Class Notes

Roberta Newton wrote: Having successfully completed a career as an academic/researcher, I  retired and moved from Philadelphia, PA to Greensboro. NC. Since then I have become an avid birder, taking courses, helping new birders, as will traveling both in the US and internationally. This past January, I birded my last continent – Antarctica.  My other  interests include gardening, and volunteering. Since I was a ‘day student’, I have admired the growth in academics as well as the expansion of the campus.

Sarah Carrington Hannah Petras taught Latin for 37 years in both northern Virginia and Augusta County high schools, and Greek and Latin at James Madison University for the past 18 years.  At the end of spring semester, 2020, she will be “retiring” (actually, returning to school to pursue studio art).

Iris Harrell and wife Ann voluntarily evacuated Santa Rosa again due to another wildfire out of control 25 miles north of them in late October. She says, “fortunately, we went to our best friends home in Silicon Valley & stayed for 8 days before driving down to Palm Springs for a preplanned 2-week vacation.  We attended the National Pickleball tournament and I also got to play some Pickle & golf with our friends.  I will serve on the Board of my golf club starting in 2020.  The clubhouse burned down in Oct. 2017, so I can contribute my construction expertise as a Board member as they rebuild.  Ann and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in May 2019.

Ann Chatterton Klimas says I was unable to attend our 50th reunion, too.  I am still as mobile as I want to be, but I was worried about the brick walkways and grass this time.  My husband Andy and I love “beauty” vacations and this year returned to the place where Andy’s parents had a cottage for many, many years.  I regret the fall weather on the East Coast was so bad that there were few, lazy days gazing at the ocean waves.

Cece Smith Riffer says I enjoyed our 50th Class Reunion and seeing many “Frenchies” there.  I and my family have lived in Williamsburg since 1995 and by then we had two granddaughters.  Now we have 8!  Our oldest granddauhter, Emily, is a sophomore at William and Mary.

Nancy Yeager Allen says she is still very busy with volunteer activities:  I was named the Volunteer of the Month at my church in September.  I’ve added a twice monthly bridge group, too.  My husband Paul and I traveled to Iceland with our son, his wife, and her youngest grandson for a week.  We saw wonderful sights, museums, and an afternoon at the Blue Lagoon.  Tacey Battley and I attended our annual High school class birthday celebration.  Paul and I are going on a South American cruise in January 2020 to celebrate his 75th birthday.

Bonnie Page Hoopengardner says I enjoyed our 50th reunion at UMW and at West Point.  We took our 3 kids, spouses and 2 grandchildren 8 and 14 years old on a cruise of the Alaska Inside Passage.  There were 78 people on the cruise and we explored the shorelines and saw whales and other animals.  I highly recommend this cruise and especially to anyone who hasn’t been to Alaska.  I still enjoy playing golf and bridge, and I enjoy every day being healthy and still active.

Lyn Howell Gray says she and her husband Jim will be returning to Liberia until early March.  They have bought a house in Blacksburg, VA, and will live there when they leave Liberia where they have lived for many years doing much Peace Corps work, et al.

Amy Danforth’s sister, Jane Danforth ’72 who is also an MWC graduate lives in Canada.  She told me she was in Cheyenne, Wyoming, visiting Amy and Bryan’s children, Jo Marie and Carroll.  Each has a son, ages 14 and 11.  If you don’t know,\ Amy died August 27, 1993.  Brian is also deceased.

Linda Eadie Matthews Hood missed our 50th, too.  I kept whatever illness I had then well into the fall when I finally saw my doctor.  By then it was bronchitis, maybe pneumonia and/or the flu before that.  Rick and I traveled to Ashland, OR, in October where a group of 8 to 10 our friends go together every year to attend the Shakespeare Festival.  It is wonderful theatre with an outdoor theatre called the Elizabethan like early Shakespeare theatres.  It’s much more than Shakespeare, however.  Next season (2020) there is a new lovely black female Artistic Director for the entire theatre.  She directed our favorite play in 2019. Last (early) June, Rick and took our first Cruise to SE Alaska.  Now, we’re hooked on cruises!

We have lost two classmates since our 50th:

Sara (Sally) Kathyn Rodgers passed away November 7, 2019, in Ocala, FL, after a short illness.  She was born November 24, 1946 (my birthday, too), in Winchester, VA.  She grew up in Mauretown, VA.  Her parents were C. Laner & Helen Myers Rodgers.  She graduated from MWC with a B.S. in physics, worked at AT&T, then for Syncsort 30 years with software.  She lived in Hackettstown, NJ; enjoyed travel, rafting, and family.  She retired to Belleview, FL, in 2018.  She is survived by brother, Eugene Allen Rodgers; niece, Toni Allen and husband Todd and children Taryn. Teagan & Truen of Strasburg, VA;f and many cousins.  She was loved by all.

We also lost Chris Cole.

Here’s an article that was published on Facebook about Chris:

Years ago we were introduced to a fellow festival organizer here in Mount Dora.  Often difficult to read and extremely complex, many were at odds with her passionate personality.  She had no problem telling you where to put it, but she also had a way to show you her love ini unexpected ways..  She once sent Brian and me a huge box of local farm fresh veggies out of the blue, and she would mail hand cut paper flowers to me for the holidays.  We had a good bond and mutual respect for the time and dedication it takes to put on a festival in a small town driven by petty politics.  And we enjoyed good banter about the current state of affairs while indulging on glasses of wine that never emptied.  She wasn’t particularly funny but she could be dry and witty and admitted to me that she loved people that laughed big and openly around her.  It made her smile.  Although she was a writer for many years, she never let me video her to promote her beloved Plant & Garden event until this one time,…  Last year while we were there she said, “Oh, hell, just get it over with.  You’re never going to let me rest until I give in…”. And so I captured her.

Christine Cole passed away Nov. 18, 2019, one week after passing the baton to me, and lived to see the success of then 25th annual Mount Dora Plant and Garden Fair.  She can RIP knowing the event will go on with the same passionate spirit she had for it.  We will miss you, my friend.