Nancy O'Connell, Neighbor

Nancy graduated from Stanford with honors in humanities and music.  A nasty hand injury changed her life when the surgeon said she would never play the piano again.  Exchanging lessons with a Stanford art instructor, she studied painting while teaching his son piano.  Much later, she was performing once again.  While working as a professional musician and enjoying her two small children, she had many one-man shows as a painter, including two at Stanford and two in San Francisco, and is now illustrating her children's manuscripts.

Later she returned to Stanford and received her MA in English and Education.  When her husband, Bill O'Connell, took a post doctorate position at the Munich University, Nancy became the librarian at the Munich International School.  Then the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland before settling in Pleasanton.

She began teaching at Chabot College in 1975 in the English Department and after four years of teaching English 1 A and 1 B switched to four classes for older adults through the college Quest Program. After 30 years she retired in May of 2009.  One class, &#34;Writing a Novel,&#34; was held in Dublin.  Many of her students have published magazine articles and some have published books.  One received a $35,000 advance!  Another, Li Keng Wong, the author of  <i>Good Fortune</i>, has received many awards.