class news class news | ’62
she taught first grade in a public school followed by two years in a Communities In (Charter) Schools Academy. Mid-decade, Edith returned to High School teaching testing skills for 9th – 12th graders on a semester grant. After this she returned to middle school, tutoring in math and reading and currently works at the CIS Academy teaching testing skills part-time. Edith has traveled to Europe, Hawaii and taken Art History cruises. She enjoys movies, crocheting and knitting. Molly Holbrook Thomas Birchler: and her husband, Al, attended an event in Hartsville, seeing Frank Bush, who is retiring, and President Wyatt in October, although Molly had met Dr. Wyatt on August 1st. When they were in Hartsville, they enjoyed seeing the new house of a cousin by marriage, Anne DuBose Smith ’57. The Birchlers had a busy holiday season. They were lucky enough to have all of their combined children and grandchildren (16) visit for Christmas. Seven grandchildren from 12 years old to 22 months and their parents arrived from northern VA, Ft. Collins, CO and OH. This was the first time the entire Birchler/ Thomas combined families had been together. A special memory is that six grandchildren felt comfortable enough to ask Molly and Al if they could spend the night together. After a mad dash to buy sleeping bags, it was a delightful and cozy slumber party for these grandchildren and grandparents. Harriet King van Norte and Bob are well and looking forward to seeing dear friends who are heading for Atlanta from Colorado. Bob and the husband of this couple were in the Air Force together in the 1960s and the four have been good friends ever since. Harriet’s sister, who now lives in their mother’s house, and her family spent Christmas with the van Nortes. Bob has been the family cat sitter while Harriet has taken a few trips. She went to Paris last summer with a good friend from the 1960s and 70s. The girls had a wonderful time even taking the TGF (fast train) to Belgium for a day. Later she took a bus trip to Niagara Falls with a good friend and 49 other seniors. That was a real treat. In November a dance teacherfriend who has moved from Atlanta to Michigan flew down to take a trip with Harriet to stay in an old 128 year old Bed and Breakfast in the Georgia mountains, near the corners of SC, NC and TN. Harriet exercises 6 days a week to stay in shape. Peggy McCue Freymuth reports that she has unfortunately been going through breast cancer surgery and treatments since last summer. She has two remaining sessions of chemotherapy to go through as of the end of January Her husband, Wayne, has been a wonderful help and is doing everything he can think of to make her feel more comfortable while she is recuperating and healing. Elizabeth Moore Weir and her husband, Tom, live in Winston Salem, NC. Tom has unfortunately not been well enough lately for them to travel very much. But Molly Holbrook Birchler reports the Weirs have recently adopted a year old Coker Spaniel from the Humane Society which is keeping them busy. Apparently this dog thinks he is the alpha in their family. Liz has not had time to keep up-to-date with former classmates lately so she and Molly are hoping to meet soon in Lexington, NC for a “good ‘ole BBQ” reunion. Paula Moran reports that all is well in Jacksonville. Her son and his girlfriend are planning to get married next fall. Paula stopped smoking last April and is surviving. When she wants to smoke she walks with great determination. Once she started walking around her house and one of her cats ran and jumped with her, very puzzled. Paula usually goes out to walk for 30 minutes every morning and again, each afternoon. She is still enjoying her part-time work at Publix. While talking we tried to reach Gail Arnette Sinclair, but no luck this time. Linda Oliver Huggins and her husband live in Lumberton, NC. Molly Holbrook Birchler enjoyed catching up with Linda by telephone. Linda and Harriet King van Norte were roommates while at Coker. Twelve (including two sons, one daughter and three grandchildren) spent Christmas at Linda’s. When she is not helping her 93 year young mother and her husband, she enjoys her garden club, various church and DAR activities. Ida Pace Storrs and Gayle Brandt Faust enjoyed meeting Dr. Wyatt at a Columbia reception in July. Ida went to see Pat Conroy who was in Columbia for a book signing for his latest book, South of Broad. She is delighted to have autographed copies of every one of Conroy’s books. Nancy Rog-
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ers (Watkins) apparently was his French teacher in Beaufort a while ago. Ida says he was in love with that French teacher and Ida called to give Nancy a message from him. Ida wrote that Rosalind Carrigan Hearon’s mother died in October. Ida was adopted by Frances Segars Kelley’s family for a wonderful Thanksgiving. She was able to celebrate being cancer-free for three years and is looking forward to attending the wedding of a niece January 23rd in West Palm, FL Jinny Ricker Wilkes left Coker after her freshman year, returned to Pennsylvania and then moved to Arlington, VA, where, among other things she loves playing tennis and has her own Real Estate firm. One son has worked in the firm for 15 years and has three children. Another son remained in State College, PA, where he and his wife teach at Penn State. They have one child and keep an eye out for Jinny’s 102 year old mother who lives by herself but still visits Jinny in VA and another daughter in CT. Nancy Rogers Watkins and Molly Holbrook Birchler had a nice telephone visit just after Nancy and her daughter had returned from a trip to visit Nancy’s sister on the big island of Hawaii. In September Nancy and her husband traveled to the Loire Valley in France, where they enjoyed taking advantage of a house exchange plan. The Loire Valley reminds Nancy of Medieval times, with lots of charming tiny old villages. Since she is especially fond of all things George Sand (French female novelist 1800s), she enjoys being in the same part of the world of and in which Sand wrote. Nancy is “on loan” as Senior Project Manager and Coordinator to the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, and concentrates on ways for our national cultural heritage to be preserved and to prepare for how best to protect these works of art and treasures in case of disasters. She recently organized a meeting of the Salzburg (Austria) Global Seminar which addressed the conservation and preservations of cultural heritage. This seminar was attended by 60 representatives and experts from 32 countries. Many were from developing African and Middle Eastern countries. When Nancy is not traveling for various conservation projects, she enjoys spending time at her husband’s farmhouse in VA. Her