Ilene Soroka MacDonald

5748 SEMOLINO ST.

NORTH VENICE

Florida

ilenemacdonald@yahoo.com

March 25th

Two wonderful step daughters, Kelli and Renee.

Four grandkids: Bobby, Kristina, Chase and Payton

several places in the Port Huron area

Married to Dennis in 1977. 44 years on April 2nd

Three sisters and family still live in the Detroit area. I lost a sister (Rosemary) in 2001. My Mom passed away at the age of 92 in April 2015. My 90 year old Dad passed away in March 2008.

If I could give advice to any of my classmates, it would be to enjoy and cherish the time you have with your parents if you are so blessed to still have them. I loved my parents and miss them every day. They were great role models and were great examples of family devotion and sacrifice.

Facebook is a wonderful thing and so while I don't "see" classmates, I do "see" them on social media. I communicate with Kathy McCarthy Pianelli, Ilene Novak Rehfuss, Carol Peruzzi Berger, Diane Wawrzyniec Vidovic, Karen Hammon Gebhardt, Ken Seguin, Therese Henri Thorn, Carol McGuire, Yvonne Charrette Marshall, Christine Florkowskiand others.

I saw Al Norkunas, John Pavlak and Dennis Glasgow in September 2014 in Wyandotte.

I got together with Diane Wawrzyniec and Patrice Gavin Katroscik in January in St. Petersburg Florida.

Had a chance to see Nancy and Frank in Florida a couple years ago. They look amazing.

Not much

Although officially retired from education after being a teacher, counselor, elementary and middle school principal, and county education services director, my husband and I have a very strong editorial photography business. If you go to www.alamy.com and search my name or go to www.macdonaldimages.com, you will get an idea of what we do.
I have volunteered for our local YMCA, doing workshops, etc. We are also big into pickleball (www.usapa.org) which is a fast cross section of tennis, ping pong and badminton. Mac Deuparo and his cousin Dave Bowen have been bitten by the bug and are playing, too.
I'm serving on our HOA Board for our community in North Venice FL.
We live behind the Legacy Trail, which runs almost the length of Sarasota County, FL. We ride the trail daily. We have two Trek bikes and two e-bikes.
We also have an LTV Rv and are continuing to enjoy traveling.

So many, I can't list but Italy is right up there. We visited Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in 2011 and Toronto/Ottawa in 2012. Also visited St. Louis and Memphis in 2012.

My career in education. I always loved school as a student and it never changed as an educator.

Working in so many capacities as an educator allowed me to meet so many people and do so many different things.

Machu Picchu

golf, pickleball, play the violin, photography, travel, bicycling
We bought a new RV in late March 2019 and are really enjoying traveling slow and easy on the back roads of our beautiful country. This summer, we took a trip all around the Georgian Bay and all around Lake Superior through northern Ontario and Minnesota.

50? lol

Sister Peter Faber...Algebra II/Trig... She passed away last year. She inspired me to become an educator.

How many times I have moved.

Unfortunately my sisters and I had to finally sell our childhood home on Riverbank in Lincoln Park on September 2016. It was our family home since our parents built it in 1950. So many wonderful memories there.

So many great memories....Redeemer was a great place to learn and have fun with so many great classmates.

I fondly remember the dances in the Blue Room. Remember bringing your own records to play there?

Carpe Diem!

In the past years, I had the privilege of getting to know Dave Novock better and admire the strength and courage he exhibited to the end. He loved life and fought so hard to stay in it. Enjoy every day and savor every moment.

Don't let the trivial things of life get in the way of enjoying the things that are really important: your family, your true friends and the memories you create.

We did a home exchange in May 2019 and visited Krakow Poland. I met 5 first cousins of my Mom along with 10-12 second and third cousins. Krakow is an amazing place and when you connect with your relatives, it is even more amazing. My cousins took me to my Great Grandma's grave as well as the town where my maternal grandparents were born.

We took a Baltic Cruise in August 2018. It included Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Denmark. It was truly a thrill to put m feet on Lithuanian soil since my Dad's family came from Lithuania.

We took an Asian cruise in October 2017. We started in Tokyo Japan and ended in Shanghai China. We had six stops in Japan which included Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What a sobering experience to see the loss of life and destruction. We also visited South Korea on the trip.

We visited Lisbon Portugal in September 2016. While there We traveled to Porto, Albufiera and Fatima.

We visited Madrid in September 2015, experiencing a home exchange. We traded our condo in Bradenton Florida with a couple in Madrid. Trading places! It was great. In September 2016 we exchanged our condo again with a gal in Lisbon Portugal.

We visited New Zealand and Australia in January 2015. What kind and gentle people there are in the land down under. In April 2015, we did a full transit of the Panama Canal, starting in Tampa Florida and ending in Vancouver BC.

Experienced 17 days in Italy summer (2014). We started in Venice and end up in Rome. I must have been Italian in another life!

Enjoyed a wonderful European River Cruise in 2013. We started in Prague and ended in Paris. We rented a car in Paris and drove to the Normandy beaches.

We enjoyed a great family cruise to the Caribbean for Thanksgiving 2013. The ten of us had a wonderful and memorable trip. We took a second family Cruise for Christmas 2014 and traveled to the Eastern Caribbean. It's a great way to bond...no cell phones or electronic devices to get in the of family time!

Traveled to Alaska by motorhome and flew over Mt. McKinley (Denali) in a twin engine.

Visited Mayan ruins in Mexico. Spent time in Nova Scotia. Enjoyed the Canadian Rockies.

Traveled 6,000 miles to the Southwest in May 2010, visiting eleven states, 12 National Parks and 7 state capitals. What a beautiful country we have. The Grand Canyon is truly breathtaking!

Went on a magnificent Mediterranean Cruise in May 2011, starting in Athens and ending in Barcelona.

Revisited Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands and more summer 2011.

We took a two week Mediterranean Cruise in May, 2011. Sometimes you dream about things and then when they happen, you are disappointed. This trip has been a dream of mine for a long time and it was everything I hoped it would be. We started in Athens Greece and ended in Barcelona Spain. We visited Greece, Turkey, Sicily, Italy, Monaco, France and Spain. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. I added a pic I took in Santorini Greece to my photos. It was a breathtaking place.

We permanently moved to Bradenton Florida in August 2017. We have a great condo near Anna Maria Island and really love this corner of paradise. God has been very good to us.

Our younger daughter, husband and children moved to Bradenton this last summer. Our daughter teaches and our son in law practices law. We'll travel to Michigan in the summer, probably with a little RV.