Most recently updated July 17, 2000.
I was born in Ashley Pa., Nov 13, 1943, a small town near
Wilkes-Barre, and was an avid debator in High School. Our team took the PA.
State Championship (with 3 boys and me). Before that I was a child
model and found that I had a natural vocal gift. I studied voice
as a child and all through High School and sang a lot as a young girl
in PA and New Jersey. My father had a cottage and a Lake dock at
beautiful Lake Harmony in the Poconos. I simply loved it out
there, and used to swim the length of the lake, and bask in the
lake-side vegitation, and go boating and water skying and fishing with
my Dad. Later when I had children, I taught my girls to swim and even
taught them WSI so they could life-guard to make money for College.
After High School I decided to continue to study voice and went to
Wyoming Seminary in Wilkes-Barre for more study with Elsie Perkins Powell.
Finally I was ready for undergraduate work, and went to
Westminster Choir College in Princton, NJ on a vocal scholarship. There
I met my husband Glen, and enjoyed their specialized musical education.
After graduation with a BME I began teaching school in Mass., and later
in New Jersey, where we moved to High Bridge. We have liveld here for the
last 26 or so years. I have taught music for 30 years in the Public
Schools of New Jersey and my husband has also taught and served churches
both as a pastor and as an organist.
I continued to sing, giving sacred and secular concerts with my
husband (accompanist); benefit and retirement concerts; as a Cantor in a
Reformed Jewish Temple (where Glen was organist); and with the Amato Opera
Company in New York City. I always loved to teach children and bringing
out their talents and personalities through music. I was fortunate to be
selected as teacher of the year, director of the district chorus for one
year, and selected to give Opera Workshops in my Schools.
Later I went to Japan as assistant accompanist with our Choral Group as a
part of a sister-cities exchange program, which included the pleasant job
of hosting Japanese students in our home as well. My husband and I also
have 4 children, 3 girls and a boy. Our second daughter, Julia died of
Kidney Failure at only 23 years of age. This was quite a set back, and
I will never get over it.
About the time I came back from the trip to Japan, around 15
years ago, I began to have balance problems, and didn't know what was
the matter. A few months later I had vision problems and once in
hospital was diagnosed with MS. I wasn't prepared for this to stop me
from my singing or my teaching, and just went right on doing my work and
enjoying singing. Of course, as the MS progressed, I had more
difficulty walking and had to use a cane in School. It was during this
period of time that I became aware of how uncooperative the School
Administrators can be with Disabled Teachers. I had my teacher room on
the third floor and had to try to walk up and down each day, and often
fell. Our Supervisor would call for meetings in an office on the second
floor at a time when I was confined to a wheel-chair. In spite of these
and other difficulties I continued to teach. When it finally became too
hard to try to walk to each class (as there was no music room in some of
the schools), I asked my husband to stop what he was doing and help me
to continue to teach. He applied to become my official aide and after
making his case that as a music teacher himself, he could assist me
better than an aide without musical training, he was hired as my
official aide, and this allowed me to get 5 more years of teaching in,
for my total of 30. I eventually had to use a wheel-chair, but taught
and conducted from the chair. My husband provided keyboard
accompaniment for all my school concerts and helped me with tasks that I
found either to hard or impossible to do. Together, we continued to put
on school plays and musicals, and the ever-traditional seasonal
concerts. I even won a grant from the NEH to study Tennyson at
Princeton University one summer during this period where my husband and I
did some very interesting projects on Tennyson and music. (You can see
some of this in the "Tennyson" section of our web-page [still under
construction!] ).
I retired from teaching about 3 and 1/2 year ago. I really miss
creative and enriching work. I also am very sad that MS has stopped my
singing. I am officially disabled, and am fighting to continue to have
a meaningful life in spite of MS. We love our children and are very
proud of them. (Lisa is a funeral director, 35 year of age; Laura at 20
is in Junior College after a fine acting-singing career throughout High
School; Michael in 9th grade is an artist and is also very musical,
having done some musical theater already!) My husband is my care-giver,
and loves to play the piano for musical theatre in our community.
-Patricia Klingler Wolfsen.
I have just changed neurologists from PA to New Jersey because it
is much easier to travel this short distance. This neuro. has told me to
begin Beta Seron this month (October, 1999) She said the recent research
proves Beta-S effective for CP MS. I will post my results here so any of
you interested can see what is happening,.. . . ..
We want to share our story with you and share MS resources and
discoveries. Please e-mail us (which you can do right from this page)
or sign the "guest-book". (here, and at top of the Glen Wolfsen Web-page)
[Also: you can if your choose,
use your "back arrow" key to return to the MS section]
Here's where you can Mail me Back if
you like. I'd love to hear from you!.
Guest Book. - This is even more fun, and
lets me know you better - give it a try.
If you'd like to see the REST of our Home Page,
be our guest!! ThankX for the visit and have a good day!