Bruce and Eileen Leland knew about the 100 Club long before they moved to New Castle. For ten years they had spent their summer vacations in Glenwood Springs, hiking, enjoying the hot springs pool, and visiting the Aspen Music Festival. One year at Hanging Lake they met Loren and Marje Anderson, who told them about the club and about the full hiking schedule each summer.

Eileen and Bruce are both from the Albany, NY area. Bruce lived in Colonie and Eileen in Esperence. They met while attending Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. Bruce was an English major and was active in the college theater. Most of his friends, though, were music majors, and through them he met Eileen. When the theater director decided to stage an opera (Virgil Thompson and Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts), they had occasion to work closely together; Eileen had a lead as St. Theresa I and Bruce was assistant director. That means their special song is an entire opera! Music has been an important part of their lives together from the very beginning, and still remains so. They married in 1971.

After Hartwick, Bruce went to Rutgers for his graduate degree. In 1972 he accepted a job teaching literature at Western Illinois University, in Macomb IL. A lifetime east-coaster, he thought of Illinois as the far west. He figured he’d be able to see the Pacific Ocean from there. Instead there were countless acres of flat land, all planted to corn and soy beans. Bruce stayed at WIU for his entire career, though he was able to have three different jobs in the same department. After teaching literature for several years, he had opportunity to become director of the Writing Program. He retrained in composition and had his second career as a writing instructor. As Writing Director, he redesigned the program, giving WIU one of the most comprehensive writing programs in the nation. He also wrote two textbooks which were used in the program. After thirteen years as Writing Director, Bruce developed his growing interest in the technologies of writing and became the English department’s computer expert (third career). His technology expertise served him well, as he’s now teaching a course completely on-line for the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Eileen put her degree in Music Education to work after graduation by teaching music in New Jersey. After the move to Illinois, she earned an MA in Vocal Performance from WIU. Along the way she developed an interest in foreign language and started taking courses in French. She was accepted into the prestigious Language School at Middlebury College and spent five summers studying in Vermont. She received her MA in French from Middlebury in 1986. Eileen taught French at Macomb High School for 22 years, regularly taking groups of students to Paris and earning two grants for extended study in France. Shortly before retirement she served for two years as president of the district’s teacher’s union.

Eileen also kept up her musical expertise. In Illinois she sang with the Nova Singers, a professional a capella choir. They presented four concerts a year and recorded several CDs. She also soloed on the Western Illinois University faculty recital series and performed the Messiah solos with the McDonough County Choral Society. In Colorado she is currently singing with the Schumann Singers in Grand Junction, the Aspen Choral Society (soloing in the Messiah), the Aspen Chapel Choir, and the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church choir.

Bruce enjoys cooking, gardening, and photography (examples are on his web page, www.wiu.edu/users/mfbhl), and he edits the monthly 100 Club Lifestyles pages. Eileen has developed expertise at beading and wire construction jewelry. She also keeps very busy keeping up with their large, energetic German Shepherd, Wolfgang. And they both still get to the opera whenever they can.

interviewed by Bette Solowitz