Class Notes

Greetings to all our Class of Sexy – oops – ’60 classmates from your Stupendously Stellar Class Agents!

As you know, we summarize the class news in our monthly emails for UMW Magazine. We love hearing from you and are grateful to those who check in regularly. We’d also like news from those who only check in every millennium. We all are anxious for your news and count on you to stay in touch. Contact us if you are not receiving the newsletter.

Karen Larsen Nelson and Darrell visited their daughter, two granddaughters, and two great-grandkids, now 2ó, in Henderson, Nev., in July. They visited Lassen Volcanic National Park, the Redwoods, the Oregon beaches, Crater Lake National Park, and Fort Clatsop in Astoria, and took a ferry ride across the Columbia River to Washington. They visited Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, drove along the Washington side of the Columbia River, and visited the Bonneville Dam and fish ladders on their way to visit Gaye Roberts Olsen in Boise, Idaho. Karen and Gaye reminisced about Mary Washington days; Gaye and others spent time at the home of the late Anna Scott “Scotty” Hoye, UMW professor emerita of biology. Karen and Darrell spent August in their trailer at “senior summer camp” in Show Low, Ariz., and danced again during a weekend in Albuquerque. Grandson Alex completed Marine basic training at Parris Island and his second phase of training. He looked forward to his next assignment and learning electronics repair.

Jane Denslow McCrohan also drove in The Dalles along the Columbia River this spring, traveling east on the Washington side and west on the Oregon side. They returned to Portland to visit their granddaughter, who is studying microbiology at the University of Portland. Jane sent pictures from junior and sophomore year. Karen Larsen Nelson was in some, along with Pat Behrman MacDonald, Joan Brunner, and Lucy Wu Wang.

Joyce Neill Krost was working with friend Neill on the Las Vegas musical set of Summer Lovin’. She had planned to leave in September for a few months in Spain, painting, drinking wine, and gossiping with her sister, but her sister’s husband had medical problems, and Joyce delayed her trip. She planned to paint a huge project for someone’s dining room. Jeanette Meyer Juren and Hal took an August trip to Ashland, Ore., attending programs, lectures, and theater tours at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. From there, they toured Minneapolis.

Martha Butler Lebovitz spent a week with her University of Texas granddaughter, visiting her brothers in Winchester, Va., and spending time in Washington, D.C., visiting the WWII and Vietnam memorials. They also visited Martha’s other granddaughter, who was interning with Teach for America in Philadelphia. Sue Whidden Frisch and husband Bruce live in Connecticut, where Sue started a farmers market in Norfolk in 2006. It got townwide support, they hired a manager, and they now do 22 weekly summer markets and one in December. They redid their website and Sue is the webmaster, Facebook administrator, and blogger.

Betty Ditmars Prosser, who’s been with Mary Kay for 30 years, celebrated the company’s 50th anniversary with 8,000 other consultants and directors in Dallas in August. Betty spends as much time as possible with her 11-year-old twin grandsons. She visited granddaughter Megan in Southern California in September, while Megan’s parents were in Italy, and broke her foot in October.

Syd Collson Chichester doesn’t volunteer as much when she’s in Fredericksburg as she does in Florida, but she keeps almost as busy, lunching with old friends and serving on her gated community’s landscape committee. Syd got an email from Patty Morgan Connelly, who’s still active with her horse, which was injured last winter but was back at “work.” Patty sings in her church choir and plays golf and tennis. Gay Hall Sullivan lives in Syd’s community, and they do lots of things together, including caravanning to Florida and back each year.

Gretchen Squires Best and Graham live in North Carolina. Gretchen spent time with friends last summer in the North Carolina mountains and a week with her two younger sisters at their childhood lake vacation spot in northeastern Pennsylvania. The Bests visited their daughter when she took her daughter to start at Guilford College in Greensboro.

Joan Scarritt Reynolds thanked us for her August birthday card. Her sons took her out for a Mexican dinner. She had her annual September visit with Cape Cod friends, then took a cruise with them from Copenhagen to Venice. Joan went on the gluten-free diet hoping it would help with allergies. She said it had and that the arthritis in her hands was gone. Nancy Rorabaugh retired from teaching at the end of the year.

Iris Hall Newton of Fredericksburg went to Tennessee in March and May and took two recent trips to Pennsylvania. Laser surgery on one eye in May went well. She still crochets, quilts, makes gifts, and has weekly family get-togethers. Joyce Larrick Casey of Winchester, Va., was recognized at a tea for 40 years of part-time work at Handley Regional Library, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. Mona Allen Spilo said, regarding her birthday, “You can’t hide your age from classmates!” Betty Oliver Bridgman said she doesn’t feel 75, except when she walks. She walks with a cane due to an inoperable ankle problem. She and Victor celebrated their 52nd anniversary and love living in the West.

Jody Campbell Close wrote a memoir about college roommate and longtime friend Carole Faison Rasmussen, ending with news that Carole’s husband, Royce, passed away in February 2013. He’d been in ill health for years and began declining rapidly in November. Carole took his ashes to Nebraska in May. The sad trip also turned into a small family reunion and a time of sharing. Carole then spent time with Royce’s sister and husband in Denver. She took her first cruise in July, visiting New England with friends, and goes to the Jersey Shore with her son and his family each August. She went to a Winchester-area arts festival in October, her first time in Virginia in a while, and hoped to spend Thanksgiving in Maine with daughter Laura’s family. Carole still works with son Matt about 15 hours per week.

Sue Smith Goodrick turned 75 and said she hadn’t looked forward to it but it’s comforting to have company in her classmates. Her son’s family visited her from Chicago in July; her daughter came from Phoenix to join them. They took Sue’s johnboat into the Intracoastal Waterway to Topsail Beach, where they sunbathed, fished, and let the boys splash around. Afterward, Sue spent a week in Washington, Mo., and took a romantic road trip to Charleston, S.C.

Jody Campbell Close said her “new normal,” including braces on both feet to help her walk without pain, does “not a stunning fashion statement make!” She’s been working with physical therapists, all young enough to be surrogate grandchildren. Jody’s extended family lives in Virginia and Washington state. Her youngest was being transferred back to Florida, so she’ll get to see his children more often. She’s reached a new plateau, resetting her grandkid- meter to accommodate young adults. No more babies and “skip-along” schoolkids. She’s still fascinated by genealogy. Her genealogical society presented its annual family history open house in October, and she taught the annual Boy Scout genealogy merit badge workshop in March. Jody belongs to the local historical society. They’re proud of their historic village built around an old train depot. Two old homes and the original one-room library were moved to the location, which includes a WWII Quonset hut with military memorabilia. They recently added a replica of an early one room schoolhouse, and a Boy Scout Eagle project produced an authentic outhouse. The village, with lakeside views, is already a destination-wedding site, and their next project is a small chapel. Jody hopes to take some interesting trips this year.

We hope for another great column next time with lots of news from lots of you. Email as much as you like to either of us. Your classmates love reading about each of you, even if you think it’s mundane or inconsequential. So write! You might make someone’s day a little brighter.