Class Notes

My husband, Gene, and I are now empty nesters and recently sold our house and downsized. We’re still in Southern California in a townhome while we figure out where we want to relocate. The northern states are out of contention, since the winters are too cold and bitter (been there, done that). Between Gene’s penchant for golf and our desire to get “more bang for the buck,” we may well end up in a golf community somewhere in the not-so-Deep South. I’ll just want to make sure our new community’s “enlightened” enough to offer tai chi, Pilates, Zumba, and a good book group! After a lifetime career of pushing paper, I wanted to work in something I was passionate about, use some other skills, give back, and possibly make money doing it – all on a part-time basis. I’ve been a lifetime Weight Watchers member since the late ’80s and passionately believe in its philosophy. I found the perfect fit when I became a Weight Watchers meeting leader this past June and love supporting members as they progress through their journeys. Our son, Ian, wife Vickie, and granddog Marley still live in Northern California, where Ian is email marketing manager for Virgin America, which means Gene and I fly for free! Our daughter, Taylor, is in her third year at the University of Kansas and aspires to go into the medical field.

Deb Relyea Grosner was sorry to miss our class reunion last year but had a good reason. She got married on May 29, 2010, and she and husband Brian honeymooned in Paris. They split their time between their home in Arlington, Va., within walking distance of the Pentagon, and their West Virginia cabin. Deb still works for the Transportation Security Administration doing performance metrics and management. Brian graduated from West Point in ’74, and they have season tickets for Army home football games. They became grandparents in June to Felicity Mae Moreau, daughter of Deb’s daughter, Margaret.

When she was in New York City for a business trip in April 2010, Deb met for lunch with Carol Pappas Bartold of Bronxville. Carol recently earned a master’s degree at Sarah Lawrence College, where she works for the dean, mostly on budgets and finances. She writes, does freelance work, and has joined a West Village writers’ space. She sang at the Lincoln Center last winter and is in the Christ Church Choir, the Women’s Vocal Ensemble at Sarah Lawrence College, and the Festival Choir at Concordia College. Carol looks forward to hearing from classmates and said that her stories about our latest reunion inspired a friend from the Class of 1976 to attend her reunion this year, and the friend had a marvelous time.

Jan Pace Brice is still executive director of a retirement community that was named best retirement facility in the region for the sixth consecutive year. Middle son Coleman graduated from Georgia Southern University and plans to attend law school. Daughter Rebecca is a junior at Valdosta State University. Jan and husband Turner celebrated their 21st anniversary. While on the set of Good Morning America in New York City in January, Jan started talking with some graduate students and learned that one of them was a Mary Washington alum!

Barbara Buchanan Shepherd is a director in the education department at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Husband Dave teaches high school German in Loudoun County. Daughter Julie graduated with honors from Virginia Tech in May and planned to head to graduate school or to France to teach for a year. Son Ben lives in Richmond, works in real estate, and promotes his band. As empty-nesters, Dave and Barbara spend more time at Washington Nationals baseball games, touring Virginia wineries, gardening, and traveling.

Since all three children left the nest, Laura Pond Mattingly and husband John sold their big old house in Fairfax Station, Va., and downsized to two apartments, a two-bedroom that is home and a one-bedroom used as the “man cave” and for storage. They plan to buy a new-build townhome farther out in Loudoun County. They both are retired and have a lot more time to travel and learn about the world and other cultures. Through the last few years, they have traveled around the U.S. and Great Britain and cruised the Mediterranean and Caribbean. They last cruised from Florida to San Diego via the Panama Canal and planned an October cruise out of Rome, with stops in Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Italy, France, Spain, and Morocco and ending with a transatlantic journey to Florida. Their goal is to sail around the world in the next few years. John is a part-time consultant in the satellite industry, and they both do volunteer work. Their daughter still lives in Pennsylvania, and their older son, who graduated from Virginia Tech several years ago, is living it up in Northern Virginia. Their youngest, who graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, lives in Portland, Ore.

Carole Mercader moved to Chantilly, Va. Natalie Whitcomb Linder teaches geological sciences at Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla. Last year she received tenure and was promoted to full professor. She lives in Lakeland to be closer to daughter Rachael, who graduated from Beloit College last May and works at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. Natalie’s son, Eric, is a junior at the University of Arizona. Natalie is active in the Southeastern Geological Society, Florida Trail Association, and DAR.

Allan Jenkins has lived in Lenoir City, Tenn., about 25 miles west of Knoxville, since 1979 and been married for 27 years to wife extraordinaire Lezle. Oldest daughter Mica, a South Carolina graduate, is finishing three years with the Peace Corps and was to return soon from Mozambique. Daughter Marlee, a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was a summer intern with NFS in Salmon, Idaho. Son Arik is a sophomore mechanical engineering major at Alabama. Allan was to complete 25 years as a hydro-geologist with Tetra Tech in Oak Ridge, Tenn., this fall, and was looking forward to retirement – or an encore career – in a few years! He still plays guitar and rides motorcycles, and Lezle enjoys her horses. Allan still attends annual summer get-togethers in Fredericksburg with several UMW classmates, including Glenn Markwith ’76, Emmett Snead ’76, Steve Jones (when he visits from Australia), Richie Hasty ’76, Chip Schwab ’77, Candy Peplin Schwab ’78, Eva Graham, Mike Littlefield, Gary Danley ’76, Barb Sullivan, Margo Clifford ’76, and Ann Chryssikos ’76.

Lynn Eastwood Rigelman has never attended a class reunion and has kept in touch with very few classmates, but her memories of her Mary Washington days remain vivid and fond! Lynn went to graduate school at the College of William & Mary, where she met husband Bruce. Our sincerest condolences go out to her, as Bruce suffered a major stroke in 2007, became disabled, and passed away after bilateral strokes following surgery last year. Lynn and Bruce married in 1976, were together for nearly 34 years, and raised three daughters. He was a college professor but later attended U.Va. law school and practiced law in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Ohio, where they moved in 1991. For much of their early marriage, Lynn was a stay-at-home mom. She has taught preschool for the past 10 years and was looking forward to staying home and caring for her two grandsons. Lynn wrote that this last year has been the most difficult by far of the past 36. Family and friends sustain her as she enters this new phase in her life.

A big thanks to everyone who sent news for this issue. Remember, even if you don’t think it’s newsworthy, your classmates do, so send it on!