Welcome David Smith

David Writes:

I’m enjoying catching up with all these friends from the past. Here’s a short update of the past 40 years for me. My family moved to Tennessee the summer of 1970. I’ve barely seen RWD since. I went to Lafayette College, majored in English. Without a clear vision of life paths or goals, I moved to Michigan with friends to explore some possibilities. Three years later I decided to try medical school. So back to college for a year of sciences, then work for a year, then to Memphis for six years for med school, internship, and a year working ERs and general practice in rural west TN. In 1985 I moved to Nashville for a residency and fellowship in anesthesiology at Vanderbilt. What I might have been finished in 10 years after high school I stretched out to 18. By then I had worked in hospitals, year-round camps for school kids, at a book distributor, and helped with Peace Core Training. I stayed on the anesthesia faculty at Vanderbilt for over four years then joined a private anesthesia group in Nashville with whom I’ve worked for the past 18 years in several local hospitals.

In 1987 I married Denise O’Malley, a first generation American of, as you can guess, Irish parents. She grew up on Long Island and had lived most of her adult life in south FL. Her dad worked for Pan Am (then Delta) so she spent her summers with her grandparents and cousins in Dublin. Dublin is as much home for her as NY. We later benefited from airline stand-by passes and access to the back pages of Pan Am’s and Delta’s resevation systems for family vacations. We have raised two boys, Patrick and Aidan, now 22 and 18 years old and both with wide ranging interests. Both are in college this fall, Pat a senior and Aidan a freshman. How oddly sweet having all this RHS reunion business appear during my son’s senior year in high school. Both boys have been busy in a variety of activities: a bunch of sports, drumline, jazz band, travel. I’ve grown weaker in the bleachers watching my kids grow stronger on the fields.

I’ve happily spent much of my time and energy on family and work. With both boys now sort of out of the house (Pat is in college in Nashville this year), I’m gearing up to spend my time in other directions. I figure I’ll catch up on some old things like hiking and bird watching (thank you Jane Eliason), painting, and singing. Work on some new things like becoming proficient with my computer or build something bigger to sail in than my 14 foot dinghy (thanks for the inspiration John Poor.) Perhaps school or penny whistle. I know I’m an optimist from trying to grow flowers in Nashville’s muggy summers. Denise and I have worked a bit, actually Denise has made a small business out of it, with some cottages in NW Florida in an area known as the “red-neck riviera.” While necks are red from at least the sun, the beaches are snowy white and the water clear and green. No oil near us. We’ll likely spend more time there now that we are less constrained with school calendars.

I’m looking forward to being in RWD in October and seeing all who can make it there. I’m looking forward to the Willard ’64 part the most. For those who can’t make it to Ridgewood. I am enjoying catching up with all your messages. I think of our journeys as a great collective adventure.