Occupation: I am a marriage and family therapist, an alcohol, drug, and grief counselor, as well as a family life educator. I teach at Gateway Community College in North Haven, and I have taught in the graduate department of Southern Connecticut State University. One of the things I am most proud of is my ability to work with grieving people. I’ve been through it myself and studied grief. I think it’s a gift for myself and hopefully for those I work with.

Family: I have three children, Beaver, Jeff, and Betsey Bausch, and two stepchildren, Gretchen and Marshall Davenson, all of whom went through the Newtown School System. I have seven grandchildren. My husband, Lee, died 20 years ago. He was the Park and Recreation director in Newtown, and I believe, one of the first full-time directors.

Pets: No pets. We went through all of those when the kids were home. We had a zillion of them, I’ll tell you that.

How long have you lived in Newtown? I have lived here for 40 years, in my very same house on Church Hill Road the whole time.

What do you like to do in your free time? I really don’t know what to do with free time, but I love to knit, and I’m also making one of my grandkids a Raggedy Ann doll. I love to go to the movies and plays and spend time with my friends. I’m also a writer and have written a book about grief and loss called Grief and Growth: A Manual For Counselors and Educators. I use it a lot with my clients.

Do you have a favorite movie? My favorite recent movie was Dream Girls. I love musicals. My all time favorite play is I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? My favorite place of all is St Maarten in the Dutch Antilles. Or I love to just go visit all my grandchildren.

What is the best thing about Newtown? The sense of community. I think people enjoy each other and there is a huge sense of camaraderie. I have friends whose relationships go back 40 years and we still meet. It’s a community of connection, which is very important. One of the other great things is the Parent Connection. I don’t think a lot of other towns have the resource that we do in Parent Connection.

What changes have you noticed in Newtown? The biggest for me is the traffic on Church Hill Road, and wanting to put a huge condominium across the road from me, which is terribly out of character. I remember when traffic on Church Hill Road was nothing. Another real change is Sandy Hook Center, the sidewalks and the “gas” lights. It’s a beautiful little place now and I love that.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? I’d get rid of the war, definitely. I’m very saddened by the war.

Do you have a personal philosophy? The one I like best is to “live in the precious present.” I can’t control the future and I don’t want to live in the past, so I have to live in the precious present, one day at a time.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? Vegging out in front of a football game when I should be working. I’m an avid Patriots fan.