Sally Zimmerman, Class Reporter
revsaraz@aol.com

From Betty Appel Bailey:  “Nothing has changed  …. fortunately.  All is well.”

From Jane Bollman:  “Teaching art classes and taking art workshops, two book clubs, two bridge clubs, occasional R&R at our little one-room cabin in Tidewater Virginia, and some travel out of the country keeps me out of trouble.”

Marjorie Simmons Carlson: “Bill and I have reached a new family “milestone”:  our granddaughter, Molly, junior at MD U in Elementary Ed, will be married July 11.***Our grandson, Christopher, Jr., will graduate from George Washington Law School in May.” signed “L.L.”  (aka “Library Lady”)

Ann Holmes Flatt observes:  “2014 was a wonderful year, filled with many happy family gatherings, several travel adventures and good health. Our three ‘kids’ are all well, engaged in various activities and trying to keep up with their kids, our 5 grandchildren! The oldest grandson, 20, is now a sophomore at William and Mary. Youngest grand twins are now 4 and we are lucky to have them living not far from here. We enjoy frequent times spent with our special needs daughter who lives in a nearby town. Our RV continues to bring us on amazing trips and adventures throughout the US.  Having left it in AZ for the winter, we drove it home to MA travelling through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut   –  so many beautiful sites.  We loved every mile!

Here winter is throwing us an impressive punch.  With today’s latest storm we have a good five feet of while fluffy snow.  (Ann’s update on 2/19/15:  “We’re now up to 8 feet, 9 inches.”)  We have been enjoying some wonderful skiing on our local Mount Wachusett Ski Area and cross country skiing and snow shoeing on many nearby trails.  Tonight’s temps will plummet to below zero   –  a bit less fun! More snow is expected in the next few days with ‘significant accumulation’.  So far I’m still loving it!  At the end of Feb. we are travelling to Switzerland for 10 days to surprise JP’s brother on his 80^th birthday.  In late March we are going to Mexico with one of our grandsons, continuing our plan to take each grandchild on a trip when they reach 16.  I am still singing with the Worcester Chorus now rehearsing Bach’s St John’s Passion for our next concert and also enjoy taking a painting class at the Worcester Art Museum.”

From Caroline Fischer Giles:  “Other than surviving severe winter storms here in New Hampshire, we have been planning our trips for the year ahead.  We are scheduled to go to Monterey, CA in March to visit our son and daughter-in-law Katy.  This June we plan to be in Brazil (Sao Luis) visiting with another daughter-in-law’ s family and then in September, a house exchange with our cottage is planned for Normandy, France.   We are fortunate to enjoy good health and try to stay in shape using the fitness center at UNH. I still love my work with the UNH Marine Docent Program and Brian continues  his work with environmental issues at the state and local level.  One of the greatest joys these past few years, has been our times with our grandchildren, Brenon (3 and 1/2) and Benjamin, (1and 1/2). As you might guess, we are the oldest grandparents of the youngest grandchildren, and we are thoroughly enjoying our roles as Nana and Grandpa.”

Sunny Griffin writes from Thailand:  “Our year has been pretty wonderful with my oldest daughter, Kelly, getting married in a fabulous wedding at the home of a billionaire on the beach in Malibu in September. Kelly is a movie producer, she married an agent, and the wedding was a gift from the billionaire. It was like a Hollywood dream come true ….. followed immediately by a 2 week trip to China for my husband and me. The Chinese importer of my skin care line, Astara, invited us to Beijing and Shanghai to do PR for the product line and treated us like celebrities the entire time we were there. There are 300 million WEALTHY middle class people in China today, all potential customers for us, and the country is amazing and must be seen to be believed. A Chinese website, TMall (that carries Astara products as well as thousands of other brands) sells $1 BILLION A DAY!!!!! We will spend the rest of the winter in Thailand and return to Telluride sometime in May.”

Nancy Turner Heckscher observes:  “Not much news here except I see Judy Hammond Blatchford as she and Park live next to us here in Berwyn.  We did go to Hong Kong for Christmas to see our Grands and stay with step son, Chris and Evonne and my son Jon and Amanda and their 3 girls!  Such fun and busy household with a 9 month Labradoodle!!!!”

Susan Shinnick Hossfeld says:  “Carl and I are still traveling while we are able.  Fall found us on a river cruise from Bucharest to Budapest and on to Vienna for three days.  Late January 2015, we leave for Big Sky, Montana , winter in Yellowstone National  Park and on the way home we are stopping off in San Francisco, Monterey and Carmel.  We leave  in March for Snowmass, Colorado with the children and grandchildren for a week of skiing. (Unfortunately, I had to give up skiing) In late July we leave for Scotland and London.  Our summer plans include a trip to Rehoboth Beach with our extended family of twelve.”

