Hello class of 1983! Jacque Witt Lyons wrote to share the news of her daughter Bethany’s marriage this past September. Bethany married Brent Hailey of Carey, N.C., in a beautiful waterfront ceremony near the family’s home on Kent Island in Maryland. Jacque’s daughter Allison was the matron of honor and her son Jonathan was a groomsman. Jacque and her husband Ed planned to celebrate 29 years of marriage in January. Jacque works for Habitat America as a certified public accountant and human resources director. Our daughter Emily is a ninth grader in the humanities program at nearby Monacan High School. We were so excited to learn that she had made the varsity girls basketball team after attending a team camp last June. Having recuperated from her torn anterior cruciate ligament injury all last winter and spring, this was an impressive feat for her. Wouldn’t you know it though, during preseason training last August, she fell again and tore her other anterior cruciate ligament and now must sit out the season. Her coach still treats her as a team member and she attends all practices (six days a week) and all games. We are hoping she will have a better season next year! Do not forget to register for our 30th class reunion coming up in June. It will be great to reconnect with so many friends!

Class Reporter:

Thanks to Joy Miller Beveridge, Marcea Horton Cotter and Ody Keller IV for planning our 30th class reunion in early June! Twenty some classmates attended the weekend festivities starting with an informal cocktail evening on the front lawn of the Alumnae House. A few (Joy, Gretchen, Angela and Liz) braved the 7 a.m., Saturday yoga class followed by Zumba! The campus looked beautiful; weather was great for a stroll around. The State of the College with President Volpe, a stop in the campus bookstore and the alumni luncheon filled the hours. Our class dinner at Brewers Alley in downtown Frederick was a perfect spot to start the evening! Frederick’s river walk is absolutely wonderful! I appreciate hearing from a few of you.

Glynnis Edwards Cowdery and husband are adjusting to being “empty nesters” with two children in college. Glynnis continues her work in education with autistic children and is working on the 8th edition of The Exceptional Child. She is an arts commissioner for the City of Walnut Creek in California. Glynnis caught up on the reunion over lunch with Wendy Pulford and Meg Brown McGinn while visiting back East. Jackie McDaniel West has been on the go since the reunion. She and daughter traveled to Europe in July; she made several visits to the South and hopes to visit Glynnis in the near future. Jackie continues to be a strong force on the tennis court. She is captain of a U.S. Tennis Association 4.0 women’s tennis team and has helped win various USTA championships, including a second place finish in nationals!

Nancy Thorpe Kelley still teaches kindergarten at Middletown Primary School. She is a mother of two; her son attends Clemson Univ. in South Carolina and daughter is a scholar athlete at Middletown High. Nancy enjoys volunteering as an usher at The Weinberg Center in Frederick, and was looking forward to the Messiah sing-along; memories of years ago with the Hood choir and U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen! Angela Billotti Phillips serves as the director of development at New Life Christian School in Frederick. Her younger daughter married this past spring and lives in the White Marsh-Baltimore area; older daughter is working to complete her doctorate at the Univ. of North Carolina.

