Class Notes

Gail Balderson Dise:

I am so sorry that so few of our class made it to our 50^th class reunion as I have gotten to know a lot of our class through reunions.

I arrived at MWC in January and lived in a room in Mason tunnel.  After that it was 3 years on the first floor of Marshall Dorm with Mary Beth Dore, my friend going back to 7^th grade.  I met my future husband, Ray Dise in Marshall and we were married in 1968. I have now been a widow for 11 years.  I have been retired over 5 years from a 45 year federal government career.  My son and daughter-in-law both turned 40 this year and my two grandsons are in college.  I live in Lake Ridge, Va. near his family and stay busy volunteering to support a local ESL program; being part of the world wide Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) program; doing a newsletter and participating in monthly travel outing for a Senior Saints program; reading; and travelling.

In 2017 the big trip was with a group to the Holy Land with an extension into Jordan.  Highlights in addition to all the amazing biblical sites, were riding a camel, floating in the Dead Sea, being baptized in the River Jordan, and walking in and out of the ancient city of Petra.  In the fall, Mary Beth and I surprised Joan Gillis Baker, ’69 for her milestone birthday in Florida.  Coming up this summer is a trip to Amsterdam followed with a Baltic cruise that includes 2 days in St. Petersburg.  Before then, time will be spent attending a Navy retirement ceremony, a family wedding and a beach week.

Linda Raymond Ellison:

I can’t seem to stay retired.  In 2001, I retired from 30 years as a reporter, then editor at the Courier-Journal and Louisville times.  I taught for 15 years and retired again from Bellarmine University about three years ago.  Now I’m Editor-in-Residence at Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black school built 130 years ago by former slaves who wanted a future for their children.  My husband, Bill (also a retired newspaper editor with an interest in history), and I have co-authored a second book, a biography:  The Two Lives and One Passion of Miss Louise Marshall, founder of the Cabbage Patch Settlement.  Our daughter, Susan, teaches anthropology at Wellesley College

Jane Wolfe Stilmar

My husband of 47 years and I reside part of the year in Alexandria, VA and part of the year in Kilmarnock, VA.  I am still a practicing CPA, working seasonally.  We have two sons, and the exciting news for us is that we plan to be grandparents for the first time in mid November.

I enjoy the quiet life of the Northern Neck—gardening, kayaking, and playing duplicate bridge.  Our home in Kilmarnock serves as a congregating spot for friends and family.  I also enjoy being close to certain amenities when in Alexandria—shopping, museums, movies, church.

Dixie Kopfler Susalla:

My husband, Paul, and I have been married 32 years.  We are both retired from the U.S. Navy.  We live in Sun City West, AZ, in a wonderful retirement community.  We both love Arizona!  We have no children other than our cutest fur baby which is my husband’s emotional support dog as he is handicapped from a major aneurysm.

Patsy Monahan Holden

I have been married to Mike Holden for 50 years in September.  We have 3 children-triplets—one daughter and 2 sons.  They all live in Austin, TX, a 3 hour drive from our home north of Houston in Kingwood.  We have 4 grandchildren. We are all going to Hawaii this summer to celebrate our anniversary.

I taught and was a school counselor for 30 years.  I also became a Licensed Professional counselor and have done that for the last 25 years.  Now I only work one day per week.  We enjoy water aerobics daily and I play cards, read, sew, work in the yard, entertain, and stay busy.

Joanne Hamilton Curtis

After graduating from MWC, I worked at Dahlgren, VA till Oct. 1967 and returned home to Newport News, VA to teach high school math.  I married Ronald Curtis in Dec. 1967.  We have 2 children—Brian who lives in Richmond, VA and has a daughter, and Wendy who lives in Denver, CO who has twin boys.  In 1975, we moved to Williamsburg, VA where after building our own house in Kingsmill (next to Busch Gardens and close to Colonial Williamsburg) we started our own custom home building business (Ronald Curtis Builders LLC).  We are still building custom homes in the Williamsburg area.  Ronald oversees the building and I do the books.  We hope to retire soon.  We visit our daughter and family in Colorado often as we have a place in Breckenridge.

