UMW Magazine Fall/Winter 2019

AMBASSADOR FOR FREEDOM

ALUMNUS FIGHTS TO END HUMAN TRAFFICKING

SISTERS SHARE ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE EXPANDED JEPSON OPEN FOR EXCELLENCE

Great Lives Returns

The William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series returns for its 17th season on Jan. 21, 2020, which also marks Professor Crawley’s 50th year on the UMW faculty.

The series is characterized by its breadth of topics and quality of speakers, who this season include Pulitzer Prize winners David Blight on Frederick Douglass and William Taubman on Nikita Khrushchev.

Several 2020 topics focus on groups of interesting people, including duelists, pirates, and female pioneers in aviation and the internet.

Great Lives lectures are free and open to the public. All begin at 7:30 p.m. in Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall. For information, call 540-654-1065 or visit umw.edu/greatlives.

Jan. 21 Ronald Reagan, Craig Shirley, author of Rendezvous with Destiny Jan. 23

Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict, author of Tiger Woods

Jan. 28

D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose, author of D-Day Girls

Jan. 30 JFK/James Bond, Steven Watts, author of JFK and the Masculine Mystique Feb. 4 Francis Gary Powers, Francis Gary Powers Jr., author of Spy Pilot Feb. 6

The Beach Boys, Peter Ames Carlin, author of Catch a Wave

Feb. 11

Dr. Seuss, Brian Jay Jones, author of Becoming Dr. Seuss

Feb. 13 John and John Quincy Adams, Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein, authors of The Problem of Democracy Feb. 18

Stephen Hawking, Kitty Ferguson, author of Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind

Feb. 20

American Duelists, Joanne Freeman, author of Field of Blood

Feb. 27

Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

March 10 Female Internet Inventors, Claire L. Evans, author of Broad Band March 12 C .S. Lewis, Devin Brown, author of A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C.S. Lewis March 19 America’s Notorious Pirates, Eric Jay Dolan, author of Black Flags, Blue Waters March 24 Karl Marx, Jonathan Sperber, author of Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life March 31 Hedy Lamarr, Stephen Michael Shearer, author of Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr April 2 Sandra Day O’Connor, Evan Thomas, author of First: Sandra Day O’Connor April 7

Nikita Khrushchev, William Taubman, author of Khrushchev: The Man and His Era

April 14

Pioneer Female Aviators, Keith O’Brien, author of Fly Girls

Contents Features

12 Ambassador for Freedom Alumnus Fights to End Human Trafficking 20 Antarctic Adventure Sisters’ Brave Choices Open Path of Possibilities

26 Jepson Science Center Bigger and Better Than Ever

Departments 2 11 30 33 35 64

On Campus Get the Picture Notable and Quotable Alumni Seen Class Notes Closing Column

ON THE COVER:

Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons John Cotton Richmond ’93 has devoted his career to pursuing justice for victims of human trafficking in the U.S. and abroad. In late 2018, he was confirmed as the nation’s highestranking government official in charge of combating human trafficking.

Photo by Robert Klemm THIS PAGE:

Plogging takes the UMW tradition of an early morning run with President Troy Paino to a new level! He and a group of students did their part in September for personal fitness and keeping Fredericksburg clean: They ran across campus and along the Rappahannock River Canal Path picking up trash while elevating their heart rates. To sweeten the deal, the runner who returned with the most trash took home a prize. Pictured here with the president are student Liliana Ramirez and graduate assistant for Campus Recreation Alexandra Bergner ’18, who is pursuing an MBA. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

1

ON CAMPUS

BOV WELCOMES SANTIAGO Gov. Ralph Northam has appointed one new member to the UMW Board of Visitors and reappointed members Rhonda Van Lowe and Heather Mullins Crislip ’95. All will serve four-year terms expiring in 2023.

Deborah Santiago

Northam appointed Deborah Santiago ’90 to succeed Davis Rennolds ’06. Santiago is CEO and co-founder of Excelencia in Education, a Washington, D.C., policy group that provides data and research on higher education and Latino student success.

The Arlington, Virginia, resident has initiated and led local and national programs for 20 years. Her work has been cited in The Economist, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other publications focused on higher education policy and practice.

FALL/WINTER 2019 • VOLUME 43 • NO. 2

Neva S. Trenis ’00 Editor-in-Chief

Laura Moyer

Associate Editor

Anna B. Billingsley

Associate Vice President for University Relations

AJ Newell Art Director

Liz Clark Kuvinka ’96 Maria Schultz M.Ed. ’11 Graphic Designers

Ali Gauch Hieber Jill Graziano Laiacona ’04 Lisa Chinn Marvashti ’92 Angela Zosel McCormick ’00 Cynthia L. Snyder ’75 Mark Thaden ’02 Grace Winfield ’20 Contributors

Before founding Excelencia in Education, Santiago held high-level data and policy analysis positions including serving as deputy director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.

Her many honors include the prestigious Pahara Fellowship from the Aspen Institute.

University of Mary Washington Magazine is published by the Office of University Relations for the alumni, friends, faculty, and staff of the University of Mary Washington.

Besides a bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington, Santiago holds a master’s degree in urban studies and affairs from Virginia Tech.

Email: magazine@umw.edu

The magazine staff welcomes your comments.

Mail: UMW Magazine 1301 College Ave. Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5300 Call: 540-654-1055.

TEACHING SETS UMW APART The University of Mary Washington is among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2020.

UMW placed 16th overall among regional universities in the South.

Within that category, UMW ranked seventh in the “top public schools” and “best colleges for veterans” categories, 16th in “best undergraduate teaching,” and 18th in “most innovative schools.”

“Service learning is a hallmark of the UMW experience,” U.S. News noted. “An education at UMW, with multiple opportunities for student research and service learning, uniquely prepares graduates for interesting careers or for advanced study.”

2

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Please help us find you: Email address changes to alumni@umw.edu; mail changes to University of Mary Washington Office of Alumni Relations, 1119 Hanover St., Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5412; call with changes to 540-654-1011.

University of Mary Washington Magazine is printed with nonstate funds and is made possible through private support.

Read and comment on University of Mary Washington Magazine online at magazine.umw.edu.

ON CAMPUS

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS HONORS TOP ALUMNI

Doug Dolton

The College of Business inducted Doug Dolton ’78 into its Hall of Fame at a gala ceremony Oct. 18. Dolton is co-founder and chairman of Second Act Financial Services, a member of the College of Business Executive Advisory Board, and a former Mary Washington executive-in-residence.

The October event honored several other College of Business alumni for contributions to their professions and leadership in their fields.

Distinguished business alumni recognized were Linda Lemanski Blakemore ’84, Chris Fines ’99, and Monecia Helton Shelton ’81.

Young alumni recognized were Tad Dickman ’12, Darrell Graf ’04, Marc Logan ’04, Ben Maxwell ’05, and Julianne Sweat Thompson ’14.

FISKE LAUDS UMW Outstanding academics at reasonable prices earned UMW its 10th consecutive listing in the annual Fiske Guide to Colleges.

U N I V E R S I T Y

The 2020 guide recognizes Mary Washington’s academics, championship athletics, and successful graduates. It also points out traditions like Devil-Goat Day, popular majors such as historic preservation and communication and digital studies, and UMW’s “unusually strong sense of community.”

It helps that Mary Wash is easy on the eyes: “The campus features classical Jeffersonian buildings, sweeping lawns, brick walkways, and breathtaking foliage.”

UMW: A GREAT PLACE TO WORK The University of Mary Washington has been recognized as a 2019 Great College to Work For, based on a survey of 835 full-time faculty, administrators, and staff.

The survey, conducted by the consulting firm ModernThink, highlights colleges and universities that get top ratings from employees for workplace practices and policies. Of 152 fouryear institutions that participated in this year’s nationwide survey, Mary Washington was among only 60 selected for the distinction.

The results were announced in September and promoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Since taking the helm at Mary Washington in 2016, President Troy Paino has worked diligently with leadership to improve the workplace environment, zeroing in on key components identified in a survey completed shortly before his arrival, including communication, collaboration, and compensation.

Paino has instituted regular all-university addresses and intimate coffee-talk sessions. The university completed a comprehensive market survey, made wage adjustments, and took other initiatives to improve employee morale.

“We’re recruiting students with a certain message … that this is a place where people really care,” Paino said. “I think it’s important for people who work here every day to also feel that about themselves.”

[See the Closing Column on page 64 for more of President Paino’s thoughts about what makes UMW a great place to work.]

Fiske listings are based on questionnaires completed by administrators and a cross-section of students.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

3

ON CAMPUS

CLASS OF 2023

BY THE NUMBERS

Faculty Marshal and Associate Professor of Geography Joe Nicholas processes with Class Council members.

894

302

64%

36%

28%

91%

First-year students

Clement Britt

Female

108TH COMMENCEMENT The University of Mary Washington graduated 1,234 students in commencement ceremonies Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, 2019.

Terrie L. Suit MBA ’16, chief executive officer for the Virginia Realtors and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, gave the graduate address Friday evening. Anabeth Guthrie ’97, chief of communications for the National Gallery of Art, addressed undergraduates on Saturday.

For the first time in UMW history, four graduates received the Colgate W. Darden Jr. Award, presented to honor students with the highest grade-point average in the four-year undergraduate program. Darden Award recipients were Sophia Josephine Lamp, Emily Lynn MacIndoe, Hollis E. Pultz, and Lauren Marie Van Nostrand. All four finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

4

Three longtime faculty members were awarded emeritus status: Julie A. Hodge, associate professor emerita of theatre, taught costume design, scene painting, and more at Mary Washington for 23 years.

Louis A. Martinette, associate professor emeritus of business, had taught marketing, business strategy, and leadership at the university since 2004.

And Raymond B. Scott, professor emeritus of chemistry, had served the university since 1984, not only in the classroom but as a founder and former director of the Summer Science Institute and director of the UMW Eagle Pipe Band.

Emeritus status is bestowed on faculty and administrators who have served Mary Washington for at least 15 years and who have attained the rank of professor or associate professor or the administrative equivalent.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Identify as ethnically diverse

31

States represented

Transfer students

Male

From Virginia

38

Foreign countries

Preliminary figures as of October 2019.

THANK YOU, DONORS!

ON CAMPUS

UMW COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GETS NEW FOCUS UMW’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE) is up and running, strengthening ties between Mary Washington and the greater Fredericksburg area.

The center fits into a larger national movement to make community engagement a top priority at higher education institutions.

“At UMW, we have a tradition of working in and with our communities,” said Sarah Dewees, CCE’s associate

director. The center provides an infrastructure to support, promote, and enhance the service and volunteerism already being done by students and employees.

It also assists faculty who have long incorporated community engagement into their teaching and research, and those who wish to start.

SERVICE, ACADEMICS DRAW PRAISE

“We’re lucky to have James Farmer’s legacy here,” Dewees said of the late Mary Washington professor and civil rights icon who inspired the creation of COAR – Community Outreach and Resources – the student-run organization adopted by CCE. “He taught us that social justice includes both organizing and good works.”

Mary Washington made the lists of “best master’s universities,” placing 32nd among schools nationwide that award master’s degrees but few or no doctoral degrees. UMW also ranked 39th on the list of “best bang for the buck” for its ability to help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.

UMW’s core principle of service earned it two mentions in the 2019 College Rankings guide published by Washington Monthly.

Washington Monthly rates institutions “based on what they do for the country and the public good” – a key aspect of Mary Washington life.

Suzanne Carr Rossi 00

The newly launched center held its first Day of Service in August, sending first-year students to volunteer in the community doing riverfront cleanup, tree mulching, animal shelter support, and more. The CCE showcases civic and community engagement opportunities and fosters partnerships that enhance student learning and encourage positive social change.

In August, students volunteered with Tree Fredericksburg, Downtown Greens, the Thurman Brisben Homeless Shelter, and other organizations.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

5

ON CAMPUS

DENNIS QUAID IS PHILHARMONIC’S SPRING GUEST

GRANT SUPPORTS EAGLES IN RECOVERY

Violinist Itzhak Perlman was to kick off the UMW Philharmonic’s 49th season in October as the featured guest of the Celebrity Concert Series as this magazine went to press. A classical superstar, Dennis Quaid Perlman has four Emmy Awards, 15 Grammy Awards, a Medal of Liberty presented by President Ronald Reagan, and a National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. This was to be Perlman’s second performance with the UMW Philharmonic.

The University of Mary Washington has received a $50,000 grant for a unique program that helps students in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse and addiction.

The season continues: Friday, Dec. 6 – Holiday Pops: Winter Wonderland with traditional favorites and new arrangements.

Sunday, Feb. 16 – Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, UMW’s first artist-in-residence, joins the newly formed UMW Chamber Orchestra.

Saturday, March 21 – Rockwell Reflections, inspired by the works of Norman Rockwell, composed by Stella Sung, and narrated by Abigail Rockwell, the artist’s granddaughter and an authority on his work.

Friday, April 24 – Actor Dennis Quaid joins the UMW Philharmonic to sing the original version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

The program, Made in America, will feature Dvorak’s New World Symphony and Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait.

Itzhak Perlman

Learn more at www.umwphilharmonic.com or by calling 540-654-1324.

UMW’s Eagles in Recovery program is benefiting from the “Expanding Collegiate Recovery in Virginia” grant, awarded this summer by the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

Though a number of colleges claim substance-free housing, the Eagles in Recovery program puts UMW among only a handful in Virginia – and relatively few across the country – to offer support services for students recovering from substance addiction.

The program offers weekly meetings, support groups, and a dedicated safe space called the “clubhouse” where those in recovery can escape the pressures of college life. Funds from the grant will allow administrators to maintain and expand meetings and resources.

BINKLEY TO LEAD PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER Paul Binkley has been named executive director of UMW’s Center for Career and Professional Development, fulfilling one of the university’s key strategic goals. His hiring solidifies the university’s commitment to meeting state workforce needs and reinforces its conviction that a liberal arts education is the essence of career and life readiness.

Binkley, co-author of Students’ Federal Career Guide, has more than 20 years’ experience in career services, student affairs, international development, and higher Paul Binkley education management. Most recently, he directed the student career development team at Johns Hopkins University. He holds a Ph.D. in higher education management from The George Washington University, a master’s degree in international affairs from the University of Kentucky, and a certificate in human performance improvement.

6

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

ON CAMPUS

SHARE YOUR VIEWS TO HELP SHAPE UMW’S FUTURE To do just that, the university has hired a branding firm: Mindpower. In a nationwide search and winnowing process, the Atlanta-based firm demonstrated the best alignment with and affinity for UMW’s mission, culture, and community.

What distinguishes the University of Mary Washington?

We all have our ideas. But for UMW to stand out amid the clutter and clamor of the higher education landscape, we need to focus on those ideas and come up with compelling areas of distinction.

We ask that you respond to the email request from Mindpower to participate in a survey. It is important for the firm to hear from as broad a constituency as possible in shaping the institution’s messaging and marketing.

Mindpower has worked with more than 100 institutions of higher education and was

2019-20 UMW THEATRE SEASON THRILLS FANS

heartily recommended by such schools as Harvey Mudd, Indiana State, and Mount St. Mary’s.

Each institution commended Mindpower’s ability to listen intently to the community, to interact respectfully and collegially, and to develop authentic and distinctive creative concepts.

When asked “Why UMW?” Mindpower’s CEO, Lisa Jordan, responded that UMW was willing to chart its own path and to stand independently against short-lived trends and shortsighted goals. Mindpower saw that Mary Washington wants to make its mark in a way that stands the test of time.

Neal Gallini-Burdick ’19 and Lizzy Rader ’20

UMW Theatre opened its season in September with The Complete Works of Shakespeare, a comic recap of the Bard of Avon’s entire canon. Fun Home, a dazzling, funny musical about growing up, follows in Klein Theatre Nov. 7-24. The season continues in 2020:

April 9-19 – Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy built on mistaken identities, misdirected insults, devious fakery, and bumbling antics.

Learn more at cas.umw.edu/theatre or by calling 540-654-1111. Purchase tickets at www.fredtix.com.

Jon K. Reynolds ’07

Feb. 13-23 – Ordinary Days, a musical look at four young New Yorkers navigating the city where ordinary days, weeks, months, and years add up to remarkable lives.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

7

ON CAMPUS

UMW STUDENTS TO STUDY ENDANGERED SPECIES WITH SMITHSONIAN

“We’ve always had a cadre of students who are passionate about conservation and sustainability,” said Professor Alan Griffith, who teaches conservation biology.

Starting in fall 2020, SMSC will make six of its 40 seats available to Mary Washington students, who will choose from such topics as biodiversity, animal behavior and reproduction, ecology, genetics, migration, and conservation sustainability. The interactive, hands-on courses will let students delve into field research, and the 16 credits they’ll earn will transfer seamlessly to UMW. For the past several years, Mason has wanted to partner with UMW. “Because of its strong emphasis on the liberal arts, Mary Washington is the type of environment that produces students that are perfect for our program,” said Cody Edwards, SMSC’s executive director and an associate provost at Mason.

While the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., is the public face of the Smithsonian Institution’s work with animals and conservation, the Front Royal research facility houses a wide range of critically endangered mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, including clouded leopards, red pandas, and Mongolian wild horses.

Having the chance to study in a new environment is an invaluable experience for UMW science majors, as they often miss out on study-abroad opportunities because their courses must be taken in sequence.

8

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Alexis Glenn/GMU

The agreement comes just as UMW’s biology department introduces a major in conservation biology.

Evan Cantwell/GMU

Thanks to a partnership with the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC), UMW students will soon be able to study the world’s most endangered species. They’ll spend a semester working directly with these animals and learning from Smithsonian scientists and George Mason University professors at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia.

UMW students will soon have the opportunity to study such endangered species as the red panda (above, top) at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, as well as work in the Genetics Lab of the Smithsonian National Zoo (above, bottom) in Washington, D.C. SMSC students work alongside leading scientists and policy practitioners – and they get private audiences with world-renowned conservationists the likes of revered British primatologist Jane Goodall.

With just one office for internships for the entire Smithsonian Institution and hundreds of thousands of applicants each year, “this program puts students at the front of the line,” Edwards added. “When you have the Smithsonian on your résumé, it opens a lot of doors.”

– Jill Laiacona ’04

SPORTS

EAGLES SWEEP TOP CAC AWARDS Mary Washington 2018-19 athletics teams swept the Capital Athletic Conference awards, winning the Richard C. Cook All-Sports Award, the Women’s Commissioner’s Award, and the Men’s Commissioner’s Award.

With eight team championships and seven additional top-three finishes, the Eagles amassed 156.5 points in the all-sports standings to edge second-place Christopher Newport University by 7.5 points. Maryland’s Salisbury University came in third.

It was the 13th CAC all-sports trophy for the Eagles and first since the 2012-13 season. The Eagles’ eight conference titles were in men’s soccer; men’s and women’s swimming; men’s and women’s tennis; men’s and women’s outdoor track and field; and volleyball.

President Troy Paino, Interim Athletic Director Patrick Catullo ’95, and Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair accepted the awards at a conference meeting at UMW last spring.

“What an honor for UMW Athletics,” Catullo said. “Knowing how hard our student-athletes, coaches, and staff work, along with the incredible support from across campus, I feel particular pride in these allconference accomplishments.”

Interim Athletic Director Patrick Catullo holds one of the CAC awards.

UMW WELCOMES NEW COACHES Kelly Swiney

Scott Gerseny

Kelly Swiney has been named head baseball coach, just the third coach in Mary Washington baseball history.

Swiney comes to UMW from coaching positions in Pennsylvania. He coached for two seasons at Westminster College and, before that, for nine seasons at his alma mater, Allegheny College.

UMW Athletics also recently hired Scott Gerseny to coach

women’s soccer and Alex Hinsey to coach volleyball.

Both most recently coached in Pennsylvania: Gerseny at Washington & Jefferson College and Hinsey at Elizabethtown College.

Associate Professor of Psychology Dave Kolar was appointed women’s golf coach, and Visiting Instructor of Business Dan Wolfe ’84 was named to coach men’s golf.

Alex Hinsey UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

9

SPORTS

ATHLETICS NAMES NEWEST HALL OF FAMERS

Justin Baker

The Athletic Hall of Fame will induct Coach Dana Hall, the 2002 Final Four women’s lacrosse team she coached, and several individual athletes in February.

and runs batted in. Loden helped men’s tennis evolve into a national power in the early 2000s, including the program’s first appearance in the Elite Eight.

Basketball standouts Patricia Long ’84 (not pictured) and Justin Baker ’07, baseball All American Eric Fitzgerald ’08, and tennis All American Kevin Loden ’03 round out the 24th Hall of Fame class.

Hall led the field hockey and lacrosse programs for more than two decades.

Her field hockey teams achieved 277 wins from 1990-2010, and the 1993 team advanced to the national championship game. In lacrosse, Hall’s teams recorded 248 wins and made back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2001 and 2002. Hall is UMW Athletics’ senior women’s administrator and associate athletic director.

Long was a women’s basketball superstar, becoming the first player to record 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. Baker finished in the top five in program history in points, assists, and rebounds.

Eric Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald still holds UMW’s career records for hits, doubles, runs scored,

The 2002 women’s lacrosse team overcame a slow start to advance all the way to the Final Four. The team featured five All-Americans.

JOEY PEPPERSACK WINS BIG IN PERU Eagles swimmer Joey Peppersack ’21 won a silver medal in men’s 100-meter backstroke at the Parapan American Games this summer in Lima, Peru.

Peppersack is a seasoned national and international competitor, having broken the American Paralympic record in the 100-yard medley in 2018 and won two gold medals and a bronze at the Para World Series in Berlin in 2017.

Mark Reis

Dana Hall

Also at the Parapan Games, UMW men’s swimming assistant coach Zach Shattuck won a silver and three bronze medals in four events – 100-meter breaststroke, 50-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, and men’s relay.

Kevin Loden

10

Peppersack and Shattuck swam for Team USA, coached by UMW swim coach Justin Anderson ’10. Team USA took 62 swimming medals at the games, in which 33 countries competed.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

UMW Centennial Image Collection

GET THE PICTURE?

Give It Your Best Shot Who are the three celebrating grads photographed at commencement? If you can put a date and names to these happy faces, please drop us a line.

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

You Got It!

Christine Dorner Clark and Suellen Grant Knowles, both Class of 1963, recognized themselves among the students posing with Dean Edward Alvey Jr. in what was then Trinkle Library. Christine is second from left and Suellen is third from left. The student on the right is Ginger Rawlins Crisp ’63, who passed away in 1996.

Dean Alvey died in 1999.

Suellen said the photograph commemorated the students’ experiences studying abroad. She recalled studying in Vienna, Austria, in the 1961-62 academic year. Suellen was a member of the Board of Visitors from 1997 to 2005.

The picture sparked a happy thought for Christine, who wrote, “What a lovely surprise and a look back to a wonderful time in my life.”

We know one other interesting fact about this image: The chair pictured is still in use in the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. We thank office manager Cynthia Toomey for recognizing the chair and Professor of Religious Studies Mary Beth Mathews for emailing us about it. No word on what became of the globe.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

11

Ambassador

for Freedom Alumnus Fights to End Human Trafficking

By Edie Gross

A

ll of the women who testified in United States v. Campbell had come to America with dreams of a better future only to be trafficked by Alex “Cowboy” Campbell, a violent sex trafficker who branded his victims so they’d never forget they belonged to him.

For several weeks in January 2012, the women, all from Eastern Europe and in their early 20s, took the witness stand in a federal courtroom in Chicago.

