1989 to 2003

Greetings Alum,
This is the 2nd installment in the up-date of Mr. Farrell since
you knew him way back when. Remember, with blogs, if you
want to read chronologically you have to go back to the oldest
post and read backwards! Anyway, in the Summer of '89' Mr.
DeLorenzzo retired, which opened the position to me to jump
down to Westinghouse and teach 3-6 grade gen. music. It was
also an opportunity for me to make another life change, and
that was to move North to live on a farm just like Keith Bertoluzzi
did the year before. We bought a 73 acre farm near Kittanning and spent the next 14 years raising
sheep, pigs, chickens and ducks. It was a one-hour commute each way to get to Wilmerding, but it was worth it. I loved every year I spent there. Not having to do the musical or after-school rehearsals left me the time to deal with the commute. Also during that time in the country I was the organist at St. Patrick's church in Brady's Bend, and my wife directed the choir there. Then I created a community choir in Kittanning and directed that for 5 or 6 years. But then I had to get a real (paying) gig and took a post at St. John's Lutheran church as Senoir Choir Director. I did that for 8 years, until we sold the farm and moved back to Pgh. I retired in 1998 after 30 years at EA. During that time on the farm I learned so much about that stuff that I could have, and should have written a book on homesteading. If any of you do such a thing, just call me for advice! I love to talk about how you can provide for your family with your own two hands; working with the land and with animals. But all good things always come to and end, and so did our farm living. Both our mothers were getting up in age back in Pgh, and our kids grew up and moved out on their own. The time was right to move back to the "burgh." We did miss going to the symphony, ballet, and plays. We sold the farm for three times what we bought it for, and bought a lovely home in Shaler Township. No animals here except our dog, Maggie. But we have a beautiful veggie garden. So now, what do we do for fun? That's in the next blog.