Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine | Vol. 93, No. 1 | Spring 2023

Spring 2023, Vol. 93, No. 1

Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine

Where Women Lead The campaign to innovate and steward Sweet Briar

SBC.EDU

Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

Le a n in

Dancing with the Land On March 10-12, 2023, Sweet Briar hosted the American College Dance Association’s 50th Mid-Atlantic South Conference.

The ACDA conference provides the opportunity for students and faculty from across the region to have a panel of nationally recognized dance professionals adjudicate their dance works in an open and constructive forum.

Sweet Briar students Lilly Higginbotham ’25, Maria McCoy ’25, Gracie Applewhite ’24, and Emma Wilk ’25 performed with Kaia Rokke ’23, not pictured, who also choreographed the piece.

The conference was to be a celebration of dance in higher education with the Mid-Atlantic South Conference guided by the

theme Dancing with the Land.

Sweet Briar Professor and ACDA Mid-Atlantic South Conference Coordinator, Betty Skeen, said, “As dancers, we move in space with an uncommon sensitivity. I am so excited that we had the opportunity to share the gorgeous and inspiring natural spaces of the Sweet Briar campus with dancers from around the region.”

Along with celebrating ACDA’s 50th anniversary, the conference schedule included a wide variety of classes, scholarly research presentations, opportunities for student and faculty exchanges in and out of the studio, adjudication and informal concerts, feedback sessions and a gala concert.

Dear Sweet Briar Alumnae and Friends, I’ve been thinking about how education transforms women’s lives. Much of my career has been dedicated to empowering women through education, and I’ve seen how it changes a woman’s life, bolsters her future prospects, and positively impacts the lives of those around her.

I’d like to tell you about one of these amazing women, Ravina Kaur ’23. She came to us from Katmandu, Nepal. She is curating the current exhibition in the Pannell Gallery, “many threads, one love,” which showcases the stunning artistry of women quiltmakers in her home town.

Through the non-profit Ravina manages, “Quilts for Kids Nepal,” she enables young Nepali women to go to school. It does not cost much to educate a girl in Katmandu—just over $200 a year.

Each quilt sold by the organization will pay for a whole year of learning. It is a gift of future, and hope.

It was also a gift that Ravina never forgot. At age ten, she was a recipient of a grant from Quilts for Kids that paid for her schooling. It transformed Ravina’s life.

It allowed her to say no to an arranged marriage when she was only thirteen. It gave her the confidence to continue her studies in Nepal. It inspired her to seek a college education in the United States, specifically at a women’s college, because Ravina believed this would be the best way for her to acquire an ability to think critically and independently. And she chose Sweet Briar College for this purpose.

It’s readily apparent that Ravina had already launched herself on a path to leadership even before arriving on our campus. But Sweet Briar has further expanded her opportunities and provided her with the additional knowledge, skills, and resources she needs to succeed in the

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Learn about what’s planned for Pannell Fine Arts Center in the Where Women Lead campaign.

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Read about recent graduates who experienced Sweet Briar’s curriculum and community.

many endeavors she will carry out throughout her life.

Sweet Briar does this for all of its students. This is a college that challenges, inspires, and empowers women. It’s been accomplishing this mission for more than 100 years and will continue to do so into the future.

Sweet Briar is where women lead.

That’s why “Where Women Lead” is the theme of our current capital campaign, which has the goal of raising $130 million to support the place, the programs, and the people of Sweet Briar College. Funds from the campaign will strengthen our innovative Women’s Leadership Core and other curricular initiatives, expand the Presidential Scholars program, support faculty development opportunities, steward our spectacular campus, provide resources for renovations to our historic academic buildings and residence halls, and more. You can learn about the priorities of “Where Women Lead” and read stories about other extraordinary Sweet Briar women inside this issue.

As you know, I recently announced that by next spring, I will have passed the baton to the next president of Sweet Briar. My time here has truly been a privilege.

It’s been the culmination of my work to aid women’s empowerment. But my work isn’t over yet.

I am completely focused on my service to the College, and I’ll be here to welcome you back home to campus for Reunion 2023 and other events. After all, once you have experienced the magic of Sweet Briar, this unique and wonderful place will forever seem like home. I know it feels that way for you—just as it does for me.

Sincerely, Meredith Woo

Rachel Izerda

Welcome

Features

O n t he Cover

Sita Moses ’23, Presidential Medalist Dublin, NH

Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023, Vol. 93, No. 1

SBM Staff EDITOR

Clélie Steckel ART DIRECTOR AND DESIGNER

Journey Group

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Amy Berta ’24, Cassie Foster Evans, Brittany Fan, Lathan Goumas, LuAnn Hunt ’90

College Administration PRESIDENT

Meredith Jung-En Woo

Board Leadership BOARD CHAIR

Mason Bennett Rummel ’83 BOARD VICE CHAIR

Fred “Buzzy” Griffin BOARD SECRETARY

Sally Mott Freeman ’76

This magazine aims to present interesting and thought-provoking content about Sweet Briar College, its people and its connections around the world.

Publication of the material does not indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint by the College. We reserve the right to edit and revise all material that we accept for publication. If you have a story idea or content to submit for publication, contact the editor, Clélie Steckel, at cdsteckel@sbc.edu.

34 34 Sweet Briar’s Leading Women Learn about what four recent graduates are up to after Sweet Briar.

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40 Louise Durham Purvis ’62: Called to Serve A study abroad trip while at Sweet Briar laid the foundation for a life of service.

44 Climbing Roses Members of the Class of 1978 made the trip of a lifetime to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

CONTACT INFORMATION Office of Alumnae Relations and Development P.O. Box 1057 Sweet Briar, VA 24595 When you have finished reading this magazine, please consider passing it along to a prospective student or family.

“That which does not challenge you does not change you.”

© 2023, Sweet Briar College

FSC Logo

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—Ginny Craig ’78 and guide, Penda, on summitting Kilimanjaro

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The Book Shop Featuring alumnae and faculty authors, Sweet Briar glassware and plates, apparel, and more

Recommended reads by alumnae and faculty authors: FIRST ROW

by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (Sweet Briar College’s 2022-2023 Common Read)

The Constitution Murders

by Conover Hunt ’68

Drought, Drought Torrential

by Susan Schmidt ’71

The Failed Apprentice

by W.J. Small (Wylie Jameson Small ’83) SECOND ROW

Something New Under the Sun: Education at Mr. Jefferson’s College

by Meredith Jung-En Woo

The Path of Life: Walking in the Loving Presence of God

by Lisa Nelson Robertson ’76

Teratology: Poems

by Susannah Nevison, Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing

black bird blue

by Broderick Eaton (Melissa Broderick Eaton ’96)

Also offering replacement Sweet Briar class rings to alumnae or resizing

If you are an alumna author or know of other alumnae authors, please email cdsteckel@sbc.edu.

shopsweet.sbc.edu

434-381-6106

Monday-Friday, 10 am-4 pm ET

First Row: Henry Holt and Co., Constitution Murders, The; First edition, Library Partners Press, independently published Second Row: Journey Group, Inc.; 1st edition, Thomas Nelson, Persea; 1st edition, Finishing Line Press

My Monticello

Departments

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Guion Science Center Updates to Sweet Briar’s home for the sciences will meet students’ growing needs.

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Babcock Performing Arts Center Students and performers will benefit from upgraded spaces.

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Pannell Fine Arts Center Sweet Briar’s art collection will have new locations for study and storage.

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Dairy Arts District A unique setting will increase educational spaces for the visual arts.

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Historic Preservation Stewarding the College’s buildings and landscape is a top priority for the Where Women Lead campaign.

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Benedict Hall Home to the humanities, this core building of main campus will receive updates to its lobby and auditorium.

Women P.32 20 Gray Residence Hall This treasured landmark will be returned to a residence hall after its transformation to offices and classrooms in the early 2000s.

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22 Proposed Admissions House 23 Presidential Scholars Current use and endowed funds will allow Sweet Briar to attract even more bright students.

Lead 26 Faculty & Course Development Endowment Investing in our faculty and curriculum allows our students to receive the very best that Sweet Briar can offer.

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Sweet Briar Needs You The case for the Sweet Briar Fund and alumnae participation.

In Memoriam 52 Class Notes 96 The Last Word 50

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A new location for Admissions will make the office more accessible.

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Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum

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Thayer and Meyer Fields This completed project supports student-athletes and creates opportunities for auxiliary revenue.

33 Campaign Opportunities An overview of the campaign’s scope and budget.

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Sweet Briar College challenges and inspires women, forging ethical leaders with the skill, compassion, and vision to create a more just and sustainable world.

—Sweet Briar College mission statement, adopted by the Board of Directors, 2021

Where Women Lead Together, the Sweet Briar community of alumnae, students, faculty, staff, families, and friends has done something incredible over the past seven years. By saving Sweet Briar, the College’s vast network preserved the legacy of more than a century of women’s wisdom and leadership.

When the College launched its new Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum in 2017, Sweet Briar stepped on to the national stage in higher education as an example of the power a small women’s liberal arts college can wield when it is true to itself.

In 2021, Sweet Briar refreshed its mission statement, shared a new five-year strategic plan and committed itself to creating a

more just and sustainable world by forging new generations of women leaders.

The Where Women Lead campaign for Sweet Briar has a goal of $130 million over the next 5 years. The components are focused on what has always mattered most at Sweet Briar—our place, our people, and our unique vision for women’s higher education.

The truth is that the world needs Sweet Briar today more than it knows. It needs the Sweet Briar network, its vision, and its values. It needs this community of women and those who stand behind them, confident in who they are and certain they can get the job done, to solve the problems of our time.

Where Stories about Sweet Briar’s place and landscape

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A Sense of Place Sweet Briar has an incredible, one-of-a-kind resource entrusted to its care—the fourth-largest campus among liberal arts colleges in the United States. Sweet Briar’s 2,847 acres include farmlands, forest and wetlands, meadows and historic buildings. In just the past few years the College has added vineyards, an apiary, a pollinator habitat and a 26,000-square-foot, four-season greenhouse.

The College completed an ambitious conditions assessment of its historic buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, which is now incorporated into its campus-wide sustainability plan for energy, land use, and comprehensive environmental stewardship. Sweet Briar’s strategic plan calls for its stewards to continue to reactivate its agricultural heritage, renovate the hubs for academic disciplines, and carefully address the rehabilitation of its historic structures’ needs.

These and other capital efforts will provide Sweet Briar with adaptable, energy-efficient learning environments—exemplifying its commitment to innovation, sustainability and preservation.

Sweet Briar’s campus in the fall of 2020.

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T h e S ci e n c e s

Guion Science Center In the labs and classrooms of Guion Science Center, Sweet Briar College has cultivated a legacy of excellence in the sciences, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) unique among liberal arts institutions. From a base in Guion, the College has routinely graduated mathematics majors at four times the national average and established one of just two ABET-accredited engineering programs at U.S. women’s colleges.

In 2010, a gift from Margaret Jones Wyllie ’45 established an endowed engineering program named for Ms. Wyllie. Since then, the engineering department has called Guion home in addition to the other science divisions.

Building upon this legacy, the College now envisions Guion as a magnet for the next generation of women leaders, problem solvers and

innovators in the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, physics and psychology.

However, the current configuration of the instructional, lab and public spaces within Guion is a barrier to this ambitious goal.

Contemporary technology and updated interiors are essential to attracting aspiring STEM professionals, maintaining Sweet Briar’s distinctive tradition of STEM excellence, and preparing young women to take up STEMcentered leadership roles across our society and economy. In this context, the College will make a transformative investment in Guion’s future through the Where Women Lead campaign.

These investments will meet the needs of Sweet Briar’s current student body, of whom 31% of students use Guion’s facilities each week for their courses, labs, and independent research. Courses from the Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum such as CORE 160, STEM and Society, use Guion for critical components of instruction.

The engineering suite in Guion is also home to Sweet Briar’s Explore Engineering camps, which host high-school-aged girls who have a high yield rate in becoming Sweet Briar’s next engineering majors.

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Dr. Connie M. Guion, the building’s namesake, at the dedication of Guion in 1964. Dr. Guion was professor and head of chemistry at Sweet Briar from 1908–1913.

The main entrance to Guion Science Center.

Many alumnae and students who major in the sciences, math, or engineering, some of whom call themselves “Guionites,” are happy to share that they spend much of their time even outside of class in the building. They have met there for group projects or spent hours in the lab working on their own research or homework for lab-based classes. For students who focus on the sciences for their academic careers, Guion truly is a home for their studies and activities.

Recently refreshed with new lighting, paint, and refinished floors, the College’s plans for Guion’s transformation are guided by input from faculty leaders who use its capacities every day to instruct, mentor and inspire Sweet Briar students. As a result of input from these leaders

and partners across campus, the College envisions replacing restrictive 1960s-era lab and instructional spaces with more open and flexible facilities that support collaboration and innovation. The idea of “opening up” the STEM fields to the next generation of women leaders will be embodied in Guion’s new design.

Sweet Briar’s STEM faculty and students have also articulated the imperatives for updating Guion’s lab and building systems to achieve contemporary standards for utility, accessibility, safety and efficiency. An uninterruptible power supply is essential to mitigate risks to instrumentation, data and experiments that could otherwise be damaged or lost altogether due to a power surge or power loss.

Student safety and lab time will

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also be significantly enhanced by new ventilation, vacuum and compressed air systems that support lab activities and research.

Simultaneously, the overall experience of Guion will be augmented by new finishes, windows, entry doors and roofing; renewed/ repaired masonry; updated building systems (HVAC, plumbing, electrical); new acoustic ceiling tiles; and energy efficient LED lighting.

With these timely updates, Sweet Briar will lay the foundation for 21st-century careers in the STEM disciplines. Through the

Engineering students using the engineering lab in Guion Science Center.

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Where Women Lead campaign, Sweet Briar seeks to raise a remaining $4 million for an anticipated 14-month renovation project aimed at demonstrating Sweet Briar’s commitment to STEM excellence.

In October 2022, Sweet Briar announced that an anonymous donor generously committed $5 million toward Guion’s renovation. “I am deeply grateful to our alumna donor for her generous commitment,” said Sweet Briar president Meredith Woo. “Her gift will ensure that Sweet Briar’s innovative spirit will continue for future generations who will

continue to be pathbreakers.”

This $5 million commitment in 2022 enhances another $1 million gift received from another anonymous alumna earlier that year.

Both contributions were made by alumnae who majored in or have had careers based in the sciences.

With these renovations and modernizations, Guion will become a magnet for the next generation of women leaders, problem solvers, and innovators in biology, chemistry, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, physics and psychology.

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The Arts

Babcock Performing Arts Center Sweet Briar has a longstanding reputation for excellence in educating young women in the arts.

Alumnae have gone on to become respected artists in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts, as others have taken up roles as arts administrators and instructors. While their disciplines are diverse, these accomplished alumnae share a history anchored by the practice rooms, galleries, studios, and theaters of Babcock Performing Arts Center.

In addition to its instructional role, Babcock serves as a community gathering space for college-wide events, such as Convocation and performances open to the public.

Therefore, it is a showcase for the College to the region, bringing thousands of individuals to campus each year for arts and cultural programs. Many visitors, in fact, only experience Sweet Briar through Babcock. Recognizing this vital role

as a community gateway for the arts and a stage upon which students are propelled into future careers, the Where Women Lead campaign will raise significant funds to renew Babcock’s capacity to support student aspirations and to ensure the arts remain a prominent feature of the region’s cultural landscape.

When it opened in the 1960s, Babcock was state of the art. Changes in theater design and technologies have revolutionized the production and the experience of the performing arts. Today’s students are seeking smaller-scale performing arts “maker spaces” to support arts exploration and production.

Although the building will retain its exterior aesthetic, which combines mid-century and Georgian elements, as visitors enter, they will experience an inviting and open arts common spanning the forward spaces bright with abundant nat-

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Babcock Performing Arts Center.

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Native American hoop dancer Kevin Locke performs as part of the Ewald Scholars Symposium, 1993.

ural light. The current second floor studio theater will become a “white box” music and dance recital space and a new ground floor “black box” studio theater will be constructed, adding 6,300 square feet to the space. With flexible staging and technical capacity, black and white box theaters are today’s centers of innovation and experimentation in the performing arts. In Murchison Lane Auditorium and throughout performance spaces, contemporary lighting and sound systems and new seating will enrich the audience experience. Each of these elements will also allow the College to host touring companies and performers to enhance public events as well as summer music and arts festivals for the community.

Renovated guest facilities and updated building systems will create a more welcoming environment and efficiency, as will new accessibility solutions, including an elevator to reach all three floors and an added side corridor to reach main stage seating. With updates to systems, lower level spaces will also be reconfigured to create greater flow and accessibility.

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Pannell Fine Arts Center as it appears today. The Golden Stairs are still used by seniors for Step Singing.

T h e Ar t s

Pannell Fine Arts Center

Sweet Briar has long held that the study of original works of art is an essential element of the liberal arts experience. As such, the College is home to an impressive permanent collection grown and supported over 80 years by the Friends of Art and featuring the likes of Rembrandt, Dalí, Lichtenstein, and Cassatt.

Since the 1980s, this collection has been displayed and stored in Pannell Gallery, a Georgian Revival structure designed by prominent American architect Ralph Adams Cram.

Originally the College’s refectory, Pannell was substantially renovated in 1984 to create a central gallery space, art history library, collections storage, and related faculty offices and instructional spaces.

While the renovation of Pannell is relatively recent in comparison to other campus structures, the building is experiencing challenges that limit the facility’s overall use. Many of Pannell’s historic interior architectural features were significantly altered during the 1984 renovation.

To guide Pannell’s renewal, the College retained MCWB Architects and engaged the College’s Historic Preservation Task Force, comprised of alumnae and staff with historic preservation expertise, including one former head and one current head of Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources. Their collective insights built upon a vision for Pannell to establish this historic building as the center of a lively multi-disciplinary arts program where students are at ease learning about and working in the visual arts.

This project will balance preservation and progressive design to accommodate the dynamic, modern exhibitions, performances, and instructional activities suited to a 21st century student body and will: • Create spaces to thoughtfully display art throughout the building; • Restore the main hall to its original, 1906 configuration; • Restore the front stair and associated landing, overlooking the main hall; • Create a teaching gallery on the upper level, behind the main hall; • Include a new café behind the main hall on the ground floor; • Install an elevator to accommodate passengers and art objects and exhibits; • Refurbish staff offices and a classroom on the lower level; • Create a mechanical room on the lower level for new building systems; • Construct access that respects visitors of all abilities; • Allocate the remaining lowerlevel space for art storage and conservation.

The College seeks to raise at least $6 million toward a total project cost of $7,778,690 comprising $2,575,099 for restoration, $4,387,799 for MEP systems, and $815,791 for contingency. The College will pursue Virginia Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits (HRTCs) to support the balance of the project budget.

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One of Ralph Adams Cram’s original drawings of the Refectory, now known as Pannell.

From the Archives

Guests attend a leadership conference in the Refectory in 1969.

Pannell’s gallery as it appeared immediately following renovations in 1984.

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One of the outbuildings at the former dairy, which could be incorporated into the Dairy Arts District.

Jan Osinga, Sweet Briar’s dairy manager from 1968–1994 and farm manager until 2003.

Co m mu n ity

Dairy Arts District Throughout the academic year, Sweet Briar’s galleries, studios, and performance spaces are increasingly invigorated by contemporary experiences in the arts. An active calendar encompassing music, dance, theater, creative writing, and the visual arts is a prominent feature of campus and community life. Sweet Briar today also emphasizes highlighting contemporary and meaningful works by women. Building on this creative momentum through the Where Women Lead campaign, the College endeavors to take a bold step to enrich the arts and cultural landscape of central Virginia by establishing the Dairy Arts District.

In the spirit of sustainability and adaptive reuse, selected buildings

along Dairy Lane will constitute the newly-expanded eastern anchor for Sweet Briar’s arts facilities. The area already hosts the Art Barn and the ceramics and sculpture studio on the nostalgic premises of the College’s former dairy.

The Art Barn, formerly a hay barn, was renovated in 2010 to house studios for printmaking, drawing, painting, and photography, and remains a beautiful and functional feature of the College’s studio art offerings. Similarly, the former milking parlor is now a ceramics and sculpture studio, augmented by two outdoor kilns, a raku kiln and a wood-firing kiln.

Each semester, the highly-anticipated pottery studio open house

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and pottery sale attract visitors from all over campus, and the local community featuring works by students and professors alike.

Campus and local residents are also welcome to visit the multi-day outdoor kiln firings.

Nearby, another hay barn and a milking shed represent compelling opportunities for new performance and event spaces that align with Sweet Briar’s preservation ethos and agricultural tradition. With support through the campaign, the College will stabilize, refresh, and renovate these former dairy buildings. The goal is to transform previously neglected structures into inviting spaces for both the visual and performing arts, in addition to

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Why not a dairy?

Sweet Briar’s art barn and ceramics studio, formerly home to the dairy.

other special events. Together, the newly renovated structures and the older conversions will form a distinctive creative and studio arts complex that serves Sweet Briar students and faculty, provides areas for creative collaborations with visiting artists, and creates additional campus venues for exhibitions and performances. Initial concepts for the Dairy Arts District were developed in 2018 by VMDO Architects.

Once completed, the Dairy Arts District, in combination with Babcock Performing Arts Center, Pannell Gallery, and a variety of outdoor spaces across campus will form the infrastructure for a lively summer arts series in the tradition of Interlochen, Chautauqua

Institution, and Black Mountain College. The supporting renovation of Gray Hall, detailed on page 20, will provide temporary residences for guests and faculty for this series. The College will also engage its long-time collaborators and neighbors at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) to round out a summer calendar that features artists, writers, and performers from across the region, nation, and world.

To realize Sweet Briar’s vision for the Dairy Arts District as an homage to the past and a pathbreaking step to enrich the arts and cultural life of the College and region, Sweet Briar seeks to raise $3 million through the Where Women Lead campaign.

Many alumnae will remember the dairy’s closure in 1994, a decision which the College was not able to delay any further. Due to the runoff and streams in the cow pastures leading ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay and its marine inhabitants, Sweet Briar made the environmentally responsible choice to close the dairy at that time with encouragement from state and federal environmental agencies.

Because of the dairy’s location and the mitigation efforts necessary to keep dairy cows away from those streams and runoff areas, the environmental impacts today would be the same as they were in 1994. Properly stewarding these buildings by repurposing them to support academic programs is the recommended solution to preventing their further decay and possible disruption to the landscape.

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Historic Preservation

In preparation for Sweet Briar’s Centennial in 2001, the College planned an exhibition in Pannell Gallery truly unique to the campus: drawings of the College’s historic buildings, created by architect Ralph Adams Cram and his firm, Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, called

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“Sweet Briar College and Ralph Adams Cram: Dreams and Reality.”

Guest curator and former art history professor Aileen “Ninie” Laing ’57 and a team of staff created a booklet to accompany the exhibition.

Through this narrative, the reader learns about the close relationships that Cram developed with Sweet Briar and its leaders while working on creating this beautiful campus as well as his academic approach to designing Sweet Briar College.

When John McBryde, Chair of the Executive Committee of the College’s first Board of Directors, pursued negotiations with Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson, he asked for an approximate cost for two dormitories and one academic building. What Cram delivered was an

elaborate formal plan in the Beaux Arts tradition detailing seventeen buildings connected by a series of arcades and including formal gardens. This was a derivation from the anticipated; the Picturesque style was more prevalent at the time and Sweet Briar’s hills and woods would have easily lent themselves to the Picturesque. As detailed in “Dreams and Reality,” in Crams autobiography, he reminisced that it had been “easy to determine the stylistic basis…of Sweet Briar College in Virginia [sic]…where history, tradition, and architectural style predetermined the course to follow.” This was due to the traditional Georgian architectural style in Virginia, which is characterized by using red brick constructed in Flemish bond,

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hipped roofs, and sash windows flush with the façade.

For students at Sweet Briar, each day is filled with history and architecture through the execution of Cram’s vision. This campus and its architecture, the commission of which preceded Cram’s work at West Point (1903) and the Graduate College of Princeton University (1910), inspires learning, connection, and exploration.

In recognition of the role the campus itself plays in each student’s Sweet Briar experience, the Campus Stewardship Endowment will bring new resources to support maintenance of campus buildings and open spaces. The fund will create a proactive mechanism to help Sweet Briar avoid the deferred

maintenance challenges that exist at many colleges today. Its five percent annual pay-out will augment the annual buildings and grounds budget of the College.

After working with MCWB Architects in 2020 to conduct a Historic Structures Assessment and develop the resulting Historic Structures Master Plan, the College and its Historic Preservation Task Force, comprised of alumnae and staff experts in historic preservation, identified specific areas that need additional stewardship: • Cultural landscape plan • Cataloging the College’s historic decorative arts collection • Rehabilitating four historic buildings

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A copy of Cram’s plot plan, undated, recently found in a scrapbook dated 1901–1918.

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An aerial view of Sweet Briar, undated, est. 1930s.

• Wayfinding • Examining the historic steam plant for potential alternative heating sources • Accessibility and ADA compliance • Energy supply and distribution • Drainage • Drawing conservation Each of these areas have been examined and verified as among Sweet Briar’s greatest maintenance needs and mitigation efforts have begun through an initial investment of $13,000,000. In the long term, the Campus Stewardship Endowment will meet these ongoing needs for years to come. As such, this area of the Where Women Lead campaign creates a legacy giving opportunity for donors and Sweet Briar alike.

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The lobby of Benedict in the 1980s.

Benedict Hall in the summer of 2021.

T h e Hu m a n it ie s

Benedict Hall As a vital component of the liberal arts, the humanities promote the capacity for critical thinking, analysis, and creativity.

At Sweet Briar, Benedict Hall is the long-time home for the humanities and bears the name of the College’s first president, Mary K. Benedict.

Frequented by every student, whether for classes in business, education, economics, history, political science, and philosophy, Benedict plays a central role in academic life at the College. The Where Women Lead campaign will therefore honor this legacy with a $1 million investment to ensure the historic structure remains a compelling and contemporary gateway to some of Sweet Briar’s most prominent areas of study.

Constructed in 1906 and originally known only as “Academic,” the Georgian Revival Benedict

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Hall features a distinctive secondfloor balcony that opens adjacent classrooms to a sweeping vista of the Dell. The chief interior element is a first-floor auditorium, with the balance of the building largely hosting classrooms and faculty offices. Much of the interior of Benedict Hall has been modified over time from its original design to meet the needs of a modern academic community. Much like the nearby Pannell Gallery, Benedict offers an opportunity to update interior finishes in combination with the installation of modern elements and furnishings that invite students, faculty, and staff to fully explore and inhabit the space and the subjects discussed therein.

Enhancements to Benedict Hall will center around a renovated lobby that embodies a sense of excellence, transparency, and aspiration. Upon entry, visitors will experience an inviting and refurbished lobby that leads to an updated auditorium/ seminar room with a smart glass outer wall that goes from clear to frosted with the flick of a switch to showcase the learning underway.

Comfortable furnishings, well-

spaced seating and adequate lighting and acoustics that integrate with the overall design will encourage debates and discussions begun in the classroom to continue well beyond scheduled classes.

Interactive monitors in this highly visible common area will also allow students to stay abreast of the latest news, events, and market activity, providing context and connection to the studies underway. Benedict’s refresh will be made complete by installing updated building systems and technologies that ensure comfort, safety, and access for visitors of all abilities.

When Mary K. Benedict arrived at Sweet Briar College in June 1906, the 34-year-old embarked on a tireless campaign to recruit both faculty and students. By August of the same year, she had recruited eight faculty members and Sweet Briar opened with 51 students.

Inspired by her example—and that of prominent Sweet Briar women across more than a century—the Where Women Lead campaign will raise $1 million to ensure the renewal of academic life within the historic walls of Benedict Hall.

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Remarkable students and alumnae and their extraordinary experiences

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A Comparative Advantage As one of the 30 remaining women’s colleges in the United States, Sweet Briar attracts the best and brightest students and families who are weighing generous meritand need-based scholarship offers from many institutions. Sweet Briar also remains innovative by finding creative ways to identify and appeal to each upcoming class of prospective students and their families. The Presidential Scholars has proven to be one of the College’s most successful sources for top student candidates based on academic achievements and a rigorous on-campus interview process.

While such intangible attractants play a role in Sweet Briar’s enrollment process, so do the College’s buildings and co-curricular programs. As a result, the College plans to lean into its land, buildings and faculty to provide a hub for both honors students during the school year and guests during a summer, residentially-based event series focused on lifelong learning for adults. In concert with a proposed relocated Admissions House, these efforts will amplify Sweet Briar’s unique value propositions nationally and internationally.

Students work together in class in Guion Science Center.

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Gray Residence Hall Gray Hall was among the first residence halls completed at Sweet Briar upon the College’s opening in 1906. Across more than a century, Gray Hall has played many roles for Sweet Briar—from residence hall and faculty offices to meeting and storage facilities. However, the structure is offline for all these purposes due to various persistent maintenance challenges. Gray Hall will return to its original function as an appealing and central feature of residence life to support and house a growing student body through the Where Women Lead campaign.

Sitting at the boundary between the residential portion of the campus to the east and the academic precinct to the west, Gray was reconfigured in the 1980s to place all student rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors, reserving the ground floor for student lounges, storage, offices, and a small staff apartment. In the early 21st century, as the needs for student housing shifted, Gray’s interior space was again altered significantly to create campus

Cram’s orginal drawing for the bell tower and pavilion connected to Gray.

offices, meeting rooms, and storage rooms, with many of the primary interior elements demolished.

With Sweet Briar’s continued growth come compelling reasons to restore Gray: Accommodating continued enrollment growth and accommodating special guests in residence during the summer programming, restoring a significant central building on Sweet Briar’s historic campus, and a renewed commitment to stewardship of these historically-significant buildings.

While Sweet Briar’s intentions for Gray Hall are to convert a former dormitory from its present, diminished state into a dignified, desirable residence for students, a seemingly simple proposition, the impact of this simple change is significant. The refurbished space will help recruit students by demonstrating that campus facilities are attractive and comfortable. At the same time, a revitalized Gray will be a place to house non-student summer residents, including visiting alumnae for various events and programs.

The rehabilitation will include removing modern institutional finishes to reveal hardwood floors and plaster ceilings. It will also involve restoring missing fireplace mantels following their original designs and other woodwork, such as baseboards and picture rails, removed as part of late20th-century improvements. The project will also restore original residence hall room configurations, replace demolished partitions, re-open blocked doors, and improve bathroom, kitchen, and laundry facilities. The College will also modernize Gray’s HVAC systems with separate units for each room with the ability to control each heating and air conditioning unit individually.

Today, with the College and its students thriving, a targeted investment of $5 million through the Where Women Lead campaign will restore this important historic structure and its vital role in the campus experience of young women for generations to come.

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Gray Hall and the bell tower as they appear today.

Quad Traditions

Junior Bench Rock and Hitching Post Step Singing Daisy Ceremony Lantern Bearing Commencement

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Proposed Admissions House

A bove

Harley Wellness Center in 1988.

A critical component of Sweet Briar’s five-year strategic plan is preserving and rehabilitating the Harley Health and Wellness Center into the new Admissions House.

Harley’s location is an anchor point for historic buildings on the southeast side of campus, tying the houses on Faculty Row to the central campus. Moving the Admissions House to this historically-significant building will provide an impressive introduction to Sweet Briar for prospective students and their families, as well as other visitors and provide better parking and access that respects visitors of all abilities.

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Harley was designed in 1925 by Clark and Crowe, who collaborated with Ralph Adams Cram and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson of Boston, as the College’s first purpose-built infirmary. Dr. Mary Harley, the school’s physician and Professor of Physiology and Hygiene from 1906–1935, had urged the College to build an infirmary after the 1918 flu pandemic and provided much of the funding for its construction herself.

After Dr. Harley’s retirement, the infirmary was named in her honor.

The current location for Admissions, known initially as Hill House, sits behind Pannell Fine

Arts Center. Its original purpose was the dormitory for Sweet Briar’s housekeeping and refectory staff.

Upon exiting the main entrance of Admissions today, visitors first see the back areas of Pannell and the residence hall next to it, Manson.

Unfortunately, Sweet Briar’s current Admissions building is not easy for visitors to find and does not offer sufficient parking for visitors and staff as well as taking up limited parking for students with accessibility needs living in Manson, the residence hall across from the Admissions House.

Harley has not been in use for several years since its renovation needs as a health center were more significant than establishing a new location for that purpose. The health needs of the students are currently served by the Keenan Colton Kelsey ’66 Health and Wellness Center located on the lower level of Mills Chapel, which opened in 2020. MCWB Architects assessed Harley’s condition two years ago, and their report noted that the building is in good condition, but will need to be significantly modified. The existing construction drawings from Clark and Crowe will aid this work.

Like the other projects in the Where Women Lead campaign, this project resonates deeply with Sweet Briar’s mission to educate women leaders who will guide the world to a more just and sustainable future. What better way can students learn about the importance of stewardship to our world than to see it in action and participate in its lessons at their own college, as one of Sweet Briar’s impressive historically-significant structures is made beautiful and functional once more? The total cost to establish the current Harley building as the College’s Admissions House is $3,000,000. With this investment, Sweet Briar will provide a very positive first impression for visitors and signal the importance of its historic campus, beautiful setting, and excellent education available to our campus community.

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Rec r u itin g

Presidential Scholars A b ove

Prospective students and their families tour Sweet Briar in fall 2022.

Today at Sweet Briar, the twin goals of enrollment growth and academic distinction lie at the heart of everything we do. Contemporary facilities and programs are vitally important, yet we must also take steps to put an exemplary liberal arts education within the financial reach of each accomplished and talented student.

The 21st-century admissions landscape is undeniably competitive, with the most sought-after students often having the choice of prominent public and private institutions offering generous financial aid packages.

To incentivize the best students to

make Sweet Briar their academic home, we are pursuing a $25 million expansion of the College’s long-standing Presidential Scholars Program, which bestows our most prestigious merit-based scholarship awards.

This strategic investment will underwrite program growth that positions Sweet Briar to maintain Presidential Scholars as a significant component of our student body.

Exemplifying academic achievement, the prototypical Presidential Scholar arrives with a GPA of 4.0 or higher and is eligible for annually renewable merit-based scholarship averaging approximately $15,000.

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Presidential Scholars are chosen on the basis of quantifiable academic achievements and are invited to participate in special accepted applicant weekends to deepen their interest in joining the Sweet Briar community.

Once enrolled, Presidential Scholars form an elite cohort of campus leaders, with benefits that enrich their Sweet Briar experience: • An annual Presidential Reception at Sweet Briar House with other honored guests; • Participation as a senior in an

advisory group on the campus and curricular experience; • Access to a network of peers and alumnae who have reached the top of their professions; and • Invitation to join the Honors Program.

The $25 million fundraising goal for the Presidential Scholars Program comprises $18 million in current-use funds combined with a $7 million endowment to provide perpetual program support. This ambitious program expansion will

allow the College to be responsive immediately to the financial needs of the best students and their families during an environment of economic uncertainty and create a platform of opportunity that encourages accomplished young women to attend Sweet Briar for generations to come.

Below

Students receive their Presidential Scholar award certificates when they attend their on-campus interviews.

The 21st-century admissions landscape is undeniably competitive, with the most sought-after students often having the choice of prominent public and private institutions offering generous financial aid packages.

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From innovative curriculum to excellence in the classroom

Int ro

Next Generation of Leaders A commitment to women’s leadership is part of Sweet Briar’s DNA. The leadership Sweet Briar emphasizes is not hierarchical; it builds on women’s strengths in collaboration and capacity to harness diverse talents to achieve a common goal. This is the kind of leadership the world urgently needs.

Sweet Briar is investing in its faculty, who together with students, breathe life every day into the College’s classrooms, labs, and studios.

The Women’s Leadership Core curriculum, introduced in 2017, cultivates essential leadership skills: taking smart risks, making datadriven decisions, thinking on one’s feet, creating sustainable systems and communicating persuasively in any setting or platform.

Sweet Briar also recognizes that leadership is not limited to the classroom; athletics and equestrian excellence also provide opportunities for and foster leadership on the field and courts, in the pool and the ring, no matter the goal. The College has made investments in these areas and has plans to continue these efforts.

Students in the Outdoor Program take a hike through Sweet Briar's wildflower meadow.

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Fa cult y

Inn ovat io n

Faculty & Course Development Endowment Sweet Briar’s reputational renewal as a leader in liberal arts education is anchored by academic innovations like the Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum and three Centers of Excellence, comprised of Creativity, Design and the Arts; Science, Technology and Engineering; and Human and Environmental Sustainability.

Faculty development opportunities give our educators the chance to innovate their own contributions to Sweet Briar’s curriculum, explore new pedagogical approaches, and expand the College’s collective knowledge. For example, CORE 110: Design Thinking was developed through Sweet Briar faculty’s professional development at Stanford University and is a foundational course for the Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum.

Sweet Briar students consistently recognize their faculty as their most significant influencers in their overall Sweet Briar experience.

These professors are available to

Scholarships & publications Quill Camp Assistant Professor of Theatre • “Mapping Narrative in Pig Iron Theatre Company’s Pay Up and Franklin’s Secret City.” In Experiential Theatres, pp. 120–129.

Routledge, 2022.

their students for their coursework, but also for the knowledge they possess outside the classroom, from their experiences in graduate school or teaching, to taking a particular path into a new area of scholarship within their expertise. Through their own professional development, Sweet Briar faculty become mentors to many of their students.

To support future innovations and refinements in the academic realm that are fueled by a distinguished professoriate, the Faculty and Course Development Endowment will invest in professional development and enhanced training for faculty members, as well as course development and evaluation. The fund will make an annual distribution determined by the Board of Directors that underscores innovation, experiential learning, and integration with principles and content of Leadership Core and Centers of Excellence (i.e., STEM, Sustainability, and the Arts) across the curriculum.

• Playbill announced his role as co-book writer on the Broadway-bound musical Harold and the Purple Crayon (with music

by Ryan and Jack Met of the multi-platinum pop trio AJR).

Josh Harris Assistant Professor of Music • Received premieres earlier this year of three new works

by Akropolis Reed Quintet (Ann Arbor, Michigan), violinist Kat Rooney, and the Dankook University Traditional Music Ensemble (Yongin, South Korea).

• Recently commissioned to write a new piece for the Bostonbased Hub New Music by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition.

A short film that he scored, titled “A Nice Little Story,” has been accepted to the Birmingham (Alabama) Sidewalk Film Festival.

Megan Kobiela Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology

Professor Lisa Powell teaches Agricultural Operations in Sweet Briar’s greenhouse.

• Publication: McGlothlin, J. W., Kobiela, M. E., Wright, H. V., Kolbe, J. J., Losos, J. B., & Brodie III, E. D. (2022).

Conservation and Convergence of Genetic Architecture in the Adaptive Radiation of Anolis Lizards. The American Naturalist, 200(5), E000–E000.

Lili Lei Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science • Lei, L., Holásková, I., Thompson, J. A., & McDonald, L. M. (2022).

Fe-Bound Organic Carbon and Sorption of Aromatic Dissolved Organic Carbon in Surface Soil: Comparing a Forest, a Cropland, and a Pasture Soil in the Central Appalachian Region, West Virginia, USA. Environments, 9(9), 113.

Lili Lei and Linda Fink, Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Ecology • Leaseburg, E. E., Lei, L., & Fink, L. S. (2022). Effects of Organic Amendments on Phenol Oxidase, Peroxidase, Urease, and Nitrogen Mineralization: A Laboratory Incubation Study. Agrochemicals, 1(1), 3–16.

Shawn O’Connor Visiting Assistant Professor of Studio Art Awards Received: • Best in Show 1st Runner Up, Academy Center for the Arts Clay Festival.

• Best in Functional Work, 2022 Southern Miss Ceramics National.

• Best in Show, Fifteenth Annual Cup Show: Form and Function, Amelia Gallery at Gulf Coast State College, Panama City, FL. Chris Penfield Assistant Professor of Philosophy • Awarded a $1,000 implementation grant by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to support curricular initiatives in philosophy at Sweet Briar. The grant is funded by the Mellon Foundation through the CIC New Currents in Teaching Philosophy Institute.

Laura Pharis Assistant Professor of Philosophy • Solo exhibition on display in Jefferson Street Lobby Gallery at Riverviews Artspace in Lynchburg.

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A student participates in Sweet Briar’s CORE 110 course, Design Thinking.

Inn ovatio n

Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum Introduced in 2017, the Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum replaced Sweet Briar’ general education program with a 10-course, four-year academic program focused on empowering women to craft the solutions that the world needs by creating an inclusive environment that seeks out diverse perspectives to address diverse challenges.

The core encourages students to ask questions about the nature of leadership, such as: • What differentiates women leaders?

• How does our culture impact women’s leadership?

• How does gender impact leadership in our professional lives?

Throughout the core, students develop communications skills, learn to sift through evidence and gain and understanding of cultural and disciplinary perspectives. Students look squarely upon the problems our world faces and are asked to craft solutions.

In addition, the ROSE Program (Relationships, Opportunities, Service, Empowerment), Sweet

Briar’s Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) component of the SACS re-accreditation process, was established to give students hands-on, practical leadership training on and off campus. It encourages students to meet with faculty mentors, develop leadership competencies in the first year and practice them in subsequent years. Each year, the ROSE program will culminate in a student-run campus-wide leadership event, such as a conference or debates on issues of global importance.

