Renaissance

I am high on life thanks to the many children who touch me in my life and maybe where I am in my moment right now. As Wain, the best third-grade teacher and former Chester resident said, "I think Chester is in a renaissance." So am I. It is like 1974 again when we moved to Chester, VT from Westfield, NJ with two little ones. A third was born a year to the day later - August 29, 1975. If you don't think my children are inspiration, you would be way out there. Where am I?

I am in my 42d year of marriage and doll making. My kids still take me to the next level - in grand parenting, in marketing or in being who I am. I treasure each of these three gifts - the three K's - Kate, Kara and Kelly. But what is best is they remain interested in my history, growth and well being. Three benchmarks in my doll making career were in the 1980's.At the end of that decade Ileft my dolls behind to find a rewarding career at SCA to support three treasures in their educations. In the early 1980's a Butterick employee met me on the Green in Woodstock,VT, asking me if the dolls were my design. The next Monday we had a call to come to NYC to become a licensee with the pattern company;five designs later we were in a kind of heaven. Also in the same year the esteemed travel editor for the LA Times, Jerry Hulse,View image coined my designs in a syndicated column, "Your eyes won't believe their eyes!" And finally in the middle of those college years, 1993, an article appeared in Lady's Circle What Charlotte Dzuguna. I am in a delicious retirement alongside my a fabulous husband, three grown daughters who encourage their mom still today and six grandchildren who think I am the best thing since popcorn. In your leisure read these pieces and take stock in a success story. Today is like the old days. Yes, I am in a renaissance. I thank God for our good health, our family and my many customers for keeping me on my toes!