133, 134. CLASSMATES ON THIS PAGE ARE: Loretta Walsh and Fred Wenz
133. WALSH, Loretta
Loretta (Walsh) Scott is enjoying retired life in Hawthorne, NJ
PHOTOS:
2011 Reunion in MP -- Loretta following Jeannine on tour of MPHS
About 2009 - Loretta enjoying a day at the beach.......
With grand-daughter Heather at her 2016 Middle-school graduation
PROFILE:
After high school, I went to work for NJ Bell Telephone Co. Higher education was not in the cards. For entertainment, I went to a dude ranch in upstate NY. Eventually, I had two horses and was fortunate enough to go to Tucson AZ. to be part of the rodeo there. I was even crowned Rodeo Queen, along with several others. Rodeo was part of my life for quite a while, until I married and had my first daughter. After a divorce, I moved back to NJ and worked for IBM.
Eventually I re-married and was fortunate enough to have two more children, a son and another daughter. I was a stay-at-home Mom until they all went to school. A job followed at Allstate Insurance where I was an insurance paralegal, working in the legal department on high casualty cases. I worked there until retirement 27 years later.
My travels have taken me to many of our beautiful states, as well as Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Ireland.
My life now is much quieter. My church keeps me busy as an Elder and a member of some wonderful social groups. My children and grandchildren (three of them) all live close enough so that I can see them regularly. Their school and social events keep me delightfully busy. I also belong to the local YMCA in an exercise group for "Active Older Adults", and can be found there most days "pumping iron".
I am also so thankful to still be in touch with many of our high school friends through social media. I'm hoping to live out my days healthy and happy --- just what I hope for all of my classmates.
134. WENZ, Fred
Fred and his wife, Kathy, live in Toms River, New Jersey
PROFILE
Fred lives with his wife, Kathy (nee Nelson, MPHS Class of 1963) in Toms River, New Jersey. They were married in St. Luke's Catholic Church in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ on May 27, 1967, and have one son, who is a career firefighter.
Fred retired in 2000 after more than 25 years in law enforcement with the U.S. Federal Government. He started working for the Internal Revenue Service shortly after graduating from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, and worked with the IRS for about 10 years. He then went to work with the U.S. Department of Justice on its Organized Crime Strike Force, out of the US Attorney's Office in New York City, where he worked for about 10 years. Next up was employment with the US Department of Defense, where he worked for another 15 years, before retiring in 2000.
After retiring, Fred had the pleasure of finally relaxing: enjoying some of his time on a variety of golf courses in the Tom's River area, but spending more of his time doing volunteer work for New Jersey's Annual Special Olympics events -- he was on the NJ State Organizing Committee helping to organize and run ski events in the Winter Games (held in January at Vernon Valley, NJ), and all of the track events in the Summer games (held in June at the College of New Jersey, in Trenton). When he wasn't at the games, he was helping out at various fund raising events, or helping at the Sports complex and Special Olympics Headquarters in Lawrenceville, NJ -- having been a volunteer with them since around 1985 or so. As Fred points out, there are over 5000 Special Needs Athletes registered in the NJ Special Olympics. Impressive !
Figuring he had too much time on his hands, Fred also joined the Ocean County Emerald Society Bagpipe and Drum Band, in which he chose to play the drums; he and the Band played at special events all over the country. Fred states categorically and without hesitation that he will neither confirm nor deny that anything was worn under his kilt when he played with the band............
Unfortunately, Fred suffered from a stroke about 2010, which has significantly impaired his capacity to whack a golf ball, or whack a drum, but he has been kind enough to whack his computer and send us an email with the above summary of his career activities -- the email being typed with one finger, one letter at a time. THANK YOU, FRED !!
Fred and Kathy used to go on vacation every year with their close friends, our classmate Bob Stracher (MPHS Class of '61) and his wife Christine, who lived in Brick, NJ, about 10 miles from Fred and Kathy. Sadly, both Bob and his wife Kathy died in 2015, about one month apart. Our deepest sympathy, and our best wishes to you and Kathy !!
|