Class Notes

Frances Rodgers Bryant shared the sad news of the death of husband Julian on July 14. Besides Frances, daughter Jennifer Bryant Langdale ’91, son William, and four grandchildren survive him.

Sally Monroe Kelly sent in the following notes:

2019 was a banner travel year for Susan Morris and Don, with trips to the Panama Canal, Amsterdam, and London, and wonderful visits with kids and grandkids. 2020 began the same way, with travels to Atlanta and south Florida, and a Caribbean cruise. They went into lockdown in mid-March. “Really glad Don and I actually LIKE each other!” Susan wrote.

Dale Saunders Kalkofen’s extensive travels have included two long pilgrimage hikes: El Camino de Santiago in 2016 and a hike through Scotland to England’s Holy Island in 2018, both with small groups from her church in Richmond. She enjoyed this past summer in isolation on Shadowland Farm in Powhatan County, Virginia, where she has lots of flower beds and an excellent vegetable garden. She has been drawing in pastels for fun but nothing like her dear friend and artist Mel Wittig Neale, who has been a prize-winning exhibiting artist since our Mary Washington days.

Julie Deane Webb lives in Connecticut. She and husband Rick are blessed with good health and healthy lifestyles, but they were still taking this pandemic seriously. They miss daughter Mary, who lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two boys. Son Josh and family live in the Boston area. Julie had hip replacement surgery last October and by spring was able to lift and squat in her garden like she used to! She remembers our 50th reunion with affection and hopes we can get together again soon.

Leneice Wu writes that shortly after our 50th reunion, she and husband John Thomas (married in 2013 after both being widowed in 2005) moved to a continuing-care community in Northern Virginia. It was not a minute too soon, as John needed skilled nursing care after his third surgery to repair a broken kneecap. Since being there, they have been trying to make sense of their possessions, and she recommends that if you haven’t begun downsizing, start now! That said, she bought a condo in Vermont to continue downhill skiing as long as possible and to be closer to her son and his wife and her only grandchild, 4-year-old Lucas. Daughter Emily lives in California and was an unemployed pandemic Equity stage manager with an employed husband, which is good! Leneice says moving to a small community of 2,000 is a little like it was starting college. It does take a while to get used to all the rules!