Nancy Noel:  

Life Graduated VA Tech, 1975 with BA in English. Taught 6th - 12th grades for 16 years in Hanover and Henrico Public Schools. Lived in Mechanicsville, VA from 1975 - 1994. Earned an MA in English (20th Century American lit-specialization in Fitzgerald and Hemingway) from VCU in 1986. Married and divorced; remarried and moved to Falmouth, VA in 1994. Taught at Germanna Community College for 14 years. I served at the first English Department Chair from 2003 - 2008; received the Chancellor's Scholarship (the head of the VA Com. College System) for Germanna to attend a week long Master Teacher Seminar to be held the 2nd week in July, 2011, at Hampton-Sydney College in south central Virginia. I was thrilled to receive the award and recognition as this seminar is expensive and a great professional development opportunity! Retired from the F/T faculty at Germanna in May, 2015. I was awarded Professor Emerita title, which is the highest honor a retiring faculty member can be given. My father is Professor Emeritus from George Washington University after 40 years on the faculty. I was most proud to be able to share the honor. I continued to teach at Germanna on a part-time basis, one class in the fall and spring semesters -- which was "a party" when one considers the difference between one class of English papers and five classes of English papers! I had always said that if I could find a "grading fairy," I would draw my last breath in the classroom! Now it's time to work on my book! As an adopted child, I found my birth family in the summer of 2001. When my cousin and I first talked on the phone, I could finish her sentences and she mine! It was an unfamiliar experience for one who has been a "round peg fitting into a square hole!" She has become my best friend as I have never known anyone who experienced the world the way I do! I am writing a book about how I found the family as it's a more incredible story than any work of fiction could begin to be: "art does indeed mirror life!" As I was born in Buchanan, VA, a little village tucked between two mountains where the James River flows through the middle of the town, one of those mountains is named Purgatory Mountain, thus my title: Born at the Foot of Purgatory Mountain! Adjunct teaching ceased, and book got put on hold as my parents' needs in 2016 changed. I had to move them out of Independent Living and into Assisted Living. It was so hard as my parents did not want to give up their independence, and they were in total denial of their inabilities to live on their own. And I became the HORRIBLE DAUGHTER WHO WAS BOSSING THEM AROUND! It was an awful experience. However, they quickly adjusted, and I took over all their finances and bills. That responsibility consumed my life for two years. If you are fortunate enough to have never had to do this, you have no idea how challenging and frustrating it can be. NOTHING is easy. Pete Vernimb, husband, is now retired from his position as Assistant Superintendent of Instruction for Frederick County Public Schools in Winchester, VA. He successfully defended his dissertation to complete his doctorate in Ed. Leadership from VT on December 3, 2014. In 2018, he began a 3/5 position teaching at the University of Mary Washington in the graduate school for Administration and Supervision in the School of Education. The last three years, 2019, 2020, and 2021 have been awful. My younger sister, Sherry, died very suddenly on May 3, 2019. My mother-in-law died 4 months later. I flew to Naples, FL, to visit my parents in October, 2019. My Mom had dementia, and I knew during this visit that neither parent would live through 2020. Mom died in February, 2020, and I spent 3 weeks in Naples with my Dad, held her memorial service, a...Expand for more