University of Mary Washington Magazine, Special Edition Fall/Winter 2020

SPECIAL EDITION • CLASS NOTES • ALUMNI PROFILES • 1918 MEMORIES

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers, Thank you for reading University of Mary Washington Magazine online. While we are not printing the fall/winter 2020 edition because of the pandemic, we offer this flipbook of Class Notes to let you read your news in a more traditional format. We expect to print and mail the next issue, spring/summer 2021.

The University of Mary Washington is near the end of a different but successful fall semester, with classes meeting in person, online, or both. Faculty, staff, and students have risen to the challenge of keeping one another safe. And UMW has continued its mission – to provide a superior education that inspires and enables students to change the world. Thanks to the community effort and the proud traditions that came before, we feel confident that we’ll have many years ahead telling great stories about Mary Washington and its graduates.

Wishing you good health and happiness, Neva Trenis ‘00 Editor

ON THE COVER:

Kira Frazee ’22 follows UMW’s MMDC plan – Monitor, Mask, Distance, Clean – designed to help keep Eagles as safe as possible.

THIS SPREAD:

UMW’s 20-plus varsity sports are not competing this fall, but with new practice protocols in place, studentathletes continue to train. Here, members of the men’s rugby team, (left to right) Aiden Hendry ’24, Rem Yates ’24, and Richard “Trey” Rudisill III ’24, take advantage of a warm fall day to practice on the athletic fields.

Photos by Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

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No class agent? No problem. Send your news to classnotes@umw.edu.

If you prefer to submit Class Notes by mail, send to: UMW Magazine – Class Notes 1301 College Ave., Fredericksburg, VA 22401

YOU!

Let us hear from

1945

There are no Class Notes from the No Class Agent 1930s, but the recipient of the Class classnotes@umw.edu of 1936 Edward Alvey Jr. Scholarship has graduated.

Victoria Munevar ’20 Lois French Lockhart ’45 is proud graduated magna cum laude with a psychology major. She to announce that she is a greatis continuing in the master’s grandmother. degree program at UMW’s College of Education.

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No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

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Dorothy Shaw Dorothyshaw1919@gmail.com

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No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

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No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

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Phyllis Quimby Anderson pqhndson@comcast.net Three recipients of Class of 1944 Memorial Scholarships have graduated.

Téa Barndt ’20 graduated summa cum laude and with departmental honors in economics and business administration.

She is continuing her economics studies in a Ph.D. program at the University of California, Irvine. Ashley Parkhurst ’20 graduated summa cum laude and with departmental honors in biochemistry.

Lucas W. Turney ’20 graduated magna cum laude in political science and business administration.

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1948

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: Dec. 9, 2020 • June 15, 2021

1930

school. Carol spent the last seven years in a retirement home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Charlotte Dean Smith Hill shared a memory after she read in Class Notes that Jane McCullough Smallwood was still dancing. “No one who knew her at Mary Washington would have been surprised,” Charlotte wrote. “I met her my first day in September 1944 at Virginia Hall, where we received our assignments for rooms off campus in Cornell Hall, a dorm converted from an apartment house. Janie was so lively and enthusiastic for dancing and music that day and all the four years that we were friends.”

Lois French Lockhart is proud to announce that she is a greatgrandmother. A son was born on April 7, 2020, to Lois’s granddaughter Hannah Intemann Flora.

Charlotte herself was spending time at home, keeping in touch with family and friends by phone or Zooming to meetings. She was glad she was able to travel with daughter Sara to England and Wales last fall, before COVID-19 struck.

1946

Charlotte enjoys phone conversations with her former roommate, Marie Adams Griffith of Silver Spring, Maryland.

Patricia Mathewson Spring classnotes@umw.edu Katherine Brown ’20, recipient of the Class of 1946 Scholarship, graduated summa cum laude with a major in English.

Aeriana Mann ’20, recipient of the Mary Janes Ahern ’46 Washington Scholarship, graduated summa cum laude in international affairs and received the Lewis P. Fickett Jr. Award for Excellence in International Affairs.

She was president of her senior class and was the May Queen in 1948.

We were sad to learn that Lois Saunier Hornsby ’48 of Williamsburg, Virginia, passed away in August.

1947

Betty Moore Drewry Bamman classnotes@umw.edu Charlotte Smith Needham shared the sad news of the loss of her Mary Washington suitemate and longtime friend Virginia Carol Schachtler ’48.

Charlotte recalled living with Carol in Betty Lewis Hall. She said Carol taught first grade for 43 years, often taking one of her little horses and cart to

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

We were sad to learn that Lois Saunier Hornsby of Williamsburg, Virginia, passed away Aug. 26, 2020. She was a beloved alumna and an active member of the Mary Washington community.

After graduation, she was very active in the Peninsula alumni chapter and helped plan several reunions. Lois served on the Mary Washington Foundation Board from 1985 to 2009, was the national chair for the Annual Fund in 1989, and received the Mary Washington Alumni Service award in 1998. She also served on the Alumni Board from 2000 to 2005 and was a longtime member of the UMW President’s Council and Heritage Society.

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: Dec. 9, 2020 • June 15, 2021 In addition to her decades-long commitment to Mary Washington, Lois advocated for education in the Williamsburg area. In recognition of her tenacious leadership in helping to desegregate public schools, she was honored in 2010 by the naming of the Lois S. Hornsby Middle School in Williamsburg.

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No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

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Marcy Weatherly Morris classnotes@umw.edu

Carol Bailey Miller no longer rides (her horse, Buddy, has a new, loving home) but has been involved with her local 4-H horse program and has enjoyed activities with these young people.

Miriam “Mim” Sollows Wieland lost her husband, Earl, soon after their family Thanksgiving gathering in 2019.

Family members were able to spend time with him in the hospital. She is in full quarantine at her retirement community and missed her grandson’s May 3 pandemic wedding as well as a second ceremony planned for late July.

Virginia Felts Brown of Mount Holly, Virginia, passed away Jan. 25, 2019. She was a past president of the Mary Washington College Alumni Association. She was a former president of the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society and edited the society’s magazine for many years. The Brown family grave marker inscription appropriately reads: “To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind Is Not to Die.”

Nan Riley Pointer and her husband still live in Gloucester, Virginia, under strict quarantine. Nan reads, knits baby hats for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Carol Bailey Miller ’50 no longer Daughters in Norfolk, sews rides but enjoys activities with dresses for the Dress a Girl young people in her local 4-H Around the World project, and works jigsaw puzzles. Their horse program. youngest grandson is a junior at William & Mary and was taking classes online. They took Would you ever in your wildest dreams a 14-day Caribbean cruise in January, (or nightmares) have imagined the events before the pandemic. She shared this of this year, 2020? positive message: “I send my prayers for This COVID-19 pandemic has brought all of my classmates that they will stay heartbreak and change. We must be positive, well, and safe. We are not alone patient and have faith. We will see a – God is with us, and He is in control.” light at the end of this tunnel as has Kathryn “Kay” Smith Majeski ’66 been witnessed throughout our history if shared the sad news that her friend we will just let go and let God! Margaret “Peg” Penn Hutchins passed Juney and I have faithfully followed away March 20, 2020. Kay wrote that the guidelines for our quarantine both her husband and Peg’s graduated experience, a must at our ages. Our 70th from the U.S. Naval Academy and that wedding anniversary included a surprise the couples saw each other on many meal delivery and more than 100 cards, occasions. organized by our granddaughter Kelly.

“Undoubtedly there are still alumni who Our church organized a 60-participant remember Peg because she was very drive-by to share anniversary wishes. active until the last few years,” Our great-grandsons Liam Prunczik ’24 Kay wrote. and Garry Lewis ’24 are first-year UMW Tom Augherton wrote that after his students and started classes online. wife’s death in 2011 he moved next door Great-grandson Lucas Prunczik ’20 graduated from our alma mater in May to his son near Phoenix, Arizona. He with no fanfare, so different from our completed a bereavement course, became experiences! active in his church, and has spent the

past eight years counseling others. He and his late wife, Betty, enjoyed the Road Scholar program, and Tom has continued in the program with his son.

Tom’s friend and fellow World War II veteran student Alford “Al” Taylor married Tom’s sister Charlotte just after graduation, and they passed away within two months of each other in 2017.

Tom meets monthly with 95 other World War II veterans in Carefree, Arizona, for lunch and speakers. He wrote, “Arizona continues to be very good to me, with good health that permits a very active lifestyle for which I am thankful.”

Our 70th class reunion has been delayed but not forgotten. We plan to celebrate May 14-16, 2021! Make your plans now to come together and remember our time at dear Mary Washington!

1951

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1952

Rita Morgan Stone rita.stone7@aol.com My calls to you classmates elicited similar responses. Many of you were sheltering in place because of the pandemic but staying busy and productive.

Susan Hutcheson Jurgens was disappointed that her barge trip to Alsace-Lorraine was canceled. She continued weekly, properly distanced Scrabble games, enjoyed organic veggies provided by her neighbors, and was joyous about the birth of greatgranddaughter Taliyah, an Arabic/ Jewish name.

Khalida “Kay” Showker ’52 has written 15 travel guides and is on YouTube.

Betty Litton Kilgour, after retiring from a career in education, lives in Leesburg.

Having married an Army engineer, she traveled extensively in Europe and had a scary time in Anchorage, Alaska, when an earthquake shook things up. Her five children are in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

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CLASS NOTES

Mary Lou Finney Boyd ’52 addressed 300 cards urging folks to get out and vote.

Suzanne Branner Kessler lives at Westminster Canterbury in Richmond. She remotely attended her granddaughter’s wedding in Cary, North Carolina, this summer. She’s an ardent Washington Nats fan and is concerned about the future of her favorite sport.

Charlotte Adams Harrell lives at the Westminster Canterbury in Virginia Beach. Husband Bob celebrates his 100th birthday this year.

Nancy Stump Motley of Roanoke had a heart attack recently but seems as upbeat as ever. Her two daughters and a son fill in the gaps since Nancy no longer drives. Nancy and I, Rita Morgan Stone, reminisced at length about our trips to midwinters at Tech when we hired Hilldrup taxi to transport us.

Nancy Moxley Stone enjoys her view of the mountains in Elk Creek, Virginia, and spends her pandemic time exercising, doing puzzles, and reading.

She particularly recommends David McCullogh’s Pioneers.

Mary Lou Finney Boyd was addressing 300 cards urging folks to get out and vote. A granddaughter adds decorative touches. Mary Lou swims three times a week and writes thank-you notes for MetaVivor donors, honoring her daughter who is a breast cancer survivor.

Peggy Sherman of Augusta, Georgia, recalled the interesting classes at Mary Washington but especially the fun weekends and visits to boys’ colleges and universities.

Lilly Longo Bilmond retired as an English teacher at Midlothian High School; she and her husband live in Richmond.

Marie “Weege” Attianese Harlow enjoys life in a community retirement center in Bridgeport, Connecticut. When the pandemic ends, she plans to resume bridge gatherings and other activities.

Her children are in Florida and Delaware, but when they come for vacation in Nantucket, she goes for a visit.

Khalida “Kay” Showker has an exciting life, splitting her time between Sarasota,

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Florida, and New York. Kay began her career with Travel Weekly but went out on her own and has done 15 travel guides. Her most recent ones featured cruises. Kay has traveled all over the world and is on YouTube.

Shirley King Buchanan lives on the family farm in Chesapeake, in a home she built with her late husband, a physician in the area. She enjoys a huge backyard, visited by all sorts of animals. Shirley focuses on butterflies and birds. She was active in the medical auxiliary and is well-known to local politicians. Daughter Beverly lives with her since her husband’s death.

Daughter Sherry Buchanan ’75 is a Mary Washington alumna.

Joyce Long Moore has filled her pandemic time with reading, even some textbooks she wishes she had read more thoroughly in college. She recently celebrated a birthday at Nags Head with four generations in one house for a week.

Ginny Orkney Philbrick of Bedford, Virginia, wrote that adopted daughter Betsy located her birth father and his family in California through the Ancestry website. Her half sister Amy of Raleigh, North Carolina, has visited the Philbrick home, to the delight of everyone. Ginny’s grandson holds a doctorate in nutrition and works at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Corley Gibson Friesen and Ernie are settled in their retirement spot in Colorado and look forward to resuming fun activities after the pandemic is over.

Jean Amis Hill lives in Martinsville, Virginia, and has recovered from her broken hip. She sees her daughter and family frequently.

Claire Sindlinger DeGroot and husband Ward live in Arlington, Virginia. Daughter Gretchen had many connections with our Mary Washington classmates. Carol Edgerton Cooper introduced her to her husband and even helped her choose her wedding gown.

And when Gretchen lived in Lexington, she connected with Bobbie Burgess and Sissy Davis.

Anne Hart Martin attended a service at St. John’s Church in Washington two years ago, and her family albums have many childhood photos of her playing in Lafayette Park. She was disturbed to see such turmoil in that beautiful part of the city.

Selma Friedman Fink of New York wrote that her son-in-law is an anesthesiologist, and her granddaughter works in critical care at a hospital that had COVID patients exclusively for months. At 7 o’clock each day, residents opened their doors and applauded in gratitude for medical personnel. Selma, like so many of us, was concerned about the divisions in our country.

Katherine Wells Ball of Tullahoma, Tennessee, lost husband Ted last year after 67 years of marriage. His life as an Air Force pilot provided the family with interesting travels. One son lives in Tennessee, and the other is a doctor in Northern Virginia. Kitty was named Volunteer of the Year in Tullahoma.

Peggy Sherman’52 recalled the interesting classes at MWC, fun weekends, and visits to boys’ colleges and universities.

Mary Ann Jones Beard and husband Billy, who had a stroke, have lived in an assisted living complex in Virginia Beach for the past eight years. One of her children is in Carmel, California, and the other is in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Maryanne Heatwole Cox of Fredericksburg misses her friends, bridge club, book club, and many family gatherings, but keeps busy with the computer, reading, knitting, and painting.

Elaine Nader Powell looks forward to her grandchildren resuming their college sports schedule at William & Mary and Virginia Tech after COVID is over.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Then she and her husband may resume cheering.

Maxine Haley Hazelgrove lives in Ashland, Virginia, and remains in close touch with Susan Jurgens. Maxine’s granddaughter Abigail is a first-year student at William & Mary.

Gwen Amory Cumming’s children are attentive and live nearby. Not having church services leaves a big gap in Gwen’s life.

Betty Montgomery Handy and I celebrated my birthday with a lovely brunch, gifts of honey, and a flower arrangement created

by Betty, a master gardener.

Bobbie Fowler Childs has moved to a senior community in Olympia, Washington, after selling her home on Hartstine Island. She and Richard were married for 65 years before his death three years ago.

Christine Harper Hovis, also in California, lost her husband two years ago. She has a son in Maryland and a daughter in San Francisco. Chris does a lot of exercise, which probably keeps her in great shape.

It’s been a pleasure having phone visits with so many of you. When you have news that you think would be of interest to our classmates, please share it. Stay well and stay happy.

Polly Stoddard Heim lives next door to a daughter in Idaho. She has another daughter and two sons. Polly is a fortunate grandmother to seven grandchildren.

1953 Betsy Dickinson Surles surles@infionline.net

1954

Mary Ann Dorsey Judy ack915@gmail.com Nancy Root Skinner nan1367@comcast.net

1955

Betty Fox Mapp transferred to Mary Washington from William & Mary after her first year. She was married in 1956, and they built their house in Virginia Beach in 1965. She and her husband have two sons and a daughter. Two of their grandsons graduated from college this year, and the other two grandsons are first-year college students.

Charlotte Fisher Klapproth married a year after graduation and worked in a lab at Hopkins. She and her husband live in Delaware, and he does all the errands and a lot of the cooking. They have a son and a daughter.

Marjorie Webb Wolfrey lost her husband to pancreatic cancer in December and is now in independent living in Charlottesville. She was a compensation manager at Sperry Marine. She and her husband had three daughters Polly Stoddard Heim ’55, and a son. She has six grandmother to seven, lives next grandchildren and six greatdoor to a daughter in Idaho. grandchildren.

Roberta Linn Miller toromiller@embarqmail.com

Ralphie (the springer spaniel) and I, Roberta Linn Miller, are enjoying the cool morning on the terrace while listening to the birdsong in the woods, seeing the many colors of the phlox and other flowers in the garden, and watching the doves having their morning snack. It is July and will get very hot later, so I will go inside the house and check in with some very nice people.

Talked to Jean Brumback Hickman in Reno, Nevada. She doesn’t leave the house much but did go on a trip to the doctor. We talked about our love of cats; we both have black kitties.

Patricia Seibert-Siegel has lived in San Diego for six years. She has three daughters and five grandchildren who are in their 20s. Patricia was an elementary teacher and her husband was an architect before both retired. They plan to move into an assisted-living facility.

Mildred Haney Sandridge, also in Charlottesville, retired after 40 years as a trust officer in a bank. Since her husband is diabetic and uses a walker, they are thinking of going into a retirement facility. They have a daughter who works at the University of Virginia, one grandchild, and two greatgrandchildren.

Catherine Walton Hutchinson has lived for 30 years in Sapphire, North Carolina, and before that in Florida, where her husband practiced medicine. A son and his wife live in Milton, Georgia. They both went to the University of Alabama, and now a grandson is in his third year there.

Catherine reads and walks and says she is fabulous for an old 87.

Anne Lou Rohrbach Culwell of Norman, Oklahoma, emailed that she is trying to stay safe but does go out some. She reads, does puzzles, and plays mahjong. Maybe she will make the reunion if all goes as planned.

Mildred Haney Sandridge ’55 retired after 40 years as a bank trust officer.

Ann Strickler Doumas sent a note with news of her vegetable garden and how well it was doing but also with sad news about Beatrice Carver Clark, who passed away in June. She is survived by her husband and four children. Ann says the Clarks ran a big dairy farm in the Shenandoah Valley for years, and Bea taught school as well. Bea’s motherin-law, Mrs. Clark, was Ann Doumas’ piano teacher for many years.

