GARY ~  Still working hard trying to keep up with the onslaught of new business at his agency, which he believes was brought about by running a ad with a picture of him and Elliott together aboard C'est Bon.  He is still commuting between Maryland and Virginia every week but has been working on a database project in the hopes of doing more work at home and less traveling back and forth.  He has been convinced by his family to keep the mustache and beard he grew over the winter (Ruth thinks he looks sexy--that was enough for him!).  He has been thoroughly enjoying being a father and particularly loves taking his baby out on the boat (but wishes Elliott would let him steer more!)

RUTH ~  As threatened, she has taken a permanent leave of absence from her job to stay home with Elliott.  Didn't happen the way she expected, though: in February, she fell and suffered a severe break of the ankle which required surgery and the addition of screws and a metal plate to help the ankle heal.  So, she was unable to report back to work at GEICO after her official leave was due to end and was summarily terminated.  Elliott started walking before she did!  She now spends her time hanging with Elliott taking in concerts in the park and story-time at the library.  She's also rediscovered her love of knitting and has been making everyone washcloths as gifts (she says she had to do something while being flat on her back for five weeks!).  She also thanks her relatives and friends who spent many hours sitting with her and visiting (especially those who brought chocolate waffles from Sweet Caroline) and taking care of Elliott while she was unable to walk.  She's now back to about 85 percent, though she will most likely always have a slight limp.

KELLEY ~  Now 19, he spent the summer working construction; now he's tanned and buff!  Came home with a pierced tongue and also had three piercings placed in his ear cartilage (one on one ear and two on the other).  He is back at Maryland Institute College of Art for his second year, this time in an apartment of his own (small, but cozy)!  He had one of his paintings included in the Foundation show at the college in September.  He seems much happier this year with his professors and may have decided to pursue Illustration as his major.  But give him two weeks . . . .  By the way, this former brown-haired guy is now blond.  Check the photo album for new shots of all the kids.

AMY ~  Sixteen years old, she started her junior year in high school wondering why all the teachers seemed so MAD, but things are smoothing out quickly.  Amy was chosen as the Co-Vice-President of the National Art Honor Society and is hoping to be the Art Director for "Menagerie," the literary magazine for the school.  She spent three weeks this summer in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, at Simon's Rock College of Bard at a Young Writers Workshop.  She developed her already great writing skills while there and learned to read her work to a crowd of peer critics.  This former blonde is now a brunette (???)  Amy is also working for the Free Lance-Star (our local newspaper) as a youth reporter; several of her articles have already been published.

ELLIOTT:  As mentioned above, he started walking before Ruth did after her surgery.  He was 10½ months old and decided one day to trek across the living room unaided.   Now almost 18 months old, he is very active and very vocal, but doesn't talk yet.  Instead, he uses signs to get his point across--he started using them on his own and we added to his repertoire.  He loves books and music and is a very good dancer.  He is still small (about 22 pounds or so) and so is not too much for Ruth to carry.  Though still a little shy, he's been meeting other children and interacting quite well with them.  He still nurses several times a day and a few times at night and we love every minute of it.

September 16, 1999 ~  We are currently awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Floyd.   It is expected to come ashore in the Carolinas, so hopefully it will weaken significantly before it hits the house in Chancellor and the boat at Cobb Island.   Gary will probably go to the boat later this morning to check to make sure everything is secure.  The last tropical storm that passed through was about two weeks ago when the remnants of Hurricane Dennis affected the area.  Ruth, Gary, Elliott, Tiller, Mike and Naomi were sailing C'est Bon back from the Wye River to Cobb Island in advance of the storm, but we still got plenty of wind!  While we were too scared to turn on the anemometer while we were underway, once we secured the boat in Neale Sound we turned it on and found the wind blowing steadily at over 20 knots, so I'm sure we had gusts in excess of 30!  The wind was out of the Northeast the whole time, so we raced down the Chesapeake Bay and up the Potomac River in eighteen hours.   The waves, estimated at about five feet, were probably the biggest Gary has seen in his lifetime of sailing the Chesapeake.  Although nothing approaching the waves he encountered in his ocean sailing, it was sufficient to make a good portion of the crew seasick once night fell.  Elliott was the only one completely unaffected by the tough sailing conditions, and he rode through the storm like an old salt!  

Last weekend Gary, Ruth, Amy and Elliott traveled to Cape Cod to spend the weekend at Morgan's mother's house at Beach Point, Massachusetts, near Provincetown.  We had a great time swimming, sunning, sailing, and, of course, eating, which is a given any time Morgan is around.  And we got to see many other Brandeisians; besides Morgan, we saw Kim, Peter, Helen, Kiwi, Rachel and Matt.  Also, we finally got to meet Peter's and Kiwi's kids!

August 25, 1999 ~  Well, Kelley is at Maryland Institute College of Art!  Todd, Gary, Ruth, Amy and Elliott drove him up to Baltimore this morning, helped him get situated and left him on his own this evening.   He'll be starting classes next Monday.  Good luck, Kelley!!  His party last Sunday was a lot of fun, by the way!

 August 11, 1999 ~  Elliott weighed in at 15 lb. and 2 oz. today at Dr. William's office!  His height (or should we say length?) is 25¾ inches.  We're planning a big off-to-college party for Kelley to be held on his 18th birthday, Sunday, August 22nd.   In the meantime, Amy will be flying to Jacksonville, Florida with her friend Bethanie to stay with Bethanie's aunt, uncle and cousin for a week.

July 25, 1999 ~  We had the pleasure of a visit from my Brandeis classmate Carrie and her companion Kevin and his six-year-old daughter Mary.  They came down last Friday and we went out for the day on C'est Bon.  We sailed down from Wye Cove to St. Michael's, grabbed lunch at the Crab Claw Restaurant and toured the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  We wound up motoring the whole way back, but had a great time anyway!  Mary handled the helm like an old salt!  

