Class Notes

Some very eventful things happen in the lives of our friends and classmates. I will go first to demonstrate our lives are anything but boring in retirement.

Ann and I lived through the life threatening Santa Rosa wildfires on October 9th, 2017. I woke up smelling extreme smoke. Our house was not on fire, but something was. We went out on the deck and in the close distance we could see roaring red and huge billows of unending smoke.

The winds were hurricane force speed, so we knew we had only a few minutes to get out. We got a call from our dear friend who said “get your cat, get your meds and get out!”

We decided to take Ann’s guitar, which she has had since she was 12, our cat, his litter box, his food, my golf clubs which were in the car, our pickleball paddles, cash on hand, & checkbook.

The evacuation story is long…for 8 days we did not know if our house was still standing, as the fires kept expanding so that our community of 3000 homes was surrounded by fire on 3 sides until the 8th day when we finally got word the community was saved and only lost 2 of the 3000 homes. Miraculously we were spared.

I am now doing a lot of volunteer work to get several of my golfing friends into a rebuilding situation and I am on the rebuild committee of my golf club, as our 3 story clubhouse burned down.

I learned never to take clean air for granted. We drove two hours south in our Tesla SUV, and used the biohazard button in the car to keep from choking on the smoke. Who knew such a car button could be so life saving!

And if you have a home insurance policy, whatever you signed up for, it is not enough. Raise the policy as high as they will let you. Almost everyone was underinsured. Needless to say, Thanksgiving was very special this year.

Bev Holt and her wife Deb went to the Bahamas for Christmas to get out of the cold North Carolina winter ( Bostonians er heart out!) They have deer hanging out in their Cary, NC yard, as they know they are safer in the suburbs than in the open woods during hunting season. Bev is still volunteering at the local museum. Her town has a huge American Indian festival each November. NC has the most Indians east of the Mississippi.
Bev’s mom lives in Richmond in a retirement home and is aging gracefully.
Her mother still looks beautiful to me.

Jean Kelley Horne let us know of the recent passing of her mother, Grace Pannill Kelley Chapman, Mary Washington class of ‘41! She as 97, quite active, strong and spirited…..just what we would expect of any Mary Wash grad. Her mother loved Mary Washington, her professors, the campus, and her lifelong college friends.

Sharon Dobie spent a month in Oaxaca, Mexico, working on her Spanish while enjoying the rich politics, art, music and dance culture there.
She has joined a Board of the Schleroderma Research Foundation. She wants to help advance therapies for this rare disease, now that her son has died from it. This has been a very painful loss for her.

As she gets closer to full retirement (40% there) she is very politically active at the moment in her desire the see the national direction of country get moving toward the 21st century instead of away from it.
She will probably write more books when retirement finally arrives.

Linda Hood is very excited that Pat Gwaltney is one of two new members of the Board of Governors. And our very own Suzanne Van Ness is serving on the UMW Board. Go class of ‘69!
Linda has had both of her knees replaced 2 years ago and with her experience and compassion helped her mother in law recover from a knee replacement recently.
Linda is worried about our country and hopes the Russia threads prove fruitful. She & her husband Rick went to the huge Women’s March in Seattle and the ACLU’s PeoplePower movement. They met with the Auburn Chief of Police to understand their role with ICE and their deportation policies. She was pleased to learn they do not make arrests for ICE.
She and Rick spent Christmas in Victoria, British Columbia, where it snowed on Christmas Eve….and while sounding romantic, it was 10 degrees below freezing.

Betty Wade and her husband Boyd celebrated their 43rd anniversary in September with a romantic trip to Hawaii. Lots of golf for Boyd while Betty went to the spa, shopped and read. They love their low key retirement life.
They have 3 grandkids.
She loves cooking, knitting and reading, weekly canasta and watching downloaded movies in the comfort of home. She volunteers at Roc Solid
Foundation, which provides hope and support for children with cancer.
She is thankful for her many blessings and her good life…

As we all should be.

Until next time…

Iris Harrell, class scribe