Hood College- Navigation, Summer 2009 - 37

38 HOOD MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2009 Participation: 49.68% Total Class Dollars: $17,780 Barbara Maly Fish 1006 Urban Ave. Durham, NC 27701 (919) 688-9125 barb2ﬁsh@yahoo.com Those of us who attended our class’ 45th reunion had a wonderful weekend of reminiscences and reconnections. We also took time to mourn our 22 deceased classmates including the most recent ones, Patricia Bell Johnson who died July 26, 2008, in Latrobe, Pa., and Kay Rose Oram, who died March 15, 2009. We send our condolences to their families and loved ones. At the class dinner Saturday night I asked classmates to write down what they had learned in the past 45 years. Here are their responses. Sue Sterner: “You can learn a great deal about yourself and how to deal with life by spending time with nature.” Ruth Fredericks Frey: “The best life is a balanced life. Find it and perfect it.” Debby Parker Hamilton: “Always celebrate the child inside you.” Sally Stoecklein Bregenser: “I’ve learned the importance of faith, love, caring and appreciation of good music and our freedoms.” Judi Coombs Creighton: “After a difﬁcult last year I have learned (again) how much friends matter and to laugh regardless of whatever life brings.” Harriet LeSourd Wise: “Be passionate about your instincts. Follow your dreams!” Melanie Lathrop Hoffman M.A. ’79: “Life after retirement is extraordinary. Don’t wait too long!” Gayle Reed Carroll: “I have learned that I am right-brained and should never have been expected to solve story problems let alone study economics or advanced math. I learned when Helen Knorr ’65 died young that I should never feel bad about birthdays or growing older. I have learned to celebrate what I can do well and to appreciate what others do better than I.” Barbara Haun Morris: “What have I learned? To be more open to differences but to stay true to my beliefs.” Alyce Burn Sheaffer: “Humility and patience.” Jane McLees West: “I am constantly realizing that I have more control over what happens in my life that I ever though I had by realizing self-awareness and inﬂuence.” Anne Burgess Huffer: “Give of your time (volunteer). Love yourself (regardless of the past, you are worth it). Work at something you love regardless of the money to be made. Risk! Try something special that you may have been reluctant to try. I went skydiving!” Althea Bates Travis: “Life is a garden full of opportunities to see love, richness and the excitement of diversity. Much of our openness to what this world offers began through the knowledge and experiences we had at Hood.” Betsey Covel: “I’ve learned that the more things change, to use and old phrase, the more they stay the same. Our choices, on the whole, are likely based on the values with which we came to Hood, so those of us who maintain contact with Hood folks through reunions probably share these values more than others. Learn from our mistakes and don’t make the same mistake twice.” Barbara Strayer Brittain: “Live one day at a time. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Step outside your comfort zone. Living well is the best revenge. Trust in the Lord.” Doris Harwood Sabin: “Most people are not so different from one another once we take the time to get to know them personally.” Ellen Roberts Glaccum: “Nothing. I knew everything when I was 18.” From Claire Fulenwider: “Simone de Beauvoir was right. Love and work are the two most vital sources of satisfaction in life. And I think Hood helped me build skills at both.” Flo Sechler Miller: “I have learned that the love and support of family and friends is far more important than factual knowledge or career success. My life is immeasurably richer and more meaningful because of the relationships that have grown through the years.” Kate Jenks Powell M.A. ’78: “I’ve learned, in spite of all, life is incredibly wonderful—especially in simple things and ways (and even more especially with chocolate).” Sandy Borrelli Ricci: “I have learned that I can be me and feel comfortable in my own shoes and learn from every other person in this magniﬁcent world.” Susan Lyeth Sternfeld: “I have learned to celebrate the serendipity that occurs in life as opposed to the difﬁculties. It keeps me sane.” Ann McMillan Shuman: “When making baked custard, it is important to put it in the oven!” Marylou Herrmann Foley: “Friendships deepen and endure. We learned to cope and succeed. Encouragement from others keeps us going.” Cookie Johnson Bolig: “To lighten up and enjoy what every moment has to offer.” Barb Maly Fish: “I have learned that faith, family and friends enrich the good times and make the hard times bearable.” Participation: 30.28% Total Class Dollars: $25,100 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 condolences to Marcia Hill Dunn whose aunt Marcia Rodman Lawrence ’45 died Feb. 18, 2009, in Washington, N.C. I’ll start with the sad news of Elizabeth King Eaton’s death, sent to me in the spring by Marilyn Farnell who, with Liz and three other Hood classmates, headed off to Cambridge, Mass., after graduation to seek their fortunes. “Liz died in Texas Feb. 3, 2009, of breast cancer,” Lynn wrote. “She had married (a second marriage) several years ago to a wonderful man and lived life to the very fullest. Liz Ybarra and Frank made a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam a year ago. She always came to visit (the old Cambridge crew) for Christmas during her trips to Connecticut. Deborah Bentley Hall, Judy Lang Spooner and I (Emily Kilby) always had wonderful dinners in Boston with Lizzie, laughing and listening to her adventures. She always challenged the world and loved it. When she lived in Boston she walked to work through Filene’s Basement, picking up treasures and carrying them to work to try on, then returning those that didn’t ﬁt on the way home! This year Liz was unable to make the trip so Deb, Judy and I had a dinner where we raised a glass to her and told Lizzie stories and laughed and cried. Breast cancer seems to be an epidemic. We must ﬁnd the cure!” (A side note: As you may recall, breast cancer also claimed the life of Helen Knorr, the ﬁfth member of the Hoodto-Cambridge migration, 30 years ago when we were all so young.) Liz’s joie de vivre and footloose ways (I remember visiting with her in her closet-size London student/working-girl ﬂat during my ﬁrst British journey in 1967) don’t seem exactly librarian-like but she was, in fact, one of the country’s standout medical librarians. She earned her master’s in library sciences from UCLA and her doctoral degree from the Univ. of Texas School of Biomedical Sciences in Galveston. From 1982 to 2001 she was director of the Tufts Univ. Health Sciences Library in Boston. At the time of her death she was executive director of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library and director of the National Network of Library of Medicine, South Central Region, National Library of Medicine. Liz’s ties to her Connecticut roots remained strong no matter where she was living and she was instrumental in having the family farm there preserved through a conservation easement. She is survived by her husband and his two children, three sisters, two brothers and seven nieces and nephews. She was buried in Lexington, Ky., in a family plot with her maternal grandparents. Her grandfather William Dimock was one of the pioneering researchers in equine diseases at the Univ. of Kentucky. Little did I know during all those years of researching medical journals for my EQUUS articles and encountering references to Dimock’s work that the great man’s granddaughter had been my Hood friend. Lynn, herself, continues on with her varied and fascinating freelance projects such as gathering materials at the JFK Library for a British author working on a Harold Macmillan biography and reviewing heaps of ﬁlms from MIT about the work of “Doc” Edgerton, inventor of the strobe light and photographer of the shot through the apple and those crown-like milk drops. She wrote in her Christmas note that she’d rather be retired but projects keep coming her way. “I was approached by a publisher about doing a photographic essay on JFK,” she remarked. “After much protestation from me I was convinced to do it, so look for publica-

Hood College- Navigation, Summer 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hood College- Navigation, Summer 2009