The Class of ’62 celebrated its 50th Reunion at the home of Sherrie Welton Parker and her husband Joe.
birthday weekend, so she had many demands on her time. She is living in Alexandria, VA and currently doing biological research. She has received several awards for her achievements in this field. Lee Valentine Snyder is living in Norfolk still doing magnificent flower arrangements. Besides being a former school teacher, she is an artistic judge and very involved with the Garden Club of VA. She and Charles have four daughters and now a granddaughter and hope there are more to come. Ginny Williams Stanley, who was only at Collegiate for 8th and 9th Grades, came down from Orange for the weekend. We are all still impressed that she lived in the Alaskan wilderness for three years. She has three sons, five granddaughters, and two grandsons. She recently lost her husband Peter. Saturday began with a gourmet lunch at Collegiate with Helen Tanner ’49. What a treat it was for all of us to get to visit with her. After a tour of the greatlyexpanded campus, we adjourned to rest up for the “big doo” at Sherrie Welton Parker’s on Saturday night. Joe cooked beef tenderloins and oysters on his outdoor fireplace and grill, while we listened to ’60s music and reminisced. We finally got to hug Leigh Wilson Joblin who flew in from Australia on Thursday night and had been recovering from jet lag until Saturday. She is still living and working in Victoria, Australia and has three grown children and one granddaughter. She flew out right after the reunion – whew – to visit her son in Stockholm whom she hopes will be returning to Australia before long. We were also joined at Sherrie’s by Rossie Reed Fisher and husband Sandy, Joy Burgess, Temple Kester Joyner and her husband
Park, and Anne Coleman Davidson and her husband Owen. Rossie and Sandy are still running their organic farm, Brookview, in Manakin-Sabot. They have received many awards for their stewardship of the land and sustainable agricultural practices. The farm is located across the road from where Rossie grew up at Sabot Hill. They run a store on Saturdays that sells organic beef, eggs, hats and t-shirts. There are hayrides and visitors help to collect eggs and visit farm animals. They have two children, Murray and Jane. Joy Burgess had to make the trip from Virginia Beach by herself as George was dealing with a kidney stone the week of our reunion! It was great to see her and everybody appreciated her being there. She retired after many years from the Farley Center at Williamsburg Place. She has three children and eight grandchildren including George’s. Their home overlooks the Chesapeake Bay with all of its wonderful views and wildlife. Temple and Parke also live at Virginia Beach, right on the ocean. They have three daughters and five grandchildren and are enjoying retirement and a more relaxed routine. Anne Coleman Davidson and Owen came from Blacksburg just for the party but had to return first thing Sunday due to a prior commitment. It was wonderful to see her, just not for a long enough time. Sunday we were still going strong and gathered at Margaret Bryson’s lovely “country” home for brunch. We ate on beautiful tables set out in her “English Garden.” It was a scene worthy of Southern Living Magazine. She has two adorable poodles, one standard and the other miniature, that she trains on the agility course in her back yard. They compete in
the area and around the state. As much as she enjoys rural living, she has just purchased a “cottage” in Richmond. This helps with trips to doctors and general errands in the city when she doesn’t want to drive back to Montpelier. Everyone took home a “goody” bag with remembrances of the weekend – a t-shirt, Tervis tumbler, reprints of class pictures and CDs of ’60s music. The best gift by far though was reuniting with our oldest friends. We took time to remember those classmates that were no longer with us – Wendy Garibaldi Williams, Anne Macon, Diane Hedgecock, and Peppy Armstrong. We also missed all the classmates that couldn’t join us for various reasons – Susan Dortch Barnes, Ann Strickland Davenport, Julia Gathright McLaughlin, Penny Winfree Gooch, Anne Chapman Lubliner, Libby Coleman Price, Janet Armour Burton, Jan Elliott Girardi, Sandy Graves, Susan Shaffer Wells, Mary Helen Watkins Smith, Lynn Warner, Evangeline Gianoulis Toms, and Susan Redford. After a weekend of gourmet food, many hugs, laughs, tears and life stories – old and new – we reluctantly said our good-byes and SWORE to reconvene again in the near future to keep the spirit of our great class going. Next time we are hoping EVERYONE will be able to be here. – Submitted by Lucy Fitzgerald Steele
1963
Retta Leigh Perel Keil writes, “My life is full of travels. Kirk lives on the shore of North Lake Tahoe. Doug is in Salt Lake City. All four grands go to the local equivalent of Collegiate (albeit, poor substitutes!). I spent Christmas in Belize, and in February will go to Cuba with Road Scholar, a group that tries to keep my mind alive by sending a reading list. Such list is filed right along with Miss Moon’s summer reading list! Every summer I spend 10 days in Maine where I help run a comfort camp for young girls who have lost a parent. This will be our twelfth summer. I am the archery counselor (certified!) and the gypsy fortune teller! And I still spend lots of time at the beach. I’m sure my classmates are finding this info of great interest…;)”
1965
Bob Easterling, Alex Smith, Jeff Dortch ’64, Jon Moss ’64, and the late Mike Jarvis ’64 were honored at the 2013 All-Metro Football Banquet in January. The Touchdown Club of Richmond sponsors the annual event. All five were All-Metro in 1963.
Winter 2013 67