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UMW Magazine – Class Notes
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1966

Katharine Rogers Lavery
hlavery1@cox.net

Barbara Bishop Mann and Robert visited Roger and Ryan Stewart Davis in the Canadian Rockies in fall. In June, they went to St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm. In fall, they cruised around Italy and visited Greek islands and Dubrovnik, Croatia. They spent Thanksgiving with Bobbi’s niece’s family near Atlanta. At Christmastime, Bobbi and Jana Privette Usry had a long overdue lunch. In January, Robert and Bobbi celebrated the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Panama Canal by traveling through it on their way to Costa Rica. Imagine Bobbi’s surprise to find Mary Grace Wright Day on the same excursion!

Jana Privette Usry planned an April trip, her first overseas, with her sister, Pamela, to visit their nephew, Scott, in Prague for her great-niece’s fourth birthday. When Jana turned 70 in October, she staged a party at the country club to thank everyone who supported her through her long bout with cancer. There was a silent auction, a DJ, dancing, and awards for her “care team.” Family members came from as far away as Albuquerque, N.M., and they raised nearly $4,000 for the American Cancer Society. Jana sings with Richmond’s One Voice Chorus and resumed her mediation services. Her Shih Tzu, Willie Wonka, turned 1 in December.

Joan Cuccias Patton visited the Big Island in Hawaii, Tampa, Fla., the Outer Banks and Black Mountain, N.C., Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, S.C., and Dauphine Island, Ala. She traveled with friends to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England, and cruised to Turkey and Greece. Joan substitute teaches high school math, was in her community’s little theater spring production, and joined an 18-hole golf league. Her youngest grandchild is in kindergarten; the eldest is in middle school.

Marty Spigel Sedoff and husband Bob visited NYC in March with the Edina High School thespians; South Carolina with family; Boston for Bob’s college friend’s birthday; Vermont, completing Marty’s visit to all 50 states; and Costa Rica in December. Bob designed a set for Fiddler on the Roof, which was selected to be performed at the June International Thespian Festival. Bob and Marty planned to travel with the group as chaperones. Bob lost more than 90 pounds and 15 inches on his waist. He race sails in summer. Marty, a substitute paraprofessional, works with K-12 special needs students, served as a standardized math test scorer for Questar last spring, volunteers with the Cowles dance theater, plays bridge, takes tap and water aerobics classes, and golfs.

Kathleen Goddard Moss welcomed former Turkish exchange student Selay in December for an extended visit. Selay and her trilingual children, Kuzey, 6, and Zeynep, 2, traveled from China to the U.S. and accompanied Kathleen and Tom to Ohio to visit son Dave, Lanita, Cheryl, and Quentin. Kathy welcomed great-nephew Peter, her sister Eileen Goddard Albrigo’s 11th grandchild. Kathy and Tom work part time but might move to a retirement facility in 2016.

Cherie Wells Brumfield and husband Joe sold their Port Orange, Fla., house and moved temporarily to an Orlando apartment. Their partly disabled daughter and only grandson are nearby. Cherie and Joe visited their older daughter in Washington, D.C., in February, traveled to New Orleans in March, and took a Thanksgiving cruise through the Panama Canal.

Anne Meade Clagett’s husband, John, had an angioplasty in spring and four stents placed in his right leg. In fall, Anne had a hip replacement and physical therapy. They’ve resumed normal activities. Anne’s active with “Republican stuff” in and around Fauquier County, Va. They had to put their dear cat, Night, to rest in spring.

Pam Kearney Patrick’s husband, TaB, retired from his second career. Peggy Beeler Burns of Florida was to visit them while in Virginia to see her two grandchildren. Carol Bingley Wiley and Pam Hughes Ward were also to join them while Carol visited Pam on the Northern Neck. Pam was accepted into the Potomac Valley Watercolorists and received a monetary award last August for best watercolor.

Lois Rucker Scott attended an Asheville, N.C., knitting and quilting retreat in January for the sixth consecutive year. It gives her a break from managing her family of six. Husband Sam had many medical complications last year, after a 2012 triple bypass surgery and three additional surgeries, yet still works full time. Lois called Kathy Pollard Wood of Indianapolis on her birthday in January. Kathy’s four children organized a surprise birthday party for her.

