Madeira Today, Winter 2023

M adei r a

A HAPPY PLACE

Oval+Quad

GRETCHEN WARNER HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear Madeira Community & Friends,

In the words of the nineteenth-century author and feminist Margaret Fuller, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” Many of you who have heard me speak know that I believe a community where the adults are learning is a community where the students are learning, and I see myself as a lead learner at Madeira. Reading books, articles, and research studies fuels and inspires me. Familiar and new texts that have fascinated me, pushed my thinking, and guided my leadership this fall include:

The Fifth Disciple: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization BY PETER SENGE

I want to honor the educators at Madeira who inspire our students to be readers, learners, and leaders. It is because of the steadfast dedication of these educators that Madeira is a place of happiness, joy, warmth, learning, and growth.

I believe that everyone who works in a school, no matter their capacity, is an educator. We know that learning happens at every moment of every day, not just in the traditional classroom setting. So, it is with this in mind that I want to honor all the educators at Madeira who inspire our students to be readers, learners, and leaders. It is because of the steadfast dedication of these educators that Madeira is a place of happiness, joy, warmth, learning, and growth.

FROM THE EDITOR

MADEIRA IS ELEVATING ITS LOOK! With the School building and growing in every way—from our strongest-ever national rankings to the new STEAM Academic Center to our recently released strategic plan—it seems only fitting that we enhance our branding as well.

A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas BY WARREN

BERGER

Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways

BY SARAH STEIN GREENBERG

Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms

BY JOE FELDMAN

The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging BY CHARLES

VOGL

Madeira teachers, coaches, and advisors all design lessons and opportunities that actively engage their students in learning and experiences that require the transfer and application of knowledge and skills, not simply the memorization of Googleable facts. Learning at Madeira is active, and our teachers teach students how to think, not what to think. Madeira educators know that leading innovation in girls’ education means students must be free to discuss, debate, collaborate, question, and make connections in and between their classes. The classrooms, the Oval, and every space on campus are full of joyful learning!

I am deeply grateful to every member of the Madeira community for their support and belief that Launching Women Who Change the World is a critical mission and to our educators who make the “Madeira Magic” happen every day.

We can’t spell “Madeira” without “Made,” and our new website pays homage to the memories Made at Madeira, the friendships, the connections, the impact—all Made at Madeira. In honor of the generations of women shaped by Madeira, and in anticipation of the growth that will be experienced by the graduates to come, we have embraced “Made at Madeira” as the theme for our new website. You may also notice some new typography and colors used throughout the magazine and on our website as we have refreshed our branding. We hope the new look showcases the best of Madeira. As we celebrate all that is “made” at our School, please enjoy this issue of Madeira Today

HEAD OF SCHOOL

Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality BY FORMER MADEIRA

ELISABETH GRIFFITH

And last but not least, the book I read every year to remind me that nothing is impossible: Endurance BY ALFRED

LANSING

Sincerely yours, Gretchen

Warner

KAREN JOOSTEMA

Send comments to kjoostema@madeira.org

Introducing Madeira’s new website!

HIGHLIGHTING OUR DIFFERENTIATORS

Our new site creatively highlights Madeira’s key differentiators, including Co-Curriculum and the Mod Schedule, to uniquely engage prospective families.

SOCIAL POSTS FEED DIRECTLY

Through a newly developed hashtag strategy, you will see Madeira’s story unfold in real time, with social media feeds strategically linked into the site. The site also provides current families and alumnae with quick access to a single source of important resources and information.

Come take a tour of the new site, and enjoy all that is “ MADE at MADEIRA ”

WWW.MADEIRA.ORG

PREPARED & LAUNCHED :

Class of 2022 College Destinations

The 80 students in the Class of 2022 were accepted to 178 colleges or universities and enrolled at 61 different destinations. More than half of the class report receiving merit scholarships from 53 different schools. This impressive group of Madeira graduates is prepared to be confident contributors to their college communities. We can’t wait to see how they enrich their schools and the world.

Festina Lente, Class of 2022!

Madeira’s Strategic Plan

2022–2027

Exceptional Learning

Our five-year effort to maintain Madeira’s place as one of the most innovative schools for girls is built on four important pillars.

Equity & Community

Exceptional Learning

Expand and ignite Madeira’s academic excellence and programmatic relevance to fully engage students while preparing them for the ever-evolving future.

→ Develop a Portrait of a Madeira Graduate, outlining and defining the skills each Madeira student will possess upon graduation.

Innovative Professionals

Enduring Sustainability

→ Develop an ongoing, systematic curricular review to promote academic excellence and innovation.

→ Assess the Co-Curriculum and equestrian programs for opportunities to expand and enrich the student experience.

→ Evaluate the School’s use of physical spaces and the schedule to meet its mission and reach its vision.

Equity & Community

Explore and expand immersive experiences that transcend boarding and day that are centered in equity, leverage educational disruptions, and foster a joyful culture where every community member feels valued and connected and thrives.

Innovative Professionals

Recruit, support, and retain a diverse group of innovative and highly effective educators who model a love of learning and an ongoing commitment to professional growth.

→ Investigate, determine, and articulate the pedagogical and intellectual value of residential learning, how it is aligned with Madeira’s mission and vision, and whether Madeira can actualize this learning for every student.

→ Increase Madeira’s investment in supporting a diverse, inclusive, and equitable learning community

→ Create, implement, and maintain research-based programs that promote wellness and are rooted in purposeful relationships.

→ Provide significant ongoing professional development to ensure the most up-to-date teaching and learning environment and promote a deeper understanding of Madeira’s diverse student body.

→ Offer enticing, best-in-class compensation and benefits packages and retention incentives in support of the School’s mission

→ Explore ways to foster and enhance an individual and collective sense of belonging in a community that promotes professional growth and retention.

Enduring Sustainability

Identify and prioritize Madeira’s needs for the future: boldly explore and initiate new models of financial sustainability, invest in the people and environmental resources of the School, and develop a culture of lifelong philanthropy.

FINANCES

→ Create a five-year financial plan that focuses on funding the goals of the Strategic Plan.

→ Explore and evaluate economic models for the School considering sustainability and furthering the mission and vision of Madeira.

→ Establish an innovation fund that provides institutional flexibility and directs the School to invest in the people and programs that move the mission and vision forward.

ENVIRONMENTAL & LAND STEWARDSHIP

→ Investigate and implement practical opportunities to promote the School’s natural resources in environmentally sustainable ways to enhance Madeira’s learning community, campus, and operations.

→ Prioritize needs for renovation and new construction to support the School’s dynamic program.

CONSTITUENT RELATIONS & PHILANTHROPY

→ Steward relationships with Madeira constituents in effective and appropriate ways, rooted in support and love of the School and its mission.

→ Articulate and teach the importance of philanthropy to develop powerful women leaders.

Another Strong Admissions Year!

113 new students hail from 14 different states including CA, DC, FL, GA, IL, LA, MD, ME, NJ, NY, PA, TX, VA, and WV.

N ew students represent 18 countries by residency or nationality: Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominica, France, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vietnam, and the United States.

14% of our new students are International (defined by NAIS to be non-US citizens).

46% of our new students are people of color.

NEW STUDENTS: FUN FACTS

A Nationally Ranked Pentathlete modernCanyounameallfivedisciplinesin pentathlon?

Acheerchampion whohadasoloinPhiladelphia’s ThanksgivingDayParade

A student who theinterviewed Obamasreporterfor Scholastic Kids Press

A student who cofoundedanonprofitthat reduces electronicwasteandprovidesdevices to low-income students

A student who built a robotthathelpsinpeoplewithdisabilitiesspeak their own voice

Ambitious academics.

Joy-filled community.

At Madeira, you’ll find both.

How is Madeira perceived in the marketplace? What is special about our community? What attributes are unique to Madeira? To answer these questions and gain insight into Madeira’s place within the competitive independent school market, in 2021 we engaged Kalix Marketing Group, an independent research firm.

Kalix’s findings? Madeira enjoys a unique position as a place where students experience both an ambitious academic program & a supportive, joy-filled community.

The Madeira School is an innovative boarding and day school that educates girls in grades 9 –12. The scenic 376 -acre campus overlooks the Potomac River, just 10 miles from DC. Girls gain confidence, courage, and real-world experience so they can thrive in an ever- evolving future. Our ambitious academic program and nationally recognized Co-Curriculum experience promote a joyful journey of self-discovery, challenge, and balance in an immersive, collaborative community

A happy place

TYPICALLY, A SCHOOL IS KNOWN FOR RIGOROUS ACADEMICS OR A HAPPY, SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY. MADEIRA ENJOYS THE RARE POSITION AS A SCHOOL WITH BOTH STRONG ACADEMICS AND A WONDERFUL COMMUNITY.

Donna Balinkie, Kalix Marketing Strategy Lead

Independent market research identifies Madeira’s unique positioning

Kalix’s research included 94 in-depth, one-on-one telephone interviews among prospective families, accepted families that chose not to enroll, current families, feeder school leaders, and education consultants.

“Madeira has an enviable reputation,” notes Donna Balinkie, Kalix Marketing Strategy Lead. “Typically, a school is known for rigorous academics OR a happy, supportive community. Madeira enjoys the rare position as a school with BOTH strong academics AND a wonderful community.”

Balinkie continues, “Along with the DC location and its ‘happy campus’ atmosphere, the Mod schedule reinforces Madeira’s unique reputation for creating a school known for high academics while balancing the level of stress and pressure so often found in other top academic schools.”

Lifestyle factors growing in importance for school selection

While academics is still the #1 criteria for families in choosing a school, there have been some shifts since the pandemic. “Lifestyle and personal characteristics, such as overall fit, a welcoming community, personalized attention, and sense of community, are more important than ever and high on the decision-making list,” according to Balinkie. “Madeira is ideally positioned to appeal to families seeking both a rigorous program and a warm and welcoming environment.”

Madeira students concurred on the welcoming sense they feel from our supportive community. “Madeira is more than a beautiful campus and great classes. It’s that feeling of welcome and support, knowing your community has your back,” shares Keenan Parker ’20.

So how does Madeira achieve this unique combination?

Miss Madeira’s values are the core

Part of the answer ties back to the foundation set by Miss Madeira in 1906 with her belief that it is our duty and privilege to help young women understand their changing world and to have the confidence to live lives of their own making, to find their passions, and to achieve their dreams.

A key piece of Miss Madeira’s vision was the idea of every girl achieving her “personal best.” To this day, Madeira has maintained the tradition of embracing the accomplishments of each student without ranking or awarding honors to individuals. Within this environment, students lift each other up and celebrate the achievements of their peers.

Guiding each student to achieve her personal best involves both individualized support and formal programming.

MADEIRA’S “ELEVATOR PITCH” BASED UPON KALIX’S RESEARCH

Building community

MADEIRA DEVELOPS INTELLIGENT, EMPOWERED, RESPECTFUL, SELFCONFIDENT WOMEN. Prospective Parent, Kalix Study

Advisory groups cultivate sense of belonging

A foundational element of a student’s development at Madeira is the advisory program. The one-on-one relationships between students and teachers that are so vital to the Madeira education are often formed during advising time. Girls meet with their advisory groups most days, and the groups provide a time for camaraderie, discussion, relaxation, and reflection.

Student Life curriculum promotes community building & self-discovery

Our Student Life program is one of the first steps all 9th graders take when transitioning to life on campus.

The Student Life course focuses on knowledge and skills Madeira students will need as community members and into their future. The course is an opportunity for our newest students to better understand themselves and their community. The curriculum is designed around Madeira’s community values and engages students in examining who they are as individuals, how they influence and are influenced by others, and how they can care for themselves, while cultivating healthy and inclusive communities.

This inquiry- and project-based course is taught by Madeira educators from various departments, giving students the opportunity to learn from community members not typically found in the classroom and benefit from their unique, professional perspectives.

100+ student groups enhance connections and develop leadership skills

Beyond the formal Student Life curriculum, Madeira helps students forge deep connections, find their voices, and boldly use them. From affinity groups, where students connect with peers and adults with whom they share a common identifier, to clubs, activities, and sports teams, Madeira has more than 100 groups for students to join.

They learn not only to join, but also how to become a leader. Beginning in 9th grade, all students participate in one of their grade’s committees and contribute to an initiative within their class. As they move through the grade levels, they build upon their leadership skills to become club presidents, sports captains, and student government leaders, collaborating with adults to set policies and programming for their peers.

Restorative Practices in action

Restorative practices contribute to a supportive community. A major tool of Restorative Practices is the use of “circles.” Sitting in circles, whether in class, in dorm meetings, or other spaces where groups within the larger community are gathering, helps to create community because it puts everyone at the same level, and everyone can clearly see each other—no one can hide in the circle. Students generally express being uncomfortable initially in circles because they feel vulnerable, but by the end of a circle, they feel more seen, heard, and connected. We also use circles to restore relationships when a fracture has occurred.

Dean of Student Life and Culture

Kelli Perkins shares, “A restorative circle is a facilitated, structured conversation that allows those who have caused a fission and those who have been negatively impacted to fully hear each other’s perspective, the impact the incident had on them, and what needs to happen for things to be made right.”

Cultivating belonging

The overall warmth of the community is palpable to anyone on campus. A prospective parent shared in the Kalix study the special feeling her family experienced when they visited campus, “Madeira has such a welcoming atmosphere with an overall sense of happiness among the students.”

Assessing our progress

At Madeira, we don’t just talk about building community, we assess how we are doing. Twice a year, Madeira administers a student Social-Emotional Learning survey designed by Panorama Education to help measure student competency and well-being in categories such as growth mindset, social awareness, and supportive relationships.

Every day, our students are immersed in a diverse learning community; 91% of students report that they regularly listen to and consider viewpoints that are different from their own and 88% said they demonstrated empathy when engaging with their peers. This is a key strength of our community, in that our students are willing to acknowledge that their individual perspective does not always reflect the experiences of their classmates.

Supportive community

The immersive nature of our community also builds strong connections amongst its members; at the time of the survey, 82% of our students said they had complimented a peer achievement sometime in the last month. Liv ing and learning together, coupled with Miss Madeira’s emphasis on pursuing everyone’s “personal best” creates this kind of supportive environment for our students.

Our students’ consideration for one another contributes to their sense of belonging on campus. This in turn makes it easier for them to build relationships and have a joyful experience; 89% of our students said that they have a friend from school who they can count on, while 93% reported that they have a friend from school with whom they can be authentically themselves.

Our goal is for each student to have a trusted adult at school; 77% of students report they have an adult on campus that they can count on and 71% report they have an adult they can be authentically themselves around.

MADEIRA HAS SUCH A WELCOMING ATMOSPHERE WITH AN OVERALL SENSE OF HAPPINESS AMONG THE STUDENTS. Prospective Parent, Kalix Study

High academic expectations

How does Madeira build its strong academic program?

First, we admit students who value learning and are eager to learn in community. We put time and energy into intentionally building a supportive and rigorous (rather than competitive and rigorous) learning community, from the language we use to the activities we ask students to engage in.

Today’s ambitious academic program provides challenge, allowing our students to build critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills.

Mod schedule promotes deep learning within a balanced day

At Madeira, we reimagined the school day to allow students to fully engage in learning. Our innovative Mod schedule focuses on three classes a day. With fewer places to go, fewer bells ringing, more time in individual learning spaces, and less running around, students have more time for deep, ro bust learning.

Personalized for challenge & passion

Each student’s schedule is personalized to integrate her passions and support the right combination of classes that are an exciting but manageable challenge. The Mods give students the chance to explore subjects and topics they are curious about, as well as choice and agency in their core classes. Madeira students are not only excited about their schoolwork, but also rise to its challenges.

“Our daughter has a better grasp of the subject with less stress,” adds a current parent interviewed as part of the Kalix interviews, “and she enjoys learning more.”

Built-in refresh

To support the learning process, our Mod schedule intentionally provides a refresh. For us, this refresh happens every five weeks as we begin a new Mod. “The Mod schedule is great because I get to experience different teachers and teaching styles, and the start of each new Mod feels like a clean slate. It’s also less stressful because I’m focusing on three classes at a time,” says Nidhi Gumpella ’23. Madeira is recognized by families and peer schools alike as delivering on the promise of a balanced, joyful experience of deep learning.

A secondary school placement counselor, who was interviewed by Kalix as part of the brand perception study, noted, “Madeira students are set up for success, pushed to do their best. And their Mod program allows Madeira girls to achieve this success under a less stressful schedule.”

Co-Curriculum internships build confidence & promote self-discovery

We offer a diverse array of opportunities to learn in different environments, and our signature Co-Curriculum internship program helps our students gain real-world experience. As they engage in their internships, students learn skills that only on-the-job training can teach, and the experience instills confidence as our students make their way in the world.

For students who crave hands-on experiences, Co-Curriculum is a program that plays to their strengths. According to Sage Wheeler ’83, “The Co-Curriculum program was one of the best things about my Madeira education. I am not an academic, but put me in the real world of work, and I thrive.”

THE MOD SCHEDULE IS GREAT BECAUSE I GET TO EXPERIENCE DIFFERENT TEACHERS AND TEACHING STYLES, AND THE START OF EACH NEW MOD FEELS LIKE A CLEAN SLATE.

Nidhi Gumpella ’23

A peek into our classes

Citizen Science class analyzes local water and soil

The CITIZEN SCIENCE course asks students to take their learning outside the classroom. In Mod 2, they ventured out into the field and worked with Virginia Save Our Streams, a local organization dedicated to monitoring the quality of local streams and creeks. As the largest watershed in Fairfax County, Madeira’s 376-acre campus provides a plethora of opportunity and Difficult Run is an exciting field site. Our students’ testing gives an idea of the water quality of numerous waterways and soils in the county.

With visiting scientist Doreen Peters, students identified 374 macroinvertebrates and collaborated to determine whether this area of Difficult Run meets the qualifications for acceptable water. The stream scored 9 on a scale of 0–12, putting it in the “acceptable” range for quality. (If they had found just one more riffle beetle, it would have scored a 10!) The students submitted their data to the Virginia Save Our Streams database, which will then be available to policymakers to use in accordance with the Clean Water Act.

Exploring the world with museum exhibits

The COMPARATIVE GLOBAL STUDIES I course invites 9th graders to learn about early civilizations, focusing on regional interactions and the origins of cultural foundations. This skills-intensive course invites students to think deeply about the different historical categories—social, political, interactions between humans and the environment, culture, and economic (“SPICE ”) themes.

The Museum Exhibit final assessment project asks students to collaborate in selecting three artifacts that illustrate what is unique and important about a region of their choosing. The artifacts must fit one of the “SPICE ” themes and give their audience an introduction to ancient civilization. Recent exhibits include transportation and navigation on the Sea Roads, architecture in Northern Africa, and cultural exchange in the Indian Ocean.

Promoting wellness

Community support

The health and wellness of every student is a top priority at Madeira. Throughout the year, our wellness team provides opportunities to raise awareness of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social health issues as well as activities to practice self-care, gratitude, and mindfulness. As a community, we celebrate “Kindness Week” during which students and adults write notes of appreciation and affirmation to each other. The wellness team also facilitates fun activities around campus, such as “sidewalk snacks,” a walking challenge, and “puppy playtime,” to encourage students to take a break, relax, and engage in healthy coping strategies.

Campus enhances wellness

Our scenic campus and close-knit community also facilitate joyful oncampus experiences and encourage students to build strong connections with their classmates and teachers. The natural wonders of our 376 acres complement our ambitious academic program. From physical adventures and challenge courses to restorative walks and peaceful views, Madeira’s campus supports wellness.

Wellness Education

TO PICS INCLUDE:

• MINDFULNESS & THE BRAIN

• HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

• THE POWER OF SLEEP

• PERSONALITY TYPE & IDENTITY

• STRESS MANAGEMENT/ RELAXATION

Madeira magic

I AM INSPIRED BY THE POSSIBILITIES FOR THIS NEW PROGRAM TO LINK MADEIRA’S NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED CO-CURRICULUM PROGRAM, THE EQUESTRIAN PROGRAM, AND GREENWAY’S PHYSICAL LAND AND ENVIRONMENT IN A COURSE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO TEACH MADEIRA’S CORE VALUES.

GRETCHEN WARNER

Future 9th grade Co-Curriculum Program

GOAL: TEACHING THE SCHOOL’S CORE VALUES THROUGH OUR EQUESTRIAN FACILITIES

Awareness: concern about and wellinformed interest

Compassion: the feeling you get when you are confronted with another’s suffering, and you feel motivated to relieve the suffering

Creativity: use of imagination and original ideas

Intellectual Curiosity: strong desire to know or learn that leads to acquisition of knowledge

Integrity: gracious & collegial, honest, trustworthy, respectful, hardworking, helpful

Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and being comfortable with ambiguity

What’s next?

As Madeira looks to the future, our new Strategic Plan calls for the School to expand upon the success of the Co-Curriculum program. One way we are looking to expand the program and leverage our unique campus is by designing a new 9th grade course that will be taught through enhanced equestrian facilities. The goal of this new 9th grade Co-Curriculum program is to build upon the big ideas and essential questions already taught in Student Life and bring in leadership training and skill development.

Gretchen Warner commented, “I am inspired by the possibilities for this new program to link Madeira’s nationally recognized Co-Curriculum program, the equestrian program, and Greenway’s physical land and environment in a course specifically designed to teach Madeira’s core values.”

Prepared and thriving

Miss Madeira’s mission is just as relevant today as it was in the early 1900s, and while much has changed, our purpose remains the same: inspire young women to gain confidence, courage, and real-world experience so that they can thrive in an ever-evolving future.

The magic of Madeira was summed up by a current parent as part of the Kalix interviews.

“Madeira is the perfect combination of a challenging academic program, supportive and ac cessible teachers, and a magnificent campus.”   Madeira is in a strong position. Students enjoy the unique experience of a joy-filled community that learns together in an ambitious academic program, supporting each other as they change the world.

ATHLETICS

Madeira Athletics:

Madeira Athletics has partnered with Under Armour through BSN Sports, naming the global performance brand as the official outfitter of our athletics teams in their exclusive “Women of Will” campaign. This partnership arrived at an important time given the recent investment in Madeira Athletics. As the player experience is being enhanced, facilities are upgraded, and staffing is added, Madeira’s program synergistically fits with Under Armour’s strategic endeavors, particularly the Women of Will campaign.

Women of Will extends beyond apparel and sponsorship— their mission is to change lives and inspire the next generation of women to strive for greatness. Paired with Madeira’s mission of launching women who change the world, we have an incredible opportunity to further elevate the experience of our student-athletes and coaches.

“At a time when the world increasingly needs the voice, contributions, and leadership of young women, it’s exciting for Madeira Athletics to have a global partner to reinforce Madeira’s emphasis on confidence, community, and resilience,” noted Head of School Gretchen Warner.

ELEVATED PRESENCE ON AND OFF CAMPUS

The partnership has elevated the presence of Madeira Athletics on and off campus. During the inaugural year of Women of Will at Madeira, the Athletics Department spearheaded a uniform redesign and implemented seasonal Women of Will “WOW” Days, which brought the community together to celebrate and cheer on our student-athletes.

A trip to the Under Armour store in the local Tysons Corner Mall featured Madeira uniforms displayed in the store, with the Madeira basketball logo on the big screens, and gave our athletes an exclusive shopping experience.

MADEIRA ATHLETIC DIRECTORS INDUCTED INTO WOMEN OF WILL HALL OF FAME

The exclusive Women of Will 2021 Athletic Directors

Hall of Fame award was given to only six athletic directors in the country—and Madeira accounts for three of those! Congratulations to Athletic Director Tavis Laws and Assistant Directors Ka’Shauna Cook and Elle O’Brien who were inducted last spring.

In addition, Madeira’s social media presence as featured by BSN Sports and BSN Sports Women has created exposure for Madeira and the Athletics Department.

“We’re excited to give our girls the opportunity to join a platform that exclusively serves female athletes,” said Athletic Director Tavis Laws, “and where the goal is to elevate women in sports.”

The partnership includes opportunities for students to excel and grow. From leadership development programs to professional development for coaches, Under Armour seeks to create a healthy and unique student-athlete experience. An additional benefit is the annual Under Armour Women of Will award, which is presented each spring to a student who excels in athletics, academics, sportsmanship, leadership, and community service, and demonstrates the values of Women of Will by surmounting any obstacle, mental or physical, that she may face. Madeira’s inaugural winner was Kayla Smith ’25, a freshman three-season varsity athlete.

EXPOSURE TO WORLD-CLASS FEMALE ATHLETES

Through the partnership, students will have access to Under Armour collegiate and professional athletes, such as Kelley O’Hara, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist, who knows what it takes to push through the barriers and obstacles that they face every day. Doing so reinforces Madeira’s “personal best” philosophy that extends beyond the classroom.

This partnership inspires the athletic spirit. It recognizes those who put in the work, those who aim high, and those who rewrite expectations. Women of Will embodies what it means to launch women who change the world.

Under Armour “Women of Will” partnership

An Under Armour store featured Madeira uniforms displayed in the store, with the Madeira basketball logo on the big screens, and gave our athletes an exclusive shopping experience.

Kayla Smith ’25, wins the inaugural annual Under Armour Women of Will award

LEFT: Madeira uniforms on display at local Under Armour store

FULL STEAM AHEAD

NEW STEAM ACADEMIC CENTER CONSTRUCTION ON TRACK FOR FALL 2023

Our future is building! Literally and figuratively. Madeira’s new STEAM Academic Center is progressing on time and on budget. And new program possibilities are being constructed along with it.

FORWARD-THINKING PROCUREMENT

Completing any construction project during this time of supply chain issues, raw material shortages, and long lead times is difficult. Madeira has been fortunate to stay ahead of these challenges through early design-build involvement. We partnered with Coakley & Williams Construction during the design stage of our project and were able to leverage that partnership to our advantage in getting ahead of material and labor challenges.

For example, in July 2021 we began early procurement of long lead time items, such as our structural steel, roofing, mechanical units, and elevators. Some of these items had lead times as long as 30 weeks. We made early buys on a significant amount of our materials, which not only ensured we were able to get our materials on time even with long lead times, but also helped us get favorable pricing in the rising materials market. Similarly, we locked in our subcontractors early on in the design process.

WHAT IS DESIGN-BUILD?

Rather than work with multiple parties (i.e. architect, engineers, construction team) throughout the planning and construction process, “Design-Build” is an efficient method of project delivery where the owner manages a single contract with a single point of contact to provide design and construction services. The construction partner can acheive greater efficiency by assuming the responsibility and risk of delivering the project.

