Kathryn Brown Sandifer
717-762-3045
klsandman2002@yahoo.com

Hello 1978 Classmates! I am afraid old or incorrect emails must be the reason that I didn’t hear from more of you…We have News from Martina Crum Martin: She is living in Northern California and has returned to school and writes, “Quite an experience returning to school in your 50’s. I am loving every minute of it though! My student teaching preschool assignment this semester is at a brand new elementary school in El Dorado Hills, CA.” “Since I already have a B.A. in Journalism/French, I only had to take the education classes for my associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. I will be qualified not only as a Teacher, but also as a Site Supervisor when completed.” Martina has had the opportunity to travel to many nice locations. She hopes to meet up with some “Hoodies”- Sarah Meyer Daniels and Tracey Attlee Smith – with their husbands during the weekend of November 6th while we are in town for Hal’s 40th high school reunion from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. She had hoped to see Ginny Slocum but her plans to visit the United States were postponed until the Fall. An update on her family: Our children’s updates: Theresa, 30, recently relocated to St. Paul, Minneapolis for a legal position in the compliance department of Wells Fargo; Eric, 28, entered a Wind Turbine training program for sustainability in Vancouver, Washington; Claire, 24, a manager at ZARA’s in Scottsdale, is auditing a graduate class at Arizona State University while applying for a Masters of Fine Arts program nationwide; and Bryan, 20, works an entry-level supply chain position at amazon.com in Scottsdale. Her husband, Hal is entering into his fifth year as Vice President of Supply Chain for Aerojet/Rocketdyne in Sacramento. The company has undergone many executive changes this year, which is keeping everyone on their toes! We have traveled to Baltimore, San Francisco and Phoenix to catch the Ravens games. Several familiar Maryland faces have been spotted at these events. Go Ravens! Classmate Margaret Harrison writes to let us know that she is living in Hagerstown, Maryland (just down the road from me). She is able to be semi- retired from my family dental practice. She is “getting involved with mission trips. I went to Cambodia with International Medical Relief in September. We went by boat to isolated villages offering medical and dental care. The village people had no electricity or fresh water. The Cambodian people are happy, content people and were very appreciative of our help.” “I loved this experience and met amazing, giving people.” Thank goodness for people like Margaret. She also gives of her time to a local Homeless Shelter. An update on her family: “My daughter, Hillary, blessed me with a grandson, who is now two years old. I adore being- Nana. My son, Hunter, lives in California. I visit him often each year. He is a hard apple cider maker and Golden State Cider is thriving. My partner of nine years, John, lives in Williamsburg, Virginia. He is a professor at William and Mary and I travel to the burg weekly. So, life is full and so wonderful. I thank God for my many blessings.” I, Kathie Brown Sandifer am still working but thinking weekly about Semi-Retirement, ha- Herb is a few years older and so we are “Planning”. My children and grandchildren are well as are my siblings and Parents. Blessings to you all! Klsandman2002@yahoo.com Please update your email address with Hood or myself.

