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!