As foundations have been poured and steel structures erected, we have simultaneously been evaluating and evolving the curriculum to leverage the tools presented within the new building. Dean of Teaching and Learning Lucy Pollard shares, “We are in the process of reviewing our Math and Science courses to ensure they are aligned with our mission and prepare students for careers in the STEAM fields.”

This process will take about a year and has been divided into two steps. In step one, the math and science departments are developing “end goals” by answering the questions:

1. What skills and knowledge should a math/science student possess when she leaves Madeira?

2. What practices should a math/science teacher use when teaching to best equip students with said skills and knowledge?

Ms. Pollard continues, “To answer these questions, we are creating a portrait of a math/science graduate and a math/science teacher. The second step involves backward planning to determine what courses to teach, what order to teach them, and how to teach those courses to fulfill our portraits.”

CONSTRUCTION LESSONS IN THE CLASSROOM

At Madeira, every opportunity is a teaching moment, and we love to bring the real-world into our classrooms. Our Coakley & Williams Construction partners have helped us do just that. They have joined our classes to share what it takes to design and build a building. Bridgett Redding, the assistant project manager for Coakley, enthusiastically shared her expertise with Madeira students and summer campers. As construction was beginning, Ms. Redding shared the process with the Architecture class at Girls First summer camp. Once the school year began, she shared Engineering lessons with our science students.

“I am so excited for the curriculur enhancements the new STEAM Academic Center will help facilitate!”

LUCY POLLARD , DEAN OF TEACHING & LEARNING

STEAM PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

STEEL FRAME ERECTED

steam ahead progress

INTERIOR SPACES FRAMED

SLABS POURED FOR ROOF

CONCRETE PUMPED IN FOR FOUNDATION AND WALLS

FOUNDATION DUG AND POURED

ELEVATOR SHAFTS AND STAIRWELLS INSTALLED

PROGRESS AS OF JANUARY 5, 2023

Marine Ecology Class Field Research in Chincoteague

Ms. Saville-Andree, a science teacher at Madeira, is full of forward-thinking ideas on how to make her classes unique. One of her contributions this year was the design of a brand-new elective, Marine Ecology.

When designing this course, it was a natural fit to include a field trip to Chincoteague Field Station because Ms. Saville-Andree had spent significant time there herself, including as a high school student. “My experience at Chincoteague helped me select a university, because the whole program is run by a consortium of universities.”

Ms. Saville-Andree returned several times during college and worked at the organization on a NASA grant conducting plankton research. She wanted her students to get the same hands-on experiences that she got because it’s such an excellent way to learn and appreciate science.

Generously funded by the Helen and Don Edwards Innovative Technology Fund, the three-day trip was deliberately planned to maximize student immersion.

MADEIRA SCIENCE STUDENTS GOT SOME AMAZING HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE FOR MARINE ECOLOGY DURING A 3-DAY IMMERSIVE STUDY.

THE FIRST DAY was full of searching for and identifying organisms. The students visited the intertidal zone, where they studied the zonation along the coastline and the specific adaptations of organisms that live in that environment. The students caught gooseberries, a type of ctenophore, which are jellyfish-like creatures. They also used a sieve box to pick up mud and sediment to study what kind of organisms live underneath. They found many snails and worms.

After the visit to the intertidal zone, the group went on a boat trip, where they took water samples to test pH levels and nutrients. They also used a large trawl net to deploy along the tidal creek to see what kind of creatures live there. They found fish, crabs, sponges, mantis shrimp, and puffer fish.

Following the boat trip, the students participated in an organism lab. They assembled everything they caught and placed the invertebrates in finger bows. The students were tasked with grouping the organisms based upon common characteristics.

THE SECOND DAY started with visiting the marsh and studying wetland ecology. Students learned about what defines a wetland, the importance of wetlands ecologically, and all about marshes. They got dirty by playing around in the marsh mud. One of the characteristics of a marsh is the anoxic soil, which exfoliates and removes toxins from the skin, so the students got to experience mud facials!

After the marsh fun, they went kayaking at Cypress Swamp, which is a freshwater ecosystem, where the group got to see the swamp wetland ecosystem. They spotted turtles during their paddle.

Day 3

ON THE FINAL DAY of the field trip, they went to Wallops Island. One of the features of Wallops Island is a completely undeveloped beach, which shows off all the stages of dune succession. They built dunes and then stomped on them because the group had to learn how dunes are held into place.

Immersive experiences invaluable to student growth

Science is often at its best when students not only hear about the subject but also are able to experience it. To be able to see firsthand what they’re learning about is invaluable and such an amazing resource. Immersive experiences, such as Ms. Saville-Andree’s Chincoteague Bay Field Station field research, support Madeira’s academic goal of combining real-world experiences with classroom learning.

“I had an amazing time on the field trip for Marine Ecology.

My favorite part was seeing and studying the dune succession.

To be able to see for myself how dunes are held together was amazing.” Sydney M. ’23

“My favorite part of the Chincoteague trip was seeing the wetlands in person, which gave me a better understading of just how important wetlands are to the wider environment.”

Lexi D. ’23

ARTS

After two long years of COVID-restricted performances and lessons, the Madeira Arts Department is thrilled to have brought live music back to the stage and classroom in both Glee and Chamber Orchestra. We have been able to fill the auditorium once again with our community to share music at multiple arts showcases including Winterfest, Winter Musical, Orchestra Assembly, and Springfest. Our two new directors, Jerien OkohTisch (Director of Choral Music) and Jason Oestenstad (Director of Chamber Orchestra), are excited to share their passion and vision with the School.

Jason

Director of Chamber Orchestra

REBUILDING THE MUSIC CLASSROOM

In both the Glee and Chamber Orchestra classrooms, students collaborated on making music and filling the auditorium with sound several evenings a week. Being in person allows the students to rebuild their performance skills and retrain their ears to harmonize and keep time with each other.

And while being in person is best for live music learning, both Ms. Okoh-Tisch and Mr. Oestenstad still employ techniques and tools from pandemic teaching in their classes to keep curriculum innovative and current.

In Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Oestenstad will be introducing a music technology module that allows students to create, record, and mix their own tracks as they learn about different styles and genres of music. In Glee, the students still rely on platforms like Flipgrid and WeVideo to receive individualized feedback from Ms. Okoh-Tisch, which she has found to be immensely helpful in assisting each student to hone their vocal strengths and contributions to the group.

THE FUTURE OF MUSIC AT MADEIRA

With two new directors, the music programs at Madeira are poised to grow and challenge our students to become stronger musicians, singers, and performers. In Glee, Ms. Okoh-Tisch is working to develop an engaging music theory curriculum to fit the Modular schedule as well as a musical theatre course for our passionate thespians. Additionally, both Chamber Orchestra and Glee have plans to collaborate and create multi-discipline performances with dance, theatre, and visual arts. This year's annual orchestra assembly will transform into a music celebration that showcases our talented performers across both programs and even highlights some of the winter musical music.

In the arts department we aim to take a “sky’s the limit” approach to developing programs and are excited to innovate and create. Mr. Oestenstad sums it up best, “Our program gives girls opportunities to become creators, innovators, and leaders within the arts, and our faculty is dedicated to helping them get there. Arts at Madeira is a wonderful, safe, and inclusive space for girls to explore different mediums of artistic expression.”

Oestenstad

Jerien Okoh-Tisch Director of Choral Music

CORNER

Internship Insights

Our signature program continues to provide all Madeira students with amazing internships and valuable experience in the working world. Some of our recent interns share their stories about learning pragmatic, real-world skills and participating in fascinating research.

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY CANCER CENTER—LAB RESEARCH

Saanvi P. ’ 23 (above)

“I interned at The George Washington University Cancer Center in Washington, DC, specifically in The Zheng Lab, primarily researching the identification of target genes regulated by the Hedgehog signaling pathway. I’ve been able to observe and perform exciting lab techniques, such as plasmid purification, PCR, cryosection, cloning, and gel electrophoresis, and learn how to analyze data. From this internship, I realized the large impact cancer research makes in academia and society.

The critical thinking and observational skills I’ve learned as a Madeira student both inside and outside the classroom have helped enhance my experience at GW Cancer Center. I’ve uncovered more about myself by putting these skills into practice. This internship has highlighted my desire to seek out and understand new knowledge as well as my workplace flexibility. Because of this internship, I was able to see myself in a difficult but interesting career in medical research. As someone who wants to work in healthcare in the future, I am now not only interested in clinical care, but also the research aspect of this field.”

BON SECOURS SOUTHSIDE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Kaden B. ’ 23

“I have always been passionate about becoming a doctor, so during my senior year Co-Curriculum internship, I shadowed the Chair of OB/GYN at Bon Secours Southside Regional Medical Center, Dr. Daphne P. Bazile. My experience was incredible. I was hesitant before I started the internship because I was unsure about the tasks I would be doing. However, the shadowing experience affirmed my passion for pursuing the medical field. One of the most exciting experiences I had was the opportunity to see an open surgery called an abdominal myomectomy. The procedure involves the doctor making an incision in the patient’s lower abdomen and removing any fibroids along the uterus wall. Being able to watch the surgery felt so unreal. It made me realize a doctors’ importance in someone’s life.

Madeira’s classes helped me realize the importance of asking questions to understand what was happening around me as I shadowed. At first, I was hesitant to ask questions. However, over time, I became more comfortable and started to ask questions to understand the doctor’s tasks and the complex medical terminology that she and the other medical professionals used. In addition, it takes patience and passion to be skilled in the medical profession. By shadowing Dr. Bazile, I developed these two capacities and will continue to develop them throughout my life.”

SENATOR TIM KAINE’S OFFICE (VA)

Jacqueline G. ’24

“For my junior year Co-Curriculum placement, I interned with Senator Kaine’s office. From bringing American flags to the mail room to ship to constituents, to diligently taking notes on the importance of South American trade for the Senator to reference later, I was fortunate to be able to tackle a variety of tasks.

One of the memorable moments of my internship was the Senator’s celebration of his 10 years as a senator. I worked the event, ensuring that it went smoothly. I even had a chance to chat with him during the setup. He asked about Madeira, my experience as an intern, and my future plans. At the end of the event, as I was leaving, Senator Kaine was playing his harmonica on stage. He took a moment to wave to me, which meant so much. Everyone in his office, even a high school intern like me, has importance.

At Madeira, I have learned to speak up and say what I think in class, which has helped me immensely on The Hill. In the workplace, you need to advocate for yourself. Being surrounded by adults has made this experience a real learning opportunity. The adults treated me as their colleague and treated me with enough respect to expect me to make decisions. This is a high standard for a 16-year-old but also great realworld practice. This experience has taught me a lot about what it means to be in the workforce and how Congress functions. There are so many individuals and small nuances that people do not normally think about. Thanks to Co-Curriculum, I got to be part of the behindthe-scenes efforts and I absolutely loved it.”

CONGRESSWOMAN VERONICA ESCOBAR

Emily R. ’ 24

CONGRESSWOMAN NIKEMA WILLIAMS

Larissa B-F. ’ 24

Emily and Larissa were each invited to the Hispanic Heritage Month Reception, hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association. They had a tremendous experience meeting and networking with a wide swath of congressional employees who identify as Latine.

Larissa: “Being at the event at only 16 years old with so many incredible people was one of my life’s most humbling and gratifying moments. I had never felt so complete and motivated. That night showed me how lucky I have been to reach such an opportunity at a young age and the importance of perseverance so I can be one of those people. As a first-generation Latina-American, I will always carry the significance of being the first in my family, and possibly the first Latina in the room. Everywhere I go, I bring my family’s stories and trials. I will never forget the reception because of its importance in breaking boundaries and amplifying our voices.”

Emily: “The event meant so much to me as I was able to connect with people who have experienced what being a Latine and/or Hispanic person on The Hill and in politics is like. I was able to connect with so many individuals who have similar interests as me. I’ll never forget all the support I felt from everyone in that room; everyone was there to meet others and share advice. It was incredibly empowering and there was no better way to celebrate Latine and Hispanic Heritage Month!”

class notes

1947

Joyce Kelley Constantine 9707 Old Georgetown Road, Unit 1307 Bethesda, MD 20814 constantinejoyce39@yahoo.com

I would love to hear from you!

1948

75TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1949

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1950

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1951

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1952

Jane Richards Roth 4845 V Street NW Washington, DC 20007-1510 Judge_Jane_Roth@ca3.uscourts.gov

I would love to hear from you!

1953

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent, please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1954

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent, please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1955

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1956

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1957

Kay McElvain Harvey 751 Camino Pinones Sante Fe, NM 87505-7525 Kayh777@icloud.com

I would love to hear from you!

1958

65TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Leslie Meek Fitch 3930 Georgetown Ct. NW Washington, DC 20007-2127 lmwileman@comcast.net

Our column is brief this time—seriously!—it’s mostly “self-created” from various tidbits due to fewer classmates having sent in news (tsk, tsk!), plus yours truly having returned the week of this column’s deadline from the better part of a month in New England, just in time for long awaited—over an entire rainy summer!—roof replacement while simultaneously being glued to tv coverage of the Queen’s sad death and funeral. The latter was a true rite of passage for many who remember Elizabeth II over both our entire lives and her long reign. History! Thinking of Miss Rex! In a class-wide email last spring ’58 classmates had an opportunity to learn of Madeira’s April 2022 reunion weekend groundbreaking for the new STEAM building at Greenway. But for others who reportedly read everything (!) in Madeira Today, yours truly was able to be there briefly and shared fun conversation with former board members including our own Louise (Weezie)

Stillman Lehrman. Also, Louise Holland Peterson ’75, Holland Williams ’83 as well as board chair Gaither Smoot Deaton ’88 and former heads of school Betsy Griffith and Pilar Cabeza de Vaca—some of our longtime favorite friends exhibiting a sense of camaraderie and continuity we know all classes value and appreciate. Caitlyn Goodman ’07 Major Gifts Officer in the new Advancement office headed by Emily Kasof, is a great help. So is Susan Hanifin in that office, as are Katie Kernich and Whitney Mitchell, of the Alumnae and Parent Relations section of the same office, the one we used to know as only “Alumnae Office”—evidence that Madeira is modernizing and actively engaging in the future. Remember, Miss Maynard always said the sign of an intelligent person is the ability to cope with change—so stay on your toes and tuned in for updates! And don’t forget to check for school news on the website: madeira.org. Eleanor McGowin Adams annual announcement of a favorite cause, the Waterford Concert Series for 2022–23, arrived in time to remind of approaching fall weather along with great classical music for nearby VA, DC, and MD residents. For those in the area, it’s a special treat to make a short trip to Waterford, VA, plus one gets to see Eleanor! In July, Marcia McGhee Carter was prominently featured in the “Georgetown” weekly newspaper regarding a “Little Free Library,” a gift of her daughter Cecilia Carter Monahan ’82. For five years the receptacle, a small cupboard on a stand, has been a welcome feature for book lovers. Situated near her and husband Robin Hill’s Georgetown home, it encourages stewardship by inviting neighbors and friends to use the box for picking up and/or dropping off books to be shared with others. Bookworm and specialist that Marcia is and has been after years of former ownership of the Georgetown Booked Up shop—in partnership with renowned author Larry McMurtry— and the erstwhile long-running Vassar Book Sale, it seems a perfect project for them. Other Marcia news is that she had a good visit with Gael Yatsevitch McKibben in Portland and then enjoyed an annual respite with Robin further up the coast of Maine in August. Joan Hulme Perera wrote last summer from her home on the Cape of the sad death of her sister this past summer, for which we

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send her love and condolences. She has also kept in touch regarding Arkady, the husband of one of her daughters, who has relatives in Ukraine. Joan wrote in spring 2022 that he feels helpless as he watches his three cousins and 85-year-old aunt deal with the horrors of war. They live in a part of Ukraine that has not been heavily shelled, but they live in fear all the time. Arkady has been researching organizations that are sending needed items to Ukraine. He’s connected with an outfit in Toronto, and he feels he’s at least doing something. The difficult part is not knowing when, or how, this might end. And as of this writing, of course, we still watch in horror. In October, Linda Clark Waterman emailed the following sad news to our class regarding Marjorie (“Midge”)

Cochran Parsons Johnson: “It is with great sadness that I am writing to you all after learning from Midge’s daughters that she passed away last night (Oct. 18, 2022) from newly reappearing lung cancer which she had successfully fought off in earlier years. She and I had maintained our close friendship ever since they unwisely teamed us up as roommates our sophomore year. We have continued to be “besties” over the years from both distant locations to living at the same time in Santa Fe, where we still caused trouble together every summer, including this past one. I think all of us will miss her and remember her warmth and humor throughout the 67 years that we have known her.” Editorial input from your Correspondent: I’m sure many in the Class of 1958 as well as surrounding classes share in Linda’s

sorrow and send condolences to her adored children—two daughters and son Guy named for his father who as a naval officer went down on the USS Thresher submarine at age 25 in 1963.

Margaret Bodine Wallis spent “two glorious weeks” in Boca Grande last spring and then having had to cancel (another!) trip due to the pandemic, she and Bob spent the summer months as usual in Annisquam, MA— busy and happy with children and grandchildren—and a girlfriend!— constantly in and out. She also proudly reported on grandson Carson having graduated from high school in St. Louis and now being at Tulane studying architecture. Susan Howe Thorn and Bill are also proud grandparents of a graduate—this one from Dartmouth in June 2022. So grandson Ambey is now headed out into the world, starting in Washington, DC! That’s the good news though—the Thorns returned to Cross River in late August from Maine only to succumb to COVID, swiftly eradicating the rationale for having timed their return as they did in the first place. Luckily their cases were mild. Current focus was soon on replacing a very long, lovely driveway and planning Susan’s next trip to Thailand with her sister. Betsy Woodhall Rackley and Charlie are thrilled to have son Edward and family back in Georgetown after several years of living and working in Tunisia. They all had a great time enjoying their North Carolina beach house this past summer. Many thanks to those such as Lynde Sudduth Karin Wendy Whitney Makins, Elizabeth Frazier McCallie Hope Cooke and others for staying in touch, even with just a

quick call, email response or question. Always happifying to know there’s a connection out there! Suzy Moorhead Spencer, Georgia Cox Nelson, and Perre MacFarland Magness chimed in responsively to various emails from this end lauding former headmistress (and honorary class member since our 50th reunion) Betsy Griffith on the publication of her blockbuster book Formidable which traces the history of the struggle for equality by both Black and white women between 1920–2020. How far have we come? Or not? A serious question instigating an entertaining and educational read that’s crammed with fascinating history, facts, opinions, and tidbits. “Who knew?!” is a constant refrain in one’s mind while reading. Betsy has done a masterful job of chronicling a significant part of American women’s history. Your correspondent (new title!) recommends it highly. Last thoughts— please stay in touch more often! Remember Reunion is in April 2023— return to Greenway for our 65th!

1959

Nancy Hale Hoyt

PO Box 832 Lake Wales, FL 33859-0832 863-224-8514 hoyts@sprynet.com

I am writing this over Labor Day weekend from Beech Mountain in NW North Carolina. It is always a joy to catch up with each of you as news is gathered. Quite a few of you expressed a strong desire for Madeira to continue a paper version of the

class notes rather than a virtual version. I will not print all the comments as I prefer happier reports. The important take from all your comments is that you do read our class notes and that you care about your classmates and the school. That is enough incentive for me to keep going, at least as long as you will keep in touch and share your news. As many of us have become more mobile, but still fairly proactive, as COVID restrictions have eased, your news is more varied. Sarah Dickson Silver wrote, “I have spent my COVID time writing the first ever regional guidebook to Pacific Northwest Colleges and Universities. Should be on Amazon now. Publishing through my non-profit, Navigations2College, with the help of a talented local book designer has helped make it a stunning opus. pnwguiden2c.com. Looking forward to seeing Nina’s book. Isn’t it fun to be able to still do things like this? Although I had many moments of doubt throughout the process, holding the preview copy in my hand this week was well worth it.”

When I inquired, Nina Lapsley Alexander replied, “Thanks for your inquiry re my book The Jungle That I Am At this point the best way to get a copy is through me directly at 550 Sypes Canyon Spur, Bozeman, MT 59715. With postage it is $40. I am happy to send it out. To text me, it is 406-579-6650. We have had a pretty great, though super dry and hot, summer here which means there have been no major fires nearby. I have no apple or pear crops for unknown reasons. Wildflowers gave us a banner year. I am feeling the great joy of being close to the land no matter what happens next. The times they are a-changin’!” We all share our sympathy with Ann Funkhouser Strite-Kurz for the loss of her brothers. She shared, “Little news here as we are still being careful about outside exposure. However, we have had two family reunions due to the loss of my two brothers in February. My older brother died at Marco Island but Julie elected to postpone any Celebration of Life until June so that we could have it in CT where Rob’s children and grandchildren live. My younger brother was the one who managed our family farm in WV. Since Randy was so active in the community, we hesitated to attend his large funeral, but we were able to participate virtually, and we will be having a joint Celebration of Life for both brothers over Labor Day. We also had a mini-family reunion in Rehoboth over the 4th with daughter Kathy and Tim and their twin boys (now 17) joining us from Maine along with Julie who stayed on for another week with us in Easton. I chose to

join the kids for the fireworks on the beach and walking in that deep sand aggravated my piriformis muscle, so I ended up in rehab again for a few weeks. However, the same assigned exercises improve balance as well— an unanticipated benefit that all 80-year-olds can use! Water aerobics and swimming have helped too, and I will miss our neighborhood pool when it closes in September. I have resumed teaching after a three-year layoff for our move and COVID, but after a couple of bad experiences with the airlines, I am considering just accepting regional jobs where I can drive and not get stranded! In the meantime, we are content to just enjoy the Eastern Shore and our new surroundings here.” I, Nancy, keep reading that we should be able to stand on one foot for increasing lengths of time as a testimony to our balance and good health. Have any of you been working on that? I would be embarrassed to reveal my results, but hope others of you are more adept. I had a lovely chat with Delphine Oman Roberts reports she is delighted to have her daughter back nearby in the Nashville area. “I attended my elementary school reunion last April back in Nashville and was amazed to realize what a dynamic city it has become! It was fascinating to gather with many folks whom I have not seen since we graduated from eighth grade, wearing brown and white tie shoes, braces and all the other trappings of the day. It took us a few minutes to recognize each other, then it was as if we had never gone our separate ways. Some really amazing individuals, interesting lives spent, all out of a small public school. Makes me even more anxious to gather back with our Madeira reunion in 2024 and our fascinating, interesting and special classmates. I hated missing the last one. Maybe more of you will think of attending in 2024. Martha Reeves shared a different perspective from England. “I don’t have any publishable news but am tottering along with 81 looming. It is an absurd number. How did we ever get this far?! Things in the UK are in a muddle and of course the tragedy of Ukraine looms large. We have several Ukrainian refugees at church now and there is coffee and cake and a welcome day every Wednesday. Of course, we are aware of our geographical proximity to the war and it isn’t a comfortable feeling. We are also having a drought and repeated heatwaves. Hoping that things will cool off soon. My nephew and my great niece will be visiting from the States in early September, so I am looking forward to that. I also feel lucky on another front: my voice is still clear and so I can sing in the

(very good) choir, though it came as something of a shock to be singing high B-flats at my age! Don’t know how long it will last but grateful for whatever time I have.” Kimmy Timolat Short also spoke to the heat. “I hope summer has been good to you. It has been so hot here this last week that I haven’t even wanted to go outside to walk my dog. (Though obviously necessary!) I stay busy with gardening and family gatherings here. This next week, I am going to New Jersey with my sister and will catch up with classmates from elementary school. (Imagine that!).” I hope she has as much fun at her reunion as we did. When I read of the flooding in the Saint Louis area, I reached out to Josie Christian Weil who replied, “Actually, we are not showing any hardships here. Down near the Mississippi there is rampant flooding but not where we are. We do have a pond and a sandy beach—and this is flooded but it is ok. Odd, recently we have dealt with such heat and dry conditions...that we had to pump 20,000 gallons of water into our pond two weeks ago...now we want our money back!! During the dry period we had just massive watering underway...no one said gardening in the mid-west would be for the faint of heart!! I hope you continue with your health. All is good here....I got COVID and it was easy breezy to be honest...everyone (including my brilliant doctor) thought I had pneumonia so I was treated with prednisone then doc decided to test me and whoops-COVID positive....well, no different medicines were administered and I came out of it in less than a week and with no side effects...so maybe prednisone was the answer! Richard never has gotten it by miracle since I was not isolated from him because it was not known what I had!! Summer for us has involved veeeerry little travel...seems ok just to stay in this mid-west area...we are in the thralls of building a lap pool and accompanying pool house....and we just keep moving forward. My best friend from earliest years recently died so age is all around me but it is reality. I am pretty healthy and I hope the same for you.” Betsy Rowe Costle wrote that she has, “to make some sense of my life and the world for my college reunion next year where a real book is supposed to be produced.” Glad we have not set that as our goal! All I ask are notes for our column…Judy Kingsley Duncan and Jack just celebrated their 59th anniversary and are looking forward to a grandson’s upcoming wedding. They, like we, are still avoiding crowds. I send each of you wishes for good health and happiness. Keep in touch.

1960

Anne Palms Chalmers 49 Janet Road Newton, MA 02459-1122 apchalmers@comcast.net

Anne Palms Chalmers: Thank you, everyone who wrote notes! Your response to my repeat request after I realized my retirement community’s internet hadn’t been working was impressive! Your emails streamed in, and they were full of fascinating accounts of your daily lives and/or adventures. Helen Dimos: I am still working part time as a landscape designer, working in my own garden in Ridgefield, CT, which incidentally is documented in the Smithsonian, and trying out a new horse! And my husband and I have a new Kerry Blue puppy! Trying to combat aging by staying on our toes. Would love to know if any of our classmates live near me. Best wishes. Lisa Meyer: I’m not sure if I mentioned in our last class news that in June, I received a certificate in “Sustainable Garden Design” from The New York Botanical Garden. This July we had a big Meyer family reunion at Skytop in the Poconos, which turned out to be a beautiful place and perfect for 30 plus family members ranging in age from 17 months to 87! In August the Gilmor clan left no stone unturned for a major 80th birthday celebration for my sister-in-law Sandy Gilmor and myself. Aside from celebrations, much of my summer has been spent organizing “Saving Our Vanishing Soil,” a forum/webinar which our City Gardens Club will hold on Thursday, January 19th. I will send evites to everybody and hope everybody will attend. The erosion and degradation of our soil on the planet is a truly “silent” crisis and vastly underreported. If you haven’t already seen it, September 4, 2022, The New York Times book review section had a rave review of Betsy Griffith’s most recent book Formidable—American Women and the Fight for Equality 1920–2020. I also saw her interviewed last week by Judy Woodruff on PBS’s News Hour. Lynn McLure: Gorgeous beginnings of fall here in the mountains…48 degrees when I took my morning hike with Maisie, the Sheltie pup who has taken charge of my life. All the construction is finally done, and I am ready to grow old on this beloved land. The visit in July by my paralyzed son-in-law was a huge success in the new specially equipped guesthouse. I also have a rebuilt porch at my cabin that will support his motorized wheelchair and prevent the old rotting supports from collapsing under me. In general

life is good. I am blessed with great health, beauty all around me and a terrific community of other artists young and old. Feeling so very grateful and pray for health and joy for all of my classmates. Nancy Miller Montgomery: Our summer hadn’t been all that bad until two weeks ago when smoke from a huge fire blew into the Bay Area. Followed by an intense heat wave that sent temperatures soaring—113 and 115 degrees at my home in the Napa Valley. So much for a more comfortable summer. Inez Noble Black: It has been five months since my husband Wayne died. After two memorial celebrations at my church in Seattle and at my farm in Lopez Island, I have been moving forward with daily tasks while grief continues to well up at unpredictable times. Wayne and I worked side by side raising and selling small grain crops for animals, achieving our five-year plan. Now with him gone, I am looking for someone to plant grain for human consumption. Maintaining 40 acres of fields and three houses with helpers has called on me to develop managerial skills as I need to lessen the physical work I have liked in the past.

