Class Notes

[Editor’s note: Longtime class agent Roselyn “Rosie” Bell Morris submitted these notes in early summer. We’re sorry to report that she passed away Aug. 30, 2015, and we offer our condolences to her family and friends.]

The years seem to be just racing by, and I just can’t believe we graduated 64 years ago. I am so glad I have a little news to pass on.

For the last 20 years Nancy Tate Tossey has spent at least part of the winter months in the Bonita Springs area in southwest Florida. Ohio is still her permanent home, but she doesn’t like the cold, gloomy Ohio winters. She says her biggest news is that she is still around, and she is truly thankful for this and for being able to drive herself to Florida each winter. Her husband died a number of years ago, but her three children and their families remain a close knit family group. It is her joy to see them often. She has very little UMW news, as most of the friends she kept up with are no longer with us, but she does still occasionally hear from Virginia “Ginny” Peirce Carmichael.

Beverly Steel Livesay was married to C.S. “Sherb” Livesay for nearly 60 years when he passed away last year. They have four boys and one girl who gave them thirteen grandchildren. Now there are thirteen great-grandchildren. They were able to all get together for Thanksgiving last year. Beverly left Virginia in 1970 due to her husband’s employer, NCR. They stopped in Illinois and Alabama, and finally settled in the Atlanta area for 39 years. Because their children settled nearby in Georgia, Alabama, or Florida, they never returned to Virginia to retire. Beverly reports that she is in good health and able to stay in her home. She says she has kept up with all the exciting things at MWC—its growth, and even change of name. She is proud of being a member of the Class of 1951 with lots of good memories.

Betsy Smith Hughes reports that it has been a pretty good year, despite the sad fact that her husband, Chuck, continues on in the fog of dementia. They have lived at Roland Park Place for more than ten years now, and although Chuck is safe and comfortable, he would hate the life he lives now if he could understand it. Happy news was grandson Chris DeCamp’s marriage in November to the beautiful Dr. Debbie Wang. Debbie is an orthodontist and is establishing her practice in Baltimore, where she and Chris live in their historic Fells Point home. Chris, who is daughter Anne’s son, is managing special projects at Vane Brothers and is finishing up his studies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. More happy news—Anne’s youngest son, Will, married the beautiful Libby Justice in Atlanta, Libby’s hometown, in March 2015. Will is a financial analyst in San Francisco, where he and Libby live. The family was very excited to have another reason to bring everyone together.

Betsy’s daughter Anne is busy in Richmond, having recreated her decorating business. Her daughter Sarah keeps Betsy up to speed on work and play at the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, where she teaches Spanish and American History. Betsy’s son Duff and his lovely fiancé, Katja, moved to a beautiful home in Cockeysville, Maryland. They are up to their ears in the active lives of Katja’s children, Kristiana, Markus, and Claudia. Duff’s son Charley, a senior at the Boys’ Latin School and a varsity lacrosse player, is the family energy machine. Alex, the older of Duff’s sons, is a midshipman in the United States Merchant Marine Academy. When Betsy wrote, he was about to board a Maersk merchant ship, the SeaLand Lightning, to sail to Asian ports for months to come, all part of the merchant mariner program at King’s point. Betsy is still busy at Vane Brothers managing publications and communications, as Duff continues to take the company to new levels of expansion moving petroleum products by tug and barge along the eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico.

This is all I have at this time. Please, please help me by sending some news. I feel really down. I’m doing o.k. at this time, even if I did fall on the street by the Apothecary Shop on January 12. I am back to normal now after not working for two weeks and in the hospital for one week. Of course, I told the doctors that I’ve never been normal, so I am quite surprised to be normal again at 85 years old. Ha!