1962: Summer 2014
It has been a pleasure to hear from every one of you – 25 in all – thank you for taking the time. I begin alphabetically with five classmates who we haven’t heard from recently – like 40 years! Then I continue in mostly alphabetical order with the remaining 20 of us. Also included: an “In Memorium” entry for Marcia Powell Chapman.
Your class reporter, Sara “Sally” Zimmerman revsaraz@aol.com
Sue “Suki” Mercer Larmann lives in Chadds Ford, PA. She became a widow early in 2013 and says “The lawyers are still ‘working on it’. I swear it’s harder leaving this world than entering. I needed a crash course in finance 101! Doing OK. At this time, I am checking out long-term care places. It reminds me of looking at different colleges. My kids are not ‘around the corner’ and I think this would be a good solution. Besides, I love people and friends. Children: John in CT and Jamie in NJ. John has 3 children; the oldest will be a junior at the U. of Delaware. Jamie has two children 5 and 3. Big space because my two are 10 years apart.” She asked about Lynn Charlton Brown, Lynn Roach, Arden Moore, and Vonnie Brill and observes: “Seems like (we were at Hood) 100 years ago. I’m happy at my age now…really every age has been interesting.”
Ellie Schlough Lassiter writes: “It has been years since I last contributed news to the Hood magazine. I have been living in Prescott, AZ since 2002, having moved here with my husband Richard from Boulder City, NV. I retired from working for the National Park Service in 1997. My husband and I enjoyed serving at Grand Teton National Park, Lowell Natl Historical Park and Lake Mead Natl. Recreation Area during a period of ten years. When we relocated to Prescott, my 4 year old grandson came with us and has been with us for 13 years; he is now a grown up 17 year old young man, the joy of my life. My other joy is singing soprano with the Yavapai College Master Chorale, our church choir and a local musical organization, the Prescott POPS. Aside from being a "mom" again, I enjoy gardening and seem to be constantly relandscaping our property and I do a little art work when the muse strikes. My email address is richardlassiter@cableone.net and I would welcome contacts from fellow Hoodlums.”
Susan Auf der Hyde Markscheffel says “I’m just doing what most of us are doing at our age: working at staying active and involved with family, friends, and community. Though I've been a California transplant for 19 years, I still am grateful for and relish the year around beauty of the Central Coast. Maybe that's because I spent 29 years living in Alaska! Year around gardening and other outdoor activities remain a great pleasure. Several years ago another woman and I developed a shop in our newly constructed library. Never having started a business or worked in retail, the project was a steep learning curve. I'm glad to report that the shop is thriving and providing needed revenue for the library. Lately I've been doing a weekly game afternoon with children of all ages who are living at our emergency homeless shelter. It's been an amazing experience, in many ways a real eye opener. I love having visitors….Santa Maria is an hour north of Santa Barbara. If any classmates are traveling on the coast, please call. Tel: 805-347-7428 Email: samark2@verizon.net
Kim Norfleet Scott: “I don’t think I have written to Hood for over 40 years or so. Over the years I have thought about the friends I made at Hood and have fond memories and would like to be in touch with Regina Schlank, Liz Kovacs and Sue Williams. My email address is kbscott1552@aol.com. I have a masters degree in personnel administration from Cornell University. I met my husband of 51 years there. We have five grown children: three girls, two boys, 16 grandchildren age 2 – 24. Our hobbies are boating and travel: we took our yacht to the Mediterranean in 2011 and by land and sea toured 16 countries in five months. We spend some time in Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean in winter months on our yacht. We have a family owned business in Erie, PA. Now we have over 2,000 employees in PA and NY states. See us online at the Web site visitscott.com. It’s a hospitality business – we own hotels, restaurants and the largest indoor water park east of the Mississippi: Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park. We bought a ski resort with two golf courses and put in a ropes course and ziplines this summer. I would love to be in touch with, or hear from, any of my classmates who pass by Erie, Pa. “
Margie Patterson Westergaard, my sophomore year roommate, who then went off to NYC and Columbia Presbyterian Hospital to study nursing, now lives in Lakewood, OH and writes that her life revolves around her children and grandchildren now that she’s retired.
