University of Mary Washington Magazine

ON THE COVER:

John Mavroudis lent his talents to help UMW spread the word about the extraordinary life of civil rights leader James Farmer Jr. Mavroudis, a San Francisco-based artist, illustrator, and activist, blends drawing with type to tell stories. He’s created covers for TIME, The New Yorker, and The Nation magazines, and he has twice won the American Society of Magazine Editors’ Cover of the Year award.

THIS SPREAD:

The Eagles field hockey team shared a moment of solidarity at Homecoming in fall 2019. Besides the team’s successes on the field, in March 2020 the National Field Hockey Coaches Association named the Eagles to the 2019 Zag Field Hockey/NFHCA Division III National Academic Team.

Photo by Tom Rothenberg

Contents Features

10 Living Legacy 18 At the Center of Things 23 UMW COAR: A Bridge to Community 26 Nurturing the Next Generation 28 First-Years Discover Dr. Farmer 30 Willard Historic Hall Gets a Modern Touch

Departments 2 34 34 35 38 40 64

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

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ON CAMPUS

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT SPRING/SUMMER 2020 • VOLUME 44 • NO. 1

Dear UMW Family and Friends: In mid-March, COVID-19 made its way to Virginia. Universities are particularly vulnerable to the threat, given the close communion and quarters we share around the clock. The commonwealth and our UMW administration instituted immediate measures to protect this community. We sent students home, launched remote learning, and canceled all activities and events, including commencement and Reunion Weekend. We also suspended publication of this celebratory edition until we could better assess the situation.

With May’s sense of renewal, we believe our community is hungry for positive news, and we decided to proceed. This publication reminds us of the strength, resilience, and collaborative spirit of the Mary Washington community. It’s also a snapshot of campus life just before COVID-19 changed everything – a time when students, faculty, and staff still gathered together to learn, teach, have fun, and celebrate all things Mary Washington.

What strange times we are enduring. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered our lifestyles and our outlooks. But it has not changed what we at Mary Washington hold dear: people.

I can think of no better way to stay connected with all of you during this time of social distancing than to send you this beautiful issue of UMW Magazine devoted to the legacy of our beloved Dr. James Farmer Jr. While we try to escape the threat of the pandemic, it is good to remember how this civil rights icon and former UMW professor rushed into unimaginable danger in the pursuit of equal rights and social justice for all. In fact, a celebration of Dr. Farmer’s legacy reminds us to find meaning and purpose as we cope with the fragilities of being human.

Americans have become increasingly detached from one another, and that divide has become more pronounced during this pandemic. Now, more than ever, we need to emulate Dr. Farmer and ask ourselves important moral questions: What is my responsibility to others? How am I to treat the least among us?

I am grateful to lead an institution whose mission it is to prepare students to make connections and to build the communities that give our lives meaning.

My hope is that our sacrifice in the name of social distancing will spur a revival of community and an awareness of our responsibilities to one another.

Throughout it all, Dr. Farmer’s life and lessons continue to enrich and inspire us.

We hope this magazine provides you with a break from the discouraging news around us. Please take courage and know that this, too, shall pass. And as you read, I hope you will remember that it comes to you from a place that, like Dr. Farmer, seeks to pursue the things that truly matter.

Sincerely,

Troy D. Paino President

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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

Sarah K. Appleby ’06 Angie White Kemp ’11 Jill Graziano Laiacona ’04 Lisa Chinn Marvashti ’92 Angela Zosel McCormick ’00 Carolyn Sydnor Parsons ’83 Cynthia L. Snyder ’75 Mark Thaden ’02 Grace Winfield ’20 Contributors

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.

The magazine staff welcomes your comments.

Email: magazine@umw.edu Mail: UMW Magazine 1301 College Ave. Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5300 Call: 540-654-1055.

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

UMW TO LEAD CYBERSECURITY EFFORT IT professionals in the Fredericksburg area will soon be able to train for one of the industry’s most sought-after cybersecurity certifications without having to leave the region.

The CISSP prep course will begin in winter 2020, and registration is now open. Classes are scheduled to take place at UMW’s Stafford County and Dahlgren campuses.

Learn more about the course and the requirements for CISSP certification at umw.edu/cissp.

Adam Ewing

UMW is leading a consortium of local governments and educational entities to offer a noncredit prep program for the CISSP – Certified Information Systems Security Professionals – exam. The program, unique in the area, is supported by a grant from the statewide economic development initiative GO Virginia; King George County; and the Fredericksburg and Stafford County economic development authorities.

UMW will lead a regional alliance to offer training for the Certified Information Systems Security Professionals exam.

MARY WASHINGTON FORGES PATHWAY TO ENGINEERING

An agreement between the institutions allows Mary Washington undergraduates to earn up to nine credits that apply to their bachelor’s degree and have the potential to be used toward a master’s degree in engineering at VSE. Mason’s VSE has an expansive number of courses and a robust selection of online offerings – and it’s close to Fredericksburg.

While still enrolled at UMW, students may take premaster’s VSE courses in six areas: applied information technology, computer science, data analytics engineering, operations research, statistics, and systems engineering.

Evan Cantwell/GMU

Thanks to a pathway program scheduled to start with George Mason University this fall, UMW seniors will have the opportunity to enroll in pre-master’s engineering courses at Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering (VSE).

A new pathway program will allow UMW seniors to enroll in engineering classes at George Mason University. Here, GMU students show an active-shooter detection system they designed.

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ON CAMPUS

Mary Washington students are motivated and informed – and they vote.

Their civic responsibility earned UMW the 2019 ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Platinum Seal for institutions with a student voter participation rate above 50 percent.

Mary Washington is well above that mark. In the 2016 presidential election, 67 percent of UMW students voted, compared with a 61 percent rate nationwide.

In the 2018 midterms, 53 percent of Mary Washington students voted, exceeding the national student voter turnout of 39 percent.

Matthew Binamira Sanders ’20

UMW STUDENT VOTERS ALL IN FOR DEMOCRACY

Besides voting, Mary Washington students have shown their civic engagement by hosting debates with state legislature candidates, holding voter registration drives on campus, and providing rides to the polls.

A student registers to vote at National Voter Registration Day last fall. UMW students vote at a rate of more than 50 percent.

UMW

VOTE

S

Center for Community Engagement Associate Director Sarah Dewees and several students accepted the award at a November 2019 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Mary Washington and Rappahannock Community College entered into a transfer partnership agreement that allows RCC students a seamless transfer to UMW. President Troy Paino and RCC President Shannon Kennedy signed the agreement at a ceremony at UMW’s Dahlgren campus in February.

In brief remarks, Paino said that educating all students is essential, and the goal should be to remove barriers to access. The agreement, he said, is “a testament to how these two institutions have developed a trusting relationship.”

Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

MARY WASHINGTON, RAPPAHANNOCK CC SIGN TRANSFER AGREEMENT

RCC President Shannon Kennedy and UMW President Troy Paino chat after signing a transfer agreement between their schools.

REUNION, COMMENCEMENT RESCHEDULED Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, UMW has changed the dates of two major oncampus events. Reunion for class years ending in 0 or 5 is now scheduled for Sept. 5-7.

Class of 2020 Commencement is now scheduled for Oct. 24, in conjunction with Homecoming Weekend. These dates are tentative as UMW will follow health guidelines regarding gathering of large crowds.

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Paige McKinsey ’15, Sophie Mestas ’20, and Sam Carter ’14 spoke at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Women’s and Gender Studies program.

PROGRAM CELEBRATES DYNAMIC DECADE Mary Washington’s Women’s and Gender Studies program marked its 10th anniversary in fall 2019 with a gathering of current students, faculty, and alumni.

Through the interdisciplinary major, students explore the intersections of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Graduates take their perspectives into such careers as media, law, health, education, and social work.

Mary Washington students had been declaring women’s studies as a special major when, a decade ago, UMW’s administration decided it was time to launch a standardized program, said Professor of History and American Studies Allyson Poska, who served six years as its founding director.

The current director, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Surupa Gupta, said the program’s strength lies in its interdisciplinary nature. With only three course requirements, students can craft their own paths, choosing electives from 17 disciplines taught by more than 45 affiliated faculty members.

Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

Karen Pearlman ’00

ON CAMPUS

UMW plans to offer Japanese language classes this fall. Here students Tess Darroch, left, Rahi Taylor, and Kaitlin Viloria, who spent the fall 2019 semester at Japan’s Akita International University, pose in the UMW Zen garden.

UMW’S NEWEST LANGUAGE OPTION? JAPANESE UMW plans to offer first- and second-year Japanese language courses beginning this fall, complementing the Japanese culture classes already available.

College of Arts and Sciences Dean Keith Mellinger and Center for International Education Director Jose Sainz announced the program earlier this year in a campus ceremony with Japanese Minister of Public Affairs Takehiro Shimada.

A visiting instructor, funded by a grant from the Japan Foundation, will teach first- and second-year Japanese. If the courses prove popular, UMW could hire permanent faculty.

Students also complete a capstone project, exploring a topic of interest in depth, with guidance from a professor.

They present their findings each spring at the program’s Undergraduate Research Forum.

Mary Washington also has a study-abroad exchange program with Akita International University. The first three UMW students took courses in Akita, Japan, in fall 2019.

Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Kristin Marsh, who led Women’s and Gender Studies between Poska and Gupta, said the program prepares students to make a difference in their professional and personal lives.

“More and more, I’m hearing that Japanese is incredibly popular and that young people love the culture and language,” said Mellinger, who sees the courses as a recruitment opportunity.

“They become confident in thinking critically, speaking and writing effectively, and engaging with the larger community on social justice issues,” Marsh said.

Sainz added, “We hope that the language and culture classes combined with the opportunity to study abroad will attract current and prospective students.”

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ON CAMPUS

COLLOQUIUM WELCOMES FUJIYAMA, HONORS RICHARDSON Brooklyn-based consultant Cosmo Fujiyama was the featured speaker at the 26th annual Women’s Leadership Colloquium @ UMW in November.

The 34-year-old shared what she’s learned from her life and her work bringing joy and emotional intelligence to workplaces and schools. She and brother Shin Fujiyama ’07 co-founded the nonprofit aid group Students Helping Honduras when she was an undergraduate at the College of William & Mary.

CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER SPEAKS AT MLK EVENT Civil rights icon Benjamin Chavis delivered the MLK Jr. Celebration keynote address at the University Center in January.

A native of Oxford, North Carolina, Chavis was a young chemistry graduate of the University of North Carolina when he and nine others were unjustly convicted of arson and conspiracy, becoming known as the Wilmington 10. Before his conviction was overturned on appeal, Chavis earned a Master’s of Divinity from Duke University while in prison.

Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

Benjamin Chavis

Coach, facilitator, and manager Cosmo Fujiyama was the featured speaker at the 26th annual Women’s Leadership Colloquium.

Each year, the colloquium presents the Patricia Lacey Metzger Distinguished Achievement Award to a community member who shows leadership in her field, personal and professional integrity, and a commitment to community service. This year’s recipient was UMW College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson.

The daylong colloquium provides workshops, networking, and career coaching sessions to professional women.

GROUP HONORS PRESERVATIONIST

Chavis began his career in North Carolina working for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

He served as executive director and CEO of the NAACP in the 1990s and organized the 1995 Million Man March.

He is president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association: The Black Press of America, and he co-founded the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, the world’s largest coalition of hiphop artists and recording industry executives.

The address was sponsored by the Office of the President and hosted by the James Farmer Multicultural Center.

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Cristina Turdean, director of the Center for Historic Preservation, received Historic Fredericksburg Foundation’s highest honor in March for contributions to the city’s historic preservation.

Danae Peckler of the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, right, presents the Alvey Education award to Dick Klehm, left, and Cristina Turdean, center.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Turdean shares the Edward D. Alvey Jr. Education Award with Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge No. 4. Turdean, her students, and lodge officials have worked together for more than six years to catalog the lodge’s historic artifacts and collections.

ON CAMPUS

NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR URGES STUDENT-FIRST FOCUS

UMW AGAIN STEPS UP FOR PEACE CORPS For the 12th consecutive year, UMW was a top producer of Peace Corps volunteers among colleges and universities with fewer than 5,000 students.

Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

Until the pandemic forced the Peace Corps to evacuate its volunteers from their posts, a dozen graduates were serving worldwide, placing UMW at No. 7 on the topproducer list for its size. A total of 270 alumni have joined the Peace Corps since its 1961 inception.

“Mary Washington’s culture of service keeps fueling students’ interest in continuing their commitment to populations served by the Peace Corps,” said Jose Sainz, director of UMW’s Center for International Education. “It pushes their boundaries and offers many opportunities for them to become better global citizens.”

The nation’s top teacher, Rodney Robinson, inspires UMW’s future educators to make real connections with students.

“IT’S ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS.”

UMW RANKS HIGH, PUTS LOW STRAIN ON THE BILLFOLD

– Rodney Robinson

Children need to feel safe, understood, and loved to succeed in the classroom. That’s the message 2019 National Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson delivered in late January at UMW’s Dodd Auditorium.

About 200 people attended Robinson’s talk, including aspiring teachers from UMW’s College of Education and working educators from the community.

“It’s about relationships,” said Robinson, who teaches history at the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center’s Virgie Binford Education Center. “It’s about touching their hearts and making them want to change.”

Robinson believes teachers must meet students’ basic social and emotional needs before tackling academics.

He urged educators to get to know their students, empathize with them, and consider the students’ interests and experiences as human beings. “Every day, everything I do is viewed through a lens of equity,” Robinson said at UMW. “I believe that all students can learn, and it’s everybody’s job to help teach the children.”

Mary Washington is among the top eight public and private colleges and universities in Virginia, according to a survey by the personal finance website Wallet Hub. UMW’s strong statewide and overall finish means it is among the nation’s top-performing schools with the lowest possible costs.

The study measured performance in seven key areas – student selectivity, cost and financing, faculty resources, campus safety, campus experience, educational outcomes, and career outcomes. Among the survey’s Virginia institutions – including the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, the University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, and VMI – UMW ranked third in the “educational outcomes” category and fourth in safety.

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Patrick Catullo

NEW ATHLETICS DIRECTOR IS ALUM, SUCCESSFUL TENNIS COACH

Tom Rothenberg

SPORTS

Midfielder Gabriel Soriano, No. 10, controls the ball during a 2-1 overtime win against Johns Hopkins University at the start of the 2019 season.

SORIANO, MEN’S SOCCER HAVE MEMORABLE SEASON

Patrick Catullo ’95 is UMW’s new director of athletics.

Men’s soccer midfielder Gabriel Soriano ’20 can add first-team All-America honors to his accomplishments with the Eagles.

One of UMW’s most successful coaches, Catullo took on the role of interim director in summer 2018.

He has proven himself as a leader and collaborator committed to the educational experience of student athletes.

Team captain Soriano scored nine goals and contributed seven assists in his senior season, which saw the Eagles become Capital Athletic Conference champions for the third year in a row.

As Mary Washington’s head women’s tennis coach from 2004 to 2018, Catullo advanced the team to 14 conference championships and 14 NCAA Tournament appearances.

He also served as UMW’s assistant director of athletics and director of compliance between 2012 and 2018.

Besides the All-American designation, Soriano also earned Virginia Player of the Year honors for Division III.

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Tom Rothenberg

In his new role, Catullo is focused on upholding UMW’s tradition of academic and competitive excellence while strategically positioning the department for the future. He oversees 23 varsity sports, as well as the team club sports of men’s and women’s rugby.

The Eagles shut out Keystone College, 3-0, in the first round of the Division III NCAA Championship, but fell 3-2 to Rowan University in double overtime in the second round.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Defender Corinne Carson ’20 denies an opportunity to her Christopher Newport opponent in front of about 3,500 enthusiastic spectators at Homecoming in October. Women’s soccer went on to claim the Capital Athletic Conference tournament crown for the 14th time, a league high. The Eagles advanced to the Division III NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009.

SPORTS

VOLLEYBALL SENIORS NET TOP HONORS

Peyton Dunow

Savannah Powers

UMW volleyball players Savannah Powers ’20 and Peyton Dunow ’20 were named honorable mention All-America selections by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Powers also was an All-American choice last year.

Both Powers and Dunow were also named to the Virginia Sports Information Directors all-state volleyball team. The honors followed a winning season for UMW volleyball. The Eagles won 16 games, lost 13, and made it to the final game of the CAC championship.

An outside hitter, Powers ended her college career with a school record 1,347 kills, 707 digs, 199 blocks, and 150 aces.

Outside/right side hitter Dunow recorded a career 1,169 kills, 797 digs, 140 blocks, and 111 aces.

EAGLES HIT THE ROAD All spring sports team trips were completed by early March, before health precautions canceled collegiate sports and curtailed most travel.

Spring break, Feb. 29-March 8, didn’t mean a lull in the action for spring sports.

While other UMW students did service projects, road-tripped with friends, caught up on studies, or just hung out at home, many Eagles athletes spent the weeklong break competing in far-flung places.

The tennis teams traveled south and west – men to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, and the women to Chapman University in Orange, California, and Caltech in Pasadena, California.

The softball team played seven games against five opponents in Tucson, Arizona. And men’s golf started the season at the Callaway Gardens Collegiate Invitational in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

UMW softball was just one team that traveled over spring break. The Eagles played seven games in Tucson, Arizona.

In club sports, UMW Rugby and the UMW Center for International Education teamed up for travel. While in Spain, the club played games against Barcelona and Cornellá. In France, they practiced under Colomiers RFC coaching staff and attended a professional game between Colomiers and Aix-en-Provence RFC.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

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UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Adam Ewing

At front, Courtney Flowers ’21 and Student Government Association President Jason Ford ’20 join campus leaders and the Farmer 2020 Celebration committee at the bust of Dr. James Farmer Jr. on Campus Walk. Flowers came to UMW from California after she learned the civil rights leader had taught here.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

By Emily Freehling

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early 500 people came to the University Center’s Chandler Ballroom in January to celebrate the 100th birthday of Dr. James Farmer, a civil rights icon who spent his final years sharing his first-person account of history with students at Mary Washington.

“Thirty-five years ago, he became a part of the Mary Washington Community,” UMW President Troy Paino said of Farmer, who taught the history of the civil rights movement at Mary Washington from 1985 until shortly before his death in 1999.

“He left us a legacy.”

UMW is celebrating the legacy of Dr. James Farmer Jr. and his 100th At UMW, 2020 is a year of birthday. The civil rights leader is shown teaching at Mary Washington, reflection on that legacy. as he did from 1985 to 1998. He died in 1999.

Former students remember While many alumni have carried Farmer’s Farmer’s deep, warm voice, which would at times stories with them into their careers and adult burst into song. He captivated them with tales lives, Farmer’s legacy continues to reach current of fighting to change the status quo in Jim Crow Mary Washington students through a curriculum America, and urged them to remember that the fight for equality and social justice has no endpoint. he helped inform and a multicultural outlook he inspired during his 14 years on campus.

“He was a human history book,” said Rich Cooper ’90, who not only took Farmer’s class but also served as his driver and personal assistant.

James Farmer’s connection with Mary Cooper recalled seeing Farmer as a giant of his age Washington began on a Northern Virginia who would come into the room and provide “a first-person narrative of the sights, smells, emotions, commuter bus in the early 1980s.

The late historic preservationist John Pearce, fears, joy, turbulence, anger, and anguish of what then a professor at George Washington University, he experienced.” struck up a conversation with a man he thought he Farmer filled Monroe 116 – now renamed in his recognized but couldn’t quite place. honor – for his lectures. Community members and That conversation was the first of many students who weren’t enrolled in his classes were Pearce would have with Farmer, according to an known to sneak in to get a glimpse of this man interview he gave in 2008 to an oral history class who made history. documenting Farmer’s impact on the university.

“You took a journey through his words and Pearce joined the UMW faculty in 1984. he captivated you,” said Associate Vice President Pearce read early drafts of Farmer’s and Dean of Student Life Cedric Rucker ’81, who autobiography, Lay Bare the Heart, and once it continues to use Farmer’s words as inspiration in was published in 1985, he helped bring Farmer on the classes he teaches today.

Farmer changed teaching

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Adam Ewing

the liberal arts framing of the institution, and why I was the person who should teach it,” Rucker said. “Dr. Farmer’s comments that day hushed the room.”

The course was approved, and in hindsight Rucker said the moment was a prime example of the power that Farmer’s life’s work brought to bear at Mary Washington.

“The colleagues in the room were willing to listen to him in a way that they weren’t really listening to each other,” he said. “It was really a powerful moment.”

Cedric Rucker ’81, associate vice president and dean of student life, From that point, the said Farmer’s influence at UMW continues to shape the curriculum. curriculum continued to Here Rucker holds Farmer’s autobiography, Lay Bare the Heart. expand, with courses introduced in women’s and gender studies – a program board at Mary Washington. celebrating its 10th anniversary this year – queer When Rucker joined the Mary Washington studies, and other areas that Mary Washington had faculty in 1989, he was floored to discover that never before covered.

Farmer was lecturing at his alma mater.

“I am a child of segregation,” Rucker said. “The civil rights era was an era I lived through. Farmer Debby Sullivan Kelly ’91 was a copious notewas involved in the events that opened the doors for taker in most of her classes. But she didn’t get far me to be at Mary Washington.” into her first lecture in Farmer’s class before she A few years later, Rucker would see firsthand stilled her hands and opened her eyes and ears. how Farmer impacted the curriculum at the “I was taking notes feverishly, and then I found institution. myself with my pen down because he was so Rucker had proposed to teach a class on ethnic captivating,” she said. “This was an experience studies that stirred faculty conflict over whether that I was just going to immerse myself in and not and how to adapt the curriculum to better reflect a worry about the notes.” world with more global connections.

Kelly had not known much about Farmer The debate led to a meeting in which faculty before taking his class. After hearing the firstmembers gave impassioned speeches about the person account of this man who led the first sit-in course. Rucker will always remember the moment Farmer asked to be recognized. Using a wheelchair, in Chicago in 1942, she was struck by how much deeper the true story of history goes than the names the polished orator moved to the front of the room that show up in textbooks. to speak.

