A life of many contrasts
Lisa Gilpin, president of the Shelter Island PTSA, at home.
Lisa Gilpin is the president of the Shelter Island School’sParent Teacher Student Association and as such is a busy person.”The association does wonderful things in terms of communitybuilding. We have a luncheon in the fall for returning teachers,the “boohoo breakfast for the parents of the kindergartners sendingtheir children off for the first time. There’s an old-fashionedback to school barbecue that brings families together, with a d.j.,dancing, and blankets on the lawn. We host the Science Fair [andraise the money for the prizes, as well as] the Holiday Boutique,the lip-synch contest, (that’s become a real big hit), two karaokenights. We’re really involved in the fabric of the Island.
Her son, Luke attends the 4th grade here. “I think we have avery special opportunity with this school that most schools don’thave, to create an environment that is nurturing andopportunity-filled for our children. Each of the class sizes issmall enough so that it is equal to a private school. I’veinterviewed private schools and it doesn’t get any better thanthis. I think with the balanced literacy program that was startedjust a few years ago, the kindergarten teacher now knows what the4th grade teacher is going to need in order for those kids to besuccessful in reading. Everyone knows what steps to take to get towhere they want the children to be, to transfer into the middleschool. I think it’s a wonderful program.
“The school invited the parents to come sit down in class for ahalf hour and experience their children in the classroom. I was soincredibly impressed. When Luke came home, she asked him, “Honey,is it really like that every day?’ ‹”Oh yeah, Mom,but you guys were a little distraction, you know, we couldn’t thinkas clearly with everybody there.’ I have yet to hear from a parentwho didn’t say that they were quite impressed with what was goingon. I attribute that to the teachers.
Lisa’s life began in Phoenix, Arizona. Her mother had moved fromMichigan to be closer to her family who had moved there because ofher grandfather’s emphysema. Her mother went off to nursing school,met her father, who was from Oklahoma, and they married. The coupledivorced when she was 2. “She raised me as a single parent, whichin the ’60s wasn’t the popular thing to do. She put me throughprivate school all the way. And at a Catholic high school, I wasone of two Protestant girls and that was interesting, the fact thatmy mother was divorced, but I made it through. I did get accepted[to a number of colleges] but then realized I couldn’t afford togo. This was the moment when I said to myself, ‹”Ihave been given so much and life is not all necessarily gettingwhat you want. Sometimes it’s making the best of what you have. Shegraduated from a small Baptist junior college in 1978.
For mentors: “My mother and grandmother were extraordinary, theyworked so hard. And I looked to Sandra Day O’Connor, the SupremeCourt justice from Arizona, and I loved the way she lived her life.She was a very independent woman. Having dinner at her house, shesat at one end and her husband sat at the other and there was anabsolute balance and if there was a little imbalance, it was on herside. Her husband was a prominent attorney but she was thepolitician and a judge. She had three boys. I dated her middle son,Brian, while we were in college and we’ve remained very goodfriends although we went our separate ways.
Lisa had majored in business and accounting, had her first fulltime job while still in college and managed to secure one promotionafter another. A job in Scottsdale led to the east coast, and a jobat the Ford Foundation. “To have your first job in New York City atthe Ford Foundation, in such a beautiful environment, it could nothave been better.
“Whenever I end up living [in a new place], one of the firstplaces I go to find friends or people in common, is the church. Thedenomination doesn’t matter, but a place where I feel at home,comfortable and comfortable worshipping. She found that in the cityat Marble Collegiate Church. Asked out for lunch by one of theushers, she agreed to go, assuming he was going to ask her to siton one of the church committees. Halfway through lunch, when therewas no mention of a committee, she asked “Is this a date? And he’smany years older than I am and he said, ‹”I thinkthat’s what they still call this. Yeah, this is a date.’ I said,‹”I thought you were going to ask me to sit on acommittee,’ and he said, ‹”Well, actually I am, butit’s only a committee of one.’ Two and a half years later theymarried.
They moved to Sagaponack, Lisa became pregnant at 40, begangraduate school at Stony Brook in social work and the couple movedto Shelter Island, having become fond of the Shelter IslandPresbyterian Church. Her husband, Sandy, retired, she got her realestate license after a few years and is now actively engaged hereon the Island at Daniel Gale Sotheby.
