Alumni Events
The Common Experience – Theater
By Laura Moyer 4:39 a.m. is a hideous time to get a text message. But the 100 or so students who received it on a chilly March morning knew they were lucky – picked by lottery from more than 900 UMW applicants for a free trip to see live New York theater. Wake up! The day has arrived! Time to get to duPont Hall to get on the bus to go to NYC to see DEAR EVAN HANSEN on Broadway! The script and cast recording of Dear Evan Hansen were the subject of this year’s Common Experience – a campuswide reading-and-listening pursuit involving students, faculty, and staff. It’s the fourth year for the Common Experience program (originally Common Read) and the first to highlight a theatrical work. Dear Evan Hansen is a musical, but it’s no frothy comedy. It deals with loneliness, social alienation, teen suicide, and a deception that spins out of control on social media. The UMW community created a video performance of the musical’s gorgeous anthem You Will Be Found – about clinging on … [Read more...]
In Memoriam
IN MEMORIAM Helen P. Battista ’36 Frances Thomas Sledge ’39 Helen Burton Vincent ’41 Marjorie Burgess Parce ’42 Virginia Hawley Butler ’44 Jean Krout Haberle ’44 Ruth Samuel Legnini ’44 Jean Adie Mogavero ’44 Betty Schaeffer Briggs ’45 Carolyn Ann Williams Carr ’45 Doris L. Einbinder ’45 Barbara Byrne Pool Williams ’45 Beverly Parker Blythe ’46 Elinor Dobson Brown ’46 Helen Gawron ’46 Essie Joyner Harrell ’46 Lydia Pellinen Knutila ’46 Lorena Dawson Mills ’46 Maria C. Rodriguez ’46 Anna Ruth “Anne” Jones Wilson ’46 Jean Frances Drummond Broaddus ’47 Florence Williamson Chandler ’47 Mary Freeman Clarke ’47 Kathryn Glazier Livengood ’48 Alice C. Daniels ’49 Frances Evadena Scandlyn Henley ’49 Barbara Daniels Johnson ’49 June Davis McCormick ’49 Jane Blair Yeatman Spangler ’49 Norma Edwards Tyler ’49 Sue Howard Lancaster ’51 Barbara Corr Powell ’51 Martha Stack Sim ’51 Mary Cooper West … [Read more...]
June Davis McCormick ’49
Longtime class agent and Fabulous Forty-Niner June Davis McCormick ’49 passed away Feb. 26, 2019, a day after her 92nd birthday. A native of Reedville, Virginia, she attended Mary Washington with the support of an elder sister, the popular singer Evelyn Knight. From 1950 through 1953, June Davis served as her sister’s assistant and driver as Mrs. Knight performed at supper clubs across the country. June Davis married Chicago radio personality John McCormick in 1953, and the two moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She lived in the St. Louis area for the rest of her life. Mrs. McCormick was devoted to her beloved Class of ’49 and her alma mater. She created a music scholarship in honor of her sister and was a member of the Heritage Society and the Washington Society. Mrs. McCormick was preceded in death by her husband, two sisters, and two brothers. Survivors include a stepdaughter, nieces, nephews, and cousins. … [Read more...]
Condolences
CONDOLENCES Betty Drewry Bamman ’47, who lost her son Jacquelin Carter Alexander ’52, who lost her husband Barbara Wilson Taliaferro ’54, who lost her husband Sandra Sheesley Burnaman ’58, who lost her husband Lynne Williams Neave ’61, who lost her husband Myrtle Lee Dean France ’62, who lost her husband Ethel Thomas Sanford ’63, who lost her husband Ryan Stewart Davis ’66, who lost her husband Cornelia Bowles Dexter ’66, who lost her husband Doralece Lipoli Dullaghan ’70, who lost her husband Margaret Nichols Honeycutt ’77, who lost her husband Victoria Prescott ’80, who lost her mother Ellen Stanley Booth ’81, who lost her sister Eileen O’Connell ’81, who lost her father Carol Gillespie Guerin ’82, who lost her father Lisa Wright ’83, who lost her mother Jane Ellen Brennan Herrin ’87, who lost her parents Anne Crowe Kroger ’88, who lost her father Roberta Rouse ’90, who lost her husband and her father Alycia … [Read more...]
Patricia “Pat” Branstetter Revere ’63
Patricia “Pat” Branstetter Revere ’63, whose service to her alma mater included two terms on the Board of Visitors, passed away Dec. 22, 2018. She had ovarian cancer. Born Jan. 4, 1942, in Baltimore, Mrs. Revere held a conjoint bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington and the Medical College of Virginia and a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. She worked professionally in the travel industry but was known especially for her volunteer endeavors at Mary Washington and in her community. Besides serving on the Board of Visitors, Mrs. Revere had been a president of the Alumni Association and was a member of the UMW Foundation Board of Directors. She was a recipient of the Frances Liebenow Armstrong ’36 Service Award. A resident of Chesterfield, Virginia, she was active in the community as a member of numerous charitable organizations and health-related commissions. She is survived by her husband, honorary alumnus Dr. James H. Revere Jr., who will join the … [Read more...]
Books by Alumni, Faculty, and Staff
Featured Book Jean Harley Was Here Heather Taylor-Johnson ’95 Skyhorse, October 2018 When an accident claims the life of the beloved Jean Harley, her husband, son, mother, and best friends are left to grieve in different ways. And the man who caused the accident struggles with boundless guilt. But as life without Jean goes on, her indelible spirit remains. This literary novel – Heather Taylor-Johnson’s first to be published outside Australia – was shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review. Books of note Before They Were the Cubs: The Early Years of Chicago’s First Professional Baseball Team Jack Bales, reference and humanities librarian McFarland, April 2019 Quadratic Number Theory: An Invitation to Algebraic Methods in the Higher Arithmetic J.L. Lehman, professor of mathematics American Mathematical Society, February 2019 My Dog and Me: An Inspirational Journal for Dogs and … [Read more...]
Kerwin Miller Takes the Bench in Maryland
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan late last year appointed Kerwin A. Miller Sr. ’95 as district judge in Maryland’s Harford County. Before his appointment to the bench, Miller was an administrative law judge with Maryland’s Office of Administrative Hearings. He served as a prosecutor in Cecil County, Maryland, handling felony prosecutions and overseeing homicide crime scene responses. Miller’s other experience includes work as a public defender and as a Legal Aid lawyer. Miller majored in business administration at Mary Washington and earned a law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, California. … [Read more...]
Historian Wins National Jewish Book Award
Rebecca Erbelding ’03 won a 2018 National Jewish Book Award for her nonfiction work Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe. The book, published by Penguin Random House – Doubleday, tells the story of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s effort to save Jews from the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II. Erbelding won the JDC – Herbert Katzki Award for “writing based on archival material.” Begun in 1950, the National Jewish Book Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious awards in Jewish literature. Erbelding, who majored in American studies and history at Mary Washington, is an archivist, curator, and historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. She has a Ph.D. in American history from George Mason University. … [Read more...]
Richmond Leader Recognized
Last October, Richmond’s Style Weekly named Theodore “Ted” Lewis ’04 one of its “Top 40 Under 40: Inspiring young leaders who bring Richmond to life” for Lewis’ work as executive director of Side by Side, which provides outreach for the LGBTQ community. Free therapy sessions and housing assistance are just two of the resources Lewis has delivered to Virginia youth. Before working at Side by Side, Lewis had been the first associate director of LGBTQ campus life at the University of Richmond. … [Read more...]