Elizabeth Anderson Comer
410-243-2626
ecomer@eacarchaeology.com

Denise Swan Isacson wrote, “In June 2014, I achieved my “goal” of having a little place in my adopted country of Sweden and a little 2-BR condo here in the U.S on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. This coming November, I’ll mark 37 years with Delta – with no end in sight as the job is still too much fun! My husband retired from GA Tech/Savannah last year and keeps quite busy with consulting projects, golf/tennis and traveling. We just returned from a week in Croatia celebrating our 25th anniversary. Liv (23) recently got a promotion at the corporate headquarters of The Fresh Market Shoppes in Greensboro, North Carolina. My stepdaughter, Jonina presented us with a beautiful granddaughter, Iris on 10 March. In June, my mother (91!) and I were able to meet Baby Iris in Stockholm on our way to Reykjavik, Iceland. Katherine Kluth Rohm and Greg Rohm are both still working in Maryland renovating an old fixer upper they just purchased closer to town in the Towson area. They spend as much time as they can in Delaware were they enjoy lots of bicycling. Their family is gradually spreading across the country so they also enjoy traveling for visits and sightseeing. “Still marveling at how our kids got to be grownups so quickly!” Martha Homnack Armenti and husband Bob sold their home in Roland Park and moved across the street into a condo in preparation for a post-retirement adventure–teaching in an international school. “In June, we retired from our long and wonderful careers at City and Poly, then we accepted teaching assignments at Sturgis Charter School in Hyannis, Massachusetts. I’m teaching only two sections of sophomores so there’s time to explore the Cape. We bought used bikes to ride to and from work and we’ve discovered the Cape Cod Bike Trail which winds between pine trees and along cranberry bogs soon to be harvested. Classmates who want to make the Cape a destination, please let me know! marmenti55@hotmail.com We’re holding onto our Baltimore condo so we can return as we please and again next summer when the school year is over. We’re not sure how long we’ll be up here in the long run. The renewable contract is just for a year. Labor Day weekend Sarah Kingman Matthews and Barrie Briscoe Reightler joined Elaine Patry Jones in Boothbay Harbor, Maine for 5 days of fabulous weather, sightseeing, storytelling and loads of lobster eating. “We stayed at Burnt Island Lighthouse which Elaine has re-purposed as an educational and tourist facility using only private funds. Staying on the island couldn’t have been more quaint and fun! While there, we read an email from Jayne VanVliet Davilli and also talked with Ruth Ann Oyer Shaffer who had just celebrated the birth of another grandchild. Elaine is in charge of the Maine Sate Aquarium and sets up marine educational programs for schools all over the state of Maine. Barrie is the director of publications for Maryland Horse Breeders Association. Sarah is recently retired and very busy with a variety of volunteer activities. She often visits with Professor Kay Graf (Food Science and Marriage and Family Professor) who is now 93. The three of us can’t wait to do this again and hope our kayaking and hiking skills will still be up for it!” Sharon Thorpe Kourtz shares: “It was fun being in a Washington Area Hyundai commercial in June… Paul and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary (and my 60th birthday) by taking a breathtaking “Sea Puffer” cruise to Alaska in July…Our son Collin is serving with the Mercy Volunteer Corps in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore… It was delightful to share a summer afternoon catching up with Martha Homnack Armenti. It is amazing how the years fly by… The Kourtz family participated in a Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Walk at the Baltimore Zoo in mid-September… Paul and I still enjoy Irish ceili and set dancing… I am a receptionist for Fairfax County—two miles from home! I hope to retire in 2018.” Here is some news from me…Elizabeth Anderson Comer: Anne is a freshman at Bard in Berlin and loving the city. We are leaving to visit her tonight and then attend Jacob’s Cambridge graduation next week. We will see Margaret there as well as she is beginning her Ph.D. at Jesus College. I love my archaeology career and also volunteer at the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society. Really fun…check it out at www.catoctinfurnace.org. We are having some great events and need volunteers so contact me if you have extra time and love history! Send some news my way so we can keep up the class of 1977 tradition of never missing a column!

Nancy Ludwick Warrenfeltz
850-995-0051
nlwfeltz@hotmail.com

Always good to hear from our class. Here’s the latest news. Please email me your updates so I can include it next time. Thanks so much! Amy Locker Krug writes: I won’t be able to attend our June 2016 reunion. Our daughter Emily who lives in Texas will be in Pennsylvania that weekend for a wedding. We don’t see her that often, so we will be here to help around the wedding activities. My news is that I retired from teaching in June. I also retired from making costumes for the high school play. I plan to help, but not be in charge. I am enjoying my free time by remodeling our 25 year old kitchen, working in our gardens, reading, stitching and babysitting our grandchildren. This summer I was elder caregiving to Bob’s parents as they stayed at their summer house in Troy, New York for six weeks. It was peaceful and relaxing with various family coming up the weekends. Our daughter, Carrie will have her third baby (a girl) in February. This will be our 5th grandbaby. Bob and I will also celebrating our 40th anniversary on the Hood reunion weekend. We will be thinking of our classmates as you celebrate at our June reunion. Cheryl Kruse Rondorf writes: Neil & I had a great trip to Madrid, Spain in October. We experimented with getting a private room from the website Air BnB. We scored with a gracious hostess in the center of the city and had a great time exploring the sights. Neil had to start working with his undersea cable protection committee people the following week, but I continued to have many adventures. We found out while we were gone that our oldest son, Sean, had been selected to be pinned for E-7 in the Army (Sergeant first class.) I was able to drive down to Fayetteville, North Carolina, Ft. Bragg and watch this event take place and spend time with our four year-old granddaughter. I learned that the majority of the Army soldiers retire at E-6, so this made the promotion even nicer!Our second son is an 8th grade special education teacher in Colorado Springs. We went out to visit them this past June and welcome their second daughter and our 4th grandchild. I celebrated my 60th birthday November 2014 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with our daughter, Kira, welcoming our third grandchild, a baby boy. Our youngest son and his wife live in Virginia Beach. I started a new hobby last summer when I bought an embroidery sewing machine. It has been fun learning all the different techniques. We are looking forward to Neil’s retirement next year, so we can spend more time with our grandchildren and various friends across the country. Barbara Woolmington-Smith reports…. No weddings, no grandbabies, still working (sigh), will try to get to our reunion. We are looking to sell our home in spring and downsize – possibly to the Sacramento area. My main occupation is figuring out how to down size all the “stuff” accumulated over 25 years of living in one house. Ebay is my best friend! Larry & I visited Scott & Lois Vandermark Moore in Woodbridge, Virginia. Larry & I attended his 40th USNA reunion in October. It was a record breaking turnout. We had so much fun reconnecting with classmates. Let’s do it again, this time for our Hood class reunion in June. Please mark your calendars for June 10-12. See you then!

