Class Notes

I am anticipating the birth of twin granddaughters in 2016. I enjoy doing embroidery and making lavender sachets for Blue Skye Lavender, a farm on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I had lunch recently with Beverly Haynes Vaughn ’74–always a fun outing! Bev retired from government work and has resumed teaching preschool a couple of days a week.

Judy Sledge Joyce’s son Jack is a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in Public Relations in their School of Journalism and Media Communications. Her twins, Jeffery and Julianne, are sophomores at West Potomac High School in Fairfax County. They joined Judy on a church mission trip to the highlands of Guatemala in the summer of 2014. They helped build cement stoves for families using open fires in their homes. They also helped construct a school. Her husband Rick started a new job as Chief Cyber Counsel with the U.S. Coast Guard. Judy keeps busy fostering animals from the Alexandria Animal Shelter and recently began doing her part to help lessen the feral cat population by trapping them so they can be neutered and released.

Daphne Johnston Elliott wants to encourage all of us to come to our 40th reunion at Mary Wash on June 3-5, 2016! Please join our Facebook page: Mary Washington College Class of 1976, and make a donation to the Alumni Association. Ann Gorneva Krulevitz was promoted to the National Director of Field Compliance at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation after 14 years at the Maryland Chapter of CFF. Her husband Steve is active coaching elite tennis players and the Gilman School tennis team. Their daughter Stephannie just passed the bar and clerks for a judge in Baltimore County. Heather Lamond Grieshaber retired five years ago. She and her husband moved to Tucson, Arizona. She has been working on the Tucson Festival of Books—the fourth largest book fair in the country. They went to Scotland for Christmas and have enjoyed doing a lot of travel. Her daughter, Jessica Suhowatsky, just got her RN from Vanderbilt University and is working on her Masters. Teresa Smith Houser retired in 2013 from Emerson Process Management in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She and her husband have relocated to Southport, North Carolina, where they are enjoying the beach and golf.

Melissa Mann is well and serving on a mission for her church in Ecuador. It is strange for her to live in a land where the days and nights are 12 hours long every day of the year. She said the temperature is stable throughout the seasons and it rarely rains. The birds and animals there are fantastic and she is trying to learn about them. Her lack of Spanish is a frustration for her, but she is trying to learn and the Ecuadorians are helpful.

Kim Stambaugh Jureckson is still active as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She teaches at the Lancaster Country Day School in the middle and upper schools. She is also the artistic director of the Grant Street Dance Company, a modern dance company in Lancaster. She is married to Mitchell Jureckson and has three children. Her older daughter Britta is married and lives in Australia. Her other daughter Erica was married in July and lives in Annapolis. Her son Max lives and works in the Lancaster area. They were all together for Erica’s wedding this past summer. Her dear friend and former roommate during her sophomore year, Pat Tully Osborne, attended the wedding. They have remained close since first meeting in the dance department at MWC in 1972.

Wendy Francis reported that she has left her job as Program Director at a non-profit biodiversity conservation organization in Alberta. She is ready for the next phase of her life, whatever that is. She is calling it “semi-retirement.” She hopes to consult and do contract work while having more time for friends, family, and outdoor adventures. She is considering moving from Banff to a small village near Vancouver near her brother. She is blessed with good health, a rich and varied life and many friends. She enjoys the freedom of being single and sends her warm wishes to all her former MWC classmates.

Nancy Saunders Puckette hardly recognized Mary Washington after driving through Fredericksburg. She is happily married to Jim, and it will be 40 years in June. They have two beautiful daughters, Nicole, 27, a photographer, and Annalise, 25, an event planner. Neither is married. She and Jim continue to run their Tupperware Business as Business Leaders. If you are ever in Pleasant Valley, New York, stop by! She would love to hear from her friends.

Cathy Kroohs retired after almost 30 years as a medic with the City of Alexandria Fire Department. She has no plans for another career. She has a new right hip which should allow her to do some serious traveling. Her major concentration in retirement so far is trying to get her black lab mutt trained well enough to travel with her or leave behind with friends who will still speak to her when she returns. Yolande A. Long’s son Drew got his MS in Commerce from UVA and is working at Capital One. He is engaged to Allison Russell of Reston and will be married next August. Yolande regularly sees Betty Galt Kennedy who lives a few blocks away. Their kids were together in preschool and their two sons have been best friends since then.

Cathy Colbert is looking forward to the reunion and catching up with everyone. She has touched base with Candy Rossell Baunsgard, who is planning to come. Cathy is still working as a paralegal, but is counting down the years to retirement. She is looking for ideas to add to her retirement bucket list.

Veronica “Teeny” Burton has retired and traveled to Japan, Canada, and several U.S. cities. She has three daughters, one of whom is serving in the U.S. Navy in Qatar. Please pray for her safety.

Hope to see many of you in June at our 40th reunion!