From Doris Dalziel Kimball:  “George and I drove out east last fall to French Canada by way of Cape Cod.  The fall colors were exceptional all the way north.  A trip of walking and hiking back and forth between Vermont and Canada provided by Road Scholar inspired the whole trip.  We were headquartered in a wee town called Glen Sutton which is where wildly famous Canadian author Louise Penny wrote her first Inspector Gamache mysteries.  Three Pines was fashioned after Glen Sutton.  Some of my friends are actually jealous that we were seeing places that inspired the author Louise Penny.”

Penny M. Mardoian writes:  “I spent a week in Budapest, Hungary at Thanksgiving.  My life is going forward since my husband Art passed away.  My oldest grandson, Michael, is at Trinity College in Hartford and so I get to see more of my PA family.”

Susan Auf Der Hyde Markscheffel responded to my remarks in an email about food in the Virgin Islands: “I enjoyed reading of your pleasure in roti!!!  Made me hungry!!! I’m a “foreign” (?) food junkie and love Ethiopian, West Indian, Indian, and Middle Eastern foods.  I’m fortunate to have a daughter and granddaughter who will enjoy it all, right along with me. (oink!)”

Janet Zwinck Morrison asks:  “Remember sun bathing on the gym roof?  We even used baby oil mixed with iodine to improve our tans.  As a result I now call my skin color “age Spot.”

From Lynn MacDonough Morrow:  “George and I returned Feb. 8 from a 2-week mission trip in Nicaragua.   It was my 6th time to go; each year it gets better as I am building relationships with team members, the missionaries and especially with the local Nicaraguans.  I practice my modest Spanish with the children and teens who know some English and we share a lot of laughs as we use body language and the little we know in each others’ language to communicate. One of the jobs I do each year is to help fill over 600 backpacks with school supplies, purchased on the local economy with funds donated by supporters in PA. The Nica. school year coincides with the calendar year so school resumes the first of February.  We reward the local kids who earned good grades the previous school year with the supplies they need to start in their new grade. Public schools are so poor that the kids have to supply their own notebooks, pencils, etc. to copy what the teachers write on the black board because there aren’t text books for the children.  Without supplies the children can’t go to school; the families in the community typically can’t afford to buy the spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, rulers, etc they need, so our donations are not only a reward for past learning but also make it possible for the children to continue their education.”

From Barbara Arthur Pretzsch:  “Bob worked in Utah last summer.  I drove out alone but back with Lyn and the grandkids.  We visited in the Ogden area then on the way home stopped at Bryce Canyon, Best Friends in Kanab, then Colorado to take the Silverton Durango train and then a stop at Pagosa Springs for a dip in their hot springs.

In July I took a trip to the Crochet Guild conference in Manchester, NH and took a few days before to travel up the coast with a friend and visited Teal West Hugo.  I also visited with Gail Wood Fortin, Marvia Slade Perreault and Linda Martin McManus the end of the summer at Fenwick Island, DE. We have been taking a trip together for quite a few years now.

My line dancing is one way I stay active. We had a nice cruise in November with other line dancers. We got a taste of what it was like on a rocking ship for the dancers who put on the evening shows we saw each evening.  We learned a new line dance on the stage one afternoon.

Our 4 legged kid situation has changed.  Patches, our Shih Tzu, was with Bob last summer.  I decided to add another dog to the family: a little Chihuahua (with the name Patches) we named Little Patch.  I was worried that Patches might not approve but they get along fine.

I wish anyone traveling along the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Interstate 10 would stop and say hi, or stay overnight with me.  We are about equidistant between New Orleans, LA and Mobile, AL.  Call me at 859-588-3911.”

Arden Reynolds echoes what most of you in New England are saying about January/February: “As I write this I’m looking out at more snow falling, after the two feet of snow a few days after the blizzard of 2015 here in Massachusetts.  We are also knee deep in converting our screened in porch to a year round sunroom.  It all started when we decided to switch from electric heat to gas heat, and from there it snowballed (another winter reference!) to a kitchen renovation and sunroom.”

Liz Decker Rogers in CA: On hearing my news that I was doing ministry in St. John, V.I. in January, Liz wrote:  “I have fond memories of that island.”

