Dec. Younger son Spencer is a senior at Roanoke Coll. and on the lacrosse team. It has been fun for Muffy to watch his games and see Robin Jones Eddy, Toni Christian Brown and Lynn Spillman. Katherine Powell Heller has been busy staying afloat with 3 separate waterrelated incidents, along with the insurance claims that went along with them, stating that it ‘dampened’ their fun for about 6 mos. The unusual rains in Atlanta last summer kept most everybody inside. She was very much looking forward to fall football season. Her youngest daughter is a senior at U. GA; the oldest is a kindergarten teacher at a charter school in the Boston area. Ann Yauger is busy doing special events for Christopher Guy…a luxury furniture design and manufacturing company based in Singapore. Her most recent projects (all in NYC) were planning the grand opening for CGNY, a national sales meeting and another event called What’s New What’s Next @ 200 Lex in Sept. Busy lady! One of the baseball caps for sale at The Book Shop in June was a spin on Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, The Places You’ll Go.” This particularly holds true for Carolyn Ennis. She works with UNHCR in Kinshasa, Congo, as senior regional officer. In 1/14, she will be assistant regional representative (protection), DRC. Daughters Sara and Mariam are both in college and fluent in German! “Thanks, Herr Horwege, for the German foundation our family has thanks to the SBC German department!” After moving from Iraq to the DRC, Carolyn has been able to visit Zanzibar, Cape Town, Nairobi and Pretoria, as well as D.C. last Sept. She still runs, but more slowly in the heat and humidity, and no marathons since Istanbul 2008. Talk about travel! Another traveler, Jean Beard Barden, has been on a road trip of a lifetime. Jean took off in her Mini Cooper from Stamford, CT, and ‘Go West, Young Lady’ she went! She wrote, “I am on an adventure to explore our great country: from Niagara Falls, Badlands, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and Glacier National Park to Zion Park and the Blue Ridge Mountains…and parts of the country I have not visited, like Salt Lake City. I am driving in my little mini and camping with the skills I learned last yr. from my 50-day mountaineering expedition in India. Beside that I continue to be unemployed, but searching…sort of!” Wow! Cindy Whitley Auman is also ‘searching… sort of!’ after downsizing in late 2012. She continues to work on house renovations and raising lab puppy Riley. Husband Dave continues in his own firm, and the 3 of them enjoy spending time at the Outer Banks with friends. Katie Renaud Baldwin was also in the Outer Banks this past summer, at a family reunion in Duck, NC. Then there was camping in OR, weddings in CA before heading back to reality teaching 1st and 2nd grade. “Lots of changes, aligning standards, new curriculums, report cards, etc. My yr. will really be busy!” Daughter Amanda is an RN, busy looking for jobs, doing part-time nursing, as well as going back to school for her BSN. Daughter Emily is done with college, looking for jobs, but spending time fishing in AK to make money. Otherwise, all is well in OR! Missy Powell Adams reports her twin boys are doing well. She recently visited Philip, who lives and works in San Diego and Whitman, who lives and works in Denver. 64
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Far from Baltimore, but great spots to visit. Michelle Tarride Frazier, Audrey Townsend, Missy Powell Adams, Emily Dick McAllister, Lizabeth Lambert Bowden and daughter Zara, and Lisanne Purvis Davidson will head to the Bahamas in Nov. for the wedding of Helen Bauer Bruckman’s daughter Meg. The girls are planning on staying afterward for a few days to catch up and enjoy the beauty of the area. Michelle also reports that her family is doing well. Son John graduated from TX Christian U. and is back in Houston working and enjoying his friends. Daughter Margaret is a junior at TCU. She enjoyed attending Reunion with her former roomie Michelle. It was a wonderful weekend. Jamie Murray writes, “All is well with us in Portugal, economic and environmental news notwithstanding. Surfing lessons, riding, playing with our springer spaniel, visiting friends and family and traveling are the norm for us these days. Sweet Briar friends and children or grandchildren are welcome to visit; this is a great place to enjoy history and nature.