Class Notes

Patty Cairns Hourin wishes “Happy 80th Birthday to all my classmates!  My sons are putting on a ‘birthday bash’ for me.  Hope ya’ll are celebrating, too!

We continue to enjoy life in Diamondhead, MS.  Have lived here 42 years!  My new shoulder works great and I’m back on the golf course.  Our son Bill, lives here and has remarried, giving us another granddaughter and grandson!  His other daughters are 22 and 26.  Son Scott & family live in Fredericksburg and Michael is currently living in Hong Kong.  See you in 2 years!

Clara Sue Durden Ashley has 14 grandchildren and manages to keep up with all of them!  She wrote:  “The most exciting news at this time is about our sixteen-year-old grandson, Palmer, who is now living with his family in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  His dad Dennis is working for the Navy there.  In February Palmer wanted to try to swim across Guantanamo Bay in a race with forty other participants.  Because he was so young, he had to undergo testing of his swimming skills.  He passed his tests.  Not only did he complete the swim of 1.7 miles, he became the youngest person on record to do so!  On June 15 he and his family will arrive at our house to visit while on the way to take Palmer to the Naval Academy where he will take a week of classes.
Our granddaughter, Celeste, was graduated from college this year.  She and some of her siblings continue to excel with their music and one of her sisters is a beautiful ice skater.”

Jerri Barden Perkins sent a text message (pardon the lack of complete sentences!) in February after a trip to Cuba: “Very educational. Makes current administration look good.  Loved history, Old Havana, even with crumbling buildings and broken sidewalks.  Once 1920’s-50’s Jewel of Caribbean.  Today people make $35/month.  Little food, lack infrastructure, nothing to buy, no air conditioning, 90 degrees in February. Makes one more appreciative of US.”

Of course, she was thrilled and honored to receive Distinguished Alumni Award on June 1st!  Sylvia McJilton Woodcock and Stuart, Andy and I, and several family and friends were there to witness the recognition.

Just got another text saying she’s “Off next Sunday (7/21) sailing in Greek Islands!  And learning – more with Met Museum.”

Not much news from me travel-wise except for a couple of trips to Delaware, but am looking forward to celebrating my 80^th with a family vacation at The Greenbrier in WV in August!  Health-wise I have lower back issues which slow me down…thank goodness for my dear strong hubby who is now 85!  Please keep sending your news to us agents so we can keep in touch – more meaningful as the years go by.  Happy 80^th to All!

From Renee:

Well, here’s a first: I received a wonderful news-letter from Margaretta Kirksey Bir for the first time ever!!!  She seemed shy about writing, thinking her travels weren’t interesting.  WRONG!!  She is a most interesting and accomplished woman whom we have heretofore not heard from.

“After living in the Washington area, Greece, and Germany, I am back in my hometown of Eutaw, AL, where I never thought I would be!  I have been a widow for over 25 years and the most exciting place I go is the cafe at the health food store.  When my husband died in 1992, I went back to college and earned another degree, a bachelor’s in accounting.  My youngest daughter and her husband moved to Kentucky from Mobile.  She had her first child, Georgiana Eliza at 40 in December.  Eliza is a name from my father’s aunt, Eliza Todd, a native Kentuckian.

I volunteer for the Greene County Historical Society and serve on the hospital board.  In college, I devoted more time to The Bullet than to any class that wasn’t political science.  Now, I volunteer for the local weekly newspaper.  My insurance agent is the editor, manager, and reporter.  I write the city and county crime reports and ‘Remember When’, a column about events published in the paper 25 years ago.  I proof the eight-page weekly and cover events if the editor is unable.

I spend a lot of time trying to keep my mouth shut.  I am the complete liberal.  At twelve, I cried when Adlai Stevenson lost the 1952 election.  Not only is every fiber of my being blue in a red state, but I am the quintessential news/political junkie.  I fall asleep with CNN.  My older daughter (a 1990 MWC grad) and older son share a house in Tuscaloosa, which is near, so I have family in the area.  My younger son, the father of my only other grandchildren and his family live in Fall Church.”

Margaretta then asked how her letter was for answering my plea for news and making a lot out of a little?!  Well, she made a lot out of a lot!  She says it is always fun to read our class news.  I hope she remains a part of it from now on!

I think the really fun and newsy letter from Matte McCeney Campbell was also a first.  If I’m wrong, apologies, Matte.  She said that since I said I really need news she would describe the scene in Nashville last Friday night.  My dear classmates, please stop thinking that what you say is not interesting. It is VERY interesting to your classmates.  Well, her description of a weekend night in Nashville is great!

“Friends and I were sitting on the terrace of a downtown restaurant across the street from our gorgeous symphony hall watching the pedal taverns roll by.  These are conveyances on wheels featuring a long bar with bar stools and pedals.  Something like a surrey with fringe on top, but not exactly. The passengers face each other across the bar, chug-a-lug, pedal, and holler out at intersections or whenever they feel like it. I do not think the speed depends on how much they pedal. There were some open carriages…covered in sparkling lights and pulled by mules!  Also, scooters darting everywhere, some of their riders destined for emergency rooms as the night continued.

My friends and I crossed over the street to the symphony to see Carmina Burana played, danced, and sung in a truly amazing performance.  Music City is one of contrasts, and a city of music of all types.

In January I traveled to Barbados and other Caribbean Islands on a cruise where I met Sherry Farrington’s brother and sister in law from Portland, Oregon.  Sherry was a close friend in Mason dorm, one class ahead of us.  In February I went to New Zealand for a month.  I saw Jean Ryan Farrell and Frank on my recent trip to Atlanta where my daughter Ashley and her family live.  Grandson Campbell has just graduated from GA Tech. Granddaughter Libby has finished two years at Appalachian State and leaves for Australia soon for a semester of work there.  Maybe I will visit her this fall while she’s there, if I can find a traveling companion.

