Class Notes

Although our reunion was almost two years ago, the conversations and reconnections still resonate with me. Please mark our next reunion – the first weekend of June 2017 – on your calendars.

I hear about many of you through Facebook. Jenifer Blair is vice president for enrollment services at Richard Bland College and lives in Richmond. During her first days in Petersburg, she ran into college roommate Andrea Jansen, who works at nearby Fort Lee.

My roommate all four years at Mary Washington, Debbie Snyder Barker, stayed with me over the summer while attending a conference. Debbie recently lost her father. Her mother still lives in a nearby assisted living community. Oldest son Sam works at a D.C. law firm. Middle child Chip is finishing an engineering degree at Virginia Tech. Daughter Leah attends East Carolina and is a Delta Zeta. Debbie is teaching high school (a big change from second grade), thanks to her Mary Wash psychology degree and work in early childhood development. Husband John works at a different D.C. law firm. They didn’t stay empty nesters long; they were hosting an Italian exchange student.

Debbie and I got together with Jennifer Goodwin Donegan of Norfolk, Va. Her husband retired from the Navy, and they were enjoying staying in one place for a change. Daughter Meredith still works at Operation Smile. Son Sean was scheduled to defend his dissertation at Carnegie Mellon University.

Vicki Haynes Morris was busy with her son’s August wedding; her other son is pursuing a CPA degree. I caught up with Annmarie Cozzi this summer at her weekend home on the Jersey Shore and saw firsthand the rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy.

Wilheimina Long and I caught up over lunch. Her children’s book, The Story of RAY the Buffalo, was illustrated by Ron Miller, whom she met while at Mary Washington. She also runs a consulting and graphic design firm and is founder of Youth Matter, based in Portsmouth, Va.

I had a busy year of work and travel. I took my niece Amanda, a college junior, to Italy for a week. This year I hope to take her sister, Jordan Filchock ’12, to Paris. I must spoil them while I can. I was honored to be named to UMW’s Board of Visitors in 2012, have completed my first year, and enjoy the challenge and commitment. Meetings bring me back to campus often. We have a great president and a talented cabinet, and, of course, faculty. I am fortunate that both my advisers, Professor and Chair of Economics Robert S. Rycroft and Distinguished Professor and Chair of Political Science and International Affairs John M. Kramer, are still teaching. I now realize how young they were when I was a student.

Best wishes, and stay in touch.