Wendy BERGER

Wendy Berger Margules

Wendy's 2011 Autobiography

Following graduation, I entered Boston University School of Nursing, where I earned a BS degree in 1965. After graduation from BU, a relationship with a Navy doctor that started with a TB test aboard ship (a long and mostly hysterical story), brought me back to New York City, where I went to work at Columbia Presbyterian in the Emergency Room. It was a great assignment, until the night that Malcolm X was shot across the street. In the elevator, his very large and menacing body guards told me that if he died, I died. He was already dead. I decided do a “Karate Kid” and “No be there.”

The emergency room at a big city hospital was like living in a weekly TV medical show, only real. You just can’t make this stuff up. The stories were endless. During my tenure, I met a delightful intern with a great sense of humor. He seemed interested and so was I. So we dated until he was drafted as an Air Force surgeon and shipped out to Viet Nam.

What, me chase a doctor to Viet Nam – Don’t be silly. But, with two nurse friends, I did meet up with him in Tokyo during our two month Japan adventure. Just a coincidence…but it was very nice to see him again and, of course, to experience the country.

Upon my return, I moved to Burbank, California to continue my nursing career at Good Samaritan Hospital. One of the highlights of that tenure was the evening I was nursing supervisor when Bobby Kennedy was shot. The hospital was on lockdown for 12 hours. It was my second brush with the Paparazzi, neither of which left a warm and fuzzy feeling. Guess I’m not cut out for celebrity.

In 1968, my future husband, Richard, returned from Viet Nam to restart his residency in San Francisco. What, me chase a doctor. Don’t be silly. But I did move to San Francisco. As my mother said, I let him chase me until I caught him. We were married in my mother’s house on Coleytown Road in October of 1969 and returned to San Francisco for the next five years.

Our daughter Stacey was born there in 1972. That ended my nursing career. No sense working just to pay child care. In 1974, Richard finished his residency. Having fallen in love with Connecticut on our marriage visit, he joined a surgical practice in Newtown, where we’ve been ever since.

Our son, Matthew, was born in 1976. Stay-at-home mom just didn’t suit me, so I decided to become a realtor. After getting my license, I worked for others until, in 1993, four of my colleagues and I opened Flagpole Realty in Newtown and have had a great 18-year run.

They say that “If we knew how much fun grandchildren were, we’d have them first.” Our four grandchildren are proof positive of that saying. We spend as much time with them as life and our daughter will permit. They are the joy of our lives.

Richard and I love to travel, mostly by cruise ship. We’ve been on almost 50 cruises and seen a lot of the world. Having a travel agent’s license since 2008, I’ve become the “go to person” for friends and family who want the low down on any destination and how to get there. It’s nice to be needed.

But the greatest gift of all is to be here, 50 years after finishing at Staples, and knowing that the foundation we all put in place has served each of us differently as we traveled back to this place in time.

Happy 50^th everyone. Looking forward to seeing lots of smiling faces.

Wendy's Update (2021)

After Graduation from Staples I enrolled at Boston University School of Nursing where I was elected President of the Freshman class and joined Sigma Kappa Sorority. The 4 years went by in a whirlwind and after graduation and passing my Boards I worked at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in charge of the experimental Program for the use of DMSO....now banned because it seemed to create blindness. For the patients in that study it was a lifesaver and we thought it would be the miracle drug. of our time. After about a year I began to long for areas closer to home so I applied for a Job at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in the Emergency Room. My first day there Malcolm X was shot in the head across the street. His bodyguards carried him across the street to our unit. All they keep saying to us was "if he dies, you die too" and I have never been more terrified...and wondered if I'd made a horrible decision to more to NYC, Two weeks later the New Interns began to work and that is when I met my husband a transplant from California.....now married happily for 51 years. After serving his 2 years in the Air Force including a year in Viet Nam he asked me to move to California so we could see if this was a good relationship. We lived on base at Travis Air Force base and then on to San Francisco for his Residency in Surgery. We were married at my mothers house in Westport on a beautiful fall day in 1969, (Coleytown Road)

The 5 years in San Francisco flew by and when it was time to choose a Surgical Practice my husband thought he would like to be in CT. We sent out letters via snail mail to several practices in CT and within a week we were getting calls to come and interview. He chose a Surgery Practice in Newtown, CT where we have lived since. ( A funny aside.....I was one of 4 children and when my mother was exasperated with us she use to threaten us with "One of these days one of you is going to drive me to Newtown, home of one of CT's mental health hospitals....who knew it would be me, LOL) We have 2 children (Stacey age 49 and Matthew age 45) and 4 wonderful and beautiful Grand Daughters (25, 21. 19 and 12).

In 1916 we decided to buy a Condo in West Palm Beach on the water, loving every minute we spend there. It's amazing how many of our friends and relatives live in the area and the time we spend down there flies by. For now we only spend about 2 weeks at a time as we don't have the heart to actually leave CT forever. Life is good and once we get our Covid vaccine we will "book it danno", My health is pretty good for an old lady and the only medication I have to take is Synthroid. I am blessed!! I am afraid that we might be in Florida for the Zoom reunion and if so I won't be able to attend) Time will tell.