Welcome to our wedding blog, generously created and pieced together by Liz Little (see her entry below).

We have really enjoyed receiving your entries,and are grateful for your efforts. We think you will have fun reading about, and seeing pictures of each other too. It will be a wonderful keepsake for us.

Liz tells us that it will be possible for everyone to add pictures to an on-line website (Picasa) and make comments to this blog, so remember to bring your cameras to the wedding! See toolbar on right for directions on uploading pictures.

We could not be more excited about sharing our wedding and spending some time with the people we love most, our families. See you at Mohonk!!!

Love,
Linda and Curtis

Thomas and Catherine Jean Christie

Linda’s father was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Met her mother as a child, as she was his best friend’s sister. He served in the army in Italy, entertaining troops with movies! Medical School back in Glasgow, then married, moved to U.S. for internship and never went back. Found his final career as Vice President, Medical Affairs, Wyeth International, and Senior Medical Adviser to Corporate Legal Division. Taught his children about love, laughter, sports, music and dance. He said a few things about working hard and being frugal too, like all good Scots.

Catherine Jean Christie (AKA Jean), d. November 3, 2008.
Linda's mother was born in Johnstown, PA, but moved back to Glasgow, Scotland with her Scottish parents as a young girl.
She and her two brothers, Tom and Jim, whom she adored, grew up there. She was an excellent student, and thought about being a doctor like her brothers, but was essentially told that her options were to be a nurse or a teacher. She opted for the latter after getting her Masters Degree at Glasgow University. She married her older brother's best friend and moved the next day to Erie, PA, where Linda's father did his internship. She taught English and Math, but eventually put her career on hold while she raised her children. She had 4 babies in 5 years, and added a fifth 5 years later.
Jean was a devout Catholic, and a devoted wife and mother. In the years when Linda's father was traveling the world for weeks at a time to expand Wyeth's market, she was ruling the roost at home. Like the teacher she was, she reviewed her children's homework regularly, and taught them more about English and Math than anyone else. She counseled us through all of our trials in life, and reminded us to trust in God every step of the way.
In the end, Jean was almost blind, and limited in her physical abilities, but she found joy in reading books on tape, keeping in touch with her children and grandchildren, and going to church when she was able. She always reminded us to count our blessings rather than focus on our trials and tribulations. Good advice.

James Gardner

Linda’s uncle, her mother’s brother, and only relative she had in this country when growing up!

“Uncle Jim” is a retired General Surgeon, who spent most of his working life in Beckley, West Virginia, and is now enjoying the warmth of southern Florida.
Like Linda’s parents, he grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. Like Curtis, he served for 2 years in Alaska. His interests are never-ending.

Tom Christie Family

I am Tom (or Tommy) and I am Linda’s older brother. Unfortunately for Linda I am her only brother. Linda was blessed with three younger sisters but she was stuck with one brother – and an older one at that. Whenever Linda grew tired of dealing with one of our sisters there was always some other younger one hanging around who she could play dolls with, or play house with or bake something in the tiny plastic EZ Bake Oven that Santa brought for Christmas circa 1965. But with me I’m afraid the only way she could connect was to agree to throw batting practice, or play ping pong or race HO cars. Geez, sometimes she would negotiate and I’d have to agree to play house for 30 minutes just to get her to stand in the soccer goal for 5! Can you imagine?

When we all grew up and went off in slightly different directions I finally met a girl who could hang with my sisters intellectually and because of that and a few other things (like, cuz I thought she was beautiful) I asked her to marry me. Her name is Sandra (but goes by Sandy). When I told my father that I was planning on getting married to Sandy he said, “Any girl who marries you is a Saint in my book”. That was one of the nicest things he’s ever said to me. (Scottish humor!)

Sandy and I have had two children: Tom(my) and Julia. Tommy just finished his junior year at Boston College and Julia just finished her freshman year at Wesleyan. They are our pride and joy and have emerged amazingly unscathed after having had to spend their formative years under my tutelage. This is where Sandy comes in. She did a beautiful job raising them. (If I can say so myself!)