Another loss was my roommate and good friend Anastasia “Buttons” Petro Molitor, originally from Morristown, Tennessee, and then from the Seattle area. She had three sons, and one sent me an email with the sad news of her death after a short illness. He had her ashes, at her request, scattered over Puget Sound.

Minnia Rainey Mayberry sent me a note with news of the loss of my former neighbor in Charleston, S.C., a Navy rear admiral.

I am looking at our commencement booklet. Many events took place in the Sylvan Amphitheatre. Graduation was on Monday morning, May 30, 11 o’clock, with Colgate Darden Jr., chancellor, presiding. But why does the governor of Virginia pop into my head? The address was by Alvin Duke Chandler, president of the College of William & Mary. Do you remember?

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Ann Chilton Power anncpower1@gmail.com I hope those of you who receive our class notes will contact me in the future. I write from The Virginian, a continuing care retirement community in Fairfax County, Virginia, where Marge Uhler Adcock and I reside. My youngest son, Stephen, and family have moved to Dallas. My eldest son, Ted, is retired and lives in Des

Ann Chilton Power ’56 and Marge Uhler Adcock ’56 live in the same retirement community.

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CLASS NOTES Moines, which leaves son Tom waiting on me during this period of social distancing.

I phoned Betty Davies Morie to check on our classmates at Westminster Canterbury in Richmond. Angela Walton Barksdale, Turner Christian Richardson, and Connie Hook Felvey also have apartments there, although Connie has retreated to her home in Kilmarnock during this pandemic. When I have tried to contact others, the numbers or email addresses were no longer in service. I hope you will contact me so we can keep this column going another 64 years!

1957

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1958

Susannah Godlove sgodlove5465@gmail.com

1959

Edna Gooch Trudeau ednanewkent@verizon.net [Editors’ note: Longtime class agent Edna Gooch Trudeau regretfully resigns as class agent with this, her final submission. We wish her all the best and thank her for her service to the Class of 1959 and Mary Washington!

You can send future 1959 class news to classnotes@umw.edu.]

Kay Rowe Hayes ’59 attended the UMW graduation of grandson Matthew Hayes ’19.

Ann Brooks Coutsoubinas was in Florida last Thanksgiving. In 2019 she and 17 members of her family vacationed in England and Scotland, where a family christening was held.

I heard from Ann again in 2020, and despite the pandemic she was taking things a day at a time. Daughter Anastasia was working for a local drugstore, and every day was hectic with old people demanding their pills.

Lois Gaylord Allen’s son, his wife, and six red-haired grandchildren spent last Christmas with her. She has reduced her volunteer work at the local humane society. She has four cats and two dogs of her own. She dearly misses Howard.

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Frances Bourke Firth had cataract In 2019, Joan Whittemore South and surgery and hip replacement surgery Jim spent a week at a resort in Playa in 2019 and was unable to attend del Carmen, Mexico, for his birthday. reunion. Her youngest child was September found them in Wisconsin getting married, and she and Roger had visiting Jim’s daughters, Sarah and planned a trip to Egypt, pre-pandemic.

Kristin, and grandchildren, Logan, Mary, Hunter, Emily, and Ashley. They attended two University of Wisconsin Badgers football games.

Lois Gaylord Allen ’59 spent last Joni fell, broke her right arm, and spent eight weeks in a hard cast and several more in a soft. She also planned to have shoulder surgery.

Christmas with her six red-haired grandchildren.

2019 was a year of changes for Mary Massey, who left her house of 35 years and moved to a senior citizens community two miles away.

She loves her grand apartment and access to grass, trees, space, and privacy. Mary was volunteering for three organizations, taking an exercise class, and joining friends for activities. Last September, she and her sister visited Lake George, New York, with family members.

Barbara Gordon McNamee and Bob had a mostly good 2019. Barbara is a longtime administrator and judge of synchronized swimming competitions and was busy with that work until, on a judging trip in California at Easter, she fell and fractured her pelvis and tailbone. Son Howard Crabtree and his wife, Margie, took her to the ER and cared for her till she was able to fly home to Bob. She was recovered and back to work in eight weeks.

They had visits with Chris and Youngmi, Karen and Tony, and Rob. Barbara Barndt Miller lost Wayne on June 25, 2019. He had several problems and hospital visits but passed peacefully.

They had moved to Pennsylvania toward the end of 2018 and stayed with her daughter, Ann, until their new home was ready. Family members, her church, and the community into which they moved have been very supportive.

Arthur Old, widower of Eleanor Markham Old, wrote his usual humorous and newsy letter.

He’s doing well.

Irene Piscopo Rodgers had a lot of company in 2019. She took a river cruise and kept up with house repairs.

Barbara White Ellis was still on her farm but had no horses. She planned to return to horsemanship activities for pleasure only.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Sally Warwick Rayburn lost Jim in February 2019. Jim had experienced several strokes, so they decided to sell their home in Florida and return to Greensboro, North Carolina.

Jim picked the apartment. Sally returned to Florida to pack. Jim was moved to skilled nursing care after a few weeks. Sally returned to join Jim, but he passed away the day she arrived. She is doing OK. She likes the apartments, has made new friends, and has renewed old acquaintances.

2019 flew by for Kay Rowe Hayes. In May she attended the UMW graduation of grandson Matthew Hayes ’19 (who went on to earn a master’s degree from William & Mary’s Mason School of Business in May 2020). Matthew’s twin brother, John, graduated the same day from Christopher Newport University.

They are the sons of Kaye’s son Tom and his wife, Tracy. In August, Kay visited sister Susan Rowe Bunting ’64 and Phil in their lake cottage in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

Kay’s oldest, Kathy, loves living in Chula Vista, California. She volunteers at the animal shelter, serves on the county rescue team, and received a gold medal as the 2018 volunteer of the year in San Diego County. Kay’s daughter Karen and husband Harry enjoy life outside Atlanta. Tom and Tracy welcomed their college graduate twins back home while one attended graduate school and the other prepared for a new job.

Kay called with an update in February 2020. She was recuperating from pneumonia and downsizing. In the book department alone she had enough to start her own Barnes & Noble.

Gloria Winslow Borden’s news from 2019 included the wedding of a granddaughter in California, another granddaughter’s college graduation in Phoenix, a family trip

Music and Mary Washington Stayed With Marilla Haas

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Whether she’s at the organ, piano, or string bass, Marilla Mattox Haas shares her talent with UMW and Fredericksburg.

Peter Cihelka/The Free Lance-Star

o one ever had to remind 6-year-old Marilla Mattox – now Marilla Mattox Haas ’60 – to practice piano.

Haas’ earliest memories of Sunday mornings in Richmond’s First Baptist Church are of balcony seats carefully chosen by her mother so young Marilla could have a clear view of the organist’s hands. She and her mother frequented what was then Richmond’s Mosque theater, where they heard pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein, contralto Marian Anderson, and the Broadway cast of Porgy and Bess.

“I was always exposed to music,” said the accomplished pianist, bassist, teacher, and accompanist. “That’s just been my life.”

That love of music brought Haas to Mary Washington, where she earned a degree in music. But unlike most graduates, she never really left. Haas played string bass with the orchestra for three decades, taught piano as an adjunct professor in the Department of Music, and accompanied Mary Washington and community musical groups.

“There was never a time when I wasn’t on campus for something between 1956 and when I stopped teaching in 2008,” Haas said. “I was just there at least once a week.”

Her first Fredericksburg home was in Betty Lewis residence hall on Sunken Road. She and her classmates sledded on dining hall trays behind duPont Hall, and her geology class studied silt and rocks in the creek below what is now Simpson Library. Haas has fond memories of Librarian Carroll Quenzel, Professor of Psychology Eileen Kramer Dodd, and her “favorite French teacher,” Professor Miriam Bowes Hoge.

But her music teachers had the deepest effect on her life: the accomplished pianist and composer Levin Houston III, the much-loved

department chair Ann Hamer, and orchestra director Ronald Faulkner.

Haas spent most of her time on campus in Pollard Hall.

“I went to Mary Washington for music, I lived in the music building, I lived in the practice rooms, and I accompanied everyone who needed an accompanist,” Haas said. “That was just my life.”

In her sophomore year, the pastor of Spotswood Baptist Church approached the MWC Baptist Student Union looking for a choir director. Haas accepted the job in October 1957, and it changed her life’s path. The following year, she met Frank Haas at Spotswood Baptist, and they married in August 1960, after her May graduation. More than 60 years later, Haas is still a member and the organist there.

Haas continued to play string bass with the Mary Washington orchestra.

In 1961, she started studying piano at American University, teaching piano from her Spotsylvania County home, and, for one year, teaching music to grades one through 12 at four Stafford County public schools.

Soon the first of three sons arrived.

She dropped the school job and

started part time with the Real Estate Department for the Fredericksburg Commissioner of the Revenue.

Before her second boy arrived, she started pursuing a master of music education degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. By 1967, she had three boys and was teaching and performing throughout the Fredericksburg area.

In 1990, she gave up teaching privately to become Fredericksburg’s real estate supervisor full time, and in the evenings from 1978 through 2008, she taught piano at Mary Washington as an adjunct faculty member. And all the while, she continued playing by request on and off campus.

“My sons all learned to cook,” she said of that busy time.

Haas doesn’t like to be center stage, and she doesn’t really have a favorite type of music. What she loves, she said, is playing any kind of music with other people. And, in Fredericksburg, that’s just what she does.

– Neva Trenis ’00

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

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CLASS NOTES to Oahu, and World Series games with a grandson and other relatives.

Edna Gooch Trudeau ’59 has enjoyed being class agent for 53 years but must reluctantly step down.

Jane Coates Littlefield and Mo said son Scott, his wife, Susan, and their children, Chris and Mary Graham, fill their house with much activity and joy. Chris was a senior in Stuart Hall in Staunton. He was enjoying scholastic and basketball success and was college-hunting. Mary Graham had done well in elementary school and was looking forward to Maury River Middle School and sixth grade.

Scott and Susan continued to manage the laundry pickup and delivery service business they were trying to sell in Augusta, Georgia.

Out of the blue, a call from Fay Jessup Young, my first-year suitemate. Sadly, she lost Avery two years ago. Two of her children live close, which is a big help. Her oldest granddaughter was touring the Netherlands when the coronavirus showed up, but she arrived home safely.

Where are Carol Noakes Robinson, Eugenia “Jean” Ellis Perkins, and Patsy Peterson Griffing? Unfortunately, I could give no answers.

Barbara White Ellis was preparing birthday party for a friend, with a limited guest list because of the pandemic.

Yes, 10 is the magic number. Babs has had two hip replacements and was doing well but had not been able to ride, so no horse shows. A friend had been exercising her horse for her.

it is my mother’s birthday.) Jane said Molly Bradshaw Clark is in a senior apartment and still living in Florida.

Well, my dears, it is hard to believe we have known each other since August 1955. We were all at the beginning of our new lives, and none of us knew what would happen next. Fortunately, we turned out to be an outstanding group of women with exciting careers, good husbands, lovely children, and for some, single, rewarding livelihoods.

Thank you for all these years. It has given me great joy to share your stories, read, and write about you.

(I tried not to talk about myself, but when Virginia and Lucas arrived, I had to write a sentence or two.)

Marilla Mattox Haas can’t remember what day of the week it is now that she is not rehearsing with five different church groups every week. Read more about Marilla on page 7.

Sue Smith Goodrick had to cancel a river cruise. Judy Davidson Creasy’s family surprised her with a garden party for her 82nd birthday, and she took a short trip to Sedona, Arizona, for a friend’s birthday. Sherry Farrington Green adopted a kitty. Gail Mooney Grobe was delighted to be able to buy toilet paper. Joanne Lister Jacobs did her own hair for a while and said she looked like Brunhilda from The Valkyrie.

Here it is, my 53rd year.

My brain’s wishes do not coincide with my body’s The family of Judy Davidson Creasy ’60 decisions! My macular surprised her with a garden party degeneration is at the point that it is extremely difficult for her 82nd birthday. for me to read and write, and I feel I can no longer serve as your class agent. It breaks my heart. It seems I do not have a Tina Baensch Raver lives in New York choice. Please accept my resignation City, but during lockdown she and her as class agent for 1959. I love you all! hubby quarantined at their home on Long Island.

1960

Karen Larsen Nelson karenlarsennelson60@gmail.com Jody Campbell Close jclose2@cfl.rr.com Believe it or not, ladies, we received some news even with the COVID-19 quarantine, and here’s the common thread: Staying near home. Taking walks and going to the grocery store.

Church activities on Zoom. Missing visits from family members. Being bored. Doing an exercise program.

Enjoying puppy dogs.

Although quarantined, Jane Tucker Broadbooks and John really enjoy their senior Sherry Farrington Green ’60 apartment. John had some health issues but was doing adopted a kitty. better. Jon Karl drives his dad to weekly kidney dialysis.

Jon Karl’s son Tucker is a college student, and daughter Virginia Those were the activities shared by was finishing high school. Jane and Pat Garvin Dyke, Gretchen Squires Best, John celebrated their 60th anniversary Jan Latven Allnutt, Gray Schaefer Dodson, June 25. (Trivia – so do Marcia Phipps Sarah Forsyth Donnelly, Janet Spang Hess, Ireland and my daughter, Virginia Emy Steinberg Hyans, Anne Butler Hyde, Trudeau Rogers. How about that? And and Jeanette Meyer Juren.

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Some tidbits:

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Janet Garriss Lewis has moved to a custom-designed, accessible apartment attached to her son’s home. Her old home finally sold. After much encouragement from her family, she has finally parted with most of her lifetime collections, saving just enough mementos for her grandchildren.

Sally Brown VanDuyne wrote they had tried twice to go to Vermont but hadn’t made it yet.

Joyce Neill Krost did not make it to Spain last winter because last August she broke her neck and caught pneumonia, landing in a rehab center. Gaye Roberts Olsen can escape outside on her scooter chair if she stays where staff can see her.

Sandy Poole goes to virtual church and helps Barb in her home office.

Lucy Wu Wang and Jimmy were stuck in their Palm Springs, California, apartment and couldn’t travel to Shanghai.

Penny Engle Burkhardt shared a story about an encounter with rabbits while riding her bike, and Penny, Jody, and Karen had a hilarious exchange about it.

Jean Eubanks Holland had heart surgery last fall, followed by pneumonia. While recovering, she sold her townhouse and bought a new apartment. Nancy Cleaves Blaydes had glaucoma surgery. Syd Collson Chichester had Mohs surgery for skin cancer she attributes to her sun-worshipping days on Mary Washington dorm balconies. Syd is proud of daughter Holly Chichester, who is landscape and grounds manager at Mary Washington and lives near Syd in Fredericksburg.

Darrell and I, Karen Larsen Nelson, have spent part of each week in our little trailer, “mooch docking” at our friends’ cabin in the cooler mountains in Arizona. I’ve also discovered I can hike again a little – if I stick to old logging roads, which are fairly level. Our greatgrandbaby No. 6 arrived in early May, but by late summer we had only seen pictures. We were considering a trip in the fall for an outside visit in our daughter’s yard.

thoughts. Your class agents still have active emails for 135 classmates and want to hear from everyone.

1961

Connie Booth Logothetis (A – G) connielogothetis@gmail.com Renee Levinson Laurents (H – Q) arjle@aol.com Lynne Williams Neave (R – Z) lyneave@aol.com Please send news to the designated class agent according to the first letter of your maiden name.

Our reunion is planned for May 14-16, 2021. The Hyatt has blocked rooms for us, so make your reservations!

We’ve all been through hard times with the pandemic, and there’s other sad news as well. Connie Booth Logothetis fractured a vertebra and spent time in a hospital and rehab, sometimes in pain.

She couldn’t have visitors, so she and Andy communicated by phone.

Syd Collson Chichester ’60 is proud of daughter Holly Chichester, who is landscape and grounds manager at UMW.

Sadly, Jean Ryan Farrell passed away May 22. She is survived by her husband, Frank, and three children. Jane Riles’ husband, Jim Dietz, passed away Feb. 13.

Jody Campbell Close compared her Florida humidity with Karen’s Arizona astronomically high dry heat; she figured it was a draw. Jody lives alone, so doesn’t consider herself fully quarantined because if there is an errand to be done there is no one else to do it. But masks do not encourage long, witty conversations, and distancing 6 feet or more doesn’t help the hard of hearing. She’s read several books, watched a lot of PBS and documentaries, and made headway with her genealogy research. She stumbled on her father’s World War II diary, written as a young lieutenant and Pearl Harbor survivor. She was able to print a booklet for each family member of his firsthand accounts of naval engagements in the South Pacific and in Alaska. “So being unencumbered by the outside world, my isolation was productive after all,” she wrote.

From Connie’s group (Lynne Williams Neave reporting):

Jody and Karen were sorry we could not gather for our 60th reunion this past spring, but we will try again. What about a Zoom meeting? Write with your

The pandemic curtailed Jeri Barden Perkins’ travel plans for Italy, Mexico, and Greece.

She stayed home but enjoyed Zoom classes, especially those from UMW. She

Clara Sue Durden Ashley and Clarence had a visit from son Park and his three oldest children. They looked forward to a summertime visit from son Dennis and family, visiting from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Dennis works for the Navy. Soon after that visit, the Ashleys planned to drive to Beavercreek, Ohio, for granddaughter Anwyn’s senior recital – originally scheduled for spring but delayed by coronavirus. Anwyn and another granddaughter, Abby, graduated from high school in 2020.

Pepper Jacobs Germer and Hank were fortunate not to have been touched by a category 3 tornado in March that flattened 600 homes, a mall, and an airport in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They were obeying COVID rules and actually enjoying staying home.

wrote: “The pandemic has offered me the opportunity of using my voice for my community, the university, and NPR. It has taught me that I can live with less and have even greater appreciation for what I have. During the AIDS epidemic I was on the front lines seeing patients in a free clinic. During this pandemic I was afforded the opportunity of using my voice and the importance and power of messaging.”

Maddy Contis Marken cleaned the refrigerator, scrubbed the shower stall, and baked bread. “Now that those chores are done, I probably won’t do them again for a long time,” she wrote.