From Barbara Stewart:  “We are in constant battle with SNOW and the frigid cold here in Downeast Maine. In spite of it all we are still loving our life here.  I have made up for lost time by taking up watercolors, rug hooking and quilting. I was not able to enjoy my crafts while working. Paul enjoys shoveling snow, weeding, mowing, and house painting.

We have been taking long road trips in the US and Canada. We will be heading for San Diego in June to celebrate another big birthday with my daughters and their families.  At this point in our lives, all is good.  You can’t ask for more than that!”

Liz Kovacs Dudley Washburn observes:  “It’s hard to believe we’re approaching 75!   Looking back, the “Cold War” loomed large.  Now we have new dangers. I’ve been very fortunate to have lived in England, Kenya and Turkey as well as the East and West coasts of the USA.  All of them were political “hot spots”. In all those places there was violence; criminal as well as terrorist. Yet what really stands out is the beauty, warmth and hospitality of each. Reading what other ’62 alums have done, I would say we are a well traveled group. All this traveling around and international connectedness is making the world a better place.  We retirees are so blessed!  We have time to graciously volunteer, be there for our families, “fill in the cracks’ as one friend put it. My husband and I are very involved in family life, our church, art: I paint, he makes furniture.  We do charity work, travel, do animal care, reading and a movie group. Life is full! We live in Lake Oswego, Oregon, near Portland and would love to hear from fellow alums who may travel this way.

We are in a thought provoking study series at church, “Why Evil Exists”, video lectures by Prof. Charles Mathewes, PhD (Great Courses series). He surveys 3000 years of history, philosophy and theology.  The course is immensely helpful in trying to understand the “evils’ that exist in today’s world as well as the past.  So I give credit to our Liberal Arts education at Hood and our excellent professors, Dr. Mehl, et al. for instilling in us a lifelong love of learning.”

Jody M. Watson says: “Peter and I just celebrated our 50th anniversary in November and we’re certainly looking forward to many more. We may downsize to eliminate some of the hassles of home-ownership, such as shoveling out from the blizzard we just experienced here on the Maine coast! We haven’t heard too many complaints about that kind of a move.

We do look forward to a Florida trip in early March.”

From Pam Roberts Welham:  “Our planned Baltic cruise was cancelled for two reasons- one, Vladimir Putin and second, Walt was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Instead, we had a “radiation vacation” for two months in Jacksonville, Fl in July and August. Jacksonville has one of about twenty centers for proton-beam radiation therapy in our country.  This is an extremely effective treatment for prostate cancer which has minimal side effects.  We had two friends who had their treatment in JAX and recommended it highly.  We had a great time- Walt chose to have the treatment every weekday morning leaving the rest of the day and weekends for sight-seeing in the area and visiting FL, GA and NC friends. JAX is a wonderful city with beautiful beaches and great restaurants.  All in all, everything worked well for us.  We are strong supporters of proton-beam treatment, which is becoming available for more and more types of cancer that need radiation treatment.”  In a few days we leave on what Walt calls his “sayonara WestPac” cruise- Hong Kong to Beijing.  We will travel with Navy friends of over 50 years!!  My first trip to Japan was in 1964 when I met Walt’s submarine- I expect to see great changes!!!”

From Judi Ziobro:  “Ed and I are healthy, enjoying our lives, and look forward to getting together with our friends whenever the opportunity presents itself.  We are close (physical distance) to 5 of the 6 grandchildren (all 8 and under – so they still enjoy being with us), and that fills our “spare” time.   I am still very active in music — vocal choir and handbell choirs at the church – various church committees  (mostly dealing with $$), and sewing (of all kinds).   I seem to have no lack of things to do.  Ed, on the other hand, while he still dabbles in real estate, is pursuing perfection in retirement.  Life is good!”

And now, from me, your class correspondent, Sara (you can call me Sally) Zimmerman:  I was diagnosed with a small breast cancer last fall, had a lumpectomy in October, and radiation therapy the first week in December:  five days of radiation, twice a day, very focused. Then later in December, when the last-minute opportunity came up to travel to St. John, V.I., and do three weeks of ministry there in January 2015, I jumped at the opportunity, and all worked out just fine. I share the interest that many of you express in other places, countries, and cultures. That reminds me:  remember Heba Brynjolfs (Mrs. H. Heba Brynjolfs Wilde ’65) from Reykjavik, Iceland, who attended Hood in ’61 and ’62?  She lived in England for many years but is now back in Reykjavik.  We kept in touch for awhile, and Hood provided me with her current contact information, so that when my daughter Jenny and a friend visited Reykjavik last summer, Heba and her son met them for coffee.

I loved hearing from everyone and thank you.