Class Notes

The class of ’71 is working hard toward the goal for the Golden anniversary, 50 years in 2011. I hope we will have many more attend for our 50^th than the 45^th. Plan to come back in a few years for the reunion.

I heard for the first time from Marie Droste Martin who recently retired from teaching Spanish and French in Roanoke, Va. but then decided to teach French part time. Sadly, Marie lost her husband Darrel two years ago but they have two daughters; Laura who was ordained as a minister in April and Erin, an artist, jewelry maker, poet and short story writer.

Marie continues to travel and has spent a great deal of time in Europe. Her most unnerving trip with students was when the terrorist attack occurred in Nice, followed by an attack in Germany. She wrote that she has also become active in politics.

In June, I had a wonderful visit with Diana “Diney” Rupert Livingston. She was in York for a family wedding and came to stay for a couple of days. To say we talked non-stop day and night would be an understatement but we had lots of catching up to do. Diney sits on the Foundation Board for Mary Washington and remains active in many charitable areas since retiring as the General Manager of the largest Call Center for QVC not long ago. She recently moved to an apartment in downtown Richmond and was happy to give up the suburban Florida life for city life. Like many of us who were not necessarily close friends while attending Mary Wash, we have found so many mutual interests and have become good friends in our later lives. Of course in catching up, we laughed as we went through the Yearbook recounting various events. We have promised to do it again.

Mary T “Fred” McPherson couldn’t join us because of business, but Mary and I co-chair the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Committee and see or chat fairly regularly. She is very busy with her consulting and non-profit business spending a great deal of time in Slovakia. Mary is also very active for our class fundraising anticipating a great 50^th reunion.

Laurie McIntosh continues to stay in touch and has cut back on her business which involves teaching writing skills to businesses and government agencies. Not an easy feat. She too lives in Richmond and does charitable work for the Junior League. They run a shop called “Boots to Suits” that provides veterans attire to help ready them for interviews and back into the job market. Laurie is also an accomplished landscape artist.

In March, just prior to my cruise through the Panama Canal, I visited with Elizabeth “Liz” Keith who has lived and taught college in San Diego for several decades. We have stayed in touch since college and try to cross paths along with Barbara Exline Staller who lives in Pennsylvania. Occasionally the three of us have met for lunch to catch up on our lives. Barbara lived in Betty Lewis and left Mary Washington to finish her degree at Ursinus in Pa.

In May 2017 Lisa Barker traveled to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan with nine others following an itinerary organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The group was accompanied by Griffith Mann, the Curator in Charge of the Department of Medieval Art and the Cloisters, along with local guides. The trip covered territory with  beautiful landscapes, multiple languages and alphabets, musical performances, ancient churches, monasteries and art, prehistoric petroglyphs, wonderful people, politics and history.

Betty Barnhardt Hume ’71  retired from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library at the end of October and went back in December as a part-time sub. As Betty aptly wrote, she is working less and enjoying it more!

Randy HUME ’75  still golfs every day he can, and they’ve done lots of traveling to Wilmington, NC where one daughter lives and to the Outer Banks where Betty’s sister-in-law lives. Their other daughter still lives in Fredericksburg, so as Betty writes, they haven’t been totally abandoned by family.