Class Notes

The time for our 50^th reunion will be here before you know it.  The dates are set for May 29-31, 2020!  I would love to see as many of you as possible since this is a very significant time for all of us.  Fifty years is a long time but then again, when some of us get together, our time at MWC does not seem like it was that long ago.  It is really wonderful to reconnect with old friends and we hope that all of you will make a big effort to be there in May of 2020.  If you can make a donation to our class gift, it would be greatly appreciated.  Your gift will go to the student mental health center which is greatly needed.

Unfortunately, I did not receive an overabundance of news for this issue.  Thank you, Doralece  Lipoli Dullaghan, for sending your news:

The last 18 months have been challenging for me.  My mother passed away in November 2017 at the age of 98 ½.  She was a strong-willed and feisty woman and is greatly missed.  Fifteen months later my husband passed away as a result of Stage 4 Esophageal Cancer.  He was a fighter and we were so pleased that we were able to have a Celebration of his Life while he was still with us.  More than 250 people came and shared their love of him with him and stories of how their relationship with him impacted their lives. The inspirational event had such an impact on everyone who attended. We had almost 30 years together.

In July 2018 I ended my professional career, one in which I worked for only two companies over almost 50 years.  The people that I worked with enriched my life and will never be forgotten.  I have so many great friends who are leaders in the food industry and keep in touch with them still.

In May 2019 I traveled to Italy with my cousin to visit our Italian first cousin and cities which we had not been to before.  It was a great trip and a great break from two years of being a care giver.  I am grateful for friends and family for their support.

I recently joined my MWC roommate, Kirsten Mackey and our suite mate from Randolph, Anne Howell at the reunion weekend where we connected with members of the class of ’69 who lived across the hall from us there.  How wonderful to still be connected to friends made at MWC almost 50 years ago!

In November a group of about ten of us will be meeting at a B & B in PA to visit.  The group includes myself, Donna Accettullo DeNyse, Bettie Brooks Reuter, Judy Cunningham Dotson, Susan Venable Gillette, Lee Howland Hogan, Kathy Thiel, Debbie Walker Powell, and Kathy O’Neill,

From Anne: John and I moved to Celebrate VA in Fredericksburg last month.  Believe me moving is not for sissies or older people!  After all the work and stress of moving, I have to say it is worth it!!!  In Oct. we are planning a trip to Australia and New Zealand. I did see Nancy Buchanan Perry and husband Sam at a party recently.  They are living in the Richmond area and have two grandsons.

From KATHRYN LINDSAY MCMICHAEL Class of 71.
Hi.  I have been meaning that send you my life info but just returned home from another cruise to the western Caribbean !!!  I am retired and living in SWFL for the last 15 years and loving paradise here.  And I have been cruising all over the world on Princess Cruise lines and now am up to their elite status which gives me all sorts of awesome benefits.  Recently took their World cruise from South Africa back to Florida after going on a 10 day safari out to the bush country where we saw a lot of wildlife and it was marvelous!!  When I am not away traveling I am very involved in politics and my church.  I am enjoying my life!

From Libby (Andrews) Wasem
Hello to all 1971 Alumnae,
Life remains busy for me.  I generally teach yoga classes a couple of days a week and workout with weights also.  Walking the streets of Fredericksburg is still more comfort than excitement.  Luckily I walk with girl friends so the miles pass quickly.  I still do back up day care for my 4 year old granddaughter in DC.  I enjoy trimming and planting trees as a Tree Steward for the city.  This past March I traveled with a girlfriend from the 4th grade.  We spent a month out to see New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji.  This was very educational.  Who knew that one of Australia’s major exports is camels to the Middle East?
See you in 2021 for our 50th reunion.

Below are the notes from class agent Karen Laino Giannuzzi.

I have heard from so many from our class for this edition of notes. This also seems to be the year of travel for many of us whether to lands faraway or close to home.

