2015 News from the Neergaard and van der Werff Families  




 Dick             Lois 
Other than our annual three months of snowbirding in Hilton Head, we've no adventurous travels or dramatic events to report.  (We save that for the kids!).  But life does have its little triumphs.  Working out clever ways to thwart creeping geriatric encroachments is one.  Another is reveling in the cinematic treats being regularly offered by the best of the world's opera and, more recently, ballet companies, in hundreds of theaters around the world.  Performances are videoed LIVE (!), and are either streamed directly, or taped for later showing.
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There'll be a theater near you screening these "Best Shows on Earth!" - check 'em out!  You won't be sorry. 
Metropolitan Opera;  Bolshoi;  Royal Opera;  New York City Ballet



   
      Sue     Jan Willem
 Sue and Jan Willem lay on a "Family Dinner" every Sunday, an event which is hugely appreciated by local relatives - Gramma, Grampa, Uncle Art, G'kids - and the three dogs who get to lick the plates.
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Sue is Senior Vice President of HR and Customer Service at ShootingSight LLC (her brother Arthur's enterprise).  Its VP of Marketing (her brother Richard) [a-hem] reports to her.  She's also a volunteer usher at the Aronoff Center and Executive Chef Chez van der Werff.  Jan Willem is CEO of Ecolibrium Solar, as well as packaging clerk and CFO at ShootingSight and Sous-chef Chez van der Werff.  He is also a stalwart part of the rock-solid defense of the Thunderbird soccer team.
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   Willem    Having graduated from St Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Willem is now a freshman at St Louis University, studying Mechanical Engineering.  He's enjoying the practical experience of being a welder on SLU’s race-car building and racing team.  
   
 The Graduate!
             

Nick 

High School senior, college bound.  Captain of his school wrestling team.  Selected to deliver a paper at a televised event celebrating diversity at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. 
Nick Leading Wrestling Team's Exercising




Arthur

2015 brought big career changes.  I'd been working for P&G’s IAMS division when it was sold off to Mars (the M&Ms company), and I was given a choice to relocate to Nashville, or to retire.  Since family was located in Cincinnati, and since I already had a small company I'd been running in my spare time that had grown to the point where it needed more attention, and since every retired person I ever met insisted  they wished they had done it years earlier, I retired.  And I love it.

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I'm now running ShootingSight full time.  ShootingSight is a small company I founded, dedicated to inventing, manufacturing, and marketing equipment for the target-shooting market (or anything else that piques my interest - making improved pickleball racquets and flagpoles are two tangents I've explored).  My sister Sue and brother-in-law Jan Willem are working with me, and Pumpkin is head of security, specializing in preventing bear attacks.  Indeed, so far there have been zero bear attacks, so she is doing her job well.

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The key learning so far is that you have to work way harder when you own your own company than if you work for a corporation, but the work is way more rewarding.
Pumpkin




Richard  

It's been a fantastic first full year of retirement.  I've been spending most of the year getting the big pieces of my future life plan in place but also doing art, sports and seeing old friends.  


I was lucky enough to meet Thi, the woman of my dreams, and have spent most of the year traveling the world with her.


I've decided on where to live to get the most out of life,  LA, and bought a nice penthouse to move to next year, after Lila finishes high school in Brussels.
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Samer


Samer is already studying engineering at Boston University and really enjoying the college experience.
                                                                  

               

Lila
Lila, for now, is tangled in the stress of SAT’s, exams and college applications, but had a great summer doing a marketing internship at Revlon in NY, and has just been accepted for early admission at Northeastern University.





    Peter           Cathy

We made our annual migration to Hilton Head with the plan to stay for 3 months.  As the end approached, Alex was doing very well at Hilton Head Prep and we were not ready to face the cold, so we stayed through the end of the school year.  We are now back in Pittsburgh, but looking eventually to make a full-time move to Hilton Head.

We're both still working at IBM;  Pete in Technical Training and I (Cathy) in Global Events.  When not busy teaching or organizing IBM's conventions, we very much enjoy our dive trips to the Caribbean.  Given our extended history with our dive shop at Turks&Caicos, Pete has been adopted and named an honorary crew member/dive master.

Steven is in high school now and working towards Eagle Scout.  He was one of a dozen troop members who went to Philmont NM, for a two-week hiking/camping trip this summer.  He's also involved in marching, concert and jazz band as well as track.

Alex is loving life in 1st grade.  He enjoys soccer and anything rambunctious.  He also informs us he will start scuba when he's ten.  In the meantime, he's started to play the violin (well, sort of).
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Steven

                           

In high school and working toward Eagle Scout. Steven also does Band and Track. 

                                    
Alex


Loving life in 1st grade. Enjoys soccer and anything rambunctious. Informs us he will start scuba when he's 10. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays
....and may the New Year prove to turn out even better than we expect.

Dick, Lois & family