Life after high school
started at Washington University in St. Louis.
Although I shared that first year at Wash U with fellow classmate and
dear friend Bruce Favish, I guess I was homesick and
returned to the burgh. I immediately
enrolled at a summer term at Pitt, but on a whim applied to Chatham College and
started my sophomore year there. It was
the perfect place to finish my undergraduate education with a BS in
biology. Not knowing where to go from
there, I took another year of training at a local hospital and became a
certified Medical Technologist. I was
hired by the hospital as a teacher in the program and when I was not teaching
the students, I worked in several different hospital labs. I discovered I loved the patient contact in
the hospital, and enjoyed working with my hands. After four years there, I decided my future
would be in dentistry. I graduated from
University of Pittsburgh's School of Dental Medicine, #1 in my class, with a DMD degree in 1984.
It was the right choice!. After a general practice residency at the VA
hospital in Pittsburgh, and a few years as an associate in a general practice,
I opened my Mt. Lebanon dental office in 1987.
I have been at the same location for 25 years, right on Washington Road,
adjacent to Washington School. Who knew,
I would end up working right next store to where I went to elementary school? Certainly
not me! That said,
I can count on 1 hand the number of patients I see from my Mt. Lebanon School
days. But it is great to work in the
community I call home. I love what I do
and the practice is busier than ever.
Check it out... www.drbettyjo.com
On the personal side, I
met the love of my life, Howard Louik, at a
Valentine's Day party in 1979 and we were married by year's end. It has been an amazing love-filled 33
years! Howard, an attorney, grew up in
the east end of Pittsburgh, and it was him who convinced me to start our life
together in Mt. Lebanon. His persistence
paid off, Mt. Lebanon is still a great place to raise a family. We are blessed with 3 fantastic kids! Our oldest, Max, is also an attorney, working
at K & L Gates here in Pittsburgh.
In fact, he and his lovely bride, Kate, just moved to Mt. Lebanon a few
months ago. Our daughter Rachel, is a
pharmacist at Wal-Mart, also in Pittsburgh, and will be getting married in a
few weeks. Both daughter in law and son
in law (Jason) are teachers. Our
youngest, Jay, will be a junior at Vassar College majoring in
Neuroscience.
Howard and I love to
bike, as in bicycles, and we've taken some great bike trips as of late...Quebec
province, across Idaho, Vermont back roads, plus several trips close to
home. My most exciting trip and why I
got into bicycling in the first place after my knees gave out from running, was
a 300 mile ride across Israel from Jerusalem to Eilat. I had the joy of doing the ride with my
daughter, and then she joined me on the 350 mile trip from Pittsburgh to
Washington DC. We hope to do a Louik family ride with all the kids somewhere exotic and
beautiful, before the grand kids start arriving.
My most recent community
involvement is with the Denis Theatre Foundation. We are working to bring the Denis Theatre
back to life as an independent film and community arts center.
Please like us on
Facebook and check out the website www.denistheatre.org.
I know we all have
stories to tell about the Denis and would love to hear them at the
reunion. Looking forward to seeing
everyone there!