Kathy LEWIS Newbold spent 10 days in Spain recently and will have cruised the Danube with Greg sailing from Vienna to Munich. Kathy has been four years in remission and feeling fabulous. Closer to home, Cam and Kerry are doing great in their respective careers.

Many of us turned or will turn 70 this year as Jan Hempson Floom reminded me. She and Marv are active in church ministries and volunteer work but have found time to cross the Arctic Circle, visit Alaska to discover where her grandmother lived and travel throughout Europe. They also ventured to New Zealand and Australia to work their way around the world. They are grandparents many times over with a Marine in the family as well as lawyers. Hard to believe but their youngest son, Chris recently retired from the Marine Corps.

Susanna ATHEY Warner wrote for the first time. She retired recently after 35 years as a computer systems engineer for NASA, having worked across from the wind tunnel seen in Hidden Figures. She has taught math and physics; worked at Wallops Island and specialized in all areas of launch process and embedded flight systems. Susanna has been part of the space program from an early time. She now lives in Fernandina Beach, Florida and has done some traveling including a 15 day cruise to Panama. Her daughter Caroline is an architectural historian in Greenville, N.C.

Hearing from a friend I haven’t heard from in years was a wonderful surprise when Kim WARREN Noe wrote catching up after so many years. Kim and Bob have been married 46 years with two children who are Clemson alum. Kim and Bob have several grandchildren and live in Columbia, S.C. staying very active with church, community and retiree groups. They both taught school at all levels including college. Kim reminisced about our years at Mary Wash and I will keep those for our 50^th. She did mention Susie SOWERS Hill, now in Macon, Ga., Jan REYNOLDS Cooke, living in New Orleans, and Susan TAYLOR Frank who now lives in Roanoke, Va.

I caught back up with Marie DROSTE Martin and learned that after teaching French and Spanish in Roanoke for many years, she retired a couple years ago but did find time to do some substitute teaching of Latin. Sadly she also lost her husband Darrel a few years ago. Condolences Marie. Her daughter Laura was ordained in the United Church of Christ and is an assistant Pastor in Arlington, Va. Her other daughter Erin lives in Blacksburg, Va. and is an artist, jewelry maker as well as a poet and writer.

Pat NAYBOR Whitehead, artist extraordinaire, and full time artist now, did have a graphic design studio in Georgetown, Washington, D.C for 25 years but along with her artistic talents, she and husband renovated and built houses in St John, US Virgin Islands for almost 10 years. She now has a studio in Alexandria, Va. doing oils, pastels and graphite along with two galleries. She and her husband continue to travel and will be in England this year.

After graduation, Gayle FRANKLIN Hawkins taught in New Castle Delaware and in 1977 with her husband Sam (former Marine), they traveled all summer in search of a warm climate and landed in Austin, Texas. Starting at the bottom of the banking industry, Gayle retired in 2016 as the Regional Manager of the Austin Frost Trust Department. Sadly, Sam passed away suddenly in 2017 but with support of her family and friends, Gayle has been working through her grief journey. She stays active running 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons and completed the Marine Marathon in October 2016. She has her sites set on a half iron distance triathlon in 2020. Whew! Well done Gayle.

Eleanor TYNG Schoonover reminded me of our crazy German classes together and she went on to get a second BA in German. Eleanor retired after 40 years from the Navy Reserve and has been married 45 years. As well as being a part time middle school teacher and real estate developer, Eleanor was a defense contractor for and retired from Northrup Grumman. In June of this year, she made it back to Hamburg and Berlin Germany after a 50 year hiatus.

The mountains of Linville, N.C. and the beaches in Sunset Beach N.C. occupy Debbie OJA Tuttle and her husband Ed of 37 years where they have many friends and play lots of golf. See you at our 50^th!

Although I didn’t hear directly from Margie McDONALD Clagett directly, Terry TUCKER Young keeps in touch and has passed on some great info. They were roommates in in Bushnell. Margie recently retired and was the longest sitting judge in Calvert County. Her children are also accomplished. Margie’s son is an officer in the Navy, one daughter is a physical therapist and one is a managerial programmer for AT&T.

