Jane SCHAEFER

Jane Schaefer Johngren

Jane's 2011 Autobiography

Growing up in Westport, even as small a town as it was back then, relative to now, I never dreamed I would wind up living in “the boonies,” and in a log house, no less! But that’s what happened to me, at least beginning in 1973, and I am keenly aware that I’ve been very fortunate.

Before the boonies, though, there were four happy years at Tufts University, where I met my husband, Peter Johngren, and we were married right after I graduated with a degree in French. He was already a third-year student at Albany Medical College and I found a job teaching elementary and then high school students at Schodack Central School for the next two years. Peter was accepted for an internship and psychiatry residency at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and that’s where our two children, Emily Ruth and Michael Peter, were born in 1968 and 1969 – yup, 17 months apart.

We loved both Albany and Cleveland, but we absolutely adored Washington State, where Peter was stationed as a psychiatrist in the Army from 1971 to 1973 – war years, as you’ll recall. We lived at Fort Lewis with a view of Mt. Rainier out our back window, made great friends, but most of all explored the wonderful wilderness areas all around us. It was very tempting to consider staying out west, but both our families were in New England. By then the places we knew there had become too crowded, however, so we opted for the real upstate New York, which kind of reminded us of the way New England used to be.

We’ve never actually lived in the village of Cooperstown, population 2,500, but that picturesque town has been our base ever since. Peter served as an attending staff psychiatrist at Bassett Hospital, a group medical practice and model of the way health care should be, from 1973 to 1997, and we lived for the first five years in a rented home on an estate on Otsego Lake. It was hard to top that when we were buying our own place, but a large log cabin seven miles west of Cooperstown was so different that it filled the bill nicely, as did the price – $48,000.

I admit that Cooperstown is not your typical rural village. Besides the hospital, it boasts the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Fenimore Art Museum, The Farmers’ Museum, and since 1975, Glimmerglass Opera, a now world-renowned company that had its first performances in the high school auditorium. I should know, as I was in the chorus, and then proceeded to work for many years doing publicity and editing the program book. I’ve also been involved in many capacities with the all-volunteer Cooperstown Concert Series, from which I’m retiring after 38 years.

In addition, within 20 miles is the well-regarded Catskill Symphony Orchestra, which I served as general manager for two years; the Catskill Choral Society, of which I was a member for 15 years; a semi-professional musical theater company; two four-year colleges; a thriving continuing adult learning program; and a brand new performing arts center which holds great promise. There are also two visual arts organizations in Cooperstown where Peter has exhibited his scenic photographs and I’ve studied pottery and sold my work.

Not only did we not abandon culture when we moved to the area, we have been able to immerse ourselves in it in a very personal way that has been extremely rewarding. It also, I realize, allowed me to pursue interests I began in high school under the tutelage of Mr. Ohanian.

In the same way, I was able to put the teachings of Miss Higgins to good use by writing two separate series of newspaper columns. I produced columns of arts news for the Cooperstown weekly for about two years, and in 1987 began writing twice-monthly columns on any topic I chose for an area daily paper, which I did for the next 14 years. In 1995 I self-published a collection of my best pieces, Freelance Writer: Looking on the Bright Side.

To give another memorable teacher her due, I am still downhill skiing, thanks to Miss Parker’s instruction on Mt. Snow, although I suffered a broken heel bone this February, my first accident in 51 years of skiing – it wasn’t my fault, however, but the snow boarder’s who crashed into me!

After many years of camping in the Adirondacks, Peter and I bought a small camp north of Old Forge in 2006 – bucking the trend of our friends who are all buying in the south – and we now spend the entire summer there. Like Cooperstown, the Adirondacks are an unexpected oasis of museums, performances, lectures, history and arts centers, and we take advantage of them as much as possible, in addition to canoeing, hiking and other outdoor activities. We also enjoy hosting our 12-year old granddaughter Maia, who lives with Michael and his wife in Princeton, N.J.

Our daughter and her husband live in Homer, Alaska, a spectacular place we’ve visited several times.

Looking back at the write-up under my name in the 1961 Stapleite, I can see that a few other things haven’t changed in 50 years: I still devour mysteries, by the carload; I still like sports, especially college basketball, and was even a member of a Master’s swim team for a few years in the 1970s; and, oh yeah, I still avidly follow politics.