She took up sketching, reconditioned her bike, and has worked part time doing telehealth. Still, she wrote, “I have spent too much time wandering from room to room and looking out the windows, wondering what book to read next.”

From Renée: Mary Hatcher shared some pandemic and mask-wearing observations: “You have not lived unless you have had your hair cut wearing a mask, but it can be done. If you wear hearing aids, as I do, taking them out is the only way wear both a mask and sunglasses at the same time.” She gained a new appreciation for curbside pickup and online shopping but was sorry that her annual family reunion had to be canceled. On a much sadder note, she lost a sister-in-law to a non-COVID issue, and was heartbroken that her brother was not able to be with his wife while she was in the hospital for nine weeks.

Margaretta Kirksey Bir was glad her Alabama county was requiring masks.

Both of her daughters have autoimmune diseases, and her son-in-law and son’s oldest daughter have severe allergies.

She was angry that mask-wearing had been turned into a freedom of speech issue, and that the U.S. hadn’t been able to devise strategies to contain the virus.

“Once Americans went to the moon; now we can’t even go to Europe,” she wrote.

Residents of Marcia Minton Keech’s retirement community in Winchester, Virginia, decided to grow vegetables in cottage gardens and on balconies as a way of coping with quarantine. Now they all have plenty of fresh vegetables, and the dining chef is thrilled! Marcia and Bill were faring well but missed seeing their children.

Sandra Judkins Armitage was at Mary Washington for just two years but enjoys

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

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CLASS NOTES Pepper Jacobs Germer ’61 was fortunate not to have been touched by a category 3 tornado in Arkansas that flattened 600 homes, a mall, and an airport. reading our class news. The pandemic brings thoughts of her grandmother, who lost two children to the 1918 flu.

Sandra and her husband gather with family on Sundays at a park where they can connect while social distancing.

Betty Pace Rose attended Mary Washington for a year and loved living in Trench Hill even though the distance from other residence halls made it difficult to meet many people.

She shared some thoughts about Mary Washington and its relationship with the University of Virginia.

Virginia – a huge concession from Dave, who loves the mountains, sweeping vistas, and low humidity of the West. But three children and three grandchildren drew them back. They moved to a continuing-care community on the south side of Richmond in January and barely got to know other residents before the shutdown in March.

Sue has observed Richmond’s removals of Confederate statues with interest.

She wrote, “Yes, Monument Avenue was ‘lovely’ to our eyes, but we have been insensitive to what [the statues] represent to so many others. Time marches on.”

Lynne Wilson Rupert started 2020 with a cruise to Mexico to celebrate her 80th birthday and thought it was going to be a great year. She wrote, “Well, it has certainly turned out to be a memorable one!” She has read a multitude of books, watched TV, and shredded all the documents she wants to. Zoom and FaceTime are great, but she misses hugs and social activities.

to Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, near Graham. The children did their schoolwork via Zoom, and Jim worked remotely. Graham’s daughter May and family also temporarily relocated to Lookout Mountain. And four other children already lived nearby.

Graham has continued with her real estate business, taking Lysol wipes and wearing a mask for showing houses.

She’s still trying to finish reading The Grapes of Wrath.

Polly Updegraff Champ’s husband, Dan, had a hard 2019 with vision, hearing, and health issues, and they didn’t go to Florida for the first time in 22 years. They stayed in Connecticut and have had a lot of help from Polly’s stepdaughter, Theresa. She shopped for Dan and Polly during the early days of the pandemic, and her visits and calls have helped Polly keep her sanity. Polly calls Theresa her heroine.

Lloyd Tilton Backstrom suspects that Like many of you I, Renée Levinson Laurents, the Class of ’61 should win first place in am finding quarantine just not easy. I read the Clean Closet Competition. She and a lot, watch TV a lot (including Art haven’t ventured out socially as they Hamilton – Lin-Manuel don’t want to trust their luck. They have Miranda is beyond gifted.) My gone to their river home in Hertford, Jeri Barden Perkins ‘61 has book club now meets on Zoom, North Carolina, for a change of scenery. as I do with my nephew and enjoyed Zoom classes, especially Eleanore Saunders Sunderland had to family in Texas. A friend since learn how to walk again after a broken those from UMW. junior high school lives nearby pelvis and two surgeries on the same in Santa Monica, and I visit her hip. Daughter Jane moved in for a time and her husband in their large to help and still comes once a week Janie Riles doesn’t leave the house backyard, sitting 10 feet apart. I also to do Eleanore’s shopping, though for anything.

She plays online bridge escape these four walls by taking a driveEleanore is now comfortable alone. and signed up for a Cornell Lab of through lunch to the ocean and gazing As for Eleanore’s other children, Jude, Ornithology online class to learn about out at the Pacific. My cats help a lot. who lives in Milan, had come out of the birds in her garden. She enjoys lockdown but still couldn’t travel.

Sadly, in May my cute little rescue dog Zoom sessions with artist groups. And Willard was able to be with family in ran out as I got the mail. A huge husky she’s finally cleaned out her garage.

Cincinnati while doing grant-funded attacked her before I could get to her, Elizabeth “Bitsy” Wright Coxe has used research on 18th-century Russian and even with surgery the emergency her pandemic confinement to watch history. He is a Russian professor at the veterinarian was not able to save her. operas streamed from the Met Opera University of Cincinnati.

The attack happened one year to the day and art history lessons via the Frick after my dog Buddy died. The universe is Museum. She’s been reading telling me not to get another dog, I guess. a book a week, tending her Anyway, thanks to you all for writing. orchids, cooking more than Residents of Marcia Minton Keech ’61’s Wear masks, wash your hands a lot, and she has in years, and walking keep well. every day in her country retirement community grew neighborhood. Her internist From Lynne vegetables as a way of coping with doesn’t want her visiting a quarantine; the resident chef is I have been extremely fortunate during salon, so her hair is halfway these hard times to escape New York down her back. “Call me thrilled!

City for a place in northern Connecticut.

Rapunzel!” she wrote. “I have We have had virtually no COVID-19 actually enjoyed this time in here. There are marvelous places to my little piece of the universe.” hike, plus I have great neighbors for Graham Walker Burns has enjoyed Peggy Howard Hodgkins had completed occasional distant socializing. more family time, not less, since the a 14-day Panama Canal cruise and Sue Wilson Sproul, husband Dave, pandemic began. Son Jim and his family was in Palm Springs visiting a niece and dog Cooper have moved back to live in London but temporarily relocated when the pandemic forced her to cut

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UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Marcia Kirstein Fitzmaurice.

Kathleen Crothers Terrell and her husband live in Stephenville, Texas, and manage a cattle ranch, the Great Southern Ranch. They have three daughters and four grandchildren. One daughter lives on the ranch. As I recall, Graham Walker Burns ’61 Kathleen majored in Spanish at Mary Washington and lived continues with her real estate in Spain our junior year. I can business, taking Lysol wipes imagine they are familiar with and wearing a mask for showing Eddy Arnold’s Cattle Call.

her winter travels short and head back to Maine. Peggy spent the next two months alone, but a nearby family picked up and delivered her groceries and mail once a week.

houses.

In May son Greg and his wife joined Peggy in her lake house for two months of quarantining together. They had weekend visits from grandchildren and great-grands. Peggy’s sister Jean and family spent time in July at her camp next door, and sister Joanne and her husband visited for two weeks. Maine had kept cases low as of this Class Notes submission. Peggy is a friend and former neighbor of the governor, and Peggy reported that she and the health chief had been tough on tourists, innkeepers, restaurants, and nonessential businesses, with good results.

1962

Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor klisagor@yahoo.com Dear classmates. Just how are you doing?

Your news is so scarce!

For our happy 80th birthdays do you often feel like the 1960s era has come again? We were living such a world of events as a cure for polio with sugar cubes, the ongoing struggle for civil rights, the Cuban crisis, traumatic assassinations, and Vietnam. At least we were heartened by the Space Age and Neil Armstrong on the moon.

Let us not forget the invasion of the Beatles singing Yesterday and I Want to Hold Your Hand! Music was a great part of the spirit of the ’60s, and much of it has a haunting revival with our youth today, especially with their technical skills.

Just think about those folk song lyrics and the emotion in Bridge Over Troubled Water as well as Yesterday, When I Was Young, and Elvis singing “but I can’t help falling in love with you.” Music knows no borders, and it heals also.

A fascinating message has just arrived by route of Joan Akers Rothgeb and

Patricia Mackey Taylor was in Philadelphia for the birth of a granddaughter, the child of her youngest son, Daniel, and his wife.

the paper ran an article about the 50th anniversary of coeducation at the University of Virginia. My MWC diploma from 1962 reads “Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia.”

We’re now the University of Mary Washington, but the honor code remains a cherished tradition at both UMW and U.Va. My youngest granddaughter entered a U.Va. dormitory this September as a first-year student.

I’m looking forward to seeing some ol’ faces and our 60th reunion.

In the meantime in this crazy world, think on the winning words of Louis Armstrong:

Pat also shared the news that she lost her sister Martha Mackey deMontpellier ’71 unexpectedly in September 2019, for which we send our heartfelt sympathies.

Sympathies also to family and friends of our classmate Carolyn Livingstone, who passed away Sept. 10, 2020.

I see leaves of green, red roses too I see them bloom, for me and you And I think to myself What a wonderful world.

As emails and correspondence seem especially tough on us now, I want to take a few moments to reflect and personally share some activities from MWC days.

Linkey Booth Green linkeyg@embarqmail.com

I still cherish those seated dinners and can just imagine the beautiful choir and orchestral concerts. The majestic sounds of the great organ pipes in George Washington Hall were just fantastic for the entrance of Dr. Simpson and staff!

As a piano and organ music major, I truly appreciate the unique experiences and professors.

1963

Betty Caudle Marshall shared the sad news that her husband, Tom, passed away April 29, 2020. Some UMW friends called him “Precious Tom.” Last fall Betty and Tom had hosted some of his friends from elementary school who were also Mary Washington alumnae, including Anne Marchant Long and Betsey Burke Christian. Betty also heard from Betsy Chamberlain Hartz and Virginia Walker Jarvis.

I, Linkey Booth Green, know I am not alone in sending Betty deepest sympathy.

Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor ’62 wonders if others feel like the upheaval of the 1960s has come again.

My career has allowed me to share with many, including my talented daughter, Amy, and granddaughter, Kelly Burcher.

This spring Kelly was voted the middle school teacher of the year in Manassas, where she has taught for six years while completing her master’s degree. They both have helped me to tackle FaceTime teaching with my students, also.

The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg featured 2020 as the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, for women to vote. And on Aug. 30,

I have connected with Elizabeth “Ibby” Le Sueur on Facebook. She retired from teaching and lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

I am sorry I missed getting any news in the last issue. I have had some health issues during the past year and am not as efficient as I used to be.

Does anyone want to take over this job?

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: Dec. 9, 2020 • June 15, 2021

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

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CLASS NOTES

1964

Susan Rowe Bunting susan.bunting@gmail.com

Susan Rowe Bunting ’64 adopted Hettie, a 6-year-old boxer dog.

Melinda Watterson attended Mary Washington for two years but went to Oklahoma University for her junior and senior years to be with her high school sweetheart, Chuck. They married in 1963 and had a wonderful 42 years together before Chuck died unexpectedly in 2005.

Chuck was a jockey for several years until joining Army Reserve during the Vietnam War. He went to veterinary school in 1969, and they had a practice in Miami for 30 years. One daughter is an elementary principal in Miami and the other works with her husband in an electrical contracting business in Norman, Oklahoma.

In 2007 Melinda met John, a widower, and they married four years later.

They have a blended family of three daughters and sons-in-law, four grandsons, and a granddaughter.

Melinda would love to reconnect with roommates Francine Zuzzolo Taylor, Diane Smith, Martha Moore Townsend, and Verna Carlson Hawk, and riding buddy Carolyn Kendall.

Barbara Ioanes shared that it is hard to live in Washington, D.C., both because of the pandemic and protests, which have been accompanied by looting of nearby businesses. A young neighbor helps with her shopping, and after a two-month hiatus she resumed visits with her son and his toddlers. She has continued her work on community service art projects, including refurbishing of the Marilyn Monroe mural in northwest Washington and fundraising to have old police and fire boxes repaired and repainted.

Kay Pannell Howe shared sad news of the loss of her husband, Norton, of cancer on Easter Sunday. Our sympathy goes out to her and her family.

As for me, Susan Rowe Bunting, life in New Hampshire is certainly

Barbara Ioanes ’64 works on community service art projects, including refurbishing of the Marilyn Monroe mural in Washington, D.C.

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different but nothing dramatic compared to what is going on in the rest of the country. Our town of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, swells from 8,200 to 26,000 in summer, and this summer has been no different. Phil and I stay away from the downtown area, as it is truly shoulder to shoulder. We recently adopted a 6-year-old boxer dog, Hettie, who has added excitement and interest to our self-isolation. Thankfully, I am now forced to take walks many times a day – sorely needed. I would love to hear from more of you.

1965

Phyllis Cavedo Weisser pcweisser@yahoo.com

Janice Helvey Robinson and Rob are still in the Atlanta area, with their children close by. Their weekly visits are now driveway visits or Zoom meetings.

They decided several years ago to travel in the United States and have been to Jackson Hole, Vail, Mount Rushmore, and Glacier National Park. Their last outing was a New Orleans-to-Memphis cruise on the Mississippi River. They did all things Elvis along with barbecue, Beale Street, and Sun Studios. No more travel plans until we get a vaccine!

Meanwhile they play bridge online and record their church choir pieces individually, to be put together into a virtual performance.

Kathie Drake Burgess ’65 practiced family law for 20 years and specialized in helping victims of domestic violence.

This is my last submission as class agent. It’s been a pleasure hearing from so many of you over the last almost 20 years. If you would like to serve as class agent, or to share news or notice of a death of one of our classmates, write to classnotes@umw. edu. If you have news to share directly with me or those on my mailing list, please continue to send those to me at my email address above.

Like many others, Felicity Hallanan was disappointed that we couldn’t visit campus for our 55th reunion this past May. She noted that 2020 will be remembered for events in our lives that did not happen, as well as those that did. She looked forward in hope that the Class of ’65 will, indeed, be able to gather for reunion May 14-16, 2021.

Last summer, someone drove through three rooms of Lee Smith Musgrave’s home. The car went through the garage door and the mudroom and came to a stop in the guest bathroom – all while Lee was in the house. Her home was declared uninhabitable until a structural engineer declared it safe for repair. She took refuge with a neighbor for 11 days.

In November, she and a neighbor enjoyed a Caribbean cruise, a welcome relief from the home-repair chaos. But this summer brought more strife. Lee stepped off her scale and her femur cracked. She had surgery that day, and

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

a rod and two screws were inserted to hold the bone together. She hoped to go home from rehab in mid-August.

Linda Patterson Hamilton has been cancer-free for nearly two years, and she and husband Austin celebrated their 53rd anniversary in June. She’s participated in a weekly Zoom meeting of Tremble Clefs, a Parkinson’s disease singing therapy that strengthens vocal and swallowing functions. She is also writing a novel set in Virginia.

Carol Meese continues to paint and exhibit. Her latest body of work was done during the stay-home phase of the pandemic.

Margaret Cobourn Robinson and Kenny spent January to March in Vero Beach, Florida. Margaret’s brother passed away June 16, but they were blessed to fly out to Seattle to see him the week before.

Kathie Drake Burgess practiced family law for 20 years and specialized in helping victims of domestic violence.

No Class Agent?

Your classmates still want to hear from you!

Send news directly to classnotes@umw.edu.

Cheryl Gonzales Yancey just retired for the second time.

On a sad note, we have lost several classmates recently. Sara Rieger Trub sent news that Phyllis Eure Rodrigues passed away on April 17 due to complications from COVID-19. It was very sudden, and her family was relieved that she did not suffer a prolonged illness. The nursing home director said she was wheeling around and being her funny, warm, and friendly self that very morning, and the staff was shocked and heartbroken.

After waiting five years for a San Diego retirement community to be completed, Dee Dee Nottingham Ward and Nat finally moved in February. They adjusted to the change from the large house they had for 46 years to a 1,400-squarefoot apartment. Dee Dee was able to work from home with the tax season extended.

In March (pre-pandemic) Mary Kathryn Rowell Horner attended a luncheon hosted by Mary Grace Wright Day with President Troy Paino, Kelly Paino, and other Mary Washington alumni.

Mary Kathryn stayed in their Florida condo rather than return to Alexandria in the spring. One day while A car plowed through the garage shopping at the Publix, door and mudroom of the home wearing her MWC 50th of Lee Smith Musgrave ’65 and anniversary shirt, Mary K met a checkout lady from Virginia came to a stop in the bathroom – whose cousin is a 2008 while Lee was in the house. graduate.

Saralyn Judd Pinson passed away in December 2018. Gertrude “Trudy” Kitchin Kohl passed away Oct. 6, 2019.

Margaret Cobourn Robinson and Trudy were roommates sophomore year, and Meg was able to see Trudy a few days before she passed. Ed Amsbury wrote that Carole Dirling Amsbury passed away July 30, 2020.

1966

Katharine Rogers Lavery hlavery1@cox.net Barbara Bishop Mann and Robert celebrated their 53rd anniversary at home with a bottle of white wine, takeout from a fine Richmond restaurant, and a movie viewed from their easy chairs. Other than taking walks around the neighborhood, they were staying home and avoiding COVID-19.

Kathy Goddard Moss and Tom quietly celebrated their anniversary socially isolating in their retirement community in Oakland, California. Their residence had been taking good care of them, delivering food to their apartment, shopping for them when requested, and maintaining a lovely garden and courtyard. Kathy and Tom kept in touch with their daughter’s family in Spain and their siblings, children, and grandchildren on Zoom.

Joan Cuccias Patton had contracted for a kitchen renovation just before the coronavirus outbreak. She managed to stay isolated during the construction and carefully disinfected everything each evening, per her children’s instructions. Joan and family celebrated Easter with a Zoom brunch. Joan festively set her table with silver, china, and crystal, and insisted the family dress for the occasion. The boys’ shirts and ties looked great – their shorts and flip-flops were out of sight!

