Joan Finkelstein

As Joan Kent, newly graduated from college in 1958, I first came to MBL from NYC and worked in the labs of Te Hayashi and Lester Barth before going on to graduate school at the (then) Rockefeller Institute.

It was not until 1971, as Joan Kent Finkelstein, that I came with a young family to spend a month on holiday, reading in the library and writing. That formative summer convinced us all of the unique pleasures and assets of living in a community which assembled annually from all over the world. Friendships with newcomers, including non-scientists, added zest and new interests, while the continuity of multi-generational families created on-going friendships, and discussions in depth that have been unique in my life experience.

Since 1971, I have spent most summers in Woods Hole for a month or longer, lingering in the lifestyle of a self-sustaining community so different from our highly urban homestead in New York City. Our children grew up believing everyone knew about intertidal zones, and our 6-year-old (when asked where he lived) explained that he lived in Woods Hole but attended school in New York City. They internalized a life-long appreciation of science, nature, and logical thinking. Inevitably, I attended stimulating and informative scientific lectures, designed and organized new biology courses for winter programs, and drew diagrams in the sands of Stoney and Nobska beaches, to explain and dispute ideas about science with many others. Seamlessly, the scientific aspects flowed together with talks, concerts, folk-singing, folk dancing, and occasional bird-watching.

Starting in 1978, friends involved me in the Children's School of Science, its committees and people; eventually, I served as co-Science Chair (1985-1986) with Ruth Gainer. Beyond the earlier enthusiasms of Optics, Adult Field extensions, and Curriculum Reviews, I now had the opportunity to hire teachers eager to bring to our youngsters the joys of embryology and of electronics, two courses for middle schoolers that proved exciting and popular. Where else do students get so enthusiastic that they cannot sleep before a field trip to the town dump and expectations of searching for broken refrigerators or televisions -- in the age before cell phones and other post-80s devices?

Over these 42 summers, Woods Hole has created lasting and positive memories for me and my family, now in its own third Woods Hole generation, of a like-minded community with a tolerant life-style, where we have put down deep roots and made lifelong friendships. I have benefited immeasurably from the broad availability of cutting edge science in the framework of a beautiful and immensely satisfying setting combining the scientific, human and natural.