class notes

Cindy Peters continues to work at Duke University and has just celebrated 22 years with the Nicholas School of the Environment. Despite COVID, Cindy continues to get together with a few friends (her COVID pod) for cards and fun. More recently, she has attended concerts and restaurants as things have opened up. So far Cindy has avoided COVID and has made sure she has been vaccinated, boosted and inoculated.

Marty Knight has nine grandchildren under the age of 9!

Janet Blount, owner of Careers Are Us, spoke to the School Board of Baltimore County (Maryland) Public Schools for three minutes to share information about how she supported a local elementary school as a community partner volunteer. Someone who was in the audience at the school board meeting invited Janet to speak for 15 minutes at their Baltimore County Public Schools Advisory Council meeting. The topic was the role parents can play in becoming career-awareness advocates for their children.

In October, Kathleen O’Brien Burchill, Mary Brown Diehl and Barbara Duncan enjoyed several days at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Highlights included being wowed by the beautiful leaves, viewing the elk in Cataloochee Valley, eating a delicious lunch at the Pisgah Inn dining room and wearing hooded jackets on the cold Blue Ridge Parkway.

Elaine Wilburn Zullo has a new grandson, Jack, born in August, a month early, thanks to her daughter-in-law and her son, John. Christmas saw daughter, Sarah; Sarah’s husband; two grandkids; and their dog coming to visit Elaine and Jeff in Connecticut for two weeks. So, life is just now returning to normal.

Mimi Holmes finally has a website for the memoir writing and other classes she teaches online through Zoom. She invites you to check it out at mimiholmeswritingourstories.zyrosite.com. Mimi wants to thank classmates Janet Blount, Elaine Willburn Zullo, and Lynne Oswald for taking classes with her.

’79

Leslie Doyle lesliedoyle26@gmail.com

Melinda Tanner White reports that she retired three years ago but was taken out of retirement and has spent the last four months as interim office manager for her church. She loved getting to know the church staff better and was thankful that she had a skill set that made a difference in the functioning of a church. Melinda has taken up pickleball with gusto, but her most fun recent memory is of a river cruise in October with a group of friends on the Rhine. The adventure included a pre-cruise trip to Lake Como, Italy.

Leslie Doyle thinks that maybe, just maybe, she has finally conquered her gardening attempts. However, the “pretty stuff” is taking time away from her efforts to “conquer Mother Nature” and control the ivy that is so persistent. Leslie is still enjoying hiking and biking, but cold weather has turned her attention to learning to knit in her downtime. Leslie has joined a new book club and is adding to her “foreign recipe” file.

Debby Daniel-Bryant and her husband, Bill, were hit particularly hard by tornadoes that ripped through their county, Spalding (Griffin), in mid-January. Miraculously, their house was undamaged, but they lost four out of five acres of surrounding forest. However, Debby wishes to communicate her gratitude for being so lucky, as many others in the county have lost their homes. She says they have been blessed by the outpouring of help to dig them out.

’80

Sarah Fairburn Pannill thepannills@gmail.com

Margaret “Maggie” Evans Porter’s 14th novel, “The Limits of Limelight,” was a historical fiction finalist in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards. Her novel “The Myrtle Wand,” a retelling of the ballet “Giselle” set in 17th-century France, was released in October 2022. (margaretporter.com)

The past year has been a time of family, celebration and travel for Katherine “Kathy” Zarkowsky Broderick, including her daughter’s wedding in upstate New York on Seneca Lake, travels to Morocco, a “Broderick Christmas” week that included over 75 family members and featured a kayaking Santa (husband John), and celebration of 43 years of marriage on Jan. 5, 2023.

Margaret “Peggy” Somers Shepard had quite the Return to College adventure living near the Basilica of Santa Croce, studying realistic drawing and painting at the Florence Academy of Art for two months (plus learning how to buy groceries and operate Italian appliances). She was one of two older students in a very international class taught in English.