Joan and family enjoyed a brief annual vacation in the Outer Banks.

Midge Meredith Poyck reported that both her Arizona and South Carolina families have kept well during the pandemic. Midge was able to hike in the fairly unpopulated areas just north of her home except during the outbreak of a wildfire, which didn’t threaten her directly. In May, Midge and family conducted a backyard graduation ceremony for a granddaughter who was headed to Arizona State University’s Honors College in August. Midge wore her academic regalia, awarded a makeshift diploma, and hosted a Zoom party for the celebration.

Marty Spigel Sedoff wrote on her 90th day of isolation that she hadn’t been anywhere in forever! Bob did all the shopping for groceries, hardware, and other necessities. Marty and Bob mostly stayed home, reading, watching TV, Zooming with friends and family, and taking long walks with their dog. They

also care for Bob’s 98-year-old mother, who lives nearby in her own home.

Anne Meade Clagett laughed hysterically at the suggestion of taking up new hobbies and projects, or developing new talents. Other than checking her temperature and O2 levels, she maintained her usual rural routine and kept in touch electronically with friends, her sister, favorite in-law cousins and, of course, her closest classmate, Bobbi Bishop Mann.

Terry Caruthers actually did develop new talents. Besides finishing a piece of furniture, having a knee replaced, and keeping up with the Golden Girls Club members, she wrote a series of short stories about her family. She self-published Brother Steve Stories on Blurb.com, about her older brother’s childhood adventures, his career, his three wives, and his valiant struggle with a rare terminal cancer. Terry next published Mystical Pieces of Me, describing some mystical experiences that are outliers in the pieces of her life’s puzzle. One such episode occurred at MWC, in Dr. Shaw’s vectors and matrices class!

Ginny Bateman Brinkley used her quarantine time to write poems for kids, published in May by BellAire Press. Ginny and Bill have decided to stay in isolation until a virus vaccine is available, especially since two family members became ill. Ginny set an all-time record for cooking meals. She enjoyed FaceTime calls with the grands, helping with their math homework.

Granddaughter Brittany Hewitt performed her senior recital at Juilliard in February with 17 family members in attendance – the last performance before the pandemic. Ginny and Bill enjoyed staying with Susan Roth Nurin in her cozy Upper West Side apartment.

Brittany returned home in March, finished her degree online, and had a virtual graduation in May. Ginny’s favorite part of the ceremony was the president of Juilliard declaring, “Graduates, please unmute your phones now so we can hear your cheering!”

Brittany received a generous grant and

Ginny Bateman Brinkley ’66 used her quarantine time to write poems for kids.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

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CLASS NOTES was planning to return to NYC to record original music and further her career.

Judy Wells Clark has continued playing music for church and teaching piano, in person or through FaceTime. Judy hopes that we can have some type of reunion whenever the COVID-19 threat is resolved.

Susanne Landerghini Boehm and husband Ralph stayed semi-quarantined at home, going out for errands, groceries, and plants. They visited their sons, who live in D.C. apartments, and took advantage of the restaurants, parks, and places of interest in walking distance. Susanne hopes that Karl and his girlfriend’s three adopted kittens will not be their only “grands.”

Although business had slowed greatly, Susanne and Ralph still ran their music contracting business, and Ralph continued teaching violin, viola, cello, and bass students via Zoom from his basement studio. Susanne keeps in touch with Tyla Matteson and recently heard from Kate Ginman, who had spent many years traveling abroad working with the armed forces. Kate is now retired, living in Maryland, most recently working as an events planner. Kate relayed the sad news of the passing of her roommate, Linda Johnson Williams, from ovarian cancer. Susanne, Kate, and Linda were three of the freshmen who lived among juniors in Westmoreland, and Kate planned to visit Susanne as soon as COVID allows.

We heard from Cherie Wells Brumfield in the summer and were shocked and saddened to learn that she passed away Sept. 6, 2020.

Sally Souder was sad not to be able to walk along the beach and aid the sea turtles. She also missed her annual lunch meeting with Gerry Sargent Habas, with whom she keeps in close touch.

Carolyn Eldred reported that things in Fredericksburg had slowed to a crawl, especially with all the UMW activities suspended indefinitely.

Jana Privette Usry was sad to see all UMW activities halted suddenly.

Pat Lewars Pace ’66 said her yard never looked better, though her aches and pains have increased.

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star” Maddy did return to The Citadel She was planning to attend the 1908 in August but was unsure whether she’d Society luncheon and participate in get to play any games. graduation. She also missed the annual luncheon for the Heritage Society and scholarship donors and its display of student projects. Jana kept in touch Sally Souder ’66 was sad not to be with neighbors’ outdoor able to walk along the beach and happy hours, spent countless aid the sea turtles. hours with her little dog, and participated in Zoom yoga. While working at home Jana completed at least eight Kitty Down Gregg and husband Don mediation cases via conference calls (a stayed isolated at home, disappointed new skill), fax, and computer. Jana’s that son Chris and his fiancée had to favorite relaxation was listening to postpone their wedding.

Wintley Phipps’ soothing sacred songs.

Pat Lewars Pace and Linda Glynn Ann Kales Lindblom and husband Steve Hutchinson had planned a trip to stayed on lockdown for months at the Germany to see the once-in-every-10insistence of daughter Beth, a nurse years Oberammergau passion play. practitioner in Maryland. They happily The trip was postponed until 2022, kept in touch with their grandchildren and Pat and Linda were hanging onto

by Zoom. their reservation, hoping for a COVID vaccine. Meanwhile, Pat said her yard Winnie Woodson Stribling and never looked better even though her husband Brad sheltered in place, taking aches and pains had increased. advantage of Instacart and dinner delivery services. Daughter Sarah lives Annette Maddra Horner started spring with them and runs necessary errands.

2020 on a mission to replace invasives Winnie researched patterns for face with native plants at her Richmond masks and made them before it became home. Her property looks beautiful a total requirement. She missed her and provides food and homes for native handbell choir but and stayed active insects and birds. Annette also enjoyed with virtual church. the exercise and therapeutic benefits of working outdoors. She read Doug At their daughter’s urging, Tallamy’s books on natural gardening.

Catherine Cantwell Luria and husband Eric vacated their Ajijic, Katie Winn Green visited her son and Mexico, home for a long stay near family in Cardiff, Wales, last Christmas Sacha and family in Portland, Oregon. before they moved to Sydney, Australia, Their rental house has a yard with in February. Unable to visit them in mature trees, flowering shrubs, and a Australia this year, and with her choral small bridge to a city park. group concert canceled because of COVID, Katie picked up her acoustic Yvonne Hutchinson March managed guitar and practiced enough to build up to visit her son and daughter-in-law in finger calluses.

Columbus, Ohio, in March, just before all flights were canceled. She didn’t Caroline Hogeland Ruppar and husband get to Savannah, Georgia, to visit her Allan flew to South Africa in February daughter and grandchild. Husband for 10 days including a safari – the Chris is not fond of traveling, so he “most amazing experience ever!” They didn’t object to the stay-at-home orders embarked on a scheduled 28-day cruise in Florida. Yvonne kept in touch with up the east coast of Africa and across Susan Roth Nurin, who was feeling the Indian Ocean. But the pandemic restricted in her NYC apartment, closed ports, and the 1,000 passengers missing concerts, arts activities, and and crew spent two weeks on the ship bilingual tours. while the cruise line searched for a port where they could disembark. They Betsy Chappelear Tryon in California finally departed from Muscat, Oman, had been on lockdown for months. knowing that they were safe because Son Frank shares her townhouse they had been quarantined aboard. and does the shopping and errands.

Caroline and Allan traveled 38 hours Daughter Maureen lives nearby with through four international airports to granddaughter Maddy home from get home. college doing online classes. “Volleyball

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Human Resources Executive Keeps on Giving Back

W

hen James Llewellyn ’87 was a senior, the psychology suite in Chandler Hall – where the University Center now stands – was voted one of the top 10 favorite campus hangout spots by Mary Washington students.

“The professors were so engaging and fun; learning from them was truly a gift,” said Llewellyn, who credits psychology faculty including Debra Steckler, Steve Hampton, and the late Topher Bill as strong positive influences on his college experience.

The exceptional liberal arts education Llewellyn received from Mary Washington is why he continues to give back to his alma mater.

Now a seasoned human resources professional who applies psychology in his work in the private sector, he was the Department of Psychological Sciences’ 2019 graduate-in-residence, sharing experiences and advice with psychology majors.

After graduating with honors, Llewellyn pursued a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Old Dominion University. Early in his career, he taught human resources graduate courses for several years while working in the corporate world.

In 2012, he joined Masonite International Corporation, a global door manufacturer based in Tampa, Florida.

As Masonite’s vice president of global total rewards, Llewellyn manages a team of 25 that handles executive compensation, incentive plans, benefit plans, human resources systems, and payroll for employees throughout North America and worldwide. His team also works with vendors and supports front-line human resources staff. He’s found that his background in psychology has been incredibly beneficial in the field of human resources.

“How humans communicate, what creates engagement and inclusion, what drives motivation to perform

beyond expectations on the job … all of these concepts are core to psychology,” Llewellyn said.

Through it all, he credits his college education, especially the writing and research skills he now uses every day.

“Whether I’m presenting to senior executives, facilitating a training course, or helping blue-collar workers understand employee benefits programs, Mary Washington has always guided me,” he said.

annually to the Fund for Mary Washington.

“It helps our alma mater provide the highest quality, most affordable education possible,” said Llewellyn, who also volunteered with annual giving campaigns as a college student.

He encourages current students and alumni to reflect upon what Mary Washington has given them and how they can give back to the university and future Eagles.

Lessons learned at Mary Washington have served James Llewellyn well in his human resources career and helped him make a positive impact on others.

In his profession, Llewellyn has focused on helping leaders motivate employees to excel at their jobs and reach their goals. It’s no wonder he’s chosen to do the same for UMW students and alumni.

Llewellyn not only serves on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, he and wife Deborah have established a merit scholarship for psychology majors and contribute

“Find a way to make a positive impact in life,” Llewellyn said. “Do this through your work or with your resources – time and money – and start by being charitable with organizations that are meaningful to you.”

– Jill Graziano Laiacona ’04

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

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CLASS NOTES Caroline Hogeland Ruppar ’66 spent two weeks on a cruise ship until it finally was allowed to make port in Muscat, Oman.

Back in Reston, Virginia, they finished a master suite addition and took a short family restricted beach vacation in Delaware. Caroline looked forward to our resuming our MW Lunch Bunch meetings as soon as it was safe.

Last October Diana Hamilton Cowell and husband Dan traveled to The Dalles, Oregon, to which her father’s ancestors had emigrated along the Oregon Trail in 1846. They visited cousins, saw the actual seat from the Smith family covered wagon, and paid respects at the family cemetery. Now that she has hearing aids, Diana has discovered she is no longer surrounded by mumblers.

Genie McClellan Hobson spent much of her quarantine time sewing masks for the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, writing postcards to voters, and Zooming with family.

Genie attended a Baylor University grad student’s dissertation defense via Zoom, happy to be a part of it since she had collaborated on some of the scientific work. Genie was able to keep working as a Realtor while she and Don quarantined.

presence for treatments. Son Todd’s family, all homeschooled, easily adjusted to the new norm except for the eldest, who had to finish his freshman year at Virginia Tech virtually. The Albrigo clan planned trips to their Hilton Head beach house with strict social distancing.

I, Katharine Rogers Lavery, and family We send condolences to Sandra pushed our annual Outer Banks vacation Hutchinson Schanné on the loss of reservation to next year. I spent the her husband, Richard, June 6, 2020. summer working on the house, yard, and Besides Linda Johnson Williams, who garden, keeping a close eye on the bird died in May 2020, we remember our feeders, four fox kits, and twin fawns classmate Barbara Ann Green, who living in the backyard. A magical huge passed away May 6, 2020. stand-up Happy Birthday sign appeared in the front yard the morning of my 75th birthday, and Hank and I celebrated our Mary Beth Bush Dore 25th anniversary with a dinner of homembeth1945@gmail.com caught crabs from our son’s river house.

After remotely celebrating three grandkids’ graduations and several birthdays, we were able to attend daughter Laurie Newman DiPadova-Stocks Tracy’s tiny June wedding, ’67 moved from Missouri to Arizona the first time the family and loves the state’s low humidity. had gotten together since Christmas!

1967

Our bowling, senior fitness classes, church music, theater subscription, and Pentagon Sailing Club activities were suspended indefinitely except for Zoom meetings. One good PSC friend is John Laffman ’94! I tutored math second semester on FaceTime and resumed in the fall with at least five students. Hank continued managing an office building in Falls Church with reduced hours, since most of the tenants were teleworking.

Linda Mitchell Spiers retired as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Collinsville, Connecticut, and traveled for the fourth time to Israel and Palestine. In August 2019 Linda was appointed interim Now that Diana Hamilton Cowell ’66 priest-in-charge at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex, has hearing aids, she is no longer Connecticut, and continues surrounded by mumblers. to serve full time. Worship services continued via livestream, with meetings and programs via Zoom. Linda is deeply involved in the Racial Healing, Tyla Matteson and husband Glen stayed Justice, and Reconciliation Network of home for months. She kept busy with the diocese, especially significant during Sierra Club meetings, all virtual, and recent tragedies and injustices. worked on local races in Hampton and Newport News, helping to elect several Eileen Goddard Albrigo opened their environmental champions. She was home pool at the end of May, a welcome dismayed by the coronavirus deaths antidote for the COVID doldrums. The and racial troubles. Tyla forwarded two grandkids visited in shifts and mostly Richmond Times-Dispatch articles. stayed outdoors, social distancing.

One was about UMW professors’ Husband John continued his medical efforts to establish a historical marker practice, doing only urgent surgeries and at the Freedom Riders’ first bus stop in seeing patients who needed his physical

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Fredericksburg. James Farmer – later a Mary Washington professor – organized the Freedom Rides. The other, by Vice President of Student Affairs Juliette Landphair, concerned the late Congressman John Lewis and his connections to Mary Washington.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Sarah Nabstedt Barnes and her husband live in San Diego and enjoy lovely weather and the mighty Pacific.

Sarah moderates a couples’ book club in downtown San Diego. She had to give up her piano when they moved to San Diego 11 years ago, but she took up Asian brush painting. She has been using Zoom and doing plein air painting with friends.

Laurie Newman DiPadova-Stocks and Hugh relocated from Parkville, Missouri, to Gilbert, Arizona, where Laurie is assigned to her university’s new branch campus. They love Arizona’s low humidity. Together, she and Hugh have six children, 16 grandchildren, and as of June 26, seven great-grandchildren. She spoke recently with Florence Bishop and loves keeping in touch with dear friends from Mary Washington.

Yvonne J. Milspaw and husband Douglas Evans hunkered down during the pandemic, renovating to make their house more senior-friendly. Once local

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: Dec. 9, 2020 • June 15, 2021

London, and wonderful visits with kids and grandkids.

Yvonne J. Milspaw ’67 was 2020 began the same way, planning for the fall 2021 meeting with travels to Atlanta and south Florida, and a of the American Folklore Society.

Caribbean cruise. They went into lockdown in mid-March.

COVID restrictions eased, they were “Really glad Don and I able to visit in person with their 3-yearactually LIKE each other!” Susan wrote. old grandson, and Douglas took him Dale Saunders Kalkofen’s extensive flying in his private small plane. Yvonne travels have included two long and Douglas postponed travel plans pilgrimage hikes: El Camino de Santiago to Iceland and Norway. Yvonne was in 2016 and a hike through Scotland slowly cleaning out her extensive library to England’s Holy Island in 2018, both of folklore and anthropology books. with small groups from her church She was at work on arrangements in Richmond. She enjoyed this past for a planned fall 2021 meeting of summer in isolation on Shadowland the American Folklore Society in Farm in Powhatan County, Virginia, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. where she has lots of flower beds and Charlotte Gregg Morgan’s poetry an excellent vegetable garden. She has chapbook Time Travel was published been drawing in pastels for fun but

by Finishing Line Press in August. The nothing like her dear friend and artist memoir Are You Gregg’s Mother? is to Mel Wittig Neale, who has been a prizebe published by Legacy Book Press in winning exhibiting artist since our Mary January 2021.

Washington days.

Alexis “Lex” Ball Smith is mom to Julie Deane Webb lives in Connecticut. two and grandma to four, and she She and husband Rick are blessed with anticipated the arrival of her first greatgood health and healthy lifestyles, but grandchild in August 2020. they were still taking this pandemic Gayle Atwood Channel and husband Warren drove from Portsmouth, Virginia, to visit while I, Mary Beth Bush Dore, was in rehab in Beaufort, South Carolina.

We had a wonderful dinner visit.

Daughter Ginger Dore Marshall ’94 and I met with UMW Development Officer Elizabeth Waters Hunsinger ’01 to find out about the new things happening at Mary Washington.

Husband Casey and I have stayed at home as Ginger and the governor of South Carolina wanted us to do. Ginger took family leave to care for Casey after his back operation and me as I prepared for another hip operation.

1968

Meg Livingston Asensio meglala46@gmail.com Frances Rodgers Bryant shared the sad news of the death of husband Julian on July 14. Besides Frances, daughter Jennifer Bryant Langdale ’91, son William, and four grandchildren survive him.

Sally Monroe Kelly sent in the following notes: 2019 was a banner travel year for Susan Morris and Don, with trips to the Panama Canal, Amsterdam, and

seriously. They miss daughter Mary, who lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two boys. Son Josh and family live in the Boston area. Julie had hip replacement surgery last October and by spring was able to lift and squat in her garden like she used to!

She remembers our 50th reunion with affection and hopes we can get together again soon.

