Meet Carol & Paul Auer
As of this writing, Carol and her husband Paul are planning to leave Middletown to move to New Paltz, N.Y. The worst part about moving away will be leaving the wonderful friends and activities with which they have been involved in RBH.
Carol was born in Raleigh, N.C., but her parents moved away before she could develop a southern accent, although something stuck because she is the only one in her family who loves country music. She primarily grew up in Syracuse where her father was a math professor. Carol's parents grew up in the Jewish immigrant section of Paterson,N.J. where their parents worked in the textile industry after immigrating from Poland in the 1910's. As children, Yiddish was their primary language; though her parents and grandparents were secular. Her mother's parents were active in the union movement.
Carol is the oldest of 4 children, but she was never the bossy big sister, she was too busy reading. Her sister Judy died young. Both Carol and Paul are close to her twin brothers, Bill a physical chemist, and Steve, a mathematician, and their families, though one lives in Israel and the other in California.
Carol has a husband Paul, a son David who lives with them, a daughter Rachel, and Rachel's husband Bill. Both are artists with day jobs who live in the Hudson Valley. Rachel and Bill have a daughter Zed, who is a sophomore at NYU Polytech. Hurray for girl engineers!!!
Paul, who was born in Budapest, Hungary, met Carol while they were both students in Ann Arbor.
Carol attended college at the University of Michigan. After 2 years of teaching junior high math, she gained a very high regard for the teaching profession, and realized that she was not meant to teach. Carol and Paul were married by this time, and she went back to school for an MA in library science, working as a college librarian. After Paul graduated with a PhD in physics, his first job was in research at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. Their son was born one month after the move, and their daughter 2 years later.
After 5 years in the cold, Paul's next job was at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago's southeast suburbs. Five years later they moved to Monmouth County when Paul got a job at Bell Labs. Carol meanwhile went back to school at Brookdale for computer science, and also joined Bell Labs. She earned an MS in computer science at night while working at Bell Labs. They are both now retired. After retiring, Carol worked part time at Middletown Public Library.
Carol and Paul are eagerly looking forward to a new chapter in their lives (a cliche, but true) in New Paltz, N.Y. They will be near their daughter, and son-in-law, mountains, life in a college town (SUNY New Paltz), and will be able to walk to Main St. They will be looking for a book group, a bridge group, a pottery studio, an astronomy club, etc.etc. and already know the nearest humanist group is in Albany, less than 2 hours away.
When Carol was young, she was very, very shy. Her family knew 2 sisters, who at that time were probably in their 60's and 70's, who were what she wanted to be when she grew old. They drank (1), they swore (2), and they were bravely outspoken (3) as liberals during the McCarthy era and beyond. They also lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired house on a lake. Carol is still working on #'s 1, 2, and 3!
Carol learned about RBH and humanism when a co-worker, and fellow bridge player John Holmgren suggested that they might be interested in such a group. John had been a board member until he moved to NC.
Carol is a humanist because she is so upset with the intrusive place religion has taken in the US and elsewhere. Humanism suits them both, and she thrives on the fellowship.
It will be difficult to fill the void that will be left when Carol and Paul move away. We all hope they will keep in touch on a regular basis. It certainly sounds like they have an exciting future to look forward to.
