We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. However, by the time you read this, we are sure that many Hoodlums in the colder climates are anxious for an early spring. Congratulations to Melissa Swauger Kretchman and her husband Keith on the birth of their son Connor, born Dec. 19, 2011. Melissa said that Connor is already walking and keeping them busy. Karen Labonski Abate wrote to share that Christine Bell Foster was married to Jeff Foster in October 2011. Karen Labonski Abate, Stephanie Bowen Fitz-Enz ’93 and Jennifer Teesdale DeHart ’91 attended the ceremony, which was held in St. Louis, Mo. Congratulations Chris and Jeff!

The families of Sally Altland Mason, Maureen Carron Morris and Melissa Swauger Kretchman had the opportunity to catch up with each other over the summer. Since they could not attend the reunion events, they met at Hood in August and were fortunate enough to run into a resident adviser who allowed them to tour Meyran Hall. They were able to see their former dorm rooms and tell their husbands and children about life in Meyran. They also walked around campus and were amazed to see all the changes over the past 20 years. However, they all agreed that it sure does not seem like it has been 20 years since graduation. There was not too much news to report this time, so we hope to receive a lot of news before our next issue!

Class Reporter:

Happy New Year to everyone! 2012 was a busy year and I have kept up with many of you on Facebook. I recently received this exciting email from Martha “Rainie” Allison Dasch ’89. Earlier this year, she received the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Director’s Award for Exceptional Civilian Service. Rainie was recognized for her outstanding contributions to the organization, including developing the curriculum and teaching courses related to critical thinking, analysis and writing at the Agency’s Intelligence Training Centers. Rainie has managed to make Hood a family tradition as both her son Thomas Emit Dasch Jr. ’04 and his wife Melissa Janovic Dasch ’04 attended Hood. Congratulations to Rainie and her family. If you have any news that you would like to share, please email me at hoodnews1989@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook.

Class Reporter:

Greetings to the class of 1988! I hope this finds everyone well. Please feel free to forward me any news and updates to the above email addresses. For those of you on Facebook you can send me updates that way also, I love keeping up with many of you there! I am finally building my email distribution list and I apologize for any confusion about submitting updates to me. Please continue to send them to me throughout the year and I will include it in the next issue. Tonya Anderson Crawley received her master’s degree in special education from the Univ. of Colorado at Colorado Springs and is teaching 8th grade in Colorado Springs, where she lives with her husband and two children.

Catherine Hemphill wrote that she somewhat eloped with her next door neighbor, Tim Naugle, this past February on a beach in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which was attended by only a few friends. They followed up this beautiful wedding with a seven-day honeymoon cruise to St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. They are currently living in her house on Norva Avenue in Frederick, so no moving van was necessary for the big move. She also celebrated 20 years of employment with Wells Fargo in June 2012.

Jane Halfen Caputo is busy working in the family business in New Jersey, and her husband Jim is with UPS. Their son is currently a freshman at Virginia Tech with a major in engineering; their daughter Jullian is a freshman in high school. Anita Christie and husband Buz are parents to sons Sean, 15, and Aidan, 12. She currently works full time with adults with intellectual disabilities and is also a part-time consultant with Tastefully Simple.

Heidi Jones McKeon lives north of Seattle, Wash., with her husband John. They are parents to son John, 21, who works with his dad in their own financial planning business. Heidi said that she is “retired” from retail work but is a full-time search and rescue volunteer and a full-time beagle breeder, exhibiter, groomer and rescuer of cats! Jean Rhodes-Moen has been busy with daughters Kaja, 19, and Thea, 12 almost 13! Currently in Ashville, N.C., she is busy as a jewelry artist, specializing in silver filigree, a traditional Norwegian technique she learned from her late husband Bjorn.

Charlotte Volatile-Goebel is mom to twin 14 year olds, a boy and a girl, as well as an 8-year-old girl. She currently resides in Florida and is a consultant with Mary Kay Cosmetics. I continue to live and work in Williamsburg, Va., as a second grade teacher and adjunct faculty member for The College of William and Mary. My daughter Mackenzie just recently received her learner’s permit, so I have acquired a few more gray hairs! She also has started playing junior varsity basketball for her high school, and that keeps us busy along with drumming for the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums. The family, along with my husband Roman, keeps busy with a lot of traveling (when time permits) to family in Delaware and Massachusetts.