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Testimonials

Michelle Gervasio, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Engineering Design Thinking (CORE 110) Professor

Erin Pitt, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Archaeology and Ancient Studies Director, Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), SACS Reaccreditation Process I think one of the strengths of the Women’s Leadership Core curriculum and one of things that makes it unique is that all students are required to take the same 10 courses. The individual professors may change with each semester or year, but the material and learning outcomes of each individual course remain the same. Having those similar experiences creates a community ideology and bond among the students and ensures that we are imparting a uniquely Sweet Briar-based curriculum. The courses are also designed to build upon and reference one another, especially CORE 110, 130, 210, and 300. These courses have the strongest leadership elements within them and form a kind of natural scaffold. Students are asked to reflect upon and articulate their own leadership experiences and styles, but in the context of very different fields or disciplines, such as Design Thinking, Gender, Ethics & Philosophy, and Civics/ Community/Politics.

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Design Thinking is a great introduction to the Women’s Leadership Core because it is, in essence, a course in creative problem solving. Students learn skills like identifying key stakeholders, empathizing with people who have different worldexperiences than their own, rapidly prototyping solutions to quickly hone in on a worthwhile design approach, and critically analyzing the results of testing their designs.

All of these things directly work to support the mission of the college, and really sets the stage for students to progress through the leadership core with a mind that is primed to seek effective

and compassionate solutions.

What makes this class special at Sweet Briar is that it is a completely hands-on, projectdriven course. Students are working in teams on real-world design opportunities. This past year some of the projects included designing a cardboard boat that could navigate an obstacle course on the lower lake, improving the healthcare visit experience for geriatric patients, and designing studio art gallery exhibitions. I love working with first-year students due to their creativity, their unstoppable energy, and their passion for making the world a better place.

Ciara Kocik ’23

The Core Curriculum provides a really unique experience. Rather than taking a random handful of gen-ed requirements Sweet Briar has curated these courses rooted in leadership and life skills. For example, one of the courses is called “Dollars and Sense.” In this course you learn all about money management, credit cards, paying off debt, etc. it’s what everyone wishes their high school economics class was.

Mechanicsville, VA Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Studies: Applied Physics Major

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Curri culum

Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum Full Course Listing Ravina Kaur ’23 Nepal

Business Major I was born the youngest of seven girls in an impoverished community in Nepal, where girls are usually married when they are 13 years old. I am the first fortunate person in my village of 500 people ever to get an education, and through the help of a non-profit organization, I have been able to attend Sweet Briar College. Now everything in my life has changed.

I feel that Sweet Briar’s Core curriculum is one of the college’s strongest assets. Because of the Core courses, I now have a wealth of knowledge about local and international current events, women’s health issues, pressing environmental matters, and political and social problems.

Through the “Decisions in a Data-Driven World” course, I learned how to interact with and to use my own discernment. In the “Women and Gender in the World” course, I learned how women are perceived, treated, and often oppressed and what possible solutions might be. In the “Consequential Citizen” course, I learned how to apply my knowledge through actual collaboration with real-life businesses and how to give back to our society.

I’m a resident advisor this year, I’m President of the Culture Club, and I will graduate in May 2023.

My parents are very proud of me but, most importantly, now many of the girls back in my village are inspired to get an education too, so that they can decide their own path in life!

CORE 110 Design Thinking Prerequisite: Limited to and required for all incoming first-year and new transfer students.

A team of faculty members from varied disciplines will introduce students to the design-thinking process, and its application to a range of problems from local through global scale. Faculty will show how design thinking is expressed in different disciplines, and at the end of the course students will engage in the process for themselves in different disciplinary contexts, and engage in a multidisciplinary endeavor. This course introduces our leadership core, which will produce students who are inquisitive when approaching new challenges; empathetic, informed, and fearless when framing potential solutions to those challenges; flexible, organized, and collaborative when designing and implementing solutions; articulate and confident when communicating those solutions; focused upon the creation of well-executed products; and perceptively self-critical when reviewing the effectiveness of their own work.

CORE 120 The Mindful Writer A workshop-based writing course that helps students become confident and effective readers and writers.

Using the New Yorker magazine as the primary text—each student will have an individual ten-week subscription—students will learn to read carefully, identify the style and structure of individual pieces, from profiles to reviews to political and cultural commentary, and write several pieces of their own, practicing a range of rhetorical methods while also conducting research, crafting persuasive arguments, and produc-

ing multiple drafts through careful and sustained revision.

CORE 130 Women and Gender in the World A multidisciplinary study of the social, cultural, and political issues that influence women in societies across the world. The course introduces theoretical perspectives and social contexts for the diverse challenges that confront contemporary women.

CORE 140 Sustainable Systems This class introduces the concept of sustainability by emphasizing the interconnectedness of different systems (e.g., environmental, cultural, economic). Case studies from around the world will demonstrate the importance of understanding both cultural and political contexts when developing innovative solutions to intractable environmental problems.

CORE 150 Creative Thinking and Practice Core 150 is satisfied by a variety of courses offered throughout the arts.

These interdisciplinary courses help students understand and develop creative processes through the study and practice of the arts. Students will be exposed to works of art in two genres, and discover how those works came into being, as well as develop works of their own. In order to understand how a variety of artists think about art and culture, students in courses that count for Core 150 will be required to attend readings, lectures, exhibitions, and performances by visiting artists, including Babcock and Gager Concert Series events, open studios and salons with Fellows from the Virginia Center for the Creative

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Arts, Common Read presentations, and gallery events and openings.

CORE 160 STEM and Society This course is designed to empower students to develop evidence-based opinions, and make informed decisions, about societal issues related to science and technology.

After becoming familiar with the scientific method, the basic methodology common to all good scientific research, students will learn to distinguish between legitimate and bogus results by thinking clearly and critically about the claims of scientists and charlatans alike.

CORE 170 Decisions in a Data-driven World The volume of data available to help us make decisions is increasing at a staggering rate.

How do we sort through data to find what is relevant and useful?

How do we evaluate, organize and interpret information to make good decisions? This course will focus on data-rich topics drawn from disparate fields such as health, science and technology, and political science to develop the ability to reason and work with data, as well as understand and present arguments supported by quantitative evidence.

CORE 210 Contemporary Ethical Questions Global climate change, human migration, and technological manipulation of genes all present pressing ethical questions for which no clear-cut answers exist. This course helps students address such complex issues by introducing them to major branches of philosophical ethics and then helping them apply these diverse perspectives to propose solutions. All sections initially follow a common syllabus of theoretical readings; then each section concentrates on contemporary ethical dilemmas in particular spheres (e.g., medicine, business, law, etc.).

CORE 300 The Consequential Citizen A culminating core capstone about how power/influence operate within human social and political structures. Students will apply these insights to their own futures and reflect on how the core experience helped them develop the skills and frameworks they need to launch themselves into their post-collegiate roles as leader-citizens.

CORE 180 Dollars and Sense Women leading in all ways and all walks of life need a solid understanding of financial topics.

Three major categories will be covered in this course to provide that: first, broad economic concepts, which will provide a foundational understanding; second, organizational financial mechanisms; and finally financial literacy for the individual (e.g., understanding credit and personal investing). Each category will include hands-on learning.

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The Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum provides Sweet Briar students the opportunity to get a broad, multifaceted education while also teaching them how the disciplines interact—and how they relate to their own specific interests. Life is interdisciplinary. No matter our students’ professional paths, they need scientific, civic and business literacy to be successful in both their work and home lives.

Sweet Briar’s Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum teaches those skills.

Students in CORE 300, The Consequential Citizen.

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At h l e t ic s

Thayer and Meyer Fields Following a groundbreaking ceremony in April of 2022, Sweet Briar was pleased to welcome alumnae, parents and friends back to campus for the dedication ceremony for Thayer and Meyer Fields in late October. Spectators gathered between the two fields following the Vixens’ field hockey game against Cedar Crest College to hear remarks from members of the Turf Committee, coaches, team captains, President Meredith Woo, and of course, Thayer Field’s namesake, Mildred “Bee” Newman Thayer ’61 and her family.

Bee, who played on the field hockey and tennis teams and is a member of Sweet Briar’s Athletics

Hall of Fame, remarked, “I have loved Sweet Briar for many years and brought my love of sports to the College so long ago. My dear late husband, Bradley, and my late parents, J. Wilson and Clara Newman, valued ‘the education of the whole student,’ physically, mentally, and intellectually. It is with them that I am honored to have this field named ‘Thayer Field’ for today’s student-athletes, and those to come.”

Margot Saur Meyer ’60 played on the field hockey and basketball teams at Sweet Briar, but she and Bee knew each other growing up in Short Hills, New Jersey and attended the Kent Place School together. Margot and her husband, Bob Meyer, and their children are all talented athletes committed to the strength of athletic programs.

L eft

Nancy Webb Corkery ’81 gives remarks at the Thayer Turf Field groundbreaking in spring of 2022.

R ight

Mildred “Bee” Newman Thayer ’61 takes the ball for a spin on the new water-based turf field.

Margot is also interested in helping instill ethical values in young people and in 2018, invited President Meredith Woo to speak at the Kent Place School about ethical leadership and learn about their programs.

Fittingly, the sign that recognizes the dedication of both fields reads, “Thayer Field and Meyer Field, teammates forever,” conveying both the personal friendship between Bee and Margot as well as the lasting relationships formed among athletes who play on these fields.

After the dedication ceremony, a new bronze statue of a fox was unveiled by the entrance to the turf field. Named “Vixen,” it was given

by Robert Rainey in honor of his wife, Louise ’74 and their daughter, Caroline ’10.

Thayer Field and Meyer Field sit behind Babcock Performing Arts Center. The water-based turf field will support field hockey and lacrosse, while the newly-sodded grass field will support soccer. Both fields have new lights, allowing for practice and games after sunset, and soon, stands will be installed to seat spectators from home and away.

Finally, a new audio-visual system allows announcers to be heard from both fields and also increases opportunities to livestream field play.

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E q u es t ria n

Riding Center Phase 2 competition arena, upgrades to the outdoor riding rings, auxiliary stables, and a combined indoor/ outdoor viewing area.

Sweet Briar’s equestrian program represents a vital pillar of the student experience—and of the College’s capacity to differentiate itself in the contemporary higher education landscape. As one of the oldest and most renowned equestrian programs in the nation, its emphasis is not just on competition; it also includes field riding, recreation, training and schooling of horses, and an Equine Studies certificate program. Through this holistic approach, the College routinely rides to national, regional, and divisional titles; in 2021, Sweet Briar Riding captured the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championship for a sixth time and the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) Single Discipline National Championship, and in 2022, rode in three national championships.

The program trains horsewomen of all skill levels, from beginning to advanced riders, each of whom learn the benefits of perseverance, discipline, and teamwork, and gain confidence in themselves. As practiced at Sweet Briar, riding is another aspect of women’s leadership.

Phase I of renovations to the Riding Center created state-of-theart stable and horse care facilities, refurbished instructional and team spaces, drove greater student participation and interest in riding, and coincided with the College’s first-ever NCEA Single Discipline National Championship.

Building upon the increased program capacity and momentum made possible by Phase I, over the next five years, the College aims to elevate Sweet Briar Riding to an even higher level, meeting the needs and expectations of a growing student body in three key areas.

Facilities Improvements In recent years, over one-third of Sweet Briar students have identified as riders, either competitively or for recreation, and that percentage is likely to increase with the College’s continued strong showing in the ODAC, NCEA, American National Riding Commission (ANRC), and International Horse Show Association (IHSA) competitions at the regional and national levels.

In order to meet student demand, augment programming, and further strengthen the College’s national reputation, we must continue to renovate and expand the Riding Center’s facilities.

As we enter Phase II, one of the program’s pressing needs is for more all-weather teaching spaces to accommodate the growing numbers of students who ride. The current indoor arena can only accommodate two riding lessons at a time.

A second (and smaller) covered indoor ring will increase space for riding lessons.

Other potential Phase II renovations include a new roof and sides for the existing covered

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Auxiliary Revenue Opportunities Current programming from Sweet Briar Riding includes hosting horse shows and clinics, which bring wellknown professionals to campus. In the summers, the program offers riding during Reunion weekend and summer camps during two long weekends. The College aims to expand and diversify these offerings to increase reputational and auxiliary revenue opportunities.

Examples of programming under consideration include annual conferences featuring leading professionals and being a venue for U. S. Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) programs, including Certified Trainer programs and Emerging Athletes programs.

Completed: Riding Center Phase I Invest ment s

One of the completed wings of the renovated Howell Lykes Colton ’38 Stables.

Campaign Opportunites Total Project Cost

Project

Completed in 2021, the first phase of renovations to the Harriet Howell Rogers Riding Center made significant impacts on the riding program. Made possible by donor and foundation support, these improvements demonstrate the success of the College’s strategic plan to invest in its riding program. Not only do these upgrades meet the needs of our current students; their improvements have already helped us attract additional riders in recent incoming first-year classes; of the past two incoming classes, more than 35% are riders.

These recent renovations to the stables included: • Replacing 49 stalls; • Replacing all stable windows; • Replacing all barn doors; • Removing existing stable aisles and replacing them with a new concrete floor, overlaying floor with rubber pavers, and horse safe drainage grate drains; • Updating all electrical and plumbing components; and • Refurbishing all tack rooms.

Completed renovations of the Bailey Room included: • New viewing area with new HVAC to allow spectators to better view competitions in the indoor arena, • Upgrades to audio visual capacities to allow live-streaming of events, • A new team locker room, • Upgrades to restroom area to accommodate people of all physical abilities, • Renovating staff offices and storage areas, and • Improved spaces for meetings with prospective students, families, and staff.

Finally, exterior upgrades to the riding center included: • New roofing and gutters, • Updated drainage systems, • Replacing siding, and • New directional signage and landscaping.

Where Guion Science Center

$11,000,000

Babcock Performing Arts Center

$10,000,000

Pannell Fine Arts Center

$6,000,000

Dairy Arts District

$3,000,000

Benedict Hall

$1,000,000

Historic Preservation and Infrastructure Endowment

$13,000,000

Women Gray Residence Hall

$5,000,000

Proposed Admissions House

$3,000,000

Presidential Scholars Current Use

$18,300,000

Presidential Scholars Endowment

$7,000,000

Lead Faculty and Course Development Endowment

$8,000,000

Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum

$3,000,000

Thayer and Meyer Fields

$2,000,000

Riding Center, Phase II

$3,600,000

Naming opportunities are available for entire projects or specific project components within each of the categories above. For more information, please contact Margaret McClellan Driscoll ’92, Campaign Manager and Director of Planned Giving, at mdriscoll@sbc.edu.

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These four recent Sweet Briar graduates emanate the leadership qualities derived from the College’s curriculum and setting. Read on to learn more about how they’re taking it to the next level.

Sweet Briar’s Leading Women Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine

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Leading Women

Annika Kuleba Annika Kuleba says that Sweet Briar taught her to “never underestimate the power of women. A woman can do anything she puts her mind to.”

Annika learned the value of this hallmark Sweet Briar mindset through research and engagement with faculty mentors during her senior year. “Dr. Linda Fink showed me all the amazing opportunities on and off campus that Sweet Briar women have access to. Professors are willing to take the time to help and open doors for the students. They opened doors we did not even know we had access to.”

One of those doors was Annika’s graduate research assistantship at Clemson University as she also pursues her master’s in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. Through the program, she is working on a project with the United States Department of Agriculture, Ducks Unlimited, and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to study the impact of wetland restoration on soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas exchange under the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwest.

She works under Dr. Tom O’Halloran, a former Sweet Briar professor, at the Baruch Institute for Coastal Ecology and Forest Science at Clemson.

Annika’s reflection on her Sweet Briar experience is one of opportunities and gratitude. Early in her years at Sweet Briar, the College invited dignitaries from the U.S.

Senate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other environmental agencies to campus for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the College’s 26,000 square-foot greenhouse. “I was asked to participate on a panel where these guests could ask questions about the apiary and environmental studies at Sweet Briar. What an opportunity! Annika Kuleba from Endy, North Carolina was talking with a U.S. Senator and a White House Cabinet member!

It was one of the highlights of my Sweet Briar education.”

36 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

Class of 2022

Major

Environmental Science and Economics, Leadership Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

Where is she now?

Graduate school at Clemson University studying natural resources, sustainable agriculture, and pollination conservation

Leading Women

DaZané Cole Class of 2020

Major

Biology and Psychology, Chemistry Minor

Where is she now?

The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine

DaZané, a third-year graduate student at The Ohio State University in the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program and the comparative biomedical sciences master’s program, attributes her success at Sweet Briar to being a self-motivated learner who sought to examine the connections within the world through a liberal arts lens.

While visiting Sweet Briar as a prospective student, DaZané was struck by the immersive liberal arts experience at Sweet Briar. “I love the liberal arts and I wanted to attend a school that sought to understand and teach interdisciplinary connections as opposed to just telling students that the world is interconnected. Coming to Sweet Briar and having professors who were entirely enthusiastic about what they were teaching and that they got to teach it to you, was important to me.”

Having spent most of her time in the classroom in Guion for her double majors in biology and psychology and her chemistry minor, DaZané is thrilled with the planned revitalization of campus through the Sweet Briar Where Women Lead campaign. In particular, she feels that these updates will allow students to cultivate their own minds, no matter what particular area of the liberal arts they choose to study. “Sweet Briar is a brilliance,” DaZané says. “It’s a microcosm and it derives a certain sense of safety and a place to grow and cultivate young minds. This place seeks to illuminate the connections in the world, not for you, but to help you illuminate those connections within yourself.”

“This place seeks to illuminate the connections in the world, not for you, but to help you illuminate those connections within yourself.”

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 37

Leading Women

Karlynn McCarthy Class of 2020

Major

Engineering Science

Where is she now?

Mechatronics Engineer at NASA, currently the Actuator Cognizant Engineer for the Supplementary Calibration System on the CRISTAL Satellite in partnership with the European Space Agency

Karlynn’s trajectory from Bend, Oregon, to Sweet Briar College, to working for NASA veered from the usual path, even for an engineering major. From the moment she arrived on Sweet Briar’s safe and peaceful campus late one evening for her campus visit, to being greeted by campus wildlife the next morning, Karlynn’s path at Sweet Briar launched her further than she ever could have imagined.

Karlynn’s experience was enriched by Sweet Briar’s focus on the liberal arts, particularly a course called “Philosophy and the Arts.” This course addressed how to view art by letting go of the viewer’s current “reality” to become engrossed in the world presented by each work of art. “While this might not seem like a helpful skill for an engineering major, I found this ability to let go of what I ‘know’ to be immensely helpful when solving difficult equations. I learned how to experience art as well as how to approach my engineering questions in a new way that is not traditionally taught to engineers.”

“Sweet Briar is a place that enables women to mature into intellectually fierce, well-spoken individuals who are able to shine outside of the College’s campus,” said Karlynn. That’s why she’s excited by the prospect of updates to some of Sweet Briar’s buildings. “Bringing Sweet Briar’s facilities up to the same level of beauty as the land itself will help prospective students see that the interiors of the buildings reflect the impressiveness that the College has to offer overall.”

Reesa Artz “Sweet Briar is a place that enables women to mature into intellectually fierce, well-spoken individuals who are able to shine outside of the College’s campus.”

38 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

A nursing student today at Duke University, Reesa Artz’s experience at Sweet Briar was defined by opportunities of which she’d never dreamed—combined with the courage to seize them.

Having attended an all-girls’ school in Sacramento, California, Reesa initially searched for a larger school. “I really wanted to get involved, make a name for myself, and feel like I could really impact others.”

After visiting Sweet Briar, however, Reesa realized she could accomplish each of those goals at Sweet Briar.

Leading Women

Ultimately, she was president of the Campus Events Organization (producing more than 135 events during her tenure), Student Events Committee Co-Chair, Admissions Ambassador Chair, Orientation Co-Chair, and COVID Captain, as well as a Manson Scholar and Nancy Godwin Baldwin ’57 Scholar.

Her time at Sweet Briar also allowed Reesa the chance to explore diverse interests, from psychology to dance, which became her majors. Her decision to major in dance resulted in the Senior Dance

Show, where her experience in the Campus Events Organization proved invaluable.

These leadership roles, which Reesa sought out, led her down a confidence-building path that culminated in the decision to apply to Duke Nursing, where she plans to combine her love of healthcare and her Indigenous heritage into a career advocating for mental health and maternal care in native populations. “After these four years at Sweet Briar, I know that my purpose, both during college and beyond, is to

show others that they belong and are important as precisely who they are.”

“I never thought I would be able to have these leadership experiences,” said Reesa. “I think that having such a supportive network like Sweet Briar showed me that me, as I am, is what makes me powerful. Sweet Briar is a place where you are encouraged to be your most authentic self, to unleash the potential within yourself that you might not even see sometimes.”

Class of 2022

Major

Dance and Psychology

Where is she now?

Duke School of Nursing

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 39

Called to Serve Louise Durham Purvis ’62 was not expecting to be named Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2022 for her service with Prison Fellowship Scotland, and in fact, thought it was a joke at first. “It wasn’t until I received an email from the Lord Lieutenant of Fife congratulating me that I knew it really must be true!”

40

Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine

Spring 2023

v

In

Louise’s photo from the 1962 edition of The Briar Patch yearbook.

1960–1961, Louise spent her junior year abroad as a student at St. Andrews University in St. Andrews, Scotland. As a British Studies major, she thought, “Why not go get a taste for Britain?” While there, she met John Robert Purvis, a student at St. Andrews. “Then, we had a terrible year apart, with letters flying back and forth.” The two were married in the Shenandoah Valley outside of Charlestown, West Virginia in the summer of 1962, three months after John graduated from St. Andrews and Louise from Sweet Briar.

While there is a backlog of award presentations on the royal family’s agenda in 2023, Louise hopes that Prince William will be the Windsor family member to present her with her MBE. “John and I met at St. Andrews and Prince William and Kate also met at St. Andrews, and I want the chance to tell him that.”

Louise, who has lived in Scotland since 1969, credits much of her work with prisoners and her community as a calling. The Purvis family— Louise and John, who was also Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), and children, Emily, Elizabeth, and Robert, moved back to Scotland following eight years abroad in London, New York and Milan while John worked for First National City Bank, now Citibank. John’s work as an international banker led him to work for Noble Grossart in Edinburgh until he set up his own international consultancy firm.

In 1979, John was convinced to run for Member of the first European Parliament (MEP) based on his finance background and international perspective. As a Conservative running in mid Scotland and Fife, an area largely in favor of the Labour Party, it would be a challenge—but he took the risk and won, serving on the Economic and Monetary Affairs and Energy and Research committees and the Delors Commission, which first proposed a European currency.

John’s collaborative nature and his Christian faith led him to establish the European Parliament Prayer Breakfast, which still exists today.

“When John became MEP, there were about 6 people at the time who were also members of the European Parliament who I had studied, or their children were in the European Parliament.” Louise wrote to Miss Lysbeth Muncy, her history professor from Sweet Briar, tell tell her how grateful she was for the background she had learned on these important figures. “It was interesting as a historian to see Europe coming together at that time,” said Louise.

Louise also fondly recalled studying under Miriam Benedict Rollins, professor of religion, and also remembers “Papa Joe” Gilchrist, the superintendent of the Sweet Briar Farm, and “one of the holiest men I have ever known.”

John and Louise’s faith drove much of their work with their constituents in Fife. Soon after he took office as MEP, he and Louise visited all of the prisons in their constituency. Feeling a bit low following her parents’ deaths not long before, Louise remembered something her father had always said: “If you’re ever feeling low, think of someone lower than you are and do something for them.” To prepare for their prison visits, Louise read “Born Again” by Chuck Colson, the author’s story of how his faith helped

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 41

him get through his imprisonment following the Watergate scandal.

The first prison John and Louise visited was a women’s prison. After their visit, Louise felt that was where she could help, and as a woman imbued with the Christian faith, she thought she could help introduce prison inmates to a life different than the ones they had previously known. Louise took action, writing to the prison governor at the women’s prison to propose introducing a program like Prison Fellowship in the United States in Scotland’s prisons. The governor agreed, and shortly thereafter, Louise heard a recording of Sylvia Marie Haigh Alison, wife of Michael Alison, a Member of Parliament (MP), speaking about starting Prison Fellowship of England and Wales.

Louise invited Sylvia Marie to speak to a group who worked in the prisons to share the vision for Prison Fellowship and how she was able to get it started in England and Wales.

As Louise describes it, “From that day, I raised my hand to be the person coordinating the work,” something that will resonate with many Sweet Briar women. Not long after Louise raised her hand, it was announced that Chuck Colson was coming to

“One day I would be in a prison and the next day I’d be in Parliament or a palace or something.

You never knew what was going to happen next. And I felt it blessed me probably more than anybody else.”

42 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

Scotland. Louise and her fellow volunteers prepared a tour for Colson and took him to four prisons in Scotland, where he spoke to inmates and staff. Following Colson’s visit, Louise and other volunteers moved forward with establishing Prison Fellowship Scotland.

Prison Fellowship, no matter the location, is a network of Christians of all denominations who work alongside prison chaplains and staff to run fellowship groups and Bible Studies, gospel concerts, discussion groups, summer camps for inmates’ children, and the Sycamore Tree Project, which brings victims and inmates together to discuss issues related to crime and its impacts.

Some of the most important work that Prison Fellowship Scotland does is to help prepare inmates for reentry after their release.

“John was right behind me, even as a busy member of European Parliament—he gave us his home office to use at the beginning, so we had inmates coming and going.”

Both Louise and John would teach inmates who stayed with them anything they wanted to know.

At the same time that Louise was working as a volunteer in prisons, she was also speaking all over Scotland to church groups, trying to get more volunteers to participate with their local prisons. “It was really an exciting life—I’ve never felt so fulfilled! One day I would be in a prison and the next day I’d be in Parliament or a palace or something.

You never knew what was going to happen next. And I felt it blessed me probably more than anybody else.”

Now, Louise is a trustee for Prison Fellowship Scotland and is inspired by some of the younger volunteers who give so much of their time.

1

3

2

5

4

6 8

7 9

1. The young Purvis family at their home in St. Andrews, Scotland.

2. Louise and John Purvis at their wedding in 1962.

3. Louise Durham Purvis, Class of ’62.

4. John Purvis, CBE at work as member of the first European Parliament.

5. Louise Durham Purvis with friend and classmate, Allison Moore Garrott.

6. Louise and John Purvis outside of Buckingham Palace when John was presented with his Commander of the Most Excellent of the British Empire (CBE) award.

7. John Purvis, Second Lieutenant in the Scots Guard (also the portrait that Louise brought back with her in 1961 after her junior year at St. Andrews University).

8. The Purvis children, Emily, Robert and Elizabeth.

9. John and Louise, forever young at heart.

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 43

| Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine | Spring 2023 |

P.44

Climbing Roses:

Alumnae Summit Mount Kilimanjaro Illustration by Sam Chivers

| |

P.45

9 19,341 5 3 days

feet

distinct climatic zones

Sweet Briar alumnae, class of 1978

The 49-year friendship that Mimi Borst Quillman, Mary Goodwin Gamper and Ginny Craig share reached a new height in the summer of 2022, when the three climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania together with Mimi and Mary’s husbands and Dick, Mary’s brother-in-law and husband of the late Maria Rixey Gamper.

Mimi, Mary, and Ginny, along with other members of the crew, trekking in the bushland region on the climb to Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The group has been hiking together for the past ten years and about four years ago, Dick suggested to the group that it was time to do “something big.”

Some might call “big” an understatement for a dormant volcano with zones ranging from bush, to rainforest, to arctic—including glaciers. “The summit hides in the clouds, so you can’t even see it when you start the climb,” said Ginny. “You start to see it on the third or fourth day, but once you’ve risen above the clouds, all of a sudden, it’s right there.”

Training and preparing for the climb took careful planning and strategy. Mount Kilimanjaro is a national park of Tanzania and climbs are very carefully regulated. Tourism is the highest-producing area of revenue for the country. Hikers must hire a guide and porters to make the journey, which is especially necessary since each person must drink at least four

46 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

liters of water each day and water sources along the climb are scarce.

The company that the group hired provided a preparation schedule to guide the climbers on what they should be striving for.

In total, the six members of the Sweet Briar crew were joined by one other hiker and 48 support staff including guides and porters. Only one of the porters was a woman.

These types of trips are what employs many citizens of Tanzania.

The group trained in the summers on the White Mountains in New Hampshire and also took a trip to Colorado to test their capacities in high altitude. That trip was a success and so the team moved forward with their plans to climb in the summer of 2022.

Ginny flew up to Philadelphia to Mimi and Scott’s house where Mary, Bill and Dick joined them. The crew flew out together with a layover in Amsterdam on the way to Arusha, Tanzania. The group arrived three days before the climb, giving them time to adjust to the altitude and get over their jet lag.

Before they left, each person’s gear was weighed to ensure they were not exceeding the 33-pound limit per pack. Then, they took a bus through the countryside to get to the start of the 19,241-foot climb.

Most of the climb is a long, uphill walk on uneven ground. The hike starts in bushland, then changes to rainforest, moorlands, alpine desert and finally, an arctic climate. The first day, they were shocked by the number of people camped to start their climb the next day. There is a significant backlog of trips resulting from the backpack during COVID; Mary estimated there were 2,000

people crowded in tents at the base of the mountain. Due to the country’s reliance on revenue from tourism, it has been trying to make up for its lost economy during COVID. There are a number of different paths to ascent, so after the second day, the hike was no longer crowded.

Each morning began at 6 a.m. with coffee or tea. While the hikers were having breakfast, the tent porters disassembled the campsite and started walking ahead of the rest of the party to reach the next campsite and begin setting it up before the hikers arrived. As the hikers approached, the tent porters would meet them about 45 minutes away from the next campsite to welcome them and congratulate them on completing another day.

Each day at 4:30 p.m., the group would have tea, receive a briefing on the next day’s hike, and check their vital signs. They would hear the number of hours they would be climbing the next day as well as what the temperature would be and what they should wear.

The group at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Ascending Mount Kilimanjaro takes seven days, and on the morning of the seventh day, Mimi, Scott, Mary, Bill, Dick and Ginny started at 3 a.m. Other tours typically start the summit ascent at either midnight or 6 a.m.; the Sweet Briar group’s guide strategically chose to start between the two times and it paid off. Navigating in the dark by headlamp for about three hours, the group stopped for lunch at 18,000 feet on the rim of one of Kilimanjaro’s craters. By noon, they’d finished the last 45 minutes of the hike and reached the summit—with no one else in sight.

Mary asked one of the guides to take her to the glaciers at the top of the rim, and she couldn’t even describe it. “It was just awesome and it’s incredible to think that they will be gone someday.”

Each member of the Sweet Briar crew was among the oldest the group saw on Mount Kilimanjaro. They chose a route with a longer ascent to combat altitude sickness in addition to taking preventative medicines to avoid the malady all together. In fact, the only challenge that the group had was that Mimi, Mary, and Ginny had trouble sleeping due to being so cold. Even with proper preparation, the last three nights of the climb, each of them were wearing everything they had with them.

Left: Ginny traverses part of the path to Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Right: Mary and one of the guides on the glacier atop the mountain.

The hike starts in bushland, then changes to rainforest, moorlands, alpine desert and finally, an arctic climate.

“That which does not challenge you, does not change you.”

From left: Ginny, Mimi and Mary at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

48 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

Sweet Briar Climbers

“I would recommend this to anyone,” said Mary. “It’s especially fun for a girls trip, because it really was one with these three guys tagging along.” Ginny added that each member of the trip was nervous about summiting. “One of the reasons we were able to summit successfully was because of our friendship and because we had each other.”

Mimi added that no one took themselves too seriously, the hikers or the Tanzanians, and that the Tanzanians’ kindness and camaraderie also helped the hikers summit Mount Kilimanjaro. The group still keeps in touch with their guides and porters and exchange email. In February, Scott sent over a box of gloves for them to use on their summits with other hikers.

The Sweet Briar group’s guide, Penda, told the hikers, “That which does not challenge you, does not change you.” Ginny recalled that adage was going through their heads throughout the climb, and they’ve talked about what changed them. “The message is really that you can do anything if you set your mind to it.”

Or, put another way, “nothing that you cannot do!”

In the Spring 1970 issue of the Alumnae Magazine, the editors included a piece written by Helen Murchison Lane ’46 called, “What It’s Like to Climb the Matterhorn.” She and her husband, Ed, had taken the climb in the Alps earlier that year.

The Lanes’ completed their almost-15,000-foot ascent in five and a half hours and the descent took four and a half.

“On fine days, under favorable circumstances, with a capable, guide, the Matterhorn is not the most difficult mountain in the Alps to climb, although getting me to admit that is almost as difficult. … The day that we had planned to climb was a perfect blue-golden day.” However, four incidents occurred in the days leading up to the ascent that caused concern: five people had been killed on the Dom, another mountain in the alps; the hut keeper of the past forty years of Hornli Hut, the first stop on the ascent, had passed away from a heart attack the night before; two German climbers had fallen off of the Matterhorn and one had passed away; and finally, the Lanes’ guides, August and Paul Julen, had been forbidden by their mother to take the climb after the three previous incidents.

Despite these events, the Lanes embarked on their journey that afternoon. Helen and Ed took the ski lift to Schwartzee Station, an 8,000-foot altitude. From there, the couple climbed to Hornli Hut, which is a three-story concrete “hotel,” with no baths, running water, heat or electricity. There, the Lanes and their guides and other climbers totaled about 30 people and Helen was the only woman.

The next morning, the crew set out at 4 a.m. and reached the Solvay Hut at approximately 13,000 feet in three hours. “This hut is intended as an emergency shelter for climbers who have exhausted their strength in climbing. … At this point, I felt

Above: Ed Lane, husband of Helen Murchison Lane ’46, climbs the Matterhorn.

Below: Helen and Ed resting on one of their training hikes in preparation for climbing the Matterhorn.

qualified as a climber in the direst of straits.” From the Solvay Hut, the party continued climbing up and over the shoulder crossing to the other side of the ridge, after which the angle of ascent eased. From this point, the route is free to the peak, a field of snow and ice with ropes to guide climbers to the top. “Here, one must go at the pace of the mountain.”

The summit itself is narrow, ranging from three to 15 feet wide and about 200 feet long as Helen described it in 1970. “It is difficult to describe how it looked and how we felt on the summit.

It was like being in an airplane without the noise and without the vibration, with a beautiful panoramic view thrown in. … Even the number of successful climbers on the top didn’t diminish the pleasure of that supreme half hour on the roof of the world.”

Scan this QR code to read Helen Murchison Lane’s original article from the Spring 1970 Alumnae Magazine.

Sweet Briar Needs You! To still give to the Sweet Briar Fund $1,088,771

$4,261,229 raised

left to raise

While this issue of the Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine has focused on introducing the Where Women Lead campaign to Sweet Briar’s alumnae and friends, the College’s operating funds derive from unrestricted support through gifts to the Sweet Briar Fund.

This annual giving program—with an emphasis on “annual”—strives to meet the ongoing and sometimes unanticipated needs at Sweet Briar.

While the College has many scholarships, some of which are endowed, to support each class of students, unrestricted support allows Sweet Briar to fill the gap between restricted scholarships and students’ financial needs. These funds, like all financial aid, are offered based on students’ merits and needs. Because Sweet Briar is a Division III school, no athletic scholarships are offered.

Earlier in this issue, readers were presented with the Faculty and Course Development Endowment.

This endowment, when fully funded, will have an annual distribution determined by the Board of Directors.

However, this endowment does not address Sweet Briar’s faculty development needs should any arise in the near future. The need for faculty professional development and academic program support will not wait on a fully-funded endowment.

Sweet Briar’s welcoming and beautiful 2,847 acres, its 22 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, and its more modern buildings require ongoing maintenance; the Sweet Briar community of alumnae, students,

faculty, staff, parents and friends are in primary care of its stewardship. As any member of this community knows, this campus is the jewel in Sweet Briar’s crown. Supporting the Sweet Briar Fund means that anticipated (and unexpected) needs of the campus can be met and resolved quickly.

Primary sources of revenue at all colleges and universities come from tuition, charitable contributions, and auxiliary revenues. For most private liberal arts colleges and universities, annual unrestricted support comprises an average 15 percent of each institution’s budget. Sweet Briar has brought this figure down from 82 percent in the 2016 fiscal year to 18 percent for the 2023 fiscal year as enrollment numbers have increased over the past seven years.

It has not gone unnoticed that Sweet Briar alumnae and friends have consistently risen to this challenge each year since 2015. While the College has been devoting itself to recruiting more and more students, donors have met the unrestricted goal for every one of the last seven years. This year, the goal for the Sweet Briar Fund is $5.25 million.

Here’s how you can help: 1. Use the enclosed envelope to send your gift to Sweet Briar or make a gift online at sbc.edu/give.

2. Ask your classmates and friends to join you by making their gift.

3. Set a calendar reminder to make your gift to the Sweet Briar Fund at this time next year, putting the “annual” in annual giving!

Lastly, a word about participation: it matters more than you might think!

Alumnae have the power to positively influence Sweet Briar’s rankings in college publications, making Sweet Briar appeal to prospective students and families, just by making a gift of any size to the Sweet Briar Fund.

Increased participation is a metric that can also make Sweet Briar more appealing to corporate and foundation grant agencies, which provide restricted funding for areas not covered by the Sweet Briar Fund.

Every gift makes a difference, so be sure to make your gift before the current fiscal year ends on June 30.

Thank you!

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 49

In Memoriam 1941

Carolyn Hagen Myers July 27, 2015

1942

Barbara “Bobbie” Engh Croft July 26, 2022 Sally Schall Van Allen December 5, 2022

1943

Karen Kniskern White October 29, 2022

1955

1959

Joan Fankhauser Ireton July 15, 2022

Patricia “Tricia” Coxe Ware December 20, 2022

Tracques Saunders Penney December 31, 2022

Lizora Miller Yonce January 14, 2023

Margaret Lawrence Simmons December 4, 2022

Georgia Knoblach Smith November 25, 2022

1960

1950

1956

Diane King Nelson January 1, 2023 Polly Rollins Sowell January 13, 2023 Helen Pender Withers December 22, 2022

1949

1944

Lacy Skinner Eckardt December 27, 2000

1945

Allen “Sis” Dunnington Ohrstrom August 7, 2022

Anita Lippitt Clay November 27, 2022 Mary Kathryn Frye Hemphill November 28, 2022 Helen Wodie Coleman Monaghan July 9, 2022 Mary Herbert Taylor November 14, 2022

1946

Allison Buchanan Herbertson January 6, 2023 Marjorie Selvage Stone January 11, 2023

1947

Elizabeth “Betty” Weil Fisher November 22, 2022 Meredith Slane Michener January 17, 2023

1948

Martha Shmidheiser DuBarry January 11, 2023

Gene Kennedy Rose December 9, 2022

1951

Terry Faulkner Phillips October 25, 2022

1953

Gloria Rawls Askew January 24, 2018 Dale Hutter Harris October 21, 2022

1954

Shirley Sutliff Cooper January 9, 2023

Meredith Smythe Grider February 11, 2023 Edna Rogers Rowe January 15, 2023 Nancy Salisbury Spencer February 20, 2023

1957

Penelope Harrison January 31, 2023 Anne Rogers Killefer October 28, 2022 Beverly Ayers Peck November 15, 2022

Nancy Fink Leeds October 27, 2022

1962

Susan Elder Martin November 20, 2022 Carolyn Westfall Monger October 3, 2022

Sarah Bumbaugh November 7, 2022

1958

50 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

1961

Suzanne Ruffin December 28, 2022

Linda Falvey Rowland October 2, 2022

Anne Allen Pflugfelder September 10, 2022

Sarah “Sally” Underhill Viault December 31, 2022

Ann Frasher Hudson February 2, 2023

Jeanne Stoddart Barends September 23, 2022

Mary Lee “Missie” McGinnis McClain December 12, 2022

Nina Hopkins Raine December 10, 2022

Julia Thomas Hutchinson December 23, 2022 Evangeline Bell Kirsch September 21, 2022 Elizabeth “Betty” Colburn Williamson November 12, 2022

Juliette Anthony June 25, 2022 Rosemary Whiteside Henderson September 2, 2022 Fontaine Hutter Minor December 16, 2022 Elizabeth “Lizzie” Fleet Wallace December 19, 2022

1964

Katherine “Kitty” Griffith December 5, 2022 Allison Jennings McCance January 15, 2023

In Memoriam

1965

1978

Alice Collins Fisk April 28, 2022

1979

Alice Virginia Dodd February 6, 2023

1966

Margaret Bloch Crommelin September 21, 2022 Margaret “Peggy” Gillmer Myers December 6, 2022

1967

Joan McClure McNamara January 11, 2023 Judy Hay Speary November 19, 2022

1968

Mary Matheson October 10, 2022 Susan Williams November 1, 2022

Elizabeth “Betsy” Hurley Deimel October 23, 2022 Amy Basten Heppner February 11, 2023

1981

Nancy Palme Hoe September 17, 2022

1982

Gay Loudon-King November 22, 2022 Angela Averett January 31, 2023

1983

Jeanne Waters Chapman December 4, 2018

1985

Elinor “El” Warner March 17, 2023

1970

Monnie Brown Groos December 9, 2022

1972

Nathalie Ryan Hoyt September 27, 2022 Iris Croft Wood October 9, 2022

1974

Christine “Chris” Weiss Pfeil February 10, 2023 Donna MacKenzie Pfohl November 8, 2022

1977

Nina Baker Neal December 3, 2022 Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 51

Class Notes 1950 classnotes@sbc.edu B.G. Elmore Gilleland: “The Sweet Briar Alumnae office has been very supportive in contacting members of our class for the class notes for our upcoming magazine. I have enjoyed the opportunity to chat with several of you and we had fun reminiscing. We were not able to contact many of you as we no longer have your current telephone numbers.

Please contact Megan Sunwall at classnotes@sbc.edu to update your contact information. As much as I like living in Winter Park, Fla., 2022 was not one of our best years because of Hurricane Ian. In September, our retirement home was evacuated for over 3 months due to extensive flooding which damaged the electric system and the elevators. My car was inundated and so was totaled.

I was fortunate to move to my daughters’ homes in Winter Park and Williamsburg, Virginia!

