Bill and Lois first met as students at Tufts University and fell in love, but their lives would take them on very different paths. Their alma mater brought them together again over four decades later and now they are enjoying an active retirement at The Woodlands.
Bill was a chemistry major at Tufts University but was unsure of his career path. With the draft looming, he decided to leave college and enlist in the Army to have some say in the line of duty he was to perform. He served with an army intelligence unit known as the Army Security Agency and after basic training, he was sent to a military language school and served in West Germany as a German linguist. After serving his three years of active duty, Bill returned to Tufts to major in German language and literature with a minor in European History. That is when he met Lois.
Lois and Bill dated in college but took separate life paths, married other people, and had families.
Lois got an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and worked for the Kennedy Administration finding volunteers for the Peace Corps. She later worked for the United States Information Agency and met her first husband, Matt Lorimer, in a State Department class. She was assigned to Berlin, Germany and he to Kampala, Uganda, where they married a year later. They had two daughters and a life of travel with assignments in Germany, Zambia, Finland, and Copenhagen, Denmark where Lois was a photo researcher for Time/Life Books. They also worked in Jamaica, Boston, and Washington, D.C. before retiring to Woodstock, Vermont.
After Matt passed away Lois decided to simplify life by saying “yes” to any suggestion, and as a result, she ended up working in both the clinic and the gift store of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, helping a childhood friend drive a moving van across Canada, and writing short stories, a few of which have been published. She also said “yes” when Bill called to ask her out to lunch, after not having heard a word from him in 43 years.
Bill’s professional career was in the field of U.S. intelligence, principally with the National Security Agency, rising to the level of a senior executive. He and his first wife Barbara had four children. The family lived in Munich, West Germany for four years then returned to the U.S. and settled in Laurel, Maryland where after a long illness, Barbara succumbed to a brain tumor.
Following retirement, Bill was recruited to serve on the professional staff of a congressional commission focusing on the role of US intelligence after the end of the cold war. He eventually started his own consulting firm, Strategies for Intelligence, working with AT&T, Raytheon, and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
When Bill saw Lois’s phone number in a Tufts University alumni catalog. He decided to call her and the rest, as they say, is history.
When it came time to downsize their home of 17 years in Woodstock, VT, the search brought them to The Woodlands.
“The Woodlands attracted us because of its reputation and moderate size. Most of the other communities we visited were much larger and felt more institutional than comfortable. The community is very professionally run too, so we knew this is where we wanted to be. We have a beautiful apartment with wonderful views of the mountains and sunsets every evening,” Bill said.
Lois and Bill enjoy an active retirement with Lois attending exercise classes several times a week while Bill enjoys the treadmill and weights in the fitness room. He also anticipates working in the community woodshop. The couple has always enjoyed the outdoors and often hike the many wooded trails near The Woodlands.
“There are more activities here than anyone has time for and we are always discovering new ones. The Woodlands offers wonderful independent adult living where we have met so many friendly, interesting people that we enjoy spending time with,” Bill said.
When they are not engaged in community activities both Lois and Bill are involved with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Lebanon. Lois has taken several courses there and Bill lends his years of experience and expertise as a teacher at Osher with classes like, “Understanding the Middle East, “ “The Road to Iraq” and “The History of US intelligence from George Washington to the Present Day.”
Bill and Lois are able to enjoy a carefree retirement without household maintenance worries, and access to amenities like the fitness center and woodshop while spending time with other retired adults also pursuing their passions in a safe and supported community. The Woodlands team is thrilled to be a part of Bill and Lois’s happily-ever-after love story.
