Shohreh Anand
“About four years ago, I helped my elderly parents clear their attic. Among the stuff in boxes, was a sixty-year-old, 8-track tape. I had it converted to a digital audio file. A rarity for its time, it was a home recording of voices of our family, my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins, having a celebration and joyous conversation. A nostalgic sense of happiness and sadness filled me, and I knew I had to pass along this serendipitous gift to the children and grandchildren of those voices on the tape, most of whom, long gone. From the reactions I got, they treasured this gift as much as I did.”
Shohreh Anand is a long time Chappaqua resident, and a former Chappaqua Library trustee.
Michael Johnson
“One of the most thoughtful gifts I ever received was an Apple IIGS computer as a child. At the time my parents thought of it as an important investment in their children’s future. I can remember the huge box of manuals it came with that had instructions on how to write programs for it. I was hooked almost instantly. That gift sparked a lifelong passion for technology, giving me both joy in the moment and direction for the future. It wasn’t until much later that I understood how impactful that one machine was.”
Michael Johnson is one of the original engineers at Hinge and still writes code daily. He lives in Chappaqua with his wife and cats.
Erica Molina
“Last Chanukah, my daughters gave me a deeply meaningful gift–a ‘doctored’ version of the last family photo we took before my husband, Alex, passed away. It was from my niece’s bat mitzvah, just two months before Alex’s passing, and included my niece. My daughters had it professionally edited so that only we were in the picture, preserving a special moment we shared. I could feel their love in every detail of the gift.”
Erica Molina is the Membership Engagement Specialist at Temple Beth El in Chappaqua. She lives in Armonk with her two daughters: Arielle, a freshman at the University of South Carolina, and Amelia, a junior at Byram Hills.
Susanna Reich
“In 7th grade I chose French for my foreign language, and in high school added Latin. I didn’t stick with it long enough to read the classics but was delighted when my father gave me a copy of Winnie Ille Pu, the Latin edition of Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne, one of my favorite authors. Dad didn’t often give gifts, and this one felt very personal. It’s the only Latin book ever to make the New York Times bestseller list. I still have it.”
Susanna Reich, a children’s book author, grew up in Hastings and lives in Briarcliff with her husband Gary Golio, also a children’s book author. Gary studied classical Greek, so between the two of them they can usually solve a challenging crossword puzzle.