The toy shops Doodlehopper 4 kids in Arlington, Va. owned by Terry TUCKER Young, were voted the number #1 toy store in the DC area. Kudos for sure!!! Terry has not yet retired but she hopes to pursue a passion in ceramic art and has taken time to cruise the Danube, do a safari in Africa (a popular destination for some in our class this year), and head to Sweden and Iceland this year.

We have classmates all over the world and Sally REICHNER Mayor after many years is still yodeling in the Swiss Alps with the Cambridge English Examinations and with Les Roches Global Hospitality School. She works with English qualifications as well as Marketing and PR with the Hospitality school. Her daughter Patricia works for the International Skating Union working major events including the upcoming Olympics. Daughter Adrienne is an event planner for Vacheron Constantine Luxury Watches. Sally is a grandmother of 2. Sally does manage to get back to Florida and recently met up with Tish STONER Sawyer who lives in Spokane, Washington. Seems the chorus of “High on Marye’s Hill Top” was sung and could be heard around Palm Beach Gardens! Maybe they’ll repeat the song at the 50^th!

Mary Jane CHANDLER Miller and Fred still enjoy Vermont and she plans to retire next year from the Council on Aging but continues to stay active with kayaking, golfing tennis and pickleball. Their children and grandchildren live nearby and daughter Natalie owns The Vermont Comedy Club in case anyone is in the Burlington area.

At the end of 2017, Susan BROWN Lohin retired from Wellesley College after 20 plus years of marketing and development there including reunions. She said she was looking forward to our 50^th as a participant and not as an organizer. She enjoys long hikes and walks with her dogs and realizes she doesn’t have to account for time as she did while working. She mentioned health issues in her family and so many with our friends and admonished us all to enjoy what we are doing since getting older is a challenge. The words ring true as we approach a 50^th reunion.

Mary “Fred” MACPHERSON and I served as members and then co-chairs on the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Committee but were recently “termed” off and Mary took advantage to sell her house, move permanently to Wilmington, N.C. She plans to spend time in Bratislava, Slovakia and will visit back and forth but will move back to N.C. permanently April 2020. Mary has received several awards from Slovakia for all her work with them on a national level.

My freshman roommate, Nancy MCALLISTER Bishop and I had a wonderful mini-reunion in Ko Samui, Thailand in January while I was cruising in Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sainan, China. Nancy had worked for SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) documenting and helping to create a written language for some of the peoples there and bringing the Bible to them. She has lived and recently retired there. We had a great day catching up on Mary Washington and each other.

Although I have not heard from Penny FALKOWITZ Goodstein, I found out that we crossed paths in SE Asia in Cambodia and Vietnam. That must be the destination de jour for many this year.

Liz KEITH and I spent a couple of years as roommates in college and she has been in San Diego for decades. We have reconnected a few times as I passed through on the way to and from cruises and the last time was in February on my way back from the above-mentioned trip. As it turns out, she has been done many river cruises in Europe and recently returned from a safari in South Africa to include the majestic Victoria Falls, game drives in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.

I recently returned from a similar Safari with the Mary Washington Travel Club and traveled with retired professors, former Rectors and members of the Board of Visitors and friends of Mary Washington. The President Troy and Kelly Paino were part of the group as well. Mona DAVIS Albertine, owner of Jabberwocky, a children’s store in Fredericksburg, and I reconnected and had a great time on game drives, boat safaris and visiting various small villages and towns from Johannesburg, South Africa to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. She and Jack, her husband, and several others continued on to Capetown, South Africa where in good tradition, they visited sites and vineyards. The weather was dry and cold in the mornings. Dr. Terry YOUNG Crawley ’77 and Bill as well as Kathy MEHFOUD, ’70, and Lisa JAMISON Bowling ’89 were all part of the travel group. Lisa really kept us all together and took good care to make sure we were all where we needed to be.

