It has been a few years since I have reported on the Lucky Ladies (and men) of 1980…Katie McCombs Zirnkilton, Ellen Higgins Kornfeld, Amy Sue Falk Felker, Laurie Drysdale, Beth Ward Ross, Ann Lawrence Brooks (class of “79) and Sarah Ann Miller got together to celebrate their 60th birthdays in late September on Nantucket at Sarah’s house.  Audrey Tozer has kept in touch with many classmates via email, phone and Facebook.  Last fall she reported that she has been in touch with Anne Driscoll Williams, Ted (Theodora Felegi) Laws, Linda O’Toole Teebagy, Mary Tielking and Debbie Wills (’79).  Audrey and Kim run their individual businesses and keep quite busy around the farmette.  Their fur family consists of mini horses, standard sized horses, barn kitties and dogs.  Deborah May (Beckmann) Austill is still working here in Frederick as a Family Practice Physician Assistant for Frederick Primary Care Associates.  She and her husband, Dave, have 1 grandson and 3 step grandchildren.  Susan Reeder Jessee ran for County Council in 2018 in Frederick Co. but lost by just 520 votes. She has started a new job at USAMRIID as a Project Manager and finds it a privilege to be working on therapeutics and vaccines that will help keep our soldiers safe.  Her daughter, Emily, will be a junior at Hood this fall.   Kim Taylor Corle writes that her kids are in various stages of getting married, and she has rediscovered her art, actively painting and exhibiting while husband, Blaine, is golfing more than anyone she knows!

Mary Newton Deighan and husband, Mike, live and work in Charlottesville, VA.  Most of their nine children have graduated from college and are adults finding their way in the world, working jobs and raising families.  They are not quite the empty nesters yet with three children still at home, (two attending college and one in high school), but they’re getting there.  She still has her part-time bookkeeping job which has kept my mind nimble with all the advances in technology. She shifted her sewing hobby from costuming for theater to teaching small hands to sew in a beginners sewing club. She and Mike have been taking river cruises, most recently traveling both the Rhine and Danube Rivers.   Deborah (Sheetenhelm) Hammond, since retirement, has published 19 books and about to release lucky #20, Both Sides Now. Her books can be found on Amazon.com in both paperback and kindle versions.  Julie Flynn wrote that on Dec 14, 2017, after being together for 20 years, she married her partner, RaDonna Burik.  It was a small wedding performed by their pastors at the Lutheran Church they attend.  She thinks that they were as excited as she was that they could finally, legally, get married! She recently retired from Siemens Healthcare after 30+ years.  She doesn’t miss work at all and highly recommends retirement to everyone. Valerie Cerrone Nelson is a practicing midwife at Jacobi Medical Center, a large NYC hospital that serves a united nations of patients speaking every language.  Her grandson Desmond was just 2 and is the light and joy of their lives!

Anne Reynolds Gurney and I recently got together in Gettysburg for lunch and a few of us from Meyran (me, Ellen Aries Mulhern, Linda Curry Heartfield, Jak Killefer Cruthers, and Kim Taylor Corle) got together last fall on Cape Cod for a weekend to celebrate our 60^th birthdays.  I also recently retired from Marsh & McLennan Companies after 26+ years and 12 years at Thalhimers, and like Julie Flynn, I highly recommend it.  I look forward to traveling and spending times with family and friends.  See you at our 40^th Reunion next June!