Nalani Briggs:
CLASS OF 1973
Fermi High SchoolClass of 1973
Enfield, CT
Holton-Arms SchoolClass of 1984
Bethesda, MD
Nalani's Story
Life-updated July 2017
My Spouse
After graduating from Fermi High, in 1973, I joined the Army and met my husband, Charlie, in early 1974, when we were both stationed at Ft. Gordon, GA. We knew each other for only a month and one-half before we got married. Been married for last 43 years and hope we have many, many more years together. Don't get me wrong~we've had more than our share of "trying times", when it would have been so much easier to "throw in the towel" and move on, our separate ways but then, I never would have had some of the unique experiences I've had, if I didn't have him by my side nor do I believe that I would have been able to contend with a lot of the tragedies in my life, if I didn't have his love, support, and encouragement. Nowadays, with the divorce rate so high, and occurring so quickly (marriages lasting under 2 years), I feel sorry for these young people for if only some of them had chosen to "stick it out" and fight for their marriages, they may have discovered, later down the road, as they looked back on their lives, that all the sacrifices they made, in the name of marriage, along with the numerous struggles and compromises, were well worth the price, in the end.
My Pets
Have had cats, ever since I was a child~currently have 6 "rescue" kitties, sharing our home, ages 6 and 7 years. Once this group leaves our lives, I really don't anticipate having any more~it hurts too much, when they must leave......
My Kids
My husband, Charlie, and I have been blessed over all these years with 3 great daughters: Jenny, age 42, living in NE TN, has given us 9 beautiful grandchildren, Andy (age 11), Hanna (age 10), Christian (age 8), Karma (age 7), Gavin (age 5) Judah (age 4), Liam (age 3), and Mikenzie (age 9 months). Our youngest grandson, Grady, born Jan 2014, sadly died the following month, due to heart failure. Jessica, our middle daughter, age 40, who lives nearby us, and works as a waitress/bartender and has been such an important part of our lives, and Jamie, our youngest daughter, age 38, who continues to live in NY. Thank God for emails and telephone calls as we utilize both of them frequently, to keep in touch with Jamie and Jenny. We were so fortunate to have been able to raise our girls on Long Island, NY, before being forced out by office-closing (my job) and plant closing (husband's job). Charlie and I have been living in St. Augustine, FL now for 20 years, thankful that we are only 7 minutes away from the ocean (...Expand for more
like when we lived on Long Island) and we no longer have to deal with driving through snow and ice, skidding, etc....I do miss looking at the falling snow, and occasional walks through the snow but overall, moving to FL has been good.
My Job
I am a retired deputy sheriff, already collecting my pension (sure wish it were more but I opted for early withdrawal, due to personal reasons)...I do occasional "'work-from-home" jobs, via the internet, to supplement and I started my own pet-sitting business (licensed/bonded) back in 2012. Over these last 43 years, I've been blessed with having worked as a Deputy Sheriff, Operations Manager for 2 guard companies, NYS- Certified Instructor for Security Personnel, Rehabilitation Trainer for potentially-violent, mentally-challenged adults, a Sunday School Teacher for 10 years, as well as working as an Aircraft Mechanic. I guess you could say that I'm sort of a "jack of all trades", when I include working in a nursing home as an aide, cleaning office buildings in my earlier years, secretarial work, pet-sitting, doing audits and merchandising jobs, and 32 years as a notary public for NY and FL. I used to do a lot of volunteer work, back in NY and for awhile, I did some volunteer work, here in St. Augustine but found it necessary to back off, due to various family issues that required more of my time. With this recent editing, both my parents have now passed away: my mom, Alberta, back on April, 25, 2005 and my dad, Joseph, who just recently passed away, last week, Aug 2, 2013 Both are buried at Hazardville Cemetery, in Enfield. They divorced the year I married, in 1974, but always maintained a good relationship with each other, throughout these many years, for the sake of my siblings, Leina, now age 59, Joe, age 50, and Laurie, age 48, and both my parents respected one another when later down the road, they both found "significant others" to share the remainder of their lives, so I'd like to pay homage to John, my mom's dear companion for more than 20 years, before she passed away, and to Georganne, Dad's wife (and my step-mom who always treated me like a daughter), who sadly passed away, last December. I will not go into details here as to the various tragedies that have hit my family as I know each of us carries such burdens but I would like to add that though such tragedies do occur in each of our lives, if through the pain and tears, we can get through them and manage to move forward, then we are truly blessed!
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