Finally, we moved back in our apartments for Christmas.

A highlight of the year was a trip to Sweet Briar with my sister at Thanksgiving. The Alumnae staff took us on a wonderful tour of the campus and we were impressed with the beautiful dorm lounges, the Corcoran Library expansion, the new turf hockey field, the vineyards, the greenhouses and the dining facilities. The new

curriculum offerings made me want to enroll again! P.S. For fellow French majors I am still studying French, mostly on Zoom conversation groups, but will never overcome speaking it with a southern accent!”

Caroline Fritzinger: “Have just had a good conversation with BG Elmore Gilleland and promised to write something. What? Eat, read, sleep. You can do better than that. I spent Christmas with my daughter in Philadelphia. She has children and 11 grands.

That leaves me buying birthday cards plus 4 more for the boys.

It was fun and enlightening to see generations that don’t exist and don’t operate like I do on my hillside in Vermont. I also recently returned to SBC. The new vegetable tunnel, horse stables and vineyards are fabulous. You should go with a driver of course. Love to all still standing strong—Bill.”

Margaret Lewis Furse: “I remember our 50th Reunion in 2000 with such pleasure.

Peachey Lillard Manning and I were laughing about our German class with Miss Huber.

Trying to explain a point of German grammar by acting it out, Miss Huber pretended to push Peachey “out the window” of the classroom. Actively pushed?

Then use the accusative. Just carelessly fell? Then the dative.

At least that’s how I remember it.

The acted-out example gave rise to many embroidered retellings with Peachey described as barely hanging on to the window sill, knuckles whitening. German turned out to be helpful to me.

52 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

To read it was a requirement for the Ph.D. in religion I later (1968) earned at Columbia, where I also took courses at Union Theological Seminary across the street. Niebuhr and Tillich were the famous scholars at the time with whom I got to study.

And Mary Ely Lyman—the SBC dean of our time—taught there then. When I completed my degree, I was asked to teach at Rice University in Houston, a two-hour auto trip from Bay City, Texas where I lived. Later, when my husband, Austen Furse, was appointed Assistant Attorney General of Texas, we moved with our four young children to Austin, and I began teaching courses in American Studies at the University of Texas. I have been in Austin ever since. At the end of my sophomore year at SBC, I decided that the commute to Sweet Briar from Texas was too long (two days, plus one night on the train), and I transferred to the University of Texas. I was a philosophy major and an active in the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. I have returned many times for our class reunions and appreciate the two years I spent at Sweet Briar. My freshman roommate was Barbara Van Ness from Baltimore whose family generously had me as a Thanksgiving guest and as a guest to several dance parties in Baltimore. Our classmate, Fanchon “Fan” Lewis Jackson and I got acquainted through having the same last name, Lewis, and sharing a mailbox.

We roomed together sophomore year when our respective roommates went elsewhere. We were lifelong friends and in each other’s weddings. She has now passed away but there may not have been notice of that in the alumnae news. In the current SBC magazine, I see the RIP notice of Mary Morris Gamble, a class leader, and, in our day, a strong internationalist. “United World Federalism” was her special interest. She did the SBC study abroad program in Paris.

Having a beautiful singing voice, she took courses in music theory and was always a valued member of the choir. Living in Lynchburg, she and her husband hosted our class for several reunions. Sally Bianchi Foster was a delightful class member, always interested

in theater. I kept up with her over the years especially when I went to NYC and she, living in N.J., could meet me for lunch.

I’m sorry to see the notice of her passing. As for me, now at age 94, I’ve had a full life-traveled with my late husband all over the world, enjoyed our four wonderful children and their spouses, and six funloving grandchildren. And, as a part-time faculty person, I was able to teach for about 15 years at Rice (religious studies) and the University of Texas (American studies). I wrote several academic books, the first of which reworked my Columbia dissertation to make it a college text: Mysticism: Window on a World View. Closer to home and less academic, the most recent book was published in 2014 by Texas A&M Press.

It was the story of my family’s early Texas ranch that began as a sugar plantation: The Hawkins Ranch in Texas, from Plantation Times to the Present. It won a prize for early Texas history and, apparently has been appreciated as an absorbing narrative based on contemporary letters and other sources.”

1801 Lavaca 14D Austin, Texas 78701 mgtfurse@gmail.com Janet Neumark Fribourg: “In 1950, the year I would have graduated, I married my husband, Don Fribourg. We’ve now been married 72 years.

I spent many years working with emotionally disturbed and learning-disabled children.

At age 55, our children grown, we sailed our boat Passages across the Atlantic and spent the next eight years sailing in the summer, renting in the winter in the countries along the Mediterranean, the Adriatic and Aegean seas. I began painting on board and continued to do so after moving ashore. We are now living in St. Augustine, Fla. We feel very fortunate.”

Anne Payton Cooper: “I second the goal from B.G. Elmore Gilleland in having more news from our class in the alumnae magazine. I was an exchange student with the University of St. Andrews in Scotland my Junior year at Sweet Briar 1948–1949. It was just a

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 52

Class Notes few years after WWII and I think SBC was among the first small colleges to see the possibilities for exchange internationally.

It was a wonderful year in opportunities for one-the-spot education and life-long friends.

My husband and I went back and found my old room in Macintosh Hall just as it was so many years ago. I guess I communicated my enthusiasm for my children. My son was an exchange student at Oxford and my daughter in Italy at the University of Florence—and now with a new generation, my granddaughter, Grayce Cooper is in her Junior Year—once again at St. Andrews.

She is not there on an exchange; she is there for a full four years.

And, of course, I am fascinated and enjoy finding all the similarities and difference in our experiences.”

Mary Dame Broad: “B.G. Elmore Gilleland has taken on the job of getting new of the Class of 1950 into the Alumnae Magazine. It was such a pleasant surprise to receive her call and hear of some of our classmates still thriving. I must say, at age 94 there’s little exciting news of foreign travels, only trips to see great-grandchildren now.

I am blessed to have three of them now and hopes of a fourth but that possibility is rather distant since the wedding is not ‘til this April (if everything goes in the proper order). I guess the most exciting thing in my life is that I still have a driver’s license and am rattling around in my too large home, alone, but with wonderful help from my daughter, who lives at Virginia Beach—about 30 minutes away.

Still play bridge, belong to the Garden Club, literary club, DAR—church circle, etc. etc.

No heart throbs, no dances, but weddings and occasional dinners at the Yacht Club. Don’t discuss politics or health. Don’t mention funerals.”

Anne Blanken: “I now have two great grandchildren and a third on the way. I play bridge and mah jongg once a week.

Travel to Pittsburgh and Chapel Hill to visit grandchildren. I haven’t seen or heard from any classmates since Louise Moore and Jo Gulick Grant died. One of the people I play bridge with is a retired chemistry professor

from SBC, Susan Piepho. Hope you are well and healthy.”

Mary “Tree” Lanman Brown: “Lew and I are happy to be living in Maine again. We are in a community for 55 and over— believe me we qualify! We are very lucky that those living here are an active group who have had a wide variety of careers and experiences. We had a wonderful 10 years living in Wyoming, but wanted to come back East so we could see our children and grandchildren more often.

I continue to feel as I always have that our four years at SBC gave us a priceless experience that has been of lasting value throughout the years since graduation. I have also been extremely pleased to follow the course and standards carried on at SBC. If any of you get to Maine, by land or sea, please do get in touch with me. Wishing all the best to each of you, “Tree” (a name I haven’t been called in many, many years).”

Betsey Sawyer Hodges: “Where did the years go? Here we are—73 years ago, seniors at Sweet Briar, with the future stretching out before us. Today some of us have finished our journey. Others are still on the road approaching the finish line, like me! At 94 I can still walk with my cane or rollator.

My memory comes and goes, my appetite is good. I do a lot of reading, some writing and am starting to make a quilt for a dear friend. So I keep pretty busy and am blessed to be able to do what I am able to do!!

Allen, my wonderful husband of 71 years, developed Parkinson’s Disease and died in December of 2021. This past year our youngest daughter, Joyce, who had schizophrenia most of her life went to be with her father. In spite of those losses, I feel blessed to be able to stay in our home since my daughter Mary Ellen and her husband, Dick, live with me.

They retired from the Mission Field shortly after we moved to Orlando and came to stay with us. I am so grateful to all the alumnae that rose to the challenge when Sweet Briar was on the brink of closing! And now it sounds as if the college is well on its way to becoming an outstanding place of learning

and developing women who will assume leadership in the challenging world around us.

Blessings to all my classmates and Sweet Briar friends!”

Dotsy Wood Letts: “I see Mimi Duncan ’42 for lunches and I attended her 100th birthday party last in March 2022. Ginger Luscombe Rogers is coming to visit me in Palm Beach at the end of March with her daughter, Larkin. My daughter, Sophy Letts ’86, and I attended a Sweet Briar gathering in Wellington at the lovely home of Heidi Turk Cromwell ’85, where we were able to chat with President Woo and listen to her discuss what’s next for Sweet Briar in the coming months. I was the only one from my class and I was the eldest person there. Glasses were raised to toast me, which was touching.

In December 2021, we attended a luncheon in President Woo’s honor at The Little Club in Gulfstream, Fla. and we were privileged to be seated at her table. I was fortunate to attend my roommate Sally Lea’s twin brother, Charlie’s 95th birthday party this past December, which was also held at The Little Club.

Sally died some time ago, but it’s great to see Charlie and his wife, Kathleen. They’re actually coming to a drinks party I’m having in early February.”

1952 Patricia Layne Winks 312 Arguello Blvd., Apt. 3 San Francisco, CA 94118 plwinks@earthlink.net In 2022 we commemorated the 70th anniversary of our Sweet Briar graduation. If only more of us could have been on hand at Reunion to celebrate! The campus looked glorious and the weather was splendid. The College clearly has attained new levels of excellence and relevance under Meredith Woo’s inspiring guidance.

Four members of our class were there: Joanne Holbrook Patton, Nancy Hamel Clark, Laura Radford Goley and me.

Joanne’s presence was the occasion for special rejoicing. She

and daughter Helen had expected to fly from La Guardia Airport in NYC, only to learn, after hours of delay at the airport, that their flight had been cancelled. Undeterred, they engaged an obliging Uber driver who took them all the way to Sweet Briar in time for the Friday evening celebration.

Here in California, Bay Area alumnae were finally able to meet for our annual Sweet Briar Day luncheon for the first time since the pandemic. I may still be the “baby” of our class, but in this group I’m the ancient veteran.

On the East Coast, Joanne Holbrook Patton is organizing a get together with our 1952 Connecticut contingent: Jackie Razook Chamandy, Kate Shaw Minton, Ann Whittingham Smith and Pat Beach Thompson. Each holiday season Nancy Hamel Clark, in North Carolina, anticipates a reunion with Benita Phinizy Johnson, coming from Georgia; however, their visit was canceled this year because Benita had a serious bout of pneumonia, from which she has since fortunately recovered.

Classmates have settled far and wide: from Australia (Helen Graves Stahman) to England (Shirley Coltman Crook).

We live in all corners of the United States: far Northeast (Phoebe DeFoe Adams in New Hampshire), far Southeast (Catherine Yerkes Grant in Florida), Southwest (Grace Wallace Brown in Arizona), Northwest (Nancy Morrow Lovell in Washington), and farther West (Joan Stewart Rank in Hawaii). We’re doing less traveling, but our grandchildren are exploring the globe. Pat Beach Thompson’s grandson Felix upheld the family’s peripatetic tradition by summering in Burkino Faso.

My granddaughter Carmen visited Romania and Cuba. In a few years the many greatgrandchildren of the Class of 1952 will be embarking on their own world adventures.

Though we may not be able to remember what we had for breakfast this morning, we can retain memories of our Sweet Briar years. Let us set aside dire predictions of global disaster, and instead take pleasure in revisiting those memories.

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 53

Class Notes

1954 Bruce Watts Krucke 201 West 9th St. North Unit 184 Summerville, SC 29483 843-879-3972 bwkrucke@gmail.com As you probably know, our wonderful class president, Faith Rahmer Croker died suddenly of a massive stroke in June.

She had visited Sweet Briar the previous week for reunion with her daughters. Notice of Faith’s death was in the fall magazine. That has left us without a president. A search for a classmate to take her place was unsuccessful, so in the meantime, at the suggestion of several classmates, I will be the president as well as the secretary temporarily. Please, if there’s anyone who could act as our class president, let me know.

Billy Isdale Beach’s husband Jack died in September of 2021 after a long illness.

Billy’s daughter Alison is a professor of Medieval History and her husband is head of the economics department at St. Andrew’s. Billy’s grandson is living with her and they have set up a leather saddle business.

My roommate for three years, Jeanne Stoddart Barends died in September of 2022. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Frederik S. Barends. She graduated from Columbus School for Girls in 1950 and Sweet Briar College in 1954, where she obtained a BA degree in music. Jeanne was an avid tennis player who ruled the net with her six-foot tall frame along with her equally tall husband. She loved to sing. She was also a phenomenal grandmother to Hannah, Peter and Parker Barends and spent much time with them. She loved sharing the Gospel and reading the Word of God. She is survived by children Frederik Stoddart (Rachel) Barends and Amy Stoddart (Donna) Barends, along with grandchildren Hannah Elizabeth (Conor Loy), Peter Chase and Parker Stoddart Barends.

Mary Lee “Missie” McGinnis McClain died peacefully at her home in

Charleston in December of last year. Missie attended Washington Seminary in Atlanta and then moved to Memphis where she graduated from Hutchison School. She went on to graduate from Sweet Briar College in 1954. Following graduation, Missie returned to Memphis to teach school at Hutchison. She met The Rev. Frank Mauldin McClain in Memphis and they married in 1959. Shortly after they married, they moved to Virginia where Frank became the Chaplain at Sweet Briar College. Missie was devoted to Sweet Briar, serving on the Alumnae Board for many years and was actively involved in the Save Sweet Briar campaign.

She served on the Charleston Neighborhood Association, the Committee to Save the City, the Low Country Garden Club and the Junior League of Charleston.

Missie was a talented florist and loved making arrangements for friends, parties and weddings.

She was a passionate gardener, a member of numerous garden clubs and was a listed lecturer for the Garden Club of America.

I received word that Sally Bumbaugh had also died in 2022, but there were no details of her passing.

Hattie Hughes Stone went to San Diego for her granddaughter’s graduation from U of CA at San Diego, College of Eleanor Roosevelt in Global Policy and International Affairs last summer. Hattie was surprised that nearly all the graduates were either Asian or Hispanic with only seven not. She was also looking forward to meeting the new filly her granddaughter’s horse had just had.

Hoping for lots of news from Christmas cards from you, I was disappointed to have only gotten two—both from stalwart correspondents that I can always count on: Caroline “Kobo” Chobot Garner and Jerry Driesbach Ludeke. Kobo writes that 2022 was a banner year. In honor of her 90th birthday, she was taken to a Braves game by her family. She continues to enjoy her new home at Alexian Village. Jerry is also happy in her new home, The Redwoods, in the San Francisco Bay area. It’s near some marshes and there’s good

54 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

birding there along with all sorts of activities for the residents.

My big news is that I am no longer president of our resident council after five years of a one-year term. It’s nice to not have those responsibilities anymore. We still miss our middle son Kurt who died of sudden fatal arrhythmia, but his lady friend of 20 years and I are in touch almost daily, which helps. My husband Bill at 96 is the oldest male resident of The Village. There are lots of women older, but no men. He’s got some cognitive and physical decline, but is remarkable otherwise.

Speaking of doing well, my sister, Virginia Watts Fournier, class of ’44 will be 100 later this year!

Congratulations to you all for having a 35.6% final class participation in giving to the college. The goal was for each class to have at least 30%, so we did very well. Sweet Briar sends heartfelt appreciation for our class’s participation in the success of the college. Hoping to hear from more of you soon.

Bruce Pres. and Sec’y.

1956 classnotes@sbc.edu Ann Rowell White is living in in Hot Springs, Ark. on Lake Hamilton. Her daughter lives with her. Ann stays active with family, friends and bridge. Her husband, Al, passed away in 2000. Ann says hi to all her classmates!

1956

Enjoying the 2021 Reunion are: Mary Ann Hicklin Willingham, Nancie Howe Entenmann Roberts and Joan Broman Wright.

1958 Eleanor St Clair Thorp 3 Stoneleigh, Apt 6D Bronxville, NY 10708 schatzethorp@gmail.com Jane Oxner Waring: “It’s time for us to gather the “flowers fair” of ’58 for our 65th reunion!!!!

Claire Cannon Christopher and I have booked rooms at SBC’s Green Village for June 2 and 3. Please, please join us for what is very likely our last one!

If it takes bringing your walker, your cane, your nurse, come ahead!!! Much love to all, Jane Waring aka FoxyOxy, as Coopie named me in ’54!!!!!!!!!!”

Patty Sykes Treadwell: “After leaving Sweet Briar, I went to graduate school in Business Administration at Radcliffe College. I worked in NYC for a short time then worked in San Francisco. I married Dick Treadwell in 1960, and we have lived in the San Francisco area since then. We lived in our house for 20 years before we redid the kitchen.

That was over 40 years ago!

My appliances finally gave out and I have spent the last 1 ½ years remodeling my kitchen, again! With the supply chain and COVID the project has taken longer than expected. My daughter, Connie, is an architect, and she has been a HUGE help.

The kitchen is almost finished, and it will be gorgeous! Don’t think I will be at Reunion, sadly, as my oldest grandchild, Francie Treadwell, will be graduating from Colby College at the same time as our Reunion and I hope to attend the graduation.”

Betty Rae Sivalls Davis: “Paul and I are still puttering around and enjoying life. We are healthy and so are our children and grandchildren and we have a great-granddaughter!”

Claire Cannon Christopher: “Lee Cooper Van de Velde and I had a very sweet final visit with our dear classmate, Lynn Prior Harrington, at her home in Bay Head, N.J., for dinner and an overnight. Her daughter Sarah brought us a delicious dinner and sandwiches for our drive to

Class Notes the Philadelphia airport where I caught a plane back to N.C. We miss her mightily.”

Nancy Hawbaker Gilbert: “Sadly my husband Carter passed away on January 6, 2022 after a brief non-COVID illness. He was 91 years old. He was the Curator of Fish at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida for 37 years and continued to be active in ichthyology until the last. We all miss him so very much. I continue to enjoy living in our home in Gainesville, Fla. In November 2022, I joined my son, daughter-in-law, and two adult granddaughters on a trip to France, my first since COVID. We spent two wonderful weeks in an apartment in Paris with a weekend visiting chateaux in the Loire Valley.”

Mary Lane Bryan Sullivan: “I recently moved from an old wonderful Cleveland carriage house where I lived for 61 years to Chevy Chase House in Washington, DC. My son David and his family live 4 blocks away and my grandsons walk over to visit often. I spent the holidays with my daughter Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan ’92 and her family in Dallas after a birthday visit in Atlanta with my sister Newell Bryan Tozzer ’55. My son Wright and his wife have bought a terrific 1840s home in Pendleton, S.C. where they spend weekends.

Keeley and Wright found lots of SBC treasures in my Cleveland attic including our Junior Banquet program and a vinyl record of our freshman show, Hurricane Hazel. The music was written by Carol Hall Majzlin who went on to write the music for The Best Little Whore House in Texas. The last entertaining I did in Cleveland was hosting Sweet Briar Alumnae Club for lunch in May. I am looking forward to our 65th Reunion in June. Keeley (kjurgovan@sbc. edu) works in SBC’s Alumnae Relations & Development Office.

Reach out to her if you need help with Reunion or want to connect with classmates.”

Ethel Ogden Burwell: “I want to share just a couple of changes that have recently occurred in my life. Even after my husband died, I continued living in Grosse Pointe, Mich. and in one house since 1964,

but my three children have persuaded me to move nearer to my daughter, Ethel, and her husband in Lexington, VA (where, in recent years, I have spent some of each winter), I have now moved permanently to 19 Sixty West Dr., Lexington, VA 24450. My children are all thriving, as are my eight grandchildren, and now I am the proud great-grandmother of twin boys (3). I am looking forward to seeing many 58-ers at our 65th Reunion in June!”

Mimi Garrard: “I continue to create dances for videos that are shown in festivals worldwide. We have won 616 first place awards thanks to my wonderful collaborators. I am grateful to have two talented grandchildren, one is graduating from college, and one is graduating from high school.”

Betsy Alden Robinson: “Moved in November from house to a rental apt. A transition in every way—financially, emotionally, and physically.

Loyal Cabaret friends became expert packers and luggers of all my “archives”—which I’m now digging out of. The whole planet is in transition, so I just joined in. My faraway kids are relieved.

An exercise in courage and faith.

LOVE to my dear friends.”

Elizabeth Coggeshall Nock: “I am still at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, S.C. and love it. We have just finished the Kress Collection and will have Islamic Art in 2023. Super exciting.

Get training every two or three months. I go over two or three times a week. It is my breath of “fresh air”. Come see us ‘Woody’.”

1958

Betty Gallo Skladal and her husband, George, celbrated their 66th wedding anniversary on December 26, 2023.

Edie Knapp Clark: “We recently moved to an assisted living facility due to my husband’s limited mobility. I’m still doing outdoor tai chi three-four times a week and volunteering at Planned Parenthood. The kids and grandkids are thriving.

Our granddaughter and her boyfriend live in Montana and are long distance trail runners.

The grandson and his girlfriend live in Nevada and work for the Great Basin Institute doing environmental field work in forests and deserts.”

Betsey Gallagher Worrell: “Bill and I are still here in the DC area living a new style of life in a retirement community in Bethesda, MD. Active, involved and staying in touch with friends and family. Seven scattered grandchildren all educated and active in their busy lives but happily catching up with them several times a year. Cheers!”

Eleanor St. Clair Thorp: “Peter and I are still in Bronxville and enjoying retired life. We just celebrated our 61st anniversary and feel quite fortunate to have a healthy family of three daughters and sons in law and seven grandchildren, one of whom is married and one about to be! As for classmates, I had a long phone chat with Mary Taylor Swing and Bill who are both doing well and keeping busy in California.”

Sue Rosson Tejml: “As Mayor of Cooper Canyon for 14 years, I initiated the Denton County Mayors Crime Prevention Luncheon. Denton County, Texas is about an hour north of Dallas Fort Worth Airport. We are one of the fastest growing counties in the nation with a million residents in 40 municipalities and rural pastoral areas. We all work together regardless of political party.

The Police Chief of a North Texas town of 70,000 said their crime has not increased in the last 10–12 years! However, he said his police officers have been exposed to much more public abuse and hateful acts and experienced officers are resigning. Finding qualified recruits is a challenge, but military veterans returning from service are most welcome!

One serious issue has NOT improved—Our Child Protective Services! I served as an Attorney

Ad Litem and CASA Advocate for abused children. Our County Commissioners Court just appointed me to our County’s Child Protective Services Board. CPS Staff are under paid and often asked to work caseload numbers that even Wonder Woman could not handle effectively!

At 86 years, and I thought in good health, I have been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease has no cure). I would personally appreciate any Sweet Briar alum who could give me some guidance on ALS. But, I’ve had a wonderful life with a husband of over 60 years, three adult children, seven wonderful grandchildren, longtime friends, and a state and country I dearly love! Thanks for reading this far and have a GREAT 2023!”

1960 Lura Coleman Wampler 1406 Thomas Rd Wayne, PA 19087 lcwampler@comcast.net Isabel Ware Burch writes that she spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas with family in a house she shares with her brothers on the Rappahannock River and Philadelphia respectively. In Williamsburg, she continues her activities at Bruton Parish Church and takes her two Portuguese Water dogs for weekly visits at the hospital to cheer up both patients and staff. Sadly, her sister-in-law Patricia Coxe Ware ’59 died just before Christmas.

Sue Styer Ericksen and I had a lovely visit last fall. She is hale and hearty and is looking forward to skiing once again in both Vermont and Aspen with her good friend Bessie Bulkley Bradley ’61 as well as her son and grandchildren.

After moving to a continuing care retirement community last May, her husband, Ed, passed in June.

Jackie Mabie Humphrey is still in her house in North Carolina where she enjoys her garden. She can visit with her children who live nearby.

Carolina Gough Harding lost her husband Dick

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 55

Class Notes in December. Fortunately, her son lives with her and is keeping her active and busy.

Patti Powell Pusey stays in good health by walking 10,000 steps a day, often with Carolyn King Ratcliffe who lives next door to her at Westminster Canterbury in Richmond where she is Chair of the Employees’ Christmas Fund. She also serves on the Foundation Board, chairing the Fellowship Fund which provides for people who live there. All her children, grandchildren and three great grandchildren live in the same area, so she sees them often.

She enjoys dates with a lawyer friend: they often have dinner with the Ratcliffes.

Betty Forsyth Harris shared Christmas with her husband, three daughters and four granddaughters. As she says, it was the happiest kind of busy.

She is enjoying quilting and playing Mah Jongg with a group of SB alums. Next, she is going to try her skills at chess.

Barbara Beam Denison and her husband continue to live in their house in Bethesda Md. but are waiting for an opening at a nearby CCRC. She continues to paint and is trying to exercise and stay healthy.

Jane Tatman Walker and husband Frank are fortunate to be near three of four children and seven of eight grandchildren in nearby Indianapolis, Ind. A great grandchild is on the way!

In their retirement home, she continues to work on family history and is involved in tai chi and training classes, and a book club. In late February, they plan to visit Ann Crowell Lemmon and Linda Sims Newmark in Atlanta enroute to visiting family in Florida.

Becky Towill McNair took a wonderful post-Christmas family train excursion to Budapest, Prague and Vienna.

COVID caught up with them on the plane on the way home.

Heidi Wood Huddleston feels blessed to have three beautiful daughters, two granddaughters, a grandson, four great grands and another on the way. Although they are scattered across the country, they were able to get together during the Christmas holidays.

She continues to be healthy

and very active spending time between her homes in Kentucky and Hilton Head, S.C. She would love to see anyone who happens to visit in Hilton Head!

Lucy Martin Gianino continues her long-standing involvement with her NYC Parents In Action organization which provides educational information to the Independent School Communities in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx. She now serves as Chair.

She is also an integral part of St Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. She is very much a hands-on grandmother to her six grandchildren who range from five to 18 years old. She loves being in contact with so many of you!

Lura Coleman Wampler is beginning to cut back on activities but hangs in with her garden club, is still a Garden Club of America photography judge and serves on the Worship Commission of her church, since she is Chair of the altar flowers. She and her husband have committed to move to a retirement place sometime in the next two years. It will be heart wrenching to leave her beloved farm and worse to clean out the 53-year accumulation of stuff!

Almost without exception, everyone who wrote me included gratitude for all the good things happening at SBC and also sent love to all classmates!!

1962 Adele Vogel Harrell 8300 Burdette Road, Apt 507 Bethesda, MD 20817 adeleharrell@gmail.com The notes were prepared with Parry Ellice Adams, our faithful class secretary of many years and Anne Parker Schmalz who collected news from classmates to share at our reunion last May. Parry really enjoyed seeing everyone at our reunion in May. “Being on the campus of such an extraordinary Institution—which we call home—was very special.”

Anne Parker Schmalz and husband, Bob, celebrated their 60th anniversary and his 90th

56 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

birthday the weekend before reunion with a full family gathering—a first after COVID. They have lived at Carleton-Willard, a CCR in Bedford, MA, for eight years. It has given them many opportunities for new skills and new friends. Anne is Editor of the Villager, the resident magazine, and an artist and naturalist.

Their nine grandchildren are mostly graduated. She applauds their various interests and activities. She loved getting back to Sweet Briar campus: “SBC is a very impressive place!”

Leslie Heye Quarrier lives in Lyme, Conn., and is the owner of Essex Yacht Sales, brokering large boats up and down the East Coast.

Her partner in the business and finance as well is Peter Amos. She has three children who helped her celebrate her big 80th birthday.

Her thriving business kept her away from Reunion. Their website is impressive!

Mary Jane Schroder and her husband James, an almost retired Episcopal priest, live right down the road from the Sweet Briar Nursery School where she continues to study and produce art. Her show of large drawings in the Refectory over Reunion was a treat for all. As part of a choral group at St. John’s Episcopal Church Lynchburg, they have spent summer residencies in England and Wales. Hopefully, the summer at Durham Cathedral, postponed due to COVID, can be rescheduled.

Her son, James Oliver, his wife (SBC alum Shelley), grandson Loren (16), and granddaughter Hamilton (13) are nearby in Lynchburg where James teaches in a private school.

Our wonderful class president, Martha Carlton Baum, lives in “hot, humid” Florida with her dog, a flyball champion. She is getting a new roof thanks to Hurricane Ian, but overall considers herself lucky given the devastation in her area of Florida. More serious is her loss of balance and recent falls. Until recently she was still playing the guitar and going to monthly campouts for jamming and singing. Son Matthew lives outside of Nashville with his wife Rumiko (who is from Japan) and their twins, a boy and girl (13). The twins, like Martha, are musical.

The boy plays the violin, the girl the cello. Matthew works at

Nissan, coaches the baseball team and is a boy scout leader. That family visited Italy for two weeks.

The excitement in Julia Shield’s life is the arrival of a grandniece and namesake this past September. She plans to start promoting a Sweet Briar education as soon as baby Julia can talk. She looks forward to breaking loose from the Flu/ COVID isolation.

Bettye Thomas Chambers celebrated the 60th reunion of the 1960–61 Junior Year in France group, (postponed from 2020 because of COVID) with a group of 30 (spouses, family members, and significant others) for dinner at the DC home of organizer and host, David Rosenbloom (Princeton ’62).

She notes, “We all agreed that Junior Year in France had been the pivotal experience of our lives and hoped that we could have another reunion before we’re in our 90s and are still vertical.” An updated edition of her bibliography of 15th and 16th century French Bibles is soon to be released. She’s on the go.

Recent travel included London, Norway, and a Casa Blanca to Lisbon tour.

Sally Sharret Perryman and husband Paul, who is dealing with Pulmonary Fibrosis, moved to Devonshire, a lovely retirement community near their son and his wife in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. She enjoys all the nice people and so many things to do and “wish we had made this move a year ago!” Their Maryland son and his wife have a getaway home nearby. Their grandchildren are growing up and moving out, but luckily they still love coming to Florida.

Classmates Maybelle Scott Rauch, Mina Walker Wood (with husband Robin), Alice Allen Smythe visited Ray Henley Thompson in August at Ray’s wonderful farm in Burkes Garden, Va. They had a super time “catching up” with lots of laughs and good memories. Maybelle also had a great visit with Patsey Carney Reed at Alice’s home in Brevard, N.C., and thinks they can out-sit anyone!

Patsy Carney Reed has a far-flung family. Her daughters live in Seattle and Mill Valley, Ca. Her son and his wife live in Barcelona, Spain, with two chil-

Class Notes dren. Their eldest attends the University of Exeter in Devon, UK. I guess she travels a lot.

Louise Durham Purvis sadly reports that her main news is that her darling John died in March, and she has been reconstructing her life. Two weeks before John died her dear twin Richard died too. Family and friends were wonderful, especially Allison Moore Garrott whose sweet Tom died just after John. She came to Lou’s and they grieved together for a week—so wonderful. John was a prominent Scottish politician and banker. His obituary makes impressive reading. It gives him much of the credit for Scotland’s anti-Brexit vote. Lou herself has just been awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in the Kings Honours List for “voluntary service to the prison community in Scotland.” She and John housed the Prison Fellowship of Scotland offices for a time in their home and were deeply involved in Christian ministry to prisoners and their families.

She will be going to the palace to accept the award and only wishes John could be with her.

The news from Fernanda Effie Castelli Sammis is good.

She lives full time in the Sun Valley area with most of her children and their families, spouses, and grandchildren nearby. Only one daughter, her husband and our granddaughter live in southern California. They are all well. Last summer, she took ALL the family (the children, spouses and grandchildren) to Tanzania for 2 weeks last (see the picture). Her summary: “What a treat!! Many animals, family meals, tented camps and soccer games (we won) with the staff. The grandkids bonded, even closer, we have fabulous photos and memories. They all loved the people as they sing all the time and are happy, happy, people.” She stopped skiing two winters ago so winter in Sun Valley not so much fun. Her plans include building a guest house in Rancho (C.A.) next year so they can enjoy warm—not freezing—winters.

Winnie Swoyer Pfyfe is now settled in South Dartmouth, Mass., after years around the world. She and husband Jim lived in Hong Kong for eight years where he practiced law

until retirement. Next, they bought a boat and sailed it from Padanarum, Mass., to New Zealand with family members. They loved New Zealand, bought a house there, but missing family, sold the house and sailed back.

Jim died last year. Winnie now lives in an apartment and rents a summer house so her nine grandchildren can visit.

Nina Harrison Scribner and husband Curt, who works in commercial real estate, live near Portland, Maine where they have been for 40 years. Their four children live nearby. They spend time at their house on Cushing Island. They have spent many years training guide dogs.

Marcia Armstrong Scholl is fine, active, living in Paris and enjoying life. She still sees former teachers from the British School of Paris and has French friends nearby.

Rosemary Whiteside Henderson is still in her house of 58 years in Charlotte, N.C. She is passionate about gardening and reads a lot. She says her health is mediocre, and she hopes to retire soon. Her four children all live in town and are warm and helpful, for which she is thankful. Seven of her nine grandchildren (two are step grandchildren) are in college.

Brooke Hamilton MacKinnon finds life in the North Carolina mountains perfect. Son Hunter and his wife Kim are nearby in Birmingham.

Her late husband’s MacKinnon children (Katherine, Virginia, and Luther) live in in the west (Chico, Ca., and Fort Collins, Colo.) and come east summer and winter. She is the Mom to all and Mimi to the 5 grandchildren.

College years begin this coming Fall. She says it’s a wonderful world and our generation is so blessed. Invites you to visit her in Cashiers, N.C. Kim Patmore Cool has, as always, been very busy and active. She continues to work at the award-winning Venice Gondolier Sun where she has been features editor for about 25 years, covering theater and other area events plus travel and more.

She has written about 15 books relating to Florida. Several have earned awards as have many articles in the paper which is the best mid-sized (13,000 subscrib-

ers) in the state for 25 of the past 30 or so years (that honor is based on staff writing awards).

Her house is hurricane proof so came through Ian without any problems, but Venice Theatre (Number two community theater in the US) lost its flyloft which led to what likely could total $7 million in damages as most of the main building of the three–building campus was flooded with a downpour that lasted for 12 hours plus winds of up to 135 mph. Trees were down all over town and pickup is expected to continue until March 2023. Should anyone wish to donate to Venice Theatre, please visit venicetheatre.org/donate.

She hated to miss our 60th, the first one she missed in many years but two new knees weren’t quite ready for the beautiful but somewhat hilly campus.

Katie Crommelin Milton writes from Berkeley, Ca., that she continues her research on wild Panamanian howler monkeys which began around 1974. For about 15 years she also worked with little known or contacted Amazonian indigenous

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people in Brazil and one tribe in Papua New Guinea. She loves her field work. One wonderful thing was that in February of 2022 she was finally (post COVID) able to get into the Republic of Panama and resume field work counting different groups of howler monkeys. A wonderful experience. Alas, in August 2022, she was unable to carry out her second howler monkey visit because political unrest made it unsafe to visit at that time. She hopes for a new visit in February 2023!

Jocelyn Palmer Connors and Tom love their new home in Arbor Acrea, a CCRC in Winston Salem, NC. They enjoy their new garden, golf, and croquet.

The photo shows them this December with their first great grand baby, Katherine Martin Harder, granddaughter of Kaky Casada ’86. Jocelyn had a great time at Reunion last spring and is delighted that Sweet Briar is thriving and as beautiful as ever.

Pat Perkins Wolverton says she and David are living a quiet life in Wichita Falls.

Finds it strange to be playing

1. Julia Shield’s grandniece and namesake.

2. Jocelyn and Tom Connors with their first great grandchild.

3. Effie Sammis’ family (all 18 of them) in Africa.

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Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 57

Class Notes a lot of card games, gardening, and a little volunteer work after being so active for many years.

They both enjoy classes at the LifeLong Learning center at the local university. Their daughter and family also live in Wichita Falls; son and family in Plano; and son and family in Phoenix.

Wishes their two great grandsons lived closer.

Alice Warner Donaghy still lives in Wilmington, Del., near where she grew up. Her one unmarried son, one married son, and a granddaughter, Kaylea (5), all live nearby. Before COVID, she and two friends who grew up together decided to write their childhood memoirs and COVID gave them the time to do it. They have met on ZOOM weekly and the project has grown. She says it has been wonderful reminiscing and telling the children about the time in which they lived. They hope to be finished by spring.

Douglas Dockery Thomas lives in NYC most of the time and enjoys being close to the Metropolitan Museum with it’s wonderful programs and exhibitions. She serves on the Board of the Metropolitan Opera, acts as a Trustee of the New York Botanical Garden, and continues to garden in the northwest corner of Connecticut. Her garden there has many visitors who come to see their wildflowers meadows. She feels blessed with five grandchildren, the eldest of whom is an aerospace engineering major at Stanford, which her parents attended. Her New Orleans family are avid sailors and travel often to regattas in many countries. She enjoys visits with Nancy Hudler Keuffel and Gerd when they come to New York for the Opera.

Marilou Green is pleased to report that she is still in the phone book for Billings Mont. She walks 1.6 miles daily unless snow/ice cover the sidewalks, plays bridge twice a week, and has resumed meeting friends for lunch.

Back from Florida, Adele Vogel Harrell and Parker have settled into Fox Hill, a retirement community near their old home in Washington (Bethesda). They are so pleased to be near family: daughter Logan MacKethan (painter and real estate agent), husband John

1962

1. Ann Percy Stroud’s dog, Henry T. Biscuit.

2. Letitia Sanders ’62, Rev. Patty Patterson ’67 and Marsh Seymour ’64 attending a Phi Beta Kappa conference in Pacific Grove, California.

LEFT TO RIGHT

(Disney exec), Conrad (a senior in computer science at Virginia Tech), Natalie (a sophomore at Northwestern) and Parker (16 and newly driving). Daughter Glenn Helmers and husband John are based in Puerto Rico and their Helmers grandchildren are scattered around the globe: Logan (Berlin) is an artist/designer; Jeb (San Juan) is in investments; Sophie (Cambridge, UK) is a graduate student in international relations; Eliza (somewhere in the Middle East) is studying Arabic and the Middle East; Gordon is a sophomore at Princeton. For that group, FaceTime is a wonder. The long COVID hibernation has opened new activities for them: on-line bridge; on-line courses on a wild array of topics from the weather to the global economy; and movies galore. Adele is eager to have calls and visits from classmates near and far.

1964 Virginia Ginny deBuys 7312 Saint Georges Way University Park, FL 34201 gdebuys@gmail.com It seems to all of us that someone flipped a coin and suddenly 80 came up! By all reports, though still in shock, we are each accepting this change with a measure of grace and finding joy in our families and friends. Children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters gathered around to celebrate this big birthday and it was great!

Many of you have had COVID and come through unscathed.

COVID was one stress too much for Vera LeCraw Carvaillo’s

58 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

Philippe who died this past year.

Vera is enjoying the support of children and grandchildren as she adjusts to her loss. I also know that several of you are enjoying new companions.

As Mary Green Borg writes: “In the midst of dealing with a detached retina and five eye surgeries since April 2022, which have not yet resulted in a return to sight, I fell in love with a retired political science professor and even better, he with me! I’ve been a widow for 30 years and can’t believe how magical and wonderful late life love is!”

Sharon Van Cleve Cipriano: “My husband and I recently moved back to Scottsdale after many years in Southern Arizona.

We needed better health care and a more urban environment.

Last week, I was able to attend an SBC alumnae dinner for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting women from different years... even this one!”

Rosamond Sample Brown: “Thankfully my health is good and I have resumed globetrotting now that COVID restrictions have been reduced. I had a great trip to Morocco in the Fall and rode a camel for an hour across the Sahara. I still live between Dallas and San Diego.”

Penny Writer Theis: “We are doing well, although we seem to be spending more time at various doctors’ offices these days. We are very proud of our children and grandchildren. This year in particular we are excited that one of our granddaughters was accepted into The Air Force Academy. If not Sweet Briar, a good alternative!” (Women were admitted to the Air Force in 1976. Feeling old now?)

Sarah Strother King: “Snowy here but nothing like the weather in the USA. My heart goes out to those who’ve been badly affected. I’m fine and drive here and there within Luxembourg. My son or daughter fetches me to visit them and the grandchildren in Amsterdam every month or so. I belong to two book groups and enjoy reading.

Good novel suggestions welcome (rereading Jane Eyre now).”

Dottie Norris Schipper: “Still ballroom dancing and I have been playing regular pickleball, indoors and out; miss the tennis, but the short skirts don’t work anymore. Have begun to feel “like my mother” talking (on the phone) to her friends and see that cultivating new ones and keeping up with old ones is vital. Am doing a yeoman’s job of being a grandmother and even re-memorized the preamble to the Constitution and re-read the “Lion, Witch and Wardrobe” yesterday to talk to my nine-year old. We spent Christmas in the Caribbean with every child and grandchild on board, a wonderful time of togetherness.”

VM Del Greco Galgano: “Michael and I spent a delicious month in Italy last September topped by five days in Rome with Grace Mary Oates! We ate in her favorite restaurants, saw her wonderful apartment, toured her favorite haunts and just played! Joy!” Grace Mary Garry Oates: Thinks of this year as her “jailbreak year”. In addition to visiting Rome for the first time since 2019, she went to Yellowstone National Park. For us, the rains in the West were news. For Grace Mary it was real. “After several days of steady rain, we drove home one evening watching the already full rivers begin to overflow and, in a few places, threaten the roads. Our house being on high ground, we slept peacefully, only to awaken to news that during the night most of the roads in the northern part of the Park had been destroyed.

