Class Notes

A thank you to all who sent holiday greeting cards for this column. I did not get as many this year, but enjoyed each one that I received. Currently, I am in rehab for nerve problems causing pain in my legs. Therefore I am using a different format to give you the information that I received.

Betty Gavett Breeden moved to the Villa Retirement Center, in San Diego, California, in May. She fell right into the routine, and two days after she got in she was playing the piano for a general worship service held every Saturday morning. She is now part of a group who will be caroling through the facility, and has been appointed as chaplain of the Resident Council’s monthly meeting. She is keeping very busy with these activities.

Patti Head Ferguson has been on the go again, and spent this holiday in a home perched on the top of a hillside, with a distant view of the Sea of Cortez, where they planned to swim with family. Upon return to Santa Fe she was packing up again, this time for a long cruise to Easter Island, Bora Bora, and New Guinea. While there she hopes to meet a head hunter that will want her white head.

Gerry Boswell Griffin said this has been an unusual year for her. In early June, she had a fall in her apartment that broke her right wrist. This led to an exciting ambulance ride to the ER, followed by a cast, and two and a half weeks down in her health care facility, with tender care. The cast stayed on for six weeks and she had to do all of her normal activities as a lefty. To salvage a bit of the summer, her daughter Judy flew from Phoenix during the last week of August and they drove to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to see “The Lost Colony,” an outdoor drama on Roanoke Island. They also had a tour of the Elizabethan Gardens. They had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Judy and her son David from Atlanta.

I was sorry to receive a phone call from Peggy Penn Hutchens’ husband, Tom, that she is now in a nursing facility in their retirement village in Florida.

Nan Riley Pointer is happy to report that all the great grandchildren are well. Carrington is seven years old and Addie is four and both are livewires. Gabriel, 12, and Zoe, 6, live in Portugal and were here last Christmas and she enjoyed their holiday visit last year. She and Joe took several big trips this year. In January, they cruised to Hawaii. In July, they took a cruise from Copenhagen to St. Petersburg and visited Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Germany on the way. They had a neat experience at St. Petersburg. The ship docked at a large building with shops carrying Russian items. While browsing she saw football nesting dolls. She could not believe that they had a Virginia Tech doll over there in Russia. Of course she had to buy one for her grandson Chris, who is a Virginia Tech student.

In Humble, Texas, Garland Dorsey McCarthy belongs to two book clubs now and still can participate in water aerobics (to a degree).

Helen Hopkins Timberlake, of Ponte Vedra, Florida, spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to Ormond Beach, Florida, where they were redoing their son Glen’s house. Helen enjoyed a surprise visit from President Hurley and his wife, Rose. They were charming. MWU will surely miss them when they leave.

Virginia “Ginny” Hardy Vance had trouble with her eyesight recently and does not know if she will be sending holiday cards next year. She is now in an assisted living facility in Tallahassee, Florida. She keeps busy with what she can do, knitting hats and quilting for several shelters. She misses her friends and former activities.

I was sorry to hear from Connie Metzger Verlander that her husband passed away. Connie is living in a retirement area in Longwood, Florida.

I also received cards from Anne Osbourne Cox, Carol Bailey Miller, Ruth Maynard Nuhn, and Chris Schleter (son of Shirley Cole Schleter). Although no new news was included, it was good to hear from them.

Tom Augherton is one of the original 100 World War II veterans who was invited to enroll at Mary Washington College after the end of the war, and he served as president of the Veterans’ Club. After graduation and subsequently living in the Washington, D.C. area, Tom moved to Arizona in 2011 following the death of Elizabeth Augherton, his wife of 59 years. His retirement followed a 35-year career in the steel industry in government marketing.

He reports that fellow graduate of MWC and former neighbor, Ruth Ann McWhorter ’48, (spouse of Hugh Stevens) died in 2014.

Tom has been an active participant with the Road Scholar program, attending lectures and trips originally in the East and more recently in Arizona and California. On one trip to St. Andrews in the maritime province of New Brunswick, Canada, he was able to visit the home built by his family ancestors in the 19th century who had emigrated from Ireland.

When not traveling, Tom volunteers as a bereavement counselor at his local church where he receives ongoing training. He enjoys his new southwestern lifestyle which is situated on desert acreage near family. He recently joined a large group of World War II veterans who meet for monthly lunch programs. Last year Tom was interviewed by a high school historical studies program conducted with military veterans of all wars which coordinates its publications with the U.S. Library of Congress.