Class Notes

Dear classmates, as this letter reaches you, summer will be long gone, but wherever did, I hope it was a long and happy time for each. A couple of “housekeeping” details: The news you send me is not published by UMW until about four months after they receive it. For example, the news you sent in March didn’t appear until the summer issue, and the news you sent by July 1st is included in this issue. So, don’t be distressed if your news doesn’t appear right away. Along with your married name, don’t forget to include your maiden name, as that is the way we all remember you! Please also remember that UMW Magazine staff does the final editing because of space limitations. Finally, if after a couple of issues you don’t see your news, resend it to me. After all, it will be “new” news to all the rest of us!

I still work at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Conn., and led a group of colleagues to France in July. The religious order that founded our school began in France in 1800, and our trip was a pilgrimage to see places associated with our foundation. One stop was the Rodin Museum in Paris, which was le Sacré-Coeur, our school in Paris, from 1820 to 1905. We now have schools all over the world, from Greenwich and New York City, where Ruth Pharr Sayer’s granddaughter is a student, to Japan, India, Italy, and Scotland.

Lyle Fowlkes is a government relations consultant, a.k.a. lobbyist, for Alexander & Cleaver, an Annapolis, Md., law firm that works with groups such as Lockheed Martin, the Discovery Channel, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and medical professionals. She and her partners have grown the firm from 25 clients to more than 70 in the 13 years she has been with them. Lynn bikes and travels, most recently to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Brittany in France, and San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. She said she can’t believe she’s still working (I think there are a number of us out there, Lyle!) and sends best regards.

Melinda Wilson Watterson of Miami, Okla., has been widowed since 2005; her late husband of 42 years, Chuck, was a veterinarian in Miami. Daughter Melissa and granddaughter Meredith live just a few blocks away. Daughter Juli and grandsons Jack and Charlie live in Norman, Okla., and enjoy family visits as often as possible. Melinda and friend John enjoy travel. I found Susan Orebaugh Nicholson’s blog makethemenu.com and her book 7-Day Menu Planner for Dummies very helpful.

Lynne Vanden Bulcke Libuha, who is from Mount Kisco, N.Y., married in Bedford Village, right near where I have lived since the early ’70s. Lynne keeps in touch with her five suitemates. The last issue of UMW Magazine featured a photo in Get the Picture that may be my former suitemates, Jeanne Klix Luce, Helen Clark, and Jere Menegus Lloyd. If you still have your magazine, take a look and see if I am correct. The photo was a “true blast from the past!”

Sharon Haythorne Stack has spent lots of time with family and friends after husband John passed. She said Linda Frederickson Boudman’s father died in March. Linda retired in April after a long career with Verizon and has spent much time helping her mother with paperwork. Sharon’s humor is as great as ever; she and I spent several years of our youth laughing our heads off, something we repeated at our 45th class reunion!

A regular correspondent to class news is Ruth Pharr Sayer of Princeton, N.J. Ruth and I keep trying to plan a “mini-reunion” in New York City, but something always gets in the way. Let’s go for it, Ruth! Ruth is feeling much better after a hip replacement in September 2010 and subsequent spinal surgery, and she planned to spend part of the summer on Nantucket. She still sells real estate, and her new grandson – one of seven grandchildren, only one of which is a girl – has her maiden name as his middle name. Ruth’s Mary Washington friend, Margaret Goode Watkins of Calvert County, Md., lost her husband, Grant, last spring. Margaret is retired, spends summers in the Adirondacks, and stopped to visit Ruth in Princeton on the way home last year. Betsy Van Leer Albaugh ’60 of New Bern, N.C., read our news and asked if anyone remembers Sharon Price Quill ’62, who recently died of cancer.

Patti Jones Schacht said the June heat in Florida was “infernal.” She met cousins for a family reunion in Virginia then did some genealogy work in North Carolina, where her ancestors had a land grant from the British Crown. She and her husband were “parenting” again; their 22-year old granddaughter was doing pro bono fundraising and computer work as an intern at a center that teaches life skills to underprivileged youth in Washington, D.C. Patti said many of the children have received scholarships and become the first in their families to go to college.

I continue to travel, mostly to California now, since both of my children and their families live there. My son, Frank, was to deploy to Afghanistan in July on the USS John C. Stennis as a department head in a squadron of F/A-18 Hornets. He enjoys flying, but being separated from family is hard. My daughter, Ashley, loves being an at-home mom for her 1-year old. If you are in the Atlanta area, please call or visit. And keep those emails coming!

On my annual trip to Virginia Beach in April, I had dinner with Mary Lou Skeeter Murray, whose husband, Mike, is still with the Navy in St. Louis, where she spends long weekends. His assignment will end this summer and he’ll head back to Virginia. I also lunched with Lee Smith Musgrave, who gave me a fabulous Japanese painting she created; I hung it in my front hall. Sue Wooldrige Rosser and I speak frequently on the phone and started Skyping. One of her daughters is moving to Atlanta, where her son already lives, so I expect she’ll get this way more often. In May, I visited Penny Partridge Booth in Holly Springs, N.C., and met her daughter, Trisha, and her family. Like Penny, they are beautiful and smart. We stayed up late reminiscing about college and comparing health issues. Penny was to take care of grandsons in New England for two weeks in July, visit Patty Boyette Taavoste to exchange ideas about winter projects, then head home to do a craft show featuring her amazing handiwork and get ready for the beach with daughters Lisa and Trisha and their families. During her spring trip to Alaska, Patty visited her brother, drove on the Seward Highway, flew in tiny planes, and boated in Prince William Sound, taking in the wildlife and mountains. She and Heino spent a June weekend in Washington, D.C., where she received honors for her teaching. Heino had back surgery in December and, after more than three years fighting Lyme disease, is approaching normal strength and stamina.

Barbara Jones Bailey and husband Wayne are retired but still have a beef cattle farm. They visit their three grown children in Chesterfield County, Va., and Allentown, Pa. Their daughter in Fort Irwin, Calif., was to move to Newport, R.I., in July. Barbara and Wayne have six granddaughters and an infant grandson. Phyllis Cornett Mitchell and Jim, her husband of 46 years, have lived in the Memphis area since 1975 and have two children and eight grandchildren, all nearby. Phyllis has worked part-time in Christian education at a community college, as a contributing writer and seminar leader for a Christian publishing company, as a substitute teacher, and recently as a proud grandmother who loves to babysit. Jim retired in 2001 after 36 years with a national pharmaceutical company and does consulting for a national nursing home corporation. They are active in church and enjoy their country home.

Carol Hamblet Adams, whose husband, Steve, died four years ago, moved this spring from Cape Cod, Mass., to rent in Charlestown for a year on the Boston Harbor. She volunteers at a downtown Boston church, takes acting classes in preparation for commercial auditions, and still writes. Two of her books – her first children’s book, Sammy, the Little Broken Shell, and Waves of God’s Healing, both published by Harvest House – came out this year. Her children, Kristin, Kevin, and Todd, are happily married and have given her four wonderful grandsons. She and her sister, Bobbie Hamblet Wilkinson, were to attend an August family reunion on the Cape.

Phyllis Eure Rodrigues, who has been single for more than 20 years, spent five years each in the San Francisco area and L.A., then moved to the Boston area about 27 years ago and loves life in Massachusetts. She taught for 27 years, every age from nursery to high school, but mostly sixth grade, and has sold fine jewelry. She has arthritis, has had annual surgeries for three years, and had a hip and both knees replaced. Her friends call her the bionic woman. Her daughter is the head makeup and wig person for LA Opera, and her son, who is single, works for Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Susan Elsom spent 35 hours traveling from Ashland, Ore., to Bali this summer and 57 hours returning; she said the visit was transformational. Last year, she traveled to Greece, the Greek Islands, and Turkey. She retired from private practice seven years ago; spends time reading, deep-water pool swimming, and exercising; is active in AAUW; and chairs the Women in Need project that donates home and personal supplies for domestic and sexual abuse victims leaving their abusers. She is blessed with good health and no chronic disease. Her adopted daughters, Amy, 22, and Elena, 21, both face significant health challenges that have derailed their higher education several times.

