Class Notes

I, Roberta, am writing this on New Year’s Day, and it is rainy and dreary, but my young neighbor is a bright spot. Nine-year-old Miya writes me notes, and her family sends me food every weekend. I have been giving her books, and she reads them and tells me about them. She wrote a school report about one. 

Thanksgiving was interesting for me. I ended up receiving three dinners, including one from the man who mows my lawn. His wife also sent me a Christmas gift. Christmas was more as it should be, with six of us feasting and snapping crackers. Our 15 inches of snow the week before gave us our white Christmas. 

Response to the postcards was even better than I had hoped. Dorothy Withers Stacks in Huntington, West Virginia, wrote that she attended Mary Washington for her sophomore and junior years, then went to the University of Virginia and graduated in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She loved being at MWC and lived with wonderful girls in two different dorms. Dorothy was nursing director for an autism services center for 30 years and retired at 80. 

Irene Hughes wrote that her new book, Windfall, was coming this spring in print and in a digital version. I read constantly, and this book can’t come soon enough for me. 

Mary Margaret Papstein Carter emailed that they are staying close to home in New Jersey, with two sons nearby. They also have a condo in Arizona, near another son, a daughter-in-law, three grandsons, and three great-grandchildren. She keeps in touch with Carol Cooper, Bobbie Sue Smith Holdeman, and Ann Hungerford McKinlay. 

I received a Christmas card from Inta Janners Ertel, pictured with her grandson. He is 14 and is taller than Inta. 

Sally Hanger Moravitz emailed that she and husband Fran were riding out the virus in their home in Falls Church, Virginia, with portal-to-portal visits to their Chesapeake cottage. Their sons and grandchildren are a source of support and joy. Sally retired last year as a docent of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and received the museum’s lifetime achievement award. How wonderful, and what an honor! 

Christine Harper Hovis wrote a lovely note saying what I have said all along. Not everyone in the class has computers, so some did not have access to the last magazine. Chris had a store for 40 years called the Dance Shop, with wonderful employees. Since retirement, she does a lot of artwork and writes children’s stories. 

Ann Strickler Doumas sent an article on Sen. Mark Warner, UMW President Troy Paino, and the Germanna Community College president, who met and discussed the needs of higher education. 

Ann’s daughter, Dr. Jennifer Doumas, tested positive in San Diego, California, but was back on duty at her urgent care facility. Her other daughter, Beth, has a husband and sons working from home. Son Mark is a retired engineer from IBM and is in Tucson. His daughter lives in Japan and works as a tour director. By the way, when we were on the Mobil ladder and moved every few years, my friends with IBM said that stood for “I’ve Been Moved.” 

A Thanksgiving letter from Dorothy Booth Sanders tells us they downsized to Story Point, a senior living facility in Union, Kentucky. They tore down Dewey’s model train layout and moved a portion to the facility for other people to enjoy. 

We are all so proud of Ann Dunaway Criswell and the work she did on the article about her mother when she was a student at Mary Washington during the flu epidemic of 1918. You can read it on page 56. 

The daughter of Maryann Etchison Nichols let me know that after living in San Diego for 54 years, her mother now lives in Davis, California, near family. Maryann has three children and six grandchildren, and she retired from teaching many years ago. 

On a sad note, Gretchen Hogaboom Fisher lost her husband of 65 years, Marine Lt. Col. Albert Teal “Skip” Fisher, on Nov. 27, 2020. Our most sincere sympathy and thoughts go out to you, Gretchen. 

I had wanted to start a “without partners” group last fall but the virus intervened. I am still thinking of doing it next Christmas because I know about 30 friends and former students who are widows and would like to get together to talk and find friends. 

I, Roberta, have been busy writing a column for the local papers. It is called Perry Memories and it is about a little girl growing up on a farm, doing jobs, and living life as I knew it. 

Ralphie the springer spaniel is 18 months old now and just as bad as before! 

As I was typing this another email came buzzing in. Martha Harville ’77 was reading the Class of ’55 news and recognized a name she remembers fondly from her childhood and early teen years. She said I should tell Irene Hughes hello from her. 

[Editors’ note: Roberta also sent notes for the online-only fall/winter 2020 issue. We republish a shortened version here.] 

Ralphie the springer spaniel and I, Roberta Linn Miller, are enjoying the cool morning on the terrace while listening to the birdsong in the woods, seeing the many colors of the phlox and other flowers in the garden, and watching the doves having their morning snack. It is July and will get very hot later, so I will go inside the house and check in with some very nice people. 

Talked to Jean Brumback Hickman in Reno, Nevada, about our love of cats; we both have black kitties. 

Patricia Seibert-Siegel has lived in San Diego for six years. She has three daughters and five grandchildren who are in their 20s. Patricia was an elementary teacher and her husband was an architect before both retired. They planned to move into an assisted-living facility. 

Christine Harper Hovis, also in California, lost her husband two years ago. She has a son in Maryland and a daughter in San Francisco. 

Polly Stoddard Heim lives next door to a daughter in Idaho. She has another daughter and two sons. Polly is a fortunate grandmother to seven grandchildren. 

Betty Fox Mapp transferred to Mary Washington from William & Mary after her first year. She was married in 1956, and they built their house in Virginia Beach in 1965. She and her husband have two sons and a daughter. Two of their grandsons graduated from college this year, and the other two grandsons are first-year college students. 

Charlotte Fisher Klapproth married a year after graduation and worked in a lab at Hopkins. She and her husband live in Delaware, and he does all the errands and a lot of the cooking. They have a son and a daughter. 

Marjorie Webb Wolfrey lost her husband to pancreatic cancer in December and is now in independent living in Charlottesville. She was a compensation manager at Sperry Marine. She and her husband had three daughters and a son. She has six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. 

Mildred Haney Sandridge, also in Charlottesville, retired after 40 years as a trust officer in a bank. They have a daughter who works at the University of Virginia, one grandchild, and two great-grandchildren. 

Catherine Walton Hutchinson has lived for 30 years in Sapphire, North Carolina, and before that in Florida, where her husband practiced medicine. A son and his wife live in Milton, Georgia. Catherine reads and walks and says she is fabulous for an old 87. 

Anne Lou Rohrbach Culwell of Norman, Oklahoma, emailed that she is trying to stay safe but does go out some. She reads, does puzzles, and plays mahjong. 

Ann Strickler Doumas sent a note with news of her vegetable garden and how well it was doing but also with sad news about Beatrice Carver Clark, who passed away in June. She is survived by her husband and four children. Ann says the Clarks ran a big dairy farm in the Shenandoah Valley for years, and Bea taught school as well. Bea’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Clark, was Ann Doumas’ piano teacher for many years. 

Another loss was my roommate and good friend Anastasia “Buttons” Petro, originally from Morristown, Tennessee, and then from the Seattle area. She had three sons, and one sent me an email with the sad news of her death after a short illness. He had her ashes, at her request, scattered over Puget Sound. 

Minnia Rainey Mayberry sent me a note with news of the loss of my former neighbor in Charleston, S.C., a Navy rear admiral. 

I am looking at our commencement booklet. Many events took place in the Sylvan Amphitheatre. Graduation was on Monday morning, May 30, 11 o’clock, with Colgate Darden Jr., chancellor, presiding. But why does the governor of Virginia pop into my head? The address was by Alvin Duke Chandler, president of the College of William & Mary. Do you remember?