They shared in excruciating detail how Campbell offered them affection, housing, and help with immigration before seizing their passports and forcing them into prostitution. One by one, the women described how Campbell branded and beat them, extinguished cigarettes on their skin, videotaped them in compromising positions, and threatened to share the videos with their families back home.

John Cotton Richmond ’93 earned the nickname “every trafficker’s worst nightmare” over a lifetime of work. Richmond is shown testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination to become U.S. ambassadorat-large and director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking. He was confirmed in November 2018.

12

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Ron Przysucha

Richmond (seated) signs a document during his swearing-in ceremony as ambassador while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right) looks on. Wife Linda Hahn Richmond and the couple’s three children also witness the moment.

John Cotton Richmond ’93 had spent the better part of a decade pursuing justice for human trafficking victims in the U.S. and abroad, so he’d heard stories like these before. The anguish in the courtroom was palpable, but as the lead federal prosecutor on the case, Richmond also felt something else: hope.

“It can be an incredibly empowering experience for the victim to get to testify,” said Richmond, whose prosecution team secured multiple convictions and a life sentence for Campbell. “The trafficker has told you, ‘You don’t get to speak, no one is going to listen to you, your opinions don’t matter,’ and now the whole room calls you by your name and wants to hear what you have to say – and the trafficker has to sit there.”

As an attorney with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Richmond prosecuted crimes against humanity throughout the country, everything from police brutality to neo-Nazi violence. But it’s his relentless pursuit of human

14

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

traffickers that earned him his latest post: ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons at the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) office.

Nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate in October 2018, Richmond is the country’s highest-ranking government official in charge of combating human trafficking. Under Richmond’s leadership, the TIP office helps coordinate U.S. interagency efforts at home and leads diplomatic efforts around the globe aimed at ending the enslavement of an estimated 24.9 million people.

“There’s a need for hope in this space. Human trafficking is not inevitable. It’s not a naturally occurring phenomenon. It’s a choice people are making to hurt other people,” Richmond said.

“So how do we untangle those relationships, make sure our approach is victim-centered and trauma-informed, and effectively hold traffickers responsible? How can we build U.S. foreign policy

After their 1993 wedding in Fredericksburg, John and Linda Hahn Richmond depart in a hot-air balloon.

around human rights and justice?”

Slavery was legally protected and culturally accepted across many civilizations until about 200 years ago, when human rights advocates, diplomats, and parliamentarians began pushing for change, Richmond said. The modern movement against human trafficking is generally traced to the year 2000, when the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Palermo Protocol, the first international instrument to define “trafficking in persons” and to require that states criminalize the practice and strive to protect victims. (The terms “trafficking in persons,” “human trafficking,” and “modern slavery” are umbrella terms used to refer to both sex trafficking and compelled labor.) That year, Congress enacted the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, addressing the requirements of the Palermo Protocol and establishing the U.S. State Department’s TIP Office.

“We’re now in a place where every country has some law outlawing human trafficking.

John C. Richmond as pictured in the 1993 Battlefield yearbook.

This moment of history we’re in is incredibly compelling,” Richmond said. “We are in a place where we have this grand consensus that human trafficking is wrong. Now we need to do something with it.”

‘Compelled’ to fight human trafficking While the brutality of the Campbell case captured headlines, Richmond is quick to point out that not all human trafficking is characterized by beatings, brandings, or victims crossing international borders. Traffickers coerce their victims into forced labor or commercial sex by exploiting their vulnerabilities and creating a climate of fear, he said. That can include threatening their families, withholding pay, isolating them from loved ones, or facilitating addiction and withholding drugs.

While sex trafficking takes up the bulk of media attention, victims of forced labor can be found working in restaurants, at construction sites, inside people’s homes as nannies and housekeepers, and

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

15

Will Sarmiento

Richmond speaks with Human Trafficking Institute Douglass Fellows in 2017. The fellowship, named for abolitionist Frederick Douglass, trains top U.S. law students to be leaders in the global anti-human-trafficking movement and provides resources to those already in the fight.

elsewhere. Furthermore, the International Labor Organization reports that traffickers exploit 77 percent of all victims in their country of residence.

It’s a crime that often takes place in plain sight because victims fear asking for help, something their traffickers count on.

“It all comes down to whether you believe people have inherent value. If you get to a point where you believe that people don’t have worth, you can treat them like a commodity,” Richmond said. “To see individuals up close who are choosing trafficking and who are making an intentional choice to devalue somebody and take their most basic freedoms is stunning.”

Richmond, who grew up in Yorktown, Virginia, had little knowledge of the problem when he entered Mary Washington as a freshman in fall 1989. He originally chose to focus his studies on political science, but he kept taking geography courses because the professors were so

16

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

entertaining – both in and out of the classroom.

Richmond recalled a snowball fight with the late Professor Richard Palmieri around the fountain in front of Monroe Hall, an area now named Palmieri Plaza. The combination of political science and geography courses, as well as a history course with noted civil rights giant James Farmer, opened his mind to some of the challenges people faced around the world.

After graduating with degrees in political science and geography, he worked for an insurance company for two years, shepherding families through rebuilding their lives after house fires. He then headed to Wake Forest University, where he earned a law degree in 1998 before spending four years handling commercial litigation for a law firm in Roanoke.

Around that time, a friend urged him to read Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World by Gary Haugen. Haugen

Bob Shinkle

Soon after being confirmed ambassador in November 2018, Richmond testifies before the full Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the Global Fight to End Modern Slavery hearings. While human trafficking remains an enormous crime, he said, it is important to remember the great gains against it in the last 20 years.

had been a human rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice before leading the United Nations’ investigation of the Rwandan genocide. In 1997, he founded the International Justice Mission (IJM), a faith-based organization dedicated to freeing human trafficking victims and pursuing legal recourse against their captors.

IJM, Richmond learned, was looking for an attorney willing to move to Chennai, India, and fight for the rights of forced labor victims.

Richmond accepted this offer – a pivotal move for him and for his family.

Richmond’s wife is Linda Hahn Richmond ’91, who majored in psychology at Mary Washington and later earned a graduate degree from U.Va. She knew she’d signed up for a life of adventure when Richmond whisked her away from their June 1993 wedding at the Fredericksburg Country Club in a hot-air balloon.

She had read Haugen’s book, too, and she was

confident her husband could use his legal skills to help India’s most vulnerable. But the couple had a 10-month-old, and Linda was pregnant with their second child.

“People thought we were crazy,” she recalled of their decision to move to southern India. “We were both so compelled to go. That is the only way I can describe it.”

John Richmond heard discouraging words from friends about his lack of experience in the field. But, he realized, “What we need are people who will go act, who will step into square one and start – go in and get their hands dirty.”

That is exactly what he did. For three years, Richmond directed IJM’s office in Chennai, on the Bay of Bengal, helping local law enforcement agencies take down human traffickers and free forced laborers from rice mills, rock quarries, brick kilns, and plantations. In one instance, a nanny confided in Linda Richmond that she was desperate

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

17

to return to her native Philippines but was being forced to move to the Persian Gulf with her employer, who had taken her passport. With help from the Richmonds and an IJM case worker, the woman was rescued 48 hours later while picking up the laundry outside her employer’s home.

commitment is necessary, he said.

“What happens to them when they are labor trafficked or sex trafficked happens deep inside of them. It’s incredibly personal when your freedom is taken from you,” he said. “So you have to be with victims where they are, go slow, listen, and let them share at their own pace.”

While at DOJ, Richmond helped develop a pilot ‘He’s just made to do that job’ project with six of the country’s 94 federal judicial In 2006, the family returned to the United States, districts, creating specialized anti-trafficking units where Richmond joined the Department of in each district, training them in the strategies that Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division and became worked best, and then pairing those staffs with a founding member of its Human Trafficking prosecutors in the national Prosecution Unit – the same office so they could work cases unit that took down Campbell “There’s a need for together. Within two years, in 2012. according to Boutros, those six Prosecuting a human hope in this space. districts had convicted more trafficking case is uniquely Human trafficking human traffickers than the difficult, said attorney Victor is not inevitable. other 88 combined.

Boutros, Richmond’s former It’s not a naturally Richmond and Boutros colleague at the DOJ. Unlike began to wonder if they a drug or gun case where the occurring could replicate that model in core evidence may be a stash of phenomenon.” developing countries, where the heroin or weapons, a human majority of human trafficking trafficking case often has at – Ambassador victims lived. So in 2016, its center someone who is John C. Richmond they left the DOJ to found the traumatized and wary of law Human Trafficking Institute, enforcement. Their stories may change and evolve over time, and a prosecutor has which partners with other countries to train law enforcement officers and attorneys in how best to to be patient when it comes to building a rapport enforce anti-trafficking laws, rescue victims, and with victims and finding hard evidence that prosecute traffickers. corroborates their stories, Boutros said.

Remembering that human traffickers are “Your core evidence is a human being. If you’ve got no rapport and trust with that person, economically motivated is essential to solving the problem, Richmond said. Human trafficking is it’s not going to go well,” Boutros said. “To have one of the fastest-growing criminal enterprises in an impact, you need very specialized skills. And the world, with traffickers netting $150 billion in John has excelled as much as anyone I have ever profits in 2014 according to the UN’s International met at mastering those skills and the strategies Labour Organization. Like many criminals, needed for that.” traffickers only halt their activity when the risks The key, Richmond said, is joining the – for instance, life in prison, loss of family, and investigation from the start, rather than waiting forfeiture of property – outweigh the rewards. for law enforcement to wrap up its work and hand “We don’t have to get all the traffickers,” it to the prosecution team. It can take months or Boutros said. “You get a critical mass and you see a even years to develop trusting relationships with big deterrent impact.” survivors of human trafficking, but that kind of

18

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Over the years, Richmond picked up the nickname “every trafficker’s worst nightmare.”

While true, Boutros said, it’s ironic given how genuinely warm and personable Richmond is, even when he’s interviewing traffickers.

“He is every trafficker’s worst nightmare – and also incredibly winsome, and he’s got a great sense of humor,” Boutros said. “He’s got a unique constellation of gifts that don’t often come together.

He’s just made to do that job.”

Linda Richmond figures that’s how her husband’s name ended up on a short list of possible nominees for the ambassadorship. It wasn’t a job he was necessarily looking for, but one for which he’s clearly well-suited, she said, even if it means he’s away from home much of the time.

When he’s lucky enough to be home, Richmond is good about setting his work aside and being fully present with his family. He enjoys taking the children fishing and watching Nationals baseball games with all of them. Linda said he recently took up fly fishing, declaring, “I don’t care if I never catch anything – I just need to stand in the wilderness for a while.”

Richmond’s downtimes are few and far between. In addition to partnering with other federal agencies, NGOs, and foreign governments to raise awareness about human trafficking and develop strategies for disrupting the practice, the TIP office is responsible each year for producing the Trafficking in Persons Report, an extensive look at the anti-trafficking efforts undertaken by more than 180 governments around the world. Each country receives a tier ranking based on how well it’s addressing the issue, and a low tier ranking can result in restrictions on foreign assistance.

While the problem remains huge, it is solvable.

There are so many reasons for hope, Richmond said. “Now is the time to take what they call those ‘parchment protections of the law’ and extend them down to the people the laws were intended to protect. We’re at this incredibly hopeful moment.

Can we push the door of freedom wide open? I think we can.”

Kelli Ross

Dominic Lipinski

Above, top: Richmond speaks with a police officer outside Uganda’s Ministry of National Affairs Headquarters in Kampala after meeting with the coordinator of the Ugandan National Counter Human Trafficking Taskforce in 2017.

Above, bottom: Ambassador Richmond and Princess Eugenie, co-founder of the British Anti-Slavery Collective, tour London’s Westminster Abbey in July. In a tweet, Richmond called the visit to a memorial to William Wilberforce (above), a 19th-century British politician and abolitionist, “inspiring.”

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

19

Antarctic Adventure Sisters’ Brave Choices Open Path of Possibilities

By Emily Freehling

T

he view from the

Christina Devorshak ‘91

captain’s bridge of the Ushuaia wasn’t encouraging.

The ship swayed in a sea of building-sized waves capped with angry froth. After every three or four swells, a three-story tower of water crashed over the bridge of the ship, a decommissioned government vessel. At that moment in January 2019, it was carrying 80 women through the Drake Passage, a 500-mile stretch of some of the roughest seas on the planet.

The international delegation had to cross the tumultuous waters to make their way from the tip of South America to their destination – the Antarctic Peninsula.

Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00 Showing video she had shot Scientists and sisters Christina Devorshak (left) and Elisa Devorshak Harvey returned during the turbulent two-day to Mary Washington in September to share stories of their voyages to Antarctica, their stretch of her time aboard the careers, and the choices that led them to where they are today.

Ushuaia, Christina Devorshak ’91 told a group of University of Mary leadership roles. The yearlong program includes Washington students that traversing the “Drake extensive leadership training among annual classes Shake,” as the passage is sometimes known, was of about 80 women from around the world. After a a harrowing but necessary part of her experience year of working remotely and connecting through in Antarctica. video chats, the women complete the program with “You have to be comfortable being a 22-day sea voyage to Antarctica. uncomfortable to get to a really good place,” Homeward Bound’s first trip to Antarctica in Devorshak said.

2016 was the largest-ever female expedition to Scientists, Mary Washington alumnae, and the continent, and the delegations have gotten sisters Christina Devorshak and Elisa Devorshak progressively larger since then. The program’s Harvey ’81 visited campus for two days in September fourth of 10 planned trips was scheduled to to share stories of voyages to Antarctica as launch this month with 95 women aboard. participants in a program called Homeward Bound.

“Antarctica isn’t really like anywhere else,” said Founded in 2015 by female Australian leadership Harvey, who was part of the second Homeward expert Fabian Dattner, Homeward Bound helps Bound class and visited Antarctica in February and prepare women in STEMM (science, technology, March of 2018. “It is a place that just takes you away from everything you’ve ever known before.” engineering, math, and medicine) careers for

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

21

Christina Devorshak ‘91

Above, left: A gentoo penguin pads down a rock at Port Lockroy in the Gerlache Strait. Above, top right: Scientists embark in a Zodiac craft to make an Antarctic landing. Above, bottom right: Paulet Island is the site of a large colony of Adelie penguins.

“It is the most spectacular scenery you could ever imagine,” said Devorshak, who was part of the third Homeward Bound class.

Antarctica is often referred to as ground zero for climate change.

Data from the Palmer Station, an American research outpost, show that the annual ice season on the Antarctic Peninsula has shrunk by three months over the past 30 years.

“It’s a critical barometer for what’s happening around the world,” Harvey said. “You can see it happening right in front of you.”

That makes it an apt place to gather scientists to think about solving global problems.

22

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

“It’s an entire continent devoted to peaceful purposes and scientific pursuits,” Devorshak said.

Each day during their trips, the women boarded heavy-duty inflatable rafts to venture from their ship to a research station, or to see wildlife, icebergs, and other sights.

Because conditions change so rapidly there, drivers always packed enough supplies to sustain the group for 24 hours in the event they couldn’t get back to the ship.

But the risk was worth it, and both women marveled at seeing icebergs more than a mile long, with a luminescent blue glow that looked too beautiful to be real.

“It reminds you that climate change is happening,” Harvey said. “These are icebergs that are millions of years old that are disappearing.”

They watched as colonies of penguins – Adelie, chinstrap, and gentoo – built highways through the rugged landscape and pieced their nests together pebble by pebble.

“Everybody falls in love with the penguins because they are just so adorable,” Harvey said.

“You are supposed to stay 15 meters away, but that’s impossible because they come right up to you. They poke at your shoelaces and pants.”

O

pen to the unexpected

strives to stop the spread of pests that can harm plants worldwide. Over five years in that job, she traveled to nearly 70 countries.

Today she is a critical-issues specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. She has also written a book on pest-based risks to plant life – a scientific guide so important to the field that she has been asked to complete a second volume.

Both sisters said an important aspect of finding fulfilling career paths has been their openness to unexpected opportunities.

“It’s something I could never have planned to do,” Devorshak said of taking her first job in Italy.

“Had I been completely focused on just doing one thing, I never would have looked at this as an opportunity, but it completely changed the course of my professional career.”

Harvey and Devorshak exemplify the diverse paths that science careers can take.

Harvey is a biotech consultant for makers of human medical devices, but she is also a practicing veterinarian.

After majoring in biology at what was then Mary Washington College, she earned a master’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology followed by a Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Connecticut. She completed a doctorate of veterinary medicine at Tufts University.

Harvey has worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviewing medical technologies, Elisa Devorshak Harvey (left) as she appeared in the 1981 Mary Washington College Battlefield yearbook and Christina Devorshak in the 1991 Battlefield. and she has traveled to Kenya, Honduras, and other countries with World Vets, an international animal aid program.

Harvey said a similar thought process made Also a Mary Washington College biology her open to the idea of the Homeward Bound major, Devorshak earned a master’s degree and expedition to Antarctica when it first popped up a doctoral degree in entomology from North in her Facebook feed a week before the application Carolina State University. A job with the United deadline.

Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization “I thought that everything I’d done up to this took her to Rome, Italy. There, she worked on the point had led me here without even realizing it,” International Plant Protection Convention, which she said.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

23

Top: Christina Devorshak (left) in Antarctica with Homeward Bound in January 2019. Elisa Devorshak Harvey (right) aboard the Ushuaia in February 2018.

Bottom: The sisters (right) share a moment with Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Science Michael Bass, Heather Bass (seated), and Professor Emerita of Biology Joella Killian.

P

reparing for a diverse career

Harvey first visited Mary Washington during her senior year in high school. The family was living in Hampton during her father’s service at Langley Air Force Base, and she and a few friends took a tour on a hot summer day.

“I just connected with it,” Harvey said. “I ended up applying to Mary Washington and the University of Virginia. I got into both and chose Mary Washington.”

She enjoyed the mentorship of Professor Michael Bass, an architect of the university’s environmental science program.

A decade later, Devorshak sat down in her first biology class at Mary Washington. When the professor came to her name on the roll, he paused and asked, “Do you have a sister named Elisa?”

The professor was Bass – who taught at Mary Washington from 1968 until 2018 and is now a professor emeritus of biology and environmental science.

“Elisa had been in his class 10 years before, and he actually remembered who we were,” Devorshak said. “It surprised me. Something like that would

24

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

never happen at a huge university where the bio classes have 300 or 400 people in them.”

Bass attended Harvey and Devorshak’s presentation on campus in September, and he even brought a well-worn, typed paper – Harvey’s final report from her 1980 internship for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

“They were hard-working, dependable, focused young women,” Bass said. He remembers Devorshak’s work as the main lab aide for general biology during her time at Mary Washington, and Harvey’s requests for recommendations as she added to her growing list of academic degrees.

Both sisters credit the university’s focus on liberal arts – and the writing and critical-thinking skills

UMW emphasizes – with giving them the tools to communicate their work to a wider world.

UMW Department of Biology Chair Lynn Lewis was among the faculty who hosted the scientists for their September visit. Lewis knew Devorshak during her time on campus, and she agreed.

“Students don’t know it while they are here,” she said, “but when you get out in the real world and you have to talk to people, you have to talk to folks who are not scientists, because you have to convince them why you are doing the research you are doing.”

“No bit of science stands on its own,” Devorshak said. “Science is all about a network.”

B

uilding global connections

A major goal of the Homeward Bound program is to build a global network of 1,000 women working in STEMM who can influence decisions to help the planet and its environment. Women are significantly underrepresented in these leadership positions, according to the Homeward Bound website.

“Although women comprise 60 percent of university graduates, only 10 to 20 percent of them make it to senior decision-making roles or professional-level academia,” the program literature states.

In their UMW presentation, Devorshak and Harvey urged students to seek experiences that take them out of their comfort zones – and not to fear failure.

They also assured students that it is normal, but not necessary, to feel like an impostor as they grow in stature and responsibility. The sisters reported that even some international award-winning scientists feel this way, but it is important to overcome self-doubt.

Their visit inspired Marianne Beaulieu ’23, a first-year student from southern Maryland who had heard about the event in her honors biology class.

“I like the whole female empowerment theme,” she said, adding that she chose Mary Washington because it’s one of the few institutions in the country where she could get a degree in science – an area in which she hopes to earn a doctorate one day – while minoring in musical theater.

With those varied interests, she could well be on a path that will lead her on an adventure like Homeward Bound.

“Be open at all times in all phases of your career to all possibilities,” Harvey told the UMW audience.

“I’ve followed a winding path, but it’s given me opportunities to do a lot of amazing things.”

And those amazing things are worthwhile, even if they mean getting uncomfortable and spending two days tossing and turning in the middle of the world’s most dangerous ocean.

The Ushuaia, a decommissioned National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel, floats near Brown Station, an Argentine scientific research station. Green moss (shown here) and pink snow algae are among the few plants that can survive along the Antarctic coast.

Christina Devorshak ‘91

BIGGER JEPSON SCIENCE CENTER

BY EMILY FREEHLING

¸ PHOTOS BY ADAM EWING AND SUZANNE CARR ROSSI OO

R

Where a surface parking lot once greeted drivers and pedestrians on College Avenue, a three-story wall of windows now opens like a proscenium stage.

But it’s not Shakespeare on display here; these floor-to-ceiling glass expanses give passersby a view of geology labs, physics classrooms, mapping courses, and other examples of science in action at the University of Mary Washington.

This is the 40,000-square-foot expansion wing of the Jepson Science Center, part of a nearly $28 million project that also included renovations to 30,000 square feet of the original science center. Project Manager Leslie Johnson said nearly all of the project cost was covered with funds allocated by the Virginia General Assembly.

As the academic year opened Aug. 26, science faculty busily unloaded materials from storage and set furniture in place so classes could begin in the new space. All had roughly the same exclamation when asked about the project’s benefits to the educational experience: “Space!”

The original Jepson Science Center opened in 1998, and Department of Biology Chair Lynn Lewis said it was almost immediately too small.

“One of the things that we really didn’t have much of in old Jepson was space for undergraduate research,” she said. “We have significantly increased that space everywhere in the renovation and expansion.”

That is helpful to Carmen Cantrell ’20 as she conducts hydrology research on various wells on campus, looking for variances in trace metals and other elements in water where swimming pools, Civil War battlefields, and other past occupants have left a mark.

“The past few years we’ve been kind of cramped,” she said. “I think this new facility will give a lot of people more access to lab space.”

Geology Professor Grant Woodwell said the placement of the new lab space will allow faculty to engage in new and creative teaching methods.

Before the expansion, many classes met for lectures in other buildings around campus and came to labs in Jepson when they could get space. Now, labs connect to classrooms throughout the building.

“Faculty will be able to blend lecture and lab work and engage in innovative new methods of pedagogy,” he said.

New features like proximity locks that turn student ID cards into lab keys when students are enrolled in a class will allow classes to leave materials out and conduct longer-term research projects.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

27

Natural light brightens classroom and lab space in the 40,000-square-foot expansion of the Jepson Science Center.

The modern new wing of the building looks strikingly different from many of the other buildings on the Mary Washington campus.

That’s by design. Commonwealth Architects took a nod from the boiler plant across the street in designing the new wing of Jepson, Johnson said, which is meant to put “science on display” on College Avenue.

Large corner glass windows bring light pouring in to classrooms and labs, while curtains drop with the touch of a button to keep all that sunshine from raising the temperature during sensitive experiments.

The building’s interior design also enhances the student experience, Woodwell said. Interaction spaces and conference tables built into the science center’s corridors help promote the skills of collaboration and communication that today’s employers seek.

