Jana: Profile

With forty seven years and counting in western Mass., Bambi McQuaid has spent all but two years of her life in Ware, Massachusetts, "a nice little town." She met her husband, John McQuaid who is five years her senior, of twenty seven years on a Ware sidewalk when she was fifteen years old. They married five years later just before Bambi turned twenty one.
Only three years passed after Bambi's June wedding before she and John brought Katie McQuaid into the world. Bambi and John continued the McQuaid family tradition by raising their three children on the same sides-streets where they met. Fifteen months later Bambi gave birth to Johny and seventeen months after that, Beth McQuaid rounded out the family.
When Bambi's youngest, Katie started her first year at Umass Amherst, Bambi took a job at the Franklin Dining Commons. Eight years later, Bambi thinks she will supervise the dish room for a few more years. Her favorite part of her job is meeting new student working who all seem to know her well. Hunting in Ware occupies her free moments when she's not visiting with her grandchildren or spending time with her father. Bambi hunts deer, pheasants, and geese regularly. "I clean 'em, and I eat 'em." Bambi has never had a problem being one of the few female hunters in the area. She smiles as she tells of being "razzed" when she picks up her husband in the Knights of Columbus dressed in camouflage.
John and Bambi planning on visiting an island oasis to celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Bambi gave John plenty of time to prepare for the trip. "After thirty years of marriage, traveling's what he can give me." Bambi's laugh ends in a wide smile as she talks about how great this part of her life is now that her children are grown. The McQuaid's have an opportunity to, "rediscover each other again."