“ Mary Gearhart writes, “I am up in the Adirondacks, managing a family camp where I have spent many wonderful summers. I live in Baltimore with my son the rest of the yr.” Rick and I were sent off to New Caledonia, in the middle of the Coral Sea, for a shortterm assignment. The French territory has certainly presented some changes and challenges, as well as many adventures! While it takes us far from family and friends, we adjust and enjoy! The snorkeling, kayaking and sailing help us forget, for a short time, those we miss so much. Alex (32) works in computer software engineering outside Philadelphia; Andrew (30) married this past summer (which we were able to come back for) and works for a German network domain company outside Philadelphia; Ned is learning the challenges and joys of dog ownership in Reading, PA, while working as a metallurgist for Carpenter Technology. We are not sure where the next assignment will be, but we will enjoy this window of opportunity while we can! The very long trips back and forth from Philadelphia to Noumea, including layovers, give us time to catch up with friends on both coasts. My time here on the other side of the world has given me time to catch up with many friends, but there are still many I’d like to reconnect with. Technology has changed the way this happens. (Sorry…snail mail from here is ‘iffy’ and expensive.) So, as a way to ‘reach out and touch,’ please be patient when you receive multiple emails or Facebook messages. Those I wasn’t able to reach this time, feel free to contact me…if you wish, with your preferred contact info. We’d love to hear from you. Besides, we’d like to get information about the Reunion pictures to you! Maybe that will help entice you to join the fun in 2018!
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Mary “Robbie” McBride Bingham Bingham123521@yahoo.com
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Fran McClung Ferguson franferguson@comcast.net
Phyllis Watt Wilson
phylliswjordan@hotmail.com All 5 living presidents and 1st ladies, plus Sally Gray Lovejoy and Kim Wood Fuller, attended the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas in April. A must-see, says Kim. Sally lives in Charleston, SC, where she retired in 2009 after 28 yrs. working for Congress and the Bush Administration. She has her own consulting firm and works for the Spoleto Arts Festival as patron services manager. Kim stays busy with work. She and Bryan enjoyed a visit with her sister in July for 10 days in ME (a perfect vacation), and spent 4 nights in Vail enjoying cool mountain air. Karen Black Meredith and husband Robin enjoy living in Santa Fe, NM. She was elected president elect of the Women’s Council of Realtors in Santa Fe in Jan. and attended the WCR Leadership Academy in Chicago to prepare for her yr. as chapter president in 2014. Ann Connolly Simpson has been traveling and having fun: St. John with her beau and a bunch of his friends; New Orleans to meet all his relatives and friends there; then to family events in New Canaan, Nashville and CO; and to Nantucket with some gal pals for a long weekend. Her daughter, Hannah, finished grad school and teaches 6th grade geography. Ann still works at The Dragon’s Nest, selling toys like mad and playing tennis for MA and NH teams. Gail Coyne Pierdiluca lives in Lincoln Park in Chicago. She works in the exhibit business, and travels often, developing new business for AD-EX International. Jeannine Davis Harris is living in Princeton (solo) and works as a manager at J. McLaughlin. She wants to start her own business. She sees Barbara Wesley Bagbey, Fannie Zollicoffer Mallonee, Ginny Faris Hoffman, and Lillian Sinks Sweeney frequently. Her daughter graduated from Furman and works in Atlanta. Her sons are both sophomores, Reid at Miami (OH) and Bradley at boarding school at Woodberry Forest. She doesn’t like the empty nester thing! Claire Dennison Griffith is still running Direct Hits Education, her SAT/ACT business. She markets 2 vocabulary books on social media: check out Twitter @directhitsfan and Facebook at Direct Hits. After 24 yrs., she and Luther are downsizing to a townhouse in midtown Atlanta. With 2 dogs and only a patch of grass, they are doing lots of dog walking! Catherine Flaherty and Jimmy celebrated their 25th anniversary on a quiet island and enjoyed a family trip on July 4 visiting Commodore Lisa Schneider Thornton. Her OLB trip to the Highlands in early summer, courtesy of Georgia Schley Ritchie, with some beautiful Southern Belles was the highlight of her yr. Killian is at Creighton (2nd yr.) in business. Callaghan participated in New England’s Elite Football camp and visited prospective colleges. Catherine’s youngest, Macartan, plays soccer, basketball, ping-pong, golf and billiards, plus math league. She says she and her Newfoundland (12) both need more exercise to stay in shape for all the many yrs. of fun and play they have ahead!
