The Story Behind the Story
Russ is a retired scientist whose successive careers found him working as a biology professor, a research biologist, and a science manager. Peg's careers included serving as a public school teacher, a university administrator and a college professor.
Not surprisingly, some of our experiences in our several careers have found their way into our books.
But there is a little more of a story to us.
Peg grew up with three younger siblings, two brothers and a sister, in Rochester, New York. She emerged from college with a degree in French Language Education. She settled into a career in teaching, and continued to teach after she and Russ married, and she joined him where he was in graduate school at the University of Kansas.
Russ and his younger sister grew up in the Adirondacks. He emerged from college with a degree and a great deal of enthusiasm for everything having to do with biology. That brought him to the University of Kansas where he began work on first a Masters Degree, and later a Ph.D. in Ecology.
Her first year in Kansas, Peg taught at a rural high school. Finding the work uninspiring, the next year she began work on a Masters Degree in French, which she managed to polish off in a single year, as well as being a teaching assistant and having our first daughter.
Russ got a job at Mansfield State College in northern Pennsylvania. While there, he finished off his doctoral degree and taught general biology to legions of Freshmen, only a few of whom were interested in biology. Meanwhile Peg was enjoying (most of the time) being home with our two daughters, the second being born while we lived in Mansfield, filling in at the college when French teaching positions were temporarily vacant, and helping edit the alumni magazine.
Nearly resigned to a career where he would be teaching the same courses over and over again to successive crops of students, Russ got a reprieve when a friend from graduate school recruited him to a research position at the famous (in ecology circles) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. With no teaching positions available, Peg turned her attention to university administration and began a new career at the University of Maryland in institutional advancement, working in fund raising, public relations, and alumni relations. Over several years as a part-time student she completed a Ph.D. in higher education policy and administration.
Russ loved his job as a research scientist, but alas he began to get promotions. Almost before noticing what had happened, he found himself sitting full time behind desks, first at the research center and later at Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters in Washington, DC. Peg loved her work, and soon found herself on the top rung of university management, as Vice President for Advancement first at Mount Saint Mary's College in Maryland and later at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.
Neither of our jobs lacked for excitement, but Russ was ready for a change. He accepted a new job as director of a USGS research center in Florida. Peg joined him in Florida, taking a position as a professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. After nine years in Gainesville, Russ retired in 2006. After spending six months on a Fulbright grant in the Czech Republic, Peg retired later that year. We live in Florida, in Gainesville and Cedar Key.
Since retiring from our paying jobs, we have been writing books, working with community benefit non-profits, giving lectures and presentations, teaching community education courses, and for the past seven years hiking El Camino de Santiago in Spain and France.
But wait! Where did the Camino come from? What does it have to do with biology and education, and all those other things?
Nothing really. Russ' sister, who had grown up with him in their perfectly normal family, led them to it. She and her husband first walked on the Camino in 2007. When we heard about what they would do, we were incredulous. Why would anyone do something like that? We thought it was crazy, and our only reason for curiosity about the adventure was to learn just how crazy it was. Sister and husband returned full of enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm proved to be contagious.
Maybe the idea wasn't so crazy at all. The sea change in our attitudes occurred when we saw a photo of the two of them, smiling and sitting at an outdoor cafe beside a scenic bubbling brook, while holding their wine glasses aloft as they offered a toast to the camera.
The following year found us on the Camino. Separately, Russ' sister and her husband returned for their second Camino. In 2013, six family members met in Santiago to celebrate the end of our daughter and her husband's first, our fifth, and Russ' sister and her husband's sixth Camino walks. Our sixth took us on the Portuguese Route in 2014, and our seventh to southwestern France to walk on a portion we hadn't covered before.
What about the book writing? Russ started this new career earlier than Peg. Before retiring he had founded an independent publishing house and drafted his first two books. A professional memoir and three novels followed and research began for our co-authored books. Writing is our opportunity to explore new horizons, and build stories out of what we find there.
And that’s the story behind the story.
Not surprisingly, some of our experiences in our several careers have found their way into our books.
But there is a little more of a story to us.
Peg grew up with three younger siblings, two brothers and a sister, in Rochester, New York. She emerged from college with a degree in French Language Education. She settled into a career in teaching, and continued to teach after she and Russ married, and she joined him where he was in graduate school at the University of Kansas.
Russ and his younger sister grew up in the Adirondacks. He emerged from college with a degree and a great deal of enthusiasm for everything having to do with biology. That brought him to the University of Kansas where he began work on first a Masters Degree, and later a Ph.D. in Ecology.
Her first year in Kansas, Peg taught at a rural high school. Finding the work uninspiring, the next year she began work on a Masters Degree in French, which she managed to polish off in a single year, as well as being a teaching assistant and having our first daughter.
Russ got a job at Mansfield State College in northern Pennsylvania. While there, he finished off his doctoral degree and taught general biology to legions of Freshmen, only a few of whom were interested in biology. Meanwhile Peg was enjoying (most of the time) being home with our two daughters, the second being born while we lived in Mansfield, filling in at the college when French teaching positions were temporarily vacant, and helping edit the alumni magazine.
Nearly resigned to a career where he would be teaching the same courses over and over again to successive crops of students, Russ got a reprieve when a friend from graduate school recruited him to a research position at the famous (in ecology circles) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. With no teaching positions available, Peg turned her attention to university administration and began a new career at the University of Maryland in institutional advancement, working in fund raising, public relations, and alumni relations. Over several years as a part-time student she completed a Ph.D. in higher education policy and administration.
Russ loved his job as a research scientist, but alas he began to get promotions. Almost before noticing what had happened, he found himself sitting full time behind desks, first at the research center and later at Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters in Washington, DC. Peg loved her work, and soon found herself on the top rung of university management, as Vice President for Advancement first at Mount Saint Mary's College in Maryland and later at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.
Neither of our jobs lacked for excitement, but Russ was ready for a change. He accepted a new job as director of a USGS research center in Florida. Peg joined him in Florida, taking a position as a professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. After nine years in Gainesville, Russ retired in 2006. After spending six months on a Fulbright grant in the Czech Republic, Peg retired later that year. We live in Florida, in Gainesville and Cedar Key.
Since retiring from our paying jobs, we have been writing books, working with community benefit non-profits, giving lectures and presentations, teaching community education courses, and for the past seven years hiking El Camino de Santiago in Spain and France.
But wait! Where did the Camino come from? What does it have to do with biology and education, and all those other things?
Nothing really. Russ' sister, who had grown up with him in their perfectly normal family, led them to it. She and her husband first walked on the Camino in 2007. When we heard about what they would do, we were incredulous. Why would anyone do something like that? We thought it was crazy, and our only reason for curiosity about the adventure was to learn just how crazy it was. Sister and husband returned full of enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm proved to be contagious.
Maybe the idea wasn't so crazy at all. The sea change in our attitudes occurred when we saw a photo of the two of them, smiling and sitting at an outdoor cafe beside a scenic bubbling brook, while holding their wine glasses aloft as they offered a toast to the camera.
The following year found us on the Camino. Separately, Russ' sister and her husband returned for their second Camino. In 2013, six family members met in Santiago to celebrate the end of our daughter and her husband's first, our fifth, and Russ' sister and her husband's sixth Camino walks. Our sixth took us on the Portuguese Route in 2014, and our seventh to southwestern France to walk on a portion we hadn't covered before.
What about the book writing? Russ started this new career earlier than Peg. Before retiring he had founded an independent publishing house and drafted his first two books. A professional memoir and three novels followed and research began for our co-authored books. Writing is our opportunity to explore new horizons, and build stories out of what we find there.
And that’s the story behind the story.