record details.
| interview date(s). | March 3, 2022 |
| interviewer(s). | Becca Wertheimer |
| affiliation(s). | Storied |
This oral history interview with Kevin Graham, conducted on March 3 and March 23, 2022, documents Graham’s early life, family background, education, professional career, and reflections on family, work, and identity. Graham was born in 1946 in Rockville Centre, New York, and raised in Valley Stream, Long Island, in a middle-class Irish Catholic family. He reflects on his parents, Edward and Helen Graham, his father’s career as a physical education teacher, coach, and summer camp director, and his mother’s role as a central, steady presence in the home. He discusses family dynamics, including relationships with his two brothers, neighborhood life, Catholic schooling, and formative childhood experiences. A significant portion of the interview focuses on Graham’s long-standing connection to summer camp life in Dexter, Maine, where he first attended as a child and later worked as a counselor. He describes the camp’s influence on his appreciation of nature, family cohesion, and multigenerational traditions that continue through his children and grandchildren. Graham recounts his college years at Fairfield University, including athletic participation, academic development, and a formative meeting with a school psychologist that influenced his decision to pursue graduate study in psychology. He discusses his graduate education at Alfred University and Lehigh University, his early professional experience as a school psychologist in upstate New York, and the challenges of working in rural, economically diverse communities. The interview also addresses the broader historical context of the Vietnam War draft, including how a skiing injury during his senior year of college resulted in a deferment that shaped his educational trajectory. Graham reflects on his marriage to Kathy, their decision to settle in East Hampton, New York, raising two children, and balancing professional responsibilities with family life. He describes his work as both a school psychologist and a private practitioner, and how parenthood informed his professional practice.