Today's Featured Biography

 
Alice Cockrum Williams

After 24 years in Southeastern Idaho (Idaho Falls) we pulled up stakes and moved to Buffalo, NY in September of 2000. Among the four of us, I am the only one that found WNY charming. All of the others have told me that if I choose to move back, it will be myself, although we found good friends and good experiences. We moved to D.C. in the fall of 2003. We like this area except for: The high cost of housing; the traffic; and the insufferable summers. Our son was married in Vancouver WA in September of 2007. He and his wife Amanda live in Portland. Our daughter just completed 8 months of school in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She will return to Gonzaga University (Spokane, WA) in January of 2008, to complete her junior year.

Our future? The ultimate goal is to move back "out west". When or how this will happen, we are not sure. In the meantime, we continue to enjoy this historically-rich area of the country. One of the down-sides of working in the District, is that the work-days are often very long. It is not uncommon to spend 12-13 hour days. This makes for "boring" people who have very few hobbies or outside interests. I still love to read, do some sewing, and am active in our Episcopal parish.

UPDATE:
Well, this was certainly an interesting read. Since I wrote this in 2008, we had pulled up stakes in MD (Nov, 2008), moved to Livermore, CA (where I was the federal manager for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which was a tough job but very rewarding). On our trek "out west" we landed in Winnemucca in time to hear both Obama's acceptance speech and McCain's concession speech. What a start to the next three years of our life. We sorta expected to retire from Livermore. I was called back to HQ at the end of 2012, and we both have had interesting but rewarding times. for the last two years. DC is everything that we left (long, long hours, and really interesting issues. We both agree that it is time to leave this lifestyle). We have told the "powers-that-be" that we will retire the first of January. For both Tom and me, it has been a good ride.

We have bought a house in Vancouver, WA which we are thrilled about. It was a little too early, but the interest rates were starting to creep up, and the really neat houses were going very quickly. We will be bi-coastal for awhile. In retirement, Tom may pick up "piece work" but I plan on doing other things (not sure what, yet, but have some ideas).

Our son Nathan and his wife Amanda are expecting their first child in the next few days. They live in Portland. We are just ecstatic. Our daughter Barbara is starting her fourth year in medical school (Uniformed Services University of Medical Science). She is Ensign Williams and will owe about 7-11 years to the USNavy. The good news is that she loves the program and will be a doctor in May 2013 with no debt, and an amazing education.

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