Class Notes

Our reunion in June was wonderful! Not one of us looks like we’ve been out of college for 30 years. It was great to see all who could make it and catch up. Everyone had a terrific time, whether attending for one event or the whole weekend. It was the first time since graduation that some had been back on campus, which has changed a lot but is as beautiful as ever. The highlight was the Friday night class party, hosted by Bill and Theresa “Terrie” Young Crawley ’77 at their beautiful home. Here are updates from a few of those in attendance:

I went to Italy for three weeks in May, spending the first two weeks at an Italian language school in Montepulciano in Tuscany and visiting relatives in Perugia, then heading south to Naples, where I lived in the early ’80s, and to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Jenifer Blair ’82 was in Southern California for a June conference and visited me and my family for a few days. JB is director of college counseling at The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland in Baltimore.

Eileen O’Connell worked for 17 years after graduation for two nonprofits in the Washington, D.C., area, AAPA and ICMA, before switching to the dark side and becoming a business analyst/IT consultant for iMIS software. She put down roots in Alexandria’s West End and is a weekend docent at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She has been catching up on travels, including a trip to Ireland, Italy, and Bermuda with her dad, and has a gaggle of family to enjoy, including six nephews and two nieces, ages 8 to 28. The past year held another adventure in medicine, as Eileen was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall. She finished treatments and was waiting for her hair to grow back and the last effects of chemo and radiation to wear off. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2002 but is now disease free.

After 21 years with Onondaga County (Syracuse, N.Y.) government, Lynn Shepherd Scott started work in January 2010 in senior leadership at Upstate University Hospital at SUNY’s Upstate Medical University, which recently acquired another hospital, so there is always something new to work on. Lynn came to reunion with husband Rob. They celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary and are young, hip grandparents, with their third grandchild due in August.

Rene Howe Brooks, who is on Facebook, and husband Mayson of Sarasota, Fla., traveled to Eleuthera, Bahamas, in July. Kathy Ramsey got a job with News Corp./Fox in Washington, D.C. Stephanie Amato Scheff teaches in Spotsylvania County, Va., is involved with UMW’s student teachers and master of education program, and enjoys running through Fredericksburg with her husband. Mary Chidester Jones, a third-grade teacher; husband Scott Jones ’83, a defense contractor; son Luke, a JMU freshman; and daughter Jesse live in King George, Va.

Laure Durbin Ferguson, an independent beauty consultant with Mary Kay, and husband Mark, a vice admiral in the Navy, live at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Mark, who serves as deputy chief of naval operations for manpower, personnel, training, and education, recently was nominated for assignment as vice chief of naval operations and for his fourth star. Bridget Meaney Weaver and husband John of Alexandria, Va., have three sons. Mac works in New York, Tom is at Colorado College, and Henry is at St. Andrew’s School in Delaware. Bridget has volunteered for years for the Campagna Center, is on its board of directors, and recently received its 2011 Anne Culbert Legacy of Service Award, recognizing a community member whose dedication, spirit, leadership, and influence has left a legacy on an organization.

Mark Ingrao of Falls Church, Va., is president and CEO of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce, is part of the “chain gang” on the Redskins sidelines, and umpires softball games. Last spring he trained softball umpires for the Army in Vicenza, Italy, and Nuremberg, Germany. Read about Mark and Eileen O’Connell’s heroics during the Bushnell Hall fire of December 1980 in Bill Crawley’s book, University of Mary Washington: A Centennial History, 1908-2008.

Bruce London, a Mary Washington sociology professor when we were students there, came to reunion with daughter Lisa London ’06, who works for UBS in Boston. Bruce’s son, Dave, was also there with wife Lindsay, who was Lisa’s college roommate. Bruce teaches at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Cedric Rucker, dean of student life at UMW, heard from Bob Mooney, who is an attorney and chief compliance officer at Wells Fargo retail brokerage in St. Louis and has three adult children with wife Patty. Barb Heyl, who couldn’t make it to the reunion, is the chief physician’s assistant at a cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery practice in Maine, where she has worked for 23 years. Vicki Reynard Thorne of San Jose, Calif., also missed the reunion, as she was preparing for daughter Vivian’s wedding. Vicki and Kevin have four children.

I have the sad duty of relaying the sudden death of Charlotte Clare Snyder in June from complications of hypertension. Charlotte lived in Ellicott City, Md., and is survived by husband Mike and children Matthew, Nicholas, and Natalie. Our deepest sympathies go to Charlotte’s family.