A word from our Chair, Deborah Regan

I grew up in a military family that moved every couple of years. After living in seven

states and Japan by the time I graduated from high school, I had been exposed to manytypes of people, landscapes and lifestyles. Since then, I have traveled even more, both in the US and abroad, and lived for several months in both England and the Netherlands. This has helped to expand my exposure to other cultures and beliefs.

My father’s career was in the Air Force, where he served for 25 years. He was

stationed in Vietnam in 1969 and earned a Bronze Star for his work as a hospital

administrator in Da Nang. His letters home informed us that the US Government was not being truthful to the American public about the American casualty rate.

This knowledge both made me wary of US involvement in foreign wars, as I continued to support our military who fought in these wars.

The importance of education was constantly reinforced in my family. My father dropped out of high school to help support his family when his father died. After joining the military, he was often enrolled in course work. He worked full time and helped my mother raise a family of four daughters, earning his high school diploma, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees.

In high school, I did a research project on the effect of DDT on birds, with the Rachel Carson book, “Silent Spring” as my primary resource. This book made a lifelong impression on me in terms of how I see our environment and the impact of pollutants.

After moving so much, I was in search of a place to set down roots and found a home in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. My husband and I have lived here for 35 years and have loved the rural nature of this town along with its nearness to the coast.

Our daughter went to Lincoln Akerman School, a treasure in our community. I

volunteered in her classrooms. I have also volunteered for many years as a member of the Friends of the Hampton Falls Library. The library is a wonderful resource for our residents.

I worked as a college counselor for much of my career, with a variety of types of

students. I saw adult students juggle families and jobs, much as my father did, while working on their degrees. At the community college where I worked, many students came from low-income families. They counted on federal financial aid to assist them to pay for their courses. Other students had been diagnosed with a disability and counted on the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide equal access.

I started volunteering for the Democrats in 2004, partly in response to what I viewed as President Bush’s unjustified attack on Iraq.

I believe that we are all members of a community and that we need to provide support for that community. I want my taxes to support our school, our library, our first responders and public services, and those in need.

I am a progressive and am not apologetic about it. I want our country to move forward in its support for its citizens and in being stewards of our environment. I want clean water and air, a reduction in homelessness and in food insecurity. I do not want people to feel marginalized, due to race, ethnicity, ability, gender or sexual orientation.

Our strength as a country is our diversity. We all benefit when we help to lift up others.

My values align squarely with the Democratic party when they state, “Democrats believe that the economy should work for everyone, health care is a right, and democracy is worth funding.”

That is why I am a Democrat.