Summer 2010 - The Green Issue - 37

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planning their annual canoe trip into Canadian wilderness. Rachel is now a certified master naturalist for the state of Virginia and loves being in the woods. In September, following six months of preparatory physical therapy, Rachel will get a new right hip. Nancy Smith Grissino wrote that last year’s gardening season was the worst ever, ending with “black, shriveled tomatoes. The culprit, I am told, is the same organism that was responsible for the Irish potato famine. Poor souls … at least I had Shaw’s Supermarket as backup.” Nancy accompanied her daughter and grandson on a tour of Colorado colleges. “Those mountains are like nothing I have ever seen,” she said. “One advantage of being untraveled, I guess, is that you can still be utterly blown away at 72.” She enjoyed her annual reunion with Hood friends in October at Anne Montesano Ellis’ home in Hubbard, Ohio. “Great museums and good conversation,” Anne said. “Nancy saw another new and beautiful place.” Last December, without warning, Nancy lost all sight in her right eye because of a detached and torn retina. She underwent laser surgery to stabilize the left eye, which she was told was about to go, and then went to Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary for surgery on the right eye. She had to keep her head down for 2 ½ weeks—“no reading, no TV, no nothing,” she said. “It was a difficult recovery period relieved by books on tape and wonderful family and friends.” Nancy said she hated missing the 50th reunion. Mary-Lou Trout Haddad wrote that their oldest grandchild, Gaby, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in chemistry from Moravian College. Her brother Tyler graduated from Boyertown High School and will be going to Albright College in the fall. All the grandchildren are in music activities and programs (both chorus and stringed instruments) at their respective schools. The Haddads’ Fayetteville, N.Y., granddaughters are active in crew, the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra and horseback riding; and both girls play viola. Charles and Mary-Lou remain busy volunteering for the Rotary Club, church and the local Main Street Organization. Carolynne Veazey Lathrop is teaching children’s literature again this summer. The students are reading picture books such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the Randall Jarrell translation with illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert (in Carolynne’s opinion, one of the most beautiful books ever created for children.); and chapter books such as “So B. It,” by Sarah Weeks. Mary Faith West proudly wrote that by publication time her son, Michael Damien Clark, will be doing his clinical psychology internship at McGill Univ. Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Carol Smith Russel recently invited Mary Faith to go with her to the opera “War and Peace.” Carol and Jim then hosted a gourmet meal for Sunday dinner for Mary Faith and her family. Pat Wever Knoll and Ron celebrated three graduations this spring. Ron is doing well with no aftereffects from his stroke, and his heart is fine. They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year, spending it with their family in Sunriver, Ore., where they will enjoy bike trails, river rapids and golf courses. Pat sends special love to her classmates and prayers for good health. She thought the class pictures were wonderful. Sue Wilson Officer has had a rough time recuperating from back surgery in October 2008. She had to return for surgery in January 2010 to have the hardware removed, resulting in another lengthy recovery period. Carol Wick Ericksen and Leif went to France last September, visiting Paris and then sailing up the Seine on a river cruise to Normandy and other stops. Normandy was especially interesting as Leif’s father was a physician who landed in Normandy during the invasion. The Ericksens travel often with Grand Circle Travel and, next September, will go to Paris for three days, and down the Rhone River through Provence to Nice. Carol said that river ships are a fun way to travel. They spent seven weeks last winter in Stuart, Fla., on a cruise, ending up at the Masters Golf Tournament.

Carol broke her ankle this spring, so her golf season was postponed. Every trip or treat Phil and I (Anne Wilson Heuisler) enjoyed this past year was supposedly in celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary. When the date actually arrived (April 2), we had a small dinner party with close friends. At this writing, Phil is hospitalized with complications from routine surgery. We think he has turned a corner and is headed for recovery. I hope by the time we read this, it will all be like a bad dream. Please send news, whether e-mailed or by regular mail—or even by telephone!