“I think they learn from each other. It’s an interactive process,” he said. “You like to see students working as teams. That really reflects how they are likely to be working in the workplace.”

A new loading dock is designed specifically to accommodate the needs of research teams who take boats out on local waterways to collect

28

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

samples. An institutional-sized version of a mud room gives them a place to stage muddy gear and preserve samples in a refrigerated room when they return from field work.

Landscaping being installed this fall will reflect the lessons students learn in the classroom – especially those in the new conservation biology major track that debuts this year.

The hillside leading down from College Avenue will be planted with native meadow grasses and pollinator plants as a no-mow buffer. Signs along the sidewalk will explain that this reduces stormwater runoff and protects water quality.

A dozen new fume hoods were added to labs and lab prep rooms, improving safety and allowing students to more efficiently cycle through research activities. Four new laser labs in the physics department feature a high-tech safety system that ensures no one can accidentally enter a room while laser activity is in progress.

In addition to having better features, these labs are bigger and accommodate groups of students much more comfortably.

“It literally gives the students more elbow room to work in,” Johnson said. Instructors have more office and conference space as well.

Lewis and Woodwell have been at Mary Washington since the days before the original Jepson Science Center opened, when science classes were based in Combs Hall. Both say this new facility will vastly improve the undergraduate research experience.

“Our research spaces have grown by leaps and bounds,” Lewis said.

Paired with the smaller classes and low studentfaculty ratio at Mary Washington, that will lead to valuable experiences for students.

“It gives us the opportunity to expose our students to more sophisticated instruments than they would typically have at a large research university,” Woodwell said. “I think our students have a real advantage from that standpoint.”

Thanh-Binh Duong ’20 agreed. As a major in earth and environmental sciences, with a chemistry minor, Duong has been studying the presence of microplastics in the lower Chesapeake Bay and their impact on an invertebrate species that is foundational to the health of the bay’s ecosystem. She has been working with two mentors: Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Ben Kisila and Assistant Professor Tyler Frankel.

Duong said Jepson’s expanded area for earth and environmental sciences allows for distinct laboratory space for research in geochemistry, paleontology, hydrogeology, and aquatic toxicology.

“The geochemistry and aquatic toxicology labs are exciting to me as they have provided me with a wide range of professional scientific equipment that will vastly improve the quality of my research,” she said.

Duong aspires to graduate work after she completes her studies at UMW, and she believes the work she’s done here has prepared her well.

“As an undergraduate, I have already been able to conduct my own independent studies as well as attend and present my research at local and national conferences,” she said. “These experiences have allowed me to build a strong workflow and skillset, which will set me up for success in graduate school and beyond.”

Above: Firstyear student Abby Delapenha conducts research on the invasive spotted lanternfly, an agricultural pest new to Virginia.

At left: Everyone helps with moving into the new Jepson – including President Paino.

JEPSON

_______ by the numbers _______

• Original square footage: 71,444 • New square footage: 113,882 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– • Original number of classrooms: Three classrooms and one large lecture hall • New number of classrooms: Six classrooms and one large lecture hall ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– • Original number of labs: 42 • New number of labs: 58 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– • Original lab square footage: 35,506 • New lab square footage: 51,515

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

29

NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

Billboard Names Him Power Player

Cedric Rucker

Rucker Helps Virginians Get Going Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Cedric Rucker ’81 to the Commonwealth Transportation Board in June. The UMW associate vice president and dean of student life serves on the 17-member board that oversees the state’s transportation projects and initiatives, including the construction, maintenance, and operation of roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, seaports, railways, buses, public transportation, mass transit, and more.

A world traveler, Rucker earned a master’s degree at the University of Virginia, where he served briefly as assistant dean of admissions before returning to his alma mater to work in Student Affairs. Rucker, who was named to last winter’s Richmond Public Schools Black History Month Influential list, served previously on Virginia’s Board of Medicine.

30

Billboard Magazine named Ryan Payne ’10 among its 2019 Branding Power Players. Payne is head of marketing and branding for Glassnote Entertainment Group. In recognizing him, Billboard wrote that for Ryan Payne Mumford & Sons’ latest album, Delta, Payne struck a partnership with National Geographic and got access to its video archive. He selected footage for an album-length film, which was synched to the music on Delta. The film showed in theaters worldwide just before the album’s release, and within weeks the footage went online. Delta became the band’s third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. Payne, who studied business administration, lives in New York with wife Mary Pawlina Payne ’10.

Christy Comer Tafoya

Tafoya Leads NM State Parks Christy Comer Tafoya ’91 is director of New Mexico State Parks, the first woman to hold that position since the state park system was founded in 1933. After graduating from Mary Washington with degrees in history and historic preservation, Tafoya headed to her first job at New Mexico’s Lincoln National Forest. While pursuing a master’s degree in anthropology at New Mexico State University, the Maryland native did a project at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. In 1998, she was named the first archaeologist for the park system. Tafoya, who lives in Santa Fe, was appointed to the top leadership role of the 34-park state system in 2015 and was reappointed this spring.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

Aby Diop Named Averett Head Coach In June, Aby Diop ’14 was named women’s basketball head coach at Averett University in Danville, Virginia.

Before her appointment, she spent three years as an assistant coach at Shenandoah Aby Diop University in Winchester, where she helped guide the Hornets to the 2019 Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament title and an NCAA appearance.

Robin Epperson-McCarthy

Scientist-TurnedWinemaker Wins Prestigious Award Saltbird Cellars owner and winemaker Robin Epperson-McCarthy ’03 received one of seven 2019 Legacy Awards from Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI). Epperson-McCarthy’s “beverage and hospitality award” from LDEI member Wente Family Estates in Livermore, California, afforded her a weeklong mentorship at Wente Vineyards. EppersonMcCarthy, who studied biology and pre-med at UMW, started the Saltbird Cellars on the North Fork of New York’s Long Island in 2003. According to her website, while studying for the MCAT exam and a future in medicine, she heard about a job that could use her science education, and her career in wine was born. She never sat for the MCATs. LDEI, supported by The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, is an international organization of female leaders in food, fine beverages, and hospitality, whose mission is education and philanthropy for the good of the global community.

Diop, who grew up in Northern Virginia, was a two-year team captain for UMW Eagles women’s basketball. During her four seasons, the Eagles went 88-22 overall, won the 2012 Capital Athletic Conference championship, and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Diop worked with the NFL’s Washington, D.C., professional football team from 2014 to 2016 as an account executive and later as a ticket operations coordinator.

Editor Earns Emmy Video editor Janelle Pierangelino ’17 along with a news team at Richmond’s WTVR CBS 6 won an Emmy Award in June from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, National Capital Janelle Pierangelino Chesapeake Bay Chapter. Pierangelino was editor of the video Central Virginia Under Water, which earned the honors. The newscast, one of two nominated videos Pierangelino edited, covered flooding around Richmond in May 2018. A communications, digital studies, and creative writing major, Pierangelino now is a photojournalist for WTVR.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

31

NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

2019 ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS

From left: Sinha, Perkins, Adenan Winners of the 2019 Alumni Awards were announced in June during UMW Reunion Weekend.

Attorney Jay Sinha ’07 earned the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. The data privacy and cyber security specialist, who graduated from William & Mary Law School in 2012, is staff counsel for data privacy and cybersecurity compliance at Verizon. Sinha started the UMW Legal Eagles alumni affinity group, is a mainstay of alumni activities in the D.C. area, and frequently returns to campus for career programming and other events. Before law school, Sinha served as a fellow in Gov. Tim Kaine’s administration and as a law clerk for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Abas Adenan ’85 received the Frances Liebenow Armstrong ’36 Service Award. Adenan, director at Chevo Consulting, was a student leader at Mary Washington, serving on Student Senate, as vice president of the

32

Student Association, and as a member of the French Club.

As a member of the College Democrats, he was known for his ability to work with all kinds of people, laboring closely with the Young Republicans to solve problems for all students. As an alumnus, Adenan served on the Board of Visitors during the college’s transition to a university. He was Class of 1985 representative for reunions in 2010 and 2015 and is a Giving Day ambassador.

Jerri Barden Perkins ’61 was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. After receiving a medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia in 1966, she was one of the first women to be awarded an NIH fellowship.

At the FDA, she became an expert on clinical trials, and she recommended the first AIDSrelated therapy for FDA approval.

Since 1984, she has audited clinical trials to ensure that subjects are kept safe and that

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Alum Gets Social Social media strategist Jeremy S. Thompson ’13 recently served with Kamala Harris For the People as its social media director.

After serving for two years in a similar position at the Baltimore-based Under Armor corporation, Thompson joined Harris’ presidential campaign in April 2019 to build its social media platform as the race for U.S. president unfolded. Thompson earned a degree in history and political science, then received a master’s degree in strategic communications from American University in 2017.

He is a director on the UMW Alumni Board and volunteers with CASA Baltimore as a court-appointed special advocate for children. results will be meaningful. She volunteered in a Washington, D.C., free clinic and now does the same near her home in South Carolina.

At UMW she supports students through the Study Abroad Scholarship program. She served as a cabinet member of the Mary Washington First Campaign and is a member of the UMW Heritage and Washington Societies.

ALUMNI SEEN

Class of 2004 reunion attendees included (from left) My-Phuong Pham, Bryce Perry, Tricia Piccinino Kapuscinski, Matt Kapuscinski, and Andrew Dawson.

Far-flung members of the Class of 1969 are (from left) Virginia Wheaton, Carol Hewitt Guida, and Lyn Howell Gray, all of whom came from overseas to attend reunion.

Wine-tasters from the Class of 1999 are (from left) Jenn Amrhein Junod, Paul Junod, Jimmy Rhodes, Nate Pipke, and Amanda McLennan MacDonald.

Members of the Class of 1994 got together at the picnic on Ball Circle.

The president’s welcome reception included (from left) Dick Atkinson, Lesley Fanning Atkinson ’69, Donna Jones-Searle ’70, Pauline Elkins Rosenstein ’69, and Nancy Raisor Schlossberg ’69.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

33

ALUMNI SEEN

Professor of Political Science Elizabeth Freund Larus (holding bouquet) is pictured at the year’s first Mary Talk. With her (from left) are Thomas Larus, Maria Riegger, Erica McBride, Shirley Martey Hargis ’16, and Jacob Hargis ’14.

Pictured at President Troy Paino’s event last March in Virginia Beach are (from left) Casey Dee ’14, Anna Davis ’14, Julianne Huyett Anderson ’12, Chase Townsend ’08, and Kimberly Quarforth ’10.

A July meetup in Washington, D.C., brought together alumni who had studied abroad.

Members of the 1908 Society and a flag-bearing student participated in commencement.

Pictured (from left) are Catherine May Findley ’65, Madeline Lankford Withers ’59, Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59, Michael Gilchrist ’20, Kay Rowe Hayes ’59, Ann Strickler Doumas ’55, and Carolyn Eldred ’66.

Mary Washington grads affiliated with GEICO – UMW’s largest alumni employer – attended a reception in August.

34

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

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

Read It

ONLINE

Find the original, unedited text of Class Notes online at magazine.umw.edu.

1930s

Three classes from the 1930s had scholarship recipients who graduated in May. Philosophy major Brandon Roby ’19 received the Edward Alvey Jr. Scholarship established by the Class of 1936. Studio art major Amber Tranter ’19 received the Nina G. Bushnell Scholarship established by the Class of 1937. Mathematics major Sarah Hedgecock ’19 received the Eileen Kramer Dodd Alumni Scholarship established by the Class of 1939. All three are master’s degree students in the College of Education.

1940

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu Two recipients of the Oscar H. Darter Scholarship in History, established by the Class of 1940, graduated in May. They are history major Jason Elms ’19 and history and international affairs major Madeleine McCullough ’19.

1941

Dorothy Shaw dorothyshaw1919@gmail.com Dorothy Shaw celebrated her 100th birthday Sept. 14 with family and friends. She lives eight months of the year in a house she built mostly by herself, winning a $10 bet. Her hobbies are goats, classical music, and her Cardigan Welsh corgis.

1942

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu The recipient of the Class of 1942 Scholarship in Business Administration, established in memory of James Harvey Dodd, graduated in May. Madeline Morris ’19 majored in business administration and minored in mathematics.

1943

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1944

Phyllis Quimby Anderson pqhndson@comcast.net Business administration major Daniel Ortiz ’19, the recipient of the Class of 1944 Scholarship, graduated in May.

1945

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu The recipient of the Class of 1945 Memorial Scholarship graduated in May. Conrad Donahue ’19 majored in computer science and minored in data science.

1946

Patricia Mathewson Spring classnotes@umw.edu

1947

Betty Moore Drewry Bamman classnotes@umw.edu

1948

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu Two recipients of the Ellen Alvey Montllor ’48 Scholarship graduated in May. They are business administration major Meghan Fens ’19 and English major Amani Redic ’19, now a master’s degree student in the College of Education.

Jane Smallwood still dances with the Wright Tappers, but she writes, “not as well as earlier.” She planned two cruises this year – around Iceland with daughter Ann, and to the Western Caribbean

with bridge partner Dorothy Reynolds, who wanted to swim with stingrays.

1949

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu We’re sorry to report that Margaret Hines Sickels passed away June 19, 2019, at 91.

After graduating from Mary Washington, she earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Northwestern University and spent a career in higher education helping instill in her students an appreciation of biology and the wonders and beauty of our natural world.

A son, Stephen Sickels, and a daughterin-law, Elizabeth Lemersal, survive her.

Jane Smallwood ’48 planned cruises to Iceland and the Western Caribbean in 2019.

1950

Marcy Weatherly Morris classnotes@umw.edu Most of my news concerns class members turning 90!

Aren’t we fortunate to be able to celebrate that milestone?

Elmer “Juney” Morris Jr., my husband of 69 years, celebrated his 95th birthday in February. He had health issues earlier this year but continues to build up his strength.

Carol Bailey Miller celebrated her 90th in July with 30 friends at a party at her church. Jane Frasier Snead of Fredericksburg celebrated her 90th in 2018. Helen Hopkins Timberlake is healthy and enjoying life in Florida. She reached her 90th birthday Feb. 25. My special day was Sept. 1, and November marked Florence Overley Ridderhof’s.

Florence joined Chief of Staff Emeritus Marty Wilder, Vicky Nichols Wilder ’80, Professor of Art Carole Garmon, and UMW students on a trip to Kansas City, Kansas, to participate in an arts festival on the prairie, the Jump Star Festival. Sadly, high winds destroyed tents (though not

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

35

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents:

cancer, now volunteers for the nonprofit organization METAvivor, and Mary Lou writes her thank-you notes.

the sculptures being exhibited) and forced cancellation of the event.

Elaine Nader Powell and husband Jim enjoy watching their grandchildren play soccer. Her grandson plays for William and Mary, and his sister accepted a soccer scholarship to Virginia Tech.

Jim has a garden, which he shares with the deer and other wildlife.

Christine Doumas Conlin now lives in Santa Cruz, California, near her son and his family. She will celebrate her 90th in April of 2020.

Elaine and Evelyn Roeder Pammel make occasional trips to the casino. Evelyn lives at Ashby Ponds, a retirement community in Ashburn, Virginia.

Speaking of milestones, next May we’ll celebrate our 70th class reunion. Let’s all make a very special effort to be there!

Susan Hutcheson Jurgens lives in Gordonsville, Virginia, and is in contact with many of our classmates. Her schedule includes a lot of bridge. She has recovered from a broken arm and planned a trip to Ireland in October.

• For spring 2020 issue: Dec. 2, 2019 • For fall 2020 issue: June 15, 2020

Many members of the Class of 1950 are celebrating milestone birthdays – their 90th!

1951

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1952

Rita Morgan Stone rita.stone7@aol.com Corley Gibson Friesen corleyfriesen@comcast.net [Editors’ note: The Class of ’52 now has two class agents. Rita Morgan Stone has volunteered, and she submitted the following notes for this issue.]

Corley Gibson Friesen and Ernie, married 66 years, have moved into a senior complex in Colorado.

Their children live nearby.

Maryanne Heatwole Cox sold her house and built a new home in the Fredericksburg area with her youngest daughter and son-in-law. She enjoys a lovely large walkout space. She has 12 grandchildren and eight-great grandsons – still waiting for that little girl.

Mary Lou Finney Boyd lives in Stevensville, Maryland, and enjoys grandchildren nearby. Along with crafts and sewing, she swims three times a week to keep the arthritis at bay. Her daughter, who had breast

36

Nancy Stump Motley lives in Roanoke, Virginia, in a townhouse designed by her husband, Ken, an architect. Sadly, Ken died in December 2017. One of Nancy’s daughters, interior decorator Sharon Kleinman, was featured in the Washingtonian magazine. Her other daughter is a director of Bible teachers and lives in Williamsburg, and her son is an architect living in the Roanoke area.

Music major Nancy Moxley Stone of Grayson County, Virginia, taught piano for about 50 years and was pianist/organist for her church. She taught Sunday school for 50 years and volunteered with the Grayson/Wythe Library Board and as chair of the School Board Selection Committee. Before the death of husband Ernest in 2012, they traveled in Europe and enjoyed Florida winters. Her two daughters live nearby in Elk Creek. Two grandsons are in California – one in real estate and the other a producer in Hollywood.

Another is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Arizona, and the fourth is a physician in Charlottesville.

Claire Sindlinger DeGroot and husband Ward live in Arlington, Virginia, and enjoy tending their beautiful azalea garden. They spend much of the summer in New Jersey at Claire’s family home.

Carolyn Arrington Smith lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and enjoys bridge clubs and book clubs. Her real passion is her volunteer work with the SPCA, though she’s not nearly so active as when she and her husband lived in Bristol.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Virginia Orkney Philbrick of Bedford, Virginia, writes that she is often reminded of how much Mary Washington has happily influenced her life, professionally and personally.

“I was inspired by history professors whose enthusiasm for their field was not only apparent in the classroom, but also in the planned excursions to Virginia’s historical sites.”

After graduation, Ginny enrolled in a doctoral program in history at Tulane University and then transferred to the West Coast for additional study at U.C. Berkeley and the University of Oregon. After teaching at Oregon, she taught at the College of Marin in the San Francisco Bay area for 20 years.

Charlotte Adams Harrell and husband Bob, who is 98, live at Westminster Canterbury in Virginia Beach. She and Bob were at the Hampton History Museum in the spring for the opening of an exhibit on Hampton One-Design sailboats. The exhibit includes racing trophies, some with Bob Harrell’s name.

Gwen Amory Cumming has lived for 62 years in her home in Hampton, Virginia. She was a founder of the Hampton History Museum, and earlier this year its rotunda was named for her. Her four children, who live in Williamsburg, Richmond, and Hampton, attended the surprise ceremony.

Mary Mapp Edmonds Bradford lives in a retirement community in Ellicott City, Maryland, and enjoys duplicate bridge. A daughter lives in Pennsylvania, and a son is in New Orleans.

Phyllis Webb Pegram lives in Bassett, Virginia. Her husband organized and developed the nonprofit volunteer group Greater Bassett Area Community, and Phyllis plays a supportive role.

Betty Montgomery Handy retired after 31 years as a research chemist and is now back in Powhatan County. She is a Master Gardener and volunteers with the Free Clinic, her Episcopal Church, and the local political scene. Her three daughters and their children live nearby, and her son and his family live in Florida.

I, Rita Morgan Stone, enjoy my independence at Lakewood Retirement Community in Richmond, Virginia. A putting green and a nearby rubberized walking track mean there are no excuses for not getting Fitbit steps.

The Lakewood bus transports us to the Richmond Spider basketball

games, the symphony, and shows. I enjoy lunches at the Virginia Museum with Mary Washington pals Diana Rupert Livingston ’71 and Lloyd Tilton Backstrom ’61, and Betty includes me in family gatherings and is a good movie buddy.

Carol Oliver Headlee also lives at Lakewood. Her daughter Kathy lives in Richmond.

Two of our late classmates have remembered our alma mater in significant ways. Frances Bold, in leaving her estate to Mary Washington, has enhanced the Kalnen Inn with her beautiful rugs and Wedgwood collections.

practicing professionally for several years, she put her skills to use in her own residences. She and husband Bob, married for 63 years, lived for a time in Belgium and Rome. Now they love living in California and have a small dog who keeps Carolyn on her toes.

You can read her complete newsy note online in the unedited Class Notes.

1955

Roberta Linn Miller toromiller@embarqmail.com [Editors’ note: Roberta Linn Miller has volunteered to serve as class agent. Here is her first contribution.]

Gwen Amory Cumming ’52 was a founder of the Hampton History Museum, and in a surprise ceremony its rotunda was named for her.

Shirley Van Epps Waple will long be remembered for one of Mary Washington’s largest-ever gifts in support of academics. Shirley had previously endowed a scholarship for students with financial need. Her later gift established eight professorships that recognize excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship. The Professional Achievement Award, established in her honor, recognizes faculty members who have made significant contributions to their scholarly or creative area of expertise.

1953

Betsy Dickinson Surles surles@infionline.net

1954

Mary Ann Dorsey Judy ack915@gmail.com Nancy Root Skinner nan1367@comcast.net Carolyn Osborne Jenkins owned a popular café in San Francisco for nearly 10 years and hopes to open another one soon in Carmel-by-the-Sea. She is an interior designer by training, and she loves the work. Besides

I want to express my appreciation to Chris Harper Hovis and others who reported our class news for so long. I shall try to do my best.

I contacted many members of our graduating class by email and phone, and I hope to hear from even more of you.

Minnie Rainey Mayberry lives in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Her husband was in the Navy so they traveled a great deal, including a trip to Africa. Minnie keeps in touch with Sally Hanger Moravitz, who lives in Falls Church, Virginia. Minnie’s roommate was Rhoda Browning McWilliams, who lives in Sebastian, Florida. I used to live in Charleston, so Minnie and I had lots to talk about.

Eloise Gabrik lives in Florida. Her daughter lives in Manhattan, graduated from Princeton, and is with an international corporation. Her son was being transferred from Georgia to California. Eloise has a master’s degree from Loyola University and was a guidance counselor in New Jersey – another place I had lived. Eloise kept in touch with Joyce Stallard Bruce until Joyce passed in 2017. By the way, I also lived in West Virginia, Virginia, and Oklahoma. Mobil Oil, my husband’s employer, kept us on the hop!

Carol Cooper has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and worked in children’s aid in Pennsylvania and at Yale University School of Medicine. She lives in Chatham, Virginia, in Pittsylvania County, and has two dogs. She is a 19-year cancer survivor, and I hated to one-up her with my 20 years. We

decided that we must tell these facts so others will know that you can survive.

Coralyn White McGeehan has two daughters, three grandchildren, and a great-grandchild. Coralyn taught elementary school in Fairfax after college but now lives in a retirement community in Ashburn, Virginia. Her husband, a pilot for United Airlines, passed away several years ago.

Ruth Dollens Chiles was a secretary for an insurance company and lives on a large orchard farm in Batesville, Virginia, near Charlottesville.

They raise apples and peaches.

Ruth has two daughters, a son, and three grandchildren.

Ann Strickler Doumas of Fredericksburg saw former class agent Chris Hovis at commencement, when Chris’ grandson Harper H. James ’19 graduated. Ann and her family, including grandchildren, went to Greece for Christmas. She planned to travel to the Great Lakes in July.

Irene Hughes and I talked by phone about many things including our love of Great Danes. (She had five, and I had three.) A few days later my son, who was here from Texas, brought in the mail and there was a package from Irene with an autographed copy of her book Scent of Suspicion. Irene retired from business ownership – real estate and a restaurant – in 2000 and has written two novels. She lives alone, loves to read, watches the Tennis Channel, attends plays, dines out with friends, and, in general, enjoys a very good life. She lives in Arrington, Virginia, in Nelson County.