Deborah Page Rath
530-891-4975
drath@nhhicks.com

Aldan T. Weinberg is now a Professor Emeritus of Journalism. He is still teaching (one course, the senior seminar) and advising the radio station, but essentially retired from Hood after 30 years. He moved from his home in Braddock Heights of 43 years to Worman’s Mill. His fiancé, Connie Schlee, sold her historic house in Frederick and they are now under the same roof. Moving after all those years was a full-time job in itself. Now he wonders how he ever got anything done when he was working. Grandchildren Claire and Nora moved from Silver Spring to Pittsburgh, where mom got a position with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as a pediatric cardiologist and assistant professor. Son Rob will continue his law practice in Pennsylvania, while daughter Casey practices law in Rockville. On May 11, 2015, Sue Shorb-Sterling received her Doctor in Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D. C. Then on May 19, she received the gift of double total knee replacements. She is now walking well and is pain free! Currently, she is in her seventh year serving as pastor at Salem United Methodist Church in Brookeville, Maryland. Also, her fourth grandchild was born in January. Her name is Ashley Ellen Sterling. Three weeks later, Ashley was involved in a car crash and rushed to Johns Hopkins PICU with a brain bleed. She came home on her one month birthday. Ashley is now doing everything that she is supposed to being doing for her age and has been released from her doctors. We are very grateful. Debbie Wagner Shawen’s biggest news is birth of her first grandchild Samantha Rose who is a pure joy and lives outside London with her parents, so they are hopping across The Pond whenever they can. Michael and Debbie downsized to condos in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and Sarasota, Florida. They bike, hike, and kayak as often as possible and go out West to their favorite national parks. When in Baltimore they live on their sailboat. Debbie’s work as an Educational Consultant (helping families who need a therapeutic program or LD school) can be done from anywhere – and she loves it. Arlene Russo Bujese is still serving as Curator in Residence at the Southampton Cultural Center, New York, and just completed the 15th Annual Boxart Benefit Auction for East End Hospice (EEH); it is her 13th year as Chairperson of the event. She serves on the Board of Directors of EEH, and is working on securing works of art for the soon to be completed East End Hospice patient residence in Quioge, Long Island, New York. Jacqueline Testa Ciminera is happy to share that her first grandchild, a beautiful girl named Ella, was born in April to her son Bill and his wife Amanda. We’ll be watching facebook for some pictures. Debbie Page Rath wrote, “I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and remained safe throughout the extreme weather conditions. It looks like we’ve made it through another summer of wild fires in California. And if they’re right about El Nino, we may even get some rain and snow this winter. We could really use it. Wishing you and your families the best for the remainder of 2015!”

