Class Notes

Susan Rowe Bunting of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, has volunteered to be the class agent for 1964. Write to her at the address above with your notes for the fall/winter 2018 issue of the magazine. The deadline for notes submissions from classmates to their class agents is June 15.

Barbara Burton Carlson ’64 sent in this reminiscence about living at Trench Hill during her freshman year:

Steve Jones’ article in “Alumni Features” describing his experience as one of the first male students at Mary Washington in 1972 and living with the small group of other men at Trench Hill was of interest to me. I also lived at Trench Hill but at an even earlier time, and enjoy remembering that interesting place.
The year was 1960 and I was starting my freshman year. I came from Connecticut, really suburban New York City, so the south was totally new to me. I was also part of a program offered at Mary Washington and held at Trench Hill called the Liberal Arts Seminar. This program included girls from each class living together at Trench Hill and participating in a weekly program of reading and discussion conducted by two philosophy professors, Dr. Van Sant and Dr. Coffin. These programs were held at Trench Hill on weekday evenings and carried no credit. Books chosen focused on important works of philosophy, history, and literature and provoked lively discussions which were held in the gracious living room with its beautiful fireplace. Seating was on the floor or in the comfortable sofas and chairs.
But in addition to the seminars, the life at Trench Hill was also lively! At that time, the dorms on campus were divided by class, so it was unique to have girls from the sophomore, junior and senior class living together with freshmen. My room that year was the second floor back, a spacious, high-ceilinged room with freshmen roommates Bobbe (Virginia Barbara) Kellam and Carol Carrera. A wonderful large bathroom led the way to four or five suitemates. I remember senior Barbara Corcoran and many others…..we all got along and had lots of fun in the large , homey kitchen downstairs. Housemother Mrs. Irby kept us in order (I was fascinated how the southern girls pronounced her name “Miz Irby”). I also remember calling home from the payphone on the second floor. And in the early spring, we would work on our summer tans stretched out inside the empty swimming pool!
Bicycles provided transportation over to campus and my old English bike became very slippery in slick weather. Coming from the north, I remember being amused at the campus just about shutting down with the first flurry of snow. Nobody could get up the hill!!
And I also enjoyed walking down the hill, looking at Civil War gravestones in a cemetery on the way downtown. History major that I would be, it was fascinating to live in a town where so much history had actually taken place. The movie “Gone With the Wind” was shown at the local theater as a 100 year anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, and I remember it was an old, dusty, unimproved print, but seen for the first time since it had been produced.
My sophomore year I found myself on campus (Randolph and Mason were the sophomore dorms) but life in a large dorm seemed very different in spite of the Trench Hill roommates also moving on campus. Even then I was grateful for the unique Trench Hill experience……the association of girls from all four classes living together combined with the interesting and arresting Liberal Arts Seminar. Many happy memories……..