Carolyn Osborne Jenkins ’54 hopes to open a café in Carmelby-the-Sea, California.

Ann “Miss” Hungerford McKinlay lives in Port Chester, New York, 35 minutes from Grand Central Station. Ann worked in the trust department of the Bank of New York, where she met her husband.

Unfortunately, she has been a widow for 17 years. I remember seeing Ann come down the staircase in Ball Hall wearing a beautiful white gown with a hoop skirt. A true Southern beauty.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

37

CLASS NOTES Inta Janners Ertel, one of my roommates and a good friend through the years, is a professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of Michigan. She retired in 2013 but kept her medical license.

She attends a meeting of the Department of Pediatrics every Tuesday morning to keep up with new information. Inta attends concerts and operas and is helping her daughter raise her 12-year-old son. Several years ago, she returned to Latvia and visited her home area.

Among the 44 relatives who attended the family reunion of Ann Chilton Power ’56, five were Mary Washington alumni.

My roommate in the home management house was Jean Brumback Hickman, and she was maid of honor when Tom and I married. She lives in Reno, Nevada.

In the summer of 1952, I was off to MWC just two weeks after my high school graduation. The first person I met was Barbara Dean Smith Kronenberg from Minden, Louisiana. We were both a little scared and from small towns. We ended up as sophomore roommates, and then she transferred to Louisiana State University, got a master’s degree, and traveled the world with her work. We keep in touch, and she and her family once came up from Louisiana to visit with us at our B&B at our farm here in Pennsylvania.

Ruth Dollens Chiles ’55 raises apples and peaches on an orchard farm near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Another member of that summer class was Anastasia “Buttons” Petro Molitor from Morristown, Tennessee.

She is a widow and lives in Mukilteo, Washington, near Seattle. Buttons has three sons, two of whom are in the film industry. She is a well-known artist and has traveled to Rome to study watercolor and Venice to study frescoes. After graduation she worked at the embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, and traveled to many other countries.

No Class Agent?

Your classmates still want to hear from you!

Send news directly to classnotes@umw.edu.

38

Though I graduated with the Class of 1955, I started with the Class of ’56 during that hot summer. We lived in Westmoreland, and I remember that girls slept on the floor to try to escape the heat. The rest of my introduction to college life was with Dr. George Shankle, Dr. Carrol Quenzel, and a swimming instructor who didn’t seem to understand my fear of water. Well, I survived all that. Let’s hear your stories.

1956

Ann Chilton Power anncpower1@gmail.com So many of us have dropped our landline phones or ignore unfamiliar numbers to avoid telemarketers, and it makes keeping in touch more difficult. I did hear from Betty Davies Morie. She has moved to Westminster-Canterbury in Richmond to be closer to her daughter, Beth, who is married to an attorney and has two elementary school-age children. Betty’s son, Paul Jr., has a son in his final year of residency at Sentara Medical Center in Williamsburg.

1957

Joyce Bristow Wrestler joycewrestler@gmail.com Patricia “Pat” Falkenbury Cook reports that her sister, Barbara “Bobbi” Falkenbury Wright of Spartanburg, South Carolina, lost her husband in February. Pat herself was doing well with her total hip replacement and was addressing problems with a shoulder and elbow.

Marianne McDermott shared sad news. The son of Sue Carpenter Farmer told Marianne that his mother, our classmate, passed away in the spring.

Marianne keeps her bar membership going so she can continue to belong to the Animal Law Committee of the American Bar Association. An animal lover, Marianne takes care of feral cats as well as her own. Two hip replacements forced her to give up overseas travel, but last year she drove her 90-yearold brother to North Carolina so he could play in a tennis tournament.

Anne Marlene Bost Braun wrote that she enjoyed reading the University of Mary Washington Magazine, especially the Class Notes with news of members of the Class of ’57. Her husband, Carl, was awaiting a doctor’s decisions after his latest test results. Her daughter is encouraging Marlene to visit Marlene and Carl’s son in Fort Collins, Colorado, and has offered to provide the care Carl needs while Marlene is away. Daughters are wonderful.

Mickey Foley McDaniel wrote from Georgia. One granddaughter is a physician’s assistant at a hospital emergency room in Chattanooga. Another granddaughter is working Jean Durham Busboso ’57 on an advanced degree as a child life specialist and is planned a trip to Oxford, England, on the staff of a children’s for a conference about World War I. hospital in Chicago.

I, Ann Chilton Power, have a granddaughter in her second year at the University of Missouri. Her sister is in her first year at Iowa State. My son retired this year after a 39-year career with Gannett newspapers.

My biennial Chilton family reunion was held June 28 through 30, again at Shrine Mont in Orkney Springs, Virginia. There were 44 in attendance, including five Mary Washington alumni.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Meredith Puller Townes is now living at Rappahannock Westminster Canterbury, a retirement community, and has placed her home on the market. Since Jack’s death, she has remarried. She has known her new husband, Col. Edward Townes, for more than 30 years. He is a cousin of her late husband and has the same last name. He has a home in Florida, and they plan to become “snowbirds.”

In February, Jean Durham Busboso took a Road Scholar trip to Key West, Florida, and especially enjoyed

’

Retirement Is Sunny for Health Pioneer

A

fter enduring four decades of gray, cold winters in Washington state, Catherine “Cathe” Cantwell Luria ’66 is soaking up the sun at her home in Ajijic, Mexico. Luria, a retired nurse practitioner, and her husband, retired physician Eric Luria, visited friends in Ajijic several winters before deciding in fall 2016 to move to this idyllic community on Mexico’s Lago de Chapala.

“It’s a beautiful small community, and the weather is fantastic,” Luria said. She doesn’t miss the gray skies and rain that characterized nine months of the year in her old home of Gig Harbor, Washington. “Here, it’s sunny most days. It’s just a gorgeous setting.”

Since arriving in Ajijic (pronounced ah-hee-HEEK), Luria has enjoyed voice lessons, Spanish classes, and singing with a community chorus.

She’s also supported the Lake Chapala chapter of Days for Girls, an international nonprofit that distributes environmentally friendly menstruation supplies for girls and educates women and men about reproductive health, hygiene, domestic abuse, and the importance of safe relationships.

Luria covered those topics and plenty more with her patients over the years. She majored in chemistry and minored in biology at Mary Washington with an intent to study medicine. In between classes – including French with Professor Juliette Breffort Blessing for four years – Luria played flute in Mary Washington’s orchestra, served as vice president of Trench Hill dorm, helped revise the SGA student handbook each year, and competed in backstroke on the swim team.

Very few women were accepted into medical school in those days, Luria said. But when her mother shared with her an article in The New York Times about a brand-new master’s program at the New York Medical College Graduate School of

Nursing, Luria applied; she earned a Master of Science in Nursing degree in 1968. The program was among the country’s first to promote more autonomy among nurses, a concept that caught on more rapidly in the early 1970s with a push to allow nurse practitioners to serve as primary care providers.

“We were really on the cutting edge,” the Hobart, New York, native recalled. “It was a heady time.”

With her master’s degree in hand, Luria worked as a public health nurse for five years in Rochester, New York. There, in addition to meeting her Cathe Cantwell Luria husband, Luria worked retired in 2013 as a at a publicly funded nurse practitioner neighborhood health practice in Gig but still embraces a clinic. She and the rest of Harbor in 1979. The life of public service the staff were charged state legislature and adventure. with developing a new had passed a law role for the public health allowing nurse nurse, one more akin to practitioners to that of the nurse practitioner. prescribe medication, and – after “It was a time of constant evolution working for several years with of our role and work,” she said. the Nursing Commission to draft “Without the four years at the health regulations around the law – Luria center, none of the rest of my career became the first nurse practitioner would have been possible.” in the state with that authority. Luria Luria and her husband then spent also worked cooperatively with local a year at the University of Kentucky, therapists, encouraging her patients where he interned and she taught to care for their mental health as pediatric nursing, before serving much as their physical health and the Native American population in promoting a holistic approach to Gallup, New Mexico, for a year. The healthcare. adventurous couple then headed to “You could get your Pap smear Kotzebue, Alaska, above the Arctic and your antidepressants in the same Circle, where patients from 10 small place,” said Luria, who retired in 2013. villages traveled to the hospital by “I loved it.” plane and snowmobile. The couple Now she loves her life in Ajijic, used shortwave radios to dispense where her Spanish-speaking skills are advice to far-flung health aides, Luria improving. But she could only live said, and she delivered babies as part there knowing she could regularly of this remote assignment. fly to Portland, Oregon, to see her “You just learned all kinds of things daughter, Sacha, son-in-law, Ryan, you’d never learn in the lower 48.” and three grandchildren, who Skype In the late 1970s, the Lurias moved with her between visits. to Tacoma, Washington, where they “If I get a ‘Mommy, come’ call,” ran a satellite clinic for a fledgling she said, “I go.” health maintenance organization – Edie Gross before establishing their family

’66

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

39

CLASS NOTES the butterfly conservatory. She planned another Road Scholar trip in September, to Oxford, England, for a conference about World War I. Cliff and I, Joyce Bristow Wrestler, were in Charlottesville in June for a medical appointment. We were accompanied by son David. (Sons are wonderful, too.) Then we had a nice dinner with Jean and Buz Busboso.

We did quite a lot of catching up and learned about their new dog, Lucy.

Potter Bonnie Hatch Bowden ’58 says anyone in Dallas who wants pots should let her know.

We’d like to have more catching up for the next Class Notes of ’57, so send us your news.

1958

Susannah Godlove sgodlove5465@gmail.com Joyce Butler Allen’s husband found negatives with images of Joyce, Betty Gould Storms, Carol Lehmann, and Alice Janklow Drucker.

Carol Lehmann mentioned an article in UMW’s Heritage publication about Joyce Lee Smith’s gift honoring her mother.

Kay Martin Britto has taken all her grandchildren to Europe and planned to stay home this summer. Judy Townsend Bainbridge and her husband had a terrific Road Scholar trip to Jekyll Island and other Georgia Sea Islands.

They’re helping a former student run for Congress from South Carolina.

Joyce Corbitt Faison had a nice visit from Peggy Saunders Burroughs and husband Eugene.

Jerry Sample Stocks and her husband celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. She planned a trip to Sarasota, Florida, for an annual reunion with Fran Karins Updike and Carol Ann Lasalle McMahan Roberts.

Bonnie Hatch Bowden attends yoga, enjoys pottery, and says anyone in Dallas who wants some pots should let her know. She recalled suitemates Bev Cooke Lordi and Sue Blythe, both of whom have passed away.

40

Mary Lou Morris Wolsey and family attended a grandson’s high school graduation in Boulder, Colorado.

She and husband Wayne are retired but still active in their fields.

Carolyn Dale Miller of Darien, Connecticut, shared the sad news that Judith Ann O’Sullivan Milton died July 4, 2019. We reminisced about Judy and were sorry to hear of her passing.

Sherrill Massie Judd helped Dorothy Newland Heishman downsize.

Dot planned to live in Florida.

Nancy Lunsford Spero also enjoys life in Florida. She never thought she would leave her home in New Jersey, but husband Steve Spero changed her mind. No more snow.

Mary Ruth “Ruthie” Griggs Ridge enjoyed seeing former classmates and reminiscing at our 60th reunion in 2018.

Ruthie transferred in to MWC in 1956 and attended summer school while living in Ball. Summer was when the Marines visited. She lived in Custis her senior year and had a wonderful experience. She studied history and secondary education and began her teaching career in 1964.

Molly Bradshaw Clark came for the day.

Mary Fredman Downing and Glen were very active – Mary does a lot of “behind the scenes” work, and Glen was a good conversationalist. Ann Rollins Pyle came with daughter Carolyn. This was Sally Steinmetz’s first reunion. Ann Brooks Coutsoubinas, who has been to all of our reunions, was leaving the following week to tour England and Scotland with family. Marcia Phipps Ireland and Marcia Spence Harrison-Thornton presented a heartfelt memorial service for the girls we have lost but not forgotten.

Nancy Gwaltney Gillette and Bill opened their house for guests. Julia Coates Littlefield and Mo decided to make a team. Scott, Susan, and children Chris and Mary Graham have moved in with Julia and Mo. The kids are wonderful to have. Scott and Susan are looking for a buyer for their business in Georgia and new employment for themselves.

Irene Piscopo Rodgers came early from New York and spent some time with Kay. Irene made several visits this past year to hear her students’ research presentations at UMW. She generally stays with Kay in Warrenton. Irene and a friend embarked on a 16-day transatlantic cruise from Florida to Copenhagen with stopovers in the Azores, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

Irene also went on a Christmas Market river cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg.

Recently at a picnic I, Susannah Godlove, mentioned having graduated from Mary Washington, and the person sitting across from me smiled. It turns out that Patsy Jacobs Kadel ’74 had moved to Winchester recently. We shared stories Sally Steinmetz ’59 attended her of Mary Washington. I asked Patsy if she would first reunion. be interested in joining the American Association of University Women, and she said yes.

Many of us are still traveling, and we’re especially glad we traveled to our 60th.

1959

Edna Gooch Trudeau ednanewkent@verizon.net

Inga Kuun Barrett and Jack, married 58 years, now live in a senior retirement apartment. This is first-time apartment living for them. They do a lot of walking.

What a lovely 60th reunion we had!

Fourteen of us, plus seven husbands, attended. We came in second in the Alumni Fund contributions – beat by the 50th reunioners! You can read a description of the weekend online, in the unedited class notes, but here are some highlights.

In March, Gloria Winslow Borden moved from Virginia to a lovely in-law suite in Katy, Texas, thanks to Cynthia and Rob. It has eased her worry. Last October, Gloria was involved in an accident that totaled her car, but she was fine. Cliff and family visited for Thanksgiving, which means Cynthia hosted for 18!

Dorothea “Dodie” Reeder Hruby and husband Dale came in on Thursday from Williamsburg. She and her committee planned well as usual. Kay Rowe Hayes is retired from politics and looked great.

Sally Arnold Sullivan and Bill came.

Barbara White Ellis spent a week at her favorite lake in New Hampshire in August with family including daughter Beth. Babs’ horse, Sterling, is now retired to pasture and enjoying it.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Frances “Bunkie” Bourke Firth’s youngest daughter, Kristen, had major surgery near Christmas and also had bacterial pneumonia, which kept Bunkie busy. But she still managed to have 15 for Christmas! She planned trips to South America and Antarctica.

Alan, widower of Celeste “Pug” Shipman Kaufman, sent lots of news about their children and grandchildren. And Arthur, widower of Eleanor Markham Old, also wrote with family updates. You can read details online, in the unedited class notes.

Lois Gaylord Allen and husband Howard are great-grandparents.

Howard has health problems, but Gay is by his side. She has cocker spaniels and cats, which she says are all getting old – she feels like she runs a geriatric ward with all the drops and pills she gives out. She also volunteers at the Humane Society. Gay heard from Ruth Gaines Hepner, who is finally retired.

Ann Watkins Steves and Bob traveled to New England for one granddaughter’s graduation from Suffolk University and another granddaughter’s performance in The Sound of Music. They also went to Pagoda Springs, Colorado, for the Four Corners Folk Festival.

Jane Tucker Broadbooks and John are happy with the move they made last September to Springfield, Illinois. They are in a senior living residence with less housekeeping, cooking, and shopping and are only 10 minutes from son Jon Karl and family. Jane sews, knits prayer shawls, and is in a post-polio support group. You can read more about Jane’s family online, in the unedited class notes.

dog, Gigi, has been a therapy dog at a nearby rehab center for over a year. She sits quietly in the laps of the residents who stroke her. The residents’ faces light up when they see her coming.

Sandy Poole stays busy, supporting Barb with her Episcopal priest activities. Barb’s schedule doesn’t allow much travel these days, but Sandy is enjoying the quiet life in their beautiful home.

Barbara Gordon McNamee still coaches swimming part time on the weekends. She and her swimmers have recently traveled to Florida, Arizona, and California for events.

Barbara and husband Bob also traveled to Los Angeles to see family.

For more updates on their family, see the unedited Class Notes online.

Jody Campbell Close is in maintenance mode since breast cancer surgery in September 2018. More recently she had dental implant surgery. A high-powered tranquilizer knocked her silly, and according to her brother, Jody had the staff in stitches with her odd remarks and observations. Jody wasn’t sure how much of her brother’s story was true, but she sent flowers and an apology to the doctor’s office just in case.

My daughter, Virginia, and I, Edna Gooch Trudeau, are thrilled that her son, Lucas, was accepted into U.Va.’s two-week-long enrichment program for young students. He has chosen a history and a science course. Lucas also played a gig one evening in the same restaurant where his piano teacher plays. What do y’all think: historian, scientist, pianist? He’s 10! It’s a rule – grandmas are allowed to brag!

1960

Karen Larsen Nelson karenlarsennelson60@gmail.com Jody Campbell Close jclose2@cfl.rr.com Nancy Moncure Diess works at the National Gallery of Art and is learning about Wiki culture, which she described this way: “Works of art are constantly in flux by serial additions. A painting (or poem, or song) by one artist might be altered digitally by another, then another, until the original work is unrecognizable.”

She hopes to attend the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Nancy Moncure Diess ’60 works at the National Gallery of Art and is learning about Wiki culture.

Mary C. Massey, who lives in Maryland, volunteers at the Audubon Naturalist Society, the Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church, and the Prince George’s Child Resource Center, where she helps immigrant children 4 and younger prepare for school while their mothers study English. Mary became a great-grandmother for the first time in March with the birth of Aiden.

Mary goes to concerts, museums, art galleries, and restaurants with six different sets of friends. Her little

Liz Hill Heaney lives in New Jersey, near her children and grandchildren, and is busy attending bridal showers and weddings for the younger generation. Bonnie Davis Hall and Ross toured Europe again this past year, riding every scenic train available. They visited with Carlotta Muse Rokita in Vienna, Austria.

Mamie Sue Howlett Scott has survived medical problems over the years but still travels alone and with her adult children. Gretchen Squires Best lives in North Carolina and is grateful for family gatherings including weddings and college graduations. She and Graham welcomed great-grandchild No. 4 and were awaiting No. 5.

I, Karen Larson Nelson, had a great early spring, camping in our little teardrop trailer in Texas’ Big Bend National Park in early April and then in Cottonwood and Benson, Arizona. A week later I stepped out on our porch on a beautiful morning, fell, and broke my back. I spent half of May and most of the summer learning to be active again. Darrell is recovering from being my full-time caretaker and household manager. We help with church activities in assisted living and memory care facilities Fridays through Sundays, but we manage to squeeze in several days in the mountains each week in our little trailer.

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.

From Connie: Betty Alrich Latta looked forward to exercising and traveling again after hip surgery in May. Earlier in 2019, she enjoyed a trip to Tucson, Arizona, with friends from her Widows and Widowers Group. She also took a

Clara Sue Durden Ashley ’61 said her 16-year-old grandson became the youngest person on record to swim across Guantanamo Bay.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

41

CLASS NOTES friends sat at the terrace of a downtown restaurant and watched pedal taverns – bars on wheels – roll by. Afterward they crossed the street to the symphony hall to see and hear an amazing performance of Carmina Burana. She wrote, “Music City is one of contrasts, and a city of music of all types.”

son and two grandsons to her beach timeshare in Puerto Vallarta.

Patty Cairns Hourin’s sons put on a birthday bash for her 80th. Bill has remarried and lives near Patty in Diamondhead, Mississippi; Scott and his family live in Fredericksburg; and Michael lives in Hong Kong.

Clara Sue Durden Ashley has 14 grandchildren and was excited that in February one of them, 16-year-old Palmer, swam across Guantanamo Bay in a race with 40 other participants. She said he became the youngest person on record to complete the 1.7-mile swim.

Palmer’s father, Dennis, works for the Navy in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A granddaughter, Celeste, graduated from college this year.

In January, Matte cruised to Barbados and met the brother and sister-inlaw of Sherry Farrington Green ’60, who was a close friend from Mason dorm. The next month, Matte took a trip to New Zealand. On a trip to Atlanta to visit daughter Ashley, she saw Jean Ryan Farrell and Frank.

Lillian Ann Dix Smith ’62 joined

Jerri Barden Perkins visited a group of 300-plus Virginians to Cuba in February and loved work at Standing Rock Reservation its history and Old Havana, but said conditions there made in North and South Dakota. her more appreciative of the United States. In July, she went sailing in the Greek Islands. Jerri was News from me, Renee Levinson thrilled and honored to receive UMW’s Laurents: It’s been a pretty quiet year.

Distinguished Alumnus Award on June I’m taking a break from my classes at 1! Sylvia McJilton Woodcock and Stuart UCLA Extension. I have a subscription were there to witness it, as were Andy to the Music Center theaters here and go and I, Connie Booth Logothetis. often to concerts, plays, and musicals.

I planned to celebrate my 80th in August Sadly, my dear, precious dog, Buddy, died with a family vacation at the Greenbrier in May. He was 14. His absence in this in West Virginia. Happy 80th to all! house is huge. I talk to him all the time.

From Renee: There is some comfort from Domino, an affectionate black-and-white tuxedo cat, Margaretta Kirksey Bir, a first-time and Baby, a 5-year-old cat I adopted last contributor, and Mattoinette “Matte” October after the death of her owner.

McCeney Campbell wrote wonderful At that age, I couldn’t change her name. letters you can read in their entirety Baby and Domino do not get along, but online, in the unedited Class Notes. they tolerate each other most of the time.

After living in the Washington area, I enjoyed my annual visit from Greece, and Germany, Margaretta is Carolyn Crum Pannu. She and back living in her hometown of Eutaw, Pat Scott Peck went on a cruise, I Alabama. She writes crime reports and a think to the south of France. “remember when” column for her local weekly newspaper. A daughter and son From Lynne: live nearby, and another son and his Since the beginning of the year, I have family live in Falls Church, Virginia. taken two trips to Florida, one to Margaretta adds that as a “complete California to visit my granddaughter at liberal” living in a red state, “I spend a lot Stanford, and one to San Antonio, my old of time trying to keep my mouth shut.” hometown. I stayed with Frank and Bitsy Matte loves life in Nashville, Tennessee, Glasscock Duperier (she left MWC after with “a nice cat who lets me live with a year). While there, another friend threw him in the house I have remodeled and a cocktail party for me; unfortunately, worked on for the past 35 years.” She Candes Parker Chumney and Jill has been widowed for two years but Cusack Clay weren’t able to attend. gets lots of emotional support from Janie Riles and Jim visited her brother friends. She described a recent wonderful and family in Riverside, Connecticut, Friday night in Nashville, when she and where they attended opening day at

42

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

the yacht club and had an enjoyable sail during the week. They also visited the Hudson Yards in New York City and walked the amazing new structure “The Vessel.” Janie visited daughter Annelise and son-in-law Hiro at their new home at Northwestern University in Chicago. They took her to the Art Institute of Chicago, where she saw the Manet exhibit. Janie taught painting over the summer in San Diego.

Sandy Walters Julifs and her husband attended their youngest granddaughter’s high school graduation in California on May 24. On May 25, their oldest granddaughter and her husband, in Illinois, had a baby girl named Peyton Elizabeth McCarthy. They were quite excited to become great-grandparents.

Their other two granddaughters were to graduate from college in the summer and fall, and both planned to pursue master’s degrees.