It has been a great time traveling and catching up with so many classmates in person and in e mails. I know as a group we have all had ups and downs both personally and health wise but from the notes, we are all doing everything we can to be active and to travel and enjoy our friends, families and places far and near that give meaning. Our 50^th will be a great chance to catch up and look forward to next adventures.

Keep those notes coming for the next editions of the magazine. Some of your e mail addresses came back so please make sure you update your information both with me and the Alumni office.

Hello everyone,
Here is hoping you are surviving the summer heat and prayers to those of you who have experienced such torrential downpours and floods.
It was great to hear from some of you as we all must have stayed too busy when the last publication was going to press.  Deborah Bradford Stanley-Bloom wrote with some news.  She lost her husband of many years in 2015 so instead of retiring, she worked another year as a certificated teacher librarian at a middle school in Riverside, CA.  To stay busy after finally retiring in 2016, she contacted her publisher who agreed to put her under contract for her fourth book on teaching research. Published by ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited in September, 2018, it’s entitled Practical Steps to Digital Research.  During this time, she also served on five boards including the board for the Foundation of her long-served CA School Library Association (CSLA). She continues to give sessions and workshops on teaching research skills at the state conference.  Debbie traveled to the Great Wall of China in 2016 and to Machu Picchu in 2017.  The other wonderful news is that Debbie remarried in October 2018. She and Bill are still adjusting to newly married life in Altadena, CA and enjoy the horses he races at Santa Anita and Del Mar.  Dennis and I plan to get together with them when we next visit California which will probably be within the next year.
Although our schedules have not permitted a get-together yet in Roanoke, Sherrie Mitchell Boone reports that she and her mom and stepdad, kids and grandkids are all doing well.  She is hoping to join her beloved MWC group at beach week in August at the home of Mary Saunders Williams.
The alumni association has had a couple of events in this area and it is always fun to meet people who graduated either before or after our class.  Julia Martin Belvin has been in attendance and we have been getting to know each other.  Julia still works out of her house for a magazine.  My dear friend, Norah Heckman, ’73 lost her mother in December.  We all know how tough these losses can be and this was like losing family as her mother always referred to me as her surrogate daughter.  Norah is currently working on a special project to honor her wonderful dad, who served his country proudly in the United States Coast Guard.  We are hoping that this will be displayed at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Cheryl Prietz Childress and husband, Dave continue to stay active with colonial re-enactments, boating trips and car clubs.  We caught up with Cheryl at the Ft. Dobbs re-enactment this past April and stopped at their home in June when enroute to Baltimore.  Both their kids and spouses are staying busy and Cheryl and Dave travel to Atlanta a lot to see their granddaughter, Ellie.
Dennis and I continue to enjoy the Roanoke area.  I have joined the county women’s club and we do a lot of volunteer work around the area.  In addition, Dennis and I plan to travel to Atlanta in the fall to visit with family and enjoy the sights.
That is about it for this time but do hope to hear from more of you soon.

The planning of our 50^th reunion has begun. You should have received a letter discussing the plan to establish the Class of 1973 50^th Reunion Scholarship. The scholarship will demonstrate our gratitude to Mary Washington and dedication to future educational opportunities. If funded as described in the letter, the first scholarship could be awarded fall of 2022 in time for our 50^th reunion, spring 2023. The committee hopes that everyone will consider contributing to this effort over the next five years and beyond either through cash donations, multi-year pledges, transfers of stocks and insurance policies, or through your estate plan. All gifts must be designated for Class of 1973 50^th Reunion Scholarship.

In the spring we traveled with my sister, Grace Hines Sorey ’70 and fellow travelers to the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Now we’re enjoying summer and time with grandkids.

In May Janet Hedrick was in Guatemala to help build a “bottle” school – we will tie recycled bottles filled with trash to chicken wire to form a wall of the school – it’s a trip organized by the travel club I belong to. I will return on May 30.  In August I’m going to spend two weeks in Wyoming visiting Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks. My travel companion is Catherine Janis, daughter of Sharon Richmond Janis ‘73. Still working, but I will retire before our next reunion!