Margaret Cobourn John has spent more than two years tracking down classmates for her 50th high school reunion; reconnected with dear friends in Baldwinsville, N.Y., this summer; and is back to the business of retirement and working on her “bucket list.”

Barbara Hagemann Hester and husband Ben live in Manassas, Va., as do daughter Susie and her husband, Jimmy; son Tyler, 17; and daughter Haley, 14. Daughter Bonnie and her husband, Chris; daughter Grace, 9; and son Gavin, 4, live near Greenville, S.C. Daughter Carrie is in Tampa, Fla., and their son, Brad, is in Denver. The family got together when Tyler graduated from high school last June. While vacationing in Rehoboth Beach, Del., they had dinner with Lisa Coder Wharton and husband David, as well as Donna Lingo Rauch and husband Eric. Barbara reconnected with Beverly Boudreau Raphael and Barbara Wohlfeil Weatherall at the reunion. Barbara still enjoys her job at Flower Gallery.

Janet Hess Bello, who retired from nursing in 2009, bought a 43-foot trawler-style powerboat with husband Joe, sold everything that wouldn’t fit on the boat, moved aboard, and cruised to Fort Pierce, Fla., last winter. They love the lifestyle and plan to travel south in the winter and to New England in the summer. Two of their six grandchildren live nearby; the rest are in Atlanta. They are active in organizations related to Janet’s hyperbaric medicine specialty and do consulting. Anne Connell Sneed and husband Lee traveled to the Memorial Day ceremony at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and visited the grave of her father, who was killed in WWII and buried in a military cemetery in Belgium. Ten years ago, they decided to hike at all the national parks and have been to 44 of the 58.

Louise S. Robbins retired in May after 20 years at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. She had rescinded her retirement in 2009, when her husband of 43 years, Robby, was injured in China and later passed away. She still is involved with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Nazarbayev University Library in Astana, Kazakhstan. She spends time with sons Patrick and Greg, daughter-in-law Maura, and grandchildren Cole and Harper. Before retiring five years ago, Marion White Ward taught high school English for 25 years, got her doctorate in educational leadership, and went to work in higher education, first at Appalachian State University, then as chair of the education department at a small private North Carolina college. She and Rocky live in Swannanoa, N.C., near Asheville, and spend time at their West Virginia farm. Daughter Kelly and her husband live in South Carolina with their 1-year-old daughter, Lily. Marion took students to Europe annually for years, traveled more recently to Africa and India with Rocky, and spent July with him in Seattle and Alaska.

Karen Marsteller Nash, who does contract work as a project manager, received certification as a Project Management Professional and Six Sigma Black Belt. She went for her first bionic body part, a titanium hip joint, last November; traveled to the Bahamas Out Islands with her family this summer; then tried to get her garden under control. Bobbie Barrett Crisp, who was a day student, as were her five sisters, still lives at the farm where she grew up near Fredericksburg and sees all the wonderful changes in the best liberal arts university. Husband Harry retired from the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren and serves as a Stafford County supervisor. Their four children are married with children, and they were expecting their seventh grandchild in September and their eighth in November.

Nancy Coates Wilson of Fredericksburg misses the interaction with her AP and comparative government students after teaching 30 years in Stafford County but enjoys retirement and traveling to places like Russia, China, Australia, Egypt, and South America. She was looking forward to a September trip to Greece, Turkey, and the Aegean Islands. She and husband Don have three granddaughters, are active with Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church, attend as many UMW events as possible, and belong to a couples’ dinner group that includes Nancy Buchanan Perry and Martha Jones Burke.

Seven years ago Betty Cummings McCrowell left Rockbridge County, Va., and a library career of almost 27 years and moved to Chase City, where they have about 20 cows and their calves. She serves on the library board of Southside Regional Library, photographs birds and butterflies for the Southside Virginia Herb Society, gardens, farms, and enjoys two step-children and their families.

Sandy Byrum Smith took a sailing trip to Greece, Turkey, and the Aegean Sea. Martha Jo Dillard Walters of Charlotte, N.C., and roommate Katherine Dodd Hardin keep in touch. Martha Jo taught high school English for 30-plus years and earned a master’s degree in English. She was married for 20 years and has been a widow for 24. Son James, two grandsons, and two granddaughters live in Brevard, N.C. She sings with Carolina Voices and church choirs and plays piano with and directs a unique rhythm band of elderly folks who perform as part of her church’s outreach program. She has visited Kenya, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Greece, the Holy Land, Croatia, Brazil, Aruba, and Costa Rica.

Linda Patterson Hamilton’s daughter-in-law, Rachel, of Denver was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer in March. She and Linda’s son, Jeff, have two daughters, ages 2 and 4. Linda still writes, and her poem Health Care Solution was scheduled for publication in Mature Living magazine in August. She and Austin celebrated their 44th anniversary in June and spent time with her sister, Liz Patterson Vawter ’72, at a June family reunion in Tennessee.

Ann Moser Garner is a cancer survivor and volunteers for two cancer support organizations. Kathy Burke House retired in June after 26 years as a math teacher or specialist at Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland and one year as a fellow at the National Science Foundation. Husband Bill has retired at least three times. Kathy’s mom, a 1942 Mary Washington graduate, died three years ago. They love to spend time with their eight grandchildren. Two daughters and five of the grandchildren live in nearby Howard County. Their sons live in Houston and New York City.

Linda Parker Golub retired last summer after 33 years as a programmer/analyst at the College of William & Mary. She and husband Bob renovated and sold their family home, where they had lived for more than 30 years; moved in February to a home they built in a Williamsburg retirement community; and then took a month-long trip to Hawaii to recuperate. Their two surviving sons live in the area with their families, so five of their seven grandchildren are close by. Their oldest son passed away in 1995, and they frequently see his two children. The 22-year-old lives in Boston, and the 17-year-old lives in Northern Virginia. Linda’s 92-year-old mother is doing well in a local assisted living facility. Linda sent news that classmate Martha Mitchell died in June after a lifelong battle with rheumatoid arthritis.

Helen Hutton Smith’s oldest daughter, Debby, and grandson John, 15, took a mission trip to Kenya with his school. They planned a summer family vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with both their daughters, four grandchildren, a son-in-law, a boyfriend, and two dogs. Helen retired after 26 years teaching English at Fairfax High School; husband John retired from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They enjoy traveling, including trips to Alaska and the Baltic.

Alice Funkhouser Flowers was doing research for their centennial book. She still works full time, including summers, nights, and weekends, as publications director, in public relations, and as an archivist for St. Christopher’s School in Richmond. Husband George is on his third career, teaching engineering, math, and electronics at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. They frequently see their children and grandchildren in North Carolina and Maryland. Jim is safely back from Djibouti, Africa, retired as a commander in the Navy Reserve, and working for the state. He and Laurie have Jenna, 10, and Matthew, 7. Engineer Rob and wife Marilyn live in Maryland and work for rival construction firms. Daughter Beth, who is in real estate, and husband Jason, an architect, live in Raleigh, have daughter Alice, 3, and expected another in October.

