Larry Pressler
Larry
Pressler joined the Village, along with his wife Harriet, in June. Larry is a native of South Dakota, a state he represented for two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and for three terms in the Senate between 1975 and 1997.
Larry and Harriet have one child, Laura, who lives in Massachusetts with their four grandchildren. They frequently visit the grandchildren in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Harriet Pressler has been a longtime Washington, D.C., Realtor and remains very active on the real estate scene.
Among many other distinctions, Larry was the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the U.S. Senate. He graduated from the University of South Dakota. Then, he interrupted his Rhodes Scholarship in Oxford to enlist in the U.S. Army. He served two combat tours in Vietnam.
Larry went on to earn degrees from Harvard Law School and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the author of four books, most recently last year’s “Neighbors in Arms: An American Senator’s Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent.” During his three terms in the U.S. Senate, he was the author of much legislation including the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the famous “Pressler Amendment” regarding nuclear nonproliferation.
Larry is currently a Board Member for
Rising Star Outreach, which operates leprosy-related clinics across India. In his spare time, Larry enjoys going to music concerts with Harriet. They joined the Village to make new friends.
John Abowd
John moved to the West End in early 2016, when he started his present job at the Census Bureau, determined to live in the city and commute to Suitland, MD. His wife Janet, who joined the Village in 2016, followed a few months later after finishing her school year at Ithaca High School and selling their house.
John decided to join the Village not long after Janet was diagnosed with COVID-19.
“The Village really delivered the community support that we needed,” he said. “We decided that we would both join, and make a contribution. We're pretty independent right now, but we need a circle of DC-based friends to make retiring here manageable.”
An economist and statistician by profession, John is the Associate Director for Research and Methodology and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Census Bureau. He spent 27 years on the faculty of Cornell University before joining the Census Bureau.
“I'm deeply involved in the 2020 Census, both the job I signed up for and the several that have fallen on my plate since 2016,” John said. (You can use Google to learn more, if you wish.)
“When's that over, I'll come up for air, and we'll have at least one more grandchild.”
John was an avid cyclist during his three decades in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. (He sometimes describes himself as a recovering Lance Armstrong fan.) He decided that learning urban bike-handling skills wasn’t safe, so prior the pandemic, he substituted studio cycling--spin classes. He also enjoys collecting wine and cooking, especially Lebanese delicacies.
“Most of all, Janet and I have settled into being comfortable, active grandparents,” John said. “It’s a role we knew was coming but couldn't have imagined would be so much fun.”