After much procrastination, and some more urging from other classmates, (Thanks, Mark!) I finally decided to quit berating others about not doing something I wasn't willing to do....write a BIO for all to see.

So, here I am, in all my glory. You'll see the pics above are my high school yearbook pic from 1974, and a pic taken with a cellphone around 8pm tonight. What a difference only 37 years make.......

The week before we graduated, I got a job at Amy Joy Donuts, (Thanks, Sandy Boggs!), down where East Market St. and Mogadore Road come together.

That job was the most fun!!
Or maybe I was just young and stupid... I enjoyed everything about it, even the cleaning!
I worked all shifts there, but Midnight - 6am was my favorite.
I always felt safe.
I had no choice, BUT to feel safe...the place filled up with cops, as soon as 1am came around!! LOL

I eventually left there to work in MANY restaurants in Akron, almost always cooking for you. Restaurant work is long hours and hard work, but I enjoyed most of it. After a while, though, an opportunity to get out of food service presented itself and I took it.

I went to work for Fotomat. Yes, I sat in one of those little glass booths, waiting for you to drive up and drop off your rolls of film. I opened the store at 3200 S. Arlington Road, which is where Target, Panera Bread, CiCi's Pizza Buffet, and the Akron Barber College now sit. (I was told recently that my 'booth' is now a little drive-up coffee place.) I worked there on the early shift for thirteen years, until Konica, who owned Fotomat, decided to close it.

I got promoted to the Mini-Lab in Hudson, to become Night Supervisor. There, we did our own negative developing and picture printing. It was no longer a drive up booth, it was an actual store. I didn't know how to act, what with customers WALKING in, and not aiming their cars at me!!

I worked at that location, loving every minute of it, for about 18 months, when an until-then unknown birth defect in my back let go, and I became disabled overnight. I have not had another pain-free day since. I went to Akron U to earn a degree in Interpreting for the Deaf, but upon becoming disabled, I had to quit with two semesters left to go. I have often thought about going back, but my disability sometimes makes it a questionable endeavor.

I have never felt the need to leave Akron except for more than a day or two. I have always been happy here. I have lived on all sides of town. Currently, I am living on Akron's near East side.

When my back broke, I was out of a job immediately. I found that almost 20 years with the company had earned me 'squat'. They laid me off 10 days before my long-term disability was due to kick in, and I was left with nothing coming in. But, I now qualified for Social Security Disability, so I DID get an income. It isn't much, but it is something, enough to just pay the bills.

And because I was on SSD I now qualified for Public Housing, which has been a LIFE SAVER to me. I live in a very nice housing development, over by City Hospital. There are only 61 units here, so it is rather small and intimate. It is safe, clean, and quiet. My neighbors are almost all very nice people, and almost all are over the age of 70, so it's relatively quiet, which I like...a LOT!

About 2.5 years into my living within AMHA (Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority), they came to all of us Residents, and asked us if we would like to form an agency-wide Resident Council; a group of Residents who have input as to what the HA does, and how they spend some grant monies, and how HUD interacts with the people it is set up to represent. I attended this first meeting. At the second meeting I became the Secretary of this newly-formed organization.

Here we are, 18 years later, and I have been President of what is now called the AMHA Community Action Network, or "A-CAN", for most of those years. I am quite proud of the strides we have made in the relationship our county's Housing Authority has with its Residents.

AMHA is considered by HUD to be a "High-Performer", among HAs, and we have set standards that Housing Authorities all over the country seek to copy. I created a job for myself with the Housing Authority, too. I saw they had a need, suggested a solution, and was given the opportunity to become a Housekeeping Inspector for them at a location on Akron's West Side in 1996, a job I held for 9 years.
I was able to do the job because of the scooter that I now used to get around. I left employment with AMHA in 2005, but still have a great relationship with them.


I am a crafter, dabbling mostly in Rubber Stamps and Paper Arts. I have been into this craft for most of the last 15 years. I try to attend the Akron Rubber Stamp convention at the John S. Knight Center every year, to keep current with trends and products, and to keep close ties with Stampers I know through the internet who come from out-of-town to attend.

I spend a great deal of time on the computer, as well. I am usually chatting with some of my many wonderful RubberStamping friends.

I use my computer time to work on the Ellet Class of '74 website, a lot, too. Now that what seems to be half of our classmates are on Facebook, I spend a great deal of time tracking our missing classmates down and getting them added to the class databases so we can reach them next time we have a party or reunion.
It is work, yes, but it is fun to me, so I don't mind it.

I love the time I have spent working with my fellow classmates, these last several years. Thank you for all the positive feedback, and for your contributions. I couldn't do ANY of this without you!