A Mother’s Impact

“My mom was born into the war in Germany, survived that, and raised four kids as a single parent while working full-time.Anything that was in her way didn’t last long, and I think maybe I inherited some of that perseverance from her. She always believed in me. I realize these days that kids have so many people saying to them, ‘You can’t, you can’t, you can’t.’ There was never that in my life. It was: ‘I want to go to the Olympics someday.’ ‘Okay, well, work hard, and I’ll support you.’ When I was looking at colleges, we didn’t have much money, but she told me, ‘You don’t have to have a swimming scholarship to go to school.’ I found that really supportive in that she just wanted me to be happy. That’s motivational.”

Ian Aldrich

Ian Aldrich is the executive editor at Yankee, where he has worked for more for two decades. As the magazine’s staff feature writer, he writes stories that delve deep into issues facing communities throughout New England. In 2019 he received gold in the reporting category at the annual City-Regional Magazine conference for his story on New England’s opioid crisis. Ian’s work has been recognized by both the Best American Sports and Best American Travel Writing anthologies. He lives with his family in Dublin, New Hampshire.

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