Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine | Vol. 94, No. 1 | Spring 2024

Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83

Sweet Briar’s 14th President

Lean In

Collaboration. Innovation. Community.

These words may not immediately come to mind when you see these plastic bottles of varying colors. However, as you will read on page 10 of this issue of the Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine, these are exactly the words used to describe Under Land Over Sky, the piece of art currently on display in Pannell Fine Arts Center’s gallery. Everything you see in this image is comprised of recycled plastic, which was gathered from and by faculty, staff, alumnae, and students, as well as the local Amherst County community. This piece is one of a kind, created by Sweet Briar and for Sweet Briar.

Dear alumnae and friends of Sweet Briar,

Since I have become your first alumna president, I have gained even more perspective on Sweet Briar and how special our college is. What you now hold in your hands, the spring issue of the Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine, is a testament to our college’s success and the dedication of all members of our community. No matter how you are a member of this community, your engagement with Sweet Briar truly makes a difference to our students. We have aimed to give you a glimpse of that in this issue, through telling stories about our students, excellent faculty, innovative programs, and

extraordinary volunteer efforts.

In these pages, you will read how our faculty and staff are delivering the best academic program possible here at Sweet Briar. We have profiled Medford Taylor, current photography instructor who traveled the world, found a home at Sweet Briar, and shares his art with our students. Our engineering program turns 20 years old this year, and yet it is still growing and evolving. Sweet Briar’s certificate programs attract students who intend to pursue careers in equine management and teaching, agricultural sustainability and food systems, and arts management, an

P.26 Admissions Ambassadors recruit for Sweet Briar from all over the country

P.44 Medford Taylor shares his photography and his love of Sweet Briar’s campus with students

innovative draw for current and future students.

Sweet Briar students are also pushing themselves to new heights—literally, as they formed a rock climbing team this year. They’re forging new bonds among engineering, history, and the arts by crafting and honing their own sword, entered in a national competition.

Alumnae and friends around the country remain engaged in the life of the college in many ways, but most importantly, the Admissions Ambassadors program expands the College’s recruitment efforts and provides volunteers with meaningful ways they can positively impact Sweet Briar.

Lastly, I have to thank Phyllis Watt Jordan ’80 for drafting a profile that will help you to get to know me better. I hope that I have equal opportunities to get to know you better, whether I see you out on the road at alumnae club events, or you come back to campus for a visit or Reunion, or you attend any of our lectures and events on campus.

I’ll leave you with an excerpt from Emilie Watts McVea’s rumination on “The Spirit of Sweet Briar” from the 1924 edition of The Briar Patch McVea, Sweet Briar’s second president, wrote, “We are surrounded on every hand by loveliness and by the simplicities of nature, and through these we may learn to think sincerely, to live truly, to serve nobly. May the spirit of Sweet Briar so inform our minds and hearts that we may go forth from our beautiful college with power and joy and courage to meet life’s great adventure.”

Onward!

Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83 President

Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine

Spring 2024, Vol. 94, No. 1

SBM Staff

EDITOR

Clélie Steckel

CONTRIBUTORS

Lea Sparks Bennett ’83, John Dudley, Caroline Chappell Hazarian ’09, Phyllis Watt Jordan ’80, Lisa Powell, Megan Sunwall, Clare van Loenen

ART DIRECTOR AND DESIGNER Journey Group

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Cassie Foster Evans Photography, Brittany Fan, David Hale, Anna Kariel Photography, Cole Pillow, Lainie Salinas, Medford Taylor

College President

Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83

Board Leadership

BOARD CHAIR

Mason Bennett Rummel ’83

BOARD VICE CHAIR

Verda Andrews Colvin ’87

BOARD SECRETARY

Sally Mott Freeman ’76

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER AT LARGE

Fred “Buzzy” Griffin

This magazine aims to present interesting and thought-provoking content about Sweet Briar College, its people and its connections around the world. Publication of the material does not indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint by the College. We reserve the right to edit and revise all material that we accept for publication. If you have a story idea or content to submit for publication, contact the editor, Clélie Steckel, at cdsteckel@sbc.edu.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Office of Alumnae Relations and Development

P.O. Box 1057

Sweet Briar, VA 24595

When you have finished reading this magazine, please consider passing it along to a prospective student or family.

© 2024, Sweet Briar College

36 Securing the Future

Get to know Sweet Briar’s 14th President, Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83 in an interview by Phyllis Watt Jordan ’80.

44 Through His Lens In 2016, photographer Medford Taylor came to teach at Sweet Briar. Learn about his life and career, and what brought him to the College.

50 Twenty Years of Sweet Briar Engineering

Sweet Briar’s engineering program turns 20 years old this year. Learn about some of the hallmarks and touchstones of the program.

“We are not the college that is the city on the hill. We are the college with open arms.”

—Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83

Alumnae Authors

Congratulations to these alumnae authors, who shared their work with Sweet Briar! If you are an alumna author, please send an image of your book’s cover, a link to your author website, and any other information you’d like to share to cdsteckel@sbc.edu.

Featuring alumnae and faculty authors, Sweet Briar glassware and plates, apparel, and more

Also offering replacement Sweet Briar class rings to alumnae or resizing

Departments

Where

8 ’72 Student Spaces

See the additional improvements to residence halls funded by the Class of 1972.

