1946 Continued Getting the note from Ann tossed me back in time. My love for woods and waters began when some of us visited her on Lake George after graduation from WO. The result today and for some years past, is a “camp” on Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks where family gathers. Seven miles by boat has not deterred nine busy grands from a multi-hour drive from wherever to fill a sleeping porch or the outdoor shower. They come with friends in various combinations, with or without their parents: Lulu, Curator Fine Arts, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; Debby Lippincott ’72 organizes and moves the likes of us into retirement places and then “stages” their house for sale; Flann, an intellectual property lawyer in NJ; Wiz, dealing with the complexities of high-level kid’s sports; Bea II, tennis team at Emory U; Lydia, soccer in CA; son Josh is ranked No.1 high school quarterback in CA. As for me, I keep the “hotel” in the summer. The rest of the year, I spend five days and sometimes more doing what I did last year and will do next year if no disasters: writing the American Silver catalogue for the Phila. Museum of Art. The silver sparkles – I do not have to clean it. I am in archives and manuscripts, deeds, wills, court records etc.: the raw material of biography, hoping to give life beyond birth and death to American silversmiths, especially those who lived and worked in Philadelphia. Everyone ended with “Best to all”.
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Mary Wells Jencks writes: “My husband Richard welcome visits from children and grandchildren and friends. But this “golden years” thing is not easy and we do not travel any more. Love to all classmates. And fond remembrance of those we have lost. I am proud of all that Westover has accomplished.” Anne-Louise Baker Carroll sends news of the birth of her first great grandchild, a girl. Carolyn Grace was born in Chicago on July 7, 2013. She says that it saddens her to read the list of classmates still living and writes, “I miss so many of the departed. What a great class we had.”
1949
Sheila Edee 1510 Wedmore Court SE Smyrna, GA 30080 Mtnmom@mindspring.com Gayle Nin Rosenkrantz 990 Randolph Street San Francisco, CA 94123 gnrwriter@att.net
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How do we cope with aging? Gayle Nin Rosenkrantz and David installed a chairlift in our house so that we can stay here longer and not fret about going up and down the stairs. Even though David uses a walker, we do get around quite a bit. He put some big wheels on the front and back of the walker so he whizzes down the street from the streetcar stop to the opera house and symphony hall. We feel so fortunate to be able to enjoy our SF symphony, opera, ballet and Repertory Theater. We have also taken up duplicate bridge and love playing at various clubs two or more times a week. We no longer take big trips, but we attend regional and national tournaments. In Aug. ‘13 we played in Colorado Springs and visited our daughter Valerie. In Nov. ‘13 we’ll play in Phoenix and share Thanksgiving with our son Bruce and his family. During baseball season we take the streetcar to root for the Giants at AT&T Park. We are taking some interesting courses at a local center for education for elders and work out at the gym three times a week. I am still reading voraciously in both Spanish and English. Many of our friends have passed on and sometimes I miss the times I opened my heart to the ones who are gone. I am grateful for the friendships I made at Westover. I am grateful for every day and the gifts it offers. Sabra Packard Cleveland is now the primary caregiver for her husband who is almost 90 and is suffering from dementia and macular degeneration. She is grateful that she is well enough to care for him even though this new responsibility reduces her volunteer activities. She loves reading about all of us. She and Shelia Edee stay in touch as always these past 82 years. Joan Peterkin Foxwell is celebrating the birth of her greatgranddaughter Adelaide Foxwell in Phila., the daughter of her grandson Taylor Foxwell and his wife Anessa. Sue Searle Dixon and her husband Wes married off two grandsons in April and Oct. ‘12, one in ID and one in GA. They were expecting a great-grandchild the end of Sept. ‘13. They have slowed down a bit but Sue was enjoying reading a book about Westover. Nancy Lee Ballenger’s husband Bruce passed away in July of ‘12. Although we are sorry for her loss, Nancy says he was ready to go. She went on a train trip to VA earlier in ‘13 and is enjoying a biography of the Queen Mother Elizabeth. Nancy reports that there is no retiring in her retirement community (committees, fun groups, activities). Her biggest challenge is finding some peace and quiet for herself. Joan Pirie Leclerc is staying mostly at home, although she does occasionally go to NYC for the theater. She is blessed to have 3 grandchildren and three children in DC. Her oldest son, Robert Thayer, works for Food for Peace while her other son, Nate Thayer, is a reporter. Joan recommended we read Caleb’s Crossing.
