Class Notes

Members of the Class of 1979 have been busy with travel, milestones and celebrations.

Lorenza Amico writes that she took an escorted tour of France and saw much of the countryside. She noted highlights included visiting Omaha Beach and the American cemetery and museum, as well as Monet’s house and garden at Giverney, which she deemed “spectacular.” She also spent time on the beautiful Mary Washington campus this past school year to see her nephew play some rugby matches, observing, “The sports complex is quite an improvement over the overgrown golf course that I remember.” She added, “I attended this year’s graduation exercises: Ball Circle was a bit wet underfoot but the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful day; the speakers kept their remarks short and sweet; and the graduates looked happy, excited, and spiffy in their regalia. There are now two Mary Washington graduates in our family.”

The following weekend, she attended the gala celebrating the completion of the Mary Washington First campaign and Mr. Hurley’s presidency where she saw Lisa Bratton Soltis and Sue Tillery and noted, “A great time was had by all.”

Anita Churney Lossing explains her new last name with “I have had a busy year! I married a wonderful man I met on Christian Mingle and changed my name to Anita Lossing. Evelyn Way, my BFF, was my matron of honor and my daughters gave me away. We enjoyed a honeymoon in Scotland.” She added that she moved from Burke, Virginia, to a 55-plus community in Fredericksburg and is “loving life again!”

May and June saw graduations for the sons of Linda McCarthy Milone (son Oliver graduated from the University of Georgia); Betsy Larson Kyker (son Jake graduated from Fairfax High School); and Judy Kemp Allard (son Jacob graduated from Lee-Davis High School). In addition, Judy’s daughter, Melanie, was married on June 25 to Matt Bryan.

I took a long weekend trip up to New York City in June to celebrate my sister Irene’s birthday with our other sister, Patricia Goliash Andril, ’80. Irene, who attended Mary Washington from 1980 to 1982 before transferring to nursing school, had been born on Governors Island, which is about 700 yards from Manhattan. We hadn’t been there since 1964 when it was an Army base. It was fun to walk around the island which is now part of the National Park Service and only open on weekends. The New Yorkers we spoke with who go there for picnics and to get away from the city were eager to hear what it was like to live on the island and we shared many happy memories.