10 Under Land Over Sky

An innovative and interdisciplinary exhibition has taken over Pannell Fine Art Center’s main gallery.

14 Sweet Briar Summer: Arts & Writing Retreat

16 By the Numbers: Agricultural Enterprises

Get a sense for just how much produce the Sweet Briar Farm produces each year.

Women

18 Alumnae Mentorship Program

Learn about the partnership between Sweet Briar’s Career Services Office and the Alumnae Relations and Development Office.

20 Reaching New Heights: Rock Climbing at Sweet Briar

Read all about Sweet Briar’s newest athletic venture and how Sweet Briar students are always “up” for challenge.

22 The Classes of 1924 and 2024 Two classes are 100 years apart, yet share many of the same experiences.

24 Sweet Briar Rises: An Op-Ed by President Hutson

Read President Hutson’s op-ed published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch earlier this spring.

Lead

26 Spreading the Word, Coast to Coast

Admissions Ambassadors are sharing Sweet Briar wherever they go.

30 Word of Mouth Marketing

32 Sweet Briar’s Certificate Programs

Four certificate programs serve to give students a leg up in their careers after Sweet Briar.

P.26

Volunteers across the United States are helping to recruit students for Sweet Briar.

Make a gift & make a difference!

The Sweet Briar Fund needs your support each year—that’s why we call it our annual giving program.

Keep the bells ringing!

GIFTS TO THE SWEET BRIAR FUND SUPPORT:

• Our students, through scholarships;

• Our faculty, through professional development and academic program support; and

• Stewardship of our natural and built environment, including our historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.

Use the envelope enclosed with this issue of the Alumnae Magazine, make a gift online at sbc.edu/give, or visit sbc.edu/ alumnae/give/types-of-gifts for other ways to make a gift.

ALUMNAE RELATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE 434-381-6131 | ALUMNAE@SBC.EDU

Where

Stories about Sweet Briar’s place and landscape

Damarys Rodrigues ’24 is an English and creative writing and art history major at Sweet Briar, which has immersed her in Sweet Briar’s own art collection, the product of many years of support from the Friends of Art.

During an internship with Sweet Briar’s galleries and museum staff, Damarys set out to explore the Latino and Hispanic artists included in Sweet Briar’s collection. While the College has many works by women—a specific interest of the Friends of Art—the number of Latino artists is very small: only 26 out of the 1,762 items in the collection. One such artist is Ana Maria Pacheco, born in 1943. “As a Brazilian-American student studying art history, I had a biased interest in Pacheco after discovering that she was a Brazilian artist and sculptor,” says Damarys. Sweet Briar’s collection includes six drypoint etchings of Pacheco’s Tales of Transformation series, made in 1998 and based on Brazilian folk tales from the artist’s childhood. In the “Herspective” blog post on sbc.edu, Damarys said, “The hope is that for Latina students like me, this area of the collection will continue to grow and that studies like mine will draw attention to the need for more works by Latino and Hispanic female artists.”

’72 Student Spaces

For their 50th Reunion, the Class of 1972 raised funds for the Sweet Briar Fund, capital projects that fall under the Where Women Lead campaign, and their ’72 Memorial Scholarship. These gifts totaled more than $10 million—a new record for Reunion giving.

In the Alumnae Magazine issue from the fall of 2022, we shared the renovations that had been completed at the time—Daisy’s Café, the Student Commons Courtyard, Reid Parlor and Reid Pit, as well as the Meta Glass common room.

Over the summer of 2023, these remaining student spaces were renovated.

$10M Raised a new record for Reunion giving.

Dew Residence Hall: E.B. Room and Kitchen

Carson Residence Hall: Mezzanine and Kitchen

and Kitchen

Residence

Common Room and Kitchen

Residence Hall: Lower Level Parlor and Kitchen

Manson

Hall:

Grammer

Randolph Residence Hall: Lounge

The Arts

Under Land Over Sky

By Clare van Loenen, Ph.D. Director of Galleries and Museum and Program Lead, Arts Management

Susie Ganch’s art installation invites both collaborators and viewers to viscerally experience the overwhelming scale of plastic pollution and its relationship to climate change. Ganch works with excess material— the abject waste of human consumption—that has not (yet) found its way back to a functional afterlife. Her human-scale form of recycling has woven coffee cup lids into swirling tapestries, plastic bags into cloud rooms, and now water bottles into architecture. In Under Land Over Sky, seven elevations of green emerge through 6,680 translucent plastic bottles activated by daylight from unshuttered gallery windows. Together, the varying colors of the bottles create a topographical map of Sweet Briar College and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west.

Ganch’s work responds to and comments on our ongoing interaction with the landscape and environment. Her background in geology and metalsmithing feeds her practice-led research, which relies on discoveries that can only be made by working with materials and finding solutions through hands-on experiments. Ganch’s studio practice centers beauty, references science, is influenced by culture, and uses criticism to address the environmental urgencies of our times.

