Occupation: I am a full-time wife and mother and a full-time volunteer. I’m one of the Service Unit Managers for Newtown Girl Scouts and the leader of eight girls in Troop 50890.

Family: I have an awesome husband of 21 years, Bob. He works for Kinloch Partners. We have one daughter, Michelle, who is 16 and a junior at Newtown High School. Our son, Nicholas is in the eighth grade at Newtown Middle School and is 13 years old. I come from a pretty big family. I have six brothers and sisters; my mom had six brothers and sisters, and so did my dad.

Pets: We adopted Riley from the Newtown Pound in May. She’s a 5-year-old Labrador/dachshund mix. She’s just 35 pounds and she is just the cutest thing.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We moved here in 1995, so we have been here for 12 years.

What do you like to do in your free time? I love to garden. I’m a perennial gardener. I’m into genealogy and am the family historian for both sides of our family. I do a family newsletter four or five times a year. Everyone e-mails me and I put it all together. I also like to scrapbook if I have spare time, and I like to travel.

What is the most interesting thing you have discovered doing genealogical research? Both sides of my grandparents came into the country through Ellis Island. I grew up with all of my cousins and aunts and uncles nearby, and we used to go to weddings and celebrations in Hartford with all of these relatives together, but I was not really sure how we were all connected. So in doing the research it was very interesting to find out how we were all related.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? I like to go anywhere I’ve never been before. One of my favorite places I’ve visited has been Wales. It was just gorgeous — the countryside, the people, the quaintness of the towns. I loved it.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I grew up in a very small town, and what’s best about Newtown is that although there are a lot of people and the area is large, it still keeps that small town charm. You always run into people you know.

If you could travel to the past or the future, which would you choose? Definitely, the past. I think I would like to see what it was like in the villages in Poland and Austria where my grandparents lived, in the times that they lived there.

Do you have a personal philosophy? Take advantage of opportunities that are available and enjoy as much as you can while you are here. Don’t let life pass you by. I think that’s why I like Scouting so much. It gives girls opportunities that they might not otherwise have.

What is the most important lesson you have ever learned? We are all mortal and we only have a short time here with those we love. Take advantage of the time you have with them.