Summer 2010 - The Green Issue - 40

HOOD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2010

the Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City and the Kansas City Zoo, as well as working one day a week as receptionist at their local social services agency. Both Moroz children live in Las Vegas. Daughter Debbie is a high school math teacher with three children—Micah 14, Jessica, 12, and Rachel, 9—while their son is a computer programmer married to an elementary school teacher. JoAnn and Pete returned recently from three weeks in Spain, complicated only by the Icelandic volcano. Joe and Sally Erb Soisson’s visit to their son and his family in Germany was also complicated by the volcano. Steven is a civilian employee with the defense department, and works and lives near Ramstein Air Base with his wife Melanie and their daughter Abby (7). Joe and Sally went to Germany for an extended visit, which included trips to the Netherlands and Prague. For Sally, the highlight of the whole trip was their visit to Keukenhof Gardens. The garden is only open about eight weeks a year, so the Soissons were lucky to be there during blooming time for tulips and other flowers. Sally said, “It was like a corner of heaven.” Their other son Michael lives in Lake Worth, Fla., with his wife Jessica and his children—Christopher, 15, and Maddie, 2½. Both Jessica and Michael are accountants. Sally and Joe are lucky to have their children living in places that are beautiful to visit. Mike and Mary Jo Sottile Manning continue to practice and manage various projects, including those at their farm. Number one priority is their family and they are fortunate to have son Chris and his wife and two children living less than half a mile from them in Chevy Chase. Daughter Ashley and her husband and daughter live in Menlo Park, Calif., and are expecting another child in October. Mary Jo and Mike enjoy visiting them as well as going to Charleston every three to four weeks to visit family and friends, particularly Mary Jo’s mother, who will celebrate her 95th birthday in September. Bill and Sherry Kimble Johnson enjoy traveling and have been to Maui for the wedding of Bill’s daughter, to Vermont last summer, and several times to the Philadelphia area to see Sherry’s mom, sister and nephews. Sherry’s daughter, Jaime Boyce Lacey ’90, lives four miles from the Johnsons in Tennessee. Another recent trip took Sherry and Bill to Italy for three weeks to celebrate their 15th anniversary. Sherry described herself as glad to be home with her pets, quilting and garden. Joan Emann Whitten’s husband Chuck is still teaching physics at UCLA, so they travel a lot for meetings, experiments and teaching. In 2010, they traveled to Jordan, Egypt and Italy. Joan described her Kindle as her “new best friend.” To keep up with her travels, you can follow her blog at http://joansminutia.blogspot/com. For Joan, this past year has been one of cutting down on jobs of which she had tired. No more newsletter editor of the knitting guild, no more hospital coordinator of Stitches from the Heart; and lots more time being with their two grandchildren who live in Los Angeles, about two miles from Chuck and Joan. Calder goes to a Japanese immersion kindergarten in a local public school and has learned an amazing amount with three hours of Japanese and 30 minutes of English each day. Granddaughter Branwen, 4, loves gymnastics and snakes. After leaving Hood, Abby Holmes Potter Werlock earned three degrees, married and had a career as a teacher and writer. Her fields are English (B.A., M.A., American University) and American studies (Ph.D., Univ. of Sussex, U.K.), which provided Abby with 30 years of a marvelous career that included teaching at the Madeira School, the National Cathedral School, the International School of Bangkok, the Univ. of Maryland (Far East), Columbus International College in Spain, Hamilton College and St. Olaf College. She retired from St. Olaf in 1999, by which time she had been writing articles on American, British and Canadian writers for a decade. In 2000, the first of her six books appeared. In April, she delivered the closing speech on Edith Wharton at the National Endowment

for the Humanities-funded The Big Read in Bloomsburg, Pa. Finished with scholarly work, Abby hopes to complete a novel and some poetry. In 1999, she married Jim Werlock, a naval officer. Their retirement home (Fox Run, on Armenia Mountain in Pennsylvania) delights them, especially because, after years of living in large cities, they relish country living and enjoy their animals (four dogs, three cats, four horses and about 27 birds). Since the career-oriented decades kept Abby too busy for community involvement, she now enjoys participating in a number of groups and sitting on the board of trustees for the local library and church. Through the library, they’ve had several grants from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council that funds a book group she facilitates. This year, the topic was the Civil War in fiction, with tours to both the Gettysburg and Antietam battlefields. In their spare time, Jim and Abby enjoy traveling, gardening, and riding and driving their horses. I (Barbara Maly Fish) will close with some personal news. In February, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, had surgery in March, began chemo treatments in April and May, and now I face radiation during July and August. The diagnosis was made early and I look forward to getting all of this treatment behind me. Although I wouldn’t have chosen to spend the last few months in the way that I’ve had to, I do have a renewed appreciation for old-time values like loyalty and kindness, plus the importance of faith, family and friends in my life. Amigas, please remember that an annual mammogram is essential. I know that others in the class have walked this path and I draw strength from all of you.