Pat Hartman Brownlee, Bonnie O’Brien, and Ann Plummer were recruited while still at Mary Washington to teach in San Diego, where Pat met and married Marine John Brownlee. After five years of teaching and obtaining a lifetime credential with California, Pat retired. In less than six years, they had four girls. Today, they all live close by, as do three grandsons, a granddaughter, and a grand-dog. Pat, a sales director for more than 20 years, earned a pink car from Mary Kay Cosmetics. Since John retired last July, they have traveled to Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Egypt and taken a cruise through the Panama Canal. Agnes “Missy” Bush Shives recently visited Turkey and Russia. She sees her two sons, two daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren; volunteers; and takes Silver Sneakers exercise classes.

Now free to do some serious traveling, Barbara Bishop Mann and Robert plan to begin with places that are intriguing and far away and work their way around to those closer to home. Barbara continues to exercise, be involved with the Virginia Education Association and UMW alumni, and keep in touch with most of our classmates. Kathy Goddard Moss has graciously and diligently maintained our “MWC 1966” Facebook page; check it out for reunion photos supplied by Kathy, Sally Albrecht Brennan, Anne Clagett, Diana Hamilton Cowell, and Linda Spangler Berkheimer.

Sally enjoys life near the Elizabeth River in Olde Towne Portsmouth, Va.; weekends of community activities, such as art shows, porch parties, and First Fridays; and sailing, ferry rides, and lovely sunsets. Sally travels to Virginia Beach and to Laramie, Wyo., and Woodlake, N.C., to visit her four grandchildren. Her interests include fiber arts, knitting, computer design, gardening, birding, music, reading, graphics, and Facebook. Now retired, Kathy had an exciting spring and summer. The Turkish exchange student who lived with her family for a year while the Moss children were in high school returned for a four-month visit and brought her delightful 3-year-old son, who learned English quickly. Baby sister was due late in June, so the father and grandmother traveled to the U.S. to stay with Kathy and family until after her arrival. It was exciting to have a Turkish “grandchild” born into the Moss household!

Anne stayed at the reunion as an out-of-towner instead of a day-tripper and admitted that she had been missing a lot of the flavor of reunion, since important activities were scheduled all weekend, not just Saturday afternoon. She and husband John Willcox continue to enjoy good health and caring for their dear cat, Night, now 17 years old. Anne is active in the Piedmont Republican Women’s Club and loves losing herself in Vince Flynn and Daniel Silva novels. Niece Suzanne, 22, is an assistant manager at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City, and nephew Jake, 16, is brilliant.

Diana and husband Dan retired from their careers in Huntington, W.Va., moved to South Bethany, Del., and replaced their summer cottage with a roomy retirement home. Part of the sandwich generation, they care for her 96-year-old mother-in-law and their youngest child, age 17. They arranged a sister-city relationship between South Bethany and Periers, France, during their first year in Delaware. They travel, serve the community volunteer fire company and church, visit family, and have two grandchildren nearby in Dover. Diana can swim 45 laps in an hour and is considering taking up masters swimming.

Lois Rucker Scott’s daughters moved from Utah and Hawaii. One lives with Lois and Sam in Arlington, Va., while the house across the street is being fixed up for her. Lois enjoys having her three granddaughters close but admits the move caused a major change in her and Sam’s lifestyle. Their elder daughter was laid off from her job in Hawaii but found a new one in California. Lee Enos Kelly was adjusting to her husband’s early Alzheimer’s and described it as “an adventure” since every patient is entirely different. Lee announced at the reunion class meeting that her surrogate mother story a few years back was a fantasy, and she has decided to teach pole dancing to senior citizens. Mary Morris Bishop of Michigan retired in 2007 after 17 years as a school psychologist for Rochester Community Schools. She and husband Dennis have enjoyed trips to Florida, New England, and around the Southwest. Their blended family includes four children and one grandchild. Mary does genealogy research and church work and reads, gardens, and socializes.

Tyla Matteson attended our reunion, her first since graduation, and enjoyed reconnecting with old friends, meeting new ones, and seeing the Freedom Rides exhibit. Tyla and her husband have a strong interest in environmental issues and are active in the Sierra Club. Tyla challenges all of us to channel our talents and energies into global, as well as family and national, matters. Eileen Perna Thomason’s husband, Phil, retired from 46 years of pediatric medicine and she brought him to the reunion. They are adjusting to a new timetable, cleaning out long-neglected storage space, gardening, reorganizing, and volunteering. They are interested in the newly formed traveling opera company Lyric Opera Virginia.

Clair Golihew Cosby’s husband retired in 1999 from his career as a Methodist minister and, for the first time, they were not living in a parsonage. They bought a one-story home on two acres with woods to admire from the sunroom and clear space for flowerbeds. They repaired structural damage; added a screened-in porch, pond, fountain, and other features; renovated bathrooms; painted and papered rooms; and lots more. Clair is a member of a local book club. Carolyn Eldred of Silver Spring, Md., attended part of our reunion. Afterward, she traveled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where she once lived, for the 25th anniversary celebration of the Unitarian Universalist congregation there. She volunteers at WAMU, the Washington, D.C., public radio news station where she met her boyfriend; serves on the board of her homeowners association; is involved with a “creative aging” group; and hosts events for members of the Silver Spring U.U. congregation. She has generously endowed a Mary Washington scholarship and a George Washington University graduate fellowship.

Terry Caruthers retired after 22 years with Northrop Grumman and started Caruthers Coaching and Consulting, doing orals coaching and proposal management. Terry and her husband moved in May to Mooresville, N.C., after a lifetime in Virginia, to be close to their two daughters and six grandchildren. Terry was working to publish her cousin’s poetry and her husband’s great-grandfather’s Civil War letters and is deeply involved in genealogy research. After the reunion, Terry composed a nostalgic poem, MWC Reunion – We Are Not Alone, and posted it on Facebook. Pat Lewars Pace enjoys her five grandchildren, who live nearby. Last year she spent a month in Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Her volunteer work includes the “Dining for Women” project, where members bring bag lunches to meetings then donate the money they would have spent eating out to help needy women in their area.

Linda Glynn Hutchinson and Pat Lewars Pace have traveled to Peru, Argentina, Chile, the Netherlands, and Belgium and spent a month in August touring Eastern Europe. Candy Schumacher Jepsen and Mogens, her husband of 42 years, have lived for 33 years in Houston, where their two married daughters and five grandchildren also live. Candy does designing and teaches embroidery, quilting, and beading. Dee Dee Nottingham Ward sold her CPA firm but still works part time. She and husband Nat, married for 46 years in June, spend lots of time with their five grandchildren on the San Diego beaches and in their mountain home. Dee Dee serves on the board of directors of the San Diego MS Society; she has a special interest because their son has MS.

Judy Zipf Phillips still works but has developed a strong interest in getting together with friends from high school and college. After a 17-year battle with Alzheimer’s, her husband passed away, leaving her and their five children and six grandchildren, all of whom are doing well. Dee Marks Duncan of Gainesville, Va., retired in 2007 after 41 years teaching middle school math. She and her husband are fortunate to have son Bill Duncan ’91, daughter-in-law Erin Patrick Duncan ’92, and two granddaughters right across the street. Dee divides her time between Virginia and Kiawah, S.C.

Ginny Bateman Brinkley published her first fiction book, Earth Quest, the story of life, love, and the pursuit of red meat. Begun by her uncle, the manuscript was “unearthed” two years ago when he moved into a nursing home, and a friend in her writing group helped Ginny finish the story and prepare it for publication. She mentions Mary Washington in the author’s bio. Ginny and Bill welcomed their 14th grandchild (seven girls and seven boys), Makayla, in May. Ryan Stewart Davis and husband Roger retired two years ago and downsized to a cottage in Port Townsend, Wash. Their grandchildren, ages 4 and 1, live nearby in Seattle and visit frequently. Ryan enjoys communing with her garden and volunteering as a guardian ad litem advocate for kids in the county court system.