Jo-Ann Sowers was “lost” from the alumnae list for many years, and is now reconnected. “I was a Psychology major and had wonderful memories of Professor David MacEwan who made a huge difference in my future career. He recommended that I attend graduate school at Drake University and provided a strong recommendation for my application. I contacted him prior to his retirement to let him know how important he was to my career path and life. I have very fond memories of MWC, including playing on the tennis team and going to Spring Breaks with dorm friends. I definitely received a top-notch education from MWC.  I went on to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and spend my career as a Research Professor in the area of Rehabilitation and Special Education at several universities. I retired about 5 years ago, live in Portland, Oregon, and spend most of my time doing long distance bike riding, traveling, and gardening. “

Julie Howe Young has been living in Coronado CA for 14 years.  She feels very fortunate to have both her sons and their wonderful wives living nearby.  Julie retired as Chief Financial Officer of The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego last year and is thoroughly enjoying having the time to pursue her art and volunteer activities with the refugee community in San Diego.  She also spends time with her 93-year-old dad and her 2-year-old grandson.  She and Jake have been married almost 46 years and enjoy traveling, skiing, and sailing.  They just bought a house near Lake Tahoe and hope to enjoy it for years to come!

Thank you to Jo-Ann and Julie, first time contributors to Class Notes. Please follow their lead and send a short update once a year.  We’re only four years away from our 50^th reunion. Stay in touch!

Joyce Hines Molina

Class of 1974 Shout out from your Reunion Planning Committee!! WHAT A FANTASTIC 45^th REUNION, it was a blast, good to see all of you, and for those who did not  make it, you missed a good time and we missed you, so start planning right now to make it to our 50^th.  Pam Smith McGahagin, “Wart” writes, “I’m retiring from 45 years in broadcasting at the end of July and looking forward to lots of new adventures ahead! the first one is a trip with friends to Scotland and England for 3 weeks in August, where we’ll be hiking in the Shetland Islands and the Orkneys, then driving around the Cotswolds. After that, who knows what may happen?  Reunion was so much fun and a trip back in time, always good for the soul. Barbara Wilson Conley, Solomons, Md.,  Trisha Powell Westcott, Fredericksburg, Va., and Susie Paddock Stumpf, Pensacola, Fl.  sent in the following, “We haven’t all been together since 1975, when we each got married…..far too long a time! We are now retired from teaching and have 13 grandchildren between us.  Thank goodness for our cell phones for trading pictures.  Our visit to the campus in August was a real eye-opener; some things haven’t changed, yet the new buildings are amazing!  We were let into Betty Lewis, now apartments, by some new students….no changes to that former dorm.  We then walked into the open doors at Ball and set off the alarms, but it was just the painter and us.  Our old rooms now have AC, but are otherwise just the same.  As we posed next to the marble statue of Mary Ball in the rotunda, the painter informed us that she is actually Joan of Arc!  What!?! We will continue to get together every year from now on and our friendship from the 70s will only grow stronger, for sure.”

Jan Hausrath (‘75) and husband, David Seddelmeyer, are thrilled that their daughter, Jinny, will join the Class of 2023 at Radford University this fall. The retired empty nesters are already planning travels from their respective bucket lists to begin as soon as possible!

Pat Powers Gaske (‘75) wrote that she just marked her 6th year in Fredericksburg and is so glad she and her husband Steve moved there. In the last 2 1/2 years, all 3 of their children have gotten married, and Steve and she have become grandparents! The most recent wedding was their daughter’s, on April 27, 2019.  She lives in Vermont, so Steve and Pat don’t get to see her that often. One son lives in Arlington and he was married in August 2018. The other son lives in Woodbridge and they are the proud parents. Because they are so close to Steve and Pat, they get to see them pretty often. Pat babysits 2 days a week & she is thoroughly enjoying it. Pat says it’s so much easier & more relaxed than parenting!

