Class Notes

Winter seemed to converge upon us all of a sudden. Warm notes from members of the Class of ’53 add to the ambiance of the moment. Remembrances of past days together at MWC are special.

Lenny and I celebrated our 60th anniversary in August, and Myrtle Beach was our destination for my birthday in September. We were blessed with great health this year. Lenny’s heart valve replacement four years ago gave him a new lease on life. He still works eight-hour days in accounting and says he will never retire, but losing most of his 50-year clients here in Warrenton is hard. With my brother in the house some 27 years, our son here since his job closed at the airport after 27 years, 12 in our daughter’s office in D.C. to be replaced with 24 part-timers in January, and our two teenage granddaughters here every other weekend from West Virginia, life goes on full speed.

The Internet reconnected me with my former roomie, Sara Lou Mott Gabler Bevlin. I happened upon the name of her son, a Virginia Tech professor, and emailed him. He called his mother, and she called me – all within an hour! I’d lost touch with Sara in 1954. She remarried, had two daughters, and moved to Holly Springs, N.C. Since her husband died, she has lived with one divorced daughter and her five girls. We hope to meet someday.

Betty Cranford Beasley lives in a Fredericksburg adult apartment complex, near the family of daughter Donna, who died unexpectedly in June. Betty’s son-in-law and two grandsons are very special to her. Betty Raynor Pittman has a grandson in his second year at UMW, living at Eagle Landing. Betty’s life had recently been hard. Her daughter, Barbara Pittman Ferrier ’80, lost her 24-year-old daughter in August, after five years with ovarian cancer, and she lost her husband after a heart attack and surgery two months earlier. They were ready to put summer behind them.

Betty Mason Roper and husband Charlie flew to New Hampshire to visit a son and family for their 60th anniversary. They were treated to a week in London with their two sons and two grandchildren. In September, they visited a grandson and his two boys in Fort Myers, Fla., and their oldest son, a professor of rural medicine at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Betty recently reconnected with freshman Willard Hall roommate Nancy Harrwell Bowen, who lives on a farm in Warrenton, and they took a side trip to visit her. They heard Lorin Maazel conduct at Castleton in 2012. On their last two visits, they saw Jean Browning Rockwell and husband Fred. Last February Betty and Charlie dropped in on Ray and Kitty Garland Obenshain, who has health issues and is frail but maintains her smile and spirit, in Christiansburg.

Ginny Poole Kinniburgh and husband John are “scheduled retirees.” Ginny wrote two Christmas shows and was rehearsing her choir and chorus to sing at four events. They live at Falcons Landing, a Northern Virginia military retirement community, where John, a former MWC rector, is a photographer. Ginny edits his work. She misses suite/roommate Jo Harris, who lived near her and joined her for monthly power lunches.

Virginia Bailes was sad to learn of four-year roomie Donna Anderson Buck’s death in April 2012. Donna’s husband said they traveled while he was in the Air Force, and she taught. He retired to Arizona, where their three children live, and appreciated our contacting him and being able to share their story and keep in touch with her classmates.

Gayle Winston Roberts, our May Queen, celebrated her 60th anniversary with her sweet Page in Florida and spent a week in Virginia Beach with their family. Frances Giannotti Scalo saw her grandson graduate from Washington and Lee University in May and perked up during the ceremony when Pamela White ’74, who earned a J.D. at Washington and Lee, received an honorary degree.

Barbara White Ramer lives in Roswell, Ga., with daughter Robyn and her family, including two teenage sons. Barbara discovered a school for students with learning differences 11 years ago, loved the program, and volunteered. She later assisted with the organization and operation of Porter Academy as principal. She’s on the board of directors and has mentored staff as the school’s educational specialist.

Doris Lindsey Whitfield moved back to Raleigh, N.C., in January 2010 into a small community of townhouses with access to a library, gym, and pool. Her daughter’s family lives in Durham. She’s busy with political activism and feeds and watches bluebirds. She sometimes passes through Fredericksburg.

Winnie Hundemann Schurek and Bert Shelton Stornetta had a mini-reunion in November at Bert’s Annapolis, Md., home. Carolyn Redic had a family reunion in Costa Rica last Christmas, ziplining and seeing howler monkeys in the jungle canopy.

Peggy Hopkins Johnson, Jean Kimball Gray, Deigh Renn Simpson, Barbara Faxon Stout, Jackie Reese Perdue, and Joan Collins enjoyed our 60th reunion. Executive Director of Alumni Relations Mark Thaden worked with us, sending extra mailings. Our classmates were treated royally as 1908 Society members, took pictures, and attended events all weekend. In July, Peggy had a call from Paul B. Gill, husband of Peggy Jo Ellis Gill, who was in a Bedford, Mass., nursing home after a fall and spinal cord injury. He sent a picture taken on Peggy’s front porch during our fifth reunion. We hope you had a happy year’s end and a fresh beginning to 2014. Remember us all and treasure each moment.