Early in her career as an educator, she used “He talked about the importance of the course, Farmer’s autobiography in teaching a seventh-grade why it was important to Mary Washington and

Farmer changed learning

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Farmer changed lives In May 1961, Brenda Sloan was nearing her high school graduation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. When she learned that a group known as the Freedom Riders would be stopping a mere 30 miles away in Greensboro, she begged her parents to let her miss school to join the bus ride.

The Freedom Riders, organized by Farmer, rode buses through the South that summer to test compliance with the Supreme Court’s 1960 ruling forbidding racial segregation in interstate transit.

“My father said it was a dangerous thing to do.

Plus, he said, the school would not excuse me to go

The White House

English class. She was heartbroken when a student took her signed copy, but she soon realized this individual might have needed those words more than she did. Here, she thought, was yet another young person whom Farmer could impact.

Today, as a librarian at Woodbridge High School in Prince William County, Kelly tries to find books for her students that explore history beyond the well-known figures.

“Farmer’s class made me think bigger about history,” she said. “It made me think about how a movement comes about – it’s more than a figurehead. There are a lot of people who put their lives on the line to make this happen.”

Erika Bush

Farmer was a guest at the White House in 1998, when President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for extraordinary contributions to civil rights and social justice. He helped start the modern civil rights movement. At age 22, he co-founded CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, and organized the nation’s first civil rights sit-in. He organized the 1961 Freedom Rides, risked his life at marches throughout the South, and spent the 1963 March on Washington in a jail cell in Louisiana.

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UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

on a bus ride through the South,” Sloan recalled. “I felt that I had missed the bus.”

A few years later, Sloan had become active in demonstrations challenging segregation in restaurants and businesses in Durham, where she was a student at North Carolina Central University.

Sloan was jailed three times and nearly run over by a car. She experienced chilling fear when she and other college students blocked the entrance to a restaurant that refused to seat black people, and its owner emerged with a long rifle.

One day, she attended a rally where James Farmer was urging the crowd to use nonviolent methods to bring about change as he and other Freedom Riders had done. “It was such a huge crowd, he looked like a speck,” she said. “I never got close to him.”

That would change.

Sloan was an archivist and librarian at Mary Washington from 1983 until 2003. Shortly after Farmer arrived on campus in 1985, he called her to his office.

“The first thing I thought was, why does he want to see me? What did I do?”

Farmer asked her to help ensure that his autobiography was on file at the Library of Congress. The inquiry began a 14-year friendship.

Sloan got to tell Farmer how upset she was that her parents wouldn’t let her join the Freedom Rides.

She got to hear him describe some of his most difficult moments, such as the time in 1963 when he had to lie in the bottom of a hearse to escape a lynch mob after a peaceful protest in Plaquemine, Louisiana.

Over the years, Farmer’s health deteriorated, in part from complications of diabetes: He lost his sight, and his legs were amputated. Sloan was able to give back to this man who contributed so much to the civil rights movement.

She worked with the Black Faculty Association to arrange visits to his house in Spotsylvania County to check on him and help with basic maintenance. She introduced Farmer to contractors

Brenda Sloan, Mary Washington archivist and librarian from 1983 to 2003, remembers hearing Farmer speak when she was a young woman in North Carolina. She and Farmer became colleagues and friends. She is shown here helping a student in 1991.

within the black community, and many, when they learned who he was, performed repairs for him at no charge.

One day in December 1997, she was visiting her parents in North Carolina when she got a phone call. It was Farmer, making her one of the first to know that he would be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton in January. But there was a catch – she couldn’t tell a soul.

“I reckon my parents thought I was crazy,” Sloan said, because she’d been screaming with joy before hanging up the phone. “They said, ‘What was that about?’ I said, ‘That was just a friend of mine calling to tell me something.’”

A legacy carried through words and deeds Sloan and others said that as Farmer neared the end of his life, he had sought the honor of the Medal of Freedom. Despite being a leader in the civil rights movement and being on campus, Farmer still didn’t have the recognition among students – or the American public – that many felt he deserved.

“A lot of students thought the movement started with Dr. King in the ’60s,” Sloan said.

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“Farmer would talk about the first sit-in in the ’40s. He would say, ‘If you think it was dangerous in the ’60s, it was super dangerous in the ’40s.’”

Farmer retired as a distinguished professor of history and American studies in 1998. To this day, some of Farmer’s former students continue to look out for his legacy.

Cooper, who calls his experience driving Farmer to class “one of the greatest gifts of my life,” has been writing to the United States Postal Service for years trying to get Farmer on a postage stamp. He was part of a fall 2019 delegation from Mary Washington that visited Rep. John Lewis, a close friend of Farmer’s and fellow Freedom Rider and civil rights leader, at his office on Capitol Hill.

During that visit, Cooper spoke with Lewis while looking at a photo that included several major civil rights leaders. He pointed out that just about everyone in the photo but Farmer was already on a stamp.

Cooper was amazed that Lewis – on the first day of the House impeachment hearings – took more than an hour with the Mary Washington delegation. The group included Student Government Association President Jason Ford ’20.

Ford, from Culpeper, asked Lewis what today’s college students could do to continue the work of Farmer, Lewis, and the many others who contributed to the civil rights struggle.

“He said, ‘Don’t forget the fight that was fought beforehand,’” Ford said. “These leaders did not do this for it to be forgotten. There needs to be another generation of people to step up.”

Lewis had planned to headline the January celebration of Farmer’s 100th birthday, but he was unable to attend after receiving a cancer diagnosis in late 2019.

UMW President Paino, who also was at the meeting with Lewis, said the time the congressman spent with them was so extraordinary that it touched his heart and is “something I know I will take to my grave.”

Like Ford, he saw in Lewis’ words a call to action to keep Farmer’s legacy alive.

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UMW Libraries has developed a guide to help digital users find resources and information about James Farmer's life and work.

Find it at libguides.umw.edu/ jamesfarmer.

HEAR THE LECTURES Students of Dr. Jeffrey McClurken created a digital archive of many of James Farmer’s lectures at Mary Washington as part of a 2012 class. Audio and video recordings of the lectures, along with other information about Farmer, can be found at jamesfarmerlectures. umwblogs.org.

“I think we are getting ready to have a revival in this democracy,” Paino told the crowd gathered to mark Farmer’s birthday. “This next generation is going to get out and get involved to make our democracy stronger and better.”

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1920 1934 1938 1941 1942 1942

1960s

1961

1963

1964

1969-1970

Born Jan. 12 in Marshall, Texas Enrolled in Wiley College, where he excelled on the debate team Graduated with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry Graduated from Howard University School of Divinity with a Bachelor of Divinity At age 22, co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality, also known as CORE With CORE, organized the nation’s first civil rights sit-in in Chicago, followed by many others in the 1940s and ’50s Established as one of the Big Four of the civil rights movement along with Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young, and Roy Wilkins Organized and led the Freedom Rides to test federal law desegregating interstate bus travel Watched the March on Washington on a small TV from his jail cell in Plaquemine, Louisiana; though Farmer was a march organizer scheduled to speak in D.C., he and 200 others were arrested while peacefully protesting police brutality in Louisiana Freedom Summer: Farmer traveled to Mississippi after three civil rights workers – two of whom were CORE members – were murdered by a lynch mob; outrage about the violence contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Served as assistant secretary for administration in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; strengthened Head Start and a program to train and educate low-level employees in the department

1975-1981 Served as associate director of the Coalition of American Public Employees 1977 Wife Lula A. Peterson Farmer dies Early 1980s Moved to Spotsylvania County, Virginia, with the goal of finishing his autobiography 1985 Published Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement 1985-1998 Taught at Mary Washington, retiring as distinguished professor of history 1997 Received Mary Washington College honorary doctorate of humane letters 1998 Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for extraordinary contributions to civil

rights and social justice by President Bill Clinton; the James Farmer Multicultural Center renamed in his honor

July 9, 1999

Died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, survived by two daughters and a granddaughter

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Adam Ewing

By Emily Freehling

The James Farmer Multicultural Center and its assistant director, Christopher Williams (right), helped Brianna Reaves ’22 find her home on campus when she first came to UMW. Reaves and others founded UMW NAACP, an active group and the school’s first chapter.

rianna Reaves ’22 was looking for a sense of community.

When she arrived at Mary Washington for her first-year Welcome Week, she immediately sought ways to find her niche on campus.

As an African-American, “I didn’t see a lot of people who looked like me,” Reaves said. But that didn’t stop her from getting out and seeking a place to make her mark.

Reaves was asking a diversity speaker about how she could get involved to pursue her goals of activism and public service when she met Christopher Williams, assistant director of the James Farmer Multicultural Center (JFMC).

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“He told me to come by the center the next day, he said we could talk, and he would have a senior there to help me figure out what I wanted to do,” said Reaves, who is from Culpeper.

She did, and immediately found a home on her new campus.

“From that point on, I was kind of in the Multi-realm,” Reaves said, using the Multicultural Center’s nickname. “I was constantly in the center.”

In less than two years at Mary Washington, Reaves has worked with other students to establish the university’s first-ever campus chapter of the NAACP, a group she hopes can help students connect issues on campus with a national audience.

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A sociology major with a social justice minor, Reaves wants to one day hold elected office. She’s learned a lot about how to make change on her college campus through her involvement with the JFMC, which for three decades has been helping students of all ethnic and racial backgrounds and sexual orientations feel welcome at Mary Washington.

The center was founded in 1990, when civil rights leader James Farmer was teaching at the college. In 1998 – right after Farmer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom – students petitioned to rename the center for Farmer.

CELEBRATING OUR DIFFERENCES In 1990, the cultural club offerings at Mary Washington consisted solely of the Black Student Association and the Asian Student Association.

Cultural events were limited to Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January and Black History Month in February.

Today, JFMC Director Marion Sanford points to nearly 20 multicultural and social justice clubs that form the center’s leadership council.

The JFMC sponsors more than 11 cultural celebrations throughout the year. The latest addition to the lineup is the Native American Cultural Celebration.

“When we start in August and September, we don’t stop until mid-April, and we are very proud of that,” Sanford said. “It is very important that our students know how important it is to celebrate who they are. It doesn’t matter whether there is one student in that community on campus or 200.”

In addition to its cultural awareness series, each year the center also sponsors a Social Justice and Leadership Summit, Social Justice Teach-In series, and Human Rights Film Series.

The JFMC is best known in the wider Fredericksburg community for its annual Multicultural Fair in April. For the first time since it began in 1991 as the Multicultural International Festival, the 2020 event was canceled to comply with health recommendations related to COVID-19.

Forrest Parker, shown here in a photo from the winter 1991 Mary Washington College Today, was the first director of the Multicultural Center and helped found the popular Multicultural Fair.

The event has helped change attitudes at the school about the importance of celebrating students’ backgrounds.

Forrest Parker remembers that when the fair was first proposed, not everybody on campus was on board. Parker was the first director of the Multicultural Center and helped found the Multicultural Fair. He is now CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Rappahannock Region.

“Some people thought the campus wasn’t ready for it,” Parker said of the fair. “I was thinking just the opposite – how can you make a dent and change the thinking until you create a campus that is inclusive?”

Helping more people feel at home The central driver behind the creation of the Multicultural Center was inclusivity.

Parker had come to Mary Washington from James Madison University, where he had helped that school greatly increase black enrollment.

Parker believed motivating students from different backgrounds to be leaders was essential to helping them find their footing. He had helped create two groups for African-American students at

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JFMC Director Marion Sanford wants every student to celebrate who they are. The center now supports 20 multicultural and social justice clubs and holds 11 cultural celebrations most years.

JMU – Brothers of a New Direction (BOND) and Women of Color. He brought those organizations to UMW, where they remain active today.

Student Government Association President Jason Ford ’20, from Culpeper, was president of BOND before he took on his campuswide leadership role.

His involvement in that organization helped him get to know the JFMC better.

“I found my home at Mary Washington,” Ford said of the center. “I really just felt compelled and energized by the people there and their dedication to social justice.”

Reaching a larger audience Helping individual students find their footing isn’t enough without educating the wider student body about diversity and making differences something to celebrate.

That belief motivated Parker to encourage the creation of organizations celebrating Hispanic, Asian, Jewish, and other heritages in his first two years as the center’s director.

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“We really worked hard in trying to embrace the uniqueness that each person brought to the table – and the likeness they brought to the table,” he said.

Today, the Multicultural Center holds art and artifacts sent in by students and alumni from trips they’ve taken to visit homelands as far-flung as Africa and the Middle East. Sanford, the current director, treasures these items as signs of the strong bonds the center and its staff form with students.

“That they thought enough about the JFMC when they are away from this place speaks to the relationship this center has with students,” Sanford said.

Experiential learning that opens minds Sanford is proud of the success of the JFMC’s annual fall social justice trips. She sees students return from them with a newly ignited passion for working toward equality.

In October 2019, 45 students, 20 alumni and community members, and five faculty and staff boarded buses to retrace the route of the 1961

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At right are scenes from earlier Multicultural Fairs.

Top: Vendors display their goods around Ball Circle at the 1993 fair.

Barry Fitzgerald

The much-anticipated spring Multicultural Fair often brings 4,000 to 6,000 visitors to campus to enjoy food, music, dancing, and vendors selling wares from around the globe. The first, called the Multicultural International Festival, was held in 1991. The 2020 event was canceled, like others on campus, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Norm Shafer

Bottom: UMW Eagle Bhangra dancers feel the beat at the 2011 fair. The yellow and black banners in the background posted on Lee Hall mark UMW’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides. James Farmer organized and participated in the bus trips through the South to test compliance with a Supreme Court ruling on interstate bus travel. He and fellow Riders were locked in Mississippi’s notorious Parchman Penitentiary and held more than a month.

Jack Mellott

Middle: Performers gather in front of Lee Hall to entertain the crowd at the 1996 fair.

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Lessons for a lifetime As a student, Charles Reed Jr. ’11 learned a lot about how to build an inclusive organization when he worked with the James Farmer Multicultural Center.

As he helped plan events and construct programs that spread awareness of the importance of diversity, he developed a strong appreciation for the role the center plays on campus.

“The Multicultural Center is pivotal to making sure that people recognize the importance of understanding different values and beliefs and people from different backgrounds,” he said. “It creates a more interactive environment, especially as we think about college as a time when young adults are beginning to shape their beliefs around how they want to contribute to society.”

Because of the center, Reed learned in his senior year that PBS was seeking college students to participate in a 50th-anniversary commemoration of the Freedom Rides. The journey through the South by bus would be filmed for a documentary.

Reed was chosen from more than 1,000 individuals who applied for the trip, and he missed

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Freedom Rides. James Farmer organized and participated in that effort to test a 1960 Supreme Court decision banning segregation in interstate transportation.

A fall 2018 UMW social justice trip took students to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, to visit the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

“When we came back, the students were so impacted by what they witnessed,” Sanford said, “They were determined to get out there and be agents of change.”

It was on return from Montgomery that Reaves and others founded the UMW chapter of NAACP. Ford returned from the trip with renewed passion to lead for equality and inclusion.

“Anyone can go out and make noise,” Sanford said. “It’s important to be able to be strategic and to have a vision and a goal.”

Before Jason Ford was president of the SGA, he was president of Brothers of a New Direction (BOND) and was often at the JFMC. “I found my home at Mary Washington,” he said.

his own 2011 commencement ceremony to go.

He said the journey was a fitting culmination to a college experience that opened his eyes to the contributions Farmer made in the fight for equality, and to the ways he can continue that work.

In his professional life as a financial adviser, Reed has served on committees to help his employer create a more inclusive work environment. He also serves on UMW’s Farmer Legacy 2020 planning committee, which is promoting a yearlong series of events to honor Farmer and his legacy at Mary Washington.

Seeing students like Reaves, Ford, and Reed inspired to take action based on things they’ve learned through the Multicultural Center is one of the most rewarding parts of Sanford’s job.

“That is one of the reasons we were originally started. To celebrate culture, promote diversity, to help provide racial harmony on campus, but also to educate,” Sanford said. “We take that charge and that sense of purpose very seriously.”

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Norm Shafer

By Emily Freehling

Above: For three decades, COAR, Community Outreach and Resources, has helped students help the community.

For COAR’s 2018 Good Neighbor Day students gathered early before assisting residents with yardwork and outdoor chores. They ended with a picnic on Ball Circle for volunteers and the neighbors they helped.

ow much do Mary Washington students engage with the broader Fredericksburg community?

That question has been discussed in the city for as long as the school has sat on Marye’s Heights.

But there are plenty of community connections to be found in the experience of Carleigh Rahn ’22, an education major from Loudoun County.

Rahn talks fondly of helping an older campus neighbor with yard work as part of UMW’s annual Good Neighbor Day. Afterward, she stayed for coffee and brownies and heard his history of serving in the military and living in England.

One day she was stopped at a traffic light when two little girls rolled down the rear window in the adjacent car and began yelling her name. These were children she had tutored at the Bragg Hill

Family Life Center, which serves at-risk youth.

“It’s true connection,” Rahn said. “It’s crazy how much you get to feel a part of someone else’s life here.”

Rahn’s service experiences have been part of her work as an intern and mentor with UMW’s Community Outreach and Resources, known on campus as COAR. In 2020, COAR marks 30 years of helping connect Mary Washington students with service opportunities in the broader Fredericksburg community. COAR is a clearinghouse that helps students volunteer with some of Fredericksburg’s most respected community organizations – Hope House, Downtown Greens, and Friends of the Rappahannock, to name a few.

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From left: Sarah Dewees, associate director of the Center for Community Engagement; Carleigh Rahn ’22, who manages COAR’s internship program; Taylor Coleman ’23, who manages special projects; and Tamara McAllister ’20, a COAR intern.

At the Thurman Brisben Center, a homeless shelter serving the Fredericksburg region, Community Relations Manager Joe Hargrove said that for years, UMW students have helped with cleaning, organizing, and providing entertainment for children.

“It is amazing to see our children finish dinner on Thursday and then wait at the front door in anticipation of the UMW students,” he said.

“COAR has brought a lot of joy to our residents over the last several years, and we are very, very grateful.”

In 1989, then-President William Anderson tapped student leaders to create an umbrella organization for service opportunities. UMW’s goal of producing graduates with a heart for serving those around them has been a priority since.

Anderson’s call came to Liz Baumgarten Heagy ’91, a political science major who was vice president of the Student Government Association during her junior year.

On a student government retreat, she said, Anderson said he wanted to better organize volunteer efforts among students and connect them with the larger community.

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“It was a movement overall in the country at the time,” said Heagy, who after receiving a law degree from Temple University has worked with nonprofits most of her career. “A lot of college campuses either had volunteer centers or were starting them.”

Heagy worked closely with Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Life Cedric Rucker ’81 to build the organization.

“Students were out in the community in dribs and drabs,” at the time, Rucker recalled. “This was a question of, how do we make it more holistic? How do we connect it to the university’s goals and initiatives, its approach to learning?”

When it came time to name the organization, both Rucker and Heagy quickly recognized that the acronym COAR was a homophone of CORE – the Congress of Racial Equality, a landmark civil rights organization founded by civil rights leader James Farmer, who was teaching at UMW at that time.

At first, Heagy feared the similarity would be confusing, but Rucker saw plenty of parallels between Farmer’s inspiration and UMW COAR’s purpose.

Lecturing to Mary Washington students in

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Suzanne Carr Rossi ’00

Noah Strobel ’20

Above, left: In 1989, Liz Baumgarten Heagy answered then-President Bill Anderson’s call to organize student volunteers and connect them with the community, and COAR was born. Above, right: Students prepare garden soil in a Fredericksburg resident’s yard during COAR’s 2019 Good Neighbor Day.

1986, Farmer called the civil rights era of the 1960s “the nation’s finest hour,” because it was a time when “millions, white and black, found something to believe in that was outside of themselves and bigger than they.”

Helping students find a cause beyond a diploma and a career has become a part of UMW’s mission. Promoting community service and civic engagement is the first goal listed in President Troy Paino’s strategic vision, adopted by the Board of Visitors in 2017. It’s also part of the ASPIRE vision statement, now visible on banners throughout campus. The “E” in the acronym “ASPIRE” stands for “engagement,” through leadership and community service.

Rucker said these ties to service can be linked to Farmer’s legacy.

“What is our obligation as an institution?”

Rucker asked. “Are we just here to grant diplomas, or are we really connected to the future? … I think having Dr. Farmer as a touchstone for that puts us in a very special position.”

To bridge higher learning with the broader community, UMW opened the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) on campus in

fall 2019. The center builds connections among students, faculty, staff, and community partners.

It includes COAR, as well as alternative service breaks – service trips offered to students during school breaks – and the newly launched UMW Votes, a nonpartisan program that educates students about all aspects of the voting process. The university offers “community engaged” classes that include a 15-hour community service requirement related to course learning outcomes.

“Service helps build citizenship skills,” said Sarah Dewees, associate director of the CCE. “Understanding how society works and what they can do to give back to society is a really important part of the growth process students go through while they are at UMW.” Involvement with COAR also builds organizational and leadership experience. Students can work their way up through internships to paid staff positions, and, for three decades, the group has been entirely student-run.

“The foresight they had to allow students to mentor other students and develop their leadership skills – it is really a brilliant model,” Dewees said.

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hen Christopher Williams entered the James Farmer Scholars Program at the University of Mary Washington as a seventh-grader from Spotsylvania County, he couldn’t foresee the opportunities the program would open to him.

“Neither of my parents went to college, and this program afforded me the opportunity to come to a college campus not far from where I lived,” said Williams, who graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University. Today he is assistant director of UMW’s James Farmer Multicultural Center. “It really changed my life.”

The James Farmer Scholars Program, which welcomed its first class of students in 1988, was the vision of retired Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Hall.

“He knew that we needed to think about access for African-American students,” said Professor of Education Venitta McCall, the program’s founding director. “He wanted something for African-American children in our area to talk about college access and opportunity.”

McCall was already familiar with this work. At the time, she was director of Upward Bound – a federal program that provides academic support to low-income and first-generation college-bound students.

