Putting Her Oar In Julie Holley ’87 Says Crew’s Lessons Linger By Maryann Teale Snell ’86
Julie Holley ’87 looks pretty serious. But behind that near-scowl of concentration are a ready laugh and spirited confidence when she tells how she wound up at Mount Holyoke, and how she joined the crew team despite using a steel hook instead of a right hand. Rewind to spring 1983, awards night at a high school in Queens, New York. Holley, on the brink
of graduation, is getting several. Jean Sudrann ’39, an MHC English professor, is also being honored. She and department colleague Marjorie Kaufman are impressed with Holley and ask where she’s going to college. To SUNY–Purchase, she replies, to study music. The professors tell her, “You need to come to Mount Holyoke.” After a year at Purchase, she transferred.
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John Risley
Julie Holley was among those reliving days on the Connecticut River at an alumnae row this past fall.