Sandy was a law student when I met her and spent 15 years practicing real estate law in New York before she burned out. Since starting her recovery she has re-tooled as a teacher and now teaches 8th grade American History in the same K- 8 school where our kids went.

Tommy will be spending his summer working on the editor’s desk at the Boston Phoenix so if you know of any alt-rock bands or new indie films in the Greater Boston area that need a review you should send him a line.

Julia will be spending her summer exploring all the things she loves which include cooking, drawing and painting and catching up with old friends – not to mention catching up with Project Runway, Top Chef and The Housewives of New York!

As for me, I’m a veteran of the cable tv wars having spent the last 20 years working for Sundance Channel and Showtime Networks in NYC. It has paid the bills and provided plenty of frequent flyer miles for travel when the kids were young. All and all - a good ride!

The Kahn Family

Michele Christie, Richard, Stephanie and Andrew Kahn

Michele, Linda’s sister, lives with her family in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a Pediatric Endocrinologist who also practices general Pediatrics. She has always been an avid reader, and a regular runner. While raising her children, she has become a gourmet cook, a gardener, and most recently, a dog trainer, much to the surprise of her siblings.

Richard has recently retired as Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of the

American Diabetes Association. He is now consulting and writing articles, and traveling the world to share all of his knowledge.

Stephanie is graduating from The Potomac School and going to Haverford College next year. She is having a spectacular year in track, and hopes to run at Haverford. She also plays violin in the orchestra.

Andrew is in tenth grade at the Potomac School, where he plays cello with his sister in the orchestra. His basketball and lacrosse career is on hold after an unfortunate knee injury this season.

The Shaffer Family

The Shaffer Family….
Diane (Linda’s sister) & Dan will have been married 17 years this August. We have two boys: Liam will be turning 12 on June 20th and Nicholas who turned 10 on May 5th. We live in Swarthmore, Pa.
Diane was once an English teacher and a field hockey & lacrosse coach. But two years after Nicholas was born, she began the long, long career switch into psychology. She is (hopefully) defending her dissertation in June or July and will begin her predoctoral internship at the University of Delaware Counseling Center in mid-August.
Dan has been teaching and coaching for over 20 years. He currently teaches 7th grade social studies at Strath Haven middle school and is a varsity football coach at Strath Haven H.S. in Wallingford, PA.
Liam is finishing 6th grade, which is the first year of middle school at Strath Haven. He will not have his father for a social studies teacher next year. He enjoys reading, singing and swimming…and video games! He wants a cat very, very badly…but sadly, he and his dad are very allergic.
Nicholas is finishing 3rd grade. He likes reading, karate, baseball, and video games. Nicholas very much wants a furry animal with four legs (our betta fish, frog and hermit crab do not count). Mom and dad keep saying they will get a dog when there is someone who can be home long enough to take care of one because mom refuses to put any dog on Prozac.

Calum and Michele Gardner

It was in early 2003 that our paths began to cross with an increasingly frequent basis. We met at the office; we were both working at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN’s humanitarian food agency, based in Rome, Italy. Rome was a great place to date. These included moonlit motorino (moped) tours of the city; classical concerts in ancient churches; dinners featuring full-bodied wines and delicious cheeses; weekend afternoons in the Italian countryside.

Our time together wasn’t without its interruptions though; only three months into our budding romance, the war in Iraq began and WFP launched one of its largest operations ever. Michelle was sent in as part of the emergency team, with only days to prepare for what would be a six month deployment. I followed a couple of months later (the first of several moves chasing the girl!!) so we joined up again in Baghdad rather than Rome. I expect we were one of the only American/British couples to be dating in Baghdad during the summer of 2003. Needless to say, our opportunities for actual dates at that time were rather limited, consisting of an occasional coffee in between meetings and dinners together when we managed to get rooms at the same hotel.