Sara (Sally) Parkhurst Van Why
814-623-1557
sallyvanwhy@gmail.com

Sara ‘Sally’ Parkhurst Van Why I started the last Hood column with a quote about the importance of our college friends. Continuing with that theme, I asked through email for comments. Donna Simmons Maneely wrote that her Hood friendships are still important to her and ongoing 40+ years after graduation. She treasures sharing birthday and Christmas greetings (and a few e-mails too) between close classmates and enjoyable outings several times a year with another dear local Hood friend from the Class of 1968. “Whenever we are lucky enough to be in touch, I feel like a happy girl of age 21 again as all these easygoing uplifting friendships are refreshed. Time has not stopped the Hood bonds of caring and friendship.” Lorraine Sharp Kish shared that a group of her Hood friends try to keep in touch regularly through email and social media. Some even snail mail birthday and Christmas cards to each other. They are always in each other’s thoughts. Ann Jones just had an hour long phone conversation with Patricia Funari Bevacqua. Ann is so grateful for their friendship and even though they don’t see each other very often, they love to connect. They shared special memories of dad and daughter weekends. My roommate, Katherine Nixdorff Wilson, loves seeing folks at the reunions some 40 years after we all started together in 1969, sending birthday cards to each other through our 30ties, 40ties, 50ies and now 60ties, plus seeing class mates when they attend other events such as when a whole bus load who came from Frederick to support Marcia Coyle DiBiagio for a Hood book signing in DC. She also has monthly lunches with Marcia, occasional lunches with Deborah Christ Zourdos when she is not down south playing golf, and encounters with Charlie on the train from Baltimore to DC. All of this means the connections are still there and very meaningful. Charlotte Miller Ponticelli says her Hood friendships and memories of those friendships have been a constant source of joy in her life. What she loved about Hood was the ability to move among various groups and really enjoy the patchwork of friends who might unexpectedly emerge from one day to the next. She is so glad she has had the chance to attend every single one of our class reunions! She says it’s true we tend to have a pretty small turn-out, but at every single reunion, there’s that old patchwork of friends, some we were very close to while at Hood and others we hardly knew at all. All it takes is a couple of us coming together to talk about the “remember whens”. The years melt away, the friendships endure… and somehow there we are, in microcosm: The Class of ’73! I, Sally Parkhurst Van Why, am part of a group that have been writing a round robin chain letter since we graduated. Patricia Suydam Ritter says that she believes that some of the friendships that she made at Hood still exist today due to our chain letter. “It’s so easy to let things “slide” – but when you have made a promise to six others to keep the letter moving around so that you’ll get it back with new info within six months – you keep it going. This friendship is so special because we are all the same age and have all been through many different stages of life – both the good and the bad and have been able to share, support and celebrate with each other through them. It’s a privilege and an honor to be part of such a caring group of people.” Anntoinette Lucia sums up all these comments by expressing how she treasures her Hood friendships. “Whether it is through mini-reunions, dinners, letters, birthday cards or email, there is something wonderful about having women in your life who “knew you when.” Nothing compares to sharing a laugh or reminiscing about the old times, some better than others. What is especially wonderful is how our relationships have morphed over the years. We can credit those bonds that formed all those years ago for the loving and supportive friendships we have today.” I also treasure my friendships from our Hood days and new ones that have developed since I started writing this column. If anyone else has friendship stories you would like to share, please send them to me for the next column.

Mary McMunigal Burland
610-733-4009
mburl5@verizon.net

Mindy Laighton Wilcox
619-462-6230
mlwilcox3@gmail.com

Nancy Ludder Koberlein retired in May 2014 as a Family Nurse Practitioner at a rural community health center. Since that time, she and her husband have been doing a lot of traveling. The day after she retired, they left in their motorhome for a two-month trip out west. In November 2014, they took a cruise to Antarctica and this past summer they took another two-month motorhome trip to the Canadian Rockies. They have now become snowbirds, spending the winter months traveling around Florida. They also enjoy visiting their daughter, Alice, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia and works in DC. Catherine Moon McClure sent a wonderful letter to catch up. After graduation, she spent two and a half years in Botswana with the Peace Corps followed by six months of travel through Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan before returning home in the fall of 1977. She then taught social studies in Vermont and New Hampshire, then worked as a reading specialist in junior and senior high schools. Her favorite job, principal in a K-3 elementary school in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, followed that. The last 15 years of her career were spent as assistant superintendent in Manchester, NH and then superintendent of schools first in Litchfield, NH and then Bennington, Vermont, where she retired a little over a year ago. Cathy’s daughter, Jennifer, is a registered nurse midwife at a hospital in the Seattle area. Cathy and her second husband, Steve, enjoy hiking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. She stays in touch with Elizabeth Ziegler who lives in Plainfield, Vermont, and they plan to travel down to Frederick for our 45th reunion. Mindy Laighton Wilcox and husband Bill flew their small plane from San Diego to Brunswick, Maine to attend an airplane convention this past July. They spent four weeks traveling out and back and stopped to visit Elizabeth Cooper Pizzolato, Alice Paul McGinnis and Carol McVey Burke ’72 along the way. Nancy Loader Calabretta and Anthony visited her Hood roomie Susan Montag Wood and husband Peter in Australia in September 2014. They had many adventures ranging from farm sitting on a real farm to snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. After several weeks of traveling around Australia, they returned to Sydney and spent their last week with Sue and Peter at their condo in Wollongong. Nan retired as Assistant Director of the Medical Library at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in April 2015 after 42 years working as a medical librarian. Her retirement began with a 21 day trip to Greece and Turkey! They were able to spend two weeks with their entire family in the Outer Banks, North Carolina in September and are looking forward to a three week trip to Costa Rica in January 2016. Frances Heck Darrow and Bill have retired and are living in Vienna, Virginia. Bill retired as an engineer for the government about seven years ago and returned to work about three weeks later as a consultant working with the same government people. Fran is working as a preschool teaching assistant three days a week. Fran enjoys her book club, knitting group, and her water aerobics class. They enjoy traveling and spending time at their condo in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Their daughter Beth and her Australian husband Rob live in Wilmington, North Carolina with sons Ian and Tristan. Rob is an assistant professor at UNC-Wilmington, and Beth is preparing for her PhD dissertation. Fran’s son Tom is in his 11th year teaching high school history in Manassas, Virginia and is working on his second master’s degree. He and his fiancé, who is a psychologist for the Army will be married in May. Mindy and I hope you are enjoying our columns, but we need some help. We have discovered that many of the email addresses that we receive from the college are incorrect so we are asking you to make sure Hood has your current email address so we can contact you for your news. We hope to see many of you at our 45th reunion on June 10-12, 2016.

