CLASS NOTES
Frances Farley Snabes ’79 and her husband, Darryl, attend the Kentucky Derby in 2018
Ferguson also remembers dancing in a
trench coat to the Pink Panther theme. ¶ I found Virginia Olney, who was the dance teacher from the 1960s to the early 1980s. She is 88 years old and living in Vinalhaven, ME. She was remarried in 1981 to Michael Silla, a physician. They were living in New York City but retired to Maine in 2011. Michael passed away in 2018. ¶ On March 6, Lucy Tart Albers and I saw Six, the Broadway musical imported from England about the six wives of Henry VIII. It enjoyed three weeks of previews and was about to have its official opening night on the same day the Broadway theaters were closed. Six lives on in drive-in performances in England. During the pandemic, Lucy’s younger sister, Brook Tart ’81, a nurse at Greenwich Hospital, grew wildflowers, started creating colorful bouquets, and began a small side business called Brookie’s Blooms. ¶ After more than 50 years on Field Point Circle, Christine Graf and her family sold the family house. She and her sister, Liz Graf ’77, and two of Liz’s sons are renting a house on North Street. Coincidentally, Irina Grant, mother of Nanette Grant Burrows ’63 and Sandy (Alexandra) Grant Bingham ’69, had owned the empty lot in the early 1960s and sold the land to the Grafs after deciding not to build on it. ¶ As GA’s archivist, I love finding former alums. I found Ludovica “Vica” Schniewind Emery ’43
living up in Brunswick, ME. I tracked her down because she lived in a historic house on North Street called Devador, which originally had 15 acres. She had
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Class of 1979 mates Christine Keefe, Paulette Wunsch, and Lisa Cholnoky during the Democratic primaries in New Hampshire, supporting Amy Klobuchar
fun reminiscing. She said her father was interested in Indian philosophy and he christened the house Devador, which is an Indian word for “beautiful home.” She remembers some of her GA friends, including Derith MacPherson Robinson ’43 and Ethel Skakel Kennedy ’45. “Ethel Skakel liked to sing songs while driving around in her two-seater convertible.” Vica says she met a Frenchman who taught colonial architecture at Harvard. They got married and moved to France and Algiers, had a daughter, and moved back to the USA so the daughter could learn English. While at Greenwich Academy, Vica remembers playing tennis at the Field Club. “We had to clear out when Senator Prescott Bush came to play tennis on the courts.” She also played soccer with Sam Meek (brother of Elizabeth Meek Petersen ’41, Priscilla Meek Christy ’45, and Susan Meek McCabe ’52) on Saturdays. “I loved Greenwich Academy. I wasn’t the best student, but I loved riding horses. Ruth West Campbell scolded me a couple of times. I was a troublemaker. I pulled pranks. Every morning we would meet
with Ruth West Campbell. I remember we performed plays and had spelling tests. The teachers were very good. I remember an exhibition of turtles at GA. I couldn’t play field hockey, but I learned archery and practiced often myself with my bow and arrow. I have been getting the GA alumnae magazine and I am very impressed. I think it’s great that the students are studying Chinese. And the new buildings are a wonderful thing. GA was the best school.” ¶ Frances Farley Snabes is the new chief medical officer of Shriners Hospitals for Children, where she will oversee medical protocols and establish policies for Shriners’ 22 hospitals worldwide (located in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe). Fran moved with her family and younger brother, Andy, from Ann Arbor, MI, to Tampa, FL, ready to tackle the coronavirus head-on! ¶ Sabrina Horn shares, “Friends and colleagues, it is time for an update from me. My entire career has been at the intersection of business and communications in the technology industry. After decades of running my own company and working with
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