Thelma Tilton:
CLASS OF 1960
Morris Hills Regional High SchoolClass of 1960
Rockaway, NJ
Thelma's Story
Life has surely been a learning experience. The more I learn, the more I enjoy life. Too bad I'm a slow learner. After a year in college and a year at a job, I married and had four wonderful, beautiful/handsome, intelligent, hard-working, and successful children. I had a practice marriage for over 20 years, then decided it was an impossible match and struck out for SC. I started back to school, and because of the necessity of work, it took eight more years to earn an associate then batchelor degree. Having to work also slowed me down, but I enjoyed every minute. I met and married a great guy, and we had 11 years of refurbishing a lake house, learning to water ski, laughing and loving, traveling through parts of Europe and the UK, moving to NH, then back to GA. We had fun for sure and I learned a lot about happiness.
After Will died, I moved back to NH and was rehired at FIRST, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to getting kids interested in science and technology through robotics competitions. It was a great place to work and the people are the greatest! My oldest daughter and I and her two great kids moved in together and had 9 years together, helping and listening to each other laugh or cry. It was a wonderful time, but she moved back to NJ and after a year alone, I knew it was time to make a change. I decided to retire and move to GA near my youngest daughter. I had been driving down to help prepare for her wedding and knew I would love living near them.
The plan was set, but little did I know that when I met her next-door neighbor, Bill, on November 1, that I would be married on February 21, 2009. We honeymooned in Italy for three weeks and have been laughing ever since. I have learned that having things in common makes marriage easier. We are like two peas in the proverbial pod. He's from the same area, PA, loves the dirt, and so do I. He's a flier, and I have learned to love it too. It comes easy.
We are pretty busy these days and don't fly as much as we would like, but we will. He sti...Expand for more
ll works four days a week. I help him change the oil, wax, and clean the plane. I learned those "skills" in my practice marriage, but it was cars then. We both love to travel and do projects around the house and yard. We are growing a vegetable garden and it looks like we may be successful. Great news after last year's fiasco! We learned to raise the garden for better drainage. We also work together on a couple of newsletters Bill works on, and I help proof and edit, something I have learned that I love. It was part of a couple of my jobs and it is a passion for me.
Learning? Yes, life's all about it. I haven't known what to say, so I have probably bored you. I made a stab at updating, so now it's your turn. Post some pictures so we will possibly recognize each other after all these years. I can still walk and talk, so I figure I'm ahead of the game. I must confess that I limp on occasion.
Well, we have moved to Aspers, PA, near Gettysburg, and love it. We live about a 1/4 of a mile from where Bill tried to grow up. Bill sold his airplane because we had no time to fly any more. Besides, we no longer had a hangar and had to rent one. We miss it on occasion.
We have great neighbors who are nieces, nephews, and great nephews and nieces. We have been renovating an old, brick farmhouse that was built in 1915. Our wallets are pretty slim because of "out with the knob and tube and in with more plugs and switches that always work." The plumbing is now totally updated and most of the old wallpaper is gone. It's been hard, doing a lot of the work ourselves, but we are surely proud of the accomplishments. Bill installed beautiful, new hardwood floors, with my help of course. We work well together and best of all, he doesn't laugh at most of my suggestions. We scraped, stained, and painted our way to old age with smiles on our faces. Our young, talented, and creative contractors have been a blessing to the transformation.
We live, surrounded by peach, apple, and cherry orchards. This might just be heaven!
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Photos
