Ginger Gudebrod Smith is doing fine in Bartow, Fla., since recovering from a stroke four years ago. She reads a lot as a book club member. Like many, Ginger admits she has her iPad mini on all day. With motherly pride, Ginger relates that son John has finished writing his third book. He must have his mother’s genes! A chat with Ruth Bovier Witt revealed she swapped her home economics degree to become an elementary teacher. Amazing! She belongs to a sewing group where her sewing talents go to charity. Bo has traveled to China, Israel and Egypt. Marty Evans Marcello and family own a family camp in Maine, but live in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She said autumn is truly beautiful there. She has two daughters who live 20 minutes away! A third daughter lives in California.

Enjoying life for 23 years in North Carolina is Carol Eilerts Geney. She excels in basketry and started when her daughter wanted baskets for her wedding. These are art baskets. Earlier, Carol had her own business designing bridal gowns and designed for a fabric drapery store. A most creative person! Jean Crabb lives in Westminster, Md. She is now a retired high school teacher. She swims three days a week and plays golf. Jean does a lot of babysitting for family and helps her sister who has cancer. Jean told me that Berta Lou Pocock Dietz lives in Alaska now. Jean goes to visit her. Sally Corbin Rogers is actively selling her art work at shows and in galleries in Wisconsin where she has lived for 40 years. She has won a few awards and her favorite art pieces are created in water colors, pastels and block prints. She enjoys her two sons and grandchildren who live nearby. Ginger Button Larkins is now known as “Ginny.” She lives in Seattle with “an olde dog” who likes to hike and explore. Ginny is a super volunteer for the homeless shelter where she serves food once a week. She also delivers food to the elderly/infirmed for the Food Bank. She previously worked with a Sudanese family once a week to facilitate their adjustment to the United States.

Ellen Perry Croll is my closest Hood pal in nearby Tucson, Ariz. She is my friend, philosopher and guide while I am adjusting to the great Southwest. She was elated that her son and family were coming from Utah. Living on a small lake with a walking path outside her door, Betsy Gillespie Parrish enjoys a new community in Winnebago, Ill. She recently went on a nature conservancy trip off the coast of Georgia with Phyllis Scarborough Hoyer. To relax, Betsy reads detective books, paints floral watercolors and quilts. After living three years in Frederick County, Md., Floy Miller headed north to Massachusetts. She lived in a Boston condo, purchased a vineyard home, and taught French. Then the travel bug bit Floy. She has traveled to Amsterdam and knows Paris streets better than Boston. She has also visited the Baltic States, South Africa and Namibia. When home, Floy swims five days a week, and bikes or kayaks. She also reads and enjoys cooking.

This fall Jean Ford Joseph returned to Hood and was awed by the many new buildings. Jean did reach her Hood career goal: teaching the deaf for 40 years at the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Conn. Currently, the book club and knitting club are Jean’s primary interests. She also visits Cape Cod frequently and her four grandchildren in Ohio. Jean maintains contact with Elise Quintard who lives outside of D.C. in Maryland. Sadly, Judy Purcell Cotter lost her son to cancer. The class of 1960 is sad with and for Judy.

I, Fran Fisher LaCroix, had a wonderful Peace Corps reunion in Ethiopia with my Peace Corps volunteer teacher group of 1962-64. I taught 10th grade English in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia, for two years. Those students returned to teach in their home provinces. Out of the 150 original Peace Corps volunteers, 70 returned for the reunion. They met with the president of Ethiopia and the American ambassador. Volunteers also returned to Debre Berhan where there is now a university. My husband and I also toured a number of historic sites.