I have enjoyed watering the many flowering pots lining the walkway and feeding the goldfish in the lily pond. The Saturday Farmers’ Market, visits from friends and a sing along evening have been times of joy. I am comforted by the peace and quiet, tall firs whispering in the breeze, birds daily nibbling seeds from the fir cones and drinking at the bird bath outside my farmhouse window. Today cool weather marks the beginning of the fall migration. I look forward to a fire in the wood stove and longer evenings to read. ZOOM has helped me to continue Bible Study and Sunday Church Services. I hope any of you classmates will seriously consider planning a trip the PNW and spend some time here in the beautiful San Juan islands. You can reach me by email and text. Best to all. Barbara Shultz Redfield: One of my passions is a small “outsider art” collection. My favorite, Ruby C. Williams, died recently at 94. A terrific obituary was in The New York Times of August 31, 2022. Some of my collection was shown at American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore several years ago. Julie Thomas Obering: No real news. Will and I have had a pleasant summer in Jackson Hole. Temperatures were high in late July afternoons, but August brought some rain. Autumn temperatures have arrived in the second week of September. My book club is reading Lisa See’s very engaging The Island of Sea Women, set on Korean island of Jeju. Women are “sea harvesters” and thus “bread

winners”. Hope you are doing well.

Laura Williams Cory Ivey: OK, here is the long and short of 2021–22. A) we are all family fine, limited COVID, all careful and reemerging like cicadas to a new world. B) life goes on— and that’s a Good Thing! I and husband Ron have been nowhere. Both retired. Active rescuing two non-profits which “forgot” to submit the forms to IRS, which non-profits have to do.

One is on track and viable, the other, well, thank god Ron is a great accountant! Both are supporters of emerging artists in six disciplines: art, music, drama, dance, musical theater, literature. Best thing in the last two years?

New-to-us dog. A complete snuggle bunny, grateful to be the center of attention. Worst thing in the past two years—perhaps that should be rephrased as the most growthful thing of the past two years? Learning to live with loss—death of older friends, ways of living, things like square dancing regularly, ability to travel to see distant friends. New ventures: both of us are training to become paraprofessional counselors in our community, taking on grief counseling and other services to members of those communities. What have I learned? We all have choices about how to go forward.

Anne Palms Chalmers again: as for me, we’re still in the process of settling into our new home and enjoying meeting the other people living here. It’s a very welcoming place and full of interesting people. I miss the old house, but it’s important to plan for getting older. I look forward to being able to get back to painting. I haven’t really had time to do any for ages. My son’s family is full of events! My son Chris and my daughter-in-law Shaundra had a beautiful wedding on June 11, 2022, with children of all the family and guests helping with creative rituals about nature, memories, and singing. I couldn’t get to Idaho for it, but they arranged for me to watch it by Facetime, and after the wedding Chris took me around to meet their friends by means of the phone. I felt so lucky to have my grandsons help me to be there! The two older boys are at a charter school in Idaho based on the International Baccalaureate structure. They love it, and they’re learning much more than at a supposedly outstanding private school they were at—learning more because learning to learn and to have confidence. Class of 1960, take care of yourselves! Most of us have had the adventure of a significant birthday by now, and we seem to remain energized for learning about new things and committed to supporting issues we care about. Keep it up! and tell us about it! BOOKS mentioned:

Julie Thomas Obering: My book club

is reading Lisa See’s engaging The Island of Sea Women set on Korean island of Jeju. Women are “sea harvesters” and thus “bread winners”.

1961

Meg Hemingway

5752 MacArthur Blvd. NW Washington, DC 20016-5303 Mungie1@verizon.net

I would love to hear from you!

1962

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1963

60TH REUNION: APRIL 28-29, 2023

Fran Cleveland 3324 NE 29th Ave. Portland, OR 97212-2536 Franma267@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

1964

Ginny Storrs Akabane 100 Hubbard Street Lenox, MA 01240-2332 gakabane@hotmail.com

Victoria Friendly: “After finding a spacious home in Florida, I began the difficult task of downsizing in NC where I have lived for the last 28 years. My home is on the market, and I have found a town house, my new summer address is: 3830 Huntingreen Lane #D, Winston Salem, NC 27106. I am adjusting to living in smaller quarters having let go of a great deal of furniture and furnishings. I know my children will thank me when I am gone! My family expanded in July when my eldest daughter who is living in London gave birth to Jack Robin Reeves. She had a long journey to achieve this wonderful addition. Thankfully she and her husband and baby are all thriving. I was able to visit for a week and see what a natural mom she is.

Two weeks after my return I moved into my new digs and have now emptied most of the boxes. My pup and I are settling in and hosted a coffee morning two days ago. The one sadness this year was the unexpected death of my sister-in-law, Pie. My son

said it best, “she was always the nicest person in the room.” I will be in DC in late October for the celebration of her life which will be held at the National Portrait Gallery where she worked for many years. We all miss her. I am grateful for good health, adult children, and five surviving grands. I no longer watch the news as I am too emotional. I listen and pray for Ukraine, for children returning to classrooms, and for peace in this country. I wish we focused on common ground rather than differences. Love to all of you.”

Alex Garcia-Mata: “Hello all you elderly classmates!  I hope you aren’t miffed that I mention this inconvenient fact. But I’m daily grateful that despite my age I continue to feel strong and capable of doing much of what I would like to do. I haven’t moved house in almost thirty years now and hope I don’t ever have to again until I’m taken straight to my grave. I hope you’re all in moderately good health. Being pretty much confined to a very quiet life for the past two and a half years of pandemic isolation, I learned the pleasures and benefits of the hermit’s contemplative life, occasionally broken up by visiting children who were careful to quarantine themselves first for their parents. So it was far from total isolation. A year ago my youngest gave birth to her first child, so I now have two grandchildren, four great-nieces and nephews and am taking baby steps myself back into the world again, post covid. Like Vicky, I have been mesmerized, reading daily news of Ukraine. Best to all.” Izzy Hitz Goff: “I am writing this from Deer Isle, ME. I arrived on Sunday with son Stephen. This is a Hitz family compound which was built and furnished by my great grandmother Jane Hitz in 1887. It has proven to be a way to keep us all together at least in the summer. I have gotten through the pandemic living in Rhode Island and Florida. In the beginning FL was fabulous because you were able to walk outside, swim, and generally see more people than being isolated in RI. I still live in my RI house and have for 45 years! Amazing, I think. The house is an antique and is 300+ years old. It has had only four owners in the 300 years. And, amazingly my daughter Perry lives across the street in the house the original owners built for their daughter. Her family is almost out of the house- Belle teaches in the Bronx for Teach for America, Ben is a junior at Ohio Wesleyan and her youngest, Owen, is a junior at Moses Brown. Perry works at Moses Brown too. I still paint and love it. I went to Ireland this spring to paint with the Providence Art Club. It was a wonderful trip and I loved Ireland enough

to want to live there too! I also do all sorts of handicrafts: knitting, gold leaf trays, collage and needlepoint. I love to garden as well, but this year has been especially hard due to the drought as I know many of you have experienced. Good luck to you all. Stay healthy and happy and do call if you are ever in RI, Fl, or ME!” Maggie Odell: Santa Fe and my garden and lawn (buffalo grass) are looking pretty good this summer due to very unusual monsoon moisture mid-summer. Tennis as usual. Lots of short camping trips around New Mexico and Southern Colorado with friends in our 21-foot camper van which we adore but not as much as the pets we lost which is why we bought the van, Miss Daisy. Breakfast with Tink Beal Davis who was here with husband David for the Santa Fe Opera where I garden happily. All hail the Queen and good luck King Charles.” Tink Beal Davis Our garden and trees in Essex, MA, took a huge hit this summer with an unprecedented drought which still persists. It is painful to see brown leaves on stalwart trees and to have just one dahlia bloom. We have a well, so we have to be extremely careful. However, the tomatoes, surprisingly, were delicious. It was a delight to have breakfast in Santa Fe with Maggie in July. The operas were fun but having time with her was terrific. This comes with love and best wishes to you all. May good things come soon!”

Phyllida Spingarn Alcantar: “I’m in transition since I sold my DC house. Once I find my new winter home and we move out of California I’ll give you all some news.”

Alice Brooks Bourgoin “Rarely write; didn’t make it to reunion. Sometimes I feel so removed from those years at Madeira, it feels so distant. I was sad to miss our big reunion. My husband and I made a big move two years ago now and bought a cute and cozy fixer upper in Ocala, FL, so we can escape Vermont winters. It’s so close to where we keep our horses for the winter so we couldn’t pass it up. We spend about six months there with our horses and a few clients’ horses and a couple of working students. Husband John has rolled back his competitive career a bit but still teaches a lot and is on the board of governors for the USEA (US Eventing Assn), working primarily on revamping the young rider program. He has a Connemara TB that he has been competing at the lower levels. I have a wonderful Hanoverian cross, a pinto, that I do some dressage with. He is a barn favorite and a total character, always up for fun but a nice safe ride. We have many New England friends in the same neighborhood. Right around the corner, Claudia Sarnoff ’77 just bought a

horse property. She graduated from Madeira also. Younger than I am but keeping the Madeira riding connection going!”

Suzy Reynolds Bennison

My big news is marriage to Lars Peterson whom several of you know from Harvard Class of 1968. We’ve been together for 15 years and decided we were sufficiently compatible. We were also getting questions from our grandchildren regarding our marital status. So, we had a wonderful wedding in which we were able to include family members from both sides. Some of the roles were a bit exaggerated but it worked. We’re in DC, FL, and VT (Lars). Attended a water painting class in Maine this year. What a challenge! But it made me see my surroundings as I’ve never seen them before- a “painter’s view” I guess. I hope to focus on getting other distractions and obligations out of the way to concentrate more on painting. Helps the brain I understand. Sending love to all and hope we can get together at our next reunion. Take care!” Penny Williams “We went to France for eight days with our middle daughter and her oldest (10-year-old) son. William is obsessed with WWII so we went to the D-Day beaches and to Mont St Michel and then spent three and a half days in Paris. We tried to be careful and were outside almost all of the time, we still came home and tested positive for COVID. Fortunately, it was a VERY mild case.  As soon as we could, we went to Vail where we spent a month with all three of our children and all six grandchildren. Our children did work remotely but there was still plenty of time for all sorts of fun! Lots of love to all!!” Leelie Harwood Dow: “We’re in MA, FL, and ME. We both survived COVID. Family is all well. Brackett (age 41) is doing great with his new heart. Grands are age 20 to nine months and all 12 have been to visit!! Love and health to all.” Ann Wilson Dixon: “My Madeira days have given me many fond memories! I loved our 50th and hope to be at our 60th, God willing! I now live full-time in Vero Beach, FL. What a wonderful life after NYC and Lake Forest, IL. Of course, I still visit both places, but love the action-packed life…lots of golf, bridge, croquet, and exercise 365 days. I welcome you to come visit me anytime! Right now, I am glued to the TV following all the Queen’s Memorials and Pageantry in the UK. My daughter-in-law is British. She is the niece of my son Ted’s favorite science teacher at Deerfield.” Daphne Flowers Wood: “It is so wonderful to get your news! Maggie, thank you for honoring the queen. I felt she would start dying when she lost Prince Philip, poor lady. I and Marty had Omicron mid-June. We both had had

Peterson

three vaccinations but I doubt I will take more. We stopped wearing masks ages ago when the CDC said “to be protected you must wear a surgical mask and two cotton masks on top of it.” “I can barely breath in one cotton mask. Anyway, I was in a dark room 24 hours with sore throat, headache, body ache but up and dressed doing nothing the next two days and drove seven hours home from the cabin in North Carolina the third day. I was very tired for six weeks and was depressed, not positive thinking as is normal for me. THE BIG JULY ADVENTURE: I and nine other fox hunting ladies rode into the Big Horn Mountains out of Buffalo, WY, and camped at 9905’. I had a finger oxygen monitor and my tent mate’s level fell to 84%. I had an oxygen canister with me and got her stable enough to ride down the mountain the next morning. A fifth-generation outfitter insisted that her life was in danger, and she had to go down. The drama had just begun! While fishing the third day I noticed helicopters flying by carrying large water buckets. Our head wrangler was a lady who normally has a full-time job in Buffalo, WY. Her husband was with Lord Cadougen, who owns a large chunk of London, in their main camp. Lord C has tried to come on this pack trip since 2020, so we were in an auxiliary camp with a PVC toilet that collapsed every time you sat on it, attached to a ground level garbage bag that had I not been tortured by a personal twice a week, I would have been rudders up sitting in the poop bag! The hot shower would provide about 30 seconds of luke-warm water before freezing cold gushed out and the cot mats were rock hard, so you woke up feeling like you had been dragged by a truck. At least the food and horses and mules were excellent. Back to the choppers. I had been assured they would have a satellite phone. No such luck! Our wrangler couldn’t even call the Forest Ranger to find out where the fire was! The first night in camp it blew so hard I thought the tent would blow down, so when I was told at 7:30 p.m. the fire, caused by a plane crash, was three miles away, I immediately said “saddle the horses and mules. We will ride out in 30 minutes” and reluctantly poured out my third glass of Pouilly Fuissé. We left our packed duffle bags and took only what would fit in our saddle bags and at 8:00 started down the horrible rocky narrow path back down the mountain from 9900’ to the trail head at 4600’ in the BLACK DARK. Our usually very loquacious group was largely silent as we gave our mounts their head and trusted in the good Lord to get us down safely. At one point we came to a bridge with no sides that the

horse and mule ahead of me would not cross. My poor horse, who was missing a front shoe, bravely led the way and four and a half hours later we got to the trailers. The perfectly dreadful motel we stayed in that night looked the picture-perfect place for bed bugs, but I did not even do my normal flashlight inspection of the mattress looking for their tell-tale red brown blood spots. I didn’t even take a shower I was so tired, but we had survived and next day right after they retrieved our duffle bags, the fire had spread so much the mountain was closed. The name of the fire was the Gem Lake fire and we could see Gem Lake from our tents! Otherwise, peaceful in Monticello, FL. I am fox hunting four days a week and enjoying the active life for as long as I can. Blessings and love to all of you.”

Ginny Storrs Akabane: “I guess my biggest news is that I repeated our local triathlon to celebrate being 75—hilly 27-mile bike, five-mile paddle (single canoe in the wind which makes it very hard to handle!), and very uphill 6.4-mile run. My two goals were to finish and to beat somebody. I succeeded in both! Totally bonked on the run though and had to walk more than I had planned on, so I am disappointed in that. Not enough to do it again next year though!!!

Éclair is slowing down and I try to keep her hikes under 45 minutes, three days in a row, then a day off. No re-occurrence of last year’s flare-up of arthritis, which is very good. She likes to surprise me at night choosing which side of the bed she is going to sleep on. I get the other side. King size bed so that works out fine. As so many have said, good health and love to all. Stay active!”

1965

Ann Weathers Callender

42 Windsor Road Hastings On Hudson, NY 10706-3011

Madeira@abw.name

I would love to hear from you!

1966

Anne Leavitt Sexton

6813 Wilson Lane Bethesda, MD 20817-4948

annesexton@verizon.net

This is not one of my longer correspondences as I did not receive much news—so here goes. Nancy Young Gilpin spent the summer on the North Shore of Boston with family and friends. She particularly enjoyed her first visit to Tanglewood and a BSO concert conducted by Andris

Nelsons. As she says, “Love the setting in the Berkshire mountains!”

Also, she heard some delightful Celtic music at Shalin Liu in Rockport organized by Brian O’Donovan from GBH radio. If you like traditional Irish music, Brian hosts a Celtic program every Saturday on GBH starting at 3 p.m. Boston has great music!

Dede Fryer Hacking had a super family visit at her home in St. David’s in July—Jack came from New York and JB and his family came from Morocco. “We plan to meet up again in New York for Christmas. Hoping Covid and the weather cooperate.” In the meantime, she joined the SeniorsFit program at the local university. Bridge, Mah Jongg, and eating out keeps her busy. Cathy Collins Hillenbrand sent greeting from the Grand Canyon. She said that she has two granddaughters, one in Seattle one in Montreal. “Four new knees between the two of us so we can adventure more. Figuring out the next phase of our lives!” Jane Flues Simchak has her first grandchild—a long last— born to Stephen and Courteney in January. Her name is Kathleen Denison MacLeod Simchak—and has the outstanding personality of a perfect future Madeira girl. Jane finally got a girl in the family, and I happen to know loves being with her—babysitting occasionally. Julie Sprague said that she postponed her fourth ankle surgery at Mercy Hospital (Dr. Lew Schon) in Baltimore until 30 September. (We will be thinking of you.)

Kidneys holding on. “Beautiful day in Maine finally. Sorry about Queen Elizabeth. Miss Rex would be sad too.” She also said “How is our campus? Magnificent Miss Madeira choice. Do not sell any land! Stay all girls. Focus on grammar, arts, science technology.” Wait till she sees the campus when the new STEAM building is finished! Finally, there is me (Anne Leavitt Sexton). This seems to be the time COVID has not restricted me.

1966 Dede Fryer Hacking with JB and his daughters at our everybody’s birthday party.

Seem to be traveling a bit—Miami in March for a wedding, New York City/ Connecticut/Rhode Island/Long Island for a whirlwind 10-day trip (next time I will stay in a place for more than two days) and Hilton Head for a month and a half this summer. Still been lucky not to come down with COVID and looking forward to my third booster. I hope everyone else has been well. I want to send my condolences to Taffy Fisher Field If you did not know, her husband Eliot passed away after a long illness at the end of May. We are thinking of you.

1967

Julia Bradford 126 E 95th Street New York, NY 10128-1705

juliabradford@gmail.com

Our class seems to have members who are confronting changes in their lives. I am not immune. My husband, Charlie, is 90 and often needs me as a caretaker. My children are urging me to get more help and to prioritize myself. Change comes to me slowly! But after a long gap in years, I heard from Em Parrish Green who said that she rarely responds to my appeals for news. “But now here I am. I have started a new chapter in my life as my dear husband of 50 years died this past May. He was this bigger than life personality and for a long time there I was his caregiver which

was tough, but also very meaningful and worth every minute. He and I discussed this next chapter. I told him I wanted to move back to KY to be near family during this time while I sort thru the “who am I now” and he was highly supportive of this. Thus after 32 years, I am leaving Charlottesville and heading to KY. It’s a bit daunting, but I am looking forward to being with family and reconnecting with a place I love dearly. I hope all are healthy and enjoying life. I think of the old mottos during this time… Function in disaster, Finish in style make haste slowly.” And in response to Em, Missy Donnan Hoster replied that she rarely responds to my call outs but prefers to respond to the individual. “But your honesty and your struggle on thoughts is very real to all of us at this stage of life. We all are making decisions about where to live, be cared for, and be safe near doctors. Not fun stuff. Going home does seem daunting but such a warm blanket of memories will surround you. I wish you love and strength.”

Melissa Manno advised Em to be hopeful and always look forward, Melissa hopes that “next year will bring us some relief from multi-faceted turbulence. The summer in the Old Pueblo has been peaceful with fairly clement weather. Next week, I am going to France for a month, hopefully, for further peace. I will be in Paris and the countryside. My grand boys are teenagers, and my son is quite fed up with the school system. We should all remember how terrifically lucky we are to have had a Madeira education. Be Blessed!”

Katherine (Kiki) Farquhar is taking advantage of the drop in COVID cases. “Peeking past the peak, my partner, Jeff, and I recently explored Iceland, went to London’s Queens Club tennis, and finished the trip in Germany at a wedding in the well-preserved ancient Roman city of Trier. I am blessed with five grandchildren in the families of Madeira daughters, Alexa Mirvis Kaye ’03 and Lucy Mirvis ’04, who are in DC/ MD region. My youngest daughter, Suzy, married her beloved Alexander

Polanco in mid-August. I retire as MedStar Montgomery Medical Center board chair in late October, then head to Oviedo, Spain for two weeks of daily walks on Camino trails. Now we’re talking real retirement and new ventures! Enjoying contact with Anne Huyler Baker, Jennifer Owen Murphy Joan Mower, and long to connect with more of our class. Any knitters/crocheters/quilters? I am collecting handmade baby blankets/elder afghans and sending to families in Ukrainian displacement centers (a November shipment is planned. More than 80 will have been sent by then).” Susie Pool Moses responded to me from her boat! “We just returned from the East Coast visiting family and participating in our daughter, Lauren’s, retirement from the US Navy after 20 years as a physician assistant. I can’t believe that much time has passed! We then cruised the Great Lakes on Viking Cruises new exploration ship, The Octantis. There were 20 scientists on board researching water quality, geology, and the ozone layer above the Lakes which is in too high concentration right now. They have two small submarines, zodiacs, kayaks, and fast boats aboard for research and for passenger pleasure. They will be doing long term research in Antarctica and the Great Lakes every year. We continue to boat year-round and will be heading to the San Juan Islands in September.” Maria Nyhart Dahlman astounded me by replying to my appeal for news with “ironically enough, a group of us were having lunch when your e-mail arrived. Everybody was able to make it except Betty Webster, who was on her way to Maine for vacation. A great time was had by all.” 2022 has been a busy year for Maria and her family. “Our son moved from Brooklyn to Connecticut and our daughter, Alexandra, gave birth to very healthy 10lb 10oz son in February, so we have been

traveling to Connecticut and Maryland quite a bit. We all gathered at our son’s home for the 4th of July weekend and thoroughly enjoyed playing with our four grandchildren, but were glad to head back to New Hampshire to get some rest. I am still gardening up a storm and was able to show off the fruits of my labors when seven members of our class came for lunch in August. We are currently partaking of the sun and surf on Hilton Head Island, where we vacation for two weeks every September. Our next big trip is planned for next April. Assuming no pandemic, we will spend two weeks in Jordan, Egypt, and Greece with passage thru the Suez Canal.” Whitney Mason Germon and her husband are enjoying the cooler weather, a break from the heat waves of this summer. When she wrote this, the temperature had just gone down to 40 degrees...okay with her! “I had a lovely time spending a couple of days with Annie Huyler Baker and family (after getting mightily lost and rescued) in a wonderful old cottage/lodge built in the early 1900’s on Great East Lake in ME. And the very next weekend, Maria gave an impromptu luncheon to more classmates at her beautiful property in the southern NH area. What a great bunch of stories old and new were shared amongst us all! I am way too busy for this thing called “retirement”, but I am spending good times with great friends, neighbors, family, and painting teachers. I am finally getting my watercolor studio up and running in the old office Ed vacated over our garage! He has moved his office into a new garage he built on an adjoining property. Only thing is that we have no running water in the garage, so I have to run back and forth to the house for painting water, etc. Grandboys are both at the high school just across the back field, so lots of drop-in visits after school with friends (when they eat me out of house and home), but soc-

cer games will start up soon for them both, and we are ardent followers! My sister, Sarah Batschelet ’70 is coming for a month-long visit to family in ME, VT, and NH from her home in Switzerland in October. I am grateful, as always, for so much in my past and present.” Rindy Higgins reports that “in between gardening and kayaking, I’m still working as a substitute in my town’s public schools, particularly with the elementary and middle schools. I am often asked to take on long-term assignments, so I do feel like I’m a part of the team. The special highlight of my week is helping Afghan refugee families resettle in CT. In particular, I tutor the six-yearold and help the mother navigate the school system. We welcomed a grandson into the world to join our three-year-old granddaughter and my son, Eric, came back from CO to visit twice this summer! All is well with us and I’m sending best wishes to you all as well.” Laurie Odell wasn’t sure where to start since she hasn’t been in touch with the school or classmates since she graduated except for a visit to the school about four years ago with Chicago friends who had gathered in DC. “I retired two years ago, having been the Community Relations person for Heartland Health Centers, a federally qualified health center that serves low income and often uninsured Chicago residents. Before that I collaborated with an adolescent doctor from Children’s Memorial to set up and run a school-based clinic with the public high school in my community. But starting in my early twenties, I did community organizing with a group of about 20 other activists in the Uptown community which was one of the poorest, most racially diverse neighborhoods in Chicago. Of course gentrification has taken its toll, but I still live in this community after 55 years! My daughter lives nearby with my granddaughters who are 14 and 16, and I hang out with them as much as they’ll allow. They’re teenagers after all and quite the social butterflies! I had very successful hip

replacement surgery at the end of May and am scheduled for the other one late October...way too physical on the tennis court with a friend 24 years younger and of monstrous size compared to little me. I paid for it, but hope to play again next spring (not with him, learned my lesson). Though I’ve clearly been out of contact, I may well make it to the next reunion. I’d really like to see some old friends!” “After decades of busy parenting, work-filled lives, it seems we are using these quieter days to reconnect and recollect,” shared Sylvia Bravo Larsen “In August, we enjoyed our third “annual” NH summer gathering of nearby ’67 classmates at Maria’s lovely hilltop house not far from Lake Sunapee. A delightful summer lunch with garden and barn tour demonstrated that Maria has not lost her high energy and welcoming hospitality skills. Our family has enjoyed a lovely warm NH summer mostly lakeside with our family reunion over the 4th of July, as our son’s Oregon family with their four-year-old twins joined their NH cousins, ages four and seven, for a lively two weeks. While COVID hit in late July, all are now blessedly well and healthy again. What a strange time in history we are living in. May these days increasingly return us to peace, civility, health, and a shared sense of community.” Joan Conklin Moody commented “We are all approaching a new place in our lives, as Em said so eloquently stated, and some of us will sail smoothly into retirement and others will take some time. I personally am so grateful for all that I have… two beautiful children married to wonderful people and four lovely grandchildren. But still, I find this aging thing different and difficult! I feel my purpose right now is to help our son and daughter and their families make it through this pandemic and this next election…my love and best wishes goes out to all of our classmates…I would love to meet in NYC or DC… anytime!” Georgia Lowry Orphan and her husband, David, are on a twice postponed trip

to France as the class notes became due! “This first week we are ‘barging’ through Champagne. On Sunday, we are heading for the Dordogne for two weeks...painted caves, lovely wine, fois gras and maybe some canoeing. We’ll be back at Wintergreen, VA, in the beginning of October and won’t leave for Nevis until early December, where we spent much of the past few winters.” I (Julia) am always ambivalent about leaving RI with the garden to tend, late vegetables to harvest, and good friends to hang out with. This year I am forcing myself to go home to NYC. I’ve been fatigued and need to explore whether it’s long COVID. But my reward will be to spend time with my Queens, NY, grandson and granddaughter who want to visit the playgrounds near our house. And everyone has promised to come to NYC for Christmas including my CA grandson, Skyy! We’ll be conjuring up snow!

