Class Notes

From Karen: We have made it through 2020 and are now partway through 2021. Many of you have written beautiful notes for your electronic birthday card. Thank you. And our news is that each of us is working hard at keeping our body, mind, and soul active and healthy. 

[Editors’ note: Class agents Jody Campbell Close and Karen Larsen Nelson also submitted notes for the online-only fall/winter 2020 issue. We republish a shortened version here.] 

Believe it or not, ladies, we received some news even with the COVID-19 quarantine, and here’s the common thread: Staying near home. Taking walks. Church activities on Zoom. Missing family members. Being bored. Doing an exercise program. Enjoying puppy dogs. 

Those were the activities shared by Pat Garvin Dyke, Gretchen Squires Best, Jan Latven Allnutt, Gray Schaefer Dodson, Sarah Forsyth Donnelly, Janet Spang Hess, Emy Steinberg Hyans, Anne Butler Hyde, and Jeanette Meyer Juren. 

Marilla Mattox Haas can’t remember what day of the week it is now that she is not rehearsing with five different church groups every week. Read more about Marilla on page 28. 

Sue Smith Goodrick had to cancel a river cruise. Judy Davidson Creasy’s family surprised her with a garden party for her 82nd birthday, and she took a short trip to Sedona, Arizona, for a friend’s birthday. Sherry Farrington Green adopted a kitty. Gail Mooney Grobe was delighted to be able to buy toilet paper. Joanne Lister Jacobs did her own hair for a while and said she looked like Brunhilda from The Valkyrie. 

Tina Baensch Raver lives in New York City, but during lockdown she and her hubby quarantined at their home on Long Island. 

Janet Garriss Lewis has moved to a custom-designed, accessible apartment attached to her son’s home. She has finally parted with most of her lifetime collections, saving just enough mementos for her grandchildren. 

Sally Brown VanDuyne wrote they had tried twice to go to Vermont but hadn’t made it yet. 

Joyce Neill Krost did not make it to Spain last winter because last August she broke her neck and caught pneumonia, landing in a rehab center. Gaye Roberts Olsen can escape outside on her scooter chair if she stays where staff can see her. Sandy Poole goes to virtual church and helps Barb in her home office. Lucy Wu Wang and Jimmy were stuck in their Palm Springs, California, apartment and couldn’t travel to Shanghai. 

Penny Engle Burkhardt shared a story about an encounter with rabbits while riding her bike, and Penny, Jody, and Karen had a hilarious exchange about it. 

Jean Eubanks Holland had heart surgery last fall, followed by pneumonia. While recovering, she sold her townhouse and bought a new apartment. Nancy Cleaves Blaydes had glaucoma surgery. Syd Collson Chichester had Mohs surgery for skin cancer she attributes to her sun-worshipping days on Mary Washington dorm balconies. Syd is proud of daughter Holly Chichester, who is landscape and grounds manager at Mary Washington and lives near Syd in Fredericksburg. 

Darrell and I, Karen Larsen Nelson, have spent part of each week in our little trailer, “mooch docking” at our friends’ cabin in the cooler mountains in Arizona. I’ve also discovered I can hike again a little – if I stick to old logging roads, which are fairly level. Our great-grandbaby No. 6 arrived in early May, but by late summer we had only seen pictures. 

Jody Campbell Close lives alone, so doesn’t consider herself fully quarantined because if there is an errand to be done there is no one else to do it. But masks do not encourage long, witty conversations, and distancing 6 feet or more doesn’t help the hard of hearing. She stumbled on her father’s World War II diary, written as a young lieutenant and Pearl Harbor survivor. She was able to print a booklet for each family member of his firsthand accounts of naval engagements in the South Pacific and in Alaska.