I will start by saying I am the ultimate pollyanna! I trust in people. I expect outcomes to be good. I look for the best in others. I am the ultimate optimist. Yet I do understand the essential nature of the ingredients to a recipe for good outcomes – focus, hard work, preparation, devotion to the cause and often – plain old good luck! I was born on June 11, 1949 in Framingham, Massachusetts... the 5th of 6 children. Dad was of Italian heritage and was raised a Catholic. Mom was of Irish/English heritage and was raised a Methodist. They were what we call “Kennedy Democrats from Boston.” In October, 1954, we moved from Massachusetts to Florida. I was blessed by having very warm and tender parents. Then I was blessed again as I started First Grade having “Sister Violetta” as my First Grade and then Second Grade teacher – a nun who was truly angelic in many ways and she had a most extraordinary smile. I loved school all the way through to the end of my formal education and I’ve always felt it was due to the wonders of Sister Violetta and my initial experience in First and Second Grade. I went to Sacred Heart Grade School in Lake Worth, Florida. It was a time – (just like times to come in my life) – where I would be involved in everything. “Small Fry Football” and “Large Fry Football” and little league and all the other leagues of baseball. In 6th Grade, at the age of 11, the “music teacher” at Sacred Heart School chose me to be the “soloist” for the school choir and for various church services. Then, over the next few years I sang at weddings, funerals, school events and more – where I would sing with the group and then be brought out front to sing a multitude of solos – i.e., the Lord’s Prayer, Ava Maria, and more. During these years, I had the unique experience of having singing “vocal lessons” for two straight years – a time during which I was a weekly guest on a South Florida Amateur Hour television show called the Laurie Alwyn & Eve Show (on ABC). It was a lot of fun as I sang songs to a different theme each week whether it was Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or Easter Sunday or whatever – but always singing and getting dressed in the theme costume for the occasion. My two favorites were the day I was all dressed up like a cowboy and sang “Don’t Fence Me In” and then on another occasion when they had me sing “The Marine Corps. Hymn.” My oldest brother, George, was in the TV studio with me. He was home on leave. He was a fighter pilot in the Marines. They maneuvered the cameras in such a way so that George was standing at attention saluting and I somehow magically appeared over his heart while singing the Marine Corps. Hymn. It was exceedingly emotional as most of the people in the studio – including the two cameramen – were crying.