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MY STORY:

Since leaving PHS, I have long searched for the Holy Grail.

My pursuit began at Michigan State University. For four years, I looked throughout the business school and several sorority houses (I was disguised as a bus boy earning my meals). I even found a mentor who encouraged me to study the Classics to gain a deeper meaning of our existence. While I could not find the answers to my questions, I found college football games, TGs, Motown, and the Beatles. I also gained an education. I even escaped for a winter term at the University of Denver, wanting to see what Mark and Steve went west to find. While I found a new independence and clarity of understanding, my quest for answers remained.

I next ventured to California. As a child of the 60s, weren't we all attracted to the land of the Beach Boys, free speech, and the High Sierras? Perhaps I would find answers in law school. Again, I found a hearty appetite to learn and reached new heights of understanding. San Diego could not be beaten as a place to call home for three-plus years (next to Petoskey, of course). While I believed that I had gained a deeper grasp of my small role in the world, I still had not found the answers.

"Go east young man" was the call of the unfolding Watergate scandal in the early 1970s. Thus, Washington, D.C. beckoned me as the place where perhaps I could find the answers. I was fortunate to obtain a position with the Federal Trade Commission enforcing the nation's antitrust laws. Wow, was I on cloud nine. Great work, good people, and an exciting city. A city with wonderful architecture, art, and gardens. My job has always challenged my abilities and sharpened my self-understanding. So why does one need hobbies and outside interests, I thought, if you are protecting consumers across the land. While the pursuit of such high ideals is ennobling, it may not provide all the answers. My search continued.

After fifteen years in Washington, I decided to take a one-year sabbatical to refocus the quest. Perhaps I did not have the right questions. (As you know, everyone inside the Washington beltway believes they have the answer.) Maybe Queen Elizabeth, Margaret Thatcher, and the fall of Communism in the early 1990s could help. I enrolled in the London School of Economics for an advanced law degree in European law. Boy was it a great year. While the motivation was to broaden my legal training, I found the time a fantastic opportunity both to experience new cultures and redirect my search. I happily returned to dormitory life and cafeteria food in order to study, discuss, and explore. Interestingly, I have found that each new educational experience offers more fulfillment than the last and my overseas educational experience was no exception. (By the way, you can imagine how much fun I had in London considering all those fun-filled PHS years.)

Renewed, refreshed, humbled, and with a bit less hair, I returned to Washington to continue the quest. I again plowed myself into my job, became more active in my Church community, renewed my ties to Petoskey, and developed an appreciation for country western music. (Country western always offers a lot of answers.) I also had the good fortune to team up with a lovely lady along the way named Sigi, a German translator at the National Geographic Society, who has made the search all the more enjoyable.

I doubt that I will be joining you for the 35th class reunion but send my best to everyone. It will be my loss. Thanks to Peggy, Jill, and everyone for organizing the weekend. I am sure that it will be memorable. Hats off also to Dave, our creative webmeister who has inspired us all to share our own stories.

By the way, my search continues and the journey has been great.

Abbott McCartney