Gaynel Tavares is a retired Delta Airlines flight attendant. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Kingston Wire: How did you or you family come to Kingston?

Gaynel Tavares: I grew up in Beacon. Troy, my father, was at RPI when I was born and then it was IBM. I was in Poughkeepsie until I was 12 years old and I moved up here. We lived on Kukuk Lane right across from the IBM country club. I had a charmed childhood, two room schoolhouse, then Saugerties High School. I went to Detroit for college and then I became a flight attendant. I moved back here when I met my husband, he was an IBMer.

KW: What do you like about Kingston?

GT: I just love this area, it’s so beautiful here. I was with Delta for 44 years and I traveled practically everywhere and I would come back over the bridge from Kennedy after a three, four-day trip with the sun going down and think there’s no place like this is the world. There’s no river that’s like this river. I’ve been to the Blue Danube, and it’s not blue, not even close — it couldn’t compare to the Hudson.

KW: What would you like to change about Kingston?

GT: Probably do more Scenic Hudson type stuff because it’s not going to look like this in ten years. They’re going to have a shuttle right from New York City — I mean people are coming from all over to move here. Our friends and relatives can’t afford to stay here just because of the taxes. So I would like to see something done about that.

KW: How do you think Kingston will be different in ten years?

GT: I hope I’m going to be right where I am now, but I think it’s going to be too crowded. We don’t want that and there are a lot of things we can do right now to slow that progression down.