We heard uprooted trees slamming with the sound of cannon fire into bridges on the river near us, the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone. All the bridges to our north and west were gone. It didn’t take long to pack up and make our escape over the remaining bridge

Class Notes to friends in Cheyenne. The busy roads in the northern part of the Park were closed for the foreseeable future.”

Donna Jo Pearson Chapman mused about what our SBC education gave us. “I feel that our education and the self-reliance we learned as “Sweet Briar girls” equipped us to try things and to adapt to a rapidly changing world. It reminds me of the homemade canoe races at the boat house… we are creative and survivors.”

Anne Litle Poulet: “At almost 81, I am trying to do all the same things as before, but at a slower pace (reading, attempting to keep up with museums, the opera and concerts, and traveling (post COVID). After two years, we were able to go to Paris where we have a small apartment.

François and I went to Southeast Asia in October. We traveled up the Mekong River on a small boat, stopping at many islands and villages in Vietnam and Cambodia along the way. We ended the trip at Angkor Wat and the other magnificent temples in the region. While there is lingering evidence of the wars in both countries, the people are kind and polite and the women are beautiful. I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions because I know they should include exercise and walking.”

Marsh Metcalf Seymour: “Son Randle and I celebrated significant birthdays by signing on to a trip with Princeton aboard the Sea Cloud II, touring prehistoric to Byzantine sites in Greece and Turkey. Highlights were several beautiful Greek isles, followed by visits to Ephesus, Troy, and Istanbul.

It was the trip of a lifetime, and we were lucky to fly as scheduled, collect our baggage intact, escape Covid, and have a marvelous time. Back to work in Saratoga, Calistoga (the grapes), and in Illinois (soybeans and corn), we arranged to sell our mid-19th century family home after 40 years filled with happy memories.”

Nelie Clark Tucker: “My how the years fly by! Our six kids and 11 grandchildren gave us a big party to celebrate our 80th birthdays. Dave is still working as he loves helping people with insurance. I read, pray a lot,

play ping pong with five of my friends, and sit for our adorable three month old great grandson!

Thankfully we are in pretty good health and still in our house and driving.”

Barbara Little Chuko: “I continue taking art classes and put paintings in three solo shows. I teach ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) in virtual classes four hours a week from home. It is fun and gives me a glimpse into the lives of aspiring Americans. The classes allow mothers with children at home and people working shift jobs to attend. In January, son Ed moved to a nice apartment building near me where he has gained independence and the confidence to build a busy schedule of volunteering and part time work.” To see and enjoy Barbara’s paintings, go to Youtube and www.instagram. com/barbc3art.

Stephanie Stokes reports that she has a new book out published by Rizzoli called The World at your Table.

Mary Deas Boykin Wortley: “Lately life has been like a roller coaster ride for me. The low was a diagnosis of breast cancer, but now after chemotherapy and radiation I’m healthy again and praying to remain this way. The highs—a sculpture and a children’s book.

It all started when the City of Camden, S.C., commissioned me to do a sculpture of a Boykin Spaniel. I used my mother’s beloved Boykin Spaniel and her pups as models, and now my bronze sculptures of Butterbean and her puppies grace the welcome center in Camden. The story of my great great grandfather developing the Boykin spaniel is now in a book for all ages Butterbean and the Boykin Spaniel Story (available on Amazon). I can hardly believe it!”

MC Elmore Harrell: “We came to Culpepper in August and ended up staying six months instead of two. We visited SBC in October to see the Fall leaves, but the highlight of my time up here was in November when I took my sister, Betty Elmore Gilleland ’50, to campus. Betty had not visited SBC since her 50th Reunion in 2000. We stayed at the Elston Inn and were treated to a tour of the greenhouse, new

commons area in Reid, the library and other areas. Betty was so impressed with all she saw and with the hospitality from everyone in the Alumnae Office.

It was really a wonderful visit.

We will be selling our house in St. Augustine this spring and moving to Culpeper full-time. I am finally going to retire in May. It is time to have only one house to worry about and be closer to our children who are in Virginia and Maryland.”

Susan Dwelle Baxter continues to travel herself and book travel for her clients—and now their children!

Ginny deBuys: “I enjoy hearing from everyone and especially enjoyed visiting with Carrie Peyton Walker and Rick in California. Jerry and I enjoyed cocktails at their house and a bistro dinner with delicious wine toted in under Rick’s arm. It was our last night after 10 days in San Francisco and points south to show Jerry my old haunts and see my nephew in Santa Cruz. We also had a delightful dinner with Irene Pschorr Belknap ’63 and her husband in Sausalito. We had not seen each other for 55 years at least—seemed like 5 minutes.

I am letting go of some of my volunteer jobs to concentrate on personal projects and hopefully more travel if this “old bod” will cooperate. Freshman roommate Libby Kopper Schollaert and friend Dan will visit us in March. I join each of you in wishing everyone good health, happiness, and joy in this new phase of our lives.”

1966 Penn Willets Mullin 124 Linden Lane San Rafael, CA 94901 Pennhome@aol.com Hi Fellow ’66 ers! I apologize for giving you all short notice for your notes this time! Thanks to all of you who did manage to send them in! It was wonderful to hear from you. After reading your notes I was filled with a feeling of admiration: we are indeed a group of plucky, courageous, positive gals! Hooray! Onward!

Since Covid is mostly in the rearview mirror, our classmates have lost no time hitting the road again! It was fun to hear stories of trips taken and those ahead. Of course there have been losses for many of us during this past year and our hearts go out to those who are experiencing difficult transitions in their lives. One of the plusses of longevity is that you have built up community and this is such a huge help when there is a loss in your life.

Several of your notes related how friends and family have rallied around and made the rocky road smoother.

Our hearts go out to Harriet Horsey Sturgis, whose husband of 57 joyful years passed away last June. Since then, Harriet’s younger son and his wife, who are both struggling with illness, have moved in to live with her.

We send them all our best wishes.

Her community has been a huge support to Harriet during this time. And she feels lucky that she was able to take a wonderful trip to Europe with her sister recently. Another of Harriet’s sons lives nearby in Louisburg with his family, and Granddaughter Olivia is a sophomore at Wake Forest.

Harriet ends her message with these words: My Sweet Briar friends are still my best!”

Sally Kalber Fiedler’s amazing spirit shines through as she describes her 10 and a half months in a rehab facility last year following surgery. Jay visited her at lunchtime every single day! Now she’s home, using a power chair. She and Jay are so glad they have the memories now of all their fun trips together.

“We both still have our marbles,” declares Sally, and they hope to be able to remain in their home.

Daughter Julie comes to visit often and is a great help. They look forward to when son Lee and his family visit in March.

Grandson Alex is a Sophomore at the University of Oregon Honors.

Sally sends all best to our class!

Susie Mosley Helm shared that 2022 was a year she would not ever want to repeat. Coupled with her own health problems, she and Nelson lost their beloved older son to a sudden heart attack last May. Susie is grateful for the help of her younger son and his wife plus the huge support of friends during this difficult time.

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 59

Class Notes Susie and Nelson are hurting but “we keep putting one foot in front of the other.” Brave people. We have you in our hearts.

Marilyn Garabrant Morris will get to see Mary Meade Gordon Winn weekly for lunch when they are both in Vero Beach this winter. And in June Marilyn will visit Marty Rogers Brown and Eleanore Gilmore Massie in Virginia Beach when Mary Meade is also there. You gals will be having WAY too much fun! We want pictures!

You can’t keep our class president Natalie Roberts Funk down! Wow! Heart surgery last October and then off she

1966

went on a Rhine cruise with Jeff.

A respiratory virus made them have to cut short their trip, and they were both down through Christmas. Natalie is now having cardiac rehabilitation for a few weeks, to be ready for Garden Week in Williamsburg and a trip to Ireland! You go, girl! And thanks for being our president in the middle of everything else!

Jean C. Barquin reports that she and husband Ramon are doing fine, despite his slowing down a bit on the tennis courts! They are still in their D.C. home of 40 years. Their son’s family is right nearby and Jean is very involved with her grandchildren. She will

1. Peggy Henning Minnick in Naples, FL over Christmas with her family. 2. Ellie Gilmore Massie and Marty Rogers Brown celebrating a birthday. 3. From left, Susan Dodson Hiller, Keenan Colton Kelsey, Jane Nelson, and Penn Mullin at Keenan’s wedding to Mark Chambers. 4. Penn Mullin in her favorite place, Montana.

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60 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

take 3 granddaughters to the Hillsboro Club this March. Lucky gal! Jean and Ramon have many travel plans for the next year to make up for all the time lost in Covid! They are keeping fingers crossed that their good health will make it all possible! Jean sends her best wishes to our class and hopes she’ll make it back to a reunion! We hope so, Jean!

Peggy Henning Minnick enjoyed wonderful times with her family recently on both east and west coasts. She poses happily surrounded by her grandchildren over Christmas in Naples!

It’s not often that our classmates have weddings of their own these days! But lucky the three of us (Jane Nelson, Susan Sudduth Hiller and I) were there when our roommate Keenan married Mark Chambers in November of 2022! What a joy it was for us to be together and celebrate with her! The wedding took place at Cavallo Point Resort, with a view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge! Magical!

The newlyweds will continue to make their home in Larkspur, Ca. Keenan, though retired, still does guest preaching at Bay Area churches. I love having her nearby and we treasure our “talking walks” together!

Jane Nelson divides her time between her family home in Culpeper and Richmond, where she is very busy with St. Paul’s Church and other volunteer activities. She loves any chance to get together with her many nieces and nephews. And now, finally being able to get together in person with friends again, as we celebrated at Keenan’s wedding, was such a joy. We all agree: Zoom just does not cut it!

Muriel Wikswo Lambert has had a busy fall. She and Clark attended a meeting in Malta at the end of October, where they both gave talks. It was her first trip to Malta and gave her another chance to the Mediterranean, she says “St. John’s Co-Cathedral is absolutely beautiful.” This was her first time traveling out of the country in over two years.

Randi Miles Long writes of how glad she was to be able to join us four roommates for lunch before Keenan’s wedding! I feel lucky that I have Randi not far away and get to see her often.

Randi was saddened in December to lose her Sweet Briar roommate Peggy Gilmour after a sixteen-year battle with Parkinson’s. Randi says Peggy never let the disease get her down. She was wonderfully strong, empathetic and resilient. She and Sammy, her husband of 55 years, loved their beef cattle farm in Amherst County. On Randi’s bucket list is to take Peggy’s book Cruising the Back Roads of Amherst and Nelson Counties and use it as a guide for a road trip!

Randi hears from her former Sally Green that she and Sam have just moved to a retirement community in Mobile, Ala. Randi and Herb hope to get down there to visit Birding trips are big on the Longs’ list of things they love, and now they are serving on an Equity Diversity team for their local birding chapter. Both Randi and Herb are very involved with their church community in Lafayette, especially in outreach to refugees in the Bay Area.

I feel very blessed to have great health and my family living nearby. Sadly, George has had to go into a nearby facility for memory concerns, as things took a difficult turn with dementia.

But he seems reasonably content and is safe, which is such a relief to his daughters and me.

I am very busy with grandkids, who add so much joy to my life. Highlight of each year is flyfishing with family in Montana, a tradition I have always treasured.

Have just begun a job working with autistic young adults at our community college, mentoring and tutoring them. I have such admiration for their courage and spirit! It is humbling.

The process of compiling your wonderful messages always makes me feel so especially grateful for the gifts of friendship that Sweet Briar has given us! Hope you will all keep well and stay in touch with each other! Sending much love your way.

Class Notes

1968 Pembroke Herbert Kyle 26 Canterbury Hill Topsfield, MA 01983 pembroke.kyle@gmail.com Christine Witcover Dean reports that “2022 was the year I got COVID but also achieved one of my long-term goals. I had COVID for most of May, but recovered well. I have continued to ride my horse, Remington Steel (Remi), and in November, we performed a Century Club dressage ride. This requires that the ages of you and your horse add up to 100 or more. Remi and I totaled 101, and received a nice ribbon for completing the two dressage tests I opted to do. We are season ticket holders for the Carolina Hurricanes, so we go to a lot of games. My sister, who lives in Hawaii, visited in October and we all went to the N.C. State Fair.”

Jenny Lyons Fogarty writes “I’m really looking forward to our Reunion. I haven’t been back to SBC in twenty years!

I’ve spent a lot of time this year planning another reunion—my elementary school sixth grade class, 65 years! I’m not sure if Washington’s Horace Mann ES is the only grade school to hold such an event, but there are surely only a few. It’s been great fun searching for people; I couldn’t have done it without the internet. And I never noticed before, there are only ten years between graduation from elementary school and graduation from college!”

Francie deSaussure Meade happily reports “There are six grandchildren and we are all together often for big holidays, Nags Head weeks, impromptus, and in-between. My three sisters live around Jacksonville, Fla., my brother in Charlotte. We are lucky to find each other often here, there, and in Flat Rock, N.C. Many good friends live in my neighborhood, and I count ongoing joys with family and friends every day! These days are busy and I always have various projects going on—gardening and others. I look forward to connecting with our classmates

over the next months and wish each of you the best!

Phoebe Brunner Peacock says “I continue to enjoy retirement living at Watergate South, across the street from the Kennedy Center and within walking distance of museums, galleries, theater, and movies. I take Amtrak to and from Philadelphia once a month to visit with my grandchildren and their parents.

I participate in a variety of volunteer projects and chair the Watergate South New Yorker Readers group. In April 2022 I met classmates Amy Savage (who instigated the adventure) and Ann Webster in Baltimore to view the Joan Michell exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art and to try to “catch up” over lunch.”

Amy Thompson McCandless reports “Steve, son Colin, and I spent a week out west in October and I logged my 50th state. We stayed in a rustic cabin in S.D. and used that as our base for exploring S.D., N.D., Wyo., and Mont. It was great hiking weather.”

Ann Biggs Jackson writes from Mumbai India “Hitting all the hot spots in northern India plus Panna Park to see tigers and finally to Katmandu.

I have read so many books about India, and have always wanted to come. With travel opening up I decided there was no time like the present!

On the home front I am busy on the boards of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and the Temple Quathmey Steeplechase Foundation. Plus mares to breed, yearlings to sell, and horses to race. And some time in Florida as well.

My grandchildren are very competitive bicycle racers and spent three weeks in Belgium over Christmas watching Dillon in nine races. I may join them next summer. Life is good!”

Catherine Tift Porter notes that “Big news for us is moving out of DC where I have lived in DC for over 50 years, to McLean, Va. I am enjoying retirement and various activities, especially The Metropolitan Club where I have served on the Board of Governments and am involved in getting speakers. We spend time at our weekend place in rural Virginia (which looks a

lot like Sweet Briar) and Aspen, Colo. We are beginning to travel more now that COVID is on the wane, headed to Palm Beach and Mill Reef in February and then to an April wedding in Paris and St. Remy in the southern part of France. Our daughter, Terrell, lives in Georgetown and we love having her so close by. She has her MBA from Darden (UVA business school) just took a new job with Edward Jones and loves it so far. She also does standup comedy and improv—which I find amazing and terrifying.”

Katey Buster said “I have been a serious ‘birder’ for eight

1968

years, traveling to various states to add species to my ‘Lower 48 States’ Bird List... reaching 600 species in 2021.

I started documenting various uncommon or rare birds I would find but last fall I bought a ‘super zoom’ bridge camera and now I am inspired to post some of my images on various Facebook pages. Any talent I have for composition began when I was an Art History major at SBC!” Carol Vontz Miller tells us from her new home in Calistoga, Ca., “She and her husband Vail, of 53 years, enjoy their three kids and six grandkids. They

1. Katie Buster’s photograph of a Limpkin.

2. Jenny Lyons Fogarty and her granddaughter Nora enjoying their April visit to London, a family tradition when her grandchildren turn 15! 3. Martha Bennett Pritchett Conner (right) with her husband, C.V. Conner and Betsy Wolfe (left).

4. Amy Thompson McCandless making a 5-0 with her fingers as she logged her 50th state visit! 5. Christine Witcover Dean and her horse Remi received a nice ribbon for completing the two dressage tests.

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Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 61

Class Notes retired from their beer & wine wholesale business in Ohio, kept that property and now travel between their farm in Ohio and their home in Calistoga.” Carol sadly reported “Life took a bad turn in 2019 when their beloved home in St. Helena burned to the ground… nothing left; cars looked like pancakes.” They are working hard to keep everything going in their new Calistoga home with “vineyards, olive trees & plenty of room for family & friends.”

Patricia Sparks Lyndon is still managing husband John’s law office. “We specialize in divorce and family law. Two excellent paralegals help a lot. We recently traveled to Costa Rica and next summer, we are taking our families to Africa.”

Melinda Brown Everett is looking forward to seeing everyone at our 55th. “My husband, Vincent Klos, and I will celebrate our 30th anniversary in December. We moved to Brooksby Village, a Continuing Care Retirement Community, in Peabody, Mass.. I keep busy with Book Club, Team Trivia, the quarterly literary magazine, and the recycling committee. We were able to bring our four cats with us. Lots of new friends, but close enough that I can still visit with my old ones. Phoebe and I chat all the time, and are both raving over Emmy Savage’s wonderful new book. (I bought a copy to be polite—then bought 29 more to give to folks I care about because it’s so moving.)

Younger son, Jeff Everett, has a second book about his poster designs coming out later this year. He and his wife Kelly Gill and two sons, Max (15), and Alex (13) live outside of DC where Jeff also is a senior creative director at NIH. Older son, Phil, is the Food & Beverage Director at the Oxford Casino in Maine. He and his wife, Rebecca, and their three bulldogs live in Portland.”

Connie Williams de Bordenave tells us that “Tad and I are enjoying our late 70s.

Most of our family is close by, except for our daughter and her family who live in Florida. It is a joy to visit them during the winter, but not so much in August!

We are moving to a retirement community this summer and are really looking forward to it!

I am also planning to come to Reunion, if only for a day. Hope to see you all then!”

Libby Harvey FitzGerald writes about her 2022 highlights” A rockin’ September reunion in Charleston W.Va., with my “sandbox” pals whom I’ve known since age zero. October family visits in Wisconsin, then John and I explored Mississippi River towns by car before boarding a Viking ship, Memphis to New Orleans—fab history, music, food, adventures! December 30 wedding of nephew Auden (46) and battling a glioblastoma terminal brain tumor. His extraordinary bride has been the light of his life for five years. We are so blessed to continue sharing his precious life, as well as active lives of our 12 nieces and nephews, plus 18 grandnieces/nephews.”

Martha Bennett Pritchett Conner sent news that she and her husband C.V. “Moved into our renovated home in Durham.

I play as much golf as I can.

Enjoyed family gathering at the lake. Betsy Wolfe and I played golf in Hilton Head and plan to repeat that next week. I volunteer, work in real estate and babysit. We welcomed granddaughters Olivia in March and Pippa James in October making eight grandchildren with seven under 5 ½. Five live in Durham.

At 10 days old Pippa was taken by stretcher to the hospital with RSV, where she stayed for 11 days. Scary times but she is a picture of health now.”

Ann Webster sent us this poem: I loved practicing law, and I love being retired.

Reality is a Feeling Lizard lazy on my sunny step, tell me what light feels like on skin so tight it shines and do you feel your snug insides press out toward the sun with every breath?

I envy your reality your life a pulse, a physical fact.

This is grace.

Not knowing about mortality, you make no comparisons.

You conceive no judgments, no envy, no competitions.

Fate embraces you.

Finally, Frances and Nancy continue the search for “missing” classmates. Please, if you

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received this Alumnae Magazine but did not receive a request for news & photos, please send an email to me at pembroke. kyle@gmail.com.

1970 Mardane Rebentisch McLemore 719 Jones St Suffolk, Va. 23434 jlmmrm39@gmail.com Kristin Herzog kherzogart@hotmail.com Announcement: We’re giving ourselves a 75th Bday Bash at SBC—our own private reunion, October 13–15, 2023. Be on the lookout for more information from the College this spring! Let’s celebrate together!

There were many joyous comments from our class on how SBC is once again thriving. There was much praise for President Woo’s extraordinary leadership, praise for the innovative curriculum, and as always the beauty of the campus. Kudos to Heather Tully Click and Barbara Offut Mathieson who have done a superior job as our class leaders!

Lyn Barr Hoyt: My home has been in Massachusetts for 35 years. My husband and I raised two sons and have become grandparents. We are finally getting ready to retire.

I’ve done office administration at several places and for almost two decades for the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. I have enjoyed gardening of one sort or another since my 20s and now attempt both vegetable and perennial gardening. My current preoccupation is growing native plants. Our home in Dartmouth is near the water and gives us daily sightings of waterfowl and other wildlife, and we walk many hiking trails nearby. I’m just trying to age as gracefully as possible, enjoy some travel, family, and friends. I’ve come to appreciate sensible shoes, yoga and fair weather. Having eschewed social media, I regret not keeping in touch with friends in other ways—like correspondence and phone calls—but it would be great to reconnect.

Candace Buker Chang: This year I went to St. John several times to visit my daughter and her family who live there (she is now Head of School at the only Pre-K-12th grade school on the island). My oldest grandchild is 13. My younger daughter had a grueling year being a full time State Senator plus running for Governor in Massachusetts, so her husband and I picked up the slack on the home front with their two children. Fortunately, I live right downstairs from them, so no travel required. I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad (some of each) that she did not win, but she would have been a great Governor. As for me, I enjoyed a twice COVID delayed river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest with Jo Shaw Lawson in April. We delayed our departure date long enough for Jo to recover from spinal fusion surgery. The Keukenhof Gardens outside of Amsterdam were the highlight of the trip for me—beyond gorgeous! Jo came to Boston to visit in July, and we went to Maine for a few days—enjoying lobster in various formats. After the elections were over in November, I went diving in Fiji with my daughter and two nieces. The travel to get there was grueling, but being there and diving was great. I fear it may be my last dive trip, as aging takes its toll. Just after returning from Fiji, it was my turn for spinal fusion surgery—my second. On the plus side, it has now been five years since my bout with cancer, so that’s good. I’m about to leave for St John again where I will meet up with Jo and some other friends for some time in the sun.

In other news from Jo—she is loving being a grandmother to a two-year-old, named Josephine, and a brand new baby girl as well.

Jo splits her time between her husband’s house in the country and her house in town (Memphis).

She has been happy to return to post pandemic flower arranging at church and with her Garden Club. I will miss our class reunion at SBC in October as I am going to St. John to stay with my grandchildren while my daughter and son in law attend the World Cup Rugby meet in France (he is an Irish rugby fanatic).

Lawson Calhoun Kelly: Last year we went to Churchill,

Class Notes Manitoba to see if the Polar Bear Capitol of the World really had any big white bears. They do!!! As a matter of fact, the city of 850 people is smaller than the number of Polar Bears, which come there each year in hopes of riding the forming ice in Hudson Bay to eat the seals. We also got to see the Northern Lights, as well as ride on a dog sled for the “I Did A Mile.” We have been enjoying our grandchildren in Atlanta. One is going to college next year, another starting in High School and the third loving being in elementary school where he doesn’t have as much homework as the others.

We spend a lot of time watching football, basketball, volleyball, and biking.

Stuart Camblos: I’m still loving my decision to return to my hometown in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina—even though Asheville has been discovered. It is growing like mad, and is now a true destination not only for travel but as a “Climate Refuge”—the only one in the South as far as I can tell. I am thriving, and have a new love in my life! We spent two weeks in beautiful Maine in Oct., hiking and visiting friends. We leave for a six week trip to Australia and New Zealand on Feb. 1. I’m very excited to visit Australia and to plan the New Zealand part since I was there two years ago. I am also rejoicing in the birth of my fourth grandchild and first girl who was born January 17—lots of pink after three grandsons!

Carey Cleveland Swan: I am still involved in genealogical organizations, community outreach, family, friends, our dog (though on his last legs), time outdoors and at the gym. Yoga is my lifesaver. Mike and I were back in the Blue Ridge mountains last summer for a Cleveland family reunion. The most beautiful place on earth!

Carol Covington Bellonby: Well, I just turned 75 so that puts me squarely in the old age category! My goal is to age gracefully.

Mark and I had COVID over Christmas so our normal holiday plans were postponed until January 1st. I am still a docent at the National Gallery of Art and have just started giving tours again.

We have four adorable grandchildren ages 10, 7, 6, and 4. My daughter, Juliana, and I are tak-

ing my oldest grandchild to Paris over spring break. She loves art just like her Aunt Juliana and me. We’re going to try and find the restaurant where Mark proposed back in ’72. Last spring my roommate, Tauna Urban Durand, flew up from Sarasota for a wonderful visit. We spent the whole time catching up on our lives and remembering old times at Sweet Briar. I treasure every minute of her visit. I have reconnected with Jane Gott too. We both live in northern Virginia (opposite ends of Fairfax County). We both signed up for an online painting course together. Jane is an excellent watercolorist.

Jonna Creaser Clarkson: It is beautiful all seasons of the year here in the Nelson County, Va., mountains. A friend was so taken with this beauty and peace that she comes, sets up her easel, and paints. I am blessed to call this “home” and grateful to be more intentional about appreciating my surroundings. Our youth mission in El Salvador continues to be a passion: shipping things in October for their community Christmas, maintaining the free clinic and clean water systems, community corn grinder and truck, and sponsoring children from the most impoverished families for school and college.

This past year, we taught English classes to prepare them for more job opportunities. I work yearround raising funds to support these projects. Our mission representative and her daughter stay with us each year and visit the many Virginia friends who have travelled with us on mission trips. It has been rewarding to see the progress over the 17 years since we began.

Stuart Davenport Simrill: We spent the summer in Vermont, came home and then had a party for our 50th anniversary. I am still painting, weaving, knitting, quilting, sewing, playing the cello and singing in the choir. I am also a beekeeper, and a master gardener using my skills to landscape Habitat homes. So I stay busy! We are hoping to return to Tanzania after Easter to teach in the seminary again. All the children and grandchildren are doing well and we are always happiest when we see them!

Nia Eldridge Eaton: I’ve just completed my docent/ interpreter training for the Brandywine River Museum (Newell Convers, Andrew & Jamie Wyeth & the Brandywine School of artists) and Winterthur (Estate & Gardens of Henry Francis DuPont). The pandemic and the flood at Brandywine forced these institutions to creatively re-think how reach their audiences, deliver value and financially survive. In December a friend and I drove to Charlotte, N.C., to adopt a

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four year old boxer dog, he’s been a wonderful addition and I can’t believe how smoothly he has assimilated.

Ann Gateley: I’m approaching our 75th year with gusto. I took a trip in January to Corfu, Greece with a Sweet Work Weeks (SWW) buddy from the class of ’03. We plan to see Albania & southern Italy. In April a walking tour of Scotland is scheduled followed by SWW and our class birthday party in Oct. Hopefully I will swing by Japan with other SWW friends from the class of

1. Stuart Camblos new granddaughter Hensley— all ready for SBC!! 2. Suzy Yates, husband Bob and grandson Teddy. 3. Jane Gott and Carol Covington Bellonby. 4. Ann Gateley ’70 and Kristine Bergquist ’03, SWW buddies, visit Corfu (foreground) and Albania (background) in January.

5. Diane McCabe Reid and granddaughter Grace. 6. Mary Jane Hipp Brock and May Humphreys Fox. CLOCKWISE

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 63

Class Notes ’75. At home, when I’m there, I’m mainly cycling to burn off the culinary excesses of my travel! All in all, grateful for relative good health and fabulous friends. Please stop by to visit me in Albuquerque as you rush through to get to Santa Fe! Betty Glass Smith: Not much has happened this past year as Bill and I tried to be extremely careful to avoid getting COVID and neither one of us has been sick at all, not even a cold!

I guess that’s somewhat to do with being so isolated up here in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

We both have enjoyed being in this lovely environment and take advantage of all the fun being on the water affords. Bill (at almost 80 years old!) loves his jet ski and uses it frequently in the summertime to visit anyone sitting on the end of their dock. He has close friends from his childhood living in the area and numerous cousins, so we have had ample opportunities to socialize a bit— after we got our vaccines and boosters. Unfortunately, we have lost several family members, which everyone has to deal with as we get older—but we have also both avoided a few bullets and are doing well.

Jane Gott: My husband’s Parkinson’s is progressing and he now has cognitive issues which is difficult. We still live in Northern Va. I continue to pursue my passion for art history and watercolor painting through a zoom course. As part of the class, Carol Covington Bellonby and I attended a John Singer Sargent exhibit in the National Gallery of Art and was amazed at the effort to put this exhibit together, and also the number of times Sargent went to Spain to paint. I am really looking forward to our 75th Birthday Bash on campus. It is my hope that many classmates will come back to see how young we still are!

Schuyler Gott Andrews: I am happily enjoying my life in Fairfield, Conn., having moved here two years ago from St Louis to be near our grandchildren— William (10) and Andrew (7)!

They are so much fun to be with and we see them often! Otherwise, I am enjoying retirement and living close to NYC! We took a great trip to Puerto Rico last winter and another to Lake

George last summer! We hope to do more traveling soon!

Unfortunately, I had to put down my beloved dog, Molly, in December. It totally broke my heart, but she had become ill with kidney disease, and it was necessary! I am in touch with Jessica Holzer regularly and hear from Wallis frequently.

Frances Gravely: I’m still living in a three-bedroom cottage on the edge of the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill. I’m in Florence, Italy as I write to you—here for five weeks with my son and his family. January is great with significantly fewer tourists. The Bardini gardens are just outside our windows. It’s Heaven!

Fran Griffith Laserson: After 50 years as a die-hard New Yorker, I sold my apartment in 2021 and moved to Vero Beach, Fla. I am loving my life in the sunshine and visits from my two daughters—Tenley in NY, Galen in San Francisco—and three granddaughters, ages nine, six and two.

Thanks to Zoom meetings I can continue my favorite volunteer work as chairman of The Infirmary Ball, an annual fundraiser each December for New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital. Nothing is more fun than dressing up with my best pals, Pat Swinney Kaufman and Mary Jane Hipp Brock.

Deborah Hand: Greetings from Brockton Mass., where I’ve been living for the past six years. Although so many years have passed, I fondly remember the beautiful SBC campus and my very talented and interesting classmates. I finished my degree at Washington University in St Louis and it was an SBC classmate, Christy Love—and her family—who oriented me to life in St. Louis and were incredibly gracious throughout my stay there.

Karen Hartnett: George and I love cruising. We flew to Barcelona in mid-Nov. 2022, and sailed back to Miami. It was relaxing, luxurious, and wonderful.

This really has been our year for cruising. We took the Colorado kids/grandkids on a cruise from Galveston to Cozumel in August 2022, and the Houston kids over Christmas—same itinerary, different ship. In May 2022, we sailed from Miami to Montreal, and I got quarantined in

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Montreal for 10 days for a crazy positive COVID test—at least I now have antibodies! We met David and Kay Parham Picha in Fort Lauderdale at the end of January for a seven-day “Country Music Cruise”—pure fun. I guess we’re going a little overboard (pun intended!) in making up for missed travel during the pandemic! On the health report, we’re doing well. My cancer remains in remission, and George continues taking all his pills. We

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both see doctors more frequently than friends, but that’s life when you’re in your seventies.

Louise Hayman: I’ve switched gears from nearly 40 years in public relations and tons of nonprofit volunteer work, mostly with cultural organizations, to caring for a dear friend I’ve shared the last 35 years with.

I can be found most days in my car traveling between home in Annapolis to the Eastern Shore of Virginia with frequent stops in

1. Betty Santandrea and Megan Coffield Lyon ’80.

2. Stuart Davenport Simrill Family. 3. Joanna Yaple Wolski Family Christmas. 4. Carey Cleveland Swan Family.

CLOCKWISE

Class Notes Easton to visit my only daughter and only grandchild. Still working on fitness, though my 20+ years of rowing have been interrupted by other demands on my time. I’m not as out of touch with classmates as it might seem due to the SBC-St. Catherine’s overlay—both wonderful institutions that served me well.

Kristin Herzog: Last winter I had my 8th residency at VCCA (Virginia Center for Creative Arts—across from SBC). I completed several large new paintings, and in July my gallery came from Ft. Lauderdale to pick up six pieces, but fortunately carried off 26 which helped me with storage.

In July, I flew to visit Albuquerque classmate Ann Gateley and went on to a month of cat-sitting and gallery hopping in Santa Fe. There I met up with classmate Betty Rau Santandrea and alum Megan Coffield Lyon ’80.

In September, The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society gave me the Mildred Kratz Award at their annual international show.

Mary Jane Hipp Brock: There are eight of us in our group the Carpe Diems—five of the eight were at St. Catherine’s together: Wallis Wickham, Connie Haskell, Lorie Amass, Frances Gravely, and me; we gathered Jessica Holzer, May Fox and Katie Webb from SBC! Our group is planning a trip to Italy next Fall. We have taken an eight bedroom farmhouse outside of Florence for the first week of October. We figure this is our last hurrah in Italy given our advancing ages and the difficulties in travel these days!

May Humphreys Fox: Mary Jane Hipp Brock and I had a great visit this summer at her beautiful home in East Hampton!

Charlie and I have had a year of travel (celebrating our 50th) and hiking in Spain and France in the spring, Morocco in October, and a cruise in United Arab Emirates in December! We also visited Ukraine this past September before Ukraine became a household word! Beautiful country!” All great experiences!

Baird Hunter Campbell: Our son Clay and his wife, on the Eastern Shore of Md., added a little girl (Madison) to their family last August. She joins older brother Wheeler who is now four. Our daughter Parker,

and her husband are expecting their first in April—a little girl.

No name to share yet. Our son in Amelia Island, Fla., and his wife have two boys—Liam who will be 10 this summer and Ben who will be eight in a few weeks. The highlight of our retirement is sharing time at the beach with these wonderful grandchildren! Please let us know if you will be in our area any time soon.

Elsa Jones Forter: Happy New Year to everyone! Christmas brought COVID to me and my daughter and family visiting from Durham, N.C. Fortunately, we were not very sick and now it is behind us—thank goodness.

On a happier note, my husband and I were able to get together for brunch in Harvard Square with Roseanne Feldman and her daughter Alexandra who were visiting her classmates from Harvard grad school. Great to catch up and share stories about our time at SBC. I hope to return to Paris to celebrate our 50th anniversary this year. We met in Paris through Katherine Cummings Catlin and her husband Chip who was on the same Navy ship as Rod. Sad that she won’t be here to celebrate with us.

Tricia Mast George: Kenn and I returned from living a year & half in Montevideo, Uruguay, while he served as Ambassador.

Quite the adventure, but really makes you miss our good ole USA!! I own and manage a cattle ranch outside of Dallas, so enjoy the outdoors. I’m also involved with a Foundation connected to the University of Texas at Dallas that supports communication disorders and cochlear implants for the deaf. Our eldest son and family are in Chevy Chase, Md.; a son, daughter and their families are here in Dallas; and one son is in Puerto Rico. I love my babysitting duties! Kenn is busy with his ranching and developing a hunting business in Uruguay. We celebrated his reunion at W&L last May, and I had a fun reunion with Kim Mitchell Bethea.

Diane McCabe Reid: Our 2022 was filled with good and bad! On the happy side our beautiful granddaughter Grace was born March 20, 2022 weighing in at 10 lbs 9 oz!!! Brandon un-retired and began a new job as co-head of a NY based wealth management company in Palm

Beach. On the not so good side I had a terrific accident slipping on a wet marble bathroom floor in hotel in Budapest. We were about to take a two-week River Cruise to Amsterdam. I broke my femur and what a horrible trip home from Budapest to Florida, where I then spent 3 months in a wheelchair!!

Susan McGrath Slate: It’s been a difficult 18 months! On May 18, 2021, I sat by my daughter Garnet’s bedside holding her hand as she died after a painful five and a half months in agony.

She had sepsis caused by a ruptured colon. A faulty hernia mesh could have torn it. I miss her terribly and will never get over losing my only child. A year later, our 15-year our darling cocker spaniel was taken. December was spent with the flu and I added shingles to my ailments! The good news is we remodeled two bathrooms, and my grandson and four great grandchildren are all healthy and happy and doing well! Andrew, my grandson, like me, will never get over losing his mother and has occasional panic attacks! He’s my darling and we confide in each other!

His wife, Leighanne, was very close to Garnet and is a great comfort to Andrew.

Jean McKee Carmichael: I’m just starting my last year of a three-year term as president of the Board of YMCA Alumni (retired YMCA professionals).

It’s my 3rd term on the Board and I am looking forward to being the immediate past-president! We are hard at work on our National Service Project, building eight tiny homes and three program centers at the YMCA of Seven Council Fires on the Cheyenne Sioux Reservation in Dupree, S.D. My senior show choir (Goldtones) has just started practicing again in hopes of being able to perform in the next few months.

We perform at area nursing homes, senior centers and assisted living facilities all of which have been pretty much shut down for the past three years.

Even if our small SBC folk group, the 13th Floor, was unable to attend and perform as planned for our 50th Reunion, I still found a way to keep on singing!

Kim Mitchell Bethea: I am still delighted to be in The Villages (our village of 1,200 is in the

middle) with all of the amazing activities and the golf. I am trekking to Boston to see grandkids often, and found the Tauck trip to our National Parks amazing. Miss my good friend and roomie Kitty, as I am sure you all do. Went to the W&L reunion and travelled all around Virginia again.

ML Moore: After moving to Nelson County, Va., just about two years ago, I’m seeing quite a bit of Sweet Briar and its offerings (art, music, VCCA get-togethers, alumnae gatherings) including spending time walking on the trails in the beautiful, serene woods in which I spent so much time riding. I’ve practically totally redone the little farmhouse I bought, although it seems there’s always another job. I see Debbie Bowman regularly, in between her global jaunts, and also Jonna Clarkson and Heather Click, who is generous with her time and efforts for our class.

Put Mundy Ebinger: My SBC education was central to my life. I received a great education, both from classes and late night discussions with classmates.

SBC served me well in graduate school and professionally as an academic dean at Georgetown University. I have given to SBC since we graduated and ask my classmates to do the same. President Woo has revitalized our college. Support it!!!

Deborah Ohler Bowman: I had some little, all in the USA, adventures, and some wonderful volunteer opportunities this year.

I went on a semi-silent, week long retreat at Loretto Retreat Center in Kentucky. I live alone and went to Quaker schools, so silence has been comfortable for me, up to a point! At Loretto, our group of five could talk at lunch and in the evening. It was awesome. I also visited wonderful friends in Dallas this fall and went to the Outer Banks with friends in the summer. After Christmas three friends and I went to NYC for some little escapades. I’ve hosted Heather Tully Click and we visited with ML Moore. ML, another friend and I have been making mischief in the Central Virginia area.

Kay Parham Picha: We have reached a stage in life where we are busy all the time; but if we are asked what we did all day we wouldn’t be able to tell you. We

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Class Notes

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1. Kim Mitchell Bethea and family 2. Schuyler Gott Andrews’ Grandsons William and Andrew. 3. Marcia Pollock Ragsdale and Grands. 4. Tauna Urban Durand and Carol Covington Bellonby. 5. George Gayle and Karen Hartnett and Kay (Parham) and David Picha on a Country Music Cruise.

CLOCKWISE

are enjoying our retirement, and making new friends.

David and I moved to River Landing at Sandy Ridge in Colfax, N.C., three years ago. We and our 22 neighbors on our street moved in within a two-week time period.

It is like being in a freshman class. We bonded well during COVID and we have had fun ever since. Hundreds of activities are available every week including spiritual meetings, sports, arts, clubs, parties, and university classes. We appreciate (especial-

ly at night) being able to ride a bus to the symphony, Broadway plays, other concerts, and sporting events. On New Year’s Eve we had a dance party with a DJ and champagne and treats. I enjoy not having to plan meals since we have five restaurants to choose from. We take cruises, and travel to the beach and Europe, and to visit family in Washington every summer. Our children Amanda and Tom are now doing a good job leading our company, Classic Dyestuffs. We have four grand-

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children, and we enjoy attending their programs and sports.

We have been members of our church for 42 years. Our major charities are church, colleges, and the local Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

We went on a Country Music cruise with Karen Hartnett and George. We appreciate our health, and like Clint Eastwood “Don’t let the old man in!”

Mary Jo Petree Murphy: I live in Carbondale, Colo., and I love hiking, tennis, gardening and reading. I was so proud of having all my original parts until I had a hip replacement on Halloween.

Recovery and PT going well!

Two dear friends just hosted a 75th (how did we get so old???) birthday party this past weekend. I enjoy my three children: my daughter and her family just 10 miles away in Glenwood Springs, CO; a son who just moved from Atlanta up to Lake Lanier in Georgia; and son and granddaughter in Durham, N.C. I talk to Katy Warren Towers regularly. We went on a hiking trip to Big Bend, Texas in 2021 with Road Scholar.

Marcia Pollock Ragsdale: I missed our reunion when the date changed, but did get to see Katy Lou Warren and Stuart Camblos. I’ve been busy with book club, garden club, music club, bridge and mahjong. I have seven grands—preteen and teen.

Bill is still working a little at the family printing business, but we’ve taken several trips and also spend time at mountain house and Litchfield by the Sea. I’m headed to Grand Cayman with friends. Life is good and we are blessed. My granddaughter, Sterling, was in a pageant at Converse College and is now Miss South Carolina Jr. High America. She goes on to the next level in June.

Betty Rau Santandrea: I enjoyed another year of living in Santa Fe N.M.: hiking, yoga, museums, art galleries, and restaurants. When Kristin Herzog was housesitting for another artist last July, we had lunch/dinner a few times and I gave her tips for driving around town. For a special treat I took her up to Ghost Ranch to see the vistas Georgia O’Keeffe enjoyed.