Patsy Jones Lingle Kroll Mazzocco

I married Ted Lingle the end of my junior year and then came back first semester senior year and went to Germany with the Army and finished the last 11 units thru the University of Maryland.  I remarried in 1985, but Bill died in 1996 in a drowning accident.  I married Felix in 2004 and we live in Bonsall, North County, San Diego.  We grow 2.5 acres of Haas avocados on our home site.  We love our grandkids.  I have been taking bridge lessons to challenge my brain.  I should have played with Toddy and my other suite mates back at MWC.

Susie Pedigo

Presently I’m living in a month year old house with my dog and my cat.  I’m retired after 34 years of teaching.  I am a docent for Chrysler Museum of Art and teach classes in creativity.  I still take dance—post Modern and classical ballet, Hip hop, and Belly dance.  I’m taking voice lessons and basic music composition.  I write a little, paint a little, and weave a little.  I’ve become the Jill of all trades I always wanted to be.

Marie Campen O’Callaghan

I and my husband, Michael, have been living in the Lake Norman (NC) area since 1992 and are enjoying retirement since 2005 in Mooresville, NC.  We have travelled throughout all of our American Western States, as well as Europe and the Caribbean.  We enjoy gardening, reading, and our 5 grandchildren.  As part of our 50^th Wedding Anniversary travel/celebrations, we journeyed to Australia in February and fell totally in love with “the land down under”!

Mary Kline Johnson

College seems like yesterday or a lifetime ago, I can’t decide.  I have been married since 1972 and have two daughters.  One lives in D.C., and is a graduate of George Mason U.   Both she and her husband work in politics.  The second daughter graduated from MWC. She lives near Raleigh, NC, is a nurse practitioner, and recently gave us our first grandchild.

I retired after 40+ years in Juvenile Justice, as a probation officer, manager, and supervisor.  Now I volunteer in my community and church.  Husband, Doug, is also retired.  He golf’s and volunteers.  We both enjoy bridge and we do some travelling, mostly to see family and friends.

Virginia Blackwell Rigsby

We have lived in Orlando for 23 years.  My husband, who was in the cable TV business, retired ten years ago, and we are enjoying the ability to travel  This year, we journeyed to Africa where we visited animal preserves in several countries including Tanzania’s Serengeti.  We were in Africa five weeks and loved it so much we may return next year.  In July, we plan a trip north of the Arctic Circle with Seabourn, ending in a week-long exploration of Iceland.  We very much enjoy our leisure time here in Orlando.  John has a large family, and we spend many of our holidays with them.

Beverly Hammond McCauley

I’ve been in Williamsport, PA since 1975 with my husband, Bill McCauley.  For our 50^th wedding anniversary year, we are joining a Stephen Ambrose tour of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806, later in June.  It is an eleven days tour from Great Falls, Montana to Ft. Claptops, Oregon.  We have also just purchased a second home in Charlottesville, VA where Bill and I first lived while he finished medical school in 1970.  At this year’s UVA reunion, I was proud to speak to President Theresa Sullivan of my degree from Mary Washington College of The University of Virginia.

Mary Turner Boyd

I’ve lived in Charlotte, NC for many years and am fortunate to have several UMW grads living nearby—Kathryn Fowler Bahnson and Kay Majeski, ’66, Gloria Shelton Gibson ’69, and Sidney Robins Lockaby’71.  UMW classmate Catherine Wilson of Alexandria, VA and I have participated in two President’s Club trips—one to Egypt and Jordan in 2010 and the other a Mediterranean cruise in 2015.

My son, his wife and two children, live in Northeast TN.

Eleanor Frith Peters

I was so sorry we had so few at our 50^th reunion in 2017, but it was great to see those who made it!

My husband, Mike, retired from St. John’s College, and we are back in New York City after eleven great years in Santa Fe, NM.  We’re back at the same church we belonged to before we went to NM and are enjoying taking advantage of all the amazing NYC cultural activities.  As I write, we are on a cruise to celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary.  We started in Lisbon, and will end in Dublin.

We’ll spend much of the summer in the mountains of NC, with family, with a couple weeks back in Santa Fe.