Dale Quel Woods did some substitute teaching after retiring five years ago. She and her husband have visited places in the West and Northwest, down to Texas, and in the Bay area, where both daughters live. They ventured to Hawaii and Europe last fall and planned a trip up the Danube this fall. Dale works out at the gym and makes jewelry. Lynn Smithey Campbell, an instructional technologist for Tazewell County (Virginia) Schools, earned her master’s degree from Virginia Tech and was looking forward to retiring and possibly relocating after a career teaching algebra, geometry, and computer science. In May 2010, she lost her husband of 41 years. They have a son in Richmond, a daughter in Raleigh, and four grandchildren.

Mary Kathryn Rowell Horner and her husband of 43 years, Charlie, still live in the same home in Alexandria, Va., and are big golfers. Mary Kathryn was impressed that “everyone at reunion was so young!” Every March, Mary Kathryn dons a colonial costume and serves as waitress in the lunchroom during Woodlawn Plantation’s annual needlework exhibit. Mary Parsons Black and husband Ron live in Elizabeth City, N.C. Annette Maddra Horner and husband John also bought a home there in the historic district. In June, Mary and Ron took a weeklong trip with another couple to Scotland. Mary has a painting class, and they golf, play bridge, and dote on their two precious grandchildren, Jonah and Ian.

Kay Dawson Meyers of Tennessee is retired but busy as church treasurer; intake counselor at the Good Shepherd Center, a community effort to help the poor; Bible study teacher; and lay speaker for the United Methodist Church. Kay also tutors math students, does water aerobics, and travels whenever she can. She inquired about Linda Mitchell Spiers, an Episcopal minister in Connecticut who was unable to attend our reunion.

After living and working many years in Miami, Caroline Hogeland Stone resigned from her job, sold her house, and moved to Annapolis, Md., to accept a job as director of admissions at Annapolis Area Christian School and move into a new home on the water in a marina. Sally Souder relocated to Sarasota, Fla., in 2004; is involved in cultural activities and political volunteer work; tutors; travels, most recently to Egypt; and monitors sea turtle nests. Though she was married many years and has three grown children and seven grandchildren, Sandra Hutchison Schanné said at reunion that she has felt like a newlywed since marrying Richard last spring. They were companions for more than 25 years, but sharing a home has been a new beginning! Sandra’s mother suffered from dementia with Lewy bodies for six years and passed away in July. Sandra’s daughter in Colorado was expecting twins this fall and also expecting “Nana” to come for a long visit.

Marty Spigel Sedoff is retired but busier than ever. Her tap dance class performed at the Mall of America, near Minneapolis; watch her “Sweet Feet” début on YouTube. Gerry Sargent Habas thought that our reunion class meeting allowed us to get to know our classmates better than we did while we were students, that our class members seem “wise and accomplished,” and that everyone has given back for the good of humanity. After the reunion, one of Gerry and husband Len’s four grandsons visited them on his first extended stay away from his parents, then they all flew back to his home at the Jersey shore. Martha Young Roberts, our adopted classmate who has participated in the Mary Washington travel group, lives in Virginia with her husband and spends winters in Key Largo, Fla.

Linda Spangler Berkheimer and family spent a June week in Nags Head, N.C. Hank and I were there with our huge blended family then, too, but we never connected. My daughter, three granddaughters, and I had lunch at Harbor Point in Manteo with Muriel Haley Montgomery, who relocated there with her husband after retiring several years ago as a school counselor. Muriel is active at church and visits and shops with her daughter, who lives in Suffolk, Va. Kitty Downs Gregg had to cancel plans to come to reunion because husband Don fell ill with chest pains and was hospitalized. Fortunately, it was bronchitis complicated by an adverse reaction to medication, rather than something more serious. Kitty vows to come to Virginia for our 50th. Susan Roth Nurin retired from teaching high school Spanish, plans to move to New York City and downsize from a house to an apartment, and found a prospective home near Central Park, where she can enjoy theater and concerts.

Carolyn Corwin Thomas ’67 resurfaced after all these years. She lived in Marye House our junior year with Susan Roth Nurin, Yvonne March, Betsy Chappelear Tryon, Winnie Woodson Stribling, Barbara Barriga Rowe, “Corky” Wells Shaha, and me. Carolyn earned her master’s degree in education from U.Va., taught in Virginia for six years, married Purdue University graduate George Thomas, and moved to Lafayette, Ind. They had two children, and George’s career required frequent moves, so Carolyn also lived and worked in Tennessee, Michigan, and Ohio. She is now retired in Texas, weaves baskets, and teaches a class for seniors at the Academy for Lifelong Learning. Son Rollin has a doctorate in astrophysics and works at the Berkeley [California] Lab; wife Dianna is an artist who specializes in fabric pattern design. Daughter Sarah is a certified interior architect in Columbus, Ohio. After retiring, Carolyn and George took a driving tour of the West and have adopted a cat.

UMW Vice President for Advancement and University Relations Torre Meringolo reported that nearly 50 percent of the Class of 1966 contributed to and raised nearly $1.8 million for the Fund for Mary Washington. Many thanks to all of you; our class is terrific! Now that Virginia state assistance has been significantly reduced, it is even more important that we continue to support our alma mater.

Sixty-six of us, plus George Van Sant and his lovely wife, Milena, were at our Friday night class dinner at Brock’s Riverside Grill. Dr. Van Sant has been involved with our class since 1962 and is considered an official member. In addition to the ladies already mentioned, class members at the dinner included Carolyn Bingley Wiley, Pam Kearney Patrick, Prentiss Davies Murphy, Julie Bondurant Freeman, Pam Hughes Ward, Jana Privette Usry, Eileen Goddard Albrigo, Mary Wright Day, Carol Pettigrew Hallman, Michelle Spicknall Pasternak, Joan Cuccias Patton, Nancy Thompson Mountjoy, Marguerite Wingo Saady, Peggy Beeler Burns, Kathy Fowler Bahnson, Midge Meredith Poyck, Genie McClellan Hobson, Dianne Twiggs Woodworth, Ambler Carter, and Patti Bergin Bergman. Our class meeting Saturday also included Susan Bogese Wagner, Charlotte Hansley Chappel, Mary Anne Pyne White, and Sheila Denny Young. Thanks to all for making our 45th reunion a resounding success.

Antoinette Matlins of South Woodstock, Vt., is married to Stuart, writes books on gems and jewelry that are available in seven languages, does exposés on fraud for TV and print, and works with an international clientele to acquire and dispose of fine gems and jewelry. She enjoys her daughter, Dawn Leonard ’88, and her granddaughter, Bryn Huxoll, who was to start college this fall. Patsy Jones Kroll Mazzocco and Felix enjoyed an Oceania Cruise this spring – from Rome to Monaco, down the west coast of Italy to Taormina, then up to Venice – and a beautiful San Diego County summer with family and friends.

Pat Rankin McLaughlin and her husband of 41 years like small town life in Altavista, Va., near Lynchburg. She retired after 30 years of teaching in Virginia Beach, Roanoke Rapids, Altavista, and North Carolina. She works a part-time no-stress job at the Altavista YMCA. She does volunteer work; acts, sings, and does backstage work through the arts council with the Altavista Little Theatre; and works out at the YMCA, losing lots of weight and keeping it off through two knee replacements and rotator cuff surgery.

Cee Goode Klink of Gloucester, Va., partially retired after more than 30 years of banking. She works three days a week, so she is able to spend time with her 4-year-old granddaughter. Cee sees Connie Burkhart Goggin at family gatherings and special occasions and looks forward to our next reunion. Dixie Kopfler Susalla and retired Navy captain husband Paul live in Peoria, Ariz., in the winter and Roseburg, Ore., in the summer, enjoying the best of America’s climates. After a brain aneurysm in 2007, Paul has faced severe medical challenges, but he loves poker, and they both enjoy bridge and adore their two Cavalier King Charles spaniels.

