worked in an accounting department.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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So everyone was everyone was in the numbers.
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And where did you go to school?
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Where'd you get your degree from?
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I went to Penn State and then University of Delaware.
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Because you got your PhD, correct?
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Yes.
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In between.
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I taught school when I first got out of college.
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In between while I was teaching school locally, I got an MED at Millersville.
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Which really kind of turned me on to go get a PhD more than when I was an undergraduate.
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Okay.
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I had a good experience there actually.
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Well, I was telling somebody else, my so my mom was professors.
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Both my parents are educators.
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My dad actually uh taught at a vocational school in Oklahoma, so he taught autobody.
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And then my mom was a stay-at-home mom until my younger siblings were like in middle school.
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And she went back and she had it, she already had a bachelor's and a master's.
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She had a bachelor's in math, a master's in counseling taught.
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She from New York City.
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And then after the kids, she went back to school and got a um bachelor's in accounting, and then she really wanted to teach.
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And the cool was like, Well, you don't have a PhD.
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She's like, Well, maybe I'll go get one.
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So she went back in her fifties and got a PhD in accounting and then taught.
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And then taught for almost 20 years at Monmouth University out in Jersey.
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So they lived out here for a while.
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They're back in Oklahoma now, but they lived they lived in Jersey for a while.
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And she taught there.
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And she loved it.
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As she liked school so much, she just decided to teach.
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So what brought you into deciding to do be a professor?
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So you were already teaching.
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What were you teaching high school, middle school?
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I taught junior high when I first got out of college.
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I I liked the academic atmosphere.
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I mean teaching in a in a small college is fun.
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Yeah.
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Did it now how much of it was research based versus just like teaching based?
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Did you do a lot of research?
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I did some research with primarily friends who were at Pit.
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Okay.
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But uh for the most part, no, there was no demand for research.
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Okay.
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Oh, that's interesting.
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What would did you do research on then?
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When you had when you was there something that interested you that you wanted to go for?
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Well, it was part just like a takeoff of my PhD dissertation.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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What was your dissertation on?
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Operator theory.
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Which is, I don't know what that is.
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That's part of analysis if you've ever studied math.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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Well, I haven't studied math, Louisie.
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So you gotta tell me about it.
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Um, so it's uh I have found that if I went back to school to school, I have a degree in um communication.
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If I went back to school, I really wanted to study the theory of communication.
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I don't really want to go back and get an MBA or something with business.
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Like I've been in business, I understand those principles.
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I don't feel like going to school would teach me a lot more that I could just like take a get a certificate.
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But the theory of things, the why things work, especially in the arts, is really fascinating to me.
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So if I if I ever went back and got an advanced degree, I would get it in in like a communication or something where there's you're really studying that theory because that's what's interesting to me.
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So are you going to do it?
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I don't know.
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I started my own business and that's consuming a lot of time right now.
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My par both of my parents are like prodding me to like go get go just go, go do some more.
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Um, my brother, he got uh a master's, my youngest sister has her MBA.
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My me and my other sister are the only ones who don't have the advanced degree, but she's a certified P of P.
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So I'm like the least educated and certified of my siblings.
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Um I'm the oldest, which you think would not be the case, but I don't know.
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We'll see.
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I did start studying at one point, but then the kids and changed jobs and well, the former neighbor who lived across the street from me in the greenhouse.
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Yeah, you know, um she's she's in her fifties and she's starting an MBA this fall.
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Well, actually, that's fantastic.
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She's taking a math course on it's not, I don't think it's really online.
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I'm not sure how it works.
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Okay.
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It's at home, whether it's online, okay, like once a month or some kind of a class.
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I think you just do it on your own.
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Yeah, at your it's a math class.
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She sent me the syllabus the other day.
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Oh, she's like, okay, am I doing this right?
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Well, it was kind of interesting.
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I think it's called math for management or something like that.
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And it was um mixture, starting out with a review of algebra and statistics.
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Oh my gosh, statistics.
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And uh I forget what the other module was, but it was kind of a a mixture.
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What did you uh what did you enjoy teaching the most when you were teaching math?
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Well, definitely not statistics.
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Well, I don't know why.
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Statistics hurt my brain.
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I couldn't I struggled.
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I I think my favorite class that I ever taught was calculus for business.
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Oh, really?
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What did you like about that?
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That's interesting.
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I haven't heard that.
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Uh I guess just because I'm kind of interested in business and I just thought I just enjoyed it.
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Okay.
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I think the reason I really didn't like teaching statistics is because the students didn't like it.
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Oh, yeah.
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They didn't want to be there.
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Oh I taught as an adjunct at Millersville for a few years, and I can remember one semester I had most of these students were getting a BSN in nursing.
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Yeah.
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And they were horrible students.
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They didn't want to be there, they didn't see any use for it.
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Yeah.
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And they had a they had a terrible attitude.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Their attitude towards learning is I I even failed.
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I shouldn't say I failed them.
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They one one student even failed.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Because they didn't apply themselves.
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But you gotta do it.
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I'd never studied calculus.
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I never had to study calculus for what I pursued.
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Um, but it algebra, I I well now when the kids, so now my son, of course, they're going into algebra, going into high school.
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And what grade is he in?
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He is going into ninth grade, and my daughter is seventh, she'll be going into eighth grade.
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And she actually interestingly really scored high on her PSSAs for mathematics, but she's never pursued mathematics.
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Um, but one, her teacher, I sat down with her teacher, and he said, because I think it's this to your point of attitude in learning.
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He I said, Did the teacher teacher?
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And he's like, look, she's doing well.
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And like she was making a B plus.
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And he's like, look, her PSSA is she understands this.
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Her mistakes were like just kind of sloppy, like rushing through so she can go and do something else.
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He's like, But do you like swing?
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Yeah, I know, like swing.
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So I said, um, I told Bly that.
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So I told her that.
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I said, Hey, you're by the way, your teacher, you've got this incredible score on your P like, she was in 98th or 99th percentile on the PSSAs, and your teacher says he's gonna recommend you for advanced math next year.
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And she was so surprised.
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So she's going into eighth grade.
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She'll be going into eighth grade.
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So she when they recommend you for advanced math, that means you would start uh algebra.
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Yes, she'll start algebra in eighth grade.
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Yeah, so Arwen did algebra, so he was in regular math year seven, and then that was yeah, he was like, I want to do advanced.
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So he's did algebra this year, and he's done pretty well.
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Actually, he's done pretty well in in algebra, and that it requires me.
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Now, my husband's much better, so he means much better about remembering all the formulations because he studied more science in college than I did.
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Um, and so Arwen will get in and yeah, he'll he but if he doesn't figure something out, we're trying to figure it out.
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Part of the challenge right now is the the platforms that they're using.
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:17.120
Like if you don't put it in the right format correctly, like not number format, like text format, or um as many D just like it's the right answer, but you have to put two extra zeros after the decimal, like it didn't make any sense.
00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:19.039
We're sometimes get frustrated with that.
00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:29.279
But in the most, for the most part, um, my husband, Damien's been helping him, and I use Chat GPT every once in a while if I can't figure it out and I'm like, explain this to me and how you got to it.
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:32.080
So I hope when they explain it, it's right.
00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:32.720
Yeah.
00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:35.279
It is for the most part it is because it gets to the same answer.
00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:36.320
It gets to the same answer.
00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:43.600
I just find uh with the uh, you know, when you do Google now and you get a physical, I a lot of that stuff.
00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:50.480
It's now a lot of what I do is related to tax because that's what I've been working on the last couple months.
00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:50.879
Okay.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:52.879
And I find a lot of it's not correct.
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:53.519
Not correct.
00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:54.639
Not accurate, no.
00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.360
No, you do you you really have to be careful.
00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:03.679
Um, and I think even w people say like, what is AI going to take over?
00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:13.759
And I think there's even with mathematics, some of it's accurate, yes, but you usually have to have specialized systems that are um built to do math well.
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.039
Uh especially if you're getting getting into AI.
00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:24.080
But there's nothing that logic that's associated with mathematics of how you get to a particular place.
00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.720
That's critical for our brains to know.
00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:34.960
It's critical for how we think and how we reason and how we um you know work work uh to solve problems.
00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:42.399
Like that fun fun fundamental foundational concepts of sequentially figuring things out I think is really important.
00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.639
That's not something that you know we should let AI take over for us is thinking.
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:49.279
That'll definitely be interesting.
00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:53.519
I I just can't imagine what we're gonna do with all these data centers.
00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:54.320
Oh my goodness.
00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.159
The one that I read about let's see, I guess it was Utah.
00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:04.080
It's twice the it's going to be twice the size of the of Manhattan.
00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:04.720
What?
00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.399
Oh my gosh, that's craziness.
00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:10.799
And that's the one Kevin Leary is it Leary or O'Leary?
00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:12.320
It's on Shark Tank.
00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:13.679
Yeah, I don't remember.
00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:14.320
Okay.
00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.159
Um that's the one that he's involved in.
00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:17.120
He's involved in.
00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.120
What so what are you doing now with your time?
00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:20.000
You've retired.
00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:20.960
I'm not retired.
