I was born on the first day of spring, in Manhattan and raised in Westchester County, NY. I am the eldest of the 6 children born to John and Joannie, both now deceased.
My school years took me to many places between 1957 and 1979:
Whitby Montessori School, Greenwich, CT
Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH
Schoolboys Abroad, Rennes, France
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
New School For Social Research, New York, NY
SF State University, San Francisco, CA
USC Cinema School, Los Angeles, CA
I worked many different kinds of jobs between 1969 and 1980:
production assistant, documentary films (NY, NY)
16mm projectionist (NY, NY)
plum harvest hand (Healdsburg, CA)
dishwasher (Santa Rosa, CA)
gas station attendant (Santa Rosa, CA)
route driver for film processing co. (Fairfield County, CT)
retail motion picture equipment sales (SF, CA)
apprentice, then assistant film editor (Burbank, CA)
In 1980 I decided to try self-employment, which I have stuck with ever since, minus a couple of tough spots here and there where I took a job for a brief time. Over the 43 years since, I have run the following sole proprietorships:
house painter (Westchester County, NY)
windsurf school founder/operator (Antigua, West Indies)
wind surf video magazine founder/producer (Hood River, OR)
snowboard magazine founder/publisher (Fairfield, CT)
web designer/web master for Stratton and Stowe ski resorts (Stowe, VT)
wedding and portrait studio founder (Stowe, VT)
I have shared my life with a long line of golden retrievers since 1980, and still have one by my side, along with a black lab.
My first wife, Thea Ramsey, died of cystic fibrosis in 1987. She was only 37 years old.
I married Veronica in 2002, and together we ran an award-winning photography studio in Stowe, VT for many years.
We are retired now, and are lucky enough to be able to follow our passions full time, living on what we call “Happy Hill” in Johnson, VT.
Veronica is a multimedia artist specializing in acrylic paintings on canvas. You can view her work and purchase originals and reproductions here -
My goal in creating this substack is to create a home for my varied creative efforts, and hopefully connect with people who might enjoy them.
Thank you.
Andre J. de Saint Phalle
Subscribe to Vermont Blues Player
People