McCall and Hall worked to build something that wouldn’t have the eligibility restrictions of a federal program and would reach students before they hit high school. James Farmer Scholars enter the program in seventh grade. They attend a daylong Saturday program at Mary Washington 26

Adam Ewing

By Emily Freehling

Professor Venitta McCall was founding director of the James Farmer Scholars Program; its purpose was to open the possibility of college to African-American preteens and teenagers.

every month and spend a week in residence on campus each summer.

The program includes students from four area school districts – Fredericksburg and the counties of Westmoreland, Caroline, and Spotsylvania.

Each district appoints a school-based sponsor to help support students in their home schools.

One of the early sponsors was Fredericksburg native Marci Catlett, a teacher, administrator, and now superintendent of the Fredericksburg City Public Schools. Catlett, Fredericksburgarea community leader and educator Marguerite Young, and National Education Association secretary-treasurer Princess Moss ’83 helped build a curriculum around the contributions African-Americans have made to literature, the arts, science, and mathematics. “The message was always, ‘You can do this, too,’” McCall said.

Reggie Samuel, a James Farmer Scholar when he attended Caroline County middle and high schools from 1992 to 1997, said the program greatly influenced him. “It was phenomenal. It had a huge impact on how I saw the world and

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Christopher Williams, assistant director of the JFMC, said being part of UMW’s James Farmer Scholars Program changed his life. Farmer was a family friend when Williams was growing up in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Here, he holds a snapshot of himself and his mother as they celebrated Farmer’s 77th birthday at the ailing civil rights leader’s bedside.

the opportunities that were available for me, and how I should navigate the pursuit of those opportunities,” he said.

Samuel graduated from Virginia Tech and is founder and managing director of the Leumas Group, a financial services firm in Spotsylvania County.

Samuel’s son, an eighth-grader, is now in his second year in the James Farmer Scholars Program, and Samuel is working with others at Mary Washington to position the program for future success.

UMW paused new classes entering the program after fall 2018. Leaders began to reimagine the program to better match available resources and the needs of today’s students, whose schedules are busier and who have more enrichment opportunities than when the program started in the 1980s.

In Samuel’s view, every year a new class doesn’t enter the program is a missed opportunity to open potential first-generation college students to their bright prospects. He has reached out to James Farmer Scholars alumni and found interest in hosting fundraisers and lending other support to reinvigorate the program.

“We are reaching kids at a point where their lives can go in various directions,” he said. “When you catch a kid in seventh grade and anchor their thought process in a direction that is going to be beneficial for them, you are having generational impacts.”

Those impacts are part of the legacy of the program’s namesake, civil rights icon James Farmer, who was teaching at Mary Washington when the program began.

Williams, who grew up minutes from Farmer’s Spotsylvania County home, had the added benefit of having Farmer as a mentor while he was participating in the program. He was one of five James Farmer Scholars invited to attend the ceremony when Farmer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.

“One of the things Dr. Farmer hoped was that these children would carry his legacy forward and do the good work of moving this country ahead for positive change,” Williams said. “The James Farmer Scholars Program gave us the tools to become people that he envisioned us becoming.”

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By Emily Freehling

Like many students, 2011 graduate Charles Reed Jr. hadn’t heard of James Farmer until a UMW first-year seminar. Farmer’s story changed Reed’s academic career and his life. The financial consultant serves on the Farmer Legacy Celebration Committee.

harles Reed Jr. ’11 had never heard of James Farmer until, shortly after arriving on the University of Mary Washington campus, he registered for a first-year seminar about the life and legacy of the civil rights leader.

“I got my first introduction to who he was and how pivotal of a role player he was in the civil rights movement, founding CORE [the Congress of Racial Equality] and spearheading the Freedom Rides movement,” Reed said of the class, which was taught by Professor Timothy O’Donnell, now associate provost for academic engagement and student success.

Despite James Farmer’s enormous contributions to the struggle for civil rights in America, his isn’t a name many students learn as they go through the typical high school American history curriculum.

In the years since Farmer’s death in 1999, UMW faculty have sought ways to ensure that students don’t leave the school without an

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understanding of this man whose bust is displayed on Campus Walk and who is the namesake of the James Farmer Multicultural Center. Farmer taught at Mary Washington from 1985 until he retired as distinguished professor of history and American studies in 1998.

First-year seminars are classes of about 15 firstyear students that help new students find their footing as they begin college-level work. F-sems, as they’re nicknamed, provide an opportunity for students to build a relationship with the instructor teaching the seminar.

“The idea is that they connect with that faculty member, so they feel that they are known. They matter to somebody,” said Professor of Classics, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Craig Vasey.

As co-director of the university’s race and gender curriculum development project, Vasey helped develop the F-sem that has introduced hundreds of Mary Washington students to Farmer’s role in history.

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A. Y. Owen/The LIFE Images Collection/ Getty Images

During their first-year seminar, many students are surprised to learn of James Farmer’s heroism and leadership in the civil rights movement. Here, he leads a CORE-sponsored march through Bogalusa, Louisiana, in July 1965.

He barely escaped lynching after a similar march that year, 100 miles west in Plaquemine.

Called “Race and Revolution,” the multidisciplinary seminar has been taught over the years by faculty from many different departments, including mathematics, geography, English, sociology, and classics.

Professor of Mathematics Suzanne Sumner said she enjoys teaching the class from a leadership development perspective.

“The civil rights movement is an insightful case study on how to create change despite overwhelming obstacles,” she wrote in an email.

Sumner said many students, like Reed, come to Mary Washington unaware of Farmer and his contributions. UMW provides some information during student orientation, but the first-year seminar is a chance to take a deeper dive.

Often, students in the class will read Farmer’s autobiography, Lay Bare the Heart.

“One thing I always do is ask my students every week to look for articles about racial issues in the news and keep a log of those so that they

can register how much these issues are in the news all the time,” Vasey said.

This presents an opportunity to show not only how relevant the civil rights movement continues to be, but also how much more there is to the story of history than what gets covered in high school.

“I think they are surprised at first. They are surprised that they don’t know his name, and they are surprised at how little they know about the civil rights movement,” Vasey said. “Many times, they are quite irritated to discover how little they learned about that aspect of our history.”

Sumner echoed that sentiment and added that the seminar energizes students to tell the story of James Farmer’s contributions to the American struggle for equality.

“By the end of the semester, students treat Dr. Farmer as ‘our’ civil rights leader, and they believe that Dr. Farmer’s legacy should be more broadly disseminated beyond UMW,” Sumner wrote.

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Craig Hutson

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Special Collections and University Archives Craig Hutson

By Edie Gross

Above, middle: Students appreciate the newly renovated Willard Hall recreation area. Above, right: Shaun McBride studies in Willard before COVID-19 measures were in place.

Jacki Richards Sowers ’69

Left: 1959 graduates Mary Fredman Downing and Cecelia “Cece” Bergin Robbins lived in Willard as first-year students.

still recalls the first time she laid eyes on Willard Hall in the fall of 1965. Its stately brick walls and column-lined entrances made the first-year student from Petersburg, Virginia, officially feel like a college girl, she said.

“Of all the dorms on campus, that was the grande dame of them all,” she reminisced. “It just looked so regal.”

The residence, the oldest one on campus, looked considerably less regal when Sowers toured it during the summer of 2019, after it had been stripped down to its floor joists for a massive renovation and restoration project. Still, she had no trouble locating the triple where she spent her first year at Mary Washington, Room 302. On Saturday nights, she said, the entire floor smelled like a salon as girls prepared for their dates, who waited patiently in the first-floor parlor under the watchful eye of the house mother.

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“There was something magical about Willard, and I think it had to do with the friends I made there. But the dorm itself had history seeping from every corner,” said Sowers, who now lives in Midlothian, Virginia. “I couldn’t have started off in a better place.”

Honoring that history while providing muchneeded upgrades were the goals of a recently completed $19.3 million refurbishment of Willard Hall, which first opened to residents in 1911. The window panes on the first floor are original to the building. But the light that passes through them now floods several spacious lounge areas and a large contemporary kitchen with granite countertops, a flat-top stove, and two stainless steel convection ovens.

New plumbing, mechanical, electrical, and

Building Council. But a healthy respect for the building’s past means that Willard’s newest arrivals walk across the same maple floorboards, recently refinished, that its first residents did nearly 110 years ago.

“There’s a lot of character still in this building,” said resident assistant Shaun McBride ’23, one of 165 students who moved into Willard at the start of the spring 2020 semester. “And the fancy kitchen, the community rooms, they’re the bomb-dot-com.” (McBride and others lived in Willard until mid-March, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.)

Originally known simply as “the dormitory,” the building was sort of a catch-all in its earliest days, housing at various times a dining hall, an infirmary, a gift shop, a parlor, and a post office

Adam Ewing

Left: Mary Fredman Downing arrives at Willard Hall on her first day at Mary Washington College in 1955, her car trunk tied to hold her belongings. Her father, Fred, took the photo, and younger sister Ann is pictured. Right: Students watch basketball in one of Willard’s spacious new lounge areas before the pandemic forced the university to send students home.

fire-suppression systems have been installed, and the building boasts a new elevator. But in a nod to Willard’s early grandeur, the vinyl mats that covered the stairways were peeled away to reveal the original stone steps, and the interior hallways – narrowed and carved up over the intervening decades – are once again wide and airy. Twenty-first century touches, like doubleglazed energy-efficient windows on the second and third floors, mean the project can seek LEED-silver certification from the U.S. Green

in addition to the students who attended what was then called the State Normal and Industrial School for Women. In 1915, the residence hall was named after Frances Willard. The New York educator was a college dean and president, but she is best known as a 19th-century suffragist and temperance advocate. The building underwent a number of cosmetic changes over the years: The first-floor dining hall was converted into bedrooms after Seacobeck Hall opened in the 1930s. Ramps and larger UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

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bathrooms were added in the 1970s. And a new roof was installed in the ’90s. In July 2017, campus officials were debating how best to renovate the hall for 21st-century residents when a steam tunnel beneath Willard ruptured. The first floor buckled and the building, which by then was reserved for upper-level students, became uninhabitable.

That made its renovation a top priority, said Gary Hobson, UMW capital outlay director. By November 2017, Train Architects of Charlottesville, Virginia, had won the design contract. Kjellstrom and Lee, a Richmond-based construction management firm, oversaw internal demolition the following April and began fullscale renovation in December 2018, Hobson said.

Wide-open community spaces, study areas, and natural light were among the most-requested amenities from the 1,600 students and alumni who responded to a university-sponsored survey about the project, said Hunter Rauscher, associate director for Residence Life and Housing. As a result, the first floor of the first-year-only residence hall offers a 16-seat seminar room and several smaller conference rooms, where students can hook up laptops, cellphones, and gaming systems to bigscreen monitors. The large kitchen is a popular gathering space, as is a nearby movie room. And each residence floor features cozy study nooks and spacious TV rooms.

“You have spaces to get loud in,” said Fairfax, Virginia, resident Sophia Ferens ’23, “and spaces to get serious in.”

Like Ferens, most of the Willard students

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moved over from Virginia Hall in January. To allay concerns they might have had about their upcoming transition, campus officials hosted an open house in early December 2019 so residents could take a peek.

“Every student who walked in, their jaws just dropped,” Rauscher said. “It was awesome to see the joy on their faces.”

While the dust has settled at Willard, work is just getting started on Virginia Hall, which opened in 1915 as the third building on campus after Willard and Monroe halls. An $18 million renovation, which also includes significant repairs to the Palmieri Plaza fountain and the relocation of a main underground steam line, is expected to be completed by August 2021, Hobson said.

Jasmine Coppola ’23 of Prospect, Connecticut, said she missed the larger room she had in Virginia Hall, but she loved her deeper closet and the huge windows in her corner room in Willard. She and her friends call the dorm “Hotel Willard” because of its high ceilings and colorful “IKEA-esque” furnishings in the common spaces.

Resident assistant Maggie McCotter ’20 said her second-floor residents particularly enjoyed gathering in one of the common rooms on Monday evenings to watch The Bachelor. Spaces that encourage togetherness are particularly important in a first-year dorm, she said.

“It really fosters community, and that’s what UMW is all about. You’re all going through a lot of the same issues, and you’re able to bond through that,” said McCotter, an English major from Louisa County, Virginia.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Far left: The newly renovated Willard entryway provides a bright, open recreation space for students to gather. Left: The original entryway, shown here circa 1915, served as a dining hall.

Below, top: Jasmine Coppola and Sophia Ferens share popcorn in the contemporary kitchen. Below, middle: Willard’s original maple floorboards gleam between a 16-seat seminar room and a smaller conference room.

Below, bottom: Students enjoy refreshments and music from a Victrola in the Willard tea room, circa 1925.

Special Collections and University Archives

Former Willard residents agree that the bonds forged in a first-year residence hall can last a lifetime. Chesterfield, Virginia, resident Barbara Bishop Mann ’66 said some of her favorite memories from Willard include evening dancing and doing the limbo in the hallway with her floormates after mandatory study time. In those days, she said, coming and going from Willard meant checking in with the house mother. To avoid having to explain herself, she once tugged on a trench coat over her pajamas, shinnied out her first-floor window, and headed down the hill toward Sunken Road and the source of the tinkling music that heralded the evening arrival of Mister Softee.

“You could hear him coming, and I was like Pavlov’s dog,” Mann recalled, noting that no one had air conditioning in those days, so the dorm windows were almost always open. “At the first ding, I was on my feet.”

Mary Fredman Downing ’59, who lives in Reston, Virginia, and serves on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, recalls playing endless games of bridge in Willard Hall between classes. When one resident had to leave for class, another would take over her cards. It’s important to take advantage of the kind of camaraderie a place like Willard Hall inspires, she said.

“Really involve yourself as much as you can with the people you’re living with. Do things together, even learn to play bridge. It’s a wonderful experience,” she advised students. “I met a lot of wonderful people in that hall, some of whom are my dearest friends to this day.”

Adam Ewing

Craig Hutson

Special Collections and University Archives

You can help preserve special buildings and spaces like Willard Hall by giving to the Campus Preservation Fund. Find out more by calling 540-654-1024, or visit giving.umw.edu.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

33

BOOK REPORT

Books of note

Practical Steps to Digital Research Deborah Bradford Stanley-Bloom ’72 ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited, September 2018 High Risk Clients: Evidence-based Assessment & Clinical Tools to Recognize and Effectively Respond to Mental Health Crises Paul B. Brasler ’92, Pesi Publishing & Media, August 2019 Leadership: Strategic Thinking, Decision Making, Communication, and Relationship Building Kathleen Riopelle Roberts ’92 and Ann Martin ALA Editions, fall 2019 There’s No Manual: Honest and Gory Wisdom About Having a Baby Beth Newell and Jackie Ann Ruiz ’06, Avery, Feb. 4, 2020

GET THE PICTURE?

Give It Your Best Shot Who are these spirited students posing with a previous incarnation of Sammy D. Eagle? It was September 1988, and the occasion was the dedication of Mary Washington’s brand-new ballfield. The photo was by Barry Fitzgerald. Can you tell us the full names of Ton, Shel, and Bec? 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! Linda C. Ryan recognized herself on the left, with Roberta Pilk McDonald, center, and Annie Reynolds Kusnitz at commencement in 1972.

Linda remembers that all majored in dramatic arts.

She wrote, “Thank you for the good memories.”

Board of Visitors member Martha “Marty” Abbott ’72 also spotted Roberta and let us know.

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UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Featured Book The Rightful King S. Blake Thews ’96 Warren Publishing, fall 2019 The author’s debut novel is a fantasy that should appeal to fans of Game of Thrones. It’s the first book in the Fire and Shadows series.

Jerry Lacay, Princess Grace Foundation-USA

NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

Paxton’s New TV Show Tackles Downsizing

Jay Paul

Matt Paxton ’97 helps downsizers and their families rediscover misplaced treasures in Legacy List With Matt Paxton, which premiered Baker on public televisionBrian in January.

Matt Paxton

In it, downsizers create “legacy lists” of items they know exist somewhere in a house but that they can’t find. Paxton and a team of experts save those items before moving day. Each episode tells a different family’s story, interspersed with information about the items. NextAvenue.org said Paxton’s show is a cross between Antiques Roadshow and Finding Your Roots.

Paxton hosted A&E’s Hoarders and understands the complicated relationships people have with possessions and one another. Legacy List takes a lighter look at what items are truly important, sometimes monetarily but always personally.

Prince Albert ll of Monaco, center, Alicia Austin, third from left, and the other 2019 Princess Grace Award theater winners.

Theater Alum Wins Scholarship At New York’s Plaza hotel last November, Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton fame announced the six winners of the coveted Princess Grace Award in theater. Among them was Alicia Austin ’16.

The scholarship will support Austin’s final year of graduate theater design studies at the Yale School of Drama.

Yale nominated Austin for the honor, which provides professional

support throughout the recipient’s career. The dozens of past recipients include actor and singer Odom, playwright Tony Kushner, Tonyaward-winning theater director Anna D. Shapiro, and film director Jon M. Chu. The Princess Grace FoundationUSA identifies and assists emerging artists by awarding scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships.

Becker Is a Facebook Superadmin Dee Dee Weinstein Becker ’86, a Virginia Beach, Virginia-based marketing and PR specialist who owns consulting firm Becker Communications, has been named a Facebook “power administrator.”

The designation grew from Becker’s experience as a Virginia Tech Hokie mom; her daughter is a 2018 graduate. Becker is lead admin for the group Virginia Tech Parents (16,500 members), moderator of Grown and Flown Parents (136,000 parents), and creator/admin of University Parent Group Admins (more than 300 admins representing more than

180 university parent groups).

Facebook Dee Dee has twice Weinstein Becker invited her to speak on panels at communicators’ summits, one at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters and another in New York City.

A psychology major in her Mary Washington days, Becker keeps in touch with classmates on the private Facebook group Our Mary Washington College Friends.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

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NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

Award Recognizes Baker’s Entrepreneurial Guidance, Leadership

Angela Pham

Brian Baker

Business has always been good to Brian Baker ’84, MBA ’89 – whether he was running his own company or helping fledgling entrepreneurs to succeed as executive director of UMW’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

His longtime commitment to the area’s business development recently earned him the Prince Woodard Leadership Award from the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Artist Taylor Anton White opened his first New York solo show in January.

Artist’s Solo New York Exhibit Defies Conventions

In nearly 20 years guiding the SBDC, Baker has helped launch more than 550 small businesses, creating or retaining almost 8,000 jobs. Under his leadership, Mary Washington’s SBDC ranks among Virginia’s five top small business development organizations.

Visual artist Taylor Anton White ’18 had his first solo New York show earlier this year, with the exhibit Free_Hotdog.pdf running January through March at Monica King Contemporary in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood.

White’s works are “mixed-media compositions in the artist’s signature exuberant and multifaceted style,” the gallery said in a press release.

In naming the exhibit an “editors pick,” Artnet News described White’s works as straddling “the disparate modes of communication that we rely on, with a healthy dose of humor that is just as cerebral as it is visually enticing.”

White is an Iraq War veteran who served nine years in the Marine Corps before earning a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in studio art at Mary Washington. He lives and works in Richmond, Virginia.

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UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Producer’s Puppy Bowl Is a Wagging Success Dog-lovers who enjoyed watching Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl XVI might only have had eyes for the cute competitors who wagged their way through the canine version of the Super Bowl. But they also were Jordan Kyler unwittingly appreciating the work of Jordan Kyler ’15 – an associate producer for the show, working with colleagues on the booking, scheduling, coordinating, and problem-solving that happens behind the scenes. The studio arts major also is a contract associate producer on National Geographic’s Secrets of the Zoo. With a master’s degree in photographic and electronic media, Kyler has worked in television production for three years.

Kerri Barile’s Entrepreneurship Celebrated

Scientist Leads Bio Materials Repository

Historic preservation consultant Kerri S. Barile ’94 has been recognized as a 2020 Enterprising Woman of the Year, an honor for female entrepreneurs who also support their communities.

Raymond D. Stapleton Jr. ’92 has been named president and chief operating officer of ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials resource and standards Raymond D. Stapleton Jr. organization.

Barile co-founded Dovetail Cultural Resource Group in 2005. The firm now employs nearly 50 preservation professionals in offices in Fredericksburg and Wilmington, Delaware. Many of Dovetail’s employees are UMW graduates. In 2019, Barile’s firm generously established an endowed scholarship in historic preservation at UMW. It also gives 10 percent of its annual profits to charitable organizations.

Museum Communicator Named a Top Richmonder Under 40 As director of communications for the Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia, Eric Steigleder ’10 helps area residents better understand the region, its history, and one another.

Scott Elmquist/Style Weekly/TCA

Stapleton majored in biology at Mary Washington and earned a Ph.D. in microbial ecology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A member of the American Society for Microbiology, he has served as a peer reviewer for scientific journals and has coauthored 17 peerreviewed manuscripts.

Kerri S. Barile

Enterprising Women magazine was to have celebrated Barile and the other winners at a March ceremony in Clearwater Beach, Florida; the event was postponed to a later date.

Headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, ATCC is a nonprofit repository and distributor of materials such as cell lines, molecular genomics tools, microorganisms, and bioproducts, for use in research, academics, and industry. ATCC provides research and development standards to help scientists ensure safety and quality, conducts independent research, and more.

Before joining ATCC, Stapleton had more than 20 years’ experience at Iovance Biotherapeutics, Synthetic Biologics, and Merck and Company.

Norm Shafer

NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

Eric Steigleder

Through its museum exhibitions, welltended collections, history tours, and public programs, the Valentine brings people together for conversations that aren’t always easy.

“From a history perspective it can be difficult enough to talk about some of these complicated stories,” Steigleder told Richmond’s Style Magazine last year. “But it’s even more important to talk about them in a way that helps us address the issues of today.”

The magazine recognized Steigleder – who majored in history at Mary Washington – as one of its Top 40 Under 40 in 2019.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

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ALUMNI SEEN

SCENES FROM

RESCHEDULED! Save the Date UMW’s Volunteer Leadership Summit, below, was held Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Hurley Convergence Center.

Attendees gathered for a photo in the digital auditorium.