00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:22.000
You're not retired, we're not.
00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:23.600
No, I still work with tax.
00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.360
Oh, you do still do taxes.
00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:27.440
Well, I help a friend primarily.
00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:27.840
Okay.
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:29.759
Uh who has a business in town.
00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.519
As a matter of fact, I was there this morning.
00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:32.080
Okay.
00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:38.960
But uh, and I I have just a few clients that I still do, most of whom live in retirement homes.
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:39.919
Oh, okay.
00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:40.879
And they die.
00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.240
Oh, okay.
00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.639
Oh, I just remember what I forgot to do.
00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.720
Oh, see, now we're helping you.
00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.320
Hopefully I'll remember when I get home.
00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:50.320
Well, this is a client who died.
00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:56.399
Luckily, I was luckily, it's sort of sad, but I was able to get his signature a few days before he died.
00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:57.120
Oh, he passed.
00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:00.000
Oh, he was he was at the uh Trillion Living.
00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:05.360
He was still with it mentally, but very very sick because of lung issues.
00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:13.679
And uh and so I still have all the material because his family doesn't live here, and I didn't want to leave it in his nursing home room.
00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:14.639
Yeah, no, you don't want to.
00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:15.759
Yeah.
00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.480
And so I still never gave them a bill.
00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:19.039
No.
00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:21.039
You have to give them their stuff to give them.
00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:21.440
Yeah.
00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.159
So you still work a little bit then.
00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.440
What when did you stop teaching?
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:38.000
Well, I well, I stopped teaching at Chatham in 1978, and then I worked for a defense contractor for 12 years.
00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:44.720
And then I went back to teaching as an adjunct, and that's when I started uh my tax business.
00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.720
Okay, so you actually ran a tax business.
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:48.159
It was my own business, yes.
00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:50.240
Oh, how long did you do that?
00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:55.840
I started it uh in 1991, I guess.
00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:58.000
And then I actually sold it.
00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:03.279
I actually it was called ALM Tax Service, which still exists, it's down on the Harrisburg Pipe.
00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:06.960
I sold it in I think twenty eleven.
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:08.799
Okay, so but yeah, so you were doing that.
00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.799
Uh and then I actually worked with that business for maybe two years.
00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:13.440
Okay.
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:25.200
And then I I I uh trying to think, did I No, I wasn't teaching then, no, and I and and along the way I did some adjunct teaching at Millersville and and Franklin and Marshall.
00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.920
And then uh and so then I still did a few taxes.
00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.440
I didn't sell all my clients, I kept a few of my clients.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:34.000
Yeah.
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:37.839
When what was that bridge that gap?
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:46.720
So if you're teaching your in in mathematics, um can be a little purist, but it sounds like you already were looking to do application.
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.160
So not just math, but math to solve problems, max to do things.
00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:51.519
So you went to work in defense.
00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:55.119
What did you do in defense with I was a program manager.
00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:55.599
Okay.
00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:03.119
I started out in development, a program manager in development, but then I ended up uh had a job offer and only because of money.
00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:07.440
Same same company I yeah I was in charge of of production.
00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:08.160
Okay.
00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.000
Actually it was like fifty percent of the company's business.
00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:12.799
Oh wow.
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.680
Was it uh under your re under you for production?
00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:16.240
All right.
00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.240
Oh, and that was that here in Lincolnsterson?
00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:19.359
Yeah, it was downtown.
00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.079
It's called then it was called Hamilton Technology.
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.160
By the time you got here, it may have changed.
00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:25.680
It was bought done by Boulevard.
00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:26.240
Oh, okay.
00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:26.400
Yeah.
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.079
Eventually it became L3.
00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:28.480
Okay.
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.200
Which still exists, but there's no local presence.
00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:32.559
No local presence anymore.
00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:33.039
Okay.
00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:33.519
All right.
00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:36.400
So you did that for a while and then started now.
00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:41.440
Did you go straight from working for a company to doing your own tax practice?
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.920
I had some family members who were in the tax business and I used to help one of them.
00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:47.279
Well, and your mom that's right.
00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:50.079
Yum was a well, she wasn't a she worked in a business.
00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.720
She worked for what was then Warner Lambert.
00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:54.640
Uh I mean, she worked in an accounting office.
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:55.920
She was an accounting clerk.
00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:56.240
Okay.
00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:58.400
So she she didn't really do anything to do with taxes.
00:18:58.720 --> 00:18:59.039
Taxes.
00:18:59.359 --> 00:18:59.519
Okay.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:00.400
All right.
00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:03.440
And uh I mean, I I never did accounting.
00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.279
I never studied accounting in my life.
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:05.839
Right.
00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:10.240
I mean But so how did you get how did you make that transition though?
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:11.599
Because your family was doing it?
00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:12.640
Did you start your own business?
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:13.440
Did you join some more?
00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:22.000
Well, I was helping a cousin and uh who had a business and she wanted to slow down, and then I just started picking up my own clients, and I decided I wanted to do it.
00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:25.359
So I created a DBA, rented an office, and off I went.
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:25.599
Yeah.
00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:29.759
Took me a couple years really to get it going.
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:41.359
And actually what made it a success was I hooked up with a relationship with Wheatland Wheatland Federal Credit Union, which is over on Centerville River, which we were members of.
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.680
And actually the origin of that was Hamilton Tech uh Hamilton Watch, which is where my husband worked.
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:54.160
And so we had been, you know, long time members, and I knew the manager, and I just proposed this to him.
00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:56.400
You know, would you like advertise?
00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:02.160
I'll pay you some money, I'll give the members a 10% discount, advertise, and they were much bigger then.
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:03.920
They had like 12,000 members.
00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:04.559
Really?
00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:06.720
And they send out a newsletter back then.
00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.880
So they so I made up a flyer.
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:09.200
Yeah.
00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:15.440
A little brochure really put it in their newsletter, and that's really what made my business take off.
00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.559
Oh, okay.
00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:18.559
Of course you can't beat word of mouth.
00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:20.559
Yeah, yes, that's the truth.
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:20.960
Yeah.
00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:23.839
That's actually so starting my business is the way I've gotten.
00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:25.920
But I struggled before that.
00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:29.519
Did you just I mean it was there, but it wasn't growing very rapidly.
00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:30.480
Okay.
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:35.839
Had to get not put that marketing hat on and and grow the business.
00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.039
And what just decided would did you just decide you wanted to slow down?
00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.119
Did you were got wanted to do something else?
00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:51.599
Well, actually, when I sold my business, I thought we would probably travel, but my husband ended up with dementia and there wasn't much traveling going to happen.
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.400
So we never really did do a whole lot of traveling.
00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:59.680
We probably would have spent a month or two in Florida, maybe in the who knows what we would have done, but it never happened.
00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:00.160
Okay.
00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:17.440
So if we're thinking about um these shifts in life, the things that you've done differently, like and going from teaching, being professor, well, even teaching kid little kids and teaching big uh bigger kids to working for defense, working in production, starting your own business.
00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:23.359
What are some pieces of advice that you've learned along the way that really helped you be successful?
00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:25.359
Work hard, probably more than anything.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:26.640
How did that look for you?
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.599
Well, I think a lot of people don't have a good attitude.
00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:38.880
They don't they don't, as a matter of fact, this friend that I help with now, he has a niece who helps him.
00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.319
I think she comes in once.
00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.519
She has another ro job.
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:41.759
Yeah.
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.000
I think she has actually a reasonably good job.
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.079
She's um probably late twenties.
00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:46.559
Okay.
00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:49.519
And I wouldn't want her as an employee.
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:50.160
Okay.
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:57.440
Because she she doesn't she would never do that extra.
00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:58.880
Yeah.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.119
Some sometimes maybe you don't immediately get rewarded for what you've done.
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:18.880
But I mean, I remember when I worked for Hamilton getting up at three o'clock in the morning and driving downtown to check on something that was in a freezer that needed to be checked every so many hours.
00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:19.680
Yeah.
00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:23.759
You know, this person, you know, if not some people aren't willing to do that.
00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:24.960
Job is a job.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:25.519
Mm-hmm.
00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:26.240
Yeah.
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:31.200
I think my dad would always say, if they ask you to sweep the floor, mop it too.
00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.960
That's how he kind of always raises us was unless there's a union involved.
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.160
But the idea being go just a little bit, you know, go a little bit extra.
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.240
If you could do a little bit more, do it.
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:43.759
Um, and then always do it well.
00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:47.200
Like his he we he always raised us to really to take pride in your work.
00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:50.000
Like if you're gonna put the effort forward, do a good job.
00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.400
I remember when I was in development, sometimes you'd be in between projects.
00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:58.240
Really didn't have anything to do, but I would always make something to do.
00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:02.720
Like we had recently purchased CAD equipment, so I learned how to use it.
00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:03.359
Nice.
00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:03.759
Yeah.
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:08.400
And we had some uh project management software, so I learned how to use it.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:08.799
Yeah.
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.279
So you know, I wasn't gonna sit there and read the paper.
00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:12.559
Right, twiddle your thumbs.
00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:13.039
Right.
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:13.519
Okay.
