Class Notes

I am excited about the number of responses from you for this issue!

Bub’s and my 11 grand-children range in age from 9 to 32, and our children all have some gray hair. Fortunately, none of them lives far away, but their busy lives (and ours) keep us from getting together as often as I’d like. Son Chip and his family of Harrisonburg, Va., were to host Thanksgiving, and everyone was to come here for “Harvill Christmas.” Chip’s wife, Karmen, has the genealogy bug, and we all enjoy her efforts. Several weeks ago they took me to Nottoway County, Va., where I was born in Burkeville almost 80 years ago. We tramped through the Redford family cemetery and examined what was left after the family home burned years ago. I brought back a charred brick with wonderful smoke marks that’s now on our mantel.

Peggy Ellis Gill’s husband, Paul, sent word that she remains in a nursing home; a fall three years ago left Peggy with a spinal-cord injury and quadriplegia. She is alert, Paul said, and could participate in a conference call.

Anne Berkeley Doherty and husband Don moved to the country of upstate New York about 23 years ago and built a home in Cazenovia, a village in the Snow Belt east of Syracuse. Anne enjoys doubles tennis, golf, garden clubs, and church, where she is an advocate for a church-sponsored Burmese family with four children. Son David moved to Georgia to escape the cold. Son Don lives in Brooklyn, teaches at Pratt Institute, and visits often with his two boys. Anne keeps in touch with Anne Mattingly and Joan “Honey” Kerrins Friel, whose husband, John, passed away in May. Honey talks weekly with Anne Gorman Mattingly of Annapolis, Md.

Betsy Dickenson Surles and Lenny have enjoyed life since his sudden heart-valve replacement a year ago. In accounting since 1953, Lenny was back at work in a month. Betsy teaches senior adult Sunday school; facilitates the Sojourners senior group, which Betsy began when her Class-of-’29 mother died in 2002; and planned a bus trip to Washington, D.C., for the annual Spirit of America show. Assisting the elderly keeps her active in the kitchen and in nursing homes of longtime friends. Betsy’s elder of the well-liked UMW President Richard V. Hurley. Peg is a friend of Charles Reed Jr. ’11, who rode the PBS 2011 Freedom Ride bus. Peg planned a Thanksgiving trip to visit her nephew in Sacramento, Calif., and a February trip to the Keys. She visited the Picasso exhibit with a local group, took a cruise on Smith Mountain Lake, and spends several summer weeks at the family cottage. At a recent funeral, Peg saw Betsy Dickinson Surles and the stepdaughter of Ruth Williams Taylor.

Ginny Poole Kinniburgh said Mary Washington “has come a long way since our uncomplicated days of Devils and Goats.” She misses her dear friend, Joanne Harris, and their monthly luncheons. Ginny and her husband, who live in a retirement community near Dulles Airport, escaped the worst of Hurricane Irene. They try to visit their three great-grandchildren in Orlando often to observe their grandchildren as parents.

Adele “Punky” Crise Thomas’ husband, Buz, had a small stroke in May, got pneumonia, and was in Johns Hopkins in Baltimore until August. His dog died the day he went to Hopkins. Buz has had dementia and short-term memory loss for a few years. Their daughters were great and gave Adele plenty of advice, which they are fond of doing. Adele found a 5-year-old yellow Lab, a ringer for Buz’s dog, and adopted him and his sister, a chocolate Lab, from the rescue association. Adele sent a picture of Bennett II sleeping with his head on Buz’s shoulder, their regular nap routine. Punky, your selfless devotion reminds us what life, marriage, and love are all about.