Also, Ruth's sister Margaret and her family are visiting from Mississippi.  They came over for dinner tonight and we had a pizza party.  Her kids came up a few weeks ago, so they were able to attend Gary's Mom's birthday party on Wye Cove last weekend.  There was a huge turnout and four bushels of crabs were consumed along with a ton of other stuff.  Ruth has decided to take a leave of absence from GEICO for at least six months!   On Saturday the 24th, we attended the major retirement party for Ruth's dad and stepmom, Gerald and Ruth.  Ralph and Thelma Saunders visited from North Carolina; it was a real homecoming for the Newman girls because they hadn't seen the Saunders' in at least 17 years!

July 4, 1999 ~  Elliott is eleven weeks old today.  Quite a bit younger than the 223 years of age that his country is.  Happy Independence Day!   Kelley graduated from high school last month and came away with honors for his academic performance this year!  He has started working at the local Waffle House and got his first paycheck today.  Of course, he has already been enjoying tips he's received from waiting on tables.  Amy is working this summer with Gary at IMIS on Mondays and Tuesdays and has received her first paycheck as well.  Ruth is still enjoying her time off from work and seriously considering making it a permanent vacation!

 May 16, 1999 ~  Elliott had his first sail today!  Aboard C'est Bon with his father and mother, Grandparents Golden, Aunt Shari, Cyndi and Tiller, he seemed to have a great time.  It was a nice day: we sailed over to St. Clements Bay, anchored for lunch and sailed back to Cobb Island for dinner at the newly reopened Portside Restaurant.

May 2, 1999 ~  We had a b'ris for Elliott today at home.  Mohel Dr. Lawrence Shuman officiated and in addition to other guests, Elliott had the privilege of having two great-grandparents in attendance ~ Great-grandmother Rose Golden and Great-grandfather Mickey Astrin.  Elliott's entry into the Covenant of Abraham was celebrated and acknowledged with his Hebrew naming as Eliyahu ben Chaim Joshua.  In other news, it has been decided that Kelley will be attending Maryland Institute College of Art this fall!

April 22, 1999 ~  Elliott and Ruth returned home yesterday after a two day stay at Mary Washington Hospital due to concern about his respiratory rate which was 50% higher than normal.  He was tested for infection but was found to not have any and his breathing improved by the first morning in the hospital so it appears that it was just transitive tachypnea, a common and temporary condition of newborns.  We are sorry to have to have spent some of Elliott's first days in the hospital but we feel good that we were "playing it safe."  He seems none the worse for the experience and settled right back in at home where he's doing the newborn shuffle: breast-nap-breast-nap.

April 18, 1999 ~  Elliott Fisher Golden was born in his home this day at 12:59 in the afternoon.  Ruth began labor at around 08:30 and things went quickly and smoothly.   Ruth gave birth to Elliott with the assistance of Gary, Kelley, Amy, midwives Alice and Leslie, Ruth's sister Mary Ann and Ruth's niece Sara.  It was a terrific team and Elliott was born into a circle of loving people.  He weighed 7 lb. and 12 oz. and was 20¼ in. long.

 April 14, 1999 ~  Today's the day the baby is due!  But still waiting...   In the meantime, Kelley has been accepted to all four of the colleges to which he applied and has narrowed his choices down to Maryland Institute College of Art and Pratt Institute.   We hope the baby gets here soon so we can have time to visit the schools before May 1, 1999, when he needs to make his decision.  Gary turned 34 last week.

March 8, 1999 ~  Today is the fifth anniversary of our marriage!  We celebrated with a weekend trip to Williamsburg, Virginia.  And in keeping with the tradition of the Wedding Tour, brought Amy along for company.  We're definitely "the more, the merrier" people.

February 10, 1999 ~  We're having a baby!  We are expecting a child--don't know whether boy or girl ~ in mid-April.  Ruth will be giving birth at home as she did with Kelley and Amy.   This will be Gary's first child.  Ruth is healthy and only complaining ~ mildly ~ of backaches.  We are monitoring her blood pressure since it is sometimes elevated which is cause for concern, but it is usually fine.

February 10, 1999 -  Kelley has submitted his college applications; he is graduating this year.  He is intending to enroll at an art institute in keeping with his extraordinary talent in the arts.  He hopes to be able to enter an accelerated Masters program so he can be teaching his skills to others in only five years.  He has applied to Cocoran Museum School of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art, Pratt Institute and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.

February 10, 1999 -  Both Kelley and Amy performed in a production of Alice in Wonderland at Chancellor High School on January 16, 1999.  Kelley played the March Hare and Amy played the Two of Spades.  They and the cast of other characters were very entertaining. February 10, 1999 -  Amy is a freshman at Chancellor High School and seems to have made the transition from middle to high school without a hiccup.  She continues to get all A's and B's.   Even Kelley is doing great in school this year and had a 4.0 GPA for the first semester. February 10, 1999 -  Gary's dad, Al, had bypass surgery in December 1998.  He is recuperating slowly but surely and is back at work pretty much full-time now.  The big task will be getting him to eat right from now on to avoid reclogging of his arteries.  Mom and Dad are both vacationing in Florida in early February and we get to babysit their dog, Foxy!

February 10, 1999 -  Ruth's dad, Gerald, and his wife, also named Ruth, will both be retiring from their many years of working at Safeway.  We're looking forward to a big party to celebrate in July 1999!

February 10, 1999 -  Gary's sister, Shari, has just established the Golden Autism Program, a program of consultation and training for the parents and caregivers of children with autism.

Updated August 31, 2018.