Class Notes

Denise Mattingly Luck, Nancy Brown Jones, Anne Reynolds Guest, and Bettiann Glass Aylor enjoyed several Zoom cocktail hours and planned to meet in person in Virginia Beach this summer – the first get-together for all four in at least 35 years.

Bridget Binko accompanied JoAnn Menzer Kevorkian to Cebu, Philippines, for JoAnn’s son’s wedding in early March. They returned to the United States just as the borders were closing due to the pandemic. Bridget was furloughed for three months from her part-time registered nurse job at a hospital cancer resource center. She eventually got back to work, dressed head to toe in stylish PPE, collecting virus samples through car windows. She wrote: “You wouldn’t guess the number of people I need to ask to put their car into park gear! Some days I wonder why I hadn’t turned in my retirement notice as I had been thinking, but it is nice to feel useful to my community.”

Patti Goodall Strawderman wrote: “Like many Americans, I watched as the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others sparked a movement. Feeling overwhelmed but unsure of how to best show support for the Black community, I asked myself, how can I help? I discussed my idea to make a gift with a small group of MWC ’74 alumnae, and everyone responded enthusiastically. Serendipitously, we received a letter the next day from UMW President Troy Paino regarding the establishment of the Scholarship for Building Civic and Social Leaders. It is intended to promote the development of leadership skills for students committed to addressing societal issues disproportionately affecting black and underrepresented communities. The Painos seeded the scholarship with a gift of $5,000, and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to offer support to a worthy student seeking to make a difference for underrepresented citizens. If you feel moved to support the Scholarship for Building Civic and Social Leaders, you can make a gift at fund.umw.edu, or you can contact Lee Ann Reaser ’98, UMW development officer, at lreaser@umw.edu. I hope you’ll join me and other members of the Class of 1974 in making a gift; any amount is welcome! Thank you to all the members of our class who have already made a gift to the scholarship!”

Patti is part of a group that gets together annually for mini-reunions. This year’s planned trip to Las Vegas had to be canceled, so Jonette deButts Hahn suggested they start Zooming, and it’s been fantastic.

Patti and daughter Megan were traveling in the Czech Republic in March when borders were shut down and they had to evacuate – a planes, trains, and automobiles affair involving an overnight flight from Prague to Manchester, a train ride to London, and an international flight back to the United States.

Patti and her husband and daughter had a series of rabies vaccine/immunoglobulin shots because they had a bat in the house while they were asleep, and the local health department recommended it. She reports that it didn’t hurt a bit, except for the outrageously high copays for each of the four visits.