Susan Hanes Chaney accompanied husband Bill to Washington, D.C., in April to see the WWII Memorial. After living in Northern Virginia, they enjoy the slow pace and peaceful scenery of Deltaville, where they fish, garden, and take riverside walks. In August, they stayed in Michigan’s Mackinac Island Grand Hotel. They stopped at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn on their way to visit cousins in Ohio, where Bill was feted for his 90th birthday. As the only WWII veteran at his ship’s September reunion in Mobile, he had the honor of placing the memorial wreath for service aboard the USS Alabama.

Mary Kathryn Rowell Horner and husband Charlie golfed in Fort Myers, Fla., in winter, returning to Alexandria for Mary Kathryn’s annual March duty with Nellie’s Needlers in the Woodlawn Plantation tearoom. Katharine Rogers Lavery suggested the Mary Washington Lunch Bunch meet there while Mary Kathryn tended bar. Sandra Hutchison Schanné and Clara Middleton Leigh ’64 drove with her, expecting to meet Pam Kearney Patrick, Lois Rucker Scott, Kathleen Goddard Moss, Eileen Goddard Albrigo, Joan Cuccias Patton, Anne Kales Lindblom, and other classmates there.

Last spring Ryan Stewart Davis and Roger celebrated their niece’s graduate work in Bologna and visited Roger’s Italian relatives. They caught up with Carl and Mary Ann Pyne White during their November visit and spent family time at Christmas in Albuquerque, N.M., on a hot air balloon ride piloted by Ryan’s sister-in-law. They planned a March trip to Maui with Ginny Bateman Brinkley and her family.

Dee Dee Nottingham Ward of San Diego sold her CPA firm in 2010 but still works nearly full time. Her son has MS but is well and skis at Mammoth Mountain with his two girls. Dee Dee is active in the MS Society. She and Nat were sorting stamps and albums, Nat’s hobby. They spend time in their mountain home. Dee Dee was sorry to miss a January UMW alumni happy hour.

Betsy Chappelear Tryon of Redondo Beach, Calif., has a four-female family, including Sophie Cat. Granddaughter Maddy, 12, has made Betsy the shortest family member! A retired teacher, she meets and greets travelers at LAX.

Katharine Rogers Lavery and husband Hank succumbed to pressure from peers – Hank’s Long Island, N.Y., grammar school classmates – and took a March cruise to St. Thomas. As we turn 70, they’re already 80 and figured it was now or never. Katharine and Hank visited family and friends on the way to Florida. At an Irish Tenors holiday concert, Katharine noticed the trumpeter was Justin Nurin, son of Susan Roth Nurin!

Kitty Downs Gregg and Don survived the Denver winter but dream of moving to Florida, perhaps the Naples area. They’d been downsizing and updating to prepare the house for sale. Daughter Cindy and husband Tom of Denver work for Accenture. Son Chris of Arlington, Va., works for the U.S. Treasury Department and is pursuing a second master’s degree.

Annette Maddra Horner travels from Elizabeth City, N.C., to Charlotte and to Alexandria, Va., to see her granddaughter and three grandsons, all under 5. Annette was on the committee for nominating a new Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina bishop. She was relatively new to the area, and the yearlong project helped her learn about the region and use her professional skills in retirement. Last August she and her husband traveled to Norway, from Oslo to Bergen, up the coast, above the Arctic Circle to the northernmost human habitations, and just short of the Russian border. Highlights were the fjords and the cities of Trondheim and Tromso. In Amsterdam, they revisited renovated museums they’d seen more than 20 years ago when Annette was a frequent business traveler to the Netherlands and Belgium. She recommends Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City by Russell Shorto. 

Diana Hamilton Cowell is retired and moved with her husband in 2009 from Huntington, W.Va., to South Bethany, Del. Dennis and Mary Morris Bishop visited after our 45th class reunion. Diana was working to facilitate the sister city relationship between Bethany Beach and Periers, France, in the Normandy region. She had close ties with Periers after visiting often with her father, who was there during WWII. Diana and Dan, avid bikers and boaters, volunteer with the Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company and other groups. After heading the South Bethany Neighborhood Watch program, Dan turned it over to Diana, who also participates in the South Bethany Women’s Club, McCabe’s Babes (named after the deli where they meet), and the Inland Bays spring horseshoe crab and summer fish count. The Cowells enjoy the Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s year-round films and live Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. Still a lap swimmer, Diana plunged into a 45-degree Atlantic Ocean on New Year’s Day during the Leo Brady Exercise Like the Eskimos Plunge! Their children live in Ocean Beach, Calif.; Spring Grove, Pa.; Clayton, Del. (with two grandchildren); and Huntington.