1968 Kimberley “Kim” Smith Niles 14 McLains Woods Road Groton, MA 01450 978-448-9279 kimniles@hotmail.com The EWS Centennial Celebration was indeed just that. Eight of our classmates were able to attend: Claudia Ramsland Burch, Merrill Ware Carrington, Ann Stone Costello, Jan Mactier, Pamela “Pam” Peck, Nancy Hathaway Steenburg, Elizabeth “Beth” Warner, and me, Kim Smith Niles. Nancy is on the Alumnae Board, so took part in some of the preparations and labor. Thank you! And Claudia and Ann were honored for their past roles on the Board of Trustees. What was so lovely is that we all fell so easily into such a comfortable relationship with each other and were able to share stories, laughs, and moments about our times as students and beyond. We all had some news about other classmates and desperately wanted to learn more. I wish I could remember everything. Sorry! But that’s why I agreed to take on the class correspondent role again for a little while — we all missed knowing about each other’s lives. So please keep me informed! Claudia lives in Houston with her husband, Reagan. She’s very active with church work and other forms of volunteer work, plays golf and continues to be one of the kindest women alive. Merrill and her husband, Tim, live in DC and are involved in church and ministry work. One son is married, and he and his brother both live in Brooklyn. Ann lives in Bethesda and is the Head of Global Government Affairs at BNY Mellon. She described her recent year as a bit topsy-turvy, with one son’s heart surgery, an earthquake and a new CEO. But her sense of humor remains intact. She and her husband, John, have two sons. Jan had literally just arrived from a horse show in Slovinia. She and her husband live in Omaha. Their two “children” are in college in Colorado. Pam lives in Simsbury and works in corporate real estate. It was great to get her to come! Nancy lives in Mystic, CT, and
Class of ’68 at Centennial. Back row: Kim Smith Niles, Jan Mactier, Claudia Ramsland Burch, Nancy Hathaway Steenburg. Front: Pam Peck, Merrill Ware Carrington, and Beth Warner. Ann Stone Costello was missing.
teaches at a branch of UConn. One son is an intellectual property lawyer, living and working in Boston, and the other just finished an MFA in cinematic arts at the University of California. He’s currently freelancing, writing and making independent films. Beth lives in Chevy Chase and does social work. She regaled us with tales of chats with Miss Ferguson, showers with our keynote speaker and inside information about nefarious doings. How did we survive? Barbara “Barb” McPherson Sanders had hoped to come but was kept home to help with the arrival of her newest grandchild. She lives in Steamboat Springs, CO. I recently heard from Elizabeth “Liz” Austell Straight who is living in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Her two children are now working and living independently, which has allowed her time to travel and visit family. Louise Nussbaum Schwartz wrote: I had fun this summer surprising Ann Watson Bresnahan ’69 at our favorite dude ranch where she is a long time regular and the benefactor of glorious 4th of July fireworks. It was our first year there at the same time as her family so I got to reintroduce myself. She looks the same, as do we all, I pretend. I also got to see Elise Werner Crosby who is doing ballet and is on point. I am so impressed by that strength. I am the associate trustee of the Truman Capote Literary Trust. Every year the trust gives a Truman Capote Prize in honor of Newton Arvin for the best book of literary criticism. The prize is administered by the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, so I get to go to Iowa City. The trust also gives scholarships to universities around the country for creative writing. I am also volunteering as a CASA, a court appointed special advocate, for a foster child, so I keep up with a little boy and go into children’s court a Winter 2012 65
TAKE NOTE | Alumnae Updates
Thirty-two of the women we have chosen to support are residents of the Solukhumbu region in Nepal. They are part of a program that provides both education and jobs. I visit the area two to three times a year. My two grown children are also helping with the project in Nepal, when they are not doing their regular work (daughter, Noel, is a mediator, and son, Owen, manages customer relations in our wall-covering business). I live in New Harmony, IN, a former Utopian experiment with a vibrant small community. Visitors welcome!