Meet Your Neighbor: Debbie Hattery

Name: Debbie Hattery

Family: Husband Kent, children: William, Andrew, Grace, and Catherine

Why Reading?: It has the feel of a small, residential community but with easy access to Boston.  We value the high quality of the public school system and the large amount of conservation land (our family does a lot of hiking in the woods). You can tell by the way the town is managed that its leaders and administrators really care about the work they do.  We lived in Cambridge after we first moved to the East Coast in 1997. We bought our first home in Reading in 2000 and have enjoyed raising our children here ever since!

Industry: Currently at home with the kids. Fifteen year career in higher education administration and policy with plans to return to the field in the future.

School:  Bachelors and Masters at University of Nebraska and Harvard University.  Four children currently at Wood End and Coolidge.

Hobbies: Spending time with family and friends, volunteering at my children's school, reading, and singing with the worship band at my church.

Favorite music: Gospel, Jazz, Classical, Opera.

Other Interests: I co-lead a weekly Bible study at Grace Chapel in Wilmington

Favorite movie: Sound of Music (childhood favorite) and more recently Syriana and Slumdog Millionaire.

Favorite book: Anything written by Edith Wharton, Jane Austen, and Charlotte and Emily Bronte.  Recently I have enjoyed The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal, The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, and Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland.  

Favorite restaurant: Mandarin Reading and Flora in Arlington

Fun facts: I grew up in a small town in Iowa.  Many people I've met in New England over the years tell me I'm the first person they have met from Iowa (they also often mistake Iowa for "that state out west that produces potatoes.")