Gail Hadley Rodney

After two years at Swarthmore, I spent a year and a half as a Vista volunteer in West Virginia with the Appalachian Volunteers. Having made fast friends with other volunteers, I followed them to New York to finish college at Columbia General Studies. Still uncertain about what wanted to do, I began work with AFS International Scholarships rather than pursue graduate studies, getting the chance to travel and make more life-long friends. At 30 I attended art school and found my passion. Certificate in Painting, National Academy of Art.

Becoming a parent at 40 was the most challenging and rewarding choice I (and my husband) made. We have a wonderful son.
Second to that has been the opportunity to develope as an artist—a lifelong journey. I maintain a studio and paint five days a week.
Since my husband retired in 2014, we travel and like to stay in a place for a while, renting an apartment. Venice has become a favorite spot, and I enjoy painting there. Also life changing: observing primates (chimps and gorillas) in their natural habitat in Uganda, observing a pride of lions in Tanzania for over an hour, having time to draw them, watching penquins cross my path, back and forth, in Antarctica, as they gathered pebble for their nests.

I left Swartmore after my sophmore year for the proverbial leave of absence to work in W VA.
I thought I was giving the new Sociology/Anthropology Department a chance to develop while I pursued social justice work. I discovered that year that I was not a happy community organizer, although I worked at it. But I also discovered friends and fun! (That did not happen at Swartmore--too serious a place for a serious kid.) I did not find my place in the world until I went to art school at 30.