00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:18.160
So working hard, being willing to having that attitude, having a good attitude.
00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:22.799
Um, and you mentioned attitude actually before, and people interact alignment with people's success.
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:29.440
No, uh meaning with the teaching, you know, the if you didn't I didn't like you didn't like teaching statistics because other people didn't want to be there.
00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:32.480
And that attitude I think affects more than just you.
00:23:32.720 --> 00:24:00.240
And that's something to kind of keep in mind that yeah, it affects you, but it affects the you know, if you're in a classroom, one bad attitude can really like there doesn't there's actually a lot of research around this about that type of attitude of attitude that um it's like that one rotten apple that can spoil the bunch, but it also can take one person that has the good attitude that is curious and asks questions and doesn't allow the group to slide into that negative space.
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.240
It just takes one person to do that too.
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.119
Attitude is a critical one when we think about those things.
00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:08.000
What else?
00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:08.559
What else?
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:12.640
What other pieces of advice are rumbling around in that in that head?
00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:18.480
I guess some things that are important to me is one is being fair.
00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:21.200
What does the fair look like to you?
00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:25.440
I think other I think people can have different that's something that people can have different views of.
00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:29.759
I think probably remember the gold golden rule.
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:32.559
Probably goes a long way in fairness.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:33.519
Sure.
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.359
For your family, so you how long were you married?
00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:38.799
Your husband's passed now.
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:42.559
Fifty holy smokes.
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:47.440
Then two times fifty-four years, I think.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:48.319
That's a long time.
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:48.799
Yes.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:50.160
What made that successful?
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:53.920
Why did you s how did you what kept you guys together for 54 years?
00:24:55.119 --> 00:25:01.519
I think one of the things was we didn't have any disagreements when it came to finances.
00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:02.079
Okay.
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:09.839
That uh and it's interesting how I listen to people now who have separate accounts.
00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:10.720
Oh, I know.
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:15.839
And they uh divvy things up in a certain way, and it's like, oh my gosh.
00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:18.400
Foreign to me, but yeah.
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:19.519
Yes, yes.
00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:23.519
I mean that works for some people, but I just can't imagine that.
00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:24.079
Right.
00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:24.559
Right.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:25.119
Okay.
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:32.640
And we and we weren't the way some couples are that we did everything together.
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.480
You know, we both had our own lives in in a certain way.
00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:37.119
Mm-hmm.
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:38.079
Mm-hmm.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:39.440
What did your husband do?
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:41.200
You said he worked at Hamilton Watch for a while.
00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:43.440
He actually was a machinist.
00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:44.480
Oh, wow.
00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:45.200
Great.
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:45.759
Okay.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.359
And he did he retire?
00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:52.960
Like, did you both cause you sold your business in 2011, you say?
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:56.880
No, he was retired then when I sold my business.
00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:02.640
But when I stopped working, because I worked for the same company he did for a while.
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:03.119
Okay.
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:11.039
Oh, when I stopped working then, I was able to do that because I got insurance even after he retired.
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:13.680
I got insurance until I turned 65.
00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:14.880
So I was very lucky.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:23.200
I probably I don't know if I would have been able to do what I did if it hadn't been for that, because it was a lot different back then buying insurance then.
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:24.640
Oh my goodness, I know.
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:26.640
That's what I told Damien when I started the company.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:29.519
I was like, so you got to go to a find a place that has good insurance.
00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:32.559
Well, but now you have the marketplace, so you can at least buy it.
00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:33.359
At least buy it.
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:33.759
Yeah.
00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:36.160
Back then you you didn't know if you could buy it.
00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:41.359
And if you did could buy it, then you had a a pre-existing condition, they weren't going to cover it.
00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:41.759
Yeah.
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:42.640
Yeah, that's right.
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:44.000
Yeah, for the pre-existing conditions.
00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:45.680
So it was different.
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.359
Yeah, it was very different.
00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:53.119
Um, so you guys were married, um, he passed away a few years ago, uh, and you have stayed busy.
00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:54.160
You've stayed active.
00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:59.680
Uh, well, I'm involved in some in some nonprofits, which also keep me busy.
00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:05.039
As a matter of fact, just recently I kind of befriended this personal care home in Columbia.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:27.200
There is a woman, her name is Mabel Hershey, who's about my age, who uh saw this was a profit-making, supposed to be a profit-making personal care home called Cherry Street, personal care, I think it was, and it was going under because the fellow that owned it wanted to retire, so he sold it to his administrator.
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:27.599
Oh.
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:32.000
And she paid too much for it and borrowed the money from him.
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:34.480
Uh, and she couldn't make a go of it.
00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:34.799
Right.
00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:41.839
And so there was someone there that Mabel Hershey knew, and she stepped in and made it a nonprofit, so it still exists.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:42.319
Okay.
00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:49.920
But it's amazing how they do what they do with the um little amount of money they collect from many of the residents.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.200
I don't even know how they survive.
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:51.920
Oh, wow.
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:55.759
When I look what the profit-making personal care homes charge.
00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:05.920
But it's to be honest with you, if it's physically not very nice, and they probably don't offer as much care as as a place like Oakleaf Manor does.
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:06.720
Yeah, right.
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:07.039
Okay.
00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:10.000
But anyway, I've kind of reflected the other day.
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:18.079
Well, just recently they acquired a van, like a 15-passenger van bus that uh a church gave to them.
00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:18.640
Mm-hmm.
00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:22.799
That they used to borrow, but now the church gave it gave it to them.
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:27.920
And so I met them at Turkey Hill in Columbia and treated everyone to ice cream.
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:30.079
The residents are just so appreciative.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:30.640
Yeah.
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:31.359
Oh, that's fun.
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:32.799
So you're doing some volunteer work.
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:35.519
Yeah, I'm also on the board of Casa, the sport special.
00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:37.039
Yes.
00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:41.279
I was just talking to someone um that was that participates with CASA as well.
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:43.039
They're a CASA volunteer.
00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:43.359
Mm-hmm.
00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:43.599
Yes.
00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:44.160
Locally?
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:44.559
Yes.
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:45.759
A good commitment.
00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:46.559
It is.
00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:47.200
It is.
00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:53.119
It's a it's a uh it's a an intensive commitment, but it's incredible what they do.
00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:53.920
Incredible.
00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:58.000
It's a really uh a very um impactful program.
00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:04.640
So could be the executive director in Lancaster's well it's like we serve Lancaster and Lebanon County now.
00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:06.480
And she is just excellent.
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:10.799
The executive director just makes such such a difference.
00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:11.519
Yes.
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:14.640
Yes, in the nonprofit world, that is a hundred percent true.
00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:25.359
Yeah, I was on another board that was actually federally funded, not a hundred percent, but uh and it actually isn't even locally open anymore.
00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:29.359
I'm not exactly sure what's going on because I think the federal funds are still sitting out there.
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:33.680
And uh and it was all because of the executive director.
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:34.319
Yeah.
00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:34.960
Mm-hmm.
00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:44.480
It really re it requires somebody who knows but understands that mission and can be a good leader in alignment with that mission.
00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:54.880
Well, this organization was for people with disabilities, and the idea was for them to be able to live independently or at least choose to live the way they chose to live.
00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:55.279
Yeah.
00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:05.920
And one of the rules was that the more than 50% of the employees had to have a disability, and more than 50% of the board members had to have a disability.
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:06.400
Okay.
00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:21.359
It wasn't hard to find people with disabilities to employ, but it was interesting how many of those people had some kind of emotional baggage in addition to what their disability was.
00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.720
Maybe it's because of the disability, I don't I don't really know.
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.880
Yeah, but I'm too sure that plays into it.
00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:32.400
I can't imagine that it wouldn't, you know, especially in our culture.
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:44.640
I was no longer actually involved in the organization, but I felt very I well, they called me because they want someone to go in and look at their QuickBooks because they didn't that was part of the problem.
00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:45.920
No one seemed to understand.
00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.880
They had a bookkeeper, but no one seemed to understand what was going on.
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:55.759
And and by the time I looked at it, it was because I had when I was on the board, I'd given them quite a bit of money.
00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:01.279
And when I uh looked at the books, it's like, I don't think this can be saved.
00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:01.839
Yeah.
00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:10.160
Someone else took over another that it's called they're called Centers for Independent Living, and another one took it over, but I don't think much is happening.
00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:10.480
Yeah.
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.079
It's just kind of sad for the people who received the services.
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:14.640
Right.
00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:16.160
No, that is sad for them.
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:21.359
But uh it's to your point, you've got to have as a board, it's important to bring in the right executive.
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:25.279
That's the board's responsibility to bring in that right executive director, you know, so yeah.
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.440
The other problem was there it ended up there was no one on the board who understood finances.
00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:32.960
The board that's not good.
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:42.160
The board didn't know what what was going on in hindsight when I got involved right at the end, I realized the way it was reported to the board wasn't very good.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:48.400
It could have been done in a it was done in a a typical way, the way financial statements are presented.
00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:48.640
Sure.
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.440
But there should have been some additional information.
00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:53.839
Well, an explanation context, right?
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.279
Like what does this actually mean?