Leneice Wu writes that shortly after our 50th reunion, she and husband John Thomas (married in 2013 after both being widowed in 2005) moved to a continuing-care community in Northern Virginia. It was not a minute too soon, as John needed skilled nursing care after his third surgery to repair a broken kneecap. Since being there, they have been trying to make sense of their possessions, and she recommends that if you haven’t begun downsizing, start

now! That said, she bought a condo in Vermont to continue downhill skiing as long as possible and to be closer to her son and his wife and her only grandchild, 4-year-old Lucas. Daughter Emily lives in California and was an unemployed pandemic Equity stage manager with an employed husband, which is good! Leneice says moving to a small community of 2,000 is a little like it was starting college. It does take a while to get used to all the rules!

1969 Linda Eadie Hood linda.hood@me.com

Oceanographer Jenifer Higgins Clark ’69 and her meteorologist husband were the support planning team for Pablo Fernandez’s century swim in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida.

Hello to Class of ’69 classmates! What are you doing during this pandemic to move through the world safely? Does it currently feel more like the late ’60s in our nation at this moment in time?

Linda Eadie Hood, our current scribe, was stuck in a cast in a recovery center and asked if I, Iris Harrell, would gather our class news this one time.

She had a fall that broke her ankle, and surgery included screws and a plate on her foot. Ouch! She was pretty sick of not being home, especially during this 2020 pandemic. She would love to hear from you all. Her husband has been a saint during her recovery. Angel wings waiting for him.

Bev Holt and wife Deb Alpert sold their home in the Raleigh-Durham area in 24 hours after putting it on the market! They moved to their beach house at Wrightsville Dale Saunders Kalkofen ’68 Beach, North Carolina. Deb retired July 1. Bev bought a enjoyed the summer in isolation BMW convertible, and Deb on her Powhatan County, Virginia, bought a Boston Whaler farm with its flower beds and an boat. They were living their excellent vegetable garden. retirement dream, with masks and hand sanitizers to boot.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

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CLASS NOTES No Class Agent?

Your classmates still want to hear from you!

Send news directly to classnotes@umw.edu.

Oceanographer Jenifer Higgins Clark and her meteorologist husband, Dane, were the support planning team for Pablo Fernandez’s century swim in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida.

In July 2019 Pablo set the fastest solo nonstop ocean 100km swim in history with a time of 12 hours, 21 minutes, and 14 seconds. What a job to have, Jenifer!

and suitemates Suzy Bender Winterble and Toni Turner Bruseth were together in November 2019 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Toni has a second home.

Jeanine hopes to resume her travel hobby ASAP once there’s a COVID vaccine.

Regina Sneed was sheltering in place and thriving in her senior living community in San Francisco. She Zooms with her North Beach coffee klatch, with fellow docents of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and with a local lobbying team that works on peace issues. She listens to lectures and watches theater, opera, and jazz performance – things she used to see live as a volunteer usher. With all these activities, she was seriously behind in her reading, as her pile of books grew taller.

Virginia, and were unpacking stuff they hadn’t seen in 20 years. They talk to their son daily remotely. She was trying new drugs for her fibromyalgia (chronic pain and nerve sensitivity), and coping with side effects.

Cece Smith Riffer reports that Ann Simpson Brackett had a virtual wine tasting happy hour via Zoom together with French House roommates to keep in touch during the pandemic.

Besides Cece and Ann, participants were Donna Cannon Julian and Lyn Howell Gray. Cece’s oldest grandchild was starting her junior year at William & Mary.

Ann reported that Betty Jo Shoemaker Polk has had multiple sclerosis since she was in her 30s and lives in a nursing home in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Betty’s son, Chris, is now 50!

Carol Hewitt Guida in Australia was busy with philanthropic, nonincome-producing projects – writing, drawing, weaving Ann Benson and I, Iris Harrell, celebrated our 41st anniversary quietly … you know, the fun, creative Betty Olander Adams ’69 at home. We were hunkered down in stuff! The pandemic means her recommends reading The Widow Santa Rosa, preparing for the annual husband runs his architectural Washington for insight into Mary fire season by painting the exterior firm from home now, and his of our home with an additive called computers and drawings have Washington and son George.

Flamecheck. taken over the dining room.

Carol keeps up his spirits with My golf club has just broken ground a kiss and a hug as she passes to rebuild the burned-down clubhouse In January, Nancy Yeager Allard and through the clutter doing her fun things. from the 2017 Santa Rosa Tubbs fire. her husband took an 18-day cruise from I serve on the club board as a steering Anne Witham Kilpatrick writes a tale Buenos Aires to Santiago. Since the start committee member for the construction. of what she is not doing due to the of the pandemic, they had increased I also volunteer on advising and hiring pandemic. She is not seeing her Mary their prayer life, including livestreaming for improvements of the public area of Wash roommates and suitemates this daily Mass from their parish. Nancy our 3,700-home community. year. It was going to be a girls’ week out helped organize two contactless food in Charleston, South Carolina. drives for the parish. They connect with family by using Also not happening for Anne: A Apple’s magical FaceTime. trip back to Scotland with husband She does a weekly FaceTime Roger and several of his siblings. The Ann Simpson Brackett ’69 hosted storytelling with her 5-yearDaughters of the American Revolution a virtual wine tasting happy hour old grandson. national conference was held virtually, with French House roommates. and family gatherings were via Skype.

Betty Olander Adams paused Anne’s granddaughter’s graduation a move from Maryland from boot camp in Fort Jackson, South to Virginia because of Carolina, was to be livestreamed. Anne COVID-19 concerns. She recommends was getting lots of yard work and indoor Our band, More Joy, is on sabbatical reading projects accomplished while waiting for until the pandemic is over and concerts The Widow Washington for insight the pandemic to lift. are safe again. Ann does volunteer work, into Mary Washington and son but her joy is her incredible garden and George. Betty was in touch with In October 2019, Jeanine Zavrel Fearns and fruit trees in the backyard.

Chris Phillips Farhood, who continued daughter Erin spent a wonderful week in Rome. Jeanine, Anne Witham Kilpatrick,

Nancy Yeager Allard ’69 does a weekly FaceTime storytelling with her 5-year-old grandson.

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her therapy practice while quarantined in Manhattan with her pup, Enzo. Chris had redone her bathroom, set up her art studio, and done volunteer mental health counseling.

The pandemic forced woman of action Lyn Howell Gray to slow down. She and Jim have moved from the African country of Liberia to Blacksburg,

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

1970

Anne Summervold LeDoux ledouxanne@yahoo.com The pandemic has changed so much in our world. Most of us are doing many of the same things at home, and nobody’s going anywhere! Our 50th reunion was

Susan Johnson Gillette ’70 is a first-time grandmother to baby Rebecca. postponed twice and now is scheduled for May 14-16, 2021.

Kathi O’Neill passed along some news from a Zoom get-together: Susan Johnson Gillette is a first-time grandmother to beautiful baby Rebecca.

I caught up with Loren Lawler Wilee, who has moved from Chesapeake to Northern Virginia. Genie Hamilton Roper ’71 and I met up in Fredericksburg. I also heard from Lucia Smithey Bushway, who has retired from teaching at University of West Florida. She and Jeff have two daughters and two grandchildren.

I know that many of us recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversaries, including Susan Johnson Gillette and Nancy Buchanan Perry.

Happy anniversary to all.

Please try to join us at our 50th reunion in May. Also, if you have not contributed to our class gift for the Talley Center, please consider donating to this most worthy cause.

1971

Karen Laino Giannuzzi ’71 kapitankL11@yahoo.com We are living in strange times indeed.

Last fall, we were all traveling the world.

That was cut short just as we were preparing for Founder’s Day in March 2020. Now we wonder, “What next?”

Our 50th reunion is scheduled for May 14-16, 2021. We hope we’ll be able to gather on campus by then. Meanwhile, we do what we can do to make life during the pandemic fun, palatable, and interesting.

Along with webinar and Zoom visits to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Lisa Barker hopes for a trip to Ireland next May, postponed from this year.

Cooking every day has become a chore for Bryn Irving Winn Roth, as it has for many. She missed her children, grandchildren, and a great grandson. She also missed a trip to Canada and a high school reunion.

Kathy Lewis Newbold was able to keep golfing with new rules in place, but she was sad that the traditional 19th hole had stayed empty. She was involved in virtual fundraising events. Cam and Kerry were home for the Fourth of July and joined with Kathy’s sister for a family barbecue. Masks were the fashion statement of the day.

Many of you wrote about the excitement of renaming E. Lee Trinkle to James Farmer Hall. You also praised the Alumni Association and UMW in general for online lectures, classes, and trivia nights. Kim Warren Noe and Bob appreciated the diversions. Her family reunion in Marble Falls, Texas, was canceled, and she had not been able to visit her 97-year-young father in San Antonio. Kim’s daughter and family live near her in South Carolina, and they had drive-by and distant deck visits. She used FaceTime and Zoom with her son in Chicago and other relatives.

Rhode Island, and came to Mary Washington together as roommates.

Laurie McIntosh has been homeschooling neighbors’ children, which is challenging but fun. She claims to be numerically challenged (I relate to that!) so will help in any subject except math. With historical parks and trails close by, Laurie treks about five miles a day, meeting interesting people along the way. Gardening remains a passion. She finished a novel late last year, set in 1968, and one of the central characters is a rising sophomore at Mary Washington. The pandemic has slowed her efforts to find a publisher.

Ongoing BLM protests and removal of Confederate monuments also have been in the news. Diana “Diney” Rupert Livingston lives near Richmond’s Monument Avenue and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, so she was in the thick of the protests.

Someone threw a rock through the first-floor window of her building and lit up a dumpster in her alleyway. The nearby Methodist Campus Center was also the scene of smashed windows, but peaceful protests had become the norm.

Monument Avenue certainly looks different these days. Diney had been auditing Italian at VCU and continued her studies with a private tutor with the goal of returning to Italy when possible.

Beth Fleming Skidmore also lives in Richmond. Son Alex and his wife, Alli, finished five-year medical residences in Pittsburgh and, after a year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, moved to Fredericksburg in Kathy Lewis Newbold ’71 was July. They have a new son.

Beth’s other son was to marry able to keep golfing with new rules this summer but big plans were in place: Masks were the fashion reduced to a small, immediatestatement of the day. family-only ceremony. Beth and husband Alex met over 51 years ago at Mary Washington and recently celebrated their 46th Kim said Jan Reynolds Cooke, who lives anniversary. in New Orleans, had recently recovered

Sally Reichner Mayor wrote that Switzerland is affected by COVID, but with so many mountainous regions the numbers are low. Social distancing is easy. Sally plans to come back for our 50th if all goes well.

from COVID-19. Jan’s large family had supported her from a distance. Jan was also in touch with Frannie Sydnor Cook in North Carolina. Susan Taylor Frank, Kim’s freshman roommate, still works part time at the Presbyterian Community Center in Roanoke, Virginia.

Elizabeth “Betty” Whichard Robinson has been staying close to home in Indiana and trying to support small businesses. She works out, reads, and Zooms with friends. Betty’s is a recurring theme with most of us.

Susie Sowers Hill passed through South Carolina last year, and she and Kim had a wonderful catch up dinner.

Karen Clark Jones has moved to Marietta, Georgia. Kim, Jan, and Karen were high school buddies in Newport,

Betty Barnhardt Hume retired from the library in Fredericksburg in 2016 but still works part time. Husband Randy Hume ’75 enjoys playing golf.

Mona Davis Albertine’s downtown Fredericksburg store, Jabberwocky, was open with almost regular hours. For

Laurie McIntosh ’71 has been homeschooling neighbors’ children.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

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CLASS NOTES Mona Davis Albertine ’71 got to know the wildlife on her property, including a crow family, cardinals, visiting bears, and a snake she named Henry. some time, the nonviolent but loud BLM protesters marched downtown daily.

Mona and Jack were seeing relatives but not friends. Mona had gotten to know the wildlife on her property, including a crow family, cardinals, a snake she named Henry, and visiting bears.

Nancy Belden and her husband run a polling firm in Washington, D.C., focusing on progressive issues such as human, civil, and reproductive rights.

Their son, Giovanni Russonello, lives in New York and writes for the New York Times covering politics, jazz, and polling. Nancy has found time to escape to a small house on the Eastern Shore during the pandemic.

Debbie Oja Tuttle and Ed spend winters in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, and summers in Linville, North Carolina.

She said golf courses had remained open, and their club served meals at distanced tables. Debbie said that’s better than her cooking!

Mary Carson, the grande dame of our class, and Roger have been married 62 years and walk several miles daily. In the past Mary served as alumni director and development officer for Mary Washington, and she has wonderful memories to bring along to the 50th reunion. Her daughter is news director of Sinclair News in Washington, Virginia, and Maryland. Her sons are with Verizon and hospital security.

Mary Weaver Mann reported that Jim has been in a long-term care facility for Alzheimer’s but was doing OK. Son Geoff is out of the Army and working as a pilot for a Richmond hospital. Daughter Emily and family live in Washington state. Son Zeph and daughter-in-law Erin were working remotely for a company in Los Angeles.

Mary finally retired from the library and did some house renovations.

Susannah Athey Warner reminded me of two happy events in 2020, the appearance of the comet NEOWISE and the successful launch and recovery of SpaceX. Susannah is in touch with college roommate Karen Murray Wood.

Susannah had some lovely mementos of Fredericksburg State Teachers College, which she got from her mother. It would be great to display some of these vintage items at our 50th reunion.

Mary Jane Chandler Miller and Fred feel blessed in Vermont, where COVID cases were low. Her office on the Council of Aging and all schools closed in March, and MJ retired in June. Her daughter and son-in-law in Burlington own the Vermont Comedy Club, which

Penny Falkowitz Goodstein wrote that the infection rates were still skyrocketing in Alaska. She missed seeing her grandsons. Her beloved 12-year-old dog passed away in March and her other dog was not well, so she and her husband adopted a puppy Canaan dog. Penny has taken up sourdough baking. She mentioned that after the online COVID-19 class many of us took, she reconnected with Gloria Shelton Gibson ’69, who was a freshman dorm counselor.

Some of us recently learned that Natalee Spiro Franzyshen was diagnosed with ALS after several years of undetermined symptoms. Her husband also has had health problems, but they celebrated their 48th anniversary in late August.

Plan to attend our 50th reunion. It will be historic celebrating alongside the Goat Class of ’70, so let’s make it a grand and fun affair.

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1972

Sherry Rutherford Myers Sherryhon2011@gmail.com Salutations to one and all! To be sure, we have been living 2020 with many challenges and are certainly viewing our world quite differently.

In September 2019, Nancy Mahone Miller and her “traveling sisters” – Kathryn Ray, Mary Saunders Williams, Terri Hall Alford, Shirley Harris Sutton, and Anne Toms Richardson – took their third Rick Steves Tour together. This time it was 14 days in Spain, where they visited Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, Toledo, Segovia, and Ronda.

Also last year, Nancy was elected state corresponding secretary of Virginia DAR. Since the advent of COVID-19, Nancy and friends have met every other week via Zoom. Martha Stansell Vogel, Kathy Duley, and Sherrie Mitchell Boone have joined them.

Cheryl Prietz Childress welcomed grandson Charlie, son of Cheryl’s daughter Thea and son-in-law Eric.

Granddaughter Ellie seems delighted with her new brother. Cheryl and husband Dave were able visit the family in the Atlanta area. They’ve also been catching up on their farm and riding their new horses.

Susannah Athey Warner ’71 has some lovely mementos of Fredericksburg State Teachers College, which she got from her mother.

Diane Mowrey was still at Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina, in March but she said it was to be her last semester teaching. At that point, classes were moving online.

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hadn’t yet reopened. MJ Zooms, reads, golfs, and plays tennis.

Dennis and I, Sherry Rutherford Myers, have also been catching up on home projects – a gratifying feeling at the end of the day. Life in the Roanoke area has agreed with us these past two years.

While we have all been disappointed by so many cancellations, my women’s club managed to have some events outdoors this summer. And we have the Blue Ridge Parkway close by to take drives and enjoy the scenery.

My heartfelt wish for classmates everywhere is that you are navigating this pandemic as carefully as possible and that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.

Nancy Mahone Miller ’72 was elected state corresponding secretary of Virginia DAR.

Judge Reflects the Real World

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hen he was a kid in the 1980s, Kerwin A. Miller Sr. ’95 watched L.A. Law on his family TV and waited for his favorite character – attorney Jonathan Rollins – to appear. Miller liked how the impeccably dressed law partner argued cases, how people listened to him, and how he won for his clients. And, unlike the characters Miller usually saw, the attorney was Black, just like him.

“It made me want to do that – do something that actually made a difference and made an immediate impact on people,” Miller said of his decision to become a lawyer.

“I thought about it so long that it was the only thing I could do.”

Miller overshot his childhood dream in January 2019 when, by appointment of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, he was sworn in as the second African American judge in the history of Harford County.

It was a long road to the bench, even though Miller made the journey much faster than most. When he chose Mary Washington College, his mother and his sister made the trek from his childhood home in the Bronx to Fredericksburg each October for parents’ weekend. They wouldn’t have missed graduation.

Mary Washington had the classes Miller wanted, a beautiful campus, and it was close enough while still offering a completely different world from the boroughs of New York.

“I grew up in the city,” he said.

“I was young, and I wanted to get away, but not too far away.”

He played basketball in his first year, until an injury sidelined him.

He was excited by lectures from professors, especially one who was a practicing lawyer. And Miller found his “biggest takeaway” from college, his wife, Alethea “Lisa” Patillo Miller ’96.

“I am a little biased when I talk about Mary Wash,” he said.

“I don’t know what it would have been if I hadn’t met her, but right now it’s ranked No. 1.”

As she finished her psychology degree, he started law school at

“It was something I absolutely fell in love with and became very efficient with,” Miller said.

Then state’s attorney Sandra O’Connor recruited Miller to her team in Baltimore County in 2006, and Miller eventually became deputy state’s attorney and chief homicide prosecutor in Cecil County, Maryland. In 2015, Miller became an administrative law judge, overseeing and ruling on appeals to the actions of state agencies. That’s where he was late in 2018 when he Kerwin A. Miller Sr. and got the call from Lisa Patillo Miller met Gov. Hogan to serve at UMW. They stand in as associate judge the Maryland courtroom in Harford County. where Judge Miller Besides being presides. a judge, Miller is president elect of the bar association there.

