Class Notes

I’m excited to be our new Class Agent. It was great to hear from so many of you, and I look forward to more updates. There are 320 members of our class, and I hope to hear from everyone throughout the years.

When I retired two years ago from an information technology career, Rod had already retired, so it seemed the house shrunk and we kept running into each other. Here in rural New Kent, Va., we’re active in our church and enjoy fishing and kayaking. For the 15th year, we flew our 1946 J3 Piper Cub to Lock Haven, Pa., in June for the annual Sentimental Journey for pilots who enjoy flying the vintage aircraft. Our Yellowbird is the basic flying machine with no electronics and minimal instrumentation. We cruise along at 70 mph, with cars below going faster.

We have dinner monthly with friends from Rod’s high school class, including Carolyn Collins Vass ’69 and husband Randy of Richmond’s Short Pump area. A beach trip was planned to celebrate Carolyn’s 65th birthday this fall. We spend time with my sister, Grace Hines Sorey ’70, and husband Bill, kayaking, touring wineries, listening to jazz, and visiting Bill’s Norfolk, Va., home place in Ocean View. Their friend and neighbor, Margie Baker Dowe ’56, still golfs and plays bridge, and our families enjoyed a Memorial Day cookout on her front porch, where three of us had special connections through Mary Washington. For more than 25 years, Rod and I have celebrated the New Year, birthdays, and other events with Virginia Davey Addison, a Baylands Federal Credit Union mortgage loan officer, and her husband of 35 years, Will, of West Point, Va. They have two daughters and two granddaughters.

Mary Sue Warner Weimer and Susan Jacobius Davis have traveled to every continent. Since our last reunion, Mary Sue visited Asia, South America, and Europe, and Susan visited India, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, and Jordan, and cruised the Mediterranean. They traveled together to Norway, Russia, the Galapagos, Machu Picchu, the Greek Islands, and Turkey. Susan’s daughter, Amy, a Virginia Tech graduate, began a job with Disney in Orlando and a double major in hospitality and event planning at the University of Central Florida. She and Susan walked a Disney World 10K in 2009. Susan did three half marathons in 2010, walked the 39.3-mile WDW Goofy in 2011, and since has done at least nine half marathons.

Kathy Gardner Walker, a retired elementary school principal, and husband Charles live in Quinton, Va. She works with a Colorado-based publishing company, assisting schools with program implementation. Sister-in-law Debbie Walker of Fredericksburg, a retired elementary school teacher, travels, gardens, and reads.

As a follow-up to a spring 2012 magazine entry, Duke Price passed away in 2010 after a massive heart attack. He is survived by wife Ingrid Kampinga, daughter Danielle Price, son William “Bill” Price, and grandchildren Allison and Matthew Price.

Kaye Carrithers, a pre-nursing student who transferred to VCU’s School of Nursing, moved with then-husband Rick Beale wherever the USMC directed until they settled in the Richmond area in 1976. They were married 10 years and had three children. In 1991, Kaye earned an MPH with an emphasis in epidemiology from VCU. Her second marriage was to Thomas Meeks, Virginia State University professor emeritus of economics. Kaye has five grandchildren; enjoys traveling, genealogy, drawing, and watercolor painting; and is writing her memoirs.

American studies major Debra Branham Coffey was homesick for Mary Washington after graduation and began studying art history in graduate school. Compared to Mary Washington’s academic excellence and free spirit, she said, that school seemed like “a repository for zombies.” She married and homesteaded in isolated country for more than 11 years until her husband’s new job led to a more conventional life. They lived in Poland, and they homeschooled their three daughters. Debra supports conservative political causes and alternative medicine, loves to garden, and substitute teaches. One daughter teaches at a university, another is an artist, and the youngest went to school in the mountains of the Northwest. Debra often thinks of Professor of American Studies Glen R. Thomas, Professor of Philosophy Kurt Leidecker, Professor of English Donald E. Glover, and Professor of Education Ray Merchent, as well as the Monroe Hall murals.

During summer, Janet Hedrick of Alexandria was the eastern regional major gifts officer in Cody, Wyo., at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. She planned to move to Cody if her interim director of development position became permanent. Janet and Sharon Richmond Janis, innkeeper at the Delaware Inn at Rehoboth Beach, get together each Thanksgiving and volunteered to be on our 40th class reunion committee.

Dale Cole Carter of South Bend, Ind., retired from a 30-year IT management and consulting career and helped her mother through a health crisis. She launched an information and consulting business serving adult children of aging parents, created the ADAPT framework for caregivers, published Transitioning Your Aging Parent: A 5-Step Guide through Crisis & Change, and speaks nationally. She and husband Bill travel and visit children and grandchildren across the country. Dale and Kris Overstreet Helms plan to attend our 40th reunion.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue. Look in Class Notes for due dates, and save May 31 through June 2 for our reunion weekend. If you haven’t signed up to receive UMW email updates, please do. If your email address changes, remember to update UMW and me.