Class Notes

Betsy Lydle Smith’s daughter gave birth to twin boys just 28 weeks into her pregnancy, so Betsy has been busy helping out with little Carson and Ty. Betsy and Pete are still enjoying life on Bainbridge Island. Hopefully she will have some pictures of her new grandsons to share.

Another classmate from the greater Seattle area is Karen Vandevanter Morrison, who wrote about her latest travels. She and Kent have five children and eleven grandchildren between the two of them. The grandchildren’s ages range between one and fourteen, so they spend a large amount of time visiting each of the groups. Last summer while on the East Coast seeing her son and his crew she was lucky enough to catch up with Carol Van Ness Clapp. Karen and Kent went on a river cruise between St. Petersburg and Moscow. She said it truly was a fascinating trip, one inspired by a history class that she took at MWC. As she looked at signs written in Russian, Karen had memories of Jo Dreher trying to teach her the Cyrillic alphabet. Karen says, “It is such a country of contrasts, just so dynamic and commanding, militarism on one hand and great culture (music, dance, art and literature) on the other.” Karen continues to play tennis and she and her partner participated in the Washington State Senior Games in July. Karen wrote that it was such fun to see active, vibrant senior citizens out enjoying themselves and their particular sport and interest. The senior games are in all 50 states with the Nationals being in Minneapolis this coming July, so perhaps she will run into some of you.

Another world traveler is Linda Gulnac Steelman who wrote the following, who reports the Bill and she spent several weeks in October in Kenya and Tanzania. They were there to see the great migration of Wildebeast and Zebra as they move from feeding grounds in the Masai Mara to the Serengeti in Tanzania. They saw many thousands of these animals, along with all the usual animals one might see on a safari. They were so close that at times they could hear lions lapping water from a water hole or hear elephants tearing the grass with their tusks. They saw and heard lions communicating with the rest of their pride as they set up for a kill, which never took place because of an interloper of an orphaned lion; they saw a female cheetah teach her young how to handle her fresh kill of a baby antelope; they saw extraordinary birds; and they had an amazing balloon ride over the Masa Mara that skimmed trees but also flew two feet from the ground so they could spot frogs in water holes; they saw giraffes fighting with their necks, and visited a Masai village. Not once did they think about Isis or Ebola or wonder what was going on in the rest of the world. It was a true escape. To see these amazing animals in their own habitat doing what they need to do in order to survive was an incredible and spiritual experience.

Betsy and I have heard from several classmates who have not sent news recently. Sheila Holt Wahl lives outside Oregon City, Oregon. She was widowed eight years ago. She is active with her church and family. She currently manages a private drinking water system, loves to travel, quilt and garden. She visited her 99 year old mother in Virginia and spent a day with former roommate, Nancy Cocke Campbell ’64.

Kay Barret Bilisoly wrote that for the past few years she has enjoyed being an artist and painting mostly in oils and acrylics. A painting party franchise (Wine and Design) opened up in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Kay is an instructor there. She says it’s very rewarding to help someone who has never painted go home with their own personal masterpiece. In May 2015 Kay is going with a group to the Costa Brava of Spain for a week of plein air painting. She is really looking forward to this trip.

Courtney Lawson Sjostrom and her husband John married in 1965 and since then have lived in Virginia, Philadelphia, New York City and Winnetka, Illinois. While living in New York City, Courtney worked as a social worker in Essex County, New Jersey. She saw Betsy Evans Manchester (who grew up there and was living in New York City) and Linda Gulnac Steelman and her husband. In 2001, Courtney and John moved to the eastern shore of Maryland just north of Chestertown. They are on the water and thoroughly enjoy being able to kayak from their dock, go boating, hunt for sea glass, garden and enjoy the amenities associated with a college town. They are involved in church work, volunteer for a riding therapy program and a local food pantry and attend adult classes at Washington College. She serves on the board of HomePorts, which is an organization serving the elderly. Courtney’s daughter Anne and her husband Michael and their children, Lars and Siri, live in Durham, North Carolina, where Anne works in admissions for Duke and travels all over the world. Her son Erik and his wife Robin live in Needham, Massachusetts, with their boys, Kerr and Brooks. Erik works for Harvard Health Systems and Robin is taking a year off after working for Accenture and Quintiles since she graduated from the Wharton School. Courtney writes that some of their more memorable times have been volunteering for Rebuilding Together in our own county, doing rebuilding work after Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast twice and in New Jersey after Sandy. They have been to Crisfield, Maryland, three times doing work post Sandy. They even went to Haiti to work, but that was 15 years ago. For fun, they went to Australia and New Zealand in January 2014. It was an early 50th anniversary trip, but since it isn’t until 2015…another trip may be in order!