1965
Giving Participation: 48.2% · Total Class Dollars: $42,571

Catherine Beyer Meredith 1439 Ivy Hill Road Cockeysville, MD 21030 (410) 252-1947 alto1cat@aol.com Emily Kilby 1203B Della Road Dickerson, MD 20842 (301) 874-3316 erk44@earthlink.net Our 45th reunion couldn’t have been better! Well, yes, it could have been but only in terms of quantity, not quality. Thirty-four members of the Class of 1965 gathered on the June 4 weekend to enjoy each other, the Hood campus and the vibrant co-ed academic atmosphere. The addition of the 100 or so remaining class members would have made it perfect. Our greatest appreciation goes to reunion co-chairs Peg Carpenter and Susan Gailer Schuler for bringing the event together so nicely from their homes in Michigan and North Carolina! A report of the gathering will go out by mail to all class members but some snippets of the attendees’ news will be in this column. Paula Adler Williams, a Baltimorian with all her family close by, went through cancer surgery, chemo and radiation last year … all to good effect. She’s doing fine and looking quite vibrant with her short, curly “do.” Jamie Barr Gartelmann, who enjoys homes in New Jersey, Florida and Maine, has only the weeds in her personal garden to keep after now that she’s out of the retail greenhouse business. Her favorite activity is being a big part of her six grandchildren’s lives. Catherine Beyer Meredith, who lives north of Baltimore surrounded by family that includes a half-dozen grands, enjoys singing and calligraphy when she’s not looking after assorted descendants. In the Princeton, N.J, area, Joslin Cook Ruffle’s retirement calendar is more insanely busy than her work calendar ever was. She’s blessed with a mother, 97, and five families of children and grandchildren (hers and

Jack’s) who keep her going in wonderful ways. Katherine Cribbs Tromble, living in Finksburg, Md., added to her grandbaby inventory this year. Daughter Connie, who lives in Lyons, Colo., had a son Birch, April 29. Daughter Alice, who is completing her surgical residency, is expecting to give birth in July and will move with her family to Sacramento, Calif., where she will spend two years in a trauma/burn fellowship at the Univ. of California Davis. Deborah Demmy Thomas and her husband left Altoona, Penn., to celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary with a 21/2-hour climb straight up a Rwandan mountain to view the gorillas in their natural habitat. They were in the country visiting their daughter and her husband, who serves as counsel at the U.S. Embassy there. Their other daughter was married in May to a wonderful man with two daughters, so Debbie is now a grandmother. Carol Devereaux Spangler, of Columbia, Md., had to miss the reunion lunch because she was at work touting Maryland tourism but she arrived in time for the dinner. Nancy Diefenbach Pearce drove up from Ocean Pines outside of Ocean City, Md., for the reunion, bringing along her husband who was one of three intrepid males attending the dinner. Diane Dunning McStay, now happily settled into a home on Cape Cod after years of running a software development company in Boston, continues to make music with her church and the Falmouth Chorale, while her husband teaches navigation classes. Marilynn Farnell, who lives outside of Boston, has cut back her freelance research and archiving jobs to only those on which she wants to work, mostly at the JFK Library where she researches for various authors, filmmakers and occasionally genealogists. Elizabeth Fletcher Sturm of Shepherdstown, W.Va., is finally almost retired, allowing her to spend lots of time with grandchildren, gardening and traveling. In returning to Frederick for her reunion, Jacquelyn Fox O’Neill, who now lives in Bowie, Md., was also revisiting her hometown. Ann Fulton Warren of Potomac, Md., has no urge to move to warmer climates in retirement but she and Tom spend a fair amount of time on the road south, visiting their daughter’s three-child family in Charlotte, N.C., and seeing to her parents’ needs in Jacksonville, Fla. Their nearby son’s young daughter and a beloved miniature poodle keep the homefront joyous. Carolyn Hammer has retired from the tax preparation business, moved from Manhattan to Yonkers, N.Y., and is coping with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Medications have helped and she is being assisted by friends. Carolyn traveled to Hood in the good company of Barbara Volker Pomar, returning for the first time since graduation. Barbara lives with her husband in Manhattan, where she established Barbara J. Volker Millinery in 1992. Previously, she had worked in publishing and French cultural affairs but courses at Parsons The New School for Design convinced her that millinery was the perfect medium for combining her passions for art and fashion. Sue Hertzler Geery loves teaching specialneeds children in Darien, Conn., and has no immediate plans to retire. She was heading back home on Sunday to get ready for her annual beach trip with her class the following day. Lexie Horn Bickell, freed at last from year-end teaching obligations, was another first-time returnee to Hood. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, and enjoys her family there, including four grandchildren, the oldest of whom are edging into teen-hood. Nancy Hoveman Schultze M.S. ’80 arrived at the reunion just a day or so after returning to her home in Olney, Md., from a sojourn in Hong Kong, where she visited her stepdaughter’s family, including three beloved grandchildren. Beverly Jones Gibson, a resident of Davidsonville, Md., for the past 34 years, continues as a realtor for Long & Foster and wonders if she will ever get to retire given the housing market. Her son blessed her with her first grandchild, a boy, last October. Kathy Kahn Rusk, previously an Alaskan but now living in Seattle, quit the corporate world two years ago to start up

Summer 2010 - The Green Issue

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