00:31:55.599 --> 00:32:10.480
Well, it was more in this particular case, you got a federal grant, and they basically the federal government pops whatever hundred in this case, maybe three hundred thousand dollars gets popped in a you know in an account and you draw on it over twelve months.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:15.279
Well, they drew twelve months worth in ten months, um is what happened.
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:15.920
Yeah.
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:19.359
And then they had no more money to finish out the fiscal year.
00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:25.200
You think that yeah, it's and like that should be pretty evident in the forecast?
00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:38.559
Well, that the problem was that there wasn't anyone astute enough on on the board to really pay attention to this, and it wasn't presented to the board on a monthly basis to say this is how much money we have left.
00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:39.200
Right.
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:39.599
Okay.
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:41.599
And they did have some other income.
00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:41.839
Yeah.
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.079
It wasn't that wasn't 100% of their budget.
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:44.480
Right.
00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:48.240
But it's yeah, when you got a whole two months left of needing money, yeah.
00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:48.480
Yeah.
00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:50.559
So it was sad, but yeah.
00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:52.640
That's some sometimes these things happen.
00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:53.759
Do you travel?
00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:54.400
Do you travel now?
00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:55.599
A little bit.
00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:03.599
I mean, I was in Florida and I'm I go to uh Chautauqua to the Choc Chautauqua Institute in the summertime, so I'll be there for a week in July.
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:04.559
Oh nice.
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:05.680
Yeah, excellent.
00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:06.640
We still travel a lot.
00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:10.319
We we don't have family here, so we end up traveling a lot to go and see family.
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.920
So this year I think we have some family coming to us this time, so that's gonna be nice.
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.880
Yeah, we used to go to Florida usually twice a year.
00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:19.119
And I typically we drove.
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:19.519
Yeah.
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:21.440
Not always, but typically we drove.
00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:22.799
Well, anymore or two.
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:26.400
I just prefer driving to uh to flying.
00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:27.359
Like we even to St.
00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:29.759
Louis, I was like, you could fly.
00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:30.960
Take the train.
00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:32.240
Oh, that's a long day.
00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:33.359
Oh I think I think I looked.
00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:35.200
I think it's like a 24-hour train.
00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:35.920
Probably.
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:39.759
I'm actually I think I'm gonna go to Massachusetts to visit cousin.
00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:42.400
And then usually I drive, it's about six hours.
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:42.880
Yeah.
00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:45.440
But I think I might take the take the train.
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:50.160
So I'll get it I'll get the first class pass on the Asila going up to Boston.
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:50.720
It is so nice.
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:55.039
This is w further west to get off at Springfield.
00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:55.839
Oh, okay.
00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.359
Oh my god, I take that to Boston.
00:33:57.519 --> 00:33:57.759
I love it.
00:33:58.160 --> 00:33:59.599
No, you can't take the local as well.
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:01.680
But it's so convenient, you just do what you want.
00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:05.599
Yeah, no, but I'm like, this is like two hours west of Boston.
00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:06.960
It's not close to Boston.
00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:09.840
But that is the only challenge with it if you can find the routes.
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:12.079
Now, my mom took it from Jersey.
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:16.079
She was seeing my sister in Jersey, and she took the train down to see my sister in Raleigh.
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:19.440
Because they're the she was like an eight-hour drive of train ride.
00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:21.760
And it was straight down from Jersey to Raleigh.
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:23.119
Yeah, it goes through Washington.
00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:23.519
Yeah.
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.760
It was really she's like, it was great.
00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:30.239
Yeah, the the the uh I mean the train goes all the way to Miami.
00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:30.719
Yeah.
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.039
Have you taken you can take the train down to Florida?
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:35.440
I've done that already when I was a child.
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:36.480
Oh, did you?
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:39.599
I I barely remember because I was pretty small.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:41.599
It's actually during World War II.
00:34:41.840 --> 00:34:45.039
Oh, so I guess you couldn't I guess we did it because you couldn't buy gas.
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:46.639
Yeah, probably.
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:48.000
That's amazing.
00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:48.400
Yeah.
00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:51.440
I really like living on the East Coast where those trains are an option.
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.119
It's just not an option like Texas Columbia.
00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:53.840
I don't have that.
00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:55.440
It's such so nice having it here.
00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:57.360
Well, I'll close up here.
00:34:57.599 --> 00:34:58.239
Thank you for joining.
00:34:58.400 --> 00:34:58.880
Thank you for being here.
00:34:59.039 --> 00:34:59.519
Oh, you're welcome.
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:00.079
I enjoyed it.
00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:03.679
Yeah, it was fun to get to know you a little bit better and spend some time together.
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:05.119
So thank you, Lucy.
00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:19.120
Um, so I started my own business last year, and I also at the same time decided I wanted to start a podcast because I've always wanted to do a podcast.
00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:20.399
And so I said, you know what?
00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:21.280
I'm gonna do it.
00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:32.960
The first season, um podcast is called Unexpected Advice, and the first season was just about hearing from people and then unexpected advice that they give that you wouldn't you really wouldn't expect to hear from them.
00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:37.679
So I have a friend who'd been a daycare worker for over 30 years, and she talked about how to fire your clients.
00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:42.159
And I had a friend who is an artist and a DJ, and he talked about collecting.
00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:43.359
He collects all kinds of things.
00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:48.000
So he talked about collecting and how do you get joy out of the stuff that you collect?
00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:51.280
Like how do you actually make use of it and enjoy the things that you collect?
00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:54.399
Because a lot of people collect crap and don't get any joy of it.
00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:56.640
So just all kinds of things.
00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:57.920
We did 10 of them.
00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:07.680
And then um I wanted to st stop the season, and this season I decided I wanted to do one called Right Next Door.
00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:16.560
And for season two is just about my neighbors and my neighborhood, because I think in our culture and society, we don't spend enough time getting to know the people that are right around us.
00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:18.560
Yeah, and this neighborhood's a little different.
00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:20.239
A few people have said that.
00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.480
It is, but it's not, I mean, at the same time.
00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:27.120
Like the only difference is that people are willing to have the conversation.
00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:29.920
Uh when we lived in Houston, so we we're not from here.
00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:31.040
I'm originally from Oklahoma.
00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:32.480
I don't know if I've told you this whole thing.
00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:36.319
I knew you moved here from Texas because you had Texas tags and carb.
00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:40.799
Um so we moved from Texas, um, but I'm originally from Oklahoma.
00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:47.040
And when we lived in Texas, we lived in neighborhoods where you kind of got to know people, but it was the willingness of people to be open.
00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:56.799
And I think in any neighborhood, if we're willing to be open, if we're willing to be kind, if we're willing to build relationships with the people around us, then you can have this neighborhood too.
00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:57.599
Because that's all it is.
00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:03.200
It's not like we're some we we're interesting people, but we're not some kind of magical unicorns.
00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:04.159
We're just people.
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:05.920
The world is just full of people.
00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.199
It's how we choose as a people to build our community.
00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:20.639
And I think that people who've been here a long time, and I talked to um Pete about this, Pete Moore, people who've been here a long time has kind of set that foundational work to have that community.
00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:23.120
The kids are playing together, they built that.
00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:26.719
And then as people have come in, we're still willing to build that.
00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:27.039
Yeah.
00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.800
Um and when I moved here, I got some really good advice.
00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:38.560
My um husband's cousin is military and his wife is he's an officer too, so his wife's always expected to do the officer thing.
00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:42.400
And she told me yesterday, people don't care if there's boxes sitting in your living room.
00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:44.400
Invite him over, invite him over for a cup of coffee.
00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:46.639
Just invite people over, be present.
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:54.400
So that's what I decided to do, and I think that's helped continue, and people were willing to have that conversation, so that helped continue build that community.
00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:56.960
But I'm a firm believer in building community.
00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:59.439
So I'm curious because I actually don't know a lot about you.
00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:02.479
I mean, we've gone walks together, but I actually don't know that much about you.
00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:04.000
So I'd like to learn some more.
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:09.439
Um Judy told me a little bit about your background, so my mind started racing when I was starting to think, oh, I want to ask Raleigh's questions.
00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:13.120
But my first question is, how long have you lived in this neighborhood?
00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:14.960
Since 1987.
00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:16.639
So it's been a minute.
00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:17.520
Yes.
00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:18.639
It's been a minute.
00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:19.919
Now, did you grow up in Lancaster?
00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:20.479
Are you from here?
00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:21.919
I grew up in Effreda.
00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.280
Okay, so it's not far.
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:29.520
Although people here, and it's funny, because people here would be like, Oh, I didn't grow up here, I grew up in Effreda, and I'm like, same county.
00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.159
Like, I grew up in Oklahoma, it's different, right?
00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.800
Um, okay, so you got to grow up in the area, not here, but you grew up in the area.
00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:38.800
And then what brought you to move here?
00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:51.199
Because you've lived here for a long time, so this is where Oh, actually, I've lived in Lancaster my entire adult life, except I was in Pittsburgh, sorta, for five years, like commuting.
00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:52.080
Oh, okay.
00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:52.879
That's not fun.
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:53.680
That's all right.
00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:54.560
I enjoyed it actually.