Class Reporter:

Happy holiday season to everyone! I apologize for what is a very short column. In the craziness that is life, I forgot about the deadline and to make things worse, I forgot the submission deadline. I think we need to move to an online blog format? Where everyone can just comment once a month? What do you think? Thanks to the classmates who did respond to my late email. To begin, condolences to Nancy Klingensmith Neff Dunn whose husband Jim lost a courageous battle to pancreatic cancer on Oct. 6. Our hearts are with Nancy and her family. Robin Samuelman Kalfaian wrote that she recently celebrated the wedding of her god-daughter Sarah Wilcox to Garrison Moore (Sarah is the daughter of Audrey MacDonald Wilcox ’86. Robin and her husband Jim traveled to Pittsburgh for the wedding along with Lisa O’Brien ’86, Lisa Edwards and Gretchen Miller-Anderson ’86. Robin still teaches kindergarten in Guilford, Conn. Her daughter Kate is a sophomore at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., and her daughter Annie is currently a high school senior, anxiously awaiting college acceptance letters! Personally, I am not quite sure how Robin’s daughters can be that old.

Pam Barres Fusco is a first-time submitter! She wrote that she is on her second marriage to her husband Tony and they have a 7-year-old boy. She has spent the last 22 years raising four incredible children from her first marriage. Her youngest is 17 years old now and a senior in high school; she also has an 18-year-old who is a freshman at American Univ., in Washington, D.C.; a 20-year-old who is a junior at the Univ. of California, San Diego; and a 22-year-old living in Colorado. Since this is so short, I will add again this time that it was great seeing everyone at the reunion in June. I hope it is not too long until the next one! It was so fun to take a break and just be with the girls again! So, all the best to you and your families for the New Year!

Class Reporter:

The class of 1986 has been busy and many have been unable to update anything more than their Facebook page. Here is the information from those wonderful Hoodlums who wrote in to share their lives for this edition. Irene Flores is immersing herself with Yoga studies and has started a school approved to be the Yoga Alliance. Paige Flory lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Eric and their family. She is now a stay-at-home mom with her son and her foster daughter and baby boy. Paige finds great joy in leading a program that provides mentors for single moms.

Chrysti Hogan traveled to Iowa in early November to marry her partner of 19 years, Jeanne Ortmann. Their small ceremony was bittersweet, though, as Chrysti’s dad, husband of Edee Howard Hogan ’59, P’86, passed away three days before the wedding after his battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Funeral services were still pending, as the family waited to receive a date from Arlington National Cemetery.

Anna Maripuu sent in the most thorough update, sharing her travels to Morocco, Djibouti and Tunisia, her service work on the Board of the Swedish Women’s Educational Committee, and her musical pursuits touring with the Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C. In addition to singing and all the work she does, Anna is passionate about staying connected to both her Swedish roots and her friends. I am just glad we keep her connected with her Hoodlums, as well! I received an update from Lisa Marie O’Brien after she attended the wedding of Audrey MacDonald Wilcox’s daughter, Sarah (congrats to the happy couple!). Other Hoodlums in attendance were Lisa Edwards ’87, Robin Samuelman Kalfaian ’87 and Gretchen Miller Anderson. Lisa shared that her daughter Elizabeth graduated from Chatham Univ. in Pittsburgh, Pa., in May and is working for Aflac Insurance. Lisa’s younger son Michael is a sophomore at State Univ. of New York College at Cortland and her older son Bryan is rarely home, so while her empty nest has been a big adjustment, it is afforded her more time with friends. Elvy Vieira wanted everyone to know that they survived Hurricane Sandy (great news, Elvy!) and she is looking forward to teaching a leadership credit course in the spring.

My son Drew Althouse ’12 joined the Hoodlum ranks in May and promptly headed back to school to take his prerequisites for a certified athletic trainer program at either Virginia Commonwealth Univ. in Richmond or Shenandoah Univ. Younger son Evan is now a third-year at Univ. of Virginia and will be doing a finance internship this summer for Capital One here in Richmond. I am still working at James River Cellars Winery, but I am now the event coordinator and write a recipe/wine blog that is featured on our company’s website at www.fromthebottomofawinebottle.wordpress.com. I am also continuing my sports photography and love the flexibility both fields offer. I keep in touch with many classmates via Facebook and would love to hear from more for the next edition––it is always fun to have new names pop up in my email!

