Tom Meister

Post date: Jun 9, 2016 5:32:51 PM

I left the Hive in 1971 with a deep admiration for those who had taught us and thought I would follow in their footsteps, only to find a year or two later that the bottom had fallen out of the teaching market, so I turned my sights to practicing law. I spent about 10 years in a legal aid office in York, PA, followed by another 15 years in private practice. Frustrated with the practice of law, I gave in to my original desire and taught for a few years in high school and middle school, which led to some of the worst weeks and the best moments of my working years. About 10 years ago, I returned to practicing law, but with a very different perspective on life, due in no small part to several surgeries (all successful) and other medical problems in my family. Two years ago I found an ideal way to ease toward retirement: I work like crazy for 3 or 4 days and then enjoy a long weekend, traveling, gardening and chilling out.

My wife Karen and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary next year. I was blessed to be able to adopt her daughter Lauren, who never ceases to amaze me--she has gone from struggling to get through high school biology to success as a veterinary technician, not to mention her being the mother of our 6-year-old granddaughter Ariana. Karen and I are still wondering how we ever deserved to become the beloved Oma and Opa of such a delightful little lady!

At our age, most of us are starting to tell the story of how we had to walk uphill to school, both ways, in 90-degree weather and 6 feet of snow on the same day. Fortunately, due to my 4 years at St. Benedict's, I can put a fresh and truthful spin on that. Like the rest of you, I started in September 1967. Springfield Avenue was still smoldering from the riots that summer the first day I rode the 72 bus. People in my suburban town must have thought my parents were crazy for sending their 13-year-old son to Newark for an education. To be active in theater, I often had to stay after the last bus had left. In winter, that meant walking a mile up Broad Street, or taking the short cut up Washington Street, along the Rutgers campus in the dark. Believe it or not, no one ever laid a hand on me or took a dime from me, perhaps because they thought that any kid crazy enough to be walking there after dark had to be dangerous. Needless to say, I got more than just an excellent academic education from 4 years at St. Benedict's!

Every time we get together or I see pictures of classmates, I'm reminded that life appears to have been good to us. There have been surprisingly few in memoriam e-mails, and we're amazingly well-preserved. May the years continue to be kind to us! Ad multos annos!