Hood College- Navigation, Summer 2009 - 28

W W W.HOOD.EDU She is very happy in a retirement community in Gwynedd, Pa. Joanne Jarrett Sullivan has eight grandchildren, aged 1 to 23. What fun it must be to watch them progress and change! Travels for the Sullivans have included their usual stay in Florida during the winter plus a trip to Canada. Another person looking forward to our 60th is Janet Musselman Miller. She keeps busy with golf, bridge and church activities, plus a trip to Jamaica with her daughter and son-in-law. Her sons both live near her, as well as ﬁve grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. As some of us feel we are slowing down a bit, along comes a wonderful letter from Grace Underwood Harkness. She and Jack continue to play a lot of tennis and take interesting classes. Jack paints and now is studying pottery, and they are both taking tap dancing lessons. Way to go! Both do a lot of birding as well. Because a friend is encouraging her to write a book about her life, Woodie has quit some board jobs to work on it. She remains active with United Methodist Women, the Church Peace and Justice Committee, and the League of Women Voters. She also wrote of the passing of JoAnn Knepper Shayman Feb. 27, 2009, in Templeton, Calif. Though there is no designated memorial fund, Woodie suggests that a gift to Hood would be appropriate. Also, our sympathy to Nancy Higbee Baldwin whose husband Bob died Dec. 23, 2008, in Green Mountain, N.C. Woodie and Jack visited Nancy in Atlanta last year. Our condolences also to the family of Doris Ireland-Nelson who died June 2, 2008, in Richmond, Ky. Ann Wolfsten Golden was happily surprised at a League of Women Voters luncheon to ﬁnd Polly Harvey Dunn at her table. They caught up on much that has happened in the last almost 60 years. Ann enjoys two granddaughters who are in high school. Ed and I (Jean Righter Bolle) enjoyed an Alaskan cruise with our daughter, son-in-law and 9-year-old granddaughter. We were pleased to host a reception in Denver for local alums to meet with President Ron Volpe; Nancy Gillece ’81, vice president for institutional advancement; and Linda Hoffman, director of alumni relations. More than 30 attended with one or more from eight different decades, starting with a graduate of the Class of 1931. There is a lot of exciting growth and development at the College and it’s a joy to see things going so well. Participation: 47.67% Total Class Dollars: $25,137 Betsy McCain McAlpine 7207 Warbler Lane McLean, VA 22101 (703) 893-3893 Congratulations and much happiness to Phoebe Brown Ballard who became Mrs. Dick Ford June 6 at a family wedding in her former hometown of Greenwich, Conn. Dick was a friend and classmate of Jack’s at Princ- eton. Best wishes for your third half of life together. Your classmates are happy for both of you. Cathie Strachan Upp wrote from Tucson, Ariz., that she missed our last reunion because she was taking her grandsons to the Galapagos Islands. She is having an interesting time on the Univ. of Arizona’s Board for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute where she is responsible for membership, new structures and bylaws. This has made her more aware of the workings of a large university. Cathie ends her note, “Best I get back to my report on Rosalyn Carter for one of my classes.” It was good to have a telephone conversation with Barbara Allen Prall in New Hope, Pa. Their oldest son has retired as a colonel in the army after 30 years. He and his family live nearby. Her second son is treasurer of an insurance company and lives in Newtown, N.J. Barb has been teaching a weekly Bible study class for 49 years! She sings in a chorus in their retirement community (practices two mornings a week with a spring concert in May) and plays bridge three times a week. Her summer job is gardening. They have woods in back of their house which she clears of poison ivy, trash and rambling rose bushes, and plants ﬂowers and ground covers. “It keeps me busy and I love it,” she says. Husband John has had some health problems but is doing well. Ruthie McKean Jacob and Hugh drove to Maine from their winter home in Florida to see their grandson Chris graduate from Bowdoin College and then drove down to Princeton for Hugh’s 60th reunion. (Ed. note: Sounds