Steve will be retiring next month. They’ve both become active volunteers with the Washington Heritage Museums, the nonprofit that owns the Mary Washington house & 3 other properties. Pat has served on their board of directors for 2 years and now she is on the committee for their main fundraising gala, “Bourbon & Boxwood.” Pat says they help out where needed. It’s a wonderful cause & keeps them involved in the community.

Pat sees Jackie Sobinski (‘75), Margaret Murphey (‘75), Debbi Sudduth (‘75), April Tooke (‘75) & Agnes Rollins on a pretty regular basis. They have been having a get together each summer at Pat’s River House in Tappahannock.

Linda Roland Mattix (‘75) retired this year from Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools after 14 years as a technology facilitator in an elementary school and 10 years teaching Spanish in middle school. She and Steve just celebrated their son David’s wedding in May, and now look forward to traveling and being free to attend family events around the country.

Jacalyn Bryan (’75), Associate Professor/Reference & Instruction Librarian at Saint Leo University, will be retiring at the end of this academic year, having served 11 years in this position. Prior to pursuing a second career in academic librarianship, she was a dance professor at Saint Leo University, the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa. Last summer she presented at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. and the International Conference on Learning in Belfast. Jackie’s older son, a graphic designer, was married in April of 2019 in an outdoor ceremony on a beautiful farm with a wedding barn. Her younger son, who received his MA in Creative Writing last year, is a User Experience Specialist at Saint Leo. She looks forward to spending time with her family, working on special projects, and traveling with her husband, who is a retired psychology professor.

On my news home front, our daughter, Taylor, was married in Kansas City, MO on April 27^th, to Dr. Rafael Torosyan, and Taylor expects to complete her 2-year Nursing Practitioner program in August 2020. Our son, Ian, and his wife, Vickie, gave birth to our third granddaughter, Finley, on Jun 16th. In the fall of 2019, our oldest granddaughter, Presley, started Spanish-immersion 1^st grade and our middle granddaughter, Lucy, who turned 4 this past June, began her last year of pre-school.

Thanks to everyone who submitted their news! If you’ve never submitted any news, your fellow classmates would love to hear what you’ve been up to! Remember, your news is news to the rest of us, so please take a moment (or two) and email/snail mail me what you’ve been up to! Red Letter Date:  The 2020 Class Reunion Weekend dates are set, so make sure to mark your calendars for attending our 45^th Class Reunion on May 29^th – 31^st, 2020! Where did the time go?!

[Editors’ note: Longtime class agent Madelin Jones Barratt regrets that she can no longer serve as class agent. “It has been a joy to serve in this capacity for over 25 years,” she wrote. We thank Madelin for her service and wish her the very best. Update: After the magazine went to press, Debra Reeder volunteered to serve as class agent. You can send her your news for the Spring/Summer 2020 issue at dsmithreeder@gmail.com.

I didn’t receive many contributions to Class Notes this time.  I mentioned on our class’s Facebook page that I may have to resort to trolling everyone’s Facebook to gather some news!  I didn’t do that this time, but I can give an overall synopsis of what we are experiencing.  Many of us are retiring, many more are wishing to do so.  We enjoy travel, good food and beverages, and our always-adorable grandchildren.  Some of us have suffered losses – parents, spouses, children, friends.  Some are in good health, others are battling illness or disability. Some of us do a good job in keeping up with college friends, others not so much.

Kudos to Janet McConnell Philips for being the first, last and only classmate to send an update. Janet writes, “I”ve been retired for two years and still revel in the freedom to do as I please everyday. I split my time between Falls Church, VA and Essex, CT. It’s been fun to explore New England again after so many years in the DC area. I seem to spend a lot of time kayaking and doing jigsaw puzzles. I hope to visit my MWC roommate, Sue Whittier Haley again this summer in Saco, Maine.”