This pattern of moving to new countries with WFP continued for the next few years. Following the bombing of the UN compound in Baghdad in August 2003, we were both relocated to Jordan. A few months after that, Michelle’s assignment with the Iraq operation was finished and she headed back to Rome, and shortly thereafter onto Cote d’Ivoire and then Senegal. For the next few years, our relationship consisted of emails, phone calls and periodic vacations together, meeting up in places like the lavender fields of southern France, the Lake District of northern England (my home), and the souks of Morocco.

In 2006 our paths brought us both back to Rome, where Michelle remained for nearly two years before moving back to the US for a position with the UN in New York. Thus began another year of emails, phone calls and vacations together until, while in England celebrating my April 2009 birthday together, we got engaged.

The wedding was held in Michelle’s home town of Rutland, VT, we honeymooned in the Bahamas and at Machu Picchu in Peru, and we are now happily settled in the Upper West Side of Manhattan while continuing to work at the United Nations.

Robert and Audrey Mills

Audrey Jones Mills, Curt's mom, (d 1991) grew up in Buffalo, met Robert Mills(d 1995) of Gloversville, NY while they were at Smith and Williams/Harvard Business School. She taught middle school English, and Robert worked in the family glove business initially then forty years as purchasing agent for the ever expanding boat accessory business N.A. Taylor of Gloversville. Raising their very active three boys consumed most of their waking hours, and some of their sleeping hours, but they found time to have an active social, golfing, and church life. They would enjoy this family gathering while celebrating the wedding of Linda and Curtis.

Doug Mills Family

Doug Mills is the middle brother in the Mills family. He is married to Meg Kelly. They are parents to Egan and Max (Bichon).
Egan dob 10-31-99. Egan was adopted at birth. She is blessed with a talent for the stage. She sings dances and performs in musicals. She loves swimming in any available pool and at The Great Sacandaga Lake.
Meg dob 7-14-59.Meg was a licensed nurse as a result of her degree. She turned away from that profession and became a Class A LPGA teaching professional about 25 years ago. She has a wide reputation as one of the top instructors in Upstate New York. The years on the practice tee have taken their toll and she has turned her energy into creating a successful Children's Theatre.
We are doing this mainly because of our desire to provide Egan, our daughter with high quality theatrical education. www.saratogachildrenstheatre.org.
Doug dob 1-4-46. After 30 years as an attorney, and as a city judge,I am semi retired. I say this because I am teaching an online course about the law ,writing a book about how to change your life through commitment,and enjoy helping to raise our daughter.I also am trying to keep the grim reaper at bay with diet and exercise.We live in Saratoga Springs, New York,home of Horse Racing,and the Summer home of the NYC Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Charles Mills Family

Greetings from Minnesota where the Charles Dudley Mills Family has lived since 1991.

Stereotypically, one thinks of Minnesota as cold. This is true; I have seen -35F (no wind chill) on the thermometer. Surprisingly, the average summer temperature is about 4 degrees warmer than upstate NY. “Extreme” well describes some other features of Minnesota. Historically the most liberal political state (the only state that Ronald Reagan did not win in his reelection), more recently Jesse Ventura (a former pro wrestler) handily defeated a democrat and republican to become governor. As it turns out, he was an effective and moderate governor, and is an articulate, albeit large, man. He and his wife live nearby. Another example of an extreme here is the mosquito - often called the State Bird.

Audrey Frances Mills (20, after her grandmother, Audrey Mills) just finished her Sophomore year at Macalester College where she is majoring in Chemistry. She will likely go to medical school after college. Until 8th grade, Audrey was a competitive gymnast. She then moved into other sports, serving as Captain of Soccer, Basketball and Track in High School. This year she played basketball and was Macalester’s best high jumper. All of these athletic activities come at some cost. At the Senior Basketball Banquet, for example, her teammates noted the one thing they recognized above all else about her - smelly sneakers. Despite this handicap, Audrey is a hard worker, and not surprisingly, received her High School’s highest award for best overall student, athlete and person.

