Class Notes

After 25 years in Chicago, Sarah Nabstedt Barnes, who had a long career in health care and hospice, and her architect husband moved to San Diego three years ago. She does sumi-e, or Japanese brush painting, and takes long walks. She visits her grandson, born on St. Patrick’s Day, in Richmond. Florence Bishop of Richmond retired from the classroom after 39 years teaching high school social studies in Henrico County and is VCU’s supervisor of student teachers. She serves on the executive board of the international organization of women educators Alpha Delta Kappa, volunteers in the church office, reads, and travels.

Susan Church Dillon and husband John, Jane Wolfe Stilmar and husband Ben, Joan Hughes Ryan and husband Doug, Susan Wolf Shults and Porter, and Linda Todd “Toddy” Puller were together at our class reunion and planned a future dinner. They met in Fairfax in July, when Susan and Porter visited their son and family in the area. Susan and John live in Oxford on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and volunteer in the community. John retired as vice president and chief lobbyist for Bell Atlantic/Verizon, and Susan retired after 16 years as head of The Country School’s upper school in Easton. They have three children and nine grandchildren. Meghan is in St. Louis, Lindsey is in Washington, D.C., and Brendan is in Philadelphia. John is chairman of the hospital board. Susan is a trustee for the Gunston School, and she reads, cooks, and dabbles at golf.

Sue Spencer Collins of Birmingham, Ala., has been married 42 years to internist and geriatrician Mike Collins, who still practices in retirement homes. Sue worked in Mike’s office as a medical technician, office manager, bookkeeper, and insurance clerk. She retired at 50 with a torn ankle tendon. They have two married daughters, two grandchildren, and a “grand dog.” Mary Mac Blanchard Harris, a legislative assistant for a delegate at the Virginia General Assembly, planned to retire after the 2012 session and pursue community volunteer opportunities. This year their third grandchild was born to son Sam, and daughter Kelly was married in Austin. When Mary Mac visits her daughter, Emily, in Richmond, she sees roommate Helen Callaham Hutter, and she had a great time during reunion at dinner with Mary Lou Murphey Lee, Connie Burkhart Goggin, Sue Wolf Schults, Susie Church Dillon, Jane Wolf Stilmar, Linda Todd “Toddy” Puller, Joan Hughes Ryan, Ellie Frith Peters, and Jane Howard.

Mary Diggs retired to Bethlehem, Pa., after a 34-year career in education as a high school English teacher and an alternative high school administrator. She’s divorced and serves on the Northampton County Election Commission and on the boards of Rotary International in Bethlehem and a Northampton County political group. She visits family in Missouri, Wisconsin, California, and Norway. She reported that Donna Robertson Thomas and Irene Bartlett Lape are healthy. Vivian Crater Gray of Hockessin, Del., a pharmaceuticals consultant, vacationed with her four grandchildren at the family home in Orange, Va. Next year she plans to visit a cousin in Ecuador. Marcia Hileman Clark taught 35 years and retired from Maryland’s Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

Laurie Newman DiPadova-Stocks is dean of Park University’s Hauptmann School for Public Affairs and was temporarily serving as dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies. She and husband Hugh Stocks live in Parkville, Mo., on the Missouri River. Together, they have six children, 16 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, all west of the Mississippi River. She and Hugh traveled to Turkey and Australia, and visited family in Virginia. Cheryl Tate Duke and her husband live in the Fredericksburg area and have a son and daughter. Their 42-year-old son was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and has depended on a ventilator for the better part of 22 years. Heavily involved in disability rights advocacy, Cheryl is president of W.C. Duke Associates, a consulting company specializing in the Americans with Disabilities Act. She publishes access information for Virginia and maintains a disability travel portal, both projects of the nonprofit organization The Opening Door. Her hobbies are website development and genealogy.

Nancy McDonald Legat and her husband of 45 years, Dan, are retired and spend time with their three daughters and sons-in-law and seven grandchildren, all of whom live nearby. Dan and Nancy exercise, “dog-sit” their “grand dogs,” volunteer, read, and are involved with church. Mary Akers Braverman and husband Richard, a retired dentist, had lived 42 yeas in Rochester, N.Y., but recently moved to Charlotte, N.C., to be near older daughter Lisa Scott and grandsons Oscar and Quentin, ages 9 and 5. Younger daughter Jill lives in Boston. Mary planned to retire this year as an accountant for a commercial photographer and graphic design firm.