Class Notes

Greetings, Class of 1974! Your response has been great for this newsletter, let’s keep it up; it is so good to hear what everyone is doing. Thanks for the input.

Christine Haberstroth Deyoung writes that she has been living in Northern Virginia since her marriage in 1977. She worked at Viar and Company in Old Town Alexandria, which was acquired by DynCorp in the early 1990s, and then CSC acquired DynCorp in 2003. She has weathered the two acquisitions and is a Program Director for the EPA’s Superfund Contract Laboratory Program. They run the Sample Management Office that supports the EPA’s efforts in cleaning up hazardous waste sites across the country. Her husband, Jay, sold his software business a few years ago and is now retired. She has two children; Jon is a writer and is attending Florida State working towards a Master of Fine Arts in writing, and Kate is a researcher and is also back in school at American University working on a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Kate has worked in labs supporting research on abused pregnant women, suicide, and personal injury. Christine is looking forward to retiring in a couple of years and moving further south, maybe as far as Virgin Gorda!  She and her husband hate the cold and shoveling snow.

Christine had dinner with Mary Hutchison Wilson a year or so ago. She transferred to William and Mary after our sophomore year. She is still working at the CIA. Both of her children are in New York. Her daughter is an actress with an impressive resume, just waiting for her big break. Her son is working in the financial arena.

Mary Margaret McVeigh Canale writes that her oldest son, Alex, was married in November to the lovely Julie Groark. Alex teaches AP and Freshmen Chemistry and Forensics at St. Peter’s Prep and is their Crew Coach. Julie teaches sixth grade English in Westchester. Their younger son, Brendan, lives and works in Baltimore. Mary and her husband, Dave, spent time traveling in Sicily with friends this past April. They are both still working. She is looking forward to being on campus next May for her goddaughter’s graduation.

Cynthia Gorwitz writes that she lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and has two great children currently attending North Carolina colleges. She is a retired social worker and is involved in Democratic Party politics and social issues.

Diane Harvey Smith reports that son number two, Ben, was married in a lovely beachside ceremony in Destin, Florida, this April. Ben and his new bride will be moving to New Delhi for three years. They are looking forward to the adventure, although Mom is a bit concerned about the distance. But she has always wanted to go to India, so this is the big chance. Son number one, Adam, and his wife fortunately are remaining in Northern Virginia. Diane and her husband, Steve, continue to work on their retirement home in downtown Leedstown, Virginia. A home totally furnished in knotty pine is a decorating challenge!

Julia Blair Geier said she still lives in the Northern Neck of Virginia in White Stone. She is a grandmother of five wonderful granddaughters ranging in age from five months to five years. After years of steady volunteer work, she is now enjoying retirement! Her husband, Bill, refurbished their 20-year-old, 65-foot catamaran and they plan to take her south this fall.

Her dear friend Barbara Wilson Conley and she keep in close touch; Barbara and her husband, Lloyd, recently moved from Midlothian, Virginia, to Solomons, Maryland, and are very happy there, where they are closer to family and the water!

Bettiann Aylor writes that the group who worked on the 40th reunion did a great job—thanks to all of those involved.  She had not seen Nancy Jones Brown for a long time and what a treat it was for her to spend time with her. Bettiann will complete her 41st year with Hanover County Public Schools. She is currently the administrative senior teacher in a school, which is the perfect place for her. She gets to teach a couple of classes and is the administrator for the math department, which she loves.

This summer, Bettiann will be in Europe for two weeks, going back to London, Normandy, Loire, and Paris. She is really looking forward to that, as she’ll have a chance to once again spend some time with an acquaintance from one of her previous trips. She loves Wicked and has tickets to see that in London. The Normandy area is one of her favorites. She says that not being a history person, it is amazing the greater appreciation she gains from such an experience. Then, there’s always Paris—amazing! Her plan is to be back at Hanover High next fall and will see what happens at the end of next year.  She does plan to retire sometime but she has to find another job first!

