Class Notes

My children seem to think I shouldn’t be alone since Hank passed away, so my daughter, Heidi, and her friend moved upstairs. Part of the bargain is that he does the cooking. They have been caring for the yard and garden and doing repairs, and Heidi has helped me tremendously with my finances. I planned to go to the annual USS New York reunion in Norfolk, Va., this year with some of the children and to a family reunion this summer. One granddaughter was married in April, another was to be married in September, and one of my grandsons and his wife had my first great-granddaughter in March. I believe there will be another wedding in Germany next year and possibly something here. I still play bridge, go to exercise class, sing in the choir, and hopefully will play hand bells again at church; it has been too long since I used them.

Ruth “Sammie” Samuel Legnini moved to the Dunwoody Village retirement community in Newtown Square, Pa., and loves it, as does my sister, Priscilla, who has been there a few years. The two hadn’t yet met. Sammie said Mary Washington was one of the great joys of her life, and she loves to keep up with college friends, so keep sending your news.

Anna Austin Ware got an email from Libby Philips Roe, and they are OK. Anna said they’d just had two inches of rain, which made the farmers happy after a dry spell. After reading No Ordinary Time, which repeatedly mentions Roosevelt’s stamp collection, Anna had been entertaining herself with her collection, which had been packed away for years. She has lots of duplicates to give a 10-year-old friend at church who just started a collection.

Elizabeth Cumby Murray’s grandson, Andrew, and his wife had her second great-grandchild, James “Jamee” Thomas Gilles Bridier, who joined his 2-year-old sister, Charlotte Elizabeth, in May. Andrew’s brother, Matthieu, married Kelly in June on Long Island in Westhampton, N.Y., then honeymooned in Italy. The two boys followed their grandfather, Philip Murray, in the clothing business. Elizabeth continues to play bridge. She has lost several close friends, which reminds her that we’re all getting older.

Mary Ellen Gardiner Starkey still lives alone in a La Plata, Md., senior village but gets help and company from her nearby children. Grandson Jac was to attend Penn State. Daughter Marianne has two sons, one in Ohio and the other in Louisiana, who also were to go to college in the fall. Other than “elderly” aches and pains, Mary Ellen said she is doing well. Isabel Hildrup Klein is doing OK but has the same sort of dates most of us have with various doctors. Granddaughter Robin works for the National Institutes of Health, and Robin’s husband works in pharmaceuticals.

I enjoyed hearing from all of you and, hopefully, it helps keep our class together. Please keep it up. Have a good 2012! Happiness to all of you, and Heidi, take care of the yard!