Gwen and I have been married for 45 years. For that she will be inducted into sainthood. We have two sons, two daughters-in-law, three grandkids with one in the oven. They are our joy...always have been and always will be. Gwen was super mom at home with the kids for years, then taught school and, for the last several years, has served on the staff of Whiz Kids Tutoring. I have had ten jobs since college - some ministry-type and some business-type jobs. All have been great experiences except one failed business adventure. Not fun. But through it all we have always been involved in some kind of ministry with kids mostly with Young Life and Whiz Kids. We have always felt that is what has made our life together as a family one that is rich and meaningful...not to mention just plain fun. Twenty years ago we were blessed to be in on the startup of Whiz Kids which is a one-on-one tutoring program with urban at-risk kids. It has been amazing!...we now have 750 tutors meeting with struggling kids every week. It’s been fun to watch and have a little hand in it. Along with our kids and grandkids, it’s made life good for us. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the 50!

(Scott Hightower: Ellen Riley Dattilo asked me to post her profile for her, since she is not a big computer user.).



Back in the "school days" at Wheat Ridge High, two major events started my 'after graduation' life. The first was when Tony and I were married before graduation (which raised some eyebrows), when he was on leave from the Army during the build up for Vietnam. The second was our graduation.



Our first son, Troy was born three years later, followed by son Tim (five years after Troy), and daughter Tonya (five years after Tim). August 11 will mark our 50th anniversary. We have seven wonderful grandchildren, all girls except for one lonely and pampered little boy.



I retired from service with Jeffco Schools in 2001. Tony retired from law enforcement in August of 2010, and we now enjoy seeing our grandchildren and participating in events with Shriners. I guess it's a cliche to say that the years have flown by pretty quickly, but events of yesterday don't seem so far off.



We're lucky that good health has favored us and hope to start checking things off of our bucket list. Next up is an Alaskan cruise that we've been talking about for lots of years.



We make our home in Morrison after several short residential stints in other states which came with Tony's military service and work locations. After having lived in Montana, Tennessee, South Dakota and Texas, we can attest that Colorado is the best place to be, so no plans to move anywhere else.



Best wishes to everyone, and thanks to you for doing a great job on the website - very impressive!!



God Bless!

Ellen Riley (Dattilo)