Kathleen “Kathy” Hollywood welcomed her third grandchild in August 2022 — a baby girl named Eulaylie Piper Frady. Kathy celebrated her (Medicare) birthday with Sarah Fairburn

Pannill and Katherine “Kathy” Stearns Thomas ’82, a tradition about 40 years old! In January, Kathy enjoyed a birthday trip to NYC, taking in four shows and reporting “MJ the Musical” was stellar!

Sarah “Sally” Harris shared that she is thrilled with her cochlear implant! After surgery in December, all the components were activated in mid-January, and although the initial sounds were very mechanical, improvement was quick. She reports that her hearing is way better, and conversations are much more fluid.

After traveling back and forth between Georgia and Arizona for six years, Dawn Sparks

Shields has returned full-time to Alpharetta — although she has still spent much time traveling elsewhere. In 2021, Dawn and her husband, Ted, traveled from Hawaii to Maine as well as exploring Alaska. In 2022, they journeyed to Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Maine, Michigan and Germany and had an amazing monthlong family South Pacific vacation to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii. In 2022, Dawn and Ted celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

Dixie Lee Washington and Jennifer “Jenny”

Spencer Parker caught up with each other in January at Mount Vernon. Dixie reported that they had not seen each other in at least 15 years and had a wonderful time hiking, talking and eating. Dixie continues working as a real estate broker, and her husband has added a greenhouse to their property for year-round gardening.

Joy “Wendy” Brooks Crew practices law in Birmingham, Alabama, and is active in many professional organizations, including as presidentelect for the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) for the United States. She and her husband enjoy travel, with their most recent adventures being to Tokyo; Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Marrakech, Morocco (which included a camel ride!). She and her husband enjoy spending time at their home in Miramar Beach, Florida, and being part of the Krewe of Iris for the New Orleans Mardi Gras.

During August/September, Sarah Fairburn

Pannill took a big road trip with her husband from Atlanta to Prince Edward Island, Canada, where they were dropping their youngest daughter off for her semester abroad at the University of Prince

Edward Island in Charlottetown. After traveling 4,516 miles and 19 days on the road, she and her husband were still speaking — success!

’81

Liz

Steele Forman

yellowpages1981@gmail.com

Retirement is on the horizon for many in the class of 1981, and Beth Richards reports that she is approaching that milestone after directing the academic writing program at the University of Hartford, where she teaches a mix of academic, professional and creative writing classes. She and her partner, Joy Christi, who is also retiring, will be able to pursue their ongoing mini-golf competition in more places. (Beth is ahead, as of publication!)

Our condolences to Sarah Campbell Arnett, who recently lost both her cousin and her sisterin-law. Sarah is staying with her new company and was able to see Agnes Scott friends Alice Harra ’82 and Marjory Sivewright Morford ’82 in Portland three times this year!

The Yellow Pages love to travel, and to gather updates for this column, a question was posed in our Facebook group: “Where were you in 2022?”

Susan Barnes Ellis traveled the country, visiting Pam Mynatt Moser in a cabin near Carters Lake in North Georgia. Visits to Virginia (son’s graduation from the University of Virginia), Maine and Colorado followed.

Nancy Brock Johnson enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise that started in Barcelona and ended in Turkey. Their day in Ephesus was one she will never forget! The year also brought family trips to Colorado and Mexico, with the end of the year seeing a 41st-anniversary trip to Paris.

Leigh Clifford Drake spent time in the gorgeous Scottish Highlands.

Maggie Conyers Zerkus spent the month of May in Italy, seeing Puglia, Naples, Pompeii, Milan, Venice, Pisa, Florence and Rome . . . with beautiful red poppies all along the journey!

Becky Durie Cottingham shared that a highlight of their year was taking a Mediterranean cruise along the coast of Spain, France and Italy.

Betsy Long Wech’s travels were closer to home, spending time with her son in Athens. He teaches