Sept. 5-7, 2020 alumni.umw.edu/ reunionweekend 38

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

ALUMNI SEEN Right: JaQuayla Bridges ’22 and her mom, Jeannie Walker-Bridges ’05, MBA ’07, were among family groups at last October’s legacy lunch. Below: Katherine Fox ’01, Zoey Lutterbie ’23, Lucy Mancuso Lutterbie ’70, and Bryan Lutterbie ’01 shared a moment at the event.

Members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors got together in October 2019 at the Kalnen Inn.

The annual Eagle Crawl took place in downtown Fredericksburg before social distancing became necessary.

In November, the Richmond alumni network combined socializing with service by helping out with a project of the Shepherd’s Way Relief Center serving the city’s homeless and needy.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

39

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.

Editor’s Note: Class Notes were submitted before the COVID-19 pandemic forced postponements of planned events.

1930s

Scholarship endowed by the Class of 1941.

1942

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1943

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Anna Ruth “Anne” Jones Wilson in February 2019. I remember vividly the good time we had at the ’06 reunion and how our daughters became friends.

Our class doesn’t have a lot of news, and many of the girls I knew are not with us anymore. I gave up on email, but I can still be reached via the classnotes@umw. edu email address; your updates will be forwarded to my home address via regular mail.

As for me, Patricia Mathewson Spring, I’m still at home with the help of my children, some domestic help, a cane, and a walker. Very slow moving but standing!

I did hear from Sally Heritage Jordan, who is doing fine and still involved in a swimming program. She wants everyone to know that she receives thank-you notes from the recipients of the Class of 1946 scholarships. She sends her best wishes, and to all she adds, “Have a good attitude and keep a smile on your face.” I’ll buy that!

There are no class notes from the 1930s, but three classes have scholarship recipients.

Biology major Lauren Quinn ’22 received the Class of 1943 Scholarship in memory of Levin J. Houston III.

Psychology major Victoria Munevar ’20 received the Edward Alvey Jr. Scholarship endowed by the Class of 1936.

1944

Youstina Mousa ’23 and English major Katherine Brown ’20 received the Class of 1946 Scholarship.

I, Phyllis Quimby Anderson, have little news this time. My regulars have either passed away or are unable to continue UMW correspondence.

1947

At 96, I try to stay active with the help of four of my local children. They cook for me and drive me when I need transportation. I am lucky! I do a little volunteering and play bridge.

Sue Brakel, daughter of Jean “Tommy” Thomas Clarke Jones, writes that her mother would like to reconnect with people from the Class of 1947.

Tommy started with the Class of ’47 but transferred after three years when her mother moved to Missouri. Tommy graduated from Washington University in St. Louis.

Studio art majors Tess Hatton ’20 and Rachel Nobles ’20, classical archaeology and art history major Kayleigh Rice ’21, and theater major Riley Salazar ’22 received the Nina G. Bushnell Scholarship endowed by the Class of 1937.

Veronica Daszkilewicz ’23 received the Eileen Kramer Dodd Alumni Scholarship endowed by the Class of 1939.

Phyllis Quimby Anderson pqhndson@comcast.net

1940

I have 12 great-grandchildren. Two live in Germany, two live in Virginia, and the rest are in New Jersey. I really miss them.

History and American studies major Kimberly Eastridge ’20, history and religion major Cathryn Kinde ’20, and music and history major Kassie Phillips ’20 received the Oscar H. Darter Scholarship in History from the Class of 1940.

Economics and accounting major Téa Barndt ’20, English major Bernadette D’Auria ’22, biochemistry major Ashley Parkhurst ’20, and political science major Lucas Turney ’20 received the Class of 1944 Memorial Scholarship.

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1941

Dorothy Shaw dorothyshaw1919@gmail.com Psychology and music major Jordan Cooke ’20 and international affairs major Noell Evans ’21 received the Mildred McMurtry Bolling Memorial

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1945

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1946

Patricia Mathewson Spring classnotes@umw.edu

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Betty Moore Drewry Bamman classnotes@umw.edu

1948

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu Kimber Foreman ’23 and Emma Grehan ’23 received the Ellen Alvey Montllor ’48 Scholarship endowed by the Class of 1948.

Debra Dunivin ’74 shared the sad news that her aunt, Lina White Perry, passed away last February just a week before the passing of Lina’s sister and Debra’s mother, Dorothy White Dunivin ’50.

Lina had lived in Alaska since 1952 and

as a historian, doing research, which she loves. She attends horse shows as an observer. She doesn’t drive at night (welcome to the club), but we hope she will come stay on campus for this special occasion. You can read Carol’s note in its entirety online, in the unedited Class Notes.

recently moved to a retirement home that she and husband Bill consider their Camelot. Bill worked for a Swedish company, and they traveled widely and frequently, moving 19 times in their married life of 67 years. They have three children, eight grandchildren, and seven great-grands.

had been comptroller for the Alaska Division of the U.S. Army. She also was a homemaker, volunteer, dedicated church member, wife, mother, and grandmother.

Gaynelle Parrish Grizzard celebrated her 90th birthday in September 2019.

She and Vernon, her husband of 68 years, live in Florida. She enjoys her children, grandchildren, and four greatgrandchildren.

Betty Willard Wiltshire lives in Fredericksburg, visits the beautiful Mary Washington campus, and attends university programs. She has a son in Fairfax, Virginia, and a daughter in Maryland.

1949

On a sad note, Debra Dunivin ’74 let the magazine know of the loss of her mother, Dorothy White Dunivin. She passed away in February 2019, just a week after her sister, Lina White Perry ’48.

A lifelong Virginian, Dorothy had been a teacher, a homemaker and a Sunday school teacher, and she was an accomplished flower arranger and judge.

Survivors include her husband and six children.

Dottie Davis Craig has always enjoyed city life, especially the Charlottesville, Virginia, environs. Her bridge friends are glad she is there.

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: July 15, 2020 • Dec. 2, 2020

No Class Agent classnotes@umw.edu

1950

Marcy Weatherly Morris classnotes@umw.edu Think about it! June 2020 marks the 70th year since our graduation from dear Mary Washington College!

Reunion has been rescheduled for Sept.

5-7. If you are able, please come to campus for this wonderful milestone.

Juney and I, Marcy Weatherly Morris, had a very stressful year. He was hospitalized twice (has recovered well), and we had rental property issues (resolved). We are doing well for a couple of old people! Great-grandson Carol Bailey Miller ’50 is historian Lucas Prunczik ’20 is on track to graduate in May with an for the Virginia Horse Shows environmental science major.

Association.

Still enjoying events at UMW whenever we can!

We were a special class, made many lifelong friends, and made a difference in the life of our alma mater. The campus is even more beautiful than 70 years No Class Agent ago, older dorms (Willard and Virginia) classnotes@umw.edu are going through renovations, and Dr. and Mrs. Paino continue to be an asset to our school as president and first lady.

1951

There will be a special opportunity to visit with President Paino, and we’ll enjoy many other events.

Our numbers are few, but think how fantastic it will be to visit and reminisce with one another, maybe for the last time!

1952

Rita Morgan Stone rita.stone7@aol.com Corley Gibson Friesen corleyfriesen@comcast.net From Rita:

Nan Riley Pointer and husband Joe took an Alaskan cruise in July 2019 to celebrate their 67th anniversary. In November Nan fell at home and broke her hip, but she plans to be at reunion even if she’s still using her walker. Yay! Let her be your incentive to be there, too.

Peggy Sherman Capers has lived in Augusta, Georgia, for 88 years.

Husband Jack died in 2009. Peggy lives in a renovated grammar school two blocks from where she grew up, and her apartment is her fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms. She has three children, eight grandchildren, and five great-grands.

Carol Bailey Miller is still active in the Virginia Horse Shows Association

Melita Whitcomb Vonier has lived in Naples, Florida, for 24 years and

Jo Bidgood Dunbar lives in Patton, Missouri, and has four adult children.

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

Selma Friedman Fink remembers psychology professor Charles K. Martin organizing a picnic in a Fredericksburg park for black and white citizens to socialize and better understand one another. “He was teaching us a very important lesson in humanity and social justice,” Selma wrote. Selma sculpts in stone and wood, rarely using electric tools. Her subjects are usually animals, but sometimes are abstract. You can read more from Selma online, in the unedited Class Notes.

Lois Andrews Jordan lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

Peggy Sherman Capers ’52 lives in a renovated school – her apartment is her former fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms.

Jean Amis Hill was recuperating from a broken hip in Martinsville, Virginia. She and Clyde have two children and four grandchildren.

Phyllis “Butch” Farmer Shaffer lives in a retirement community in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, with a son and grandchildren nearby. After graduation, Butch taught swimming and dance at the Charleston YWCA, where she created the Golden Age Club.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

41

CLASS NOTES She married a Charlestonian who had a shrimp business. The loss of a 5-yearold daughter led to an appointment to the American Cancer Society Board and her involvement in cancer research fundraising.

Peggy Burton Routh lives in Wytheville, Virginia, and had a career in teaching.

She has four children, 12 grandchildren, and five great-grands.

As an accredited floral master judge, Gretchen Schulze Mulligan ’55 can judge any flower show in the U.S. On a cruise after college, Catherine Jones Shepherd met her future husband, a commercial Realtor who established the Brookwood Village mall in Birmingham, Alabama. Catherine’s daughter Barbara gave a rave review of her mother’s accomplishments – she holds two master’s degrees and is an art teacher who still paints.

Betty Kilgour, who is retired from Loudoun County School System, enjoys condo living in Leesburg, Virginia.

She says the best part of retirement is sleeping late and shopping at non-busy hours.

Patsy Russell Stewart lives in a retirement community in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Three of her daughters were Wellesley grads, and another is a Smith alum. Four grandsons and six granddaughters claim allegiance to Dartmouth, Yale, and Harvard. Patsy is a proud parent and grandparent.

Jackie Epes Lauck was preparing to sell her home in Lexington, Virginia, and downsize. Her son-in-law was building an addition to their home, allowing Jackie to remain independent. She has three children and six grandchildren.

Jackie delivers meals to shut-ins and is in her 20th year of teaching Bible study to women in the local jail.

Joyce Long Moore has lived with her partner for the last 48 years, much of the time in the Williamsburg, Virginia, area. Now retired from a career in education, she spends time with her daughter, two grandchildren, and four great-grands. She enjoyed attending one of our reunions and would like to hear from her Baptist Student Union friends.

42

Eleanor Michelet Mulbry lives in Charleston, South Carolina, at an Episcopal retirement community.

Having lost her husband in 2010, she feels blessed and lucky to live near her son and family. She enjoys her independence, her book group, and knitting friends.

Anne Hart Martin remembers her days in Virginia and D.C. fondly. She now lives in Dwight, Illinois, in the country. Her children are scattered in Albuquerque, New Mexico; New Zealand; and Kansas, all interesting places to visit. She sadly lost her husband in 2017.

Ruth Williams Webb writes that since leaving Mary Washington, she has lived in Norway, England, and India. She is now settled in Boonton Township, New Jersey.

Barbara “Bobbie” Burgess Goldsten’s daughter, Elizabeth, kindly returned my call with the sad news that Bobbie had died Nov. 30, 2019. Carl Bonner responded to my email with the sad news that his mother, Mildred “Millie” Jones Bonner, passed away in September.

It has been fun speaking and emailing with my classmates. Thank you for your time and our conversations.

1953

Betsy Dickinson Surles surles@infionline.net

1954

Anne Bradbury Lee lives in Stafford County, Virginia, but has a Fredericksburg address. Three of her four children live within six miles, and the other lives in Blacksburg. Anne lived in Laredo, Texas when her first husband, an Air Force pilot, died in a plane crash. Anne didn’t work outside the home until she was 45 and then became a social worker and retired 17½ years later.

Her second husband was the last World War I veteran in the area and second most decorated Marine. He passed away 21 years ago at 98. Anne is active in her church and volunteers at Mary Washington Hospital.

Gretchen Schulze Mulligan has lived in Luray, Virginia, for 19 years and formerly lived in Alexandria. She has two children, one in Front Royal and one in Fairfax, and seven grandchildren.

Gretchen is an accredited master judge for flower shows and can judge any show in the United States.

Carolyn Curtis Seay was my dance class partner. She lives near Fredericksburg, in Spotsylvania County, and has been married for 64 years. She taught for 30 years and has been retired for 30 years.

She and Calvin have two boys, both retired, and four grandchildren.

Roberta Linn Miller ’55 wonders what she was thinking when she adopted an English springer spaniel puppy.

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

1955

Roberta Linn Miller toromiller@embarqmail.com Sally Wysong Puckett lives and mows grass on 10 acres in Maryland. A former phys-ed teacher who was Carolyn “Susy” Miller’s roommate, Sally also showed horses and dogs. Sadly, she lost her husband in 2011 and her daughter in a car accident in 1981.

Doris Sterling Kucera of Steuben, Maine, writes books for children and adults. She has two children and four

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

grandchildren and has been a widow for seven years.

Joan Ferrall Shaw lives in a retirement community in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, about 16 miles from my home in New Bloomfield. She has three sons, four grandchildren, and two great granddaughters in Alabama. She has been a widow for 18 years.

Anne Grubbs Blitchington and her husband live in Midlothian, Virginia, in the same neighborhood as two daughters and their families. They also have a son, eight grandchildren, and six greatgrands. One granddaughter, Marjorie Blanton ’13, is a volunteer coordinator at VCU Health in Richmond.

Eileen West Grenfell in Warrenton, Virginia, lost her husband seven years ago. She has a son and twin daughters, nine grandchildren, and eight great-

Alumna Has Devoted Her Life to Service

F

Mary Washington helped shape Florence Ridderhof’s commitment to serving her community and beyond.

The Free Lance-Star

lorence Overley Ridderhof ’50 learned two lessons early on that have guided a lifetime of serving her community and the world.

Growing up in a house on Cornell Street in Fredericksburg, she learned from her mother that it wasn’t enough to talk about a need; you had to try to find a solution. And on the Mary Washington campus in the late 1940s, her psychology professors taught her not to judge or generalize about people.

Those principles, instilled in Fredericksburg, helped Ridderhof bring about a meaningful change in the region’s attitudes about domestic violence.

In the 1970s, when a local elected leader publicly stated that what a man did in his home was his business, Ridderhof and a group of like-minded women helped open the area’s first domestic violence shelter – and ultimately changed a community’s perspective. Today, Empowerhouse operates a 10,000-square-foot facility serving scores of women and children across five Fredericksburg-area localities.

Ridderhof considers that her greatest achievement besides raising a family. Although, sadly, a son passed away in February, Ridderhof takes joy in her three other children, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Her family is far from her only accomplishment. Her advocacy and activism span the globe, from bringing low-cost mental health services to Fredericksburg and providing hot meals to the area’s homeless to providing disaster relief and performing missions to South Dakota, Haiti, and Guatemala.

And at 90, she’s not done yet. At least once a week, she volunteers at Micah Hospitality Center for the homeless, a place that provides haircuts, bag lunches, hot showers, and help accessing community services. She also was among lay

leaders from the region’s faith community that helped dream it up.

Ridderhof’s parents, an economic analyst and a homemaker, set a solid example for their daughter. Her father insisted she take every math class offered in school, even if she was the only female. Her mother served her church community and convened a meeting on affordable housing – in the 1940s.

Every year, the family attended May Day concerts at the Mary Washington amphitheater, now renamed the Heslep Amphitheatre.

They strolled the campus and chatted with college girls who passed on their way to classes.

“It was assumed I would go to college, even though I was a girl.

Many of my friends went to finishing school. Their families believed there was no need for more education,” she said.

She majored in psychology – Eileen Dodd was a professor-turned-mentor who recommended Ridderhof for her first job giving psychological tests to new employees at a local company.

But Ridderhof found her passion in Mary Washington’s dance program studying under Claudia Moore Read.

That passion – and her connection to the college that helped form her – continues today. Ridderhof helped

found UMW Friends of the Dance that since 1993 has awarded more than $42,000 in scholarships. The scholarships are named in honor of Read and Sonja Dragomanovic Haydar, another beloved dance teacher. A third, endowed in 2017, is named in honor of Vicky Nichols Wilder ’80 and Ridderhof herself, for the women’s enduring dedication to UMW dance.

She still has not stopped dancing.

She practices every Sunday as a member of Sacred Dance Ensemble, an ecumenical ministry that performs at nursing homes and community events.

She still is a part of the UMW community, attending the William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series and Philharmonic Orchestra performances. A practicing artist, Ridderhof also worked with Professor of Art Carole Garmon, students, alumni, and other local artists on a large-scale paper sculpture called Thuban. Finished in 2018, it took two years to complete.

Ridderhof cherishes smaller connections, too. When she is working in her yard on Mortimer Avenue, she enjoys seeing college students pass – on their way to and from a campus where their own life lessons are taking shape.

– Kristin Davis

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CLASS NOTES grandchildren. Eileen plays bridge, reads, and is writing about family members who have moved on.

Joyce Bristow Wrestler ’57 traveled Alaska by car, but her attempt to see the northern lights was unsuccessful.

Jean Byrd Steelman in Accomac, Virginia, on the Eastern Shore, has run a preschool for 46 years. She taught first and second grades and was teaching in a private academy when she started the preschool. She and her husband have three children, eight grandchildren, and nine greatgrandchildren. I remember when Jean got married during our senior year.

Barbara Smith Holdeman has lived in Ashland, Ohio, since 1974 and keeps in touch with Mary Margaret Papstein Carter and Carol Cooper. She has been married for 63 years and has three children, seven granddaughters, and nine great-grandchildren. She taught school in Illinois then went into real estate.

Patricia Poulson Plymell has lived in the same house in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for 60 years. She and her husband, who passed away in 2018, built their mountain home and then added on to it. Patricia was a first-grade teacher for 30 years. She has a son, a daughter, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Hermie Gross Fox ’56 visited a St. Louis children’s museum housed in what was once her grandparents’ home.

Joan Kleinknecht (for some reason I think of her as Joanie) of Fairfield, Connecticut, has quite a social life with bingo, Pilates class, Texas poker lessons, weekly art classes, genealogy, gardening, monthly serving breakfast at a charity food kitchen, Bible studies, church programs, and more. She loves to drive the back roads and see the beauty.

No Class Agent?

Your classmates still want to hear from you!

Send news directly to classnotes@umw.edu.

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Ann Strickler Doumas of Fredericksburg mentioned their December 2018 family trip to Greece to the town of Trikala, which was Bill’s father’s hometown. Mr. Doumas ran the Mayflower Restaurant, which some may remember. Ann and Bill also enjoyed a cruise of the Great Lakes from Toronto to Chicago.

In December, Phyllis “Bee” Melillo Shanahan and son John made the trip from Connecticut to Deerfield Beach, Florida. It was a 30-hour drive with two motel overnights, thanks to rain and stop-and-go traffic. Daughter Betsy, a pottery teacher, broke her right elbow but was doing fine. Bee is looking for a companion to travel anywhere, but she especially wants to visit Alaska. She planned to attend reunion, which has been rescheduled for Sept. 5-7 My news is the addition of an English springer spaniel puppy. What was I, Roberta Linn Miller, thinking? He will be a year old in July, and my Texas son says things will get better then. I can only hope.

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Ann Chilton Power anncpower1@gmail.com Betty Marshall Whitlock and husband Bennett (a former member and rector of the Board of Visitors) enjoy an active life at a continuing care retirement community in Springfield, Virginia.

They spent a month last fall on Florida’s panhandle. They have three greatgrandchildren. Gayle Greenwood ’86 is their daughter-in-law.

Dixie Moore Kirby has moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, to be closer to daughter Walker. Another daughter is an artist in San Francisco, and a third daughter lives in Sweden and runs a translation business. Dixie’s three granddaughters are far-flung too, in San Francisco, Raleigh, and London.

Suzanne Borke Grasberger of Richmond, Virginia, lost husband Tom in December 2018 after 61 years of marriage. Suzanne has two sons, two daughters, nine grandchildren, and

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

a great-grandchild, with twin greatgrandchildren on the way as these notes were being written.

Hermie Gross Fox and her sister cruised Australia and New Zealand in December. In October they visited the Magic House of St. Louis, a children’s museum housed in what was once their grandparents’ home. Last year they flew to Vancouver and took the Rocky Mountaineer train through British Columbia and Alberta. Hermie attended her grandson’s graduation with honors from Pace University. Hermie’s children and grandchildren live in California, New Mexico, and Texas. She spent Thanksgiving with son John and family in Irvine, California.

I, Ann Chilton Power, live at the Virginian in Fairfax, a continuing care retirement community. Son Tom is an attorney in Washington and visits often.

My youngest son, Stephen, and family plan a move to Dallas this summer. He has a 14-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. My eldest son, Ted, has a daughter at the University of Missouri, another at Iowa State, and a son in high school in Des Moines.

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Joyce Bristow Wrestler joycewrestler@gmail.com Helen Grantz Fortner and husband Luther have enjoyed living in Westminster at Lake Ridge, Virginia, for five years. Her late brother, Walter, and his wife, Barbara Craft Grantz, were frequent visitors. Following Walter’s passing, Barbara decided to move to the facility. Last summer she visited family out West and prepared to sell her home in Virginia Beach. She’s now settling into her apartment at Westminster.

In September, Jean Durham Busboso enjoyed a Road Scholar class on World War I at Oxford University.

Mary Montague Hudson Sikes and family toured portions of Virginia’s Eastern Shore in October. The next month she and husband Olen visited Sedona, Arizona, where she took an acrylics workshop in the Sedona Art Center. She taught oil/cold wax workshops in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and West Point, Virginia.

Her acrylic painting Point of Entry won third place in the Metropolitan Richmond Artist Association’s annual judged show.

A new edition of her novel, Hearts Across Forever, was released by High Tide Publications in April 2019. Artful Angels, a hardcover book that she wrote and illustrated, was scheduled for release

by High Tide in late 2019.

My husband, Clifton, and I, Joyce Bristow Wrestler, enjoyed a visit to Alaska in August. We’d cruised before but this time traveled the state by car, and with another couple we visited museums and cultural centers in depth.

We spent several hours at a park in Fairbanks one night hoping to see the northern lights, but the expected event did not show up until 3 in the morning, after we had returned to our hotel.

In the fall we were absorbed in Clifton’s recovery and rehab after spinal surgery.

