Elizabeth Anderson Comer
ecomer@eacarchaeology.com

Our Class of 1977 news begins on a sad note.  Elizabeth “Betsy” Stevens Watson died on November 21, 2018 at Summit Place in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Betsy’s obituary described her as “the light and life of everything she touched. She was always positive and encouraging, funny and insightful, and had a profound love for her family and friends.”  Our sincere condolences to Betsy’s family and her many Hood College friends.   Memorials can be made in Betsy’s name to METAvivor at www.metavivor.org.

Sharon Thorpe Kourtz wrote to say: “ I enjoyed a long weekend in NYC in the fall.  Times Square has improved immensely since my last visit in the early 1990s.  We did the normal tourist bus tours and took in three plays.  What fun. I’m looking forward to a warm weather cruise in February.”

Ann Barber’s news includes the following: “My first grandchild arrived 7/23/18:  Jack Bryan DellaGrotte! Elizabeth and her husband live 3.5 miles away so I am now babysitting one morning a week and whenever they ask! He’s a joy and a big boy! He’ll be 5 months and it’s the best thing having a grandchild! Last spring I took a Collette Tour and had a marvelous time while visiting Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, and Warsaw. Beautiful countryside, marvelous cities and many points of historical interest.  Just returned from a week at Marco Island, FL! In between all of this I still have a busy law practice! “

Kas Kluth Rohm sent some news:  “Greg and I are enjoying life in a seriously refurbished 1940’s house in Lutherville, Maryland. Why didn’t anyone ever tell us being grandparents was going to be so much darn fun!  We have a one-year-old grandson, and this little guy has changed our lives! We’ll be celebrating our 42nd anniversary in a month, and we fondly recall all those weekends when husband Greg drove up to Frederick to visit the beautiful Hood campus so many years ago!”

Adaline C Smith sent the following update: “Megen Mack Opsahl, Faith Voth Stone, Adaline C Smith, and Kim Anderson McDonald (Class of 1978) have been getting together since they left Hood (less frequently in the early years and more frequently more recently).  In 2017 we enjoyed an Alaskan cruise together with our husbands, and we met this year (without husbands) in Nashville.  Both trips were just fabulous!  It was great fun being together, spending time remembering fondly our days of Hood and making new memories.  We all lived in the Maryland area for so many years and were able to visit Hood regularly, however, now we are all over the country.  Megen has been living in the Seattle area for the last 15 years with her husband Mike, who is an infertility specialist with his own practice.  Their son Kevin is a writer for a newspaper in Utah and Matt, who was just married this year, is a graphic designer living in Boston.  Faith married Rick Hoffman in 2015 and moved to Florida.  However, they rarely stay in Florida long and have been traveling all over the world.  I think their next big trip is to the Galapagos Islands.  Adaline has been living in the Boston area with her husband Gene where they both work in the pharmaceutical industry.  Their oldest daughter, Monica, was married this year, and Darrin and Ginger are both back in school working on advanced degrees.  Kim just moved to Williamsburg VA with her husband Brad and enjoys traveling (frequently to India) and visiting her growing number of grandchildren.  Their son Tyler is a Naval Officer currently stationed in Hawaii with his wife, Mary, and 3 children.  Poor Kim has to force herself to visit them in paradise quite often. Their son Luke and his wife, Rose, are living in Virginia, so they are relatively close by and Kim can get a lot of “Mimi” time with her grandchildren!  A 2019 get-together is currently being planned!

News from the Comer family: We are looking forward to two graduations in 2019.  Anne will receive her B.A  from Bard College and Margaret will receive her Ph.D. from Cambridge University!  I so enjoy being a member of the Hood Board of Associates!  It gives me an excuse to visit campus, hear about exciting new programs, and meet amazing students!