Sue Wilson Sproul and husband Dave moved from Tucson, Arizona, to Richmond, but first they took a farewell tour of the West. They and the dog left Tucson at the end of April and drove, travel trailer in tow, to visit Dave’s brother and one of Dave’s sons in California. They traveled to Utah to see Native American ruins and rock art; stopped in Durango, Colorado, to visit Dave’s other son; and traveled to Dave’s sister’s home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From there, Sue flew to Richmond and Dave remained in the West to pursue a photography project, with plans to join her in Richmond soon. Sue stayed with her daughter and helped out with her 10-year-old grandson. Sue and Dave planned to move to a retirement community near Sue’s daughter’s home.

1962

Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor klisagor@yahoo.com Nancy Powell Sykes npsykes@yahoo.com In May, Myrtle Lee Dean France shared the sad news that Vanelia Oakley

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: • For spring 2020 issue: Dec. 2, 2019 • For fall 2020 issue: June 15, 2020

Gallagher and husband David Sr. lost their son, David Jr., a computer scientist at Dahlgren in King George County, Virginia.

Several of us decided to meet for lunch in Montross, Virginia. Myrtle Lee, Vanelia, Lillian Ann Dix Smith, Joan Akers Rothgeb, and I, Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor, attended. Betty Forrester Day was unable to attend due to a family commitment. Pat Barrack Gibson sent sweet words from Charleston, South Carolina, of old school days and memories with these Northern Neck folks. Pat recently had lunch with Pauline Womack Spencer in Cary, North Carolina.

at Standing Rock Reservation in North and South Dakota. This group includes interdenominational, intergenerational, and multicultural members, including UMW grads Shelby Orlando ’14, Hannah Pierson ’16, and Clifton Wise ’12.

Peggy Downs Gerber has completed her bucket list of visiting all 50 states.

She, husband John, and son David headed west this year. She and Jane Walshe McCracken of California stay in touch. Jane looked forward to two grandchildren’s weddings.

Diana Copple Smith joined a book club in Pleasure Island, North Carolina. She recommends Delia Owens’ bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing, about a North Carolina marsh girl.

Joan Akers Rothgeb has visited Jean Craig Gough in New Mexico. Jean sent an exciting article about Christy Tafoya ’91, who majored in historic preservation and has become the first woman to head the New Mexico state parks. Read more about Christy Tafoya in Notable and Quotable on page 30.

Karen Vandevanter Morrison ’63 and Becky Ryan Dunkenberger ’63 had fun staying in touch during U.Va.’s championship basketball season.

Our condolences go out to Bettie Stewart Kienast, who lost her mother, and to Betsy Williams Brothers, who lost husband Tom. Anona Getchell Hogwood lost her husband, Donald, in December 2018.

She and Don traveled many places, among them Alaska and Australia. Don was active with Shriners hospitals for children, which Anona continues to support. Anona retired from Southside Virginia Training Center after 27 years as director of physical therapy.

Liz Kennedy Thomas Slate wrote that she, Reba Calvert Bayliss, Betsy Williams Brothers, Lynda Puckett Howell, and Marsha Arlott Wooster got together in May at Wintergreen Resort. They spent a day in Lexington visiting the VMI Memorial Wall and saw the plaque memorializing Reba’s late husband, Capt.

Paul M. Bayliss.

Sadly, Reba lost her dear cat, Nedd.

Lynda spent spring traveling to Utah with family for graduations. Marsha attended her granddaughter’s ballet recital in North Carolina, then returned home to Santa Barbara, California. Liz volunteers and enjoys her grandchildren in Richmond.

In July, for the 11th year, Lillian Ann Dix Smith and husband Curtis joined a group of 300-plus Virginians to work

Nancy Powell Sykes enjoys her lunch bunches and had a lovely summer visit from her California daughter.

I, Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor, enjoy texting with my eight grandchildren.

Son Matt Lisagor is living his childhood dream of owning a sportfishing charter boat, Tenacity, and catching 170-pound tuna offshore from Manteo, North Carolina.

Betty and Tom are moving out of their two-story house on a steep hill to a one-story house on a flat lot. The view from the top lost some of its appeal when the stairs became more trouble. They’ve enjoyed seeing Tom’s elementary school classmates and her high school and Mary Washington classmates, including Ann Marchant Long and Betsey Bourke Christian, wife of their high school friend Meade.

Karen Vandevanter Morrison and Kent enjoy visits from grandkids to their home on Whidbey Island in Washington state.

She’s had fun keeping in touch with Becky Ryan Dunkenberger during the University of Virginia’s championship basketball season. Karen plays pickleball and tennis.

Betsy Chamberlain Hartz shared the sad news that Sally Tarrant Bernert of Richmond died April 30 after a 35-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Mary Saunders Latimer came up from Suffolk, and Eleanor Powell Darden, who had taught with Sally the first two years after Mary Washington, also attended the funeral. Betsy, Nancy Lee Leidy, and another friend regularly celebrated Christmas and birthdays with Sally and her daughter.

On another sad note, Charlotte Hood Alexander of Nags Head, North Carolina, also died this spring.

1963

Rosalie “Ding” Moyer Schwarz and Gene live in Duck, North Carolina, and enjoy traveling. They were in Italy this spring and were at the Vatican on Easter Sunday. Their son lives in the Washington, D.C., area so they fly out of D.C. in order to visit their grandkids before and after their trips.

Susan Woodward Kilborn and her husband live in Chevy Chase Village, Maryland. She would love to see any friends or classmates who are headed to the D.C. area.

Nothing much new with me, Linkey Booth Green. We are looking at downsizing. We recently visited the place where Linda Gulnac Steelman and her husband plan to move. It’s in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and is close to my daughter in Wilmington, Delaware.

Linkey Booth Green linkeyg@embarqmail.com

Betty Caudle Marshall has been active in North Carolina Organization of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for many years, having served as the state president about 10 years ago. She is treasurer of the NC DKG Educational Foundation, which gave $10,000 in scholarships and grants last year to North Carolina educators.

1964

Susan Rowe Bunting susan.bunting@gmail.com I, Susan Rowe Bunting, am recovering from knee surgery, brought on I’m sure from pushing our rather large snow blower last winter. I foolishly would give it an extra shove with my right knee when the machine struggled to get

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

43

CLASS NOTES through a hidden layer of ice beneath the snow. I have begun to take issue with the picturesque way Robert Frost describes snow in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Susan Rowe Bunting ’64 encourages everyone to contact friends from our Mary Washington days.

In February, my husband, Phil Deitsch, and I had had enough of winter and headed south to visit family for a few weeks. On our return to New Hampshire, we spent the night with my Mary Washington roommate, Ann Carney. Ann and her husband, toy expert Noel Barrett of Antiques Roadshow fame, live in rural Carversville, Pennsylvania.

Ann and I had not seen each other for more than 35 years. I encourage you all to get in touch with folks who were your friends at Mary Washington. It was amazing to talk about old times, sharing stories that both of us barely remembered, and some stories one or the other of us didn’t remember at all!

1965

Phyllis Cavedo Weisser pcweisser@yahoo.com I, Phyllis Cavedo Weisser, broke a finger on my dominant hand the week before the spring tennis season started here in Atlanta, Georgia. My being out for so many matches is probably why my over-55 team was able to win the city championship this year! Other than tennis, I keep up with the reading for several book clubs and spend time with my grandchildren.

Louise Stevens Robbins ’65 mentored a group of students in the Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums class studying Lake Superior Chippewa.

Penny Partridge Booth and I chat regularly. She lives only a few minutes away from her three North Carolina grandchildren. She was delighted to go

44

to her oldest grandson’s high school graduation in Ohio this year. Her two new puppies are also keeping her busy.

I was happy to hear from a couple of long-lost classmates and was able (with the help of Alice Funkhouser Flowers and the alumni office) to connect with a couple of roommates.

from West Virginia University in May. Diana and husband Dan celebrated their 50th anniversary in June with a shindig at Bethany Beach. In July, she traveled to Periers, France, for the dedication of a museum named for her father, the commanding officer of the Army unit that liberated Periers in 1944.

Katherine Wilkins Cicero Black attended Mary Washington from 1961 to Goddess – A Child of the Sixties, a 1963 and wishes she could novel by Ginny Bateman Brinkley ’66 have stayed longer. She that draws on her MWC life, was a transferred to the University of Florida when her military finalist in the 2019 Next Generation father was transferred to Indie Book Awards.

Florida. She and her husband of 20 years live in an over-55 community in Redmond, Judy Wells Clark is a church organist, Washington. Helen Faith works 10 days a piano teacher, voice instructor, and month at the Summit Christian Academy performer in the Roanoke, Virginia, in Yorktown, Virginia. She and her two area. Judy honored veterans by playing brothers take care of their 97-year-old a D-Day commemorative program with mother, who is thus able to remain in her tenor Scott Williamson. own home.

Katie Green and the Houston Choral Louise Stevens Robbins spent the Society performed Haydn’s Lord Nelson Christmas holidays cruising the Danube Mass in June 2018 at Carnegie Hall with her whole family. In spring she in New York City. In September 2018 mentored a group of students in the Katie met her son, daughter-in-law, and Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums granddaughter in Paris before returning class at the University of Wisconsinto Cardiff, Wales, where her son’s family Madison in their work with the Red Cliff lives. Katie visited Cardiff again this Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. That June. meant trips as far north in Wisconsin as one can go without falling into Lake Sandra Hutchison Schanne celebrated Superior. Louise also is a volunteer editor grandson Riley’s graduation and with the Simpson Street Free Press, an acceptance to Embrey-Riddle academic program chiefly for minority Aeronautical University in Daytona, youths. Louise looked forward to Florida. cruising the Caribbean with Diane Copty Terry Caruthers self-published her Fadely, Felicity Hallanan, and Felicity’s second book, Memories of My Mother partner, Evelyn Rule, in October.

Mabel, with poetry contributions by cousin Jim Hiner. Both of her books contribute to the local history of Highland County, Virginia.

Katharine Rogers Lavery Kathleen Crawford Hoffman has selfhlavery1@cox.net published Little Papers Are Journalism Barbara Bishop Mann spent Too, about her newspaper career in Thanksgiving in Mesa, Arizona, with the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, mostly in her “tiny Bishop clan” and capitalized on Culpeper, Virginia. She mentions Mary being close to Midge Meredith Poyck by Washington, too. having several long phone visits. Bobbi is Kathleen was a year ahead of Mary active in Virginia politics and has lobbied Carter Bishop ’67 at Albemarle High at the General Assembly for decades School near Charlottesville, Virginia, and as an advocate for public education. In at Mary Washington. Mary’s 2018 book March, she received the VEA-Retired Don’t You Ever: My Mother and Her Distinguished Achievement Award. She Secret Son, published by HarperCollins, and Anne Meade Clagett enjoy many was featured in the fall/winter 2018 political discussions.

UMW Magazine. A paperback edition Diana Hamilton Cowell celebrated her was released this fall. son’s master’s degree in political science

1966

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Scientist Connects Babies’ Motor, Cognitive Skills

R

egina “Reggie” Tambellini Harbourne ’76 stops short of calling herself a pioneer. The assistant professor at Duquesne University is a Catherine Worthingham Fellow, the highest honor bestowed by the American Physical Therapy Association. It’s an accolade that reflects her forwardthinking research tying an infant’s motor skills to cognitive abilities.

“If we advance motor, we advance cognitive,” said Harbourne, director of the Infant Development Lab at Duquesne, which investigates how babies learn to use their bodies and minds together. “I call myself the queen of sitting because I’ve done so much research on infants learning how to sit.”

The science enthusiast followed a STEM path before it was a mainstream choice for women. She entered Mary Washington in 1972 as a prephysical therapy major, racking up the necessary prerequisite science credits for admission to the Medical College of Virginia, where she finished her bachelor’s degree. She earned a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska.

Mary Washington went coed in 1970, but the student body was still mostly female when Harbourne enrolled.

“I didn’t necessarily want to go to a women’s school; I didn’t pick Mary Washington because of that,” Harbourne said. “But once I was there, I met many strong women. I had a lot of role models in the faculty, especially in biology, and really being around them was part of my formation. When that many women are around you, you don’t look for men to talk or have the ideas. It frees you to be a leader.”

At W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia, Harbourne envisioned herself strolling the Lawn at the University of Virginia or

At her Iowa lab, researcher Reggie Harbourne investigates the ways babies learn to use their minds and bodies together.

traipsing about the southwestern part of the state at Virginia Tech. A senior-year operation on her right leg to remove a tumor altered that.

“I ended up looking for a college that would be easy to walk around, so Mary Washington was actually a good size for me,” she said. She toted crutches to Fredericksburg and was never off them. “I’ll tell you what, though. Those brick sidewalks are very pretty, but when they are wet, they are slippery for crutches!”

Harbourne bunked in close quarters with 10 women in a strip of rooms beside the porch in Willard Hall. The ground-floor location made coming and going and navigating middle-of-the-night fire

drills easier. “We affectionately called it ‘Psych Ward’ because it was separated from the rest of the building,” she recalled with a giggle.

Coming from a family of Pennsylvanians – her grandparents ran an Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh – Harbourne found her Southern pals amusing. One asked, “Didn’t your grandmama teach you to balance a teacup on your knee?”

She answered, “My grandmama made 500 ravioli every day.”

“We enjoyed our differences,” said Harbourne, who remains in touch with a few of her former roommates.

“You hear horror stories about the first year of school. ... We had a good time. It’s really all about the people, and I love the friends I made there.”

– Vicki L. Friedman

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

45

CLASS NOTES Ginny Bateman Brinkley enjoyed positive response to her self-published novel Goddess – A Child of the Sixties.

The story borrowed largely from the undergraduate life we all experienced.

Ginny announced in May that her book had been named as a finalist in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Ginny’s granddaughter Brittany performed in the Juilliard Opera production of Dido and Aeneas, traveling with the group to the United Kingdom, France, and Greece.

Kitty Downs Gregg and husband Don traveled to North Carolina to visit roomie Terry Caruthers and her husband Don and to attend a gala Terry was chairing. Kitty and Don visited son Chris and his girlfriend while they vacationed in Orlando, Florida; Chris lives in Springfield, Virginia. Daughter Cindy and her husband live a half-hour from Kitty and Don’s home in Denver, Colorado.

Marty Spigel Sedoff lives in Minnesota but annually scores comprehensive English tests for Mississippi sixthgraders. Marty dances with the tap group Rhythmic Feet, whose members are ages 60 to 80. In December, Marty attended her brother’s funeral in Roanoke, Virginia. The occasion let her spend time with Mary Washington roommate Shirley Dulaney Gearheart and husband Rodney.

Diana Hamilton Cowell ’66 traveled to Periers, France, for the dedication of a museum named for her father, the commanding officer of the Army unit that liberated the town in 1944.

Pat Lewars Pace and Linda Glynn Hutchinson spent two weeks in September in Iceland, marveling at the landscape and seeing the area where the European shelf is separating from the North American shelf. In May, Pat and daughter Liz toured England and Paris, and they happened to be at Windsor Castle when the first public picture of royal baby Archie was taken. In June, Pat took an Alaskan cruise and a glass-top train trip to Denali with her brother.

Then she and Linda Glynn Hutchinson traveled to Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania,

46

and the countries of Scandinavia.

reunion, in 2021.

Mary Kathryn Rowell Horner and husband Charlie emptied their Alexandria home in December and sold it in March. They spent the winter golfing and socializing in Naples, Florida, before returning to condo living in Alexandria.

Carolyn participated in a snowy winter’s day MWC Lunch Bunch gathering in Fredericksburg with Barbara Bishop Mann, Sheila Denny Young, Pat Lewars Pace, Annette Maddra Horner, and Anne Powell Young.

Watercolor artist Pam Kearney Patrick sold two paintings at a show in Bethesda, Maryland, and displayed six others in a gallery in Cape May, New Jersey. Pam and husband TaB have finished their renovations at their Cape May house and unpacked. Pam keeps in touch with Pam Hughes Ward, and in April she visited with her art buddy Carol Bingley Wiley and husband Pete.

Linda Mitchell Spiers retired in May from her 15-year position as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Collinsville, Connecticut. She made a two-week pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine with 35 travelers from the diocese. Our 55th reunion is also on her travel list.

Elaine Gerlach McKelly and husband Tim took a 15-day land and sea trip to Alaska. They saw Denali National Park, flew over glaciers, visited native villages and museums, and cruised the Inland Passage to Vancouver. Other trips included visits to grandkids’ colleges, including Mary Washington. Elaine and Tim moved to a Durham, North Carolina, retirement community, fondly called an adult Disneyland.

Annette Maddra Horner and husband John are restoring the gardens at their 1895 home in Richmond, Virginia.

They have two Richmond grandchildren and two others near Charlotte, North Carolina. Annette attended a Mary Washington reception in Richmond and was pleased to see Bobbi Bishop Mann, Pat Lewars Pace, and Susan Bogese MacLaughlin there.

Ryan Stewart Davis and husband Roger moved to a retirement community in Seattle to be near their children. They celebrated their 51st anniversary, but only a few weeks afterward, Roger passed away in October 2018. Ryan is adjusting with support from family and friends.

Patty Bergin Bergman lives nearby and has been very helpful. Ryan and family traveled to Arlington National Cemetery in July for Roger’s inurnment. We extend our sincere, heartfelt condolences.

Anne Powell Young and husband Virgil moved from Tennessee to Stafford, Virginia. Anne looked forward to participating in UMW activities. She keeps in touch with Tennessee pal Betty Birkhead Vickers, who took a 10-day trip to Greece. Anne also sees Carolyn Eldred, who is actively involved with UMW events and excursions. Carolyn was already thinking about our 55th

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Ann Kales Lindblom and husband Steve cruised through the Panama Canal in March. In April, Ann flew to Paris with daughter Beth and granddaughter Ellie for a three-generational fling. Ann is eager to re-energize our reunion effort.

Genie Hobson McClellan maintains emeritus status at Nemours/Alfred DuPont Hospital for Children. She works part time on publications and in the Molecular Diagnostics Lab. Genie and Don have enjoyed touring the United States in their 25-foot Winnebago View motorhome.

Kathleen Goddard Moss and husband Tom live in a retirement community in Oakland, California. They hosted their daughter and family from Spain and enjoyed having their son’s family nearby to join in the festivities. Kathy was excited when Barack Obama spoke in Oakland and was interested in his recommendation of There There by Tommy Orange, a book about Native American life and influence in Oakland.

Eileen Goddard Albrigo flew to Oakland in February to enjoy some much-needed “twin time” with Kathy. At home in Virginia, Eileen keeps up with 14 grandchildren, ages 6 months to 18 years.

Betsy Chappelear Tryon is proud that granddaughter Maddy accepted an offer to play women’s volleyball for The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.

Betsy and daughter Maureen have spent the last few years traveling to Maddy’s high school tournaments.

Susan Roth Nurin enjoys daily doses of opera, ballet, symphony, plays, museums, and Broadway in New York City. She volunteers at the Metropolitan Opera, is a tour guide for Spanish speakers, interacts with Holocaust survivors, and visits the elderly. Susan also walks in Central Park, which is across the street from her apartment.

Cathe Cantwell Luria celebrated her 75th birthday with a major fiesta at home in Ajijic, Mexico. Daughter Sacha (coordinator and teacher at an international baccalaureate school in Oregon) attended during spring break, and Cathe’s brother came from Atlanta.

The local mariachi band was a surprise!

Cathe and husband Eric visit the kids and grandkids in Portland for several weeks a year. Read more about Cathe on page 39.

In December my family and I, Katharine Rogers Lavery, celebrated grandson Karl’s mining engineering degree from West Virginia University and the births of grand-nephew Eamon and greatgranddaughter Emersyn. May and June graduations included granddaughter Maggie’s commissioning to second lieutenant from Air Force ROTC at James Madison University and granddaughter Erin’s chemistry degree from George Mason University. Four grandchildren also graduated from high school. Hank and I are active with church, church music, tutoring math, bowling league, the Pentagon Sailing Club, fitness classes, and family activities.

Grace Marie Bamforth Garriott wrote in January that her dear roommate and friend, Pat Johnson Orgain, had died unexpectedly of an apparent stroke.

Grace Marie and Pat’s families have been very close. Our sincere condolences to both families.

1967

Mary Beth Bush Dore Mbeth1945@gmail.com After living in Vienna, Virginia, for many years, Christine Brooks bought a condo in Reston, Virginia, and moved there in early June. It’s next to woods, and cat Oliver loves to see the birds outside.

Gail Balderson Dise spent Mother’s Day weekend in South Carolina, celebrating grandson Jason Nugent’s college graduation from Coastal Carolina University. After an internship at Ernst & Young this summer, Jason was headed to graduate school at the University of Virginia.

Mary Mac Blanchard Harris and Craig moved to a low-maintenance house in Midlothian, Virginia, in 2016. They planned a fall Rhine River cruise to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Son Sam, his wife, and their three children live in nearby Crozet, Virginia. Daughter

Kelly, her husband, and their son live in Austin, Texas.

A hundred of us had a rocking good time at our 50th class reunion this year.

We raised the most money of all the Mary Mac volunteers as a first-grade reunion classes attending – $1.8 million. reading tutor at a Title I school in Almost $300,000 of our total was Richmond. She also does yoga and plays dedicated to the Class of ’69 scholarship, golf. initiated awhile back by my wife, Ann Benson. Real acceleration occurred when classmate Cathie O’Connor Woteki Mary Beth Bush Dore ’67 and added a challenge of matching $100,000 if our class raised her husband staff the Savannah the first $100,000. We did it, Airport USO desks. gals! Big time! Our goal is to help future students needing financial assistance and to Nancy McDonald Legat and Dan live know that the Class of ’69 is paying in Lexington, South Carolina. They’re forward in perpetuity. retired, but both seem busier than when Jane Jackson Woerner, our senior class they worked. They have three daughters president, led the Friday night reunion and sons-in-law, seven grandchildren, dinner comments, and former Virginia and four great-grandchildren. poet laureate Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda Susan Safran Potter and Alan attend read one of her poems. Patti Boise Kemp Atlanta Braves games, Georgia Tech was behind the scenes from the beginning football and basketball, and more. They of this grand reunion planning. It truly recommend the Booth Museum and the was the best reunion we have ever had.

Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Jane and her husband have returned to Georgia, northwest of Atlanta. eastern Virginia after 38 years in Florida.

Laurie Newman DiPadova-Stocks and They plan to spend three to four months her husband were moving from Parkville, each winter in Florida and the rest of the Missouri, to Gilbert, Arizona, for year in Urbanna, Virginia.

Laurie’s job transfer. The move puts them Betty Olander Adams was thrilled to closer to Laurie’s children in Southern reunite with her roommate Chris Ann California.

Phillips Farhood, a psychotherapist Dixie Kopfler Susalia went to and artist in Manhattan. Chris landed Washington, D.C., for a family funeral there to go to grad school with her late in March and made a trip to Delaware husband, Bill. She never left. to see suitemates Vivian Crater Gray and Betty is building two houses on a farm Janet Gutmann Schreiber. They planned in Hume, Virginia, while maintaining a cruise to Mexico in October. their current farm and home in Howard Casey and I, Mary Beth Bush Dore, have County, Maryland. She and her husband been stay-at-homes this winter, staffing are into horses. the Savannah Airport USO desks and My suitemate Carol Hewitt Guida, spending time with daughter Ginger an architect, attended reunion from Dore Marshall ’94, husband Scott, and her home in Australia, and suitemate grandchildren Zac and Kari. Ginger Lyn Howell Gray came from Liberia. attended her first reunion. She saw Carol’s younger son is a writer and friends Amanda Boshears ’94 and Lori edits transcripts of court cases in Brown ’94 and visited with godparents Australia. Her older son is in his father’s Warren and Gayle Atwood Channel. architectural firm, also in Australia.

