Class Notes

I received a photo card from Mary Ruthie Ridge Griggs who was attending a Veteran’s Day parade. She had returned from her 50th Reunion for the Framar Girls. She recalled Alice Cox is married for 60 years to the blind date she had arranged. Betty Beckham married a Marine form an arranged blind date. She said the sweet Jean Miller is deceased.

Sally Boyce Sullivan shared that she and her husband Travis have just moved in July to a retirement center in Dallas from their home of 1960. Their two children are nearby and they get to see them and their two grandchildren. They travel to Palm Springs often and cruise to Alaska.

Julia Harris Porter left me two telephone messages. The first was to tell me that she was celebrating her 80th with a party on 12/04. The next call shared that she has been involved in her church for over 30 years as a chairman or co-chair of a council. She has taken part in the Mystic, CT walk for the past 25 years.

Sometimes connections don’t work out. Charlotte M. Walker of Fredericksburg called me two different times, but I missed her calls and she did not leave me a phone number. This is my message to her that I did receive her calls but regret that we did not get to talk to each other.

Fay Purcell Parke Cantrell and family in May took a Family Cruise to the Carribean. The group included children, wives, husbands, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She said they had done the same cruise in 2007. In June, Alex and she went to Barcelona and Lisbon. Though Fay is a retired high school counselor, she continues to assist with the high school scholarship program.

Peggy Kelley Reinburg is still focused on music as an organ recitalist, private instructor, musicologist and pipe organ, and pipe organ design consultant. Her most recent project was for St. Benedict Catholic Church in Chesapeake, Va. Completed in November, 2014 in collaboration with Berghaus Pipe Organ Builders in the Chicago area. Peggy will perform at St. Benedicts Church on May 21, 2017. This is her eighteenth appearance in the ARTS festival in Hampton Roads. Her professional career has spanned six decades, 25 years for recital tours in the USA Europe and Australia and she has engagements scheduled through 2018. As a MWC College Organist and faculty member for 13 years Peggy is witnessing retirements of many of her students. Peggy’s son, Alexander, is a graduate of the University of the South and the Courtald Institute of the University of London is an architectural historian.

Kay Martin Britto enjoys living in a college town. Two of the things she had done recently are to take classes, attend lectures and OLLI and the other is to volunteer as a standardized patient for the nursing students. She follows a scenario and the students examine and interview her. She said it’s fun to play the part.

Dorothy (Dot) Dalton Crossan sent me an email after we had a conversation via telephone. She said she and Mike love living in Virginia at Smith Mountain Lake. There is so much to see and do there. She feels she and Mile are doing OK for mature adults. They live with a Cairn Terrier, Riley who is a qualified Therapy Dog and they visit elementary schools reading with students needing help and love. They also do summer programs. She is a thi chi instructor and loves taking classes. She and Mile have 3 children, 6 grandchildren. Their daughter’s son graduated from Quinapeac-works for AT&T. Their son Michael, the oldest has 2 boys one a senior at UNH top caliber running back football player. His youngest is on an ROTC scholarship, plays bootball. Their youngest son has 3 children 2 boys and 1 daughter. All three are involved in sports including soccer, lacrosse, basketball, swimming, jujitsu. What an active family. Dot and husband travel states, National Parks from Glacier National to Las Vegas, to Alaska, have visited Ireland, England, and 5 Caribbean cruises, sailed thru the Panama Canal. The most recent cruise was on the Danube. They will be doing more traveling in the future. It would be wonderful if all our classmates could someday have a reunion and share stories about all the places we have been.

Suzanne (Sue) Doran Houser and her husband have lived in Atlanta GA since 1982. He finished his 30 years in the Army at Ft. McPherson. His tours included 3 in Germany. He then started a second career in health care recently retires. Sue has been teaching piano lessons in her home for 55 years, she still enjoys students, kids and adults. They travel often and visit their daughter and 4 grandchildren. She keeps in touch with old roommate Pat Lawder Rusk in St. Simons and also Jean Phipard Rutherford in Norfolk. She looks forward to news about everyone and the UMW magazine telling about the new President and the article about Joan of Arc being restored to Ball.

Nancy Lunsford Singer Spero did some catching up. She said she had been single for 20 years after her divorce from Roger Singer and she has been married to Steve Spero for 6 years. She had worked and designed and built her home in Fair Haven, NJ where she has friends and daughters. Now she is living in Florida enjoying taking art lessons, pottery, gardening, cooking and having time to read. She would love to hear from any MWC girls who might be in the area.

David B. Young, husband of Joanne Bortz Young, sent me the message than Joanne passed away on April 8, 2016. I am sorry for their loss. I appreciate that he took the time to let me know which I am sharing with you all.

Mary Townsend Bates – I had this email since 2/28/16 because it came too late to include in a previous issue. Mary shared her trip to Frankfort, KY for their Dutch Cousin’s reunion which over 150 relatives attended. She said it culminated with a religious service in Mercer County where her forefathers built a church that is still standing. Her great, great grandfather and her great grandmother are buried there. The history goes back to the Revolutionary War. Mary and her husband are planning a boat cruise on the Snake and Columbia Rivers, Oregon/Idaho. They continue to enjoy the OBX condo in Kill Devil Hills, NC. The seafood is great and they enjoy watching the dolphins play or walk on the beach.

Joyce Butler Allen sent me a Christmas card. She shared that she retired from the Board of Trustees at Davis and Elkins College after 22 years, then she returned. She is on various committees including a Creative Arts and the Museum at WVU. Her daughter Susan joined this summer for a 3 week trip to London, Paris and the French wine. She has connected to Facebook and has communicated with Alice Janklow Drucker. Joyce had a family reunion after Thanksgiving at Bonnie Blue’s BBQ in Winchester with brothers and other relatives. Peter was in from Dallas with family, first time in 5 years.

Carol Thomas, sister of Gwendolyn Page Langwell, shared that Gwendolyn passed away in March, 2016. We lost two classmates recently. I know we are all very sorry for this loss.

I am still unpacking from my move from Fort Loudon apartments where I have been living since 1986. They are being rehabbed. However I found a note from Jean Lee Anderson Chapman ’87. She and her husband were moving from their home to a condo 2 miles away. At that time they were expecting their 9th grandchild. My move finally occurred on 6/27/2016. Many friends came to help. I did not know how much I stored. Now is the time to go through everything and let it go. And so it goes. I hope to attend the activities at UMW this spring. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the UMW Magazine article.