middle school this year. He is taking band and learning to play the tenor saxophone. He is also playing travel soccer again and some of his games are at SBC! She and Nelson are both still working at the Southern Virginia Higher Ed Center in South Boston. Susan Swagler Cowles missed seeing everyone at the reunion, but will make the next one! She had a mini reunion with Rushton Callaghan in Tuscaloosa. Daughter, Elli, is a freshman in the Coll. of Nursing at The U. of Ala. Susan just celebrated 10 years at UA and was recently promoted to Director of Career Management for UA’s College of Commerce. Robyn Bailey-Orchard still teaches English and directs plays. She also teaches an SAT prep class and an arts camp course in drama. She enjoys acting in community theatre productions and keeping up with friends on Facebook. Louanne Woody (Outer Banks) is starting her second year of teaching math (13 years total) at the Dare County Alternative School. She is also a lay speaker in the United Methodist Church. Since her husband died four years ago, she’s learned to appreciate the journey of life. Mariah Smith Malik’s father died earlier this year so it was nice to have something fun like Reunion to look forward to. It lifted her spirits. Son Jordan is a high school senior. This summer they enjoyed trips to Bermuda and Venice, Italy. Mariah is looking forward to seeing Sweet Briar classmates Catherine Callender Sauls and McKenzie Reed Van Meel at Allie Alden’s (’88) upcoming wedding. Looking forward to seeing everyone again at our 30th! Ingrid Weirick Squires keeps busy in Virginia Beach with her husband Dave and Thomas (10), who is into church activities, Scouts, lacrosse, Newscrew at his school and reading everything! She is teaching second grade this year and loves keeping up with Vixens from ’86 on Facebook. Ingrid was so upset she couldn’t make it for our 25th, but visited SBC a few weeks later. Looking forward to our 30th! Burke Morrow started the 2011-2012 school year teaching science at East High School in Lincoln. Burke had a fabulous time at reunion and missed those that did not come. Lisa Leigh Ringler Bennett has been busy working on the farm and attending Penn State’s Master Gardener Program. She and Bob are looking forward to getting away this winter. Daughter, Sydney, will be driving in Feb. Mimi Holland Dinsmore reports that all is well with her one husband, one child, one dog and one cat. Mimi really loved catching up and with dear friends at the 25th reunion! She is busy with her son’s high school senior year activities and continues to curate art exhibits and volunteer with hospice. Husband Tyler maintains a busy law practice. Mimi loved seeing old friends at our 25th and looks forward to seeing them again at next reunion if not before! Sally Engleby Farrell just got a new job at St. Mark’s Church in New Canaan, Conn., as the director of their nursery school. It has been a dream of hers since SBC! Sally is finishing up her coursework at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria where she is getting
her Masters of Arts in Christian Formation. She is aiming to graduate in May of 2013. Her oldest son is a freshman at Fort Lewis College in Durango Colo. Her twin boys (13) are adjusting nicely to their big brother being out of the house! Sally was so sorry to miss our 25th reunion, but promises to make the next one! Jesse Ann White is starting a new job as school psychologist in Barre, Vt. Jesse was very disappointed to have missed the reunion. She loved the pictures and looks forward to the next one. Rushton Haskell Callaghan is an assistant Cross Country Coach at Hampton & Farley’s school, Episcopal School of Jacksonville. She ran a half marathon in Jaffrey, N.H., in July and placed second woman overall, 14th in the entire race! Rushton saw Meme Boulware Hobbs in June in Birmingham. Patty Glick was sorry to have missed the reunion. She is living in Seattle with her husband, Dan Kress, her Jack Russell Terrier, Penny, and her new horse, Carolina. She’s had the pleasure over the past few years to see classmate Janice Vandenheuvel Goodman, who has a farm in western Wash. Patty is in her 13th year at the National Wildlife Federation, working on climate change. Heather E. Evans loved seeing the Reunion pictures thanks to McKenzie. She’s now been senior counsel for The Williams Companies (an energy company) for 11 years. She manages litigation and also the Director of Discovery for the company. Her twins, Cole and Katie (7) started 2nd grade. Mary Jo Biscardi Brown enjoyed seeing the great number of classmates who turned out for our 25th Reunion last May! It was a thrill to see and catch up with so many old friends. Mary Jo continues to work at a law firm in Bucks County, Pa., and travels whenever possible with husband Frank. Terry Cerrina Davis says she’s enjoying being a busy and involved at-home mom to daughter, Lindsay (9). She loves being on the PTO board at the school in Park Ridge, N.J. and is still happy being a Girl Scout leader while trying to jump start her Tastefully Simple consultant business. Terry loves keeping in touch on facebook. Christine Jones Winder reports that all is well; she is still in London and busy with job and teenagers. Mostly she’d like to say how wonderful it was to see our classmates at reunion. It was her first trip back in 25 years. What a treat, a real balm to the soul.
