This is the 46th year since my last year at Hagan, and being a swimmer and canoeist at Hagan, it’s easy to use the water over the dam metaphor! I spent 8 years as a camper at Hagan, from 1958 to 1965. I had the privilege of being the youngest camper at Christmas in 1958, and lit the candle on the mantel in Great Hall. While I made my way through childhood and teenage years at home with a lot of angst and self doubt, I will always remember that Camp Hagan was where I was encouraged and able to be my true self and like her! I was a CIT for two years and then a cabin counselor for two years. It was truly wonderful to extend to other girls and young women the same fun, education and support that was provided to me. (Remember how much we learned at Hagan, through both direct and indirect instruction?) I was privileged to work with Sue Davit in Boating and Canoeing! I am grateful to have had my Hagan experience while it was still a girls’ camp (which is not to say I didn’t appreciate the Miller guys down the road, and the kitchen boys!).
Here’s where I went after Hagan! For the two summers following 1969, I was a lifeguard at a swim club and at a school for adjudicated teenage girls. The latter was a great experience, as I worked with city girls who had no familiarity with their rural surroundings. In 1972, I graduated from the College of Wooster (in Ohio) with a BA in Studio Art, and married that summer. This would happen twice more in my life (not the graduation). Not finding a teaching job, I started working for a silversmith in Washington, PA. I learned the craft and practiced it until I had my first beautiful daughter, Amanda Jane. Our family moved to Poland, OH and my second beautiful daughter, Sarah Courtney, was born there. Several months after Sarah’s birth, the girls and I moved back to the Philadelphia area. We lived in Media, PA for some time, and I apprenticed and honed my skills as a bench jeweler. That’s the person who’s hammering away in the back room of the jewelry store! I remarried in 1981 and moved to the Pittsburgh area, and worked for two prominent Pittsburgh jewelers as long as I was in that area.
In 1989, my second husband’s job took us to Camp Hill, outside of Harrisburg, as he was working in the House of Representatives. Finding no jewelry work, I was able to work for my neighbor, becoming Director of Administration for a multi-office Drug/Alcohol/Mental Health agency. In 1993, I made the bold step of purchasing my own home and preparing for Mandy and Sarah’s high school graduation and launch into their college days. I was very happy with my “girls”, and perhaps because of the ins and outs of my marriages, we bonded as friends as well as mother and daughters, while maintaining enough discipline for their successful outcomes. Mandy completed college at Bryn Mawr College, and Sarah completed college at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (now Philadelphia University).
In 1996 I used my experience with the D&A agency to secure a position with the PA Department of Health, and spent most of my years there designing programs for children with disabilities and representing the Secretary of Health on the PA Developmental Disabilities Council. My fulfilling work was completed when I retired in 2012, except for a one-year annuitancy post-retirement.
I met my husband, John, in 1999 and we have been together since, marrying in 2004. I often say I wish I had met him first (would have un-complicated a lot of my life), but I would not be without my daughters for all the tea in China! John and I have enjoyed traveling together – Central America, the US West Coast, Canada, and many other places. We have recently moved from Camp Hill to a home in a tiny village (Mazeppa), which is only about 5 miles from all that we need, including Bucknell University. We are currently enrolled in the University’s Life-long Learning program and enjoying meeting new and interesting people. I love to sing (I’m a Hagan girl, after all), and have joined a community chorus, Buffalo Valley Singers. I am an active member of a Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO), which supports women in education, providing grants and low-interest loans to women returning to educational life as well as exceptional high school seniors entering their freshman year of college. My mom and my Aunt Ruth (Kris’s mom) introduced me to PEO.
And those beautiful daughters? They still are… Amanda graduated from UC Berkeley with a MFA and Sarah has completed her JD. Mandy taught at Berkeley and Contra Costa College for some time, and is currently seeking tenure track at various colleges. Sarah is a Labor Relations specialist for the Governor’s Office of Administration in Harrisburg. No marriages or grandchildren yet, but they are both very happy and in committed and loving relationships.
My post-Hagan life has been rich and fulfilling. I do not have a lot of money, but I am secure, have the fortune of good health, and I have wonderful memories and people in my life that are more rewarding than financial gain. This includes my Hagan sisters and connections with people from earlier days that are more meaningful as time moves forward.
Jane and John 
Sarah and Amanda