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Colleen Sue MURRAY Thomas 2022 Postcard YES

9/10 Current city: Mesa/Phoenix
Employer: The Learning Center (owner)
College: Allegheny College '62

5/08
Thank goodness for a few of you who keep info going among those of us who graduated 50 years ago. Gosh, it hardly seems possible that it has been that long.

Hopefully, after the reunion you will have compiled info on many of our classmates, and will share it those of us who are unable to attend. Believe me, I would love to be there, but family has always come first in our lives and birthdays are very big.

I am enclosing a picture of Andy that I cropped off of one in which he was holding one of our granddaughters. His interests were varied and he continued to participate in as many as possible until he became too ill to do so. He remained in great physical shape by working out four or five days a week, and that allowed him to be a hunter, fisherman, backpacker, and golfer. He was a highly thought of physician in Mesa for 35 years in the field of urology. When he became ill in mid-2006, he passed his practice, Mesa Urologists, PC on to his younger partner.

Andy remained an avid reader until two days before his death, and was well steeped in WWII history. As with most of us, family was always at the top of his list.

As everyone knows, Andy and I met in the Strong Vincent choir at age 15, and graduated together from Strong Vincent, graduated together from Allegheny College, and married five days later on June 9, 1962.

I have also enclosed a photo of Andy and me together - it was taken on a cruise to Alaska about a year before he began feeling poorly. Being without Andy after all these years is a very difficult adventure. I continue to be an avid tennis player, and on days when I do not play, I run. (Our climate makes staying in shape via outdoor activity very easy, even in the summer heat).

I own The Learning Center, a tutorial facility, and travel nationally teaching the strategies of the silent reading program we have written. I also am the hearing officer for the local school system of 75,000 students - I hear due-process cases of students as well as classified and certified employees. Most important, Andy and I have three grandchildren - all girls - and one due in early October 2008. They are great fun. Those of you who knew me can guess that I have great fun with them, sometimes teaching them to do things that my children do not appreciate.

I am very sorry to not be there (at the 50th Reunion) to see all of you again. I look forward to getting any news gleaned from those days together. Should any of you get out West, Phoenix is a great place to visit from October through May. You are always welcome.
Regards, Colleen Thomas

===EDUCATION===
Allegheny College - Political Science and Education 1958-1962
Arizona State University - Paralegal Degree 1982-1983
===EXPERIENCE===
Norwood Public Schools 1961-1966 (5 years)
Owner/Educatior
The Learning Center
1988-2013 (25 years) 2830 E Brown Rd, Mesa AZ
The Learning Center staff instructs students one-to-one, supports our silent reading program, Reading Advantage, in school districts, and instructs Speed Read Plus to employees of Arizona corporations.

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