Gretchen Steinmetz Keith recently accepted a position with a wealth strategy company in Reading, Pa., where she has incredible opportunities for both personal and professional growth. Gretchen is working as an executive administrative assistant and learning much about the industry. She hopes to become licensed in the future. Gretchen reconnected with her Hood “six-pack” (Lisa Bodamer Kida, Suzanne Norris Driscoll, Jodi Palmer Murphy, Caroline Peck Medley and Donna Trumbull Milewski) this summer in Westport, Conn., at the home of Suzanne Norris Driscoll. They literally caught up on the past 30 years! Over the years, Joy Miller Beveridge and I have kept in touch with family visits and celebrations. Joy’s daughter works for an advertising firm in San Francisco. Her son was married this past April and lives in downtown Frederick! Gretchen, Liz and spouses “bunked in” at the Beveridge residence over the reunion weekend. A good time was had by all! Joy and I celebrated our 50th birthdays in 2010 with a trip to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M. In May 2011, my husband and I took a road trip to the Midwest and visited various friends along the way. We first traveled south on Virginia’s Skyline Drive and made a surprise stop at the home of Lisa Shakespeare Whedbee in McGaheysville, Va.! We caught up on years in two hours! Lisa and Michael recently became proud grandparents! I have been working for AAA the past 15 years as a travel consultant (almost 30 years in the industry) and always enjoy the opportunity to travel. Recently, I escorted a group on a wonderful trip to Ireland. My husband and I take advantage of our “empty nester” status and travel to the islands every year. Our youngest son is a senior at Ohio State Univ. Where does the time go? Hood reunions and reconnecting with all the special people from our college years, the best years of our lives, is so important! Do stay in touch. As the new class reporter, I hope to reconnect with more of you in the future. Please drop me a line at Busybethc@aol.com. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a blessed 2013!

Class Reporter:

A happy and healthy New Year to everyone. My thoughts turn to those classmates who may have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. Our hearts particularly go out to Leslie Gardner Longo and her family who lost their entire home on the New Jersey shore. I am sure there are more of you out there. Mary Calhoun has taken on a Facebook project of finding Hood classmates and Hoodlums who live along the New Jersey and New York coast who may be in need of help. Laura Jones said she lives about one mile from the beach and luckily had no damage from the storm other than one downed tree. She did have to live through eight days of no power or heat. Laura works at a hospital that had generator power so she went to work every day to get warm and charge her cell phone and Kindle. She said the loss of power was a very small inconvenience compared to what other people experienced.

Mary Calhoun was busy this summer painting the exterior of her home. She had several Hood girls visit her this year, including her Hood roommate Laura Schauer and her daughter Torrie, her other Hood roommate Eve Erwin Deitch, and a former Coblentz Hall neighbor, Marcea Horton Cotter ’82. After three years of hospice care, they have decided her husband no longer needs their service. They simply could not certify him as being in the last stage of his life. In other words, at age 102 (he will be 103 in January), he is too healthy to qualify for hospice care. What a hoot! He continues to amaze everyone. She welcomes anyone from Hood traveling through the mountains of Western North Carolina in 2013 to stop by for a visit. Congratulations to my roommate Leigh Moomaw McBride who will be a new grandma in June. It really is the best job in the world. Leigh is past president of our Hood alumni executive board.

Malinda Small sent a note to let us know she is now the president of the Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation in Baltimore. Her 5-year-old daughter is in kindergarten at Friends School in Baltimore. She recently saw Sharon Gravatt Kulesz at her daughter Lauren’s wedding shower in Virginia. Sharon will be the mother-of-the-bride in a March wedding in South Carolina. Maggie Park shared her big news––she has a new grandson Lloyd Emerson Elihu Nickerson, born in August. Her daughter Molly and her husband Moses have two foster children as well, so they now have a very busy household with three children! Maria Garvey-Tara is a Spanish teacher and librarian at a K-8 school in Parker, Colo. Her daughter is a junior in high school and her son is a freshman. Her husband is a partner in a consulting firm in Denver. They vacationed in Spain this summer and hope to return to Europe next summer.

Beth Darroch Coggins P’11 has spent some time with Donna Smith Mecca, Becky Lennen Crocket ’80 and Marcy Kelley Fedalei ’79, who all enjoyed a relaxing reunion this past July at Marcy’s lake home in South Carolina. They picked right up where we left off over 20 years ago. A special moment was shared as they toasted our beloved classmate Maureen Kelly Hess with a drink and favorite Hood snack. They vowed not to let another 20 years go by before their next get together! Beth and KC have moved into a new home in Prosper, Texas, where she is teaching special education at a middle school. Her daughter Kristina Coggins ’11 is working in the hospitality industry, having finished a season in Alaska, and currently working at Copper Mountain, Colo. Her youngest, Julie, is spending her junior year abroad in Brussels, Belgium, studying international economics and French. Corrine Durdock was an adult education student at Hood and her oldest son Andrew Durdock, M.A.’81 received his master’s degree from Hood. At that time, they were reported to be the first mother-son duo to receive diplomas at the same ceremony. Corrine’s granddaughter Rebecca Rieser ’16, is a freshman at Hood. She is a member of the Blazers’ volleyball team. Corrine lives in Emmaus, Pa., and loves getting immediate information about the team by logging onto the Hood athletic website. The reports and the photos allow her to be a fan of the team even though she cannot be present in the gym.

