Muriel Chait Durbin, P’81
310-395-4389
msmuz@aol.com

Katharine Crook Heidelbach In May, I attended the graduation at Hood for my granddaughter, Sarah Wagstaff who is 4th generation at Hood for our family. Sarah has moved from southern Virginia to Ellicott City where she has a teaching job at a day care center in Columbia. So nice to have her nearby. Her sister Amanda is on a Fullbright in Ireland. My son’s two daughters are both in college… Lindsay is a sophomore at Washington College on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and her sister Bailey is a freshman at Wofford College in South Carolina. In August, while we were at Bethany Beach, my daughter-in-law drove me up to Rehoboth Beach to attend a cocktail party to meet Hood’s new president. It was hard to say good-bye to Dr. Volpe, but Dr. Chapdelaine is charming and I am sure will be a great addition to our college. In October, Sarah and I went back to Hood to attend the first Legacy Brunch. It was very special and we enjoyed being with my roommate, Rebecca Eppers Byrd who drove down from Hanover Pennsylvania, Susan Peters Wirths, and Virginia Turnbull Hecklinger and her family. Hope to see many of you at our 60th Reunion in June. Barbara Benchoff Miles writes that she is still living in Brooklyn. Husband Wes died in July after a two-year battle with prostate cancer. “We had 58 good years together beginning at Hood. I volunteer in the Brooklyn Museum in the Archives dept. and have done it for 18 years. Great museum.” Two of her kids live in the metropolitan area so I feel lucky to have their support. Barb’s younger son lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Three grandchildren: 18, 16 and 4. Alison Malloch Curran just got back from California, where she visited her stepchildren and grandchildren and had a wonderful time. She saw Anne Lanoue Weber, her roommate at Hood for the first two years. It was great to get together even if it was for a short time. Had a good time seeing the grandkids and their friends and they sure did put on a spread for Grandma Alison. Everyone seems to be in a good place in their lives. Mary McConnell Milheim and Irv are awaiting the results of a heart muscle biopsy to determine what kind of amyloid has taken up residence in her heart muscle. As a result, Mimi is in atrial fibrillation and has just overcome congestive heart failure by taking off 18 pounds of fluid which was making breathing very difficult. Irv has been a fantastic care-giver during all of this. Other than that, the family is all well. Their oldest grandchild just graduated from Grove City College in May. She is finishing her CPA exams and has a job in Pittsburgh. Her sister graduates in three years in speech therapy at Indiana Univ. of PA. Grandson George is a senior in mechanical engineering at Montana State, and his sister is a freshman at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Cynthia Sternberg Schein is happy in Venice, Florida. She stopped singing in the St. Mark’s Episcopal Choir in order to devote more time to the Sun Coast Duo Piano Group. All family is well: Jim and Marti in San Francisco busy with their shop of antique maps and books on Grant Street see web site Schein and Schein, also have farm in Glen Ellen with another couple. Chris and Donna are in Annapolis, (my old haunt) Chris is President of HCM. Eldest son Rich and wife Sue are still at U of K in Lexington, Rich is head of geography, his wife has a new job in development for programs of mutual exchange with international students/universities. They have her only grandchildren, twins Betsy and Will who are freshmen in college. Cindy’s happiest news is that she just returned from a Hood College trip to Aix-en-Provence arranged by AHI travel. It was superb, beautifully led by excellent tour guides, outstanding accommodations, food and participants. It rounds out her Hood European experience- as she was on the first Hood European Trip after WWII, led by Herb Heston and his wife, along with roommate BJ Harder, and 15 others in the early 1950s. Evelyn Karsten Petrie is happy to be in Riverside CA. for the past two years. Life is easy, good and fun. We have a beautiful church and lots of activities Evie has one daughter and family that lives close by and teaches second grade, her other daughter and family live in Long Beach. Muriel Chait Durbin, I had a wonderful trip to Cambodia in August, visiting Angkor Wat and then taking an Ama Waterways river cruise on the Mekong River. Once again, my family and I took part in the Komen 3 Day walk to raise money for a breast cancer cure—My son walked his 13th event and grandson, Alexander, his 2nd. The rest of us crewed the event in Philadelphia. Don’t forget to start making plans to attend our Hood Reunion June 10-12, 2016