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Betty Appel Bailey: “Tom (USNA-61) and I will be celebrating our 49th anniversary in July. After moving coast to coast for many years (Tom was in submarines for 28 years) we are now retired and living in north county San Diego and Palm Desert, CA. Prior to retirement I owned and operated a wealth management/financial planning firm in San Diego for 20+ years. We have one daughter and she and her husband and our 3 granddaughters live nearby in Carlsbad, CA. Since we have homes on two separate golf courses we spend some of our time golfing. In the past 5 years we have traveled for pleasure more than ever before but now we are about to complete a major remodel of one of our homes. We are both in good health for which we are grateful. My best to you all.”
Julie Shafer Barnshaw: Julie and Bob are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year with their family in Ocean City, NJ and Washington, DC.
Judy Hammond Blatchford: “Park and I continue to take advantage of retirement and good health by travelling. Recently we took our younger son and family to the Galapagos (as we did our older gang 9 years ago) and spent another week seeing the mountains of Ecuador. Volunteer opportunities and our home in the Adirondacks are our other involvements. We highly recommend traveling with Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic (www.expeditions.com) for exciting destinations with delightful people, excellent ratio of naturalists to passengers, and unique support in developing your photographic skills with NG-trained staff. Last fall we took the Patagonia/Chilean Fijords trip, again another great experience.”
Ann Holmes Flatt: “Our past year has been filled with many happy events. In November ’13, JP and I drove our RV west, marveling at the beauty of our National Parks in Utah and Arizona, leaving our RV in Phoenix with friends for the winter. It was a winter with masses of snow and we enjoyed some great skiing. In December we celebrated our 50th anniversary in Cozumel, Mexico and enjoyed a brief respite from the blustery weather in Massachusetts. In March we retrieved the RV and returned by a southern route through AZ, NM, TX, AR, TN, WV, VA, MD, PA, NY and MA. In VA we stayed for a week with our daughter and family in Oakton. We all enjoyed some camping together near Gettysburg where we hiked, biked, rode horses through the battlefield and visited the wonderful museum there. Back in Massachusetts, we returned to the care of home and garden as well as our 2 days per week babysitting for our son’s 3 year old twins. During a week in June we enjoyed daily outings at a nearby state park in Sturbridge with our daughter Sylvie where we swam and kayaked. Now I write from VA where we are spending 10 days once again with daughter Carine and family. Our grandkids are very involved with their swim and dive programs and we are amazed at their impressive performances in several recent meets. In July/August we will have the pleasure of 15 yr old grandson Grant’s visit for 3 weeks. In September we have rented an old farmhouse in southern France for 2 weeks followed by a cruise from Athens to Istanbul.
I continue to sing with the Worcester Chorus, enjoy gardening, hiking up our Wachusett Mt. 3 mornings a week with a group of friends (I’m the oldest!) and participating in a local art group that meets weekly to draw or paint. Together JP and I enjoy times with our 3 children and 5 grandkids, travel, attending concerts, skiing, kayaking and living in our wonderful town which offers us so much. I keep in contact with Marty Turner Leonetti, Susan Collins Reidenbach, and Rusty Papst Houghland and always look forward to their annual visits. Wishing you all a wonderful continuation of this summer and of 2014 and hope that my path will cross with many of you.”
Carolyn Fischer Giles: “Brian and I have been in New Hampshire for more than 25 years now, and fully retired from the University of New Hampshire. We try to spend time at our cottage on Martha’s Vineyard and the rest of the time traveling or enjoying our two grandsons, Brenon and Benjamin.
During the last year or so, we used our cottage as an exchange and spent three weeks in the Sacramento area of California, touring local vineyards, circling Lake Tahoe and the gold mining area and biking around the American River. The year before found us doing an exchange with a couple from Avignon, France, where we enjoyed several weeks within the walled city and spent much of our time touring the hillside towns of the Provencal area. In late September we spent a week at Acadia National Park with a group of friends.
More recently we touched base with Floy Miller, ’60, who also has a home on the Vineyard. During our January stay at Joy Engle Demas and Bill’s villa in Tarpon Springs, we had lunch with Sally Zimmerman. It was great to see both Hood friends and share experiences and memories of Hood.
We are probably the oldest grandparents around. Our two grandsons are 2 and 1/2 and 9 months, so they keep us busy when we are visiting or caring for them.
During our ‘at home’ time in New Hampshire, I continue my involvement with the UNH Marine Docent Program and Brian serves on numerous environmental state and local committees. And… we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary this September!”
