Hello Class of 1983! As I write this column, the leaves are turning many brilliant colors and the first flakes of snow are expected this afternoon. What a perfect time to report all the latest news from our classmates. Shelley Wagar Sabo moved to upstate New York two years ago for a new job as executive director of the New York State Center for Assisted Living. She loves the work and the climate, snow included.  Her daughter Courtney remains in Virginia where she attends community college and works part time caring for a child with special needs. Shelley was lucky enough to spend some time in St. John last spring with Hood alum Lori Landis. Kathy Alexander Long wrote to say how much she enjoyed catching up with friends at our reunion last June. Sharing time with Sally Seward Kirby (who in fact did play lacrosse at Hood) and Jill Feaster LaPan was one of the highlights. Kathy is a child care licensing specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education and is lucky enough to have the Hood’s Onica Prall Child Development Center on her caseload. Her oldest son loves his job as a fifth grade teacher while her middle son pursued his passion to play football in Germany. Her youngest son is a freshman at Middletown High School. Nancy Hoffman Hennessey and husband Kevin also loved the 30th reunion catching up with old friends.  She wrote that Ruth Ravitz Smith now works for General Electric and she and her husband Mike live between their two homes in northern Virginia and Wilmington, Del. Nancy began her first of three years of schooling to earn her Masters of Divinity degree to become a Priest in the Episcopal Church. We wish her well in her endeavor.  Joyce Rhinecker Gillich shared news as well.  She and her husband Dan have been married for 31 years. Their daughter Heather M. Gillich ’08 works in Missouri for the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. Their son Matthew is pursuing his master’s degree in ethnomusicology. Joyce is now a joint owner of a graphic designer/embroidery company in Martinsburg, W.Va.  Lee Ann Near Aikens and husband Ron just celebrated their 27th anniversary. Daughter Victoria is in her third year at Shepherd Univ. and son Jordan is a soccer playing senior in high school. Lee Ann happily takes care of her family and spends time with her 81-year-old mom who lives nearby. Kim Hall is sorry she missed the reunion but she was on her first sabbatical since stepping down as director of Africana studies at Barnard College. She recently visited Barbados and Rhode Island to do research on her third book which is on literary cultures in the 17th century English sugar/slave trade.  Kim rebuilt the Africana program at Barnard College and it just became its own department. Kim tries to squeeze in time for quilting.  Last year, she had a quilt in an exhibit on Black mermaids in Charleston, S.C. Mary Linger Posey lives in Myersville, Md., with her husband Richard and their three children. She taught Kindergarten until 1996 and then stayed home for 15 years to raise her children. She now works part time as a special education instructional assistant (SEIA).  In 2012, she was awarded the SEIA at the Middle School level in Frederick County. Mary sends all her best to everyone. “My, Mary Townley’s, life is busy. I continue to love my job as a supervisor of transition services at Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. in Richmond, Va.  I teach work readiness skills to high school students with disabilities. It is a great job in an amazing company! On another note, Carol and I are involved with a lawsuit here in Virginia to have our marriage recognized by the Commonwealth. We are lucky to have top, nationally recognized lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies representing us in the case. Our daughter Emily is now a sophomore and beginning to drive. She plays basketball and is enrolled in her high school’s Humanities program. Life is good. Keep in touch everyone. Stay healthy and be safe.”