Class Notes

Ralphie (the springer spaniel) and I, Roberta Linn Miller, are enjoying the cool morning on the terrace while listening to the birdsong in the woods, seeing the many colors of the phlox and other flowers in the garden, and watching the doves having their morning snack. It is July and will get very hot later, so I will go inside the house and check in with some very nice people.

Talked to Jean Brumback Hickman in Reno, Nevada. She doesn’t leave the house much but did go on a trip to the doctor. We talked about our love of cats; we both have black kitties.

Patricia Seibert-Siegel has lived in San Diego for six years. She has three daughters and five grandchildren who are in their 20s. Patricia was an elementary teacher and her husband was an architect before both retired. They plan to move into an assisted-living facility.

Christine Harper Hovis, also in California, lost her husband two years ago. She has a son in Maryland and a daughter in San Francisco. Chris does a lot of exercise, which probably keeps her in great shape.

Polly Stoddard Heim lives next door to a daughter in Idaho. She has another daughter and two sons. Polly is a fortunate grandmother to seven grandchildren.

Betty Fox Mapp transferred to Mary Washington from William & Mary after her first year. She was married in 1956, and they built their house in Virginia Beach in 1965. She and her husband have two sons and a daughter. Two of their grandsons graduated from college this year, and the other two grandsons are first-year college students.

Charlotte Fisher Klapproth married a year after graduation and worked in a lab at Hopkins. She and her husband live in Delaware, and he does all the errands and a lot of the cooking. They have a son and a daughter.

Marjorie Webb Wolfrey lost her husband to pancreatic cancer in December and is now in independent living in Charlottesville. She was a compensation manager at Sperry Marine. She and her husband had three daughters and a son. She has six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Mildred Haney Sandridge, also in Charlottesville, retired after 40 years as a trust officer in a bank. Since her husband is diabetic and uses a walker, they are thinking of going into a retirement facility. They have a daughter who works at the University of Virginia, one grandchild, and two great-grandchildren.

Catherine Walton Hutchinson has lived for 30 years in Sapphire, North Carolina, and before that in Florida, where her husband practiced medicine. A son and his wife live in Milton, Georgia. They both went to the University of Alabama, and now a grandson is in his third year there. Catherine reads and walks and says she is fabulous for an old 87.

Anne Lou Rohrbach Culwell of Norman, Oklahoma, emailed that she is trying to stay safe but does go out some. She reads, does puzzles, and plays mahjong. Maybe she will make the reunion if all goes as planned.

Ann Strickler Doumas sent a note with news of her vegetable garden and how well it was doing but also with sad news about Beatrice Carver Clark, who passed away in June. She is survived by her husband and four children. Ann says the Clarks ran a big dairy farm in the Shenandoah Valley for years, and Bea taught school as well. Bea’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Clark, was Ann Doumas’ piano teacher for many years.

Another loss was my roommate and good friend Anastasia “Buttons” Petro Molitor, originally from Morristown, Tennessee, and then from the Seattle area. She had three sons, and one sent me an email with the sad news of her death after a short illness. He had her ashes, at her request, scattered over Puget Sound.

Minnia Rainey Mayberry sent me a note with news of the loss of my former neighbor in Charleston, S.C., a Navy rear admiral.

I am looking at our commencement booklet. Many events took place in the Sylvan Amphitheatre. Graduation was on Monday morning, May 30, 11 o’clock, with Colgate Darden Jr., chancellor, presiding. But why does the governor of Virginia pop into my head? The address was by Alvin Duke Chandler, president of the College of William & Mary. Do you remember?