00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:55.120
Did you?
00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:55.360
Yes.
00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:57.680
How did you go back and forth to train or car?
00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:02.560
Well, it varied because it was in the 70s during that gas shortage.
00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:03.280
Oh, yeah.
00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:05.759
And you couldn't buy gas on Sunday.
00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:06.080
Oh.
00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:17.279
So I I did I'd found out I had a Volkswagen bug at the time, and I finally learned by the way, your cool level level just went up because you own a bug.
00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:18.959
I think that's a good thing.
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:20.480
Actually, I own two of them.
00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:21.199
Nice.
00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:27.680
But um I did finally learn that I could make it driving there on Sunday.
00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:28.240
Okay.
00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.439
But for a while I was using public transportation.
00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:32.480
Oh, yeah.
00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:38.800
And that's not like no, they didn't did they have a train that went to Damtrack or they do, but but it was slow.
00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:39.279
Yeah.
00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:41.600
I think mostly because of the mountains.
00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:44.879
So typically I took the bus.
00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:45.360
Okay.
00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.959
The Greyhound bus that came into Harrisburg.
00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.319
And then when I came on Friday, I could get a train.
00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:56.720
The bus station in Harrisburg is at the train station.
00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:58.079
I could get a train to Lancaster.
00:04:58.480 --> 00:04:58.720
Okay.
00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:02.720
Usually on Sunday when I went back, my husband drove me to Harrisburg.
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:03.279
Okay.
00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:03.680
Okay.
00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:06.639
I did take the train already, which was more comfortable.
00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:07.199
Mm-hmm.
00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:07.680
Yeah.
00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:10.160
But uh What were you doing there in Pittsburgh?
00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:14.879
I taught at what's Chatham College, which is now Chatham University.
00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:17.360
Oh, okay, because you have a background in math.
00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:18.720
So you were a math professor?
00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:20.480
I was a math professor, yes.
00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:21.759
Wow, fantastic.
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.560
What introdu what brought you into mathematics?
00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:28.560
Like when is this something that was always interesting you're good at, or is it something you had to push through?
00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:32.959
I come from a family of people who are mathematically oriented.
00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.639
Oh, okay.
00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:36.319
So was it your mom and dad?
00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:42.399
Was it well my father was an engineer, my brother was an engineer, my mother worked in an accounting department.
00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:43.040
Okay.
00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:43.360
Yeah.
00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.639
So everyone was everyone was in the numbers.
00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:48.800
And where did you go to school?
00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:49.920
Where'd you get your degree from?
00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:52.800
I went to Penn State and then University of Delaware.
00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:54.319
Because you got your PhD, correct?
00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:54.720
Yes.
00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:55.759
In between.
00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.000
I taught school when I first got out of college.
00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:02.879
In between while I was teaching school locally, I got an MED at Millersville.
00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:08.720
Which really kind of turned me on to go get a PhD more than when I was an undergraduate.
00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:09.120
Okay.
00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:10.720
I had a good experience there actually.
00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:13.439
Well, I was telling somebody else, my so my mom was professors.
00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:14.879
Both my parents are educators.
00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:19.519
My dad actually uh taught at a vocational school in Oklahoma, so he taught autobody.
00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:24.160
And then my mom was a stay-at-home mom until my younger siblings were like in middle school.
00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:27.600
And she went back and she had it, she already had a bachelor's and a master's.
00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:30.959
She had a bachelor's in math, a master's in counseling taught.
00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:32.800
She from New York City.
00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:40.639
And then after the kids, she went back to school and got a um bachelor's in accounting, and then she really wanted to teach.
00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.959
And the cool was like, Well, you don't have a PhD.
00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:44.639
She's like, Well, maybe I'll go get one.
00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:47.920
So she went back in her fifties and got a PhD in accounting and then taught.
00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:52.879
And then taught for almost 20 years at Monmouth University out in Jersey.
00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.160
So they lived out here for a while.
00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:58.240
They're back in Oklahoma now, but they lived they lived in Jersey for a while.
00:06:58.399 --> 00:06:59.279
And she taught there.
00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:00.079
And she loved it.
00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.879
As she liked school so much, she just decided to teach.
00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.639
So what brought you into deciding to do be a professor?
00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:08.000
So you were already teaching.
00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:10.000
What were you teaching high school, middle school?
00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:12.399
I taught junior high when I first got out of college.
00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:14.480
I I liked the academic atmosphere.
00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:17.120
I mean teaching in a in a small college is fun.
00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:17.600
Yeah.
00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:23.759
Did it now how much of it was research based versus just like teaching based?
00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:24.639
Did you do a lot of research?
00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:28.720
I did some research with primarily friends who were at Pit.
00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:29.199
Okay.
00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:32.560
But uh for the most part, no, there was no demand for research.
00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:33.040
Okay.
00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:34.720
Oh, that's interesting.
00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.040
What would did you do research on then?
00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:40.399
When you had when you was there something that interested you that you wanted to go for?
00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.680
Well, it was part just like a takeoff of my PhD dissertation.
00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:46.160
Okay.
00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:46.800
Yeah.
00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:48.160
What was your dissertation on?
00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:49.759
Operator theory.
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:51.600
Which is, I don't know what that is.
00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.199
That's part of analysis if you've ever studied math.
00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:55.680
Yeah.
00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:56.079
Okay.
00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:58.480
Well, I haven't studied math, Louisie.
00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:00.319
So you gotta tell me about it.
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:06.879
Um, so it's uh I have found that if I went back to school to school, I have a degree in um communication.
00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.240
If I went back to school, I really wanted to study the theory of communication.
00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.199
I don't really want to go back and get an MBA or something with business.
00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:15.600
Like I've been in business, I understand those principles.
00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:20.079
I don't feel like going to school would teach me a lot more that I could just like take a get a certificate.
00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:25.600
But the theory of things, the why things work, especially in the arts, is really fascinating to me.
00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:34.639
So if I if I ever went back and got an advanced degree, I would get it in in like a communication or something where there's you're really studying that theory because that's what's interesting to me.
00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:36.320
So are you going to do it?
00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:37.200
I don't know.
00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:40.799
I started my own business and that's consuming a lot of time right now.
00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:47.279
My par both of my parents are like prodding me to like go get go just go, go do some more.
00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:52.720
Um, my brother, he got uh a master's, my youngest sister has her MBA.
00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:58.480
My me and my other sister are the only ones who don't have the advanced degree, but she's a certified P of P.
00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:02.720
So I'm like the least educated and certified of my siblings.
00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:07.440
Um I'm the oldest, which you think would not be the case, but I don't know.
00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:07.919
We'll see.
00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:16.320
I did start studying at one point, but then the kids and changed jobs and well, the former neighbor who lived across the street from me in the greenhouse.
00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:24.159
Yeah, you know, um she's she's in her fifties and she's starting an MBA this fall.
00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:25.600
Well, actually, that's fantastic.
00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:30.799
She's taking a math course on it's not, I don't think it's really online.
00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:32.399
I'm not sure how it works.
00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:32.879
Okay.
00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:38.320
It's at home, whether it's online, okay, like once a month or some kind of a class.
00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:39.679
I think you just do it on your own.
00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:41.679
Yeah, at your it's a math class.
00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:43.360
She sent me the syllabus the other day.
00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:46.240
Oh, she's like, okay, am I doing this right?
00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:47.840
Well, it was kind of interesting.
00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:51.200
I think it's called math for management or something like that.
00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:56.399
And it was um mixture, starting out with a review of algebra and statistics.
00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:57.600
Oh my gosh, statistics.
00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:04.320
And uh I forget what the other module was, but it was kind of a a mixture.
00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:08.960
What did you uh what did you enjoy teaching the most when you were teaching math?
00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:10.960
Well, definitely not statistics.
00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:11.759
Well, I don't know why.
00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:13.279
Statistics hurt my brain.
00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:14.399
I couldn't I struggled.
00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:19.840
I I think my favorite class that I ever taught was calculus for business.
00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:20.960
Oh, really?
00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:22.559
What did you like about that?
00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:23.120
That's interesting.
00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:24.320
I haven't heard that.
00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:30.960
Uh I guess just because I'm kind of interested in business and I just thought I just enjoyed it.
00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:31.360
Okay.
00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:37.440
I think the reason I really didn't like teaching statistics is because the students didn't like it.
00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:38.000
Oh, yeah.
00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:39.200
They didn't want to be there.
00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:49.919
Oh I taught as an adjunct at Millersville for a few years, and I can remember one semester I had most of these students were getting a BSN in nursing.
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:50.320
Yeah.
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:52.480
And they were horrible students.
00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:56.320
They didn't want to be there, they didn't see any use for it.
00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:57.120
Yeah.
00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:59.679
And they had a they had a terrible attitude.
00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:00.159
Yeah.
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:00.480
Yeah.
00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:03.200
Their attitude towards learning is I I even failed.
00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:05.039
I shouldn't say I failed them.
00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:07.360
They one one student even failed.
00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:07.840
Yeah.
00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:08.240
Yeah.
00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.639
Because they didn't apply themselves.
00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:11.840
But you gotta do it.
