Hood Magazine Summer 2008 - 48

HOOD MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2008 25TH REUNION ALUMNUS GIVES THE GIFT OF COMMUNITY SERVICE Longtime Frederick County resident Phil Bowers ’83 and the Bowers family can boast an impressive legacy of Hood connections. Phil has been a member of the Hood College Board of Associates since 1999, and more than 20 members of Phil’s immediate family have either graduated from or have served on a Hood board, including his wife, Anne Dombroski Bowers ’98; his mother, Eleanor Gambrill Bowers ’46; sister Virginia Bowers Stenger ’83; and grandmothers Isabel Houck Bowers ’20 and Nan Good Bowers ’27. Phil, who earned a bachelor of science degree in computer and information science from Hood, left his position as a systems engineer for Westinghouse in 1996 to pursue his dream: opening a brew pub. The Walkersville, Md., native began his second career as a brew master and is now president of Fountain Rock Management Group, which operates four restaurants in Frederick. He was named Restaurateur of the Year in 2007 by the Maryland Restaurant Association for his noteworthy achievements in the industry. Phil’s restaurant, three on Frederick’s Market Street and one on Old National Pike, have served as venues for Hood’s reunion dinners, alumni happy hours and a variety of other events throughout the years. In 2002, Phil created a unique way of generously giving back: on one day each spring, Phil donates a percentage of the day’s total sales from his restaurants to the Hood College annual Businesses for Hood campaign. He also contributed to last year’s Constellation Energy Challenge Grant, which was to raise at least $40,000 in new and increased gifts from the local business community. Phil’s philanthropic interests extend beyond Hood, and he often hosts fund-raisers for Frederick-area charities, including the United Way, Mission of Mercy and the Alzheimer’s Association. The importance of hard work, perseverance and investing enough time to make a job worthwhile are Phil’s guiding principles. Current and future generations of Hood students and alumni could beneﬁt from Phil’s experience, as he told a Frederick News-Post reporter recently, “Every idea you come up with is not one that’s going to be successful. You are just going to have to keep trying and, as you keep trying, things will happen for you.” Cathcart writes: “My very big news is that my son, Brian Cathcart ’12, has been accepted at Hood College as an incoming freshman this fall. We are so excited, and he is looking forward to joining the Hood College family as a student. He told me he likes Hood because he feels at home there. Professionally, I am putting the ﬁnishing touches on a new Christmas CD with my wire-strung harp, also known as a “Clarsach”). It should be ready for release in July 2008, in plenty of time for Christmas!” Ellen Yodzis Patton has been working on growing her quilting business. She has been published in two quilt books this past year and has some rather famous quilt teachers as customers! She volunteers with Quilts of Valor, an organization that give quilts to wounded servicemen and women returning from the war. Through them she worked to ﬁnd the Purple Heart recipients from the USS Cole (the ship that was bombed in Persian Gulf several years ago) and get them their quilts of valor. That effort led to them to nominate her for an award the President gives each year to one spouse from each of the services in honor of Military Spouses’ Appreciation Day. The White House chose Ellen to represent all Navy spouses and on May 6 she was on the South Lawn of the White House being honored by President Bush. He presented her with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. View the video at: www.whitehouse.gov/news/ releases/2008/05/images/ 20080506-3_ p050608jb-0181-515h.html. Ellen and her husband Mark also received an award in May from the city of San Diego in appreciation for their helping to preserving the history of the area around the submarine base on which they live. On May 31 their oldest, Erik, graduated from West Point and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army. On June 4th their third, Colleen, graduated from high school. She’ll be going to Creighton Univ. in Omaha, Neb. on an Army ROTC scholarship with hopes of earning a Ph.D. in physical therapy. The Patton’s second, Michael, just arrived home today after ﬁnishing his ﬁnals at the Univ. of Tampa—the same place Jodi Palmer Murphy’s oldest started at this year—so I guess that now makes him a junior! Michael will be studying abroad for the fall semester at the Univ. of Cape Town in South Africa. Because their semesters run from July to November he will actually be boarding a plane during their move when they are halfway across the country! Their youngest one, Claire, is ﬁnishing up 6th grade. They will be moving again this summer to the Washington D.C., area where Mark will be stationed at the Navy Yard and they will be living in Alexandria. Ellen hopes to be able to attend some of the Hood events! Her e-mail will stay the same. Liane McCarthy is still stationed at Quantico, Va. with the FBI. She will be traveling to China in August for the Olympics, which should be interesting. She spent most of the winter on crutches with a broken foot! As for me, we are still in Torrington, Conn. I hear from my Memorial Hall friends a few times a year and get to see Glynnis Edwards Cowdery when she visits her parents in Conn. I am staying at home but continuing to work my direct sales business with AtHome America. Until next year … take care. Mary L. Townley 317 Huddersﬁeld Drive Richmond, VA 23236 hoodmlt@aol.com Hi Class of 1983! This column comes to you hot off the presses from Reunion 2008 our big 25! Personally, I can’t believe that it’s been 25 years but I guess the calendar doesn’t lie. Anyway, although our group at reunion was small in number, we all had a wonderful time. The weather held out for the most part, though we had a nice drenching rain Saturday afternoon but things cleared up in time for a delightful reception for our class in the afternoon in the Tatem Arts Center and continued to be pleasant throughout our dinner in Hodson Science Center. Dr. Martha Church joined us for dinner and delighted diners with her funny stories of her days at Hood. In attendance at this year’s reunion were Theresa Bielenda, Carol Straube DeForce, Mary O’Brien Guerrero, Katherine Hax, Deborah Single Hays, Nancy Hoffman Hennessey, Sue Liddick Lazun, Denise Barton Schuler, Ruth Ravitz Smith, Janice Ball Mahlandt, Lisa Koogle, Jill Feaster LaPan and me, Mary Townley. Several of us brought family members with us to share in the fun. Some alums only stopped in for part of the weekend and so I apologize if I left you off our list of attendees. It felt great to be back at Hood. There’s a lot that’s changed … in a good way. Shriner Hall and the Whitaker Center are just amazing. However there’s still so much that’s still the Hood we all remember. The campus was beautifully groomed and walking around felt just like old times. The Pergola is still the central part of campus and pretty as ever. Dr. Volpe presented a heartfelt talk to us of how Hood is growing and told of us the future plans for the College. The enrollment is higher than it’s ever been and people are really excited about Hood. It’s all terriﬁc news! He encouraged us all to spread the word of what a remarkable college Hood is and to remember to support Hood in any way we can. For those of you who couldn’t make it to Reunion 2008, we hope to see you at the next one in ﬁve years. To those who I saw last weekend, thanks for coming and it was great catching up. Thanks again to Ruth Ravitz Smith for organizing our 25th. She did an amazing job! Everyone, please remember to send me your news so we can share it with your Hood friends. Enjoy your summer and safe travels over the coming months. Our condolences to the family of Kathrine Rebar Fleshman who died Dec. 5, 2007, in Columbia, Md.

Hood Magazine Summer 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hood Magazine Summer 2008