John Taylor - Woodard 1962
Many thanks for suggesting a USA newsletter. I had no idea that
there are so many of us that run to the Colonies!!!!
I have been here for 40 years living initially in New York State followed
by southern California and thirdly in Virginia, where we have been for
27 years. My wife, Julia, and I have been blessed with two sons over
the years, one born in England before we left, and are now enjoying
two grandchildren. We actually brought them over to UK earlier this
year but unfortunately did not visit Taunton.
I am delighted to confirm that I am numbered amongst the happily
retired, which has permitted heavy international sight seeing as well
as volunteering in the local community. I can recommend retirement
to anybody - and I do not even play golf!!!!!
I am in touch with some OAs but none in the USA so if anyone would
like to get in touch, email the OA Club Office (oa@kings-taunton.
co.uk) and they will pass on your email to me, perhaps we can all get
in touch locally at some stage.
Jim Perry - Woodard 1959
I'm retired, living in Tucson, Arizona, spend a lot of time with 7
grandchildren, and volunteer twice a week taking care of abused and
neglected 6 to 18-month olds in a crisis shelter.
The only OA I'm in contact with is my brother, Dain Perry, Woodard 1963.
Ray Oladapo-Johnson - Woodard 1985
I am a Park Administrator/Designer. I basically design and restore
parks in cities. I lived in New York until 2010 where I was the Director
General/Curator of Horticulture at WCS (the Wildlife Conservation
Society). My work here involved designing exhibits at all the zoos in
New York and making sure that the grounds of all the zoos in the
city were in top form. My main focus was the Bronx Zoo which is the
largest urban Zoo in the world. I did this for 9 years. Before this, I
served as a consultant to the City of New York's Parks Department
managing the replanting of street trees in all boroughs of the city. I did
this for three years.
In 2010 I moved to Boston to start work on the restoration and
rehabilitation of the Emerald Necklace Park System. Over 1100 acres
of public parkland. These are a historic system of parks in that connect
different neighbourhoods across the city of Boston.
The park system was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The same
man that designed Central Park in New York. I have been doing
this work for the past 4 years and it is a painstaking labour of love.
Within the last year we have inventoried all major factors in the parks
and created a digital (GIS) mapping system that helps us to better
understand how to manage these parks and also how to adapt these
parks in anticipation of future public use. Basically I am now working
at managing the evolution of these parks which also represent the only
urban linear park system in the United States of America.
For more on my work please click this Wikipedia link - http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ray_b._oladapo-johnson
I spend my spare time between the United States and my family in
Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. I have a 14 year old daughter. I am
in the process of writing my first book.