Class Notes

Hello! Have you all forgotten me? I’ve missed hearing from classmates.

Ruth DeMiller Hill planned to attend granddaughter Rachel Smith’s post-Thanksgiving wedding. Louise Davis Hume couldn’t make our 60th reunion. In the past decade, she’s had hips replaced and cataracts removed. She doesn’t have heart problems or asthma but gets out of breath due to lung damage.

I still work at Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop and have been taking care of Edgar and my daughter-in-law. They’ve been in and out of the hospital but are better.

Hope all is well with everyone. Keep in touch. My best to each of you.

Deigh Renn Simpson had “no spectacular info this time,” but many of you did. Betty Roper made plans with Barbara White Ramer. Betty Raynor Pittman, who reminded me our 60th reunion is near, enjoys her family’s third generation of Mary Washington students. Her freshman grandson was elected to Class Council and selected as a Washington Guide to conduct tours for prospective students. Despite the changes, Betty said, “the core and spirit of our beloved Mary Washington remain.”

Irene Maliaros Mathas sent news that Joan Schlesinger Miller died in August. Joan’s obituary mentioned her early employment as a buyer for I. Magnin in New York and her volunteer positions and community service contributions to the Virginia Opera and causes in the Tidewater area, where she and her husband raised their family.

Barbara Pritchett Jones evaluated our current place in the world: “We’re still on this side of the dirt, so to speak, and meet the challenges that come in the 80s with all the strength we can muster.” Gayle Winston Roberts’ oldest grandson, Page Jr., graduated from dental school in May and practices in Richmond. He married in October.

Nicky Raitt Staunton lives near her daughter in a botanically rich area at the county line between Madison and Culpeper. A Virginia Native Plant Society member, she advocates for protecting the state’s native habitats. She photographs and illustrates plants, and participates in the Flora of Virginia Project, publishing the first Flora of Virginia – containing documentation of native Virginia plants – since 1762.

Betsy Dickinson Surles and Lenny continue to “house-sit.” Hurricane Sandy came through their carport door! Their elder son lives with them, and his teenage daughters visit often. Lenny still works eight-hour days after a heart valve replacement. They traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., in September and attended a niece’s wedding in Richmond, where they found Peggy Hopkins Johnson at the guest book. The hurricane left Peggy housebound for three days. A huge tree fell into daughter Liz’s yard in Arlington, Va., sending her and her husband to a hotel. Peg celebrated her 80th birthday with her sister and friends at Myrtle Beach, then with Liz at the Gaylord hotel in National Harbor on the Potomac.

Thinking of Peg brings Nancy Melton Miller and Nell McCoy Savopoulos to mind. Nell and Mike of St. Augustine, Fla., planned to spend Thanksgiving with their son in Harrisonburg, Va. Her other son and his family, who live in Baltimore, were to join them. After beginning a kitchen renovation in August and encountering many problems, they hoped to be done by Christmas.

Bub and I continue to be in good health, thanks to several daily naps. He still plays tennis, and I do morning neighborhood walks. We planned to celebrate Thanksgiving at Chip and Karmen’s with most of the family, then do Christmas here. When we’re all together, there’s 27. Our Kim, suffering from ovarian cancer in Richmond, got a good report after her first months of chemo but was experiencing other complications.

I have carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand, making using the computer more difficult. Would one of you please consider assuming the honor of being Class Agent? It’s fun hearing from everyone, and the Alumni Relations staff is great. I’ll be anxiously awaiting a reply! If you aren’t getting occasional emails asking for news, please send me your current address.

With the weather back east and less frequent travel stories, our entry is abbreviated this time. Our travels now are mostly to see medical professionals. I find I need help shoring up various body parts. I’m beginning to commiserate with our ’96 van, which still runs but demands frequent attention.

Polly Stoddard Heim and Ken sold their Tucson, Ariz., home last April, becoming year-round Idaho residents. Their house in McCall, where they’ve spent the past 11 summers, provided a break while they prepared the Lewiston house. Daughter Lynne is nearby, and son Rob is 500 miles west in the Seattle area. They looked forward to Thanksgiving in California.

Last July Sally Hanger Moravitz attended a Sacred Dance Guild festival in Holland, Mich. She and Fran lost power during Sandy and were thankful for their fireplace. They headed for their cottage on the bay, since power was restored there first. Sally was thankful son Brian was no longer on the Fairfax search-and-rescue team, which pulled lots of extra hours. Last September Sally and Fran took a Viking cruise on the Danube and were signed up for a sailing trip to snorkel in the Spice Islands.

Charlotte Fisher Klapproth’s husband, Chris, has had health issues and two recent surgeries for diverticulitis and was recuperating. The day Charlotte and Chris celebrated their 56th anniversary, a lightning bolt entered their home’s crawlspace and burned the insulation off the gas line. Thankfully, they’d returned from dinner. Chris used the fire extinguisher; Charlotte called 911.