Rebecca Levine wrote in to tell us that she took a cruise to Alaska this past summer with her husband Yehuda and son Isaac. They stayed in Seattle, Wash., for several days, and enjoyed outdoor adventures and great food. When they returned from the trip, Isaac left for his new yeshiva––Ner Yisroel, in Baltimore. After having to put their beloved dog to sleep this past year, they hope to find another Belgian Shepherd in need of rescue. Rebecca and her husband are planning a trip to England this summer.

Class Reporter:

No news reported this issue.

Class Reporter:

Jo-Ann Bourguignon said, “Like many of my classmates, when I begin to think of composing a note, I become overwhelmed by, “Where do I begin, it has been so long.” Well, first, I will have to say that I have been sweet-talked into co-chairing the class of ’78’s 35th reunion in June with Julie Orvis. Classmate Julie (Massachusetts neighbor) convinced me that by combining our event planning acumen, we could possibly manage this event from afar (Massachusetts!), with our combined contacts and friends for advice and support. Julie is all about technology, so she is enthusiastically also organizing a tangential reunion of our dorm, “IDC … The Barn.” Last month, I learned that another Hood contact and former work connection in D.C., Tonya Thomas Finton, stepped up to manage our reunion donations! This is great news for our class. I have not been to the campus since 1999, and I am very excited to get together with my friends, and meet new ones. Speaking of reconnecting, imagine my surprise when I ran into Linda Pearce Prestley in November. I met up with a U.S. Air cronie/Conn., friend to attend a community production of My Fair Lady in West Hartford, Conn., before Thanksgiving. After the show, we were in the lobby connecting our thoughts, and I ran into “Judge” Linda! Linda was a cast member of the production’s London Ensemble. I had not had time to read the program before the curtain went up, so I had no idea she was in the production. This past spring I saw my good friend Georgiana Van Syckle ’77, who flew in from Columbus to visit after Easter for a quick visit. I also heard from Joanne Frazier ’81, who has left the West Coast and moved inland to Arizona to be closer to family. Otherwise, I would have to say that life has turned into a routine phase for me at the moment. It has been more than 12 years since I moved back to Massachusetts. I have been working at Univ. of Mass. Amherst for 11 years, starting my current position in the Polymer Research Center/Nanotechnology group back in October 2010. It is a huge leap for a political science major (who knew that by changing a single letter I would be settling into learning about the world of poly science and hierarchical manufacturing). I have always thrived on stress, and love finding jobs doing things I have never done before, so this was a perfect fit. I was thrilled to get to learn something new and out of my comfort zone (I always try to play tennis with someone better than me); I did not think that after I hit 50 years old, it would be possible to find someone to extend another challenge.”

Susan Smith reported, “My husband Darby retired last December 31, 2011. We have really been enjoying his retirement. We have done a little bit of travel, but the best trip is yet to come. We plan to sail on March 2, 2013, on the Disney Fantasy for a seven-day tour of the Western Caribbean. Our daughter Catherine is going on four years as a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at Bethesda Naval, now Walter Reed National Medical Center. She loves the job and is very good at it. Our son Darby Brady and his wife Dawn just moved into a cute little house near us. Darby B. is now a manager with Lowe’s in Gaithersburg, Md., and he loves the job. Janice Rodnick Ambrose graduated from Antioch School of Law in 1981. She is an associate judge of the District Court of Maryland for Frederick County (since January 2000). She is married to Tim Ambrose and has three children and three grandchildren; life is good.