Karin Ninesling Infuso
910-400-5137
kinfuso@aol.com

Nancy Schneider Alder volunteers at a local hospital, church, and nursing home and sees her five grandchildren as often as possible. Her daughter recently was married on the beach with perfect weather. For Marj Menchey Bernstein, the highlight of the summer was an Alaskan cruise with her partner and his family. After the cruise, they took the “breathtaking” Rocky Mountaineer train across Canada. Marj will travel to Naples, Florida in January for a Hood event and will attend Andrea Chapdelaine’s inauguration as Hood’s president. Ada Karen Blair and her husband, a long-time Minnesota Twins fan, visited Minneapolis, Minnesota, seeing the new Twins Stadium was on her husband’s “bucket list”. Kari was busy selling a house in NC and will close this fall. Kari lives 30 minutes from Karin Ninesling Infuso and enjoys seeing Karin’s daughter and grandson. Marianne Clark Cordyack reported on the reunion of her Hood friends Joanna (Dody) Corey Crutchley, Marianne Fisher O’Meara, Veronica George Freiberger, and Susan Pendell Johnson at Carolyn Johnson Houze’s home in Cody, Wyoming. The group started meeting in 1996 and planned to meet every five years. But the reunions, filled with talking, shopping, eating, and sightseeing, became an annual event in 2012. This year’s reunion included Yellowstone National Park, since Lynn’s house is only 53 miles east of the park. Vickie Smith Diaz loves retirement and spends 5-6 months in Florida enjoying outdoor activities and shell collecting. She will return to Maryland for the holidays, host Thanksgiving for her daughter and her boyfriend, and travel to NYC. Lauren Frankel still runs her consulting firm working largely with non-profit agencies. She is active in Planned Parenthood of Pasadena and completed three years as board chair. Her daughter Elizabeth is married and lives in Minneapolis which allows Lauren to explore the Twin Cities. Lauren was sorry to miss our reunion, but she was visiting Martha Herbert Bounoure and her husband in Nimes, France. They also spent a few days in Barcelona, Spain. Myra Holsinger visited Elaine Hubert and her husband in South Burlington, Vermont and enjoyed the view of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. Denise Howard Mason reports that she is still working full-time but also travels with her sister Donna-Sue Howard, Hood ’74. In July, they spent 3 weeks in the Black Hills and the Badlands. Denise visited Pine Ridge Reservation and met with several descendants of Chief Red Cloud. Denise received veterans’ recognition at Mount Rushmore with a female Army veteran who served in Iraq. Denise hiked around Devil’s Tower and participated in a dinosaur dig. Her sister made a significant find and is recorded as the finder. Karin Ninesling Infuso and her family took a trip to southern California that included Los Angeles, a short cruise to Mexico, and the Pacific Surfliner train to San Diego. They visited a college friend of her husband, whom he had not seen in 46 years. They planned to visit Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone NP, and Grand Teton NP but cancelled the trip because their first grandchild arrived six weeks early. After two worrisome weeks, mother and baby boy are fine. Margaret Muncie traveled to New Mexico with her husband to visit friends from his college days at Miami University in Ohio. They will take a trip to Amsterdam and a tulip time river cruise next April. Peggy fondly remembers our reunion; when she looks at the photo book we gave her, she is reminded that she had “great classmates at Hood”. Pamela Nesbit and her husband continue their anti-bullying program at a school in Wisconsin. She is inspired by the students and states the work, is “life changing”. In May, Marianne Fisher O’Meara also became a grandmother to a baby boy and loves the grandparent experience. Anne Parkin Pierpont mentioned our reunion and is amazed that none of us ever “really age”. After 26 years, she still works at Stuart Day School in New Jersey where she runs the after-school, summer, and auxiliary programs. Her husband’s health has declined, and Anne works hard to balance his needs with her own. Anne’s daughter is a free-lance film producer. Anne thanks the classmates who attended the reunion with special thanks to Marj Menchey Bernstein for hosting a lovely reception and to Mary “Sam” Ryan Reeves and Marj who are “the glue that keeps us together”. In July, Sam Reeves became a grandmother to a baby girl. She attended a Hood gathering in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, hosted by Linda Allan and saw Ellen Sands Smith there. Ellen Sacks and her husband visited Sam at her beach house in South Bethany Beach, Delaware. Thank you to the classmates who sent information for this column.