Sunny Griffin: “My husband, Steven, and I spend winters at our home at a spa outside Chiang Mai, Thailand, and summers at our home in beautiful Telluride, Colorado. My oldest daughter, Kelly Wagner, has her own movie production company and specializes in horror films (horrors!!) and my younger daughter, Kerry Wagner, lives in NYC and travels the world as Anne Hathaway’s personal assistant. I had my 7th brain surgery in May (I have stents in 2 carotid arteries in the brain and coils in 2 aneurisms) and have been told all is doing very well and I don’t have to come back again. I am, and almost always have been, a “health nut” and my message is that it is so very important to live a healthy lifestyle if we want to have a long and healthy old age. I like to say “If you want to look good in your 70s and 80s, start young. It’s like saving for retirement.”
Susan Hossfeld: “In late April, Carl and I had a wonderful trip to Portugal, Northern Spain and the Pyrenees in Spain and France. We enjoyed Santiago de Compostela ( the end of the pilgrimage for the” Way of St. James” ), Pamplona (the Running of the Bulls town), Bilbao, (home of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum), Carcassonne, Barcelona and many other interesting locations. We were fortunate to go with Jane and Roger Bollman, which made the trip even more fun!”
Rusty Papst Hougland (Knutson): “My husband and I are spending the summmer in CT, enjoying children and grandchildren’s visits. This fall we are looking forward to one more bucket list event….a Viking River Cruise to Spain and Portugal.”
Doris Dalziel Kimball: “Our health (George’s and mine) is still pretty good, so none of our favorite volunteer jobs or activities has changed. Two book clubs ensure that I read books I might never have tried and good critiques and discussions keep me going. Two grandsons are in college and our rising H.S. junior granddaughter is already taking several AP classes to get a jump on College. Eleven-year old granddaughter by Marian is incredibly imaginative and enjoying theater classes. One reason we stay in the upper mid west is to get together with family. We will all reunite in Spring Green, WI in July to see Much Ado About Nothing by the American Players Theater in the round, outdoors. It has become one of our traditions to see one Shakespeare play out in the woods each summer. Our other reason for staying here is the weather. Yes! We love the spring, summer and fall and congratulate each other for getting through our beautiful, daunting winters. Of course, by mid-March, we are as grumpy as everyone else and we start packing the car for a long visit to Anna Maria Island, FL. By the end of April, I am anxious to return to green, green lawns, blooming bushes and bulbs and wonderful spring birds and sounds. As always, we would be delighted to see any Hood sisters who happen to be way up here.”
Penny Misirian Mardoian: “It is with great sadness that I report that my beloved husband of 51 years, Art, passed away peacefully at our home on May 22nd. Even though he had short-term memory loss for the last 7 years, he remained active and aware until the very end. Our grandson, Michael, will be attending Trinity this fall-close to our New Canaan home. FYI: I’m doing OK considering. I leave for Michael’s graduation in PA on Monday and return to CT on June 15th. I’ll leave for our home in Maine on the 18th and stay there until Oct. 12. There will be a memorial in our local church in South Bristol, ME on Aug. 2 and one in New Canaan, CT on Nov. 1. As you well know, life moves forward and time heals. I am blessed to have a wonderful son, an amazing daughter-in-law and 3 grandchildren and the many friends who have been so supportive during the time that I have been Art’s caregiver. The fulfilling life that we shared will sustain me in the days ahead. I look forward to our next reunion when we can catch up again. Love, Penny.” Penny, we offer our condolences for this loss of Art, so dear to you. SZ
Phoebe Adams Marshall: “Al and I met Joan Terpak Plitt and John in Georgetown, SC, for lunch in June. They were in Myrtle Beach for a couple of weeks. We’re going out to Indiana in July to celebrate my sister’s 80th birthday – Shirley Adams Beheler, class of ’56. Ran into Tarun Comegys Johns, ’59, at my church a couple of weeks ago.”
