Dear Readers, As printing costs have risen over the last decade, we have had to limit the number of pages devoted to Class Notes. That has meant shortening the news class agents have submitted. Beginning this issue, UMW Magazine will publish agents’ unedited notes online at magazine.umw.edu. We will continue to publish an edited version in print, which you will find on page 25. Another change is that we will not publish a summer 2015 issue. Virginia’s budget cuts to institutions of higher education have caused many universities to prioritize spending. To use UMW’s limited funds as strategically as possible, the university has temporarily suspended publication of one issue per year. We are confident that the budget situation will improve, and we look forward to resumption of an annual three-issue schedule. Because the next magazine will mail in fall 2015, the next deadline to submit notes to class agents has been extended from March 15 to June 15. If you submitted notes … [Read more...]
Song, Composer, Going Strong
When she returned to UMW last December, Irene Taylor Robinson ’47 wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about. As the guest of honor at a luncheon, she had expected to talk about “High on Marye’s Hilltop,” the Mary Washington Alma Mater that she and the late Jean Crotty Machonis ’47 co-wrote. She was surprised, though, to be treated like a star by the younger alumni who’d come to see her. “We wrote a little song, but I’ve never really given much thought to it,” the 89-year-old said. “I’m a little floored that people want to meet me, and they are so kind in what they say.” Most of the fans had learned “High on Marye’s Hilltop” as freshmen at Mary Washington, where it is sung it at every commencement and homecoming. They’d sung it in dorms, at class meetings, and at Grad Ball. “It’s part of the Mary Washington soundscape for students and faculty,” said Professor of History Jeffrey McClurken ’94, one of two UMW historians at the luncheon. Robinson and her friend Machonis … [Read more...]