Sayre Roney Steere
850-233-0238
sayre1126@gmail.com

Patricia Etzel Parker has completed her two-year stint as a District Director within the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland. She is an active Master Gardener and Daffodil Judge. She often sees Ellen Kiel. Linda Israel Lamm and husband are enjoying retirement in Bethany Beach, Florida and recently hosted Mary (Sam) Ryan Reeves (’70). The Lamms have traveled to Spain, Columbia, El Salvador and Ecuador. Jill Stanley’s daughter is now an ordained cantor in Deerfield, Illinois. Jill and Adam went on a square-dancing cruise down the panhandle of Alaska – Elizabeth (Betsy) Seele Gotta was one of the callers! Martha Silcox Hankins continues to teach at the Odyssey School for children with dyslexia, while helping her husband with Shiloh Pottery, and raising sheep, alpacas, peacocks and goats. In September Martha Mulford Gray, Nancy Roe Hebdon and Meredith Owen Atkinson attended the memorial service for Linda Stockdale Warren in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Linda was a part of a mini-reunion group consisting of Marty, Nancy, Sandra Jung Vrem, Nancy vom Eigen Rasmussen, and Linda Walls Bradley (’70). They have ordered a Blazer Brick in her memory. Virginia Monaco Hatfield recently coordinated a five-generational family reunion in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She and her husband enjoy escaping to their vacation home on Lake Tahoe and off to Maui in September. Linda Richards McKnight Hoover married David, an infectious disease doctor in March with Susie Holtzmann Richardson in attendance. Linda and David each have a daughter. Over the summer they traveled to the Congo and Indonesia. Linda and Susie met up again in San Francisco to introduce their grandchildren. After a 46-year career with United Airlines, Deborah Dick Holbert retired on September 29. In addition to managing her husband’s psychiatry office, Kathryn White Lucas is a docent at the University of Missouri’s Museum of Art and Archaeology. She has three children and three granddaughters. Daughter Marya, an attorney, is also a published author of a children’s book dealing with the Chicago Fire. Sarah Jane Snyder Raffety enjoyed her 50th high school reunion, and in October welcomed home all three of her children – together for the first time since 2011. Shahrnaz Safavi Martin checked in from Santa Barbara, California where she and her husband have lived since 2012. Prior to that they were in Vancouver, Houston, New Hampshire, The Netherlands and most recently Zurich, Switzerland. Daughter Mitra runs a Tango School in LA; Melika is a corporate lawyer and mother of Naz’s grandson; son Darius teaches at the American University of Beirut. Susan Oliver Schneider earned her education degree from BU and has taught in Marblehead, Massachusetts for decades – currently 1st grade where she designs STEM projects. From mid-April to Thanksgiving she runs sailing races. Patricia Warren Carlson continues to shepherd doctoral students through their dissertations and teaches a course or two in Educational Leadership at Delaware State University. Her main passion however is golf – plays almost daily, weather permitting, and is helping her six year old granddaughter learn the game. A golfing vacation to Punta Cana in December is planned. Jean Winn Swan’s husband, a retired dentist, volunteers his services to poor villagers in Viet Nam. Jean traveled to Qatar in May as daughter Carolyn (an archaeologist) welcomed baby Hannah. Newly engaged son Matt is a Marine officer. Daughter Kate and family (Josephine, 5 and James, 2) live nearby. Jean has written and illustrated a book which is about to be published. Twin Joan Winn Horman joined Jean at their 50th reunion in Maine. Joanne Ingoldsby Peters spent the summer recovering from foot surgery, but now is back to playing golf. Donna Holst Carr and husband live in Mt. Airy, Maryland. Though retired from teaching, she continues to substitute. Son Ben and wife live in New Jersey; daughter Meredith and husband are in Frederick. Cynthia Kannapel Weiss welcomed granddaughter Amelia (daughter of Charles, sister of Will and cousin of Bree) in July. The whole family joined Cindy and Glenn for a Cape Cod vacation in August. Dave and I, Sayre Roney Steere lived out of suitcases much of the summer. First came a two-week cruise through Northern Europe in June – loved Stockholm and Oslo; in July it was off to Seattle to see our three granddaughters, then drop by Palo Alto, California for a visit with Doris; in August met up with Karol Bedyk Strang in North East, Maryland for our 50th reunion. Finally I must “plug” a book, The Libyan, written by our own Esther Kofod Whitfield. It’s a memoir of her married life in Libya under Ghaddifi’s dictatorship. Her story will captivate you.

