Class Notes

Barbara “Bobbi” Bishop Mann and her husband, Bob, were on the road for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. They attended a gathering of the Bishop Clan at Bobbi’s brother’s home in

Greensboro, North Carolina, where they had dinner on their mother’s old dining table—sweet memories! In mid-December the Manns visited Bob’s sister and brother-in-law in Huntsville, Alabama, and enjoyed dinner with Bob’s nephews and their families. From there they went to Bob’s other sister’s home for more Christmas festivities, food, and conversation. After a long ride back home, Bobbi and Bob ordered take out for Christmas dinner, probably starting a new Mann tradition: Christmas burritos!

In January, Bobbi met with Linda “Toddy” Puller ’67 in her office in Richmond’s General

Assembly Office Building as the Virginia General Assembly was convening. Senator Puller served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992–1999 and was then elected to the

Virginia Senate in November of 1999, where she has since represented parts of Fairfax and

Prince William Counties. After turning 70, with her family’s blessing, she announced her decision not to run for re-election. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine commended Toddy for her “tireless advocacy for initiatives such as property tax exemptions for disabled veterans and Virginia’s Wounded Warriors Program.”

Bobbi also received a nice letter from Milena Van Sant, our beloved Dr. George Van Sant’s widow, in which she commented on the Virginia General Assembly, adding that Dr. Van Sant had been honored posthumously by a group of Virginia Republicans. They had sent her a commendation citing his serving as the Chairman of the Fredericksburg Area Democratic Committee. She responded with a note of thanks plus a wish that their welcome bi-partisanship could continue in the future. Mrs.Van Sant continues to enjoy life with many family members and friends, one of whom is the retired Episcopal Bishop of Texas. At age 91 he was performing the baptism of his great-grandson and included Milena as a family member. She was certain Dr. Van Sant was smiling down on the ceremony. For Christmas, Mrs. Van Sant visited her family in Roanoke and is eager to see the entire clan in the Outer Banks next summer.

Carolyn Eldred has become part of the second fastest growing area in Virginia—Fredericksburg—which has seen a 15 percent increase in population this past year. Carolyn contracted a new home near the UMW Stafford Campus and has been quite excited with the home’s construction, enjoying the progress of roof, walls, windows, doors, plumbing, electricity, and HVAC. The closing was scheduled for mid-February and Carolyn was all set to move from Silver Spring, Maryland, to her new home in Fredericksburg.

Nancy Dean Wolff wrote from Seattle, Washington, that she enjoys reading about her classmates almost as much as she loves following the Seahawks. Her husband of 42 years passed away in 2010 from cancer. The following year Nancy was in line for a knee joint replacement, foot surgery, and was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. She is recovering from the surgeries and is looking forward to walking easily again. Nancy is planning to come east next summer to visit her Virginia relatives.

Ann Kales Lindblom joined the Senior Fitness “Never 2 Late” class at Joint Base Fort

Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, and was surprised to find Katharine Rogers

Lavery and her husband, Hank, there also. Ann took a couple of weeks off in January to travel to San Diego, California, to help a dear friend celebrate her 90th birthday. The weather there was “perfect” as opposed to the unseasonably cold weather at home. About that same time, Katharine’s niece Lacy Katharine announced her engagement with plans for a summer wedding. Since Katharine makes bridal gowns for family members, she and Lacy are already designing a unique custom creation. In December, Katharine treated her North Carolina daughter and three granddaughters to a trip to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. After touring the premises, they attended The Gift of Nothing, a creative musical in the Family Theater based on the book of the same title by the cartoonist Patrick McDonnell. The cartoon characters from Mutts came alive onstage and delighted the entire audience.

Peggy Beeler Burns manages to “keep busy and stay out of trouble!” She travels from

Florida to Washington, D.C., every three months to visit her young grandchildren and she catches up with roomie Pam Kearney Patrick while there. Last fall Peggy became a

Guardian Ad Litem, a court-appointed spokesperson for neglected, abused, or abandoned children. She has found it to be a very rewarding and eye-opening experience to learn how many children exist in pathetic, sometimes dangerous situations, and she hopes to be able to speak strongly and effectively enough to give her children/cases a chance to overcome their plight. Because there are twice as many at-risk children in Florida as there are Guardians, Peggy hopes this national program will grow to meet its great need.

Linda Mitchell Spiers continues to serve as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church,

Collinsville, Connecticut, and she maintains a very busy schedule there. Besides her regular duties and activities, she is chair of the Connecticut’s Deputation for General Convention, which will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, in July. After the General Convention, Linda will begin a three-month sabbatical and will travel to Virginia and Maryland to visit family and friends. As part of her sabbatical, she will also study in Jerusalem at St. George’s College for 10 days doing coursework called “The Children of Abraham,” in which she will learn more about Christians, Jews, Muslims, and interfaith dialogue. Linda also plans to spend some time on retreat and then to work on her project for her Doctor of Divinity degree. She completed all of her D.Min. courses at Hartford Seminary a few years ago but must complete her project and thesis to receive her degree.

