Class Notes

News from our 50th reunion in May/June will appear in the fall/winter issue of UMW Magazine.

If there were prizes for emails sent the longest distance, one would go to Susan Orebaugh Nicholson, who was on an extended tour of Vietnam with her husband when she emailed from the Saigon airport.

Be Davison Herrera was to be in Virginia in May, holding workshops and poetry readings at the Westmoreland County church where her parents were married and she was baptized. Be was invited to do a labyrinth workshop for the Westmoreland County Historical Society and poetry readings around the state. Thanks to our newsletter, several alumnae contacted her to plan dates for readings. Be also plans work in the Richmond-Henrico area, was commissioned to create labyrinths in places as varied as Taos, N.M., Sacramento, Calif., and Virginia Beach, and hoped to stage a photo exhibit of her work.

Jayne Gosnell Helm attended Mary Washington for two years, singing with “The Grace Notes.” She earned a nursing degree at U.Va., worked in NYC, and returned to U.Va. to teach. She earned a master’s degree in nursing from Emory and raised two children in Hawaii, Chester, Va., and Columbia, S.C., with her late first husband. She then taught at USC, where she earned a J.D., and practiced law in Columbia and Charleston, where she became a probate court associate judge in 2002. Jayne suffered a severe stroke in 2010 and moved with her second husband to Raleigh, N.C., near children and grandchildren.

Martha Hanks Cooper visited former roommate Connie Marsh Pollard last fall in Brookline, Mass., enjoying a Greek fish market and a tour of Boston. Connie’s husband, JK, restored their 100-year-old house.

Patti Jones Schacht and Richard’s friend from Germany, the interpreter when they explored Richard’s ancestral roots near the Baltic Sea, visited them early this year. Patti and Richard visited Hawaii with friends and planned a summer trip to Northern Ireland. Patti does ministry at nursing homes and for at-risk youths, and hosts international exchange students working locally.

Sally Crenshaw Witt and I continue to email and looked forward to seeing each other during our 50th.

Thinking about all that’s happened in our world and lives in 50 years is mind-boggling. May we continue to work as agents for peace and happiness in this troubled but beautiful world!