Class Notes

Mary Helen Dellinger happily continues her career as curator of the City of Manassas Museum System. Mary worked with J.P. Rees, Kevin Shirley, and Stacy Warner Price on our 30-year reunion and was glad the committee was able to offer the Sean Dargan concert virtually to entertain classmates during the pandemic.

As for me, Susan Crytzer Marchant, I am approaching my 30-year anniversary at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in January 2021. My oldest son, Adam, graduated from high school this past spring and has started college at Radford University. It has brought back many fond memories of being a first-year student and making lifelong friends with some great men and women.

Hello, Class of ’91! I, Shannon Eadie Niemeyer, didn’t receive many updates this time, but I hope to hear from more people next time.

Leanne Fogle is a Realtor for NextHome Platinum Advantage, covering Charlotte and Lake Norman, North Carolina.

Nellie L. King is first vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She is a criminal defense lawyer in West Palm Beach, Florida, and has held numerous state and national leadership roles with the aim of reforming the criminal justice system.

Kim Quillen is president of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. An award-winning business journalist for more than 20 years, she has been a business desk editor for the Chicago Tribune since 2016.

Jeffrey Bardzell recently became associate dean for undergraduate and graduate studies in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University. Before that, he was a professor of informatics and program director for human computer interaction design at Indiana University-Bloomington.

The pandemic has certainly challenged all of us to reflect, shift priorities, and adjust our life expectations. We’ve had a lot of virtual graduations, homeschooling, and Zoom happy hours. Here are some of our classmates’ life updates.

Eric Nolan saw his poetry and political satire published this spring by Illumen, Down in the Dirt, The Piker Press, Spillwords Press, Winedrunk Sidewalk, The Roanoke Times, and The Bristol Herald-Courier. Newington Blue Press in Germany invited him to contribute to its limited-edition chapbook, Buk 100: My Old Man, which brings to six the number of countries where he has been published. In July, Spillwords Press interviewed him as part of its “spotlight on writers” series. Eric was trying to persuade Rick Slagle ’93 to run for public office so Eric could be a staff writer for his campaign.

Becky Miller Duff lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband and children ages 6 and 10. Working for the Batten Institute of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, Becky conducts research on the role of business in solving climate change. She was writing a book, due to be published in 2021, on the potential for decarbonizing the United States economy by 2050.

Susanna Parrett Daley and Stephen Daley have triplets who started college this year at Syracuse University, Virginia Tech, and Davidson College. Their first year will be a far cry from ours. Masks, distancing, no parties or clubs, and online classes.

Fannie Davidson Gray escaped to Mexico for the San Miguel Writers Conference and returned home in February, just under the coronavirus wire. She virtually ran the Garden State Parkway – running more than three miles a day for about six weeks. Son Teddy graduated from high school and started online classes from Virginia Commonwealth University. Fannie participated in UMW’s online COVID class and reports that it was great.

The Central Virginia Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar named Kerri Barile its 2020 Woman of the Year. This award is given annually to a leader in Central Virginia who has made an impact on the transportation industry and contributed to the advancement of women and minorities in transportation fields.

Lisa Berman Cooksey has been fully embracing time out of work as a sabbatical. She loves her job as a physical therapist, but it takes a physical and emotional toll. After four months off, she’d lost weight and gained muscle. Lisa expanded her organic garden, returned to trail running, played disc golf, taught herself freestyle Frisbee, and relearned cello.

I, Jennifer Dockeray Muniz, caught up with Lisa, Colette Epple, Anna Estep, and Ann Pegelow Kaplan for a Zoom happy hour. We were in Texas, Virginia, Ohio, Brazil, and North Carolina, respectively. We got to finally meet one another’s kids over video.

I’m still working for Apple in Texas and have spent the past few months pacing the driveway of our ranch on conference calls while working from home. The pandemic has caused a crazy surge in my work volume. I’m grateful for my UMW connections and the way we can connect via social media to help stay sane.

Soon after graduation, John Sterling Harris married a beautiful, sweet Yankee schoolteacher who had recently moved to rural eastern Virginia. They met on a Rappahannock River cruise when he jumped in the keg line to pour her a beer. Sterling attended grad school at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond and recently finished his 20th year of teaching at Northumberland High School. Many of his students participate in a history class partnership with Rappahannock Community College.

Sterling also runs a popular high school chess club. He says the trick is to make it about friendly intellectual warfare. He coached varsity boys soccer and was voted district/region coach of the year eight times in 15 years. But he retired from soccer coaching to support and watch his own children – Alexandra, 17, and Anne Lee, 15 – in their sports and activities. He’s a deacon at Beale Memorial Baptist Church in Tappahannock.

In early March, just before the pandemic hit, Kirsten Franklin, Anabeth Guthrie, Sarah Long, Shannon Peterson, and Mandy Thompson met in Tampa, Florida, for a mini-reunion. They hope to take an international trip for their next reunion.

Dru Abramson Perdue and Jarrett Perdue ’96 celebrated their 20th anniversary in July by visiting Bushnell Hall, where they met. Dru is switching from teaching elementary school to teaching middle school. In a blink of an eye, both of Dru and Jarrett’s girls are in high school, and the older one is leaning toward UMW.

Kathleen Gillikin MacCubbin changed careers, from libraries to financial services.