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UMW Magazine – Class Notes
1301 College Ave.
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1961

Connie Booth Logothetis (A–G)
connielogothetis@gmail.com

Renee Levinson Laurents (H–Q)
arjle@aol.com

Lynne Williams Neave (R–Z)
lyneave@aol.com

Please send news to the designated class agent according to the first letter of your maiden name.

Our reunion is planned for May 14-16, 2021. The Hyatt has blocked rooms for us, so make your reservations!

We’ve all been through hard times with the pandemic, and there’s other sad news as well. Connie Booth Logothetis fractured a vertebra and spent time in a hospital and rehab, sometimes in pain. She couldn’t have visitors, so she and Andy communicated by phone.

Sadly, Jean Ryan Farrell passed away May 22. She is survived by her husband, Frank, and three children. Jane Riles’ husband, Jim Dietz, passed away Feb. 13.

From Connie’s group (Lynne Williams Neave reporting):

Clara Sue Durden Ashley and Clarence had a visit from son Park and his three oldest children. They looked forward to a summertime visit from son Dennis and family, visiting from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Dennis works for the Navy. Soon after that visit, the Ashleys planned to drive to Beavercreek, Ohio, for granddaughter Anwyn’s senior recital – originally scheduled for spring but delayed by coronavirus. Anwyn and another granddaughter, Abby, graduated from high school in 2020.

Pepper Jacobs Germer and Hank were fortunate not to have been touched by a category 3 tornado in March that flattened 600 homes, a mall, and an airport in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They were obeying COVID rules and actually enjoying staying home.

The pandemic curtailed Jeri Barden Perkins’ travel plans for Italy, Mexico, and Greece. She stayed home but enjoyed Zoom classes, especially those from UMW. She wrote: “The pandemic has offered me the opportunity of using my voice for my community, the university, and NPR. It has taught me that I can live with less and have even greater appreciation for what I have. During the AIDS epidemic I was on the front lines seeing patients in a free clinic. During this pandemic I was afforded the opportunity of using my voice and the importance and power of messaging.”

Maddy Contis Marken cleaned the refrigerator, scrubbed the shower stall, and baked bread. “Now that those chores are done, I probably won’t do them again for a long time,” she wrote. She took up sketching, reconditioned her bike, and has worked part time doing telehealth. Still, she wrote, “I have spent too much time wandering from room to room and looking out the windows, wondering what book to read next.”

From Renée:

Mary Hatcher shared some pandemic and mask-wearing observations: “You have not lived unless you have had your hair cut wearing a mask, but it can be done. If you wear hearing aids, as I do, taking them out is the only way to wear both a mask and sunglasses at the same time.” She gained a new appreciation for curbside pickup and online shopping but was sorry that her annual family reunion had to be canceled. On a much sadder note, she lost a sister-in-law to a non-COVID issue, and was heartbroken that her brother was not able to be with his wife while she was in the hospital for nine weeks.

Margaretta Kirksey Bir was glad her Alabama county was requiring masks. Both of her daughters have autoimmune diseases, and her son-in-law and son’s oldest daughter have severe allergies. She was angry that mask-wearing had been turned into a freedom of speech issue, and that the U.S. hadn’t been able to devise strategies to contain the virus. “Once Americans went to the moon; now we can’t even go to Europe,” she wrote.

Residents of Marcia Minton Keech’s retirement community in Winchester, Virginia, decided to grow vegetables in cottage gardens and on balconies as a way of coping with quarantine. Now they all have plenty of fresh vegetables, and the dining chef is thrilled! Marcia and Bill were faring well but missed seeing their children.

Sandra Judkins Armitage was at Mary Washington for just two years but enjoys reading our class news. The pandemic brings thoughts of her grandmother, who lost two children to the 1918 flu. Sandra and her husband gather with family on Sundays at a park where they can connect while social distancing.

Betty Pace Rose attended Mary Washington for a year and loved living in Trench Hill even though the distance from other residence halls made it difficult to meet many people. She shared some thoughts about Mary Washington and its relationship with the University of Virginia.

Like many of you I, Renée Levinson Laurents, am finding quarantine just not easy. I read a lot, watch TV a lot (including Hamilton – Lin-Manuel Miranda is beyond gifted.) My book club now meets on Zoom, as I do with my nephew and family in Texas. A friend since junior high school lives nearby in Santa Monica, and I visit her and her husband in their large backyard, sitting 10 feet apart. I also escape these four walls by taking a drive-through lunch to the ocean and gazing out at the Pacific. My cats help a lot.

