in the first 10 pages from the back. Our news appeared between the 14th and the 16th. The point being that this wonderful class filled up two and a half pages! It is so fun for me to see how active and involved Dana’s ‘senior’ classes are.” (I, Gibbsie, still do the same thing when I go to Class Notes—start at the back! Guess it’ll never sink in that we’re not as young as we used to be.) Tucky, Robin Morsman Geis and Penny Prell Luce all got together in Mesa, Ariz., in mid-March. Penny drove over from Santa Barbara. They had a wonderful time together before Robin and Penny took off the next day to search for more exotic fibers for their needlework. Mary Wilson-Tauson has quite the tale to tell. “Greetings to all. For me the last few months have been a lesson in that John Lennon/Sanders quote, ‘Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans!’ This fall, the third edition of my book was out and for the first time I was not teaching and was committed to not taking any new legal cases. I had just begun to wonder what I was going to do with myself when husband Ric took a terrible fall downstairs at his daughter’s home in Pennsylvania on the way to Florida for the season. He sustained a traumatic brain injury, initially leaving him unable to breathe on his own, open his eyes, speak, swallow, or move anything except his left hand and we almost lost him. But he is incredibly courageous and resilient at 81, and with tremendous support and encouragement from literally all over the world and the powers that be, he has rebounded and done incredibly well. After two weeks in intensive care in Pennsylvania, we got him moved to our wonderful Boston resources: first Mass General, then Spaulding Rehab where together Ric and the staff wrought miracles. After 2+ months in hospitals, he came home to Amesbury with in-home therapy for two months and then outpatient, at which point he got cleared for us to go to Florida where he continues therapy and is doing exceedingly well in all respects. Company has been good for us. We took the car train north in mid-May to sell our beautiful ketch SVOBODA and enjoy friends up north for a bit. Anticipate spending some time in New Hampshire with Marlene Mustard Graf in her new cottage and hopefully Gibbsie, et. al. We are also hoping to work on our bucket list
and have appreciated travel suggestions from classmates. Carolyn Grande Harder has been especially helpful and Ric has booked a cruise in the fall to the Canadian Maritimes. Who knows, maybe we will catch up with Janie Newton and Ian! Best to all.” On April 20, Mary and Ric met Karen Slawsby Stone and Jim for lunch and it was a good time. Karen left April 27 for a painting workshop in Italy just north of Sienna with about a dozen other folks from Naples and Vermont, and is very enthusiastic about getting back to painting. She and Jim are really enjoying the home they had built and moved into about a year ago. So we expect to hear all about it from you, Karen, next time. From the great grandmother Marlene Mustard Graf we hear: “I managed to finally sell my gravel pit business in September 2016 and dissolved that corporation as well as three family partnerships that occupied a majority of my time between required tax returns and accounting in December 2016. Once all the final tax returns were done, I focused my attention on trying to perfect my golf game. Any golfers reading this know that requires a lifetime commitment with varied results! I have joined the Fountain Hills Community Chorus to get a sadly unused voice respectively back in shape. At the end of May, plans included a visit to my step-daughter, Silvia Graf-Jilinski, and her family in Begnins, Switzerland for the high school graduation of her son Alexander who will attend Babson College in the fall. While across the pond, I will visit Sue Gibbs for the first time in Oslo, Norway, and then join the Fountain Hills Community Chorus for a 10-day tour of Ireland. We will perform at least three concerts comprising spirituals and American Western classics (‘Happy Trails’ and ‘Oklahoma’) on the tour throughout southern Ireland. I will spend the balance of the summer in my new cottage in Georges Mills, N.H., enjoying the view from my deck of Otter Pond. Of course, there will be a healthy mix of golf with some great gals I have known there for more than 40 or perhaps 50 years! By the time you read this, I will be back in Arizona practicing with the chorus for our Christmas concert. Cheers to all!” Susan (Sue) Steele Isbell spent three weeks in Telluride this winter. The big event was their oldest grandchild’s May graduation from the University of
Tennessee in Knoxville. She’s thrilled to have a job in Nashville, her hometown. For July 4th week, 17 of 19 Isbells headed to Nantucket to celebrate Bob’s 80th birthday. (Two miss because of work.) Actual day is August 25, but the holiday week is when most could gather. Sue and Bob spent a delightful weekend in mid-April in Savannah where they attended an American Decorative Arts Symposium. Morning lectures addressed what they would see in the afternoon as they walked the squares and visited houses steeped in history. Warm and sunny; ideal all around. Our world traveler, Barbara Vaughan Koun, says, “Neil and I did have a fabulous trip in January to Tasmania, thanks to Sally Saunders’ suggestions. And wonderful experiences in New Guinea, Coral Sea and Solomon Islands. How blessed I am! New trip this summer. I read Baltic Wars books, so off to Estonia and Latvia this July and then one of those river cruises from St. Pete to Moscow. Lots of day trips are included. The big experience is taking a bus from Narva, Estonia (huge WWII battles) to St. Petersburg. I booked the ‘luxury’ seats for the equivalent of $15; this ought to be a fun deal. I’m sure there will be great scenery. I speak no Russian but my phone does.” Our friend from down under, Sally Saunders, writes, “I have moved from acreage that was very high fire danger and took more work that I wanted to do at 73 years of age. I moved into a village growing into a rural suburb of Canberra, Australia’s national capital. After weeks of house fixing up to sell and a week of unpacking in a new house, I look forward to five weeks in the U.S. to catch up with family and attend a nephew’s second wedding. But my U.S. visits never seem to be the right time to catch up with Dana friends and memories.” From Susan Burns Hellberg we hear, “I took my daughter and kids and son and his family to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful time. First time we all have been together in years. Going to San Francisco (Tiburon) to my daughter’s home for Christmas but no Florida this January.” Susan has been recovering from a spinal fusion from last summer and says it hasn’t exactly been fun, but she’s getting there. When that’s completed she can look forward to a couple of new knees. Ah, the golden years!
Summer 2017
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