Class Notes

Dr. Dawne Y. Curry has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar award for South Africa 2017-2018.  She is currently an Associate Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dawne is also the author of Apartheid on Black Isle:  Removal and Resistance in Alexandra, South Africa published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012.

In March 2017, Brooke Fillmore Herndon was named Vice President of University Advancement at Mary Baldwin University, overseeing all fundraising and alumni relations activities. Brooke and her husband, Greg, plan to sell their home in Winchester, VA and relocate to Staunton, VA.

And lastly, Susan Hankel Riccio opted for early retirement this Spring (April 2017) after more than 25 years of dedicated service to the Intelligence Community.  Well done, classmates.

Keep the updates coming!

Greetings, Class of 1991! Hope this finds you well.

A highlight this past year for many alumni was the Rabble Rousers show in Fredericksburg in June. They never disappoint!

After 23 years as a dental hygienist, Megan Donnelly has opened a school uniform store in Arlington, called Educational Outfitters, and the business is growing nicely. As of this fall, she will be serving 30 schools. Megan also does spirit wear, athletic apparel, custom logo apparel, and promotional items.  Look her up if you are in need of any of these!

Lisa Meadows Foulds and husband Eric Foulds ’89 have a son, William, who recently graduated from The Math & Science High School at Clover Hill and is studying economics and mathematics at UVA. Eric is working for the Virginia Department of Corrections as a lead computer tech and Lisa runs a daycare, but is hoping to go back to school in the spring.

Lisa Poindexter Hayslett got to relive some fond memories of her own graduation as her daughter, Mackenzie Plaia ‘17, graduated from Mary Washington in the spring. Frank and I also experienced a recent graduation as our son, Jake, graduated from high school in June. Jake is currently attending Virginia Tech, and we are adjusting to life as empty nesters.

Keep sending your news and updates. It is always great to hear from you! Reminder: Print updates may be edited by the alumni office due to space limitations; however, the unedited version is available online.

My husband Tom and I have been busy. Living in Mobile offers interesting social, recreational, artistic, cultural, and volunteering opportunities. We attended many parades and white tie and tails balls during the weeks-long season of Mardi Gras, which originated here in 1703; the Port City Second Liners Masquerade Ball benefiting their non-profit Mardi Gras organization; the Bald Eagle Bash fundraiser for the Weeks Bay Foundation; the SouthSounds Music Festival featuring three days of the best new Southern musicians and artists; and several University of South Alabama basketball games. We enjoy Gulf Coast living by eating our fill at crawfish boils and making quick trips to Dauphin Island. We explored more of our new home state when we traveled to Montgomery, Point Clear, and Gulf Shores, Alabama, for Tom’s engineering conferences. We participated in the Funky Monkey Fun Run, our first 5K together, and I volunteered at and Tom ran in the 10K Azalea Trail Run, considered one of the country’s premier road races drawing participants from around the world. In May we took our first real vacation (no work!) in two and a half years and stayed at (for the eighth time) Sandals Ochi Beach Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. My brother James came to visit us on his summer break from teaching at the Perkiomen School in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. We’ve only been in Mobile for 18 months, and Tom’s company asked us to move back to Atlanta so Tom can once again head up Roadway Projects in Georgia. Now we’re house hunting again! When we’re settled, I hope to get involved with the UMW Atlanta Network and connect with area alumni. I’ll keep you posted and look forward to staying in touch and hearing from anyone and everyone interested in sharing their MWC/UMW memories and stories. Please email me at charjung@hotmail.com.

Christine Harrison Casey ’92 was promoted to Director of Annual Giving and Stewardship for Transitions LifeCare (formerly Hospice of Wake County) based in Raleigh, NC. In her role, she will supervise two full-time team members and is responsible for the agency’s unrestricted goal of $1.5 million. She will be a presenter and is teaching one of the pre-conference courses at the NC State-wide Philanthropy Conference in Durham, NC, in August. She was very sorry to miss the reunion but hopes everyone had a good time and stays in touch.