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:13.279
I'd never studied calculus.
00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:16.240
I never had to study calculus for what I pursued.
00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:23.039
Um, but it algebra, I I well now when the kids, so now my son, of course, they're going into algebra, going into high school.
00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:24.720
And what grade is he in?
00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:29.120
He is going into ninth grade, and my daughter is seventh, she'll be going into eighth grade.
00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:37.360
And she actually interestingly really scored high on her PSSAs for mathematics, but she's never pursued mathematics.
00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:45.440
Um, but one, her teacher, I sat down with her teacher, and he said, because I think it's this to your point of attitude in learning.
00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.480
He I said, Did the teacher teacher?
00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:50.799
And he's like, look, she's doing well.
00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:52.960
And like she was making a B plus.
00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:56.480
And he's like, look, her PSSA is she understands this.
00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:01.679
Her mistakes were like just kind of sloppy, like rushing through so she can go and do something else.
00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.679
He's like, But do you like swing?
00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:05.200
Yeah, I know, like swing.
00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.559
So I said, um, I told Bly that.
00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:09.360
So I told her that.
00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:20.799
I said, Hey, you're by the way, your teacher, you've got this incredible score on your P like, she was in 98th or 99th percentile on the PSSAs, and your teacher says he's gonna recommend you for advanced math next year.
00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:22.159
And she was so surprised.
00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:23.759
So she's going into eighth grade.
00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:24.879
She'll be going into eighth grade.
00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:29.360
So she when they recommend you for advanced math, that means you would start uh algebra.
00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:31.679
Yes, she'll start algebra in eighth grade.
00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:39.120
Yeah, so Arwen did algebra, so he was in regular math year seven, and then that was yeah, he was like, I want to do advanced.
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.399
So he's did algebra this year, and he's done pretty well.
00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:46.320
Actually, he's done pretty well in in algebra, and that it requires me.
00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:53.600
Now, my husband's much better, so he means much better about remembering all the formulations because he studied more science in college than I did.
00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:59.919
Um, and so Arwen will get in and yeah, he'll he but if he doesn't figure something out, we're trying to figure it out.
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:03.440
Part of the challenge right now is the the platforms that they're using.
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:17.120
Like if you don't put it in the right format correctly, like not number format, like text format, or um as many D just like it's the right answer, but you have to put two extra zeros after the decimal, like it didn't make any sense.
00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:19.039
We're sometimes get frustrated with that.
00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:29.279
But in the most, for the most part, um, my husband, Damien's been helping him, and I use Chat GPT every once in a while if I can't figure it out and I'm like, explain this to me and how you got to it.
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:32.080
So I hope when they explain it, it's right.
00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:32.720
Yeah.
00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:35.279
It is for the most part it is because it gets to the same answer.
00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:36.320
It gets to the same answer.
00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:43.600
I just find uh with the uh, you know, when you do Google now and you get a physical, I a lot of that stuff.
00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:50.480
It's now a lot of what I do is related to tax because that's what I've been working on the last couple months.
00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:50.879
Okay.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:52.879
And I find a lot of it's not correct.
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:53.519
Not correct.
00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:54.639
Not accurate, no.
00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.360
No, you do you you really have to be careful.
00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:03.679
Um, and I think even w people say like, what is AI going to take over?
00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:13.759
And I think there's even with mathematics, some of it's accurate, yes, but you usually have to have specialized systems that are um built to do math well.
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.039
Uh especially if you're getting getting into AI.
00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:24.080
But there's nothing that logic that's associated with mathematics of how you get to a particular place.
00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.720
That's critical for our brains to know.
00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:34.960
It's critical for how we think and how we reason and how we um you know work work uh to solve problems.
00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:42.399
Like that fun fun fundamental foundational concepts of sequentially figuring things out I think is really important.
00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.639
That's not something that you know we should let AI take over for us is thinking.
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:49.279
That'll definitely be interesting.
00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:53.519
I I just can't imagine what we're gonna do with all these data centers.
00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:54.320
Oh my goodness.
00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.159
The one that I read about let's see, I guess it was Utah.
00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:04.080
It's twice the it's going to be twice the size of the of Manhattan.
00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:04.720
What?
00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.399
Oh my gosh, that's craziness.
00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:10.799
And that's the one Kevin Leary is it Leary or O'Leary?
00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:12.320
It's on Shark Tank.
00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:13.679
Yeah, I don't remember.
00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:14.320
Okay.
00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.159
Um that's the one that he's involved in.
00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:17.120
He's involved in.
00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.120
What so what are you doing now with your time?
00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:20.000
You've retired.
00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:20.960
I'm not retired.
00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:22.000
You're not retired, we're not.
00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:23.600
No, I still work with tax.
00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.360
Oh, you do still do taxes.
00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:27.440
Well, I help a friend primarily.
00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:27.840
Okay.
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:29.759
Uh who has a business in town.
00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.519
As a matter of fact, I was there this morning.
00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:32.080
Okay.
00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:38.960
But uh, and I I have just a few clients that I still do, most of whom live in retirement homes.
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:39.919
Oh, okay.
00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:40.879
And they die.
00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.240
Oh, okay.
00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.639
Oh, I just remember what I forgot to do.
00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.720
Oh, see, now we're helping you.
00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.320
Hopefully I'll remember when I get home.
00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:50.320
Well, this is a client who died.
00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:56.399
Luckily, I was luckily, it's sort of sad, but I was able to get his signature a few days before he died.
00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:57.120
Oh, he passed.
00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:00.000
Oh, he was he was at the uh Trillion Living.
00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:05.360
He was still with it mentally, but very very sick because of lung issues.
00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:13.679
And uh and so I still have all the material because his family doesn't live here, and I didn't want to leave it in his nursing home room.
00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:14.639
Yeah, no, you don't want to.
00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:15.759
Yeah.
00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.480
And so I still never gave them a bill.
00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:19.039
No.
00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:21.039
You have to give them their stuff to give them.
00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:21.440
Yeah.
00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.159
So you still work a little bit then.
00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.440
What when did you stop teaching?
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:38.000
Well, I well, I stopped teaching at Chatham in 1978, and then I worked for a defense contractor for 12 years.
00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:44.720
And then I went back to teaching as an adjunct, and that's when I started uh my tax business.
00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.720
Okay, so you actually ran a tax business.
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:48.159
It was my own business, yes.
00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:50.240
Oh, how long did you do that?
00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:55.840
I started it uh in 1991, I guess.
00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:58.000
And then I actually sold it.
00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:03.279
I actually it was called ALM Tax Service, which still exists, it's down on the Harrisburg Pipe.
00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:06.960
I sold it in I think twenty eleven.
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:08.799
Okay, so but yeah, so you were doing that.
00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.799
Uh and then I actually worked with that business for maybe two years.
00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:13.440
Okay.
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:25.200
And then I I I uh trying to think, did I No, I wasn't teaching then, no, and I and and along the way I did some adjunct teaching at Millersville and and Franklin and Marshall.
00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.920
And then uh and so then I still did a few taxes.
00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.440
I didn't sell all my clients, I kept a few of my clients.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:34.000
Yeah.
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:37.839
When what was that bridge that gap?
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:46.720
So if you're teaching your in in mathematics, um can be a little purist, but it sounds like you already were looking to do application.
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.160
So not just math, but math to solve problems, max to do things.
00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:51.519
So you went to work in defense.
00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:55.119
What did you do in defense with I was a program manager.
00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:55.599
Okay.
00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:03.119
I started out in development, a program manager in development, but then I ended up uh had a job offer and only because of money.
00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:07.440
Same same company I yeah I was in charge of of production.
00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:08.160
Okay.
00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.000
Actually it was like fifty percent of the company's business.
00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:12.799
Oh wow.
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.680
Was it uh under your re under you for production?
00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:16.240
All right.
00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.240
Oh, and that was that here in Lincolnsterson?
00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:19.359
Yeah, it was downtown.
00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.079
It's called then it was called Hamilton Technology.
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.160
By the time you got here, it may have changed.
00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:25.680
It was bought done by Boulevard.
00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:26.240
Oh, okay.
00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:26.400
Yeah.
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.079
Eventually it became L3.
00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:28.480
Okay.
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.200
Which still exists, but there's no local presence.
00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:32.559
No local presence anymore.
00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:33.039
Okay.
00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:33.519
All right.
00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:36.400
So you did that for a while and then started now.
00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:41.440
Did you go straight from working for a company to doing your own tax practice?
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.920
I had some family members who were in the tax business and I used to help one of them.
00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:47.279
Well, and your mom that's right.
00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:50.079
Yum was a well, she wasn't a she worked in a business.
00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.720
She worked for what was then Warner Lambert.
00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:54.640
Uh I mean, she worked in an accounting office.
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:55.920
She was an accounting clerk.
00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:56.240
Okay.
00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:58.400
So she she didn't really do anything to do with taxes.
00:18:58.720 --> 00:18:59.039
Taxes.
00:18:59.359 --> 00:18:59.519
Okay.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:00.400
All right.
00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:03.440
And uh I mean, I I never did accounting.
00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.279
I never studied accounting in my life.
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:05.839
Right.