1968

55TH REUNION:

APRIL 28–29, 2023

Greer Hardwicke

323 Boylston Street, Unit 401 Brookline, MA 02445-7671 mghardwicke@gmail.com

As the effects of the pandemic eases, members of the class were making more forays seeing each other in person and seeing their families.

Here’s to a 55th Reunion in April?

Sam Coxe Ankarcrona had a marriage of her oldest daughter and two new granddaughters this past year. She spent the summer in Maine with the extended family and returned to London (on the day of the Queen’s funeral, it appears!). She continues to put in a day a week at Coxe Design.

Polly Talbot Donald spent part of June hiking in the Northwest Territory in Canada out to the Arctic Ocean seeing some caribou and muskox. Her annual trip to Maine was delayed by a case of COVID, but she arrived to help clean out and sell the family house, but missed her birthday that her sisters, Mimi Sprague Hauenstein, Taffy Fisher Field ’66, and Sarah Pettit Daignault ’66 celebrated in absentia. She also got to see Susie MacGregor Wheelwright ’67. She continues on the board of a school in Denver and keeps up with her yoga community.

Sally Castleman bought a van and has been crisscrossing the country with husband, Chris. They recently camped across the Pacific Northwest, hiking through several National Parks. In June, they had a grand adventure hiking for 110 miles tour of

Mont Blanc, experiencing spectacular views and cuisine. Happy Phelps Sobell had a grand adventure in September, traveling around South Africa. She continues to train service dogs. Her first foster, named Ira after her husband has just been place with a man with ALS. Sandy Craig Bessieres and her husband Paul have also been travelling afar- they visited London (there when Boris Johnson announced his resignation) and went on a cruise of the Baltic Sea. They also vacationed in Hawai’i and are headed to Florence and Rome in October. In between her travels, she keeps up with her five grandchildren. Ann Lord Sparrow spent three weeks hiking in Ireland and Scotland and has taken up pickleball! Ann Brown celebrated her 50th college reunion in style, renting a house with a porch. She is reacquainting herself with her childhood home in Virginia. Alice Kirby Horton has just finished a winter home in the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, FL. Her eight grandchildren range from 10 to seven. Warren Moore Miller sold her apartment in New York City last spring and now spends her time between North Carolina and Rhode Island. A new granddaughter joined their twoyear-old grandson last spring. Husband Bill Moore just published a sweeping historic novel of Pittsburgh in the 1890s, Steel City, A story of Pittsburgh Judith Raymond gets to spend time with near-by daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren. Bebek McGhee just became a grandmother for the first time in July. Joan Humphreville Fitzgibbon got to visit with Eleanore Leavitt De Sole in Colorado in August with fellow brazen hussie Betsy Buckman. Sarah Hedges Richardson continues to cultivate her amazing garden and visit family in Michigan, Los Angeles, and Nashville. Ollie (Oliver Twist), her black Lab, is at her side. Lynne Marmet McCombs also joined the ranks of new dog owner, getting Tater after a visit to Spain and Portugal in April as well as New England this past summer. Patty Bandler Hornblower also got a new dog, Tillie Bean, who helps a little too much in her glorious garden. Being a realtor these past few years has been quite a challenge but has paid off this year- she won a trip to spend the weekend in Palm Beach Isabelle Runkle de la Vega is enjoying retirement; she is still in Madrid. She continues to publish scientific reports and even directed a doctoral thesis. She has begun to try her hand at writing fiction. I (Greer Hardwicke) continue to stay in Boston for now working on various projects. I have also been sharing a community gar-

1967 BACK ROW: Caroline Palmer Mickle, Jan Weathers, Anne Huyler Baker, Brucie Larkin Hubbell MIDDLE ROW: Maria Nyhart Dahlman, Caroline Ray Hovey; FRONT ROW: Whit Mason Germon, Sylvia Bravo Larsen

1967 Sylvia Bravo Larsen with her husband and grandchildren in New Hampshire

1968 Joan Humphreville Fitzgibbon and Betsy Buckman

1967 Caroline Ray Hovey with her daughters, Eliza Brown ’99 and Whitney Brown Jones ’87

den plot with my daughter who is in her second year of Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner School. See you next June?

1969

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1970

Coke Anne Murchison Wilcox

11 Clapboard Hill Road Westport, CT 06880-6316 cokeanne@cawcompanies.com

Elinore Evans writes, “In late May John and I got through COVID remarkably well with the help of Paxlovid (no rebound). It’s been delightful this summer to be free of mask wearing (we’ll have to reevaluate in September after three months of immunity have slipped away).

We’ve had an active busy summer: I was in a retreat in northern CA for about two weeks in June. We attended a very large reunion on my dad’s side of the family at Jekyll Island, GA, in early July (crazy time of the year to be there) and stayed on to celebrate my sister Julie’s birthday with fireworks on the 4th. John’s Colorado-based family with two teenagers visited in mid-July. I was in upstate NY at another retreat (also editing Tibetan texts) at the end of July, returning home on August 10. John just returned from Oxford University’s “summer school” where he pursued his interest in geopolitics with a focus on China at St. Antony College. Our Buddhist temple is busy hosting visiting lamas. I’m working on final editing/proofing of a book on the Heart Sutra. We will drive up to Canada to attend Stratford’s Shakespeare Festival in September, which we missed the last two years due to COVID. Miss you all!” Judith Coffin shares her family’s recent

accomplishments: “I have a second grandbaby-this one a girl (Charlotte). My husband Willy has a new book on economic inequality and the Constitution in American history (anti-oligarchy.com). My book isn’t really new anymore, but it won a bunch of prizes in French history. It’s pretty readable, too! (liberalarts. utexas.edu/history/news/sex-loveand-letters-by-judith-g-coffin-winsucla-history-s-2022-eugen-weberbook-award). And our son is getting married in September!” Read Penson Gendler recently sent the announcement below that our class Mad Zoom conversation restarted this September with a conversation inspired by Zosh Mason “My Most Beloved Teacher.” Anne Stickney will now assume the role of leading the Mad Zoom monthly conversations, thankfully. Readie has done an amazing job over the past couple years and we truly appreciate her leadership! Thank you both Readie and Anne for your dedication to our class! I Coke Anne am thrilled to share that I’m coming of age as a grandmother; my daughter is birthing a son! We have a new vanilla poodle puppy named Cinco to accompany our chocolate pup XieXie. My porcelain artichoke was featured in the Artists Exhibition at Carriage Barn in New Canaan!

1971

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1972

Susan Solberg susansolberg@gmail.com

Thank you to Sylvie Ball McGee for serving as masterful Class Correspondent for many years and to Susan Solberg for stepping in to fill her shoes. From Susan Sol-

berg, “Since our reunion, the class theme seems to have been “Women on the Move”! Whether it’s travel or a change of address, we’ve been getting around! Bentley Andrews reports that she’s taken two international trips this summer—to Canada and to Denmark and Sweden—in addition to spending some time at her cabin in Tabb, Virginia. She’s expecting to slow down for a little while, though, as she looks forward to arrival of a new granddaughter, due in late September. Sandy Heussler Carney is also looking to add “Granny” to her list of titles. Her son and wife will be having a baby in November. She downsized to a lovely cottage in Jamestown, RI, during COVID, and is still working chartering yachts for clients all over the world in order to maintain what she calls her “horse habit.” Sandy’s been great about keeping in touch with classmates. Since the reunion, she’s seen Pattie White Johnson, Lili Avery, Muffy Brush and Marnie Nimick Silbert Kit Forbes Wellford also has plans to see Lili! She’s traveling to Germany in October and will manage to tack on a visit with Lili and her husband in Zurich. Lili Avery and her husband are spending the fall in Switzerland as part of his sabbatical leave from Carnegie Mellon University. From Sylvie Ball McGee we hear that she’s spent time in Switzerland recently, too, visiting her sister at last after a long

two plus years apart due to COVID. Her trip was full of fun and adventures: she visited with another dog show judge in the Valais region, followed by rather hair-raising ride along narrow roads with hair pin turns over the mountains! She took a lovely boat ride down Lake Geneva to have lunch with her nephew and his children, and she took a day trip to Montreux, where she hiked out to the Chateau Chillon, passing beautiful art installations along the way. She came home relaxed, she says, and ready to re-engage with new energy in work and judging, and I can’t wait to go back next year and add on a visit with my niece in Trondheim, Norway! Hilary Martin is planning a (permanent) change of scenery. She writes, “At the end of

this month, my husband Cary and I will be leaving Fairhope, AL, where we’ve lived for 28 years, for Wilmington, NC. We’re buying a duplex and will live in one half, with our son and daughter-in-law in the other half so they can take care of us when we become decrepit. Meanwhile, I’ll bake them cookies and the occasional square meal, and they’ll provide transportation when we have to go somewhere that it’s scary to drive to. A win-win!” Marnie Nimick Silbert says that her big news is the marriage of her daughter Kate Silbert ’04 to Joe Cialdella on October 8 in Ann Arbor. In her retirement, she is dabbling in preaching and assisting churches without pastors as well as serving at the presbytery level of ministry. And she is singing in a choir again! Reading to preschoolers at the local library rounds out her commitments. She’s also adds that, “Living near the ocean is great!” Isabel Swift responded, “My mother, Mary Davidson Swift ’44 passed earlier this year at 95. Brian Loretz kindly sent me a copy of her yearbook page. Her quote was “It’s nice to be natural, if you’re naturally nice.” Anyone who knew Mum will laugh! I immediately thought of my own many yearbook quotes (thank you ffolliott): “Reshpectobiggle” said Puddleglum (a Marsh Wiggle), which I think more accurately describes me.” Thank you everyone for making the reunion so special.

1973

50TH REUNION:

APRIL 28–29, 2023

Theresa Beyer 30 Oakdale Avenue New Rochelle, NY 10801-3622 Theresabeyer73@gmail.com

Emily Kane wrote: “I’ve had an interesting and rewarding life. After Madeira I spent a year in Algiers where my dad was assigned as a foreign service officer and worked for a Canadian Oil company. Then I went to Harvard and majored in Comparative Literature translating contemporary French poetry which led me to Paris for three years following. Finally came stateside and

developed a career supporting performing artists first in DC then the Big Apple but got a bug to go into healthcare and travelled west to Bastyr University in Seattle where I lived for eight years completing a doctorate in naturopathic medicine and a masters in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. My residency took me to Alaska— just a one-year commitment. Sounded like an adventure. It was fantastic and I’ve been in Juneau, the capital city, a little blue bubble in red AK, for 30 years now. Married a local boy. Our daughter is a neurobiologist currently working at Rockefeller University in Manhattan, about the same age I was when living there. But she is leagues ahead already! I have a wonderful life in Juneau with a busy eclectic general

1970 Connie Norweb Abbey, Elinore Evans, and Lissy Jones Gulick ’62 met for lunch in Cleveland in October.

1970 Judy Coffin's daughter and grandson Henry

1970 Judy Coffin’s husband Willy with new granddaughter Charlotte

1970 Read Penson Gendler’s new pony Khalimero

1970 Coke Anne Wilcox with her artichoke

1972 Sandy Heussler Carney and Lili Avery at lunch in Newport, RI.

1972 Bentley Andrews’ granddaughter, Georgia, imitating her dog, Merry.

1972 Sandy Heussler Carney and her horse Jack, whispering secrets about more carrots!

1972 Pattie White Johnson and Sandy Heussler Carney in Lexington, KY

1970 Elinore Evans' family reunion on Jekyll Island

1970 Elinore Evans with her two sisters Julie and Phyllis

1970 Elinore Evans and husband John Rampe

1972 Additional attendees: Bill Knowlton, (Madame Vicker's nephew and brother of Holly Knowlton’70), Bambi, Ed Beddow (Ann’s husband), Mary Claire, Betsy Griffith

1972 Attendees at a memorial service for Ann Frame held in August 2022 in Jackson, Wyoming: Bambi Putnam ’72, Julie Obering ’60 (daughter of Jean Thomas ’35 and sister of Sherry Thomas ’66), Tom Frame (Ann’s brother), Mary Claire Zannini Wall ’72, Betsy Griffith, Ed Beddow

Reunions!

April 28–29, 2023

CLASS YEARS ENDING IN

3 & 8

FOR MORE INFO, CALL THE OFFICE OF ALUMNAE AND PARENT RELATIONS: 703.556.8372

1975

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1976

Cornelia Carey Cornelia.carey@gmail.com

practice working three days a week. I have been a natural health columnist for nearly 40 years which is a great way to spread the message about daily self-care through judicious diet and exercise. I have been in a marimba band for over 10 years and continue to enjoy yoga, hiking, kayaking, and making beautiful vegetarian meals plus local salmon. We call that “Alaskatarian.” I just returned from a “bucket list” trip to Bali where I deeply enjoyed the Hindu dedication to creating “good karma,” the wonderful spicy food, gamelan music, and kachak singing, as well as the lovely beaches and acres of terraced rice paddies right off the main roads which bond together neighbors and family groups.”

1974

Marjorie Smith

1150 Union Street, Apt. 404 San Francisco, CA 94109-2023

Marjorie.smith10@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

From Corney Carey “Yes folks, I am your Class Correspondent (formerly known as Class Correspondent)! And this my first attempt at sharing your latest and greatest news. To get my classmates, I shared my own which, in the future will come last…After 25+ years as executive director at the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, I am stepping down at the end of October to work on transitioning our Calais, VT, farm (blueberries and grass fed beef cows) to its next great steward. Our daughter Addie has just started her senior year at Smith College (yes, still all girls!) where she’s double majoring in engineering and computer science (you might remember that I nearly flunked all math classes) and she’s just accepted a job at Microsoft as a software engineer, starting next August in Seattle. Clearly lots of changes afoot in our family but all exciting, we hope!” For more than 30 years, I’ve been part of an annual fall gathering in Dublin, NH, hosted by Charlotte Meryman ’77 at her family’s long-held beautiful summer rambling house on Dublin Lake. Among the “regulars” are dear pal, Kathy Cleaver who reports from Wayland, MA: “I am still settled outside Boston, with no plans to move anywhere else. My latest passion is pickleball, which has been slow coming to New England and I play several times a week. I have met many new people which has been great. My husband Chris has retired after 33 years working for Mass General Brigham, and we have been travelling more. We went to the Arctic this summer. I no longer have a horse to ride, and have switched my interest to tracking with my dogs. It is challenging and fulfilling, and in many ways similar to riding. My three adult sons are located in Texas, NYC, and another close by. Oh—I have been taking tap dance classes, love making noise with my feet!” Heading south, I got this update from Alyson Callaway: “I have retired from the state of NC. I was a crafts’ instructor in the Vocational Department at the J. Iverson Riddle Development Center for 25

years. I moved to Morganton from Knoxville. I love living here, low taxes, no traffic, beautiful mountain views, one of everything you need and two of some; like the REBEL flags at each end of I 40 in Burke County. Please, could some of my classmates buy up land around the county, to import some intelligence, before the next election!” Next up from Denver, CO, where Martha Constantine Mesch thinks that I’m so brave to undertake this job as she knows from this because her mom, Joyce Kelley Constantine ’47 did it up until this past year. Just a reminder, classmates, I am not looking for life tenure on this job!!! Martha reports: “I finally retired from the State of Colorado at the end of December 2021, after an illustrious 38+ year career of investigating and chasing the bad guys! Never, ever a dull moment in my position, but can’t say I miss it! And the stress/grind. It’s now time to do things I want (vs need) to do! To that end, among many other hobbies/ interests, I am finally learning Spanish with a local tutor! I have wanted to be at least semi-fluent for years (thank you, Madame Tesoro!!). Fortunately, we have made four trips to Mexico since February, so I’m honing up!! I am hoping to also be more conversational by the time Daniel and I head to Patagonia in late November for an amazing tour; Argentina and Chile, and then to visit friends in Panama in February…gotta travel while I am still upright and nimble! I did see Fannie Zollicoffer Mallonee and Noelle Bullion Locke last summer and it was SO much fun catching up—wish I could see 76’ers more often! Again, if anyone is in the Denver area, please let me know!!!! Cheers to all!” I got a great note from Missy Griffin who reflected on being class correspondent job before computers were an everyday phenomenon. I don’t think I could have handled that! Missy reports that she’s glad to keep in touch with many Madeira friends through Facebook. As she says: “Madeira grows fonder in my heart with each passing year. It’s an honor and a pleasure to be associated with such a cool bunch of women. I’ve enjoyed keeping track of your busy life, as well as those of our terrific classmates.” From the DC area, Kathleen Killette reports: “I retired from being a speechwriter in the federal government at the end of 2020 and promptly went back to work part-time at a local garden nursery in their Container Design division. Such a refreshing change from a cubicle! Bill and I recently enjoyed visiting deLancey Joyce Webster in Cooperstown, NY, on our way to see our younger son Scott who

lives in beautiful Burlington, VT. Older son Jim got married in June and is moving this fall to West Virginia. I continue to care for my dad (89) who lives in DC. Hard to believe we began our freshman year at Madeira 50 years ago this month!!! Festina Lente, indeed.” Right before COVID-19 shut everything down, I spent a wonderful evening with Laurinda Lowenstein Douglas and Tina Summerlin in NYC. Laurinda is still living in her wonderful loft in New York City, her son now graduated from college and spending summers with her family in Maine. Tina and I have shared overlapping work these past few years helping artists when they experience crises in their lives. Tina mentioned that: “After 40 years of living in New York City, I have finally decided I am a City Girl no longer. In May of 2020, my husband and I rented a house in Stony Brook, Long Island, NY, to escape Covid, and fell in love with the wooded area, very close to the north shore (and just an hour and half from the city). We have since bought the house, where I continue to work at home part time for Artists’ Fellowship, Inc., an ancient non-profit that assists artists in emergency need. My son Cyrus, 27, is co-founder of Extra.app (a debit card that builds credit, geared to the younger set), and is living in Brooklyn, not too far away.” From Chris Albert Carnes some very happy news: “Our most lovely change this year is daughter Jessie had baby Alexis on March 1. She decided she hadn’t found a man but wanted a child so did the sperm donor thing. A good friend said to her “maybe you want to stay home where there are extra hands,” so she asked us and we said great! So now we have a sixmonth-old living with us and it’s wonderful! Her Mama does all the hard work, we just help. Both of us work full time as veterinarians in a practice we plan to buy.” “Out west” in PA, I got this update from Dorsey Eshelman Elliott: Mark and I moved two years ago to Eagle Rock in the Pennsylvania Blue Mountains, west of the Poconos. Still missing our North Carolina families, but are for the first time located close to my mother who turned 94 in June! So I’ve made up for living far away by visiting her often. We’re loving cool breezy summers and snowy winters, now that we have all the gear and sports equipment to enjoy everything this beautiful place has to offer! There were many days during our first winter here where the only vehicles we’d see were Amazon and the snowplow.” Lots of changes reported from Wendy Robbins who had this to say: “I guess my big news is that

Doug and I plan to move to our home on Gull Lake in Michigan, originally built by my grandparents in 1973, sometime next spring. In preparation, we are sorting through the Michigan belongings to make room for Alaska treasures. We are currently spending time with family and friends interspersed with workdays! In July, wanting to take full advantage of our remaining Alaska summer days, we hiked to our favorite picnic spot on Rainbow Lake, canoed on Cooper Lake, and boated to Portage Glacier to see the ever-increasing amount of rock from the glacier’s retreat. We also lucked into an opening at Brooks Lodge to see brown bears catching salmon at iconic Brooks Falls. This trip was one of the highlights of the past 14 years! We are thrilled at the election of Mary Peltola to fill our vacant congressional seat and hope she wins in November as well. While we will miss our Alaska friends and activities, we look forward to being closer to all three children and their families. If you ever find yourself near Kalamazoo, let me know. We have extra beds!” And half way to China, this word from Susan Schultz (who lives in Hawai’i): “I retired from the University of Hawai’i-Manoa’s English department last June and now spend a lot of time on photography projects. My forthcoming book, Lilith Walks is from BlazeVox Press. Lilith is my dog; we had many interesting conversations with neighbors during the fraught period of Trump and COVID, chronicled here. Another book, Meditations, is also forthcoming. My daughter Radhika enters her senior year of soccer at University of Puget Sound, and my son Sangha has just moved to northern Virginia (karma is tight). Aloha!” It’s a treat to follow Barbara Morrison my most far-flung pal who for many years has been living in Japan. She says: “I took early retirement in October of last year (2021) from the university and sold my apartment in Utsunomiya (May 2022) to move into a rental in Tokyo. The reasons for all of this activity have to do with a book I self-published in 2021 titled Nature’s Narrative: Well-Being in Body, Speech & Mind and with the Nature’s Narrative Project which is operating out of Dragons Nest Sanctuary on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand. Currently, we are involved in solarizing the nest and setting up water conservation which are both exciting and gratifying projects. The book was also published earlier this year in Japan by Gaia Books. Take a look at my website (www.naturesnarrative. com) if you want to see what this is all about. It’s a passion for sure—filled with mystery and adventure. Some

have called the book a ‘life’s work’. I call it a revelatory text. In any event, do be in touch if you are out east. I look forward to connecting with each and every one of you.” Shortest note from Keecy Hadden Weiner that she and Wayne “…continue to love living in Fort Lauderdale. We would love to see our classmates when they are visiting South Florida.” And, in the “better late than never” category, an update from Lucy Blake who I visited on a work trip in June at her wonderful new home and cool neighborhood in San Francisco. Lucy reports: I moved back to San Francisco in the middle of the pandemic and am thrilled to be back. I’m still running the Northern Sierra Partnership, a collaboration of five non-profits working to conserve and restore large, connected landscapes across the Northern Sierra. Had a great visit out here with Corney earlier this summer, and we spent last Thanksgiving together in Vermont with our daughters who are in their final years of college. Would love to see old friends when you’re out this way! lucyblake@me.com”

1977

Regan Parker 451 Maddex Farm Drive Shepherdstown, WV 25443-4378 regananddd@yahoo.com

Lisa Robinson Spader 4019 Bryan Avenue NW Albuquerque, NM 87114-5215 Lisa.spader@yahoo.com

At least 14 of us got together up for our 45th reunion year—that must be a record for the Class of ’77! (Chris Nolan, Betsy Licht Turner, Joy Johnson, Barbara Parrot Katz, Polly Holyoke, Sarah Nolan Gary, Kim

Davidson, Lisa Robinson Spader, Joan Bierbower Kaye, Carla Knobloch, Heather Muir Johnson, Liz Shaw Powell, SuJ Johnson Rodgers and Regan Parker). We enjoyed scheduled events, zip lining, C&O canal walk, peddle boat on the Potomac, and a fantastic party at the Watergate Apartments. Plus, for those on the opposite side of the country (the Pacific Northwest), we had a smaller reunion on San Juan Island where we enjoyed tide pooling and sea kayaking (Liz Shaw Powell, Ellen Gray, Maggie Webster McManus, Lisa Robinson Spader, and, vicariously, Laura Holmes Peters). The activities were fun, but as Liz said, “it was the joy of reconnecting with old classmates that was the treasure!” We may not all be millionaires, work as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, or have kids in Ivy League schools, but we are all pursuing our passions and we have taught our kids to do the same. If you didn’t get the newsletters/photos from these events, email Lisa at lisa.spader@yahoo.com

1978

45TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Nance Smithwick nsmithwick@bellsouth.net

I would love to hear from you!

1979

Elizabeth Schmeltzer Hinson

221 Countryside Drive Franklin, TN 37069-4150 libbyhinson@hotmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

1977 Reunion Attendees

1980

Nancy “Nank” Johnson Hillengas

130 S Pine Avenue Albany, NY 12208-2122

njhillengas@gmail.com

In our own words: Audrey Baxter Young: “Over the summer I was lucky enough to have an in-person champagne catch-up with classmates Hannah Klein Connolly, Kay Krogh Gallagher, Bryan Batson Jauregui, and Cecil Kramer with our own Madeira English Teacher Jane Simchak ’66 I also had exceptionally cheery catchups with my Madeira roommates Dana Schmidt and Maurine Shores Halperin—who is now a grandmother to absolutely adorable Miss Shores Halperin! On a small world note, Dave Young and I spent the summer brushing up on French and Russian. Through the new US DoS Ukraine refugee program, we became a twoyear host to a most wonderful Ukrainian family named the Kohvans who have two sweet young toddlers. Andrew Kohvan is the godfather of Madeira girl Olivia Minjack ’21—who also happens to be my beloved goddaughter. Hosting this amazing family is truly one of the most fun and fulfilling things we’ve ever done. I hope you’ll give me a call if you’re interested—even a bit—in learning about the DoS Ukrainian refugee program! Lots of love, Audrey 2

02-256-4521 (M)” Laura Binder

Hughes: “I am still teaching ARTH and yoga full time at USC and Tom and I co-lead two USC International Business courses to Cuba and Greece.