Class Reporter:

Greetings from the unusually warm and recovering East Coast! I hope you are doing well and that if Hurricane Sandy made an impact you are healing. Gina Cassetta was among the witnesses of the fury of the storm, “I co-chaired my 30th high school reunion this fall, and I am currently training to be a Kundalini yoga teacher. We were without power for five days after Sandy and the museum where I work was without power for 10 days, but we fared pretty well.” Laura Fanelli said, “I recently flew to Baltimore for Mia Pefinis-Jensen’s mom’s funeral. We spent some time together after catching up and renewing our friendship. From the funeral I drove to Baltimore’s Federal Hill and visited my little sister Anna Leventis ’87. Anna opened a new restaurant called SoBo Cafe and in the first few months of ownership was named best new restaurant by Baltimore’s city paper! Congrats! Any Hoodlums traveling through Federal Hill need to stop and support a sister Hoodlum and have a fabulous meal. As for me, after much thought, I have decided to put my house on the market, leave Connecticut and relocate to the Palmetto State, S.C. No matter where I end up I look forward to reconnecting with Hoodlums in that state.” We send our condolences to Mia.

Linda Price Bohager is in her 15th year at Stanley Black & Decker, working as a systems analyst on the global I.T. engineering systems team. She added, “Being on council and missions with my local church keeps me busy. I led a mission trip to Sunbright, Tenn., this past summer to do some home refurbishing. I keep in touch with Diana Webber Mosley ’68 who worked with me at SBD in I.T. and was also a Hood College French house resident. She retired from SBD last year and is loving it. My husband Bert retired two years ago and is working part time in facilities at our church. Our son Foster graduated from high school this past June and is a computer-aided design drafter.” Christina Vitabile has exciting news––her second book on the historic resort beach of Cape May, N.J., is scheduled for publication in spring 2013. It will be offered for sale on Amazon.com and local bookstores. Congratulations!

Lin Caywood Marsh wins this issue’s award for the most news reported. “After 12.5 years with Citigroup, I returned to Freddie Mac in February 2009. I have been a senior director with them for three years. Since the summer, I am now a performance and relationship manager for one of the country’s largest mortgage servicers of our loans. In January 2012, I earned my mortgage bankers accreditation and I hope to become a certified mortgage banker by the end of 2013. I am still flying my 2007 Cessna 182T and raced for the third time in the all-women transcontinental Air Race Classic, a 2,500 statute mile handicapped race that has its roots with the 1929 National Air Derby. My co-pilot and I improved our previous 13th and 10th place finishes to place fifth out of 55. In July, I was elected for a two-year term to the board of directors of the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots, a prestigious all-women organization that was formed in 1929 by Amelia Earhart and 98 of the 114 certificated women pilots. We are thoroughly enjoying flying our tin baby, N624MC, all over the East Coast. No news on a wedding date yet––we are thinking of having the ceremony in Carlo’s hometown of Somerset West, just outside of Cape Town, South Africa.”

Krista Ballentine Bland has joined the teaching ranks. She reported, “I am on my third career now. I started out as a software engineer, then a stay-at-home-mom. I went back to school last year to get my teaching certification in the state of Texas and I am now a fifth grade math teacher. I am still in Frederick, just a mile or so from campus, so if anyone is in town, please feel free to look me up!” Marsha Evans ventured across the pond to the Burgundy and Provence regions of France with her mom. They spent a glorious week on a riverboat cruise on the Saone and Rhone Rivers enjoying all of the regional wines, and touring Beaune, Lyon, Tain-l’Hermitage, Tournon, Viviers, Avignon and Arles, where they were thrilled to stand on the very spot where Van Gogh painted some of his most famous works. They are already planning their next adventure.

Christine Santrizos Chagaris also visited France recently. “George and I visited Paris and its outskirts in May of this year on a weeklong trip. It was his first trip there, my third, though I had not been since between my sophomore and junior years in college. One of the highlights was visiting Normandy. I also loved Montmartre with its many street artists. In addition to my freelance writing, I am publishing a book to be released in early 2013. It is entitled Trilogy: A Collection and has a paranormal theme to it.”

First time reporter, Annemarie Edwards sent a lot of news, “We live in Salt Lake City. I have two high school kids, Alysa, 12th grade, and Sean, 9th grade, so we are prepping for college. My husband is in real estate and I am in practice with Intermountain Health Care for the past 11 years in podiatric medicine and surgery. We are busy with traveling for lacrosse for my son and my daughter travels for debate across the United States. Please tell any Hood alums to stop in if they are in Salt Lake City.” Thanks to all who responded. I had to edit several items for length, but wanted to include everyone!

