Reunion Weekend is June 6-8, 2014. Please plan to attend our 60th reunion! Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Lois White Lowry, who died of a stroke September 19 2013. She was in Washington to receive a Fellowship award. Alice Avanozian Arana and Ozzie have been living in the senior community of Morningside in Fullerton, Calif., for 4 years, enjoying the beautiful grounds, wonderful staff and food. “On a clear day we can see Mt. Baldy from our balcony. We have many activities both physical and mental to keep us entertained and alive. Due to some health problems Ozzie is having, we have curtailed our travels––last one to Peru is in March,” said Alice. After completing 9 editions of “Puntos de Partida” workbooks for McGraw-Hill they decided to pass the baton on to the next generation. Jean Baker Weikert and Mark celebrated their first anniversary. Congratulations! Mark is doing well and now able to resume playing golf after his spring heart attack. For relaxation they continue to Ballroom dance. Granddaughter Kelsey Miller is teaching in Seoul, Korea and then on to Thailand in November and granddaughter Erin Haafke is a sophomore at Mansfield Univ. majoring in music. Grandson David Abrams will graduate from Shippensburg Univ. and be commissioned in the service this spring. Jean also mentioned that Joanne Wagner Tolbert’s husband Rod passed away late last year. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tolbert family. Barbara Coleman lives in Oceanside, Calif., enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Ocean. Daughter Valerie and two grandsons live in South Carolina. Barbara is in negotiation for publishing her book. It concerns her years at the White House under four presidents and her eight years on television with “Here’s Barbara.” She interviewed the Who’s Who of Washington and also other celebrities. Publishing has changed and it is more difficult to make a good arrangement. Janet Edelstein Ettinger is in good health by exercise and keeping busy. A new grandson Baylor is a joy and a 9-year-old granddaughter makes happy family times. Betsy Gary Guthridge’s 24-year-old grandson has just returned from Prague and Czechoslovakia where he spent six months coaching baseball. While there his father, mother, sister and several friends joined him for travel around the area. Pat Sabin Sprague loves living in Colorado. She can ski in winter and swim all year in a local heated pool. Son Ted and family live in California. There is an 8-year-old grandson and a 6-month-old granddaughter Caroline. Pat visits California each summer and heads to Oregon enjoying the beauty until autumn. She still uses her writing skills and completes a newsletter for a charity. Kaye Petersen Boothman was recovering from spinal stenosis surgery. She feels very fortunate to have a husband who cooks and cleans up. For the following six to eight weeks, Kaye was looking forward to relaxing and reading without guilt. Her book club was meeting at her home and they brought the nibbles. Jane Hinkle Stockdale has moved to a retirement facility in Lancaster, Pa. She ran into Anne Smith Knoll and Ralph living in the same facility. They enjoy cocktails and dinner together occasionally. Husband Wendell reported at least ten other Naval Academy graduates there. Their 52-year-old son passed away last year of a massive heart attack. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Daughter Janell Stockdale Pentz ’78 is a Hood graduate from the class of 1978. Two grandsons will graduate in the spring––one from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and the second from Penn State Univ. in State College, Pa. She spoke recently with Anne Lyon Canon and Donna McDowell Boswell who mentioned they had moved into a “cruise in the middle of a corn field.” Anne Smith Knoll and Ralph enjoy retirement. She plays golf, bridge and many activities, lectures and music programs. The sons are scattered in Maine, Delaware, Georgia and Iowa. They are blessed with seven grandchildren (all girls) and six great-grandchildren, five girls and one boy. Both Jane and Anne mentioned that Joanne McCune Horton ’53 also resides at Willow Valley. Anne Lyon Canon likes living at Avondell Retirement Community. She gets around with a walker, but cannot overdo it. “I do miss living in Frederick, close to Hood. Here in Bel Air, Md., my daughter Ellen Bareford took my granddaughter Grace to a College night and Hood was represented. Grace became very interested in Hood and thinks she would like to attend. I would love for her to go. It would be the perfect college for her. She is a junior at Bel Air High School. I told her Hood girls are good girls!” Marilyn Ogden Heath and Alan celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in August not long after Alan had open-heart surgery to replace the mitral valve. The surgery was successful and his recuperation is progressing well. Toby, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a service dog (hearing assistance dog) for Alan, accompanied them to the hospital and into the intensive care unit. All three children have visited and helped out with the recuperation. “To wrap up the year, in December, she was awarded a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the United States Dressage Federation at the annual convention in Lexington, Ky.! My involvement in dressage judge education is being recognized. I enjoy educating others to become judges that I feel it is reward enough, however, it is nice to be recognized––it is truly the icing on the cake,” said Marilyn. Donna McDowell Boswell reported, “It is not an exciting news item, but then I do not live an exciting life, busy at times and uninteresting other times. I still have my Montessori preschool, which was started 37-years ago when I was trying to find something to do where I would have my summers off. I am still actively involved, at least three days a week, which can be a challenge. I enjoy all my children and grandchildren especially in the summer at my home in Ocean City, N.J., where they all enjoy the sand, sea breezes and surf. All three families will be cruising with me (one at a time) this winter somewhere warm. I am looking forward to leaving the cold weather, which has never appealed to me. Lastly, Mahjong is now one of my addictions as is knitting. I try hard with this last hobby, but keep falling off the yarn wagon,” said Donna. Jane Stockdale and Donna were planning to get together in November for lunch. Jane Dickenson Glass passed away in April 2013. Betsy Oehrle reported, “My last email from dear Jane was her response to my message for her to listen to Bono on the TED sight and hear him speak about ending poverty. Jane wrote, “Wow, he is really something else again!” I say the same for Jane, my roommate of 3 years at Hood. A phone call from my family in Pittsburgh gave me this very sad, unexpected and shocking news. We were in constant contact on email and we always met when I returned to Pittsburgh. Jane’s final words to me in her special birthday wish for my 80th was, “…we are still friends no matter how far away or how long it has been and how far apart we are. I shall always have memories of friendship, laughter and music and that’s a good thing!” Rest in peace Jane, til we meet again.” My heartfelt thanks to all who have answered the call for news! I hope you will continue the tradition. I have enjoyed knowing where you are and what you are doing. It has been good to hear by email and to speak with so many. I hope to attend Reunion and look forward to seeing many of you!
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