Under Land Over Sky is a collaboration between Sweet Briar College’s Galleries and Sweet Briar College’s Center for Human

PHOTO BY DAVID HUNTER HALE, 2024

“Ganch’s studio practice centers beauty, references science, is influenced by culture, and uses criticism to address the environmental urgencies of our times.” Where

Spring 2024 Sweet Briar Alumnae

and Environmental Sustainability, and is generously funded by the Friends of Art. In the first project meeting in January 2023, Ganch shared her initial concept for the Pannell Gallery installation, and Lisa Powell, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Agriculture, offered up panels from the decommissioned greenhouse roof as a base structure. This material proved a key impetus for the collaborative project, in which reuse on campus was the goal. Because the project required the gathering and processing of substantial amounts of single-use plastic water and soda bottles—far more than are generated by students and employees at the College—as well as reclaimed furniture foam (used to fill cloudform seating beneath the expansive landscape), it connected people across campus, and beyond.

Using Rhino 3D modeling software, Ganch turned a topographical map into a dot matrix of twenty-four CNC-cut greenhouse roof panels. The 6,680 bottles that

would screw into this 24 foot wide grid were each assigned one of seven colors, essentially creating a giant color-bynumber pixelated landscape.

The material-

processing phase began in immense seasonal heat and, by the Fall, campus would be engulfed with forest fire smoke from Quebec and later, Matt’s Creek. These continent-crossing heat waves and smoke hazes are a sharp reminder of the project’s stakes and align with an observation made during a research trip to the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica by chief scientist Rob Larter:

The public only becomes aware of how dynamic the earth is when change occurs on a time scale that matches our own—when it’s something they can see. Volcanoes erupt, tsunamis hit. And for a little while, people

understand the power of geologic forces (Rush, 126).

Art installations, such as Under Land Over Sky, have the power to stop us in our tracks, not as geologic forces might, nor as sites of overwhelming eco-anxiety, but as active sites for generating fresh ideas for environmental gain.

There is also a socially, connective joy in the challenge of recycling everyday materials by hand and on this scale with students. However, there was equally a sense of futility and unpleasantness in the repetitive processing of slippery and static material. Students moved the bottles from mesh storage bins (repurposed containers from field hockey turf installation) to a pick-up truck. After scooping them out of the truck bed with a snow shovel, the students then sat for hours stripping plastic labels, clipping off seals, and unscrewing lids, leaving just the clear bottles for rinsing in diluted bleach. The time and number of people it takes to turn used plastics into a reusable resource speaks to

A close-up view of the bottles that make up the piece.

Under Land Over Sky in Pannell Gallery, February 2024.

PHOTOS BY DAVID HUNTER HALE, 2024

the challenge of effectively recycling plastic on a societal scale. Ganch bound us all into this practice on an individual level, with none of us able to identify where our contribution began or ended.

Beyond the social interconnectedness of plastic processing, are the personal water and soda brand associations that conjure up a hyperlocal mix of people and occasions on campus—the Alaskan student who noted the lack of Arrowhead water, the passing professor who is responsible for the pile of Dr. Pepper minis, and the Admissions’ staffer who has a Pellegrino habit. The brands in our pile are full of big-name regulars from Kirkland to Niagara to Aquafina, each a relief on long days, or game days—an archive of tastes, choices, and special occasions now gridded or spiralized within the topographical details of Under Land Over Sky

Further aesthetic and material selections were made during the bottle-processing phase, with clear soda bottles that were at first unwanted, proving structurally stronger than crinkling water bottles. They are positioned along

the panels’ edges for strength. Additionally, the separation of red, orange, and blue screw caps from the more tonally-sympathetic green, yellow, and white ones ensures a consistent color glow through the structure. The caps function as the twist-in fixings on the back of the greenhouse panels. The clashing caps will be melted down to form chopping boards. At every turn, the throw-away elements of this structure are elevated by meticulous material standards set by the artist.

Ganch’s focus on increasingly rare plastic-green is the material opposite to environmental journalist Elizabeth Rush’s observations on glacier-blues. Rush was the keynote speaker for the Julie B. Waxter Environmental Forum at Sweet Briar in 2023, where she spoke of her role on Rob Larter’s scientific research trip to the West Antarctic. In the resulting book, The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth, Rush describes the seemingly endless opalescent blue ice before her, “It’s almost like the blue carries you back in time” (Rush, 122). The archaeology of this blue, is an

Below

Art History Senior Seminar students cut up recycled furniture foam for the cloud cushions, January 2024.

uncomfortable corollary to the green Mountain Dew and ginger ale bottles we have dug through trash to find. However, in 2022 Coca Cola chose to turn the green glow of Sprite clear, given the dangers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) dye, and so our spiralized green elevations tell a shorter (and more toxic) story than the deeper stories being released by the melting blue of ice.

In processing a total of 14,000 clear and green bottles for Under Land Over Sky, I am struck by what a trained geologist-turned-jeweler can make of our worst single-use waste, elevating it to something of aesthetic and material value. A plastic landscape that tells of new possibilities, without negating the overwhelming scale of our consumption-fueled threat to the polar ice caps.

It will be in the quiet of the gallery that visitors will be able to activate the space, as wind in the sky, moving the cloud-form recycled seating to whatever formation suits the moment, beneath the glow of Ganch’s mountain landscape. A gathering space, a meditative space, and ultimately a collaborative space in which deep care and repetitive actions become visible. In the shimmering seven elevations of green that swirl across Under Land Over Sky is a promise of a more conscious and circular relationship with single-use plastics.

