Life After Tappan Zee
Margaret DeMaio Raso - "Peggy"  |
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Life After Tappan Zee
Margaret DeMaio Raso - "Peggy"| |
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I Married my high school sweetheart and classmate Paul Raso in April of 1963. We first lived in Valley Cottage but then built our present home in Tappan in 1966.
After TZ I attended Ladycliff College for two years and then went to work
for Orange & Rockland (7 years) while attending college at night. After
graduating from RCC, I transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas College earning a BS
in Gerontology. While in college went for additional schooling for a
certificate as a New York State Ombudsman - working for the state as a patient
(nursing home) representative. After graduating I worked in the McGuire Senior
Center, Northvale, NJ, setting up programs, writing grants, doing social
services. Leaving there I worked for several years at the Northern Valley
Central School District (Demarest & Old Tappan), NJ as Director of Adult
Education. From there to Tenafly, NJ as Director of their senior center and
then on to Meals on Wheels as Director of the Star I program (until it closed)
- a day care facility for those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
At present I am back at the McGuire Senior Center (on a part-time basis) which
is the best of two worlds - working with the elderly and yet having the time
and opportunity to pursue new interests.
Paul and I had two children Paul, Jr., born in 1970 and Meg in 1975. Paul, Jr. became an Eagle Scout, an accomplishment few scouts attain. But our son was only lent to us; he died in June 1987. Our daughter Meg (a TZ graduate) followed in her mother's footsteps as a TZ cheerleader. She graduated from RCC , Dover Business School (computers) lives at home and works locally.
I am very involved in volunteer work, through the years giving back to the community has given me much enjoyment. I've been involved as a Cub Scout Den Mother, Chairperson of Troop 3 Boy Scouts of America Adult Committee, PTA President, Parish Council, and for the past nine years a member of the Historic Areas Board of Review for Orangetown. Paul and I are both Eucharistic Ministers for our parish in Tappan.
My Hobbies are reading, genealogy, cooking and travel!
Living in Piermont and attending Tappan Zee HS was a warm, comfortable and nurturing experience. We accepted one another "as is" and that is a wonderful basis for friendship - complete acceptance. How many people can open up a photo album and see pictures of classmates that they have known since kindergarten? And how many can walk down the street and wave to people they have known for 50 years? People laughed at us, called us River Rats, but I wouldn't trade my time and experiences for anything.
Contact Information
EMAIL: praso405@aol.com
Snail-Mail: 34 Summit Avenue, Tappan, NY 10983
Phone: 845.359.6359