Expecting more improvement, we are looking to yet another cruise, this time to the warmer parts of the world.

It has been a pleasure being your class agent, but I wish to be replaced by another classmate. Make your request to the editors of this magazine – at classnotes@umw.edu – right away. It’s great fun getting the notes.

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Susannah Godlove sgodlove5465@gmail.com Mary Ruth “Ruthie” Griggs Ridge came to Mary Washington as a transfer student in 1956 and attended summer school while living in Ball Hall. 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. She keeps in touch with several classmates and attended the 60th reunion in 2018.

I, Susannah Godlove, finally have permission to drive again after hip surgery, a hospital stay, 20 days of rehab, and follow-up at home.

Elizabeth “Betty” Gould Storms and Bob have six great-grandchildren, all doing well.

Sherrill Massie Judd enjoys living in her old family home in the country with her husband and daughter.

Joyce Butler Allen shared memories at our John Hanley High School 1954 class reunion. We’re planning to have more frequent reunions as we mature.

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Edna Gooch Trudeau ednanewkent@verizon.net Lois Gaylord Allen lost her husband, Howard, in February 2019 from Parkinson’s disease. Our deepest sympathies. He was buried in a national cemetery overlooking the Delaware River. Gay continues to volunteer for the Humane Society. Her children and grandchildren are doing fine.

Carolyn Hickman Bowman was moving from her house in Richmond to a condo and couldn’t attend our 60th reunion last May. Carol lost her husband, Ned, to dementia in July 2018. Our hearts go out to her – she’s doing all right and feels she is in good health. Her older son is in North Carolina, and her younger son is in Richmond.

From the grapevine: Emily Babb Carpenter’s widower, Tom, has moved to a different apartment in Richmond.

Marcia Phipps Ireland has four grandchildren.

Irene Piscopo Rodgers had lots of visitors last summer, and a cousin from England visited in October. Irene planned to spend Sherrill Massie Judd ’58 enjoys Christmas in Kansas with the niece of her late husband, Don. living in the old family home in

the country with her husband and daughter.

Patricia “Pat” Dillon has moved from North Carolina to Asbury Methodist Retirement in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to live closer to her three daughters. She enjoys returning to Fredericksburg to attend seminars at Mary Washington.

She and Virginia Brett Garland stay in touch.

Our dear Kay Rowe Hayes lost her niece Amanda, her brother’s daughter. Sadly, she left behind a 4-year-old daughter. Our deep condolences, Kay.

Dodie Reeder Hruby got a few of us together in Williamsburg in August.

Dianna Trischman Lee, Carol Kowalski Reidy, Dodie, and I, Edna Gooch Trudeau, had a lovely luncheon and great conversation. Dianna has moved

to an assisted living apartment close to her son. Dodie’s new interest is painting portraits of family members. She now has four great-grandchildren, and Dianna has two. Carol teaches a remedial reading class through William & Mary.

Lois Gaylord Allen ’59 continues to volunteer for the Humane Society.

Guess we are slowing down as we live our 80s. We have lost 80 girls from our graduating class. It breaks my heart when you lose those you love, whether family or friends. And I know you are experiencing this. I lost my beautiful, sweet sister in June. She was the love of my life, my best friend, my supporter, and my fun companion. She was diagnosed with severe early onset dementia. It destroyed her. My heart is broken – we were very close.

I wish you happiness and good health in this unpredictable world in which we exist.

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Karen Larsen Nelson karenlarsennelson60@gmail.com Jody Campbell Close jclose2@cfl.rr.com Janet Garriss Lewis moved to a “mother-in-law” apartment at the home of her son and daughter-in-law. She is happy that her son and his family enjoy her company and want her to be involved with her grandchildren. She is involved with ministry groups at her Methodist church and is active in two investment clubs she helped start. She has been learning the whole-food, plantbased way of eating to reverse her heart disease, and she and her cardiologist are pleased with the results. She is the longest-living member of her family.

Emy Steinberg Hyans and Ed celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They live in New Jersey, their kids live nearby, and their grandchildren seem to be gravitating to New York City. Emy was a family therapist and social worker in pediatric oncology for nearly 30 years.

She explored painting when she retired and now really enjoys pastels. She’s given up tennis and now embraces golf.

Jane Denslow McCrohan and Ed still live near Seattle. They participated in

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CLASS NOTES their granddaughter’s college graduation and wedding, and then were honored with a Chinese tea ceremony, welcoming them to her huge Chinese-American family. Jane and Ed are the only living grandparents in their combined families.

Carole Grant Lemay went on a tour to the Hamptons with Ann “Bee” Stone Byrnes, who attended Mary Washington with us for one semester. Carole and husband Ralph spent time at their North Alabama lake house with daughter Jill and family. In August they cruised with Carole’s sister Barb and husband Dave on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

Carole plays bridge and does programs at her church.

Karen Larsen Nelson’s broken back is continuing to heal, and husband Darrell is no longer her full-time caregiver.

They help with their church’s weekly ministries in an assisted living community and in two memory cottages. They still Jody Campbell Close ’60 found take short camping trips in the 1941 diary of her father, a U.S. their tiny trailer.

in Europe on self-guided tours, and generally feels grateful for all she has.

Patty Cairns Hourin and husband Jim both turned 80, and their sons gave them each a party. Patty plays golf several times a week, walks the dog, and goes to the gym to stay in shape. She plays in her church bell choir. She and Lynne Neave visited with a high school friend in Williamsburg in October, and they saw Rick and Rose Hurley in Richmond.

Carolyn Crum Pannu and Pat Scott Peck cruised from Lyon to Avignon, France, along the Saone and Rhone rivers.

Highlights were morning village walks, afternoon naps, luscious food and wine, and seeing Van Gogh’s workplace.

Navy officer, with his observations Jody Campbell Close is perking along, too. While researching about being a survivor of Pearl her family genealogy, she was Harbor. thrilled to discover her U.S.Carol Schock Furman was saddened to Navy-officer father’s 1941 hear of the passing of Jeanne Thornhill diary with his observations about being Ulrich. They became friends at Mary Jerri Barden Perkins was still on a high a Pearl Harbor survivor! She’s proud Washington, and later Jeanne’s son Peter after receiving the UMW Distinguished of her eight grandchildren and was was enrolled in Carol’s first preschool Alumnus Award in June. Her family delighted by a birthday call from former class in Maryland. They renewed their and friends gave a dinner in December roommate Nancy Jacobs Germer ’61. friendship at our 50th class reunion. to honor Jerri’s late husband, Cal. Jerri We have been co-class agents for 15 Carol sent a newsy letter you can read celebrated New Year’s with a Road years! We aren’t going anywhere and online, in the unedited Class Notes.

Scholar Program at Chateau Frontenac will be here as long as you continue in Quebec, Canada, and found it As for me, Connie Booth Logothetis, sending us your news and help us keep “charming but oh, so cold.”

I am slowing down but seven years the Class of ’60 on the map. Even if you after my lung transplant I am still here, Bev Carlson Shea and Dan visited New haven’t written in a long time, we look reaching the age of 80 with a wonderful York City at Christmastime. They spend forward to hearing from you. stay at the Greenbrier Resort. time with Dan’s children in New Jersey, and they’re proud of daughter Heather’s From Renee: son, who was accepted early decision Marcia Minton Keech and Bill are at Duke University with perfect ACT Connie Booth Logothetis (A – G) thankful for living and being active in scores on all four subject areas. connielogothetis@gmail.com Winchester, Virginia, just an hour and Clara Sue Durden Ashley has two 15 minutes away from their children and Renee Levinson Laurents (H – Q) granddaughters graduating from high grandchildren. arjle@aol.com school this year. Abigail, daughter of son Chris, won Lynne Williams Neave (R – Z) a trophy for her Key lime While on a helicopter ride in Alaska, lyneave@aol.com pie and plans to pursue Peggy Howard Hodgkins ’61 flew a dessert-related career.

Please send news to the designated Anwyn, daughter of son Park, class agent according to the first over a rainbow. plays piano, organ, flute, and letter of your maiden name. piccolo and hopes to major From Connie: Debbie Phinney Wylie’s son and in music. One of Anwyn’s brothers has daughter-in-law treated her to a western composed a full orchestral work, and a Betty Alrich Latta celebrated Caribbean cruise last March to celebrate sister is an ice skater. Clara’s son Dennis Thanksgiving with two of her sons. She the big 8-0. In July, family members and family visited in December, and had two surgeries last spring, but she’s spent a week in Maine at their family son Andrew is still with a Norwegian now driving and able to walk with a cottage. Debbie has been trying to reach company and travels afar. cane. She still participates in activities Brownley “Brownie” Marshall McElroy including the Widows and Widowers Maddie Contis Marken moved to a without success. If anyone has news of Association, and she went to their larger condo on Cape Cod last summer Brownie’s whereabouts, please contact Halloween party in a witch costume and has extra bedrooms if anyone gets Debbie – and me, of course. she made. Her home in Los Altos, stuck in the Falmouth, Massachusetts, California, isn’t close to the fire areas, Stewart Wayne Spetz, husband of area on the way to Martha’s Vineyard. though her area did get some smoke.

Rebecca “Becky” Paris Spetz, died She’s still a social worker for Cape Cod After 191 days of no rain, there were Aug. 18, 2019, at age 83. They had Health Care and for a visiting nurse rainstorms in late November. been married 57 years. Becky writes company. She runs competitively, hikes

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UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

that she has wonderful support from their four children, their families, and many friends. Our condolences go out to Becky and her family, and I wish Becky solace and warmth in the happy memories of 57 years.

Marcy Trembath Pitkin planned a move from Stuart, Florida, to a high-rise apartment in Philadelphia near her daughter and family. Marcy lived in Philadelphia for the first six years after Mary Washington.

Peggy Howard Hodgkins turned 80 last April, and as part of the celebration took four grandchildren, ages 13, 19, 22, and 24, on an Alaskan cruise in June.

On a helicopter flight to a glacier for a dog sled ride, they flew over a rainbow.

Peggy planned a Panama Canal cruise with sister Jean. As we octogenarians tend to do, Peggy watches the news and uses her cellphone to take photographs.

She still lives in her big house in Maine with the threat of downsizing before her.

She salutes all who have accomplished this task.

Lynne Wilson Rupert sadly lost her eldest brother, who had practiced law for 50-plus years and lived in Elkton, Maryland. Lynne and daughter Katy enjoyed 10 days in Lisbon, Portugal, while Katy was on business. Lynne spent Christmas with her daughters, their husbands, and four grandchildren at Lake Arrowhead in California. She planned a January cruise to Mexico with some bridge friends.

Sue Wilson Sproul and Dave sold their Tucson, Arizona, house last summer and explored the West, visiting California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Joan Akers Rothgeb ’62 and They were relocating to a cottage in Brandermill Woods Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor ’62 near Richmond, Virginia, and caught fish off Kathleen’s Northern Sue’s daughter and grandson.

Neck pier, then cleaned and Sue loves the more diverse and progressive Richmond cooked them for dinner. and has linked up with Mary Washington alumni through a service project for the homeless. She I, Renee Levinson Laurents, lost my looks forward to our reunion in 2021. wonderful doggie, Buddy, last May. He was 14 and had cancer. Sweet, sweet dog; Regina “Jenna” Guercio Young Hall I miss him terribly. I did rescue a cute, and Mac sold their home of 48 years little (make that tiny) dog in November. in Mercer Island, Washington, and She and the cats don’t get along, but I’m downsized to a winter home in Sun hoping in time they’ll adjust. She is 7 Lakes, Arizona. They will spend years old and was about to be put down, summers in Orcas Island, Washington. so at least I saved a life. I do enjoy her, Jenna and Mac met on a blind date at but no dog can fill Buddy’s paws.

Mary Washington in 1958 and have been married 59 years. They enjoy golf, From Lynne: hiking, bridge, and Bible study.

Some of you saw and commented on a picture I posted of Rick and Rose Hurley in New York City. I, Lynne Williams Neave, had such fun with Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor them, seeing Mean Girls on Broadway klisagor@yahoo.com and the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. I’m still a tourist at heart, even Nancy Powell Sykes after 50 years in New York. Earlier npsykes@yahoo.com this year I visited my old hometown, Psychology and biology major Trinity San Antonio, and stayed with Bitsy Magarity ’22 received the Class of 1962 Glasscock Duperior, who left Mary Scholarship.

Washington after freshman year. I had hoped to see Candes Parker Chumney, Happy 80th birthday to classmates of but she was ailing while I was there, as 1962! was Jill Cusack Clay.

In sunny autumn, Joan Akers Rothgeb Lloyd Tilton Backstrom and Art were and I, Kathleen Sprenkle Lisagor, got in Paris in the fall, and one day they together at my Northern Neck family walked 34,500 steps. They also skied home. We had a great time catching Vail, Colorado, in December. Needless fish off my pier, cleaning and cooking to say, they are in very good condition.

1962

them fresh for dinner. Joan’s daughter Shannon Rothgeb Powell ’92 has been elected to the Nelson County School Board.

My oldest daughter, Amy Lisagor Burcher, has just accepted a new job as minister of music in historical Ferry Farm Baptist Church in Stafford County, near Fredericksburg.

Joan’s junior year roommate, Molly Buston McGirth, a med-tech graduate of the Medical College of Virginia, lives in Asheville, North Carolina, near three children. Her husband, a pastor, was very ill. We send prayers.

Donna Floyd Parker, who had remained in Atlanta since Scott died, moved to Salem, Virginia, to be near her sister and her beloved mountains again.

Louise Couch Girvin’s grandson Jonathan was accepted as a physician’s assistant student into the University of Kentucky. He has logged in many hours as an EMT. Betsy Carper Cole was joining her son to live in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Her grandson is at the University of Virginia.

Myrtle Lee Dean France had a wonderful visit last summer with Georgianne Maloy Hull and her husband in Staunton. The Hulls’ grandson was performing in the Sound of Music Festival at Wintergreen.

Georgianne, Myrtle Lee, and Joan attended a lovely luncheon hosted by Emily Lewis at her home on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Also present were Betty Stewart Kienast and Maggie Walker MacAllister.

Blessings to Pat Barrack Gibson who had emergency gallbladder surgery in November. While she was recuperating with a tummy tube, Merv had to take on a nursing role and cooking!

In May Nancy Cheek Mitchell’s grandson graduated from Virginia Military Institute, where his grandfather Bob had been a star football player.

Nancy keeps up with Mary Ann Sills Marks and Linda Lee Waddell Dalkin.

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: July 15, 2020 • Dec. 2, 2020

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

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CLASS NOTES Our hearts reach out to Carolyn Powell Piotrowski, whose husband, William, recently died. He was a former program manager for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Washington, D.C. Our sincere sympathies to the families of our late classmates Barbara Hauser Scott, Karen McCauley Hostetter, Kristine McElroy Kelly, and Melinda Luck Shepardson.

Louise Stevens Robbins ’65 works with an out-of-school program for minority children.

Our oldest UMW dormitory, Willard Hall, has been renovated to the tune of $19.3 million, taking on the appearance and glory of the 1911 staircase and modern media lounges.

On a sad note the UMW Philharmonic is saying goodbye to marvelous director Kevin Bartram, who brought great guest performers to our community.

Ladies, please try to keep the news and new addresses coming in writing!

1963

Linkey Booth Green linkeyg@embarqmail.com Maria Martinod Hagman called the magazine with a life update. She and her husband married early in her Mary Washington years but her house mother found a place for them to rent in Fredericksburg, and she was able to stay in school and graduate. Her Marine husband was among the first troops sent to Vietnam, and he also served in Laos and Borneo. After he returned he went into banking, and they lived all over the country. They now live near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California and came through the recent wildfires without injury and with their house intact, though fire came into their yard. They were able to rescue their horses and those that belong to a neighbor.

1964

Susan Rowe Bunting susan.bunting@gmail.com

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Phyllis Cavedo Weisser pcweisser@yahoo.com I didn’t hear from many classmates for this edition, so please take the time now to send me an update so I can include it in the next one.

My big news for 2019 was a new granddaughter who arrived in November. She, her brothers, and their parents (my daughter and her husband) live just 20 minutes away. My son and his family have settled in North Georgia, less than two hours away.

Louise Stevens Robbins, Diane Copty Fadely, Felicity Hallanan, and Felicity’s partner, Evelyn Rule, took an October island-hopping Caribbean cruise, getting caught up on what’s happened since they were at Mary Washington. Louise continues her work with an out-ofschool program for minority children, participates in a reminiscence writing group, tries to keep up with League of Women Voters activities, and delights in watching young-adult grandchildren Cole and Harper thrive.

over to Beaufort, South Carolina, for a mini-reunion with classmates Ryan Stewart Davis, Ginny Bateman Brinkley, Kathy Fowler Bahnson, Marilyn Wood Hunter, and Anne Meade Clagett at Mary Anne Pyne White’s home. Bobbi and Robert spent Thanksgiving in Buford, Georgia, and Christmas in Huntsville, Alabama, then returned to Richmond for the General Assembly to convene. Bobbi and several friends lobby vigorously for students and public education.

Anne Meade Clagett extended her South Carolina visit to spend time with her late husband’s family and her sister’s family, celebrating happy memories of John’s life.

Jana Privette Usry remains active in Richmond’s One Voice Choir. Jana became a great-aunt again in November, celebrating the arrival of baby Kristian.

Unfortunately, his family lives in Prague, Czechia, and Jana will not be able to visit for a while. Jana’s niece, a student at Penn State, will spend her senior year abroad in Scotland and will stay there to complete her degree as a veterinarian.

Jana enjoyed a visit from UMW’s Jan Clarke last fall when he was visiting in Richmond.

Carolyn Davis and her husband took a Mississippi River cruise, and on the way they visited Jane Burruss Hartz and Jana Privette Usry ’66 sings in husband Chris in Little Rock, Richmond’s One Voice Choir.

Arkansas. They had only two days but they talked the whole time, especially Katie Green and sister Charlotte Green about growing up and graduating Balis ’69 took a September road trip from high school in Caroline County, through Virginia to visit historic homes where Carolyn later taught and was a including James Madison’s Montpelier, principal.

Robert E. Lee’s birthplace of Stratford Jane couldn’t attend their high school Hall, George Washington’s Mount reunion later last summer, but Margaret Vernon, Woodlawn Plantation, and the Mahon Whitehead did. Carolyn shared Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Popethat Madeline Rouzie Townsend’s Leighey house. Katie became a fan of husband, Frankie, passed away in 2018.

Wright’s architecture while living in Madeline and her Mary Washington Oak Park, Illinois, Wright’s longtime roommate Virginia Hughes Jett both home. live just a few counties south of Carolyn, Katie’s son’s family lives in Cardiff, so she planned to visit during the Wales, in the United Kingdom, and Christmas holidays. last summer Katie met them in London for a visit to the London Zoo and the Museum of Natural History. They took the train back to Cardiff, where they Katharine Rogers Lavery enjoyed family time and lovely parks. At hlavery1@cox.net home in Houston Katie is active in the Houston Choral Society.

Barbara Bishop Mann took an October break from her state and local elections DeeDee Nottingham Ward lives and mode to search for her Bishop ancestors. works in San Diego, California. She has Her trip took her to Mississippi and no plans to retire, but after spending South Carolina. She and Robert drove over 44 years in the same house she

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UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

and husband Nat are downsizing and moving to a nearby retirement community.

Kathy Goddard Moss and husband Tom enjoy their Oakland retirement community, especially since their son and family are nearby and friends and relatives visit.

Betsy Chappelear Tryon is firmly entrenched in her townhome in Redondo Beach, California, not far from her childhood home, her brother, sister and family, son, and daughter.

Granddaughter Maddy is thriving as a cadet at The Citadel in South Carolina, making a name for herself with her volleyball skills. Betsy’s family celebrated Thanksgiving week together on a Caribbean cruise, a real treat!

Genie McClellan Hobson and husband Don cruised to the Alaskan inside passage and British Columbia. They hiked, kayaked, and saw bears, whales, eagles, and sea lions. They spent July through September traveling in their RV, touring the Badlands, the Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments, the beautiful Black Hills in Custer State Park, and on to the Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, and Yellowstone.

They saw wildlife including wolves and coyotes. In October they visited Charlottesville in preparation for Don’s 50th reunion at the University of Virginia’s Darden School. After living 46 years in Delaware they still consider Virginia their home!

a river cruise from Paris to Normandy and back, perhaps their last overseas vacation. They planned 2020 trips to Key West, Florida; to the Hudson River for a cruise; and to two college graduations.

Cherie Wells Brumfield and husband Joe, 81, have celebrated 52 years of marriage and are set to stay in their Florida home. They both miss Virginia, but they enjoy Florida’s agreeable weather and love the fact that there are no state income taxes there!

Carolyn Eldred continues her alumni activities in Fredericksburg plus the Mary Washington-oriented ElderStudy and UMW Theatre involvement.

Carolyn also helps the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation with productions and grant writing.

Anne Powell Young moved back to the Fredericksburg area last year and has become enchanted with the new “hometown” that its downtown has become. She became reacquainted with a James Monroe High School ’62 classmate, Nancy Redgrave Sielski ’82, who sadly passed away in fall 2019.

Anne and another JMHS classmate, Caroline Hogeland Ruppar, held a memorial luncheon at La Petit Auberge in Fredericksburg and were joined by several of Nancy’s high school friends.

Anne reported that Caroline and Allan were planning an addition to their Reston home and would winter in Florida.

Pam Kearney Patrick and husband TaB have signed up for Cross Fit training at Cherie Wells Brumfield ‘66 the Fort Belvoir gym twice a enjoys Florida’s agreeable weather week. TaB volunteers teaching and its lack of state income taxes. financial literacy in the Fairfax County schools, and Pam continues her avocation with miniature watercolors. She sold five Genie’s been retired four years but paintings last summer at a gallery in works several days a week writing and their second home of Cape May, New collaborating on medical publications Jersey, and four at a show in Bethesda, about leukodystrophies.

Maryland. Pam and TaB enjoyed a long Elaine Gerlach McKelly and husband visit in Cape May from their son, who Tim have moved to a retirement had not seen their beach home since community not far from their longtime 1977. They visited Carol Bingley Wiley, residence in Oxford, North Carolina.

