This week’s Rotary story is about the founder of Washington’s first Sylvan Learning Centers. She and her husband Ray started the centers in 1981. Ray retired in 1995 and she retired in 2017 when they sold the business.
When they were able, they used to spend their free time traveling, having visited Scotland in 2017 as well as all of the European capitals. She has also traveled with her mom & sisters to Europe and Turkey. Nowadays she spends her free time either reading or knitting-often at the same time!
Two movies she loves are the 1957 version of “An Affair to Remember” and “The Princess Bride”. As far as books go, she says there are way too many wonderful books out there to pick a favorite. She loves music, everything from Gregorian chants, classical, Celtic, folk, and hits of the ’50s and ’60s. ABBA is the group that makes her want to dance.
She says her most worthwhile investment has been supporting Rotary through both the RCS and RI foundations. She has donations for both the Annual & Polio campaigns charged to her credit card each month. She says it’s a painless way to help change the world.
She’s chaired several committees and served as Club President, Assistant Governor, and Team Leader for a GSE team to Chile. She’s been a classroom teacher, worked for a Fortune 100 company, and was a business owner. She’s sold her knitting and crochet items at craft fairs and made enough money to fund a stash of yarn way beyond what any human should own (her words!).
She says she became a Rotarian when she saw the impact, she could make both in our community and all over the world.