He is active on boards Southwestern University in Los and in community associations.

Angeles. He earned a juris doctorate Since 2008, Miller also has been in 1999, and the two decided to teaching law classes at the University make a life together in Maryland. of Maryland, Baltimore County. He They married in September 2002, has meant to make every semester his and immediately upon passing last, but he just can’t quit. He’s heard the bar exam, Miller opened a from too many appreciative students private practice in Harford County, who have gone on to successful legal planning to continue the business careers, and from many who say how law he’d done as an intern in L.A. important it was for them to learn from But his wife’s work as a forensic a practicing Black attorney and judge. interviewer exposed him to the “I realized it’s important for them needs of vulnerable clients – children to see this, and they are telling me and senior citizens. He started as much,” Miller said. “I felt it was an picking up civil and criminal cases, obligation as part of my service to the and realized he liked being in court community to continue to be there.” more than poring over contracts.

Miller’s two teenage children are In 2001, he joined the Legal Aid proud of their dad and sometimes Bureau, representing children in join him in the classroom. And abuse and neglect cases. He saw he and his wife take the kids to that the parents of those children Fredericksburg, to the place needed better representation where their life together began.

– and that the children of some “We love going back to campus,” underprivileged families were being Miller said. “We point out things to removed from homes more from our kids, the dorms where we lived, lack of services than from neglect the fountain. That’s how much that or criminal action. He found his school experience meant to me.” niche, he said, when he transferred to representing adults in criminal cases in the public defender’s office.

– Neva Trenis ’00

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

21

CLASS NOTES

1973

Joyce Hines Molina joyce.molina@verizon.net

After the troubling events of last summer, Patti Goodall Strawderman ’74 was moved to support UMW’s Scholarship for Building Civic and Social Leaders.

No news to report from the class. It’s a difficult year, no doubt about it. This year many of us are celebrating the final birthday of our 60s. Wear it well, and go out kicking and screaming. Now raise your glass and toast a new decade of our lives. May we continue to learn, to laugh, to love, and to look forward to each day.

The time has come for me, Joyce Hines Molina, to step down as your class agent. It’s been over eight years, and it’s time for new beginnings. It was an honor to serve. We need a volunteer. Are you interested? Contact the magazine staff at classnotes@umw.edu.

Stay true to all that you are and all that you are yet to be.

1974

Sid Baker Etherington sidleexx@yahoo.com Suzy Passarello Quenzer suzyquenzer@gmail.com Peg Hubbard, who recently moved back to Virginia Beach, and I, Sid Baker Etherington, have been able to meet for an outside lunch.

Denise Mattingly Luck, Nancy Brown Jones, Anne Reynolds Guest, and Bettiann Glass Aylor enjoyed several Zoom cocktail hours and planned to meet in person in Virginia Beach this summer – the first get-together for all four in at least 35 years.

Bridget Binko accompanied JoAnn Menzer Kevorkian to Cebu, Philippines, for JoAnn’s son’s wedding in early March. They returned to the United States just as the borders were closing due to the pandemic. Bridget was furloughed for three months from her part-time registered nurse job at

Registered nurse Bridget Binko ’74 dressed head to toe in stylish PPE to collect virus samples through car windows.

22

a hospital cancer resource center. She eventually got back to work, dressed head to toe in stylish PPE, collecting virus samples through car windows. She wrote: “You wouldn’t guess the number of people I need to ask to put their car into park gear! Some days I wonder why I hadn’t turned in my retirement notice as I had been thinking, but it is nice to feel useful to my community.”

Patti is part of a group that gets together annually for mini-reunions. This year’s planned trip to Las Vegas had to be canceled, so Jonette deButts Hahn suggested they start Zooming, and it’s been fantastic.

Patti and daughter Megan were traveling in the Czech Republic in March when borders were shut down and they had to evacuate – a planes, trains, and automobiles affair involving an overnight flight from Prague to Manchester, a train ride to London, and an international flight back to the United States.

Patti and her husband and daughter had a series of rabies vaccine/ immunoglobulin shots because they had a bat in the house while they were asleep, and the local health department recommended it. She reports that it didn’t hurt a bit, except for the outrageously high copays for each of the four visits.

Patti Goodall Strawderman wrote: “Like many Americans, I watched as the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others sparked a movement.

Armecia Spivey Medlock Feeling overwhelmed but unsure of vagirl805@msn.com how to best show support for the Black community, I asked myself, how can I help? I discussed my idea to make a gift with Armecia Spivey Medlock ’75 a small group of MWC spent the summer as a virtual nana ’74 alumnae, and everyone responded enthusiastically. to her California granddaughters, Serendipitously, we received ages 7 and 5, tutoring reading for a letter the next day from an hour each weekday.

UMW President Troy Paino regarding the establishment of the Scholarship for Building Civic and Social Leaders. It is Hello, classmates! I hope everyone has intended to promote the development been able to stay safe and healthy during of leadership skills for students this pandemic. committed to addressing societal issues Since we’re all in the same age bracket, disproportionately affecting black and I’m sure many of you have been underrepresented communities. The voluntarily isolating yourselves as I have.

Painos seeded the scholarship with a I, Armecia Spivey Medlock, spent the gift of $5,000, and I thought this was summer as a virtual nana to my two a perfect opportunity to offer support older California granddaughters, ages to a worthy student seeking to make 7 and 5, tutoring reading via Zoom for a difference for underrepresented an hour each weekday. I’ve also been citizens. If you feel moved to support walking and doing outside Zumba. If the Scholarship for Building Civic and you’d told me last summer that I’d be Social Leaders, you can make a gift at doing Zumba outside in summer in the fund.umw.edu, or you can contact Lee South, I would have said you were crazy!

Ann Reaser ’98, UMW development But my gym has a spacious parking officer, at lreaser@umw.edu. I hope lot with shade and lots of fans, and we you’ll join me and other members of can dance socially distanced. I’ve also the Class of 1974 in making a gift; any enjoyed summer water aerobics at our amount is welcome! Thank you to all community’s outdoor pool. I’m in a the members of our class who have virtual Bible study and will teach virtual Sunday school this fall. already made a gift to the scholarship!”

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

1975

Our daughter is expecting her first child in mid-December, which energized me to make a long-overdue T-shirt quilt for her. I hope to have it done by the baby’s arrival, but I’m not saying anything about it to my daughter in case my timeline slips. Quilt-making is a whole new territory for me, so time will tell!

I hope that you, too, have found interests and activities to occupy your time during the pandemic. I’d love to share with our classmates how you’ve been faring and what you’ve been doing.

Who knows? Perhaps something you’ve been doing may inspire others.

Reunion Weekend is set for May 14-16, 2021. I hope by then we’ll will be in a position to belatedly celebrate our 45th in person. Here’s to seeing you there!

1976

Janis Biermann (A – M) biermannjanis@gmail.com Debra Smith Reeder (N – Z) dsmithreeder@gmail.com Please send news to the designated class agent according to the first letter of your last name.

Yolande Long’s third grandchild, Eleanor Catherine Fallen, was born May 26, 2020, to son and daughterin-law Drew and Allison. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and is the couple’s first child. Yolande’s daughter is the mother of Olivia and Gemma. All three of Yolande’s children and their children live near her in Richmond.

Yolande was still working remotely for the Virginia Organization of Consumers Asserting Leadership but hoped to retire by year’s end.

Carolyn Roberts, Judy Sledge Joyce, Susan Grimes, Marti Taylor Clements,

Laura Toler, and Jan Biermann have had a few Zoom calls to cheer up during the quarantine. Judy reminded us we have a reunion May 14-16, 2021. Thanks to her and Lucy Dee Kinsey for volunteering to be our reunion chairs.

1977

Anne Robinson Hallerman arhmwc77@yahoo.com Janice Wenning, hubby Brad Stewart, and Blaze the schipperke started the year in Belize, as they usually do. They normally return in April but extended their stay to avoid a pandemic-related travel crunch. After Belize closed its resorts and shut down tourism, Janice and Brad were amazed to see the marine life venturing close to shore in the absence of zooming boats. They swam with eagle rays daily. Back home in Berkeley, California, they did several house projects. They planned more travel this summer, taking their Sprinter RV on the roads less traveled to New Hampshire and Virginia before returning to California in the fall.

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: Dec. 9, 2020 • June 15, 2021

Patti and her sisters get together once a year for a girls’ trip. Maryanne Auray Guido ’74 lives just five miles from Patti.

Barbara Auray Hampden ’77 lives in Orlando. Laurie Auray Gobillot, who attended Mary Washington before graduating from the University of Texas in 1983, lives in Houston. And Susan Auray Schulz, a 1988 University of Virginia grad, lives in Atlanta.

Patti keeps in touch with Class of 1980 friends Ann Cary Nelms Carr, Betty Kay Williams Manzi, and Sue Carr Sabo.

In August 2019, Lorenza Amico went to Peru for a week and saw Machu Picchu. Lorenza also joined the Mary Washington group trip to Morocco in February 2020, returning just as the pandemic was shutting things down. Lorenza works in acquisitions and cataloging for the University of Virginia Janice Wenning ’77, hubby Brad, Library.

and Blaze the schipperke dog started the year in Belize, as they usually do.

1978

Janet Fuller janetpfuller@gmail.com

1979

All three of Yolande Long ’76’s children and their children live near her in Richmond.

Let us hear from you!

Bobby was looking to retire in two years as a project executive for the Guido Bros. Construction Co. Their children live in cool cities including London, Seattle, Houston, and Austin. Patti, an avid runner, tries to run at least one half marathon per year.

Barbara Goliash Emerson emers3@msn.com It was wonderful to hear from some classmates we have not heard from in a long time, if ever.

Pattie Auray Walker and Bobby married in July 1979 and have lived in San Antonio, Texas, ever since. Their eighth and youngest child graduated virtually from the University of Texas Austin in May. Pattie has started scaling back from her job as a broker associate with Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty, and

Kathy Shelton Sieg would love to connect with friends from Marshall Hall, Trench Hill, the volleyball team, psychology classes, and the Baptist Student Union. Kathy is a private tutor. She and husband Sam, a pastor, have four children and six grandchildren. A son and his family are missionaries overseas, and three other children live in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., area.

Ron Bennet ’80 graduated in December 1979 and sent an update to our Class of ’79. He and Barbara Swank ’80 married a few years after college but later divorced, and sadly, Barb passed away in 2006.

A big shout-out to Gayle Weinberger Petro ’79 for her entertaining Facebook videos, Positively Petro, that focus on the bright side during the pandemic.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

23

CLASS NOTES Ron wrote that he and then-girlfriend death litigants.

Barbara came to UMW together from Long Island. Ron worked part time at Hazelwild Farm, where the equestrian team trained. Ron lived in Bushnell Hall Tara Corrigall with Mike Garst, Larry McKenzie, and corrigallt@gmail.com Tom Mazzarella. His last semester he lived off campus with Steve Jones of the administrative office. Ron served in the In July, Jenifer Blair ’82 became Navy from 1981 to 1985 and served two more years as a president of the Alumni Association. reserve, stationed in Virginia Way to stand forever true!

Beach.

1982

Ron worked in computer programming and analysis in North Carolina. He and Barbara also leased horse farms and had horses, and Ron ran a business building horse-show jumps. The couple divorced in 2002.

Ron moved to Port Orange, Florida, in 2011, where he does computer systems work for a dialysis lab. He enjoys riding his 2015 Harley Davidson Ultra Limited.

Finally, a big shout-out to Gayle Weinberger Petro for her entertaining videos. Titled Positively Petro and posted on Facebook, they have focused on the bright side during the pandemic.

1980

Susan Garter skgarter@gmail.com

1981

Lori Foster Turley lorifturley@gmail.com

Susan Pierce ’81 was named a Super Lawyer 2020 by her peers.

Susan Pierce, a partner with Walker Jones PC in Warrenton and Washington, Virginia, has been named a Super Lawyer 2020 by her peers. After majoring in political science and English at Mary Washington, she graduated from George Mason University’s law school in 1987. She has more than 30 years’ experience representing the victims of major car, motorcycle, and trucking accidents, those with brain and other traumatic injuries, and wrongful

24

Since early March, Annmarie Cozzi has been Zooming on Sundays with Jenifer Blair, Nancy Kaiser, Heather Archer Mackey, Debbie Snyder, and me, Tara Corrigall. Barbara Dixon joined one of our calls.

In July, Jenifer became president of the Alumni Association, a position I have also held. Way to stand forever true!

After being widowed for nine years, Erin Devine married Jon Kinney, a lawyer in Arlington, Virginia, where they live. Erin’s daughters, Kathleen and Caroline Keating, and sister, Kerry Devine ’84, attended the small ceremony. Erin’s son, Patrick Keating, Zoomed in from Oxford, England, where he is living while his fiancée completes a master’s degree. Erin works in major gift fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Erin and Jon were renovating the Ordinary at New Kent, a circa 1692 tavern and inn in New Kent County, to be a wedding and event venue.

contracts, and auxiliary services – 26 of those years at UMW. More recently she was director of procurement services at William & Mary and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. With her family centered in Fredericksburg, she looked forward to gardening, campus walks, and keeping up with her 2-yearold grandson.

A lovely woman on Long Island was gardening and dug up a 1982 Mary Washington ring. A web search led her to me, and using a picture and the engraved initials on the ring, I was able to contact the owner. He didn’t know the ring was missing! At deadline, I didn’t have details on the recovery meeting – so Michael Bennett, you owe us the rest of this fun story.

This is the year in which many of us turned 60, and we didn’t get to celebrate as we might have hoped. But there’s always our 40th reunion, in 2022, to look forward to.

1983

Marcia Anne Guida Marcia.G.James@gmail.com

1984

Christine Waller Manca christine.manca@att.net

1985

Joanne Bartholomew Lamm Jlamm88@verizon.net Charles Kennedy left Amazon Prime and joined Apple, where he works on scheduling and strategy for the original TV+ shows that they stream. His daughter is a registered nurse in Chicago.

His son is an actor in New York who recently landed a role in an independent film with Eric Roberts. Last September Charles did the Malibu Half Ironman – slowly, he reported, but he did finish! Also last year he took an off-road motorcycle adventure course and had a blast.

Betsy Rohaly Smoot has turned in the manuscript of her biography of Colonel Parker Hitt, an early-20th-century cryptologist who had a long and diverse Army career. The book is to be published by the University Press of Kentucky in spring 2022, with title and preorder information available in fall 2021. Betsy is the only female editorial board member of the journal Cryptologia, for which she writes a regular column. She also joined Elizabeth Stamoulis Via-Gossman the advisory board for the Springer of Manassas, Virginia, was named book series History of Information to the 2020 College of Fellows of the Security. She and husband Andy have used their “safer at home” time to make home improvements.

Charles Kennedy ’85 left Amazon In August, Erma Ames Baker retired after 30 years in higher education procurement,

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Prime and joined Apple, where he works on original TV+ shows.

Urban Forester Finds Love of Nature at UMW

T

he 11,000 to 12,000 trees shading the streets and parks of Lynchburg, Virginia, are a lot to keep up with. But Sarah Hagan ’11 has charge of them all, from roots to crowns.

It’s an ever-changing responsibility, varying with each season, storm, dry spell, and pest. As Lynchburg’s urban forester, Hagan oversees trees individually but also as an interdependent whole – the urban canopy that keeps the city healthy, vibrant, and beautiful.

Now in her second year with Lynchburg, Hagan is dealing with the inherited problem of the emerald ashborer, an imported pest devastating the native ash species of the eastern to midwestern United States. City trees face other stresses as well, from improper planting, poor soil, and road salt. Hagan constantly evaluates how long Lynchburg’s trees are lasting, how their lives can be extended, and how to bolster the overall health and sustainability of the resource.

To handle it all she works with Lynchburg’s public works department, a contract crew, and a corps of citizen volunteers known as tree stewards.

The role seems ideal for a biology major with a passion for botany, hiking, and all things outdoors.

But getting there involved “a lot of zigs and a lot of zags,” Hagan said. “My 16-year-old self and my 33-year-old self, I think, would find each other amusing.”

Growing up in Botetourt County near Roanoke, Hagan was an artsoriented kid whose physician mother and lawyer father encouraged her musical pursuits. Only after studying music at another Virginia college did she conclude that she wouldn’t have a career as an opera singer.

But if not music, what would be a more practical choice?

“I had always hated math and science,” she said. “But I decided, ‘I’m going to learn science.’”

She researched biology programs and decided to give

Sarah Hagan, an urban forester in Lynchburg, Virginia, discovered her passion for science while studying biology at UMW.

Mary Washington’s highly regarded Department of Biological Sciences a try. Professors including Stephen Fuller, Joella Killian, Andrew Dolby, and Deborah O’Dell welcomed, challenged, and encouraged her.

“Mary Washington taught me science,” she said. “My first semester, I walked into Dr. Fuller’s botany class with no idea even how to prep a slide. I fell in love with it. I adored it. I just couldn’t get over the miraculous organisms that plants are.”

It felt great to succeed in a notoriously difficult class, and it set her on an academic and career path she finds rewarding. “I was hooked because plants were just so darn cool, and I wanted more.”

And she loved living in Fredericksburg. As an older transfer student, she lived with roommates off campus, developed a great community of friends, and sang in the choir of St. George’s Episcopal

Church. After graduating cum laude from UMW, she worked another three years in the area, chiefly in an Americorps-funded position as volunteer and stewardship coordinator for Friends of the Rappahannock.

As her interest in conservation grew, she applied to graduate school and eventually earned a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University, with a focus on forestry and forest management.

While these days Hagan sings mostly in the shower and the car – her mother still urges her to join a choir for fun – she’s satisfied with a scientific calling that keeps her outdoors much of the time and contributes to everyone’s well-being.

“I’m happy where I am,” she said, “because I get to do something that’s having a positive influence on future generations.”

– Laura Moyer

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

25

CLASS NOTES American Institute of Certified Planners.

Her daughter recently graduated from nursing school, and her son was to return to Virginia Tech this fall for his second year. Liz plans to semi-retire in the next couple years and was looking at downtown loft condos in Columbus, Ohio. She didn’t get to reunite with her roommate Laura Dendtler at homecoming, but she can report that Laura has a new puppy named Watson.