Pete, and Bendi during the holidays Most of their traveling is to visit their and also entertained them in Cape May seven grandchildren in college – two along with Bing’s daughter, son-in-law, seniors, two sophomores, and three and grandchildren, Nora and Isaac. first-year students. The youngest Terry Caruthers has returned to good granddaughter is at UMW, finally health after three heart surgeries and carrying on the tradition. In May 2019 realized her 75th birthday wish by Elaine and Tim traveled to France for

traveling to Europe for a wonderful “castles and cathedrals” river cruise through four countries. At home in North Carolina, Terry is active in Golden Girls, a 300-member over-55 club with subgroups such as book clubs, garden clubs, and card groups. Terry formed a subgroup to honor a dear friend who was a decorator, and they create floral arrangements for Golden Girl luncheons. This friend left Terry some of her bead/stone collection and sparked Terry’s renewed interest in beading beautiful necklaces.

Genie McClellan Hobson ’66 saw bears, whales, eagles, and sea lions in Alaska and British Columbia.

Don and Kitty Downs Gregg visited Terry and Don for one of the Golden Girls special events, a soiree at the stables. Last year Kitty, Don, and son Chris cruised in the Mediterranean.

Katharine Rogers Lavery and husband Hank skipped their Outer Banks, North Carolina, beach vacation last summer largely because almost all the grandkids are grown and working full time, and two were planning fall weddings in Virginia. Maggie’s October wedding was at the historic Catholic church in downtown Charlottesville. Daniel’s wedding was in Stevenson Ridge at Spotsylvania Courthouse with the other events in downtown Fredericksburg. It was fun staying at the Hyatt hotel across the street from UMW and showing other guests the familiar sights. Staying home all summer meant keeping up with the Over 39 Gang bowling league, of which Katharine is the social secretary, participating in the Fort Myer “Never Too Late” senior fitness classes, plus Pentagon Sailing Club meetings, church, and family activities.

Occasionally at Fort Myer Katharine bumps into Ann Kales Lindblom, who lives nearby and shops at the commissary, or Allan and Caroline Ruppar, who also shop there.

Katharine’s Christmas treat was a threegeneration group of sisters, daughters, nieces, and granddaughters filling a first-tier box at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to see Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake.

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CLASS NOTES

1967

Mary Beth Bush Dore Mbeth1945@gmail.com In October Gail Balderson Dise joined Mary Beth Dore and husband Casey in Fredericksburg for a catch-up weekend around the Legacy Luncheon at the UMW alumni center. Gail’s mother, Elizabeth Mitchell ’29, Mary Beth’s aunt, Camilla Moody Payne ’29, and Mary Beth’s daughter, Ginger Dore Marshall ’94, are all legacies. Ginger could not attend the luncheon as she was on duty as a paramedic in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Vivian Crater Gray let us know her late mother, Flora Crater, is spotlighted in a Virginia Museum of History and Culture exhibit in Richmond titled Agents for Change: Female Activism in Virginia From Women’s Suffrage to Today. Flora Crater was prominent in Virginia politics and the women’s movement in the 1960s and 1970s, was the first president of the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women, was the first woman to run for statewide office in Virginia, and pushed Congress to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. She then lobbied Virginia and other states to ratify the amendment. The Virginia General Assembly finally passed the ERA earlier this year. The museum exhibit runs through Sept. 27.

The late activist Flora Crater, mother of Vivian Crater Gray ’67, is featured in Agents for Change at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

Nancy McDonald Legat and husband Dan enjoy retirement in Lexington, South Carolina. When not traveling, they spend time with their three daughters and sons-in-law, seven grandchildren, and four greatgrandchildren.

Carole Beall Schwartz earned a master’s degree in information science, after which she lived in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and California before residing in Florida.

I, Mary Beth Dore, want to thank husband Casey and daughter Ginger for helping me gather and submit these

50

Class Notes, as I am recovering from a fractured pelvis.

1968

Meg Livingston Asensio meglala46@gmail.com Donna Sheehan Gladis sent in the following notes about classmates:

Communication and digital studies major Cedric Ansah ’21 and theater major Cathryn Puglia ’22 received the Class of 1969 Laura V. Sumner Memorial Scholarship.

Roberta Newton retired from an academic and research career and moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Greensboro, North Carolina, where she’s become an avid birder. She takes courses, helps new birders, and recently birded her last continent – Antarctica.

She also volunteers and gardens.

Kris Peterson Hamill married Paul Hamill in 1996 and formed a family of six children, their partners, and 10 grandchildren. One daughter has been adapting the works of Jane Austen for the stage and Greek and Latin professor was recently named one of the Sarah Carrington Hannah top 20 produced playwrights in the United States. Kris and Petras ’69 planned to retire this Paul spent a year in Romania, spring to pursue studio art. where Paul had a Fulbright senior fellowship, then moved to Charleston, South Carolina, Sarah Carrington Hannah Petras taught in 2012. After a career as a publicist Latin for 37 years in Northern Virginia and fundraiser, Kris started Svenska’s and Augusta County high schools.

Culinary, a baked goods business named She taught Greek and Latin at James to honor a grandmother who emigrated Madison University for the past 18 from Sweden to become Nelson years. She planned to retire after spring Rockefeller’s cook. semester 2020 and return to school to The Hamills keep in touch with Susi pursue studio art.

Sears Shiriak, Betsy Witmer Roberson, Iris Harrell and wife Ann voluntarily and Barbie Bennett. Susi is a retired evacuated Santa Rosa in late October Spanish teacher and linguist, fluent due to a wildfire 25 miles north. They in four languages. Betsy is a former stayed eight days with friends in the Richmond high school principal and a Silicon Valley, then drove to Palm consultant helping distressed schools Springs for a preplanned two-week earn accreditation. Barbie manages vacation. They attended a national an art gallery near DuPont Circle in pickleball tournament, played pickleball, Washington, D.C. and golfed with friends. Iris was to serve Jill Robinson Burkert retired after 12 on the board of her golf club starting years with the University of Alaska, this year. She and Ann celebrated their crawling into small planes to visit special 40th wedding anniversary last May. education teachers in Alaskan villages.

Ann Chatterton Klimas was unable She left Juneau right after our 50th to attend our 50th reunion. She and reunion and drove with her daughter husband Andy did vacation on the and two dogs to a new abode in Bend, East Coast, where Andy’s parents had Oregon. She is still adjusting to living in a cottage for many years. The weather an area with more than one store. She’s didn’t cooperate, so there were few lazy working on a book about her career. days gazing at the ocean waves.

Jill’s grandson graduated from the Cece Smith Riffer enjoyed our University of Alaska in environmental 50th reunion and seeing many science and outdoor studies and now “Frenchies” there. She has lived in shows visitors the impact of climate Williamsburg since 1995 and has eight change. Jill urges us to travel soon to the granddaughters. The eldest, Emily, is a Mendenhall Glacier, which is rapidly sophomore at William & Mary. disappearing.

Nancy Yeager Allen and husband Paul traveled to Iceland for a week with their son, his wife, and their youngest grandson. They planned a South Linda Eadie Hood American cruise to celebrate Paul’s linda.hood@me.com birthday. Nancy was volunteer of the

1969

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Marine Corps Led Alumna to Extraordinary Career

W

A Marine officer’s commission launched Karen Laino Giannuzzi into a life of leadership, intelligence work, and travel.

Terry Cosgrove

hen Karen Laino Giannuzzi ’71 arrived at her office at Camp Lejeune in 1977, she found pink curtains hanging from the windows and a sign posted on her door: “Woman Commanding Officer – Do Not Use Bad Language.” Then a captain, she was taking her first command, Lejeune’s Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Radio Battalion, Fleet Marine Forces Atlantic, at a time when there weren’t many women in the Marine Corps, let alone female officers.

She could lose the froufrou décor, but it wasn’t uncommon for male colleagues to test how tough she was.

Not long after she arrived, one young Marine thought it would be funny to drop his trousers in front of her. He did not enjoy the disciplinary process that followed, she said.

“A lot of men hadn’t seen a woman Marine,” recalled Giannuzzi, who was the first female officer in the field of signals intelligence and electronic warfare. “I was first of a lot of things.

Every time you went to a duty station, you might be the only woman there, or one of a few.”

That hardly mattered to Giannuzzi, who had wanted to join the Marine Corps from an early age. Her father, a World War II Army veteran, served in the Marine Reserve during the Korean War, and Giannuzzi had learned all three verses of the Marines’ Hymn while she was still a toddler.

She joined the corps on Dec. 12, 1969, and the following summer, just before her senior year, she graduated first in her class from Woman Officer Candidate School. At Mary Washington, the late Professor of Philosophy George Van Sant, a Marine Corps veteran, arranged for Giannuzzi to be commissioned on campus a day before graduation.

Giannuzzi went on to serve a decade in the Marines, working in communications, recruitment, public

affairs, and signals intelligence/ electronic warfare. She served another 21 years in the U.S. Navy as a cryptologist, accepting intelligence posts in England, Puerto Rico, Germany, the Pentagon, and the National Security Agency (NSA), and was the inspector general of the Naval Security Group.

After retiring as a Navy captain in 2001, Giannuzzi headed the NSA’s Senate liaison team before serving as director of intelligence programs for the National Security Council under National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Giannuzzi next went to Mons, Belgium, to chair the Advisory Committee on Special Intelligence and later served as the director of intelligence for the international military staff at NATO headquarters in Brussels. She returned to the NSA in late 2011 and retired from the federal government in January 2013.

Giannuzzi enjoyed working with people from so many backgrounds – her NATO staff alone represented 23 different nations. She’s visited

more than 180 countries for business and pleasure, often with her late husband, Ralph.

Ironically for such a world traveler, when she was preparing for college, Giannuzzi’s parents insisted she remain within a four-hour train ride of their home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Fortunately, Mary Washington, a school she’d fallen in love with after a visit during her freshman year of high school, was within that radius. Giannuzzi, a 2016 recipient of the UMW Distinguished Alumnus Award, majored in German but also studied French, Japanese, geography, and religion.

“I was truly a liberal arts major. I took it all,” said Giannuzzi, who has since served on the Alumni Board, the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board, and as class agent since graduation. “Mary Washington gave you such a good education – encouraged independent thinking and self-reliance – that you couldn’t help but think you could do anything.”

– Edie Gross

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CLASS NOTES month at her church in September and has a twice-monthly bridge group. She and Tacey Battley attended their high school class birthday celebration.

Bonnie Page Hoopengardner and Roger took their three children, their spouses, and grandchildren, ages 8 and 14, on an Alaskan inside passage cruise. She enjoys playing golf and bridge.

Lyn Howell Gray and husband still live and work in Liberia, but they plan to retire to a house they bought in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Jane Danforth ’72, sister of our late classmate Amy Jo Danforth Mank, visited Amy’s children, Jo Marie and Carroll, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Each has a son, and the boys are 14 and 11.

Amy passed away in 1993.

for lunch in Ashland, Virginia. She and husband Hart live in Richmond, are retired, and have three grown children.

Kathy Thiel had a bit of a mishap while golfing in Scotland last fall and was laid up with a damaged elbow but was recovering enough to do some putting and chipping.

Hope to see you at reunion, Sept. 5-7!

1971

Karen Laino Giannuzzi kapitankL11@yahoo.com

1972

Sherry Rutherford Myers Sherryhon2011@gmail.com

Debbie Stanley Leap spent three weeks I, Linda Eadie Matthews Hood, missed in January at a Spanish immersion our 50th, too. I kept whatever illness language school in Costa Rica. She I had then well into the fall when I took two years of French at Mary finally saw my doctor. By then it was Washington then went on to her love of bronchitis, maybe pneumonia, and the biology and chemistry. In later life, she flu before that. Rick and I traveled to decided it would be great to converse Ashland, Oregon, in October where a with the burgeoning Spanish-speaking group of friends go every year to attend population in her community. the Shakespeare Festival. Rick and I also took our first cruise, to southeastern Alaska. Now we’re hooked on cruises!

Debbie Stanley Leap ’72

spent three weeks at a Spanish We have lost two classmates since our 50th. Sara “Sally” immersion language school in Kathryn Rodgers passed away Costa Rica.

Nov. 7, 2019, in Ocala, Florida, after a short illness. Christine Cole died Nov. 18, 2019, in Mount Gail Sherwood Cervarich and her Dora, Florida. You can read details from husband moved to Portland, Oregon, their obituaries online, in the unedited this past August, near both children and Class Notes. their granddaughter.

1970

Anne Summervold LeDoux ledouxanne@yahoo.com Our 50th reunion is almost here! At the time this was written, our class gift to the Talley Center for Counseling Services was approaching the $50,000 goal. Thank you, thank you to all who contributed to this most needed cause.

Eight of us got together in November in Gettysburg – Lee Howland Hogan, Bettie Brooks Reuter, Mary Pat O’Donnell Wiegard, Susan Johnson Gillette, Deb White Orsi, Donna Accettullo DeNyse, Kathi O’Neill, and me, Anne Sommervold LeDoux. In December I met Genie Hamilton Roper ’71

52

Dennis and I, Sherry Rutherford Myers, love the Roanoke, Virginia, area with all of the mountains. The Botetourt Town and Country Women’s Club keeps me hopping. We spend time with Dave and Cheryl Prietz Childress, both at their home outside of Richmond and their daughter’s in-laws’ home at Smith Mountain Lake. The Childresses have added two new horses to their farm and are getting used to riding them. They were happy that another grandchild was on the way to give daughter Thea’s little Ellie a playmate. Son Alex and his wife, Belle, also live in the Richmond area.

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1973

Joyce Hines Molina joyce.molina@verizon.net Our class reunion scholarship needs all of our help. To award our first scholarship in fall 2022, the endowment must be funded with an initial $25,000.

Contribute through cash donations, multi-year pledges, transfers of stocks and insurance policies, or through your estate plan. All gifts must be designated “Class of 1973 50th Reunion Scholarship.”

Dale Cole Carter thanks classmates for their support during the illness of her husband, William B. Carter, and his passing on Sept. 8, 2019. Kris Overstreet Helms flew to Annapolis for Bill’s memorial service, which was attended by many of his U.S. Naval Academy classmates. Dale planned to take a year for travel and reflection in Italy, Ireland, Greece, and New Zealand.

Dale says there’s a great group of Mary Washington alumni in the Denver area, and she hopes classmates will call if they find themselves in that part of the country.

Cynthia Howk reports that classmate and longtime Rochester, New York, friend Ann C. Salter had a stroke last May and is continuing rehab. She said Ann was able to walk to a neighbor’s apartment when she started having symptoms, and she got immediate help.

She’s recovered enough that friends were able to take her to the movies to see both Downton Abbey and Judy. For more about Ann, her recovery, and the next steps for her, see the online, unedited Class Notes. She’d love to hear from classmates.

Cynthia is still on staff at the Landmark Society of Western New York, doing historic preservation projects and planning in a nine-county region. The organization recently moved to the 1854 Warner Castle in Rochester’s Highland Park.

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: July 15, 2020 • Dec. 2, 2020

1974

Sid Baker Etherington sidleexx@yahoo.com Suzy Passarello Quenzer suzyquenzer@gmail.com Katherine R. “Jill” Hadden works part time at Macy’s in Alpharetta, Georgia, plays with local board-gaming groups two times a week, and attends local gaming conventions. She was thrilled to meet novelist E.L. James last May during an Atlanta book-tour stop.

1975

Armecia Spivey Medlock vagirl805@msn.com Bob Barron’s husband, Fred Blanton, let us know Bob has retired from a 20-year career with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, including 10 years as the last internal publisher of Preservation Magazine. Bob and Fred purchased an empty lot adjoining a historic carriage house in Staunton, Virginia, and they built a home in character with the setting. The project won the “best infill development” award from the Historic Staunton Foundation, of which Bob has become president.

Bob holds lifetime memberships in both the Historic Hotels of America and the U.S. National Parks, and Fred maintains a membership in the Rail Passengers Association, so they enjoy America’s historic hotels and lodges, traveling by train whenever possible.

Hasty ’76, and Chip Schwab ’77.

In October, several grads from the classes of 1975 and 1976 visited with Dr. Marshall Bowen, their favorite professor and basketball guru at Mary Washington.

Patricia Ladd Barnhardt retired five years ago and moved to Charlottesville, near two of her grandchildren. The third is in Oregon. She’s on the board of trustees at the school where she worked for 38 years, and she’s joined a climate lobbying group and plans to help get out the vote in 2020. She and her husband of nearly 40 years have traveled widely, most recently on a small-boat cruise of the Baltic Sea. Our 45th class reunion has been rescheduled for Sept. 5-7. We’d love to see you there!

1976

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

Former class agent Madelin Jones Barratt finished chemotherapy in October 2019 and is asking God to use it to bring about a miraculous cure of her cancer. She considers every day a blessing. She directed the children’s choir at her church on Christmas Eve, which gave her a lot of joy. She and husband Henry are enjoying having all three of their children, their spouses, and Bob Barron ’75 has retired from four grandchildren living close the National Trust for Historic by. They were expecting two Preservation, including 10 years more grandchildren in March.

as publisher of Preservation Magazine.

Allan “AJ” Jenkins and wife Lezle live near Lenoir City, Tennessee.

Allan works about half time as a hydrogeologist performing groundwater modeling for environmental remediation sites across the United States. Lezle is retired from the school system. They never seem to have enough hours in the day to keep up with yard work, maintenance on their 100-year-old home, and their music, motorcycles, and camper. Allan visits regularly with Glenn Markwith ’76, Steve Jones, Richie

Two 1976 classmates have volunteered to succeed Madelin in the class agent role. Janis Biermann will handle class news for classmates whose names start with A through M, and Debra Smith Reeder will do the same for classmates whose names begin with N through Z. From Debra: Greetings and Happy 2020! I look forward to sharing news of friends and classmates with all of you. Please email me highlights of your life events and I will make sure they appear in the next issue. I’ll go first: My husband

of 43 years, Bill, and I are enjoying retirement. We continue to travel the world; however, we are always anxious to return home to our English cream retriever, Cashel. We love to spend time with our children and two granddaughters, who live nearby. Life is good!

Madelin Jones Barratt ’76 got a lot of joy from directing her church children’s choir on Christmas Eve. From Janis: Thanks again to Madelin for representing us for so many years. Since I am now retired, I have some time to be a class agent. Looking forward to hearing from you!

1977

Anne Robinson Hallerman arhmwc77@yahoo.com Margaret Nichols Honeycutt is a doctor and works full time for Clinch Valley Physicians Associates and Lifepoint Hospitals in Richlands, Virginia. Since husband Don passed away in August 2017, she’s worked with hospice and with a Christian recovery education and support group. She did a medical mission in Costa Rica last summer and planned to return to Central America in June. She has a new grandson, Logan, and her son and daughter-in-law celebrated their fifth anniversary and first Christmas in a home of their own.

You can read more of Margaret’s newsy note online, in the unedited Class Notes.

Teri Craig Miles received the 2019 Woman of Achievement Award from the Metropolitan Richmond Women’s Bar Association for her contributions to the legal profession and the community.

Teri met up with Debbie Jordan Lewis in Nairobi, Kenya, as Teri was leaving after a safari and Debbie was arriving for a similar trip.

1978

Janet Place Fuller janetpfuller@aol.com Leslie Rigby Kash and Morgan moved to Fredericksburg’s College Heights neighborhood five years ago and walk everywhere. She retired from Loudoun

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

53

CLASS NOTES No Class Agent?

Your classmates still want to hear from you!

Send news directly to classnotes@umw.edu.

County Public Schools in 2013 and is now an adjunct faculty member at UMW, supervising interns on the elementary level. Morgan works part time as a soil consultant, and they have a small Christmas tree farm in King George County. Son Robert, 32, is in Denver, and son Taylor, 30, is in Southport, North Carolina.

After retiring from teaching, Leslie Rigby Kash ’78 moved near campus and joined the UMW faculty as an adjunct professor.

Susan Tart Morosko is retired from a long career in special education. She babysits her seven grandchildren; the eighth was due on New Year’s Day. Sadly, she lost her mother and stepson recently. She has taken up painting and bowling to be creative and get exercise, and she recently reconnected with Mary Washington roommate Janet Shultz McKenna.

1979

Barbara Goliash Emerson emers3@msn.com Anne F. Hayes has lived in western Henrico County, near Richmond, since graduation. She spent most of her career working for a large law firm in Richmond, but for the past 3½ years has worked for the James River Insurance Company. About 10 years ago, she and a cousin from England visited Ireland to meet with cousins in County Tipperary and County Clare. Sadly, her mother passed away in May 2019 at age 90.

Anne, her brother, and her sister lived nearby so were able to visit frequently.

Mark Fortney wrote succinctly: “I’m retired, fat, happy, and living the dream.”

Amen, Mark!

After almost 40 years, Leslie Freeman Belcher and husband Walter moved from Northern Virginia to Texas,

54

where younger daughter Jessica lives. In November 2018, daughter Marcy was married in Indiana. With their new home completed in 2019, Leslie and Walter are now ready to travel.

Sue Moore Davis took a cruise around Australia and kept us entertained with her many wonderful photos on Facebook. Betsy Larson Kyker and husband Bill spent time in Germany at the Christmas markets, as did Carol Middlebrook and husband John Feldman.

Guard. Both are stationed in San Diego, California, so Karen came out several times to help them move, and I was able to visit with her. Also, two of her daughters were married, one in August and one in October. Sadly, Karen lost her dear mother-in-law, with whom she was very close since she lost her own mother when she was just out of college.

Karen also lost her doggy of 16 years.

She and husband Jamie planned to travel this year, visiting their children.

1980

Mike and Katrina Ray Landis were moving from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Sedona, Arizona. Anyone going to Sedona and hiking the red rocks should look them up!

Carol Aarseth Jackson’s daughter, Kim, was married Nov. 9, 2019, in Baltimore.

Kim and husband Brian live in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington D.C., and Kim is an associate at Williams and Connolly. Carol’s son, Stephen, also lives in Washington and provides IT support at a nonprofit in the Dupont Circle area.

