Class Notes

Judy Davidson Creasy was featured both for her art and her fly fishing prowess in the January, 2016, issue of California Fly Fisher magazine. Diane Delamarre Madgic’s husband Bob, who writes for the magazine, saw a wonderful image that Judy painted of her husband fly fishing in a New Zealand river. He thought that Judy would be a perfect subject to feature since, besides her beautiful painting, Judy herself has long been an avid fly fisher whose lifelong commitment to her art is driven primarily by her own inner desire to create and contribute.

Sandy Poole wrote that her partner, Barb, has been approved as a postulant for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church, and expects to be ordained to the priesthood soon—her lifelong dream.

Joyce Neill Krost still spends time in Spain with her sister and her Spanish family, right on the Mediterranean, spending most of her time painting and visiting little villages in the area.

Jane Denslow McCrohan enjoys her beautiful home on Puget Sound, and she and Ed keep current with frequent contacts with their college-age grandchildren.

Sherry Farrington Green has given up competitive fencing on an international level, but still fences in local tournaments; she enjoys being “run around the strip” by kids who are younger than her grandchildren. Sherry says, “It’s good for them to realize that ‘Old Broads’ can still kick butt!” She adds, “I thoroughly enjoy my work as a doula and will never cease to be in awe of the power of a birthing woman.” Sherry also said that her daughter has been ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in New Mexico.

Betty Ditmars Prosser writes from New York, “Remember the energetic and youthful young women we were in Fredericksburg? Those young ladies are STILL in all of us. So find her and celebrate what a great gal she turned out to be!”

Sue Smith Goodrick hopes to sell her home in North Carolina and move to Illinois to be near her son.

Bonnie Davis Hall, in her April update to us, was finally released by her oncologist and can get back to a normal life. She is now on maintenance until September, but will take a pill for five years.

Judy Wandell Potter went to a quilting camp in the beautiful Sonora foothills of California.

Liz Hill Heaney wrote that traveling with her walker is difficult.

Gaye Roberts Olsen had a severe medical crisis at Easter, and was diagnosed with multiple blood clots in her lungs. She is now on Coumadin and oxygen, learning different ways to breathe. We had a note from her in early June that she was stable, and on her birthday she was able to travel in her battery-powered chair with friends to a local restaurant for dinner. She thanks everyone for their prayers.

Dana Lee Dunn Wasserman stays busy with two “federated” garden clubs, which means they must contribute to the beautification of the city. She is active in a book club that she helped start in 1985, and she has started them everywhere she has lived since 1968. Cooking and reading are two of her biggest passions. She reminds us that her daughter, Lee Walker Shepherd, graduated from Mary Washington in 1984 and has her own internet company with unique gifts.

Jet-propelled world traveler Rose Bennett Gilbert slowed down enough to send this news: She has made the rounds of the Virginia/North Carolina furniture markets; spent time on the Outer Banks beaches writing business a newsletter for the SURETEX art show in New York; and is planning a social event for International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA) on whose board she sits. She took a remedial Italian class, and was off on a cruise from Amsterdam to Iceland, Scotland, Norway, and London, getting paid to write travel articles about the trip.

Coleman McPherson Chambliss moved to Columbia, South Carolina, in 1978, when her husband, Jack, retired from the Marine Corps. She was the Executive Director of the Richland County Bar Association for 24 years and recently retired. Her husband passed in 2010.   She has been involved with Springer (spaniel) Rescue for 25 years, but when her last Springer died recently and there was a long wait for a new one, she “jumped ship,” and adopted a cute “hairy” mutt and hopes to outlive him. Her two daughters and their families both live in town.

Coleman also informed us that Sue May Smyth Lam passed recently; and shortly after we learned from Syd Collson Chichester that her old “twin” and running mate Cynthia “Cyd” Day Getchell has left us also.

Gail Mooney Grobe, when she learned of Linda Fuller Watkins’ passing, sent us two pics—one of her with Linda and Dodie Tyrell, and one of Miss Wynn, our House Mother in Betty Lewis freshman year and again in Bushnell our senior year.

Marilla Mattox Haas, whom we haven’t heard from in ages and lives in Fredericksburg, sent us a newsy note: “I don’t think ‘old age’ will be a reality until I stop working! I’m still working full-time for the Commissioner of Revenue in Fredericksburg, and I also am enjoying accompanying three community choruses and am in my 58th year as the organist at church.”

Penny Engle Burkhardt and Brad’s first adventure this year was a Viking River Cruise on the Seine, which included many interesting stops that were on their bucket list. Their second adventure, shortly after, was to Texas to visit their new twin grandchildren.

From Jody: We know we have quite a few classmates who seem to be managing without email and depriving themselves of our class network, but we suspect some of you may have acquired email capability or changed your email address since our last survey and didn’t realize you have to send that address on to us, too. We have more in-depth news, birthdays, and notice of passings to share with you monthly, in a more timely fashion. You don’t know what you are missing; but we certainly know we miss hearing from you.

From Karen: Darrell and I made it through our round dance season, prepared to transition to our summer home near Show Low, Arizona. We were there two weeks when the Cedar Fire broke out, and the smoke sent us back to Mesa for a time. We are also planning an early fall camping trip through Colorado, Yellowstone, and Wyoming. By the time you read this, we will have a new great-granddaughter, hopefully born on or near our anniversary in September.

On another email address issue: Please note our new email addresses above. We just learned that MW will no longer be supporting the “alumni.umw.edu” mailbox for individual alumni, so those two will be the only addresses ones you can reach us at. AND—if you change your e-mail address—PLEASE notify Jody or Karen directly, or we will lose you!