Class Notes

Rob Hall and I relocated in July to Saltville, Va., where Rob took the chief of police position. I am returning to Virginia to live for the first time since 1989. Stay tuned as I re-embrace the East Coast, family, and friends!

Edwin Brown sent news for the first time since we graduated. Ed majored in biology and chemistry and earned his master’s degree at U.Va. He has lived in Florida for 33 years, and he and wife Nenita have sons Aldren, 23, and Anjover, 21. He is an environmental engineer, having worked on pollution treatment projects in private practice, but has been with the Army Corps of Engineers for the last 24 years and works in marine biology on environmental restoration projects in the Everglades and estuaries. He deployed for emergency work after the Alabama tornadoes, and his hobbies are gardening, growing palms and cycads, and traveling to tropical places like South Africa, Brazil, the Philippines, and Mexico. Ed said Robin Pender ’78 of Stevensville, Md., is a manager with the Defense Mapping Agency and likes to balloon and travel.

Almerinda “Mindy” Campo- Thomas of Wallingford, Pa., has a private career consulting practice in suburban Philadelphia specializing in counseling, coaching, and résumé writing. She also is on the faculty at Immaculata University in Malvern, Pa., where she teaches adult development, employee selection and psychometrics, and other organizational development courses. She is single and has three sons and a daughter, ages 20-26. Mindy said Katherine “Nikki” Billos visited her from Athens, Greece, and they had a ball shopping, restaurant hopping, and doing happy hours. Nikki hosted Mindy in Athens two years ago, and they traveled all over the Greek Islands on an unforgettable whirlwind trip. Mindy has also been in touch with Liz Smith of Lynchburg, Va.

Kathryn Wire Weatherhead is science department chair at Hilton Head Island High School, S.C., where she has taught for more than 31 years. She retired two years ago but continues to work more than full time. She is an adjunct assistant professor in the biology and marine science departments at the University of South Carolina and a College Board consultant for AP biology and environmental science, presenting at workshops around the country. Her Advanced Environmental Science text, lab manual, and ancillaries won the Text and Academic Author’s “Texty” Award for 2010 for outstanding physical science textbook. She also has published AP Achiever for McGraw-Hill, Special Focus: Ecology for College Board, and other texts and online curricula, including the new eTextPrep for AP biology and APES.

Daughter Hillary, who also lives on Hilton Head with her husband, was expecting a child late this year. Son Tyler and wife moved to Santa Monica, Calif., so Kathryn travels west frequently. Husband Paul works for the USPS headquarters in Washington, D.C., and telecommutes from Hilton Head. They enjoy traveling and planned to visit Paul’s daughter, Lauren, in Argentina in October.

Maggie Jeffries-Honeycutt is a pediatrician at Child Health Associates in Warrenton, Va. Husband Don recently recuperated from major abdominal surgery, was in and out of the hospital and away from their medical practice for two months, but was back at work. A new physician was to join the practice in August, giving them some much needed time off together.

Betse Sharpe Trice, who attended Mary Washington from 1973 to 1975 and transferred to U.Va. to get her degree in special education, attended her first Mary Washington reunion in 2007. She was impressed by the changes at UMW and the beautifully organized reunion events. She had fun catching up with roommate Dana DeGroot Grobicki and many of her hall-mates, and she enjoys updates from friends whose children attend UMW. Barbara Moseley of Richmond’s West End has worked for about 25 years with the Department of Corrections, where she is an employee trainer/teacher. She counts the 40 or so children at church as her kids, even when they’re all grown up. Barb dabbles in drama for her church but said that teaching adults can be dramatic enough. She also writes and hopes to one day have a couple of her books published.

Pat Seyller continues to be a costumer for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis Opera and the Virginia Opera, which presented Aida in September. Kathy Haffey Bova recently spent time with classmates Terri Navas Slocomb, Melinda Peed May, Grace Matheny Lalonde, and Terrie Martin Dort, who have made a point of getting together periodically since most of their children graduated and moved out. Terri and Steve Slocomb invited Melinda, Terrie, Grace, Kathy, and their spouses for a June weekend at their vacation home in Deep Creek, Md. They boated, dined, and caught up with each other. Melinda and husband Tom were to host the same group at their get-away home on Bells Creek in Virginia’s Northern Neck in August. Last year the ladies of the group enjoyed a snowy New York weekend, the Broadway play Wicked, and lots of girl talk. Karren Mann has worked on her own computer consulting company, KEM Networks, LLC, for the past two years. Maintaining a client base is stressful, but not working for someone else makes a world of difference.

In April and May a group of Ball Third West residents, including Jody Nutter Amberly ’76, Laura Ann Ewers Cline, Kathye Baldwin Geary, Dana DeGroot Grobicki, Kathy Diehl Hartman, Jane Albert McGee, and Alison Stern Wood, took their spring break together on a cruise to Bermuda. Missing group member Lisa Lyle Wu was busy teaching and couldn’t get away. The trip was filled with laughter, relaxation, drinking, good food, and best friends. Jody and Dana both have children who are married and grandsons. Jane and Kathy have sons who were to graduate from college shortly after the cruise. Kathy’s oldest son was to marry in September, and her oldest daughter, Amanda Hartman ’05, got engaged over the summer. Kathye’s son was accepted into the Johns Hopkins graduate program. Laura Ann’s family cruised the western Mediterranean in February, and two of her daughters returned from Afghanistan and Iraq.