Al Weinberg ’75

1960
Giving Participation: 60.56% · Total Class Dollars: $453,916

Frances Fisher LaCroix 556 N. Mazatzal Drive Green Valley, AZ 85614 pflacroix2@msn.com Lucinda “Lu” Young Kelly, reunion reporter, wrote about Reunion Weekend: “Welcome back!” A memorable weekend for 50 members of the Class of 1960 began with warm greetings in the Whitaker Campus Center, where we received our registration packets and unique tote bags to hold our class favors. The tote bags featured the Hood shield on one side and a patchwork “Hood College” pocket on the other side, created by Ellen Perry Croll and Sally Fletcher Murray. In the bag was a CD of “Sing a Song to Your College” (arranged by Delores Wright Shade and Mary Ann Brush Gearinger, who also assembled our class choir), a song book and a 150-page, full-color commemorative booklet with informal photos and memorabilia of our days at Hood, “Life-changing Experiences” of our classmates, all of our reunion photos from years past and a page of personal information for each classmate. Weather for the weekend was hot but spirits were high, hugs profuse and there were numerous activities from which to choose. Spare moments were spent perusing our class notebook, catching up with classmates and reminiscing and sharing lots of laughter and a few tears in the renovated Shriner Hall hospitality room. Changes on the campus were dramatic, depending on how frequently we had visited the campus. It was good to see the continuity of architecture, which is a source of great pride. The Whitaker Campus Center, with its snack bar, bookstore, comfortable conversation alcoves and meeting rooms, was reunion central for all classes. On Saturday, our class entered the Alumni Luncheon in Coblentz Dining Room to the strains of the Hood March, proudly waving blue pompoms. Maryann Whitehead Scherzo and Betsy Bennett Wiegand, our class gift agents, presented our impressive class gift of more than $700,000! Congratulations and thank you, Betsy and Maryann. Our special guests for the luncheon were Nancy Cohen Locher and Joanne Ezzard Barksdale P’87, both hardly changed in 50 years. At our class meeting following the luncheon, each classmate shared basic information about their present circumstances and Nancy and Joanne brought us up to date on their activities since 1960. At our class dinner in the Whitaker Campus Center Saturday evening, the food was fabulous, the conversations lively and a program of stories, songs and games was a fun conclusion to a full day. Multiple door prizes included a gift to the longest cancer survivor (33 years!); and the person who had visited the most foreign countries, lived in the most states and had the longest teaching career. Delores summarized the results of our class survey. Drs. Neely and Lewis tied for the most votes for “favorite professor.” On Sunday morning, Strawberry Breakfast was even better than some remembered! The final activity of a memorable weekend was a moving chapel service planned by Audrey Heyman Rooney and

Just after leaving the military in 1971, Al Weinberg ’75, professor of journalism at Hood, never imagined he’d garner so much media attention. It’s easy to look back and marvel about societal occurrences then— stamps were eight cents and a gallon of regular gas, 36 cents; National Public Radio was broadcast for the first time; and Apollo 14 had just landed on the moon—but Weinberg was simply trying to obtain an education. It just so happened he chose Hood to do so, becoming the very first full-time male student to attend the College. It was a situation he called “a unique experience” and one that began with a minor mishap. “I was incorrectly quoted in a newspaper article that was picked up by the Associated Press as saying there were inadequate men’s bathrooms on campus,” Weinberg said. “That wasn’t true then, as it isn’t true today.” Nonetheless, the article appeared in papers with the headline, “Ex-G.I. has to ‘hold it’ at all-women’s college.” “It’s a wonder,” Weinberg said, “I later decided to pursue journalism as a career.” And, as many of his former students would attest, it’s a good thing he chose to begin and continue that career at Hood. Beginning in 1978, Weinberg taught at Hood for three years as an adjunct in the English department, teaching several journalism courses that would form the core of the communication arts major. He returned to Hood in 1985 as a full-time assistant professor of journalism and became the director of the communication arts program the following year. Over his nearly 30-year tenure at the College, Weinberg has also advised the student newspaper and, more recently, the campus radio station. He has served on virtually every faculty committee and, at one time, was co-chair of the English department. “Early in one’s teaching career at Hood, it’s extremely helpful to have already been part of the Hood culture,” Weinberg said. “Understanding and appreciating the Honor Code, for example, doesn’t always come quickly for new faculty. Knowing campus traditions and having a sense of the types of students Hood attracts are pluses. “I value personal and professional integrity in myself and in others,” he continued, “and I think that spirit is both bolstered by and reflected in the Hood culture.” In 1992 Weinberg, a resident of Braddock Heights, Md., was awarded a McCardell Professional Development Grant to support work on his Computerized Editing and Layout Workbook. A loyal scholarship donor to Hood, Weinberg has held positions with Post-Newsweek Media, Inc., and Frederick Magazine.
Summer 2010 - The Green Issue

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