Ken Stuck ‘90 and Wendy Stuck (Scott ‘92) reside in Newport News, Virginia, with their two children and a rescue dog. They will celebrate their 23rd anniversary in August 2017. Ken is an Archaeologist with VDOT, and Wendy teaches Spanish in Newport News Public Schools. Their daughter just graduated from high school and is off to college in the fall. They volunteer in their kids’ schools, in church and in Boy and Girl Scouts.

Ken Lopez just wrapped up a four-year term on the UMW Board of Visitors. One year ago, they had the distinct honor of helping to attract and hire UMW’s 10th president, Dr. Troy Paino. Ken lives in Old Town Alexandria where he walks his nine year old triplet girls to school each day on his way to work at the company he founded 22 years ago, A2L Consulting. This year, he attended his 25th reunion and once again roomed with his old roomies Doug Stanley and Rene Rios.

Helen Heath Thompson Mosher (’92 dropout with alumni status) enjoyed hanging out with Mike Smith ’92, Douglas Stanley ’92, Tevin Chaney ’92 and a host of others at reunion weekend, and particularly enjoyed ribbing Jeff Miers of the Rabble Rousers about beating them in Battle of the Bands in 1989 with Rex and the Texans–but it doesn’t matter because they’re still playing and sounded fantastic while Rex and the Texans is scattered about, with Chris Johnson ’92 in Philadelphia and Sean  Michael Dargan ’90 about to move to Stanford from Madison Wisconsin, for his wife’s fellowship. Helen discovered that she and Angel Gooch Tankersley ’92 lived in the same dorm freshman year. They had no idea despite knowing each other locally for more than two years. Helen’s older son, Kieran Shaw ’15, has been promoted to Ticket Services Manager at Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC. (The best part of that announcement is that Kieran is the reason I didn’t get back to MWC in 1992.)

Rachael Crout ’92 and her husband Eric attended the June class reunion, toured the campus, and enjoyed seeing the familiar buildings that sparked some great memories. They were happy to see that the new buildings were constructed honoring the traditional architecture. They met Barbara Elwell Charmichael, her husband Jim, and Tevin Chaney for dinner at the Irish Brigade. Renee Rios, Ken Lopez, and Doug Stanley joined them to jam to the ever-great Rabble Rousers.

Amy Libert and her husband, Karl Liebert (‘93) live in Burke, VA. Their son, Kal, is at ODU, and their daughter, Morgen, will be a senior at Lake Braddock. Amy and Morgen attended Awesome Con in Washington DC, celebrating their inner geek and meeting some of their favorite sci-fi celebrities. In July Amy and Karl got together with Edna Coste Borchetta (‘92) and her huband Gene, Suzy Cole Ferger (‘92) and her husband,Kevin, Jennifer Peterson Riggle (‘93) and husband Curt, and Amy Larsen DeCarlo (‘93) and husband Mark.

Eric Robert Nolan (94) is acclimating happily to Roanoke, Virginia, being mentored there in rural Southern living by Paula Merritt (92), Mike Merritt (96) and Miki Merritt (97).  During a trip this spring to Washington, D.C., Eric toured the Mary Washington College Campus with Greg Monner (94).  Eric’s recent publications include a short story, “Shine Now, Fiercely, Forever,” in the online dystopian literature magazine, The Bees Are Dead (where he also helps as a contributing editor).  Eric’s poetry and flash fiction were accepted this past spring by Poetry Pacific and The Poems-For-All Project.

Tama Welch Press and her husband Jon Press (92) are moving from northern Illinois to Colorado Springs this summer due to a new office opening there for Jon’s company. Both of their girls will be going to college in Colorado and they are all excited for the new adventure!  They plan on catching up with a visit from Reid Smith (93) and Lisa Milnes Smith (94) and their kids while they are out in Colorado on vacation in July

James and Nancy Columbia Hilbert are excited to announce that their daughter Emily Hilbert will be in the class of 2021 at UMW. She is interested in studying Historical Presentation and Conservation.

Matthew Steele (1994) and his wife Sarah live in Richmond with their five-year old soccer fiend Olivia and their two year-old spit-fire Emmeline. Matthew works for ChildFund International as an analyst and Sarah works as a middle school teacher in the Richmond Public School system. Matthew completed a PhD in public policy and administration a few years ago and is doing his absolute best to never step foot inside a classroom again!

