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If my life had a theme it would be, “Evolving as a Lifelong Learner.” I’ve always enjoyed a challenge as an opportunity to grow and develop.

 

An important value to me has been that education was a pathway to my future. My thirty-five year educational career resulted in the completion of an Associate of Arts (A.A), Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Master’s (M.Ed.) and Doctoral (Ed.D.)degrees.

 

My education served me well throughout more than 25 years of my work career where I assumed leadership positions in community college educational administration, private industry and business management. My positions varied from being Director of Training and Management Development within one of America’s fastest growing companies to serving as Vice-President of Student Affairs during a period of strategic redirection and organizational renewal.

 

On the home front, I kept quite busy. When my family outgrew our tiny starter home at the Jersey Shore, I designed and coordinated two major additions to make our lives more comfortable.

 

I always seized an opportunity to try something new. I convinced several teacher friends to join me as partners in renovating and operating an ice cream shop. For seven years, we scooped ice cream together while raising our families and maintaining our full-time jobs. 

Since retirement my wife Helene and I shared the common fantasy that most retirees have of someday owning a B&B. Our dream became reality in May 2011, when we bought the Beech Tree Bed and Breakfast in Rockport, Massachusetts, but that’s another story...

 

Although Innkeeping is a demanding endeavor, New England winters and long nights provide me with time to pursue my other passion—writing.

 

I’ve given much thought to the events that shaped my life, growing up as the middle-child of a single mom struggling to raise five kids. In the absence of my father I wanted to be just like my older brother Rich. Although this changed over the years, I am still trying to understand the impact he had on my life.

 

His disappearance forty-five years ago has baffled and haunted me. I’ve been motivated to put pencil-to-paper to transform my memories into a fictionalized memoir about “our story.”

 

If you haven’t done so already, please take a few moments to visit my home page to learn about my book ], read an excerpt or to submit your email address to receive an announcement of a pre-publication offer for the digital edition of my memoir.

 

Thanks so much,

Dan Duffy