References

Rush, Elizabeth. The Quickening, Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2023.

Participating classes:

Willits Summer Food Systems Fellows ’23, Sustainable Systems (CORE 140) and Evaluation of Environmental Issues (ENVR 446) students Fall ’23, Sustainability Club, Arts Management Certificate interns ’23, Art History Senior Seminar ’24, Introduction to Arts Management (DART 105) fieldworkers ’24, and Engineering Design in the Community (ENGR 232).

Sweet Briar Summer: Arts & Writing Retreat

In the summer of 2023, Sweet Briar debuted its arts and writing retreat, open to alumnae and friends of the College. The retreat, held from June 22 through 25, featured six workshops taught by Sweet Briar faculty as well as Orange Grove Dance Company, evening readings and lectures, excursions to nearby attractions, and a keynote address by author Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint.

For four of the participants, the retreat was more than an educational experience; it was an annual gathering of friends who have known each other for almost their entire lives. Carol Newman ’71, Harriet Newman Twigg ’74, Nell McDaniel, and Susan Brady first met in Lexington when they were children. Harriet and Carol’s father taught at Virginia Military Institute, as did Nell’s father. Susan’s

mother was friends with Harriet and Carol’s mother. The group of four went to school together in Lexington.

“We got to know and love each other’s families,” says Nell. “We have had long gaps of not seeing each other, especially right after college when we began our adult lives but, whenever we got together, it was like no time had passed.”

The gatherings began when the group turned 50 and Harriet called each of them to suggest that they get together for a week at Douthat State Park in Millboro, Va. The group agreed to get together annually, a tradition that was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They have vacationed in Yellowstone National Park (Nell lives in Montana), Washington, D.C. (Harriet lives in Falls Church), and have returned to Douthat State Park.

“I received the email to alumnae about the Sweet Briar Summer Writing and Arts Retreat and was intrigued,” says Carol. “Before I had considered it further, Harriet contacted me and suggested we sign up together—she assembled the entire group!”

The group decided they would each take a different course and then reconnect each day to learn from each other’s experiences in the workshops. Carol chose “Telling Stories

Participants in the 2023 retreat.

with Sound,” taught by Joshua Harris, because “I wanted to learn something new and I had heard an excerpt from music he had created.”

Harriet chose “Writing Your Life Story,” taught by Erica Trabold, because “I wanted to learn ways to organize and write about the happy memories of my life … Listening to other students’ ideas and life experiences made me think of things that I had not thought about in a long time.”

Nell chose “Smartphone Photography,” taught by Medford Taylor, because she loves photography and also wanted to learn how to leverage her smartphone and use it to take photographs for her husband’s business.

Susan chose “Land as Art,” taught by Tracy Chapman Hamilton, because she had no idea what it would be, but hoped it would take her into the outdoors on Sweet Briar’s campus.

All four friends plan to return to next year’s arts and writing retreat at Sweet Briar. “Attending the Arts & Writing Retreat was a wonderful way to be able to focus on my own interests without the distractions of

everyday life,” says Harriet. “I was on Sweet Briar’s beautiful campus with friends, I made new friends, the classes were great, evening presentations and afternoon activities were stimulating and thought provoking.”

Besides attending workshops, the participants received tours of Sweet Briar’s greenhouse and visited Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, the home of the Harlem Renaissance poet in nearby Lynchburg, Va. and a named Virginia Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mark your calendars for the 2024 retreat!

Sweet Briar Summer: Arts & Writing Retreat June 27–30, 2024

Registration is open through May 25, 2024. Register online at sbc.edu/summer-retreat

From left, top (1975) and bottom (2023): Nell McDaniel, Harriet Newman Twigg ’74, Carol Newman ’71, and Susan Brady.

Keynote speaker and author, Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint.

By-the-Numbers

“Please Don’t Pet the Lettuce!”

Because our hyrdroponic-grown lettuces look so soft and beautiful, these words are uttered frequently during tours of the greenhouse at Sweet Briar. Let’s dig into some of the agricultural enterprise highlights around campus.

80 pounds of Swiss chard was consumed

120+ pounds of lettuce are delivered to Prothro by our student greenhouse assistants each week

College Farm rosé wine have been made from our 2023 Merlot grapes

799 pounds of honey were harvested by the Willits Summer Food Systems Fellows in 2023

80,000 bees can be found living in a single hive in our apiary during the summer

Women

Remarkable students and alumnae and their extraordinary experiences

Dr. Lili Lei, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science, delivers a talk to the Sweet Briar community as part of the College’s “Sweet Talks” events. These opportunities for Sweet Briar faculty allow them to speak on their own research topics, exposing the community to original scholarship and often. Dr. Lei’s talk, “Mining Black Gold: Land Use Effects on Soil Health and Surface Water Quality Related to C and N Biogeochemical Cycles,” was of interest to her students and other biology faculty. Other “Sweet Talks” events this academic year include:

• Dr. Kala Bonner, Assistant Professor of Biology: “The Impact of Microtubule Actin Crosslinking Factor 1”

• Dr. Tracy Chapman-Hamilton, Director of Faculty Development and Associate Professor of Art History, “Redrawing Boundaries: Documenting, Visualizing, and Mapping Medieval Gender”

