Class Notes

Greetings to all our 1962 sisters, who entered MWC as goats in 1958, more than 50 years ago! Our 50th reunion last year brought a renewed joy to visiting and sharing memories. Please keep sending news, and include your complete name, and newest email and physical addresses.

Rosalie Alico Turner’s sixth book, March With Me, a historical fiction dealing with the civil rights movement during the ’60s, came out in March. Alma Powell, wife of Colin Powell, and former Mississippi governor William Winter of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation endorsed it. Rosalie divides her time between Birmingham, Ala., and the New Mexico mountains. She scheduled book talks around the country and was to be in Roanoke, Va., in May.

Nancy Powell Sykes, editorial director of the free Newport News, Va., publication the Oyster Pointer, retired from real estate last year and recovered from last summer’s knee replacement surgery. At high school events, Nancy often sees Pat Mackey Taylor, who lost her husband last year and was walking without help after a long recovery from a broken ankle. Nancy also saw Betty Fox Berry of Maryland. Betty and her husband are retired, have a granddaughter, and planned a trip to Russia this year. Another friend said Carolyn Livingstone Masik of Boston was recovering from a broken bone in her neck.

In February, Maggie Walker McAllister, Barbara Schwab Jesser, Emily Lewis, Bettie Stewart Kienast, Mary Sue Miller McDonald, and Joan Akers Rothgeb had lunch in Waynesboro, Va. Joan planned to see Jeanne Craig Gough in Albuquerque, N.M., this spring when she and husband Eddie were to be in the Sedona area. Last summer, Jeanne took a trip to Scandinavia with stops in Stockholm and Copenhagen. She and husband Bob are involved with church, and their son and his family. Mary Sue took a winter trip to Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, and visited one of her sons in California. Barbara and husband Bill are still in Charlottesville. Bill retired from U.Va., where he’d been a professor and department head. Their daughter and her husband moved to Charlottesville and built a home; their son lives in Atlanta.

Maggie McAllister enjoyed the reunion and looked forward to spending more time with our MWC sisters. In September in Waynesboro, Va., granddaughter Sarah married a Marine she met when she was a UMW student. They are in New Bern, N.C., but he was deployed to Afghanistan for six months. Maggie’s son and his wife were based in Bangkok, where he was to be CEO of Ascend Therapeutics and was working on a therapy for those with brain injuries. They kept their Northern Virginia house and their Northern Neck river place but took their dog with them.

Bonnie Booker Kinzer of Southport, N.C., left MWC after her sophomore year to study nursing at U.Va. Husband Joe is retired military. Her mother, who is 94, lives nearby. Betty’s older grandson graduated last year from Appalachian State, where the younger one is a student. Another nursing student, Anne Lindgren Olwine of Vancouver, Wash., still has a private counseling practice. Donna Floyd Parker attends her grandson’s lacrosse games and travels to St. George Island, Fla., and to Virginia to see her sister and her beloved mountains.

Fran Rowell retired from the federal government and Arlington County government seven years ago at 66. She lives in a Hanover, Pa., active adult community and arranges monthly dinners, casino trips, and horseshoe games. She exercises and swims at the Y, sees first-run movies, and has three puggles, a mix of pug and beagle. She’s an usher at Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, volunteers at the annual Gettysburg Festival in June, and still belongs to the ParTEA Dolls chapter of the Red Hat Society in Manassas, Va. Fran had cataracts removed from both eyes and recently saw Million Dollar Quartet at the Kennedy Center.

Adrienne Ames, who’s been in Nashville, Tenn., for 36 years, thanks the 1962 class agents for agreeing to gather news for UMW Magazine. She’s retired but is still a senior consultant for the Executive Nursing Administration at Vanderbilt University, where she holds a faculty appointment with the School of Nursing. While Adrienne’s major responsibilities have been in nursing and hospital/clinic administration, she was a family practice practitioner in her early years. She spends time with family and friends, volunteers, and travels.

Kay Mizell Heppinstill spent 10 days away from her apartment while she was without heat and electricity after Hurricane Sandy. Kay is retired, enjoys bridge and book groups, volunteers for church and the community, and has long served as a lay member delegate for the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Louise Couch Girvin and John of Kentucky have seven grandchildren. The first, Emily, is to head to college next year. Granddaughter Jenna was on a banner and programs at an Orlando cheerleading competition. Louise and John planned a spring trip with their church group to Branson, Mo., and a fall Road Scholar trip to San Antonio. They come east to visit John’s sister and Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor, who has three children and eight grandchildren. Her third granddaughter was to begin college. Daughter Amy is a minister of music.

Joyce Wilborn Lacy’s eighth grandchild, Louis W. Lacy III, arrived on Christmas Eve, joining sister Campbell Grace Lacy, 2, and six cousins, ages 9 to 16. With two family members named Lou already, they decided to call him Kip. He’s already attended several U.Va. basketball games with his parents and grandparents.

Peggy Downs Gerber’s sixth grandchild, William Lincoln Maher, was born in August 2012 to Peggy’s daughter, Marge, and husband Mike in Philadelphia. Will joins brother Evan, 4, and sister Carley, 2. Also in August, their son, Pete, who has a masonry company, married high school teacher Tami Rappa, and they live in Wilmington. Peggy, John, and son Dave looked forward to a Florida vacation and visiting Kathleen Lisagor in March on the way home.

Jane Walshe McCracken has progressed steadily after her stroke and is back to working two days a week. She wants some of the West Coast girls to surf around for news for the next edition of UMW Magazine. Joan Akers Rothgeb has been contacting classmates for news, babysitting grandchildren, and traveling to their mountain cabin with Eddie.

Our sympathies go to the husband and family of Donna Stevens Boyd, who passed away in October, and to Ann Tench Huml, who lost her sister in December. Please send this type of news to the class agents or the Office of Alumni Relations.

As ever, thanks from your three faithful agents. Let us hear from you by letter, email, or phone… starting now!