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UMW Magazine – Class Notes
1301 College Ave.
Fredericksburg, VA 22401

1953

Betsy Dickinson Surles
surlesb@verizon.net

News from class members came less regularly and abundantly than the snow!

Elaine Strawser Cherry said close friend Barbara “Pritch” Pritchard Jones had a massive heart attack before Christmas and passed away. Pritch lived in Northern Virginia for 40 years before moving to South Carolina. She was first and foremost a wife and mother, and she was well known and loved in her community and in college.

Her children came from California and Chicago for her memorial service at Murrells Inlet. Elaine also came with her son from Vienna, Va.

Barbara’s husband, Edwin Jones, passed away in March. She is survived by daughter Karen Jones Bourgeois ’78, son Bruce Jones, and four grandchildren.

Barbara White Ramer lives in Roswell, Ga., with daughter Robin, her husband, Todd Thiele, and two teenage grandsons. Barbara is an educational specialist and secretary of the board of directors at Porter Academy, a school for those with learning disabilities.

Frances Giannotti Scalzo attended a dinner for UMW students working on a Habitat for Humanity house in Wilmington, N.C. Kay Martin Britto ’58, Bonnie Hatch Bowman ’58, Lauren Grant ’15, and Amanda Bletsh ’14 attended.

I’m in touch with Sara Mott Gabler Belvin, who lives in Holly Springs, N.C., with her daughter. I bake cakes for a hospital ACS fundraiser, teach Sunday school to seniors, and lead our Sojourners with “happy times.” Lenny, in his 60th year of tax season, still works full time. We planned to celebrate our 61st wedding anniversary in August with three children and two teenage granddaughters. We attended a recent memorial service in South Carolina for a friend, a 53-year missionary to Brazil, with whom we served in 1969. I still remembered some Portuguese after 45 years! See my Main Street Studios website for gifts, and call me if you need a timeshare rental anywhere in the U.S.

I hope you had a lovely, long-awaited spring! Let me hear from you … you are all a special part of the Class of ’53!