Lyn and Jim Gray celebrated their 50th anniversary in Washington, D.C., the

1968

Meg Livingston Asensio meglala46@gmail.com

1969

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents:

Iris Harrell morejoy43@gmail.com

• For spring 2020 issue: Dec. 2, 2019 • For fall 2020 issue: June 15, 2020

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

47

CLASS NOTES Saturday after reunion. They are working on their retirement home in Blacksburg, Virginia. Meanwhile, Lyn is working with the nongovernmental organization Liberia Reads!

Bev Holt came to reunion from Raleigh, North Carolina. Her wonderful mother passed away at age 93 the week before the reunion. I was able to attend the graveside memorial in Richmond with Bev the day before reunion started.

Bev and her wife, Deb, spend as much time as possible in their beach house in Wrightsville, North Carolina.

Bev and I were in Willard together when I was a junior counselor. Margie Garmey ’71 and Jane Touzalin ’71 came up just before the reunion and met us at Allman’s, our old barbecue gathering place from decades ago.

The Class of 1969 raised $1.8 million – more money than any other class attending reunion last spring.

Anne Witham Kilpatrick, my high school compadre, was at the reunion with suitemate Jeanine Zavrel Fearns. Anne is South Carolina committee chair for the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Anne, Jeanine, Suzy Bender Winterble, and Toni Turner Bruseth have an annual reunion of their own. Anne and husband Roger celebrate their 50th anniversary this year.

Marianne deBlois Zentz and Christie Wineholt were a big help in decorating our picnic tent with mementos from the ’60s.

Karen Kilgore Ralston, Bonnie Page Hoopengardner, Linda Marett Disosway, and Linda Huff Alderson, close friends since college, met up at reunion.

Karen is moving to Melbourne Beach, Florida, for winters and will spend summers in Breckenridge, Colorado. She has planned trips to Iceland and Africa.

Bonnie checked off her seventh continent with an African safari last year and planned to raft the Colorado River with her grandkids this year. She and Roger celebrated their 50th anniversary.

48

Donna Cannon Julian, Carolyn Day O’Leary, Jean Polk Hanky, and Nancy Stevenson Leeper were there. Donna traveled to Cuba with several friends this year. She also made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico.

A highlight of this class reunion for me, Iris Harrell, was a luncheon with six of the seven American studies majors from our class. Program director Krystyn Moon hosted Karen Jones Rogers, Liz Dudley Wilbur, Virginia Wheaton, Nancy Yeager Allard, Sharon Dobie, and me. Another highlight was playing pickleball with President Troy Paino and Kelly Paino. They are good athletes and are doing wonderful things for Mary Wash.

As luck would have it, my five years as your class scribe is finished. Linda Eadie Hood will be the class agent for the next few years. Email her at linda.hood@ me.com.

Keep in touch, girls. We have a common bond through our history together. And we still make a difference in this world.

Long live the works, lives, and legacy of the Class of ’69!

1970

Anne Summervold LeDoux ledouxanne@yahoo.com

connected with her Mary Washington roommate Anne Howell. Another group of Mary Washington friends planned a visit to a B&B in Pennsylvania, including Doralece, Donna Accettullo DeNyse, Bettie Brooks Reuter, Judy Cunningham Dotson, Susan Venable Gillette, Lee Howland Hogan, Kathy Thiel, Debbie Walker Powell, and Kathi O’Neill.

John and I, Anne Summervold LeDoux, recently moved to Celebrate Virginia in Fredericksburg. Believe me, moving is not for sissies or older people! We planned an October trip to Australia and New Zealand.

I saw Nancy Buchanan Perry and husband Sam at a party recently. They live in the Richmond area and have two grandsons.

1971

Karen Laino Giannuzzi kapitankL11@yahoo.com Kathy Lewis Newbold spent 10 days in Spain recently, and she and Greg planned to cruise the Danube from Vienna to Munich. Children Cam and Kerry are doing great in their careers.

Amid church and volunteer activities, Jan Hempson Floom and Marv have found time to cross the Arctic Circle, visit Alaska to discover where her grandmother lived, and travel through Europe. They’ve also been to New Zealand and Australia. Their youngest son, Chris, recently retired from the Marine Corps.

Our 50th reunion will be here before you know it, May 29 through 31, 2020!

I would love to see as many of you as possible since this is a very significant time for all of us. A donation to our class gift, which will benefit the student mental health center, would be greatly Susannah Athey Warner ’71 appreciated.

retired after 35 years as a computer

Doralece Lipoli Dullaghan systems engineer for NASA. wrote that the past two years have been challenging, with the loss of her mother at age Susannah Athey Warner retired after 98 in 2017 and the loss of her husband 15 35 years as a computer systems engineer months later. Doralece was glad that she for NASA, having worked across from was able to have a celebration of life for the wind tunnel seen in Hidden Figures. him while he was living; more than 250 She was part of the space program from people shared their love and stories of an early time and specialized in launch what he had meant in their lives. In July process and embedded flight systems.

2018, Doralece ended her career, having Susannah lives in Fernandina Beach, worked for just two companies in almost Florida, and her travels have included a 50 years. cruise to Panama. Daughter Caroline is In May 2019 she traveled to Italy with an architectural historian in Greenville, a cousin and visited another cousin, a North Carolina. great trip and a break after two years Kim Warren Noe and Bob of Columbia, of being a caregiver. Doralece attended South Carolina, have been married 46 the 50th reunion of the Class of ’69 and years and have several grandchildren.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

No Class Agent?

Your classmates still want to hear from you!

Send news directly to classnotes@umw.edu.

Their two children are Clemson alumni.

Kim and Bob both taught school at all levels including college. Kim mentioned Susie Sowers Hill, now in Macon, Georgia, Jan Reynolds Cooke, living in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Susan Taylor Frank of Roanoke, Virginia.

The mountains and beaches of North Carolina occupy Debbie Oja Tuttle and Ed, her husband of 37 years.

Terry Tucker Young’s Doodlehopper 4 Kids toy shops in Northern Virginia were voted the No. 1 toy store in the Washington, D.C., area. Terry is not retired but has taken time to cruise the Danube and go on an African safari. She planned a trip to Sweden and Iceland this year.

Terry keeps in touch with Bushnell roommate Margie McDonald Clagett, who recently retired from Calvert, Maryland, circuit court after 24 years on the bench. She was the first female judge to sit on any bench in Southern Maryland, according to The Calvert Recorder, and, in 2017, Deborah Bradford Stanleythe first woman to become the Bloom ’72 published her fourth chief judge of the 7th Judicial Circuit of Maryland. Margie’s book on teaching research in 2018. son is an officer in the Navy, one daughter is a physical therapist, and the other daughter is a After teaching French and Spanish in managerial programmer for AT&T. Roanoke for many years, Marie Droste Martin retired a couple years ago but Sally Reichner Mayor works in still substituted as a Latin teacher. Sadly, Switzerland with the Cambridge English she lost husband Darrel a few years Examinations and Les Roches Global ago. Daughter Laura was ordained in Hospitality School. Daughter Patricia the United Church of Christ and is an works major events for the International assistant pastor in Arlington, Virginia.

Skating Union, including the upcoming Daughter Erin is an artist, jewelry maker, Olympics. Daughter Adrienne is an event poet, and writer in Blacksburg, Virginia. planner for Vacheron Constantin Luxury Watches. Sally is a grandmother of two.

Pat Naybor Whitehead, artist extraordinaire, has a studio in On a trip back to the United States, Alexandria, Virginia, doing oils, pastels, Sally met up in Florida with Tish and graphite. Pat ran a graphic design Stoner Sawyer, who lives in Spokane, studio in the Georgetown area of Washington.

Washington, D.C., for 25 years, and she Mary Jane Chandler Miller and Fred live and her husband also renovated and built in Vermont, where she enjoys kayaking, houses in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. golfing, tennis, and pickleball. She plans She and her husband planned a trip to to retire next year from the Council England this year. on Aging. Daughter Natalie owns the Gayle Franklin Hawkins of Austin, Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington.

Texas, retired from the banking industry At the end of 2017, Susan Brown Lohin in 2016 and sadly lost husband Sam in retired from Wellesley College after 20 2017. Family and friends have supported plus years of marketing and development her grief journey. Gayle completed the there including reunions. She looks Marine Corps Marathon in October forward to our 50th as a participant, not 2016 and plans a half-iron-distance as an organizer. triathlon in 2020.

Kathryn Lindsay McMichael is retired Eleanor Tyng Schoonover has been and has lived in southwest Florida for 15 married 45 years and retired after a years. She has cruised all over the world, 40-year career in teaching, real estate most recently from South Africa back to development, and defense contracting.

Florida after a bush country safari. When In June, she traveled to Hamburg and not traveling, she’s involved in politics Berlin, Germany, for the first time in 50 and her church. years.

Libby Andrews Wasem teaches yoga a couple of days a week and works out with weights. She plants and trims trees as a tree steward for the city of Fredericksburg, and she does backup day care for her 4-year-old granddaughter.

She and a friend from fourth grade recently spent a month visiting New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji.

Mary “Fred” Bradley MacPherson and I, Karen Laino Giannuzzi, were cochairs of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Committee. When our term ended, Mary sold her house and moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. She planned to spend time in Bratislava, Slovakia, but move back to North Carolina permanently in April 2020.

My first-year roommate, Nancy McAllister Bishop, and I had a wonderful mini-reunion in Ko Samui, Thailand, in January while I was cruising in Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Sainan, China. Nancy recently retired from the Christian nonprofit Summer Institute of Linguistics, where she worked to document lesser-known languages, create written languages where none existed, and share the Bible.

Penny Falkowitz Goodstein also recently traveled to Southeast Asia, in Cambodia and Vietnam.

My college roommate Liz Keith has been in San Diego for decades. She has taken river cruises in Europe and recently returned from an African safari including the majestic Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia.

I recently returned from a similar safari with the Mary Washington Travel Club, traveling with retired professors, former rectors and members of the Board of Visitors, and friends of Mary Washington. President Troy Paino and wife Kelly Paino were part of the group. Mona Davis Albertine, owner of Jabberwocky, a children’s store in Fredericksburg, and I had a great time on game drives, boat safaris, and visits to villages and towns from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia. Mona, husband Jack, and others continued on to Cape Town, South Africa. Other alumni on the trip were Terrie Young Crawley ’77, Kathy Shepherd Mehfoud ’70, and Lisa Jamison Bowling ’89, who is UMW’s vice president for advancement and alumni

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

49

CLASS NOTES relations. Terrie’s husband, Professor Emeritus of History Bill Crawley, was on the trip as well.

Dennis and I also planned a trip to Atlanta this fall to visit family and sightsee.

Our 50th reunion, in 2021, will be a great chance to catch up and look forward to next adventures.

Pam Smith McGahagin retired at the end of July from 45 years in broadcasting and planned a three-week trip to Scotland and England in August.

1973

Barbara Wilson Conley of Solomons, Maryland, Trisha Powell Westcott of Fredericksburg, and Susie Paddock Stumpf of Pensacola, Florida, hadn’t all been together since 1975 but met up on campus last August.

1972

Sherry Rutherford Myers Sherryhon2011@gmail.com Deborah Bradford Stanley-Bloom retired in 2016 and wrote her fourth book on teaching research, Practical Steps to Digital Research, published in September 2018 by ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited.

Her travels have included the Great Wall of China and Machu Picchu. Deborah lost her husband of many years in 2015 and remarried in 2018. She and husband Bill live in Altadena, California, and enjoy horse races at Santa Anita and Del Mar. Dennis and I, Sherry Rutherford Myers, plan to get together with them when we next visit California.

Sherrie Mitchell Boone hoped to join her beloved MWC group at beach week in August at the home of Mary Saunders Williams.

It’s fun to meet other Mary Washington grads at alumni association events in the Roanoke area. Julia Martin Belvin and I have been getting to know each other.

Julia works for a magazine.

My dear friend Norah Heckman ’73 lost her mother in December. Norah is working on a project to honor her wonderful dad, who served his country in the United States Coast Guard.

Janet Hedrick ’73 helped build a bottle school in Guatemala, with walls of recycled bottles and chicken wire.

Cheryl Prietz Childress and husband Dave enjoy Colonial re-enactments, boating trips, and car clubs. We caught up with Cheryl at the Fort Dobbs reenactment this past April and stopped at their home in June when en route to Baltimore. Cheryl and Dave often travel to Atlanta to see their granddaughter, Ellie.

50

Joyce Hines Molina joyce.molina@verizon.net We’re already planning for our 50th reunion, in 2023, and you should have received a letter about the Class of 1973 50th Reunion Scholarship. The committee hopes everyone will consider contributing to this effort over the next five years and beyond, through cash donations, multi-year pledges, transfers of stocks or insurance policies, or through your estate plan.

In the spring, my husband and I, Joyce Hines Molina, traveled with my sister, Grace Hines Sorey ’70, to the Dalmatian coast of Croatia.

1975

Armecia Spivey Medlock vagirl805@msn.com Jan Hausrath and husband David Seddelmeyer became empty nesters this fall, with daughter Jinny heading to Radford University. The retired couple plans to tackle their travel bucket lists.

In May Janet Hedrick was Pat Powers Gaske ’75 volunteers in Guatemala to help build a with the Fredericksburg area bottle school – tying recycled bottles filled with trash to Washington Heritage Museums. chicken wire to form the walls.

She and Catherine Janis, daughter of Sharon Richmond Janis, Pat Powers Gaske and Steve have lived planned an August trip to Wyoming, in Fredericksburg for six years. All three to see Yellowstone and Grand Teton of their children married in the past national parks.

2½ years, and Pat and Steve are now grandparents. Pat babysits two days Jo-Ann Sowers is retired from a career as a week and says it’s easier and more a research professor in rehabilitation and relaxed than parenting. Both volunteer special education at several universities. with Washington Heritage Museums, She lives in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys which owns Mary Washington House long-distance bike riding, travel, and and three other properties. gardening. She has fond memories of Mary Washington, including playing on Pat, Jackie Sobinski, Margaret Murphey the tennis team.

Camp, Debbi Sudduth, April Tooke Langevin, and Agnes Rollins ’77 get Julie Howe Young lives in Coronado, together each summer at Pat’s river house California, with both sons and their in Tappahannock. wives nearby. She retired as chief financial officer of the Episcopal Diocese Linda Roland Mattix retired after 14 of San Diego last year and enjoys art years as a technology facilitator in an and volunteer activities with the refugee elementary school and 10 years teaching community in San Diego. She also spends Spanish in middle school in Charlotte time with her 93-year-old dad and her Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina.

2-year-old grandson. She and Jake have Son David married in May, and Linda been married almost 46 years. and Steve looked forward to traveling and attending family events.

1974

Sid Baker Etherington sidleexx@yahoo.com Suzy Passarello Quenzer suzyquenzer@gmail.com Our 45th reunion was a blast! Start planning right now to make it to our 50th.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Jacalyn Ewansky Bryan retired after 11 years as reference and instruction librarian at Saint Leo University in Florida. Before that, she was a dance professor at Saint Leo, the University of South Florida, and the University of Tampa. Jackie’s older son, a graphic designer, recently married. Her younger son is a user-experience specialist at Saint

Heart Research Has Roots at Mary Washington

A

s head of a lab bearing his name at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Anthony Cammarato ’95 leads pioneering research in heart disease. But as a first-year at Mary Washington, he wasn’t sure how he was going to make it to graduation.

“I think I was quite poorly prepared for college,” Cammarato said. He’d attended a small high school in rural Delaware, which at that time “was not overly challenging.”

As a result, he struggled in his early classes at Mary Washington and sensed he was well behind his peers.

His interest in science drew him to the biology department, where professors Janet NicodemusHughes ’87, Rosemary Barra, Werner Wieland, and Steven Fuller were eager to help him adjust. Barra is still teaching, Nicodemus has since passed away, and Wieland and Fuller have retired with emeritus status.

“Those four really helped me figure out how to learn,” he said.

“They helped hone my skills and get me up to speed. By the end of my second year, it had all clicked, and I started to do much better academically and personally.”

After graduating with honors, Cammarato went to Boston University School of Medicine, where he earned a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics.

He continued his postdoctoral studies in molecular genetics and cardiac functions at San Diego State University and later joined the staff at the nearby Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. Today, he is an associate professor of medicine and physiology at Johns Hopkins.

It was in Barra’s genetics class at Mary Washington that he first encountered the fruit fly, which today plays a critical role in his research into cardiac muscle and how age and disease affect its function.

Although the drosophila heart is vastly different from the human heart at the organ level, they are nearly

Mary Washington professors fueled Anthony Cammarato’s scientific curiosity.

Now, he researches how age and disease affect heart function.

identical at the molecular level, which enables Cammarato and his team to manipulate genes to search for ways to address heart disease.

Cammarato’s lab is working on several proprietary compounds that might help thwart heart disease. “We haven’t identified anything that has been a wonder drug or anything like that,” he said, “but we definitely see responses that are quite promising.”

The work is fun and fulfilling. “I’m totally ecstatic to be where I am. I love getting up and going to the lab every day,” he said. “I consider myself blessed and very fortunate to be in the position that I’m in and to do one of the things I knew I wanted to do

from the time I was 18 years old.”

He credits his college days in Fredericksburg with much of his success. “I think and remember fondly back to Mary Washington and really how that all got it going – the faculty members who really stood by my side and helped me grow and taught me how to be a scientist, how to read and understand this material in a way that I previously hadn’t,” he said. “I still to this day rely on a lot of what I learned 25 years ago when I was at Mary Washington.”

– Daryl Lease ’85

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

51

CLASS NOTES Leo. Jackie looked forward to traveling with her husband, a retired psychology professor.

News from me, Armecia Spivey Medlock: Daughter Taylor married Dr. Rafael Torosan in Kansas City, Missouri, in April. Taylor expects to complete a two-year nurse practitioner program next August. In June, son Ian and wife Vickie became parents of our third granddaughter, Finley. Oldest granddaughter Presley has started Spanish-immersion first grade, and middle granddaughter Lucy is in her last year of preschool.

Our 45th class reunion will be May 29 through 31, 2020. Where did the time go?

1976

Strickland Robinson, and Terrie Martin Dort. Later in June, I enjoyed a day at the Chesapeake Bay home of Terrie Young Crawley and Bill and had a wonderful surprise reunion with Cindy Jones Merchent.

Kim Coker Samuels ’79 looked forward to visiting her first grandchild in Oklahoma.

At a Melissa Manchester concert in Richmond, a woman at my table overheard me mentioning Mary Washington and said, “Oh, my sister went to Mary Washington for a year.”

As it turned out, I was sitting with the younger sister of Melody Bock, who lived on the first floor of Virginia Hall our first year before transferring to a college in Tennessee. I connected with Melody via email, and she is now a member of our class’s Facebook group. She is an attorney in Knoxville.

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

Krista Wentz Levy ’78 is executive [Editors’ note: Longtime class agent Madelin Jones Barratt director of the American College regrets that she can no longer of Clinical Pharmacology. serve in the role. She hopes one of her classmates will volunteer to succeed her. “It has been a joy to serve I retired Jan. 1 and have adjusted quite in this capacity for over 25 years,” she nicely. I am spending more time at my wrote. We thank Madelin for her service home in Cape Charles on Virginia’s and wish her the very best.]

Eastern Shore, catching up on reading, progressing slowly through an online interactive piano course, and doing some traveling. My partner, Dean, and I had a wonderful trip to the West Country of Anne Robinson Hallerman England in May. arhmwc77@yahoo.com

1977

Janet McConnell Philips has been retired for two years and revels in the freedom to do as she pleases every day. She splits her time between Falls Church, Virginia, and Essex, Connecticut. She enjoys kayaking and jigsaw puzzles. She planned to visit Mary Washington roommate Sue Whittier Haley this summer in Saco, Maine.

Anne Robinson Hallerman ’77 had a wonderful trip to the West Country of England.

I, Anne Robinson Hallerman, was honored to be included in an early June dinner in Richmond with Vicki Sprague Ravenel and her “goddesses,” Pamela Roberts Albrecht, Libby Bell Stevens, Jo McTague Atkinson, Craig “Skippy”

52

1978

Janet Place Fuller janetpfuller@aol.com In recent years, Virginia Pollock Thompson and husband Keith have traveled to Scandinavia, India, and Ireland and cruised the Rhine, Moselle, and Danube rivers. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Virginia has been active in Toastmasters International for 20 years.

Malinda Smith Willis has retired from Michael’s Craft Store and teaches private art lessons from her home.

Krista Wentz Levy and husband Andy live in Ashburn, Virginia. Krista is executive director of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, a nonprofit that provides continuing education for doctors and pharmacists.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

1979

Barbara Goliash Emerson emers3@msn.com It was great to see so many from the Class of 1979 at the 2019 reunion. I, Barbara Goliash Emerson, was fortunate to serve on your reunion committee with Lorenza Amico, Gayle Weinberger Petro, and Lisa Bratton Soltis.

Lorenza traveled to southern Italy and Sicily in September 2018. A highlight was visiting Savoca, where part of The Godfather was filmed.

Susan Lowe Spence and husband Andrew live in the Boston area. Susan spent 20 years doing financial analysis in the energy field before returning to school to pursue her first love of teaching math.

Retired from the classroom, she is now a math support person at a private boys’ school. Daughter Emily is a history teacher, and son Colin is a consultant with Deloitte. Susan connected with Kim Coker Samuels at reunion. Kim earned a master’s degree in special education and teaches in the Dallas area. She looked forward to visiting her first grandchild, Milo, in Oklahoma.

Doug Lorber of Albany, Georgia, is president of Theatre Albany. Wife Nancy recently retired and spends time with their seven grandchildren.

1980

Sue Garter skgarter@gmail.com I, Sue Garter, am a project manager in telecom. My son graduated from law school in May and was studying for the bar exam before starting a job with a corporate law firm in Washington, D.C. In June, I had a brief visit with Jan Stankiewicz McCarthy, when she spent the weekend at her sister’s home in New Jersey. I planned a trip to Ireland in July.

Our class’s Facebook group is “MWC Alum 1980 and Friends.”

Susan Anderson is in her third term as vice mayor of Blacksburg, Virginia, and fourth term on the Blacksburg Town Council. She has taught mathematics at

Virginia Tech for more than 35 years and is a senior instructor. Susan is also faculty advisor to the United Feminist Movement and a member of the board of directors of the Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley. She is married to Kim Kipling, a philosophy professor, and they have a golden retriever named Maya.

family. Nancy and Mary continued on to Scotland and visited with friends they had met on a prior cruise. They run a home improvement business and a Scottie rescue.

Lynn keeps in touch with Freda White ’84, Mary Driver Downs ’84, Cindy Greer Chalkley ’84, and Teresa Negron Lough ’90.

Mary Ann Mayer and her father In early May, they joined Carla purchased the Mt. Washington Bed & Richardson Barrell, Jennifer Goodwin Breakfast in the White Mountains of Donegan and me, Tara Corrigall, for New Hampshire on June 25, 1999. Over Virginia Garden Week tours in the past 20 years they have seen several Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

Mary Washington alumni and professors While Nancy and Mary from the Psychology Department. Mary Jennifer Dix Hill ’80 is celebrating checked out grout techniques, wrote that her psychology background 30 years as a neonatal nurse and we included a tour of the Brock has been invaluable.

25 years as a lactation consultant.