Julie Orvis is working with Jo-Ann Bourguignon as the class reunion chair for 2013, as well as planning a side reunion with many friends from the Class of ’76 to ’82 that were part of the Intentional Democratic Community (IDC) the “Barn” folks. “We are organizing a reunion of the “coffeehouse” with the musicians we will all remember (many of them are still in and around Frederick and still performing!) on the night of our class dinner––both will be at Brewer’s Alley, which will be converted to the coffeehouse at the end of our dinner. All classes during that era and at reunion that weekend will be invited. More about that in communications to come! I am currently the event planner for Historic Deerfield, a wonderful museum of Colonial New England Life in Massachusetts. I was privileged to get an apartment in the village this year after my divorce and now live where I work,” said Julie.

Kelly Walfred Miller and her husband Ed are still busy with their law practice. Kelly wrote, “We are super proud of our daughter Kelly Ann who is the 2013 Distinguished Young Woman of Greater Westminster, Md. (formerly known as junior Miss America pageant). She will be off to college next fall pursuing an accelerated bachelor of science and master of science in the physician assistant program with a specialized minor in Spanish for health care providers. I am looking forward to our class reunion!” Deb Bohn Brown was wondering who will be at reunion? She reported, “I am still in Little Compton, R.I. My kids are almost flown––Whew! Nathaniel, my youngest, is a senior in high school and applying to college. My oldest, Patrick, is in his third year at the Univ. of Rhode Island.

Gail MacDougal Friedenfeld wrote, “I have two beautiful children, Hannah and Jordan, and two wonderful stepsons, Brenden and Matt. I am now remarried to Mark Friedenfeld. My career as a teacher started when we graduated from Hood in 1978 and continues today. I taught nursery school for a while, and then took a second grade teaching position in West York Area School district (York, Pa.) 21 years ago and I am still working in that school district. I kept the second grade teaching position for nine years, then received my reading specialist certificate and took a reading specialist position for the next nine years. I am now a literacy coach for grades 3-5 in the two elementary school buildings within the district. This is my fourth year in that position and I love it!

Class Reporter:

Kas Kluth Rohm and husband Greg celebrated the marriage of their older daughter Emily on Oct. 20. “We lucked out with amazing October weather and a picture-perfect sunset just in time for the ceremony. Unfortunately, Emily lost all four grandparents in the last several years, but we know they were there in spirit and loving every minute,” said Kas. She is enjoying her 18th year working in the local school system, and Greg is almost finished his involvement with supplying steel to the World Trade Center rebuilding in New York City (which allowed him to visit with daughter Sarah who is a civil engineer in Manhattan) and ready to move on to new projects.

Elizabeth (Liz) Metz Coulter wrote, “My oldest daughter Megan is married and living in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with her Brazilian husband. They actually met in Arlington, Va. Both were taking Spanish language lessons. Megan was taking Spanish because she had a lot of kids in her 5th grade class who spoke Spanish, and Bruno, because even though he was fluent in Portuguese and English, wanted to become more fluent in speaking Spanish. They have since moved to Sao Paulo where Megan is teaching 4th grade there. They have been married for three years and this past May Megan had a baby boy named Nico. We visited them when Nico was 3 weeks old and then Megan and Nico came here for a visit! How much fun I am having! My other daughter Janey recently got engaged and is planning to get married next October. We are so happy for her. Her fiancé Travis is such a nice guy. Anyway, we have been very busy with life. My husband Frank retired last November and is working part time now. I am still teaching my science for 3- and 4-year-olds at the Church of the Holy Comforter. This is my 18th year there! How time flies!” I report from Baltimore where I hold down the fort while my husband (a.k.a. Indiana Jones) travels the world or so it seems sometimes! We were looking forward to spending Christmas in Oceanside with Doug’s 95-year-old mother and the entire family. In addition to running EAC/Archaeology, Inc., I am busy trying to rejuvenate the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, Inc., a little historical society located in the village of Catoctin Furnace just north of Frederick. Catoctin Furnace made cannonballs used at the battle of Yorktown and the worker houses that line the road were built during the American Revolution and just after independence. The furnace operation closed in 1903 and the little village was threatened with destruction in the 1970s during the construction of Route 15. My parents and other local activists mobilized a board and founded the historical society to fight the highway. The society headquarters is an adorable ca. 1810 double log house in the heart of the village. Last year, we began a Traditional Village Christmas and held a spring craft show. Dawn Cramer Stein has been a huge help. She owns East Street Beads in Frederick and has made beautiful beaded jewelry for us to sell! Visit our website, www.catoctinfurnace.org and stop by if you are in the area!

