Class Notes

Teresa Childers Peterson and Mark of Atlanta enjoy their proximity to Florida and visit their beach house to kayak, bike, and walk on the beach. Mark made a speedy recovery from a recent hip replacement. After serving as the National Portrait Gallery’s acting director of exhibitions and collections management since June, Claire Kelly was promoted to director of exhibitions in October.

Maxine Fowler Minar lives in Rockville, Md., with her husband, who planned to retire from the Washington, D.C., Police Department this spring after 28 years. Daughter Casey is majoring in criminal justice and education at Montgomery College, lives at home, and works as an equestrian instructor and trainer. She bought a 10-year-old thoroughbred and was training him in dressage. Their son is a freshman studying engineering at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., where he plays lacrosse. Maxine, president of Comprint Military Publications in Gaithersburg, Md., likes to golf.

Amanda Ormond’s oldest daughter, Renee, studies Chinese and international affairs at Colorado State University. Youngest daughter Kelly played freshman volleyball while juggling honors classes. Amanda has been a renewable energy development consultant in the West for 10 years. She and husband John celebrated their 23rd anniversary in September. Sharon Robertson Williamson, who works in IT for WellPoint, and husband Brian, who engineers green equipment and buildings, bought an RV and traveled the East Coast. Daughter Shelby, 17, is a high school senior applying to colleges. Son Hunter, 15, is lead singer in a band and is in two select school choirs. They have three cats.

Nelly Castano Garza, who no longer works for Frost Bank, was helping her mother-in-law with medical needs. Younger son Andrew, 20, started at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Ariz., in August 2010. Her older son teaches computer and coaches basketball and six-man football at Castle Hills First Baptist School. Nelly works part time and has an at-home business. Her husband, a technical support coordinator for Castle Hills First Baptist Church, has worked there for 15 years.

Dave Petersen, who remarried in June, celebrated his 50th birthday in Las Vegas, where he heard from people he hadn’t seen in a long time. Oldest daughter Jenn is in her last year of grad school at FSU. Middle daughter Michelle, a junior at FSU, got into the education program. Youngest daughter Kelly is in 10th grade and driving. Dave’s 25th med school reunion was scheduled for April. He has published two textbook chapters; taught minimally invasive spinal surgery at Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic, and other U.S. medical centers; and lectured abroad in several countries. He has about 20 patents issued and 10 pending, mostly in spinal surgery. Dave has had three major back surgeries, which gives him a different perspective from most doctors in the area.

Kiki Connerton Smith and husband Dixon left Hawaii after his November change of command and were in San Diego. After a Thanksgiving trip to Oregon to visit family, Dixon was to take command of Navy Region Southwest. Dave Hardin, a Longwood University geography professor, helped teach a field course at Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in May for the third year. The family traveled to Europe for nearly a month so Dave could continue his research on the Homeland War in Croatia and took side trips to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia to check out the Karst topography. They spent time with Steve Jalbert ’82 and family at their home in Germany near Ramstein Air Base, and Dave and Steve searched for remnants of the Siegfried Line. Dave and his family attended his nephew’s wedding in Green Bay, Wis. Sidelined by an August foot surgery, he enjoyed reconnecting with Mary Washington alumni on Facebook.