Occupation: I’m a nurse practitioner working for Ability Beyond Disability in Bethel. We have group homes in the area and provide care, opportunity, and jobs for the mentally and physically handicapped. I’m also the president of the Town and Country Garden Club, I’m on the Commission for Aging, and on the board of trustees for the Newtown Ambulance Association.

Family: My husband, David, and I will be celebrating our 40th anniversary this year. We have two daughters, Debbie Holmes and her husband, Dan. They have three children, Hannah and Eli, who are 7, and Lily, who is 11. Our daughter Jaclyn Krikorian and her husband, Rich, have two daughters, Taylor, 7, and Payten, 5. We’re very blessed. They all live in Newtown and we love being a part of their lives.

Pets: We have a cat that we got last year, Miss Mud. She’s a tortoiseshell and looks like she fell in a puddle and then shook off. We have a donkey, Willie, and a mule named Jenny. They’re just pets. They don’t do a thing except eat grass and grain. We got Willie in the late 70s from a burro relocation group in the Mojave Desert for $50, as a companion to a pony we had. Then Willie had an affair with our neighbor’s beautiful Arabian horse and we have our lovely little mule, Jenny, now.

How long have you lived in Newtown? I moved to Newtown from Middlebury as a child in 1950 when my dad took a position at Curtis Box Corporation. We lived on Glover Avenue. My mother didn’t drive at the time, and it was perfect because we could walk everywhere. I remember picking blueberries where Newtown Middle School is now, and trying to run from one end of the pigpen to the other at Fairfield Hills.

What do you like to do in your free time? I like to travel. We have a condo in Naples, Fla., that we love to go to. I love gardening, especially perennials. I have over 200 different kinds of day lilies. They never fail you. Around the second or third week in July, my yard looks like a fruit salad with all of the colors. A perfect Saturday is David and I both working in the yard.   

Do you have a favorite travel destination? Sailing in Tahiti or the safari in Africa are probably my favorites, but we have done some extensive traveling. We have been to Thailand, Ireland, Scotland, England, Tahiti, Africa, and a lot of Europe.

Do you have a favorite book? Right now I’m reading Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. This winter I read The Kite Runner and The White Maasai, about a white woman who married a Maasai warrior. I found it very interesting since I had been to Africa.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I have to say that it is a family town. It’s a wonderful town in which to bring up your children and grandchildren. Even with a tremendous amount of growth, it’s still a family town.

If you could travel to the past or future, which would you choose? I’d go back to the 1950s. It was a great time growing up in Newtown. I’d play hopscotch on the sidewalks, get a quarter to go to the movies — which were just 10 cents and then I’d have 15 cents to spend on candy — and everyone in the neighborhood would get together and play Capture the Flag until it was so dark we couldn’t see the flags. I’d get up on a Saturday and my girlfriend and I would to out and play all day long. It was fun being a kid then.

Do you have a personal philosophy? I was brought up in the Congregational Church and the Reverend Paul Cullens always stressed “Do Unto Others.” I’ve tried to do that. And I have a new one: Don’t Get Your Knickers In A Knot. It’s not worth getting upset.

What is the most important lesson you have learned? These two things that go hand-in-hand: Don’t lie or cheat.