Welcome Anytime, Betsy Rodie!

Looks like I’m a little late to the blog! So much fun to read about fond memories of Willard School, and seeing all of the pictures. I hope the 40th RHS reunion went well. Now, we’re looking at our 50th in a couple of years. Anyone game? I’d love to see everyone again.

Like Barbara, I left Ridgewood pretty much after going to college, but was back frequently to visit parents and grandparents. Eventually, I moved to California and now live in Northridge, which is part of LA. After college, I lived in Burlington, VT for some time and worked in the UVM medical library. I became interested in libraries and subsequently went back to school to get a library degree. A high point of that time was reuniting with Barbara Tomkins and meeting her then boyfriend, Jerry Melnick. Jerry worked at the Harvard School of Public Health and helped my then boyfriend find a job there. Barbara and I didn’t see that much of each other during that time, but it was nice to know that she was nearby.

After that, I moved with said boyfriend, later husband, to California on a temporary basis while he did an internship in Bakersfield. Eventually, that marriage ended and I moved to LA and worked for the VA. After some time, I met and married the love of my life, Bob McGaughey, and we recently celebrated our 25th anniversary.

Reading Bobby Elgin’s entries reminded me of going over to his house in the morning when the family would be having breakfast. I lived across the street from him and played with his sister, and all of us kids would walk or ride bikes to school together. I now realize that probably the last thing his mother needed was extra kids hanging out at that time, but we would sometimes get a cup of grape juice, which I thought was very cool. Oh, and we got to watch TV—in the morning no less!

So many memories of playing at Barbara’s house after school and of her parents. I remember that her grandfather lived with them for some time, and that when he died, you could still smell cigar smoke in his room. I remember going to a birthday party in that room and that her mother made a really fun game out of little gifts that were tied to pieces of yarn. The yarn was all tangled up like a spiderweb, and you had to follow the end you were given to get your gift. Later, Barbara and I would try to be cool and as teens took the bus to NYC to experience Greenwich Village. I remember wondering exactly how we would know when we got there.

When we were all a little older, I remember Mark Brotherton and, like Barbara mentioned, we would go to wherever he was babysitting and hang out. He was about the first of us to get a driver’s license, and I remember him driving his VW. He even let me try driving once, but I seem to remember having a close call with the curb on Mountain Ave., and he thought maybe that wasn’t the greatest idea after all (he was always the smartest one in the class).

I hope that the blog is still active. I hope everyone is well and enjoying life, and I’d love to hear more. Take care,
Betsy Rodie McGaughey.