Nancy McDonald Legat and Dan, her husband of 44 years, love to be together. They are retired and live in Lexington, S.C., where they are active in their church, volunteer at the local crisis center, and do projects around the house. They enjoy their three daughters, sons-in-law, and seven grandchildren. The oldest granddaughter, 22, got married in April.

Mary Mac Blanchard Harris continues to work as a legislative assistant to a Virginia delegate when the General Assembly is in session. Husband Craig retired from practicing law in June and was looking forward to more travel and golf. They garden, go bareboating in the British Virgin Islands, and take beach vacations with their family. Son Sam is in the Richmond area with his wife and their two grandsons. Daughter Kelly is an advertising account executive in Austin, Texas. The Harrises visited her there last winter and attended a Gladys Knight concert that brought back lots of good memories from the ’60s.

Ash and I are relishing life in northern California, and when we aren’t busy with our jobs we take advantage of being close to San Francisco and the wine country. In April, we took our Denver grandkids, Maddy, 13, and Spencer, 10, with us for two weeks “down under” to visit Uncle Todd, Aunt Rebecca, and cousins Maya, 3, and Flynn, 1. We took a trip along the Great Ocean Road and stayed a week in an old farmhouse near the beach and rain forest. Having all four grandchildren to spoil at the same time was quite a treat!

Dale Kalkofen Saunders retired after 44 years in public school administration and teaching in Boston, Memphis, and Richmond and for New American Schools, and in Chesterfield County, Va., for the last 10 years. She recently was named VCU’s School of Education Alumni Star for 2011 and was to be recognized with other alumni stars at an October gala. Son Hans is a senior at VCU. Husband Rick, who attended our 40th reunion with her, passed away in 2009.

Eileen Curley Baker and husband Frank have had a wonderful time traveling since he retired last December. They spent January and February as “snowbirds” in Florida, traveled to the southern California coast in April and May, and had recently returned from two weeks in Britain on the “Shakespeare in his Time” Yale theater trip. They spent time in Stratford-upon-Avon and London, read scripts, saw plays, spoke with actors, and visited places Shakespeare knew. Eileen noted that it was a nice balance to the math and physics from her Mary Washington days. Middle daughter Alissa graduated from Penn State College of Medicine in May and began residency in pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Youngest daughter Samantha was named head of the costume shop for the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival at DeSales University. Rhoda “DoDo” Fisher Roberts, who lives nearby in Wilton, Conn., attended the Bakers’ New Year’s Day open house. A mutual friend brought them together again.

I enjoy keeping up with classmates via Facebook, so please “friend” me if you haven’t already and message me with updates for the next edition of Class Notes.

Greetings! I hope you all had a good summer and fall.

Several classmates have been honored in the past year. Patricia Weller Wigginton was named Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition Volunteer of the Year and received a Governor’s Citation on behalf of the Maryland Homeowners’ Association for her service and contributions to protecting homeowners’ rights. Congratulations, Patricia! Her son, Jonathan Wigginton ’10, who studied history at UMW, volunteers at the Smithsonian, where he hopes to land a job.

Karen Kilgore Ralston was featured in the “StreetSeen” section of RSVP Memphis magazine. The article, Karen Ralston: Hats Off, detailed her extensive work as a volunteer milliner. She has made more than 1,000 hats for Memphis’ Playhouse on the Square during the last eight years. A stickler for historical accuracy, Karen recently was named Volunteer of the Year in the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities’ western region for her work in cataloging costumes at the Woodruff-Fontaine House Museum in Memphis. Kudos, Karen! She and husband Jim spend time at their second home in Breckenridge, Colo. They took a trip to Israel this year with friends, touring Jerusalem, Masada, the Red Sea, and Petra; Shimon Peres’s son, Yoni, showed them the local color. The couple planned a fall trip to Ireland, and they watched the last Discovery launch while visiting daughter Emily in Florida.

Jane Jackson Woerner, a native of Bristol, Va., and a member of UMW’s Heritage Society, was featured in the spring/summer issue of the Heritage newsletter. She makes a monthly gift to the Fund for Mary Washington and has pledged through a bequest to establish a need-based scholarship for UMW students from southwest Virginia.

Linda Gattis Shull sent sad news that Christie Wineholt lost her son, Vicar Warman, 38, to complications from diabetes in May. Memorial services were held in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. Our sincere condolences go to Christie. Linda also sent news that Barbara Burton Micou retired in June after 23 years with Chesterfield County Public Schools, the last 18 years as site coordinator for Communities in Schools, a dropout prevention program. Congratulations on a great career, Barbara! She now plans to spend more time gardening, reading, and visiting her three grandchildren in Chicago.

Jeanine Zavrel Fearns and daughter Erin traveled to San Francisco and spent several days in Yosemite National Park, hiking and enjoying the mountains. Jeanine was in Duck, N.C., in September with her family. When she isn’t working, she reads, gardens, and uses ideas from HGTV to decorate her house. Jeanine had a great visit with roomie Anne Witham Kilpatrick last spring. Anne and husband Roger brought granddaughter Jennifer to Washington, D.C., to see the historical sites and gave her a tour of UMW while in the area. Jeanine also visited with suitemate Toni Turner Bruseth of Austin, Texas, who was in town for her father’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Toni, we are sorry for your loss. Toni’s husband, Jim, is chief archeologist for the Texas State Historical Commission, from which Toni recently retired. Another suitemate, Suzy Bender Winterble, and husband Charlie took a summer cruise on the Aegean Sea, visiting Croatia and Turkey. Jeanine forwarded an article from The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg about plans to demolish Chandler Hall to build a student center to include a small auditorium, a ballroom, offices for student clubs, the University post office, and more. The project is due to be completed in summer 2013, so we should be able to see it at our next reunion in 2014. Put that on your calendars right now!

Please write to me with news of our classmates. Happy holidays to everyone!

I’m sure plenty of us have similar stories about our parents: My father’s health took a turn for the worse, and my parents are now in assisted living in their hometown. Ted and I have spent much time traveling back and forth to Florida. We planned to visit them again in August after celebrating Ted’s youngest son’s 40th birthday in Alabama.

Rochele HC Hirsch traveled to Singapore in February and planned to stay a few years, doing management consulting. She interviewed for a job with Cisco but continued her personal transformation work with new clients instead. Rochele was in the design phase for a book she plans to write about her work. Ellen Grace Jaronczyk’s son, Morgan, and wife Leslie of Fredericksburg welcomed their third son, Jason, in March. Ellen was wearing out the highways visiting her grandchildren. Martha Veasey Sawyer and husband Roger celebrated their 10th anniversary in March with a stay at Buckhorn Inn in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

Please send me your news.

Submitted by Mary Anne Burns.

Thanks to our classmates coming in numbers, perfect weather, and UMW’s wonderful hospitality and planning, our 40th reunion was a great success. The campus was in full bloom and at its best! It was fun from the first steps onto the grounds at Brompton Friday night to the casual, relaxing Sunday brunch. We were fortunate to have professors Dan Dervin, Don Glover, Bulent Atalay, and Marshall Bowen at our Friday night class party at Trench Hill, now the Kalnen Inn. It was great to see one familiar face after another once again in those parlors and on the lawn.

I showed two slideshows, one the UMW Simpson Library Special Collections photo exhibit of campus activism from 1967 to 1971 by Dr. Dervin, and the other a set of hilarious photos friends submitted to our Facebook group. On the screen appeared faces of people who could not be with us (Sue Cottingham, Barbara Halliday, Penn Bailey, Elaine Bell, and Robbie Purner) and those who have passed on (Mimi Hearne Barringer, Elizabeth “Mary Beth” Anania Edwards, and Beth Welsh). We were proud that Mary T. Bradley MacPherson received the University’s Distinguished Alumna Award. YouTube videos showed snapshots of her work affecting far-reaching societal change and her work empowering women entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa.

