Occupation: I teach seventh grade math at Seymour Middle School. This is my second year there.

Family: My husband is Arthur. We have three children. Liz is 22 years old. She just graduated from Swarthmore in June and moved to the Bronx. She is a café manager for The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Raleigh is 19 and is going into his sophomore year at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Mary Alice is 17. She will be a senior next year at Newtown High School.

Pets: We have Bouki, who is a yellow lab. She is 2 years old.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We have lived here for 12 years, minus three when we lived in France and in Toronto.

What do you like to do in your free time? I like to garden, mainly flowers. I do a lot of garden maintenance because the former owner of our home was a big gardener. I spend a lot of time visiting family in Vermont, New York, and Virginia. I love to sail, which I do mostly in Virginia. I enjoy biking. Arthur and I have a tandem bike, and that’s a lot of fun. I played piano for a long time, too.

Do you have a favorite musician? I like to listen to music, both rock and classical. I do like Claude Debussy a lot and I love Franz Liszt.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? I would have to say Virginia, the eastern shore. We get to play on the water there and I love the water. If I have a plane ticket, it would be France. There are still a lot of parts of France I want to see.

What is the best thing about Newtown? The people and the community. It’s a beautiful place with the old houses and the open space.

What is one thing you would like to do that you have never done? I would like to go skiing in the Alps. I haven’t skied lately, but I grew up skiing and I would just love to ski the Alps.

Do you have a personal philosophy? My mother always used to say, “Don’t wish your life away.” You have to appreciate the here and now.

What is the most important lesson you have ever learned? Don’t be afraid to take risks and do things you didn’t think you could do.