• Dr. David Ebner, Assistant Professor of Political Science, “All Games Have the Same Rules”

• Professor Erica Trabold, Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing, “Writing as Resistance”

• Dr. Erin Pitt, Assistant Professor of Archaeology and Ancient Studies, “Recent Research in Albanian Archaeology and New Directions”

Alumnae Mentorship Program

A campus partnership introduces seniors to the Alumnae Network

By Caroline Chappell Hazarian ’09

National Mentoring Month Networking Panelists

January was National Mentoring Month, a time where everybody around the country acknowledges and celebrates the critical role mentoring plays in helping foster brighter futures for our country’s youth. Recognizing the importance of a strong network in today’s ever-changing professional world, the Alumnae Relations & Development Office partnered with Career Services three years ago to launch an Alumnae Mentorship Program. This program continues to create unique opportunities for members of each year’s graduating class to gain incomparable career direction from seasoned Sweet Briar College graduates. Staff are intentional in matching the students with alumnae based on each student’s future career interests.

The program starts with fostering career conversations between the mentor and the mentee, a resumé review session, guidance on fine tuning a cover letter or personal statement, and concludes with a mock interview. We found that mentors have also been able to help students with a wide variety of related career development activities including providing advice on graduate school programs, transitioning to the world of work, and even guiding students through the federal security clearance process. So far, the program has positively impacted the lives of almost 100 young Sweet Briar women and counting!

On January 17th, the Alumnae Mentorship Program commemorated National Mentoring Month by holding a panel that tackled the tough topic of networking featuring four of our fabulously fierce alumnae mentors from this year. The panelists included

Katie Craig ’16, Ashton Reid ’17, Monique Sample ’05, and Jill Triana ’99. Networking can be intimidating and difficult to navigate for professionals from entry level and beyond, not to mention students who are just starting. Our hope was to have both the mentees and mentors hear how they can implement it into their lives effectively to help them regardless of what stage they are in their career. Networking is a critical life skill that needs to be practiced regularly and can always be improved upon with tips and tricks.

Interested in becoming an alumna mentor?

Take the first step today—your willingness to make a difference can be the spark that illuminates the fire in a young Sweet Briar woman’s life.

To learn more or express your interest, contact chazarian@sbc.edu to start your Sweet Briar alumnae mentoring journey.*

*Because this program is individualized, we keep a database of alumnae interested in mentoring so we can find appropriate mentors based on students’ career plans.

Alumnae Network

Jill Triana ’99

Katie Craig ’16

Ashton Reid ’17

Monique Sample ’05

I enjoyed working with a student who is bridging the transition between her academic life and her professional life, sharing my own experiences and things I’ve learned from my professional peers to hopefully inform her current and future experiences.

Kiley Jolicouer ’17 (Mentor)

“ “ “ “

Regardless of whether you had a clear idea of your pursuits after Sweet Briar, it proved to be beneficial. Engaging in conversations with someone who shared the experience of attending Sweet Briar and then leaving the comfort of the pink bubble was particularly valuable.

Annika Kuleba ’22 (Mentee)

What are mentees and mentors saying about the program?

Making connections with an alumna that turned into a friendship, as well as feeling reassured and validated throughout my grad school journey with someone who has been through the application and waiting processes before was priceless.

Elizabeth Gilkey ’23 (Mentee)

Connecting with a mentee at a pivotal time in her college career and helping to welcome the mentee into the Sweet Briar alumnae post-graduation was so rewarding.

Megan Johnston ’16 (Mentor)

Reaching New Heights Rock climbing at Sweet Briar

By Clélie Steckel

Rock climbing has long been a component of the outdoor program, with students able to take trips to a climbing gym in nearby Lynchburg. However, the students had never before considered forming a team.

“I have always been interested in climbing, but it was never accessible to me until I came to Sweet Briar,” says Emily Allred ’26. “I knew that was something I wanted to do, but gyms and gear are really expensive and it was never available as a school

Throughout Sweet Briar’s history, alumnae from all decades will attest that they were able to

experience things at the College that they had never had the opportunity to try before. That is still the case today, and when you talk to our current

students, examples of trying something for the first time are a recurring theme. Students who have never ridden a horse are encouraged to take at least one riding class during their four years. Other students may taste something they’ve never had before thanks to Meriweather-Godsey’s dining menus, which offer foods from around the world. Others may learn a new language or perform in a play for their first time.

For students in Sweet Briar’s Outdoor Program, director of outdoor programs Mikel Mayo-Pitts encouraged them to lean into trying rock climbing.

sport, so I never had the opportunity to try it out.”

Mikel, who graduated from Radford University with a degree in outdoor recreation, first offered rock climbing to students as a club sport last academic year. In the fall of 2023, Mikel collaborated with Jason Vittone, athletic director, to develop rock climbing as a team sport. There are now 17 members of the team, who make their commitment to the team based on how much time they want to put into practice and competitions. Students can climb recreationally, which means they attend practice once per week, when they train with Mikel.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, students can join collegiately, when they have two practices per week, perform the climbing assignments given to them by Mikel, send videos of their climbs to Mikel when they practice on their own, and train outside of climbing, such as in resistance training. Students who climb at the collegiate level are USA Climbing (USAC) competitors, meaning they are ranked into divisions.