Cynthia Rush Reasoner earned her Ed.D. from Liberty University in educational leadership in 2017.

Tracy Sexton Plummer works at Huntington National Bank in IT, where she is also on the steering committee for the Women’s Network Business Resource Group. She has a 12-year old son who just finished 7th grade.  He plays as many sports as is humanly possible. When she is not running her son around Columbus, Ohio and its suburbs, she serves as Vice President of the McCord Middle School PTA and will be its President next year.

Felicia Marie Baxter reports that she is a Pediatric Hospitalist currently working at Bay Area Hospital in Oregon with her 14th unrestricted medical license.  She also is a Chief Medical Information Officer for iCare.

Nicole Lee Hutnick has spent the past six years working for Weaver’s Way Co-op in Philadelphia.  She plans to start her own small-scale photography business this year.

Becca Dotson graduated with her M.Ed in Secondary Ed from George Washington University in 2013 and taught English in Italy.  She now teaches English as a Second Language to middle schoolers in Takoma Park where she reports she is single with a lovely cat.

Lesley Krush Williams has been teaching high school math at Chopticon High School – her alma mater – in St Marys County, MD for the past 20 years. Her oldest daughter just completed her freshman year at the University of Maryland. She has a daughter finishing 4th grade and a son finishing kindergarten. Her husband is finishing his first year as principal of Northern High School in Calvert County, Maryland.

Heidi Zirkle Arthur writes: I’m a social worker employed with a national consulting firm that specializes in publically financed healthcare delivery.  My focus is on helping behavioral health and human service organizations obtain resources to grow and enhance their services.  My husband Ben Arthur (same guy I dated throughout college) is a musician and we live in Manhattan with two daughters, Ruby (11) and Lilah (9).

Jennifer McKay McGuckin writes: My husband, Andrew McGuckin, and I just celebrated our 19th anniversary and live in Alexandria, VA. We have a 10-year-old son named Joshua, a 7-year-old daughter named Ashley and a 12-year-old yellow lab mix named Chelsea. I taught first grade for 10 years at St. Mary’s School in Alexandria and have been teaching kindergarten for Alexandria City Public Schools for the past 11 years. I have a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialty in English as a Second Language.

Chris Paige will be honored for their many years of service as one of many “saints and prophets” in LGBTQIA Christian movement-building at the “Rolling The Stone Away” (https://rollingthestoneaway.org/) conference in St Louis, October 31- November 2, 2017. Chris is divorced and still living in the Greater Philadelphia area with their 11 year old child and a new dog.

We’re sorry to report that Stephen Shepard Crow passed away May 26, 2017, after a long battle with neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer. Steve’s career in substance abuse recovery led him to found Harrison House of Virginia, where he was program director. According to his obituary, “Steve has been instrumental in supporting thousands of individuals find recovery in his more than 30 years in the addiction treatment field.” The obituary says Steve believed strongly in educating the public about addiction, and worked as an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College, as well as providing seminars to families, medical staff, and the wider community. Survivors include wife Mary Kathleen, his mother, Louise Crow, two sisters, a niece and nephew, and other relatives and friends.

Some first ever updates from a few Class of 1998 alums for this edition! Bonnie Dye and Thomas Merrigan got hitched in 2001. After a little globetrotting (Maryland, NYC, Thailand) they settled in Durham, NC. While in NYC, Bonnie earned a Masters in Public Health at Columbia and now works for the HIV Prevention Trials Network as a Senior Clinical Research Manager. Tom got a Masters in Architecture in 2003 and works for Linton Architects. They have two daughters: Holly and Penny, as well as a rescue mutt named Poca.

Julie Garner Goodrich is married with two daughters: Josephine (5) and Ava (3). She lives in NoVa and works at Management Concepts in Tysons Corner.

Sara Goode reports that she and Ryan Kaye ’99 became friends while playing softball and baseball at Mary Washington. 20 short years later they got married! They now live in Richmond.

Big news for our crew: Darien Berkowitz Jacobson, her husband Andy, and their twin sons are moving to Seattle this summer.  We’re looking forward to relocating our annual MeatFest to the Pacific Northwest beginning in 2018.

Here’s hoping this news finds all of you well!