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UMW Magazine – Class Notes
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1994

Jennifer Dockeray Muniz
dockeray@apple.com

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.