Please feel free to edit this if it is
too long! Thanks! Alison
Alison (Allie) Rhoads Schechter
The summer after GS
graduation in 1954 I went to France with The
Experiment in International
Living. Classmates, Dennis Stafford, Dave
Luria and Sissy Harper also
were on the program (did I miss anybody
else?) This was an eye-opening
experience which strongly influenced my
future which has involved as much
travel as possible! In the fall of
1954 I entered Mt. Holyoke College
with classmates Gerty Reif, Mitch
Mitchell and Phebe Johnson (again!
who did I miss?). I graduated in
1958 with a major in Political Science
and a minor in Italian - both of
these fields have been integral parts of my
life ever since.
In 1958 I married Alan Schechter and with him have
shared 46 years of
superb times together. Alan has spent his entire career as
a professor
of American Politics and Law
at Wellesley College. We have lived for
42 years within a mile of the
college where we raised our three children.
Daughter Kate is now a
psychotherapist in Chicago, sons Andy and Steve
live in the Atlanta area
where they are
clever entrepreneurs with a variety of
businesses, most of which are
golf related (see website below). We have three
grandchildren
all in the Atlanta
area.
I began my career as a Governess to Lou Henry Hoover, granddaughter
of
President Hoover with whom she and I would meet every Thursday
afternoon.
This unusual job led me next
to teaching French on the high school and junior
college level. I then became
the Associate Director of Admission at Wellesley
College and finally in 1976 I
landed in my final career (so far!). I have been
practicing residential real
estate since then, have owned three different real
estate companies and now
continue to work full time for the company to which
I finally sold my own company
in 1997. I have been
fortunate to have traveled over the
years: two years in Rome when
Alan had sabbaticals, considerable other
European travel and from
1994-2001 some unique trips accompanying Alan
who at that time was the
Chairman of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
in Washington. We
had the opportunity
to spend time in South Africa,
Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, India, Thailand,
Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan,
Israel, Jordan, Poland,
Denmark, and Sweden.We were fortunate to meet
some people one would only
dream of meeting: the Emperor and Empress of Japan,
the Chief Justice of the
Israeli Supreme Court, President Mbeki of South Africa,
Prince Hassan of Jordan to
mention a few. Once again travel opened a whole
range of new interests for
me.
Alan had been Hillary Clinton's professor and thesis advisor at
Wellesley,
and their friendship has continued over the years. Through
that connection,
we spent time in the White
House even staying overnight in the Lincoln bedroom
(no $$$$ strings
attached!)
These days I continue to work hard at my real estate brokerage
business
(when I am not in somewhere else!), I read eclectically and
often, spend
an hour plus at the gym every day and enjoy downhill skiing in
the winter
and lazy behavior at a Lake in Maine in the summer. Two
years ago we
bought a small camper van (you will see it at the Reunion!) from
ebay and
have put about 10,000 miles on it going to places in the US that we
know
little about: West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas,
Missouri,
Louisiana and Texas. Everywhere we go we try to meet
people
through local music
festivals, at bars and diners and occasionally churches
and learn about local
cultures and mores and particularly politics. In some
of these states I have
met people more foreign to me than I have
ever met outside the US. I
recommend spending time outside of your own
region and trying to learn from
and understand our fellow Americans.
This kind of travel is constantly
eye-opening and always a lot of good,
simple fun.
That's about it!
Reunion will be a very special time for us all and I am
eagerly looking
forward to connecting with everyone in our class.
websites:
alisonschechter.com
golfclubexchange.com
instrumentexchange.com