1965
Emily Kilby
443.485.7443
erkilby44@gmail.com

The Class of ’65 is getting mighty close-mouthed about themselves these days, but I finally wheedled a column’s worth of news out of several cooperative classmates. Jamie Barr Gartelmann, a much-appreciated voluntary reportee, wrote in May from her primary residence in Schooleys Mountain, N.J., “We are still here digging in the dirt on the farm and enjoying our beautiful spring surroundings after a hard winter. We took a break in North Carolina for a couple of months, but it was record-breaking cold there, too, with a very late arrival of warmer temperatures. I was recovering from double knee replacement (not for the faint of heart) and glad for the rest and relaxation. My son’s snowplow bills were awaiting me upon our return to New Jersey. We enjoyed a super trip to New Orleans in April to visit good friends and enjoyed seeing springtime there. It is the 300th anniversary of that city, and we saw the Tall Ships on the Mississippi which Peter especially enjoyed. We are still sailing in Maine in the summer, and I’m hopeful that my knees will cooperate when getting into the boat. Our two sons and their families will join us there for a very chaotic week in July. Even though most are teenagers now, it is still their favorite week. We are thankful that the grandchildren still want to spend time with us and marvel at how well they’re doing. I’m still able to play golf and am active in my garden club and church when I’m not running GiGi’s Uber service for grandchildren. We have three attending Peter’s old high school this year. Granddaughter Cora is our rider and very committed with Interscholastic Equestrian Assoc. She competed for her team this spring at nationals and hopes to become an equine veterinarian. Life is full, and we don’t know the meaning of the term retirement.” Kathleen Davis Dick actually picked up the phone when I called and provided a quick summary of her current life. Widowed now for 15 years, she and her son continue to live in the same Potomac home that the Dicks moved into in 1976. Her son is unmarried, but Kathy enjoys the pleasures of grand parenting and great-grand parenting through her stepson’s offspring. With reasonably good health, as she put it, Kathy keeps busy with mahjong, exercise and volunteering at her synagogue. She lives in the same area of Potomac as Ann Fulton Warren, and their paths occasionally cross. In February, Nancy Hoveman Schultze and I also visited Potomac. I picked up Nancy at her lovely new home in the Marriottsville area north of Ellicott City, and we drove on to visit with Ann and Tom for lunch and much subsequent reminiscing and laughter. The Warrens remain in their home of 40-something years where their local son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter regularly visit and their daughter’s Connecticut family including two grandsons and a granddaughter gather for holidays. Photos sent by Sarah Lane Howell in response to my plea for news show her looking great and reveling in her life as mother of two, grandmother of five in Watsonville, Cal. Also out west is Mary Ann Wilson Birch who married a ’65 USNA graduate 51 years ago. Now settled in Albuquerque, the Birches recently received a most interesting memento of their days in the Navy. At their wedding, Barry had cut the wedding cake with his military sword, which immediately went missing after the event. Its whereabouts remained a mystery until May 26 of this year when a package sent by one of Barry’s shipmates arrived. Now reunited with its rightful owners, the sword had been found at a reunion, but no one knew where it had been for all those intervening years. When at home, Mary Ann, now retired from teaching, volunteers at the Albuquerque Aquarium to keep in touch with sea life and children. The Birches’ frequent travels include visits to North Carolina where their two married children and two grandchildren live and to their off-the-grid cabin in southwest Colorado where Barry is using his master gardener skills to establish an orchard. In Mary Ann’s words, “Life is GOOD!!”