Occupation: I am a clinical massage therapist and medical massage practitioner. I have my own practice. I also have a partnership with a chiropractor in Brookfield, her name is Debra Dlug. She is wonderful. She understands the importance of having somebody relax a client before treatment. I also work with the ALS hospital with some of their clients. I work with the Southport and Greenwich Delamere, working with clients in the hotel. There is the importance of helping people get better, then there is the importance of helping relaxation.

It's a large family; I have seven children. My first is a boy and everyone else is a girl. Everyone of them is healthy and working hard. They are all spread out. My son is down in Texas, and the only two I have close are Julia, who is 21 years old, and Abi who's 16. My husband's name is Rob, and we have been married for 27 years. He's had to put up with all the women.

Family:

I have a horse named Bean. He and I have been together since he was 4; he's 16 now. He does dressage. He has been on a vacation for about two and a half years now, but I'll hopefully be getting him back to work soon. I work with equines in massage too. I also have the two "monsters," one is a Pekingese, named Simba, and the other is a short-haired collie, named Maggie - who is dumber than Dori.

Pets:

How long have you been in Newtown? We have been here for 26 years. It's been a long time to be in one place. I was born in New York and was there till I was 13, moved to Stanford and lived there by the time I went to high school, then I went to Indiana. I've lived all over the place.

What do you like to do in your free time? I don't have any free time. My husband will look at me and say, "Surely you had time to do this." And you know what? For any man's response like that I have to laugh, because there is no free time. Usually as a woman, you are doing something for someone else 99 percent of the time. In the one percent you can slip by, well, we just got back from Europe and were away for three weeks. What I enjoy is knowing there are really good people all over the world.

Do you have a favorite book? Gamache series.My master's is in English, so I have several favorite books. I like Salman Rushdie. He's got his own particular voice; he teaches at Columbia. The other one is Canadian author Louise Penny, and she writes the Inspector

Do you have a favorite travel destination? I would love to go to Bora Bora. I like not seeing anybody else and being in the cabana with the water around me - that would be perfect.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I know where everything is. It surprises me that there will be a street that I don't know.

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? Margaret Murray. She is a teacher at WCSU, and I took every single one of her classes. She teaches American studies and literature. She took me from innocence, and I say that in a very introspective woman-type way, to "oh-my-gosh I didn't realize all this happened" awakening. To realize all the mothers behind us - I was never privy to it.

If you could spend a day with anyone, who would you pick? My Uncle Matthew. He's deceased. I'd want to just talk and give him a hug, because I miss him. He was wonderful, and he always believed in me.

Do you have a favorite television show?The Black List. I have loved James Spader forever.