Patricia “Pem” Merrill: Congratulations to Patricia – as announced in a press release from San Pedro Business Recognition, April 29, 2014: “Patricia Merrill Designs has been selected two years in a row for the 2014 Best of San Pedro Awards for Fine Art & Designs and now qualifies for the San Pedro Business Hall of Fame.” For details and more information please view Web site: 2014 Best of San Pedro Awards – Fine Art & Designs. http://sanpedro.censuit.net/sxmbnbf_PMD–PATRICIA-MERRILL-DESIGNS . Patricia “Pem” says, “I was surprised and honored by this award. At least 2014 is starting off on a good note for me. I am still working very hard in physical therapy to rehabilitate my left leg and hope from the break and surgery last Fall, I am walking almost normally. My Thanksgiving in 2013 was the best ever. It was the first time in so many years that I was with my whole family at one time. My son flew in from NYC and surprised me on Thanksgiving morning. I was at my daughter’s in Santa Clarita. So, I had that wonderful day with my kids and grandkids and lots of friends to make me very grateful. Not much else to report except that I enjoyed watching my son, Clarke, sing back-up for Sting at the Tony Awards. He recently sang in Carnegie Hall in a tribute to the composers of the music for ‘Hairspray’ and numerous other shows and films. He also had his own show at Birdland in NYC last August. Warm greetings to all the Hoodlums out there. I extend an open invitation to any and all who might be in higher Los Angeles area to contact me. I would love to see you. I wish you all a wonderful and healthy 2014.”
Lynn MacDonough Morrow: “Memorial Day weekend we went to NYC for Navy Fleet Week because the Navy Band Northeast, including George’s daughter and son-in-law, were playing in a lot of venues. When we weren’t attending their concerts, Meg and Dan joined us for sightseeing.
Despite the fact that I worked in NYC for 2 years (1962-64) and have been taking an annual 2-day bus trip to NYC with a ladies group in PA, over the Memorial Day weekend I did things I had never done before and had a wonderful time! We visited historical sites in Brooklyn where the Battle of Brooklyn took place in August, 1776. I had never been to Brooklyn before and was quite impressed with a charming residential neighborhood and the size and greenery of Prospect Park. We walked on a pedestrian track along the East River and crossed a pedestrian bridge to Randall’s Island which I had not even known existed. A friend of George’s family invited us to their mid-town apartment for wine and snacks and we all went to their apartment building roof-deck for a great view of the Empire State Building. Can you believe I took my first ride on the Staten Island Ferry and set foot for the first time on Staten Island? While there, we toured the USS Cole, in port for Fleet Week and open for free tours to the public. The whole weekend was a peak experience for me.
Travel, both abroad and local, punctuates my lucky life. After a cousin’s Oct. wedding in Heidelberg, George and I spent a week at the bride’s home in Belgium. George’s cousins were our personal guides for a wonderful week of sightseeing and hiking in the area. We took a “spring break road trip” in March which included visits to my cousins and George’s friends in PA, VA, SC and WV. Shorter and more frequent drives to Harrisburg (< 2 hrs from my State College, PA home) permit me to visit 3 of my grandsons. The other 2 grandsons come with their parents to my farm in PA for holidays. Of course, I enjoy the Grandma experience with all of those little boys (ages 2-10). More travel coming up: George and I will visit my brother in WI, George’s cousin in Jackson, WY, and George’s son in Denver over a 10-day trip in July.”
Marvia Slade Perreault: writes, “The biggest news is that Bill and I celebrated our 50th anniversary last Dec. 21 on a cruise to the Caribbean. Cruising seems to be in our blood — we love it!! We’re living in a retirement community in Salisbury, MD, where the only problem is that a bunch of really old people live here! Other important news is that we Four Fabulous Females (Bobbi Arthur Pretzsch, Gail Wood Fortin, Linda Martin McManus, and me) are having another reunion at Fenwick Island, DE, in September. We’re far away from each other physically, but together in spirit, where it really counts. We went back to Wisconsin this June to celebrate the high school graduations of our two 18 year old granddaughters. Bill really misses Wisconsin, even though everyone there kept telling him what a terrible winter they had. Oh well, here we have the Chesapeake Bay, crabs, and the ocean. What more could one want?”
Barbara Arthur Pretzsch: “Life in Mississippi has not been dull. The grandchildren have graduated to 1st and 3rd grade now. I spent the school year in many hours of after school transportation to Karate, baseball and basketball practices and games. In addition to their activities, I belong to a fitness club where I participate in line dance class, a Zumba Gold class, a Silver Sneakers class and a chair yoga class. I attend a crochet/knitting/tatting/beading group once a week and have just been invited to join a Red Hat group. I still help transport dogs to rescues and foster homes. Recently for the first time kept a Mama dog and her four puppies overnight. That was quite a noisy experience.
Bob returned from the Kentucky campground last fall to do some minor repairs on one of our properties to put it up for sale and it has since sold. Otherwise he did some fishing and brought home some yummy dinners. He made two trips to Kentucky, first to renovate our studio apartment to rent, (in addition to our main apartment,) and to start the contractor on the second business on the first floor. In addition to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, we will now have the Juvenile Justice Department next door.