Carol retired in July and was taking rally and obedience classes with her corgi, Kara. Carol and husband Kevin were planning a trip to England to attend the British Open. They have attended the other three golf majors and were excited to complete the set.

David Turley has been with SANS for 20 years and was enjoying his career as director of IT finance and enterprise applications. He travels enough that it is interesting, but not so much that being home for dinner is a rarity. Colleen McCahill Turley stays busy with hobbies and volunteering. Their son, Nolan, graduated from Virginia Tech last May and is a systems analyst in Northern Virginia. He proposed to his girlfriend in December, so a 2020 wedding was in the works. David and Colleen went to Ireland for two weeks in October to celebrate 35 years of marriage. In November, Colleen’s father died at age 91 after a short battle with cancer.

Sue Garter skgarter@gmail.com

Barbara Gant Kinner and husband Greg continued their RV travel adventures, and Barb met up with Jan Stankiewicz Mark Ingrao ’81 is CEO of the McCarthy and me, Sue Northern Virginia Home Builders Garter, in December 2019 for lunch and an architectural Association. tour of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida.

Jan and husband Mike live in St. The governor of Virginia named Cedric Petersburg, Florida, and have explored Rucker to be one of 17 members of the many of the state’s bike trails.

Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Sadly, David Lewis wrote to inform us that his sister, Diane Mary Lewis, had passed away unexpectedly on Feb. 15, 2016.

Please join our class Facebook group: “MWC Alum 1980 and Friends.”

1981

Lori Foster Turley lorifturley@gmail.com Karen Snyder Boff had an eventful and emotional 2019. Two of her daughters were commissioned into the military, one in the Navy and one in the Coast

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

In July, Mark Ingrao left his job as CEO of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and began a new job as CEO of the Northern Virginia Home Builders Association.

I, Lori Foster Turley, am still in San Diego, working for the Navy at the Miramar Brig. My husband, Craig, was fully retired as of the end of 2019. We celebrated our 30th anniversary last July. Daughter Megan graduated from Elon University in 2019 and is pursuing a master’s degree in social work at San Diego State. Son Brian is pursuing a career as a professional golfer while also

coaching high school basketball. Craig and I traveled to St. Kitt’s in the eastern Caribbean last January for a vacation with two of my sisters.

from New York to Southampton via Canada, Iceland, Scotland, and Ireland and then around Britain on the Queen Victoria and back to the United States on the Queen Mary 2.

1982

In late October, I, Tara Corrigall, joined Annmarie Cozzi, Jenifer Blair, Carla Richardson Barrell, Debbie Snyder Barker, and Jennifer Goodwin Donegan for a New York City adventure. We took in several museums and danced in our seats at the Broadway show Ain’t Too Proud. Nancy Kaiser and wife Mary McElhone planned to join us but were sidelined as Nancy continues to recover from knee replacement.

Tara Corrigall corrigallt@gmail.com Mike Bennett spends a lot of time in the United Kingdom. He and friends purchased a historic building near Greenwich 10 years ago, and they are renovating. Mike volunteers on the board and in the kitchen of a local food pantry in New York City.

I have seen several group birthday celebrations on Facebook as most of us will turn 60 this year. I plan to celebrate all year with lots of travel. In early February, I was to spend a week in Bonaire followed in early April by a two-week cruise with my mom to Holland and Belgium. Our 40th reunion is two years away Mike Bennett ’82 and friends are – go ahead and put the first renovating a historic building near weekend after Memorial Day on your calendars.

Greenwich, England, that they

Cinda Sheehan Haas continues to enjoy long summers at her cottage in Maine but recently moved to Jacksonville, Florida, to be closer to family including three grandsons. She has also taken up painting.

purchased 10 years ago.

Vicki Haynes Morris welcomed second grandson Macklin. She visited Mexico, Amsterdam, and Costa Rica in 2019. In 2020 she planned travel to Australia and New Zealand and a cruise visiting 10 countries in Eastern Europe.

Diana Burton Utz recently retired after 30 years with the George Washington Regional Commission, most recently directing GWRideConnect, a nationally recognized rideshare program. Her daughter Juliana Utz danced in the Moffat ballroom scene of the film Little Women. I believe she was also featured in the movie trailer – yellow ballgown on the staircase.

Beth Doyle continues her 30-year career in nonprofit management and was recently named executive vice president for the Centra Foundation.

Betsy Rohaly Smoot announced her retirement from the NSA in 2017 but went back part time to complete two manuscripts. The biography of Col. Parker Hitt, known as the “father of modern American cryptology,” is to be published in October 2021. Betsy and husband Andy celebrated her final retirement with a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth

1983

Marcia Anne Guida Marcia.G.James@gmail.com Susan Leavitt left McEnearney Associates Inc. after 19 years and joined Compass, which Susan says is a different model of real estate. She also visited Nepal for five weeks, which she says was a life-changing experience. Susan returns to UMW frequently and now has a scholarship in her name for a “family challenged” incoming freshman.

I, Marcia Anne Guida, recently bought and moved into a condo on the ocean in Pompano Beach, Florida. I am still with CVS Aetna and have changed roles to working with technology that influences population health management. In 2019, I traveled to Japan, China, England, Portugal, the tiny Greek island of Ikaria, and the south of France.

Christine Waller Manca ’84 enjoyed a Houston alumni brunch and encourages everyone to get involved in their Regional Alumni Network. some point. Their 19-year-old daughter, Kat, lives with them.

Auby J. Curtis shared the wonderful news that he is now cancer-free.

He would like to stay in touch with classmates, and his email is DrAubyJ@gmail.com.

The Mathews County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors last spring named Andrea G. Erard of Richmond as its county attorney. She has more than 25 years’ experience as a local government attorney and teaches local government law at the University of Richmond Law School.

I, Christine Waller Manca, had fun attending a Mary Washington Texas alumni brunch in Houston in November, organized by Jessica Mitchell Essalih ’05 and Tony Essalih ’99. It was great to meet people in my area who share memories of Mary Wash from across the decades, and I encourage you all to get involved with your Alumni Regional Network.

1985

Joanne Bartholomew Lamm Jlamm88@verizon.net No classmates sent news this time.

My husband, Christopher Thomas Lamm, and I, Joanne Bartholomew Lamm, are enjoying our empty nest since son Stephen Lamm ’19 landed a job in Washington, D.C., in July.

We are thankful to Mary Wash for an outstanding liberal arts education, which enabled Stephen to quickly and easily find the perfect job upon graduation.

Looking forward to hearing from other members of the Class of ’85!

1984

Christine Waller Manca christine.manca@att.net Mark Scott and Marianna Rixey Scott ’85 live the beach life in Southport, North Carolina. He is retired, and she may get back into the work force at

1986

Lisa A. Harvey lisaharvey@msn.com

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CLASS NOTES

1987

1988

Kim Jones Isaac mwc87@infinityok.com

Jay Bradshaw jaybradshaw747@aol.com

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

Beverly Newman bevnewmn@yahoo.com

Maya Valenti Wilder wrote that the daughter of Lori Hile Fuller, her Mary Washington roommate, was married in September. Attendees included Maya and and husband Mike Wilder, Margaret Duke Hilldrup, and Mark Hilldrup ’86.

Douglas M. Foley was included in the 26th edition of The Best Lawyers in America, a peer-reviewed ranking recognizing lawyers nationwide for their professional excellence.

From Kim: After 30 years of teaching at a large Catholic elementary school, Kelly Aylmer McDonald became instructional technology teacher at the Catholic High School of Baltimore.

From Jay:

From Beverly: I, Beverly Newman, am still loving payroll and working for a company in Richmond, Virginia. I hang out at the pool and beach with friends as often as possible. I’ve seen SGGL and Skip Castro bands recently, and man, that has brought back some fun memories!

Eda Spivey Price reports that Eda Price Editing is still alive and well with a bunch of selfKelly Gould Stewart ’88 is published titles on Amazon Maine’s director of outpatient that she either edited or forensic services. proofread. She is also teaching online English classes to some pretty adorable kids in China I used to follow SGGL with Laura through VIPKid. Don and Eda have Starbling Kowalewski, Gail Ziegler been married for 20 years. Daughter Pietrafesa ’87, and Kathy Leahy.

Patricia, at 16, is 6 feet 2 inches tall, so they were trying to find a car she could Laura, who lives in New Jersey, has fold herself into comfortably as she took three beautiful daughters – Allie at driver’s ed. Olivia is 14 and has found the University of Virginia, Maddie at her calling as a thespian at her middle Furman University, and Morgan in high school. school. Laura loves to golf, and she and

Kelly Aylmer McDonald ’87 teaches instructional technology at the Catholic High School of Baltimore.

After six years, I, Kim Jones Isaac, closed my yoga studio in October and am taking a break from teaching. We are also selling our computer company so that we can focus on our engraving business. After 10 years of serving as your class rep, this will be my final contribution to the UMW Magazine. If you would like to serve as a class agent, please contact classnotes@umw.edu.

Thanks for a great 10 years!

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Dan look forward to an empty nest this fall when Morgan goes to college. Gail, who lives in New York with husband Mark, is enjoying being a grandmother to eight grandkids so far.

It has been 32 years since we exited our beautiful Fredericksburg campus.

Social media has reduced the number of updates I, Jay Bradshaw, have received over the years. Please email an update for next time.

Kelly Gould Stewart and husband Bob live in Maine, and daughter Joie (Beverly Newman’s goddaughter) is a senior at Drew University. Kelly is in her fifth year as Maine’s director of outpatient forensic services. The specialized psychiatric service treats clients who have been adjudicated not criminally responsible by reason of mental illness and requires Kelly to testify in court.

Kelly completed a national certification to teach basic handgun safety and formed a company, Foothills Firearms Safety. She specializes in female-only classes for women who have been subjected to violence or other traumatic events with a firearm. You can read more from Kelly online, in the unedited Class Notes.

Anna Wilson Hudson accepted a position with Cushman & Wakefield | Thalheimer in Roanoke, Virginia, in July. Her middle son was married in Norfolk in November. In the fall, she hung out with Dawn Tanner Erdman ’86 at an impromptu Southwest Virginia Alumni Network event at Roanoke College. Mary Washington’s men’s soccer team played Roanoke College’s men’s team, and the game ended in a tie.

Anne Crowe Kroger sadly lost her father in January 2019. She lost her first husband in 2013 and remarried in 2018.

She and husband Scott live in the New Hampshire mountains with his twin daughters. They ski in winter and bike ride in the summer.

Michelle Martin and I had lunch at Sammy T’s in Fredericksburg after Christmas. Michelle lives in Maryland.

I saw Matt Fogo ’87 in September when I was passing through Lexington, Andrea Schwalm Stolz ’89 writes a Virginia.

parenting blog with several alumni

Kathryn Berube Ortega and and is active in local politics. husband Ed are both retired but have part-time jobs. They Anne started a consulting business, live in Florida and love to volunteer.

Kroger Grant Consultants, in 2018. She Sue Thomasson Coleman lives in teaches business development skills and Northern Virginia with husband coaches public speaking to clients all Robert and three kids – Wes at George over the country. She’s serving a second Mason University, Allie Coleman ’20 two-year term on the Mary Wash at Mary Washington, and Emma at the Alumni Board, and the role has brought University of Tennessee in Knoxville. her back to campus. She’s seen Kathy Brosnan Kilgore ’89 and Cindy “Cie” Murdock Shepard several times.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Doctor Supports Veterans, the Underserved Dr. Anthony D. Jones’ military-focused medical career has also allowed him to volunteer his services to those with HIV and other underserved patients.

Clement Britt

A

s a pre-med student at what was then Mary Washington College, Anthony D. Jones ’99 volunteered at the nearby Lloyd Moss Free Clinic, shadowing doctors as they provided care to low-income residents, including patients with HIV/AIDS. The experience helped set him on a path of serving the underserved.

“Back then, having HIV was more or less a death sentence,” Jones recalled. “The physicians at the clinic showed a whole lot of compassion taking care of HIV patients. That left a good impression on me.”

Today, the physician is chief medical officer of the Military Entrance Processing Station at Fort Lee, Virginia, and works for Veterans Evaluation Services in Richmond, where he conducts compensation exams for veterans.

He also volunteered at a Virginia Department of Health men’s clinic focused on sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Through the nonprofit Minority Health Consortium, he has provided HIV testing and assisted with care coordination for newly diagnosed HIV patients.

Jones grew up in the Fredericksburg area and began his undergraduate studies at James Madison University before joining the U.S. Army. At the end of a threeyear stateside tour, he studied at Germanna Community College until Sallie Washington Braxton ’77, now retired as an associate dean at Mary Washington, recruited him for the Bachelor of Liberal Studies program she then led.

His father, a pharmacist, had given lectures at Mary Washington to other professionals. “I was pretty familiar with the school as well as the high caliber of students they took,” Jones said.

Small class sizes and one-onone attention from professors in the

chemistry department helped him succeed, he said, but Professor of Physics George King III was a special mentor. “I had my first son the same month I started school,” Jones said. King “tried to push me to make sure that I balanced things in the classroom and also talked to me about being a young dad.”

After graduating with distinguished honors, Jones earned a medical degree and a master’s degree in public health from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. The pace was quicker at EVMS, he said, but he was well-prepared. “My first year, I felt as though it was a repeat of what I had taken during my last year or so at Mary Washington,” he recalled.

Soon after EVMS, he served as chief of the internal medicine clinic at Fort Lee and, later, as a medical

officer at Fort Eustis. “I still wanted to do my part to serve, and I believed in the strong environment and structure from my experience in the Army, so I stayed within the Department of Defense and the VA,” he said.

In addition to his full-time duties, Jones has worked as an independent contractor at hospitals in the Richmond area and in Fredericksburg at Mary Washington Hospital.

Jones said his next goal is to work at an urban clinic, perhaps in Washington, D.C. Helping others, especially underserved minorities, will remain central to his career.

“That was something that was in me from the start, which is why I enjoyed being able to volunteer at the Lloyd Moss Free Clinic,” he said.

– Daryl Lease ’85

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57

CLASS NOTES

1989

Jim Czarnecki jimczarnecki@yahoo.com Michele Linden Scherdin is married and has four kids ranging from fifth grade to college. She lives in Wisconsin, loves the snow, and is active in the Wisconsin Republican Party.

Andrea Schwalm Stolz lives on Long Island after traveling for 10 years as a military spouse. (Thank you for your service.) She and her husband have two children in college. Andrea works for her county’s mental health system as an advocate and teacher. She writes a parenting blog with several other alumni and is active in local politics.

Trent Ibbotson had no news to report, but he did reminisce about our time in Mrs. Olsen’s Spanish class. Our apologies to anyone who was in class with us, and to Mrs. Olsen.

Chris Miller lives in Sarasota, Florida, and has two children – one in college and one in high school.

Darren Boczar and Carol McMillan Boczar are married, with two children in college.

1991

Shannon Eadie Niemeyer sfniemeyer@comcast.net

1992

Courtney Hall Harjung charjung@hotmail.com My husband, Tom, and I, Courtney Hall Harjung, celebrated our 20th anniversary in October at Sandals Ocho Rios in Jamaica. We spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve in Mississippi casinos. I am vice president of the Mobile Arts Council’s Executive Board. Tom and I looked forward to the Mardi Gras mystic societies’ float barn parties, parades, and masquerade balls. Please email me your personal news and professional updates.

1993

Cheryl Roberts Heuser chatatcha@yahoo.com

1994

Jennifer Dockeray Muniz dockeray@apple.com

Geography major Penny Anderson ’90 was back in Monroe Hall teaching Intro to Human Geography as an adjunct.

1990

Susan Marchant march66358@verizon.net Geography major Penny Anderson is back in Monroe Hall – as an adjunct instructor teaching Intro to Human Geography. Penny and Steve Sollohub ’91 were selected to present papers last summer at the 25th International Seminar on Sea Names. Penny teaches AP human geography in Fredericksburg, and Steve teaches AP human geography in Waldorf, Maryland. Both supported the geography department’s 60th anniversary celebration banquet last April.

58

1995

Jane Archer jane@janearcherillustration.com

1996

Jennifer Rudalf Gates Jeni17@me.com Bonnie Bullock has lived in Australia for 22 years, slightly longer than she lived in the United States. Her daughter, Madeleine, age 15, is in 10th grade.

Last July Bonnie welcomed a “surprise” baby boy, Lachlan Bullock Edwards.

She writes, “A fun household where I’m trying to get teenager Maddie out of bed at the same time trying to get baby Lachie to go to sleep!” Bonnie runs a public relations consultancy, Saranac PR, and was recently inducted as a fellow into the Public Relations Institute of Australia. She and her family demolished their old house and built their dream home on the same block in Perth, Western Australia.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

1997

Michelle Trombetta michelletrombetta@gmail.com Jessica Edmiston Forsythe, Pamela Ellison Massa, Sarah Burgess Hall, Meighan Cutler Weinstein, and Jennifer Repella Gordon spent a fall weekend at an adorable B&B on the Magothy River in Pasadena, Maryland.

Meg is a preschool teacher and lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and two sons. Pam is a sonographer and lives with her husband, son, and daughter on Long Island, New York.

Jess owns a yoga studio, SoulShine, and lives in Richmond with husband George Forsythe ’96 and two sons. Sarah is an elementary school classroom aide and lives in Fredericksburg with husband Phil Hall ’89 and her son and daughter.

Jen is a director at a pharmaceutical company and lives in Ashburn, Virginia, with her husband and daughter.

Kirsten Franklin, Sarah Long, Kate Dube, Shannon Peterson, and Mandy Thompson converged on Austin, Texas, for a mini-reunion. They planned a trip to Tampa, Florida, in March.

Kevin Adams returned home to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in December from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. Wife Katharine and sons Levi, 8, and August, 5, were happy to have him home.

While networking for her mediation practice, Susanna Fisher Parker accepted a position as associate general counsel for Data Driven Safety. She also manages the government relations division.

Melissa Schreiber Blackmon moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, with her husband and three children and is director of development at the Bald Head Island Conservancy. The conservancy runs a sea turtle protection program and focuses on barrier island conservation and education.

Eric Earling moved to Boise, Idaho, in August to lead communications at Blue Cross of Idaho after three years in delightfully imperfect New Orleans. He was trying to persuade Pete Sullivan to come west in lieu of one of Pete’s regular NOLA visits. Eric’s son, who was an infant at our graduation, is now an Army military policeman. Eric’s lovely, independent daughter still lives in New Orleans.

Mike Dugan moved to Texas. His oldest child was about to graduate from ’Bama, the second was loving Texas Tech, and the younger two had him going all over the West for lacrosse.

Bridget Malone packed all her worldly belongings plus two cats and moved seven miles down the road to Southampton, New York.

Amanda Neptune Bridges’ husband retired from the Air Force after many, many moves, temporary duty assignments, and deployments. Their family of five settled in a small island community in Rhode Island. Her husband now flies for JetBlue out of Boston, and Amanda is back in the classroom, subbing full-time in their island schools. Her family enjoyed trips to Los Angeles, the Grand Canyon, and Washington, D.C., last year. Amanda caught up with Colette Strawn Johnson, Mike Johnson ’96, and their kids.

Matt Paxton has a new show on PBS called Legacy List With Matt Paxton.

It’s about finding history in our parents’ and grandparents’ houses.

Suzette McLoone ’97 is an editor at NPR. Many of our classmates’ kids are turning in their bikes for cars! Dru Abramson Perdue and Jarrett Perdue ’96 both teach in Spotsylvania County. Dru has started the first chapter in Virginia of Happy Teacher Revolution. They’re teaching their 15-year-old daughter to drive.

Joyce Hanzlik Cain’s son had back surgery in March, which delayed her from giving him driving lessons, but he earned his license in December. In July, Joyce traveled to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. She moved in August, just down the street from her previous house in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Sarah Meyrowitz Meytin became the director of a very large Reggio-inspired preschool in July, was honored to attend the installation of Stephanie O’Connor

Let us hear from you!

Deadlines for submissions to class agents: July 15, 2020 • Dec. 2, 2020

Shockley as priest in charge of her church, and celebrated her son’s bar mitzvah in the fall.

Tara St. John Cantwell teaches high school in Spotsylvania County and is a sponsor of Mu Alpha Theta, the national mathematics honor society. She took a mini-vacation to Puerto Rico in early December and was considering moving there. Her oldest child was touring colleges, and Mary Wash was the first stop.

Jennifer Fearnow Elkins teaches fourthgraders in Hanover County and coaches high school varsity girls’ basketball. Son Caleb Elkins had major brain surgery two years ago and was doing fantastic.

A high school senior, he was applying to colleges.

Kathleen Gillikin MacCubbin left her job as a librarian in February 2019 to be a homemaker and full-time mom to her 11-year-old son. It was a big, but good, change.

A couple of our classmates have marriages that are old enough to drink!

Cheryl Mote Chafos and husband Tim celebrated their 21st anniversary. Tim retired from 30 years of active duty in the Army in July, and they moved to their dream home in Clarksville, Maryland.

They celebrated Tim’s retirement with a fabulous trip to Greece and looked forward to traveling to Germany and Italy this summer. Cheryl stays busy with her four boys.

Kate Lulfs Ehrle and Richard Ehrle ’85 also celebrated their 21st anniversary.

Their two older kids are in high school and youngest has started kindergarten.

The Ehrles took a long trip to Disney and Universal over the summer and survived. Kate was promoted to company president at Cask Government Services, where she’d worked for nine years. Richard continues supporting the Navy in Washington, D.C. Laura Coco Hampton has a sassy 8-year-old daughter, a moody preteen son, and a government job at a time most of the country hates the government. She stares down each new day of midlevel bureaucracy with determination to do what the great ’90s band Cake said: She is a girl who uses a machete to cut through red tape.

Principal interior designer John Day and his team at LDa Architecture

and Design were honored in Boston Magazine’s annual guide to the region’s top designers, builders, and makers, Best of Boston Home 2020.

Julie Newell Leslie and Nathan Leslie ’94 celebrated their 15th anniversary in June. Julie carves out time for adventure while she travels for work.

During a two-week trip to Kenya, she went on two safaris, survived a jeep/ zebra collision, and had breakfast with giraffes at Giraffe Manor. She swam with sea turtles during a 10-day trip to Barbados in September.

