Marty Marsh
(posted April 29, 2010)
Hello friends and fellow retirees!
I taught at Fredonia Schools for 31 years and then retired in June of 2008 and moved to Cape Coral, FL. I looked forward to a change of location and weather and got both. It’s been a great adventure. I’m getting accustomed to living on the “West Coast” and am wondering, like many retirees, how I ever worked full time and managed to do everything else!
I met a great guy here named Marty (isn’t that weird?) with whom I now live in Englewood, about an hour south of Sarasota. Marty is a West Point Grad and an army brat who’s been everywhere and done everything (just ask him!). I’ve been able to offer him the experience of visits to Western New York. He really enjoyed his first trip to Niagara Falls last summer and got to experience two bad winter storms in December and February -- the kind where you follow a plow home from the airport on the Thruway as they get ready to close it down. Those were some of the few times I’ve seen him rendered speechless!
Through him I got involved in ballroom dancing…..foxtrot, quickstep, rumba, tango, cha cha, waltz, etc. It’s great fun, lots of exercise, and a place for us to meet nice people. We are the “youngsters” of the group.
He’s also introduced me to the wonders of the Everglades, and we recently attended a swamp walk at the gallery of photographer Clyde Butcher on Valentine’s Day (check out www.clydebutcher.com). Our guide was a biologist who spent an hour on a chilly day sharing information about flora and fauna. We were pleased that it was chilly, as the snakes and alligators keep hidden away in their dens when the sun is not out.
I was lucky enough to have a very successful total knee placement last summer, but I balance that against a diagnosis of scleroderma at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville last April. The downside is that I experience an arthritis-like stiffness of the hands along with a tightening of the skin in my hands, face, and various other parts of my body. This is a progressive auto-immune disease for which there is no cure, but I am working with a wonderful doctor and feel good about my future. I am active, happy, and finally have an excuse to NOT stick my hands in hot dishwater too often.
Brian lives about an hour south of me in Estero. He’s thirty now and works as a sales rep for Cintas. After some long-distance relationships that didn’t work out, he’s finally found THE girl for him living right across the street. I see him almost weekly.
Chad is thirty-one and just moved to a new home in Cary, NC, with his girlfriend of ten years, Phousa. They are the proud owners of my three “grandpuppies,” but so far there are no plans for marriage and/or children. I guess he gets his share of kiddies in his first grade classroom. He teaches in a year-round school and enjoys the change of pace from a traditional school year. He called recently with news that he was working with his first student teacher. Wow!
Below are some pics you might enjoy. The boys and I on vacation, Marty and I standing up to our waists in the Big Cypress Swamp, the truck and I as I left for the move to Florida. You can find me at www.facebook.com under Marty DeGolyer Marsh. Our 40th class reunion is this summer.