Megan Coffield Lyon ’80, a Santa Fe buddy, and I attended an event together at the Acequia Madre House sponsored by the

Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Also I have befriended Gracie Tredwell Schild ’82, who was a Sweet Tone and is an ESL (English as a second language) tutor in Santa Fe. I took the training to become a tutor and am enthusiastic about it, but need to be mentored as creating lesson plans is not my forte. I sang with the Zia Singers in performance this past January, and went on a fabulous winter Tour of Yellowstone over Xmas with my husband Bob. I may miss our October mini reunion as we hope to visit Switzerland where my daughter and her family will be on sabbatical for a year.

Tracy Savage: I never thought this Virginia girl would end living mostly in Saratoga Springs, NY, but when I married Jeremy 16 years ago, that’s where we landed. Like so many elderly, we also spend the winter in Naples Fla. It is easier for Jeremy, whose health is poor and declining (COPD, Parkinson’s, rheumatoid arthritis, A-fib, and on and on). I am still doing a bit of development consulting, but mostly retired—care-giving is NOT a part-time job—but COVID risk for us keeps us pretty isolated. By way of Jeremy, I have three fabulous children and three grown grandchildren. I have all the joy of offspring without ever having had to change a diaper, carpool to soccer, or wipe a runny nose. I am involved in a good bit of volunteer work, serve on a couple independent school boards, garden a lot, work on my model railroad a lot, and golf when I can get help to be with Jeremy. I feel blessed to have a brother and beloved nieces, great-nieces & nephews, and a loving extended family. When Jeremy was healthier, travel was an important and educational part of our lives—I’ve been most fortunate on that front. My wonderful circle of close friends was topped for almost 50 years by Sally Campbell. Her untimely death three years ago left a black hole in my soul. But thinking of her every day reminds me of the bounty of relationships that Sweet Briar offered. My dear departed father had a funny expression: “She’s more like she was than she used to be.” That’s my prayer for all of my classmates.

Kate Schlech: No travel to report on. I’m still a bit spooked

Class Notes by all the viruses out there so I’m staying close to home. But I do venture out to volunteer at my local library where I shelve books once a week. I also volunteer at the Library of a Congress where I docent on site once a week and do a “virtual volunteer” thing via zoom on another day where I answer walk up questions about one of the exhibits. That took some getting used to—I felt a bit like a circus barker with my mug up there on a huge monitor saying “you got questions, I got answers” or some such. But I only have to dress from the neck up and don’t have go in search of a bra.

Once a week I play bridge online with some former DOJ friends.

I plan to go to SBC for an April weekend to help paint—a sort of mini Sweet Work Weeks. I can’t do the heavy lifting anymore— like heaving mulch out of the pick-up truck—but I can wield a brush pretty well and fit into the small spaces. Last summer I got to do all the insides of the closets. Dozens and dozens of them. Woo hoo!!

Heather Tully Click: I must say 2022 was more fun than the previous two years! We made several trips to France to visit our son Ben, who is currently attached to the American Embassy in Paris. Their two children attend French schools and now speak French comfortably. The August destination was to a village near Avignon in Provence with the entire family including our daughter Amanda and family.

It was a fun reunion particularly for the four grandchildren after two years and an ocean separating them. Amanda is a librarian at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., so she and her husband and two of our grands live less than an hour away from us in Alexandria, Va. I made two trips down to Sweet Briar this year, one during reunion weekend and then again in October, enjoying time with my roommate and fellow House 2 residents Debbie Ohler Bowman and ML Moore. Riding the train down to Lynchburg from Alexandria was reminiscent of my arrival at Sweet Briar Station as a freshman! I am really looking forward to seeing more of our classmates in October 2023 for our planned 75th Birthday Bash at Sweet Briar. It will be fun to be there

when students are on campus and our class is the only alumnae group there.

Tauna Urban Durand: Doug and I are excited to be traveling again. We started slowly with some week-long Caribbean cruises. We hope to go to Norway and Great Britain in late summer. Our kids and grandkids are all good. In May our last two grandchildren will graduate from high school, so all four will be in college the following year. Turning 75 this year makes causes me think that maybe the “golden years” are around the corner. But having grandkids in college—that really taps the “feeling older” button!

The most significant news for my fellow SBC classmates is that after 50!!! years, my former SBC roommate, Carol Covington Bellonby, and I met up again in person! We have kept up via Christmas cards, but it was after the SBC Zoom call that started the ball rolling for actually getting together again. I went to visit Carol and her husband, Mark, in their lovely home in northern Virginia. We had THE BEST time! We spent most of our time talking throughout the days and into the nights. Carol is a great cook and she made many delicious meals. In addition, we enjoyed lunch in Old Town Alexandria where I was able to meet one of her daughters.

(Carol had twin girls and I had twin boys which was a topic of much discussion!) The beautiful weather made it possible for Mark to take us out in their boat up the Potomac River where we saw the back of Mount Vernon from the water. The whole trip was an amazing reunion. I’m only sorry we waited 50 years to make it happen.

Katy Warren Towers: I continue to stay busy serving on two foundation boards, doing two Bible studies, praying weekly for our country, running every day, working in my yard, seeing family and friends, and more. In midFebruary I will be going to Morocco for two weeks. I’m thankful I’m still healthy and involved!

Suzy Yates: Bob and I are still love being in Richmond. My whole family is here now. My brother and sister-in-law, his two kids and of course my daughter and son-in-law and our three

grandsons. Keeping up with watercolors and taking classes.

Mardane Rebentisch McLemore: I had a knee replacement last January and it was the best decision ever!! I’m almost good as new! My three children area within the easy driving distance of my home in Suffolk, Va., so I spend a lot of time visiting.

I have three children and five grandsons—one in college, two that are 16, and two that are 13.

I am busy attending grandchildren’s sports, robotics and other activities. Bridge, exercising, golf and local volunteer work keep me overly busy (I no longer want to be chair of anything!!). In 2023 I will be busy traveling: in March I have a trip to Australia/New Zealand, in April a trip to Florida and Savannah and Charleston, and in June I have a family trip to London, Normandy and Paris— then I’m off for a few weeks at my favorite place—the Outer Banks of N.C. I occasionally see Betty McLemore who is suffering with MS, Lymphedema and a bad knee and shoulder, but who remains as cute and funny as ever. Her first granddaughter turned one last year and is a highlight! Thank you for the privilege of being your class secretary—I enjoy so much reading your notes and seeing the pictures of our classmates.

Please think about joining one of the class Zoom calls— it’s great to see and visit with our former classmates! Don’t forget to make plans for the October 13–15 BDAY BASH!!!

1972 Jill Johnson MarySue Morrison Thomas 98 Pine Bluff Portsmouth, VA 23701 msuethomas@gmail.com As Co-Chairs of the 1972 50th Reunion, Susan Snodgrass Wynne and Jeannette Pillsbury thank their classmates for making SBC HERstory! Their reunion planning team of 19 had extraordinarily successful teamwork in raising $10,000,361 from 115 donors with 50.7% class participation. They encouraged 62 classmates to attend

their heartwarming reunion on campus. Susan has also spent the last couple of years fundraising for the spectacular new CHKD pediatric mental health building in Norfolk, Va. With the alarming postCovid awareness that one out of every four children needs counseling this is a national crisis that every community should address. Susan and her husband, Dubby, celebrated their 50th anniversary at Christmas in Virginia Beach, Va., with Margaret Hayes Brunstad, Rhonda Griffith Durham and Greyson Shuff Tucker and their husbands.

Jeannette Pillsbury continues to be busy doing what she likes to do! She is glad to continue to be in communication with classmates. The Reunion year behind us has not lessened that too much, thankfully. She still has alumnae from other classes ask her, “How did your class do it?” Jeannette simply emphasizes the efforts to be in communication with each other.

She remains active on campus with the faculty and students at Sweet Briar and recently got together with several classmates at the home of Carter Frackelton in Fredericksburg, Va., for a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Carter Frackelton writes from Fredericksburg, Va., that 2022 was a very big year for her with our 50th Reunion being a major highlight. Connecting with so many classmates in the planning and attending of this reunion was so special as were the mini reunions for those classmates closer by that she, with the help of Janet Nelson Gibson, has been hosting biannually over the last several years.

Carter continues to stay busy with various activities and thoroughly enjoys her three-month R&R every year at her camp in the Adirondacks in New York.

The memory of our 50th Reunion is still great with Martha Holland though she claims other events have totally left her memory! She was pleased to join a mini reunion on New Year’s Eve at the home of Carter Frackelton with Jill Johnson, Janet Nelson Gibson, Mary Heller, MarySue Morrison Thomas, Jean-

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Class Notes nette Pillsbury and Peggy Hoy McFadden. Martha brought a bottle of chardonnay for everyone to taste. The verdict was that the first Sweet Briar white wine made from grapes grown in Sweet Briar vineyards was pretty good! Martha and her husband, Chris Iribe, have started to travel again. In May they cruised in the Mediterranean and then toured Ireland.

DeDe Conley says she is still smiling when she thinks of how we exceeded our wildest expectations for our 50th Reunion last June. She took a long but peaceful 27-hour sleeper car train ride from Florida to Richmond, Va., to attend Reunion and avoid crowds in airports. She was able to meet up with Cissy Gott Collins for lunch since Cissy was not able to attend Reunion. They were able to stop

by Carter Frackelton’s house to visit with Carter and Kathy Keys Graham. DeDe then met up with Jean Andrews who flew into Richmond, Va., as the two of them continued to Sweet Briar for Reunion.

DeDe enjoyed all the many special events organized by and for the class of ’72, especially the memorial for lost classmates with amazing personal tributes particularly the touching recorded message from the husband of Stephanie Harmon.

Seeing Cleveland Hall and Holly Smith along with many classmates from abroad as well as Deborah Dunklin Tipton, her sophomore year Reid roommate, and so many others were all treats for DeDe. DeDe was so happy with all the honors our class received and remembers the dedication of the ’72 commons as the highlight of an incredible weekend... or was it the dueling pianos... or was it the incredible ‘Book of ’72’ life stories and photos—a treasure put together for us

by Sarah vonRosenberg?!

From St. Louis, Mo., Dale Shelly Graham reports she is still telling anyone who will listen about how much fun Reunion was. Dale and husband James headed to Dallas, Texas to visit son Fielding’s recently opened new business. Their daughter Lily and her husband were also there joining them for

the celebration. In the spring Dale and James visited Lily in Charlotte, N.C., in her new home complete with a separate guest house for them to use.

Warren Moore Miller regrets that she was not able to attend the festivities during Reunion because of a broken wrist she endured just before. She and her husband, Bill, have been quite busy, however, having sold their apartment in NYC and dividing their time between Watch Hill, R.I., and Greensboro, N.C. They are thrilled to be able to visit their two precious grandchildren who reside just three hours away from Greensboro in Charlottesville, Va., with their daughter, Meg, and husband Graham. Warren requests that we be on the lookout for her husband’s recently published novel: Steel City, A Story of Pittsburgh by William J. Miller, Jr. It is historical fiction about Pittsburgh in the 1890s, covering the Johnstown Flood, Homestead Steel Strike, Carnegie and Frick conflicts and much more. Warren remains very happy about all of their good news this year.

Kathy Upchurch Takvorian reports she continues to feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ following our SBC 50th! What a few days preceded and followed by so much camaraderie! One such occasion was lunch in NYC with Jane Powell Gray together with both of their husbands. They both have small “pieds a terre” about 10 blocks from each other and plan to see each other often.

Kathy remarks, “Our class is off to a great start with donations but we are focusing even more on participation, so step up ladies— any amount welcome!”

Jane Powell Gray from Raleigh, N.C., spent a lot of time since Reunion traveling which included visits with several classmates in some exotic locales.

Jane and husband Frank took their 50th anniversary trip to Paris and several spots in Italy.

In Florence, Italy, she managed to meet up with Georgene Vairo literally 15 minutes before Georgie had to catch a train.

In late October Jane spent two days in the home of Carter Frackelton along with MarySue Morrison Thomas where they talked and laughed late into

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the night! Carter also hosted a luncheon that included Janet Nelson Gibson, Ginny Stevens Purcell and was later joined

by Ginnie B. Payne Sasser. In early December, Jane, Frank and their family went to the Big Apple to enjoy the holiday sights and found time to brunch with Kathy Upchurch Takvorian and her husband, Tak. The Grays plan to continue to travel so look for more reunions!

For some reason people are not comfortable sharing the most important news about themselves. Many of us were present at our Reunion Convocation when Susan Snodgrass Wynne was presented the Distinguished Alumna Award for Sweet Briar College. This simply verified what the Class of ’72 all

know is true! Congratulations Susan! Speaking of amazing alumnae, we also want to recognize Jeannette Pillsbury as Sweet Briar’s new Director of Education. Congratulations Jeannette! It’s still true...“There’s NOTHING that we cannot do!”

Jill Johnson and MarySue Morrison Thomas are thrilled to have heard from so many alums who responded to their plea for exciting information to share with our class for the Alumnae Magazine Spring Edition. Thank you to all who freely came forth with your news.

To everyone reading this, never fear if you missed out, you will have another opportunity to participate same time next year!

We’re pleased to accommodate!

1974

OBITUARY

Christine Weiss Pfeil ’74 Loved Her Alumnae Family Chris Pfeil, 70, of Rocky River, OH., ended her battle with cancer on February 10, 2023. Born to Betty and Richard Weiss, Chris was a graduate of Lake Ridge Academy (’70), Sweet Briar College (’74), and University of Michigan (’77). Her early childhood penchant for digging in the dirt fostered a 40+ year career in environmental education, inviting generations to get to know and value their backyard wildlife, and the connectedness of our shared ecosystems (Cleveland Metroparks, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Lake Erie Nature and Science Center). Serving as President of the CMNH Women’s Committee, sitting on the Board at Lake Ridge Academy, and acting as Treasurer for the Cleveland Yachting Club Wet Hens group to name just a few, her impact on many local institutions remains vast. Whether known as the skipper of Idleweiss, Ginger’s person, or the neighbor who could support any animal rescue mission, Chris’s quick wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and capability will be missed. She is survived by her children, Lee and Carrie Pfeil; her mother, Betty Weiss; and sisters, Cathy Thompson and Wendy Smith. Her legacy can be celebrated through sustainable behavior change: turn off the lights when the room is empty, employ organic lawn care companies, plant landscaping that supports native biodiversity, or find your own sustainable action that leads to big outcomes. Details of her summer celebration of life will be posted at ChrisPfeil.com.

Class Notes

1976 Lynn Kahler Shirey Class Secretary 121 Duke Street Alexandria, VA 22314 lynnrshirey@gmail.com Our class President, Sally Mott Freeman enjoyed the July wedding of niece, Torry Mott ’13, in Charlottesville. She saw classmates Treacy Markey Shaw, Tricia Cassidy, and Kate Kelly Smith in Greenwich in the fall in celebration of Treacy’s mom’s 95th birthday; she lunched with Lynn Kahler Shirey in November, and reconnected with Meg Shields Duke and Caroline Bickel McLoughlin in Chevy Chase in December—“wonderful gatherings with all!” She continues to serve as an officer on the Sweet Briar and The Writer’s Center boards as well as on the board of the Pentagon Memorial Fund and Alum board of St. Anne’s Belfield, her high school alma mater. Three additional grand (so grand!) babies, Mott (3) and Penny and Robert (1) also keep her hopping.

They have dubbed her “sassy,” which works for her!

Sally Old Kitchin is transitioning from her family home to a smaller one story house nearer her daughter and her family—all in Virginia Beach. Her youngest son and his wife are expecting their first baby in mid-February, which will be her sixth grandchild! But she believes that she will never catch up with Lisa Nelson Robertson, who has 15 and counting! Sally particularly urges us all to keep 2026 on our calendars, to return to campus and celebrate our 50th Reunion!

Norma Neblett Roadcap retired from The Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services after 46 years of service, and she is delighted that she and her husband, Richard, will be able to travel.

Karina Schless traveled to Rome in October 2022 for the reunion of her SBC year abroad program through Loyola of Chicago, and then went on to Orvieto to escape the crowds.

Having grown up in London, she is planning a trip back in April 2023, including a diversion to the Lake District to see friends. In September she will be off to her usual ranch in Jackson Hole with six other cowgirls, riding & hiking. Her quarter horse, Angus (31!), is still with her, and she rides him bareback occasionally. And, somehow she still finds the time to work part time for 12 doctors.

Peggy Weimer Parrish is still teaching accounting and law at her local community college, but is planning to retire in 2024 “unless I win the lottery first!”

She is recovering from rotator cuff surgery on her left shoulder and Elliott Graham Schoenig took care of her the first week! She is planning a trip to Italy in March, over spring break, and is headed to Yorkshire for two weeks in early summer.

Karen Adelson Strauss still lives in Park City, Utah and hopes to hear from other SBCers who may visit the area. Environmental issues, such as drought, top her list of local activities. She enjoys hiking, enjoying the area’s mountains and the parks. Her children and four grandchildren are all well. Travel is still her passion, and she is looking to select venues that were out of bounds during COVID. In the meantime, book club, workouts, friends and volunteer involvement occupy her time.

Anne Kiley Crenshaw made the big decision to “partially retire” in 2022. Her younger son, Gordon, and his wife, Hannah, moved back to Ann’s neighborhood in Virginia Beach with their two children (3 ½ and 2). Her older son and his family live in Dallas with three children (7, 5 and 3), and the entire family spent Christmas there.

Ann enjoys spending time with her family, working part time and keeping up with civic and community commitments.

Maureen O’Hearn Slowinski and husband Hill will be very busy in 2023 with two family weddings: son Brooke will marry Zoe in June; and daughter Erin will tie the knot with Ryan in September. Their two granddaughters, Caroline (4) and Cameron (2) are very excited about being flower girls! Maureen and Hill share nautical outings

1976

1. Tennessee Nielsen, Maureen O’Hearn Slowinski and Lynn Kahler Shirey gathered in Alexandria VA. 2. Blake (3 months) and Ford (almost 2) Soukup, grandsons of Tennessee Nielsen. 3. Kay Ellisor Hopkins and her husband, Joe, enjoyed the wedding of son John and Miranda Russell in Seville, Spain.

4. Kate Kelly Smith, Sally Mott Freeman, Treacy Markey Shaw and Tricia Cassidy O’Callahan gathered in the fall in Greenwich, CT. 5. Caroline Bickel McLoughlin, Meg Shields Duke and Sally Mott Freeman gathered in Chevy Chase. 6. Sally Mott Freeman with Torry Mott ’13 and other members of her SBC class on Torry’s wedding weekend in Charlottesville.

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with Lynn Kahler Shirey and her husband on the Potomac and Wicomico Rivers.

Kay Ellisor Hopkins is very much enjoying her time serving with Norma Neblett Roadcap as a Stewardship co-chair for our class. As an Alumnae Admissions Ambassador, Kay represented Sweet Briar at a couple of college fairs in the Dallas area and encourages all classmates to volunteer in this capacity. There is so much good news at Sweet Briar these days, and spreading the news and recruiting students is really a joy! She sees Tennessee Nielsen, Cissy Humphrey and Beth Bates Locke periodically, the latest occasion being Sweet Briar Day in January 2023.

She and Tennessee enjoyed

supporting the Vixen NCEA when they travelled to Dallas to compete against SMU. “The pink sequined cowboy hats from a past Reunion may have made an appearance!” In November, son John married his longtime girlfriend in Seville, Spain in a beautiful garden setting with family and friends. Kay and her family greatly enjoyed their tenday trip in Madrid and Seville.

Middle daughter Beth and her husband, Jim, welcomed their third daughter, Grace Elizabeth, in November. She, along with her sisters, Harper (9) and Taylor (7), are joys in their lives.

In October, Tennessee Nielsen celebrated the birth of grandson number two—Blake Thatcher Soukup. Her fervent wish is that he and his brother

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Class Notes Ford (almost 2) will marry Sweet Briar women! On a visit to Alexandria, Va., in August to visit little Ford and his parents, she had a mini-reunion with Maureen O’Hearn Slowinski and Lynn Kahler Shirey.

Cissy Humphrey has been working at Bank of America in the Oil & Gas division in Dallas for eight years. In September, she and Tennessee Nielsen traveled to Topsail Beach, N.C., to visit fellow SBC alumnae Elizabeth Perkinson “Perk” Simmons ’78 and spent the weekend laughing, drinking, eating and renewing their 45year friendship.

The report from your Secretary is that the restoration of my 1934 Packard automobile continues, and it will be included in the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in March. I hope that any SBCers who attend this event (estimated to reach 25,000!) will stop by. This year I enjoyed five Packard tours, which took me to North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Additional travel took me to Dartmouth, for my husband, Steve’s 50th reunion; to our island house in Maine and a girls’ week in Newport. I enjoyed several Colonial Dames trips, including one to England to see George Washington’s ancestral home, Sulgrave Manor, and I still adore my Dames history book club. Twice this last year I again participated in Sweet Work Weeks, which helps our beautiful campus sparkle. The camaraderie among alums of many years is infectious—come weed and paint with us!

1978 Suzanne Stryker Ullrich suzullrich@aol.com Whenever I write the Class Notes, I am always privy to some special moments in classmate’s lives, some wonderful and others maybe not so much.

Some shareable, and others not.

Unfortunately, we have had to report on some recent deaths in our class this past year. We lost Jamie Anne Murray Ferreira last August, and then the sudden death of Betsy Hurley Deimel

stunned many of us in October.

There have been spouses and parents lost also, as well as new grand babies! And it is events such as these that make me realize how special and cherished our time on the campus of SBC truly was. The people we met, the friendships we made, and the friendships made and enriched after we graduated are all so special. I hope upon reading about your friends and classmates you too will remember all those times and friendships as well.

Someone we haven’t heard from in a while, Kim Hershey Hatcher, had lots of news from 2022. She and George celebrated their 45th anniversary in Santa Fe, followed by a family gathering in Taos, where they were joined by their daughter Lynn and boyfriend Will Sells Bensur. Small world moment—Will is the son of Sally Ann Sells Bensur ’79. Kim and Sally Ann get to share many significant life experiences after their time at SBC as Reid dorm ‘chums’ through their children.

Both Lynn and Will are working on Capitol Hill and believe that their moms both planned their relationship back in the 70s!

They both love and admire the SBC togetherness! George and Kim love traveling to Denver to see their first grandchild (Olive, two in January), and will also “be visiting SBC’s beautiful campus soon as we head to Clifford, Va., to see Aunt Mary Smith Brugh ’57. ‘PeeWee’ still continues to be a part of the SBC vibrant community and feels great passion and enthusiasm as we all do for our alma mater.”

Liz Williams didn’t have much to report, other than both she and Chuck are still working but have plans to retire soon.

(Side note: Liz and Chuck, a couple of their friends, as well as Suzanne Stryker Ullrich and Rick, spent a few days in Annapolis and on the Chesapeake in preparation for the ‘many times canceled’ trip to the BVI, now in its fifth iteration! Spring ’23 holds a bit more promise for the sail.

More later…) Liz also still enjoys riding as often as possible.

Sally Ann Polson-Slocum and Bill still enjoy traveling when Sally isn’t working in Lake Mary, Fla., where her business MedWatch is located. She reports that MedWatch has grown from

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24 employees to over 300 since she began working there, and it is now ranked as one of the Top 10 Workplaces in Florida. Sally was honored to also be named Corporate Leader of the Year for all mid-sized firms. Last Spring, Sally and Bill were able to take a cruise from Southampton, England to Norway where they got to see the lovely fjords and that part of the world, coming back to London for six nights after the Queen’s Jubilee. London was still all dressed up! Day trips took them to see Leeds Castle, Stonehenge and Windsor Castle.

November brought a trip to explore Portugal, capped with a 12-day cruise on the Douro River, a remarkable wine producing area. The plan was to have spent Thanksgiving with Jamie and her husband. Sadly, time makes other plans for all of us. Sally was already looking forward to Reunion in June!

Lenore Cox took the plunge and moved ‘home’ to Forest, VA after being in Richmond for 13 years. “I am very happy to be home and am looking forward to seeing my roomies, Lisa Spruill Darby and Katherine Powell Heller, and fellow classmates at our Reunion!”

Paula Brown Kelley wrote in that she is still very involved with Rotary and as a commercial real estate broker at her office in Fairfax, complete with a busy market! In Rotary she was assistant governor in her district for three years, and she supervised five Rotary Clubs. Paula is always fascinated to hear of all of the local and international projects and takes part in helping in the process of selecting global grant scholars. Her Fairfax club has sponsored several graduate students who continue their studies at international universities. Hubby Jack has also been engaged in education of late! After retiring from government work and good experiences with NASA, Jack decided to become an adjunct professor at nearby George Mason University, teaching ‘Entrepreneurship for Engineers’ to undergraduate students.

On the family side of things, Paula reported their “big news of 2022 was the birth of our first grandchild, Quinn Frances Kelley” John (JP) and wife Katie, along with one year old Quinn,

live in Hingham, Mass. Daughter Genny is living in Brooklyn, N.Y., staying active in pottery. Jack and Paula were able to attend her Halloween themed opening at her studio, where all had a grand time!

Early October brought Paula and fellow classmates Muffy Hamilton Parsons, Cassandra Smith Babbitt, and Suzanne Stryker Ullrich together for a Celebration of Life for Jamie on The Cape in Massachusetts. Our class was well represented! It was a lovely time spent with Jamie’s sister Meredith and her family, reminiscing about times during school and after graduation, Paula sharing memories of ski trips, tours of each other’s hometown areas, visiting each other’s families, Genny spending time with Jamie and Armando in Portugal in 2015 when she was a student abroad. With Paula and Jamie sharing the same major in Political Economy, they each shared similar views and continued that friendship long after college.

Unfortunately, 2022 ended on a down-note for Paula. While walking JP’s dog in Massachusetts “…in a split second, their lovable dog saw a playmate and took off with me still attached to the leash!” After a partial hip replacement the following day, Paula and Jack ended up spending Christmas with the family in Hingham, complete with Genny there as well. (The upside to the event…) Once back in Virginia, Paula was dutiful with her PT, and stated “Fortunately, I have a driver in the house and some wonderful friends in the area.”

Getting together with friends at Reunion was also large on her mind! She was looking forward to seeing so many in June!

Lee Corollo Boyes also had a bit of an up-and-down sort of year.

In October her son and daughterin-law adopted a little boy, Teo, meaning ‘gift’. A joyful time for all! Then Lee reported that she had been diagnosed with, and underwent surgery for, pancreatic cancer (“my third cancer so far!”)

She was ready to start treatment soon but admitted that after the major abdominal surgery and treatment, it wasn’t looking good for a trip to campus anytime soon.

She ended with “You all have a drink for me in June!” We will Lee! Smooth and speedy recovery!

Class Notes

1978

1. Some in attendance for a recent Class of ’78 Zoom Call. 2. Suzanne Stryker Ullrich, Mary Jane Trout (friend of Muffy’s), Toni Christian Brown, Muffy Hamilton Parsons, Lynn Spillman Williams, Cindy McKay at the Greenbrier. 3. Suzanne Stryker Ullrich, Mary Goodwin Gamper, Hanley Smith, Meg Richards, and Mimi Borst Quillman at the performance of White Christmas featuring Hanley, Lisa Neuenschwander’s daughter. 4. Kim Hershey Hatcher’s daughter Lynn and boyfriend Will Bensur, along with Lucy.

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Ieke Osinga Scully continues to be the property and leasing manager of a historic building she and her husband Mark worked on for a number of years in Simsbury, Conn. The Ensign House is now up and running as both lovely energy efficient apartments, as well as a terrific restaurant on the ground floor.

Ieke stays busy with the landscaping/gardening at both the Ensign House and her home, as well as being very involved with the Simsbury Historical Society.

Ieke was hoping to organize a historic home tour in June ’23.

“I understand now why I found my SBC Greek Archeology class at SBC so interesting… following those footsteps in time!”

Ieke’s sons are all good and all employed! “Second son, William, is our teacher and crew coach, got engaged just before Christmas, wedding to be in our back field in 2024! Brendan landed a job with Space X, where he has been sending his resume for the past five years. He is now ‘Recovery Operations Scheduler’, so when

you see those boosters landing again, he is a part of that activity!

So cool! Kirk is a videographer, working for U.S. Rowing and doing side gigs as well.”

Hubby Mark stays busy with his non-profit, People’s Action for Clean Energy. “Sustainability… the way we all need to think going forward!”

One of our class artists, Anne Taylor Quarles Doolittle, has been busy doing more than painting. She recently launched a new website for her artwork. (www.annedoolittle.com) “More businesslike. It has a shopping cart! The idea is folks who might want art can now get it in print form versus committing to an original piece.” Always the rider, Anne enjoys her horse Roy. “He, too, survived a serious debilitating kick in the jaw, is back on the bit and carrying me into the wild blue yonder. There are five SBC grads in our hunt club and I see Emily Dick McAlister and Hunter Davis ’79 just about every time we go out.”

Anne’s daughter, Betsy, is living and thriving in Fairfax, Va., as a breast cancer survivor, juggling two daughters, four and six. Betsy also serves as Senior Warden at her church.

Husband Bob is still pursuing his wanderlust. Both he and Anne will be traveling to Japan in the spring and then to Egypt in the fall. “We have one grandchild in Los Angeles pursuing a degree in Physics at LMU while her brother is getting his doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology in Scranton, Penn., after graduating from Lehigh, Bob’s alma mater.

Bob’s son is the CFO for Quantum Health (based in Columbus, Ohio) and recently opened NASDAQ one morning.” (I hear fun times ahead when Anne visits Columbus, lots of laughs with Cindy McKay and Muffy!)

Carolyn Ennis has finally retired from UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) as Director (D1) after working and living from 1999 in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Switzerland and

Jordan, as well as short missions in other countries. She is now living in southwestern Germany near Frieburg/Breisgau. “I’m still using my SBC German, and would love to see any classmates who are in the area!”

Older daughter Sara is married and is an orthodontist living in Zurich. Youngest daughter Miriam is at Northwestern University in Chicago and several years into her Ph.D. While getting used to retirement, Carolyn combines “rest and relaxation with running hiking, being with family, making new friends and staying in touch with old ones.

Also, lots of reading! Would love to hear from classmates and hope to be in the U.S. at least once each year from now on.” Hope to see you at Reunion, Carolyn!

Donna J. Gelagotis Lee sadly reported that she had lost her mother last summer. She sounded like an amazing woman, as a trailblazer for women in the field of nursing as well as a strong advocate for women’s rights. She was an administrator of multiple nursing homes and was admired for not only her intelligence and compassion, but also for her ‘moxie’! It’s always nice to reflect on the amazing lives of people, be they SBC alumna or our parents!

Donna and her husband Dennis continue to be prolific poets in their own right! Each have had had their poems in various international journals, such as The Amsterdam Quarterly (AQ34 & 35), The Broken City (Canada), Channel (Ireland), Lifelines, and LETTERS, all online. Dennis was interviewed for Poets and Writers (“Book Prize Celebrates Older Poets”), had one of his poems read recently on Burning Bright (12/6/22) and his book, Tidal Wave, was reviewed in Sugar House Review.

Cathy Mellow Golterman reports that the ‘light of their lives’, William Wetzel Grote, who arrived last spring, makes “everyday so much happier” as she (‘Cece’) and Chris (‘BoPaw’) get to watch him every day in the afternoon. Their son, Woody became engaged to Thamara, whom he met at law school, and will be ‘tying the knot’ next November in NYC. Daughter Catherine is following in Cathy’s footsteps, teaching pre-school at a catholic school, and “loves her Nuggets!”

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 71

Class Notes Christen, her husband Peter and William had been to Vero Beach, adding that “William is a regular Beach Bum and a little fish!”

(Perhaps taking after his grandmother!) “A lot to celebrate this year as I continue to teach and snuggle with my adorable grandson, and pray for love, laughter and good health!” Yes, indeed!

We have a group of quite the adventurers in our class! Mary Goodwin Gamper was nominated to report in as the other two felt their news would have been redundant!

Mimi Borst Quillman, Virginia Craig and Mary did a lot of hiking together during the past year, including a trip to NH where they hiked every day for over a week to prepare for their big adventure. The last day of August they headed for Tanzania to Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro!! “Six of us, including Mimi and Scott Quillman, Mary and Bill Gamper, Ginny Craig, and Dick Gamper (Maria Rixey’s widower), hiked 45 miles over the course of nine days. We slept in tents for eight nights at high altitude and even though Kilimanjaro is only a few degrees south of the equator the nights were extremely cold. It was certainly the coldest sleeping conditions any of us had ever experienced.

All six of us made it to the top and summited all 19,341 feet—higher than Everest base camp! Hope you notice the coat colors! The safari afterwards was the best way to celebrate the climb and we saw all of the big five, plus more. Loved waking up at 4:30 in the morning to zebras running around the tents!” WOW—What a trip! How fun to do it all together!

In December Mary met up in Lancaster, Pa., for a wonderful afternoon with Suzanne, Meg Richards Wiederseim and Mimi at the Fulton Theater’s musical production of White Christmas starring Hanley Smith, daughter of Lisa Neuenschwander. She was really amazing! Such a voice!

Mary reported that her middle daughter, Carrie, was married in New Hampshire in October. “two down… one left! I see Mary Page Stewart regularly, which is quite fun.”

Lauren Place Young had a busy 2022, and has more to look forward to! Last fall she traveled

1978

1. Suzanne Stryker Ullrich, Lauren Place Young and Jean Beard Barden off on a walk in upstate Vermont. 2. The entire Golterman Crew! 3. Muffy Hamilton Parsons, Erica Diemel (Betsy’s daughter) and Cindy McKay at Betsy Hurley Diemel’s memorial service. 4. Kim Hershey Hatcher ’78 and granddaughter, Olive. 5. Saying Goodbye to Jamie! Muffy Hamilton Parsons, Paula Brown Kelley, Suzanne Stryker Ullrich and Cassandra Smith Babbitt.

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to Nantucket for a wedding weekend and got to visit Toni Massie ’77, and Lindsley Matthews.

Lauren was joined by Jean Beard Barden and Suzanne Stryker Ullrich to celebrate in northern Vermont at a baby shower for Lauren’s youngest daughter, Makenna. “Makenna gave birth to our FIRST grandchild, a girl, on 1/23/23, and is engaged to a terrific guy named Chris. Our son Jake is engaged to a girl named Lauren. So my husband Chris and I smile and laugh at this! Jake’s wedding is in April ’23. Before Christmas Lauren headed down to Connecticut to join Jean Barden, who hosted a bunch of classmates at her home, along with Sue Grieste Russell, Lu Litton Griffin, Janet Smalley Todd, Becky Dane Evans, Ann Marigold Stefano. It a fun and delightfully delicious with Jean playing chef with the ‘mostess’. So much fun

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seeing so many friends. And then it was off to Bristol, R.I., for a fabulous few days with Suzanne Ullrich, visiting some of the historic homes and testing out some fun restaurants! Lots of laughs ensued during a facial for each! Lauren catches up with many, including most recently with Cindy Whitley Auman.

“We can’t wait for Reunion. The other news is that my husband has improved a bit after a stroke 1 ½ years ago. But unfortunately, he has lost use of his right hand and his right leg so balancing is off a bit. The good news though is he survived, I am not working full time as a result, and we get to enjoy what Plan Z has thrown our way. Wishing everyone the best in 2023. Hope to see many of you in June.”

With COVID restrictions relaxed a bit in 2022, Lisa Wray Longino wrote that she and George started traveling again,

and had a great Thanksgiving visit in Denver. Their first trip across the Atlantic included a “wonderful time in Barcelona, and Influenza A for George and COVID, again, for me despite all of the vaccinations!” Lisa was working on plans for a trip to London with her oldest two granddaughters for their Easter break, as well as looking forward to her and George’s 40th wedding anniversary during the summer!

Lisa closed with “I am so excited to celebrate our 45th Reunion and look forward to seeing all our ‘old’ friends! It continues to be so much fun to work remotely for the College and an absolute joy to visit with so many of you!”

Never short in the ‘excitement’ department, Muffy Hamilton Parsons writes “Let’s get excited for our 45th Reunion! As you all know, Suzanne Stryker Ullrich and I have been working

Class Notes on Reunion and look forward to seeing everyone in June at SBC! We encourage you to come back to see the transformational changes all around campus!!”

We do have a few surprises up our sleeves!

Muffy and Don’s younger son, Spencer and his wife Devon, who were married in October ’21, have bought a house and filled it with not one, but two, Burmese Mountain dogs! Older son, James, will be marrying Rachel Dedinsky in October, 2023 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. “It’s exciting to have daughters!”

Muffy also reports “It’s been fun having SBC ’78 visitors in Columbus every so often… Cassandra Smith Babbitt, Anne Taylor Quarles Doolittle, Suzanne Stryker Ullrich, Jean Beard Barden and the latest Holly McGlothlin. Of course, I have lunch with Cindy McKay regularly which is always entertaining!”

Given the sad class news this past year, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel to Cape Cod to share and support Jamie’s family, and then to Erie, Pa., with Cindy to be with Erica Deimel (Betsy Hurley’s daughter). More than ever, the importance of our sisterhood, The Class of 1978, remains strong and resolute.

As for me, I always enjoy seeing as many of you as possible, which others have referenced.

Last May, I was also able to spend wonderful time with Muffy, Lynn Spillman Williams, Toni Christian Brown, Cindy McKay and another friend of Muffy’s, all to celebrate Muffy’s birthday at the Greenbrier. Last September included a fun trip to campus for a Class Leadership couple of days, along with Becky Dane Evans and Cindy McKay. It’s always fun to learn what’s new on campus and see the incredible changes.

Our boys have each followed their own paths, with eldest, Alex, moving to outside of Buffalo, N.Y., with his family and two of our grandsons. Andrew is living nearby, sharing custody of his six year old daughter, whom we get to see more regularly. Youngest Ned and his wife Mariah, moved a little over a year ago to Wallingford, Vt., where they are working tirelessly on setting up vegetable and flower gardens; planting fruit

and nut trees; chasing chickens, ducks, Guinea fowl, three dogs, two cats and two fast growing little boys! You will understand that this all means we are frequently on the road to see any of our five grandkids! What’s a six-seven hour road trip? That being said, I’m off soon to a NACAC College Fair for SBC in Pittsburg! Glad we put snow tires on this year!

If anyone ever wants to share their love of Sweet Briar with today’s high school students, I hope you will consider becoming an SBC Admissions Ambassador! It is always fun!

Just let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction.

Rick switched jobs last August and is now with Veolia, a French environmental engineering company, with which he seems very happy. Lots of exciting new technology to keep him engaged, at least for another few years.

If any travel is included, I will hopefully be able to take advantage! His latest was to Japan for two weeks, alone, with no time for sightseeing. The Gulf Coast is on his monthly travel calendar as well.

I’ve pulled back from a couple organizations (not enough of them), but that vacuum gets filled quickly. I have gotten back into knitting, which is ‘me time’, taking a class from a woman in Norway (the marvels of technology!) and learning lots of new tips and tricks, as well as actually finishing a couple projects! I hope you are all finding those pockets of time for yourself as well, in one form or another! At this point, it is definitely worth sitting, and taking those deep breaths!

Hope to see many of you at Reunion! It will be here before we know it! (And if you haven’t signed up yet, there is still time!

We’d all love to see you!) Hugs to all, Suzanne.

1980 Victoria Clarendon Richter 1401 Centennial Road Penn Valley, Pa. 19072 vrichter@comcast.net Leslie Ludwick Bires: I’m entering my ‘free-bird’ chapter now—later than most of our

classmates as I got started a lot later in life! (My friends and I are casting off the ‘empty-nester’ label in favor of the more positive and hopeful free-bird designation!) Oldest son Alexander (22) is in L.A. pursuing a sports journalism/broadcasting career.

Younger son Colin (19) is launching his college life happily at CU Boulder enjoying snow and the beauty of a four-season climate we don’t see in San Francisco and Mill Valley. As many of you know, we lost my mom Ginger ’53 last year and her absence has been deeply felt—she was a force of nature. My dear dad, age 94, is doing well living on his own in Palm Springs and gives us all plenty of excuses to visit for golf and fun. I’m getting to travel a lot, taking with me Ginger’s spirit of curiosity and adventure—to Tuscany and the Greek Islands most recently—heavenly trips.

I’m anxious for more. I’m not working full-time in executive communications anymore, so I hope to see SBC pals, Lisa Sturkie Greenberg, Martha Fruehauf, Tinsley Place Lockhart and others this year.

It will be fantastic reminiscing and catching up. I still attend the Bay Area Sweet Briar annual luncheons to reconnect with great women alums and meet new California recruits which is so inspiring.

Lisa Heisterkamp Davis: Eithne Broderick Carlin threw some alumnae party in Falmouth! From the pearl encrusted SBC sign to the pink & green garlands (and favors complete with a pearl brooch!) The one Whiskey Sour I allowed myself came in a tumbler. The SBC sisters came out in force! Things are great in our family. Proud of Augusta (33) who recently moved to the Counseling Center at Harvard, and Dashiell (30) likes being an attorney in downtown Boston. Husband Josh recently retired. I’ve told him “it’s forever, but not for lunch,” as I run my psychotherapy enterprise from my home office. Blessed.

Fran McClung Ferguson: In the past year, son Robert moved closer to home, married a wonderful young woman, and got his first full-time job with benefits.

The rest of us are just happy doing the same things we did last year. Life is good!

Ginny Hoffman: Who would ever have thought we’d be so worn down by negative political rhetoric, pandemic-enforced estrangement, police brutality, school shootings, hate crimes and gun violence? It’s enough to make a gal nostalgic for Sweet Briar’s lovely campus sanctuary and the smart, decent friendly people who populated it in 1976.

Cheers Ladies!

Annie Ivey Leonard: All is well here in Greenville, S.C. Treatment for Stage four Breast Cancer has advanced significantly and I tolerate targeted chemo infusions every three weeks fairly well. It takes about five days to recover and then I’m back on my feet.