apartment in Georgetown, D.C. is located near her office. Betty Saunders Brooking reported to Molly Holbrook Birchler that she and her husband will celebrate their 5oth wedding anniversary in June. They may take a cruise to some romantic site or drive out of the USA. In October Betty and several friends drove to Salt Lake City, Utah for the wedding of friends’ daughter and had a lovely time touring the area. They were, however, not allowed to attend the wedding itself as it was held in the Mormon Tabernacle. All Brooking children came home to help prepare for Christmas as Betty was recuperating from having had ankle surgery. She is now able to walk a bit on the mending ankle, but it will be March before it should fully recover. Betty said she does not hear mush from other classmates, but would like to. She keeps busy playing golf, volunteering at her church and loves playing with her grandchildren. Frances Segars Kelley reports that she has just returned from spending five great days of sewing at Myrtle Beach and had a great time. She is learning more quilting techniques and is concentrating on artsy quilts/wall hangings rather than the regular vintage quilts. Barbara Stafford Peebles lives in Sumter where she still works at a bank, although it is part-time now. Her husband unfortunately died in 1989. He had worked for a furniture manufacturer. She has two children, a son who is now married and has two sons in Sumter. Barbara’s daughter lives in Florence where she enjoys working for the Post Office. Barbara walks 30 minutes every morning and again every afternoon. She loves her church and relaxes by watching good movies. Florence Staklinski Taylor and Bill came to the Big Apple for a long Labor Day weekend to see the U.S. Tennis Open matches. They enjoy traveling with good friends who were in NY with them. They were nice enough to invite me to join them for a huge breakfast before they headed off to watch the exciting games and were having a wonderful time, looking well. They love playing tennis and are hoping to go to Puerto Rico in February, looking for some nice warm weather. Bill hopes to retire this year and Flo continues to work with the Gift and Apparel Shows in Atlanta. Gwendolyn Thomason Adams is delighted to have
her youngest daughter’s family move back to Laurens. This means that three of Gwen’s youngest grandchildren are again close enough to hug. They moved in with the Adams in time for Christmas and are to stay until their new house is ready. The grandchildren began their new school on January 4th. and are adjusting very well. JoAnn Tuten Bellamy has not been physically strong for a number of years, but much to my delight and surprise about a week before Christmas I received a great phone call, letting me know she was here in NYC and too busy to see me! A friend of hers had waited for Joann to get stronger and promised her the trip of a lifetime. They spent wonderful days and evenings gallivanting all over NYC. Staying in Times Square, they saw Billy Elliott, ate at Tavern on the Green one of the last days it was open, and enjoyed a horse and buggy ride through Central Park, saw The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, shopped at Macy’s and were part of the “I Believe” excitement with elves and lots of young people, visited the Met, had a day of sightseeing on a special tour bus, ate in all sorts of fancy restaurants, including Top of the Rock above the NBC studios and the Top of the Marriot Marquis. So, while I never saw her, her voice was merry and bright and she sounded then and now ever so much better. Bruce and Mary-Frances Zachary Williams ’64 drove to Pensacola, FL for Thanksgiving week, visiting the National Naval Aviation Museum. It is a beautiful museum on the same scale as the Air and Space Museum in Washington with original aircraft from the Navy, Marines, Army and Coast Guard. These have been refurbished to their original beauty by volunteers and perch on the floor or hang from the ceilings inside the buildings and out because there is not enough room inside. There are simulators that one can sit inside and actually practice landing on an aircraft carrier. The museum is free to all. Pensacola Naval Air Station trains pilots and is home to the Blue Angels. Everyone should go there for a visit. Bruce and Mary-Frances stayed on the base at the beautiful Navy Inn available to retirees and military families. They are planning to take a 32 day cruise with Holland America from Fort Lauderdale to Portugal, around the Mediterranean to ports in Greece, Turkey and Italy. The Cruise will end in Venice. Kay Williams Denning retired as a microbiologist in 2004. After Coker’s Education courses, she taught for five years and moved to Raleigh for a NC State job in virology. After that she did research in virology at Becton Dickison for 5 years. She received a Masters in Science Education and nearly completed another Masters in microwaves. She has three daughters. The eldest is married and enrolled at NC State, reaching for her Ph.D., her middle daughter had a business her own for awhile and is now taking classes as well. Her youngest received a law degree from the University of West Virginia two years ago. Nancy Wilson writes that she adores Thanksgiving and Christmas. When she decorates, every room has at least one Christmas tree. These are of different sizes and sorts (fabric, pinecones, silver and green). She and her cat have discovered good battery operated candles and listen to holiday music even when it is not Christmas. Nancy is not tempted to travel and admits that after 9-11-01 she has been even more determined to stay in Phoenix. She loves baking and being with good friends. She, as many of us, is hoping to find work. Nancy is a real sports fan and has two TVs in her entertainment center. She has been watching a lot of professional and college football games, working her remote controls “to pieces.” She watches almost every sport on these TV sets. Mary Ann Wycliff Johnson still has her wonderful horse and animals and is sculpting. Her AZ daughter, SC son, their families and a new male friend of Mary Ann’s spent Christmas with her in Lexington, SC. She sounds well and happy and says they all had a wonderful time. Peggy Zeigler Reeves still travels for meetings of the Institute of Management Accountants. She enjoyed a trip to Cape Cod the latter part of September where she took a boat trip around the harbor and saw the Kennedy Compound and saw some of the famous housed along the shore. She went whale watching and saw a number of whales, but felt a bit seasick so she enjoyed reaching land again. There will be meetings in Charleston in February and Myrtle Beach in April and Baltimore in June. She certainly chose the right major!
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