Class Notes

Greetings to Mary Washers of the Class of 1977! I’m your new class agent, giving Mary Byrd a well-earned respite after many years. Thanks to everyone who submitted news!

Mary lives in Saltville, Va., with Rob Hall, sings alto with the choir and is part-time office manager at her church, and teaches yoga in Abingdon and Chilhowie, Va. As chief of police, Rob instituted the area’s first Citizens Police Academy, teaching community members what it means to be a police officer. They have boxer-mix Calvin.

Lynne Walton Lowe, a counselor and coordinator for the trustee workforce program at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority, planned to retire soon. She and her husband were working on their Abingdon, Va., house. Lynne’s daughter moved to North Carolina from Colorado.

Pat Seyller is costume director for Virginia Opera and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. They planned another show, The Magic Flute, this summer with Isaac Mizrahi. A past contestant from Project Runway worked for her and was making hand-knitted long underwear for their production of 27 about Gertrude Stein. In Virginia, they were doing a 1950s-era Carmen. Pat went with the designer to LA to rent costumes and attended the Art Directors Guild Awards, where Martin Scorsese received an honorary award presented by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill. June Squibb was there, and the orchestra conductor was Johnny Crawford, the kid from the old TV show The Rifleman.

Julie Mansfield Wilhelm retired from the U.S. Department of State after 35 years and moved to Virginia Beach in 2011. Daughter Megan joined the Peace Corps in 2011; lives in Tiznit, Morocco, where Julie visited her while on tour last year; married in November; and was due to come home in May. Julie, a Master Gardener intern, remarried. She and Gary planned a March trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. She lived in Saigon as a child and hoped to locate her old house and nursery school.

Janice Wenning and her husband of Berkeley, Calif., are retired. They recently spent two months at their place in Ambergris Caye, Belize, scuba diving and snorkeling in the Caribbean. Janice volunteers there, distributing water filters to families in rural villages and poor communities. In Berkeley, she volunteers for Seacology, a nonprofit focused on worldwide island conservation projects, and represents her neighborhood on the city’s Zero Waste Commission. She has a consignment business on eBay. She’s in touch with Laura Stapleton Baker, Mary Dornin Michaud, Karen Hertzel Pratt, and Carol Yancey Orlando.

Mary Beth Briggs is retired, plays bridge, and does genealogy. Mindy Campo Thomas, a private career consultant, connected with George Clark ’75, Mike Dwyer in the City of Brotherly Love, Liz Smith, and Nikki “Kathy” Billos ’76, who moved to Athens, Greece, after graduation. While on a European jaunt with daughter Andrea this past year, Mindy met Nikki in Venice, Italy.

Tom and Melinda Peed May vacationed with her sister, Rebecca Peed Finelli ’86, husband Charles, and daughters Caroline and Annabelle in Quebec City during Christmas. They stayed in the 100-year-old Chateau Frontenac, with a view of the St. Lawrence River and below-zero temperatures, and took toboggan rides. Melinda and Tom planned to connect with Terri Navas Slocomb and Steve, Kathy Haffey Bova and Chris, and Grace Matheny Lalonde and Francois for a May weekend at Deep Creek, Md. The Slocombs’ home, Great Oaks, is on the lake.

That’s all the news for now. I look forward to hearing from more classmates next time!