Our daughter, Becca, and her family live in Greenville, SC where she is a high school geography teacher and her husband, Patrick Jopling, is a dentist.  They have three children.  Our son, (Colonel, US Army) Mike, Jr. and his family are in DC.  His wife, Christy, is a US Foreign Service officer about to be posted to Spain.  They have two sons.

Nancy McDonald Legat

My husband, Dan, and I are really enjoying spending time with our family, especially our 3 great grandchildren.  We also enjoy traveling.  Our favorite place is Myrtle Beach where we spent our honeymoon 51 years ago!

I like to garden, to do a little writing and to do crafting.

Jane Farrar Montague

Even though it was a long way from home in Washington State, it was the best decision ever to attend our 50^th reunion in June 2017 and to spend a little time hanging out with Gayle Channel, Gail Dise, and Mary Beth Dore, catching up, and feeling again a part of the school.  I’m so impressed with our new President.  I’m happy I was able to be present at his talk and to get a better understanding of how our school measures up in the grand scheme of things.

If other classmates are vacationing or living in Washington State, please let me know.

Yvonne J. Milspaw

I retired from teaching college three years ago, and my husband, Douglas Evans, retired from his broadcast engineering job two years ago.  We still live in almost the same place as we grew up—south central Pennsylvania.  Our older son, Wesley, has taken part of my job, teaching humanities at a local community college, and our younger son, Brandt, has taken his father’s position as a broadcast engineer with his father’s company.

We are finally grandparents, with a grandson.

I am continuing to think about writing, and I attend professional meeting as often as possible.  Mostly I am spending time on a few hobbies like knitting, scissors-cuttings, and reading.  Doug is keeping very busy with his ham radio hobby, and volunteering for PEMA (the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency).  We try to travel as much as possible, and are planning a few weeks in Northern Ireland this summer with most of our family.  We both have Scots-Irish ancestors, but what is exciting is that they were originally Vikings who settled in Scotland and married locally.

Ann Dalby Cole

I am happily retired in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and also happily single.  I fill my days playing duplicate bridge, and attained the rank of Life Master about 2 years ago.  I also play percussion in Encantada, the Band of Enchantment, a concert, marching, and/or pep band.  I have 5 beautiful cats, and we are a happy family.

I travel with friends several times a year and have covered most of the Southwest since retiring.  I especially enjoy the national parks.  My most recent trip was to South Padre Island, Texas, for some beach time.  I also travel to bridge tournaments in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California.  I went to Alaska and Hawaii as well.

I am interested in sports and I can be found at most of the home games of the Albuquerque Isotopes, a AAA minor league farm team of the Colorado Rockies.  I also enjoy women’s basketball and attend home games of the University of New Mexico Lobos.

Susan Church Dillon

John and I have lived the last 37 years in Oxford, Maryland, an historic, small town in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  We will celebrate our 50^th anniversary next year.  Both of us are retired, but, not really.  John serves on the board of the University of Maryland Medical System and is Chairman of the board of Shore Regional Health systems and our local hospital.  I was Head of the Upper School for The Country School in Easton for almost 20 years and am a trustee for The Gunston School and The Women and Girls Fund.

Our three children, Meghan, Lindsey, and Brendan live in St. Louis, Washington, DC and Philadelphia respectively.  We have 10 grandchildren!

I was so disappointed to miss our 50^th reunion last year since I have had a wonderful time at our previous one.  A grandson’s lax game took precedence.

Mary Beth Bush Dore

Thank you so much to those who sent information for the UMW magazine. The complete letters will be on line at “magazine.umw.edu” with some of the information that you sent in being in the printed version.  Please keep sending information that I can put into the spring issue.  Everyone seems interested in fellow classmates.

As for Casey and I, after enjoying our 50^th MWC reunion in June, we stayed awhile in DC with our RV and then travelled to Tidewater to visit with, again Gayle Channel and husband, Warren, Gail Balderson Dise, and other relatives and friends. before heading home.  In December, Casey and I, with our daughter, Ginger Marshall, ‘94 and her husband, Scott, took a week’s cruise to Cuba for our 50^th.  Cuba had been on our bucket list.  We loved the country and the people.

We have been downsizing this winter before starting out again with our RV to who knows where.

Everyone keep in touch.