Loretta with dad and grandmother in Vallejo, California.

Loretta with mom and dad in Vallejo, California

Christmas in Clearfield, Utah.

First communion with dad and sister Irene.

Christmas with dad and siblings.

Loretta and siblings: Helen, Irene, Louis, Loretta.

Loretta in her high school year book.

Wedding, Loretta and John.

John Donovan and daughter Courtney marching in the neighborhood Bicentennial Parade.

"The neighborhood moms' softball team. Loretta is in the top row, 2nd from left.

Loretta, President of the Scarsdale Junior Womans Club, at the Holiday Fair.

Riding in our 1958 BMW Isetta, in costume for the Disney-themed school fair.

Donovan family Christmas: Loretta, John, and their children.

Loretta as Girl Scout troop leader.

Family celebration of the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Loretta's uncle: Msgr. Stanislaus Jablonski.

First grandchild, Jonah.

Loretta with her daughter Courtney at Courtney's PhD commencement.

Welcoming teachers with gift bags.

Brookfield Covid Vaccine Team, on which Loretta volunteered for 120 hours during the covid 19 pandemic as a clerical assistant in her town.

Eating lunch in about 1947 outside with my father Elmer, 7-year older brother Stan, and younger sister Marilyn. I am on the left. This was before we had electricity. My father raised pigs, milked about 14 cows, and raised grain on our 160-acre farm in NW Minnesota.

I'm sitting on the lawn at our farm with one of our dogs in the background.

Family gathering. My mother is standing in the back on the right; my father is in the foreground on the right. I am next to the tall uncle on the left. My grandfather on my father’s side is on the left. He emigrated from Norway in about 1893 and had been a fisherman on the North Sea for cod. He lived to be 99.

At the research lab of Dr. Lloyd Smith at the University of Minnesota. I had chosen the fisheries and wildlife program because of my interest in the outdoors as well as Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” which I read right after it was published. This was my first ecological job. I graduated from the University in 1966.

I was on guard duty in the front bunker of the 9th Medical Lab in Vietnam. I spent a year at the Walter Reed Institute of Research after being drafted in 1966 and then was sent to Vietnam in September 1967. I processed samples for rabies and three other human diseases and worked with military dogs. I started grad school at the U of M eight days after discharge in September 1968.

My brother Stan and me. He was seven years older. He is wearing my Army coat from Vietnam. I am wearing another which I asked for when I was released.

My wife Deb and I while backpacking in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We lived in Montana from 1979 until 1985. I had met Deb right before leaving Minnesota and then worked for the Montana Dept. of Natural Resources and Conservation, Energy Division.

I was employed by the Minnesota Dept. of Nat. Resources, and this is our division’s Environmental Review Team. We analyzed impacts on the environment and tried to reduce them. I’m the guy with the beard sitting at the base of the tree.

Brother Kiyoshi and Satsuki, Tule Lake Segregation Center

Satsuki with mother Shizuko, Tule Lake Segregation Center

Satsuki, Tule Lake Segregation Center

Satsuki with mother Shizuko and brother Kiyoshi, Tule Lake Segregation Center

Satsuki and Kiyoshi, Tule Lake Segregation Center

Ina Family, Crystal City Texas

Satsuki's birthday, three years old, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ina family, return to San Francisco.

Satsuki

On the road of protest.

Satsuki, protest speech.

Protest Action

Satsuki with paper crane necklace.

Auerbach Family Portrait. My parents are third and fourth from left; my maternal grandparents, Samuel and Sarah, are in the front row. Sarah came from Ukraine when she was a girl of 14 to save her life; Samuel escaped the programs in Czarist Russia at 21. They met in Chicago.

Young Mozart. I must have been around three. Despite my earnest practice, I never did make it to Carnegie Hall.

Writing First Novel. My Grandpa Sam owned a men's clothing factory in downtown L.A. and would throw a big Christmas party for all his employees every year. Finding this office typewriter was the beginning of my budding career as a writer. (I'm still working on that novel.)

Reading with Sister Judy. My sister is three years older and we shared a room when we were small.

The Tiger. With sister Judy at World Jungle Compound in L.A. The tiger's name is Sultana, and, yes, she is real. One of my favorite childhood photos capturing my inner ragamuffin.

Nerdy Dan at 10. The Cold War, Eisenhower, Korea, Rock Around The Clock, Doris Day, Sinatra, From Here to Eternity.

High School Graduation. Feeling very happy and ready to move on to my next adventure: college in San Francisco.