Since Bob was signed up for a campground in Utah he was on his way in early May. I will drive out in a few days to spend a month or so with him. Lyn and the grandkids will fly out early July and she and I with the kids will come back to Mississippi, just in time for me to fly to the north east for my annual crochet conference. I am meeting a friend and we will tour up the Maine coast and expect to visit Teal West Hugo while there. Then we end in Manchester, NH for the crochet conference.
My Hood roommates and I will reunite at Fenwick Island in September this year for our annual ‘trip’. I tried to get them to go on a cruise out of New Orleans with my line dancing crew in November but that didn’t work out.”
Regina Schlank Pyle: “I'm spending July and August at my house in France just north of Cannes and this will be my last summer as its time to leave after 14 years. It's been wonderful to keep Tom's dream alive and enjoy what we created and now I need to make time for other travels and now France is in great flux and much angst about its political future.
I continue to be very involved in community affairs and as of July lst serve as Chair of my neighborhood association which represents about 5,000 residents with the goal of maintaining and improving our South End Boston Neighborhood. Also serve as Sec'y on my Condo Board.
Time speeds by at an alarming pace in which little seems to get done. I remember the days when I ran two homes, worked a 40 hour + week, supported Tom as his career took off, sewed most of my clothes, got dinner on the table and gave dinner parties! Those were the days or were they?”
Barb Kirby Stewart: “Paul and I have dedicated this summer to volunteering for two organizations- Schoodic Arts for All which is active all winter but does an arts festival the first two weeks in August. We are also really involved with the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium which is dedicated to public art in Downeast Maine. We have seven sculptors coming for the Symposium which is held this year also in August. Next year we are going to travel again!
My grandchildren are growing up fast. My youngest grandchild, Sophia, is 13. Her brother has just flown to Panama as an exchange student for a month then on to Costa Rica for some volunteer work. All is well with all. We are going to DC on Tuesday for a week of museum hopping and visiting. Not exciting but lots of fun. I hope our lives stay this way. Jan Zwinck Morrison and I get together because she and Steve spend their summer in Milbridge, 18 miles from us. We invite anyone who would like visit us on the coast of Maine. We are near Bar Harbor-a beautiful area.”
Jody Merritt Watson: “Peter and I continue to volunteer for Habitat, Maine Maritime Museum, and a drop-in center for the homeless here in Brunswick. Our kids and grands live in Portland so we’re lucky to be able to get together at our family camp on a lake near Sebago Lake, with relative ease. We consider ourselves fortunate to be in good health and are looking forward to a visit from Liz and Bill Rogers later this summer. Also Beth Pauley and her friend Jane Ann Bell in September!”
Betty Wright: In June, Betty Wright and Jack Raun hosted a "mini-reunion" at their home near Hedgesville, WV. Betty writes: “Guests were Judy Bailey Allison and Tom, Judy Jensen Burgess and Gordon, Judi Simonsen Ziobro and Ed, and Teal West Hugo. Jack took any and all interested guests for a plane ride in his RV 6. The Judys brought lots of foodstuffs, and we all enjoyed wine, cheese, and much laughter for three days. One evening was spent at dinner in South Mountain Inn, where one of our '62 class reunion dinners was enjoyed some years ago. This reunion has become a yearly event.”
Sara “Sally” Zimmerman Newly retired from full-time parish ministry, I finally had time to complete the video that is part of an adult liberal religious education curriculum (“Spirituality, Science and Healing”) I’ve been working on for several years. Now I work out at the Y, hang out at the nearby Hillsborough County New Tampa library, and enjoy more time on my lanai next to the pond, watching the Florida ibis, cranes, anhingas, turtles, fish, and occasional alligator.
In Memorium: Marcia Powell Chapman passed away in January. She served in the mental health field, as a private elder care companion and as a reading teacher in Chapel Hill, NC schools. She had earned an M.Ed in Counseling Psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia. The obit in the News and Observer, Chapel Hill, Jan. 28-Feb.2, 2014 also notes that Marcia “maintained numerous loving friendships from her early years through college and work in San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Jersey and North Carolina. So many lives were touched by Marcia, in private practice as well as executive roles in the mental health and substance abuse field. May you forever rest in peace, our dear sweet Marcia.”