I want to thank all who sent remarks. You will find the past, present, and future here, because we are once again in a time of great transition. It’s a really fun time in our lives to reconnect, and we don’t plan to wait five years to do it again, so please stay in touch.

Karen Laino of Brussels, Belgium, our Class Notes coordinator and stalwart attendee of prior reunions, sent her apologies that she couldn’t join us this year due to pressing responsibilities with NATO. She also sent her appreciation to Mary Anne Burns, Cynthia “Davey” Ellis, and Kathy “Ernie” Marilla Kent for doing the after-reunion notes and to all for sending information for the magazine, which she urged everyone to continue doing. She was winding down a nearly nine-year tour in Europe, specifically with NATO in Belgium. The job and the task of making people in the U.S. understand the importance of the great alliance, she said, were daunting challenges. Though she and Ralph were sad to leave Europe, they made many friends and memories, planned to return, and looked forward to reconnecting with everything back home, including UMW friends. They were to arrive in the Washington, D.C., area in October. They bought a house and planned to make their permanent home in York, Pa., and Karen was to work at Fort Meade, Md., again. At Bryn Irving Roth’s suggestion, we wrote our regards for Karen on a card at Trench Hill at reunion Friday night, and I sent it to Belgium. We plan to gather after she gets back in appreciation for her work for NATO in support of efforts in Libya and Afghanistan.

Ernie and husband Chris of Alexandria, Va., have two sons and two granddaughters. Ernie lived and worked in family therapy in Philadelphia for seven years and has lived in Alexandria since 1978, working in the arts and as a docent at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. Summers are spent overseeing their business, Lighthouse Liquors in Fenwick Island, Del. During the winter, she continues her interests in the arts in eclectic Key West, Fla. Ernie really enjoyed the Friday night reunion party, beautiful Trench Hill setting, and Mary Anne’s slideshow, and she felt that the camaraderie surrounding this year’s reunion was special and that we were all genuinely glad to be together. She found a visit to the Eagle’s Nest particularly gratifying, when several compared notes on Mary Washington experiences with a resident assistant. There were more similarities than one might have imagined between the experiences and philosophies he described and our own, 40 years earlier. Another poignant generation-crossing experience was at the post-banquet dance party, where student volunteers were gracious and outgoing in their attempts to bring us all together on the dance floor. What a riot! “These are good people … UMW should be very proud.”

Davey lives in Concord, Mass., outside Boston with husband Hany. After years working for high technology and marketing agencies, she is now a freelance writer and public relations specialist. Older daughter Christina lives and works in Madison, Wis., while younger daughter Claire is a junior at the University of Denver. Davey said that it was wonderful to reconnect with classmates and that a high point for her was the Freedom Riders session Friday afternoon, where Drs. O’Donnell, Cox, and Wilder told the story of the 1961 Freedom Riders, a group of college students, housewives, clergy, and other ordinary citizens who joined together to strike down Jim Crow laws regarding transportation in the Deep South. These courageous individuals were led by the late UMW professor James L. Farmer Jr. Mary Washington celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides in many ways, including welcoming in May the 2011 Freedom Ride, a recreation of the journey with 40 college students from across the country, including Charles Reed Jr. ’11, riding from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans to trace the original bus routes. Davey said she was honored to attend the session and proud of UMW for its leadership role in commemorating the Freedom Riders.

Julie McClelland Seder of Lancaster, Va., said that when she saw the names of classmates who planned to attend the reunion, she was surprised at how few she recognized. She said she still struggled to match faces with names and with the little girls we all were in 1967. But, when she really looked into people’s eyes, she said, she made connections and the memories came flooding back. “Fredericksburg is an awesome town! I can’t wait to go back and spend some quality time wandering around the historic district.”

Pam Temple Roach was my roommate all four years at Mary Washington. (Technically, we were suitemates junior year so we could both be freshman counselors.) After 40 years, we still finish each other’s sentences and believe we were separated at birth. “Our class rocks. We are a great bunch of broads! Thanks to Mary Anne for all she did … I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the whole weekend.”

Elaine “Cookie” Brennan Wright of Woolford, Md., lives on the Chesapeake Bay and boasts three careers, two daughters, two springer spaniels, and one husband. She retired from the EPA, where she held the title of “director of common sense,” and teaches environmental science and public health at the University of Pennsylvania. She also does consulting, running sustainable development programs in Russia, the Balkans, Italy, and Turkey, and programs that are planned to expand to the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine. Daughter Elizabeth, 30, has a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a master’s degree in systems engineering from University of Virginia, where she is director of operations for the Medical Simulation Center. Daughter Katie, 24, has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and manages marketing operations for DISH Network’s DishLATINO. Despite calling off the wedding the night before the ceremony, Elaine has been married almost 39 years.

Phyllis Rogers Geries of League City, Texas, has taught Houston high school seniors government and economics for 29 years at the same school where her husband teaches them AP English. Daughter Amy and hubby Brad have children Grayson, 9, Ava, 6, and Sophia, 3. Daughter Sarah works for the Department of Defense in England, and Phyllis loves to visit. Irene Stevenson Lauermann of Arnold, Md., enjoyed connecting with old friends at our 40th reunion. She retired after 35 years in education, and she and husband Dale have become snowbirds, leaving home in October, traveling the Intracoastal Waterway to their slip in Marathon, Fla., and returning in May. They plan to spend this winter at home.

Natalee Spiro Franzyshen of Richmond and roommate Fran McDonald returned together to their senior year dorm room on Ball Third. “Other than different beds, a shower head over the bathtub, and new sinks, it looked like nothing had changed since we left 40 years before.” They examined the old kitchen, ironing room, and study areas in the rotunda area, and reminisced about managing with just fans, learning to wash their hair in the bathtub, and the first after-hours dorm meeting senior year, conducted with residents sitting around the open spiral staircase. Natalee recalled that Bruce Finke, one of our earliest token males, blended in at the meeting, sitting on the first floor with his long hair and jeans. Those on the second and third floors were unaware of his presence, as we sat in our nightwear and curlers, until Bruce asked a question with his deep voice and caused a major ripple of squeals and giggles. The memories are great, but they bring to light the fundraising needed to update the campus and its existing buildings for technology-oriented current and future generations. The pictures hanging in Ball Hall and other buildings give alumni, visitors, and students glimpses of earlier times. Perhaps Cookie Brennan and geography professor Marshall Bowen were the two easiest people to recognize after all these years.

Kathy Shred Schoeher of New Hope, Pa., wrote that we were lucky to grow up in an age when women could get interesting work, and, she said, women made up half of her law school class of 1976. She said she liked being at an all-women school because we could be ourselves and she feels lucky to live in America with interesting geography, relatively clean air, and “a political system that allows the occasional nutcase his/her place in the sun.” Kathy wrote that she had made it to the field by 6:30 that morning, harvested lettuce and garlic, weeded, put up a contraption to keep out bean-eating critters, and planted collards, Chinese cabbage, winter squash, and Tuscan kale. She is still married to the same man, both children are in graduate school, and she was enjoying having her sister-in-law stay with them.

Barbara Halliday submitted her news on her Blackberry from the Mall of America near Minneapolis after visiting husband Rick’s family. They are retired and celebrated their 25th anniversary last year. Barbara was in her second term on the Hayward City Council and planned to run for a third. Her father died last year, and her 89-year-old mother, who lives near them, was doing fairly well. She and Rick attended his 45th high school reunion in North Dakota, and Barbara was sorry she couldn’t make our reunion but was looking forward to the 45th and 50th.