Class Reporter:

Keep the news coming! It is always great to stay in touch. I am just an email away. Some of us are staying in touch through Facebook, too. Thanks to Torie and Barb for sending their news. Torie Hoveman Seeger is still enjoying her work at the Research Foundation for The State Univ. of New York as program manager for childcare subsidy and licensing training projects. New York is working on a number of quality initiatives for child day care. The one she is involved with is the review and upgrading of the approval process for distance learning courses for child day care providers. Torie is on the board for the New York State Association for the education of young children currently serving as the recording secretary. The Seegers are working on retirement in the next year or so. That has been another learning experience in their life together as a couple; all for a positive outcome and well worth the challenges! Torie wrote, “With my Mom’s passing after Christmas last year and my second granddaughter’s birth just days later, this Christmas will be unique.”

Barbara Woolmington-Smith reported that their lives were turned upside down earlier this year when Craig ended up in the local intensive care unit with the flu and then double pneumonia. He was very, very sick, but due to being strong and healthy, he recovered fully and went back to work within 30 days. “We call it the local miracle! It was tough trying to make sure his needs were met, along with running the business by myself, but all my family and friends pitched in and helped me to the max. When they say, ‘it takes a village,’ I know the full meaning of the phrase! I have not been doing much modeling this year because of Craig’s illness and working longer hours at our management business.” Barb has been keeping up with her Etsy.com shop for hand knitted boutique baby clothes. Anyone who has a grandbaby please check it out: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BabywearbyBabs. Barb and Craig were planning a vacation in Key West this February to give them some time off to relax a little. The Smiths are hoping for retirement, but it is still a few years away. Larry and I visited Scott and Lois Vandermark Moore in November. Their daughter Sandy married Danny Ferucci in May 2012. It was a beautiful beach wedding on the Eastern Shore in Cape Charles, Va. I am busy with being second vice president of The Krewe of Les Gals in Pensacola, Fla. We celebrate Mardi Gras with a tea in January to welcome the newest members. The Les Gals Ball will be held in February 2013. It is so much fun! I am also a member of Pensacola Impact 100. It’s a philanthropic group of women who make an impact locally with grant money. Pensacola has the largest Impact group in the United States. Our daughter and son-in-law had our first grandson Jacob Lawrence Koppes on Oct. 5. Larry and I flew out to Seattle, Wash., for the happy occasion. We met up with Mike and Megen Mack Opsahl ’77 for lunch at a restaurant on Lake Washington. It was fun catching up on all the years after Hood with Megen and Mike. Our son and daughter-in-law are in the process of adopting our second granddaughter Chloe. She is darling and a very happy baby. As I write this column, my husband Larry is facing his third amputation of his right leg. He had surgery scheduled in early December 2012. Hopefully when this issue is published, Larry will be healed and getting fitted for a new leg! Wishing all the best in 2013!

