Class Notes

Please send news to the designated Class Agent according to the first letter of your maiden name.

From Connie (via Lynne): I’m filling in for Connie while she recovers from a mild stroke and light seizure in October. She had therapy in the hospital’s rehab clinic, and husband Andy said doctors are optimistic she’ll make a full recovery. When I spoke to her a month after the stroke, she sounded the way she always did and her mind was as sharp as a tack. She did say this stroke recovery seemed worse than her lung transplant in December 2012. She suffers from shakiness, poor balance when walking, and fatigue. Connie asked to recognize and send sympathy to classmates suffering from ailments or losses of family members. Bobbie Brookes Nation said, “Could there be a more lovely, intelligent, and remarkably brave, giving, and sharing person on this planet Earth to cheer for? I am sending my love to this wonderfully courageous woman.”

Clara Sue Durden Ashley still works part time at the Quilt Shop of McLean in Virginia. Husband Clarence’s knee replacement went well. They expected the whole family for Christmas, with 15 houseguests and 21 for dinner. Charlotte Howard Austin and Hank moved to a retirement community. Judy LaRoe Hare still works full time, plays tennis when she can, and planned to spend Thanksgiving in Phoenix with her family.

Bev Carlson Shea said that when her son Dan, 42, was a National Merit Scholar and the male Presidential Scholar from Pennsylvania, we were still in the dark ages with no email, and letters were too much of a bother. He graduated from Princeton and Harvard Business School. When Heather, 39, was Phi Beta Kappa and first in her class in economics at Penn, we still couldn’t write news so easily. Since then, all she has to add is grandchildren from both of them.

Carol Schock Furman moved to a Virginia condo. Sadly, her older daughter, Candy Elaine, passed away last November at 44. Seven weeks later Carol’s husband passed away at 84. Her grandchildren, ages 5, 8, and 11, have been her salvation. Carol planned to attend an October UMW alumni reception at the Cavalier Hotel and visit with President Hurley. She still does day care at 74!

From Renee: I hope you are well and enjoyed a beautiful autumn. I had Internet problems and lost mail from one of our classmates, so my apologies to her. I hope to hear from her – and from more of my group – again next time. Please?

Nancy “Pepper” Jacobs Germer and hubby Hank have been married 52 years. They’d sailed on the Norwegian Jewel to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel and decided to go again in November with a group of seniors from their church. The Germers visit their two grown children and grandson Henry, and continued to be blessed with excellent health.

Lloyd Tilton Backstrom sent a copy of Judith “Judy” Lewis Clark’s obituary. Judy died in October after a long battle with brain cancer. She taught chemistry and physics at Alexandria’s Hammond High School, and ethics and computer skills at Fishburne Military School. Survivors include husband John C. Clark of Waynesboro, her son and daughter and their spouses, five grandchildren, a brother, and two sisters, one of whom is Emily Lewis Andres ’62.

I am doing well. Test results are good, my hair has grown back, and I’m as active as I want to be! I still enjoy classes at UCLA Extension in a program for ages 50 and older. Recent favorites include astronomy, movie musicals, writing, and history of rock ’n’ roll. Next quarter I plan to take “The Play’s the Thing,” Puccini, and a couple of others.

From Lynne: Sandy and I signed up for the UMW President’s Travel Club cruise through the Panama Canal in January. To celebrate a significant birthday, we planned a March trip with friends to Houston for the rodeo and to New Orleans. Pat Scott Peck was in Maine for the summer, and Carolyn Crum Pannu visited for two weeks in August. They stayed with Peggy Howard Hodgkins a few nights, then went to Pat’s cottage on the Canadian border, seeing Mount Desert Island and St. Andrews in Canada. Finally, they drove to Boston, visited Salem, and stayed with Carolyn’s parents’ neighbors from the ’50s. Pat hopes to visit Carolyn in California in spring.

Marcy Trembath Pitkin finished chemo in August and had a double mastectomy in October, and the tumor was completely gone. Eleanore Saunders Sunderland misses twin sister Judy but has her beloved cat, Ebony, who has become a wonderful companion. Eleanore had a clamshell cast on her upper arm for three months. Fortunately, it’s her left arm, but she still has to type with one finger.

Kay Slaughter has a step great- grandson who’s 3 and another great-grandson who’s 2. She retired as an attorney at Southern Environmental Law Center in 2010 and planned to totally retire after this year as an adjunct professor at U.Va., her 10th year teaching. She wants to spend more time writing and enjoying life with no set schedule. She had been busy politicking in Virginia’s governor’s race. Kay still sees Suzanne Stafford, her roommate at Carolina after MWC. Suzanne was living in a senior community in Bethesda, Md., while being treated for ovarian cancer, and Kay said she has done well. Kay said Mary Thom White Osborne, who transferred with her to Carolina and lives in the Boca Raton area, lost her husband in 2011. Kay keeps up with Betsy Ottley Taggart, who she saw in spring 2012 at their high school reunion in Richmond, and Renee Levinson Laurents on Facebook and wishes more MWC alums would join. Kay wondered if anyone has heard from Sandy Wadlow or Carol Lemon, who were her friends before MWC.

Graham Walker Burns heard from Sara Prosterman Brown that she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They might try chemo, but she’s not a surgery candidate. Email well wishes to her at sbrown@tylerandco.com and keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Anne Tetterton Jordan Madsen – who lived in Betty Lewis Hall freshman year, Virginia sophomore year, married, and transferred to the College of William and Mary branch that’s now ODU junior year – said, “What wonderful news about Renee. Cancer free! It looks like she is carrying on in her wonderful style. Keep it up, Renee. You are one of the gals I will never forget.”