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UMW Magazine – Class Notes
1301 College Ave.
Fredericksburg, VA 22401

1947

Betty Moore Drewry Bamman
bdbamman@verizon.net

My son, Mark, and I are still renovating our house. I have been seeing the renowned chiropractor Mark Gentile, who has greatly improved my stooped posture.

Julia Nell Blosser Grandle lived in Betty Lewis Hall with Joyce Drewry of Beckley, W.Va. Julia married in her sophomore year, transferred to her hometown college, now James Madison University, and taught math at Harrisonburg High School for 24 years. She has three sons, two grandchildren, and four greats. Her husband of 54 years died of cancer, and Julia now lives in a retirement community and would love to hear from others who lived in Betty Lewis. Write me for her email or physical address.

Kay Ryan Ryan of Florida read in Class Notes about Ruth Duff Dyckman ’40, a friend and neighbor from Peekskill, N.Y., and called her. Kay heard from Barbara Curtis Noll, who is in real estate in Virginia and planned to be with her sons on Cape Cod, Mass., in August to see her new great-granddaughter.

Jean Boyce Carleton and husband Fred moved to the Freedom Village assisted living community in Bradenton, Fla. Fred had been recovering from surgery and complications but was back home and having physical therapy. Jean keeps busy with exercise, yoga, and bridge. They planned a three-week vacation in July with one of their two daughters, Marcy, and her family in Nantucket, Mass. While there, Jean planned to see Elizabeth Cumby Murray ’44, and she keeps in touch with Pat Draz Glaser of Tequesta, Fla., who summered in Plymouth, Mass., where her children and grandchildren live. Pat’s sister-in-law, Jody Briggs Glaser, moved from Florida to Maryland to be near one of her daughters. Jody and Betty Warren were my roommates in Virginia Hall.

Elizabeth Savage Stevens, who retired from USA Today and moved back to Fredericksburg, has four children and eight grands. She taught at Greenwich Academy in Connecticut, was on National Public Radio, and has traveled in Greece, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Hawaii. She volunteers at church and the library and for the Red Cross. Lucy Mason Anderson Bannister, who has been a widow since 2006, has four children and 10 grands. Lucy sold her house and lives in an apartment in Wilmington, Del.

Rev. John C. Adkerson wrote to say his wife, Sara Elizabeth Wagner Adkerson, passed away in April. They met when Sara was en route to join a mission team to serve in a coal-mining town in southwest Virginia. She gave him a gospel tract and shared her faith. He was convinced that he wanted to be a Christian and someday marry this special lady. They married in 1949 and had four daughters, 10 grands, and 10 greats.

Doris Lippold Burns of Palm Harbor, Fla., had been married to her husband for 62 years, when he died suddenly last year. They had traveled most continents and especially enjoyed riverboat cruises in Europe. Doris has three children and seven grandchildren. She moved into the Stratford Court independent living facility last December, and her children visit often. She keeps in touch with Harriet Davis Lathrum, Phyllis Horton Kent, and Sylvia Moore.

Betty Fulk Strider of Charlottesville married her high school sweetheart, David, in June 1948, and he served several surgical residencies. He also served in WWII and was called back into the Navy in 1952 to serve in the Korean War. She and David raised three sons, and he had his own surgical practice in Charlottesville for 33 years but was forced to close it after being diagnosed with throat cancer. He died in 2004 on his 78th birthday. Betty is active in a garden club and enjoys being with her children and grandchildren, who visit often.

Pat Geyer retired from Montclair, N.J., to a townhouse in Wilmington, N.C., where she has done the things she never had time for during her career. She spent many years in merchandising for a sportswear chain owned by W.R. Grace. A major part of her stock came from U.S. ski lines. She got ideas from sportswear shops throughout Europe and had items made in Hong Kong and China. She also scouted for manufacturing sites in Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. After retiring, she traveled the then Soviet Union, and she was the only Caucasian woman on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing. She traveled across Turkey twice. She camped with a group of geologists in Alaska, from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay and back. Pat has taken cruises, but mostly she has traveled on container ships. She’s been through the Panama Canal several times, and she’s been around Africa and South America and through the Mediterranean on Suez Canal freighter trips. Now, she is really retired, takes yoga classes, and enjoys hearing about the adventures of her grandson, who is in the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and her granddaughter, who was to begin studies at Princeton.

Keep the letters coming!