Summer 2010 - The Green Issue - 47

W W W.HOOD.EDU

visit my friend who lives in Palm Desert. She actually was in my wedding. We had a blast. We went to The Living Desert. I saw so many different cacti on that trip! Last year two of my nieces that got married. One wedding was in Michigan and the other was in Rhode Island. We were able to get in some local sightseeing on both trips. We are getting ready for the summer with crabbing and fishing on our boat.” Torie Hoveman Seeger’s news: “I haven’t been in touch with anyone specific for a while (sorry Gail) but still enjoy thinking about everyone with each Hood e-news I receive! We are very busy at the Seeger household—Mom’s been ill but is finally starting to recover; and granddaughter Rachel (3½ years old, going on 13) is wonderful to be around. We take her for weekends when possible so her parents can have “quiet time” now and again. Geoff and I are looking forward to our second trip to Alaska to visit Glacier Bay and Katmai National Park, and take a second go-round in Denali National Park.” Barbara Woolmington-Smith e-mailed her news: “Craig and I are still in the San Francisco Bay area. Our daughter Alisha graduated from Oregon State Univ. with an animal science degree and is working at our local vet’s office. She is getting her work experience so she can take the veterinary technician certification exam next year. She really likes the job and since it is right down the street from our house, she is living at home to save money. Once she takes the exam and becomes certified, she may leave California altogether and settle someplace new but until then we do enjoy having her back as part of the family. Our son Harrison is completing his junior year at the Univ. of Denver. We thought he might be home this summer but he has secured an internship in Denver. So I guess we will have to go to Denver if we are going to see him. He had a wonderful semester in Seville, Spain, last fall and then had an unexpected invitation to join my brother and his family on a biking trip through Vietnam over Christmas. I think he is starting to get the travel bug. Craig and I are still running our commercial property management business but Craig really cannot wait to retire. Unfortunately, the crash of 2008 set our plans back but I have convinced him to work reduced hours so that he doesn’t get too burned out. We have some land back in the mountains of North Carolina and he is trying to convince me to move back there once we close up the business. I’m not convinced yet. Anyone out there want to try to sell me on the virtues of western North Carolina?” Thanks, Barb! My husband Larry was in the hospital on my birthday with osteomylitis, which is a bone infection. He ended up getting his leg amputated again above the knee on March 30. After healing, he was just fitted with a new prosthesis. He is learning to walk again … this is so exciting! We headed to Lindsay’s graduation at UW in early June. She is graduating with her doctorate in physical therapy. We are so proud of her! Hopefully she will give her Dad some pointers on walking with a new leg! Please send me your news so I can include it in the next issue. Thanks! Our 35th Hood reunion is coming up next year! Hope to see you all there!

1977
Giving Participation: 21.38% · Total Class Dollars: $5,640

Elizabeth Anderson Comer 4303 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218 (410) 243-2626 ecomer@eacarchaeology.com Amy White Morgan sent greetings from Connecticut! “I have been married to Mike for 19 years and we have one son, Christopher, a freshman in high school,” she wrote. “I work at Beiersdorf, a health and beauty aid company (Nivea, Eucerin, Aquaphor). It’s German so I actually get to use my German! I was in marketing