Suzette McLoone and Patrick Lohmeyer live in Arlington, Virginia, with their kids, ages 12 and 14, and three dogs. Patrick works in international development, and Suzette is an editor at NPR. They spent last summer in France watching Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath crush it at the World Cup. I, Michelle Trombetta, was also in Paris this summer, but missed seeing Suzette, Patrick, and the amazing women’s soccer World Cup win by a month.

My husband and I took our 15-yearold niece to Heidelberg, Rothenberg, Munich, and Paris after she aced her freshman year German studies. I wrote these Class Notes on New Year’s Eve aboard a cruise, looking forward to ushering in the roaring 20s.

I sent a distress signal that for the first time in 22 years, I didn’t have any news to share in the alumni magazine!

But holy moly, did the Class of 1997 pull through for this update. Here’s to another decade of doing amazing things, making memories, and keeping in touch.

1998

Erika Giaimo Chapin erikagchapin@gmail.com

1999

Amanda Goebel Thomas goebel_amanda@hotmail.com Lucy Londero Meidinger has been appointed vice president of financial planning and strategic sourcing in corporate accounting for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

2000

Jennifer Burger Thomas jenntec14@ gmail.com

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

59

CLASS NOTES

2003

Annie Johnston anniebatesjohnston@gmail.com

Jessica Brandes jessbrandes@yahoo.com

with his wife and their Australian shepherd.

Abby Porter Coyle welcomed daughter Tula in August 2018. Tula’s brothers are Jack, born in 2013, and Bo, born in 2014. Abby lives with her family in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and works in Boston.

Andrew Wright and wife Maria Yount Wright welcomed daughter Nora on July 23, 2019. Nora joins big brother Henry, age 4. They live in Richmond, where Andy is senior legislative and policy specialist for the Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

Ally Lee Marzan, Kimberly Pittman Gordon, Laura Rawlett Taylor, Caitie Eck ’06, Shana A. Muhammad ’06, and Nancy-Lauren Raia Buechler ’06 gathered in Chicago in March 2019 for a baby shower for Megan Anderson ’06.

They caught up over drinks with Jacob Kendall-Taylor ’06. Nothing stops this Mary Wash crew from bringing the party wherever they go!

2001

Caroline Jarvis Gee and husband Alex are enjoying parenthood of son Callum.

They can’t believe you really get used to sleep deprivation.

In summer 2019, Seth Kennard and family relocated to Charlottesville. He is an elementary school principal in Albemarle County and is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Virginia.

Joe Petrick and Kelli Kramer Petrick enjoy life in Jackson, Wyoming.

Daughters Jade, 6, and Amber, 4, love outdoor adventures. Joe is vice president of field education at Teton Science Schools. Kelli teaches science at Munger Mountain Elementary School, a Spanish-English dual immersion school.

Brian Sabatelli ’01 was promoted to sergeant in the Fairfield Police Department in New Jersey.

After a 15-year effort, Madelyn Marino finally persuaded Jennifer Amore to move back to New York City. Madelyn and Jen both work at American Express, Madelyn in human resources and Jen in employee relations.

Brian Sabatelli has been promoted to sergeant in the Fairfield Police Department in New Jersey. He and wife Jackie, a police detective, are parents of Gabby and Brayden.

2002

Travis Jones tljones8@gmail.com Carolyn Murray Spencer turtlecjm@yahoo.com The Rev. Andrew Mertz Sr. and wife Annie of Benicia, California, welcomed their second son, Wesley, in January 2019. On a visit to Madison, Wisconsin, they stayed with Kevin Piper and Jenn Moore ’03, who welcomed daughter Annie in 2018.

60

2004

Sameer Vaswani sameervaswani@msn.com

2005

Allyson “Ally” V. Lee Marzan allyvlee@gmail.com Brenna McErlean and husband Trey Lord live in Washington, D.C., and welcomed baby Ara Elizabeth on Nov. 11, 2019. She joined brothers Kellen, 11, and Langston, 4. Brenna has been working for five years at the DOD’s Joint Strike Fighter Program office, where she recently crossed paths with Rene Thomas-Rizzo ’87, MBA ’89.

Brenna has been heavily involved in planning for Washington’s first public Montessori middle and high school, Sojourner Truth School, to open in August 2020 with her oldest as a founding sixth-grader.

Several classmates attended the joyful wedding of Bridget Kavanaugh and Randy Hagerman in Portland, Oregon, in August 2018.

In March 2019, Matt McLaren, wife Haley McLaren, and Elissa Milanowski of Richmond, Virginia, visited Erin Connelly Cockayne, Jeff Cockayne, and children Max and Natalie at their home in Cary, North Carolina. In November, Matt, Erin, Elissa, and Tyler “Boo” Holtzman ’04 ran the Richmond Marathon. Marathon supporters included Richmond resident Chris Dimotsis ’04. Katie Domitz Mungo, husband Rob, and daughter Lily of Long Island, New York, participated in the marathon weekend festivities remotely via the Marco Polo app.

Peter Kelley joined JPMorgan Chase as vice president for media relations in March 2019. He is the bank’s regional spokesperson for Southern California.

Peter lives by the beach in Santa Monica

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

2006

Shana A. Muhammad email.shana@gmail.com Andrea Keefer Peeks, who studied political science, became director of budget and management for Chesterfield County, Virginia, in January.

2007

Jay Sinha jay.sinha@alumni.umw.edu Daniel Clendenin daniel.clendenin@gmail.com Sarah Eckman sarahje@gmail.com Litigation attorney Ellen Ostrow was named the 2018 pro bono attorney of the year by the Utah State Bar Pro Bono Bankruptcy Project, as announced in the September/October 2019 issue of the Utah Bar Journal. She is an associate at Stoel Rives LLP.

2008

Trish Lauck Cerulli trish.lauck@gmail.com Alyssa Lee alyssa.linda.lee@gmail.com Laura Curzi married Mark Prokopchak on Oct. 5, 2019, in Richmond, Virginia.

In October, Trevor Daubenspeck married Heather Ballentine in Richmond. Brandon Shapiro was a groomsman, and Jay Sinha ’07 served as master of ceremonies.

I, Alyssa Lee, planned to marry Kim Haynes in April 2020 in Leesburg, Virginia, followed by a South African safari honeymoon in June.

Ultimate Apparel Line Has Roots on Campus

M

aking T-shirts for friends from his UMW residence hall, Todd Curran ’06 built skills that would help him start a company that now is poised to become the premier outfitter for ultimate teams in the United States and beyond.

Curran’s Savage Apparel Co., founded in 2009, recently announced its merger with apparel maker Five Ultimate and disc manufacturer ARIA Discs to create XII Brands, of which Curran is CEO. “Our goal is to be the No. 1 apparel provider in the sport of ultimate,” said Curran, who played on UMW’s ultimate disc team as a student.

The company also provides custom gear to teams in other sports, including soccer, spikeball, quidditch, dodgeball, and disc golf.

The Savage Apparel team includes four other UMW alumni.

Daniel Curran ’09, Todd’s brother, is vice president of production; Dan Lee ’06 is vice president of sales; and Austin Bartenstein ’11 heads international sales from an office in London. Todd’s wife, Erica Jackson Curran ’07, is director of marketing.

From a production facility in Richmond, Savage makes its jerseys on-site, from assembly to printing.

“That is something that sets us apart from many other apparel providers,” Todd Curran said.

Savage’s new Greenline apparel uses a proprietary fabric made from recycled plastic bottles. A medium-sized jersey gives 17 plastic bottles a new life, and all materials are sourced from within 200 miles of the company’s headquarters.

Daniel Curran studied environmental science at UMW. He credits Michael Bass, now professor emeritus of biology and life science, with equipping him with the knowledge to pursue this and other eco-friendly measures at the company, including an initiative he’s working on to recycle fabric scraps into new material.

All of these innovations are the

From left: Dan Lee, Daniel Curran, and Todd Curran produce custom sports clothing. Today, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, customers can find “neckie” masks on the Savage website. latest steps in a learning process that began in high school for the Curran brothers. They used iron-on letters from craft stores to make shirts for Todd’s band Omnicab. The band was short-lived, but Todd Curran was still making Omnicab shirts when he arrived at UMW his first year.

“I definitely have memories of [Todd] longboarding around campus in his Omnicab shirts,” Lee said.

Todd taught himself to screen print his junior year by watching a VHS tape from his UMW apartment on William Street. The shirts became popular and the business was featured in a 2005 story in The Bullet student newspaper (now The Blue & Gray Press).

The shirt business played a role in Daniel Curran’s decision to come to UMW. “I sent a personal note to the admissions office about how I was already part of the UMW community, with The Bullet article attached,” he said. “I’m not sure if the letter helped my chances of getting in, but later that year, I was a UMW student.”

Both Curran brothers said playing

on the UMW ultimate team was a big part of their college experience.

Bartenstein also played for the team; Dan Lee played rugby.

Omnicab fizzled after Todd graduated, but years later, he was in the middle of a job search when he found his old screenprinting press and started making shirts again. In 2009, within a year of taking the business full time, he was hiring employees and expanding into rental space.

Lee reconnected with Curran in 2016 when he was searching for uniforms for his recreational soccer team. Soon after he learned about the company, he was leading the sales team.

With connections to most of the professional ultimate world, the team members have come a long way since their UMW days.

But, Daniel Curran said, all that success can be traced back to fun memories of playing ultimate on Ball Circle.

– Emily Freehling

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

61

CLASS NOTES

2009

Elizabeth Jennings elizabethsjennings@gmail.com Alexandra Meier alexandra.m.meier@gmail.com Stephanie Rzepka has been promoted to counsel at Tucker Ellis LLP in Cleveland, Ohio.

Charlotte Rowell Sellier and husband Joel welcomed baby boy Remy Joseph.

Ana Saldana Ealley accepted a management analyst position with the Fairfax County Department of Family Services.

2010

Kelly Caldwell kellyecaldwell@gmail.com Kaitlin Dinan and Gene Kimball Jr. ’11 expected their first child at the end of January.

In June 2019, Gwen Holdgreiwe married William Roy-Harrison in Costa Rica.

Aidan McCurdy Murphy and Michael Murphy ’07 attended. Gwen and Will expected a baby boy in March 2020.

Devin Day’s eighth Broadway show was Lucas Hnath’s Hillary and Clinton starring Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow. Devin is a graduate of UMW Theatre’s stage management program.

2011

Hannah Hopkins hhopkins89@gmail.com Kira Lanewala klanewala@gmail.com Thalia Halpert Rodis planned to be ordained a rabbi in May 2020 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, New York.

Kira Lanewala of Orlando, Florida, is research program manager for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida. This spring she and her partner planned to spend three or four months in Fortaleza, Brazil, before relocating to Southern California.

Christine Clements Lane ’14 works for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

62

In 2018, Fitz Maro became Pinterest’s creative technology lead in anticipation of the company’s 2019 IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Since 2016, Fitz has received numerous professional awards for innovation and advertising work. He was honored in UMW’s first annual College of Business Alumni Awards.

Brian DeMott has been named a Top Lawyer in Delaware.

2012

Mandi Solomon msolomon211@gmail.com Aaron McPherson and Evan Smallwood ’15 were married Nov. 2, 2019, at the Heslep Amphitheatre on campus.

Attendees included Molly Bever Carr ’89, Lindsay McPherson London ’06, Kelly Caldwell ’10, Luisa Dispenzirie, and the Class of 2016’s Lula Sargent, Miriam McCue, Quinn Doyle, Sarah Campbell, and Ray Celeste Tanner.

Lindsey Jiao Rivers and Matt Rivers ’11 expected their first baby, a girl, in late January.

Brian Brown joined UDig as software engineering consultant.

I, Mandi Solomon, got engaged Dec. 21, 2019, to Jonathan Gold.

2013

Amanda Buckner McVicker Amandabuckner1@gmail.com Andrew Hogan andrew.hogan819@gmail.com Politico reported that political science major Sean Simons and history and communications major Sarah Tagg got engaged in September 2019. The publication said Simons was press secretary at the ONE Campaign, and Tagg was strategic communications representative at Northrop Grumman Corp.

2014

Elizabeth Storey elizabethstorey@gmail.com Christine Clements Lane married Ricky Lane Jr. in September. They bought their first home in Stafford County, Virginia, where they live with dog Lily. Christine works for the Smithsonian National

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Museum of Natural History and earned a master’s degree in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University in May. Grace Christenson has been promoted to account manager to help support the Little League Marketing Department, where she’s worked since 2017.

I, Elizabeth Storey, graduated with a Ph.D. in school psychology from the University of South Florida in August 2019. I’m completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, outside of Houston, Texas.

2015

Evan Smallwood esmallwood15@gmail.com Moira McAvoy moira.jo.mcavoy@gmail.com

2016

Quinn Doyle quinnmdoyle@gmail.com

2017

Samantha Litchford slitchfo@gmail.com Christen Barco and Matthew Lloyd ’16 planned to marry in April 2020.

Warren Jones and his wife started an online mail-order athletic apparel company, RYALTY Apparel, which is on Facebook as Royalty Apparel. Warren also works for Geico in Maryland.

2018 Brittany McBride bmcbride2128@gmail.com Nina Danielle Wutrich earned a Master of Arts degree in Italian renaissance art from Syracuse University in Florence last year. She planned to remain in Italy in 2020 to teach art and architectural history.

Grace Foust and Jacob Huffman plan to marry Sept. 5, 2020, in Lexington, Virginia. They met freshman year when they lived in Bushnell Hall and started dating junior year.

2019

Jasmine Pineda pinedajasmineem@gmail.com The Class of 2019 has a class agent!

Send your personal and professional updates to Jasmine Pineda for inclusion in a future issue.

In Memoriam Sara Nervilla Boggs ’42 Katharine F. Nutt ’42 Margaret Lewis Draper Eckenrode ’43 Marjorie Martel Balius ’44 Susie Walder Wanner ’44 Anna Roberts Ware ’44 Virginia Lipsy Brooks ’45 Amy Charlotte Thomas King ’45 Mavis Bradder Larson ’45 Lois Coleman Bowman ’46 Joyce Weed Butler ’46 Dorothy Mae Kiger ’46 Alta Clark Cline ’47 Mary Nuckols Haydon ’47 Jean Wilkerson Hopkins ’47 Frances Cox Etienne ’48 Mabel Royar Loflin ’48 Una Hayes Fleischmann ’49 Alta Towe Fogelgren ’49 Dawn McElrath Gill ’49 Ginny Downer Williams ’49 Virginia Dowler Dickhoff ’50 Jane Lee Dreifus Martin ’50 Patricia Teasley Mulligan ’50 Margaret Fox Vaden ’50 Jacqueline “Jackie” Lightner Haney ’51 Miriam Kay Oleinik ’51 Norma Resnikoff Sater ’51 Mildred “Millie” Jones Bonner ’52 Barbara “Bobbie” Burgess Goldsten ’52 Charlotte Wilkinson Larson ’52 Elizabeth Ranney Moran ’53 Mary Bird Dellett ’55 Lena Sheetz French Fuller ’55 Leonie Burks Harris ’55 Anastasia Petro Molitor ’55 Dorothy Murden Dickens ’57 Dana Kay Davis Calhoon ’59 Carolyn Rolston Rourke ’60 Margaret Bloxom Verville ’60 Dorothy Loreto Zirkle ’60 Theresa Kujawski Schlachter ’63 Katherine “Kitty” Hearn Shannon ’63 Cynthia Fiske Lanke Denesia ’64 Sandra Winn Furna ’65 Trudy Kitchin Kohl ’65 Susan Swart Shanton ’65 Dinah Meredith Walsh Eitelman ’66 Otelia Thorn Frazier ’66 Audrey Greenwald Kullberg ’66

Wilhelmina Endicott Perrine ’67 Beverly Martin Bell ’68 Christine Cole ’69 Sara K. “Sally” Rodgers ’69 Martha Mackey deMontpellier ’71 Linda Miller ’72 Emily Sleigh Morrison ’73 Joyce Kowalski Moscato ’77 Susan Hughes Ingham ’78 Esta Staples ’78 Diane Mary Lewis ’80 Mary Turner Brewer ’82 Curtis Hoffman ’87 William J. Morris Jr. ’90 Kendra L. Williams ’95 Crystal Loving Fortune ’96 Carolyn A. Frye ’01 Casey W. Cooper ’05 Michelle Jenkins Hutchinson ’06 Catzby Pitzvada ’11 David T. Phillips ’14 David A. Frasher ’20

Condolences Elizabeth “Betsy” McNeal Brann ’54, who lost her husband Ellen West Grenfell ’55, who lost her husband Patricia Plymell ’55, who lost her husband

Susanne Borke Grasberger ’56, who lost her husband Lois Gaylord Allen ’59, who lost her husband Carolyn Hickman Bowman ’59, who lost her husband Rebecca “Becky” Paris Spetz ’61, who lost her husband Carolyn Powell Piotrowski ’62, who lost her husband Patricia Mackey Taylor ’62, who lost her sister Donna Sheehan Gladis ’68, who lost her mother Dale Cole Carter ’73, who lost her husband Kathryn Swart ’75, who lost her sister Susan Tart Morosko ’78, who lost her mother and stepson Anne F. Hayes ’79, who lost her mother Karen Snyder Boff ’81, who lost her mother-in-law Colleen McCahill Turley ’81, who lost her father Elisa Devorshak Harvey ’81 and Christina Devorshak ’91, who lost their father Jennifer Rees Schulze ’97, who lost her father and her mother-in-law Thomas E. Myrick ’03, who lost his sister

OBITUARY John N. Pearce, former senior lecturer in historic preservation and director emeritus of the James Monroe Museum and Center for Historic Preservation, died Oct. 14, 2019, after a long illness.

During 27 years of service at Mary Washington, Pearce taught courses in the Department of Historic Preservation, played a key role in developing the museum studies curriculum, and expanded and enhanced the James Monroe Museum.

Pearce served on the boards of the Fredericksburg Area Museum, the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies in Virginia, and the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation.

His many honors included the History Award from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for his lifetime contribution to American history. He contributed articles to numerous publications and authored American Painting 15601913, published in 1964 by McGraw-Hill.

A son and a daughter survive him.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

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CLOSING COLUMN

In January, students gathered for the James Farmer Tribute, part of UMW’s yearlong celebration of the late civil rights leader. Students planned and executed the event and honored Farmer with songs, dance, poems, and remembrances.

Bilqiis Sheikh-Issa ’23 wrote the following poem and delivered it that night.

She is a campus leader and is active in the multicultural community.

Legacy

Bilqiis Sheikh-Issa

This blood in me has a history.

I am a legacy.

A story.

This body of mine is a work of art.

This is my legacy. This is a legacy that has been handed to me. Built for centuries.

Created and sculpted and made by my ancestry

This … is my destiny.

My name is that of a Queen who reigned supreme over her Queendom. A strong Black woman they could never tear down

I am a product of the dreams of the past.

So I keep my head high to show that you can never take that away from me.

You can never break me Because I’ll always come back.

Power is in my lineage.

Strength is written into my DNA I come from a line of women who put their blood and sweat and tears into this soil. This Holy Earth and made it strong.

They put the world on their backs and made it strong.

Strength is my cheat code to survival.

I am a product of the hopes of the future.

I am a product of the work of the present.

I am a Black woman And I stand tall. Stand with my head held high.

Parallel to the sky. Where my ancestors and the angels look down upon me.

They breathe into me their strength and guidance.

And they make me strong.

Stand tall.

I am a mountain of a woman. I am as pure as the sea.

See me coming and know I bring storm My voice is thunder. These eyes are lightning. I am the hurricane here to reclaim my World Back.

This blood in this soil is a burden to bear.

So watch out world. The Queen has come back to reign supreme over her Queendom.

Because there is beauty in my DNA stretched out and out far into this world but there is blood in this soil that has been taken.

And you can never take my throne, my heritage, my legacy away from me

Tainted not by the sins of those whose blood has been spilled but rather by those who spilled it.

Took a sword, a knife, a gun, a noose and killed them.

Made martyrs without consent.

And so I fight for them.

I breathe for them.

I be for them.

I am a being made of shea butter, fairy dust, coconut oil, angel feathers, nebulas, and melanin.

I am cosmic. I am Earthly. I am a Creation of God.

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This is my legacy. Built into the Earth. Written in the Heavens.

Given to me by God and built up by my ancestors.

I am a legacy.

Dr. James Farmer. Thank you for your legacy. I am a product of your legacy too. Because without you I cannot stand where I am today. Thank you for watching over me, and I promise your legacy is not over, not to me. This mantle, this torch, this fight that you have passed on to us shall never falter. We are fighting every day to make the dream you had a reality. And we hope that you are up taking that fishing trip in Heaven now.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Our responsibility is not merely to provide access to knowledge; we must produce educated people.

- Dr. James L. Farmer Jr.

Help preserve Dr. Farmer’s legacy by making a gift in his honor to support two fundraising priorities for student success: • Financial Aid and Scholarships - $500,000 Goal The cost of higher education is the most significant obstacle for enrollment of underrepresented students. Help UMW assure affordability and increase access for all.

• The James Farmer Multicultural Center - $100,000 Goal The JFMC is a vibrant hub of diversity, inclusion, and activism. Inspire student success by expanding the center’s programming and outreach.

Learn more today about how you can provide access, opportunity, and hope for all during this unique time in our nation’s history.

Contact the UMW Office of Advancement at umwgift@umw.edu

giving.umw.edu

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID

Laura Moyer

1301 College Avenue Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401-5300

University of Mary Washington

Mary Washington Strong

Most readers of this magazine remember the springtime excitement of senior year. As the campus erupted in blossoms and green, the Mary Washington friends you’d soon leave became more precious, and the anticipation of commencement grew.

Dear Class of 2020, in March our world changed. Your Mary Washington plans were upended, and we feel for you. Someday, you’ll have stories to tell of how this year unfolded, stories of how you spent the end of the semester away from campus managing online classes and nurturing long-distance connections with friends and professors. You’ll have the memories of how you braved this crisis. For now, know that you are in the hearts of all of the Mary Washington family.

And to all readers, stay strong – we can do this.