I decided to post your messages for the Hood Magazine as you wrote them to me, in their entirety, so you can see them in real time before I have to edit them down to 750 words for my column. This way the news won’t be six months old when you read it in the Summer issue of the Hood Magazine which you will receive in the Fall.  This is something new Hood set up for alumni and I think it is great.  I’ll keep posting; you keep reading.

Ciao~

Molly

As noted in the last Hood Magazine, Sue Truby Peterson reiterated the fun time she had with Carol Harkness Kilrea while their husbands enjoyed a successful mule deer and antelope hunting trip. Carl had his “two heads” (animals’) mounted; our place will soon look like a zoo.” She wrote that the Mass. General/Hood Nursing graduates will be celebrating their 55^th reunion in September 2013; the class includes diploma grads, too..  Sue occasionally sees Stevie Amstutz in the supermarket.

Sylvia Davison Rost sent a note from Waterbury, Vermont in her Christmas card. Their oldest son, Winston and wife, Tammy, live down the road with Hazel, 3, and Samuel, 1, lots of chickens, five goats and two cats.  Son, Andy and wife, Rae, with Elliot, 11, and twin girls, Anna and Samantha, 7, are near; and their daughter, Jenny, teaches 6^th grade in New Hampshire, but lives in VT.  It’s wonderful to have family so close.

Alice Riddle Metry: We are getting ready to leave FL for Michigan.  Want to remind any and all that we will be back here in 2014, and are in the Naples/Bonita Springs phone book.  We will be back unless something unforeseen occurs. And, our Michigan phone number is 3`13-882-8709, for any in the Detroit area.   We are usually here for 6 to 8 weeks in Oct. & Nov.

Ann Fortenbaugh Eicholtz: I really didn’t think I had any news to report,but then I remembered that I live near Gettysburg!  We are all anticipating a very active summer with many Civil War enactors and tourists for the 150th anniversary.  I wanted to offer our home for “cooling off” breaks when you have had enough of the heat and the crowds. You can reach us at 717 359 0280.  There are no available rooms in Gettysburg.  We would love to hear from any of you, so don’t hesitate to call.  I played bridge recently with our Dean Nancy Cohen (Locher).  She looks great and had just returned from a trip to Thailand.  I am planning to have lunch the end of April with Gayle Hamilton Blakeslee.  I,too, wanted to encourage all classmates to contribute to the Hood Fund.  A high percentage of givers (whatever the amount) makes our class look good!

Dorothy Hofstadter Lewis called in her news in December, too late for that winter column, but reported that she lost electric during H. Sandy.  She plays bridge and Mah Jongg and is active with her congregation, helping to name the synagogue and working on the celebration.  Her son, Steven, plays clarinet in the Big Apple concert band and marched in the inaugural parade for President Obama.  Her daughter, Susan, was recently engaged and will be married in October; both children are involved in computer work.  Dot participates in the Temple Library reading program – a 10-week program for children to read books on Jewish culture and they then tell “listeners” what they learned.

Roberta Geehan Horton: Thanks for your call.  Sorry for the delay in responding.  We’ve been out of town doing some birding on the Outer Banks of N C.  This year we decided to go in early December hoping it would be warmer than January.  It was splendid, and we saw lots of migratory waterfowl in the refuges on Body Island and Pea Island and some inland lakes.  Highway 12 made National News being hit hard by Hurricane Sandy and we were afraid it would prevent us from getting to Pea Island because of the sand piled up on the road.  Luckily that part had just been cleared.  This fall I lost two family members: my Mother, age 104, died in Sept. and  my  brother, Mike, died in Nov. of  Alzheimer’s.  Memorial services were held in the Phoenix AZ area for Mother and in Houston,TX for Mike.  A tough time for us.  A favorite part of my life is reading.  Members of my book club submit books and we “check them out” of our library.  It’s a great way to be introduced to new authors. I also enjoy knitting  and crafts, especially making jewelry with glass beads or paper beads.  One of my favorite beads is made by covering wood beads with colorful origami paper.  Three of our kids live in NC so we see them regularly.  One lives in Atlanta.  Two grandkids are in college and two more go next year [six to go…].