00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:10.240
I mean But so how did you get how did you make that transition though?
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:11.599
Because your family was doing it?
00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:12.640
Did you start your own business?
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:13.440
Did you join some more?
00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:22.000
Well, I was helping a cousin and uh who had a business and she wanted to slow down, and then I just started picking up my own clients, and I decided I wanted to do it.
00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:25.359
So I created a DBA, rented an office, and off I went.
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:25.599
Yeah.
00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:29.759
Took me a couple years really to get it going.
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:41.359
And actually what made it a success was I hooked up with a relationship with Wheatland Wheatland Federal Credit Union, which is over on Centerville River, which we were members of.
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.680
And actually the origin of that was Hamilton Tech uh Hamilton Watch, which is where my husband worked.
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:54.160
And so we had been, you know, long time members, and I knew the manager, and I just proposed this to him.
00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:56.400
You know, would you like advertise?
00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:02.160
I'll pay you some money, I'll give the members a 10% discount, advertise, and they were much bigger then.
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:03.920
They had like 12,000 members.
00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:04.559
Really?
00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:06.720
And they send out a newsletter back then.
00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.880
So they so I made up a flyer.
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:09.200
Yeah.
00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:15.440
A little brochure really put it in their newsletter, and that's really what made my business take off.
00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.559
Oh, okay.
00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:18.559
Of course you can't beat word of mouth.
00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:20.559
Yeah, yes, that's the truth.
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:20.960
Yeah.
00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:23.839
That's actually so starting my business is the way I've gotten.
00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:25.920
But I struggled before that.
00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:29.519
Did you just I mean it was there, but it wasn't growing very rapidly.
00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:30.480
Okay.
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:35.839
Had to get not put that marketing hat on and and grow the business.
00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.039
And what just decided would did you just decide you wanted to slow down?
00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.119
Did you were got wanted to do something else?
00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:51.599
Well, actually, when I sold my business, I thought we would probably travel, but my husband ended up with dementia and there wasn't much traveling going to happen.
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.400
So we never really did do a whole lot of traveling.
00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:59.680
We probably would have spent a month or two in Florida, maybe in the who knows what we would have done, but it never happened.
00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:00.160
Okay.
00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:17.440
So if we're thinking about um these shifts in life, the things that you've done differently, like and going from teaching, being professor, well, even teaching kid little kids and teaching big uh bigger kids to working for defense, working in production, starting your own business.
00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:23.359
What are some pieces of advice that you've learned along the way that really helped you be successful?
00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:25.359
Work hard, probably more than anything.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:26.640
How did that look for you?
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.599
Well, I think a lot of people don't have a good attitude.
00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:38.880
They don't they don't, as a matter of fact, this friend that I help with now, he has a niece who helps him.
00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.319
I think she comes in once.
00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.519
She has another ro job.
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:41.759
Yeah.
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.000
I think she has actually a reasonably good job.
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.079
She's um probably late twenties.
00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:46.559
Okay.
00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:49.519
And I wouldn't want her as an employee.
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:50.160
Okay.
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:57.440
Because she she doesn't she would never do that extra.
00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:58.880
Yeah.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.119
Some sometimes maybe you don't immediately get rewarded for what you've done.
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:18.880
But I mean, I remember when I worked for Hamilton getting up at three o'clock in the morning and driving downtown to check on something that was in a freezer that needed to be checked every so many hours.
00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:19.680
Yeah.
00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:23.759
You know, this person, you know, if not some people aren't willing to do that.
00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:24.960
Job is a job.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:25.519
Mm-hmm.
00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:26.240
Yeah.
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:31.200
I think my dad would always say, if they ask you to sweep the floor, mop it too.
00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.960
That's how he kind of always raises us was unless there's a union involved.
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.160
But the idea being go just a little bit, you know, go a little bit extra.
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.240
If you could do a little bit more, do it.
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:43.759
Um, and then always do it well.
00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:47.200
Like his he we he always raised us to really to take pride in your work.
00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:50.000
Like if you're gonna put the effort forward, do a good job.
00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.400
I remember when I was in development, sometimes you'd be in between projects.
00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:58.240
Really didn't have anything to do, but I would always make something to do.
00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:02.720
Like we had recently purchased CAD equipment, so I learned how to use it.
00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:03.359
Nice.
00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:03.759
Yeah.
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:08.400
And we had some uh project management software, so I learned how to use it.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:08.799
Yeah.
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.279
So you know, I wasn't gonna sit there and read the paper.
00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:12.559
Right, twiddle your thumbs.
00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:13.039
Right.
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:13.519
Okay.
00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:18.160
So working hard, being willing to having that attitude, having a good attitude.
00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:22.799
Um, and you mentioned attitude actually before, and people interact alignment with people's success.
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:29.440
No, uh meaning with the teaching, you know, the if you didn't I didn't like you didn't like teaching statistics because other people didn't want to be there.
00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:32.480
And that attitude I think affects more than just you.
00:23:32.720 --> 00:24:00.240
And that's something to kind of keep in mind that yeah, it affects you, but it affects the you know, if you're in a classroom, one bad attitude can really like there doesn't there's actually a lot of research around this about that type of attitude of attitude that um it's like that one rotten apple that can spoil the bunch, but it also can take one person that has the good attitude that is curious and asks questions and doesn't allow the group to slide into that negative space.
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.240
It just takes one person to do that too.
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.119
Attitude is a critical one when we think about those things.
00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:08.000
What else?
00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:08.559
What else?
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:12.640
What other pieces of advice are rumbling around in that in that head?
00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:18.480
I guess some things that are important to me is one is being fair.
00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:21.200
What does the fair look like to you?
00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:25.440
I think other I think people can have different that's something that people can have different views of.
00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:29.759
I think probably remember the gold golden rule.
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:32.559
Probably goes a long way in fairness.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:33.519
Sure.
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.359
For your family, so you how long were you married?
00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:38.799
Your husband's passed now.
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:42.559
Fifty holy smokes.
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:47.440
Then two times fifty-four years, I think.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:48.319
That's a long time.
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:48.799
Yes.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:50.160
What made that successful?
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:53.920
Why did you s how did you what kept you guys together for 54 years?
00:24:55.119 --> 00:25:01.519
I think one of the things was we didn't have any disagreements when it came to finances.
00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:02.079
Okay.
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:09.839
That uh and it's interesting how I listen to people now who have separate accounts.
00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:10.720
Oh, I know.
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:15.839
And they uh divvy things up in a certain way, and it's like, oh my gosh.
00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:18.400
Foreign to me, but yeah.
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:19.519
Yes, yes.
00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:23.519
I mean that works for some people, but I just can't imagine that.
00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:24.079
Right.
00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:24.559
Right.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:25.119
Okay.
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:32.640
And we and we weren't the way some couples are that we did everything together.
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.480
You know, we both had our own lives in in a certain way.
00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:37.119
Mm-hmm.
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:38.079
Mm-hmm.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:39.440
What did your husband do?
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:41.200
You said he worked at Hamilton Watch for a while.
00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:43.440
He actually was a machinist.
00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:44.480
Oh, wow.
00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:45.200
Great.
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:45.759
Okay.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.359
And he did he retire?
00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:52.960
Like, did you both cause you sold your business in 2011, you say?
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:56.880
No, he was retired then when I sold my business.
00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:02.640
But when I stopped working, because I worked for the same company he did for a while.
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:03.119
Okay.
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:11.039
Oh, when I stopped working then, I was able to do that because I got insurance even after he retired.
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:13.680
I got insurance until I turned 65.
00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:14.880
So I was very lucky.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:23.200
I probably I don't know if I would have been able to do what I did if it hadn't been for that, because it was a lot different back then buying insurance then.
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:24.640
Oh my goodness, I know.
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:26.640
That's what I told Damien when I started the company.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:29.519
I was like, so you got to go to a find a place that has good insurance.
00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:32.559
Well, but now you have the marketplace, so you can at least buy it.
00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:33.359
At least buy it.
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:33.759
Yeah.
00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:36.160
Back then you you didn't know if you could buy it.
00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:41.359
And if you did could buy it, then you had a a pre-existing condition, they weren't going to cover it.
00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:41.759
Yeah.
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:42.640
Yeah, that's right.
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:44.000
Yeah, for the pre-existing conditions.
00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:45.680
So it was different.
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.359
Yeah, it was very different.
00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:53.119
Um, so you guys were married, um, he passed away a few years ago, uh, and you have stayed busy.
00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:54.160
You've stayed active.
00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:59.680
Uh, well, I'm involved in some in some nonprofits, which also keep me busy.
00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:05.039
As a matter of fact, just recently I kind of befriended this personal care home in Columbia.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:27.200
There is a woman, her name is Mabel Hershey, who's about my age, who uh saw this was a profit-making, supposed to be a profit-making personal care home called Cherry Street, personal care, I think it was, and it was going under because the fellow that owned it wanted to retire, so he sold it to his administrator.
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:27.599
Oh.
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:32.000
And she paid too much for it and borrowed the money from him.
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:34.480
Uh, and she couldn't make a go of it.
00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:34.799
Right.