Chuck Borek practices law in Maryland and is an adjunct professor of law at American University. Earlier this year he entered a master’s degree program in theology and literature at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. One of Chuck’s sons was married in San Diego in the midst of the pandemic, and another is a chef in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Chuck was finishing work on the third edition of Contract Drafting and Review for the Maryland Lawyer.

In true Chuck Borek fashion he wrote, “I recently completed nearly four days of study in Portuguese before giving up, and this summer I aspire to learn the intricacies of Tibetan interpretive dance.

(OK, this part is made up!)”

Chuck is frequently in touch with Chris Barnett, who lives in San Francisco and was doing well.

News from me, Joanne Bartholomew Lamm, is that daughter Rebecca Lamm Vail ’13 was accepted to the George Washington University MBA program. I hope to hear from more classmates soon!

1986

Lisa A. Harvey lisaharvey@msn.com The governor of North Carolina honored Catawba County Library director Suzanne Maddox White for 32 years of extraordinary service with the

The governor of North Carolina honored Catawba County Library director Suzanne Maddox White ’86 for 32 years of extraordinary service with the state’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

26

Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

Suzanne retired in August.

Jay Bradshaw ’88 has been

Harriet Whitman Dunkerley digitizing his original MWC slides is the new spiritual leader, cantor, and educator for from 1986 and ’87 and hopes Temple B’nai Chaim in to make this project available to Georgetown, Connecticut. everyone.

After earning a bachelor of arts in musical theater with a concentration in vocal Arlene for her birthday by coming to performance and acting take her to lunch. Arlene wrote, “MWC at Mary Washington, she received friends are the best!” a master’s degree in sacred music from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion and was ordained in May 2019. She is married to John, a musician, and they have a daughter, Jim Czarnecki Rosella, soon to be bat mitzvah. jimczarnecki@yahoo.com

1989

1987

Rene’ Thomas-Rizzo Rene.Thomas-Rizzo@navy.mil

1988

Jay Bradshaw jaybradshaw747@aol.com Beverly Newman bevnewmn@yahoo.com From Jay:

Meghan Baldwin Lau lives in Katy, Texas, near her extended family.

She has a bookkeeping business, volunteers with her church, and enjoys scrapbooking. She and Jim have been married 32 years.

In 2018, Robin Carrier and hubby Stephen Ritchie moved to the Hague, Netherlands, and visited all 12 Netherlands provinces.

They moved to San Francisco in 2019.

Son Devin Lipscomb is a Mercedes master mechanic finalist. Son Wyatt Lipscomb ’20 graduated from Mary Washington summa cum laude with a degree in history and is working on a master’s degree.

I hope this publication finds everyone happy and healthy during this crazy pandemic. I have had some free time during this Robin Carrier ’89 moved from the quarantine and have been working on digitizing my Netherlands to San Francisco in original MWC slide shows 2019. Son Wyatt Lipscomb ’20 is from 1986 and ’87. I plan to working on a master’s degree. make this project available to everyone at some point.

The original slide shows were stored in my old darkroom at Leah Wilson Munnis completed a my parents’ house and are in relatively master’s degree in systems engineering good condition, still sitting in the slide from Johns Hopkins in 2019. She lives in carousels!

Colonial Beach, Virginia, and is married Social media has reduced the number of updates I have received over the years.

Please share an update for publication in the next issue.

Arlene Fierstien Klapproth wrote that she had completed 16 months of treatments and was in remission for stage 4 breast cancer. She has volunteered for the local humane society for 10 years and recently began fostering kittens, a source of joy and purpose when times were tough. Last November, Sandy Bradecamp Sullivan, husband Marty, Jenn Menson Radich, and Lianne Wilkens Best surprised

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

to Michael Munnis ’13.

Chris Miller actively advocates for Black Lives Matter in Sarasota, Florida.

Jamie Britto is in Seattle and is director of technology at the Lakeside School, according to mom Kay Martin Britto ’58.

1990

Susan Crytzer Marchant march66358@verizon.net Mary Helen Dellinger happily continues her career as curator of the City of

Writing. An award-winning business journalist for more than 20 years, she has been a business desk editor for the Chicago Tribune since 2016.

Susan Crytzer Marchant ’90 is approaching her 30-year anniversary at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Manassas Museum System. Mary worked with J.P. Rees, Kevin Shirley, and Stacy Warner Price on our 30-year reunion and was glad the committee was able to offer the Sean Dargan concert virtually to entertain classmates during the pandemic.

As for me, Susan Crytzer Marchant, I am approaching my 30-year anniversary at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in January 2021. My oldest son, Adam, graduated from high school this past spring and has started college at Radford University. It has brought back many fond memories of being a first-year student and making lifelong friends with some great men and women.

1991

Shannon Eadie Niemeyer sfniemeyer@comcast.net Hello, Class of ’91! I, Shannon Eadie Niemeyer, didn’t receive many updates this time, but I hope to hear from more people next time.

Leanne Fogle is a Realtor for NextHome Platinum Advantage, covering Charlotte and Lake Norman, North Carolina.

1992

Courtney Hall Harjung charjung@hotmail.com Nellie L. King is first vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She is a criminal defense lawyer in West Palm Beach, Florida, and has held numerous state and national leadership roles with the aim of reforming the criminal justice system.

Jeffrey Bardzell recently became associate dean for undergraduate and graduate studies in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University. Before that, he was a professor of informatics and program director for human computer interaction design at Indiana UniversityBloomington.

1993

Becky Miller Duff lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband and children ages 6 and 10.

Working for the Batten Institute of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, Becky conducts research on the role of business in solving climate change. She was writing a book, due to be published in 2021, on the potential for decarbonizing the United States economy by 2050.

Susanna Parrett Daley and Stephen Daley have triplets who started college this year at Syracuse University, Virginia Tech, and Davidson College. Their first year will be a far cry from ours. Masks, distancing, no parties or clubs, and online classes.

Fannie Davidson Gray escaped to Mexico for the San Miguel Writers Conference and returned home in February, just under the coronavirus wire. She virtually ran the Garden State Parkway – running more than three Jennifer Dockeray Muniz miles a day for about six weeks. Son dockeray@apple.com Teddy graduated from high school and started online classes from Virginia Commonwealth University. Fannie Eric Nolan ’94’s poetry and political participated in UMW’s online COVID class and satire were published this year in reports that it was great. such outlets as The Roanoke Times Cheryl L. Roberts Heuser chatatcha@yahoo.com

1994

and The Bristol Herald-Courier.

The pandemic has certainly challenged all of us to reflect, shift priorities, and adjust our life expectations. We’ve had a lot of virtual graduations, homeschooling, and Zoom happy hours.

Here are some of our classmates’ life updates.

Eric Nolan saw his poetry and political satire published this spring by Illumen, Down in the Dirt, The Piker Press, Spillwords Press, Winedrunk Sidewalk, The Roanoke Times, and The Bristol Herald-Courier. Newington Blue Press in Germany invited him to contribute to its limited-edition chapbook, Buk 100: My Kim Quillen is president of the Society Old Man, which brings to six the number for Advancing Business Editing and of countries where he has been published.

In July, Spillwords Press interviewed him as part of its “spotlight on writers” series.

Award-winning business journalist Eric was trying to persuade Kim Quillen ’92 is a business desk Rick Slagle ’93 to run for editor for the Chicago Tribune. public office so Eric could be a staff writer for his campaign.

The Central Virginia Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar named Kerri Barile its 2020 Woman of the Year. This award is given annually to a leader in Central Virginia who has made an impact on the transportation industry and contributed to the advancement of women and minorities in transportation fields.

Lisa Berman Cooksey has been fully embracing time out of work as a sabbatical. She loves her job as a physical therapist, but it takes a physical and emotional toll. After four months off, she’d lost weight and gained muscle. Lisa expanded her organic garden, returned to trail running, played disc golf, taught herself freestyle Frisbee, and relearned cello.

I, Jennifer Dockeray Muniz, caught up with Lisa, Colette Epple, Anna Estep, and Ann Pegelow Kaplan for a Zoom happy hour. We were in Texas, Virginia, Ohio, Brazil, and North Carolina, respectively. We got to finally meet one another’s kids over video.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

27

CLASS NOTES I’m still working for Apple in Texas and have spent the past few months pacing the driveway of our ranch on conference calls while working from home. The pandemic has caused a crazy surge in my work volume. I’m grateful for my UMW connections and the way we can connect via social media to help stay sane.

Dru Abramson Perdue ’97 and Jarrett Perdue ’96 celebrated their 20th anniversary in July by visiting Bushnell Hall, where they met.

1995 No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1996

Jennifer Rudalf Gates teamgates17@gmail.com

1997

Michelle Trombetta michelletrombetta@gmail.com

their sports and activities. He’s a deacon at Beale Memorial Baptist Church in Tappahannock.

In early March, just before the pandemic hit, Kirsten Franklin, Anabeth Guthrie, Sarah Long, Shannon Peterson, and Mandy Thompson met in Tampa, Florida, for a mini-reunion. They hope to take an international trip for their next reunion.

Dru Abramson Perdue and Jarrett Perdue ’96 celebrated their 20th anniversary in July by visiting Bushnell Hall, where they met. Dru is switching from teaching elementary school to teaching middle school. In a blink of an eye, both of Dru and Jarrett’s girls are in high school, and the older one is leaning toward UMW. Kathleen Gillikin MacCubbin changed careers, from libraries to financial services.

1998

Erika Giaimo Chapin erikagchapin@gmail.com

1999

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

2000

Jennifer Burger Thomas jenntec14@ gmail.com Soon after graduation, John Sterling Harris married a beautiful, sweet Yankee schoolteacher who had recently moved to rural eastern Virginia. They met on Annie Johnston a Rappahannock River cruise when he anniebatesjohnston@gmail.com jumped in the keg line to pour her a beer.

Sterling attended grad school at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond and recently Virginia Green Bartlett ’01 is finished his 20th year of assistant director of the Center for teaching at Northumberland Healthcare Ethics at Cedars-Sinai High School. Many of his students participate in a Medical Center. history class partnership with Rappahannock Community College.

2001

Sterling also runs a popular high school chess club. He says the trick is to make it about friendly intellectual warfare.

He coached varsity boys soccer and was voted district/region coach of the year eight times in 15 years. But he retired from soccer coaching to support and watch his own children – Alexandra, 17, and Anne Lee, 15 – in

28

August 2020 marked Virginia Green Bartlett’s 10th year at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she’s assistant director of the Center for Healthcare Ethics. She lives in Los Angeles with her kids, Sophia, 11; Ellison, 7; and Latham, 4. They have two cats, Magic and Oneder, and a geriatric dog, Indy.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Sherri A. Hayhurst Trudeau lives in a 55+ community in Aurora, Colorado, with her 27-year old son, who has high-functioning autism. In June, Sherri completed her 10th year teaching for a charter school, first as an elementary classroom teacher and then as a building resource teacher and reading interventionist. Starting this school year, she’s a special education learning specialist for the charter’s middle and high school students. Her son works part time in a grocery store and is active in Special Olympics.

Matt Selwyn and Ariel Hatfield Selwyn live near downtown Fredericksburg and work at the Navy base in Dahlgren.

They have four children. Ariel just wrote her first book, Though the Mountains Be Shaken, and co-wrote Dust to Salvation. Ariel also received her health coach certification from the Dr. Sears Institute and is a certified hydrotherapist. She works part time for Bellah Modeling Agency and part time for the Juice Plus Co. Matt teaches part time for Strayer and Stratford Universities.

In June 2020, Madelyn Marino and husband Michael Walker welcomed their first child, Jonas Marino Walker – named after Madelyn’s favorite song by her favorite band, Weezer. Jonas couldn’t wait to join the party and arrived several weeks early. The family lives in New Jersey, but Jonas was born in New York City, making him a native New Yorker.

I, Annie Johnston, continue to work in corporate real estate as a senior occupancy planner for Jones Lang Lasalle and live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since March, my work has drastically shifted from regular workplace planning and strategy to COVID-19 response and workplace reentry planning. I’ve used my extra time at home to upgrade my house, but I can’t wait to take vacations again.

2002

Travis Jones tljones8@gmail.com Carolyn Murray Spencer turtlecjm@yahoo.com From Travis: Earlier this year, Michelle Tartalio was promoted to partner at Clarkston Consulting, a management and

Kevin Hickerson ’02 is on the executive committee of the National Council of Urban Education Associations and represents Virginia on the National Education Association board of directors. technology consulting firm serving companies in the life sciences, consumer products, and retail industries. She is responsible for marketing and corporate strategy. Husband Dave Befumo and daughters Cece, 9, and Ali, 7, are proud of her accomplishments.

After a three-year term as Fairfax Education Association president, Kevin Hickerson is back in the classroom teaching English at Chantilly High School. He is on the executive committee of the National Council of Urban Education Associations and represents Virginia on the National Education Association board of directors.

He and wife Lauren Legard Hickerson ’04 live in Centreville with daughter Hannah.

Sean Walsh and Dana Allen Walsh ’03 have been married for 17 years and live in Andover, Massachusetts, with children Leighton, 7, and Emerson, 3.

Emerson was named for the late Claudia Emerson, poet and UMW professor.

Sean is K-12 visual and performing arts coordinator for Andover Public Schools.

He has taught English and theater and holds an MFA in creative writing. Dana graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary and has been an ordained minister for nearly 15 years. She is the first female senior pastor of South Church in Andover, a large, progressive United Church of Christ congregation.

State Farm agent Brian Topping has opened a full-service insurance agency in the Oceanview neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia.

Brandon Robinson was named CEO of the Associated General Contractors

of Virginia in July. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science, Brandon earned a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University in 2004.

2005

2003

Kate Kelley graduated from Northeast Ohio Medical University and was completing her residency in family medicine at MetroHealth Hospital in Cleveland, where she lives with husband Matt Kirk ’05, a high school chemistry teacher.

Jessica Brandes jessbrandes@yahoo.com Alyson Grala has been named vice president of New York-based Rubenstein Public Relations. She works with the corporate team and builds brand exposure for clients using strategic media relations and message development.

2004

Sameer Vaswani sameervaswani@msn.com

Kelli O’Quinn Gaudreau ’04 is director of operations for the Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association.

Jeremy Gaudreau and Kelli O’Quinn Gaudreau live in Richmond, Virginia, with children Juliet, 7, and Mae, 4.

Jeremy is a real estate broker with eXp Realty, and Kelli is director of operations for the Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association. They met early in their freshman year at Mary Wash, so it’s 20 years as a couple for them.

Jason Lancaster completed his tour as operations officer at Destroyer Squadron 26 and moved to Alexandria, Virginia, for a new job at the Pentagon. He had completed 135 days of the 170-plus days underway as part of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group. Son George turns 2 this winter.

Brandon Robinson ’02 was named CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Virginia in July.

Shawn Gremminger is director of health policy for Pacific Business Group on Health. He holds a master of public policy degree from George Washington University.

Allyson “Ally” V. Lee Marzan allyvlee@gmail.com

2006

Shana Muhammad email.shana@gmail.com

Kiera Evans was working in nonprofits in Saint Paul, Minnesota. An avid traveler before the pandemic, Kiera more recently focused attention on rebuilding her community after upheaval stemming from the murder of George Floyd. Kiera was leaning into discomfort to better understand her role in making our future better.

In October 2019, Emily Walsh became a partner at Miller Zeiderman & Wiederkehr LLP, where she practices matrimonial law in New York City. In April 2020 she gave birth to a baby boy, Roman, who joins big sister Kenley.

Emily Lovins Fenichel and Ethan Fenichel welcomed a son in June. Emily is an assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University, and her digital humanities project was funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Kansas Public Television’s One on One show recently featured Jaci McClain Kelly ‘06, city attorney for Bel Aire, Kansas.

The One on One show on Kansas Public Television Station recently featured Jaci McClain Kelly, city attorney for Bel Aire, Kansas. Jaci talked about her childhood in Zimbabwe and life in the United States. Jaci was featured in the spring/summer 2019 issue of the University of Mary Washington Magazine.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

29

CLASS NOTES

2007

Daniel Clendenin daniel.clendenin@gmail.com Jay Sinha jay.sinha@alumni.umw.edu

Conor Beardsley ’08 is president of a network of clinics called Ovation Fertility.

Sarah Eckman sarahje@gmail.com From Daniel: Since 2018, Andrew Greeley has been an account and print production manager for Journey Group, an independent design company. His main client is the United States Postal Service, for whom Journey Group designs the quarterly Philatelic catalog and the seasonal Gift catalog and stamp Yearbook.

Andrew and wife Tyler, who married July 13, 2019, welcomed daughter Isla Rose Elizabeth Greeley on June 11, 2020. The couple renovated a house in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Tyler is a physical therapist at Martha Jefferson Hospital.

In 2019, Andrew and Tyler purchased the Monticello Wine Company. Tyler’s parents own Afton Mountain Vineyards, and the Monticello Wine Company is a second label for the wine they produce.

Andrew Greeley ’07 is print production manager for a company that designs the USPS’ Philatelic and Gift catalogs and stamp Yearbook.

From Jay: Sarah Sherman and Jacob Schwing ’06 welcomed their second son, Walter Benjamin Schwing, in February 2019.

They live in Collingswood, New Jersey, and both Sarah and Jacob teach in public schools outside Philadelphia.

2008

Trish Lauck Cerulli trish.lauck@gmail.com Alyssa Lee alyssa.linda.lee@gmail.com In August 2020, Conor Beardsley became president of Ovation Fertility, a network of clinics helping couples overcome infertility.

30

Heather Shott Russell is the 2021 elementary teacher of the year for Chesterfield County, Virginia. She teaches STEAM – science, technology, engineering, arts, and math – at Ecoff Elementary School.

2009

From Elizabeth:

Kira Lanewala klanewala@gmail.com Delaware Today has named Brian V. DeMott among the state’s top lawyers of 2020.

He practices labor law for employers and employees with the firm of Baird Mandalas Brockstedt.