but now manage our consumer relations and insights department. It keeps me on my toes, especially with the rise of social media. I could write a book with all the consumer stories. Besides work, I’m active in my son’s Boy Scout troop as a trip coordinator, which was positioned to me as a couple of hours a month worth of work. Ha! They lied—more like 20 to 30 hours. But it’s nice to have a diversion and I consider the motley crew of adult leaders my band of brothers. My father passed away in February after a life of 94 wonderful years. Sharon Thorpe Kourtz, my freshman roommate, came for his service, which totally overwhelmed me. We reminisced about our fathers sharing a room at the Barbara Fritchie Hotel during Dad and Daughter Weekend. I haven’t been back to Hood in 10 years and read about the many exciting changes at the College and in the town. Who knows … maybe in the next two years we’ll be checking out Hood for Christopher!” Gretta Tomb and Kathleen Asser Weslock wrote to say they were roommates at the wedding of Debbie Davis Hewson’s son Ben at Skytop Lodge in Pennsylvania. “Since Gretta and I were bridesmaids at Deb and Tom’s wedding,” Kathleen wrote, “this feels like déjà vu—much love and happiness for the Davis and Hewson families.” Debbie said, “Ben married a lovely girl he met while at the Univ. of Rochester. We had a blast and it was wonderful to have them share our happy event!” Lance Thompson wrote to say he “finally sold the condo in Fredneck; but fell on black ice and had a massive rotator cuff tear. Surgery was March 1. Wow was that ever painful! I completely tore three tendons but they could only reattach one. I’m going to physical therapy three times a week for the next two months. Hopefully I’ll be able to motorcycle ride and do more target shooting after PT is done. As soon as I am able, I still plan on going down to the San Antonio-area of Texas and looking for about 20 acres to build my concrete dome home. I only plan on building it once because it’ll be tornado, hurricane and earthquake proof. I’ll have the storm ‘party’ house in the neighborhood. Ha—probably weather or not. I’m still putting in some time at the Community Free Clinic in Hagerstown although only about once a week.” Dale Hilgartner Cirillo sent lots of news: “I currently live in Casanova, Va., which is near Warrenton, Va., outside the D.C. metropolitan area. I don’t know when I last shared news, so here it is. Jim and I have three sons, all married, living in various states. Jim is an Episcopal priest in a small church in Casanova, were we live. I teach in an elementary school in Fauquier County, near Marshall, Va. Our eldest, Jonathan, is 27 and a lieutenant in the Navy, currently studying at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He and his wife have our grandchildren—Nathanael, 3½ , and Joseph and Samuel, 9 months. Our second son Peter, 26, and his wife live in Portland, Ore., and he is studying nursing. His twin Matthew is a corpsman in the Navy, and he and his wife live outside of Philadelphia. Due to the miles we don’t get to see everyone as much as we’d like but Jim and I are very blessed indeed!” Linda Hawk Kluge wrote to tell us she is currently at MD Anderson Cancer Center for treatment. “After four breast cancers and one melanoma,” she wrote, “it was time to get a new doctor in a new city for a new cancer, a sarcoma. I will be here for the summer and would love to hear from classmates via e-mail (likluge@bellsouth.net) or at the CaringBridge Web site (lindakluge). I have a great husband Roger, and sister Susan Coy, who have been huge supports for me; as well as my co-workers at GMCF, where I am the director for the quality improvement organization for Georgia. Atlanta is home and I cannot wait to get back there and pat my cat!” From Baltimore I (Elizabeth Anderson Comer) can report the years seem to get busier … not the other way around! Doug and I continue to pursue archaeology projects here and abroad. Margaret will be in Moscow in the fall and Copenhagen in the spring for her junior

Susan Bertram Eisner, Ed.D. ’78
Susan Bertram Eisner, Ed.D. ’78, always knew that her love for children and teaching would someday come together in a meaningful way. So it was no surprise when she pursued a bachelor’s degree in special education at Hood, followed by a master’s degree in communication disorders from The John Hopkins University and a master’s and a doctoral degree in education from Harvard University. Bertram began her career as a communication disorders teacher at Rock Creek School in Frederick. In 1982 Susan joined the Hood community as a member of the education faculty, a position she held until 1998. In 1992, in addition to her teaching responsibilities, she was appointed director of the Onica Prall Child Development Laboratory School. “Teaching at Hood was great fun—even magical,” Bertram said. “What’s not to like about teaching students at your alma mater a few years after you, yourself, struggled to write essays in the same blue books, pulled requisite all-nighters in Memorial and abandoned decorum at Strawberry Breakfast?” Bertram’s expertise as an educator and unwavering dedication to her alma mater and its students was felt across the campus. She served as adviser to Mortar Board and the education club; president of Phi Kappa Phi national honor society; a member of the faculty board of review; and coordinator of the graduate school early childhood education program. She also served on several committees, including the curriculum; academic standing and student records; and core curriculum committees, to name a few. She was named Hood’s adviser of the year, was a recipient of the prestigious Maryland Adviser of the Year award and was selected as Convocation speaker. Bertram said having the opportunity to teach and work at her alma mater was not only pure joy but also made her more tuned into students’ needs. She credits the colleagues who inspired her as well— Anne Derbes, Ph.D., professor of art and archaeology; Carla Lyon, Ph.D., associate professor emerita of education; Gerry McKnight, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history; and Pat Ford, Ph.D., professor emerita of English. Bertram’s work has been published numerous times in professional journals and she has presented papers at countless conferences and organizations throughout the country. She lives in Baltimore with her husband David and their two daughters—Sarah, 13, and Mollie, 10. She teaches at The Park School in Baltimore, and is proud of her commitment to progressive teaching and educating children of diverse backgrounds.

Summer 2010 - The Green Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Summer 2010 - The Green Issue