Michael S Speziale

On Turning 80 Michael S Speziale

In this, the second volume of my personal memoir, I focus on the triumphs and disappointments that highlight my first career as a social studies classroom teacher and elementary school administrator, both in America and in Stuttgart, Germany over a period of twenty tumultuous years, between 1973 and 1993. The next chapter traces my return to America in 1993 and my new career as Case Manager in the Child and Family Services program of the Steuben County Community Mental Health Center in the Southern Tier of New York State. Book Two concludes with a look at my 14-year retirement in our dream home in the woods--"Hohe Tannen"-- just south of Naples, New York in the idyllic Finger Lakes region. This volume is also the story of my ever-supportive and devoted wife, Gerda, and our children, now adults, as we navigated the sometimes treacherous waters of life in late 20th century and early 21st century Germany and America.