1949 Continued Louise Levenson is still playing piano and is also working as a piano teacher in a music school for special students. She is increasing her repertoire, and both of her activities give her great joy. She also takes art classes. Pamela Jayne Miller and her husband still spend a large part of every summer in ME, where their 4 sons and their families come and share the summer with the rest of the family. The Millers sold the big house in CT, which they occupied for 40 years, and now are happy with their home in a very nice retirement community in CT. I tried but did not succeed in obtaining news from all of my group. I thank those who responded. It is not hard to understand that at our age, if we happen to still be alive, we may be overwhelmed with illness, aging related handicaps, or taking care of loved ones. We love you all and are grateful for the connections we made at Westover. And from Shelia: As I, Sheila, explore Gayle’s bright report, I continue to be struck by how mobile, resilient and/or adaptable we continue to be. A vital factor, as I see it, is the ability to get from here to there. Gayle and her husband enjoy what is probably the most efficient public transportation in the nation. SF has seen the needs and met them. No word how those of any age navigate the considerable hills in that metro maze. If memory serves, Luigi Horne Mumford does not even need to own a car in Chicago. Many of us have to be more ingenious as we dodge super size SUVs with drivers glued to cell phones. Or, work around friends’ and families’ schedules, waiting for a ride. Kitty Devine Hayden is blessed with having son, David, a writer, live with her. He ferries her to and fro and does much of the heavy lifting. That frees Kitty to roam the rocks and rills around her very friendly home in Wilton, CT. She does all the housework in a three-story “nest”. I continually ask her where the endorphin rush is in scrubbing baseboards and routing out dust bunnies. Perhaps I will send a carton of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers for her holiday joy. Kitty still manages to get in a walk of several miles most days. She enjoyed reading the poignant Thank You For Your Service by David Finkel. Judy Blair McDonough opines on how delicious it would be for some of us to sit down and have a good chat. Sometimes she is horrified at the world which she will soon leave for her children, grands, and great-grands. Are we too close to an extinction of the world as it is? Can we turn things around? More importantly, do we have the collective will to do so? Judy has a Guinness-variety stat for our class: does anyone else have a daughter who attended a 40th college reunion this year? It was hard enough when the girl turned 60. Judy and husband, Tom,
are relieved to have a new internist in Cincinnati. He treats the entire family “from diaper to diaper.” Bobby Lamb Johnson took a nine-day Road Scholar cruise through the Great Lakes last summer. Highlights included a stop at Mackinac Island, where her son, the late Christopher Reeve, filmed Somewhere in Time with Jane Seymour. She found a display about the film in an alcove off the grand porch of The Grand Hotel, where much of the filming took place. Bobby made a jaunt on her own to Norwalk, OH. With the help of the local public library, she located the house where her father and six of his seven siblings grew up. The youngest hadn’t been born by the time the 1902 Norwalk Directory was printed. Her youngest grandchild began kindergarten in the fall. Oldest granddaughter is still hard at work on the legal staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Lois Boots Berry enjoyed a move down memory lane when she visited Westover last spring. Her granddaughter attends Greens Farm Academy in Westport. The young soccer teams duked it out on the playing field, after which Lois gave some lucky students a back stairs tour of The Westover You Never Knew Existed. That in itself is sort of freaky. Lois had an informative chat with a senior. No word how different or similar the ladies are across the decades. Never one to let anything but beautiful flowers grow under her feet, Barbara Crowell Wheeler admits to easing up in the garden and on the tennis court. The eyes see the ball, but the legs don’t seem to get it. Last year, she took a boat trip up the St. Lawrence River and bumped into Hedda von Goeben ‘48. These impromptu redux seem to pop up often with our convivial classmates. Barb had naught to say about her shipmates’ dire need of hearing aids. No weeks at the spa for Sheila Grainger Edee. Nope, no Tauck tour, cruising the Adriatic Sea. This year I sprang for a Staycation. I live in a pleasant subdivision in metro Atlanta, where the yards are small and the neighbors close – very close. Now my curved patio sports a potted plant population, strategically spaced flowering trees, and a luscious layout of thick, green sod. Really pleasant – no Photoshop needed. My two small Dachshunds hate it. The cushy sod has obliterated all their digs. They don’t seem to comprehend the beauty of the lilies or the luxury of stretching out and practicing deep breathing. Although I am no student of Shakespeare, he wrote thusly in As You Like It: “Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
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