Class Notes

A couple of items arrived too late for the July class notes, so some of the news is a little old. Oh well, none of us are spring chickens, either!

From Mary Margaret Papstein Carter comes news of a weekend trip to Seattle last July for a nephew’s wedding at a winery, which she expected to be great fun. Close to the end of October, the Carters had their first great grandchild, a sweet little girl. Mary Margaret says it’s fun to be a great-grandmother, but not good to have a child who is a grandpa. She wonders how she can be so old. The other fun thing was a lovely trip to London and Paris. The Carters were in Paris before, but the museums were all on strike, so this time they were able to visit the Louvre and Musee d’Orsay. They had an almost tragedy when she left her tote bag in the taxi which brought them to their hotel; in it were her iPad, jewelry and other special items. The next day the items were returned to her, thanks to an honest taxi driver.

A trip to Vero Beach, Florida was, related by Patricia Seitz Hartel and husband for a reunion of all their friends who lived in the D.C. area in the 70s. They have been getting together since 1962. They had a great time eating and drinking and enjoying good weather. The Hartels’ son Austin teaches dance at the University of Oklahoma. He celebrated his 13th anniversary there, and Pat celebrated her 39th anniversary in real estate.

Welcome news from Roberta (Bert) Linn Miller, who had somehow slipped by my list of e-mail addresses, as have quite a few other classmates (be sure to keep your information updated with the Alumni Association.) Her daughter lives near and her husband and has three children: 23, 17 and 13. The Millers’ son lives in Texas, raises longhorns, is a Texas peace officer, and is Director of Food Safety for John Soules Foods. His son and wife just had a baby boy, which makes the Millers great-grands. The Millers lived in six states (Mobil Oil), their daughter six states, and son ten states.

She does have some sad memories of the passing of some of our classmates, such as Josephine Jane Williams Van Hook, whom she traveled with to be bridesmaids at the wedding of Dorothy Mcllwain to James Mattison. Dot, who passed away several years ago,was her suitemate senior year and became a good friend. In 1952 Bert lived in Trench Hill and had two roommates, Anastasia (Buttons) Petro Molitor and Barbara Jean (Pete) Phillips Lucas. Pete transferred to Marshall the next year, and after being lost for a while Bert found out that she had also passed away.

Joan Kleinknecht, one of my regular correspondents, writes that her heart has finally healed and her case was “one for the books.” She is doing yoga with a 93 year old teacher and is reading to mostly Spanish children with gifted teachers. She also had some interesting ideas to pass on to me. I’m always looking for information from you all for news other than doctor appointments. So, here are her ideas. Who in our class has the most grandchildren, or great grandchildren? Who has seen the most countries? Who has met anyone famous? For the latter Joan says she could name four, counting a blind date with H. Ross Perot.

I celebrated my 39th year for The Dance Shop. I figure that one day while fitting pointe shoes I’ll just keel over, shoe in hand! I do still love working with the little guys, they are so cute and outspoken. They say it as they see it…come to think of it, so do I: a perk of being very young or being very old.