Barbara and Richard Iverson

Meet Barbara and Richard Iverson

Richard (82) and Barbara (76) have been training at GRFP for over 5 years. The two met at a coffee hour after church in New York City over 50 years ago and have been together ever since. They raised 3 daughters and now have six grandchildren. 

Barbara is originally from a small town in central Indiana. She attended DePauw University and graduated from Earlham College, a wonderful Quaker liberal arts college. Barbara worked at the American Field Service (a program that places foreign teens with American families as seniors in high school.) 

When her children were in elementary school, she volunteered in the classroom and had numerous posts on the PTA. (All of which went on for over 20 years since the 3 children were each 7 years apart in age.)

She later enrolled in Teachers College/Columbia University earning a M.A. in Ed. Psych. with a certification as a Reading Specialist.

After graduation, she began working at Northside Center for Child Development in their after school reading tutoring program. She is still at Northside, but is now on the administrative side of that progam.

Richard was raised in Minneapolis and attended Harvard College. Following college, he was drafted into the army for a two-year stint as a medic serving in Germany. 

After the army, he earned an MBA from the Columbia Business School and began working at IBM. At IBM he developed a “skills inventory” that defined an employee’s work experience that could be used to fill job openings within IBM. Using this tool, the company could reduce the hiring of experienced employees from the outside, thus saving expensive employment agency fees

He left IBM after three years and built a practice advising companies on how to store and display employee data on their computers. “Human resource systems” is what this emerging field was called. He later became a solo consultant in the field, retiring in 2015.

Richard was a 'reverse commuter' for most of his working life driving over the GW Bridge to Rockland County and then to Morristown, NJ. It was an opportunity to listen to a lot of books on tape. 

Interesting Facts: 

Favorite Food: 

Barbara : Dannon coffee yogurt and many other foods (except fried foods)

Richard: Yogurt, fruit and baked goods

Favorite pastime

Barbara: I love to knit, but my supply of yarn and ideas is much greater than what I’ll ever finish. 

Richard: Reading (alternating history and fiction)

Favorite exercise

Barbara: Walking at a good clip

Richard: Walking and morning calisthenics