Bryn Irving Roth of Fredericksburg had fun reconnecting with college friends at our 40th reunion. She and husband Dick took a Mediterranean cruise last year. Talking points of the year were his 60th high school reunion in Dayton, Ohio, and hitting a deer on the way there; his now-resolved medical problems; and a number of other trials and tribulations. They took their annual trip to visit Dick’s family in Ohio, and Bryn planned an August cruise to Alaska, two fall trips to Ashville, N.C., and another European cruise in 2012. She stays busy volunteering and quilting and sees their children, grandchildren, and great-grandson as often as possible.

Sidney Robins Lockaby of Charlotte, N.C., was headed to the mountains of North Carolina with dear friends, including Gloria Shelton Gibson ’69, Mary Turner Boyd ’67, and Kathryn Fowler Bahnson ’66. She didn’t know them at Mary Washington but met them more than 30 years ago at an alumni party in Charlotte. Among Reunion highlights, Dory Teipel of Falls Church, Va., includes seeing Don Glover and Dan Dervin (thank you, Dory, for having them as your guests), Mary Anne Burns’ presentation, a sentimental journey over Julie McClelland Seder’s jewelry before leaving, dancing in the street, and the sincere affection she felt from everyone. She said it was heartwarming to be with people who remembered so well the same things after all these years. Dory started painting professionally in 1991 and had a website on the horizon. She also was resuming her 35-year career, putting together advocacy projects in downtown Washington, D.C., and seeking clients interested in strategic planning, communications, and public relations for causes with a special niche in the arts and humanities. She is working with longtime colleagues from Crayola to preserve arts education in the American classroom.

Mary Weaver Mann of Fredericksburg sent her thanks to those who worked hard to arrange the reunion and said it was great to catch up. She and Jim have six grandchildren, ages 6 months to 10 years. Her mother is 101½, still scours two newspapers daily, and attends activities at her assisted living facility nearby. Jim is a funeral home assistant, which gives them truly interesting topics of discussion. She still loves her job at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Mary said that she would love to catch up with Becky Smith Bouygues, who might still live in Paris and have five children, and that Candace Hilldrup ’69 also is in Paris.

Joyce Garber Gamse of Arlington, Va., had fun with Susan Liebenow and Elaine Bell. Joyce taught English in Charlottesville while completing her master’s degree at U.Va. Inspired by a speech by Ralph Nader, she moved to Washington, D.C., was one of Nader’s Raiders, a congressional correspondent, and an editor at the Library of Congress. She and husband Roy lived on Capitol Hill for 10 years then had two children and moved to Arlington when their son started kindergarten. That son has a JD/MBA from Northwestern University and was married last year in Traverse City, Mich. Joyce and Roy’s daughter has a degree from Pomona College in California and lives in Cape Town, South Africa, where they’ve been twice to visit. Now semi-retired, Joyce substitute teaches, and Roy works with public charter schools. She loved the reunion, wishes Julie Watkins and Kitty Tinkham could have been there, and was shocked and saddened to learn from Elaine “Cookie” Brennan Wright that roomie Beth Welsh passed away.

Betty Barnhardt Hume of Fredericksburg has been a “townie” since moving off campus junior year. Her children, Janet and Robin, went to Randolph-Macon College and UNC Wilmington, respectively. Betty taught for nine years, took a few years “off” with her children, worked at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, and has worked full time at the Porter branch in North Stafford since 2007. This has enabled Randy Hume ’75 to retire to the life he always imagined, playing golf every day and doing all the cooking. (Maybe he didn’t imagine the second part, but he does it well and is much appreciated.)

Diana “Diney” Rupert Livingston of Port St. Lucie, Fla., always felt that the Class of ’71 had a unique and wonderful personality and that we were bold, interesting, and eternally youthful. Her perceptions were confirmed at the breakfast on the last morning of reunion, when the student volunteers commented on how our classmates were dancing and rocking at the party the night before, long after the much-younger alums had called it a night. Claudith “Dotti” Holmes of Richmond reports that both her freshman roommates, Anita Whitehead Scott and Orita Whitehead Martin, are well. Anita is a retired Fredericksburg schoolteacher and the mother of twins John III and Christopher. Orita has lived in Denver for 40 years, reared two daughters with husband Richard, and is now a grandparent. She worked for the state of Colorado, as did older daughter Toni. Younger daughter Pamela is a veterinarian and tenured professor at Tuskegee University.

Elizabeth “Betty” Robinson Whichard and husband Jim live in Carmel, Ind., outside Indianapolis. But they have lived in Charlottesville, Arlington, and Lynchburg, Va.; Memphis; San Antonio, Texas; and New York City. Elizabeth is a computer applications trainer for New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, and Jim is a semi-retired insurance actuary. They enjoy reading mysteries, walking, working out, doing yoga, traveling, and watching movies.

Sally Reichnor Mayor of Randogne, Switzerland, was sorry not to have made the reunion this year but sent news from the airport in Geneva, where she was on her way to meet Australian friends who have a boat in southern France. She is the quality control person with an educational consultancy for local governments introducing English in the public schools. She has worked for more than 25 years as center exams manager in Switzerland for the University of Cambridge. She planned to participate in a balloon festival in Hotton, Belgium, in August, and asks that Karen Laino let her know if she’s around. Sally has two daughters and granddaughter Zoé, 2. Tish Stoner Sawyer visits her in Florida, and Sally sees Patty Killefer when she gets to the Fredericksburg area. Sally thanks Mary Anne for getting the group together and keeping it active.

Susan Edmonds Whitlow of White Stone, Va., retired in February from admissions at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond. She is volunteering and addressing 30 years of neglected housekeeping. Husband Dave is county administrator in Essex, Va. Daughter Sarah and fiancé Josh live in Alexandria, where Sarah is a reading teacher. Son Colin and wife Jessica are in New York, where Colin is in an MBA/MFA program at New York University.

Mary “Fred” T. Bradley MacPherson of Reston, Va., enjoyed seeing so many classmates at the reunion but was sorry that her roommate, Katherine Brew Barbee of Northern Virginia, and Karen Altizer Tessier of Asheville, N.C., weren’t there. Fred works in the non-profit sector, focusing on entrepreneurship and economic development and on building a businesswomen’s network in the Middle East and North Africa with Vital Voices. She was honored to receive the 2011 Distinguished Alumna Award and accepts it on behalf of the accomplishments of the Class of ’71. Fred sends a big shout-out to Mary Anne Burns for working to make the reunion terrific.

I (Mary Anne Burns) of Alexandria, Va., returned to the East Coast 18 months ago after being in the Southwest since 1976. I got my MBA in finance at the University of New Mexico, then spent the next 30-plus years in Southern California, first in the oil industry and then as a high-technology entrepreneur and consultant. I started in risk management in crude oil commodities trading just as oil was being deregulated and mainframes were on the way out, a confluence of things that launched a string of subsequent amazing opportunities.

After a stint at Disney Online, I got the art bug and undertook a four-year study of Renaissance drawing and painting and digital art with the animation trade while keeping my hand in business. After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, I became an advocate for a strategic shift in the human use of energy at industrial scale. Unbeknown to nearly all, I suffered from idiopathic epilepsy starting in my late 30s. Having found profound healing through yoga, with no seizures for more than 15 years, I feel engaged in creating the life that was intended from the first. Yoga has empowered me to accept joyfully my life of great independence and freedom, which also can be marked by acute isolation.

I work at the Library of Congress and am writing what I hope will be the first of many literary novels. I believe that, as the freest women who ever lived, we have a unique voice and vision that we are responsible to express widely. I enjoy the affection of my dear mother, 93, brother Tom, nieces, and grandnieces and nephew. It was a joy to coordinate the 40th reunion in honor of the caliber of the women and the liberal arts education of Mary Washington.