like a lot of travel for someone who cracked a vertebra in December and wore a back brace for three months.) Ruthie says, “Hugh was a good caregiver.” Mary Burchard Walmsley writes, “Bob and I are well. We continue to enjoy the South. We are in constant touch with our three children and visit together often.” Mary’s note was illustrated by a color photo of her garden. Tink Smith Garrity has also sent notes with color photos of her surroundings. (Ed. note: I’ll share them with you at our next reunion.) Molly Wood Tully will be taking the whole family to France in July to celebrate her “Big Birthday.” They will spend one week at the Normandy beaches and one week in Paris. She also hopes to visit her “French family” from her 1950 “Experiment in International Living.” Molly still gets to her beach home in Cape May, N.J., and plans to entertain Phoebe and Dick Ford in the near future. Betsy McCain McAlpine and Harry have lured son Ken and family from California to celebrate all sorts of events together—Ken’s 50th birthday and Betsy’s 80th, Kathy’s master’s degree and the forthcoming publication of Ken’s second book, “Islands Apart,” due in stores July 14. Read it if you wish you had “time to slow down, to stop and notice the wonders of nature and humanity” and smile a little. Vivian Steven Varvis and Chris celebrated their 50th anniversary in October 2008 with a guided tour of Egypt followed by visits to Athens to see all the relatives and then to London. They were home in time to spend Christmas in Calgary with daughters Alito, Esme and their families. Anne Sack Vaeth is happy in her new unit in Woodstock, Md. No more yard to tend and plenty of younger couples around. Last year she traveled to Norway near the North Pole to see polar bears. She has another polar bear trip planned for the fall. It is sad to report the loss of classmates. Betty Engle Kennedy died March 3, 2009. She fought cancer since April 2008. Arley Lundie MacDonald died June 1, 2008. I was glad to have talked with her for news in the winter 2007 edition. Liz White Lewis died Sept. 18, 2008. She wasn’t well when we had our 2006 reunion but she drove to Hood with her daughter to attend the 55th dinner. Does anyone have a current address for Gee-Gee Bowman Caldwell? She is listed as “lost” and a letter to her has been returned. I was a bit reluctant to take on the job of class reporter as I was already class agent but I ﬁnd it is fun and certainly interesting to know what we are doing in our “Golden Years,” and if you give to the Annual Fund at the same time, so much the better. Have a good summer. Participation: 45.87% Total Class Dollars: $30,024 Joanne Dickerson Mason P.O. Box 100 Newark, MD 21841 jomason641@earthlink.net Our condolences to the family of Joan Ball Baylor who died March 1, 2009. Our sympathy to Claire Enany Trimpey whose sister Helen Enany Spotts ’44 died March 6, 2009, in Uniontown, Pa.; and Jane Taggart Whittaker whose husband Frank died April 5, 2009. Bee Jay Quillen Brustad is staying close to home while Bill and daughters Kristen and Sherry trek around Norway chasing genealogical records as they study Dad’s family history. Bee Jay is content to putter around the house sorting stuff. She says she brought too much from the old house and now has to sort through it! Betsy Cannen Martin is recovering from back surgery. Ruth Matthews Alger stays busy with her hubby and plans to meet me (Joanne Dickerson Mason) and Ralph in late spring at a restaurant near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. This encounter has been in the making for a while now. Both guys love to hunt so we know they will be preoccupied with tall tales of their exploits and Ruth and I have our own chat time! Ralph and I have a 3-month-old great-grandson Mason Hetherington. He and his parents reside just up the farm lane from Ralph and me. Ralph is busy in South Dakota on a prairie dog hunt while I decided to try to pick up on some news from the Class of ’52. Ralph and I are involved with history in the small town of Newark, Md. We are active with the historical groups in the area and volunteer at the soon-to-be century-old Queponco Railway Station, once a part of the Pennsylvania

Hood College- Navigation, Summer 2009

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