Ann Byrne:  

I was married shortly after I graduated from Skidmore College '65 to a hometown boyfriend I happened to have, at Howard, Philip Byrne. We had two boys, Curtiss born in 1967 and Tyson born in 1970. I became administrator of Ann's Nursery for Babies, Inc., a facility for medically and physically handicapped children and young adults. My husband joined me a few years later assisting in most areas including professional meetings to maintenance. In 1973 we bought the business,after my father's death. In 1981 I got my MA in Special Education for the profound and severly retarded as we had an educational program starting in our facility for the out of state residents. Then in 1986 we took over another facilty similar to Ann's, 8 miles away, naming it The Shrope Foundation, Inc. At that time we also formed a third business, PACT, Inc. to provide needed services to both Ann's and Shrope's, although not exclusively. Phil, in 2001, was diagnosed with Cryptococcal Meningitis (very rare without HIV) and I proceeded to have a...Expand for more