About Lynnell

"Growing up an only child in a small extended family in Meadville, PA  I learned to entertain myself and work alone.  However, much of my time was focused on lessons of one kind or another.  I took several different instrumental lessons, a variety of dance lessons, and classes at the YWCA  while at the same time  attending to the academics of public school.  Thus most of my interaction with peers was in a controlled setting.   In high school I was active in choral groups, thespian performances, sports, and church youth groups.

I graduated from Allegheny College, a small liberal arts school, with a BS in psychology and continued an extra year after graduating to earn my Pennsylvania elementary teaching certificate.  I then taught school for two years before marrying my husband.  We recently celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary.  We both entered graduate school at IUP during our first year of marriage.  I was in a master's level program studying to become a guidance counselor, and he was in doctoral level program in psychology and school curriculum and administration.

During this time we became the proud parents of our only son. He will soon be 40 and lives in NYC.  Over the next 5 years we made several moves living in Baltimore, MD, Meadville, State College, Huntingdon, and Pittsburgh,PA; Ashtabula and Rock Creek, OH; and back to Meadville.  During this same short five-year period my husband and I started a state-licensed private school and training center for autistic children and adults.  Here I worked as a therapist and teacher.  I continued my graduate studies at Edinboro with an emphasis in Special Education.  With my new study concentration and  experience I returned to the public school classroom as a tutor and full-time special education teacher in Ohio.  After 26+ years in this position I retired from teaching.  It had been a challenging but very rewarding assignment.  Watching those frustrated young students experience the joy of learning and success, despite all of the obstacles that they faced in a system that not only did not meet their needs but failed to make accommodations, made my efforts worthwhile.

Even before I made my decision to retire from a career in teaching I had launched myself into a new enterprise.  I opened a bed and breakfast.  This new endeavor requires that I wear many hats at once to keep Wynken, Blynken, and Nod up and running.  With only Don (my husband) and I on staff we must try to be bookkeeper, banker, baker, landscaper, launderer, housekeeper, consierge, and more.  The B&B has allowed us to meet hundreds of wonderful people who have come as guests and left as friends over the past dozen or so years.

Now the next chapter in my life is a vision on the horizon.  I want to create a "family" of unrelated seniors who can share their talents and tasks while living in shared housing. Members will hopefully encourage each other to live a healthy lifestyle as well as adhere to a healthy diet.  Together we may be able to enrich our own daily experiences while contributing to a more just and promising world.  I believe that as we age we still have much to give to others and to society as a whole.  However,  so much that we cannot accomplish single-handedly can be managed with ease with just a couple extra hands or insights.  I hope we can see this vision become a reality."

-Lynnell Brian January, 8th 2013