I enjoyed several short trips last year, especially hearing Andrea Bocelli perform in Savannah, Ga. I’m passionate about working on social justice issues through an interdenominational group in Greenville. Our current focus is bringing mental health and housing concerns to local leadership to initiate positive change.

Wishing everyone in the Class of ’80 the very best in 2023.

Carson Freemon Meinen: All is well in Fort Worth. We finally have our first grandchild, a grandson Arlo Wallace Arendall born in July 2022. The only problem is he lives in Denver, so I have to plan more trips to Colorado for the next year or so. Ed and I had a great cruise to Europe in September/October and look forward to a New England cruise this fall. Hope to reconnect with Susan Mengden on one of my trips to San Antonio to visit our son and his wife.

Sandra Padilla Rappaccioli: Living in Managua, Nicaragua. A grandma of twins who will turn three in February. Three of my children live in Atlanta and that has giving me the opportunity to visit with Lisa Sturkie Greenberg, Francie Root, Wendy Woodward, Kathy Erickson and Georgia Schley from our class. It has been fun to keep in touch with classmates and other SCB graduates as Nancy Hatch Schwartzmiller ’79, Ann Yauger ’78 and Wendi Wood McAfee ’81.

Anne Secor: Moved back to NYC (Brooklyn) in July with my age-16 twin girls! Now a happy single mom living in the Promised Land. Seeing my NYC friends, dating a super guy,

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Class Notes very busy with graphic design work. Planning to visit Canada in April. My kids went from a teeny country school in Quebec to a top NYC high school with 4000 kids and they are eating it up, getting amazing grades and loving it. Grateful for this wonderful new adventure.

Ann Connolly Simpson: So far so fun—was supposed to go skiing with a gal pal in Zermatt last February but she broke her wrist so we HAD to go to Puerto Rico—fun! Working away at a bunch of eye docs offices—otherwise playing tennis and did slip away to The US Open Tennis in NYC in Sepembert—love it! Just back from Mexico which was a perfect antidote to the sudden New England chill... got to see Phyllis Watt Jordan up here for a way too quick dinner—hope everyone else is well and safe for the new year!

Lillian Sinks Sweeney: Still in Philly, living with the best roommate ever my dog Juju. I am working for Highmark BCBS making sure money is spent correctly in our healthcare system!

Headed to the high seas with some friends from SBC class of 1980 and hope to come back alive!

Phyllis Watt Jordan: I’ve had a busy year at Georgetown U’s FutureEd think tank, where we’ve been researching how school districts are using the billions in federal Covid-relief aid. I testified before a Congressional committee, was published in The New York Times and appeared on lots of webinars and podcasts.

My kids are doing well: Jake graduated from college in May and is working at a middle school in Miami, loving the warm weather after four years at the University of Vermont. Miranda is working at an education nonprofit and living with us in DC. It’s nice having these bonus years with her.

To all those who reached out for these class notes, many thanks. This is much more personal than Facebook.

As for me, Vickey Clarendon Richter it’s dreary in the PHL except for football (ha).

I worked as a grunt volunteer for a couple of Pennsylvania campaigns. I’m afraid I have the bug. I am contemplating steps towards (a bit too slowly) downsizing and moving to less demanding home. I have been,

get this, apprenticing for a highend small group travel business.

If anybody has any advice, hacks or music tracks on downsizing or the travel biz please shoot me an email at vrichter@comcast.net.

1982 Patti Snodgrass Mullins 15 10th Ave. Brunswick, Md 21716 pattibmullins@gmail.com At Reunion I introduced husband Earl to the marvels of Sweet Briar women and the campus.

In August he and I camped and stayed at inns for several weeks—“glamping”—in Maine. I had not ever camped before, and I took right too it; I also took to alternating with nights in nice inns. He shared his love of Maine in general, and Acadia National Park in particular, and I came to love them too. We hope to sail from Annapolis to Maine in the summer. Daughter Virginia is deciding where to complete the next phase of her environmental science studies, before selecting a master’s degree specialty.

Betty Hull Stacy, my freshman year roommate, and I have gotten back in touch, and though I couldn’t get her to send any official notes this time, I’ll share that she wants to get back in touch with classmates. I will be reaching out to you (or you to me) to see if you would like her to have your address.

Deborah Bowman: With my two kids out of the house, and being retired, I decided to make a major life change and moved to Colorado, I bought a small bungalow in Denver and am loving a large but manageable urban environment. Daughter Kate is living in Los Angeles, engaged, and designing a fashion line, kittenbykate. Son Kessler is starting an internship at a photo gallery in NYC while contemplating his next academic pursuit.

Mary Ames Booker: Enjoyed attending our 40th Reunion last June. It was my first time back since 1987! It was nice to see so many classmates and appreciate all who could attend. I encourage all alumnae to walk around the beautiful

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campus again, see the marvelous improvements, and reflect on our time there.

Heather Pirnie Albert: We spent Christmas with my mom, who lives in a retirement community in Augusta, Ga. I visit her every month. We have spent our “retirement” traveling: two cruises after Reunion, with another one early this year. In April we will cruise the Panama Canal-Florida to California, and in August we will cruise to Greenland/Iceland. We’re also in Atlanta where my oldest daughter and the grandbaby live. We’ve been up to see the other daughter in Memphis, so we’re not home much. I was sorry to hear from Gigi Marsh Mossburg ’83 that her husband of 27 years passed away.

Also I heard from Chris McFadden that her Dad passed.

Monika Kaiser: March/ April as well as July/August I spent about six weeks with my mom, who suffers from dementia, giving my sister a well-deserved break from caring for her. I enjoyed visiting Sweet Briar during our Reunion. It was so nice to see old friends and make new ones. My daughter and her husband bought a new house. And so, my husband and I drove to Largo, Fla., by Tampa, to help with the renovations. It was a nightmare taking down all the wallpaper and fake wood laminate flooring. Unlike many Sweet Briar alumnae on the west coast of Florida, we were lucky to be spared from the devastating hurricane Ian. Priscilla McPheeters: So, 2023 in Columbia, S.C., finds my husband and me well. Our own children and their children live nearby, so I am blessed to get to see them all the time! I still have a horse and now ponies for the grands. We have one horse, two ponies and a mini. They bring me great joy. There is nothing better than being able to share your passion with your children and grandchildren. The biggest news will be that I am retiring from teaching this year. Whoohoo!

Lucile Flournoy: I guess my big news is that my sister, Frances Redmond Malone ’75, and I have sold our Art Gallery/ Custom Frame Shop and are retiring after 25 years of business.

We started Two Sisters Gallery back in 1997 and have surprised

ourselves and have been successful and have not killed each other through the years! My good friend, Lee Watson Lombardy and her husband, Warren, came up to Georgia to visit from Orlando after Christmas.

Brianna Brown: News from Dallas is that I’m happy to be able to get back to being involved with our class. Looking forward to reconnecting with those classmates I haven’t seen or talked with since our days as students at Sweet Briar. Always thinking about downsizing and moving to a quieter lifestyle, but where would that be? Love having grandson George Randall DeMasi only an hour away. Randy and I enjoy hiking and the outdoors whenever we get the chance.

Also love having mini-reunions with Sweet Briar friends along the way.

Gracie Tredwell Schild: I’m doing well in my bookkeeping and database management business. After my mom died in July, I not only had more time but also more mental energy to spend on other things (including client work). I finally finished the quilt I had been making as barter for my business logo—4 ½ years after starting it! My son moved to Atlanta with his girlfriend and dog in April, and I hope to visit there more often, so maybe a lunch with local classmates is in the offing! I had lunch with locals Megan Coffield Lyon ’80 and Betty Santandrea ’70 back in July. And I still have a guest room waiting for visitors to Santa Fe, or even a house/cat sitting gig for anyone who’d like to come out here while I’m travelling.

Late September or early October sound interesting? It’s Aspen season! I’m planning to go back to Germany for the first time since I moved back to the states in 2011.

Mary LaVigne: Sorry that I missed Reunion; I was very busy.

My oldest daughter, Eugenia, got married last June in Crested Butte, Colo. She and her sister, Henley, are currently in Ocala, Fla., with horses, training under Karen O’Connor as we finish the building of our horse farm in Arden, N.C. Her husband Scott is living with me in Brevard, N.C., and helping with the farm. Besides getting that project finished I do as much hiking with my dogs as possible. Besides that, I am

Class Notes serving my life’s dream as a board member of both Louisiana and North Carolina chapters of The Nature Conservancy. The work they do to protect vital habitats that in turn enrich and sustain our lives is critically important and inspirational.

Jean von Schrader Bryan: Great to see everyone at Reunion.

I think I got a little carried away with dancing on that Friday night—dueling pianos! But then again, I am the dancing machine! Our youngest daughter, Anne, graduated from George Washington University Nursing School. We are very proud of her.

Still in Amherst, so if anyone comes to SBC give me a holla!

Jane Dure: I’m still doing oil and gas title for a small firm in San Antonio, but I have been able to take off quite a bit to visit Dirt’s (Nancy Daugherty Davidson’s) river house in a gale, paint wrought-iron furniture at Sweet Work Weeks, and hang with y’all at Reunion. We had a wonderful, big group at Reunion, but it should have been BIGGER—you have a little under five years to plan for our 45th.

We ate well, we learned things at the greenhouse (such that we all noticed at the big dinner on Saturday night that one of the hors d’oeuvres was served in unrecyclable single-use plastic), and got on Security’s radar at the first night’s event, Dueling Pianos—you had to be there, but at least it wasn’t one of us who did what appeared to be a pole dance to one of the songs. The Sweet Work Weeks dates are early this year: July 8–July 22. We had 9-10 classmates work for the good and right last year. I hope we can all do it again this year.

Katharine Johnson Parks: I sold my business and home almost three years ago and have been traveling the world (the U.S. in a camper van the first year of COVID). To keep myself busy, I host the Active Travel Adventures podcast and website, where I seek to inspire and empower people to lead a bigger life through adventure travel. I recently reconnected with my old roommate Leslie Hertz Firestone via Facebook.

Ethel Burwell Dowling loved being with everyone at Reunion. She reports that her son Peter, who is a production

engineer with a manufacturing company in Memphis, has just gotten engaged to his sweet girlfriend and Ethel and Ben like her and her family very much!

1984 Louise Jones Geddes 2590 Woodward Way NW Atlanta, Ga. 30305 LJGeddes5@gmail.com Happy Spring to the Class of ’84!

It is always a pleasure hearing from so many of you and catching up on and sharing your news. I think all of us have rounded the corner on 60 and are marching forth into a new decade?

Congrats to all of us for getting this far! Go on and mark your calendars for our FORTIETH reunion—next year—on May 31– June 2, 2024. And let me know if you want to help with our class’s 40th Reunion effort.

Erica Dorr Marshall is still on St Helena with Dash an English Cocker Spaniel. Wiley loves Charleston where she is a buyer for Rhodes Boutique and Rhodes Home. Foster married Emily Sewell in August at her family plantation in Bluffton, SC. Elise is engaged to Benjamin Godley and has returned to USC while working full time as a nurse. Erica is looking forward to another Charleston event being scheduled! Sister Leanne “Lee” Hubbard had a semester sabbatical from St. John’s Seminary and spent August and September in Tanzania and Kenya with the Sisters of Notre Dame, teaching spirituality and theology, and offering two weeklong retreats. For more on her sabbatical, please visit https:// godseekersnd.com/reflections.

Diana Crandall Nielsen said that turning 60 last year was easier than she thought it would be! She and Clark are enjoying their empty-nester life in Provo, Utah and they celebrated our 30th anniversary with several trips including Yellowstone. She is enjoying watching her three children (Claire, 28, James, 26, and Leigh, 22) forging ahead with their careers and adulting!

Diana and Clark are planning a trip to London this spring to

1984

1. Sister Leanne “Lee” Hubbard at Notre Dame School outside Nairobi with 1000 students at assembly in September 2022. 2. Class of 1984 members Louise Jones Geddes, mother-of-the-bride Penney Parker Hartline, Elizabeth Harley Willett, and Kelly Manderson Fitzpatrick ’85 at Merrill Grace Hartline Perez’s wedding in September 2022.

3. Rose Marie Hermann Davis’s son Paul and daughter-in-law Amy at their wedding along with two other sons and husband George. 4. Maria Elena Ferran sends greetings and is looking forward to our 40th reunion in 2024.

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visit Claire who is living and working there.

Mary Margaret Cranz Smith has been living in Friday Harbor, Wash., since her husband passed away five years ago. They had a place out there so Mary Margaret decided to pull a “Green Acres” and live the country life for good. She is always looking for company and writes ‘please come visit!” Holly Pflug Allport writes that she and Peter celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary in February

2023. Holly is a probate paralegal for a law firm whose managing partner, Beth Roland, graduated from Sweet Briar in 1989. Holly’s son Peter is a software engineer with Stonex; her daughter, Sarah, is a nurse practitioner for a pediatric group in town; her daughter Kate is working on her masters at Tulane; and her youngest daughter is a senior at Auburn. Holly really enjoyed attending the Central Florida Sweet Briar Alumnae luncheon at Dubsdread Golf Club in

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Class Notes Orlando in January 2023. Mary Earle McElroy has a grandson!

Boone Stokes Robertson, born July 2, 2022. Chris Svoboda has moved and has a new address: 103 Birch Circle, ManakinSabot, VA 23103. She is planning to attend this year’s Reunion and, of course, our 40th next year too!

Leslie Caroline Kirkby writes that 2022 was an ominous year. My heart horse, ‘Marka de Zaon EMH’, died in a pasture accident Jan. 25, 2022 and her Daddy, Captain Joseph Trum Kirkby (Nathan), died December 24, ending the year. But, in between, she writes that her 2018 rescue Anglo Arabian horse, ‘Rose of Talal’, 21 years young has become her equine assisted/ hippo therapy partner. The horse has shown so much kindness, compassion and willingness and both horse and rider are progressing together. And in early December of 2022 her talented niece, Natalie Cockey, was accepted to SBC. 2023 started with a road trip to New Orleans. Leslie finished the road trip helping her niece move in and start a new chapter at Sweet Briar College.

It had been 39 years since Leslie was at SBC, and she writes that although much has changed, the feeling of being home and the serenity remains. Natalie will be on the SBC soccer team; she is number 9. Leslie remembers also being a player on the Sweet Briar soccer team. Full circle! Since Leslie has only sons, she has been dreaming of Natalie being a legacy since she was born. Leslie writes a special ‘thank you’ to her bestie and fellow vixen, Jennifer Ditter Collado ’83, to the wonderful soccer team coaches, and to the Admissions department for making it possible for Natalie.

Leslie’s eldest son, Ian Wardell graduated from Seton Hall Law School and has his dream job at Gusto. Her youngest son, Eric, is finishing up his dual master’s degree MBA and MIS at Rowan University. She lives with her son Eric in Pitman, NJ, and works on maintaining her well-being with a very quiet life of equine assisted/hippo therapy, yoga and meditation daily. Having been disabled for a decade plus, she is so grateful for her wonderful family and friends who support her and encourage her to keep pushing her boundaries forward.

Ginger Reynolds Davis writes that she is glad 2022 is over, not for any other reason than being far too busy. Although she is no longer the Chair of the Spartanburg Historical Association, she is now Head of the Spartanburg County Rev War 250 Committee, which is part of the larger state committee charged with commemorating South Carolina’s prominence in the American Revolutionary War during the war’s 250th anniversary. Ginger is very excited to work with Cheri Burritt Yates, who is in charge of the Charleston Committee. Ginger and Lynn are hoping to travel in 2023, both here and abroad, and will have visited at least once with Debbie Jones, by the time this comes out. Ginger is really looking forward to our 40th reunion in 2024.

Sharon Ingham Brown has finished her master’s degree from The College of Business at Florida State University and is still working for Assurant. She is on the advisory board of the Brain Tumor Network (BTN)—a nonprofit organization that tremendously helped my son, Davis (28), who is living in Seattle, with Sharon’s adorable grandson, Thomas. Daughter Caroline (25) is working for PwC and loving Atlanta. Sharon hopes to catch up with SBC friends in 2023!

Debbie Jones spent time with Ginger Reynolds Davis and her partner Lynn Jordan just after the holidays. They visited Beth Richmond at the historic Michie Tavern store which Beth has turned into a shopping mecca! Debbie traveled a ton for business in 2022 but is still loving her job leading a great team. She is very involved in the industry, and is in her second year as committee chair for MBA Capital Markets and working with the Housing Policy Council out of DC and other groups, agencies and roundtables. She is very excited to focus on affordable and sustainable housing innovations for underserved segments in 2023.

All very rewarding!

Lisa Burwell Reichard moved to Spring Hill, Tenn.,—just south of Nashville—January of 2021 and works in a county school as a Teaching Assistant.

Her oldest son is married and living in Grand Rapids, Mich.,

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with his wife and twin, threeyear-old boys. Her daughter got married in 2021, and she and her husband also live in Grand Rapids. Her third, also a son, has been living in Memphis with his cousin—the son of my sister, Ethel Burwell Dowling ’82, but is moving to South Korea end of January to teach English at a private school. And her youngest son graduates this May with an engineering degree from Lipscomb University in Nashville, and plans to stay in the area to work. Lisa says being a grandparent is the BEST! Penney Parker Hartline’s daughter Merrill Grace married in September 2022. The wedding was fabulous and Penney writes from Birmingham that she can’t wait to see us at Reunion!

1984

Ann Alleva Taylor sends her hellos from Charlottesville. She had an interesting year in 2022, as she retired in February, and got herself a new monogram machine. She monogrammed everything in her house not previously monogrammed; then she moved on to sewing clothes. She knew it was time for a job by mid-April, and she started a “fun” job as a coordinator at HomeGoods.

Husband Carter pointed out that she was spending more than she made—oops! With some flexibility, she has enjoyed horse shows with her youngest Charlotte, who has been riding at St. Timothy’s with Matt Payne, Brianna Belter, and Jenny Mix, all of whom were previously at SBC. The coaches

1. Elizabeth Harley Willett and Sweet Briar roommate Liz Sprague Brandt at Hellen Willett Jose’s wedding in January 2023. 2. Leslie Caroline Kirkby ’84 and “Miss TT”, equine assisted/hippo therapy horse. (@roseoftalal on Facebook.) 3. Mary Earle McElroy’s grandson, Boone Stokes Robertson, Born July 2, 2022. 4. Monty Tripp ’82 and Juliet Jacobsen Kastorff with Ecuador’s Antisana Volcano photo bombing in the background.

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Class Notes took the girls to Nationals last year; fingers crossed for this year. During the summer she got together with some of my friends from the class of ’83 and they had a wonderful time at the Boar’s Head. Since the fall she started to look at job options back in the nonprofit sector and began a new position as Director of Advancement for Child Health Partnership in Charlottesville.

Rose Hermann Davis is still in Hershey Pa., where her husband George is a pastor. Her oldest, son Paul, got married last fall and she finally got a daughter, Amy! Amy is a school nurse and Paul is a teacher. Her youngest son, Mark, is a senior in Mechanical engineering, and her middle son, John, is in sales with Paradox.

Sarah Rundquist sends her news from Wellington, Florida where she works for Rafool Polk and trains/manages polo ponies in the Winter. She loves life there and says her job is so amazing. In May she travels north with the ponies to Little Compton, R.I., where the horses spend summer and where she is an Ocean Rescue Lifeguard at South Shire Beach. She has been Lifeguarding for 12 years and says it’s a great job. She has two Golden Retrievers and a Horse of the track, that she recently purchased. She sends love and hope to see us all soon!

Maria E. Ferran had a great year in 2022 with lots of family time, a beautiful 60th Birthday celebration, and some new creative adventures. After watching a charming British tutorial, she discovered a new talent as a frustrated florist and has been foraging wild woodland greenery and combining them with store bought flowers to design & create arrangements, including some gorgeous Christmas arrangements this past year. Her 2023 intentions are to go forth boldly and go for my creative dreams, no matter what they are! Her executive search practice is humming along beautifully and allowing me to also pursue my creative adventures. Treasure Hunting for ancient Megalodon shark teeth is also on her bucket list and she thinks it would be great fun to organize a group trip to Charleston where the shark teeth are hiding! Her grown children are

thriving and pursuing their own awesome adventures in adulting.

She is looking forward catching up at reunion!

Elizabeth Harley Willett has been busy! She and Chris renovated and moved into a new house, just around the corner from the old one. Elizabeth’s step-daughter Hellen got married to the love of her life and tied the knot in the low country of South Carolina just after New Year’s this year. She and Chris are trying to work less, travel more, and they are still spending time in Charleston whenever we get a chance. She has loved seeing so many SBC friends over the past year.

Liz Rodgers Boyd’s big news is that son Louie got engaged and she is looking forward to a wedding in the mountains of Asheville N.C., in June, which will be lovely. Louie is a Captain in the Marine Corps stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego.

Tommy is in Saint Paul working and coaching at Saint Agnes School and Liz loves having him close to home. Tom and Liz are still working and staying busy, and Liz says life is good!

Elizabeth Cahill Sharman writes from Birmingham, Ala., that Mathilde (W&L ’20) and Jackson (W&L ’22) both live and work in Washington, DC. Jack and Elizabeth visit them often. 2022 was a year of delayed celebrations—graduations, birthdays, anniversaries. They were fortunate to travel a good bit to mark these events and saw several Sweet Briar friends along the way. She is looking forward to seeing more at the 40th Reunion.

Cheers until then.

Juliet Jacobsen Kastorff writes that for 30+ years, she has avoided the cold winter months of North America, by running kayak trips through my two companies: Endless River Adventures (www.endlessriveradventures. com) in North Carolina and the Rio Quijos EcoLodge in Ecuador (www.rioquijosecolodge.com).

She finally figured out how to share everything she loves about Ecuador with non-kayakers in a new trip that is all about Eco-Adventure. This winter she shared that trip with Sweet Briar friend, Monty Tripp ’82, and she hopes more of SBC alums will join her in the future!

Patricia Dolph Fallon had a wonderful time at reunion 2022 where she was joined

by Katie Hoffner, also class of ’84. Tricia will be in Virginia in May for her daughter Christina’s graduation from Washington & Lee law school. Her son Nicholas will be graduating from the University of Richmond and both will be in Washington DC starting in the fall. Tricia’s middle daughter is in New York City. Tricia is trying to get a few more years in before retirement!

Her happiest times are spent at Sweet Briar and she has been trying to get there every year. She is looking forward to Reunion in 2024!

And, finally, I continue living in Atlanta but spending time in Australia as Jim continues rebuilding Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (www.hansonbay.com. au) after the devastating fire of January 2020. Giles and Margaret celebrated their first anniversary and are living in Atlanta; Lucia continues living in DC and working on Capitol Hill; and son Charlie moved to Montevideo, Uruguay with his job and is loving life. I look forward to visiting him there! I’ve loved seeing many of you through the past 12 months and look forward even more to catching up again soon, especially as we plan for our FORTIETH Reunion at SBC! Save the date: May 31–June 2, 2024! Be there!

1986 Alis (Piper) Van Doorn 1612 Slater Street Valdosta, Ga. 31602 alisvandoorn@hotmail.com Missy Duggins Green 12221 Alhambra Street Leawood, Kan. 66209 missygreen@kc.rr.com Alis Van Doorn Piper can’t figure out exactly how 2022 disappeared so fast. She loved attending Star Hollis Waldron’s youngest daughter’s wedding in January; it was a fabulous celebration! And in March she travelled to Monroe, La., for the long-delayed interment of her parents in The Old Monroe Cemetery. Piper will be forever

grateful that Star was able to accompany her on this final goodbye. It was a bittersweet but wonderful weekend with family and dear friends. And in the fall, there was a delightful visit from Karen Gonya Nickles, which of course was sheer hilarity on overdrive.

Piper is looking forward to 2023 and all the changes and new adventures ahead.

Alyson Carey Goods writes that she and Rick Kurtz H-SC ’86 will be getting married in April surrounded by family and some college friends. Their six adult children have all made big moves this year with new jobs, cities, schools and two starting graduate school. Alyson enjoyed spending time at a Sweet Briar Day gathering at Heidi Cromwell’s ’85 house in Wellington. She reconnected with Mary Jo Biscardi Brown and many women she had not seen since her SBC days!

April Adelson still lives in Hilton Head and purchased a new condo last year. She has enjoyed fixing it up so she can work from home. After a nine month hiatus supporting Microsoft she has returned to her former company Maximus working in Talent Acquisition. April misses her Vixen sisters and hopes to take some road trips in 2023!

Burke Morrow says she is loving retirement after 33 years as a science teacher. She has started Canicross with her dog Shane. Shane wears a sled dog harness and pulls her down trails at high rates of speed, both a fun and frightening experience!

Burke is heading to Florida for three weeks of snow free sunshine and says “retired for eight months and already a snowbird.”

Catherine McNease Stevens reports that all is well at Snow Hill Farm. Her son, Henry, graduated last May with degrees from Duke Kunshan University and Duke University and is happily ensconced in an MFA program for Creative Writing at Old Dominion University. She and Nelson travelled to Portugal in October and have more travel on their agenda this year. Catherine hopes everyone is well and says “Come visit if you find yourself in Southern Virginia!”

Elizabeth Lindsey: “Ken’s eight years of interim ministry in seven churches have made me a

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 77

Class Notes pro at packing a U-Haul. Last two moves were in winter. Don’t want to do that again! We worry about aging parents in other states who grip their independence tightly while falling a lot. I finally finished ghostwriting and am now copyediting a client’s manuscript.

I take tai chi and yoga, enjoy my Scottish country dancing group, and plan to return to ballet classes. William the basset makes me swear, laugh, and sigh every day.

He remains very much a work in progress, but aren’t we all?”

Ingrid Weirick Squires reports that retirement in North Carolina didn’t last long as she is currently working part time at the local library which she loves!

Her son is graduating from UVA in May, then heading off to law school in the fall. “So proud of him!” Ingrid loved seeing ’86 Vixens Linda DeVogt, Karen Gonya Nickles and Lisa Etz Picken in 2022. She hopes to see more wonderful classmates this year!

Jesse White says hello from Vermont! She’s lived there for 20 years, still loves everything about the state and feels very blessed.

And she keeps finding more Vixens! One of the highlights this last year for her has been singing; She had her first big solo and continues to participate in the women’s chorus, called Cantabile. Jesse says the first time she sang with them, “It took me right back to SBC. There is nothing like women’s voices in song and it continues to bring me joy.” She’s also taking stock of her life as she nears 60 and says, “Let’s all make the most of every day!”

Julie Weyand Watson lives in Richmond with husband Steve.

After teaching preschool for eight years, she went back to the corporate world in 2012. Who would have thought wrangling three year olds would set her up so well for being a project manager at an international M & A firm? Her son, Will, lives and works in Richmond and daughter, Katie, and husband live in San Francisco and are expecting their first baby (girl) in early February. Julie is beyond excited and is currently nesting on Katie’s behalf by organizing the entire house and knitting/crocheting an entire wardrobe for their new baby granddaughter.

Karen Gonya Nickles says that 2022 was an exciting year for her family. Her son and his wife had a baby boy in February and her daughter, and her husband had a baby girl in December.

Her son’s wife is having another boy in June, so they will go from zero to three grandchildren over a 16 month stretch! Karen was also able to visit with lots of fabulous Vixens, “which is always a pleasure.” She and Lance continue to enjoy life at the beach and hopes everyone is doing well.

Karen Harcum Levy is moving to Virginia! They will start out in a rental they have secured with the goal of purchasing a home in the central Virginia area; trying to buy from New Jersey hasn’t worked out so well. Their daughters are in Roanoke and Richmond, and they want to be closer to them and their families. Their New Jersey house gets listed April 1st.

Karen says packing up 36 years of accumulated stuff is daunting, yet enlightening, learning what has meaning to each of us. One treasure she found was her ode from Junior Banquet written by Disa Johnson Chester ’85!

Lisa Leigh Ringler Bennett: “My daughter and only child, Sydney, got married and is living in Texas. I miss her terribly. I’m still teaching yoga (and loving it) and living in Pennsylvania. My soon to be 93 year old Mom (her memory is better than mine) was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Her prognosis is good. I recently reconnected with Robin Lindsay Frantz who is still hysterical and living in a gorgeous home in Savannah. I’m looking forward to a road trip with a stop to see Karen Gonya Nickles (she just doesn’t know it yet, but she will now!)”

Missy Duggins Green celebrated her second TCU graduation. Her daughter is now at MIZZOU getting her master’s in accounting. Her son, Miles is working and studying for his level three CFA test. Missy caught up with Anne Smith and Karen Gonya Nickles for some beach time. She also sees Jennifer Frost Holden on her visits to Kansas City.

Robin Bailey Orchard says she’s loving life in Jacksonville!

Teaching at Edward H. White High School has given her

78 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

challenges and fulfillment.

Terry Cerrina Davis continues life as an empty nester—until summer anyway! She is enjoying playing Bunco, attending Book Club, and seeing a few Broadway shows here and there after work.

Terry and her husband both lost their Moms suddenly in October; they miss them and felt their absence especially during the holidays. Terry stays in touch with many SBC sisters via social media and texting; makes the world feel a little smaller and more connected! Cheers to a happy 2023!

Tricia Lonick Vergel de Dios has had many changes in her home. Michael and Jonathon both left home to go to college in Ariz. and Calif. They are thriving and growing and she is so proud of them. Both of her parents have moved into a nursing home in Virginia this year and are doing well. Tricia quit her job last year and did a lot of travel getting her boys off to college and her youngest to many baseball showcases and Little League World Series.

Tricia sends well wishes to everyone and Aloha from Maui.

Valerie Winborne says that despite all that’s not well in the world, she’s excited to report that she came to Sweet Briar in February 2022 to speak about her journey at Sweet Briar and beyond. Valerie is an SBC admissions ambassador and looks to the SBC women of color to enrich the diversity and inclusion that supports all the women who make SBC such a great experience.

1988 Jennifer Crawley Lewis 7331 San Carlos Rd Jacksonville, Fla. 32217 Lcrllc@aol.com Jeanne Rovics Dee’s shares that she retired from Hilton Corporate during Covid and has a successful second career selling real estate in northern Virginia.

She has helped find homes for Vixens Brooke Linville ’04 and Madeline Wilson ’12. Daughter, Madeleine, graduated Langley HS in 2022 and has completed her first semester at St. Marys

College Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind. Son, Blake, received a clean bill of health from his oncologist and graduates Ole Miss in spring of 2023 with a B.S. in chemical engineering. Her family took an amazing trip to Tanzania in July 2022. Jeanne joined classmates Nici Fraley Pechman, Kristen Petersen Randolph and Maia Free Jalenak in February, 2022 for a delightful girls’ weekend in Seaside, Fla. Tracy Tigerman Goodman reports that she is retiring at the end of this school year after completing 32 years of teaching. Her son (27) is a diesel mechanic and her daughter (20) is in her third year of art school studying illustration.

Jennifer Crawley Lewis continues renovating her Jacksonville, Fla., home.

Daughter, Diana, graduates Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in May 2023 with a B.S. in biomedical engineering. Diana will be returning to Rensselaer in fall 2023 to get her M.S. in biomedical engineering. Diana continues to swim butterfly and freestyle for Rensselaer. Her family has enjoyed several trips to St. Simon’s Island, GA and Palm Beach.

Maia Free Jalenak is still in Baton Rouge and is looking forward to our 35th Reunion.

She and husband Jay H-SC ’87 are renovating their home this year. Maia enjoys traveling to visit her kids who live in Virginia and Colorado. Son, Jack, just finished his internal medicine residency at UVA and begins a three year cardiology fellowship in July. Daughter, Nina, is working on becoming a florist in Colorado Springs. Nina works at a beautiful Sweetwater shop and flower market.

Kelly O’Connor is director of development for Progress, Inc. a nonprofit serving people with intellectual disabilities, doing a lot of strategic planning and board development consulting.

She is active in Rotary Club of Nashville, chairing the board of the Williamson County Library Foundation, serving on a couple of state regulatory boards, and as the sustainer representative to the Junior League of Nashville.

In November she traveled to Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi

Class Notes

1988

1. Beth Gottlieb O’Connor ’89, Amy Ottoway Zambetti ’89, Kathryn Ingham Reese ’88, Twig O’Dell Tucker ’89, Kate Cole Hite ’88, Leslie Corrado Stillwagon ’88. 2. Jeanne Dees, Maia Jalenak, Kristen Randolph, Nici Pechman in Seaside, Fla. for a girls weekend of “day drinking” and fun.

LEFT TO RIGHT

Arabia and the Mediterranean in March. Kelly would love to reconnect and see SBC friends.

She can be reached at (615-3050668) or kkellyoconnor@yahoo. com if anyone will be in the Nashville area!

Christina Savage Lytle Is still residing in Alexandria, Va., and was delighted to see Dawn Czaplicki Hutchison, Caroline Corum and Heather Shettle Buerger this past year. She saw Stacey Sickels and her sister Susie Sickles Dyer ’91 at the Celebration of Life for their amazing mother. She has also seen other SBC alumnae from other classes Nicole File ’95 and Brooke Linville ’04 and my sister Renee Savage ’92. I hope to see more alumnae at local DC SBCNOVA alumnae club events this year. Christina enjoys mentoring their H.S. robotics team. Daughter, Lucie, graduated from Randolph-Macon College and is teaching preschool in Old Town Alexandria after a year with Episcopal Service Corps.

Daughter, Leslie, is a senior at UPenn studying material science engineering and plans relocate to Los Angeles after graduating.

Christina and JD are considering a cross country drive together so do let her know if you’re out west and interested in a visit!

Christina would love to see you if you’re in DC area. Christina plans to be at Reunion!

Kate Cole Hite just returned from a mini SBC get together with Kathryn Ingham Reese, Amy Ottoway Zambetti ’89, Twig O’Dell Tucker ’89 and Beth Gottlieb O’Connor ’89 hosted by

Leslie Corrado Stillwagon.

Even though they weren’t all in the same class, it was a vacation filled with many belly laughs and story re-telling. In the fall Kate and daughter, Mackenzie traveled to Greece and Italy for a covid-belated college graduation trip. Kate valued her special time with Mackenzie and may have gotten bitten by the travel bug. Her eldest son’s wedding is scheduled for March in Charlottesville. Kate is eager to see everyone’s smiling faces at Reunion and to be back on campus.

Kelly Meredith Iacobelli loves that SBC is back to doing college fairs and for the chance to tell young women and their parents about Sweet Briar. She is still working for a communications agency and teaching at the University of North Georgia. She and John celebrated 30 years of marriage by returning to the resort where they honeymooned in Jamaica.

Their daughter, Kathleen, is a junior at Presbyterian College working on a degree in special education. Kathleen hopes to go on to occupational therapy school.

She still competes for the college’s acrobat and tumbling team. Kelly is looking forward to Reunion!

Kathryn Ingham Reese reports that this school year marks her 26th year of teaching middle school at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Del. She just got a job in Charlottesville, where her husband took a new job, teaching English at the Peabody School. In January, she enjoyed seeing Vixen sisters, Kate Cole Hite, Beth Gottlieb O’Con-

nor ’89, Amy Ottoway Zambetti ’89, Twig O’Dell Tucker ’89 and Leslie Corrado Stillwagon in St. Croix. They had a ball and picked up right where they left off 35 years ago!

Katie Keogh moved to Connecticut during the pandemic to be closer to her mother, who is in assisted living. It has been great to spend lots of quality time with her mother and reconnect with her childhood friends. Katie is the director of major gifts at Mystic Seaport Museum which combines her love of sailing and fundraising. Katie enjoys watching her children who are grown and flown find their way in this world. She keeps in touch regularly with lots of classmates and her extended SBC tribe from her time working in the development office. Katie is eager to see everyone at our 35th Reunion.

Christine Diver Ans is surviving and thriving in Tampa Bay! She is a flourishing realtor with Keller Williams Realty despite her metastatic breast cancer reaching stage four during covid. She is now on a trial and everything seems to be stabilizing. She connects with Kathryn Deriso Schwartz in Miami quite frequently. Her son, Aleks, is now a Captain in USMC and is stationed at the Pentagon and his wife is a DC prosecutor.

Daughter, Amanda, lives on Capitol Hill and works for the Department of Defense.

Christine is looking forward to connecting with everyone at Reunion 35!

Helen Berger is still living in St. Louis, Mo., and recently celebrated 20 years working for Nordstrom. She stepped away from management to have more time for travel. She saw several Broadway shows in NYC in January and has trips in the works for Florida and Italy in the summer.

Helen can’t wait for Reunion to see everyone.

Heather Shettle Buerger can still be found in Maryland, north of Baltimore.

She and her husband are empty nesters with three fabulous dogs. Heather plays tennis and pickleball as often as possible and is learning golf. Their two daughters live in DC so she visits them and catches up with Christina Savage Lytle. Heather had a great visit with Scarlett

Roitman in London last year!

She is looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion.

Carrie Winkler Rowe moved from Sag Harbor, N.Y., to Palm Beach. Carrie is still doing a little private decorating and styling.

She primarily volunteers at Path to College helping immigrant adolescents get into top colleges.

Her daughter, Isabelle, is still in NYC working as a headhunter placing C suite people our age!

Susan Detweiler graduated May 2022 with her M.S. in occupational therapy. She immediately returned to Teton Valley, Idaho with great relief.

She spent the summer on northwest road trip visiting family and friends. She also guided researchers on an Alaskan glacier. She is enjoying part-time occupational therapy work in Jackson, Wyo. She also enjoys backcountry skiing a couple times a week with various friends in the winter and mountain biking in the summer.

Susan deeply misses the Antarctic and guiding climbers.

1990 Jean Benning 1120 Walnut Farm Road Lower Gwynedd, Pa. 19002 jeanbenning@outlook.com Amanda Berkey 5702 Criner Road Huntsville, Ala. 35802 1990sweetbriar@gmail.com A huge thank you to all that submitted class notes this year.

We appreciate the time you put into sharing your lives with us and hope to see you at future reunions! Keep in touch and be well!

Luann Hunt: It’s been a year full of health-related issues! I was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2022, had a mastectomy and started reconstruction April 26, and finished reconstruction surgery August 8. I’m now cancer free (LADIES: REMEMBER YOUR MAMMOGRAMS)! I attended the Alumnae Alliance Conference September 17 and also got to see the renovations in Reid, Grammar and Daisy’s Cafe.

If you haven’t been on campus lately, be sure to come to Reunion

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 79

Class Notes and see the wonderful changes!

In December, my husband and I took a European River Cruise on the Rhine which was cold but wonderful. The Christmas Markets were in full swing, and the holiday decor really added to the scenery! Unfortunately, by the end of the trip I contracted COVID! Due to illness we missed our family Christmas, but thankfully I’m back to full health!

Brandi Beck: I’m still living in NYC, practicing as a psychologist, and loving my small family of Andy and Dasha (18). I’ve been thinking a lot of my time at Sweet Briar and all the Vixens as Dasha applies to colleges this year. I hope she’s as happy where she lands as I was at Sweet Briar.

Love to all the Vixens.

Irfan Kiratli Latimer: Rob and I are now living in Old Town Alexandria, and I am director of communications at Episcopal High School. We escape to Wrightsville Beach, N.C., as many times a year as we can and dream of retiring there. Our daughter Megan is living in Charlotte and works for NASCAR, so that’s a lot of fun. Life is good! I see Katherine Bradley-Black ’91 on far too rare occasions, but it’s always a good time when we get together— like no time has passed and we are 19 again. Open invitation to any Vixens who feel like visiting Alexandria... it’s a fun town!

Leslie Carson Albizatti: Empty nesting has been wonderful. Nicolas and I have enjoyed a little more travel and look forward to planning many trips together, especially after retirement. We are spending more time at our home in North Carolina, hiking, mountain biking and puttering with projects. Our youngest is a junior in college, and the older two are fully adulting. All three are close by, and we love spending time with them, moments we treasure. I am still involved in women’s ministry at my church.

I started working on my first book last year after many years of blogging. It’s a harder process than I anticipated and takes longer than I imagined. In my spare time I enjoy working out, reading and playing guitar.

Dolly Garcia Simonet: I am working at Parity Foundation which helps children in poverty in Puerto Rico. My son, Miguel

Juan, is waiting to hear about his bar exam, and Dolly is working at an advertising agency. Mari just transferred to John Jay College for Criminology in NYC from Syracuse. I spend a lot of time on the Pickleball court with my friends and family. Hoping to see my friends in Nashville for an upcoming mini reunion. Let us know if you want to join.

Candace Collins Eccles: I married Steven Eccles on April 10, 2021. Adjusting to my daughter leaving for college this Fall.

Miss all my SBC friends.

Amy Kroeger: My update is that I finally got my baby!! My sweet little Vixen, Macy, was born October 1st. I was lucky enough to be present at her birth. Her adoption was finalized December 15th. Thank you to everyone who was able to join the adoption hearing. It really, really meant a lot to me! That was a happiness like I had never experienced. This has been an amazing journey!!

Cheryl Bishop Gilman: Where do I start?! Our oldest daughter was married in Asheville, November ’21. We now have a son-in-law and another 4-yearold granddaughter by marriage.

Our son and daughter-in-law had their third baby February ’22, so we now have four grands!

They live in New Bern, N.C. We see them about every three months. Our middle son lives with us in Kansas. Youngest son is a sophomore at Texas Tech, and our youngest daughter is a sophomore at Cal Poly Humboldt in Northern California. Scott is still coaching girls lacrosse in his spare time. My midwifery practice is booming. In my free time, I have two horses that I hunt with at Fort Leavenworth.

Beth Babbitt Bowen and I keep up on a regular basis. We try to get together once a year. Hope everyone is well! Please look me up if you are ever in Kansas!

Our local SBC group has lost the amazing Sarah Machinist ’01 (she moved to North Carolina) and the beloved Caperton Morton ’85 returned to beautiful Virginia.