Annette Maddra Horner had a quiet, domestic year in 2014, spending lots of time with friends, family, and especially their young grandchildren, ages 16 months to seven years, while living in Mooresville, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia. She routinely sees Mary Parsons Black, another resident of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and the two couples enjoy happy times together. Annette and John took two trips last summer, both for weddings; one was in Durango, Colorado, and the other in Prague! Although Prague was a beautiful European experience, Annette would prefer a return trip to Durango, where she can enjoy the wild west, now civilized with a good French restaurant and close enough to another favorite city, Santa

Fe, New Mexico, for a fun visit.

Dianne Twiggs Woodworth had a big year 2014, mostly revolving around the celebration of her 70th birthday in September. In March her wonderful husband, Chuck (aka Mr. Master of Surprises) promised her a birthday gift she had been wanting for years. They spent months planning a magnificent trip to Heidelberg, Germany, where Dianne and her Army husband lived when their son, Scott, was born. Dianne has always wanted to take Scott there to see his birthplace, so Chuck arranged for Scott and his wife to travel with them to Heidelberg, Rome, Venice, Munich during Oktoberfest, and Paris. They collected many memories and mementos over a grand two weeks. In August, close to Dianne’s actual birthday, Chuck took her to a wine tasting which turned out to be a total surprise party with her dearest friends and relatives. A high school classmate and an MWC classmate, Diane Sheehan Green, were also in attendance for a wonderful evening of fun, food, laughter, and dancing.

Terry Caruthers spent an eventful 2014 loving life at Lake Norman, North Carolina, where she is president of the Golden Girls, a social club with 250 members. Her husband, Don, still plays the saxophone with the Lake Norman Big Band Jazz Band. They took time out last summer for a fantastic trip to Russia. A good friend from high school, Henry, was widowed and then did a series of mission trips to Russia, where he met and married a Russian professor, Ludmila. Henry and Ludmila arranged a wonderful, inexpensive, two-week, adventure-packed trip for a group of their high school friends. Terry and eight others spent 10 days in Moscow and

St. Petersburg. A highlight of the trip was attending the Swan Lake ballet in the Winter Palace.

Later, Terry and Don spent a week in Marco Island, Florida, with neighbors and a week in

Hilton Head, South Carolina, with family. Terry’s big excitement there was getting caught in a rip tide, being carried 450 yards out into the ocean, and narrowly escaping drowning. She recovered from the scare and is looking forward to her grandson’s early high school graduation in January, thinking that must be impossible since she feels as if she only just graduated! Life is good.

Diana Hamilton Cowell and her husband, Dan, have at last sold their great home in

Huntington, West Virginia, and count their 15 years there by the many blessings and friendships they still have. Both Diana and Dan served on the Board of the Parents’ Club at WVU while their son was a student there and appreciated the openness and involvement of the professors plus the quality of education. Now in Bethany, Delaware, they have filled their calendars with volunteering, community activities, and travels, although they are now fully retired.

In May they attended the 75th reunion of the USMA Class of ’39 with Diana’s MWC roommate, Margaret Winton Engvall ’65, and her family, commemorating their fathers’ time as West Point cadets and reliving many memories of going there with them. Diana traveled to France in July for ceremonies pertaining to Bethany’s sister city, Periers, and afterwards she and Don took a vacation out west with friends to visit the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Yellowstone Park, and Salt Lake City.

A few days before the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust, Susan Roth Nurin had a unique experience as a volunteer at a luncheon for Holocaust survivors in Brooklyn, New York. It was hosted by several organizations which support the Jewish elderly. Susana was there to help serve the food and interact with the survivors, who are often lonely and, in many ways, needy. She was very aware of passing out plates laden with all kinds of tasty foods to those who had lived close to death in Nazi camps with agonizing hunger and deprivation. It touched Susana deeply to listen to their chatter in Yiddish, a language she hadn’t heard conversationally since her childhood. She found herself calling out to them “Es, es (Eat, eat). We have plenty of food,” surely words they never heard in the camps. Soon the musicians came and struck up all the Yiddish songs from everyone’s childhood and the elderly survivors slowly rose from their chairs and began to dance! Susana was moved to tears to see that after all the unthinkable horrors of their earlier lives, they could still find happiness in dancing. She kissed them all and wished them many years of health and joy ahead.

Nancy Shackelford Jones and her husband, James, celebrated the marriage of their daughter Alexandra this past June. Alexandra Shackelford Jones and Nicholas Yates Thorne were married on June 6 by The Rev. John E. Miller, Rector, at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. Alexandra is a Master of Business Administration candidate at Harvard Business School, having spent her early career at Lazard Freres and NBC Universal. She graduated from Yale University, where the couple first met. Nicholas is the CEO of Basno, Inc., a business he founded in 2010 to change the way learning, skills, and accomplishments are certified. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University.

Nancy is a docent emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a past President General of The Colonial Dames of America. James is a senior counsel in Richmond for Hunton & Williams, LLP, and was formerly the founder and managing partner of the law firm’s New York City practice.