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40 HOOD MAGAZINE | WINTER 2010 another class reporter, I learned that Marty Mulford Gray M.S. ’82 and her husband, Guy Gray III ’74, M.S. ’82, got their master’s degrees together from Hood’s graduate school. Marty retired after more than 35 years with National Institutes of Standards and Technology. The following year the Grays moved from Frederick to the Cambridge area to be on the water and near good friends Nancy Roe Hebdon and her husband Fred. Sayre Roney Steere and Dave welcomed granddaughter number three, Emily Christine, born to Joan and Dave, who live in Jacksonville. She joins Allison, 4, and Chloe, 2. I am impressed to read that the Steeres ran a half marathon to support daughter Doris, who was competing in the Gulf Coast Triathlon. Daughter Joan continues to teach Stroller Strength and has upward of 25 clients (young moms and their babies) taking her classes four days a week. The Steeres celebrated their 40th anniversary with a two-week Mediterranean cruise. Sayre stays busy with garden club and volunteer work. Barb Shipley Cober M.S. ’80 and Don celebrated 41 years of marriage in June. Congrats! She says being grandparents is so much fun. Their daughter and her husband live nearby with a daughter in second grade. Don is still working for the Maryland State Highway Administration and probably will retire in 2010. Barbara continues to run the family trucking company but ﬁnds time to enjoy some traveling, bicycling and walking. She also has been teaching ESL in her church for the last 10 years. It took me a while to ﬁgure out that the e-mail from “Virginia Brown” was from the classmate we know as Penney Weatherby (now Penney Weatherby Brown). She caught us up: “I’ve led an incredibly boring life since leaving Hood. After graduation I went to work for the Burlington County Welfare Board and stayed there for almost 26 years, ﬁrst as a caseworker and then a social worker (not what I am/was best suited for). I ‘transferred’ back and became an income maintenance specialist, income maintenance supervisor, and retired after 17 years as a data processing coordinator. I qualiﬁed for the position of deputy director of the agency in 1990 but was told that I needed more education, so I celebrated my 25th anniversary of graduation from Hood by getting my master”s degree from the Univ. of Pennsylvania. When the agency, then known as the Burlington County Board of Social Services, offered a retirement ‘buyout’ in the summer of 1996, I took it. Then I became a ‘consultant’ at the State of New Jersey Division of Family Development, where I was a computer programmer for almost ﬁve years. Now I stay at home. I’ve been married twice, the ﬁrst time to Warren Brown (from 1973-1984). He and I bred and raised thoroughbred race horses. The herd has now dwindled and I have only one horse left. I married my second husband, John Blockowitch, in 2001. The only Hood person I’ve kept in touch with over the years is Libby Marckwardt Oliver, and I would particularly like to hear from/see Marty Silcox Hankins and Susan Basford.” Carol Wyman Harris is in her 23rd year as a nonproﬁt fund-raising professional at the YMCA of Greater Westﬁeld (Mass.), currently as development director, and enjoys it immensely. She’s still very active in the Springﬁeld Rotary Club, helping to support Polio Plus a program that hopes to eradicate polio within the next few years. In her spare time she enjoys her sheltie, garden, crossword puzzles and making handmade and hand-stamped greeting cards. Punkie Van Wert VanAs wins the award for the most alums covered in one e-mail. She and Bill are still living in Jacksonville, Fla., where they enjoy the mild winters. Recently they had dinner with Joan Esselen Foot at her sister’s house in St. Augustine, Fla. Her sister Jane Esselen Blocker ’72 and husband Tim have recently moved to the sunny south. They had fun catching up and looking at some old photos. Punkie’s sister, Susie VanWert Loustaunau ’72, and Jane were in the same class, so they had many laughs remembering our times at Hood and all of the Dad and Daughter weekends our parents attended! Bill and Punkie have four granddaughters and love visiting them in Tampa and the New Orleans area. They spent Thanksgiving with sister Johanna VanWert Thompson ’67 and her husband Mike at their home in Williamsville, Va. I was delighted to be contacted by long-lost friend Nance Parker Winyard ’68. Nance has two daughters and grandchildren. They all live in East Bay, near Oakland, Calif., and San Leandro, Calif., areas. She is still working, doing contract accounting for small nonproﬁts. She and a longtime friend who hike together invited their kids along for a coastal hike. The kids fell in love and there are now two shared grandchildren for the friends. I love that story! Let me put in another plug for Facebook. Please sign up and join our group “Hood College Class of 1969.” Giving Participation: 29.38% · Total Class Dollars: $13,610 40th Reunion June 4-6 Karin Ninesling