Friday, September 16, 2016

Remembering Rena - Education and Professional Life - Tale of Three Shirts

Georgia Tech Alumni Association - The "Rambling Wreck"

Rena earned her Bachelors degree in Marketing at the Rochester Institute of Technology and her MBA at Binghamton University, both in New York.

GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION


Shirt Tale #1 - The GA TECH FOOTBALL shirt Rena gave me. Here I am blowing bubbles for Alexia, Michaela, and Samantha. I still have the shirt and wear it proudly.

Rena's longest and most productive professional work was performed at Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA). She worked at the Georgia Tech Alumni Association from the late 1990's until 2005, when she was the Vice President for Market Research and Web and Campus Relations.

Vi and I will long remember one of our visits to Georgia Tech when  we got to see and even touch the "Rambling Wreck" (pictured above). She also took us to the famous "Varsity" restaurant for an excellent meal.

RENA LED GA TECH ALUMNI D-DAY CRUISE TOUR

Rena was in charge of a 2004 Georgia Tech Alumni Association trip to England and France to remember the 60th anniversary of D-Day. She asked Vi to accompany her.

TOP LEFT: Rena and Vi on the elegant 100-passenger cruise ship used for the tour
BOTTOM LEFT: Rena at London museum with WWII Landing Craft
MIDDLE: Rena and group at Chartwell (Winston Churchill's adult home)
UPPER RIGHT: Statue of Henry the Eighth

Jersey and other Channel Islands were occupied and fortified by the Germans.

The cruise included sites in France.
LEFT: Rena and her group climbing the steep steps at Mont St. Michel in Normandy.
CENTER: Rena and her group visit the American Cemetery.
(It turned out that the man selected to place the flowers to honor the Americans buried here worked for Lockheed Martin and knew Sherm Mullin, one of Ira's favorite managers when he worked at Lockheed Electronics (North Plainfield, NJ) in the early 1960's! Ira left Lockheed Electronics in 1965 to work for IBM Federal Systems (Owego, NY) and, by a strange twist of fate, Lockheed Martin acquired the Owego facility in 1996, so Ira once again worked for Lockheed!)
UPPER RIGHT: Vi dips her toes into the water at one of the Normandy invasion beaches (either Utah or Omaha)
The highlights of that trip included a visit to Winston Churchill 's war room in London, and a visit to Normandy, where they walked on Omaha Beach and Utah Beach and Vi actually went into the water. That trip was particularly meaningful because Vi's dad served as a Sargent in the US Army in Europe in 1945.



KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS AND RESEARCH

Rena's first professional job in Market Research was for a company in Syracuse, NY called Knowledge Systems and Research. She learned a great deal from the President and Chairman of the Board, Rita L. Reicher, PhD. According to this link, Knowledge Systems and Research "is a full-service, privately held market research firm. ... [their] diverse client list ranges from Fortune Global 100 companies to start-ups. The firm supports all industry sectors, but has particular strength in technology, telecommunications, transportation, medical device / healthcare, finance / insurance, and retail. Each client is served by a dedicated business team which specializes in that client’s industry."

Shirt Tale #2 - My Knowledge Systems and Research shirt, a gift from Rena when I got my PhD in 1996.


HOOTERS

Well, Hooters, the "the delightfully tacky yet unrefined" restaurant that features "beautiful girls and hot wings", has nothing to do with Rena's education or professional life. However, the fact that she gifted me a Hooters shirt (pictured below) from their Douglassville, GA store (not far from Rena and David's home), does reflect her inimitable sense of humor.
Shirt Tale #3 - Hooters shirt Rena gifted me.
I've been wearing this shirt on bicycle rides to and from water aerobics classes here in The Villages, FL, for the past couple of weeks and people notice!



Ira Glickstein


NOTE:  This is the fourth of our virtual  "Sitting Shiva", the traditional Jewish custom of relatives and friends devoting seven days to specially remembering the deceased.

September 11, 2016 - Rena passed away
1) September 12, 2016 - Rest In Peace Rena Moyers, Our Adult Child Who Passed Before We Did
2) September 13, 2016 - Mr.and Mrs. David and Rena Moyers - Their Wedding (and Drama Afterwards)
3) September 14, 2016 - Remembering Rena - Growing Up in Rural Upstate New York
4) September 15, 2016 - Remembering Rena - Education and Professional Life - Tale of Three Shirts
5) September 16, 2016 - Mourner's Kaddish for Rena Moyers
6) September 17, 2016 - Remembering Auntie Rena - Five Nieces and Nephews
7) September 18, 2016 - Remembering Rena - We Will Remember You FOREVER

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