Sharon Burns Walsh
410-749-0426
sharon.walsh68@gmail.com

Sharon Burns Walsh the Class of ’68 is still out there making its mark on the world, but many are definitely taking life a bit more slowly. For my first time in the class columnist role, I emailed classmates whose maiden names started with the letters A through H, so if you didn’t hear from me, then Hood doesn’t have a correct email for you. Please send that information to Hood, and I’ll be sure to contact you for another column. Several who responded sent thanks to Linda Search Atack for loyally serving as class reporter for the last several years. Linda was one of the first to answer my email and says that she retired from child welfare at the end of July and is enjoying a much needed rest and re-charge. She is now turning her attention to major house repairs due to a water pipe leak that she hopes to complete by January. Then she plans to work part-time with teenagers aging out of foster care. Her three grandsons are now 9, 5 and 2 and so much fun to spoil. Two live in the Chapel Hill area and the youngest in northern Virginia. She has been in touch with former roommates Mary Kay Noren and Amy Rosenberg Cornblatt. Mary Kay and Don have sold their home in Easton, Maryland and are moving to a South Carolina island. They continue to have sailing adventures that “sound like a travelogue.” Amy and Marc moved last fall from Philadelphia to the Boston area which is where Amy grew up. Linda adds that the common theme for the three former roommates seems to be “sorting and editing” the accumulation of all the “stuff” they’ve acquired through the years. Rosemarie Dempsey Curlett reports that she is still working as the County Coordinator at the Amy Lynn Ferris Adult Activity Center in Chestertown, Maryland where she has been for 27 years. After a move five years ago closer to Chestertown, John has plenty of ground for his garden. They have one granddaughter, 21 years old, and two grandsons, who are 8 and 11. She stays in touch with Jane Walters Jasper who lives in upstate New York. Sharyn Duffy says she doesn’t have any kids or even a trophy husband but still has 2 horses. In 2014, her 30-year-old horse that she had for 27 years died, which was a terrible loss for her. His replacement from Wisconsin arrived at the end of September after a search she characterized as an “adventure worthy of a short story.” She is hoping he gets along with her mare who “gets to be a cougar.” She also reports with thankfulness that she has completed six years of treating her multiple myeloma holistically and without chemo. Carol Fogler is hoping to provide information and inspiration to young women when they consider career options. She funded the placement of a copy of Finding Justice in every public high school in Maryland. It’s a history of women lawyers in Maryland since 1642. It was published in association with the Maryland Women’s Bar Association Foundation and the University of Baltimore Foundation. Carol still lives in Columbia, Maryland. Living less than an hour from me (Sharon Burns Walsh) in Selbyville, Delaware, Mary (Rita) Rous Hollada wrote that she and Larry are still working but have reduced their schedule to allow a little more discretionary time. They will be married 50 years in December and will celebrate by spending a month next spring in Scotland. She adds that doesn’t make her feel as old as the fact that her oldest grandson was married in October 2015. Rita and I are planning a Hollada-Walsh mini-reunion before the holidays. Still professionally active, Phyllis Gimbel (Schnitman) was promoted to full professor in June 2015 and published a book on school leadership in October 2013. Her husband is on the Faculty of Harvard School of Dental Medicine and has a private practice in implants in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, where they live. They also have a home and 88 acres in southern Vermont where they spend a lot of time with their children and 5 grandchildren. As usual, our class overachieved—this time it was in sending news. I have included items this time in the order I received them. Because the class columns are limited in length, I regret that I cannot share news sent by Carol Huntington, Beverly Thompson Gardner, Cheryl Bonynge Harker, and Sandy Deemer Harra. You can look forward to hearing all about them– and others– next time. No more empty columns for THIS class, I promise.