Infuso 5293 Seven Lakes West West End, NC 27376 Jeanne Bryant Wyland 41 Great Oak Lane Redding, CT 06896 wyland@optonline.net More of our classmates are retired, some are caring for aging parents and several are welcoming and enjoying grandchildren. Linda Allan M.S. ’78 retired from full-time employment but is doing some consulting work. She is a resident of Florida, where her parents reside for half the year in Naples. Linda splits her time between Naples and Rehoboth Beach, Del., where she owns a house and a rental beach property. She wants to travel and see America from the ground, not from an airplane during business trips. In the past year she saw Donna Newman in Atlanta and Wendy “Chips” Parker-Wood in New Mexico. Cynthia Besancon Walsh moved from Fruita, Colo., to Vero Beach, Fla., to care for her parents, and is exploring retirement activities to see if retirement suits her. She spends time golﬁng and bicycling, is taking up surf ﬁshing and boating and, since she moved her horse with her, she still enjoys riding. Ada Karen Blair retired from Towson Univ. and although she and her husband still reside in Towson, Md., she has made numerous trips to North Carolina to renovate a house there. In September 2009, she and her husband spent two weeks in Colorado. The 14,000-foot mountain peaks are magniﬁcent in autumn but there were moments when she and her husband struggled to eat and breathe at the same time at those altitudes. Chris Bradley Pecor M.A. ’88 said that her husband had sextuple bypass surgery last June. Chris is planning to retire in 2011. Lynne Demers Becker retired from her job consulting in higher education and now lives in Venice, Fla., where she cares for her mother. Lynne has her ﬁrst grandchild, a girl born to her daughter Dorrie who lives in Houston. Dorrie is a Montessori teacher and her husband drills for oil. Lynne’s daughter Roxy, who is relocating from Milan, Italy, to Amsterdam, teaches in a bilingual pre-school and her husband works in marketing for Shell Oil. Denise Howard Mason’s grandson, Mason, celebrated his third birthday on Thanksgiving. Denise’s son Michael married last June and her son Seth will be married in March 2010. Marj Menchey Bernstein is planning our reunion with Mary Ryan Reeves. Marj’s daughter lives three houses from Marj, teaches ﬁrst grade in Frederick and will be married in May in Wilmington, N.C. Upon retiring in May 2009 from her position as director of pastoral care at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, Margaret Muncie received a farewell gift of golf clubs. Now that she lives in Greenville, S.C., she uses the clubs often. Peggy’s daughter Caroline, a Univ. of Miami graduate and now a student at the Art Institute of Charleston, was recently engaged and will marry next year. Peggy’s daughter Victoria, a Univ. of the Paciﬁc graduate, is in a graduate program at Johnson and Wales Univ. in Charlotte, N.C. I (Karin Ninesling Infuso) and my husband are happily retired in West End, N.C. I volunteer at the local college to help students become better writers and have been asked to help staff a writing lab for upper level students. My husband and I joined Ada Karen Blair and her husband on the Colorado trip and were awestruck by Mesa Verde National Park. While shopping in a jewelry store in Cortez, Colo., Kari and I told the shop owner’s daughter that our friendship began when we were roommates at Hood. The young woman knew about Hood because her boyfriend’s mother is Linda Stockdale Warren ’69. Linda and I met for coffee and talked about Hood, teaching in New Jersey and retirement. Mary Ryan Reeves will retire from teaching in February 2010 and will spend time traveling and enjoying her beach house in South Bethany, Del. As part of our class reunion, she will host cocktails at her home. She encourages classmates to sign up on Facebook. Gail Sanborn took early retirement from her job as a purchasing agent for the State of New Jersey and moved to Toms River to be closer to family. She is busy with book groups, concerts and genealogy research at the county library. She also has done some online dating which led to some “funny experiences.” Ellen Sands Smith is busy with community activities and a new job as administrative assistant at a private school. Ellen saw Myra Holsinger last summer before Myra took an autumn cruise on the Seine. Ellen sees Marie Oliver Brackbill several times a year. Marie and her husband travel often to Alabama and California to see Marie’s sons. Ellen also saw Jody Davis Eakin at a ceremony and reception at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Nancy Schneider Alder volunteers at her church and loves spending time with her ﬁve grandchildren. She sees Phyllis Ackley Dowd, the Christian education director at her church, several times a year. Nancy is also in touch via e-mail with Vickie Smith Diaz, who is still teaching but is thinking about retirement. Our condolences to Donna McKnight Johnson whose husband Robert di

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