“You can’t be good at climbing naturally,” says Mikel. “Everyone starts off bad at climbing. So if someone’s interested in climbing, I try to get them on the team.”

While everyone may start off not having the skills to climb, students see tremendous benefits with practice. Students must develop the strength, agility, and endurance to solve “boulder problems” on climbing walls, which are each assigned a difficulty level and must be completed within a certain timeframe, usually three hours. Different boulders also have zones, so if a competitor completes one portion of a zone but not the whole problem, they still receive partial credit for the zones completed.

“I always remember that the biggest part of climbing is falling,” says Emily. “You fall so many more times than you finish boulders, but you can learn something every time you fall. Climbing has helped me to evaluate when I fall. Our coach makes us

“I always remember that the biggest part of climbing is falling...”

—Emily Allred ’25

Alexi Hunt ’24 practices climbing at a nearby climbing gym.

think about what we did each time that made it feel better or worse. We think about what we could do differently and how to make that move more efficient on the next attempt. I think this translates really well to life because I think I definitely have a better outlook when I don’t succeed on the first try, and I’m always able to think about things I can learn from that experience and ways I can use that information to do better later on.”

Senior Alexi Hunt agrees. “You can’t always just jump on a route and expect to figure it out as you go—often, you’ll find the whole team looking at a route and planning out each move of the climb and what would work best depending on a

person’s climbing strengths. I think that I’ve implemented these problem solving skills in my everyday life by learning to take a step back and really plan out what I’m doing as well as how to deal with challenges I run into and not feel defeated.”

Mikel has a few goals for the rock climbing team as they wrap up this year’s competitions and plan for next year. If all goes as planned, there will be more travel to USAC competitions. “My biggest goal is to create a larger, positive climbing culture so students at Sweet Briar feel supported and encouraged. As we develop as a team, we could potentially turn climbing into a recruiting tool for women who want to climb competitively.”

The Great Outdoors

Sweet Briar has a long history of attracting students who enjoy the outdoors. In some of the earliest editions of The Briar Patch,

students held extracurricular positions like “Head of Hiking,” “Head of Lake,” and “Head of Cabin.” Students were heavily involved in constructing both Sweet Briar’s Outing Cabin and Boathouse in the late 1930s. With the College’s acreage, it’s no surprise that our students want to take advantage of Sweet Briar’s hills, dells, woods, ponds, lakes, and streams.

The College’s relationship with the outdoors took an evolutionary turn in 1979, when Sweet Briar received a grant from Procter & Gamble to be used for a “new and innovative” program. This program, which became known as “SWEBOP,” still exists today, under the name behind its original acronym, Sweet Briar Outdoor Program.

Today, the program provides many opportunities for students to learn the basics of the outdoors and develop their physical and leadership skills to become apprentices and eventually, leaders of various outdoor activities. These include backpacking, camping, climbing, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and more. While the outdoor program provides ample opportunities to experience the outdoors off campus, there are many opportunities on campus as well. Students can hike on Sweet Briar’s 22-mile trail system, experience the aforementioned water activities in Lower Lake, and can also stay in the Outing Cabin overnight, thanks to the roof replacement funded by alumnae and friends in 2021.

Sweet Briar students at the Outing Cabin in 1953.

Below

The Classes of 1924 and 2024

separated by 100 years, yet bonded by shared Sweet Briar experiences

Class of 2024 89 graduates

TOP MAJORS:

#1 Biology

#2 Psychology

#3 Business, English and Creative Writing, and Engineering Science (tied)

TOP STATES: #1 Virginia #2 North Carolina #3 Texas

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:

The Class of 2024 arrived at Sweet Briar in the fall of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still a concern on college campuses around the United States.

Right The Class of 2024’s signed honor pledge banner.

The Class of 2024 at their Daisy Ceremony in 2020.

Step Singing in spring 2024. 22 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine

Class of 1924 49 graduates

TOP MAJORS:

#1 Social Sciences (Sociology)

#2 English

#3 Latin

TOP STATES:

#1 Ohio and Pennsylvania (tied)

#2 Virginia

#3 North Carolina

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: Women earned the right to vote in 1920.

The Prohibition Act went into effect in 1920 and remained until 1933.

The first radio broadcasts reached the airwaves in 1920.

Above

The Class of 1924 poses for their class photo during their sophomore year at Sweet Briar.

Far Left

Many Sweet Briar women in 1924 were horsewomen, just as the students of today are.

Left

Members of the Class of 1924 take in Sweet Briar’s scenery between Randolph and the Refectory (now Pannell).

Sweet Briar Rises

In tumultuous times, women are leading the way

By Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83 President

Originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on March 26, 2024.

In the wake of the highly publicized resignations of two Ivy League university leaders, the national press posed this resounding question: “Who would want to be a college president in this day and age?”

It’s not just the fraught politics, which felled the likes of Harvard’s Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania’s Liz Magill. It’s the increasingly difficult economics of higher education, especially at a time when the pool of college-age students is shrinking and respect for the value of a college education is diminishing.

