Comment:
From today’s perspective — a phase of life where tee shirts, soft pants and sandals cover most wardrobe demands — I’m grateful how it’s turned out: divorced and childless, yes, but blessed with friends and family while full of curiosity about all that’s left to be explored.
Seattle will always be home, but somehow I’ve spent two-thirds of my life on the East Coast: Cambridge, Massachusetts, New York City, Washington DC, and most recently a Covid-assisted move to rural (Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot!) Rappahannock County in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
Retired since April 2022, my career in local and federal government focused on various challenges of transportation policy, programs and projects. After energetic times in 1980s New York City and a four-year return to Seattle, both working for public port agencies, I settled into a 28-year tenure in DC with the US Department of Transportation and its shining adjunct, your Federal Highway Administration.
There, I was instrumental in supporting finance programs that tapped the revenue potential of big infrastructure projects, allowing public agencies across the US to increase capital spending via commitments of dedicated tax streams and toll revenues. Great satisfaction came in negotiating project finance loans, when I realized that my liberal arts degrees in history and journalism provided brilliant preparation for dealing with the bankers, engineers and lawyers that populate these transactions. I’ve no doubt you’ll want to thank me each time you pay to cross the 520 Bridge or (no judgement, here) touch your Orca Card at some out-of-the-way Sound Transit kiosk.
Since retiring, I’ve scratched a primordial itch for the stage, joining the local community theater and making my debut as Doctor Gibbs in our “but it didn’t suck” version of Thornton Wilder’s classic play, “Our Town.” And I’ve reconnected with a smart-ass pack of runners from Father Sullivan’s 1970s Prep cross-country teams – although since those fleet-footed days I’ve added even more weight in pounds than in years.
Been traveling too, and so regretfully will miss the 50th Reunion Weekend as I’ll be with travel partners Jerry and Christine Mahoney plus lots of family members on cruises along the Croatian and Baltic coasts. Thankfully I did manage to make the July 20 Golden Panther Mass & Social, although it actually worsens the pain of missing the big reunion! In any event, my great thanks to Tim, Danny, Nick, Steve, Charles, Kevin, Johnny, Deino, and Casey for organizing this once-in-a-lifetime event. Reach out, please, let’s be in touch.
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