We went again this year for the first time since COVID. We have now been to Cuba and Greece seven times with students. It is so much fun! We also stayed 6 weeks in Greece after our course ended to celebrate my 60th. It was a wonderful trip to Crete, Santorini, and Naxos. I was so happy to see Kathy Patty this year, though under not-so-great circumstances, it was at Kelly Davidson Buckingham’s funeral, but I was so happy to reconnect with her and I am so glad we

both went. This October, I am lucky enough to be going with a group of NYC friends to Bryan Bryan Batson Jauregui’s Eco resort in Todos Santos, Mexico, to celebrate more 60th birthdays. I haven’t seen her in 32 years! I can’t wait! My daughter, Savannah, 28, lives and works in Savannah, GA; my daughter Ella, 25, lives and works in Charleston, SC, as a paralegal for a Miami firm; and my daughter Margo is 21 and is a senior at USC studying anthropology and gender studies. She is an accomplished artist and tattoo artist. I also have a granddaughter Leni, the child of my stepdaughter, Sally. Tom and I babysit for Leni regularly and she is a delight. We spend more and more time at Tybee with children and Leniand I get to see Suzanne Dulany Atkinson and her children from time to time! Some of you know that my beloved brother, Brooks, who went to EHS, was diagnosed last summer with ALS. Life is great right now and also very sad. Can’t wait to report back about my trip to Todos Santos.”

Michelle Dorion: “I am still out competing at big riding venues, for my sins and am thoroughly enjoying it. I am working hard on my portfolio of charities on whose boards I sit, but the exciting part is still my horses. I was just at the Hickstead Speed Derby (1m) on Saturday September 10.”

Suzanne Dulany Atkinson “I am living in Historic Savannah (hometown) and have been here since 2014.

Both of my parents are deceased so guess who is at the top of the pecking order now? My four children are happy and thriving-two in New York City, one in Atlanta and one in Savannah. Festina lente: I have been slogging through a divorce for nine years—no end in sight. ~Function in disaster, (hopefully) finish in style: my yearlong home renovation is still in progress after a year. I earned my RN license in July 2020; I am not working yet but I have a plan. I signed up to LMAO app (mostly for the name) to be sure I laugh every day—most jokes are corny but there are some good ones! I am in a “book

club” with my daughter on our kindles. We are currently reading The Leavers I share a Boston Whaler with my son- we take it to a dock restaurant for good food and fun. I went to Paris for two weeks last May with my cousin—my new perfect travel partner. Joe DeHaven is my current other partner. I spend a good amount of time with my brother in Savannah and my sister in Greenwood, SC. I plan to see Laura Binder Hughes at Tybee! Besides the above, I exercise regularly but still have a soft center that is stubborn. Maybe it’s from wine and chocolate. Maybe it’s from age. Maybe it’s because I have lost a half inch (in height). Me in a Nutshell: I still cook, clean and get joy from helping others. I still follow the motto “any job worth doing is worth doing right.” I am still curious (i.e. talk a lot and ask a lot of questions!) and still love to learn. I still plan to become fluent in French and maybe get a Master’s degree in nursing, one day. Please stop in if you are passing through or visiting Savannah—I have a carriage house and a garden level apartment where you are welcome to stay (after construction)!” Laurey Fredrickson Nixon “Our youngest daughter had a memorable wedding in May up in the mountains. My husband and I have enjoyed a relaxing summer at our Lake Blue Ridge home. We are looking forward to our first grandchild being born in February 2023. I had a fun weekend celebrating our 60th birthdays with some of my dearest Madeira gals! Kay Krogh Gallagher “Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer, but to me it meant Bryan Batson Jauregui would also be visiting soon! Well, that happened! Labor Day weekend. Bryan and her husband Sergio spent the weekend with my brothers and family at our house in the Catoctin mountains of Maryland. Our annual visit was as expected, awesome! Bonus we saw Jane Simchack ’66 our freshman English teacher who also has a house near ours. Back in DC, Hannah Klein Connolly and Cecil Kramer

and I regularly have dinner and hang out at each other’s houses. So great to have my BFFs back home with me. We also have a “book club” with Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen Y’all know that book club is read a book, but then get together and have a fun dinner with lots of wine, right?”

Laura Hollengreen “My husband Doug Ulmer and I just celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. This summer, together with our son Thomas and my recently widowed mother-inlaw, we spent two weeks in Wales in June. The best days were those walking the Pembrokeshire coast and chasing down pre-historic architecture in the Preseli Hills, where the bluestones from Stonehenge were quarried. A bit later in the summer, Doug and I also had a wine and food trip to Piedmont, Italy, ending in Turin which was a much more interesting city than I had expected! Our daughter Clare is moving to Paris shortly to begin work as an English language assistant in a French collège as part of the French government TAPIF program and our son Thomas has just begun his junior year as a Computer Science major at Reed College.” Julia Jackson Bellinger: “I am enjoying my newish job, Director of Health Policy, and Regulatory Affairs for nuclear medicine physicians. I am always learning new issues and have wonderful colleagues.

I went to a conference recently in Vancouver. Our oldest son is in Austin, TX; our daughter is in Raleigh, NC, and our youngest son, who is a senior in college, is studying abroad at the University of Western Australia. We spent time this summer on Martha’s Vineyard and saw Stephanie Wight Dreyer ’83 and Sarah Dalley Shannon ’82 (husband’s cousin). I am playing lots of tennis and am looking forward to a trip to the Outer Banks, NC.” Nancy Johnson Hillengas: “Oh my goodness… where to begin? In August, nine of us… yes!

You read that right nine Madeira girls gathered together in the bucolic North Carolina mountains to mark our “big” birthday together. The long

weekend was planned and hosted by Lynn Stein Cassady in her beautifully appointed, very cozy and comfortable home with stunning views of the mountains. Sarah Richards Thalheim and I drove from Connecticut and Upstate New York, respectively… laughing and chatting the whole way down and back, making our 14+ hour drive easy-peasy. Laurey Fredrickson Nixon flew in from the end of a family trip to Yellowstone to join us; Courtney Michaux Douglas drove from Winston-Salem; Margaret Hill Pichon flew in from Houston, visited her cousin who was local, then joined us; Cecilia Drew Loeb drove from Florida; Emily Nolan Evans drove across Tennessee; and Jean Henry arrived a day earlier than the rest of us because she and Lynn played in a croquet tournament, that they WON (beating a nationally ranked player!) Lynn truly is the “Hostess with the Mostess!” She planned an amazing weekend for us all: from an intimate cooking class in a beautifully refurbished barn (thebarnnc.com), to evening drinks and golf cart tours around the High Hampton development areas, to Pickleball lessons, to High Hampton Dahlia Garden painting and learning the history of, to croquet lessons (none of us are as good as Lynn and Jean, but had a great deal of fun!). We shared lots of laughs, too many of Jean’s expertly poured Old Fashioneds, lots of wine, good food, and lots of memories reminisced and new ones made… Cheers to our next decade! Festina Lente, Snail Women!” Patti Nolan McNeill: “After living and working in the DC area forever...it seems...my husband Chris and I retired to Pinehurst, NC. We are absolutely loving life in the Sandhills and have been entertaining more and more family and friends as the pandemic eases. A favorite visit was with Julianne Fanning to celebrate her 60th birthday... mine will be at the end of the year. Happy milestones to everyone.” Robin Patrowicz “All is going well here in Central Florida. Johnny and I married and will be celebrating the

union with a party at our ranch the weekend of Thanksgiving. Caitlyn Goodman ’07 has another cherub, Sutton who will be one in the next few weeks. She is still working at Madeira and balancing work and two kids and a husband. My son, Zachary, is in Denver and is attending graduate school for an advanced degree dealing with childhood trauma. He is loving doing this therapy work! As for me, I opened up my law firm last year with a focus on elder law. I still am running the senior service company as well. We are busy at the house with the three dogs, cat, and horse and all the gardening and mowing of pastures. There should be more than 24 hours in a day. We are loving it! My parents are doing exceptionally well at 89 and 90 and are still keeping us all entertained. I miss seeing everyone this year and hope to visit and catch up soon. Festina Lente all! Happy holidays and good health to all my Madeira sisters.”

Dana Schmidt “I retired in July and I’m having a blast so far. Not exactly fully planned out but life is short right? We’re all at that age where we’re in the last third of our lives and should think about what’s important and what’s not. Health, husband, and horse are my three! Millicent Westerfield Ross: “My family and I are well. We still live in China Spring, TX where Tobin crafts fine furniture and continues to work in manufacturing. Spencer works in the insurance industry in Dallas-Fort Worth, while William is training to become a commercial airline pilot. I am the campus Behavior Coordinator for China Spring Elementary School. It is a

rewarding job, but physically and emotionally exhausting; as a result, I am considering a change. I sat for the LSAT last week. Depending on my scores, I will pursue law school. I am also considering becoming an LSSP, so I can remain within education and use my depth of knowledge of juvenile behavior without suffering the physical consequences of my current position. I continue to write; currently, I am working with an illustrator for a children’s book about...wait for it....behavior. I am excited about this project. It is good to have choices! I am ten miles outside Waco, so if any of you travel to Waco for the “Fixer Upper” experience, please call. I would truly enjoy hosting you for a meal or a cup of coffee.” Sarah Richards Thalheim: “We became grandparents early this year, what an exciting new chapter this is. In August I

was part of a fun weekend in Cashiers, NC, with a group from our class. Sending best wishes to everyone.”

Anne deLain Warden: “I’m writing from Ghana. I’ve been here since August 30 and leave on Sept 24. It has been a wondrous journey into a world I’ve never experienced before.

I already knew many of the people I’ve come to see because we have been working together over Zoom since May of 2020. Surprisingly enough, the time of COVID has been

1980 Michelle Dorian at Open Hickstead Speed Derby

1980 Kay Krogh Gallagher with Bryan Batson Jauregui and Kay’s family

1980 BACK ROW: Nancy Johnson Hillengas, Jean Henry, Laurey Fredrickson Nixon, Cecilia Drew Loeb, Emily Nolan FRONT ROW: Margaret Hill Pichon, Lynn Stein Cassady, NC Artist Mary Carpenter, Courtney Michaux Douglas, Sarah Richards Thalheim

1980 Alicia Belden

1980 Margaret Hill Pichon’s newest baby–Ollie

1980 Frimpong, Declan, and Anne deLain Warden at a Botanic Garden in Ghana

1980 Anne deLain Warden in Ghana with Gloria (far left)

1980 Laurey Frederickson Nixon’s daughter’s wedding

1980 Anne deLain Warden’s necklace made with a collected stone

very good for me. Because of the huge shift of working remotely and using Zoom to connect with clients and engage in training, I have become connected to people all over the world. Now, because of the work that I am engaging in, I was able to finance this special trip to see my friends in Ghana; make new friends here; create new connections with fellow Rotarians in Accra; lead training in mediation and relationship coaching for members of a small church here; help members of Theodora Africa start to heal from past trauma; and meet my daughter, Gloria, and grandson, Declan, in-person for the first time. Since the last alumnae news, Blair and I have spent a month in France divided between Paris and Apremont, Vendee. This was our first trip to France outside of Paris and we loved our time on the Vendee coast. Our son, Sawyer, has been enjoying his work as a machinist and his service in the National Guard. He has now received one training in participating in the Honor Guard. He is also strongly considering pursuing a new career path as a commercial pilot. Our daughter, Grace, is still a nutrition program manager for Portland Public Schools, working on her online business— Nutrition with Grace, and she just

recently got her first paying nutrition counseling client! During this trip to Ghana, as I do everywhere, I have been picking up rocks and now I make them into jewelry. When we went into the lush Akwapim hills to visit the Aburi Botanic Gardens, I found quartz and saw lots of what I think is slate with many colors. Turns out Paris is built on limestone bedrock that was an ocean floor full of pockets of chert. Everywhere I looked on dirt paths in the Bois de Boulogne, along the Champs Elysees, or in the gardens of the Louvre and Versaille I found another beautiful piece of chert, flint, and even a few treasures of carnelian. I think I brought back 20lbs of rocks from France. I am inveterate. Today, I visited Elmina Castle the oldest European building in existence south of the Sahara. It was built in 1482 and later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic slave trade. It was a profoundly disturbing experience to be in a physical space that hosted thousands of tortured, confused, and often dying people for hundreds of years. The castle was the home of the colony governors and their families who co-existed with these tortured people in rooms below their chapel floor and just feet from their living apartments. I wept for the pain I cannot even really imagine and for my inability to understand how people could perpetrate such atrocity, a holocaust that lasted hundreds of years. To end on an upbeat, I have made a new friend in Ghana, Frimpong, who has been my driver, guide, and another blessing in this amazing journey through the pains and joys of people in a world so different and not so different from my own.”

1981

Joan Tanous

390 S 68th Street

Boulder, CO 80303-4307

boulderdog@aol.com

Hello, fellow alumnae. The Class of 1981 has been up to its usual shenanigans as we collectively and individually celebrate 60 years on this planet.

Enjoy our stories… Betsy Coley Fralin sends this update from Richmond: “Mom is alive and kickin’ at 95! Randy and I are settling into our ninth house in 30 years. We completed our renovation projects and are very pleased with the outcome. I continue to work at Main Street Homes and plan to retire in five years.

Our oldest is an attorney in mergers and acquisitions at Williams Mullen here in Richmond; our middle daughter is finishing up nursing school,

and our youngest has her Master’s in Public Health working for the Virginia Department of Health. We are finally getting everyone off of the payroll! This November is our 30th wedding anniversary, and then my SIX-OH is in February. Plans are TBD for both, but it better be something special! I see Sarah Cowden two to three times a year; she surprised me with an Ana Webb-Smith ’84 sighting a few months ago! Great catching up with both of them.”

Gail Guinee Inman is packing her bags in preparation for the next adventures in life:

“I’m retiring next month, or maybe just taking a five-to-ten-year break, to live aboard my sailboat with my husband and daughter cruising the Seven Seas. We leave later this fall and hope to sail into both the Arctic Circle and eventually as far south as Antarctica, but we are starting with the Caribbean.” WOW—can I stow away in the luggage compartment, Gail? Elsie Coyningham McHale sends this update from Pennsylvania: “Hi from Doylestown, PA, where we have been for 20+ years! COVID still keeps our lives changed, perhaps to the new normal. My husband Joe has been working from home for 2.5 years instead of at his Philadelphia law office with Traveler’s Insurance. It’s actually nice to have him home. We just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary—a miracle when you have kids with special needs. Colin is 24 and in a day program for adults with autism and intellectual disabilities. I am actually his aide in that program three days a week since there is a labor shortage. Ian is 19, and in spite of his Asperger’s he is going to our local community college part time and working at UPS. No special plans for the 60th yet but we will see!” Leigh Franks Gallagher writes in with this news: “All roads lead back to Virginia. Claire started her sophomore year at James Madison—boy the summer really flew by. We spent a week on Martha’s Vineyard where we shared a house to celebrate a 6-0 Birthday (not mine— not yet!). We also went to Cape May for a week in late June. It was a perfect vacation. The house repairs from the February tree strike continue at—you guessed it—a snail’s pace. I hope everyone is strong and healthy as we march into Fall.” Carolina Kuczynski Reid wrote in with this update from Austin: “My son Cooper is a junior at the Performing Arts Academy. Truman is going to American University to join his sister Violet who will be a senior after finishing a year in London. I spent the summer traveling around the UK by train visiting family and friends and exploring Scotland. I made it all the

way to the Isle of Skye which has been a lifelong dream. Next summer if anyone wants to go to Scotland with me, I am game! We also traveled as a family to Peru, saw my dad and some sights and had a lot of great food. And to top off the summer, Darren and I celebrated 22 years of marriage in the Cotswolds.” Diana Thermiotis D’Hendecourt will forever be my “Chapel Partner”—the name she coined when we sat alphabetically next to each other in Chapel every Madeira-morning. She sends this update: “My 24-year-old son, Dimitri, is working as a real estate agent in Gstaad, so any of you looking for a chalet in greener pastures do get in touch! My 22-year-old, Alexis, is in his last year of Economics at Wheaton College, although not sure how much time he actually spends there when he’s not having fun with his mates in Boston. And finally, my baby boy of 16, Victor, is entering his last high school year at Aiglon College in Switzerland and applying to Mechanical Engineering schools in a few countries; I might just go along with him! Still married and living in the French side of Swiss alps, no complaints to report!” I have had the good fortune of seeing Deniz Ozberkmen Dennery ’80 Moira Muccio Seacrest, and Jeanne Sabol Meyer on recent visits to DC. Deniz runs a countless number of student programs at Rowan University while balancing remote Chief Operating Officer duties at her parents’ house in McLean. We often compare notes on resources for aging parents, so reach out if you need some ideas. Last summer I caught up with Brette Bates who built the incredible company, Bethesda Downsizing and Estate Sales. She’s the local expert on everything filling our parents’ houses (and now ours!). So rest easy because you have a friend in the estate sale business! Back in Colorado, Meg Kruizenga Froelich and I get together for comedy nights, concerts and fundraising events. She’s busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger as a State Representative in the Colorado General Assembly making our air cleaner and ensuring reproductive rights for all women. Check out her website: froelichforcolorado.com. My daughter, Ruby, is a senior at Loyola Marymount University in the School of Film and Television. And a Facebook post revealed that Hildreth Wilson’s daughter, Meredith, is a junior there also studying psychology! Seems like just yesterday our kids were toddlers, right classmates? How time flies! Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we’ll be able to eliminate the word “COVID” from our everyday lives. Be well, fellow alums!

1982

Kirsten Menes

Nachtwachtlaan 282

1058EK Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Festinalente82@gmail.com

By the time you get this issue of Madeira Today it will have been almost a year since our 40th reunion at Madeira. Hopefully you received the digital version of Madeira Today that was sent August 2022 via email instead of regular post. If you did not, then it means we do not have your most recent email address, or it went to spam. If you did not get it, please email me at festinalente82@gmail. com with your current email and I will forward the issue to you and update our files. Our reunion was such fun though that I can’t resist recapping it here. We had 23 classmates attend, culminating in a fabulous dinner hosted by Isabel Day and her mother at their home in DC (Cappy Flynn Daume, Peggy Mochwart Holland, Kirsten Menes, Page Robinson, Stephanie Henry, Reed Montague, Estie Dallett, Sally Gambill, Ellen Sears Rayhill, Beth Ann Trapold Newton, Whitney Thier, Catherine Saunders, Isabel Day, Jennifer Donaldson, Alicia Ragsdale Alford, Lisa Alexandra Gillis, Caroline Friant Watkins, Tara Labovitz Lloyd, Paola Giovanetti, Jane Lawrence Peeples, Kathleen Flood Reid, Georgina Bliss Marshall, Anne Metcalf). Those of you with a keen eye you will spot a face and name that we hadn’t seen perhaps since graduation! Lisa Alexandra Gillis (who goes by Alexandra now) flew in from Palm Beach, where she recently relocated to from NYC. She is busy with her work in commercial real estate but couldn’t resist the temptation to see her fellow 1982ers after so many years. We hope to see much more of you Alexandra! Reunions weekend had incredible weather and several of us took advantage of it with a hike to Black Pond although I don’t think that any of us are old enough yet to consider that walk to be a real “hike.” Along the way we reminisced about Freshman year Wednesdays spent climbing the rocks nearby and other misadventures. The highlight of the weekend was the gathering at Isabel Day’s where we were treated to fabulous food, great conversation and lots of laughter. As my partner noted, a gathering of Madeira girls is never dull nor quiet. Jessica Story wished she could have made it to reunions however she manages to keep in touch with several classmates, (myself included!) through regular

calls, video chats and sometimes even care packages for those stressful times that can only be managed with some old-fashioned snail-love and Twizzlers!! Jessica and Amy Sullivan have regular walk’n talks over the phone, with Jessica reporting that “Amy is as wonderful as she always was.” Jessica met up with Diana Sanson in August when Diana and her husband were coming through from Jasper and they met for a hike. Later they had drinks in Jessica’s garden amidst the broken glass of the recent massive hailstorm in Alberta. Jessica ended her email by saying “The bad news is 2021 was my annus horribilis for me. The great news is 2022 has been wonderful!!!”

Rachael Pettus wrote in from Cyprus reporting that she is FINALLY doing a Permaculture Design Course to make her land more sustainable and provide a model for rainwater harvesting and resilience in a rapidly changing world. Her mango harvest is about at its peak, the figs are done, the carobs are in and she is about to start again with the lunches and farm tours that lead to her food and wine and olive oil sales throughout the cooler parts of the year. Rachael is reading some fantastic and inspiring books about regenerative agriculture which tie in with the PDC and offer valuable tools and insight into working on the land with nature as a guide and mentor. She has unfortunately had to part ways with the NGO that she co-founded but continues to support refugees and people seeking asylum in Cyprus. Rachael sends her love to everyone and appreciates reading the updates in Madeira Today. Priscilla Craven wrote to say how wonderful it is to have all the students back on campus here at the University of Colorado after a twoyear hiatus. She said there is a palpable energy both in and outside the classroom that was missing over Zoom. Priscilla confessed, “Even I have a spring in my step as I embark on my 27th year teaching here.”

Earlier this year she did research in Milan and had a private viewing of the Last Supper which Priscilla found incredibly impactful.  Every year, rain or shine, Elizabeth Quainton Anderman ’85 and Priscilla get together for lunch, as Elizabeth is an English professor at CU Boulder. They talk art, literature, politics, Madeira, and everything in between! Priscilla noted that she loved visiting with Cappy Flynn Daume and her husband when they were in Boulder last May. She sends her love to all and hopes to see us at our 45th! Amanda Travers Nisbet wrote to thank me for my “steady consistent work to wrangle info from

all of us all these years”. (I agree Amanda at times I do feel like I’m twisting arms but, in the end, when I see those many printed pages of news from our amazing class it all feels worth it.) She let us know that she has moved to West Palm Beach and has a decorating office and studio in Palm Beach, and, in the summer, she works from Quogue Long Island. Amanda says that this has been a great move for her and that she is very happy in her new

spots. She also mentioned that she sees Judith Wall Guest ’83 in Palm Beach regularly and had a good visit with Jane Lawrence Peeples recently. Amanda hopes to see more Madeira girls when they are in town. Katherine Oxnard Ellis was full of news as usual (a dream for us class correspondents) and wrote “…Travel is back, baby!” Last April she saw her mom Lucy Scardino for the first time in three years, along with her brother and his wife Kate Meyers Ainslie ’92

1981 Diana Thermiotis D’Hendecourt and husband Vianney celebrated their 25th anniversary.

1981 Joanie Tanous and Brette Bates reunited at one of Brette’s amazing estate sales in Bethesda.

1982 40th Reunion dinner

1982 1982ers on Black pond hike during 40th reunion. BACK ROW: Paola Giovanetti, Sally Gambill, Alicia Ragsdale Alford FRONT ROW: Julia Woltman Cobb, Peggy Mochwart Holland, Kirsten Menes, Ellen Sears Rayhill

1982 Elizabeth Quainton Anderman ’85 and Priscilla Craven in Boulder 1982 Stephanie Henry and Kirsten Menes at the Stephen Colbert show

In June, Katherine walked and biked around Fire Island and danced on the deck to the B52s at her sister Robbie Oxnard Bent’s ’83 house, along with Holland Williams ’83. She also spent a glorious August in Italy with husband Blake, where they finally met the family of their beloved exchange student, Chiara. Katherine said there were…“No cities or museums this trip, just al fresco dining on local fish on Isola d’Elba, a magical week hiking in the Dolomites, and more fabulous meals in the hill town of Capranica and the marina at Ostia.” She wrote that she continues to have short stories published in literary journals and to watch Savannah’s real estate market explode as umpteen newcomers move to town. Husband, Blake sold his ecommerce company and is apparently casting about for a new next project, while in the meantime renovating a 36-foot Watkins sloop. Katherine ended her newsey email sending Big hugs from Savannah to all Madeira girls everywhere!

Cappy Flynn Daume spent a day with Isabel Day on Cuttyhunk in August where she was summering with her mom and sisters. Cappy reported that “Five Day women under one roof is a force. That weekend a fellow islander was getting married and the Days were recruited cruise directors. Julie McCoy from The Love Boat is a JV player compared with these Day Women.” Cappy, who did great work to generate interest in our reunion, let me know that after reunion she and husband Sam visited with Olive Cobb Waxter and husband Tom at their Baltimore abode. Cappy closed by saying “I enjoy my new friends but I love my old friends even more.”…and I know we all agree with that when it comes to Madeira friends. After a bit of a quiet period Andrea Hunnicutt Bates answered my plea for news with she and husband, Bill took a wonderful trip to Alaska this summer. They hiked through Denali National Park, kayaked in Glacier Bay. Andrea said it was “simply spectacular! Even better because our daughter joined us!” When not traveling, she splits her

time in NC between their house on Badin Lake and townhouse in Chapel Hill. Bill teaches at the Law School and Andrea is on an advisory board for the University Libraries, so they’re there pretty much every weekend in the fall and for the entirety of basketball season. Go heels! Jessica Story, Diana Sanson and Andrea are looking forward to restarting their annual girls get together in 2023 with a week at the beach in May. Andrea is so looking forward to seeing them both again. If that is not enough activity

Andrea reports that she is playing lots of golf, Pickleball and enjoying the serenity of her lake. Whitney Thier a last-minute reunion attendee, reported that she is so happy to have reconnected with so many classmates at Isabel’s, and appreciated all our warmth, kindness and humor.

Whitney has just moved to Miami from North Palm Beach for work, and was sorry to have missed Alexandra, Amanda, and Judith while there. Her company is in the early stages of developing property in Wynwood, and is proud to announce that their first Arev hotel in St. Tropez is underway. Did you say St. Tropez, Whitney? I know where our next reunion needs to be! Ann Dodson Lindsay wrote in from California with her big news that she is planning to retire from her 38-year Federal career on December 31!  She says that “It has been quite a life journey since my first day in March 1984, and I’m looking forward to no more days spent in endless meetings, complaining staff members, unreasonable workload, crazy leadership, constantly full email inbox, and nonstop demands.

I’m sure that I will miss it though!”

Ann is a proud grandmother and reported that her granddaughter Elizabeth just started second grade, and grandson Connor is a very active three-year-old. In addition, her daughter was named the Yucaipa-Calimesa School District’s teacher of the year. After retirement, Ann and her husband are already starting to plan travel in 2023. So far, they’ve booked a week in Lake Tahoe, CA, in early January, and two weeks in Aruba in

February. Kirsten Rothe Meberg wrote that she moved back to CT years ago and recently moved in with her sister, Annemarie Rothe ’83 to take care of their mother. She keeps busy with her jewelry design company, Pomeline Jewelry (follow them on instagram and FB) and is so grateful for the amazing support from the Madeira community. Kirsten reports that “Thanks to social media, I have been able to keep up with a lot of my Madeira friends. George Bliss Marshall and I got together in NYC a few years ago. We keep trying to meet up, but with our busy work schedules, it’s hard. The other day, I had a wonderful phone call from Jessica Story!”

