Computer-wise, I had been involved in VAX/Alpha System Management since 1986, while employed at the Dept. of Energy’s Mound Facility in Miamisburg, Ohio. I left there in 1991 to work for Siemens Energy and Automation, Motor and Drives Division, in Norwood, Ohio, where I was involved in implementing a new Digital Equipment Corporation VAX-based shop floor control system. I met my future wife, Ute, there in 1992, and we married in 1993.

In 1995, I joined Digital Equipment Corporation, as a consultant for the Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) Defense Automatic Addressing System Center, located first in Dayton at the Defense Electronics Supply Center office, and then at Wright-Patterson Airforce Base following a move there in 1996. Since then, I have continued a career in system management (software hardware installation, support, problem diagnosis and resolution) for the same DLA office. Following the Compaq / Digital merger in 1998, I have remained a Compaq employee, and in May, 2000, became a Compaq OpenVMS Ambassador, one of 185 such professionals world-wide, whose job it is to increase appreciation and awareness in the industry for the OpenVMS operating system.  In 2002, Hewlett-Packard Company acquired Compaq, and since June of that year, have been in the employee of HP.  

On July 20, 2009, I became a GS-14 civilian employee of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), at the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center (DAASC).  Having been a contractor for nearly 15 years, we determined that it was more appropriate and mutually cost effective for me to become a government employee.  DAASC is now known as DAAS, DLA, Information Operations, Enterprise Data Solutions.

In 2014, during a reorganization, I became a member of the J64 Technology Foundation Services (TFS) division, a position I held until later that year, when I was moved back to DAAS (at the time, called DLA Transaction Services).  Finally, in 2015, an enterprise-wide IBM MQ team was defined, and I became its lead, at the direction of then Program Executive Officer (PEO), Bill Tinston.  At that time, I moved to the Engineering and Technology division under J62.

From the musical vantage point, however, one might best characterize my advancement from folk group keyboard accompanist to Director of Music for the Cincinnati Province of the Society of Mary, as being one of decidedly stealthy proportions.

My initial foray onto the college liturgical music scene occurred when I joined a folk group which played at what was then the 12:45pm Sunday Mass liturgy, at the University of Dayton. The director, Dayton native Mark Haller, asked for volunteers to join the summer music group that year, and I and my guitar playing girl friend by the name of Margaret Zotkiewicz agreed to join. I didn't even start by playing the piano, since the group already had a regular accompanist.

Rather, I was content to play a little Casio keyboard (complete with miniature keys and a smallish tinny sound, that a musical friend, a Marianist priest, Fr. Jerry Chinchar had helped me purchase not long before).

For several weeks, I remained the Casio keyboard player (with some occasional synth percussion tossed in for variety). Then, a couple hired the entire folk group to perform at their wedding. While the other members of the choir were taking a break during the rehearsal, I decided to "fiddle around" on the piano with one of the requested songs, namely, "You, Light Up My Life".

To my amazement (and theirs) they all agreed I played by ear better than the regular pianist did with music, so they unanimously decided I should be the regular accompanist from then on.

This led to several years of playing for the folk choir, still only by playing by ear, having never had so much as one formal piano lesson, let alone any college level music courses. This was all quite a transition period from private to public musicianship.

Though I had been playing by ear for years throughout high school and my early college years, I never had formal piano instruction. In my family, my two sisters were given more attention to things musical than the four boys were. Thus, when we pursued careers, we investigated engineering, computers, etc., not music. This is partly the reason I graduated from UD in 1984, without having completed so much as one general music course, and only one semester of tuba performance instruction.

Based on my limited experience with the folk group, in 1985, I was recruited as one of two Campus Ministry directors of music for UD (I did the big events, the other, Mary Galvin, ran the music groups for the various weekend Masses). When I directed the 40 member Christmas on Campus choir in 1985, the choir adamantly wanted to sing the traditional Hallelujah Chorus postlude. That I had never before attempted nor even considered conducting on so grand a scale, did not seem to matter to them; when all was said and done, everything went very well indeed.

After the Baccalaureate Mass in April, 1986, I had had enough of the rigors of formal Music Directorship, and UD decided they needed someone "who knew what they were doing to run things...", hence came Alan and Patty Stock, who remained for 20 years. They retired from that position in the Summer of 2006.

In 1988, I resumed directing for the 10:00 AM Sunday Mass at UD, which was marginally more agreeable to my level of expertise and ability. From time to time, I checked into area choir directing opportunities here and there, but my lack of parish experience and accreditation, not to mention formal musical education, kept my options limited.

In 1990, Fr. Ron Wilker hired me as the Music Director at St. Paul’s, in spite of my obscurity at the time, and thus began a time of happy ministry which lasted until I resigned there, early in 1994.   

After leaving St. Paul's, I substituted /accompanied frequently at area churches, including the Normandy Methodist Church, The Hope United Methodist Church, Our Lady of Mercy, St. Leonard’s, and Assumption, all in Dayton, as well as St Augustine in Waynesville, and St. John Neumann, in Fairfield.

Though I continued to perform somewhat regularly at weddings in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas, it was not until 1998 that I again assumed the role of music director at an area parish. One week before Passion Sunday in 1998 (!), the pastoral administrator at St. Agnes called and offered me a position as their music director.

