After descending the Hill, Peter migrated 40 miles to a farm in New Berlin, where he and his wife, Aviva Schneider (K’76), lived until just last year. Like Laura, they were farmers, but for Peter and Aviva it was Farming Lite: just hay and timber. With Aviva, he ran a business “in one of the out buildings” for 17 years, after which they segued into second careers, in education and healthcare. Now they’re both retired. Actually, Aviva isn’t quite done. She’s working on a book about her career in healthcare.
Having sold their farm last fall, Peter and Aviva moved to a lakeside home in Cooperstown – where the ultimate Red Sox fan, Jeff Larson (H’76), visited them recently to see Pedro Martinez inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. They enjoy the warm months upstate, then vamoose to Panama, where they live in the mountains about 1.5 hours west of the canal.
The view from the deck in Panama for Aviva and Peter. While the temperature in Cooperstown in January hovers near absolute zero, snow in Panama is unlikely. Daily temperatures range from a high of 89 to an overnight low of 72. Who's for another Mojito?
"We now avoid the Central New York winters and live in Panama (the place with the canal), for 4-5 months each winter," Peter says. "In Panama we live in a huge community of expats, well to do Panamanians, Canadians and Europeans. It is fantastic."
Fantastic, indeed. Next time you're shoveling snow in February, you might reconsider winter in the northern latitudes...and consider joining Aviva and Peter in their Panamanian neighborhood.