Patricia Rosner Kearns
kearns.patricia@gmail.com

Deborah Aldrich says she loves to read about our classmates is having a good year. “I’ve just lost some major weight and feel so much better. Walking every day in beautiful Newburyport. Coming up on the five year mark breast cancer free which is great. My daughter just went through a much more difficult bout with it. I added two wonderful kittens, Jethro and Findlay McDoodle, to my cat house.” Gail Witham Pohl writes: In May, we took a wonderful cruise on the Elbe River going from Berlin to Prague, and in July we took a driving trip through some of western U.S. and Canada (over 5000 miles). We’re still involved in square dancing and volunteer work, and I lead a Bible study group. The grandchild count is now 20. We are blessed! Johanna Van Wert Thompson say, turning 70 has been great fun with a family Caribbean cruise, there were 22 of us! Michael and are very active in Bruton Parish and working with the homeless. We even have a therapy dog and Michael takes him to a retirement home as well as a women’s shelter, to interact with the residents. One thing that has come to fruition in this 70th year is a scholarship at Hood which my two sisters, Punkie Van Wert VanAs ’69, and Susie Van Wert Loustaunau ’72, and I have established. The Virginia Munson Hammell ’67 Trading Room was constructed in Rosenstock Hall over the summer and is now open for classroom use. Kristina Campbell Joyce says she is planning to stay in their house in Massachusetts for life if possible, so did some work around the place this summer.
“Our grandchildren Emma (13) and Ryan (11) are growing up fast. Our daughter teacher is in Boston so we see her often. BJ and I traveled to Iceland and Greenland for my art and teaching–Artic Art theme and that was an adventure. BJ is still in the family business for printing and drafting supplies and is happy working as I am too.” Ruth Conger Crespi writes from Rhodes, Greece, “at the end of a great two-week trip here. I return October 1….to the wonderful man in my life, who I dated in New York in 1968. Life can be so unpredictable, especially at 70! … I had a nice visit from Susan Starr Bracken, who was traveling back to North Carolina after a month in the northeast. While she was here we joined Cynthia Newby for lunch. I see my cousin Mary Starr Smith Adams (Class of ’54) from time to time at her home in Newtown, Connecticut. I look forward to visiting Kristin Muller (MS, Class of 2014) this fall at her studio in Dingman’s Ferry, Pennsylvania. (Kristin was a ceramic student of mine at SCSU many years ago.) … My daughter Louisa has been living and working in Tokyo for the past 14 years. Daughter Jodie is a chiropractor in Davidson, North Carolina. She and husband Mike Silver have two children. Son Scott, his wife Becky, and their three children live near me in West Hartford. They are both chemical engineers. Life is good.” Ann Goodhart and husband Jim Delgado just returned from a cruise in the Canadian Arctic and along the coast of Greenland. It was an amazing experience full of dramatic landscapes, cold and ice, warm local people and not much wildlife. Marjorie Mumma Ohman & family have been in their Arlington, Virginia house 37 years now. The only message she has is– I hope all who can, will come back to Hood for our 50th Reunion. The campus never looked lovelier, and there are so many new developments in the college curriculum. Sometimes I half-wish I could go back again and study something new there now. It is always a pleasure to return. Patricia Rosner Kearns Finally, your class reporter has transitioned once again. I spent the winter in Connecticut taking care of my mother who passed away in March at 90. In June, I joined a small local nonprofit as executive director near my home focused on getting homeless families out of shelters and into permanent homes earning a living wage. The kids continue to fly the coup. Oldest son Josh, moved to Sonoma County but still works in DC; youngest son Neil moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and son Max is still in North Georgia. Grandkid count is four, 3 boys and a girl and I don’t get to see them enough!