Class Notes

This is the first column under the new guidelines and timelines which should make some of the news a bit more current. I must note that this has been a tumultuous last six months for so many of us, so the news may be sparse and we are all finding our way into our new “normals.” The countdown has begun for our 45th reunion in 2016. Any ideas for a theme or ideas in general send to me and also to the Facebook page to share.

Terry Tucker Young and I have reconnected under sad circumstances during the illness and passing of a friend to so many of us, Sylvia Schwab, in March 2015. Terry and I have promised to meet up. Terry has had two very successful shops in Northern Virginia called Doodlehopper 4 Kids. They were voted the number one toy store in the area and they offer toys, games, science items, and baby gifts, among other things. Terry’s Zen, as she calls it, has been pottery, and in July she planned to attend a ceramic workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Terry belongs to a studio in Arlington where she participates in art shows and it was there that she ran into Jane Touzalin and Margie McDonald. Another classmate, Pat Naybors Whitehead, shows in several area galleries and they see each other a few times a year. Phil, her husband of 33 years (where does the time go?) is in real estate and she has two step children—a DJ and a TV producer.

A funny thing happened on the way to reconnecting with friends. I had a note from Susan Brown Lohin, who is still at Wellesley in Massachusetts. She wrote about a high school friend who lives somewhere here in York. I suggested she give me the email address so I could contact her friend and possibly meet for coffee. Well it turns out her friend, Delilah, lives only seven houses down the next street from me and we have become walking buddies. Talk about a small world. Thank you, Susan, for introducing her to me.

Barbara Halliday soon celebrates one year as Mayor of Hayward, California, located in the San Francisco Bay area. Congratulations, Barbara. You certainly have your challenges for the next three years.

My apologies for this late entry on Penny Falkowitz Goldstein, who, with her husband, Dan, has been in Alaska for over 30 years. Penny had been a health and safety professional for BP Oil but had also worked for the U.S. Army, USDA, Forest Service, and ARCO. Penny was in Louisiana for the oil spill cleanup and also worked the North Slope for six years. She had quite a career while Dan worked for both the FAA and TSA as a budget and logistics specialist. Since retiring, they have a full schedule and a full house as foster parents and grandparents. She and Dan sit on the boards of local non-profits. They love Alaska and I am sure would love to see some of us up there to enjoy nature at its finest and roughest. Their one son has been studying to be a Rabbi. Penny stays in touch with Anne Patterson Mackinnon and Pattie Neyland Reams.

Betsy Pfromm has been in Pasadena, California, and heads a nationally recognized mental health center affiliated with the USC Keck School of Medicine. It has been recognized for leadership in major policy initiatives in areas of prevention, early intervention, and ethnic minority services. Betsy has also spent some time in Phuket, Thailand.

Debbie Oja Tuttle and Ed will celebrate 33 years of marriage, and when they retired from Washington, D.C., 16 years ago, they moved to Sunset Beach, North Carolina! They love living at the beach but it’s a zoo in the summer, so they also bought a condo in the mountains on a golf course in Linville, North Carolina, near Grandfather Mountain. Six months at the beach and six months in the mountains—love it! They have been lucky with good health and lots of friends, but Debbie would love to hear more from Mary Wash classmates.

Several of us like Liz Keith and Barbara Exline Staller have reconnected thanks to Words with Friends, a fun way to stay in touch. We are planning an almost annual reunion in October when Liz comes east for a wedding.

Again, let us all keep Sylvia’s family and Sylvia in our prayers and thoughts as we do all our departed classmates.