Did any of us have bachelorette party weekends before our weddings?  Not like these!!  I saw a pretty, young bride-to-be strolling the crowded sidewalk wearing cowboy boots, short shorts, a Daisy Mae style top, and a short, white veil.  In her train were her friends dressed in the same way but with cowboy hats instead of the veil.  Up on balconies and rooftops were crowds of onlookers and partakers in this scene, most partaking more of liquid refreshment than the man at the next table to me eating his 24 oz. pork chop, the best he’s ever tasted.

Life in Nashville is fun chiefly due to good friends in my golf, tennis, pickle ball, YMCA, and church activities. I have been a widow for two years and friends have given me lots of emotional support.   I have a nice cat who lets me live with him in the house I have remodeled and worked on for the past 35 years.  It’s the one we planned to stay in just a couple of years.  Always enjoy hearing news of my MWC classmates.”

News from me:  It’s been a pretty quiet year.  No travels other than my National Parks tour last September, some long weekends in Palm Desert and Las Vegas.  I’m taking a break from my classes at UCLA Extension. The most recent catalogue offered classes I’d already taken.  I have a subscription to the Music Center theatres here and go often. One is devoted primarily to opera, ballet, and orchestra concerts; the other is a thrust stage house offering mostly plays; the largest is a Broadway type house offering plays and musicals, which I attend most often.  Cultural events lacking in the desert, by the way.

Sadly, my dear, precious dog, Buddy, died in May. He was 14. Needless to say, I am heartbroken.  His absence in this house is huge.  I talk to him all the time.  There is some comfort from my two cats, Domino and Baby.  My wonderful cat, Dickens, died nearly two years ago. I still miss him. I thought another cat would be good for Domino.  I adopted a five-year-old cat last October after the death of her owner. At that age, I couldn’t change her name.  She and Domino, my most affectionate and playful black and white tuxedo cat, do NOT get along.  But they seem to tolerate each other most of the time.

Enjoyed my annual visit from Carolyn Crum Pannu.  She and Pat Scott Peck are on a cruise, I think in the South of France.  Meanwhile, I hope all of you are well and will decide to write to me next time I come begging!!  PULEEZE!!!

 From Lynne:

I regret that I only received responses from two in my group; thank you, Janie and Sandy.  Without your messages I would only be able to write about myself !!!!  Nevertheless, I’ll begin with my activities, and there have been many of them!!   Everyone said that I should stay very busy, and I have done just that.  Since the beginning of the year, I have taken two trips to Florida, one to California to visit granddaughter at Stanford and one to San Antonio, my old home town.  I stayed with Frank and Bitsy Glasscock Duperior (she left MWC after Freshman year).  While there, another friend threw a cocktail party for me; Candes Parker Chumney was expected to attend but, unfortunately, she was ailing.  Also, Jill Cusack Clay was not able to attend.  As recommended, I’m not making any real estate changes in the near future.  I still love NYC and CT.  I play duplicate bridge twice a week, which I’m loving.  The drive to Litchfield is not easy, but it’s worth it once I get there.  I see many of others’ activities on Facebook, but do not think it’s appropriate for me to use that information for our Class News ….. so please keep in touch when I send the notices!!!  And if you have not received those notices, please send me your email address.

 Janie Riles wrote that she and Jim visited her brother and family in Riverside, CT where they enjoyed Opening Day at the Yacht Club and had an enjoyable sail during the week.  They also visited the Hudson Yards in NYC and walked the amazing new sculpture “The Vessel”. (Janie, next time please call me; after 50 years in the city, I’m still a tourist at heart.)  Janie also visited her daughter (Annelise) and son-in-law (Hiro) at their new home at Northwestern University in Chicago.  While there, they took her to the Chicago Institute where she saw the Manet exhibit.  Janie is teaching painting this summer in San Diego.

Sandy Walters Julifs and husband attended their youngest granddaughter’s high school graduation (in California) on May 24^th and then on May 25^th  their oldest granddaughter and her husband (in Illinois)  had their baby – a girl named Peyton Elizabeth McCarthy.  Needless to say, they are quite excited to have become great-grandparents.  (Congratulations!) Their other two granddaughters will graduate from college this summer and fall – one from the University of Alabama and the other from the University of Washington.  Both are going on to get master’s degrees.

“Greetings from a recent octogenarian, Sue Wilson Sproul!  OMG, how did those years go by? Well, I think I’ve made the most of them, and I’m not finished yet!  What makes this a truly big year is our move from Tucson to Richmond.  My dear husband has agreed to relocate from the West- what a saint!  We’re doing it in stages on a ‘farewell to the West’ tour.
We and the dog left Tucson at the end of April and drove, travel trailer in tow, to Dave’s brother’s home in Morro Bay, then on to his son’s in Davis, CA.  Seeing the bristlecone pines of the Sierras was our next objective, but we were thwarted by a snow packed road. Both of us have a keen interest in ancient SW native cultures, so we made numerous stops in Utah to see ruins and rock art.  A stop at Durango, CO at Dave’s other son’s which was followed by travel to Ghost Ranch, near Abiquiu NM.  Then we moved on to Colorado Springs to see favorite friends.  A week later we were at Dave’s sister’s home in Albuquerque.  From there, we parted ways.  I flew to Richmond and Dave remained in the West to pursue a photography project.  He promises to join me before too long.  We’re on the waiting list for Brandermill Woods, a retirement community near my daughter’s home.  In the meantime, I’m at my daughter’s, helping out with the 10-year old grandson while school is out.  Lots of changes are in the works, and it’s all good.
Wishing all my Class of ‘61 friends well, especially this BIG year.