Well, I sought the job. Just over three months ago, I was chosen as the 14th president of Sweet Briar College, a liberal arts college for women founded in 1901 in the heart of Virginia, and my alma mater. I assure you that I am neither crazy nor a masochist—though I’m always game to rise to a challenge.

So why did I accept this presidency? For a number of compelling reasons.

The importance of education was instilled in me as a child. My father served as head of school for a

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, a search firm consultant described the president’s role as “professional fundraiser and public relations executive combined with the mayor of a city.” I’ve mastered the first two. In my new role as “mayor,” I continue to emphasize the importance of education for women and the unique dimensions and advantages of women’s leadership.

Our nation recently celebrated the 19th Amendment’s ratification, and certainly women have made gains since 1920. They currently comprise more than one quarter of all members of Congress, serve as governors of 12 states, and lead more than 10% of Fortune 500 companies. Yet these milestones also demonstrate women have a long way to go to achieve equity in leadership. That’s a serious issue. Women make up half the world’s population, and we could use more of this brand of leadership.

number of secondary schools, and he always told me the greatest gift a person can receive—and pass on to others—is a good education.

The American system of higher education is a great achievement and the envy of the world. It’s the engine for social mobility and increased earnings over a lifetime. A liberal arts education, in particular, turns a student into a lifelong learner with the skills to change and adapt—invaluable in our rapidly changing, globalized world.

I can attest to that. My international relations degree from Sweet Briar led me to a disaster relief position in the U.S. territories, to a State Department posting in Nairobi, Kenya, to a congressional lobbying effort that secured permanent tax incentives for land conservation, and finally back to Sweet Briar College—one of many alumnae who returned to secure its future. I spent eight years leading development and alumnae relations efforts before being named president. This college has given so much to me, and I’m honored to give back.

Perhaps because we were shut out of the corridors of power for so long, women developed less hierarchical ways of getting things done. Research and experience tell us that women often bring a more collaborative, less confrontational approach to resolving issues. I see that at Sweet Briar. For instance, while the IsraelHamas conflict roiled many campuses, our students sat down last December for a moderated discussion, breaking into small groups to talk about the many dimensions of the conflict.

Historically, women’s colleges have educated women in learning spaces free from misogyny, empowering them to find their life paths. Their graduates have gone on to lead in various fields. At Sweet Briar, we’ve taken this one step further by intentionally cultivating students’ leadership skills. Six years ago, we revamped our curriculum to emphasize the role that women play in society, replacing the typical general education requirements with a Women’s Leadership Core comprised of 10 interdisciplinary courses that focus on developing the next generation of ethical leaders.

These are the sort of things that inspire me as a college president. I’m not saying the job is without difficulties. Many colleges have closed in recent years, and Sweet Briar faced its own crisis in 2015, only to be saved by the intervention of our own incredibly strong alumnae network. We have been rebuilding the college’s finances and its enrollment in the years since. We’re about to launch a capital campaign to prepare our historic campus for another 123 years of educating women.

We’ve positioned this college for success in the 21st century and beyond. My goal is to ensure that Sweet Briar College will continue to educate succeeding generations of women, inspiring them to find their voices and preparing them for leadership roles in all sectors of society. That seems like a pretty good reason to be a college president these days.

Lead

From innovative curriculum to excellence in the classroom

On Friday, January 26, Sweet Briar’s 13th President, Meredith Woo, returned to campus for the unveiling of her presidential portrait. The artist, Joshua LaRock, was also in attendance, and noted the subtle nod to Sweet Briar’s colors: the rosy color on Meredith’s lips combined with the hunter green tones in her dress in the portrait. The event, combined with the College’s January meeting of the Board of Directors, was an opportunity for Board Chair Mason Bennett Rummel and

President Mary Pope Hutson to share stories, recollections, and accomplishments from Meredith’s presidency. In particular, Mason noted Meredith’s hands-on leadership style, which led her to also take riding lessons from Mimi Wroten, Director of Riding at Sweet Briar. In addition to Mimi, Meredith’s instructors included

Ray, a chestnut warmblood, and Blues, a grey quarter horse.

Those in attendance at the portrait unveiling were grateful to have the opportunity to salute Meredith and her presidency and to wish her well in her retirement. The entire Sweet Briar community is indebted to Meredith for her years of service to our college.

Recruiting

There are 160 alumnae and families of current Sweet Briar students who have demonstrated a truly unique

commitment to the College: helping to recruit the next generation of students from their local areas to Sweet Briar. These women (and three men, current Sweet Briar dads) take on all aspects of recruiting. None of this would be possible without Heather Colson Ewing ’90, Admissions Ambassadors Manager. In collaboration with other Admissions Office staff members, Heather assigns a pool of prospective students to admissions ambassadors to contact individually. These ambassadors are resources for students and their families during the recruiting process, answering questions for them and providing a high-level personal touch to what can be a tedious and stressful experience. In making these assignments,

Spreading the Word, Coast to Coast Admissions

Ambassadors

share Sweet Briar with prospective students and families

Heather considers each ambassador’s location, academic and professional background, and their available hours. Once assignments are made, Heather serves as a resource to each ambassador, helping them follow up with students and their families, answering questions about Sweet Briar’s student life and academic programs, and tracking all of this throughout in order to facilitate each next step in the process for both the ambassadors and the students.