Sue Winter Smith: Our big news from the Pacific NW is that we sold our house where we lived for 52 years and raised our four kids and moved into a senior retirement apartment. It’s a lot smaller than our house so we had to be judicious in picking what we brought. Our children were great and took the stuff that meant the most that we couldn’t take. We have 2 patios and are container gardening. It’s a lot easier than our big yard. We have a trip planned to the upper Amazon in May as our last hurrah in the travel world. We figured we needed to go while we could still walk around. We are still relatively well (except for the aches and inconveniences of old age). The kids are well. Our oldest granddaughter started college this year at Western WA University and loves it. We may be limited in space, but we still would love to have company.

Tommie Thomas Yinger:  Nothing exciting going on in my life right now.  As with the other nursing students back in that antiquated 5 yr. program, I’m gearing up for my 55th nursing class reunion at Hopkins in Sept.  And I guess like a lot of others, our 60th reunion with high school classmates this June.

Sarah Bulin Hanson:  My youngest grandchild graduates from high school this year; she’ll be going to Elon in North Carolina. It seems just a few weeks ago that I was visiting her middle school classroom! We can’t hold on to them forever!!
As to Hood News, the new Hood College book from Arcadia Publishing is a wonderful collection of pictures and information from the beginning of the college to 2012. It’s available in the bookstore and, of course, from Amazon.
The Annual Fund received 13 recent gifts from our class totaling $2480. For the year, so far, we are 36 donors with a total of $10,000. The fiscal year ends June 30. Thanks to the 36 and a reminder to the rest.

Molly Smith Sperandio: “I drove to Great Lakes, IL in March to see my grandson, Kyle, graduate from Navy Boot Camp.  What an experience that was, and how proud I was to see him march in with his class and carrying the Texas flag.  I was lucky in my timing driving north, arriving between two storms – one having left huge mounds of snow in IL but was then hitting the northeast and before the storm from Colorado hit.  I had to scrape ice from the car windows and that’s as close as I want to be to snow anymore.  From there I drove to PA to visit with my sisters, which is always a fun time. I left PA a little early with snow flurries in the wind and came back to sunny Florida with a smile on my face. I have two grandchildren graduating from high school this June, and I’m lucky that they are five days apart, so that I can see my granddaughter, Zoe, graduate in FL on the 3^rd and fly out to CA to see my grandson, Ryan, graduate on the 7^th.”

Nancy Paul Stimson: Guess I better answer, so you don’t think I died!  Been a wonderful busy winter..escaped the February blizzard by going to Florida, Key West, Vero Beach and Jacksonville…then came and went to the French Alps for a week…beautiful, cold, Bob skied and I hiked on my new knees.  38,000 meters..hardest part was breathing…came home, went back to Florida so my granddaughter could get a tan for her junior prom, successful. Did take a few days to go to Maine and see the Winslow Homer studio..super…now recovering from hammer toe surgery…guess it is good to slow down for awhile. One more week and,the stitches will be out. Happy summer to all.

Elsie Lyon Hinkhouse shared “Our travels and adventures, including 7 continents, continues in Idaho.  Oh what a difference from living our entire lives on the east coast, up to 2 years ago.  The Northwest is an adventure while life in Boise is full of culture advents. We are exploring spectacular Idaho: Hells Canyon, 2000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon, gorgeous lake communities such as Coeur d’ A-lene, Pend Oriella, McCall and Lake Payette, Saw Tooth Mountains, and old gold and silver mining towns.  Best of all is being close to our daughter Amy, Rich and grand kids Elsie and Jack.  So far I haven’t found any Hoodlums in the area.”

Sylvia Blackburn Felcyn wrote “Keith and I now have our 4th grandson, born May 17th.  We have been told this is our final grandchild.  Our son George and wife Maggie have a 2 1/2 year old and 2 week old boy, and our daughter Lindsay and husband Glenn have a 6 and an 8 year old boy.  Needless-to-say, we feel blessed.  We are still in our same house of 38 years and both still play tennis and are generally active in various organizations.  Our next big travel event is to Argentina for the baptism of our new grandson.  (Maggie is from Argentina). “