Several wonderful things happened in the process. I worked with Carolyn Parsons ’83 to obtain and best use Dr. Dervin’s photos. As I groped for a way to best reflect the diversity of our college experience, Robbie Purner of Stevens Point, Wis., emailed me a hooked rug “work-in-progress” with the word “inspiration” in the subject line. We had with us two former Trench Hill buddies, Philo Funk Scott ’72 and Karen Jenkins ’72, who cut up the dance floor with Rick and Rose Hurley like no others. I learned about Anne Gordon Greever’s economic development and micro-lending work with Richmond women; discussed my historical fiction with University Historian Bill Crawley; caught up with Pam Rave Hall and Diney Rupert Livingston, my Jefferson mates senior year; sat on the Trench Hill veranda overlooking Sunken Road talking with Mary T. about the impact American studies had on our thinking; laughed with Davey and Ernie at the hotel as we re-lived the suitemate experience; and enjoyed “girl time” looking at Julie McClelland Seder’s jewelry when, believe it or not, we were too tired to talk anymore.

As photos from Reunion began to be posted, we decided to keep the Facebook group going. The pictures are great! We are still trying to figure out who everyone is, so please join us at “Mary Washington Class of 1971 40th Reunion Photo Archive” and help. Stay tuned for plans for the celebratory dinner for Karen Laino’s return to the States at the end of October. A big thank you to Carolyn Parsons in Special Collections; Dan Dervin for taking those historic photos so long ago; Patti Boise Kemp ’69 for a pre-reunion campus tour, photos of classmates as freshmen in Virginia Hall, enthusiasm, and help; and the Alumni Relations staff, especially Cindy Snyder ’75, who did the big stuff right for us and had patience with me as I pursued the details with occasional excessive diligence.

You are the women who removed from human history for all time the question, “Can a girl do that?” Your faith and confidence in me as a young leader and creative soul led to many adventures and opportunities, and I wanted to acknowledge you with the elegance you deserve. You knock me out. Love and peace.

I read with deep sadness of the passing of three of our classmates. Having never met Virginia Crow Acors, it was an unexpected pleasure when she wrote a couple of years ago about events in her life. Some of us will remember Fran Guthrie Flynn most for her friendly smile and cheerful greetings throughout school. The loss of Christie Jaeger Thomas hit close to home. We went to rival high schools in Baltimore County but didn’t meet until college, where we were on the third floor of Russell Hall our senior year. Christie worked in the library at Johns Hopkins University and went on to become director of graduate financial aid. She met Glen Thomas, who was director of admissions and enrollment services, and they were married for 29 years. Chris later worked for several Baltimore law firms and for Thomas Havey CPA. When the latter closed in Baltimore, she started her own business, serving new and existing clients. She, Glen, and their friends sailed and often docked at Caribbean ports. Christie will be missed by all of us. Our condolences go to Glen and her family and friends.

Life stays busy in Baltimore. This summer I sang for various churches, and business was booming at my law firm. Dennis and I took trips to Delaware, Ohio, and Virginia and planned a longer vacation Thanksgiving week. I continue doing costumes for the Honfest and won the Baltimore’s Best Hon 2011 title. My first appearance in this capacity was at the United States Conference of Mayors. While this city may not belong to some of us like it did to William Donald Schaefer, our recently departed former mayor/governor, it feels like my city, and I look forward to serving it well in the coming year.

Nancy Mahone Miller and CG, who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last year, both had surgery but had recovered and gotten back up to speed. They continue to travel to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina and love so much that is Celtic and sponsored the Clan Ramsay tent at last year’s Williamsburg Scottish Festival. Nancy is state vice chair of the Friends of the DAR Library Committee, national vice chair of the DAR Scholarship Committee, and president of her own United States Daughters of 1812 chapter. She still reunites with Mary Washington classmates in Kitty Hawk, N.C., and Nelson County, Va.

Sherrie Mitchell Boone keeps busy with piano tuning, art, and genealogy, while John continues in accounting for Hotel Roanoke. Their children and grandchildren are well. Son Trey, who is working on his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Daughter Leighanne and husband Scott were house hunting in Sherrie’s neighborhood and want daughter Anna to go to school in that district.

Dave and Cheryl Prietz Childress keep on the go with equestrian and boating activities and colonial re-enactments. Dave does excellent car restoration, and their 1965 Morgan is beautiful. We visited them at their farm at Thanksgiving and at the Morgan meet in Staunton, Va., during Fourth of July weekend. Dave and Cheryl’s children, Thea and Alex, joined us for part of the trip. Thea and husband Eric, who is finishing an MBA at Radford University, live in Christiansburg, Va. Thea, who majored in theater and art history at Virginia Tech, volunteers at an art museum. Alex is studio manager for a Richmond radio station.

Plans are already in the works for our 2012 reunion. In the meantime, let me hear from you.

I read with deep sadness of the passing of three of our classmates. Having never met Virginia Crow Acors, it was an unexpected pleasure when she wrote a couple of years ago about events in her life. Some of us will remember Fran Guthrie Flynn most for her friendly smile and cheerful greetings throughout school. The loss of Christie Jaeger Thomas hit close to home. We went to rival high schools in Baltimore County but didn’t meet until college, where we were on the third floor of Russell Hall our senior year. Christie worked in the library at Johns Hopkins University and went on to become director of graduate financial aid. She met Glen Thomas, who was director of admissions and enrollment services, and they were married for 29 years. Chris later worked for several Baltimore law firms and for Thomas Havey CPA. When the latter closed in Baltimore, she started her own business, serving new and existing clients. She, Glen, and their friends sailed and often docked at Caribbean ports. Christie will be missed by all of us. Our condolences go to Glen and her family and friends.

Life stays busy in Baltimore. This summer I sang for various churches, and business was booming at my law firm. Dennis and I took trips to Delaware, Ohio, and Virginia and planned a longer vacation Thanksgiving week. I continue doing costumes for the Honfest and won the Baltimore’s Best Hon 2011 title. My first appearance in this capacity was at the United States Conference of Mayors. While this city may not belong to some of us like it did to William Donald Schaefer, our recently departed former mayor/governor, it feels like my city, and I look forward to serving it well in the coming year.

Nancy Mahone Miller and CG, who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last year, both had surgery but had recovered and gotten back up to speed. They continue to travel to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina and love so much that is Celtic and sponsored the Clan Ramsay tent at last year’s Williamsburg Scottish Festival. Nancy is state vice chair of the Friends of the DAR Library Committee, national vice chair of the DAR Scholarship Committee, and president of her own United States Daughters of 1812 chapter. She still reunites with Mary Washington classmates in Kitty Hawk, N.C., and Nelson County, Va.

Sherrie Mitchell Boone keeps busy with piano tuning, art, and genealogy, while John continues in accounting for Hotel Roanoke. Their children and grandchildren are well. Son Trey, who is working on his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Daughter Leighanne and husband Scott were house hunting in Sherrie’s neighborhood and want daughter Anna to go to school in that district.

Dave and Cheryl Prietz Childress keep on the go with equestrian and boating activities and colonial re-enactments. Dave does excellent car restoration, and their 1965 Morgan is beautiful. We visited them at their farm at Thanksgiving and at the Morgan meet in Staunton, Va., during Fourth of July weekend. Dave and Cheryl’s children, Thea and Alex, joined us for part of the trip. Thea and husband Eric, who is finishing an MBA at Radford University, live in Christiansburg, Va. Thea, who majored in theater and art history at Virginia Tech, volunteers at an art museum. Alex is studio manager for a Richmond radio station.

Plans are already in the works for our 2012 reunion. In the meantime, let me hear from you.

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!