Bob Ashton

I have fond memories of my years at SRV, which were recently rekindled by Jim Stabler’s entry in “Alumni Stories.” I, too, remember Grace Rotzel, Ed Rawson (I believe we called him “Mister”), Peg Nowell, and others—along with Mrs. Ashton, who felt like a mother to us all. I think I recall George Stabler as well, perhaps as a classmate or maybe Jim’s brother? And wasn’t there a Stabler farm?

One vivid memory is making a “whirly gig” boat in shop class, which I launched in Crum Creek a few times. I also remember a rather chaotic soccer game against another school. Despite the confusion, I eventually became captain of my high school soccer team and even played varsity soccer at Cornell University.

After earning an engineering degree from Cornell, I spent 36 years with Procter & Gamble, helping to make soap and a variety of other products. In 1989, I retired, bought a sailboat, and embarked on a journey around the world, which inspired my book This Old Man and the Sea. To my delight, it actually sells!

Now, I live in Manhattan, where I stay active with a senior study group, organize the lecture program for the Explorers Club, sing in an all-male glee club, and work as a docent at The American Museum of Natural History.