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Today's Featured Biography

 
Ernalee "Erni" Ogdon Slater

It has been an eventful 40+ years since high school. Some experiences have been wonderful, others not so much. But, all experiences have been lessons that have helped me further on down the road.

After high school, I attended CBC & graduated with an AA degree. From there I went to Eastern & graduated with two BAs. I also met my first husband there. We lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for two years while he went to graduate school, then moved down to Chicago where we divorced & I met my current husband. While in Chicago, I dabbled in modeling, worked at Saks Fifth Avenue (Boy's dept) and tended bar at an Italian restaurant.

From Chicago, it was back to Washington State, settling down in Western Washington, moving several times in search of the perfect place to live for the rest of our lives. We eventually settled down in Kent.
In 1982, we had a beautiful baby girl. She is now married and lives on Long Island & works at a non-profit agency working with at risk families as they go through the court system. In Washington, I worked for several companies. In 2003 we moved out here to Indiana.

We currently live in Carmel, which is north of Indianapolis. I work for Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, a Reform Jewish Temple. I started out as their receptionist; recently moving into the Clergy Assistant position. I am one of a dozen non-Jews working for this religious facility.

1995 was the start of still continuing years of major medical events and/or deaths in my family, immediate and extended. The most heartbreaking have been the death of my dad (1997), my mom's diagnosis of Alzheimer's (2006) and my youngest sister's death from lung cancer [non-smoker] (2009). My husband suffered a minor stroke in 2003 and then had a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2005. He survived the aneurysm, and is actually doing very well, but will always have issues with cognitive abilities, short term memory, and emotional over-reactions.

My philosopy of life has always been, each day is another day for laughter, an opportunity to smile, and a chance to embrace anything positive that comes throughout the day, whatever it is and whenever it occurs. It has made the joyous times more wonderful and it most certainly helped me get through the trying times.

Here's to the future and all that it brings!

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