00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:41.839
And so there was someone there that Mabel Hershey knew, and she stepped in and made it a nonprofit, so it still exists.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:42.319
Okay.
00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:49.920
But it's amazing how they do what they do with the um little amount of money they collect from many of the residents.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.200
I don't even know how they survive.
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:51.920
Oh, wow.
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:55.759
When I look what the profit-making personal care homes charge.
00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:05.920
But it's to be honest with you, if it's physically not very nice, and they probably don't offer as much care as as a place like Oakleaf Manor does.
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:06.720
Yeah, right.
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:07.039
Okay.
00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:10.000
But anyway, I've kind of reflected the other day.
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:18.079
Well, just recently they acquired a van, like a 15-passenger van bus that uh a church gave to them.
00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:18.640
Mm-hmm.
00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:22.799
That they used to borrow, but now the church gave it gave it to them.
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:27.920
And so I met them at Turkey Hill in Columbia and treated everyone to ice cream.
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:30.079
The residents are just so appreciative.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:30.640
Yeah.
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:31.359
Oh, that's fun.
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:32.799
So you're doing some volunteer work.
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:35.519
Yeah, I'm also on the board of Casa, the sport special.
00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:37.039
Yes.
00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:41.279
I was just talking to someone um that was that participates with CASA as well.
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:43.039
They're a CASA volunteer.
00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:43.359
Mm-hmm.
00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:43.599
Yes.
00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:44.160
Locally?
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:44.559
Yes.
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:45.759
A good commitment.
00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:46.559
It is.
00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:47.200
It is.
00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:53.119
It's a it's a uh it's a an intensive commitment, but it's incredible what they do.
00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:53.920
Incredible.
00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:58.000
It's a really uh a very um impactful program.
00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:04.640
So could be the executive director in Lancaster's well it's like we serve Lancaster and Lebanon County now.
00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:06.480
And she is just excellent.
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:10.799
The executive director just makes such such a difference.
00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:11.519
Yes.
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:14.640
Yes, in the nonprofit world, that is a hundred percent true.
00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:25.359
Yeah, I was on another board that was actually federally funded, not a hundred percent, but uh and it actually isn't even locally open anymore.
00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:29.359
I'm not exactly sure what's going on because I think the federal funds are still sitting out there.
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:33.680
And uh and it was all because of the executive director.
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:34.319
Yeah.
00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:34.960
Mm-hmm.
00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:44.480
It really re it requires somebody who knows but understands that mission and can be a good leader in alignment with that mission.
00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:54.880
Well, this organization was for people with disabilities, and the idea was for them to be able to live independently or at least choose to live the way they chose to live.
00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:55.279
Yeah.
00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:05.920
And one of the rules was that the more than 50% of the employees had to have a disability, and more than 50% of the board members had to have a disability.
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:06.400
Okay.
00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:21.359
It wasn't hard to find people with disabilities to employ, but it was interesting how many of those people had some kind of emotional baggage in addition to what their disability was.
00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.720
Maybe it's because of the disability, I don't I don't really know.
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.880
Yeah, but I'm too sure that plays into it.
00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:32.400
I can't imagine that it wouldn't, you know, especially in our culture.
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:44.640
I was no longer actually involved in the organization, but I felt very I well, they called me because they want someone to go in and look at their QuickBooks because they didn't that was part of the problem.
00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:45.920
No one seemed to understand.
00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.880
They had a bookkeeper, but no one seemed to understand what was going on.
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:55.759
And and by the time I looked at it, it was because I had when I was on the board, I'd given them quite a bit of money.
00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:01.279
And when I uh looked at the books, it's like, I don't think this can be saved.
00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:01.839
Yeah.
00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:10.160
Someone else took over another that it's called they're called Centers for Independent Living, and another one took it over, but I don't think much is happening.
00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:10.480
Yeah.
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.079
It's just kind of sad for the people who received the services.
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:14.640
Right.
00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:16.160
No, that is sad for them.
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:21.359
But uh it's to your point, you've got to have as a board, it's important to bring in the right executive.
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:25.279
That's the board's responsibility to bring in that right executive director, you know, so yeah.
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.440
The other problem was there it ended up there was no one on the board who understood finances.
00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:32.960
The board that's not good.
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:42.160
The board didn't know what what was going on in hindsight when I got involved right at the end, I realized the way it was reported to the board wasn't very good.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:48.400
It could have been done in a it was done in a a typical way, the way financial statements are presented.
00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:48.640
Sure.
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.440
But there should have been some additional information.
00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:53.839
Well, an explanation context, right?
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.279
Like what does this actually mean?
00:31:55.599 --> 00:32:10.480
Well, it was more in this particular case, you got a federal grant, and they basically the federal government pops whatever hundred in this case, maybe three hundred thousand dollars gets popped in a you know in an account and you draw on it over twelve months.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:15.279
Well, they drew twelve months worth in ten months, um is what happened.
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:15.920
Yeah.
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:19.359
And then they had no more money to finish out the fiscal year.
00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:25.200
You think that yeah, it's and like that should be pretty evident in the forecast?
00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:38.559
Well, that the problem was that there wasn't anyone astute enough on on the board to really pay attention to this, and it wasn't presented to the board on a monthly basis to say this is how much money we have left.
00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:39.200
Right.
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:39.599
Okay.
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:41.599
And they did have some other income.
00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:41.839
Yeah.
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.079
It wasn't that wasn't 100% of their budget.
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:44.480
Right.
00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:48.240
But it's yeah, when you got a whole two months left of needing money, yeah.
00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:48.480
Yeah.
00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:50.559
So it was sad, but yeah.
00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:52.640
That's some sometimes these things happen.
00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:53.759
Do you travel?
00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:54.400
Do you travel now?
00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:55.599
A little bit.
00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:03.599
I mean, I was in Florida and I'm I go to uh Chautauqua to the Choc Chautauqua Institute in the summertime, so I'll be there for a week in July.
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:04.559
Oh nice.
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:05.680
Yeah, excellent.
00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:06.640
We still travel a lot.
00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:10.319
We we don't have family here, so we end up traveling a lot to go and see family.
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.920
So this year I think we have some family coming to us this time, so that's gonna be nice.
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.880
Yeah, we used to go to Florida usually twice a year.
00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:19.119
And I typically we drove.
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:19.519
Yeah.
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:21.440
Not always, but typically we drove.
00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:22.799
Well, anymore or two.
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:26.400
I just prefer driving to uh to flying.
00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:27.359
Like we even to St.
00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:29.759
Louis, I was like, you could fly.
00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:30.960
Take the train.
00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:32.240
Oh, that's a long day.
00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:33.359
Oh I think I think I looked.
00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:35.200
I think it's like a 24-hour train.
00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:35.920
Probably.
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:39.759
I'm actually I think I'm gonna go to Massachusetts to visit cousin.
00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:42.400
And then usually I drive, it's about six hours.
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:42.880
Yeah.
00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:45.440
But I think I might take the take the train.
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:50.160
So I'll get it I'll get the first class pass on the Asila going up to Boston.
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:50.720
It is so nice.
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:55.039
This is w further west to get off at Springfield.
00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:55.839
Oh, okay.
00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.359
Oh my god, I take that to Boston.
00:33:57.519 --> 00:33:57.759
I love it.
00:33:58.160 --> 00:33:59.599
No, you can't take the local as well.
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:01.680
But it's so convenient, you just do what you want.
00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:05.599
Yeah, no, but I'm like, this is like two hours west of Boston.
00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:06.960
It's not close to Boston.
00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:09.840
But that is the only challenge with it if you can find the routes.
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:12.079
Now, my mom took it from Jersey.
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:16.079
She was seeing my sister in Jersey, and she took the train down to see my sister in Raleigh.
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:19.440
Because they're the she was like an eight-hour drive of train ride.
00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:21.760
And it was straight down from Jersey to Raleigh.
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:23.119
Yeah, it goes through Washington.
00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:23.519
Yeah.
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.760
It was really she's like, it was great.
00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:30.239
Yeah, the the the uh I mean the train goes all the way to Miami.
00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:30.719
Yeah.
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.039
Have you taken you can take the train down to Florida?
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:35.440
I've done that already when I was a child.
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:36.480
Oh, did you?
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:39.599
I I barely remember because I was pretty small.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:41.599
It's actually during World War II.
00:34:41.840 --> 00:34:45.039
Oh, so I guess you couldn't I guess we did it because you couldn't buy gas.
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:46.639
Yeah, probably.
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:48.000
That's amazing.
00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:48.400
Yeah.
00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:51.440
I really like living on the East Coast where those trains are an option.
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.119
It's just not an option like Texas Columbia.
00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:53.840
I don't have that.
00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:55.440
It's such so nice having it here.
00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:57.360
Well, I'll close up here.
00:34:57.599 --> 00:34:58.239
Thank you for joining.
00:34:58.400 --> 00:34:58.880
Thank you for being here.
00:34:59.039 --> 00:34:59.519
Oh, you're welcome.
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:00.079
I enjoyed it.
00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:03.679
Yeah, it was fun to get to know you a little bit better and spend some time together.
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:05.119
So thank you, Lucy.