Marriage to Beth in Mill Valley. My life changed very rapidly with the responsibilities of a married man at 19.

Young Father. Beth, Dan, and my wonderful daughter, Anya. 1964.

Alaska Pipeline Worker. I hitchhiked to Alaska in 1970 on a lark just to see the country and ended up spending six years there. I worked as a union laborer on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Project in 1975 along with thousands of others from around the world seeking their fortune (not unlike the Klondike Gold Rush a century earlier.)

With My Father. My father loved music and people and had an incredibly passionate zest for life. He inspired me to play the harmonica and guitar as a way to spread joy and, ultimately, to have a career in music. His memory is with me every day.

Halibut Fishing. Out on the Pacific with my son-in-law Ross Taylor in Humboldt County. Nice catch for a novice angler.

Minstrel Dan. I've been a freelance entertainer for the past 25 years and feel so fortunate to continue doing what I love. (I've also been an adult education music teacher working with frail and elderly adults in care facilities.)

Giants Game. Having fun with my daughter Anya and her family in San Francisco. Go Giants!

Groupies. One of the perks of my job is to have the attention of lovely ladies. It's rumored that some think I'm really Elvis.

At the Strong Family golden gathering in  Gresham, Oregon on my grandfathers'
farm.

My age, 19 years, in the middle of my six years as the Business Manager of Deep   Springs College in the White Mountains east of Bishop.

My age 21, the summer I packed out Rock Creek pack station on the East Sierras. Old Duke, my lead mule, would tolerate any load. Toby, my favorite, had been a plow mule. Bud, my third mule, came to us from the west side with Jay in the rear. He had to be tied down to shoe.

Dad, me and my best friend Norma in Fire Island.

I was a waitress at Woodstock in the 1960s. Bob Dylan was one of my customers. Here he is with my friend Norma, and her son Jimmy.

Terry Dobson and me in Ed Pincus' dojo in Vermont.

This is the cover of the novel I wrote, based on my relationship with Terry Dobson.

3 Vermont artists, and their Japanese hosts, at the airport in Nagoya, Japan for the UN COP 10 Exhibition: On the Planet.

At the UN COP Exhibition in Japan.

At the UN COP Exhibition in Japan.

Last Installation, Land and Local at Burlington City Arts.

Running artist retreats at my Vermont studio with the Burlington Writers Workshop.

Family

Family

Me now

My book has been reprinted with a new cover, meant to keep it out of the bookstores' sports section!

Carol as an infant. She was born 20 days after Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Carol in Twinfalls, Idaho with parents.
"I was their first child and they were thrilled I was born in 1941, 20 days after Pearl Harbor. My uncle, an air force pilot, was there but not injured. It was very hard for my mom."

Brother, Sister, Carol. Cowhands at brother's 4th birthday.

Receiving Torch Bearer in Social Leadership.

My high school graduation picture from Olympia, Wa. I was president of the senior class and active in the band and orchestra.

I taught first grade for two years then switched to teaching music at the elementary level. I had 1200 students in two schools.

I began teaching music education at Seattle Pacific University. I taught there for 20 years then completed my career at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. After four years there I decided to leave higher education at age 56 and return to Seattle to walk with my mother as she declined with dementia. It was a life-changing but important decision.

In 1976, with one day's notice, my husband and I adopted a baby girl we named Courtnay. She has always loved music and works in the music industry as an adult. She remains one of the most remarkable gifts of my life.

In 1977 I completed a Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Psychology of Music. I won several awards for my dissertation.

Here are the covers of the two college texts I've co-written with my colleague and friend, Dr. Patricia Shehan Campbell with help from my husband, Dr. Kirk Kassner. Music in Childhood was first published in 1995 and has subsequently been through 4 editions. It remains the leading text in the world to train music education students to teach music to children in the schools. It has just been translated into Mandarin. Music for Elementary Classroom Teachers came out in 2017 and helps classroom teachers integrate music into their classes.

In these later years of life, my husband and I love to travel. Here we are in Lucca, Italy enjoying a light lunch and a glass of wine. We have traveled throughout Europe, parts of Africa and the Middle East, China, Brazil, and Argentina as well as the U.S. We've been very involved in the International Society of Music Education. It is fun to visit friends from throughout the world.

I'm doing less and less work as I approach 80 but am still involved as a spiritual director, occasional spiritual teacher, on a committee for Sage-ing International and as president of our condominium association. That is enough.