Environmental Center for Carla, a retired Earth science teacher.

Jim Hely and wife Rosanne reside in Christine Waller Manca Heather Archer Mackey attended Hillside, New Jersey. Son Daniel is in christine.manca@att.net daughter Gillian’s graduation from JMU. fourth grade at St. Michael’s School in Heather and Mike celebrate their soonOur 35th reunion weekend was Union, New Jersey. Daniel’s teacher is to-be three college graduates, with their memorable. Among the attendees were Jim’s sister-in-law, Donna Bly Hely ’81. youngest, Gwyneth, halfway through at Susan Albert, LaVonda Simpson Bailey, Donna is married to Jim’s twin brother, JMU. Heather attends UMW Richmond Linda Lemanski Blakemore, Dorothye Joe Hely ’81. network events and is a faithful reunion Seward Brodersen, Elizabeth Loftis volunteer. 2022 is not that far off – first Jennifer Dix Hill spent six years in Brusig, Susan Scafuro Bussy, Gregory weekend after Memorial Day – so get our Air Force Intelligence, then went to the Chambers, Darnell Horio DeMasters, 40th reunion on your calendar now.

University of Florida for a bachelor’s Kerry Devine, Denise Zawadzki degree in nursing. She has lived “all Doucette, Mary Driver Downs, over” and now happily resides in Maggie Russell Eastman, Texas. Jennifer is celebrating 30 years Jessica Woodman Godwin, Class of 1982’s Nancy Kaiser, as a neonatal nurse and 25 years as a Mary Frances Payne Griffin, lactation consultant. She plans to retire in Carla Richardson Barrell, Jennifer Blair Howard, Chele Flanders two years.

Kelly, Patricia Pugh Langfitt, Goodwin Donegan, and Tara Christine Waller Manca (that’s Corrigall enjoyed Virginia me, your class agent), Rebecca Garden Week tours in Norfolk Rooks O’Farrell, Carla Rivero Palm, Jennifer Boone Schmitt, Lori Foster Turley and Virginia Beach.

Joanne Brenton Shabelski, Dan lorifturley@gmail.com Steen, Lynne Wiser Stockman, Kathleen Delao Travitz, Freda White, I was back on campus in May to attend the Dan Wolfe, and Susan Haas Yatta. graduation of nephew Josh Filchock ’19.

Forgive me for any missed names!

His mom, Mona Corrigall Filchock ’84, Tara Corrigall and his sister Jordan P. Filchock ’12, corrigallt@gmail.com At the Class of 1984 party, we were joined in the celebration as did Mona’s joined by some friends from our Cinda Sheehan Haas recently purchased and my mother, who attended her fourth neighboring classes, including Abas an island cottage three miles off the Mary Washington graduation. Our Adenan ’85 (who was presented with an Maine coast, a 30-plus-year dream next family gathering will be Jordan’s Alumni Association award later in the of hers. Cinda and her husband were November wedding in Charlotte, North weekend), Nan Stanford McCarry ’83, anticipating their fourth grandchild, the Carolina. and Heather Archer Mackey ’82. first child of their youngest daughter.

Cinda said her Mary Washington James Miller is senior vice president of economics and business background help Right Management in Addison, Texas, her make sense of the economy amid a consulting firm specializing in global Marcia Anne Guida political noise, and she especially thanks talent and career management.

Marcia.G.James@gmail.com Professor of Economics Robert Rycroft.

Lynn Conville Abraham retired as a Elizabeth Carter Collins attended the purchasing officer after 30 years with the annual UMW scholarship luncheon. commonwealth of Virginia. Lynn enjoys Mary Ann Mayer ’83 and her After 11 years working in West Virginia, water aerobics and weight training, father have seen several UMW she retired two years ago and bought a reading historical fiction and nonfiction, house in Fredericksburg. alumni and professors at their scrapbooking, and traveling. Lynn and Nancy Kaiser and wife Mary cruised her husband were to cruise to Alaska in Mt. Washington Bed & Breakfast.

Asia in March and recently returned late 2019. from a trip to Ireland with Mary’s

1984

1981

1982

1983

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

53

CLASS NOTES Freda White lives in Madison, Virginia, and is enjoying her second career as a hearing specialist. Her youngest daughter graduated from college last May and is a nurse in Harrisonburg. Freda has five grandchildren. Sadly, she lost her father in February.

Freda gets together with Cindy Greer Chalkley, Carole Comly Dezii, Mary Driver Downs, Trish Bowdring Gordon, Lynn Conville Abraham ’83, Yvonne Koontz Sening ’85, and Teresa Negron Lough ’90.

1985

Joanne Bartholomew Lamm Jlamm88@verizon.net Kathleen Dwyer Miller’s daughter, Rebecca, graduated from the University of Mississippi and planned to attend the University of Louisville School of Dentistry on a full-ride scholarship through the Army Health Professions Scholarship Program.

Martha Shears Smith and husband James are renovating a 1954 house in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Life took Martha to academic libraries for her career, but she still is very fond of the historic preservation field.

Two of the three adult children of Joanne Bartholomew Lamm ’85 and Christopher T. Lamm ’85 are UMW grads.

Judith Inge Forrest lives in Sierra Vista, Arizona, with a great view of the Huachuca Mountains. She’s finishing online classes for a master’s degree in nonprofit management. She wrote a nice note that you can read in its entirety online, in the unedited class notes.

I, Joanne Bartholomew Lamm, and my husband, Christopher T. Lamm, are proud to announce that our son Stephen Christopher Lamm ’19 graduated with a

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: • For spring 2020 issue: Dec. 2, 2019 • For fall 2020 issue: June 15, 2020

54

major in political science and a minor in business French.

Attorney Veronica Oliphant He’s the youngest of our three children and the second Faust ’88 was confirmed as a UMW legacy, following in the commissioner of the Delaware River footsteps of Rebecca Elizabeth and Bay Authority.

Lamm ’13. Older son Thomas James Lamm graduated from Virginia Tech in 2016. He is an Army first lieutenant, stationed in Hawaii, and has been married for three years.

Jay Bradshaw jaybradshaw747@aol.com

1988

1986

Lisa A. Harvey lisaharvey@msn.com

1987

Kim Jones Isaac mwc87@infinityok.com Rene’ Thomas-Rizzo Rene.Thomas-Rizzo@navy.mil From Kim: Kemetia MK Foley got to campus this year and saw the men’s rugby team demolish JMU in a match. She caught up with Tim Brown, who has started working with Old Glory, the professional rugby team in Washington, D.C. She also saw Tim Aylor. Kem and husband Brian moved from Virginia to York, Maine, in June, and Kem would love to connect with other Mary Wash grads nearby. Their daughter is a senior at Virginia Tech and is planning a career in public health research and advocacy.

In July, Kem traveled to New Zealand and Australia to deliver customer service training at conferences.

Suzanne Moe is a paramedical restorative tattoo artist and owner of SUMA Ink in Homestead, Florida. She specializes in scar camouflage and restorative areola tattooing for post-mastectomy patients seeking a realistic or artistic completion to their reconstruction. She has a private studio and also works from the offices of plastic surgeons in the Miami region.

Ken and I, Kim Jones Isaac, celebrated the first anniversary of our laser engraving business. We are in our 23rd year of the computer services company, and I’m in year six of the yoga studio. I continue to hone my photography skills and had my first exhibit in July at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge visitor center in Oklahoma.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Veronica Oliphant Faust was appointed

by Delaware Gov. John Carney and confirmed by the Delaware State Senate to become a commissioner of the Delaware River and Bay Authority. Her term extends to July 1, 2022. She is an attorney with the law firm of Morris James LLP in the Rehoboth Beach office, focusing on real estate and land-use law, business law, and commercial litigation.

After Mary Washington, she earned her juris doctor degree from the Catholic University of America.

1989

Jim Czarnecki jimczarnecki@yahoo.com After graduating in international affairs, Suzanne McLaughlin Teer earned a master’s degree in psychology from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Now living in the San Francisco area, she is principal in education practice at the search firm Witt Kieffer, supporting searches for presidents, vice presidents, provosts, and deans. For 20 years she worked on the University of California’s Irvine and San Francisco campuses to raise funds to support the physical and biomedical sciences.

1990

Susan Crytzer Marchant march66358@verizon.net

1991

Shannon Eadie Niemeyer sfniemeyer@comcast.net Lori Klugman was among animal activists who lobbied for the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act of 2018, which makes dog and cat meat illegal in the United States. She also lobbied for a resolution asking other countries to

Historian Unearths Unlikely Stories

G

rowing up in Dinwiddie County, Emmanuel Dabney ’08 couldn’t have avoided Civil War battlefields if he’d tried.

“I literally grew up a mile away from part of the Petersburg National Battlefield,” he said.

Dabney, who works for the National Park Service as museum curator at Petersburg National Battlefield, traces his fascination with Civil War history to fourth grade.

“It hooked me, and it has not let go,” he said.

A high school guidance counselor recommended Mary Washington, and after two years at Richard Bland College in Petersburg, Dabney transferred to UMW as a historic preservation major.

These days, Dabney says his fellow preservation majors are an invaluable network for troubleshooting professional problems and questions.

“I feel like we are all able to provide each other support,” he said.

After graduation, Dabney earned a master’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Then he returned to the Civil War site that had captivated him as a child.

He started in Petersburg as a seasonal interpretation ranger and worked his way up over the years.

Dabney enjoys helping people to understand the complexities of how the Civil War affected Americans on a human level. The artifacts he curates help him tell the stories of how plantation families, enslaved people, soldiers, and civilians lived and died throughout the tumultuous period.

Dabney has furthered that mission with his own research on the family of Silas Omohundro, a white Richmond slave trader whose wife, Corinna Omohundro, was enslaved.

Dabney said the story stopped him in his tracks when he first encountered it in a book about Civil War Richmond.

Historic preservation major Emmanuel Dabney is museum curator for Petersburg National Battlefield, overseeing objects including this field desk owned by Union Army doctor Edward Barry Dalton.

Dabney has been fascinated by the Civil War since he was in fourth grade.

“After grad school, I said, ‘Let me go back to this and figure out how this woman was able to make sense of her world,’ ” he said. “And this man, who is supporting his family by buying and selling people just like his family … is not able to come to any sort of thought process that this is morally reprehensible.”

Dabney did archival research and spoke with descendants of the Omohundro family to better tell this complex story of how slavery affected American life. He continues to travel to lecture about the story, and recently he visited Mary Washington to speak to a historic preservation

’08

class taught by Lauren McMillan ’08.

“I hope my work in talking to people about these things is enabling them to have better conversations about who we are as Americans, and that we include all of the people in America in those conversations,” he said. “People may have different perspectives about how we got to where we are in our present day, and it’s valuable to listen and exchange ideas in a manner that is grounded in historical record.”

– Emily Freehling

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

55

CLASS NOTES ban dog and cat meat. In addition, Lori choreographed, for the second time, a musical revue at the continuing care retirement community where she is a fitness trainer and group exercise/dance instructor.

Gina Haney owns Community Consortium, consulting on heritage resource management around the world.

She is a graduate student at Stanford University. Gina lives in Mountain View, California. She’s married and has a teenager, an 11-year old, and a Corgi.

Billy Germelman ’91 is in the City of Winchester Pipes and Drums, the city’s official pipe band.

Sharon Conner and her high school sweetheart, David Rooks, have been married 23 years. They have boys ages 16 and 13 and live in New Kent County, Virginia. Sharon is district manager for the Hanover-Caroline Soil and Water Conservation District. Sharon enjoys traveling, boating, and scuba diving. Sharon’s former Westmoreland Hall roommate Paula Williams Dye and husband Randy Dye ’94 live in Gloucester and have three girls – one at UMW, one at William & Mary, and one a junior in high school. Paula works at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Sharon and Paula get together several times a year.

classmates Barb Elwell Carmichael, Anne Thompson Mendez, and Rachael Schmeller Crout, in town for a gettogether.

In April, David Voelkel was named senior curator of historical collections at Maymont in Richmond, Virginia. His most recent position was at Richmond’s The Valentine history museum. Before that he worked for The Jamestown Yorktown Foundation, Ash LawnHighland, and the Library of Virginia.

After studying historic preservation, he received a master’s degree in museum studies from University of Leicester in England.

Mary Washington grads continue to enjoy the music of The Rabble Rousers, whose Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg appearances included a June reunion show at the Colonial Tavern.

Frank and I, Shannon Eadie Niemeyer, celebrated our 25th anniversary this summer. Time sure flies! Seems like we were just attending Junior Ring Dance.

1992

Courtney Hall Harjung charjung@hotmail.com In April, husband Tom and I, Courtney Hall Harjung, visited family in Lexington, Virginia, where we attended a memorial service for my grandmother.

We vacationed in Aruba, then attended engineering conferences in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and St. Simons Island, Georgia. In October, we planned to celebrate our 20th anniversary with a Caribbean scuba trip.

Monnie Huston Wertz recently earned her Ph.D. in Education from the University of South Florida. She is assistant vice president of operations and planning at the University of Tampa, Melissa E. Brugh ’92 adopted where she has worked for two rescue puppies from Puerto 26 years. Monnie is married with two daughters, one a Rico and St. Croix. student at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. Monnie serves on the board of Three Strand I enjoy serving on the SouthSounds Music Cord, which facilitates international Festival board and Mobile Arts Council. community development. She recently We moved our gallery downtown, and saw Lisa Hohl Isbell and Melissa Bosley I planned our fall fundraiser, an art Rice ’90 on a business trip. competition like Project Runway. I hope to get more involved with Mobile Billy Germelman is in the City of Baykeeper and Alabama Coastal Winchester Pipes and Drums, the city’s Foundation this fall. official pipe band, which does a St. Patrick’s pub tour as a fundraising event.

Melissa E. Brugh of Virginia Beach has This spring as Billy was headed to a been with Sentara Healthcare for 17 local pub, he was surprised by MWC years. A broken ankle from a 2016 car

56

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

accident caused her to sell the two-story home she had owned for almost 15 years, but she found her forever one-story home – with a pool. Sadly, she had to say goodbye to her nearly 15-year-old boxer. She adopted two rescue puppies from Puerto Rico and St. Croix. Shout out to Island Dog Rescue! They’re settled in their new house and were looking forward to welcoming an AFS exchange student from Austria. She’ll make at least two trips to Northern Virginia with the student, and she hopes to see some MWC alums while they’re there.

Jennifer Carter Greer’s son Ryan Greer ’17, MBA ’19 completed his graduate assistant contract at UMW and stayed on as events supervisor and assistant sports information director. Last winter, he got engaged to Caroline Porco ’17 at the Anderson Center. They plan to marry June 20, 2020, in Charlottesville, where Caroline is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing from U.Va. Clinton Piper has worked for 29 years at Fallingwater in western Pennsylvania; he lives nearby in his hometown of Latrobe.

Now senior administrator of special projects at the Frank Lloyd Wright house, Clinton started as a summer tour guide there when he was a sophomore historic preservation major at Mary Washington. He is on the board of the Westmoreland County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society and the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau. The next big thing at Fallingwater is its designation as a World Heritage Site, along with seven other Frank Lloyd Wright properties. He recently saw Dave Derkowski, Stephanie Martin, and Jessica Perkins Storrs ’91 at Fallingwater.

1993

Cheryl Roberts Heuser chatatcha@yahoo.com Kathy Opiela King joined the American Institute of CPAs as senior director of public affairs, advocacy, and media relations in 2019. She loves the job and enjoys working in D.C. versus her former commute to Tysons Corner. She has spent most of the past two years working on an MBA at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, which she said was intense but very rewarding.

Brendan Mahoney of Richmond is a registered nurse care consultant for the Virginia Department of Behavioral

Health and Developmental Services.

He coordinates the medical care needs of intellectually and developmentally disabled people in private facilities throughout the state. He has been married since 2015 to Lucy, a native of Indonesia; their courtship over several time zones was unique, with Brendan traveling to Indonesia three times. They have become very familiar with the immigration process, and Lucy hopes to pursue citizenship soon. She has permanent resident status and is able to work full time. Brendan plays drums in Richmond bands and is making a record with the Hullabaloos. He also works with the youth ministry at his church.

Brendan’s father, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Bernard L. Mahoney Jr., retired from UMW in 2002; he and Brendan’s mother, Kathleen Mahoney, live in Fredericksburg.

As for my updates, I, Cheryl Roberts Heuser, have had a great time reconnecting with friends in Virginia since relocating here last year. Several months ago, Felicia Baxter, Janelle Bolden Buchanan, and I had brunch in D.C. Lela J. “Lejai” Baldwin and I met up in Old Town Alexandria for dinner and drinks. Jean Sudlow Simpson, Aimee Cooper Starr, Rob Teweles, and I met in Fredericksburg for lunch at Sammy T’s on a blazing hot Sunday afternoon in July. We talked for hours, strolled around campus, and had a great time catching up. The campus was very quiet, but it was great to reminisce, see the new buildings, and talk to the campus police officer on duty.

1994

Jennifer Dockeray Muniz dockeray@apple.com

Dr. Felicia Baxter ’93 self-published Not My Family, loosely based on her life and her discovery/rewrite of her ancestral line.

Dr. Felicia Baxter discovered the self-publishing craze after one of our classmates self-published her first book.

Felicia completed and has published Not My Family. It’s loosely based on her life and her discovery/rewrite of her ancestral line to deal with generational dysfunction.

Nellie L. King was sworn in as second vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in August.

She practices exclusively criminal defense work in state and federal courts at her firm, The Law Offices of Nellie L. King, P.A., in West Palm Beach, Florida. She lives nearby in Jupiter, Florida, with her husband and their five children.

Kimberly Glover Sigler, principal of Henrico County’s Pocahontas Middle School, has been awarded the REB Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership for 2018-19. The Community Foundation presents the award to four principals annually – one each from the school systems of Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover counties and one from the city of Richmond.

I hope lots of you got to enjoy the 25th reunion of our amazing class this spring! I was so sorry to miss out on all the fun.

Jennifer Rambo graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in March 2019 with a health coaching certificate. She is establishing her practice while homeschooling her seventh-grade son and homesteading on her family’s land in Western North Carolina.

Sundress Publications Best of the Net anthology.

Nick Miller lives in San Antonio, Texas.

His oldest graduated from high school and planned to study at The University of Texas at San Antonio this fall. Nick took a 10-state 5,000-plus-mile road trip with his family in June and stopped in Phoenix to have lunch with Len Ornstein.

Len finished his 24th year as a classroom teacher. He and Ted Keim caught up for the first time since graduation when Ted was in Litchfield Park, Arizona, on business. Len said they shared memories of their hours of talking in the lobby of Russell Second South by talking in the lobby of the historic Wigwam Hotel for hours.

1995

Jane Archer jane@janearcherillustration.com

1996

Jennifer Rudalf Gates Jeni17@me.com

1997

Michelle Trombetta michelletrombetta@gmail.com

Dr. Brooke Molyneux Shepard, her husband, Jason, and children Gavyn, 10, and Keegan, 6, live in Temple After studying sociology at Mary Terrace, Florida. She is an emergency Washington, Virginia Anne Wittenbraker medicine physician at a local hospital Hamilton earned a Ph.D. in nursing from and medical director for the Temple VCU in 2014. She is an infectious disease Terrace Fire Department. Brooke said specialist in an international hospital it was great to sit, talk, and reminisce system. about Mary Washington with Maren Valentino and Elsaris Zambrana Riefkohl in Orlando Virginia Anne Wittenbraker when Maren was attending a work conference.

Hamilton ’94 has a Ph.D. in nursing

from VCU and is an infectious disease specialist.

Eric Robert Nolan’s poem hens staring upward was published in July 2019 in Down in the Dirt magazine’s latest poetry collection, The Flickering Light.

This marks the sixth time Eric’s work has been featured in an anthology.

His writing has been published in five countries, and his science fiction story At the End of the World, My Daughter Wept Metal was nominated for the

Ken Allen is an assistive technology specialist for a school district in Portland, Oregon. He is on the board of the Portland Fruit Tree Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes food justice by harvesting local fruit and giving it to the needy. When not tending apple trees, Ken likes backpacking Pacific Northwest trails with his wife, Katie, and their two boys.

John Larison and his wife of two years, Jennifer Braunstein, have two cats, Wataru and Mooch, and one rabbit,

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

57

CLASS NOTES Cornchip. John has been professor of sequential art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, for 19 years. He fondly remembers Mary Washington professors emeriti of art Lorene Nickel and Steve Griffin, who helped inspire him to teach.

The Rev. Alan Follett is serving Mount Moriah United Methodist Church in Crozet, Virginia. He plans to retire by 2023, relocate to his wife’s hometown outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, and begin a new chapter writing fiction.

Susanna Fisher Parker and Rick Oppedisano ’96 spoke in June at a Mary Washington alumni event in Charlotte, North Carolina, promoting the MBA program. Susanna talked about making the jump from employee to entrepreneur, and Rick spoke on artificial intelligence.

2000

John Larison ’97 is a professor of sequential art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.

John L. Bowman was named senior managing director of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, a global leader in alternative investment education. He previously served the CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, as managing director for the Americas.

John’s proudest and most important roles are those of husband, father of six, and church leader.

On a recent trip to Fredericksburg, I caught up with Dean Cedric Rucker ’81, visited campus, ate dinner at Sammy T’s, got a giant cone at Carl’s, and slept at the Kenmore Inn. My job at Surescripts has me in Virginia often, and it’s been great catching up with classmates.

1998

Erika Giaimo Chapin erikagchapin@gmail.com

1999

Amanda Goebel Thomas goebel_amanda@hotmail.com Julie Wessinger Neumann of Killingworth, Connecticut, is in her 13th year as a school psychologist. Last year, she was named teacher of the year by her school district. She and her husband expected their third child in spring 2019.

58

Jennifer Burger Thomas jenntec14@ gmail.com Ryan Wellner was named defensive coordinator of the University of Notre Dame’s men’s lacrosse team, where he will also serve as director of recruiting.

Ryan began his collegiate career as an assistant at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 2004 after starting at his high school alma mater, Chaminade High School, in 2003.

In July, William Travis Seale of King George, Virginia, was selected to be the head of the AEGIS Based C2 Integration Branch (V22). Travis has worked more than 10 years in AEGIS and Aegis BMD programs, leading multidisciplinary, technically diverse teams of scientists, engineers, developers, and technicians.

He studied math and is Level 3 Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certified in systems engineering.

2001

Annie Johnston anniebatesjohnston@gmail.com Licensed clinical psychologist Lauren Fisher opened Del Ray Psych & Wellness, an integrated wellness center, in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia. She was named to the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce “40 under 40” program, which honors industry leaders who positively impact the community.

In June, Caroline Jarvis Gee and husband Alex welcomed son Callum Aidan Gee. They’re exhausted, in unfamiliar territory, and completely and utterly in love.

Stephanie Lee Scheibe Barb ’01 is responsible for the delivery of new IT products and services for the Library of Congress.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Allyson Bristor Brekke, director of community and economic development for the City of Port Angeles, Washington, graduated from the Northwest Women’s Leadership Academy. She, husband Christopher Brekke, and son Vincent Arthur welcomed Thea Jeanelle in March 2019.

Madelyn Marino and I, Annie Johnston, met in Raleigh, North Carolina, and traveled to Asheville for a long weekend.

We enjoyed drinking cider, taking a glass blowing class, and sampling as much delicious food as possible.

Jessica Moore was selected for the 91st Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC 91) at the Pentagon and various military installations. She engaged with senior military officials and service members and gained a better understanding of the roles, skills, and mission of the U.S. Armed Forces. JCOC is part of an effort to help educate the American public about their military.