2012

Attorney Shirin Afsous ’12 was named a 2019 Super Lawyers Rising Star in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Ali Meier graduated from Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine in May 2019 and matched at the University of Virginia for her psychiatry residency.

She is glad to be back in Virginia after 10 years away and loves living in Charlottesville.

Joyce Metzler Bodoh earned an MBA from the College of William & Mary in May. She is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society.

Also in May, she and her husband welcomed their third daughter, Marie.

Joyce works in government affairs for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and resides in Fredericksburg.

Tom Roberts is director of community and economic development for Buena Vista, Virginia. He and his wife, Elizabeth Emmel Roberts ’11, bought their first house, a turn-of-the-century cottage only five blocks from his office in City Hall. They expected a third daughter in October.

2010

Hannah Hopkins hhopkins89@gmail.com

Mandi Solomon msolomon211@gmail.com

Elizabeth Jennings elizabethsjennings@gmail.com Alexandra Meier alexandra.m.meier@gmail.com

2011

Shirin Afsous has been promoted to senior associate with the law firm of Livesay & Myers, working from the Arlington, Virginia, office. In 2019 she was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in Virginia and Washington, D.C. She resides with her husband in Northern Virginia.

2013

Amanda Buckner McVicker Amandabuckner1@gmail.com Andrew Hogan andrew.hogan819@gmail.com Ryan Hayes has become president of the Virginia-based forensic, biometric, and identity intelligence solutions provider SNA International.

Joey LoMonaco, a sports reporter for The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, was named outstanding young journalist of the year by the Virginia

Kelly Caldwell kellyecaldwell@gmail.com Joseph Oschrin graduated from the Washington and Lee University School of Law in May. Emmett Rutkowski has been named head coach for Stetson University men’s soccer.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

Joey LoMonaco ’13, a sports reporter for The Free Lance-Star, was named outstanding young journalist of the year by the Virginia Press Association.

Press Association. Judges wrote that LoMonaco “recognizes sports journalism’s highest potential by finding the intersection of athletics and society.”

2014

Elizabeth Storey estorey@mail.usf.edu Peyton Kremer graduated in May from Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine at Virginia Tech.

2015

Evan Smallwood esmallwood15@gmail.com Moira McAvoy moira.jo.mcavoy@gmail.com Maggie Lovitt is managing editor of entertainment for YourMoneyGeek.com.

2016

Quinn Doyle quinnmdoyle@gmail.com Elisa Tedesco Hart and Joseph Hart ’15 got married May 16, 2020, despite the pandemic. They started dating in college and had engagement photos made on the UMW campus.

Karina Donahoe graduated from the Sentara RMH School of Histotechnology and passed the certification exam from the American Society for Clinical Pathology. The pandemic cut Karina’s clinical rotation short by about a month and a half, but she and her classmates were able to graduate on time.

Dolores O’Brien Dowe ’50 Geraldine Boswell Griffin ’50 Elizabeth Gordon Haga ’50 Margaret “Peg” Penn Hutchins ’50 Marjorie Diener Knapp ’50 Virginia Barnes Price ’50 Janet Scott Allen ’51 Nilda Fernandez Alsip ’51

2019

Constance Cole ’51

Jasmine Pineda pinedajasmineem@gmail.com

Martha Lancaster Curtis ’51 Kathryn Hope Allcorn Kasfeldt ’51 Gertrude Alfriend Kimbrough ’51

2020

Nancy Lipps Nugent ’51

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

In Memoriam

Mildred Kolarik Bara ’52 Betty Jo Woodford Bates ’52 Jane Self Ellis ’52 Leah Sachs Gardner ’52 Sara Rowlett Gregory ’52

Virginia Apperson Waldrop ’41

Anne Smith Harman ’52

Louise Lucas Carnell ’42

Felde Lee Wagner Jones ’52

Dorothy Sutton Jones ’42

Lilla Hagberg Stubbs ’52

Ruth Spotswood Spradlin ’42

Shirley Widener Butler ’53

Alice Glazebrook Gilleece ’43

Betty Raynor Pittman ’53

Edith Winslow Staalman ’43

Elizabeth Mae Vandemark ’53

Frances Ellis Chilian ’44

Martha Holbrook Boyd ’54

E. Lane Gale Beale ’45

Nancy Gant Dyment ’54

Kathryn Hale Hudson ’45

Christie Gill Hartsock ’54

College sweethearts Elisa Tedesco Hart ’16 and Joseph Hart ’15 had engagement photos taken on the UMW campus before their May wedding.

Jean Hudson Inskeep ’45

Nancy Miller Hatcher ’54

Virginia Oquist Cameron ’46

Ann Robertson Heard ’54

Calista Upshaw Gilmer ’46

Florence Hood Kvalnes ’54

Ruth Phipps Metzel ’46

Beatrice Carver Clark ’55

Dorothy Miller ’46

Sarah Cooley Potts ’55

Viola Grosso Stokes ’46

Betty Lou Jordan Dunton ’56

Betty Proctor Groseclose ’47

Alice Huff ’56

Meda Overman Hill ’47

Cynthia Michael Jensen ’56

Anna White Jones ’47

Barbara Ann Shotton ’56

Anna Brauer Oxenham ’47

Emilie Carlin Swartz ’56

Lois Saunier Hornsby ’48

Nancy Brogden Booker ’57

Elizabeth Griffin Mitchell ’48

Samantha Litchford slitchfo@gmail.com

Barbara Mason Carper ’57

Virginia Carol Schachtler ’48

Bruce Ritchie Spain ’57

Mary Norvell Millner Thomson ’48

Ann Walker Abney ’58

2018

Barbara Henderson Vassar ’48

Patricia Ann Dillon ’58

Mary Roberts Guynn ’49

Madge Iseminger Fleeger ’58

Brittany McBride bmcbride2128@gmail.com

Christine Ridgwell ’49

Martha Collier Scruggs ’58

Virginia Lee White ’49

Martha Ann Blake Cooper ’59

Sophia Hamdan earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from Boston College and was looking forward to equity and inclusion work at the university level.

Betty Tomlin Behling ’50

Sara Bryson Damskier ’59

George Bidgood ’50

Mary Stump Harrell ’59

Kathryn Genoveses Bodley ’50

Luanne Harrison Mortimer ’59

Virginia Felts Brown ’50

Elsa Query Rash ’59

2017

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

31

CLASS NOTES Ann Hopkins Surrette ’59

Marian H.W. Bartenhagen ’87

Nancy Whitehead ’59

Mark Schadly ’87

Vera Taylor Bruton ’60

Stephen Clipp ’88

Nancy Floyd Gibb ’60

Darren L. Brady ’89

Elizabeth Rains Grymes ’60

Melissa Carter Lipps ’89

Lynne Hays ’60

Judy W. Johnson ’91

Jane Ferguson Junghans ’60

Katherine B. Payne ’92

Martha Pace Patchan ’60

Allen Phillips Jr. ’92

Jean Ryan Farrell ’61

Emily Anne Riebau ’93

Mary Gilliam Dodson Larson ’61

Carol Alvey Swindell ’93

Lynne Gourley Farrell ’62

Elizabeth A. Pellegreen ’95

Jimmie Barnette Fullinwider ’62

Charles H. Sperry III ’96

Carolyn Livingstone ’62

Shawn T. Endler ’00

Rhoda “Dodo” Fischer Roberts ’68, who lost her mother

Kathryn Clark Wary ’62

Barbara Jean Reed ’01

Anne Tooke ’68, who lost her mother

Linda Richardson Wilkinson ’62

Jeremy L. Driver ’02

Carolyn Scoville Brantley ’63

Ailith Rogers ’04

Susan Seay Ledbetter ’69, who lost her husband

Letha Fuqua Simpkins ’64

Patricia Lynn Kelly ’05

Jacqueline Towler ’64

Jessica Jaspin ’07

Carole Dirling Amsbury ’65

Kathleen Oliver ’09

Phyllis Eure Rodrigues ’65

David T. Phillips ’14

Cherryl “Cherie” Wells Brumfield ’66

Shacobe N. Johnson ’19

Mary Camper ’66

Condolences

Otelia Thorn Frazier ’66 Barbara Green ’66 Mary Patricia Greenwald ’66 Linda Johnson Williams ’66 Lynn Barnett ’67 Mary Diggs ’67 Patricia Rankin McLaughlin ’67 Doris Smith Parrish ’67 Carolyn Corwin Thomas ’67 Brenda Dunlavey ’71 Randi Marston Peterson ’71 Jan F. Kurtz ’73 Ann McKenna Newnam ’76 Linda Meeker Young ’78 Sally Hayden ’79 Karyn Kimball Bekit ’80 Lloyd C. Martin Jr. ’81 Philip F. Cooke ’82 Carmel Pellicciotto Andrews ’84 Violet Johnson Deel ’84 Lois Walthall Murdaugh ’84 John Thomson ’84 Patricia Williams Deutsch ’85 Wendy Monica Stone Frazier ’85 Sandra Lee Goss ’86 Marianna O. Hall Seay ’86 Allison Sheppard ’86

32

Florence Overley Ridderhof ’50, who lost her son

Linda Gulnac Steelman ’63, who lost her husband Kathryn Pannell Howe ’64, who lost her husband Margaret Cobourn Robinson ’65, who lost her brother Nancy Coates Wilson ’65, who lost her husband Sandra Hutchinson Schanné ’66, who lost her husband Frances Rodgers Bryant ’68, who lost her husband

Willa S. Powell ’72, who lost her sister April Tooke Langevin ’75, who lost her mother Ellen Stanley Booth ’81, who lost her mother Katherine Dozier ’81, who lost her brother Bobbie Dwyer Leon ’81, who lost her father Erin R. Devine ’82, who lost her mother

Miriam “Mim” Sollows Wieland ’50, who lost her husband

Betsey Riester Lisenbee ’82, who lost her father

Katherine “Kitty” Wells Ball ’52, who lost her husband

Christy Roach ’82, who lost her mother

Carlene Mitchell Bass ’54, who lost her husband Elizabeth “Betsy” McNeal Brann ’54, who lost her husband Ann Johnston LeDuke ’54, who lost her husband Marjorie Webb Wolfrey ’55, who lost her husband Barbara Barndt Miller ’59, who lost her husband Sally Warwick Rayburn ’59, who lost her husband

Roslyn Roach Aroesty ’84, who lost her mother Kerry P. Devine ’84, who lost her mother Sara Riester Dillon ’87, who lost her father James Llewellyn ’87, who lost his mother Kimberly Swaim Brady ’89, who lost her husband Jennifer Bryant Langdale ’91, who lost her father Colette Epple ’94, who lost her father

Fay Jessup Young ’59, who lost her husband

Nicole Johnson Boynes ’97, who lost her husband

Jean Eubanks Holland ’60, who lost her husband

Carol Hairfield Bowler ’98, who lost her father

Eleanor Jane Riles ’61, who lost her husband

Heather Flory Driver ’02, who lost her husband

Catherine “Kitty” Boxley Swanson ’62, who lost her husband

Barbara J. Gary ’05, who lost her husband

Betty Caudle Marshall ’63, who lost her husband

Ashley Frazier, current student, who lost her mother

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

OBITUARIES Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography Marshall E. Bowen, 82, passed away Aug. 19, 2020, at his home. A native of Providence, Rhode Island, he moved to Fredericksburg in 1965 to join the faculty of Mary Washington College, where he taught until his retirement in 2001.

Bowen shared his passion for North America with more than 300 students each semester in a packed Monroe Hall lecture room 116, now the James Farmer lecture hall. He taught seminars in historical geography and, early in his career, taught the geography of Asia as well as courses in physical geography.

Throughout the 1970s Bowen’s summer field course to the American West had a profound effect on students and led many to pursue advanced degrees in geography. Bowen received the 1987 Grellet C. Simpson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the 1991 Mortar Board Outstanding Professor Award.

His devotion to students went beyond academics. An avid basketball player, Bowen was Mary Washington’s first men’s basketball coach, a position he held until 1976. Many of his players remained a part of his life, held frequent reunions, and are devoted to his memory today.

Bowen earned a bachelor’s degree from New Hampshire’s Plymouth Teachers College, a master’s degree from Kent State University, and a Ph.D. from Boston University.

He is survived by his wife, Professor of Geography Dawn Smith Bowen ’86, a son, two daughters, and four grandchildren. The family requests that expressions of sympathy take the form of contributions to the Geography Alumni Scholarship, University of Mary Washington Foundation, Jepson Alumni Executive Center, 1119 Hanover St., Fredericksburg, VA 22401.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English Donald Ellsworth Glover died Aug. 18, 2020, from Alzheimer’s disease.

His entire teaching career was at the University of Mary Washington, where he was chair of the Department of English for three years and later served as director of the program for graduate studies. He helped to establish the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program, which was designed for nontraditional students. He was honored with the 1976 Grellet C. Simpson Award in recognition of excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Glover was born in Rochester, New York, and attended public schools in Falls Church, Virginia. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1955 from the College of William & Mary and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

He and his wife, Alice W. Glover, were Fulbright Scholars for 15 months at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He entered graduate studies at the University of Virginia in 1957 and received a Ph.D. in English in 1964. During a sabbatical at Oxford, England, in 1973, he wrote a book on the fantasy works of C. S. Lewis titled C.S. Lewis: The Art of Enchantment.

He was a longtime member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, serving as a member of the vestry, junior warden, teacher, and in the outreach program.

He is survived by his wife, four children, six grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

The family asks that memorials take the form of contributions to Trinity Episcopal Church outreach, 825 College Ave., Fredericksburg, VA 22401.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

33

GET THE CLASS PICTURE? NOTES

Give It Your Best Shot It was move-in day 2000, and this couple pulled off just the right look for the occasion.

Photographer Lou Cordero captured this image.

Can you help us identify these stylish students from 20 years ago? They look ready to take on whatever fall semester might bring!

Go online to magazine.umw.edu and click on “Get the Picture” to leave a comment. Or send an email with “Get the Picture” in the subject line to magazine@umw.edu.

You may also write to: UMW Magazine – Get the Picture 1301 College Ave. Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5300

Still Wondering

This image from our previous issue was a stumper.

No one came up with the last names of these three students photographed with Sammy D. Eagle at the September 1988 ballfield dedication. But you can still help us identify Ton, Shel, and Bec. The photo was taken by Barry Fitzgerald.

34

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

CLOSING COLUMN

Early Students Bravely Faced Pandemic of 1918

By Ann Dunaway Criswell ’55

During this unsettling time of COVID-19, I am reminded of a conversation decades ago with my mother, Annie Towles Dunaway 1919.

The 1918 influenza pandemic did not spare students or faculty at Fredericksburg State Normal and Industrial School for Women, as Mary Washington was called at the time. Classes were canceled, and students remained in their dorms.

Those who were not sick helped those who were ill.

There was one death, that of Professor of History Virginia Goolrick, one of my mother’s favorite faculty members. Professor Goolrick lived in an apartment in Virginia Hall, my mother’s dorm.

The normal school, founded in 1908 and opened in the academic year of 1911-’12, was still new when Annie Towles journeyed by steamboat from Merry Point in Lancaster County to begin her college life. She was in the vanguard of young women attending college with sights on careers as teachers at a time when public education was being expanded.

My mother enjoyed her normal school years and spoke of her courses, including child psychology, school music, nature study, and physical education. To this day I have a ring my mother made in her studio art class, taught

by Olive May Hinman. The lovely ring is fashioned of sterling silver set with malachite, appropriate for a class whose colors were green and white.

I recently turned again to my mother’s yearbook, a slim green volume with the intertwined letters FSNS on the cover and, on each page, the class motto “Hitch your wagon to a star and play fair.”

Oval pictures of 55 young women of the Class of 1919 show beautiful faces and dresses trimmed with ruffles, tucks, and lace edging. There was not a hint of the difficult experience of interrupted courses, the loss of a revered professor, or the fact that about 50% of the students had been ill from the so-called Spanish flu.

After graduating, Annie Towles took a teaching position in the Northern Virginia town of Clifton Station, where she had room and board in a private

home. After a year or two, she accepted a position in Lancaster County in the high school from which she had graduated. She could save more of her meager salary by living with her parents.

She drove a horse and buggy to school, and the teenage boys took the horse to graze in a nearby pasture each day. In winter the boys arrived early to start the fire to heat the classroom. At least one of those years Miss Annie, as she was known, taught seventh-graders all their subjects.

In those days, at least in that rural area of the Northern Neck of Virginia, married women were not permitted to teach. When my mother accepted a proposal from a handsome young man whom she had known all her life, her teaching career came to an end.

Annie Towles Dunaway and Vernon Dunaway were within a month of their 70th anniversary when he passed away. She, herself, lived a month beyond her 100th birthday.

While my mother’s teaching career was relatively short, she inspired me to attend her alma mater, where I graduated in 1955 with a teaching certificate and a degree from what had by then become Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia. I went on to graduate school, teaching one high school class while working on my master’s degree at the University of Kentucky.

I also married a handsome young man, an Air Force veteran of the Korean War who was beginning his engineering degree. My teaching career of 43 years took me wherever my husband’s career in the aerospace industry took him.

Together my mother’s and my college and teaching careers spanned decades that saw vast changes in society and culture, including opportunities for women’s education and careers. Mary Washington had a pivotal role in both our lives.

It has taken two pandemics a century apart to bring these reminiscences and realizations to the forefront of my memories.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020

35

Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

1301 College Avenue Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401-5300

Eagles Vote!

UMW’s inaugural Day on Democracy, a campuswide celebration organized by Mary Washington students and alumni, made voting easier for students while it encouraged civic education and participation. It was the first student-initiated event of its kind at a public, four-year institution in the United States. The nonpartisan celebration included activities leading up to Election Day and the canceling of lecture classes on Nov. 3.

In response to a polarized election season, the university reminded students to honor others’ opinions and uphold UMW’s community values through “ASPIRE Speak,” an initiative that promotes civility and respectful discourse.

Pictured above is political science major Stephanie Turcios ’21, who volunteered for UMW Votes, one of the campus civic organizations helping students prepare to make their opinions heard on Election Day.