Christmas 1998

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Hello and Merry Christmas! Another Christmas newsletter from the Vogts - can you believe it! 1998 for the Vogt family has been unique, to say the least. In an attempt to get this thing out at least in the vicinity of the Holiday Season I will break with tradition and not be so verbose!

We have very sad news to report. Lynn’s mother Marguerite passed away in September after a number of years of declining health. She had aged about 20 years in the last three years or so since we’ve been home from Europe and had acute traumatic osteoporosis. It is sad that she has gone, but it was much sadder to see her in so much pain. She is at peace now, and has no more pain.

Lynn has finished her Drug and Alcohol Abuse Counseling studies program at Middlesex Community College. She graduated in September, has her counseling certificate and is working at a local women’s treatment center. She works about 20-25 hours a week, runs group sessions, and has clients of her own.

Gene is still working at MITRE in Bedford. He has been able to avoid traveling for the most part and except for a few required trips has managed to stay put.

The girls are doing very well. They both make us proud. Megan graduated Summa Cum Laude (top 5% of her class) from Woburn High this June, and is attending Boston University now.

Living in Boston has not been the glamorous and enriching experience she had hoped for, and BU has not lived up to her dreams and expectations, so she is again shopping around, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and at Lowell are looking good to her. She probably will focus on music and likely music education, and both of those schools fit the bill.

Audrey is a junior at Woburn High this year, is president of the Key Club, sings in the elite Jazz Choir, and hopes to pursue a life sciences curriculum (she wants to go to veterinary school in Colorado, near horses and the mountains). She also works as an animal care specialist and sales person at a local pet store in the Burlington Mall. She really likes her job, since she gets paid to play with the animals!

 

Buddy the Wonder Dog is full grown now but still acting like a puppy most of the time. So many people ask us what kind of dog he is, we’ve made up a breed – we say he’s a gemischt (that’s German for all mixed up)!

On the events front, we got a chance to spend New Years last year with some good friends from Germany. They now live in Maryland, so we drove down on the 30th and stayed with them through the 2nd. It was great seeing them and celebrating the New Year that way. We got a chance to reciprocate over Labor Day this year as they came up to Boston to visit. We spent our days walking the Freedom Trail in Boston and enjoying the holiday weekend.

We also hosted a German exchange student again this year (as we have in 1996 and 1997). Saskia Gerlach from Bremen lived with us for 3 weeks in October and went to school with Audrey. She was a delight, and we had a lot of fun keeping our German skills from disappearing completely.

Don’t forget - the VOGT family is on-line and connected in this modern world. We all use email (even Lynn!). If you get a chance to sit at a computer that is connected to the internet, send us some email and visit our family web page! You can view recent photos and read up on what the family is up to on the web page. You can even see if there is any recent progress in the continuing genealogy hunt!

From us to you: Merry Christmas!!