DOVER HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF '69

THEN & NOW
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CAROL HENSHAW
Contact info:
Phone - (302) 376-7613
E-mail - arnie.carol@gmail.com

1969 2009 (with hubby Arnie Russell)

It has been a full forty years, with lots of blessings and no regrets. After leaving you fine folks, I found myself at the University of Delaware. I became engaged to Arnie Russell ('67) and we married in Germany in 1971, while he was in the Army. He had no leave time and after waiting out Vietnam, we were not willing to wait another year. After his term of service ended, we returned to DE for a while and Arnie completed his college degree in mechanical engineering. I continued to take classes part-time and we had our first two sons, Ben and Matt.

In 1979, we took our boys (ages 5 and 1) to Saudi Arabia, where Arnie worked for ARAMCO. While in the desert, Eric, the youngest, was born. As we watched our boys grow we enjoyed nice weather, lived right on the beach in a lovely home, made life-long friends, desert camped, and traveled quite a bit. Our sons were into soccer, swimming, and baseball and our lives revolved around those things for some time. Arnie held down the home front for a couple of spring semesters so that I could come back to UD and complete my degree. We had planned on returning in 1991, co when Sadam invaded Kuwait in August '90, we decided to make the move a little early. The boys and I evacuated on a plane that brought in the 82nd Airborne and I put the two youngest in school here while Ben continued with his plans to do a school year in Barcelona, only leaving from the US instead of Saudi. Around Thanksgiving, in the middle of Desert Shield, the two youngest and I traveled back to Arabia so that they could say the proper goodbyes to their home and the few friends who had not evacuated. It was strange to go into the desert where we often camped to see miles of troops from all over the world, poised for the war to begin. We took pictures to send to their loved ones and kept them in our prayers. We stopped in Spain to meet Ben's host family (a mother needs that to sleep well) and made our way back to the US. Arnie followed a few weeks later and we began making plans to build a home in Bear and settle in for a stretch back in DE. Kids sports, school events, and work filled the next 10 years.

I left the math classroom about 10 years ago for central administration work. Except for a short stint as a middle school administrator, I have occupied myself with my passion for curriculum and instruction at the district level and Arnie continues to work in the oil refining business. We recently celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary. The oldest son, Ben, is married and they have two sons (2,4) in Burlington VT. He owns a financial advising firm, sings in a local group and is active in the community. His wife, Wendy, designs and sells her jewelry when she is not chasing little boys. The middle son, Matt, lives in San Francisco and is in his third year of surgical residency. He is engaged to another surgical doc, Marika, and they will be married this May. Their schedules are ridiculous, but fortunately, since they both are at the same spot in their careers, they understand each other. She is a former professional ballerina.... now there is a switch. Our youngest son, Eric, is married and living in Boston with his wife, Laura. He is in his third year of medical school and Laura is finishing a nursing degree in May. Her first degree was in English Lit... another interesting change in direction. Eric spent a year in Guatemala after his undergrad and a summer in Tanzania volunteering and together they have plans to spend at least some of their time helping out in poor parts of the world when Eric's MD training is complete. People often ask where the interest and medicine comes from in the family... so before you ask--we have no idea! We could not ask for more lovely, energetic, and good-to-the-bone, daughters-in-law. The boys made great choices.

When Arnie and I are not working, we try to visit the boys and their others and often get together with friends from our desert years. We have exchanged tents for hotel rooms and rental homes. A bunch of us (15-18) will spend the week before Matt's wedding in a home in Marin County, north of SF before the wedding. It is always a great time, so we look forward to that. We also have a small place in Florida on the west coast that we try to spend a little time in each year, especially to get in some winter golf. While home, we try to stay involved in our church, golf when it is warm, and be with local friends.

Can't wait to see you all in August.