children. I was active in the German-
American Women’s Club and I began
working in the 1960s at a business college
in Berlin, teaching English to businessmen.
I took time out to have a third son in 1965.
We came to Providence in 1969 after
Brown University offered my husband a
tenured position in the English department.
He also was the founding director
of the program in Afro-American studies,
now the department of Africana studies
[he was one of the first tenured black
professors to teach at the university]. Two
decades earlier, my husband had gotten
his Ph.D. from Brown. Our oldest son left
for Yale. The middle child entered Moses
Brown School, where he was a great track
star, he played football and was on the
lacrosse team. Then he went to Amherst.
Brian ended up at the Brown Playschool,
then attended Moses Brown and then
Tufts University.
My first job in Rhode Island was at the
federally funded Career Education Project,
which determined if career counseling by
telephone was an effective way to reach
people, especially women who became
known as displaced homemakers. When
that study ended, I became the director
of a new program, which was called the
Career Counseling Service, until 1978.
Then I joined the Rhode Island Occupational
Information Committee, which
developed occupational and career information
to get a better understanding of
the labor market and the education and
training required to succeed. I did that for
twenty-two years and I retired in 2000.
I was one of the founding members of
the Rhode Island Women’s Political Caucus
and a McGovern delegate to the ’72
Democratic National Convention. I was
elected to the Rhode Island Democratic
National Committee of Women, and later
served on the Board of Governors for
Higher Education, I also was appointed
to the Economic Development Cooperation
and was a board member at many
nonprofit organizations.
My oldest son, David, is a physician
and chief executive officer and president
of the American Board of Pediatrics and
he will soon get the Jacobi Medallion.
My middle son, Keith, is a senior vice
president at Comerica Bank in California.
My youngest son, Brian, is currently the
United States ambassador to Zimbabwe.
Before that, he was the ambassador in
Peru. I have five fabulous grandchildren,
134 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l MAY/JUNE 2020