If anyone has contact information for Andrea Hendricks Shannon, Bettiann would love to touch base with her. She has not been able to locate her.

Pat Denton Rounds reports that she retired from the Chatham County Public library system on her birthday and is now planning to move to the Charlotte area to be closer to her daughters. She will be leaving behind a wonderful Queen Anne home which she has lovingly been restoring, but now she will move on to new adventures in Cherryville, North Carolina.

Marci Alexander Anderson writes that she has never taken time to reply to our class newsletter, but decided to do so for the first time. She has finally retired in January after working for 39 years as a speech language pathologist! She has thoroughly enjoyed her career as an SLP and it was a hard decision for her to retire, as she has been happy and proud to serve and work in the field with pediatric and adult patients. She thinks she has worked in almost every setting possible, including outpatient clinics, public schools, a rehabilitation facility, inpatient and outpatient hospital settings, an ENT office, a pediatric neurologist’s office, home health, private practice, nursing homes, and a facility for the deaf. All of her patients have been challenging and rewarding.

Marci and her husband, Danny, enjoy traveling, and they just hiked Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon in Utah in May. They also just got back from a relaxing trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and are looking forward to taking a two-week riverboat cruise through Germany in August. Then in September, Marci is going with three of her best tennis friends to the U.S. Tennis Open in New York. She stays busy helping her 92-year-old mother and looks forward to her 93rd birthday next month. Marci loves to exercise and swim most days or walk or go to the gym. She is also a big U.Va. fan and watches basketball, baseball, and football games and attends when she can. She also loves her church and its activities.

She keeps in touch with several classmates, including her old roommate, Cassy White Holcomb, in Washington State, and Judy Clark Hays ’75 in North Carolina, who was in the class behind us. She just ran into her freshman suitemate, Mary Kay O’Keefe Beasley, at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond during Easter. All are doing well.

Marci has attended most of our class reunions, and she just wanted everyone to know that they are so much fun. She encourages all classmates to come back to Fredericksburg for a fun and full weekend.  She would enjoy hearing from other classmates and encourages them to write in to our newsletter to keep in touch. Time flies, but it is always fun to reminisce about Mary Washington and the “good old days.”

Katherine R. “Jill” Hadden reported that she is has been in Atlanta for about 29 years now, or thereabouts, and has been in the suburb of Peachtree Corners since 1999. She is working two part-time jobs, both of which keep her on her feet almost all the time. She has been into board gaming pretty heavily now for about seven years, and she recently attended a five-day Game-O-Rama convention here in Atlanta and had an absolute blast! Such Fun! She normally plays around four to six times a month, depending on her work schedules.

Jill has one cat, Smidgeon, who is a piano cat and about 13 years old this month. She was thrilled that we finally have another Triple Crown winning racehorse, American Pharaoh, after an over 30-year drought! Thoroughbred racing is one of her favorite sports to watch and there is so little of it offered on TV. She tries to keep up with Norah Heckman and Patricia Barnett Millard from the MW days.

Peg Hubbard reports that at our 35th reunion a group of Jefferson Fourth West residents vowed to schedule annual reunions. They are proud to say that 2015 marks the seventh year in a row that they have gathered on the weekend following Memorial Day. Between the 35th and 40th reunions, they spent fun-filled weekends in four different East Coast cities. This year they returned to campus and enjoyed Reunion Weekend activities and dorm life in Mason. They even created their own class tent under the canopy of an old tree in front of Virginia Hall.

The group included Patti Goodall Strawderman, Karen Sunnarborg, Jonette deButts Hahn, Nancy Pederson Trzcinski, Deb Ryan Howard, and Peg Hubbard. There’s nothing like late-night conversations with your college chums. Susan Tyler Maguigan was unable to join them this year because her eldest of three daughters, Caitlin, was nine months pregnant. Susan and her husband, Tim, welcomed their first grandchild in June—a BOY!