Charles Raymond Mills (15, after his great grandfather, Raymond Mills) just finished his Freshman Year in Forest Lake High School. Interestingly, my parents (Robert and Audrey Mills) looked back in Mills History in naming me the 4th Charles Dudley Mills in the US. But, I decided to stray from history, and this has worked out because my son has come to be called Charlie Ray, a most colorful and fitting name. I say fitting because Charlie Ray has a very outgoing personality and a terrific sense of humor. He is also blessed with exceptional eyesight (20/12), and coordination. These traits have helped him in competitive basketball (that he has played since 4th grade), lacrosse the last few years, and he recently started playing guitar (rock and roll). Overall, he’s a guy’s guy, enjoying dirtbiking, snowmobiling – anything mechanical, and recently, girls.

Charles Dudley Mills (59) is the largest Mills (and arguably, the handsomest). I was 6’2” in eighth grade. Such height allowed me to score 52 points in a basketball game that year. I am a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Chicago, and most of my life has been spent as a Medical Research Professor, first at Brown University, then the University of Minnesota. In 2000, I published (in the Journal of Immunology), the discovery of 2 white cells (previously thought to be one type of cell), which I named M-1 and M-2. M-1/M-2 is now used worldwide in medicine to describe these 2 different cells that help one heal wounds or fight infection. I have been blessed with important things in life: good health, life-long friends, healthy children and wonderful parents. My (much older/smaller) brothers aren’t bad either, since they periodically have weddings that I get to attend and meet new friends and see family.

Charlie Mills

The Marchant Family

The Marchant Family

Sarah Marchant was originally known as Sarah Tait Mills, the oldest of Curtis’ children. As a child, she remembers her father as a loving, passionate, opinionated man who liked to get everyone up before dawn for skiing trips! He held the bar high for us kids in terms of achievement and expression, and I think it has paid off well (feel free to judge for yourselves). Following a happy childhood and a challenging adolescence in Upstate NY (aren’t they all?), she moved on to New England where she completed her education.
In college and graduate school, Sarah studied geology. In 1997, when she was completing her own research in coastal geology, she traveled to Antarctica with David Marchant, a research fellow at Boston University who was becoming known in the fields of Antarctic science. There they became friends (and there they saw each other at their worst, having no showers for 6 weeks)! Two years later, they were married! Dave continues to research and teach at BU, and travels to Antarctica every other year to study ancient ice, Mars geomorphology, and the art of staying warm! His passions beyond his work include gardening, hiking, canoeing, and of course hanging out with his family! He currently holds the 2009 Mills/Marchant/Little “fishing trophy”. ☺ Sarah teaches middle school science in Reading, MA, which is also where the Marchants have lived for the last 10 years. When not working and hanging with her family, Sarah loves to read, write, to be outdoors, and is currently training for a small triathlon.
Dave and Sarah have been blessed with two children; Taylor is 8 and Olivia is 5. Taylor is a passionate and persistent guy about: football, hockey, Leggos, Pokemon Cards, friends, bugs, snakes, hip hop dancing, robots, math… who knows what will be on the top of the list by June, but ask him! He’s active and emotional and caring and fun. As for Olivia, we are not sure where she has inherited her sense of style and her femininity, but we’re beginning to think that she has inherited her ability (?) to sing from her father. She does love to sing (which we love in turn), as well as to dance, to lip sinc, to snuggle, to read, to draw, to paint, to play in the sandbox. She writes “I love you” on everything she does, and that about sums up her generous spirit.
We are excited to be a part of this special day! The kids are thrilled to be in the wedding (who knows what Olivia will wear, but please know that whatever it is, for better or worse, she has picked it out herself), and us adults are happy to have a vacation with family! Most importantly, we are thrilled to see Dad and Linda so happy; THAT is why we are truly happy to be here!

The Little Family

WHO: Chris, Liz, and Foster Little

Liz: Middle daughter of Curt, Veterinary Pathologist
Chris: Married to Liz, Post-doc in Oceanography at Princeton
Foster: About 1 year old…superstar sleeper, likes long walks and good food.