Class Reporter:

Greetings fellow Hood alums. I was lucky to get some response to my last minute plea for news! Please send me an email or find me on Facebook prior to the next column deadline! Cynthia Webb was celebrating her 28th year with the Montgomery County Public School systems in Maryland and is in her eighth year as a special education supervisor. In November, Cynthia met up with Linda Rudy Daugherty, Daphne Byrd Gabb and Carol Whynot Neill for dinner and to attend the 65th anniversary performance of the Messiah at Hood.

Sue Sutton Bartolotto checks in from Woodbridge, Va. Daughter Emily is in her freshman year at Hood hoping to major in elementary special education. Daughter Hannah is a sophomore in high school and son John is in fifth grade. Sue’s husband John is due to retire from the Army after 30 years of service and they are looking to relocate to Rochester, N.Y. Robin Winkler-Pickett’s son Eric, a Marine, has returned from a tour in Afghanistan and was married in July. Eric will soon be relocating closer to home at Fort Meade. Robin was accepted into a competitive leadership education and action program at the National Cancer Institute and is hoping to return to Hood to take some management classes.

Amy Connor Asman reported that daughter Emily is a senior at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. She will be working at Texas Instruments in Dallas when she graduates. Amy’s son Connor is a freshman at Hood and youngest daughter Erin is in the ninth grade and is homeschooled. So interesting to see a few of our children attending Hood! Tammy Snyder Rall reported from Stafford, Va. Two of her sons are getting married in 2013 and she is planning a family cruise to the Bahamas.

Peggy Smith Bacon reported from Houston. Two of Peggy’s daughters are in college and one is a freshman in high school. Peggy keeps busy doing artwork and is a volunteer and board member of her local Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts. Carole King Heine traveled to Stanford Univ. this past February to see daughter Kelsey, who plays for Ohio State, play in a woman’s lacrosse game. While there, Carole met up with her sister Kathleen King Kinsey ’87, Beth Shimer Murphy ’86, and spent time reminiscing with another Hood alum, Anne Merrick Vosti ’58, while there. Carole’s son Kevin is a senior at Oakdale High School along with Karen Craney’s son Tyler. Speaking of Karen Craney, she thought it would be fun to see how everyone is celebrating their 50th birthday this year! A big happy birthday to everyone! Sue Sutton Bartolotto celebrated with a family and friends party under a big “circus” tent in her back yard. Annemarie Hemond Albiston spent a girl’s weekend with her closest childhood friends. They took residence at Burnt Island, Maine, for the weekend and enjoyed beautiful scenery, food and endless reminiscing. Annemarie’s cousin Elaine Patry Jones ’77 is the light keeper of Burnt Island. Laurie Draper Carter spent the weekend in Charleston, S.C., as a surprise from her husband! They spent a wonderful three days enjoying her birthday! Heidi von Storch Miner celebrated her 50th by looking for more adventure! She and her friends went to lunch and then kayaking and a few weeks later Heidi went backpacking and camping with her son in Western Michigan. Susan Brushaber enjoyed brunch with her husband, brother and friend and then flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, where she spent a week soaking in the geothermal pools, riding Icelandic horses, biking, sightseeing and relaxing! Both Karen Curtis Craney and Robin Winkler Pickett had surprise birthday parties thrown for them by their friends and family! Amy Connor Asman spent her birthday weekend with her husband at a B&B at Deep Creek Lake. Tammy Snyder Rall challenged herself to run back-to-back marathons for her 50th birthday. She ran the Marine Corps Marathon on October 28 and planned to run the New York City Marathon the next weekend, but Hurricane Sandy foiled her plans. Carole King Heine has been celebrating her birthday for several months running. She was in Albuqurque, N.M., in June for a wedding and spent time with Katie Farley Babuska. In February, Carole traveled with Jeanne Pensec O’Reilly to Lancaster, Pa., to celebrate Carol Pointer Wanner’s birthday. Carole’s husband threw her a surprise 50th birthday celebration with both old and new friends in attendance. Peggy Smith Bacon celebrated her 50th with a trip to New York City with her husband, where they took in the sights and saw several Broadway shows. Upon their return, she celebrated her birthday at a favorite Italian restaurant with family and friends. For our 50th, my husband and I took our daughter to Disneyworld for vacation. For our real celebration we met up with Lynn Davis at Discovery Cove in Orlando, Fla., and spent the day with the dolphins! We had an amazing experience and it was so nice to catch up with Lynn while she was home from one of her many trips around the world. Thanks to all for sharing your 50th birthdays with us!

Class Reporters:

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: