Class Notes

Isabel Garcia has been named the dean of the University of Florida, College of Dentistry in Gainesville. She is currently the deputy director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a part of the NIH. Isabel received her doctorate in dental surgery in 1980 at VCU. She later earned a master’s degree in public health at the University of Michigan. She and her husband Dr. Ric Bothwell have a son Adam who is in the twelfth grade. Isabel’s sister Ana Garcia Chichester is on her 21st academic term at UMW as Professor of Spanish and Director of the Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree program. Bonnie Clarke Powell wrote that she still gets together quite often with a few classmates in the Richmond area. She and her husband Tony have retired and despite several “getting older” medical issues, they have managed a few trips in the U.S. and Europe. She retired in January 2014 from a career in communications and marketing with the Department of Defense in Northern Virginia. They are busy playing golf, downsizing and planning a move south to warmer winter climates.

Beverly Hudnall Simons also retired from DOD in 2010 after 33 years. She continued working part-time a few more years. Then she and her husband Rick decided to sell their home in Herndon, Virginia, and move to Williamsburg. They are an easy drive to her parents and her brother and sister. She is still trying to get Rick fully extracted from his job in Tysons Corner. Their older son, Matthew, UVA ’07, received his PhD in Molecular, Optical and Quantum Physics at William & Mary. He has accepted a postdoctoral offer from NIST in Boulder, Colorado. They are looking forward to some awesome ski trips. Beverly was a physics major at Mary Washington and remembers Dr. Atalay fondly. She mentioned burning the midnight oil studying for his tests with Teresa Smith Houser. Their younger son Michael graduated from VCU in 2012 with a BS in Psychology and Philosophy. He works for UPS and lives in the Fan District in Richmond and loves it. Beverly enjoyed having lunch with Yolande Long in Williamsburg. She hears from Karen Miller Clark at Christmas and is glad to have reconnected with her, Yolande and Teresa via Facebook. She saw Mary Bess Booth Price at their Northumberland High School reunion. Mary Bess has been teaching elementary school since graduating from MWC.

Melissa Mann retired from teaching in 2014 and is now going to serve on an 18 month mission at the Guayaquil Temple in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She is excited and has been trading out her New Hampshire wardrobe for one more suitable to a country on the equator. She is looking forward to experiencing a whole new world. She spends two hours or more daily studying Spanish. Lundy Baker Updike attended the Legacy Breakfast at UMW’s Family Weekend with her husband of 32 years, Jim, and son Tom Updike ’17. They sat with Kathy Sydnor ’76 and her two sisters who also graduated from MWC. She encouraged all of us to visit the Jepson Alumni Executive Center which is attached to Trench Hill-now called the Kalnen Inn. They have been enjoying the Saturday rugby games and will be sad for the season to end, mostly because they have had fun trying out all the new restaurants around town.

Barbara Bryant Zingg lives in West Virginia near Harper’s Ferry with Rob, her husband of 38 years. They met on the first weekend of freshman year on the front porch of Marshall Hall. He is a special education teacher at one high school in the county and Barbara is a math teacher at the other. She has her master’s degree in Curriculum Design from Capella University and is currently pursuing another master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University, with dual concentrations in Common Core State Standards Leadership and E-Learning. They have two grown sons. Jason is married to Tammy and lives in West Virginia, and Joshua and his wife Reyna live in Columbus, Ohio.

Wendy Francis has been living in Banff, Alberta, Canada since 2007. She is the Program Director for Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, a non-profit organization that works to protect wildlife in western North America. Her work takes her to some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes in the world. She enjoys hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, running, biking and swimming. She goes to Utah in the spring and fall to camp and hike in the canyons. She has been single for the past nine years and as she nears the big 6-0 she is thinking of moving towards “semi-retirement.”

Barbara Bryant Zingg lives in West Virginia near Harper’s Ferry with Rob, her husband of 38 years. They met on the first weekend of freshman year on the front porch of Marshall Hall. He is a special education teacher at one high school in the county and Barbara is a math teacher at the other. She has her master’s degree in Curriculum Design from Capella University and is currently pursuing another master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University with dual concentrations in Common Core State Standards Leadership and E-Learning. They have two grown sons. Jason is married to Tammy and lives in WV, and Joshua and his wife Reyna live in Columbus, OH.

Madelin Jones Barratt and Sue Sendlein Luscomb enjoyed lunch together in Arlington in August 2014. Sue was in D.C. with her husband Rich, who was attending a conference. Afterward, they visited Madelin’s daughter Anna at Artisan Confections where she makes chocolates to indulge in some chocolate candy. Madelin and Henry’s older daughter Ellen gave birth to a son, Timothy Edward, in September 2014.

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