In 2007 her twins, Allie and Cille Meberg ’07 graduated from Madeira. They were in the same class as Lee King Carrion’s ’79 daughter, Alex Moore Montanio ’07 Small world! She said she loved coming back to Madeira as a parent and seeing all the beautiful changes and additions Madeira has made to its campus. I was so surprised and excited to hear from another ’82 classmate who has been quiet for a while. Mary Beth Mihalik Morrison wrote that she is completing her 32-year work anniversary at the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County. She said “I never realized how much there is to learn and what goes on with garbage and recycling. Most people just leave it at the curb, and it’s gone. I can honestly say that I have never been bored at work (overwhelmed at times…but never bored).” And with what now seems like a trend in our class, Marybeth reported that she too recently moved to Palm Beach Gardens, FL, from Stuart, FL. So, all you Palm Beachers it’s time to get together for a mini-reunion. Marybeth has recently gotten into yoga as it “helps me deal with the everchanging world. Plus, my yoga instructor is really cool and I got to travel with her and other yogis to Iceland in 2019.” Marybeth promised to mark her calendar for our 45th. Cricket Stone wrote me to say, “Bummed I didn’t get to attend reunion last spring. Maybe the 45th or 50th.” She went on to report that she retired after 28 years of teaching just in the nick of time—Spring 2020 as COVID hit. According to Cricket it was the best timing she’s ever had. Retirement, however, has not been quiet for her as Cricket went on to write that she’s been extremely busy as a USEF steward at horse shows, teaching clinics, and taking clients to horse shows. Most recently she was elected to the USHJA Board of Directors and to the position of National Treasurer for the IHSA. Cricket has also been involved with the Madeira Co-Curriculum mentor program and

recommends that to everyone. She says that the young women she’s spoken with are smart, focused, and an absolute delight. I second that Cricket, it’s a wonderful experience. Everyone, reach out to the development office to let them know if you are interested to take part. Cricket saved the best for last reporting that she is the proud new grandmother of Raylan Thomas Burns, born May 21, 2022. She’s looking forward to being around a bit this coming winter so she can get to know him as he grows.

Jennifer Donaldson wrote in to say that she is going to be in Palm Beach soon and would love to get together with anyone. That shouldn’t be a problem Jennifer it seems like half our class is living there at the moment! Cathy Saunders wrote to say how much she enjoyed reunion and that although she doesn’t have a great deal to report, she did enjoy participating in an NEH institute on Transcendentalism and Reform in Concord, MA, this summer. Cathy is continuing her work to investigate the role of enslavers and enslaved people in the early years of her congregation, Lewinsville Presbyterian in McLean. Some of the information she’s been looking at comes from columns in the old Evening Star by a columnist who mentioned Black Pond in one of his posts, pre-Madeira times of course, she added. And our final submission is from Australia.

Stephani Horlock Stephens wrote from “down-under” to say that she was sorry she did not make it to reunion but that it looked like fun and will try and coordinate her travel for the next one. She wrote that she had just dropped off her 17-year-old to start university at CAL State and that it brought back memories of fun and crazy days long ago. Stephani reported that having a college student in a different country is giving her pause, but that it is worth it. I think she was referring to the regular layovers in Honolulu. Thank you again to everyone for your patience with my news wrangling and for all the kind words to your humble class correspondent. I could not do this work without you so keep those emails, WhatsApp messages and phone calls coming. You should know that Madeira has given us a makeover and new name and henceforth you may address me not as Madame Secretary but Ms. Class Correspondent. Not sure if that is a promotion or not but I certainly hope to live up to the correspondent part of it. So, for next time please note a classmate that we have not heard from in a while and take a moment to reach out to them on my behalf. Sending you snail love from Amsterdam.

1983

40TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Robbie Oxnard Bent 5255 Sycamore Avenue Bronx, NY 10471-2835 Roxnardbent@me.com

Hello classmates—The world is opening up more and more, and I’m loving connecting with Madeira classmates through travels hither and yon. In the past few months, I’ve seen Holland Williams in Richmond, NYC, and Fire Island, Allie Mendelsohn at her home in Chapel Hill, Ceci Mermel MacCallum in Charlottesville and Alison Mayer in NY! And I’m looking forward this fall to a trip to Colorado to see Isa Catto Shaw and a gathering in Atlanta to visit with Anne Mobley Hassett Brenda SlaughterReynolds Stephanie Dickson Walker, Cynthia Lawrence Ziegler Alice Jackson Fort Holland Ceci and Alison In between all of this travel, I’ve been working with two former colleagues to start a new company focused on helping seniors age well at home. Life is busy and full. Thank you to those of you who were able to share news for this edition of Madeira Today! We’ll start with Deanne Johnson-Anderson who shares, “It’s been a really busy summer for me. Most notably, my daughter, Adriana Anderson ’22 graduated from Madeira. It was quite a moment when I got to give her her diploma—don’t think they did that back in our day. It definitely brought back memories, although not all the girls wore pure white dresses and it was on the soccer field under a tent. Nonetheless, it was a special day and even more special that my mum, sister, and Sally Scott Swiatek came down to help celebrate! August was hectic getting ready for college, and now we spend our weekends, and some weekdays, watching her play college volleyball. Work wise, things are finally starting to pick up at the hotels. My industry probably won’t

recover for a few more years and it certainly will never be the way it was in 2019. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion in April. Let’s make it the best reunion attendance ever as who knows what will happen in our lives five years from now. See everyone then if not some before.” How amazing Deanne to be able to present Adriana with her Madeira diploma, and thank you for sending in the terrific photo of you and Sally. Diana Bradley Eudy says: “Hi, everybody! I know I haven’t updated in many years, but the 40th is a big one, and I’m long overdue. I started a family practice in 2001 and got remarried in 2002. Devereux came along in 2004. I have basically been working, seeing patients and gardening and driving avidly. In the picture of my family vacationing in Costa Rica, my husband Steve is on the right, and Devereux is next to him. I couldn’t resist including photos of a couple of my other “babies.” I am a serious autocross competitor; the other is my track car. I had no idea this would be my passion!”

Thanks for sending in news, Diana— so great to hear from you and wow!

You’re a racecar driver? That’s kickass! Leslie Absher writes: “It’s been a busy year and I’m preparing for a book launch as I write this. My memoir Spy Daughter, Queer Girl comes out soon and so I’m getting ready to tide the waves of this experience. I’ll be doing some book events in NYC and also D.C. and hope to see some classmates at these readings. That would be really fun for me. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Bronwyn Hughes for an alumni spotlight column in the Madeira fall newsletter. We had a great conversation. It was interesting to reflect on those years—what they were like for each of us. In addition to the book, I am still riding the waves in the SF Bay. Each time I do, it transforms me.”

Congratulations on your new book Leslie, which I just pre-ordered so I’ll get it as soon as it’s released—can’t wait! Claudia Wair says: “I’ve been writing short fiction for the last few

years. Anyone interested can visit www.claudiawair.com to find my short stories and see all the anthologies that include my work.” Claudia—I look forward to checking out your work. Thank you for sharing your website! Susan Daly shares:

“After living in the Charlottesville area since attending UVA, I have moved to Northern Virginia. In 2021, I started working for Fairfax County Public Schools and commuting home on weekends. I needed a change for my professional growth and I wanted to be close to family, especially my mom and stepdad. I love my job! My husband got a position also with FCPS and we bought a home here in July. We moved in with our son Patrick and cat Coco in August. My other son, Ryan, lives in Blacksburg and intends to begin an additional degree at VT in January. We still own our home at Lake Monticello where our daughter Ashleigh lives with her husband and three children: Haedyn almost 14; Brielle, 10 and Paislee, five months. I am fortunate to be able to visit my grandchildren frequently!

Last November I completed a Yoga Teacher Training YTT-200 and am now a registered yoga teacher. I recently enrolled in an advanced training to become a YTT-500. I love sharing yoga with others, especially students. I look forward to seeing everyone and catching up in person

1982 Diana Sanson and Jessica Story on a hike in Canada

1983 Diana Bradley Eudy’s in a motor-cross race

1983 Diana Bradley Eudy vacationing in Costa Rica with her family

1983 Isa Catto Shaw’s dog Rose

1983 Deanne Johnson-Anderson and Sally Scott Swiatek at the Madeira graduation of Deanne’s daughter Adriana Anderson ’22 in June

1983 Susan Daly’s granddaughter Paislee

in April at Reunions!” Susan, your life has been so full, and how lucky you are to have grandchildren and be able to visit with them frequently!!

Allie Mendelsohn writes: “I’m slowly, slowly adjusting to what feels like the final and hardest phase of empty nest. During the college years I knew I’d see my boys on their breaks. It’s been more than a year since they graduated. They’re all doing great and the house is very quiet. So I got a dog! And took up watercolors and nature photography and really long hikes. I volunteer and started a reading group and still miss my boys, but that’s just motherhood, isn’t it?”

Thanks for sharing Allie, and for sending in a photo of Nala!!

Isabella Harris shares: “This Spring my mom passed. That was a tough time to process. I miss her and she was so proud of Madeira. I did go on my first cruise in July to Alaska with my WV mountain man. That was a needed break and so interesting. I’m doing good and checking in with my daughter at College of Charleston, SC. I’ll come for the reunion. Maybe even join the committee now that I have all this free time.” I’m sorry for your loss Isabella, and glad that you were able to go on a cruise with your

mountain man. Thank you for sharing your news. Ceci Mermel MacCallum says: “Finally beginning to balance work and pleasure! We had a great spring with my son Matthew graduating from UVA in May and then heading to Richmond for work. It has been amazing to see my child grow into a happy healthy young man! Lilly and I got to finally take her high school graduation trip (delayed due to COVID) to Italy. We had an amazing time and I loved being with her. She is well into her junior year at Clemson and really enjoys it. Andy and I have been able to take lots of little trips and have loved being able see lots of friends!! I am still grateful for my job and patients. It’s truly a privilege for me to take care of such wonderful people at such a difficult time.” How wonderful that you are beginning to be able to balance work and pleasure, Ceci, and travel with your children! Brenda Slaughter-Reynolds writes: “I continue my second chapter as an Arts Manager at the Department of Cultural Affairs for the City of Los Angeles in the Grants Division. My day at the office is sometimes attending an opera, or dance performance, or visiting a contemporary art museum. These ‘site visits’ make for a wonderful day at the office. Empty nester now with Zoe at boarding school (my husband Glen’s alma mater) entering her sophomore year and Charlotte entering her junior year at college in NY. Love to see classmates, anyone passing through Los Angeles, please give me a hello.” Brenda—I look forward to seeing you in LA over the Thanksgiving week! Stephanie Wight Dreyer says: “I’m really glad I didn’t retire from teaching at the end of last year, as I thought I would. Although COVID is still present, the classrooms are returning to prior pandemic normalcy! We truly functioned in disaster, and finished in style! Best to all!” I’m sure your students are so happy you are still there Stephanie!

Courtney Walsh Phleger writes: “Things have picked up post (sort-of) COVID. I have been in New York

recently to do a play I co-wrote and perform called “Mother Lear” about a Shakespeare scholar with dementia who communicates using only the text of King Lear. I have also been shooting an independent feature film in New York and Maine. Meantime, I spend a couple of months a year in Paris, where I earned my French fluency certificate. At home in California, I continue in professional theater, teaching, tending to my retired horse Mike (my dressage partner of 16 years), my husband (of 31 years), and the last of my four kids to ease out of the nest. Looking forward to the reunion!” Thanks for sending in news Courtney! Bronwyn Hughes shares: “I’m writing from Belfast, Ireland, where Kat, Allison, and I are enjoying a three-week trip around the UK and Ireland before dropping Allison in London for her junior year at Kings College. The death of the Queen has made the trip interesting. Cheers!” Paige Walker says: “I visited DC last June during Senior Trip with the Class of 2022. We raised money for the trip and saved by staying at my mother Morag Lucas’ place...all 13 of us. I teach all the High School kids, but also have a homeroom advisory class for all four years. I now have Freshmen again. So different from Seniors. Still loving teaching in rural Idaho.”

Thanks for sending in the photo of the trip, Paige! Thanks to everyone who sent in news and photos for this edition! And I look forward to gathering with you all in person at Madeira during our 40th reunion weekend, April 28–29, 2023!! Until then, be well and healthy!!

1984

Jill Roberts

879 N Stillman Street Philadelphia, PA 19130-1837

Roberts.jill27@gmail.com

Jill Roberts: “Hello Class of 1984! If you are seeing this and saying to yourself ‘I never get Jill’s emails.’ Or

in the neighborhood where I moved 24 years ago in the heart of Myers Park and love it. I can walk to friends, the grocery store, restaurants…except I just broke my foot, so walking or any exercise is off the table for six to eight weeks. Dammit. Still working for Capel—back to traveling more, which I am happy about! Parents are doing OK. 91 & 86! Atkins’ is a senior at UNC-CH, not sure if she will stay an extra year, or not. Cannot believe we are this old! Come visit me!

‘when is she going to get my email right?’ I apologize, I am a last-minute gal always and this time around I was even more last minute than usual and did not clean up the email address list and forwarded to an older distribution list. Please send me your current email address and I promise to do better next time, thank you to those who have sent me corrections already. That said if anyone wants this role just give a shout, I will not be offended. With life returning to the new normal work has me at something of a sprint all the time and extra curriculars the same. Still playing ice-hockey and rowing; decided to challenge myself a bit more with rowing, working more in a single and also signing up to race in a double; still worshipping at the house of Peloton and managing an occasional round of golf now and again. I am running around getting ready to fly to Atlanta for a conference in a couple of hours (and no I am not packed).

I had a busy late winter though summer starting with a January trip to Sanibel Island, FL, with a college friend and her spouse (we loved it!).

Then getting married (really a huge dance party, deKoven can fill you in on the nuttiness that it was) after a two-year pause due to COVID, then attended my sister in-law’s wedding two months later and dealt with my favorite Uncle in-law’s unexpected illness and passing, we are so grateful he made it to our wedding but still gutted by him being gone way too early—truly a remarkable man. We managed two long weekends at the beach—and got so lucky with weather—just lovely. Hope all are healthy and well, I was recently speaking with a colleague who said, ‘I am working on giving myself grace and space.’ In these times words to live by for yourself and others. XO.

Now in your own words…Cameron Capel: “I spend 70% of my time in Wild Dunes, Isle of Palms, SC, driving to Troy for work, and flying out for other meetings. Not sure if I ever mentioned that I sold my house in CLT, am renting an apartment back

XXOO Cameron” Sue Phillips: “Hi Everyone, it’s lovely to hear everyone’s news! On the home front, two of our (five) kids got married this year, which honestly seems ridiculous even though they are in their late 20s. Our middle child graduated from law school a couple of months ago. That I can handle. Our youngest just started high school. How can I wish the youngest were older and the olders were younger? It is not possible that I am old enough to have married children. And yet I am WAY too old to have someone in my house who is 14. If this doesn’t sum up middle age, I don’t know what does. Work is still completely fascinating. We are about to start a three-year project looking at spiritual innovation worldwide and I’m stoked. Thanks to those of you who have taken time to write a few lines. I think of you all fondly and always wish you well. I remember your 18-year-old selves—brave and freaked out and fearless and terrified all at once. You all shored me up at a time I could have tanked, and I will always be more grateful that I can say.

Fondly, Sue” Pam Parker “Oh you slipped that in there oh so subtly, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS, JILL! So great hearing from folks, really nothing interesting happening here. Living happily in Damariscotta, ME, and still working from home thankfully. I lost my beloved old dog in March; I am still grieving. I have been competing a lot with my younger dog and have a rescue foster (Border Collie) that I am desperately trying to find an appropriate home. Trying to get my old house on the market, but keep running into SNAFUs. Family is well. Been sailing quite a bit and driving my horse. Have to start thinking about the end of the sailing season tho... damn. Be well all!”

Ana Webb-Smith “Congrats Jill! As for me, I’m still working as a Hospice Clinical RN and loving it. I also delegate for Assisted Livings in the area. I’ve been traveling with the grands, last big trip was to Dubai in April and then I did some Ana time at the Salamander Resort in Middleburg. Just got back from Dallas this morning, Dad’s dementia is progressing so I wanted him to see these grands and

have more memories. Seraphina, the grand that lives with me is starting to look at colleges. It’s quite strange how quickly they grow. Otherwise, life is good. Just loving it, traveling and grateful. Sending virtual hugs to all.” deKoven Pelton: “Hello! As for my update, outside of work (still at Macmillan Learning and liking it after three plus years), I am doing a lot of hikes in the nearby mountains with a hiking group and/or friends (five to nine miles). Mostly Shenandoah National Park and George Washington National Forest. I even started leading groups and my hikes have a twist of a 10–15 minute self-led meditation/reflection at a creek or overlook. Somewhat related, I am also obsessed with planting native plants and have been learning and planting so I can meditate outside in my yard. In the last year or so, friends got me into pickleball, which is easier on my tennis-elbow and an occasional fun social outing. My twin sons graduated college in May and one is in Philly and the other heading to Salt Lake City. Both are big rock climbers (gym and outdoors). I bouldered (at a gym) for the first time with (son) Owen this week. What a cool culture and great sport! Rope climbing happening soon. (I am afraid of heights, so practicing falling is a big piece.) My daughter is still in Cambridge Mass and loving it. Will be visiting each of those places and would love to see anyone in the area. Jill, it will happen! I saw so much love and laughter at Jill’s celebration. What a gift!” Josephine Duell Routh “Hello folks—I’m here in Charleston, SC. Living the dubious life of a public education teacher—first grade has been my spot for the past five years. Celebrating 20 years of marriage this month and (like all of you) embracing the daily challenges of the mental load of a working woman, caregiver, wife, and mother. Our daughter Mary is in her second year at Fordham University Lincoln Center in New York City. Wishing you all the best as we navigate our fifth decade around the sun.” Pam Aurbach “Hi everyone—I’m still living in London, which means I’ll get to witness some amazing history next week—a Royal funeral and the coronation of a new King. I am still loving living in and traveling around Europe. And though I will miss it terribly, I plan to retire next March. My five-year work visa comes to its natural end, and I have made the decision to not extend it. And I am looking very forward to a slower pace of life! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying our 50s!” Kate Armfield Fannon “OMG and yes congrats Jill, I totally missed that in your message!! Hello everyone, I am

still living in Middleburg, VA just a few miles from Lizanne Driskill. Also, Hope Jewett McKalip recently moved out this way and we have gone to dinner a few times. So fun. I have traveled a ton this year, some for work some for vacation. Making up for lost time. Started the year with a trip to Turk and Caicos with my kids, last one on the books later next month is a meeting in Charlottesville. I will seriously go anywhere, just glad to be back in a routine of seeing people in person. My daughter is a freshman at Tulane and my son is a junior at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg. All good! Hope you all are doing well and Jill thanks for your fun messages and effort to get this done!” Joan Suter: “All is well in Greenwich, CT. It’s been a very very busy last two years in residential real estate with everyone leaving New York City. Even with our rising mortgage rates, home prices are still insane, and we have no inventory. I’ve been at Coldwell Banker for about three years, and I really like the company. For fun I’ve been playing as much golf as I can. I love the game, even though it doesn’t always love me. Yoga has been helping and Advil. It’s been a fun summer and I can’t believe it’s already September. I didn’t travel this summer but hope to this fall. My boys are growing up quickly. My younger two are in ninth & tenth grade at our local high school and my oldest (24 years old) is working full time at Morgan Stanley and getting his MBA part time from NYU Stern, following in my footsteps. That’s about it for my updates. I hope everyone has a nice fall. Jill thanks for doing the notes. Your emails always put a smile on my face!!!”

Dara Torre: “Hearty congratulations, Jill! Great to hear everyone’s updates and travel stories. I’m navigating grown children and aging parents as well, fortunately all are faring well. Since May I’ve also been living life as a candidate (www.daratorrevt.com) running for state office in Vermont. What a whirlwind! Have to say it’s been energizing and fun despite all the work. Wish me luck on November 8th!” Susan Stearns “Yes, Jill you buried that little detail—CONGRATULATIONS! As for me, Chris and I officially live in Oshkosh full time now. I quit my job and don’t miss the advertising world one bit. My Mom is 93 and we live next door. She is all good, playing golf and ping pong still.

I think she gets more exercise than I do! Although we do have a two-yearold Golden Retriever, Harry, who keeps me on my toes! We boat a lot up here in the summer, for winter I have yet to figure out with all my new downtime. Probably lots of indoor

pickleball since I have been taking lessons with some neighbors. I am on a Board up here at a museum and that has been fun and gives me a chance to meet new people which is nice. Chris’s kids (who I am very close to) are good too—one started her first job in Charlotte at an ad agency (she followed in our footsteps) and the other one is a senior at Eckerd College in St. Pete. Marine biology major who is determined to save our oceans! Aside from that, not too much else to report. Miss you guys!! Love hearing what you all are up to!

XOXO Shrimp” Anne Watson Batson “Hi All! Love reading the updates and inspired to write in this time. I am going through lots of changes and doing my best as the middle of the family sandwich. We sold our home in Indiana to move closer to aging parents who are all doing really well for being >86. Living with my parents in Lexington, VA, for now but closing on a home in Staunton, VA, in 2 weeks! Jeff (spouse of 34 years now) has elderly parents in Hagerstown, MD, so we are closer to them. I am doing full time telehealth for a sleep disorders clinic. I was able to keep my job in Indiana which would have been inconceivable pre-COVID. Most of my work is with insomnia patients and telehealth seems to work really well for these folks. Older son, Nick, lives in Singapore and has a twoyear-old who I just met for the first time this past month. My younger son, Robert, lives in Brighton, England. I went two years without seeing them. That was a COVID tragedy!!! We finally got to have some extended visits and I feel connected to them again. WhatsApp video calls can only take you so far. I needed to touch, smell, and see them in 3D. Congratulations Jill, Shrimp, Pam on weddings and retirement!

Good Luck DT on your run for office!!! Take care everyone!” Lauren Brockman “I love these updates and am so grateful to you, Jill, for keeping us all connected. Like most in our sandwich generation, things are chugging along. My daughter Lilly is still in NYC working for H&M corporate and loving it. She graduated two years ago so that means I have had fewer trips to Philly to see Jill and Amy. Just as we were getting into a rhythm! My son Alex just graduated from Chapel Hill in PWAD (peace war and defense). After taking the summer off, he is now starting his job search in earnest. He wants to move to DC and is interested in policy research or consulting. Would be fun to have him in DC—a quick if not stressful drive up 95. I am still working in new product development at

1983 Isabella Harris on a cruise to Alaska

1983 Allie Mendelsohn’s dog, Nala

1983 Paige Walker with students in DC 1983 Courtney Walsh Phleger with her horse Mike

Bandwidth—a software-based telecom company here in Raleigh. I have been back in the office since June, but it is now an official policy which has not been popular with many. Mom and family are doing well so feeling really grateful.”

1985

Laurie Zerwer

14940 W Sunset Boulevard Pacific Palisades, CA 90272-3716 zooer@mac.com

Greetings from the Breakfast Nook, where my most loyal companions, Cowboy and Conrad, sit curled in their donut pillows as I sip my morning coffee. Thank you to all who contributed, with a special shout out to Gretchen Rummel Dixon for consistently answering my call for submissions all these years. Gretchen quit her job in June and has “been contemplating what to do since then. I’ve been studying mindfulness and self-compassion. It’s been freeing. I’m also getting back into rock climbing.

I love it! In April I visited our daughter Paige a our English SIL John in Liverpool, England. She is an historian working on a U Boat exhibit. I also went to Scotland with a friend and managed to get COVID there. The whole family was together at Keuka Lane in June. With the kids aboard it

was nice to be together. Our Laura is working her way up the ladder in the cannabis industry in Denver. And our youngest, Amanda, is still finding herself. Bob is still working from home which I actually like. It’s been good for us. I hope everyone is happy and healthy.” Elizabeth Quainton

Anderman writes that this was “the summer of change! In June we started it off with a new puppy—Coco, a Border Collie Blue Heeler mix (a likely transplant from the Navajo nation). In July, our daughter Maggie married Geoff Harrison in a tiny marriage on top of Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder. Fabulous. In August, our daughter Jennifer started a new program at Regis University for people with developmental disabilities. She’s living on campus. Some days we are empty nesters! (Though both girls come back often). In Madeira news: Had a lovely early summer lunch with Vanessa Billstone Peyton and Gretchen Rummel Dixon On a cold snowy spring day had lunch with Priscilla Craven ’82 who teaches at CU, like me. COVID organized Siana Tackett Laura Hewitt and I to talk regularly on WhatsApp. A real gift! I’ve also been mentoring Madeira students during the Co-curriculum— another win enabled by the COVID pivot to online technology.” Cal McKittrick Pennington is “pleased to announce that over a year ago I became the Executive Director of the Shepherd’s Center of Northern Virginia, a nonprofit organization serving the needs of adults age 50+. We offer services, programs, lifelong learning, social opportunities as well as volunteer and fundraising opportunities. We are looking for support in grant writing, special events and planning. If you have an interest, please reach out. Thank you! Best regards to all.” Ingrid Schneider is “working on the self-preserving repertoire of, ‘Ok, what do you think you should do next/ I’m sure you’ll figure that out’, ‘love to, can’t’, and the ever popular ‘Bugger off’ (or some more/ less diplomatic variation thereof).

My news is that there is not much news other than I have revised my

goal retirement age to 60 not 65, we’ll have to wait and see if the universe laughs its ass off or merely chuckles. I moved to a cute TH in a walkable neighborhood- not having a fenced backyard is strong encouragement to walk the dog regularly! And because we’re still all about the “kids!” My daughter Kelly Nance ’19 is a senior at East Carolina University doing very well and excited/anxious for the job market; I can report that she is way smarter than her post-concussion SAT’s and GPA from Madeira would suggest. My son Christopher (Woodberry ’15—thank you Madeira for introducing me to WFS!) just got his Naval Aviator’s wings and orders to Whidbey Island, WA, I have never been to the Pacific northwest, I am looking forward to it!” Anne Camden Spilman White shares that “My oldest son Lane is doing all the senior things and applying for college. I can’t believe he is this grown up!

