Class Notes

Can you believe that on the last weekend in May 2015 we will be celebrating our 65^th reunion at the Mary Washington Homecoming? Plans are underway for a nice weekend on campus and you will be getting more information in the days ahead. Mark your calendar for May 29-31, 2015, get in touch with friends, and plan to come if you can.

Reading about the restoration of the amphitheater in the summer issue of the University of Mary Washington magazine, Margaret Bryan Morgan fondly remembered dancing on the stage there with the Modern Dance group and what a thrill it was. She and Ed, who live in Williamsburg, celebrated their 65th anniversary in July 2014. They have four married children, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. They feel fortunate to be in relatively good health, still driving, and volunteering at church as well as in the community. Margaret was a preschool teacher for 19 years and loved every minute of it. When she retired they named a children’s library after her. Some of you may remember that Ed started off as a mechanical engineer with Dupont but after three years he had a call to go into the ministry. He served in several Episcopal parishes and then was a professor at the Virginia Seminary of Alexandria before he retired. Margaret said it has been an interesting life.

Florence Overley Ridderhof was also a member of the Modern Dance group and she participated in the October 2014 Dancing With the Fredericksburg Stars event, which was held in Dodd auditorium on campus. She is to be congratulated on winning the People’s Choice award—not bad for someone our age!

Marge Diener Knapp remembers being in Advance Modern Dance with Florence. Marge always wanted to be a dancer but piano got in the way. She now lives in Jamison, Pennsylvania, and finds life challenging without a car but she is not complaining. She has Comfort Keepers come in twice a week to help with housework, laundry, or to take her shopping. She is still active in church, and although she has given up choir and chorus she still plays bells. Her daughter has been helpful too, and arranged a nice two night trip to Atlantic Highland New Jersey. They visited Sandy Hook and walked the boardwalk in Asbury Park, sadly visiting the building which housed the merry-go-round – lions, tigers and horses are gone!

Clelia Boushee Bullard sent me two lovely pictures of herself with her three daughters when they celebrated her birthday in July 2014 in Jacksonville, Florida. Clelia still looks young and happy.

Betty Gavett Breeden sent Barbara Lloyd Hiller an article about Fredericksburg which appeared in the travel section of Sunday San Diego newspaper. It described some of the more modern businesses which are there now among the historic sites. The author of the article said that the city might want to start hyping itself as Brooklyn on the Rappahannock. Barbara forwarded the article to me along with her comments about the places she remembered when we would walk to town. Barb is serving as corresponding secretary of her Woman’s Club in State College, Pennsylvania, and is finishing up the club’s history scrapbook. Jim’s walking ability is not good but they went to Ocean City, Maryland, for their annual Thanksgiving crab cake “orgy”.

Carol Bailey Miller has learned to walk again with extensive therapy after her knee surgery. She is publicist for the Garden Club and Red Hatters Club in Cumberland, Virginia. This involves doing write-ups of the meetings and taking pictures to send to the local newspaper. She is a biology major turned into a “journalist.” She has seen some interesting wildlife on her property, including a pair of bluebirds and one night, when returning from a meeting, she encountered an eight point buck crossing her driveway in front of her garage.

Mim Sollows Wieland and Earl have picked out their apartment in the continuing care community Lantern Hill, which is in their town of New Providence, New Jersey.

Although they won’t be moving in until after Thanksgiving 2015, Mim has been busy getting her present home ready to be put on the market. We keep in touch via email and try to get together either in New Jersey or Cape Cod.

Hope you will try to come to our reunion and also that you will send me some news.