1987 Jean Lewis Guergai 3641 Elderberry Pl. Fairfax, VA 22033 guergai@aol.com
1988 Maia Free Jalenak 605 Camelia Ave. Baton Rouge, LA 70806 maia_jay@cox.net Earlier this month, Denise Landau Blind visited Julie Martin Collins, on the sad occasion of Julie’s father’s funeral in
Murfreesboro, Tenn. “Being with Julie was wonderful,” writes Denise. Denise and Julie plan to get their families together soon. Denise’s son Tyler is a high school junior. Daughter Chelsea is entering eighth grade. Cecilia Moore, who is an associate professor in the Religious Studies Department of the U. of Dayton in Ohio, serves on the Historical Commission for the Cause for Sainthood of Father Augustus Tolton. Father Tolton was the first recognized African American priest in the U.S. Cecilia also serves as the associate director of the Masters in Theology Program at Xavier U. of Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies. Eden Zuckerman Brown reports from Arlington, Va., that she is now writing full time. She has just finished her first children’s book and hopes to have it published as well as adapted into a screenplay. Her husband, Bill continues to work for Argosy U. and is the Group Vice President–East. Susan Detweiler had a wonderful summer guiding climbers in the Teton Range of Wyo. (exumguides.com). She is about to embark on her eighth trip to Antarctica where she works as a field trainer and guide for scientists (for photos: pbase.com/antarctic_suze). She missed Virginia Bennett Leeds and family who were visiting in the Tetons, but hopes they’ll be back soon. Susan enjoyed seeing Jennifer Roach Childs on her spring road/climbing trip. For many years, Susan and Jennifer have been planning to attend our 25th SBC reunion. Amazingly, 2013 is just around the corner. Susan hopes that many will attend. Kate Cole Hite, Kathryn Ingham Reese, and Katie Keogh Weidner got together in Annapolis for a day to do some shopping and catching up. Kate brought the 1988 banner along for documentation! Brooke Rinehart Dunn writes that she continues to work as the bookkeeper for her husband’s landscaping business. She is also the assistant lacrosse coach at Charlottesville High School. Brooke’s daughters are in eighth and tenth grades. Brooke went back to SBC in the spring and played in the annual “Old Lady” lacrosse game and notes, as always, I loved seeing Kate Hite, Kathryn Reese, Mary Via Cuoco ’87 and Katie Hearn ’85. Elizabeth Belser Kistler and husband Jim, daughter Lauren (15), and son Sam (13) moved into a new house in Spartanburg last May. They had a lot of exciting travels this summer. Lauren travelled on the Grand Western Tour out of Winston-Salem, N.C. for five weeks. She and 44 other 10th graders travelled across the U.S. and had an amazing experience. Also, on a very sad note, Elizabeth lost her mother, Virginia Lutz ’61, to cancer in August 2009. Kathryn Deriso-Schwartz writes from Miami that she is back to playing softball and tennis. She also volunteers for a nonprofit organization and works out of her home as a part-time independent contractor. Katherine just returned from taking daughter Kacki to Fla. State U. for her senior year. Her twins, Burgen and Webb are juniors at a mega magnet high school. Webb is in the engineering strand. Burgen is in the performing arts as first chair flute in the orchestra.
More classnotes online sbc.edu/magazine Chandler is in seventh grade and is into photography. Lisa Thompson, who practices law in Vero Beach, Fla., was recently engaged to Trevon Barnes, and they are planning to get married the weekend of Thanksgiving in Vero Beach. Kelly Meredith Iacobelli has returned to the marketing department of Coca-Cola. Her daughter, Kathleen (9), is enjoying gymnastics competition and Girl Scouts. Kelly is the troop leader. John continues to enjoy his job and cheering for the women in his life. When she sent me her notes, Jeanne Rovics Mexic who lives in McLean, Va., was heading out the door to spend the weekend in Virginia Beach with Kristen Petersen Randolph. She is still traveling to all kinds of exciting places with her job in Global Sales with Hilton. Son Blake is in seventh grade. Nici Fraley Pechman writes from Birmingham that her kids are starting seventh and fourth grade. She also has a stepson in seventh grade. She has been remarried for four years, and has moved, but still lives in Mountain Brook. She has enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom for 12 years, but is thinking about practicing law again, as a guardian ad litem specifically for children who are kidney failure patients. Mary Halliday Shaw writes that her twins Mike and Jack (20) are sophomores in coll. Their band went on tour over the summer on the east coast and released a second album. Paige Apple Montinaro went to see one of their shows in NYC. Mary’s youngest, Kevin (16), started his sophomore year of high school. Mary and Brad celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary last May. She is still teaching, and Brad is in corporate communications with the Home Depot. I was very touched by a sweet and inspiring email from Martha Graeber Thomas who lives in Tyler, Texas. She had stage two breast cancer and is cancer-free, but is finishing her treatments through Nov. Her husband and her daughters (Kaitlin who is a sophomore at Texas A&M and Elizabeth who is a high school senior) have been very supportive. She wrote that she wants people to know that cancer is so beatable, and you can make it through the treatments because life and family are worth it! I am enjoying being a full-time mom these days. My son, Jack just started his freshman year at Louisiana State U. My daughter, Nina, is in seventh grade. I am working on a several volunteer projects and playing tennis whenever I can. It’s hard to believe that it was 27 years ago that we were moving in for our freshman year at SBC in the fall of 1984. Our 25th class reunion will take place on May 17-19, 2013. Everyone, please make plans to be there!
SBC.EDU | SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE
55