Quill 12; Band 10

While in high school I developed a passion for playing the horn and became a member of the Community Symphony of Binghamton. I was dissuaded from pursuing a career as a horn player and instead went to Michigan State to major in math. (Even though I wasn't an athlete at C.V. I did play for Michigan State in the 1966 Rose Bowl.) While there I was married and then I dropped out of graduate school to support our family. In 1968 we moved to Pennsylvania and I started a career as computer programmer at Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ. (Yes, that wonderful place that gave us the S.A.T. and G.R.E.). For the next twenty-five years I moved up the programming ladder at E.T.S. and developed the Computer Graphics Laboratory there. At the same time I continued to perform in various local professional orchestras. I also became very interested in genealogy and local history and did extensive research on the Martz families in Pennsylvania. In 1993 I was liberated by E.T.S. management and took time off to pursue various interests. I researched and wrote a little book about a school girl in the 1840s in western Maryland: Susan, A Scholar of the Clearspring Academy, Her Poetry, Her School, Her Life. I also upgraded my technical skills, got my Novell CNE but didn't much care for doing that, so I went back to application programming as a contractor for the U.S. Navy, which is what I'm doing to stay alive today. In 1997 I became the founding vice president of a local historical society and wrote a 400-page book for their bicentennial celebration. Still very much interested in the horn I've been doing less performing but have been collecting historical instruments. My son, Peter (born 1967), has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and my daughter, Juliet (born 1969) has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Delaware. Both are now employed in computer technology fields. Here we were on the occasion of my Sainted Mother celebrating the BIG NINE-OH (May, 1998) My nephew, Fred Cline; sister, Joan Cline; Mother; daugter, Juliet; and son, Peter In October, 2003, I was once again liberated from the shackles of daily employment but have resisted the use of the R-word (I get more sympathy if I say I'm "unemployed"). In 2006, however, I began receiving Social Security benefits, as most of our class also become eligible, so will probably have to admit that I'm officially r*t*r*d. I still prefer to think of myself as an impoverished underemployed horn player, though. (I lobbied unsuccessfully to have a FORTY-FOURTH year reunion in 2006, since many of us were born in '44, and I thought it would be cool as part of the celebration for the Class of '62 turning 62 to all march into the Binghamton Social Security office to file for benefits.) 2006 brought a much more important landmark in my life: On June 29 I was married to Dr. Laura Goe: Laura has a Ph.D. in Educational Policy from the University of California at Berkeley and is employed as a Research Scientist at Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ. Will retire in 2019.