Timothy is enjoying seventh grade and will be the Bulldog mascot with the basketball cheerleaders this season! He says it’s the perfect thing for an introvert because no one knows it’s him. Bekah is in fifth grade and playing soccer and looking forward to basketball. I’m taking some time off from teaching Special Ed and deciding what I want to be when I grow up… any suggestions welcomed!” As Saturn returns from a second trip around the sun, many of us in the Class of 1985 find ourselves contemplating second acts or even third acts in our careers while simultaneously navigating adolescents and elder care. Being a part of the “Sandwich Generation” is intense, and as the cheese in the middle of that sandwich, I’m feeling the squeeze from both sides. The upside? There’s no shortage of material to write about. Grace Jeffers“I am still in Ireland learning how hard it is to revive an abandoned farm. It has taken longer and cost more than I expected but I think that’s the joke, right? My health is amazing considering all I have been through—but “recovery” like building a house is a bigger adventure than anyone told

me. I guess if I had anything important to share it’s, hold on for one more day…because you never know what tomorrow will bring.’ I’ve wanted to give up more than a few times through all this... but the sun always rises and the mountains and the sea remain. I talk to Elizabeth Gaffney a lot. I miss dancing the way we all used to at mixers and the 9:30 Club.” I am grateful to Elizabeth Gaffney ’84 for providing a nurturing creative space in which to write. My son Harry (17) was cast as Sweeney Todd in the fall musical at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, while Maxwell (20) is living his best NYC life as a Parsons student/tattoo-artist in the East Village. Andrew has a new show, Circuit Breakers, coming out on Apple at Thanksgiving, an anthology billed as Black Mirror for kids. We are a creative family. And now… drumroll please… the results of the photo caption contest! This unfiltered gem is what I look like most afternoons when I’ve reached my allotment of caffeine: tired, no makeup, and the crepey neck that Nora Ephron wrote about. At press time, there were only three responses, so I’m sharing them all here. Only GenXers from Madeira back in the day will get it. Susan Ramsey Aldrich You must first weight in before your white card will be approved! Lisa Feldman Goldstein No watching the TV in the vestibule on weekdays. Jenna Ashley Dinner tonight is orange fish. That’s all, folks! Till next time… LZ

1986

Avery Miller 2804 R Street NW Washington, DC 20007-2918 Averyswing2003@yahoo.com

From July 2022 Class Notes: I (Avery Miller) was reading Town & Country magazine and of course a headline jumped out at me. Pun intended. “Why is Everyone Smoking Toad Venom?” And of course, the byline of Alex Kuczynski made the article

required reading. Alex is an incredibly talented writer, and also an amazing mom. She emailed an adorable family photo of her and her two teenage sons Luke Pablo and Max Dudley. She is living full-time in Idaho and says “mountain living is like being in Shangri La.” She is writing a memoir about Peru where her father, the former president, “has been under house arrest for four years without being charged with a crime.” Alex is also single now which probably won’t last considering how fabulous she is! Colman Rackley Riddell and I co-chaired a major fundraiser for the Georgetown Ministry Center which raised over $250,000. Over the past 34 years, Georgetown Ministry Center has served tens of thousands of individuals experiencing homelessness with showers, laundry, meals, shelter, physical and psychiatric care. My sophomore-year co-curriculum job at the Green Door, a halfway house, inspired me to get involved with a local organization that is trying to help individuals that struggle with mental health challenges. Colman was on the frontlines for many years as a registered nurse. We live within two blocks of each other now in Georgetown on R Street in the same neighborhood where we grew up, and where our parents still live.

My daughter Aves Mocek ’19 met up with Colman’s daughter Elizabeth ‘Bibs’ Riddell on the Tulane campus where Aves, a Tulane junior, gave Bibs, a junior at Episcopal School, a campus tour. Tuppy Blair Carnie shares: “Part of my MBA at KenanFlagler at UNC Chapel Hill, I was given an opportunity to travel to Helsinki, Finland, for a two-week immersive Digital Marketing MASTER Class in partnership with University of Aalto. Six of the 19 were Tarheels so we were well represented. In addition to school, found time for some extra-curricular fun, like going to a hockey game, going 200 km north of the Arctic Circle in Kiruna, Sweden to go to the Ice Hotel, some dogsledding and visiting a Sammi village to meet their coveted reindeer. Of course, I was also lucky enough to see the northern lights.” I received more recent news from several classmates. Heidi Helgerson Norman “A few updates from me in Pittsburgh, PA. 2022 has been a good year for me and my family. Andy and I celebrated our 30th anniversary in July with a big party in the park and were thrilled to see so many family and friends in attendance after two years of pandemic isolation. I was confirmed as the CIO and Director, Dept. of Innovation & Performance for the City of Pittsburgh—I’m having such a great time and have found the “func-

tion in disaster, finish is style” motto has come in handy more times than I can count! Our older son Reece, 25, starts his fourth year as a high school physics teacher in the south hills of Pittsburgh and our younger son Kai, 23, celebrates one year as a software engineer in Austin, TX, in September. Looking forward to plenty of travel near and far this fall. Big hugs to everyone!” I (Avery Miller) attended a wonderful Madeira book party for former head of school Elisabeth Griffith Her book Formidable is a fascinating look at the fight for women to vote. It was multi-generational at the Rosebush residence in DC. Nancy’s daughter’s Claire Rosebush Harvey ’98 and Lauren Rosebush Hilyard ’20 were co-hosts along with Anne Gambal ’81 and her daughter Elizabeth Gambal ’10 Loved hearing all the wonderful stories about “Dr. G’s public speaking class.”

1987

Mary Day Fitzgibbon

7025 Indian Peaks Trail

Boulder, CO 80301-3626

Mdfitz13@gmail.com

Thank you to those who sent in notes, you make my job easy! Living in Boulder, I have had the pleasure of connecting with former classmates from Potomac, Madeira, Lawrenceville, and BU who have kids either looking at CU Boulder or have kids being dropped off at CU! From Madeira, I have seen Heather Haislip Kase both Knox Parker ’88 and Haile Parker McCollum (Haile was here for a Red Rocks concert), Rossell Studer (here for a wedding), and I almost saw Cindy Flynn Stowell Cindy’s daughter graduated from CU in May, and it turned she had a jam-packed family weekend. We continue to enjoy living in CO especially with an average number of sunny days=300/year. Our two girls are in Europe for college and our youngest is a senior in high school playing lacrosse, skiing, and thinking

about college. We had a great family ski week in the French Alps at the beginning of 2022 and I was able to visit our daughters in Paris this spring. I really enjoyed being with my three sisters, our mom and all the kids on Cuttyhunk, MA, this summer despite trying to work remotely with limited cell service! I also saw Meredith Whitney a few times in DC, she was looking forward to a spending a few weeks in Maine this summer. I connected with Catherine Rocco Goodwin as she was heading to London for 4 days. She told me that her business, Exceed Physical Culture, had closed during COVID, so she had time to pursue and earn a master’s in public administration and policy from American University. For the past seven years she has been an interim care provider for newborns and is excited to be working full time with vulnerable children and families. She had more to share about her family but was boarding the plane— next edition…Janet Carter wrote: “I have had a year that I suspect many people have had or may have soon. My father passed away almost a year ago this week, and it has shifted a huge part of my daily energy to my mother. After dad died, mom was not happy with the loneliness of the winter, so that lead her to decide to move into assisted living. So, last weekend we moved her into an assisted living place in Durham, NC. I know she is not happy there, so I am a bit stressed about what to do…such is life is our time in life. So, that has all been kind of tough. On a super positive note, I sold my main business and so my days until retirement are now numbered which is great. I need to work for them for two years and am half a year into it. A year and a half will fly, and my partner Sophie and I will then get to have a lot more freedom to travel and explore our other hobbies etc.” From Marci Andrews Young “My big news this year is that my husband, Duane, and I are officially empty nesters. We dropped off our youngest son to college in August. Our oldest son is a

1985 Laurie Zerwer, subject of the photo caption contest

1985 Lauren Rosebush Hilyard ’00, Claire Rosebush Harvey ’98, Betsy Griffith, Elizabeth Gambal ’10

1985 Avery Miller with former head Betsy Griffith

1987 Karen Jacobs Sulek and Alison Gelb Andrus and son Will

1985 Elizabeth Quainton Anderman from Sintra Portugal where she and her family had summer vacation

1987 Karen Jacobs Sulek and Fielding Wood 1987 Karen Jacobs Sulek’s daughter Sophia and Fielding’s daughter Tika

1987 Alison Gelb Andrus, Karen Jacobs Sulik and kids

1987 Sophie Muir Rothschild and Chris

1987 Lisa Foster, Pilar Frank O’Leary, and Sophie Muir Rothschild

senior in college so we are looking forward to his graduation in May 2023 when he (hopefully) will start his full-time “adulting” journey. This summer we moved from our home in Bethesda, MD, into a cozy condo in DC. I need to figure out a new hobby or activity now that I have all of this time on my hands—lol! Any tips from classmates who have already embarked on this next phase of life’s journey? Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.” Sophie Muir Rothschild wrote: “Anne Faircloth and family are coming through London tonight so they will come for dinner.

I joined Lisa Herren Foster and Pilar Frank O’Leary and families in July for a visit to Majorca which was wonderful. Beaches, boats, and fine dining. I will be hosting a fundraiser for Fielding’s Andean school, Kusi Kawsay, in London next month. Otherwise, I am still at Citi, coming back to see my family in DC for Thanksgiving.” Whizzy Sperry Roof and her husband Bill still live in Hingham, MA, but also spend a lot of time up in Stowe, VT. Whizzy’s eldest daughter, Ellie, graduated from Trinity College in May 2022 and is working for a recruiting firm in Boston. Lucy is a junior at Trinity College. She said it was so great having both girls together at school for two years!

Whizzy continues to work in Human Resources for Accenture and has been with them for a total of 18 years. She has become involved in a local loom weaving group named wonky weaving woman and is enjoying

1993

30TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

getting to know some of the other women who weave on the South Shore. Additionally, she loves hearing for classmates and would love to hear from anyone visiting Boston. From Meg Weems Desmond “We’re still living in Fredericksburg, VA. My daughter, Coleen Desmond ’25 is settling into her second year as a boarder at Madeira (go Red Team). With two of our boys in college and the third a senior at Woodberry Forest, we miss them all, but Bill and I enjoy the quiet when we have it! We were a small but mighty group at Reunion this spring. Meredith Whitney hosted a lovely cocktail party at her house on Saturday. Extra special was getting to catch up with Madame Monteil and Janet Carter’s mom! We were joined by Gussy Reese’s daughter, Ava Donohue ’24 who was enjoying a weekend off-campus with Stephanie White Frost-Rocha and her daughter, Eleanor Rocha ’24 both junior boarders this year. Gaither Smoot Deaton ’88 was an honorary ’87! Such a fun occasion!”

From Vida Grebliunas Barham

“I am getting back on my feet after losing my husband Steve very unexpectedly in October 2020 (unknown cardiac event and he passed in his sleep). My girls (13 & 16) are what keep me going and we’re slowly getting back to doing the things we love—traveling, camping, etc. A highlight was making it to Rome over Spring Break this year—we loved every minute! I’ve had many crash courses in home maintenance

(thanks, YouTube!) and financial planning and am thankful for the friends near and far who have kept me afloat. I’ve also tried online dating and may write a book about those experiences, LOL. Not for the faint of heart! We started some college touring this summer and were lucky enough to see Katie Haden McCormack and Randall Moore Ware in Richmond on our way to Duke. It was as if no time had passed! I have a small private practice as a reading specialist and work with elementary kids 1:1 when I’m not chasing my busy girls around town and shuttling them to sports, etc.” From Karen Jacobs Sulek: “Alison Gelb Andrus and her son Will came down from NY to spend the last weekend of July with Fielding Wood’s daughter Tika (doing research internship at Yale this summer), my daughter Sofia, and me. Fielding could not make it as she is spending time with her own Mom who is not doing well. It was so special to spend the weekend with our kids….” I heard from Ferris Fesmire Buddy Viv, Noah and Ferris’ eldest daughter, started her freshman year at American University this fall. So far so good! Meredith Whitney had Ferris over for breakfast during drop off weekend in DC, and they had a great time. “Meredith looked great, and her house is beautiful!” Ferris’ second daughter, Stella is a sophomore at Greenwich High playing lots of ice hockey. After 20+ years with Greenwich Schools, Ferris continues to teach elementary art and is look-

ing forward to a more normal year in the classroom. She and Noah are excited about many future trips to DC and hopefully running into classmates in the DC area! From Lisa Herren Foster “Thank you to so many of you who sent notes and support after I lost my sweet sister to breast cancer last December. She was 42 and such a light. Between that and the news that my husband, Charles, has an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma—it was a hard year. We hope we are through the worst of it and that it doesn’t come back. Cancer is awful as many of you sadly know firsthand. On a happier note, my two daughters are doing well! Ellie (18) is at the School of Communications at CU Boulder and loves it. She is now officially a Delta Gamma and is thrilled to be meeting really great girls. Catherine (15) is a sophomore at St. Andrew’s in DE and thriving. It means Charles and I are empty nesters earlier than expected and so we are trying to tick off things on his bucket list.” Haile Parker McCollum wrote: “I caught up with Lessley Merklein Harwell in July on a sweeping college tour for my oldest son. We met up in Chapel Hill and had a great catch-up, it’s like 1987 was five years ago, not 35! I look forward to spending some time in the Washington area over the next four years and hope to see some of you! I was named “Miss Woodberry Forrest” in your senior yearbook, nonetheless, I am thrilled to report that our youngest son just started at Episcopal High School. It was very nostalgic to return to The Holy Hill after all these years. I’m sure I will see a few Madeira alums (Colman Rackley Riddell ’86 has a daughter at EHS) at THE GAME this year.

1988

35TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Augusta Reese 33 Wawapek Road

Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724-1209

Augustareese@verizon.net

I would love to hear from you!

1989

Darcey Callender 6257 Cape Hatteras Way NW #6 St. Petersburg, FL 33702-7047 dmcyerkes@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

1990

Christina Rodriguez chris@rodrigweez.com

I would love to hear from you!

1991

Mary Lifson Hilbert 421 Peaslake Court Rolesville, NC 27571-9201 Su4fun@yahoo.com

I would love to hear from you!

1992

Kobi Dunning Carter 443 Clayton Avenue Alexandria, VA 22304-7157 Madeiralovelyladies92@gmail.com

Emma Kress writes, “As a writer of young-adult books, I’ve been spending a lot of time remembering my Madeira days. One of the things that’s struck me—especially as more folks have been participating in these updates thanks to Kobi’s original prompts—is that even though it was a small school, there were so many of you I didn’t get to know well. I think there were many more overlaps of personalities and interests than I realized at the time. So, a big thank you to everyone for all of the glimpses into your current lives. I’m grateful to get to know you again.”

1994

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

1995

Charity Putuhena Unit 3, 16 Carr Street COOGEE, NSW 2034 Australia caridadita@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

1996

Anna Brooke 21 Rideout Road Nobleboro, ME 04555-8678 annacnbrooke@gmail.com

Christina Lehmejian-Karaszewski 38 Broadview Terrace Chatham, NJ 07928-1834 CJLK@mac.com

Hello, 96ers! Anna Brooke and I hope this update finds everyone well, healthy and happy. Christina Lehmejian-Karaszewski and I are your new class correspondents and I want to acknowledge Jenny Mayo for holding down this work for so many years. Thanks, Jenny! Emery Mikel writes that 2022 has been full of various adventures. A trip to Mexico, Olympic weightlifting, starting her second

LLC (Firefly & Phoenix) helping therapists become entrepreneurs, and enjoying lots of AcroYoga all over the US. Most recently she went to Burning Man for the first time and had an incredible eight days in the desert! What an experience! She is starting her third year on the Madeira Alumnae Council and looks forward to having more Madeira interns this spring. Fellow class correspondent Christina Lehmejian-Karaszewski writes that she had such a good time seeing Betty Momenian Dinarte, Eliza Andrews, Erica Stukel Probst, and Phoebe duPont Harris at the in-person “make up” reunion back in April. They laughed a lot, marveled at the confidence of current students, enjoyed the food trucks (where were they when we were in school?!), and even had an impromptu class jam session with Dr. Davis—thanks Dr. D for interrupting your Kennedy Center outing to come over and see your fan club at the last minute! After a three-year overseas travel hiatus, she enjoyed a blissful family holiday in Provence this summer—they got to take in Roman ruins, spend long overdue time with family and friends, and consume more than their yearly allotment of soft cheese, stone fruit, and baguette in three weeks’ time. She concludes that she ended the summer with another lovely Madeira reunion, this time with Lina AlJuburi and Betty back home in Virginia. Lots of laughs and love. And it was wonderful to watch our girls become fast friends…Madeira class of 2034 perhaps? To wrap things up, I (Anna Brooke) am writing these class notes from beautiful Midcoast Maine where my wife Lola and I have been living since late 2020. It turns out we live down the road from where Katherine Petty MacLane’s son attends summer camp, and it has been wonderful seeing her during many camp runs. I ran into Nicola Gardiner and her husband at the Midcoast Botanical Gardens this summer which was a wonderful surprise. I hope to cross paths with many of you this year!

1987 Stephanie White Frost-Rocha, Gabriele Sass, Meredith Whitney, Anne Faircloth, Meg Weems Desmond

1987 Gabriel Sass, Stephanie White Frost-Rocha, Karen Sulek Jacobs, Meg Weems Desmond, Anne Faircloth

1987 Lisa Herren Foster, Catherine Brown Collins, Pilar Frank O’Leary, Malvina Anderson Martin ’86, Avery Miller ’86 reunited at Millie’s in Washington, DC

1987 Whizzy Sperry Roof with her family

1987 Madame Helene Monteil (former French Teacher), Gaither Smoot Deaton ’88, Meg Weems Desmond, Karen Jacobs Sulek, Stephanie White Frost-Rocha, Janet Carter, Meredith Whitney, Anne Faircloth, Sue Luangkhot Hoppin, Eleanor Rocha ’24, Ava Donohue ’24

1996 Emery Mikel doing acroyoga at Burning Man this summer

1996 Erica Stukel Probst, Phoebe duPont Harris, Eliza Andrews, Christina Lehmejian-Karaszewski, and Betty Momenian Dinarte.

1987 Lisa Herren Foster and Pilar Frank O’Leary and families

1987 Vida Grebliunas Barham, Katie Haden McCormack, and Randall Moore Ware

1997

Megan Brown Rokicki

495 Lorimer Street, Fl. 2 Brooklyn, NY 11211-3510 missmeganb@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

1998

25TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Camille Fox Lefere

3117 Stoney Hollow Lane Rockwall, TX 75087-6746 Foxc522@yahoo.com

Hey friends!! Camille Fox Lefere here. I so enjoy reading through all these wonderful stories and news from you lovely ladies. And I agree that it is crazy to think that we are nearing our 25th reunion, since we graduated. I love how Hope said that we are all still 39 because she hasn’t managed to celebrate her 40th birthday yet, the right way. Life is crazy, great, and full for me and my family down here in Dallas, TX. Both of our boys 12 and 10 made their travel hockey teams again, which definitely keeps our lives busy. If we aren’t traveling to Austin or Houston, we could be in Cleveland, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Boston, depending on the weekend. They

both love it, so it makes it worth it and rewarding. Our daughter also plays in the rec league and is busy dancing as well. We are so grateful that our family’s restaurant is still very busy and successful, despite the last couple of years. I have been thoroughly enjoying studies in natural and holistic health when I’m not driving my kiddos to something. I think you all are truly tremendous women and I am really hoping to see a lot of you at our reunion in April 2023! Alison Benbow Osborne is doing great—enjoying work, family and life in Austin, TX. She works in development for an international nonprofit headquartered in Austin. Her son, Duncan, just started third grade and daughter, Alafair, just started kindergarten. Life is fast moving with school and dance and Kung fu and play dates, but they are managing and cramming in as much travel as they can! Despite the craziness in the world, Mariama Black Hamer has had an amazing year.  Her husband and she welcomed their first child, Howard Edward Hamer III on May 19. “He’s almost four months now and we’re loving parenthood!  Howie is such a great baby and now he smiles and coos all the time!”

Workwise Mariama is still with Raytheon but has transitioned out of software development and into project management. It’s a huge switch to manage people, but she is enjoying the change so far. “The lake house

crew” (Catherine Swezey, Mariama Black Hamer, Joanna ClaustroHurlbert, and Ruth Kanthula) got together for dinner but were missing Alex Malin Schumann Now that she’s back in VA, they can all get together. They will probably need to schedule a dinner or three, since there are a lot of Madeira ladies in Northern VA.  Mariama was able to have lunch with Tarica Chambliss, Nikki Sickles, and Manka Azefor ’97 earlier this year. She is so happy she was able to catch up with these ladies. They’re all doing wonderful things!  I’m hoping next year will restart our annual trip with Lori Manning, Nikki Sickles and Jennifer McLaughlin Scott Mariama is looking forward to reconnecting with everyone at our 25th reunion next year!  Ludmilla de Weever got to get together with Amanda Forgason Dempsey, Victoria Hargis Bruton, Megan Krause Belniak and Elaine Walker Trull back in April for a trip to Cabo. It was so amazing for all. It had been 14 years since they had been able to get together. Oh, and Ludmilla de Weever has been “a little preoccupied” because she went into government in March 2020 as minister of tourism, economics, transportation, and telecommunication in Sint Maarten. And, subsequently, left that post to take up her seat in parliament in August 2021. So, Ludi is currently a member of parliament in Sint Maarten (Dutch side). She says that she is following

in the family footsteps (both sides: maternal grandfather on the French side and her dad on the Dutch side). She reports that it is very crazy as she never thought about it. It just happened abruptly, and she was needing to see major change, since the island was practically destroyed by hurricane Irma in 2017. They are still rebuilding. Nonetheless, she misses all her Madeira girls and hopes to be at the next reunion.  She sends hugs and kisses from Sint Maarten! Big news from Tayte French Lutz In June, she graduated from the Harvard Business School Owner President Management Program OPM58. This achievement was the culmination of three years of hard work and course instruction delivered both virtually due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and in person. Tayte shared this journey with over 160 amazing entrepreneurs and family business leaders for whom she is incredibly grateful to have met and learned from. Collectively, they spent 300+ hours in class learning from top-tier professors and from each other, through readings of 120+ case studies of business models, economies, successes, transformations, and failures. Tayte is excited to continue applying these lessons in her life and for the benefit of all the stakeholders of her family’s manufacturing company, French Oil Mill Machinery Co. Tayte is the only member of the fourth generation working in the

business. After her return from Boston, she was promoted to Vice President of the company as part of the succession plan to ultimately take on the roles of Chairman of the Board and CEO, currently held by her father. Along with all of this, Tayte has two significant speaking opportunities ahead of her: the More Than MFG Expo, August 30, in Cincinnati and the Women Breaking the Mold conference, November 15, in Nashville. Needless to say, things have been hectic! But, she got to sneak in a happy hour with Julie Talmadge Gordon, while in Boston. And, her family is all healthy and doing well.

Tayte’s two kids, ages 13 and 10, are learning a lot of independence, while mom and dad work so much. These kiddos also did a great job of pitching in to Tayte’s husband’s fireworks business to help get the company and family through his busy 4th of July season. Greetings came in from Shin-Young “Sunny” Lee! She thinks about her friends from Madeira from time to time and wonders how life is for all. She hopes everything is well and everyone is healthy! She is still working as a cardiac surgeon and moved to Japan, two years ago to work there. She reports that she is still single, but having fun as much as she can! She says Sapporo, Japan is the coldest place there in Japan, but if anyone gets a chance to travel there, do let her know!!! Alex Malin Schumann’s last year has been a

journey... she and her family moved to Kyiv, Ukraine, last summer, where Alex and her husband, Matt, both worked at the US Embassy. They spent the fall adjusting to their new home and exploring some of the beauty that Ukraine has to offer. At the end of January, Alex and her boys were evacuated back to the US by the State Department in anticipation of a potential Russian invasion, while Matt eventually evacuated to Poland and remained there until July. The invasion was devastating on so many levels but hit close to home for Alex, as literally shopping malls and grocery stores, she frequented nearby, were blown up, and Ukrainian friends and colleagues were forced to flee— or fight. It was also hard to watch a country and a people, that had made so much progress recently, be needlessly attacked. Alex spent the rest of the school year working remotely for the Embassy, homeschooling her boys, and staying near family in New England for support. She and her family are now resettling back into their home in Herndon, VA. Despite all the challenges, Alex says she doesn’t regret moving to Kyiv a year ago—it was all worth it to have had some time in Ukraine pre-war. Alex also enjoyed many silver linings while unexpectedly home, including spending Mother’s Day with her mom and Father’s Day with her dad—for the first time since before her Madeira days! Alex is excited for our 25th

(gasp!) reunion in April and hopes to see everyone there. Slava Ukraini! Having followed a “non-linear career path” with various interesting jobs all over the country, Hope Smith has finally landed back in Virginia. She recently became the Wine Manager at an independent gourmet grocery called Foods of All Nations in Charlottesville, known for its extensive wine department and the best sushi in town. The 2020 lockdown gave Hope a chance to learn more about wine (the jokes write themselves) through a couple of online certification courses. In May, she took one last exam through the Wine & Spirits Education Trust and the rest is history. Speaking of history, Hope reunited with fellow-Charlottesvillian/ former Madeira history teacher, Sara Cleveland and her husband Doug!

An amazing blast from the past! In other news: Hope is a proud shelter dog mom—14 wonderful years with Dreyfus and now to Clemmie, a rescue-Beagle; her parents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on September 9th; and next year

Hope will finally be celebrating her 40th birthday (delayed three years due to COVID) with a trip to Argentina’s wine country. She believes that technically, that makes us still 39 right?!? Liz Van Cleve Bell sends greetings from Tulsa, where she celebrates 12 years of living in Oklahoma this month. She is the grateful mom to a newly minted fifth grader,

1998 Alison Benbow Osborne and family

1998 Alex Malin Schumann and family at the Khotyn Fortress

1998 Ludmilla de Weever, Amanda Forgason Dempsey, Victoria Hargis Bruton, Megan Krause Belniak, Elaine Walker Trull

1998 Alison Benbow Osborne’s kiddos, Duncan and Alafair

1998 Hilary Hodge in Chinon France with Meredith Roberts, Alison Benbow Osborne, Sophie Sapp Moore, and Amanda Lewis.

1998 Mariama Black Hamer, husband and baby 1998 Joanna Claustro-Hurlbert, Catherine Swezey, Mariam Black Hamer and Ruth Kanthula

1998 Manka Azefor ’97, Mariama Black Hamer, Nikki Sickles, Tarica Chambliss

1998 Alex Malin Schumann and family in prewar Kyiv

1998 Julie Talmage Gordon and Tayte French Lutz

1998 Ludmilla de Weever, Amanda Forgason Dempsey, Victoria Hargis Bruton, Megan Krause Belniak, Elaine Walker Trull

Parker Bell, who attends the elementary school at the University of Tulsa. She’s started to ask about all-girls school for high school, so we shall see! Liz is the administrative director of the cardiovascular service line for Ascension Oklahoma. She enjoys the business and clinical aspects of her work. It’s a big role in an evolving landscape of healthcare, but it’s fun, too. She is passionate about playing tennis now as a stress management tool. She also jogs with several women at 5:30 in the morning and fondly thinks of after school sports...running down to black pond through the woods with the soccer team. Liz and her husband, Justin, celebrate 18 years of being together and 16 married on September 16. They are grateful for the blessing of partnership, especially through the pandemic. Justin and Liz would welcome anyone passing through Oklahoma and look forward to hearing how other Madeira women are approaching their mid-40s and functioning in disaster and functioning in style!

