But looking back Watkins also says she found teaching “arduous work” and even “painful.”

“I guess because you are trying to communicate across a gap, I’ve always found it quite a rollercoaster ride and pretty damn tiring,” she says.

Watkins says she was happy to retire at the age of 58.

She moved to Berkeley, Calif., and embarked on a six-year internship as a psychotherapist. She now informally counsels students at the local junior high school, gardening and woodworking in her spare time.

She lost contact with her partner from Radcliffe some thirty years ago, but says she heard that she married and had several children.

Watkins has chosen a less traditional path—and maybe a lonely one—but says she has ended up happy and free.

“I consider myself incredibly lucky,” she says. “I may have problems and questions, but Berkeley is a lovely place to live...and I could retire at 58, so I’ve had 13 years of total freedom.”

—Staff writer Jasmine J. Mahmoud can be reached at mahmoud@fas.harvard.edu.