In January, 2000, Fr. Joe Lackner of the Cincinnati Province of the Society of Mary recruited me to direct music for the Sesquicentennial celebration of the Marianists in the "New World", held at the Queen of Apostles Chapel at Mount Saint John, in Dayton. Subsequently, in June of that year, the Provincial Council extended to me the opportunity to lead all liturgies and funerals of the Province. Most notable was the Mass celebrating the Beatification of Fr. William Joseph Chaminade, the founder of the Order, on September 4, 2000.

St. Agnes had proven to be a very good match for my interests, time, and abilities, since the choir never expected weekly rehearsals, a schedule that would have been difficult for me to maintain.  But, in 2002, the desire to be less tied down gained priority and I left St. Agnes, focusing on life at home, and music with the Marianists.

In September, 2003, I investigated a position to direct the music at the Church of the Holy Angels, in Dayton, Ohio, which had recently been made part-time.  After some careful discernment, I accepted the position once offered, and since then, have been very grateful for the opportunity that has since developed.  As my music involvement at Holy Angels took hold, I decided in the Fall of 2008 to relinquish the position of Music Director for the Dayton Area Marianists, to James Pera, then Campus Music Minister at the University of Dayton.  In the 18 years that I have been at Holy Angels, I have coordinated or otherwise led the upgrade of the sound system to a Bose linear array, added the JourneySongs hymnal in 2006, assisted in the renovation of the organ on two separate occasions (2006 and 2020-2021), and been instrumental in the acquisition of the 2nd Ritual Song edition in July 2020 funded by a major donor to the ministry at Holy Angels.

Other miscellaneous musical endeavors can be summed up as follows:

I began composing instrumentals as part of liturgical "ad libitums" (in the words of Fr. Jerry Chinchar) for the Offertory or Preparation of the Gifts, as we now prefer to say, by 1984-85.  By 1986, I was beginning to prepare them in manuscript form, and in 1987, my first amateur audio recording, Rosewood and Ivory was privately recorded and produced.

In 1989, I was asked by long time friend, Brad Harvey, to perform the sound track for a video documentary on West Virginia in the Civil War, which was nominated for an Emmy that year.  In 1992, Brad used my music for the sound track for "A Scar Remains", a 1992 WCHS Documentary of the 1967 Silver Bridge disaster.  This can be viewed here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2OokNhrqX0pD-2uiB-DRA_aupVQL_RJbhJm6waCHklDv2_evjp5GPDFlY&v=I2Qhl4FGSIo&feature=youtu.be

In the summer of 1990, I performed a piano concert at the newly reclaimed/renovated Ariel Theatre in my home town, Gallipolis, Ohio.

In 1998, I wrote a piano instrumental arrangement of Be Thou My Vision, which was published by the Lorenz Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, in the collection titled, Reflections of Faith., edited by Mark Barnard.

In 1999, friend and fellow musician Nick Cardilino published a music CD titled The Workings of Grace.   I co-wrote and performed keyboards on one of the songs on this album, May We Be One.

I became a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1990, and hold several copyrights on original compositions at the Copyright office in Washington D.C.  For the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006 award years, I received  $150 in the ASCAPlu$ Award program for musical contributions related to Liturgical works not regularly monitored by ASCAP's typical media reviews.

In 2004, I was nominated and elected Program Coordinator (2 year term) for the Miami Valley Catholic Church Musicians (MVCCM).  In May, 2006, I was appointed to the board of the Dayton Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO).

In 2011, with the introduction of the 2010 Revised Roman Missal, Holy Angels began using a setting of the Mass I wrote, dedicated to my cousin, Mark Seidell, who died on Mercy Sunday, 2012.  Named the Mass of St. Mark, it was followed by another Mass setting, the Mass of St. Louis IX, patron of St. Louis Church, Gallipolis, Ohio.  I wrote this Mass setting in 2012 for the parishoners at my home town there.

In March, 2014, I presented the first concert of my own works at Holy Angels, entitled, "Winter into Spring".  Along with a cast of 25+ instrumentalists and associates, including Brian Griffin and Tammy Schaff as masters of ceremonies, the event was quite an undertaking, costing in excess of $4000, which was largely donated by the Spurlino Family Fund IV.  I even transported my conservatory grand piano to the church for the occasion.

In October, 2015, Italian organist Ugo Sforza came to Dayton, and played a concert at Holy Angels and St. Mary's.  Here is a link to a YouTube recording of Variations on an English Carol, an earlier organ/brass composition I wrote.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9gI9dtnGB4

In 2001, as the result of a large development adjacent to my property in Clearcreek Twp., Warren Co., Ohio, the zoning administrator of the township solicited my interest in applying for a position on the zoning commission.  I was interviewed on March 22, 2001, and was appointed to a 2 year alternate position on the commission.  In 2002, however, I was interviewed for an open permanent member position, and was appointed in March of 2002 for a term thru 2007.  On March 29, 2007, I was sworn in for my 2nd permanent position on the commission, at the regular bi-monthly Trustees meeting.  I was chair of the body since April of 2004 (9 terms).  In April, 2012, my involvement was reduced as I decided to take a diminished role in the affairs of the township, and became an Alternate (again), just like in 2001.  However, in April 2014, I agreed to assume a Full member position of the commission, completing another's remaining term.  This resulted in a not so precedented 6 year term renewal thru 2020. I was elected vice-Chair on April 3, 2017.  Subsequently, and in 2019, I was appointed to fill the position of a former commissioner, and September 9, 2019, was sworn in for a new term, thru March 31, 2025.  In 2020, I became the Chair again, as a result of the resignation of the previous Chair.