Class Notes

Please send news to the designated Class Agent according to the first letter of your maiden name.

From Connie: Life these days is dictated by my pulmonary fibrosis and lack of stamina, even with oxygen 24/7. I might qualify for a lung transplant, basically the only cure, and was to spend a week in July having tests to see if I can tolerate the procedure. I had recent visits from Janie Riles and from Clara Sue Durden Ashley and Clarence, who lost electricity and stayed with son Andrew after the freak June storm in the Washington, D.C., area. We spent the last week of June at the Booth family reunion at the Highland Lake Inn in Flat Rock, N.C., with my immediate family of six, sister Barbara “Linkey” Booth Green ’63 and brother Bob and their families, and five grandchildren, ages 5 to 13.

One of my freshman roomies, Carlotta Croghan Clark, has had minor health problems but still plays doubles tennis. She and Pres were home in Annapolis for summer and were to return in October to their Fort Myers, Fla., condo. They also have a Bethany Beach, Del., townhouse often used by their children and four teenage grandchildren. Virginia’s poet laureate, Kelly Cherry, received the inaugural Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto Short Fiction Prize at VCU in March. Kelly’s award-winning story, On Familiar Terms, was selected by the editors from fiction published in Blackbird in 2011. She is the author of 20 books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, as well as chapbooks.

Bev Carlson Shea’s grandson, Eric (Heather’s son), visits them in Bethlehem, Pa. He took ice skating lessons and Bev, who couldn’t resist tying on her old skates, fell and broke her wrist. Carolyn Crum Pannu spent Memorial Day weekend with Renee Levinson Laurents in Culver City, Calif., and saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which reminded Carolyn of trips to India years ago. They visited with Renee’s friends and toured the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Carolyn lives in a studio apartment near daughter Kara in San Francisco and knits, reads, and does crossword puzzles. Grandson Alex of Texas is an enthusiastic student and athlete. Eleanor Knight Jensen and Cliff took a May cruise from Barbados to Monte Carlo, Monaco, and stayed in Nice for five nights.

Peggy Howard Hodgkins had a great time in Omaha. Judy Youngman Wigton and Jim, who recently attended a Berkshire Hathaway meeting, have wonderful friends, a beautiful home filled with art, and a Scottie dog. Charlotte Howard Austin couldn’t visit, since a large tree had fallen in their yard. For Peggy and Art and Lloyd Tilton Backstrom’s first time in Omaha, they were introduced to Dairy Queen Dilly Bars, See’s lollipops, and Borsheims jewelry, and they visited art galleries and the botanical gardens. Peggy visited Pat Scott Peck in Miami in March and in San Antonio in April, when they spent a day with Aggie Welsh Eyster at her cousins’ ranch. Peggy also went to Athens, Ga., to visit Jean Ryan Farrell, who planned a May OAT trip to China. Babs Buse Johnson came from Washington in June to visit Matte McCeney Campbell and the Farrells at their second home on Lake Lanier, outside Atlanta. They hadn’t been together since our 50th Mary Washington reunion.

Without her MWC education, Jerri Barden Perkins wrote, she wouldn’t have received her M.D., achieved an NIH fellowship, and married a Harvard man. They were blessed with three children and an amazing life. When Cal died in 2009, Jerri established four scholarships in his honor and offered their art collection to the University. She was featured in a recent UMW Heritage newsletter. Gene England Simons attended Anne Jinkins Bird and Harry’s 50th wedding anniversary in Maryland. Ellen Gotwalt Willing and Bill returned home in April after three months in Naples, Fla., where they had lunch with UMW President Richard V. Hurley and wife Rose at a February alumni function. They met other alumni, including Ruth Conroy ’42, who plays percussion in the Naples Concert Band and whom they now visit at intermission.

Barbara Ashley Firesheets’ mother died in February, and Babs Buse Johnson’s mother, 95, died in March. Our sympathy to you both.