Stacy Gilmore Hanling: I spent 2022 dealing with breast cancer, so I am hoping for a brighter 2023. My daughter (27) is now at the University of Wisconsin working on a Post Doctorate and my son (15) is in High School. Still living on the

80 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

coast of South Carolina in Mount Pleasant and enjoying all that it has to offer.

Allison Richards: Sometimes you just have to reflect and appreciate the blessings that have been bestowed upon you. Grateful for all that was experienced and accomplished in 2022. There was a village that contributed to us, selling a home, purchasing two homes, moving Gravin three times, and the continued commitment of our clients to allow us to serve them. I don’t think the volume of business may be pertinent to the article but we served over 60 clients with approximately $75 million in sales for 2022.

Our move from a neighboring community in the Gulf Coast, led us to a town called Freeport just outside of the well-known area 30A, where our real estate business is focused. We continue to live with our rescue dog, Burbot and now we have the beauty of Mallet Bayou, which leads into the Choctawhatchee Bay. Big move for us at the end of 2022 was leaving Scenic Sotheby’s International Realty to move to Compass 30A. We have expanded our team to add an operations manager, an additional buyer’s agent, virtual assistant, and transaction coordinator. Our goals are to continue to expand

1990

our business in this area, so that we may have a succession plan down the road. Scotty, my husband is my right hand man and has been thriving in the business as a buyer’s agent. He will turn 69 this year, and we have several bucket list items: international travel and potentially investing in the Ocala area where we moved our horse. That area is exploding and the world equestrian center brings so many options for showing and training, which is 15 minutes from the barn where our horse Gravin is in training.

We are blessed with the health of my 85-year-old mother in Naples, and we visit her from time to time. The rest of my siblings live in the North in Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. It is my goal to get more involved in Alaqua, an animal rescue foundation here which has grown beyond measure and has an extensive program supporting all types of animals, including horses, cows, goats, birds, cats, dogs, and more that I cannot even mention. My focus is to continue on luxury listings and mentoring my team, so that we may be in a position to step away and experience, travel, and enjoy more time in Ocala. We purchased a home in Ocean Ridge, Florida, last year and completely renovated it in 2022, and we now have it on the market for sale.

1. LuAnn Hunt and husband Larry in Cologne, Germany. 2. Amy Kroeger’s new baby Macy. 3. Kelley Manderson Fitzpatrick ’85 and Amanda Priddy Berkey.

4. Amanda Priddy Berkey with her son, mother (Martha Falt Priddy), and husband (wearing his Sweet Briar tie).

CLOCKWISE

Class Notes Joie Tankard: I started back to work full time with 7th grade in Staunton City public middle school. I “float around a bit” helping where I can, not a specific classroom teacher. I didn’t necessarily like my own four kids at the middle school ages, but I am enjoying this age... maybe it is because I get paid! Our oldest Grace is getting married on June 24, 2023, at the Eastern Shore of Virginia, so trying to help her out with the plans.

Sonja Gruhl Dupourqué: Greetings from Coronado, Ca.!

After 32 years, last year my husband retired as Navy Captain, and I pivoted from COVID life/ caregiving, Officer spouse, big law industry (Washington DC & San Diego) and legal recruiting businesswoman to preparing for an emptier nest by accepting a new challenge with a global defense contractor, here in San Diego.

My two sons, my pride & joy, will both be in college later this year (Junior & Freshman), leaving our beloved lab the center of our attention! While I have mixed emotions about my emptier nest, prioritizing my most cherished role as their mother these last 19 years, look forward to more travel back East & Europe to visit family & friends, and my continued genealogy research (learned a branch of my family in 1700s, pre- & post- American Revolution, lived not too far from Sweet Briar)! I’ve also learned from the same family branch that my cousin attended SBC around 1912!! Lastly, a big Holla Holla to Verda Andrews Colvin ’87 as our newest board member! I fondly recall her infectious smile, charisma, and intellect as our Reid RA, my first and only year at SBC. It’s been wonderful to stay in touch with so many of the SBC sisters of various classes over the years! Stay healthy, be well, and peace to you and yours!

Sarah Andres Sale: Last year, things were put on a brief hold when I had spine surgery in February to correct my scoliosis.

Now, almost a year later, I am fully recovered and am able to live life without chronic pain.

I am so very grateful to my surgeons and care team! My husband and I have lots of travel plans for 2023—Paris, Portugal, San Francisco, Spain, and a Christmas market river cruise.

When we aren’t on the go, I am substitute teaching, riding our Peloton, and snuggling with our dogs, Daphne and Annabel. I love getting to see Joie for regular happy hours here in Staunton and visiting with Meg Caulk in DC. It was great to see several of our classmates in our Zoom social in December!

Amy KD Tobik Donnelly: I am still working round-the-clock on my magazine launched in 2020 in support of families, educators, doctors, and self-advocates called Exceptional Needs Today. My husband, Steve, and I live in the Carolinas and enjoy attending local Sweet Briar get-togethers.

A recent highlight was “A Soiree of Art” event featuring the gorgeous works by Jill Steenhuis ’80 and a lovely reception held at the home of Nan Loftin ’81 in Charlotte. The SBC Alumnae Mentorship Program has given me a special opportunity to guide and encourage current seniors. I am thrilled to have my daughter, Katie, nearby as she works as a genetic counselor at Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte. I am excited to head back to Connecticut in May as my daughter Emily will graduate from Yale School of Public Health with her MPH in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases.

Ann Beatty Malone: I am very excited to announce that Bill and I will soon be grandparents. Sam and his wife Aly are expecting a baby boy—Chase Michael on April 12th. Alex is enjoying her sophomore year at Villanova. She will begin her nursing rounds in the spring and is hoping to work at one of the local hospitals this summer as an intern. I started a new position with Abbott Diabetes Care last summer, and Bill is still working for the same company in cybersecurity. Moving back to Philly has been great, mainly because we get to see Jean Spillane Benning and her family a lot. Dolly Garcia Simonet came through for a quick onenight visit in November, and we had a great time reminiscing about our Sweet Briar days.

Louise Bouldin Carter: Virginia is a sophomore at Stetson University studying business. Brian is a Freshman at Auburn University. Two boys at home—one who just started

driving. Jack is in 10th grade, and Lewis is in 8th grade. Brian Senior is still practicing at The Orthopedic Center. I volunteer with the Symphony Guild, and we had a wonderful time with Virginia making her debut this year! Had quite a busy year last year staging homes with the market boom.

Jean Spillane Benning: My oldest daughter is graduating in June from Clemson University’s Nursing Program and will be moving to Boston to work at Beth Israel Deaconess. My middle daughter spent the summer in Europe with a program through Auburn University, where she is currently a sophomore. She is hoping to start school in London in the fall, as she just fell in love with everything European. My youngest daughter is a senior in high school and is currently awaiting responses from the umpteen colleges she applied to.

She was lucky enough to spend a few weeks in Costa Rica this summer with a Smithsonian program. I just passed my fifthyear anniversary at Salesforce, working in the higher ed sector.

My husband is still at Comcast. I am looking forward to being an empty nester next year, so we can travel more.

Amanda Priddy Berkey: Our son Chase (18) is a freshman at the University of Alabama – Roll Tide!!! Happy he is just a few hours away, and Chris and I can enjoy some football in Tuscaloosa with him—pleased to see Kelley Manderson Fitzpatrick ’85 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. (Amazingly, Jean Spillane Benning’s daughter went to high school with one of Chase’s randomly selected roommates who is from Philadelphia/Chestnut Hill.

Brooks was on the hockey team, and Tara was the team manager— what a small world!)

Chase started a job as an engineering intern working with a defense contractor during Christmas break, so he will work there this summer as well. After losing our schnauzer Arthur last summer and adjusting to Chase leaving for college, Chris and I are enjoying being empty nesters, although we’re still busy working and volunteering. I have retired from my full-time economic development position

but still work part-time for the North Alabama International Trade Association (NAITA) as programs and operations manager, and Chris is an independent insurance agent. We love live music and have been on lots of dates and outings with friends to concerts—from the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra to a couple of Bee Gees tribute concerts and of course, rock and roll! Had a great family trip to Sanibel Island, Ft. Myers, and Cape Coral late last summer before the terrible hurricane hit that area.

Hope they are recovering well.

Look forward to more travel in the future! Love seeing Louise Bouldin Carter and had a great time celebrating her daughter Virginia’s debut this past fall (and the 35th anniversary of our debut)! Glad to see Martha Freeman Brouse ’81 and her daughter also making her debut at the Symphony Ball. It’s fun seeing Beth Wheeler Morring ’89 at our Grace Club meetings and recently ran into Laura Hill Grimes ’89 (and often see her brother Jeff Grimes—W&L ’90). It’s also fun to see my cousin and his wife Laura Greene Silsbee ’94 in Birmingham when we can.

I’m psyched to read that Dolly Garcia Simonet has plans for an upcoming mini reunion in Nashville! I will be there if I can and can’t wait!

1992 Jennifer Toomey Driscoll 436 Bailey Lane Boalsburg, Pa. 16827 jcdris@comcast.net Charlotte Bonini is in Leesburg, Va.. Days are busy being the “Mom taxi,” shuttling son Abraham to his sports practices and games. When she’s not the taxi driver, she’s hard at work in real estate, and has been for almost 10 years. As much as she likes working with clients buying and/or selling homes, she really enjoys assisting small businesses.

She says it has been a wonderful surprise how much she enjoys commercial real estate. “Getting together with dear classmates during our 30th reunion was great for my soul and so much

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 81

Class Notes fun. I highly recommend it and hope to do it again next year!”

Alexander Hanson Huebner writes, “I’m living on top of the mountain in Wintergreen with my chef husband, son Pete, and five cats! I retired early from a career in corporate finance and now spend time volunteering and helping Pete with his horse, Patrick. Pete is an eventer and a much better rider than I ever was! I’m close to SBC and enjoy helping with Sweet Work Weeks when I can. I love hanging out with other Vixens in the area and hope that if anyone comes to Wintergreen to ski, hike or just visit, they will give me a shout.”

Lisa Newman Francisco was all smiles during a night “out on the town” in Miami with Kelly Arden Friedman, Erinne Guthrie and Susan Chicone Chapin ’89.

Margaret McClellan Driscoll says, “Our 30th reunion was so much fun and wonderful to catch up with classmates, hopefully we can do mini-reunions along the way. Everything is great in Williamsburg! Daughter, McRae, is working in DC and loving it. Son, Parker will graduate from UVA this May and is in the job hunt! Sean (W&L ’89) is still enjoying his job in the investment business. I had a great time with Jen Toomey Driscoll’s family over Christmas!” (Ditto, Margaret!) She really enjoys being on staff at SBC and visiting alums all over the country.

Elizabeth Conyers is thrilled to have moved (in 2021) to Aiken, South Carolina where she enjoys riding her horses all year round. She is “in her element”, as there are numerous equestrian activities daily. She has three horses; two in Aiken and one in Kentucky and stays busy in the summers showing them. She’s a Physician Assistant in the ER at the Charlie Norwood Virginia Medical Center in Augusta, Ga. In February, she will be gaining a better work/life balance by joining a private Hematology/ Oncology practice. Elizabeth encourages alums to reach out when visiting the Aiken area.

Dr. Brett Haltiwanger writes the past few years have been quite busy. 2020 brought the COVID-19 pandemic which kept Brett and the biosafety

world very occupied. She participated in multiple safety trainings and developing methods for decontamination of respirators for reuse. Last year, after living in Houston for 9 plus years, she moved back to Denver. She left University of Texas Health to become the Institutional Biosafety Officer at the University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus.

While she misses Houston and her friends there, she loves being back in Denver where she enjoys cycling, mountain biking and hiking on weekends.

Tracy Steele shares she was sorry to miss our reunion due to her daughter’s high school graduation. She and Kevin just celebrated 22 years of marriage and have two daughters in college at Penn State University & Trinity, and her son still at home. She lives on Philadelphia’s Main Line and would love to re-connect with anyone passing through. She is still practicing law and Kevin remains the DA. In addition to family and her practice, she is kept busy with board work, tennis, travel and friends. Tracy just started pickleball lessons and fears she is “late to the game”, but she’s loving it. She hopes everyone is well and looks forward to reading our class updates.

Rokhsan Fallah raves that the highlight of her year was back in June when she returned to SBC for our 30th class reunion!

She writes that it was “a treat to see some old friends again, many of whom I had not seen since I left at the end of Freshman year”.

She is in her 17th year as a realtor in Maryland & DC. Lily (25) moved to London in 2020, and Roya (19) is a sophomore at the University of Maryland. Rokhsan has been married to her “lovely husband” for 27 years. She would love to catch up if anyone comes to the Washington Metro area and says, “the coffee is on me!”

Kelly Arden Friedman has been living in Atlanta since 1999.

She and her husband have two children, Amelia (15) and Carter (18). She is very involved in her children’s school, The Lovett School, in Atlanta. Kelly attends Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. She is also involved in the National Charity League with her daughter and the Young Men’s Service League with her son.

Both children play competitive

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soccer in and outside of school, so she spends many weekdays and weekends on the sidelines and is loving it! Kelly recently enjoyed a mini-SBC reunion in Miami with Lisa Newman Francisco, Erinne Guthrie, and Susan Chicone Chapin ’89.

Amy Dickson Riddell and her husband, Tim, are still happily living in Louisiana. Amy is in her 14th year as student services secretary at Lakeshore High, and really enjoys working

1992

daily with the students. In her spare time, she volunteers at their local community theatre where she is on the executive board. Tim was recently named the Regional CEO for Ochsner Heath Systems which keeps him SUPER busy but also allows for some pretty cool travel opportunities. Amy and Tim have recently traveled out West and have really gotten into hiking which they hope to continue to do for many more years.

1. SBC mini-reunion in Miami: (Lisa Newman ’92, Kelly Arden Friedman ’92, Erinne Guthrie ’92 and Susan Chicone Chapin ’89.) 2. Kelly Arden Friedman’s family photo.

3. Charlotte Bonini ’92, Treinel Ahearn Hickman ’92, Lori Saraniero Marks ’92, Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan ’92, Jennifer Toomey Driscoll ’92, Margaret McClellan Driscoll ’92, Diana Bradford Walsh ’92, Rokhsan Fallah ’92, Kimberley McGraw Euston ’92. 4. Fun times on Hunting Island Beach. Elizabeth Conyers and Cobalt de la Pomme Z. CLOCKWISE

Class Notes

1992

1. Karalyne Sperling ’92, Barbara Basiley ’92, Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan ’92, Sarah SoRelle ’92, Jennifer Toomey Driscoll ’92, Sally Croker ’92, Stacey Simpson ’92, Margaret McClellan Driscoll ’92, Rokhsan Fallah ’92, Trienel Ahearn Hickman ’92, Kelly Brown Estes ’92 & Ken Estes, Heather Allen Metzler ’92 & Henry Allen. 2. Julie Brideweser Wingard finds her freshman year dorm room while volunteering for Sweet Work Weeks ’22. 3. Kelly Brown Estes ’92, Heather Allen Metzler ’92, Stacey Simpson ’92, Sally Croker ’92. 4. Cara Ardemagni LaRoche finds her freshman year dorm room while volunteering for Sweet Work Weeks ’22.

CLOCKWISE

Kimberly Olmstead Calhoun reports that she and her husband, Clay, are in Atlanta where she tutors 5 days a week and Clay works for Martin Retail Group. Their oldest daughter graduated from Berry College last year and is currently in a Fellows Program, which is how Kimberly and Clay met 29 years ago! Their second daughter is a UGA junior (GO DAWGS!) and third daughter is a senior with plans for college, she doesn’t know where yet. Their son is a sophomore in high school, and she says, “it’s hard to believe we will go from having six at home to three!” She shares that she is very thankful for her SBC friends!

Cara Ardemagni LaRoche shares that it was a great experience to help for a weekend during last summer’s Sweet Work Weeks! She spent time with Julie Brideweser Wingard and Margaret McClellan Driscoll and was thrilled to meet wonderful women from different classes. She also loved seeing the amazing new green

house and hearing about the sustainability efforts that the students are involved in. She encourages all of us to consider participating in the 2023 Sweet Work Weeks, making it a “mini-reunion” of sorts. She continues to enjoy teaching math at The Ellis School in Pittsburgh, PA. She and Bob will celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary this summer, and their daughter is a junior at Ellis. She says, “holler if you’re in the ‘burgh!”

Kathleen Davis Willis writes that she and her family are enjoying their snowy Maine winters. They are living and working at Gould Academy, an independent boarding school in Maine. Their youngest, Carter, is in 10th grade and she loves skiing and playing lacrosse. Great times are had visiting with son, Field, at Union College in the spring for his club lacrosse games. Her eldest, Morgan, recently graduated from Hobart William Smith Colleges, and is embarking on the grad school process for Sustainable Architecture.

Diana Bradford Walsh and family are living in Westchester County New York. She keeps busy as a Board member for Row America Rye, where two of her kids row for the team. Touring college campuses with the twins and making sure her high school senior has submitted his applications keeps her on her toes!

She shared that it was wonderful to re-connect with a handful of ’92s just before our reunion in late May. Melinda Wick Aufmuth shares that she changed companies in 2021 and now is “back home” working with Claire Stapleton Batson and Nicole Gauthier ’91. She speaks almost daily with Claire and Nicole and says, “it’s a dream come true to be able to travel and work with your best friends”. She and Nicole were thrilled to catch up with Sally Croker in Denver last year.

She also enjoyed a dinner with Donna Peters ’91 while in DC and hopes to get together more often. She and husband Chris are preparing for their oldest, Maggie, to go away to college in the fall and son Christopher keeps them busy with travel soccer. She loves catching up with everyone via our Zoom get-togethers and encourages classmates to join the calls!

Heather Allen Metzler says that it was so good to see everyone at our 30th Reunion this past May! She adds, “things are pretty much the same here. Same jobs, same house but in 2021, I became a GiGi!” She stays in touch with Kelly Brown Estes and gets together whenever possible. She would love to see a mini-reunion in our near futures!

Dr. Janeime Asbury-Brown is currently working in the field of dentistry as a dental hygienist.

She has four children, one of whom has graduated from law school, one is in grad school for her master’s degree in health sciences, and her two boys are seniors in high school. She stays busy with basketball during the season. She is also teaching an online epidemiology and statistics course with a local community college during the fall.

Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan writes that she and Jon are living in Dallas. Oldest son Jack graduates in May from University of Georgia and will

work in Charlotte. Henry is a freshman at University of Alabama and Lane is in eighth grade.

She enjoys working for SBC with Margaret McClellan Driscoll and shares that reconnecting with classmates at Reunion and through Sweet Briar events around the country has been wonderful.

As for me (Jennifer Toomey Driscoll), I reside with husband Charles (W&L ’89) and two very spoiled dogs in our empty nest in State College, Pa. We are still active in the auto industry, and “survive” (dare I say, thrive) while working together to manage the businesses. Our oldest Kate graduated from Sewanee in ’20 and is happily employed and living in NYC. Daughter Betsy is a senior at W&L and has accepted a job offer and will join her sister in NYC in June. Our youngest, Charlie is a sophomore at Denison University and loves it! I had the most amazing time celebrating our 30th in May with almost 20 classmates, and even more as we “late-nite Zoomed” with dear friends unable to make the trip. A few of us descended on Lynchburg two days prior to celebrate and to share treasured memories… we laughed until we cried, and vice-versa! Happy to have a date set for a long overdue visit with Kate Haw in February.

Holidays/family celebrations remain extra-special spending them with Cathy Toomey Gregorie ’84, Margaret McClellan Driscoll, Daniella Ceccarelli Toomey ’93.

Holla Holla ’92, and let’s keep re-connecting as our SBC bonds are uniquely wonderful!

1994 Lenora (Lion) Farrington farringtonlenora@gmail.com Katherine Schupp Zeringue: I made a big life change last year and accepted a job with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

I continue to do historic preservation and archaeological work as their Cultural Resources Manager. I packed up my condo in Washington DC, scooped up the bunnies and moved to Merritt Island, Fla., in June

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 83

Class Notes where my partner, James, and I bought a tiki hut on the water, that happened to come with a house. We enjoy kayaking and watching rocket launches off our pier. We were lucky to be on center when Artemis I made its historic launch.

Elizabeth Gilgan: Spent New Year’s in Rome. My daughter’s middle school choir had a number of concerts in the Vatican and other Basilicas in Rome. Was an amazing trip. Waiting for snow in New England so we can ski. I am still a little north of Boston and own a paper shredding and electronic recycling company. I saw Amelia McDaniel, Lia De Simone Colbert and Corinne Gaillard last summer.

Molly Phemister is entering her seventh growing season as the director of the Southern Heights Food Forest in Lincoln, Neb., where second grader, Dax, loves to meet up with her friends for wild adventures. New this year: to accommodate the part time nature of leading an edible ecologies education non-profit, Molly started teaching art part time at Dax’s Montessori elementary school. The combination is hilarious, challenging, fun, and utterly fulfilling. New motto: delight does not precede dancing so much as come from it—get in there and move!

Katherine Cook: Working 70-hour weeks for 15 years finally caught up with me during the pandemic. Spent New Year’s Eve 2020 in a hospital. Tried to go back to being a paramedic, and couldn’t do it. Went back to school, got a second master’s degree—MSW in clinical social

1994

Kori Adkins posing with Gunther for the video.

Just part of the job.

work. Currently working with sixth graders at a residential psychiatric facility for kids aged 5–14. Still happily single, living in a tiny house with a bunch of cats. I go for leisurely hacks in the Virginia countryside with my horse, Ned. We’re both aging with as much grace as we can muster.

Kori Adkins: I live with my partner (Ames) of six years in Phoenix. In April, I adopted a nine-year-old dachshund named Gunther. Last month, we added Frenchie puppy named Holland.

Our two cats are thrilled. 2022 marked 14 years at Gannett, as a Senior UX Designer. My YouTube side hustle (Shoestring Martha), is coming up on 7,000 subscribers and some videos have exceeded 150,000 views. In October, I completed my “camp every month for a year” challenge, which was documented on the channel. The year ahead promises longer trips, gear reviews, and new 4Runner builds.

Heather Bayfield Weidle: It has been a long time since I have seen any of my Sweet Briar friends. I run into Carson Hobby once in a while as our boys both play lacrosse. My 18-year-old is applying for colleges right now and still trying to figure out exactly where he wants to be. Hopefully Florida State! My 15-yearold son is playing a ton of lacrosse and Russ and I are having a great time watching him! I’m still running Life Managment Advisors, a daily money, management company, and Care Management Advisors, a nurse staffing agency.

Busy but happy!

Katie Blaik James: Not much has changed since the last update. My husband, John, has been promoted a few times and is the Information Technology Manager at the University of Central Oklahoma. Conner is adulting and working in Arkansas. Jackson is a junior at the University of Oklahoma.

Elizabeth is in eighth grade at my alma mater, Casady, and is looking forward to high school.

I am celebrating my fifth year as the Director of Annual Giving at Casady. I love my job, my coworkers, and the school. I still practice law on the side.

Amy Ross Hanna: I am in my first year as Principal of Willow Glen High School in San Jose and loving it! It was a dream fulfilled

84 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

after serving as an Assistant Principal for three years and teaching for 23 years. My two sons are at Junipero Serra High School, Oliver is a junior and Carter is a freshman. We enjoyed traveling to Italy last summer to join Carter on his tour with Ragazzi Boys Chorus. I will be joining two groups from my high school this year traveling to Europe: Paris in April and Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in June.

Chandra Garcia-Kitch: Still living in Chicago and love this city. All four kids are doing great—in undergrad or grad school or working full-time already. I am currently AP at the school I taught at for 17 of my 23 years with Chicago Public Schools. Jennie is still the fulltime pastor at the Chicago MCC church. We have a couple of fun trips coming soon and looking forward to garden and grill weather soon.

Angie Carpenter Tenne: After 25 years in Northern Virginia, I moved to the greater Richmond area after my son, Scott, graduated high school.

Now happily living the rural life, I have opened my own massage therapy studio and love being my own boss! Still helping hubs, Joe, with his IT company on the side. We love the freedom that self-employment brings and are looking forward to a motorcycle trip out west this year.

Betsy Lanard McCafferty: I’m still living in Swedesboro, N.J., with my husband Kevin and three daughters. We have two pigs, three dogs and four cats. Bought a condo in Sarasota Florida to eventually be a snowbird. My Your CBD Store is going on four years in business. I still substitute teach here and there as needed. My oldest Marley is going to West Virginia University next year to study forensics. My youngest Bridgette is in fourth grade Brooke is in seventh grade. Thank you to Nancy Bulls ’93 for painting beautiful watercolors of my piggies.

Tysha Calhoun is residing in Lockhart, Texas with her husband and their furry family, now comprised of two adult dogs, two puppies, and two kittens. Staying close to her roots, she directed two productions for the local theatre company, which were nominated for the Broadway World Austin award in multiple

categories. She and Pat took a bucket list trip to NYC in the fall, where she finally got to take in a few shows. She was nominated and accepted to be on the Board of Directors for Old Settlers Music Fest, a nonprofit musical organization currently in its 35th year.

Mary-Linda Molly Morris Flasche: In October, I started as the Docent Program Coordinator at the Columbus Museum of Art. After being a volunteer docent for six years, I decided to run the program and actually get paid for it! Chuck is picking up the slack since he’s working from home now. Eddie is in third grade and is playing ALL the sports. Chuck and I travel as much as we can, (usually going to Avett Brothers concerts.) I’m really looking forward to our next reunion in 2024—please start planning now so you can be there!!!!

Lenora Lion Farrington: In addition to an active real estate career, Sensei Lion has been teaching karate at SBC! Fall semester 2022 we started with seven students and had five pass the final exam earning their green belts. Spring 2023 we started with six students and hope for a similar result.

Rebecca Nelson Freudigman: Started a new business in health and wellness that complements my wine business; I even won a mission trip for my efforts in getting healthy! I have been working to effectively launch a women empowering women group that meets regularly—to connect women and share more of who we are and support who we want to become. Still in Dallas, playing golf and looking to downsize. Have also taken on several volunteer roles at the church working with the youth ministry. Let’s hit the links— would love to connect.

1996 Sarah Chaffee Paris 749 Fieldgate Cir Pawleys Island, S.C. 29585 sazchaffee@yahoo.com Kimberly Shaheen White is chipping away at new degrees while continuing to teach English

Class Notes and be the Dean of Students at Grace-St. Luke’s in Memphis.

She finished her Masters in Educational Leadership (M.Ed) at Boston College this winter and will begin her Doctorate in Educational Leadership in January of 2023. Max (20) is a sophomore at Sewanee: The University of the South, and he periodically runs into Jen Beck’s and Amelia Dudman’s kids on the Sewanee hillside! Marley (18) is a junior at Memphis University School and hunting for a college far away from the Tennessee heat. Only time will tell where he lands. Jeff (HSC ’96) continues to play his music all over Memphis and is thoroughly enjoying the rich Memphis music scene all the while keeping all the tech rolling as Director of Technology at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School.

Jen Beck Locke tells me life in Huntsville, Ala., is going well. Hunter is enjoying his new position (and traveling quite a bit) as director of operations for the Southeast at WestRock.

Marte is a freshman at Sewanee majoring in international affairs and keeps busy playing rugby year round. She also is a member of the art, theater, outdoor/ caving, and geology/forestry clubs. Marte is blossoming and on track to be robed for superior academic achievement. Tom has had a super successful year academically and socially as a hybrid student at a microschool and was just accepted to attend another summer with the robotics program at Curry Ingram in Nashville through the Frist center for autism at Vanderbilt. Trae is killing it in every way possible his freshman year with his long locks and has enjoyed playing football, the snare drum in the high school band, and is running track. Jen says, “I am overly involved in all that they do and love every second of it. I volunteer as much as possible at our local community garden and food bank. We are healthy, happy and blessed beyond measure.”

Kelly Collins Lear has had a wonderful 2022 and is looking forward to 2023! She and Aaron celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary with a trip to the Netherlands and England. There are now two teenage drivers

in their house! Evelyn (17) is a junior, Teddy (15) is a sophomore. They are both busy with school, sports, and volunteering at church. Penny (12) likes dog sitting, babysitting, and school, in that order. Aaron has been enjoying his work, especially his first global health trip to Guatemala after a Covid hiatus and working as the camp doctor at Camp Pemigewassett this summer with Teddy. Kelly loves her preschool class this year!

She teaches three-five year olds at a small community school in Akron. Kelly will return to Waukeela Camp for Girls in New Hampshire as the Operations Director. She loves her job and also hiking, singing camp songs, and listening to the loons.

Evelyn and Penny will also be at camp, along with our dog, Rosie!

If anyone is in New Hampshire this summer, look us up, I would love a visit!

Robin Bettger Fishburne has been busy running three businesses but she absolutely loves it. She owns a travel agency, Cozy Cottages Travel, and is having the time of her life helping clients travel the world.

She has now been a Realtor for over twenty-one years. She is blessed with fabulous clients who love Charleston, S.C., as much as she does. Robin and her husband recently purchased a new investment home built in 1880 in Port Royal, S.C., and can’t wait to start renovating it to turn it into an Airbnb. Gibbs (17) is graduating from high school this year and will be attending Furman University in the fall!

She decided she would stay closer to home so SBC was too far away.

Parker (10) is loving fifth grade and playing goalie for his soccer club. Robin says she is so blessed with great SBC sisters and please reach out to her if you are in Charleston.

Rachel Baltus Price is still living outside Warrenton, Va. Her kids are in fourth and sixth grade. In September 2022, Rachel was on a team that brought Tedx to Warrenton for the first time. The TedxWarrenton event was a great success. Rachel coached speakers and acted as emcee for half the event. In November, Rachel enjoyed meeting up with some of our fellow ’96ers at Tybee Island, Ga.

1996

1. Jennifer Smith Rucker ’96 and Yolanda Davis Saunders ’96 celebrating their 30th Amherst Co. High School reunion. 2. Jennifer Smith Rucker ’96 and Kerri Rawlings Burtner ’97 at the Boathouse during the fall AAC and Class Officer Leadership meeting. 3. Classmates from the class of 1996 enjoy catching up!

CLOCKWISE

Beth Ike continues to love working for the Southern Environmental Law Center and encourages everyone to check them out. Yankee by birth though she may be, SELC’s motto “Solutions Start in The South” really clicks when you see how successful they are in fighting the good fight to keep our environment healthy for all. She and her husband, Jules, are still living in Charlottesville with Willie (13) and Tempe (9) and have a little apartment above the garage available for any traveling vixen who may need a bed. Beth is especially glad to have classmate Susie Gross Leroy and her darling son Etienne (14) close by.

Susie is an RN, MSN, and PNP and practices in the Pediatric Urology clinic at UVA. Monica Paul Dennis and her husband Matt have been in Southwest Florida for one year now. She says “I am no longer a Hurricane Virgin after surviving Ian! Wow, what an experience!”

She fills her days with pickleball

and the gym as a strength and conditioning coach, which she loves. Monica and Matt’s three kids are on their way to adulthood and will be off her books soon! Carson graduated from Wellesley then from Bryant University with her MBA. She’ll be moving to Charlotte, N.C., in January and working for KPMG. Wyatt will graduate in April from Ross Business School at the University of Michigan and will move onto Chicago in investment banking. Lloyd is in his sophomore year at Fairfield University studying business. All is well in the land of the sun!

Sarah Dennis Roberts successfully transitioned she and Hayden’s oldest son, Jackson to college at University of Oklahoma. Thankfully, Sarah and Hayden still have their youngest son, Owen at home to keep them entertained and busy driving him all the places thirteen-year-old boys go! Sarah’s work at Inasmuch Foundation continues to be motivating, in-

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 85

Class Notes spiring, and fruitful as she leads the Foundation Team locally to modernize the nonprofit driven system in Oklahoma City for keeping families and individuals housed thus preventing a rise in homelessness.

April Collins Potterfield’s oldest son, Benjamin went off to college at the University of Vermont, which is a beautiful place to visit. He is studying business there and wearing Birkenstocks. Oliver and Nathaniel are in high school now and Margaret is 11 years old. They are still living on the North Shore of Chicago in Winnetka, lIl., where her husband Russell is working in biotechnology with a startup, and April is now a flower farmer and orchardist with a new project called the Backyard Flower Lab. She is building a greenhouse, writing, growing beautiful things and appreciating being outside every chance she gets.

Janine Schofield’s oldest daughter, Victoria, is a firstyear student at Sweet Briar and living in Meta Glass just like we did 30 years ago. She says, “It is very emotional to be able to visit and experience Sweet Briar again with fresh eyes. So much has changed but so much is the same! Paul and I visit every chance we can, we stay at the Elston Inn and walk the campus and especially the Dairy Loop. My two other children are in high school and my youngest is finishing up his last year of elementary school.”

Lindsay Mactavish Vogt is living west of Minneapolis, with her husband, two feisty young daughters, and their five-yearold American foxhound rescue, Homer. They moved there in 2016 from Harrisburg, Pa. Being an East coast native, she’s been able to adjust to the Midwest where the people are so nice, and the winters are way too long. Lindsay has learned to appreciate winter sports like cross-country skiing, biking, and snowshoe running on frozen Lake Minnetonka. She feels fortunate to have finally found a nearby stable and trainer that she really likes, and she has been having a blast getting back in the saddle! No new horse prospects yet, but that’s definitely one of her goals. Lindsay says, “My girls are in second and fifth grade Spanish-immersion, spend a ridiculous

amount of time playing ice hockey, therefore, I’m in the ice rink several days a week year-round cheering them on!” She continues to work for the same Harrisburg, Pa.,-based company since 2008, and have been doing that full-time from her home office ever since moving to Minnesota.

Mary Margaret Dixon Biss, Andy, and Anna are back in Skaneateles, N.Y., after living in Australia for two years. She is working in the front office at a PK-2nd grade school and LOVES it. She says, “I am hugged every day!” Mary Margaret saw Hilary Carlson Katerberg in DC over the summer and had a great time catching up. They are planning to take the kids to SBC next summer for a visit… they were very interested to know more about the ghost of Daisy!

Elizabeth Groves Aycock organized Baltimore’s Sweet Briar Days event at a local brewery. She says it was a fun group of alumnae ranging from 1979–2010. She’s happy to say the 90s represented with the bulk of attendees from ’92, ’93, and ’96. Rachel Cooper Gray was also there so it was good to see her. “This was the first in-person Baltimore event in forever, so it was fun to get together again and as a marker of a good event, it went on for longer than I would have guessed!”

Jennifer Smith Rucker tells me, “Life is great in Richmond!

The fall of 2022 was super busy!

I’ve enjoyed reconnecting with alumnae as the Co-Chair of Governance for the AAC. Sarah Reidy and Jane Dure ’82 have been extremely helpful as well as the other members and co-chairs with my transition, thank you Vixens! Visiting the campus in the fall for our Leadership Meeting was so very special!

Loved catching up with Kerri Rawlings Burtner ’97 and getting the wonderful updates on her beautiful family. We laughed a lot about our time on Reid 2nd floor!

I am honored to serve in this role and look forward to finding other ways to support our college. I had the opportunity to hang out with Yolanda Davis Saunders and an amazing group of Amherst High Class of 1992 classmates to pull off our 30th high school reunion!

It was a blast! We have shared so

86 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

many memories together since childhood—a true blessing. In my new role in Henrico County Public Schools I’ve had the opportunity to connect and work alongside Katie Niemeier Smith ’05. Daily, we are reminded that our Sweet Briar education has prepared us for the challenges we face on a daily basis. We will continue to do what is in the best interest of all the students and families we serve.”

Sarah Reidy Ferguson says, “Super fun getting a chance to visit with classmates in the fall and looking forward to more visits in the spring! I’ve been busy helping my clients strengthen their social media channels.”

I am still living in Pawleys Island, S.C., and work as a proofreader. I traveled to Wales in May to pick up Bella (19) from Aberystwyth University and we had a wonderful time exploring Cornwall. I have loved learning about sailing and traveling to regattas as my son Stevie (15) explores his passion for sailing. Charlie (12) makes me so happy when he plays Led Zeppelin and James Taylor on his guitar. Jonathan (H-SC ’96) and I traveled back to the UK with Bella in the fall and explored the Cotswolds before returning Bella to Wales. I have been working on our genealogy and volunteering in my spare time. I was very lucky to see my dear classmates Jesse Durham Strauss, Sarah Reidy Ferguson, April Collins Potterfield, Jen Beck Locke, Janeen Sharma, Rachel Baltus Price, and Catharine King Laufer in November on Tybee Island. I would like to thank our class leaders and all our sisters for supporting Sweet Briar and each other. Through your support, our class led the 1990s participation bracket for the sixth straight year!

It’s wonderful keeping up with you all!

1998 Cyndi Hague Hineline 1613 Finefrock Road Fremont, Ohio 43420 cyndi.hineline@gmail.com MaryLea Martin Harris: Geoff and I have had an exciting year here in our little corner of Bend,

Ore.! We purchased Solaire Homebuilders, Central Oregon’s original green and sustainable custom homebuilder. It is rewarding to continue the founders’ legacy and carry it into the next generation. Bonus: it’s fun to work together every day! Our oldest daughter Emma (20) is a sophomore at the Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon. Claire (16) is a sophomore in high school. I’m still showing my art regularly and fostering kittens for our Humane Society. We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in August.

Laura Fitton Pieper: I have a new job and career after being a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years, and a newspaper journalist for 10 years before that. I am now the youth services librarian at the library here in town and I absolutely love it! My son, Jacob, is in fifth grade and obsessed with computers. And Nathane and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in June!

Fionna Matheson is completing her 19th year as a commissioned officer in the NOAA Corps (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). After serving as Chief of Marine Operations-Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, Va. For three years, in December 2021 she was transferred to Honolulu, Hawaii, where she took command of the NOAA ship Oscar Elton Sette.

She joined the ranks of senior officers several years ago when she was promoted to the rank of full Commander. Currently, Fionna is in Seattle for several months while her ship is in dry-dock for some major repairs and upgrades. She’s going to take some leave in February and get back to the East Coast to visit family in New England and the many friends she has in the D.C. area.

Cynthia Bumgardner Puckett: I’m still battling metastatic melanoma and using Keytruda. My kids are doing great! I am not going to be at Reunion because my daughter is graduating high school!

Remember in 1994 we did that?

How quickly 25 years went!

Anne Smith Culver: I am still teaching art at a small private school in Chesterfield, Va. (my 13th year). My oldest daughter graduated college and is teaching theater at the

Class Notes

1998

1. Ann-Claire Wackenhut Kasten with sister Sophie Wackenhut Szymanski ’02 and brother Eloi Wackenhut in Atlanta, Thanksgiving 2022. 2. Anne-Claire Wackenthut Kasten with sister Céleste Wackenhut ’08 in Richmond, October 2022. 3. Chantel Bartlett ’98 and daughter, Reese.

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same school as me. My second oldest daughter is working on her nursing degree at Longwood University, and my son is a senior in high school (also at the school where I teach). My husband, Brian (VMI ’98), and I have been hosting international students from China for the past six years.

We have four right now—two girls and two boys, with the youngest in seventh grade, and he will be living with us until he graduates.

Over Christmas, Andrea Sheetz McCarney and I joined the SBC Richmond Alumnae group to visit the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. It was nice to catch up and get together with the ladies.

Kelly Bowman Greenwood: I’ve been active in organizing the California Alumnae Club, which is holding monthly state-wide zoom meetings to coordinate events and recruiting. Dana Bordvick Poleski came out to visit in August and we took a fun selfie at the Legion of Honor museum with the Golden Gate bridge in the background. Sophie Simonard ’97 and her husband Aaron and son Lucien came to visit in November. I’m looking forward to coming back to campus for Reunion.

Diana Jordan Avery: My daughter is graduating from the Center for Humanities for Henrico County this spring and is excited to have been accepted to the Class of ’27 at the University of Vermont. Go Catamounts!

My son is excited to have been accepted to the Class of ’27 at the Center for Engineering for Henrico County for high school next fall. I earned a promotion at

work recently and am currently figuring out what my title will be.

We celebrated Christmas with a family cruise to the Caribbean this year and had a wonderful time! We will be taking the kids to Iceland for Spring Break— crossing our fingers that we’ll get to see the Northern Lights.

Summer will be extremely busy with travel for ice skating as well as vacationing. Later this summer my daughter and I are finally taking that European trip we were planning for the summer of 2020—Paris, Copenhagen, and Oslo, here we come! Looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion in June!

Anne-Claire Wackenhut Kasten: I am in my 10th year back at Capitol Hill Day School (out of 23 years in the field of education)—still teaching Second Grade. Despite that steadiness, I do have some changes to report.

Our family moved out of the District of Columbia and over the moat to Arlington in August of 2021. We love our neighborhood!

The kids are growing up fast: Jacques is in middle school (sixth grade), Gen is in third grade, and Felix is in Kindergarten. Scott completed his PhD in History and graduated from Johns Hopkins last May. I haven’t seen too many SBC sisters outside of my own two flesh and blood ones, Sophie Wackenhut Szymanski ’02 and Celeste Wackenhut ’08, but I had a lovely phone catch up with Kindle Samuel last spring and I did have the pleasure of connecting with Devon Vasconcellos Bijansky ’99 when she and her husband Steve were visiting

DC during cherry blossom season. Can’t wait till reunion—hope to see everyone there!

Chantel Bartlett: I left my job of ten years working with the home building and remodeling industry to follow a former boss now working for an association that promotes the manufacturing industry. I work fulltime from home, which has been an absolute blessing. I truly don’t stress about work any longer! I

1998

don’t miss the 82mi roundtrip commute three days a week at all.

I do miss the members I used to work for, but I have kept in touch with many of them. I create digital and in-person programs that engage our members and attract (hopefully) future members. I [will] travel several times a year for conferences and to go into our HQ outside of Detroit. I’ve been using our Vixen network with Jessica Bozymowski ’99, as she lives near my HQ. Reese is two and a half years old, going on 16!