Class Reporter:

Hello all! I am excited to make my first report for the class of 1975. It was great to make contact with a few of you and I look forward to hearing from many more. As for me, Debbie Page Rath, I am living in California about an hour north of Sacramento. I am married and have a son age 24. Since graduation, I have been working in the retirement plan industry on 401(k) and pension plans. Life has been great except for one hurdle. Eight years ago I fell, which left me paralyzed from my hips down. It took some adjusting to be wheelchair bound, but I returned to work and my normal activities within a year. We all deal with what life throws us and I believe I have become a better person because of it.

Debbie Wagner Shawen is an educational consultant and works with families whose son or daughter is struggling with a mental health issue, addiction or a learning disability. She helps them find the appropriate therapeutic program or treatment center. She helps young adults as well, and enjoys traveling around the country visiting all of the programs she recommends. In her spare time, she enjoys Rehoboth Beach, Del., sailing, tai chi and keeping up with her husband Michael and their three grown daughters. Peg Yanarella Hosky and her husband, a veritable bevy of cats, three 20-something children and all their associated friends lead a somewhat riotous life in Washington, D.C. They own a small business and enjoy the freedom to struggle through economic ups and downs with a sense of being the masters of their own fate. She is still a techno-geek with active twitter followers @peghosky and @fedInsider as well as a management blog with 30,000 subscribers.

Aldan T. Weinberg is still a professor of journalism and director of the communications program at Hood. He teaches in the fall and administers the program year-around. His news is mainly about his kids. Both are lawyers practicing in the metro Washington, D.C., both married their college sweethearts, and his son made him “Pop-Pop” when first grandchild Claire was born in January 2011. He and his fiancé Connie Schlee spend January and part of February in Sarasota, Fla., and would be delighted to visit with any Hood alums down there. Their “baby” is a 9-year-old Shih-poo named Punky who loves to travel to Bethany Beach, Del., in the summer. Anna Kluth VonLindenberg is retired and enjoys all of the freedom that gives her. Von and Anna have one son and daughter-in-law, and three young grandchildren who light up their world! They all share a mutual love of the water, and spend a lot of family time boating up and down the East Coast. Anna and her husband are actively planning their retirement years. They have purchased a home on the Delmarva Peninsula and will be transitioning there over the next three-years. Her younger sister Kas Kluth Rohm ’77 and her husband are transitioning there as well.

Susan McKendree (Sue Ellen Mumma) has been living in and around Asheville, N.C., for the past 23 years. About 10 years ago she began a search for spiritual connections that led her twice to India and to a spiritual master Meher Baba. In 2005, she discovered a new passion. She is now a writer and collage artist, making shrines, traveling altars, altered books, cards and other 3-D paper creations. Her poetry has been published in a regional magazine as well as five regional anthologies. She lives on her own (with three companionable cats) in a lovely sanctuary of a home outside of Weaverville, Calif. When not in her studio, she is reading, hiking or walking, tending a year-round organic garden, and volunteering with her spiritual community. Deborah Deasy is still working in journalism covering municipal news in north suburban Pittsburgh for the weekly Pine Creek Journal and The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. She said, “That helps pay the boarding bill for my new horse, a 24-year-old Arabian mare that I shipped last winter from Green Bay, Wis., to Western Pennsylvania.” She has never married or had kids, but has a longtime beau Andy who used to collect her tolls when she commuted to work on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Val Kremer Reeve is still married to Foster Reeve, and they will be celebrating their 20th anniversary soon and share two lovely daughters, ages 18 and 14. She enjoys their local small-town life, is active in the Presbyterian Church, and continues to be a painter and writer of short stories. She has been doing well, except she learned she had breast cancer about six months ago. “It was and continues to be pretty serious, but I feel hopeful and glad for everything nonetheless. I have strong faith and I am truly blessed with a wonderful, loving family and friends,” said Val. When you have time, send me an email with your current contact information and let me know what you think about a Class of 1975 Facebook page. I would love to hear from more of you.

Class Reporter: