Dianne Beebe Barske
907-346-3167
dielbarske@gci.net

Anna Buhr Cole writes that she and her husband Miles have continued their love of travel, visiting Spain and Portugal, with trips to Iceland and Norway this summer, the Holy Land in the fall, and North Africa in January. Both daughters are librarians. Virginia “Ginny” Wheeler Jones M.A.’88, who chaired our 50^th Hood reunion, looks back on that time as “such a positive experience” filled with many happy memories. Winter days in Florida led to reunions with Carole Ann Kemp Lovett and Carole Ann’s husband Bill, and Terri Petrillo Connolly and Terri’s husband Frank. Ginny and Charlie celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary last year. Carole Ann wrote that she and Bill are hoping to move to The Villages in Sumter County, FL, after selling their home in Deep Creek Lake, MD. She hopes for a reunion next year in Florida with Pat Kehoe Tylander. Barbara Cubberly Smith, shares that her main focus, other than family, is plants and travel to see plants – and her six grandchildren. She and husband Ron traveled in their RV to the maritime provinces in Canada and to Florida. Barb volunteers with the Master Gardeners in southeastern NC. Laurie Wheeler Brown, writes from her home in Asheville, NC that her dogwoods and gardens are absolutely beautiful. Her five grandchildren will be with her most of the summer as they come and go from various camps. Laurie spends time quilting and husband Fay wields a hammer for Habitat for Humanity. In August, Bonnie Scull Hawkes and husband Geoff will board a cruise ship in Vancouver, head through the Northwest Passage, eventually to New York, then up the St. Lawrence to Quebec City. “We are very excited that we are lucky enough to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Millicent “Milli” Towner Fazey and husband Charles will be going to Columbia for two weeks in July with their Spanish professor and his espousa. They will visit Bogota, Medelin and Cali, and the cafeteria region. Pat Chapple Wright H’90 spends half her time in Madagascar and the other half as a Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. The Centre ValBio research campus that she founded in Madagascar has received three large construction grants for expansion. The remote community health team has doubled in size and the education team is in 20 schools teaching participatory science and environment classes. Nancy Frederickson Sherlin visited last fall. Pat’s daughter, Amanda, is living on Cape Cod with Pat’s two “fantastic” grandchildren, Arianna and Issan. Amanda works at the Woods Hole Research Center doing management and finance for a reforestation project in DRC (Congo). Betty Schmidt Martin writes, “I recently sold the riverfront house I inherited from my mother several years ago, east of Baltimore. One of my twin sons has four children. They live in Texas, and we see them whenever possible. We travel to Orlando often to see his brother’s family with one child who turned one in May.”  Betty’s daughter is working in San Francisco, and Betty and her husband visited there in April. Betty planned to be on the Hood College tour to Normandy in June, and on a river cruise in August with her daughter from Zurich to Amsterdam. Susan Worth Fiala wrote from Denver where she was assisting in the care of daughter-in-law, Tammy. Tammy had a bone marrow transplant last March for her leukemia. “She is doing very well.” In February, Susan visited Beth Harlow Foster in Port St. Lucie, FL. This summer, Beth planned to come to Maryland and go to Ocean City with Susan. On June 3, Susan and John will celebrate their 50^th anniversary. After 42 happy years in Alaska, my husband Elliott and I are moving to McMinnville, OR this summer. A big clump of our family has settled in one place – the Portland, OR area – both sons, both daughters-in-law and their extended families, and all three grandchildren. The pull of family simply got too powerful. We thought we’d always be Alaskans – and in our hearts, we always will be. Our younger son, Ethan, and his wife, Lindsey, both went to Linfield College in McMinnville, so we know the pretty, small town, in the midst of wine country. When they graduated, I thought we’d never be back – but here we come!