From Renee: I visited Syd Collson Chichester ’60 at her Vero Beach, Fla., winter home, then went with her on a Western Caribbean and Panama Canal cruise in March and April. We boarded the Zuiderdam in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and ports of call included Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas and Costa Rica, where we visited an animal sanctuary at the edge of the rainforest. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in June and had a lumpectomy in July. The doctor got all the breast cancer but found cancer in two lymph nodes that required a second surgery. Pick a four-letter word, and that’s what I have to say! Please get yearly mammograms. If I hadn’t, the outcome could have been a lot worse.

Nancy “Pepper” Jacobs Germer and hubby Hank visited San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico in April and attended their grandson’s fourth birthday party in Houston in May. Pepper came out of retirement to work part time for friends who opened a jewelry store in Jonesboro, Ark., in May. They attended Pepper’s 55th high school reunion in Richmond in June, and Lloyd Tilton Backstrom and Art hosted them in their James River home. The Germers visited Pepper’s childhood friend and her husband at their Duck, N.C., beach cottage.

So far, chemo was working for Marcia Minton Keech’s husband, Bill. They still love Savannah, Ga., visit their children and grandchildren in Virginia, and welcomed sixth grandchild Landon Christian Keech in February. Donna Henninger Henderson and hubby were to travel from Troutville, Va., in July on Amtrak to San Francisco, where they were to sightsee and attend major league ball games with their daughter and son-in-law. Sylvia McJilton Woodcock and hubby Stuart hadn’t been able to travel because Stuart was still in pain nearly three years after a knee replacement; a March arthroscopic surgery showed little scar tissue. Mary Hatcher attended an April family reunion in northern Florida and visited South Lake Tahoe. She traveled to Newport News, Va., to help Diane Todd’s 96-year-old mother, who suffered a heart attack two days before the death of Diane, one of Mary’s best friends since they were Hampton High School seniors with fathers stationed at Fort Monroe, Va.

From Lynne: Sandy and I took a three-week trip to London, a cruise on the Baltic, ending in Copenhagen, and continue to enjoy life in New York City and Litchfield, Conn.

In spring, Jim and Carolyn Spell Robertson attended Jim’s 50th dental class reunion at MCV, where Carolyn’s freshman roommate, Becky Turner Perdue, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Janie Riles visited Connie Booth Logothetis and Andy in Wilmington, N.C., where she saw her goddaughter, Elaine Logothetis Jack, and family and was impressed with Elaine’s green building supply store, Sapona. Janie and Jim took a May OAT trip to Morocco, arrived in Casablanca, visited major cities, traveled across the Atlas Mountains, and experienced the Berber culture. They camped in the desert, visited nomads in their tents, rode camels, and shopped in the souks. When they weren’t traveling, they were in Fort Lauderdale from December through June and San Diego through December.

Polly Updegraff Champ, president of women’s fellowship at Church of the Palms, and Dan of Delray Beach, Fla., play doubles tennis. Their Palm Beach County Comfort Doll Ministry donates locally and internationally to police departments, childcare agencies, and homeless shelters. Polly worked wardrobe in April for the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof and in June for Riverdance in Hartford, Conn. She also took care of Dan and her sister-in-law after surgeries.

Eleanore Saunders Sunderland broke her ankle in April but helped a friend in Jacksonville, Fla., move and visited Canaan Valley, W.Va., with twin Judy Saunders Slifer. The two planned a May cruise from Budapest to Bucharest, and Eleanore expected to be with her children and grandchildren at her home for Christmas. Kay Slaughter, who graduated from law school at U.Va., where she teaches a course, and daughter Margaret McNett were involved in the successful effort to reinstate U.Va.’s first woman president, Teresa Sullivan. Sue Wilson Sproul was in Virginia during the fire in her hometown, Colorado Springs, and her neighborhood was evacuated. Husband Dave slept in his car and took pictures. Ash covered everything in their home, but many neighbors weren’t as fortunate.

Marcy Trembath Pitkin planned a September Adriatic cruise that included a few days in Italy. Elizabeth “Bitsy” Wright Coxe was in NYC for Easter and went to the opera, Central Park, and an Easter service at St. Thomas Episcopal. Pat Scott Peck and Carolyn Crum Pannu planned an October cruise beginning and ending in Barcelona.