I have been fortunate to see or connect with several classmates over the past few months.  I was honored to be included in an early June dinner in Richmond with Vicki Sprague Ravenel and her “Goddesses,” Pamela Roberts Albrecht, Libby Bell Stevens, Jo McTague Atkinson, Craig “Skippy” Strickland Robinson,  and Terrie Martin Dort.  Later in June, I enjoyed a day at the Chesapeake Bay home of Terrie Young and Bill Crawley and had a wonderful surprise reunion with Cindy Jones Merchent. I am happy to report that, to a woman, our classmates are drinking from the Fountain of Youth.  Everyone looks mahvelous!

Probably the most “can you believe this” connection that I have made over the past year resulted from a serendipitous conversation at a Melissa Manchester concert in Richmond.  A tablemate asked when I had first listened to Melissa, and I said, “Oh, we listened to her a lot at Mary Washington.”  A woman sharing our table overheard and said, “Oh, my sister went to Mary Washington for a year.”  As it turned out, I was sitting with the younger sister of Melody Bock, who lived on the first floor of Virginia Dorm our freshman year and transferred out after one year to return to Tennessee for college.  I connected with Melody via email, and she is now a member of our class’s Facebook group.  She is an attorney in Knoxville.

I have joined the ranks of the retired, as of January 1, and have adjusted quite nicely to my new status.  I am spending more time at my home in Cape Charles on Virginia’s Eastern Shore (where I have run into a few classmates over the years).  I am catching up on years’ worth of reading, progressing slowly through an online interactive piano course, and doing some traveling here and there.  My partner Dean and I had a wonderful trip to the West Country of England in May.

I guess that’s all for now.  Send me some news, y’all!

It was good to hear from Class of 78’s Virginia POLLOCK Thompson.  Virginia and her husband Keith have traveled extensively in recent years.  They have taken separate trips to Scandinavia, India, and Ireland and river cruises on the Rhine and Moselle and on the Danube.  They are enjoying complete retirement and their 3 children and 7 grandchildren.  Virginia has also been active in Toastmasters International for 20 years.

Congratulations go out to Malinda Willis.  She has retired from Michael’s Craft Store and now teaches private art lessons out of her home.

Krista WENTZ Levy and her husband, Andy, share that they are living in Ashburn, Virginia. Krista is the Executive Director at a non-profit that provides Continuing Education for MDs and PharmDs in the area of clinical pharmacology. Krista is celebrating her ninth year at the non-profit, which is called the American College of Clinical Pharmacology®.  She and Andy have been married for 15 years and enjoy traveling and spending time with friends and family.

It was great to see so many from the Class of 1979 at the 2019 reunion. For those who couldn’t make it, the beautiful weekend was full of fun events and many opportunities to reconnect. The Alumni Association did a fantastic job as usual and I was fortunate to serve on your reunion committee with Lorenza Amico, Gayle Weinberger Petro and Lisa Bratton Soltis.

Speaking of Lorenza, she continued her international travels with an amazing trip to Southern Italy and Sicily in September 2018. The tour included churches and cathedrals and interesting Greek sites such as the amphitheaters at Taormina and Syracuse, as well as the ruins of Agrigento and Mt. Etna. Another highlight was visiting Savoca where part of The Godfather movie was filmed.

Susan Lowe Spence wrote that she and her husband of 37 years, Andrew, live in the Boston area. They met at graduate school where both were earning MBAs. While Andrew is a CPA, Susan spent 20 years doing financial analysis in the energy field before returning to school to pursue her first love of teaching math. Retired from the classroom, she is now a math support person at a private boys’ school. She added that her daughter, Emily, is a history teacher, while son Colin is a consultant with Deloitte. Susan also sent news for Kim Coker Samuel with whom she connected at reunion. Kim earned a Master’s in Special Education and teaches in the Dallas area. She was looking forward to visiting her first grandchild, Milo, in Oklahoma.

Doug Lorber weighed in from Albany, Georgia that he was elected president of Theatre Albany. He added that his wife, Nancy, recently retired and now has more time to spend with their seven grandchildren. Now that’s retirement!