Chris Dorner Clark wrote that she has just written a memoir titled Letters From Berlin, which is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Chris says, “I tell the story of meeting my future husband, an army helicopter pilot, at a freshman mixer at Ann Carter Lee Hall. He was in Berlin when the Wall went up. So, it is a sort of love story set against the background of the Cold War – how we met, fell in love, and got married.” Thanks, Chris.

Betsy Chamberlain Hartz finally retired in November 2014. During the summer of 2014, Betsy wrote that she and her daughter went to visit a lifelong friend in Toronto, and from there to their cottages on Georgian Bay. It is two hours from Toronto and a half hour ride by boat to get to the island; there was lots of sailing, kayaking, swimming and eating.” Betsy celebrated Sally Tarrant Bernert’s birthday with her and Mary Saunders Latimer, Nancy Lee Leidy and another friend from H. S. The four of them are the Steel Magnolias, and Mary is now an honorary member! At a 55th high school reunion Betsy saw Betsy Loving Robbins and Betsey Bourke Christian.

Susan Palmer Walbridge Davies (who now prefers to go by Palmer) lives in The Villages, Florida. She has been the caretaker for her parents for many years. Her mother died at the age of 98 and her father just celebrated his 100 birthday on June 5, 2014. Palmer and Daisey Doodle (her adorable, dependable, comforting 6 1/2 year old mini Labradoodle) live in their own home about a mile from her father. Palmer has a wonderful traveling companion, duplicate bridge partner, and fellow kayaker, and he too has a mini Labradoodle! Their dogs met at the post office as they happen to live in the same village. She says, “There are 75 Villages and over 100,000 residents plus another 30,000 plus when all snowbirds come down. The largest adult community in the world! Great place to live but I do miss Maine.” Palmer is a new distributor for Juice Plus; she says she has been taking it for over a year and is a firm believer! Palmer also said, “I am still so saddened by Pam Weiseman’s (Pamela Beth Brookes) passing two years ago; we were roomies sophomore year and have been close friends ever since. I was blessed to have the opportunity to see her the week before she joined Jack and her parents in Heaven. We had some quality time together.”

Kathy Friedman Levinson wrote that she and Sandy are going to spend three months this winter in Santa Barbara, California. Their daughter Karin lives in Los Angeles and son David is in Colorado. Kathy is looking forward to exploring Southern California, which will be a change from the golf course in Florida where they usually go for the winter months. Kathy is involved in a study for a trial drug for her Crohn’s disease and she is feeling much much better. Perhaps Kathy will be able to coax some news from Barbara Scherberger Offerman, who lives in Santa Barbara.

I’ve had notes from two of my sister’s (Connie Booth Logothetis) classmates, Bev Carlson Shea ’61 and Lloyd Tilton Backstrom ’61. Bev found one of our missing classmates, Suzanne Blaisdell Grant, who left during sophomore year. Suzanne lives in Upper Nyack, New York, and I hope perhaps she will give us an update for a future column.

Lloyd wrote to be sure that our class knew about the death of Gertrude “Tabbie” Debutts Cain. Apparently, Barbara Elliot Adams and Tabbie were good friends for years. Barbara spoke at Tabbie’s funeral and she is also godmother to Tabbie’s daughter Dulany. Lloyd also shared that her sister Lee Tilton,who left our class after freshman year, lives in Denver, Colorado.

As for me, David and I took our dogs and our camping trailer and headed west in late August. Part of my bucket list is to have visited all 50 states so that was one goal, the other being to see Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. We did both of those plus Craters of the Moon, Glacier, The Badlands, Crazy Horse and the Little Bighorn Battlefield among others. Unfortunately we did not make it to North Dakota, so I am still missing one state. We had to be back in time to attend my son-in-law’s induction into the Gettysburg College Athletic Hall of Fame. My rescue dog, Mr. MacDoodle (Irish setter, Std. poodle mix), managed to pass his Therapy Dog test, so we are now involved in a Kids Read to Dogs program sponsored by the Carlisle YWCA. As a retired elementary school librarian and a dog lover, this program suits me perfectly. I want to remind you all that we do have a share site on Shutterfly. I set this up after our 50th reunion. Just go to www.shutterfly.com and set up your free account. Then go to “Share” and our site is UMW Class of ’63. If you gave me your e-mail at reunion, you are already listed as a member. This is a great place for us to share our pictures. I know several of you sent pictures to Betsy, but when she forwarded your e-mails to me the pictures did not come through. If you don’t know how to load them on Shutterfly, just send them to me and I’ll do it for you. If you are not a member, please let me know so I can add you. I just need your e-mail address. We also have a Facebook page that was set up before reunion by the Alumni Office. Last but not least, since we had some success the last time, I am posting the names of a few more randomly selected missing classmates: Matilda “Sue” Vickrey Kromming, Elizabeth “Ibby” LeSueur, Marilyn Twiss Liebrock, Pamela Pond and Carol Haacke.

Many thanks to all who sent news; Betsy and I love hearing from you all and sharing your stories with classmates.