Kim Kelley Winslow and Chris Winslow celebrated their 15th anniversary with a trip to Wrightsville Beach with daughter Kate and son Joseph.

Kim is a senior manager of audit at KPMG. Chris practices law and serves on the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors.

Stephanie Lee Scheibe Barb is responsible for the delivery of new IT products and services to meet the needs of the Library of Congress in her new role as chief of the Integrated Delivery Division within the Office of the Chief Information Officer, IT Service Operations Department. Stephanie was honored with the Volunteer of Excellence Award in recognition of her efforts with the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council.

2002

Travis Jones tljones8@gmail.com Carolyn Murray Spencer turtlecjm@yahoo.com Julianne Wallace has been promoted to vice president for mission and ministry at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania. She previously served as the university’s assistant to the president for mission and director of campus ministry. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in music performance, she received a master’s degree in theological studies from the Washington Theological

Union in Washington, D.C., and is pursuing a doctoral degree in ministry from the Virginia Theological Seminary.

2003

Jessica Brandes jessbrandes@yahoo.com Carol S. Ward is director of One River School of Art in Larchmont, New York. The school focuses on teaching from living contemporary artists and showcases emerging artists. Carol was recognized as one of the Business Council of Westchester’s “40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Business” for her role at the school and its gallery.

After many years working as a residential appraiser, Jocelyn McNeill Campbell is now a commercial appraiser for Fairfax County. She is pursuing a certified general appraiser license.

In July, Mary “Mary Welcome” Rothlisberger became part Lynn Nashorn ’04 is a textual of a two-person team of artists-in-residence for the processing archivist at the National Washington State Department Archives. of Transportation. On her website, Mary, who studied religion, describes herself as Claire Burke married Antoine Douadi in a citizen artist, “a place-based itinerant September 2018 in Brooklyn, New York, artist with an emphasis on cultural and planned a second celebration in her empowerment in rural and underhusband’s native France this summer. recognized communities.” Ultimately, Claire is a project manager at Acme the team will propose projects that Ticketing, a tech startup that specializes may address such things as improving in museum ticketing. She is pursuing a community engagement, supporting degree in interior design at the New York alternatives to single occupancy School of Interior Design in Manhattan vehicle transport, creating healthier and hopes to switch careers. Claire and communities, and enhancing safety and Antoine live in Brooklyn with their furry equity. son, Barney.

Carolyn Huckabay welcomed her second daughter, Bernadette, in May. She runs the communications department for the national healthy food access nonprofit The Food Trust in Philadelphia.

Carol S. Ward ’03 was named among “40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Business” for her work with One River School of Art in Larchmont, New York.

Nina Bruno Parrish and Jay Parrish live in Fredericksburg with their two daughters, ages 4 and 9. Jay is an associate broker and digital platform manager for Coldwell Banker Elite. Nina runs Parrish Learning Zone, a tutoring business that the couple started in 2010.

Robin Epperson-McCarthy, owner/ winemaker of Saltbird Cellars in Mattituck, New York, was awarded a 2019 Legacy Award from Les Dames d’Escoffier International, a worldwide philanthropic organization of professional women leaders in the fields of food, fine beverage, and hospitality.

Read more about Robin on page 31.

2004

Sameer Vaswani sameervaswani@msn.com Lynn Nashorn lives in College Park, Maryland, and is a textual processing archivist at the National Archives. In late March, Lynn and boyfriend David Tablada welcomed a daughter, Autumn Eloise Tablada. She joins her two cat sisters, Celeste and The Great Catsby.

Elizabeth Griffiths married Dave O’Donnell in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, Oct. 27, 2018. Jana Lipski Guja and Erica Rozek attended.

Andrew Blate, owner of the D.C.-area Beautiful Home Services renovation and remodeling company, and wife Jessie Thomas-Blate moved to Alexandria, Virginia. In April, Andrew, Melinda Muth May ’91, Linda Lemanski Blakemore ’84, and Dan Clendenin ’07 hosted and sponsored the third annual Beautiful Home Service Case Competition with the UMW College of Business, at which $8,000 was given to the three best COB teams.

Sameer Vaswani was selected to participate in a commercial development program in Princeton, New Jersey, for a six-month rotation.

2005

Allyson “Ally” V. Lee Marzan allyvlee@gmail.com I, Ally Lee Marzan, my husband Rob, and our son, Hunter, 2, welcomed Brantlee Robert on Sept. 20, 2018. I appeared as a guest on ABC Television’s Strahan and Sara show in July 2019, taking on one of my favorite people, Lance Bass, in a game of trivia about – Lance Bass. Spoiler alert: I crushed it and will forever be known as Lance Bass’ biggest fan!

2006

Shana A. Muhammad email.shana@gmail.com Alexa Stanco Clark, Sean Clark, and their first child, Lucas Declan, born May 17, 2019, are settling in at their home in Arlington, Virginia.

Nancy-Lauren Raia Buechler and husband John welcomed baby boy John “Jax” Alexander on May 6, 2019. Ruby Rose, 2, is having a blast being a big sister, and the whole family is excited to be in a new home on Long Island.

Lauren Bayer Grillo, husband Steven Grillo ’07, and their dog, Murray, (who did not graduate) welcomed Filomena Giuseppa on May 14, 2019. The family lives in New Jersey, where Lauren is a state criminal defense attorney, and Steven is first vice president for the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation.

Dave Dalton and Katherine Moran Dalton married in 2015. They live in Bowling Green, Virginia, with daughter Isidora, born April 2017, and son Timothy, born September 2018. Dave works for the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond.

No Class Agent?

Your classmates still want to hear from you!

Send news directly to classnotes@umw.edu.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

59

CLASS NOTES

2007

Sarah Eckman sarahje@gmail.com Jay Sinha jay.sinha@alumni.umw.edu Megan Hayes Joyce and husband Chris welcomed their first child, Raymond Hunter Joyce, on Jan. 9, 2019.

Holly Hanks is pursuing a master of arts degree in teaching, specializing in K-6 education, at Hollins University. She expects to graduate in December 2020.

Patricia “Trish” Johnson, M.Ed. ’07 is chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance at the National Association of Broadcasters. She joined the NAB in March 2017 as senior vice president and controller, finance. Before that, she worked for PBS and D.C.’s WETA-TV. After earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Old Dominion University, she completed a master’s degree in education from UMW. She teaches finance at George Mason University as part of its Master of Arts Management curriculum.

2008

Trish Lauck Cerulli trish.lauck@gmail.com Alyssa Lee alyssa.linda.lee@gmail.com Brendan K. Kelley earned a master of public administration degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. In the Spring/ Summer 2019 edition of Class Notes, Brendan’s hometown was listed incorrectly, as was his middle initial. He is from Oneonta, New York.

Katrina Vitalina Perez-Titze ’08 is growing her little piece of heaven on earth at a University of North Texas community garden.

Trevor Daubenspeck became engaged last summer to UCLA 2006 graduate Heather Ballentine while vacationing in Maine. Trevor is a finance and accounting manager for Sands Anderson in Richmond, Virginia, and is co-chair of

60

the UMW College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board.

Katrina Vitalina Perez-Titze, now living in Texas, is growing her little piece of heaven on earth at the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center Community garden. She has traveled to Australia several times to study and learn about the many customs of its indigenous people.

ways and solar farms. Virginia is married and lives near Chicago on a small farm with horses and other critters.

Joseph Ryan Payne is head of marketing and branding for Glassnote Entertainment Group. In May, Billboard Magazine recognized Ryan in the article Branding Power Players 2019. The record company took out a full-page ad to congratulate Ryan on his work. Read more about him on page 30.

2009

Elizabeth Jennings elizabethsjennings@gmail.com Helana Treblow Bales ’08, M.Ed. ’09 and Brian Bales welcomed a baby boy in July.

Jonathan Hillyard ’10 is a chief medical resident with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Elizabeth Jennings married Michael Haden in Charlottesville, Virginia, in April. Megan Taaffe Edahl ’08, Jamie Rounsaville, Jacqui Newman, and Kristin Pytko Graham were bridesmaids. Elizabeth and Michael planned a move to Dallas this fall.

Rebecca Gall Fenwick is principal of Ethos Preservation in Savannah, Georgia.

She and a colleague launched the historic preservation consulting company.

Congratulations to Tristan Connor, who married his love, Becky Haenni. UMW alumni who attended were Johannah O’Keefe, Caitlin Minney, Gill Economou, Laura Mandeville, Sunan Yoon ’10, Emilie Begin ’10, John Schell ’10, Sammy Luffy ’11, and Melody Ain ’11.

2010

Kelly Caldwell kellyecaldwell@gmail.com Aidan McCurdy Murphy and Michael Murphy ’07 celebrated their five-year anniversary in October. Their son, Miles Thomas Murphy, was born in March 2018.

Allyson Childress had artwork in nationally juried shows in Indiana and Rhode Island last summer. After studying studio art, she designed and built largescale installations for Anthropologie until 2015, when she began to pursue art full time.

Devin Day was stage manager for Lucas Hnath’s Hillary and Clinton at the John Golden Theatre. The comedy, starring Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow, was Devin’s eighth Broadway show.

2011

Hannah Hopkins hhopkins89@gmail.com Megan Walker and Andrew Godburn ’10 welcomed their first child, Lucy, in January 2019. Lucy is the first grandchild of Elaine Blotkamp Godburn ’80.

Dementia specialist Rachael Wonderlin was quoted in a July 2019 Washington Post article on recognizing the signs of dementia in family members.

Jonathan Hillyard is a chief medical resident with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Internal Medicine Residency Program for the 2019-2020 program year.

2012

After graduation, Virginia Brown earned a master of soil science degree from North Carolina State University.

She works all over the U.S., providing environmental consulting and ecological restoration for various energy industries.

She’s been designing and implementing pollinator habitats on pipeline right of

Last spring, Anne Campbell, Lindsay Cutler, Maura Monahan, Michael Walter, and Abbey Potter ’10, visited Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah. They gathered from Denver, Charlottesville, Albuquerque, Boston, and Chicago and sported Mary Wash gear throughout the trip!

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Mandi Solomon msolomon211@gmail.com

Arabic Class Leads to Career in International Affairs

I

nternational affairs major Caitriona Cobb ’17 landed her “ideal job” as Africa content manager for Tesla Government Inc. in May. Her work involves research and writing for the contracting company – no relation to the famous car maker – that helps government clients manage and share information.

The Washington, D.C., resident said that in focusing on such a large continent, there’s “always something new to learn.” And each day she builds on her Mary Washington education.

Cobb’s interest in international affairs started at UMW, and it started by accident, thanks in part to her open mind. In high school, she had studied Spanish and wanted to learn Latin. But when the first-year student first signed up for classes, the ancient language was full. Arabic fit into her busy schedule, so she went for it.

“I was just flexible and open to the experience,” she said. And that led to more learning. “You can’t study language without a taste of culture.”

Her interest in Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa led to classes in political science and to her major in international affairs. Letting her curiosity guide her, she discovered a field she’d never before considered. Cobb had originally intended to study biology, but “I didn’t particularly love” labs, she said, and she found international affairs classes “so interesting.”

Cobb grew up as one of 10 children in a military family. Still, she said, “I didn’t know much about Iraq or Afghanistan. There was so much I didn’t know politically, and vast cultural knowledge I didn’t have.”

Before her open mind led her to international affairs, it led her to UMW. At first, Cobb was intent on attending a large university, but her sister, undergraduate history major Fiona Cobb McGonigal ’08, M.Ed. ’09, spelled out the benefits

As a first-year, Caitriona Cobb challenged herself with an Arabic-language class and loved it.

Now, the international affairs major has landed her ideal job as Africa content manager for a government contractor.

of a liberal arts education and of the University of Mary Washington.

UMW’s interdisciplinary curriculum allowed Cobb to minor in linguistics to further specialize her knowledge of how languages intersect worldwide. She distinguished herself academically in international affairs, winning the department’s Lewis P. Fickett Jr. Award for Excellence and receiving departmental honors.

But it wasn’t only academic knowledge that Cobb took from UMW to the workforce. She was on Class Council, was involved in the Arab Culture Club, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, and served as a resident assistant. Organizing club events gave her practical skills, she said.

After getting her UMW degree, she studied at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and followed her curiosity to Amman,

Jordan, where she did field research on higher education reform. Last spring, she earned a master’s degree in international affairs, specializing in the Middle East.

Cobb’s drive to go abroad and seek firsthand knowledge was born at Mary Washington, where she found that there’s “not just one type of UMW person.” She became friends with people of different majors and backgrounds starting her first year in Russell Hall, where she and other residents bonded over trudging uphill to class and enduring hot autumn temperatures without air conditioning. (These days, Russell Hall rooms are temperature controlled.)

For Cobb, finding a path to her ideal job started at UMW with simply having an open mind.

– Lindley Estes ’12

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

61

CLASS NOTES

2013

Andrew Hogan andrew.hogan819@gmail.com Zarar Ahmed lives in Fredericksburg and is an attorney at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in economics; in 2017 he earned a J.D. and an M.B.A. from University of Baltimore; and in 2018, he was admitted to the Maryland Bar. Brian Schippers and Melissa Peters ’14 married in June 2016 and had a sweet little girl in June 2017. They are expecting a second child around Christmas.

2014

Elizabeth Storey estorey@mail.usf.edu

2015

Evan Smallwood esmallwood15@gmail.com Moira McAvoy moira.jo.mcavoy@gmail.com

2016

Quinn Doyle quinnmdoyle@gmail.com Last December, Julia Peyton Brown became engaged to Lee Hastings, a 2013 Virginia Tech graduate. They planned to marry in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in November 2019.

2017

Samantha Litchford slitchfo@gmail.com I’m Samantha Litchford, and I’m excited to be the Class of ’17 – Go Devils! – class agent. I’ve been on the campaign trail since graduating, working for Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and most recently as campaign manager for a Virginia House of Delegates candidate.

Samantha Litchford ’17 has been on the campaign trail working to get Virginia candidates elected.

62

Kyle Anderson earned a master’s degree in psychology from Boston University.

Sarah Ray Sidorakis ’50

2018

Rita B. Hawkins-Frimodig ’52

Brittany McBride bmcbride2128@gmail.com Noah Goodwin is pursuing a Ph.D. in French and Francophone studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He plans to complete a master’s degree in spring 2020 and begin doctoral research that fall.

2019

Judith Field Gager ’52

Joan Britten Lucas ’52 Garnette Bell Crawford ’53 Jean Foster Harris ’53 Patricia Kelley Mann ’53 Laura “Em” Emory Cleminshaw ’54 Joan Choyke Bruyere ’55 Amoret Wiley Little ’55

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

Mary Ann Byng Strayer ’56

In Memoriam

Beverly Ann Almond Tucker ’56

Barbara Skidmore Sheehan ’35

Sue Carpenter Farmer ’57

Myra McCormick Cole ’41

Harriet Henderson Hazen ’57

Mary Privott Baird ’42

Judith Ann O’Sullivan Milton ’58

Ruth Capen Hartmann ’42

Anne Belt Norris ’58

Evelyn Squier Brandt ’43

Camilla Dameron Rutter ’58

Joyce Hovey Madigan ’44

Elaine Ceccarelli Behling ’59

Winifred Granger Vaules ’44

Anne Pittman Whittington ’59

Virginia Garber Wood ’44

Anne M. Burgin ’61

Christine Brauer Krausse ’45

Dixie Babb Rucker ’61

Joanne Stevens Potts ’45

Jeanne Thornhill Ulrich ’61

Beatrice Bright Kelley ’46

Karen McCauley Hostetter ’62

Louise Burroughs Ruddick ’46

Kristine McElroy Kelly ’62

Mary Kimman Sutton ’46

Barbara Hauser Scott ’62

Helen G. Tayor ’46

Melinda Luck Shepardson ’62

Dibrell Fulcher Follin ’47

Charlotte Hood Alexander ’63

Jean Hopkins Wilkerson ’47

Sara “Sally” Tarrant Bernert ’63

Lois Ann Grey Givens ’48

Connie Snellings English ’63

Ruth Lawless Harwood ’48

Susan Hughes Ingham ’63

Muriel Harmon Lake ’48

Laetitia Noble Jensen ’63

Lina White Perry ’48

Theresa Kujawski Schlachter ’63

Harriet Fletcher Portrude ’49

Linda Reading Pullen ’64

Margaret Hines Sickels ’49

Alice Gregory Wickersham ’64

Ginny Downer Williams ’49

Patricia Johnson Orgain ’66

Dorothy White Dunivan ’50

Katherine M. Harahan ’70

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Ellen Brown Swenarton ’56

Jacqueline Wilkins Upp ’56

Condolences

Judith Harrison Wrenn ’69, who lost her husband

Nancy Stump Motley ’52, who lost her husband

Doralece Lipoli Dullaghan ’70, who lost her mother and her husband

Virginia Mae Poole Kinniburgh ’53, who lost her husband

Gayle Franklin Hawkins ’71, who lost her husband

Grace Vakos Dragas ’57, who lost her husband

Norah Heckman ’73, who lost her mother

Sylvia Soutzos Pyle ’76

Barbara “Bobbi” Falkenbury Wright ’57, who lost her husband

Janet Ogden Thompson ’77

Ellen Harwood Uzenoff ’73, who lost her mother

Betsy Williams Brothers ’62, who lost her husband

Debra Dunivin ’74, who lost her mother and her aunt

Vanelia Oakley Gallagher ’62, who lost her son

Octavia Nicely Starbuck ’74, who lost her daughter

Anona Getchell Hogwood ’62, who lost her husband

Nancy Pederson Trzcinski ’74, who lost her husband

Bettie Stewart Kienast ’62, who lost her mother

Freda White ’84, who lost her father

Susan Guy Littwin ’70 Linda Horne Olin ’70 Zondra Garrison Ducut ’72 Maureen Maran Wikane ’72 Kathy Brumble Smith ’74 Natalie Pickering Freeman ’76

Tamara Haynes Dandrea ’78 Mildred Vivaldi Sanchez ’78 Nancy R. Sielski ’82 Candice Fletcher Worley ’86 Terence R. Donnelly ’89 Sherri L. Meltzer ’89 Lance Whitesel ’92 Carl “Coby” Frye Jr. ’93 Leigh B. Fountain ’96 Peggy E. Myrick ’02

Laurie Sammins Buchanan ’64, who lost her husband Anne Meade Clagett ’66, who lost her husband Ryan Stewart Davis ’66, who lost her husband

Evan L. Braunstein ’08

Marty Spigel Sedoff ’66, who lost her brother

Lawrence Smith Norton III ’13

Bev Holt ’69, who lost her mother

Rene’ Thomas-Rizzo ’87, who lost her mother Jennifer Murphy Whitesel ’90, who lost her husband Jennifer N. Henley ’04, who lost her mother Kay Portmess ’11, who lost her husband Janelle Pierangelino ’17, who lost her mother Lance “Alex” Whitesel, student, who lost his father

OBITUARY Marine Col. John Kinniburgh, a former rector and member of the UMW Board of Visitors, passed away June 9, 2019. He was 89.

Col. Kinniburgh served on the Board of Visitors from 1983 to 1987 and was rector from 1984 to 1986. He was in the Simpson Circle, an organization of former Board of Visitors members dedicated to engagement in the university’s activities, academic programs, and fundraising initiatives.

Col. Kinniburgh also was a member of the Board of Regents for the James Monroe Law Office Museum and Memorial Library from 1986 to 1988. The museum is administered by the University of Mary Washington.

Born June 19, 1929, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, he held a bachelor’s degree from Bryant College and an MBA from Pepperdine University. He also was a graduate of the College of Naval Warfare in Newport, Rhode Island.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and rose to

colonel, retiring in 1977.

He and Virginia Mae Poole Kinniburgh ’53 met during her senior year at Mary Washington, when she chaperoned several students to the Quantico Marine Corps Base to see a production of Oklahoma. They were married in August 1953. Mrs. Kinniburgh survives him, as do many family members and friends.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

63

CLOSING COLUMN

UMW Named “Great College to Work For” The following remarks are excerpted from a Q&A with President Troy Paino that focused on how he used feedback from a Great Colleges to Work For survey of university employees completed in 2016, a year when UMW did not make the cut. Having just taken the helm at Mary Washington then, President Paino used the results as a platform for change and setting of priorities. In only three years, his initiatives paid off – of 152 four-year institutions nationwide that participated in this year’s survey, UMW was among 60 selected as a Great College to Work For. Learn more about the award on page 3. around the challenges facing the university. Openly talking about the survey’s results demonstrated our desire to have deeper conversations around how people were feeling about the workplace, whether they felt valued or not, and what their hopes and dreams were for UMW. These conversations laid the foundation for what would ultimately become our university’s vision for the future.

Below are excerpts of Troy Paino’s responses in the Q&A: The survey gave me an important diagnostic tool to better understand how the people who work here felt about the state of the university. To move UMW forward, we needed the faculty, staff, and administrators to be fully invested in the school’s strategic direction. To get this sort of investment, our senior leadership had to build trust and instill hope.

The 2016 survey showed me that our priorities were improving communication – and that includes listening; more clearly articulating a vision that resonates with the values, mission, and culture of UMW; and addressing salaries that had fallen behind the market.

The results of the 2016 survey gave us a jumping-off point to engage the UMW community

64

I really got a sense of the heart and soul of this place as people not only opened up about their disappointments and frustrations, but also about what gave their work meaning and why they invested so much of themselves in what they do for our students. It allowed the vision we created to be very organic, and frankly, made it easy to sell.

I actually kept a summary of the 2016 survey results on my desk as a reference and reminder of what leadership needed to do to build more trust.

Did we always get it right? No. As I start my fourth year here, I am still looking for the most effective way to communicate and have those critically important conversations with the UMW community about the difficult issues facing the university. While we have made progress on a number of dimensions, and our employees indicate we are moving in a positive direction, we still have a long way to go.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

We regularly use the 2016 results to remind ourselves of opportunities for growth. It is important to remember that while some of what the faculty, staff, and administrators were telling us was difficult to hear, the leadership teams both before and after my arrival had the courage to listen. It would have been easy to become defensive or dismissive, but my leadership team chose the more difficult and courageous path.

They listened, reflected, and then committed themselves to action.

“President Paino has set a vision to move us into a new era where we can maintain our commitment to the liberal arts while also realizing our mission to provide access to all students. I am inspired by his leadership.”

– UMW employee feedback, 2019 employee survey

It is also important to remember that the results of that survey gave us a glimpse of what is amazing about this university.

Despite the challenges, the people who work here love this place, love each other, and love our students. Those relationships and their dedication are what really make Mary Washington a special place.

“When I looked upon this beautiful hill, I saw in perspective

what glorious things might be accomplished.”

– Professor W. N. Hamlet

What being a

GREAT COLLEGE TO WORK FOR really means

Private gifts help the University hire exceptional faculty and staff, who are dedicated to fostering the accomplishments of UMW students.

Thank you for your help in making Mary Washington a great college to work for.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2019

Read more about Professor Hamlet at giving.umw.edu

65

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID

Adam Ewing

1301 College Avenue Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401-5300

University of Mary Washington

Great Minds Get to Work

Students arrived in August to find the Jepson Science Center expanded and open for collaboration. The students pictured here take advantage of the open walkway that connects the new and old portions of the building to work, consult with one another, and have some fun. The light-filled corridor was designed with areas for teamwork and leads to new classrooms and labs. Learn more about the renovated Jepson Science Center on page 26.