She’s my absolute joy, but also a handful at times. She’s obsessed with singing, dancing, ballet class, balloons, stickers, coloring and playing on her scooter (pink & green, of course) that Santa brought. She’ll be joining me for our Reunion. Gotta introduce them young... I had the absolute joy of having Kim Izquierdo visit for a few days and we rang in the New Year together. I keep in close contact with Candice Broughton Maillard, Anna Meres Wade, and Andrea Robinson Kubler ’00.

I hope to see MANY of you at our 25th reunion!

Cyndi Hague Hineline: On Halloween 2022, I started a new

1. Sophie Simonard ’97 and son Lucien in a Redwood tree (photo by Kelly Bowman Greenwood ’98).

2. Devon Vasconcellos Bijansky ’99 and Anne-Claire Wackenhut Kasten in Arlington, Spring 2022. 3. Kelly Bowman Greenwood ’98 and Dana Bordvick Poleski ’98 in San Francisco, August 2022.

4. Kelly Bowman Greenwood ’98 and Sophie Simonard ’97.

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Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 87

Class Notes position as a Deputy Clerk in the Juvenile Court of Sandusky County, Ohio, and settled in quite quickly! I am still a member of the Toledo Opera Chorus and the Firelands Symphony Orchestra Chorale (based in Sandusky, Ohio), and by the time of this publication, will have done several concerts this season.

Shawn and I celebrated our 18th anniversary in November, and I ask myself every day how time moves so fast! We traveled quite a bit in 2022, visiting colleges with Alex (16), who will become a Fighting/Marching Scot at The College of Wooster this coming fall… bagpipes are in his future!

I was thankfully able to get back to Sweet Briar for 2022 Founders Day, but Alex’s high school graduation is, sadly, the same weekend as Reunion this year. I will be missing everyone else in attendance!

2000 Amanda Atkinson 709 Cedar Grove Rd. Broomall, Pa. 19008 amanda.atkinson@gmail.com Heather Carson: I celebrated my first anniversary with revolutionary, women-owned skincare company, Droplette, directing their payroll. Brian and I are celebrating six years together. We finally finished the reno of the multifamily building we manage, and look forward to not moving again, ever. We lost our beardie, Brienne, but Feline Overlord, Arya still reigns. Both of my nieces and my stepson enjoy college and high school. My dad continues to do well navigating life as a widower. I enjoy swapping nerdy science memes with Amy Hess Snawder and Heather Thomas Armbruster ’98 and snark with Alex Sienkiewicz Auer ’99. Vixens welcome when in Boston.

Elizabeth Hamshaw: I am living in Keene, N.H., with my two boys, Evan (13) and Simon (11), along with our dog and three cats. I run an equine supply business called The Cheshire Horse, along with our wonderful team of employees. What began as a small, family-run store has

2002 Amanda Stevens (Davis) 4115 Vista Way Davis, Calif. 95618 stevens.amandaR@gmail.com

2000

1. Ashley Hill at the Myopia Thanksgiving Hunt at Appleton Farms, Hamilton, MA. 2. Bénédicte Valentin Lamothe and family.

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since expanded into a nationwide business (www.cheshirehorse. com). In 2020, I helped with the founding of a new K-12 public school in Keene—www. gatheringwaterscharter.org— which serves 300 students and offers a curriculum in arts, outdoor education and service to the larger community. Currently, I’m looking forward to ski season with my boys!

Kim Harden Fella: Kim changed jobs last summer—still a high school counselor, but changed school districts and now works at Peach County High School in Fort Valley, Ga. Chad retired from the Navy in November 2020 and currently works part-time as a technology specialist at one of our local Macon, Ga., high schools. We enjoyed travelling again after COVID contained us stateside for two years—spent a month in June 2022 visiting Greece, Sicily and Sardinia in Italy, and northeastern Spain (Barcelona, Rioja wine region, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Andorra, and the Pyrenees). Hoping for more travels abroad in summer 2023!

Anne Ryan Sinnott Craig: I am still working as the Assistant Principal at St. Luke school in McLean, Va. I am excited that I will receive my masters in educational administration and leadership in May. My four children Abbey (16), Colin (9), Jane (6), and Tatum (3) keep me busy.

Interestingly, one of colleagues is an SBC grad, and we love talking about all the traditions and fun.

Benedicte Valentine Lamothe: After seven years in Castres, we moved to Pau in the south-west of France in 2018 (1h15 from Atlantic beaches,

88 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

and 1h15 from Pyrenees ski resorts). I’ve been working as a communications officer for the local university for almost two years. Our three sons are doing well, Remi in 11th grade, Paul in eighth and Clement in sixth. In 2023 we will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary!

Ashley Hill: My husband and I are looking forward to our fifth wedding anniversary this year. We welcomed a new mini-Aussie puppy at Thanksgiving which has been keeping us busy this winter. I am currently working as a landscape designer for a small firm in Hamilton, Mass. I still try to ride as often as my schedule allows, which included foxhunting sidesaddle for the first time this year!

Amanda Ankerman Miller: I am living life at a breakneck pace with three small children and a full-time career in Oakton, Va. We’re also dealing with serious eldercare issues, the life of the sandwich generation!

Evangeline Easterly Taylor: I am in charge of official visitors to the U.S. Consulate Istanbul, Türkiye, including congressional visits. Saturdays we play world wide trivia against other embassies and consulate teams around the world and Amy Hess Snawder is on our “Byzanteam.”

Last fall my son had s’mores with Amanda Ankerman Miller’s three children.

Amanda Atkinson: In August I started a new job as director of residential communities at Swarthmore College. As always, I enjoy hearing all the news from my classmates. It’s a great way to start each new year.

It was inspiring for us all to have Maria Thacker Goethe represent our class as the 2022 SBC commencement speaker. She is the president and CEO for the Center for Global Health Innovation and Georgia Bio, and sits on a number of Boards, all while raising her adorable daughter Cece with her husband Patrick.

Heather Minor Gelormine and her family have been living in Winchester, Va., since 2017.

She works for an agency within the Department of Justice as a certified adjunct faculty member/lead trainer and in Process Improvement within her division, which processes FOIA requests. She volunteers on her son, Anthony’s, high school band booster club executive board and as a marching band chaperone.

Her daughter, Brenna, graduated from high school last spring and is attending The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., majoring in public policy.

Heather & her husband, Tony, celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary this past summer.

Katie McNamara Brown has been enjoying the challenges of her Navy cyber career and raising kids with her husband Adam Leary. She spends many weekends traveling to her daughter’s dance competitions and checking out the local sights and attractions. Katie enjoyed seeing classmates at our 20th reunion and hopes to connect in person with alums at local events in the near future.

Aja Grosvenor-Stephens wants to report she saw a bald eagle, numerous elk, happy deer and antelope in Montana last September thanks to classmate Arney Walker. Unfortunately, her bucket list animal, the moose, continues to elude her. She kindly requests, if you have suggestions on where to see a moose, please get in touch.

Liz McCracken Waring and her family are still in Boone, N.C. She enjoys teaching dance at Ap-

Class Notes palachian State University, Chris is still a family med doctor, and Isadora (13) and Athena (10) keep her busy with swim team and reading incredibly large library books that they finish in two days. Liz has discovered a passion for baking over the past few years and baked 85 desserts in 2022… and even sold a few of them! She is also dancing at a local studio and the entire family is excited about traveling internationally over the next couple years. (PEI & Italy here they come!)

Amy Mullen enjoyed seeing everyone at our 20th reunion.

She also had a mini reunion in October with fellow 2002 classmates—Arney Walker, Ashley Trantham Saunders, Aja Grosvenor-Stephens, Tia Trout-Perez and Jee Yon Pae. Amy is still illustrating on the side. Her newest clients include Felt (@feltapp) and Cricut (Design Space).

Amy Adams has transitioned from 20 years in Federal Govt projects to Commercial projects and is on a Chief of Staff team at Microsoft. She mentors young women entering the IT/engineering field and supports many of the Microsoft Accessibility efforts. After eight years of applying, this fall she was selected as a planDisney Panelist for 2023!

She is thrilled to help others in planning Disney vacations in this

2002

dream-come-true role. Check out plandisney.com and @plandisneypanel on IG. Brook Tucker Buck completed her first year as an Operating Room Education Specialist, onboarding about 120 travelers and 47 permanent employees, including her first two groups of new graduate nurses!

Her son, James (7), is now in first grade. Brook’s husband Trey, is still at IBM. They had a great time going on an inaugural sailing on Disney’s newest cruise ship, the Wish in October.

It wasn’t as full of Halloween as Brook would have liked, but James didn’t mind! Can’t wait to see where they go this year!

Anya Moon, her husband Kendric, and their daughters Viola and Louisa, relocated from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Burlington, Ontario, Canada in mid-December. Anya has taken a position as Associate Psychologist and Co-Director of Clinical Training at the Mindful Living Centre.

They have been settling in and getting to know their new neighborhood. Visitors are welcome!

Mary Tassone Dunlevy reports life as a single mom and teacher (eighth grade English) is keeping her busy in Cold Spring, Ky. Both her daughters, Ariana (12) and Lorien (9), are dancers.

Ariana has also taken up cross country running and swim

1. Amy Gardner Adams Visiting Microsoft’s Corporate Campus in Redmond, WA. 2. Amy Gardner Adams as a Disney Panelist, 2023—Walt Disney World Resort and Disney Cruise Line specialties. 3. Ashley Trantham Saunders, Aja Grosvenor-Stephens, Joanna Mullen and Amy Mullen at Reunion 2022.

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team. In her spare time, Mary continues to build her art skills, especially drawing and painting.

Lorien just requested painting lessons from her mom, which is the highest praise Mary could receive. After so many years of living far away, she finds it wonderful to live close to family, including her nephew Roman and new niece Iris (eight months) in nearby Cincinnati.

Jaime Henna ventured beyond her pandemic bubble to attend our 20th reunion, and she is so glad she did. In September, she traveled to Chicago, Ill., where she did a Segway tour, visited the Field Museum and Garfield Park Conservatory, and ate much good food. She’d go to Chicago again— at a warmer time of year.

Kathy Pierce attended reunion in June, and reports that seeing everyone, sleeping in a dorm again and lounging at the boathouse felt like home, even after all these years. *Hugs Ladies*. From there she traveled the country by herself, she took a bus, train, plane, boat, Uber, walked, regular taxi, passenger in vehicle and drove a rental car.

It was a lot of fun. Other than that, her year has been full of Veterinary appointments for her roughly 100 pets (she’s rounding down). Kathy decided she was grown up enough to be a dog mom so she adopted a blind, three-year-old dog, named Yoshi.

He has since gotten cataract surgery on both eyes and now has 100% dog eyesight they say.

So, these days he can be found chasing squirrels like a bull in a China shop. At the time of the class notes submission, she also has a two and a half year old cat, named Alfie, who’s currently fighting for his life with FIP. So, Kathy is giving daily injections and remaining hopeful.

Rachel Roth Allred and husband Toby celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary last August. She left her teaching position in PG County, Md., last July after teaching there for 16 years to accept a teaching position closer to home in Howard County. Rachel is teaching fifth grade in Laurel, Md., and is back to teaching all subjects. She is loving the shorter commute, and recently joined the HCPSS employee chorus.

Rachel became a stewardship

co-chair for the Class of 2002 this past fall. She and her husband are looking forward to celebrating her daughter’s 13th birthday later this year.

Arney Walker is still planning luxury weddings all over the US and abroad. This year, she traveled to London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Florence, Mexico, and multiple states across the US. She has also spent lots of time with her SBC Class of 2002 friends and was sad to not make it to reunion.

And as for myself, Amanda Stevens (Davis), I am living in Davis, Calif., with my husband Isaac, and kids Lizzie (12) and Graham (10). I am a partner in my law firm, with a practice focused on large property loss subrogation, including wildfire litigation. In my free time I find joy in endurance running and kicked of my 2023 season with the Napa Valley Half Marathon in March. I’m always looking for new fun running destinations and would love your suggestions.

2004 Ginny Wood Susi 2929 Dorell Ave Orlando, Fla. 32814 ginnysusi@gmail.com Ginny Wood Susi is still living in Orlando. She now lives down the street from Lisa Renfrow ’03 who recently moved cross country to enjoy the two hurricanes of this year. Both Ginny and Lisa suffered no flooding and no significant damage. Ginny and husband Phil have three children: Evie (11), Nick (7), and Jameson (4).

Sara Gredler and cat Scooter moved to Fort Collins, Colo., in 2022, after buying a house sightunseen! She is both a Certified Genealogist and Accredited Genealogist and works on solving family history problems from the Colonial era to the present day.

She serves on the board of the National Genealogical Society for a four-year term.

Diana Marshall is living in Ellsworth, Maine, starting her business Vixen Hollow Arts. Her business was featured in the Bangor Daily News on Halloween. She’s expanding

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 89

Class Notes

2004

Diana Marshall and art from her business, Vixen Hollow Arts.

her arts business into Wedding Flower Preservation this year.

She frequently sees Cassandra Babbitt ’78 who lives nearby in Orono, Maine. Diana also keeps in regular touch with Schyler Ellis Burke whose been living in Michigan.

Kate Lawson and Caroline Ogilivie finally made up for Kate’s failed attempt to visit Caroline during their Junior Year Abroad and spent a week exploring the Highlands in September.

Sarah Russ Warner and husband Wray are living in Lynchburg with their three children Graham (10), Lilah (7) and Rye (5). They have a small farm with horses, goats, chickens, ducks and whatever animal wanders on to the property. Sarah is working with the Bedford County Public Defender’s Office in mitigation and Wray is in the process of opening a restaurant on Bedford Avenue in downtown Lynchburg.

Life came full circle as Wray was recently the Executive Chef at SBC for the past several years.

The restaurant is scheduled to open in April, come visit us at Truss—2204 Bedford Avenue, Lynchburg if you are in the area!

2006 Jenny Lynn 550A E. Francis St. Williamsburg, VA 23185 sweetbriardaisy@gmail.com Dr. Shanthi Ramesh: “I’m still living in Richmond, where I’ve

been serving as the chief medical officer at the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood since 2017.

Chris and I celebrated our 10year wedding anniversary, and I recently took a final set of boards to become a complex family planning specialist. In November, Hollylane Riley, Laura Ann Toussaint, Chris Murphy, and I celebrated Alicia Gorman’s wedding on a beautiful weekend in NYC. We also reconnected with Joanna Wood’s parents who were in attendance!”

Michelle Badger: “In 2022, I finally left the country for the first time since 2020 and went on a Western Mediterranean cruise. During my work travels, I had the opportunity to see Katie Barker ’05, Lisa Renfrow ’03, and Sarah Ruff Gibson ’04. In August, I started working at Massasoit Community College as their vice president of institutional advancement after 10 years at MMA. After years of being an admission representative, I finally have two students from Plymouth at SBC! I still play adult field hockey and am on the Plymouth Public School Committee.”

Charis Chase LeaseTrevathan: “2022 has been a pretty good year. This July, Joelle Andrews and I volunteered for Sweet Work Weeks and had a blast. Hopefully we can get some more classmates to join us this summer! I’ve also made some exciting professional changes and started my own therapy practice. I’ve been providing telehealth behavioral health therapy for a few months and it is going great!”

Jenny Lynn: “I was officially accepted as a Master of Liberal Arts candidate for museum studies in extension studies at Harvard University.

I also had the opportunity to compete at the North American Irish Dance Championships in Montreal, Canada this past July and the Southern Region Oireachtas in Orlando, Fla., in December. I’m still working my way through my apprenticeship at Colonial Williamsburg. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and my journeyman papers are within reach!”

Victoria Chappell Harvey: “2022 was an incredible year!

Loved exploring our new Hawaiian home, especially finding

90 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

amazing beaches with sea turtles.

Also had the pleasure of partnering with Google to launch Hiring Our Heroes, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s newest program called Career Forward.

It has been very inspiring seeing thousands of members of the military community reskill or upskill through Google Career Certificates. Hope everyone is doing well! Come visit me on Oahu. Aloha!”

Heather-Anne Speer Oertel: “I have been living in Toledo, Ohio, with my husband and cats since 2020 and have been working for the past few years in the Disability Resource Center at Eastern Michigan University as a case manager. In Fall 2022, I began coursework for a Ph.D program at Eastern Michigan University in educational leadership. I am not yet sure of my dissertation topic but it may include leadership of women’s colleges! When I’m not busy working or studying, I participate in tae kwon do, ice skating lessons, and am also staying involved in a local choir.”

Virginia “Didi” Robinson: “I’ve been living near the beach in

2006

Tulum, Mexico for the last seven years. The pandemic closed the small international school where I was teaching and serving as academic director, so I’ve now run my own private tutoring & teaching company. I live with a roommate and three cats and spend most of my free time dancing salsa & bachata. I’m happy to play tour guide to any Vixens wanting to visit!”

Jennifer Wiley Schmidt: “A year ago Meg Shortlidge and I started hitting the pavement hard as we ramped up training for the Glacier Park Half Marathon. In July 2022, we crushed it! “There’s nothing that you cannot do!”

Jodi Weber Kavanaugh: “In May 2021, my husband and I bought a horse farm outside of Richmond. The original plan was to lease part of the barn to another professional, but people were reaching out to see if I was planning to get back into teaching and training. In July 2022, we officially launched Not Forgotten Farm where our mission is to help people get better with horses.

We operate as a small community-based lesson, training, and boarding farm.”

1. Jennifer Wiley Schmidt and Meg Shortlidge crushing the Glacier Park Half Marathon. 2. Julie Drake Jamal’s family. 3. Hollylane Riley, Shanthi Ramesh, Alicia Gorman now Vogt, Chris Murphy and Laura Ann Toussaint at Alicia’s New York City Wedding in November 2022.

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Class Notes Henslee Evans Elliott is currently teaching Art at a private school in Charleston, S.C. She has been teaching art camps and art workshops through her business Charleston Art Workshop for the past few years. She recently expanded it to offer Art birthday parties and launched a new website (www. charlestonartworkshop.com).

Henslee and her husband, Van, welcomed identical twin boys, Alden Rudy and Fulton Rutledge, in 2020. They also have a fouryear-old pug named Pearl.

2008 Jessica Latray-Wilson 122 Berkshire Place Lynchburg, VA 24502 henson08@sbc.edu Jessica Latray-Wilson: My husband Mike and I are living in Lynchburg with our three children: Michael (12), Adalaide (9), and Rosalie (7). Both of my girls are competitive dancers and aspire to be future vixens! I recently made a career shift and am loving being a Realtor with Austin James Realty. I continue to homeschool my children and teach private pilates lessons.

I’m so excited to reconnect with everyone at our 15 year Reunion!

Katie Tipton Wilson: My husband, Brad, and I moved to Raleigh, N.C., in the summer of 2021. We love North Carolina and hope to connect with alumnae in the Triangle area. We had a lovely visit with Eleanor O’Connor (SBC ’07) last summer and I look forward to being back at Sweet Briar to see everyone for our 15th reunion in June!

Amanda Wisz Keener: In 2022, my husband and I finalized the adoption of two kids, Kayden (8) and Khaleesi (6). We had been fostering them since 2021. Added to our biological son, Jonathan (5), we’re now a family of five, plus a new dog named Tawny. We are still living in Littleton, Colo., where I work as a part time freelance science journalist. My husband, Justin works at a nearby cancer center as a medical physicist.

Laurel Sanders Berry: I completed a fellowship in

2008

1. Jessica Latray-Wilson’s Real Estate Company Photo. 2. Jessica Wilson and her family at Disney World. 3. Katie Tipton Wilson with her family. 4. Chelsea Capizzi-Walsh (2008) communing with the only friendly animal in Australia—the Quokka! 5. Ellie Donahue: My husband and I ‘completed’ restoring a historic 1790 home in Charles City County. It’s called River Edge. It took years of dreaming, planning and work. We’re thrilled to be enjoying it!

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gynecologic oncology and am now on faculty at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem where I operate on and treat women diagnosed with gynecologic malignancies and/or complex pelvic disease at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital. My husband, Christopher Berry HSC ’07, and I have two daughters—Emory Claire (7) and Madison Nichole (4). We can’t wait to bring them to Sweet Briar for my next reunion!

Virginia Moncure Jamerson: Since my last submission, my family has moved to Richmond, and added a future Vixen to our family in December of 2020, Elizabeth “Besty” Page Jamerson. Betsy’s Godmother is SBC alumna, Sarah McLemore.

Ellie Donahue Boyd: My husband and I ‘completed’ restoring a historic 1790 home in Charles City County. It’s called River Edge. It took years of dreaming, planning and work.

We’re thrilled to be enjoying it!

Meg Hammock: Meg started a new position this fall as a copywriter for ad agency The Flint Group. She’s back in Atlanta, and keeps up regularly with Heather Bowen, Megan Manubay, Chelsea Capizzi-

Walsh, Amelia Villacorta Lojek and Mary Pat Jones Rodriguez, along with keeping busy with the other fabulous Atlanta alumnae!

After some significant back injuries, she’s happy to report she’s also back riding regularly.

Meg was recently recognized by the American Red Cross for her significant volunteer contributions.

Anna Kay Matejka: Anna eloped in 2021! Virginia Wilson Hart laced her into the gown. Anna and her husband Brian John Cleary celebrated one year of marriage in 2022.

Anna also published a children’s book written by her mother Janet Matejka. Kitty In The Snow is available in ebook and hardcover format from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Jessica Latray-Wilson created a plushie to match!

2010 Victoria Nilsson vgnilsson@gmail.com Sydney Davis Cope married her soulmate, Zeb Cope (HSC ’12) in

Charlotte, N.C., in May 2018. They relocated back home to Richmond, in Nov. 2020. In June 2022, they welcomed their daughter, Elizabeth Scarlett.

Rev. Jasmine M.D. Jones currently living in Baltimore, Md., recently turned 35 and is building the life of her dreams as she intersects her passions for dance, faith, and food.

Tina-Rose Tolpa McGuire started a new job at Ferguson in 2021 as a Sales Project Manager in the Plant division. Tina-Rose is really enjoying the new role within the water/wastewater industry. Tina-Rose also moved to a new home with some land in western Powhatan summer of 2022. Tina-Rose is very excited for the new adventure!

Courtney Hurt lives in Williamsburg, Va., in an old tavern with her two cats where she works at William & Mary as Associate Director of Student Philanthropy. She joined the Alumnae Alliance Council in fall of ’22 as an Operations co-chair.

Shoutout to her wonderful council members and lots of love to her badass co-chair Michelle Badger ’06! Courtney was able to visit campus in September 2022 to see the renovations courtesy of

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Class Notes

2010

1. Molly Fenn McLemore; Lindsay Arnold; Andria Pasquel; Jane Wiley; Tina-Rose McGuire Tolpa; Lindsey Aurigemma Davis; and Natasha Boraas, at Rosie Louis’ baby shower. 2. Elizabeth Scarlett Cope, daughter of Sydney Davis Cope (’10) and Zeb Cope (HSC ’12), born June 9, 2022.

3. Alle Taylor (’10) and Rachael Vaughan (’10) pose with Sarah Maroney (’10) at her wedding in October 2022. 4. Tania Salas: “I started a micro bakery with my husband in 2020, and after 2.5 years of growing our business in farmer’s markets and wholesale, we’ve signed a lease for our own Brick and Mortar!

Flour Your Dreams Bakery & Café should be opening this summer in Nashville.”

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1. Jennifer Lundy ’10, Ashleigh Caisse Bain ’10, and Kirsten Miller ’10 visiting SBC. 2. Annabelle Rose Louis daughter of Rosie Louis (Morgan) ’10 and John Louis was born on October 14, 2022. 3. Melissa Ramos Jacklin: Virginia (2) holding her baby brother Brooks.

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the Class of ’72. She also learned of Nanci Jean Hay Mahoney’s ’54 gracious legacy to SBC which included a bear. Stay Fierce!

Tania Salas started a micro bakery with her husband in 2020.

After two and a half years of growing their business at farmer’s markets and in wholesale, they have signed a lease for their own brick and mortar! Flour Your Dreams Bakery & Café should be opening this summer ’23 in Nashville.

For Mary Elizabeth Hubert Bartlett, 2022 was the BEST year! Mary Elizabeth and Bart welcomed their first child in Feb., Arden Renée. Bart earned his paramedic license and Mary Elizabeth earned her bachelors in Nursing. Buck and Darla (the family dogs) have also brought endless amounts of joy to the Bartletts’ daily lives.

Kristen Miller started her second undergraduate degree in Healthcare Administration with Mercy College of Ohio this last fall, and will continue earning a Masters of Healthcare Administration in 2024. Kristen also had a wonderful visit to SBC in September with fellow classmates Ashleigh Caisse Bain and Jennifer Lundy!

Rosie Morgan and John Louis (HSC ’09) welcomed their daughter, Annabelle Rose Louis in October 2022. Rosie was joined by her classmates, Molly McLemore Fenn, Lindsay Arnold, Andria Pasquel, Jane Wiley, Tina-Rose Tolpa McGuire, Lindsey David Aurigemma, and Natasha Boraas, at her baby shower.

Melissa Ramos Jacklin and her husband, Nick, welcomed a baby boy. Brooks North Jacklin was born in October 2022. Big sister Virginia is thrilled with her baby brother and everyone is doing well as a new family of four!

This fall, Amelie Drake Smucker returned to Sweet Briar as Field Placement Coordinator and Adjunct Instructor in the Teacher Education Program.

Amelie and her husband relocated from Williamsburg, and are now living on campus. They love being back, and it has been an absolute honor to work with the next generation of SBC grads!

Meredith Paysinger Hart opened her own interior design shop this past fall, House of Birdie Interiors. Meredith has

been running her own business since 2018, and am excited to offer a full-service interior design studio for people to shop. Meredith named the store after her daughter, Emma Birdie, who just turned three years old. Meredith’s son Walter is five and will be starting kindergarten in the fall.

2012 Alexandra St. Pierre Alexandra.StPierre17@gmail.com Khristian Salters KhristianSalters@gmail.com Lindsey Arnett is feeling very accomplished after completing a woodworking project, a shelf for her kitchen that took five years to complete. Her fur-babies are content and appeased the vast majority of the time. Lindsey is rediscovering a love for art.

In the past year, she has been persevering through family change, understanding how seeds are planted, searching for peace and balance, and Earth’s need for excessive amounts of snow in winter seasons.

Isabella Davidovich and her husband, Alexander Davidovich (H-SC ’12) celebrated their first year back in Florida. Their daughter Madison recently turned two years-old. Isabella completed a successful season with the Junior League of Miami.

Her husband, Alexander, has been enjoying his new job. The couple plans to stay in Florida for a long time. They currently reside in the Doral/Miami area.

Caroline Heltzel Overstreet and her husband, Frank, are still stationed in Mississippi. Caroline has been enjoying her own business (Overstreet Organizing) and being able to serve others.

Since moving to Mississippi, Caroline has connected with several alumnae including Keri Falk ’11 and Kathleen Schutze ’73.

Caroline would love to have you stop by for a visit if you ever plan to travel down I-20.

Cortney Lewandowski officially moved into her new townhouse as of February 2022.

Cortney loves living close to a multitude of beaches and has even caught up with fellow Sweet

Class Notes Huntington Learning Center in Herndon, Va., for over one and a half years. It has been going well! On a different note, my family lost our beloved four and a half-year-old Bernese Mtn Dog Miska to cancer on October 11th.

It was sudden and I miss her every day. On a different subject, my Dad and I changed churches to St. Matthew’s Episcopal in Sterling, Va., right before the pandemic started. Being there has been very rewarding!

Michaela Bryant: Michaela’s daughter, Amber, turns three this year. She celebrates her two beautiful daughters with her husband, Thomas Van Clief, H-SC ’13.

2016 Julia Ecksteine eckstine16@sbc.edu

2012

1. Alumnae gathering in Wilmington, NC in April 2022; from left to right: Mary Ames Booker ’82, Karen Gonya Nickles ’86, Elizabeth (Lisa) Etz Picken ’86, Ingrid Weirick Squires ’86, Britt K. Sheinbaum ’98, Cortney Lewandowski ’12, Elizabeth Perkinson Simmons ’78, and Scarlett Swain ’98. 2. Isabella Davidovich, husband and daughter at the Miami Zoo. 3. Cortney Lewandowski standing in front of her newly constructed townhouse in Leland, NC. CLOCKWISE

Briar alumnae in Wilmington, N.C. Cortney is looking at ways to revitalize the local alumnae club.

In 2022, she attended her 10-year class reunion and Leadership Conference. She recently completed her recertification as a Certified Dermatology Technician in October 2022.

2014 Katherine Jane Wood 115 Blincoe Lane Charlottesville, VA 22902 Katherinejanedecker@gmail.com Kati Wood: Kati and her husband, Garrett took their long-anticipated honeymoon in Paris.

She also mourns the loss of her grandmother, Patricia T. Davey, who loved Sweet Briar, as much as Kati did.

Sabrina Graybill Marth: Sabrina received her Master of Science in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Forensic Psychology in 2022, and is thrilled to have completed the program with a 4.0 GPA. She currently works with her local Department of Social Services as a child welfare case manager, and lives in Forest, Va., with her husband, stepdaughter, and two diva dogs.

Royal Montgomery: Royal Montgomery graduated from the Unversity of Kentucky in May 2022 with her Master’s degree in Library Science. She has relocated to her home state of Florida.

Kaitin Schaal: This year Kaitin received her Ph.D. in evolutionary biology. After living in Switzerland for eight years, she is off to the United Kingdom for a postdoc position, continuing in academic research.

Natalie Dubishar: I have been working at my new job at

Shannon McCarthy currently works as a Marketing Specialist at George Mason University. She recently completed a dual marketing certification, finishing in the top 3% of her class. She continues to explore the mysterious and unknown while cohosting a weekly podcast, ‘This Podcast Doesn’t Exist’, with Emma Kiely-Hampson. They would love to hear your spooky stories, so please listen and write in!

Madeline Artibee is currently completing research in Croatia as a Fulbright scholar.

Her research documents the recovery efforts after a devastating

2016

earthquake in Zagreb, Croatia.

After the Fulbright, she will finish her Ph.D. In Public History at Middle Tennessee State University and continue working in historic preservation and disaster response. She and her husband, Stasha Bakliza, are expecting their first child due in April.

2018 Cassandra Fenton Flat 6, The Pantile Westbourne Grove Bristol BS1 3ER, U.K. fenton18@sbc.edu Paige Chamblin: This summer I went on a European tour where I was able to explore Berlin, Prague, Poland, Milan, Monaco, and Nice. The highlight of the tour was when my partner, Abhishek Shelar (UVA ’17), proposed to me at the Jardin Exotique overlooking the French Riveria in Ezé, France. We are currently living in the Bay Area where we enjoy hiking the redwoods, exploring the coastline, and trying new restaurants. We are ready to celebrate our love story with family and friends on June 3, 2023 with a wedding near my hometown of Peoria, Ill. After the wedding, we will head to our reception in Abhishek‘s hometown of Pune, India. Let the Shelar-bration begin!

Cassie Fenton: 2022 was a busy year! I submitted my thesis

1. Madeline Artibee in Croatia. 2. Shannon McCarthy, ’16 co-hosts a mystery podcast that covers eerie topics like the Presidents’ down in Williamsburg. She would love to read some SBC ghost stories from alumnae, so please write in! (Credit: Kim Kiely Photography) LEF T TO RIGHT

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 93

Class Notes in September, passed my viva examination, and will graduate from the University of Bristol with an M.Phil. in musicology in February 2023. I am still loving life in Bristol and recently started a job in one of the university libraries. I came back to the U.S. and visited SBC at the start of October, where I was lucky enough to give a guest lecture on medieval English chant notations to one of Prof. Joshua Harris’s music classes—it was wonderful to see campus and talk with current students!

April Boyd Hastings: On Feb. 23, 2022, our son Watson Hastings was born. He is the light of our lives and sharing the world with him is our greatest joy. In June, I was promoted to a compliance consultant position at Novant Health and we recently relocated just north of Raleigh, N.C. for my husband’s job.

Leyte McNealus: I moved back to Vermont and am coaching U16 ski racing for Mt. Mansfield Academy in Stowe, Vt.

I have been so excited to join kids on snow and in the gym!

Julia Rhinehart: This was really a year for the books! In February I was in Spain for a month doing spay and neuter charity work when I fell in love with and adopted a street dog (Paella). I graduated vet school from the Royal Veterinary College then took six months to backpack around several Greek islands and parts of Indonesia.

My partner, Alex proposed to me in London before I made the final move back to the U.S.—he will be joining me here soon. Then I moved to Portland, Ore. where I now practice as a Veterinarian with Torrey Schwartz ’16.

Ashton Mays Richards: This year has been full of so many exciting moments! Professionally, I was promoted to clinical team lead of two outpatient pediatric clinics—one in Roanoke and one in Rocky Mount, which has taken my nursing career to a whole new level. In my personal life, I celebrated my

first wedding anniversary with my husband, Hunter, and started the pregnancy journey of our first child. My husband, Hunter, and I welcomed our sweet girl, Raleigh Dawn Richards, to the world on February 10, 2023. Raleigh makes grandchild number 3 for her mamaw, Cathy Cash Mays ’84. We are all overflowing with joy!

Katherine Robertson went into construction field testing after graduating from SBC, working on large commercial projects at UVA, JMU, and new neighborhood developments.

During this time, she became a Grade I Concrete Field Testing Technician with the American Concrete Institute. Now as a realtor with the National Association of Realtors and associated with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Towne Realty in Virginia Beach, she spends her time focusing on clients’ needs and helping them achieve their goals. She also enjoys her free time by visiting her retired 23-year-old horse and gaining experience in renovating rental properties.

Emily Dodson Sadler: My husband Miles (H-SC ’17) and I traveled to Cheyenne, Wyo. over the summer for Frontier Days. It really was my first rodeo as I had never seen bull riding, barrel racing or any of the other events before. We had a great holiday season celebrating with both our families, and to start the new year, I travelled up to Boston. I had dinner with Jona Cumani ’18 at Lolita (the cotton candy after dinner was so unique!) and then drove down with Rachel Partington ’20 to celebrate the Boston area Sweet Briar Day. Baylee Worth ’18: I am getting married! My fiancé proposed in Paris, France in April 2022, and we are set to be married at SBC in October 2023.

2020 2018

1. Julia Rhinehart ’18 and fiance Alex, celebrating their engagement in London, England. 2. Paige Chamblin ’18 and fiance Abhishek, from their engagement photoshoot in the San Francisco Bay Area, Calif. 3. April Boyd Hastings ’18 and husband Chance pictured with their son Watson, born Feb. 2022. 4. Ashton Mays Richards, husband Hunter, and new addition, Raleigh Dawn Richards. 5. Baylee Worth ’18 and fiance Drew, pictured here at their engagement in Paris, France.

CLOCKWISE

94 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

Jordan Adams Sack 67 Cedar Lake Rd Chester, Conn. 06412 jordan.adams.sack@gmail.com Julie Horton writes, “Chris and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on Dec. 21, 2022!

If not for my dear husband, I would not have been able to graduate with my fellow 2020 sisters. It was he who drove me to school, got my wheelchair out, and pushed me to class during my junior year. He’s a real dear!

I’m a second-year teacher at Monelison Middle and the Social Studies Department chair. I have a little time for researching now, so I’m expanding my study of Vietnam War social history. Love to all my 2020 Vixens!”

On a beautiful fall day in October 2022 at Table Rock State Park, S.C., Olympia LeHota and Eddie Waitman celebrated their marriage to each other surrounded by the people they hold dearest.

Olympia’s Sweet Briar sisters: Haylei Libran officiated the wedding, Taylor Watson was the Maid of Honor, and Annika Kuleba ’21 was a Bridesmaid with Olympia’s two sisters Piper and Sam LeHota. These two will be celebrating six years of partnership this June 2023! May they lead with grace, friendship, and kindness. Holla Holla to the Waitmans!

I, Meagan Phister, am pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia. I am in my second year and am living in Charlottesville.

My research includes controlling the crystallization of organic semiconductors using tunable interfaces for use in flexible devices and solar cells applications. Outside of classes and research, I am the department’s social chair helping to plan and execute monthly happy hour and miscellaneous social events.

Amber Snyder graduated from Johns Hopkins University in December 2022 with her Master of Arts in Science Writing. She is currently working as a science writer and reporter for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Macey Stearns graduated with an MSc in Professional Human Osteoarcheology from the University of Reading.

Class Notes

2020

1. Julie Horton and husband, Chris.

2. Olympia LeHota ’20 and Eddie Waitman.

LEFT TO RIGHT

Send in your news!

New career? New baby? New adventure? Update your class secretary or visit sbc.edu/magazine to submit your notes through our online form.

Email photos with captions, subject names and class years to classnotes@sbc.edu.

2022 Annika Kuleba ajkuleba@gmail.com Caroline Czarra carolinet2000@gmail.com Meenakshi Verma started at the University of Lynchburg to earn a M.S. in public health.

Helen McCall started at Fidelity Investments as a customer relationship advocate.

She wrote “I could not have accomplished all of this without the support from the alumnae relations and development office at Sweet Briar, especially Sarah Lewis. Holla Holla, Class of 2022!”

In summer 2022, Reesa Artz completed the Disney College Program working as a merchandise intern. She competed in the National American Miss Pageant placing third runner up and won the leadership award. In January, she started at Duke University’s School of Nursing where she also works as a first-year resident advisor and union graduate assistant, co-advising a team of over 200 undergraduates. In her spare time, she volunteers at the Triangle Rabbit Rescue in Durham, N.C. See more updates from members of the classes of 2020 and 2022 in the feature article on page 34.

2022 Reesa Artz ’22 after the National American Miss National Pageant in November 2022 in Orlando, Fla., where she placed Third Runner-Up, won the overall Leadership Award and placed in the top five internationally for the community service and resume competitions.

How to Send Photos • When emailing, ensure that your email service or operating system does not shrink or compress your pictures.

• If uploading your photos to our website (sbc.edu/magazine) through our online form, please check the size of the image so we can download your photo at the highest resolution.

• Low resolution or low quality photos may not be included or may appear very small in Class Notes.

• Print of photos may be mailed to our office, but will not be returned. Please include the names of the subjects in the photo, their class years, and a caption for every single image.

Disclaimer While the Alumnae Relations and Development Office reserves the right to edit submissions for any reason, our goal is for Class Notes to represent the multitude of alumnae voices. To that end, we limit editing. Alumnae should be aware that they are submitting notes to a college publication and utilize appropriate grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice, content, and correct spellings of classmates’ names. Please be mindful that Class Notes are a place for updates and friendships but are not to be used as a political platform. The thoughts and opinions expressed in Class Notes are personal and do not reflect those of Sweet Briar College. Sweet Briar women have strong ideas and thoughts that may not be shared by all readers. Our community is a loving and accepting place for all.

Next Class Notes Deadline

(odd numbered class years only): August 18, 2023

Spring 2023 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine 95

The Last Word

Where Women

D es i gn

Lead

Decoding the Alumnae Magazine This fall, alumnae magazine staff decided it was time to repackage the look of the alumnae magazine to better fit the messages contained within it. Working with the vast archives of alumnae magazines dating back to the 1930s (and even consulting its predecessor, the Alumnae Bulletin), we found inspiration right here on campus.

The redesigned alumnae magazine seeks to bring fresh, relevant content to alumnae and friends while reminding readers of the many ways that Sweet Briar is unique, both in its visual appearance and as an institution.

We partnered with Journey Group, a design firm in Charlottesville, Va., who have a 30-year history in the area supporting design work for other colleges and non-profit organizations. With their help, we’ve developed a consistent look, added wayfinding throughout the magazine, and incorporated a few nods to Sweet Briar’s history and people.

Alumnae magazine staff are particularly grateful to our colleagues in the archives and those former staff who were involved in creating “Sweet Briar College and Ralph Adams Cram: Dreams and Reality,” a booklet from 2001 rich in history and ripe with material for this issue of the alumnae magazine.

96 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine Spring 2023

On theme

Using the tagline for Sweet Briar’s campaign, “Where Women Lead,” we divided the magazine into sections based on content. While the next issue will not focus solely on the campaign, these sections will remain the same.

A New Nameplate

We asked Journey Group to use the “SB” emblem from the College’s original gates, which now lead to the Student Commons Courtyard, to create a new nameplate for the cover of the magazine. They also brought this element to the wayfinding elements in the section headers.

Inspired by the Archives

The fonts used throughout the magazine are varied, but the core text font is based on the font Cheltenham, designed by Bertram Goodhue. As detailed in the flyleaf of “Dreams and Reality,” Goodhue was a good friend of Ralph Adams Cram (pictured) as well as an associate of his at Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson, and Cheltenham was first used in 1904 to present the designs for West Point.

Start Planning Your Legacy In 1899, Indiana Fletcher Williams founded Sweet Briar College through a visionary planned gift.

Indiana’s vision of a college for the education of young women inspired her to establish a trust of land and other assets that became her enduring legacy. This planned gift has provided transformational education opportunities for generations of young women for more than 100 years.

Please join us as a Williams Associate to ensure that her legacy—and yours—will propser in perpetuity.

Donors who are 70 1/2 or older may find an IRA charitable rollover gift to be particularly beneficial to you and Sweet Briar College. Visit our website to learn more and keep the bells ringing!

Not sure how to get started?

Visit: plannedgiving.sbc.edu For questions, contact: Margaret McClellan Driscoll ’92 434-381-6337 | mdriscoll@sbc.edu

Box 1057 Sweet Briar, VA 24595 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

If this magazine is addressed to a daughter who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please email us at alumnae@sbc.edu with her new address. Thank you!

Reunion 2023

June 2–4, 2023

The party starts when you arrive!

Learn more and register at sbc.edu/reunion!

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