Name: Stephen Buckley
Age: 54
Hometown: Setauket, NY
Current City: East Setauket, NY
In a relationship with Beth Ann
Children: Patrick (25), Shannon (23) and Devon (17)
Occupation: Senior System Analyst (Computers)
Born June 10th, 1964 at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson
I want to start by thanking Lou for the invitation to share my story, the rest of the warriors for their warm welcome into this truly unique running group and last but not least Beth Ann🙂
First… a little about me and my journey.
I have two brothers and three sisters (I am number four), my dad was a dentist and mom ran the religious education program and the youth council at the church.
It was a very busy household with six kids, four dogs, three cats and numerous other creatures (Snakes, Gerbils, Fish, turtles etc…) it was at times literally a zoo!
In a big and sometimes chaotic family, it was easy to get lost in the shuffle, so I often took advantage of that. I enjoyed things like : Climbing very tall trees, playing ice hockey on thin salt water ice, riding icebergs down the creek in the wintertime (taking an occasional unplanned February dip in the cold water) , Playing football and baseball in the street with the other neighborhood kids and often with the garbage men.
I wasn’t much into sports as a kid. I tried to follow my older brother’s footsteps and wrestled for a few years. I then became mixed up with other kids who got thrills from stealing cars, trucks and even a school bus! Luckily that phase ended. Somehow I made it through that scary phase unscathed! I guess it was my first real girlfriend that set me on the straight and narrow path. When I was in the ninth grade I found my place.. as a bass guitarist in a band called “Roseblood” We played mostly Rush covers and some original stuff also and I enjoyed dreaming of being a rock star someday.
After graduating high school I tried Suffolk Community College. I didn’t accomplish much there, so then I tried my hand at becoming an electronics technician. I enrolled at Suburban Technical school and for the first time in my life, I excelled as a student. I enjoyed the academic competition and ended up third in my class. After graduation, I quickly got my first job and my professional life started to flourish. The company made Interactive Voice Response computers… you know the annoying machines that get in the way of you and a real person when you call the bank. I found the work there very interesting and since the company had a tuition assistance program I was able to return to school. After many long nights and weekends, I obtained Bachelors degree in Computer Science. I have been happily involved in this business ever since!
Also during all this, I got married and we raised three kids of whom I am very proud. Patrick, 25 is serving in the US Army. Shannon, 23 is working in business management and Devon, 17, attends Ward Melville HS and excelling in martial arts. My marriage didn’t last and after 21 years it was clearly time to move on.
The running part of my life has always been there and I’ll talk more about that later in the week. But a couple memories really stand out from those early days. My first race was the Cow Harbor in 1998. And on the Kings Park 15k course, I remember my first time seeing a Selden Hills shirt remember distinctly the “It’s Just a Hill… Get over it…” . That shirt was worn by a guy who looked like he was wearing a wig… and damn… he was fast! Of course I now know him to be the unmistakable Rick Secor… (whom I now know as a wonderfully interesting guy)
To be a part of this group is really something special and I am looking forward to celebrating it each year with my better half, the one who brought me here, Beth Ann. (Who , by the way, made sure that we would have the same hillaversary date to celebrate year after year together)