Chris and I (Liz) met at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. After college, we ended up in the Philadelphia region so I could attend veterinary school at Penn. Chris worked for a small investment firm focusing on renewable energy before returning to pursue his graduate work. We now live in the ‘burbs, Yardley, Pa, about 40 minutes north of Philly and 20 minutes from Princeton. We have 3 cats and a new lab puppy, 5 months old!

William, Erika, and Carter Mills

We live in Concord, Massachusetts with our two dogs, Kobi and Baxter. Carter will be about 7 months old at the wedding and will look completely different than he does now! Hopefully he still has his awesome mohawk (not to be confused with Mohonk)!

Will teaches high school history at the Rivers School, a private day school in Weston, MA. Erika works in admissions and coaches crew at Middlesex School, a boarding school, and we live in the girls’ dorm where Erika is a dorm parent. Boarding school life is a little crazy, but we love it.

Prior to Middlesex we lived in Cambridge while Erika attended Harvard Business School and Will started graduate work at Harvard. He has finished his coursework, and only a thesis stands between him and a Masters of Liberal Studies. Before that, we lived at Choate, a boarding school in Connecticut, where Will taught history and coached crew for three years. We met at Connecticut College, where we both rowed and captained the varsity teams. Carter has no chance – we’ll start him early on the water!

Melissa Mills

Hello Everyone!

Melissa Mills here! I am very excited for Curt and Linda’s wedding and happy I could share this joyous event with them and all of you. I am Curtis Mills’s 1st cousin once removed. My dad and Curt are regular 1st cousins. I live in Gloversville NY with my beagle Olive. I am a mental health counselor at the Family Counseling Center, also in Gloversville. I look forward to seeing those of you I already know and meeting everyone else!

Reverand Ralph English Family

The Rev. Ralph English and his wife, Sally Olsen, are pleased to gather with Linda and Curtis' families for this special occasion!
Two years ago, Sally and Ralph moved to Saratoga County from Rochester, New York so that Sally could assume a new job as a civil engineer at the Main Office of the New York State Department of Transportation in Colonie, just outside of Albany. After twenty-eight years as a Chaplain with the United States Air Force (Reserves and Air National Guard) and more than thirty years of full-time civilian ministry, Ralph accepted the half-time position at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Gloversville. He also works part-time as a Lecturer in American History and the American Political System at Fulton Montgomery Community College, part of the SUNY system.
Ralph and Sally bought a home on Galway Lake and enjoy stepping right out their door to kayak, swim, hike, bike, garden, snowshoe or cross country ski.
Sally is a native of New Jersey, but when she was a child her family enjoyed tramping around some property in Saratoga County just a few miles from where Sally and Ralph now live. Sally received her degree in Civil Engineering from Cornell University and has worked for the DOT her entire career.
Ralph was born in Washington D.C. but his family moved back and forth every five years between Northern Virginia and Germany as Ralph's father was a career operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. Ralph received a degree in Government from The College of William and Mary in Virginia and his Masters Degree in Theology from Andover Newton Theological School near Boston.
Sally and Ralph have two daughters. Laura is married, lives in Fair Haven, Massachusetts and works as a Middle School Librarian. Melissa is a Captain in the United States Air Force and is currently stationed in Okinawa. Ralph and Sally visited Melissa in Okinawa this past January.

Chris and George Pensinger-

Hi, We are George and Chris Pensinger. This was a photo taken last year on our family vacation to the Poconos. This was actually one of two vacations from Hell.......Need I say more - what didn't go wrong! Actually it is better if you don't ask!!!

Who are we? Well, I (Chris) had the privilege of working with Thomas for eight years as his PCA at the Franklin Learning Center where he went to school. Thomas is quite a special guy! I've really missed him this year! Thomas has taught me so much! I never would have guessed I would know so much about sports and politics!!!! Love you Thomas!!! Looking forward to seeing you at the wedding and meeting all your family and friends.