Hilary Hodge had a fabulous time at her very belated wedding/five-year anniversary festivities in Chinon, France with a bunch of amazing Madeira ladies.

1999

Kally Vafiadis Walton

3816 Epperson Trail Austin, TX 78732

kallyw@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

2000

Eleni Garbis Simmoneau

102 Green Street Medfield, MA 02052-1901 elenimelissa@gmail.com

Hi ladies! Hope summer 2022 was awesome for everyone. I had a great

one—I went back to Greece with my family for the first time since 2019, celebrated the big 40 in Boston (with Maya Dutt Sherr and Eliza Spaulding and our husbands!) and started a new job as VP of Consumer PR at Citizens. Feeling happy and very grateful and now getting into the swing of things with all the back-toschool activities. More career news from Carolyn Weger, who got a new job working at Microsoft. She says it’s been fun and challenging, and she’s finally been able to meet her team in person. Her family had some sad news, as they lost their oldest kitten, Yuna, this summer. She was 18, and they have many happy memories with her. She and her daughters, Lilly and Ellie, had a girls trip to Disneyland this spring after waiting for many months of quarantine. Kelsey Martyn-Farewell says, “As I write this at the beginning of the fall semester, my boys are both transitioning to new schools. My oldest is moving up to high school (*head explosion*) and my youngest is moving up to middle school. That my family is done with elementary school is bittersweet, but this new chapter has the potential for a lot of great things. We took our usual summer vacation to Innsbrook, MO, in June 2022, where we enjoyed lots of fishing, swimming, and various other outdoor activities with the family.”

In September, Kelsey hit her 15-year anniversary working for the University of Oklahoma. Jen Bain Takahashi shared that she, Surbhi Gupta and Zarina Morais Burdge belatedly celebrated their 40th birthdays by getting together in New York City. Hope to hear from more of you next time! Stay well!

2001

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

2002

Halima Sykes Dumas 1002 Tanners Point Drive Lawrenceville, GA 30044-8159 halimasykes@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

2003

20TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Stephanie Volk 41601 Bloomfield Path Street Ashburn, VA 20148-1751 Stephanie.volk@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

2004

Dahlia Rizk

5201 ½ Duncan Street Pittsburgh, PA 15201-2431 Dahlia.rizk@gmail.com

Elizabeth Miller is enjoying her life in Denver, where she was recently promoted at a fast-growing start-up. She is continuing to make plans for travel to both local and far-away places planned in the next few months. Rebecca Landau Swanner is enjoying sunny Los Angeles, keeping busy with her daughter Charlotte, three, and son Jack, six months. This past June, Grace Vega (nee Whang) and her family happily celebrated her younger sister Faith Whang’s ’11 marriage to David Chung. Grace’s

daughters Hope and Joy were flower girls for their Auntie’s special occasion. Elena Isella just started a new job as Director of Public Relations and Publications at the National Italian American Foundation in Washington, DC. She met up with Jaedra DiGiammarino for coffee at Kramer’s Books when visiting from Los Angeles. Dahlia Rizk spent three weeks this past summer in France with her husband and is looking forward to visiting her new nephew this fall in California.

2005

Deanna Boone 5766 NW 49th Way Coconut Creek, FL 33073-2322 Deanna.boone@gmail.com

Julia Cadwallender 916 Hall Street Philadelphia, PA 19147-3812 jcadwallender@gmail.com

April was the month of weddings!

Kristen Atkinson married JT in the mountains of Maryland on April 30,

2022. Kenisha Marks walked down the aisle to the acoustic sounds of Radiohead’s “True Love Waits.”

Natalie Dupecher was in the DR to witness the union. Taylor Ganz married Andrew Bassett in Sun Valley with Fleming Longino

Regina Previti Scott Taylor Ganz, Julia Cadwallender and Jill Glenney Reick in attendance. There were quite a few other 2005 graduates also married this year, many finally celebrating after postponing due to COVID. Congratulations to all the couples married this year!

2006

Kathleen Fuchs Hritz

Kathleen.f.hritz@gmail.com

Beverley Hatcher-Mbu

6445 Luzon Avenue NW, Apt. 506 Washington, DC 20012-3026

Beverley.mbu@gmail.com

Annabel Joy moved back to Arlington, VA, in May 2021 with her husband (Kean Duffey) and daughter, Cilla Duffey-Joy (born 4/14/20), after

11 years in Boston. They are expecting another baby (girl) this November. Kean is working for the Department of Energy and after unexpectedly losing her mom to Leukemia last summer, Annabel has shuttered her Interior Design business to stay home for a few years while the kids are young. Cilla was the flower girl in Elizabeth Minchew’s wedding this past May, where Annabel also had a chance to catch up with Carolina Richards Bennett. Megan Humphreys has had an eventful year so far. She received a promotion to Senior Clinical Therapist at the PTSD treatment program where she works. It’s been a very intense time for folks in trauma work, but deeply rewarding as well. Megan and her partner did their best to safely navigate travel for the first time in years by taking a trip to Alaska. Most importantly, their beloved senior dog Ro turned 10. Kathleen McCarthy was recently promoted to the role of children’s librarian in her local library system. The job is absolutely fantastic and she loves almost every minute of it. In addition, Kathleen and her roommates are well on their way to buying

2000 Carolyn Weger’s daughters in Disneyland

2000 Kelsey Martyn-Farewell with her children in Innsbrook, MO, June 2022

2000 Zarina Morais Burdge, Jen Bain Takahashi, and Surbhi Gupta celebrating 40 in New York City.

2004 Elena Isella and Jaedra DiGiammarino

2004 Rebecca Landau Swanner’s three-year-old daughter Charlotte 2004 Rebecca Landau Swanner’s sixmonth-old son Jack

2004 Grace Whang Vega’s daughter, Hope and Joy, were the flower girls at their auntie Faith Whang’s ’11 wedding

2004 Dahlia Rizk and her husband in France summer 2022

2005 Fleming Longino, Regina Previti Scott, Andy Bassett, Taylor Ganz, Julia Cadwallender, and Jill Glenney Reick in Sun Valley

2005 Kristen Atkinson with her husband JT

a house! Kathleen Fuchs Hritz completed an Executive MBA degree program at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management in May 2022. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee and currently works with Vanderbilt University. Christine Wang Trostler and her husband Michael welcomed their twin boys— William Thor and Theodore Orion— on June 3, 2022. Since then, Will and Theo have been growing in leap and bounds. As first-time parents, it’s been a real adventure watching the two of them experience this new world! Anna-Constantia Richardson and her wife Julie welcomed their wonderful daughter Robin to the world! Beverley Hatcher-Mbu was promoted to Deputy Director of Programs at her international non-profit in June 2022. It’s been a whirlwind watching Hendrix grow, with one of the best parts being introducing her to Bev’s Madeira friends. Hendrix met Sarah Jeffcoat in April when Sarah was in DC and took her first road trip to the Northern Neck region of Virginia to see Angelina deRosa Manyak and her family.

2007

Caitlyn Gart Goodman

1602 Cool Spring Drive Alexandria, VA 22308-1621 caitlyngart@gmail.com

Katherine Kies has had a busy fall, not only has she begun her tenure as Madeira’s Alumnae Council President, but she also got married to John Bussard on September 23 in Nantucket. Kate Derby and her now-husband Greg Johnson were married at the end of April in Chicago. Anne Patton and Jac Chan were married in June in DC. By her side on her important day were Madeira bridesmaids, Kristen Chou, Karie Micklem Dorrance, Alexandra Nasif Harper, Kristen O’Donnell ’08, Kate Derby, Sehar Khan ’09 and Pegah Kazemifar Karie Micklem Dorrance her husband Will, and their 2.5-year-old son Henry, welcomed baby girl, Abigail, born in late summer. Mary Coffman Quick and her husband, Robert, welcomed their 2nd son, Blair, in April.

Caroline Osherow Taplinger gave birth to her daughter, Madeline Rose in June. Alex Nasif Harper welcomed her second son, Alexander “Woods” Harper in June. Woods is already adored by his big brother, Thornton. Sadly, Alex lost her mom, Teresa Nasif, on September 23. Many of you will fondly remember Mrs. Nasif as the mom who was always ready to volunteer with a big smile on her face. Alex and her family are planning a celebration of Teresa’s life to be held in the spring. Lastly, just a quick update from me, Caitlyn Gart Goodman I’m busy with my two children who just turned three and one. I was also recently promoted to the Director of Major and Planned Giving at Madeira and look forward to more opportunities to connect and engage with our community and to travel again in this post-COVID world!

2008

15TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Angela Dean 19462 Sassafras Ridge Terrace Leesburg, VA 20176-6931 Adean11@gmail.com

Lily Sehn Haviland and her wife Ryan Linthicum Haviland have finally completed their shared last name change honoring Lily’s grandmother Peggy (Haviland) Calta and greataunt Nancy Haviland. Lily and Ryan eloped on February 13, 2021, at their home on Capitol Hill after the pandemic hindered their big wedding party plans. Lily continues to work as collections care specialist at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (where she and Ryan met!) and participates as a Madeira mentor.

2009

Merrill Roth 79 Trowbridge Street Arlington, MA 02474-5526 Merrill.roth@gmail.com

Haerim Hong got engaged to her partner, Mark during Labor Day weekend. They have been together since 2018. In 4.5 years, they have moved to two new cities, changed their jobs, and recently adopted a rescue puppy, Rufus. Merrill Roth continues to pahk her cah adjacent to Hahvahd yahd in the suburbs of Boston and will marry her fiance Jehan Lala in September 2023. Danielle Landau Whitman and Michelle Lonnguist Rhandawa now live in River Edge, NJ, and are excited for many play dates in the future with their babies due this fall! Danielle’s two-year-old Hudson began school in September.

2010

Jenna Pugrant 10499 Patrician Woods Court Great Falls, VA 22066-2941 Jenna.pugrant@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

2011

Virginia Frediani 4804 Lockgreen Circle Richmond, VA 23226-1745 Virginia.frediani11@gmail.com

Christine Sorrentino: Christine is having a whirlwind of a year including travel to Montreal, Germany, and France. Her work helping to build a new theme park in Orlando is picking up so she is on-site in construction gear almost as often as in the office. More exciting than either of these updates though, Christine and her fiancé recently purchased a home together and are excitedly planning both the wedding and what furniture goes where in the house. Their cat, Xena, has made it clear she gets first dibs on high shelves and leftover boxes.

Mairin Wood: After working as an assistant athletic trainer for almost five years at Washington and Lee University and serving as their COVID-19 Care Manager during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, she moved on to a new position. At the beginning of this summer, she accepted a position as the Assistant Athletic Director, Head Athletic Trainer, and Dorm Parent at Foxcroft School. She moved up to Middleburg, VA, and into an

2006 Hendrix, daughter of Beverly Hatcher-Mbu, meets Sarah Jeffcoat

2006 Megan Humphreys with her partner at Hubbard Glacier in Alaska

2006 Annabel Joy with her daughter Cilla, Caroline Minchew ’10, Elizabeth Minchew, Malcolm Savage, and Harry Savage in Washington, DC, in May 2022.

2006 Christine Wang Trostler and her husband Michael’s twin boys, William Thor and Theodore Orion

2007 Alumnae gathered in Georgetown with former Head, Betsy Griffith, for a book signing of her newly published book Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality

2007 Karie Micklem Dorrance, her husband Will, and son Henry welcome the newest addition to their family, Abigail

2007 Caitlyn Goodman’s son Sutton on his first birthday

2009 Haerim Hong’09 and her fiance Mark during the Labor Day weekend

2009 Danielle Landau Whitman and Michelle Lonnguist Rhandawa— babies due in late September and early November 2022!

2009 Danielle Landau Whitman two-year-old Hudson began school in September.

2008 Lily Sehn Haviland and her wife Ryan Linthicum Haviland on their wedding day February 13, 2021

2006 Anna-Constantia Richardson’s daughter, Robin. Outfit courtesy of Kristina Neighbour Wake!

apartment in one of the dorms in July 2022 and is enjoying being back in the boarding school world and the Northern VA area, even if it is at our rival school! She states, “Sorry Madeira Snails, but now I also have to say GO FOXCROFT!” Alexandra Doan: In May, Alexandra graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine--and ran into a fellow Madeira 2011 classmate who was married to one of her UVA SOM classmates. Now she is a first-year resident at Grand Strand in Myrtle Beach, SC, specializing in Emergency Medicine. Christina Dean Dudley

“I got married to Michael Dudely on April 23 in Washington, DC, surrounded by friends and family. We were married at Church of the Holy City and our reception was at the InterContinental at the Wharf. I was blessed enough to have Madeira ladies by my side throughout the day! We were so thankful to have a beautiful spring day to celebrate our union as husband and wife.”

2012

Christina Griggs

Madeira.classnotes12@gmail.com

With thanks to Micah Parks who was our previous Class Correspondent, Christina Griggs has taken over the role as of this issue. Please feel free to reach out with any updates at madeira.classnotes12@gmail.com!

Also send a line if you will be in Brooklyn, where Christina has been working at an architecture firm since February 2021. Kat Pfleeger organized a reunion trip to Jim Thorpe, PA, where classmates Lauren McIlvaine, Inés Castillo, Anne Kettler, and Chloe Tawaststjerna met up to hike, cook, and spend time on the lake. It was so much fun to catch up after many years! Krista Braun has lived in Denver, CO, since 2018. She got engaged to her fiancé, Kyle Car-

ter, in September 2021. Their next adventure began in September 2022, moving to St. Kitts, an island in the Caribbean, for Krista to begin Veterinary School at Ross University. She aspires to become an equine veterinarian specializing in sports medicine—due in large part to her senior co-curriculum placement at Madeira!

Christie Joyce has been living in Chicago since 2020 with her partner and is a cat mom to two adorable fur babies. She has been enjoying her work in developing and operationalizing clinical trials across autoimmune and nervous system disorders for the last five years. If anyone else is in the Chicago-land area or visiting, please feel free to reach out!

Victoria Todd lives in northern Virginia and enjoys her work as a chemist for the federal government. Caroline Klaff is in her second year of her Master’s in international affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She spent the 2021–2022 school year at SAIS’s Europe campus in Bologna, Italy. In her first year, Caroline excelled academically, completing a dissertation on Clinton administration foreign policy during the Bosnian War and earning SAIS’s C. Grove Haines prize for best student essay for her paper on the fall of the French Fourth Republic. This past summer, Caroline was in Brussels, working on EU government affairs for Italian energy company Eni SpA. Currently, she is in Paris on a semester exchange at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). In January 2023, Caroline will return to Bologna for her final semester. Kiana Blake-Chung loved seeing all her former classmates at the 10th class reunion as well as speaking on the panel for Madeira Through the Years. She recently held her first journaling event in New York City, with Mental Health Tings, her small business and blog, and looks forward to hosting another event focused on exploring

your emotions through poetry in October. She won the Creatives Rebuild New York Grant for her work with Mental Health Tings and won the AriZona Iced Tea 99 Projects Grant earlier this year that funded her project of writing handwritten cards and mailing them to people around the world who are in need of encouragement. She has also been hosting a series of book workshops to help perfect her upcoming memoir, Unboxing Life. If you’d like to keep in touch with what she’s doing, you can read along at mentalhealthtings.com!

Nicole O’Donnell is working as a data, privacy & cybersecurity associate at Ropes & Gray LLP in Washington, DC. She and her husband Justin Wickersham welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Grace, in March of 2021, and are expecting their second baby girl in October of 2022! Emma Hemus has been living in the UK since completing her master’s degree at Imperial College London. She now lives in Bristol, working as a software engineer. Nicole Williamson has been working at a law firm in Washington, DC, and has enjoyed connecting with Madeira classmates. She has also been pursuing fiction writing and would love to connect with Madeira women in the publishing space.

2013

10TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Jessamine Griewahn-Okita 120 Pleasant Street, Unit 203 Watertown, MA 02472-2393 jgriewahnokita@gmail.com

Kate Bell

522 21st Street NW Washington, DC 20006-5059 katherinestewartbell@gmail.com

The Class of 2013 has been keeping busy and most importantly, staying

in touch! We’re thrilled to share that Ashley Hadjis graduated from VCU School of Medicine this summer and started residency in Internal Medicine at University of Pennsylvania this June. Additionally, Sarah Nia Coleman is currently completing a general practice residency in New Jersey. Would love to catch up with any Madeira girls in NYC!

Kate Bell is currently a strategist at the American College of Cardiology, working to engage and retain more young women and people of color in the cardiology profession. She hopes to eventually go back to school to become a mental health therapist and is enjoying her time in DC with other Madeira ladies until then! She recently gathered with classmates Reid O’Connor (former roommate!) and Margaret Powell in Leesburg, VA.

2014

Emily Glamb

350 W 71st Street, Unit 3C New York, NY 10023

Ekglamb@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

2015

Jacqueline Beaulieu

665 S Skinker Boulevard, #6C St. Louis, MO 63105-2344

jacquelinegbeaulieu@gmail.com

The Class of 2015 has been busy this past year. Sabrina Chin started medical school at St. George’s University in Grenada in January 2022, and she’ll be a part of the Class of 2026. Sabrina wrote in saying, “I’ve been on this journey for a long time and I’m excited to see how it continues.”

Good luck Sabrina and congrats on your journey!

2016

Grace Isabella Lee 1920 S Street NW, Apt. 601 Washington, DC 20009 Gracesutherlandlee@gmail.com

Jordan Williams 1614 Portland Avenue Fort Washington, MD 20744-3757 Jordan.williams100@gmail.com

Grace Stephenson has relocated to North Carolina to earn her Master’s in Social Work with a concentration in community management and policy practice at UNC Chapel Hill. She is doing her field internship at an elementary school and hoping to bring that experience to her long-term career goals of contributing to education policy to support equitable, wholechild school experiences. Tayma Alassar graduated from Vancouver Film School in December 2021 with a degree in Writing for Film, Television, and Games. She is now working as an Office Production Assistant for Nasser Entertainment (a production company in Vancouver), as well as working on some other independent film and TV projects.

Jordan Williams graduated with her

2011 Graduate Alexandra Doan (far right)

2011 Christina Dean Dudley and Mike Dudley

2011 BACK: Charlotte Cutts, Olivia Jallits ’12, Angela Dean Edwards ’08 FRONT: Sarah McKinstry, Christina Dean Dudley, Kira Strande, Lindsay McBride

2012 Nicole O’Donnell with her husband Justin Wickersham and daughter Grace

2013 Kate Bell, Reid O’Connor, and Margaret Powell in Leesburg, VA

2015 Sabrina Chin receives her white coat for medical school

2012 Caroline Klaff spent the 2021–2022 school year at SAIS’s Europe campus in Bologna, Italy.

2012 Caroline Klaff is in her Master’s at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

2012 Kat Pfleeger, Lauren McIlvaine, Ines Castillo, Anne Kettler, and Chloe Tawaststjerna in Jim Thorpe, PA

2012 Kiana BlakeChung with one of her hand written cards mailed around the world for people in need of encouragement.

Master’s in Environmental Policy Design at Lehigh University in August. After spending the summer as a tennis pro in Bridgehampton, NY, she has moved back to DC while she applies for jobs related to her interest in the intersection of sports stadiums, sustainability, and social justice.

2017

Claire Simpson 1488 Cedar Avenue McLean, VA 22101-3514 csimpson.claire@gmail.com

The Class of 2017 celebrates Leah Fine who began Vet School at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University this fall! And Emily Barre graduated from Dartmouth with a Master’s in Public Health earlier this year. She has since moved to Durham, NC to begin Medical School at Duke University School of Medicine. Congratulations! 2018

5TH REUNION: APRIL 28–29, 2023

Katherine Adler 800 Lake Windermere Court Great Falls, VA 22066-1532 vadancer@ymail.com

Greetings from the class of 2018! As our fifth year post-Madeira begins, there is much to celebrate. Firstly, many of the class of 2018 graduated from college this spring–congratulations to all! Alex Raposo following graduation, has begun her PhD in computer science at NC State University. Natalie Seara has followed her graduation from Boston University

Summer at Madeira

with a move to New York City, where she has begun graduate school at NYU. In addition, she is now working at a theatrical advertising agency. Meanwhile, Anna-Sophia Massaro has returned to the DC area after graduating from Bates College, and now works as an Office and Facilities Assistant at the Institute for Justice, a non-profit law firm in Arlington. Morgan Taylor has returned from earning her TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certification and teaching English in Thailand this past summer through a George Mason University program with XploreAsia. She taught English to students at various camps and schools traveling through Hua Hin, Bangkok, and Petchabun. Her longest placement was with BCISB (British Columbia International School of Bangkok) as a kindergarten teacher for a month. She misses her students but is happy to be back at George Mason University as a Senior studying to earn her BA of Global Affairs and Chinese minor. Congratulations again to the Class of 2018–what a whirlwind of a four years has been!

2019

Theresa Carr 971 NW 124th Avenue Coral Springs, FL 33071-5082 theresascarr@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

2020

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

2021

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

2022

We are looking for a new Class Correspondent please email classnotes@madeira.org if you are interested or would like to submit your update.

GirlsFirst: July 16 – 28

GirlsFirst: July 31 – August 4

Session 2: June 20 – 23

Session 3: June 26 – July 7

Session 4: July 10 – 21

Session 5: July 24 – 28

Session 6: July 31 – August 4

Session 7: August 7 – 11

TRACK CHOICES

Women in Science + Tech

Women in Engineering + Math

Women in Business + Law

Women in Humanities + Civic Engangement

Women in Performing Arts

Women in Visual Arts

or email summer@ madeira.org for more information. Registration

2018 Katie Adler celebrating her graduation from Wellesley College with her sister Rachel Adler ’22

2018 Morgan Taylor gave morning alms (food and flowers pictured here) to a monk.

2018 Morgan Taylor (white shirt in long, floral skirt) and the other GMU teachers with one of her TAs (up front)

2018 A drawing by Morgan Taylor’s guide at Metta school in Petchabun province, Jab, with the students’ names in Thai. Morgan is on the right in the green shirt

Milestones

Anne Curtis Fredericks ’43,

Former Trustee and Madeira Staff

P’73

Remembrance by Betsy Griffith, former Head of Madeira: Anne was formidable, brilliant, witty, serious, and Machiavellian. One could only aspire to meet her high standards of excellence. would probably not have been selected to head of Madeira had she not chaired the search committee with Paula Osborn ’70. Anne had long been a devoted alumna. She taught English at Madeira, led the Alumnae Association, revived the alumnae magazine, and served on the board. As her New York Times obituary noted, Anne graduated from Vassar, studied in Europe, and worked for the International Herald Tribune and the CIA. After her marriage she edited books by African authors.

Ann Frame ’72

Former Trustee

Excerpt from Eulogy given by Ann’s brother, Tom Frame: As a child in Franklin, Pa. Ann was different from her brother and sister and different from our friends. From an early age, she always had her eyes on bigger horizons. We were blessed with parents who valued education and exploring the wider world. For Ann, when the time came, to paraphrase a country western song, it was “happiness is Franklin, Pa. in the rearview mirror” and she set out to satisfy her insatiable curiosity of the world. So off she went to her beloved Madeira, probably the only one in town to go away to boarding school. She returned rarely, though she did spend a summer as a waitress at the local truck shop if you can picture Ann in that job, coming home with bags of coins in tip money. Madeira began her worldly adventures. The official school motto is “Festina Lente” — “Make haste slowly”. Well, Ann didn’t do things slowly. As Ed [Beddow, her husband] says, Ann slept fast, afraid she might miss something. She was more in tune with the school’s unofficial motto: “Function in disaster and finish in style.” And she was stylish all her life and became a connoisseur of all that is beautiful, in people, art, food, wine and culture.

DEATHS

1943 Anne Curtis Fredericks, October 10, 2022

1951 Alexandra Davies Dewey, October 10, 2022

1952 Anne Coe Heyniger, November 4, 2022

1958 Marjorie (“Midge”) Cochran Parsons Johnson, October 18, 2022

1972 Anne Frame, July 9, 2022

1983 Tiffany Stowell, September 8, 2022

MARRIAGES

2005 Kristen Atkinson to JT, in the mountains of Maryland, April 30, 2022

Kenisha Marks to Nate Horwitz, in the Dominican Republic

Taylor Ganz to Andrew Bassett, in Sun Valley, ID, June 12, 2022

2004 Kate Silbert to Joe Cialdella, in Ann Arbor, MI, October 8, 2022

2006 Elizabeth Minchew to Malcom Savage, in Washington, DC, May 2022

2007 Kate Derby to Greg Johnson, in Chicago, IL, in June 2022

Katherine Kies to John Bussard, in Nantucket, MA, September 23, 2022

Anne Patton to Jac Chan, in Washington, DC, in June 2022

2008 Lily Sehn Haviland to Ryan Linthicum Haviland, in Washington, DC, February 13, 2022

2011 Christina Dean Dudley to Michael Dudley, in Washington, DC, April 23, 2022

BIRTHS

1998 A son, Howard Edward Hamer III, May 19, 2022, to Mariama Black Hamer

2006 Twin boys, William Thor & Theodore Orion, June 3, 2022, to Christine Wang Trostler

A daughter, Robin, August 3, 2022, to Anna-Constantia Richardson

2007 A daughter, Abigail, September 1, 2022, to Karie Micklem Dorrance

A son, Alexander “Woods” Harper, June 2022 to Alex Nasif Harper

A son, Blair, April 2022, to Mary Coffman Quick

A daughter, Madeline Rose, June 2022 to Caroline Osherow Taplinger

2009 A daughter, Ruby Susana, September 13, 2022, to Danielle Landau Whitman

2012 A daughter, Grace, March 2021, to Nicole O’Donnell

Regional Alumnae Receptions

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT ONE OF OUR UPCOMING EVENTS

NEW YORK

JANUARY 30, 2023 from 6–8 PM

Hosted by Laura De Sole ’00 and Rickie Webster ’02, at the home of Laura De Sole

For more information, visit Madeira.org/alumnae or follow us on Facebook & Instagram.

BETSY GRIFFITH BOOK EVENT

APRIL 27, 2023 from 5:30-7:30 PM Madeira Campus

APRIL 6, 2023

Hosted by Board Chair Gaither Smoot Deaton ’88