Kathleen Clarkson Barlow and her husband moved from Peterborough to Jaffrey, N.H., five years ago. They joined a historical society, attend art shows, and enjoy music in the area. Kathleen began a crochet group and makes prayer shawls for a church to give to the ill. She reads, plays piano, and has a new cat named Sophy, inspired by The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. She and her husband explore New England. Kathleen’s sister, Laura Clarkson Hendrick ’57, died in September. Kathleen spent three weeks with her when she was feeling well, playing piano, shopping, eating out, and talking about childhood, college days, and married life.

Barbara Trites Peterson of Murrells Inlet on South Carolina’s northern coast attended a summer gathering of 3,000 Presbyterian women at the Gaylord hotel in Orlando. She gardens and is still with her church’s Stephen Ministry in Myrtle Beach. Virginia Marco Hancock of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is glad the election is over and hopes decision-makers come together for the good of our country.

My thanks to all who’ve responded faithfully; it saves me from stomachaches near deadline and all of you from having to read excerpts from my writings, What I Have Learned in 78 Years and Other Nonsense.

Page Richardson Coulthard and husband Bob traveled to Hawaii in January 2012. Retired since 2001, Barbara Strangmann Hiscock enjoys book and bridge clubs, season tickets to the theater, and taking courses. She has two granddaughters.

Dorcas “D.A.” Hickox Channell of Daytona Beach, Fla., left Mary Washington after three years to marry Ensign Ralph Norman Channell, USNA Class of ’55. She’s lived all over the world. The most interesting place was Moscow; the most loved was Hawaii. After her husband retired, Dorcas had the In Good Taste catering company for 16 years in the San Francisco East Bay area. She has sons Ralph and Hal, and grandchildren Christopher and Jenny. Dorcas keeps in touch with Helen Wilkins Obenshain, Anne McCann Collier, and Marian Minor ’55.

Last year Frieda Byrd attended her U.Va. reunion and spent time with children and grandchildren at home in Georgia and during their annual beach week in Hilton Head, S.C., attended by all five children, their spouses, 11 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. Frieda hoped to visit her oldest brother and his family in Texas with one of her daughters in December.

Betty Marshall Whitlock and her husband visited the Alabama/Florida Gulf Coast in spring and fall. They cruised along the Maine coast in August and attended a November duplicate bridge tournament in Virginia Beach. Betty still plays tennis. Their children and grandchildren are in the Northern Virginia area. One teaches at Centreville High School, one is getting a master’s degree at Radford, one is a sophomore at James Madison University, one is at UMW, and the youngest is a high school junior.

I do local history and volunteer projects, vacationed in Maine in August, and planned to be in Iowa for Christmas.

Meredith Puller Townes and husband Jack took a 16-day August trip to Russia. Meredith was sorry to miss the last reunion; the date conflicted with their club’s benefit golf tournament for breast cancer, which she’s run for 11 years. Joyce Bristow Wrestler and husband Cliff took the final part of the dream trip they’d canceled in spring because of his blood disorder. After receiving his doctor’s OK, they went to Oahu to see the USS Arizona. They hope to travel to Australia and New Zealand soon.

Kathleen Clarkson Barlow ’55 reported the September death of her sister, Laura Clarkson Hendrick.

Hopefully, I’ll get more news next time.

When Mary “Kay” Martin Britto of Wilmington, N.C., saw Bonnie Hatch Bowden in Give It Your Best Shot in the summer 2012 UMW Magazine, she called Bonnie, who confirmed she’s the one pictured. Kay’s youngest daughter, a Leesburg, Va., librarian, planned a May wedding in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. Kay looked forward to spring graduations of her granddaughter from the College of William and Mary and grandson from Radford.

Carol Lehman of Ridgewood, N.J., said getting gas after Sandy was easier when they went to odd/even days. Elizabeth “Betty” Gould Storms of Leavenworth, Kan., probably won’t attend the reunion; her third granddaughter is to receive a master’s degree in education from Texas Tech around that time.

I’m not sure I’ll attend the reunion; I might have to have another hip replacement. If you all send notes, I’ll write about it for Class Notes.

Ann Brooks Coutsibinas lives near the George Washington Bridge and watched the city lights disappear when Sandy hit the New York/New Jersey area. Anastasia and Greg are fine. Irene Piscopo Rodgers was in Europe and returned home to no electricity, phone, or heat. She and Don are keeping on.

I contacted Peggy Clark Bidwell, a childhood and forever friend of Dale Harris Leahy, whose passing was announced in the summer 2012 UMW Magazine. Dale died suddenly last February from an aneurysm.

I looked forward to your Christmas newsletters. And a certain young man, 3.-year-old Lucas, looked forward to Santa bringing him an iPad!