Missy Gentry Witherow has been promoted to director of alumnae relations and annual giving at Sweet Briar. Mary Jo Giambatista lives near Syracuse, NY. She had been a flight attendant on private jets that took her around the world with the rich and famous. After losing her mother, brother and sister, she now works as a bartender/manager at a very popular Italian joint and takes care of her dad (93). She says there’s no place like home. All 5 members of Pam Koehler Elmets’ family went to Paris and Amsterdam this summer and had a ball. Caroline is a senior this yr. and Pam is not looking forward to the empty nester thing. They get to San Francisco and LA often to visit their kids. Fran McClung Ferguson has been at the VA Museum of Transportation for 4.5 yrs.— longer than she’s worked anywhere else. Son Robert is an educator at Discovery Place in Charlotte. Daughter Carol ’12 is in her 2nd yr. at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond. Fran is the secretary/treasurer for the SBC Alumnae Board. Myth Monnich Bayoud retired from Neiman Marcus in April after 32 yrs.! Her son Charlie started HS this fall at Bishop Lynch. She took much needed vacations this summer to Nantucket and Destin, FL. Myth sees Susan Boline Thompson and keeps up with other friends on Facebook. Emily Quinn McDermott is down to just 1 teenage girl at home this fall as Elizabeth is in her freshman yr. at Denison. Martha Fruehauf and Laurie Newman Tuchel traveled to Provence for Jill Steenhuis Ruffato’s oil painting workshop, and had a wonderful time. On recent tours, Jill has seen SBC friends in Charlottesville, including Missy Gentry Witherow, and stayed with Anne Darden Self in Ft. Worth. She had very special visits in Lynchburg and Amherst with Mr. and Mme Van Treese and Peter Daniel. Alums in Richmond, VA, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Newnan, GA: be sure to look for Jill’s fall tour! Her youngest, Jimmy, left for college this fall. Garrow Hudson Crowley saw Jill Steenhuis Ruffato during her tour in Spartanburg, SC. Garrow is a travel agent and Chris is an artist, and their nest is empty, too. Elsa married Olivier Hepner from Nantes, France, in March. Mark is in graduate school at GA Tech in electrical engineering. Kathleen is in D.C. at Catholic U. getting a graduate degree in architecture. Diana Tarride Palmer has good news and bad. Her daughter Anna is a freshman at Sewanee. Unfortunately, Diana’s breast cancer came back in her spine this spring, and she was treated with radiation at MD Anderson this summer. She hopes that will be the end of that! Betsy Thomas Rook’s son Wiley (19) has flown the coop--to the College of Southern NV. He completed a bachelor’s in sound engineering and is looking for work in Vegas. Son Kirby (15) is a HS sophomore, playing soccer and basketball. Her husband Roger turned 70: he is a retired actor and president of the SW Herpetological Society in LA. Betsy has been working on her historical biography for 9 yrs. and hopes to finish it by our next reunion! Shannon Thompson Eadon and Gordie celebrated 30 yrs. of marriage with a trip to Istanbul and Greece, returning a week before Hurricane Sandy hit. She says living on the Jersey Shore for the last yr. has been humbling. While they sustained very