Sadly, in May my cute little rescue dog ran out as I got the mail. A huge husky attacked her before I could get to her, and even with surgery the emergency veterinarian was not able to save her. The attack happened one year to the day after my dog Buddy died. The universe is telling me not to get another dog, I guess.

Anyway, thanks to you all for writing. Wear masks, wash your hands a lot, and keep well.

From Lynne:

I have been extremely fortunate during these hard times to escape New York City for a place in northern Connecticut. We have had virtually no COVID-19 here. There are marvelous places to hike, plus I have great neighbors for occasional distant socializing.

Sue Wilson Sproul, husband Dave, and dog Cooper have moved back to Virginia – a huge concession from Dave, who loves the mountains, sweeping vistas, and low humidity of the West. But three children and three grandchildren drew them back. They moved to a continuing-care community on the south side of Richmond in January and barely got to know other residents before the shutdown in March. Sue has observed Richmond’s removals of Confederate statues with interest. She wrote, “Yes, Monument Avenue was ‘lovely’ to our eyes, but we have been insensitive to what [the statues] represent to so many others. Time marches on.”

Lynne Wilson Rupert started 2020 with a cruise to Mexico to celebrate her 80th birthday and thought it was going to be a great year. She wrote, “Well, it has certainly turned out to be a memorable one!” She has read a multitude of books, watched TV, and shredded all the documents she wants to. Zoom and FaceTime are great, but she misses hugs and social activities.

Janie Riles doesn’t leave the house for anything. She plays online bridge and signed up for a Cornell Lab of Ornithology online class to learn about the birds in her garden. She enjoys Zoom sessions with artist groups. And she’s finally cleaned out her garage.

Elizabeth “Bitsy” Wright Coxe has used her pandemic confinement to watch operas streamed from the Met Opera and art history lessons via the Frick Museum. She’s been reading a book a week, tending her orchids, cooking more than she has in years, and walking every day in her country neighborhood. Her internist doesn’t want her visiting a salon, so her hair is halfway down her back. “Call me Rapunzel!” she wrote. “I have actually enjoyed this time in my little piece of the universe.”

Graham Walker Burns has enjoyed more family time, not less, since the pandemic began. Son Jim and his family live in London but temporarily relocated to Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, near Graham. The children did their schoolwork via Zoom, and Jim worked remotely. Graham’s daughter May and family also temporarily relocated to Lookout Mountain. And four other children already lived nearby. Graham has continued with her real estate business, taking Lysol wipes and wearing a mask for showing houses. She’s still trying to finish reading The Grapes of Wrath.

Polly Updegraff Champ’s husband, Dan, had a hard 2019 with vision, hearing, and health issues, and they didn’t go to Florida for the first time in 22 years. They stayed in Connecticut and have had a lot of help from Polly’s stepdaughter, Theresa. She shopped for Dan and Polly during the early days of the pandemic, and her visits and calls have helped Polly keep her sanity. Polly calls Theresa her heroine.

Lloyd Tilton Backstrom suspects that the Class of ’61 should win first place in the Clean Closet Competition. She and Art haven’t ventured out socially as they don’t want to trust their luck. They have gone to their river home in Hertford, North Carolina, for a change of scenery.

Eleanore Saunders Sunderland had to learn how to walk again after a broken pelvis and two surgeries on the same hip. Daughter Jane moved in for a time to help and still comes once a week to do Eleanore’s shopping, though Eleanore is now comfortable alone. As for Eleanore’s other children, Jude, who lives in Milan, had come out of lockdown but still couldn’t travel. Willard was able to be with family in Cincinnati while doing grant-funded research on 18th-century Russian history. He is a Russian professor at the University of Cincinnati.

Peggy Howard Hodgkins had completed a 14-day Panama Canal cruise and was in Palm Springs visiting a niece when the pandemic forced her to cut her winter travels short and head back to Maine. Peggy spent the next two months alone, but a nearby family picked up and delivered her groceries and mail once a week.

In May son Greg and his wife joined Peggy in her lake house for two months of quarantining together. They had weekend visits from grandchildren and great-grands. Peggy’s sister Jean and family spent time in July at her camp next door, and sister Joanne and her husband visited for two weeks. Maine had kept cases low as of this Class Notes submission. Peggy is a friend and former neighbor of the governor, and Peggy reported that she and the health chief had been tough on tourists, innkeepers, restaurants, and nonessential businesses, with good results.