. Waverly Anne McCall Shirreffs
Remember 12th Night caroling at The Burning of the Greens; Bonfire Pep Rallies, Thanksgiving weekend football games with Swarthmore, Uncle Fred, dancing in the gym at lunch, the scent of basketball games, Fun and Frolic, Senior Plays, the magic in Miss Cook’s class and how Mrs. Christ and Miss McCullough brought literature alive. Some of the best of the Lansdowne I remember.
Carolyn Vincent and I entered Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing with idealism only the 50’s could summon. With missionary zeal we survived giving CPR to a down and outer at 40th & Market Street - I’ve carried an oral airway ever since.
1959 - 1972-Graduated - worked at Presby before a lark and brief career as a TWA flight attendant based in NY. Met Jim Hepler, an MBA grad student at PSU, we married 12/1960. Jim’s IBM career was interrupted during the Berlin Crisis and he was assigned to Germany. Waverly and Jeffrey, 3 months, arrived March in 1962. An Opa & Oma came with our Haus.
Living on the German economy in a small village north of Bavaria was fascinating. We traveled central Europe in a VW, the itinerary focused on refueling at Armed Forces Bases. Jeffrey learned German as well as his English. We returned to US and Fort Bragg in time for Matthew’s arrival May 1965. Viet Nam impacted everyone we knew, Jim saw two tours and returned distant and a stranger to his family
1973 -1984 Moved to West Palm Beach, FL near my sister Susan. Mother & Dad followed in retirement. The boys adapted to FL in a heartbeat. Weekends spent boating, water skiing, fishing, or netting, and sailing – later, surfing and serious scuba diving. Jeffrey surfed, Matt was a competitive swimmer. Winter mornings phones rang - “SURFS UP.” At 6 AM, moms with coffee mugs strolled the beach watching their wet-suited boys in the sunrise.
Pratt Whitney hired me to develop an employee Health and Fitness program for 8000 employees. It was an exciting program- I taught nutrition, wellness, risk factor analysis, laid out a ParCours trail in a tropical Eden. It evolved into a 10,000 sq-foot Nautilus Workout Center and aerobics, yoga, back care, a running team, Cardiologist treadmill stress testing and monitored Cardiac- Rehab.
Jack Shirreffs reappeared 25 years after we dated while he was at the Naval Academy. We married 9 months later and moved to Wilmington, DE. Living in Centreville behind Winterthur, I became an avid gardener on a large old property well endowed with priceless specimens of trees, shrubs and perennials. We traveled to all the children’s colleges –UVA, Tulane, Johns Hopkins, Lynn, P&S Columbia, and on DuPont business trips.
Wintering in FL changed to full FL living in 1996. We visit my sons: Jeff - pilot in DE; Matt- Spinal Surgeon in Chicago; and Jack’s children: John [Medical Supply business], Lisa, Bryant & Evan in Athens, GA; Allison- photo Journalist and Chrisi in Atlanta. Jack failed retirement twice and is consulting again. I am busy as a Board member for an Early Childhood Learning and Crisis Intervention Center, Hospice Fund Raiser, book clubs, gardening & landscaping our new home, and plan exotic travels. Sunrise walks along the Intercostal waterway and water aerobics are a must for my bad back and general sense of well being.