For some prospective students, the journey to Sweet Briar starts with a college fair. For Jess Hiveley ’97, this is particularly relevant—her own admissions process at Sweet Briar started in 1991, at the Minnesota NACAC fair. Jess was on the hunt for a small liberal arts college on the east coast because she wanted to study American history and wanted to go to school where so much of that history actually took place. After narrowing her list down to three schools, Jess returned to that same fair the following year. She had a conversation with the admissions representative at the Sweet Briar booth that sold her—the representative told Jess to listen to her heart when making her college choice. Now, Jess is the admissions representative for Sweet Briar at that very same college fair. “Having that experience at the college fair, and being lucky enough to have ended up at Sweet Briar (where I belonged!), has helped guide me through conversations with young women looking at colleges. If I’m talking with a prospective student, I like to get to know them and their interests first,

Admissions Ambassadors Leading Across the Nation

Volunteers recruit students and represent Sweet Briar at college fairs. Please help us fill in other states by adding Ambassadors!

and then hopefully we can have a conversation about how Sweet Briar could be right for them.”

Having come to Sweet Briar from Minnesota herself, Jess is able to connect with students in that area and give them a real sense of what it’s like to go to school here, which is more than 1,000 miles away from Minnesota. The local alumnae club in Minnesota also holds events with current and prospective students in order to give them a glimpse of the Sweet Briar community, demonstrating the support network that students can find on campus and back home. Jess says that by holding these events with alumnae from all generations of the College’s history, “hopefully, the prospective students

see that, despite the fact that most of us didn’t attend Sweet Briar at the same time, we have this really unique experience that bonds us and brings us together so that Sweet Briar doesn’t feel so far away.”

Alumnae Admissions

Ambassadors around the country take a similar approach to inviting prospective students and their families to alumnae club events.

Muffy Hamilton Parsons and Cindy McKay, both members of the Class of 1978 who live in Columbus, Ohio, included Maria McCoy ’25 and her mother in an alumnae club event in her senior year in high school. But Muffy and Cindy didn’t stop there— they continued to engage Maria and her mother (and sometimes,

her sister as well) over the spring and summer. That fall, Muffy and Cindy also attended the Alumnae Volunteer Leadership Conference at Sweet Briar and brought some things to Maria from her mother. In the spring of 2025, Cindy and Muffy will return to campus to attend Maria’s graduation.

Maria’s family moved back to Texas after she came to Sweet Briar, and Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan ’92 has been sure to include Maria’s mother in local alumnae club events there.

Maria also took on a position at Sweet Briar as a student admissions ambassador.

Student ambassadors have student jobs in the Admissions Office, where they give tours to

campus visitors, write notes to accepted and deposited students, and work at admissions events on campus, like open houses and accepted applicants days.

For one alumna, volunteer opportunities are always available— even while on vacation! Tricia Dolph Fallon ’84 attended the Alumnae Volunteer Leadership Conference in the fall of 2023, where she saw that there was a college fair the following week in Fort Collins, Colo. While Tricia lives near Boston, Mass., her roommate, Kate Hoffner, just so happens to live in Fort Collins. Tricia decided to fly out to Colorado to see her roommate and represent Sweet Briar. “I made sure to meet all of the guidance counselors and give them the Sweet Briar pitch— safe, affordable, and relevant!” says Tricia, who also brought Kate along to the fair. After the fair, Tricia then reached out to the students who had submitted interest cards and followed up with her contact information, making herself available for questions. Tricia adds, “I have been attending college fairs for SBC since 2015. It is truly one of the most gratifying things that I do—I encourage everyone to give it a try!” Tricia also represents Sweet Briar at college fairs in her area year-round, and has been assigned a group of students to follow up with

individually to help them through the recruiting process.

Michelle Badger ’06 has been an Admissions Ambassador since she graduated from Sweet Briar. However, she’s quick to point out that 16 years passed before she was able to recruit a student from her hometown of Plymouth, Mass. Michelle has known students Madeline and Celia since both were in elementary school. She had shared Sweet Briar with both of them, and both students and their families took advantage of Sweet Briar’s fly-in program.

The program allows students and one family member to visit Sweet Briar and be reimbursed for their travel expenses, along with housing at the Elston Inn. For Madeline, her visit to Sweet Briar with her mother sealed the deal. Celia attended her accepted applicants weekend with her mother and was torn between Sweet Briar and another college. She decided to attend her other choice. Two weeks after starting school, Michelle received a text from Celia, asking about changing her mind and attending Sweet Briar instead.

Caroline Chappell Hazarian ’09 attends a college fair this year, where Sweet Briar uses new objects on tables to create curiosity to start a conversation with prospective students as part of our "word of mouth" marketing campaign.

Michelle immediately jumped into action to help Celia get to Sweet Briar in time for the beginning of the fall 12-week session.

These vignettes of our Admissions Ambassadors, their volunteer activities, and the hightouch personal relationships they establish are an incredible success story for Sweet Briar. The College and all of its faculty and staff are truly grateful to these volunteers, who help expand the Sweet Briar alumnae network to support the next generation of students.

Admissions Office staff in January of 2024.

Thank you to all of our Admissions Ambassadors!

The list below reflects volunteers signed up for the 2023–2024 academic year.

Amorette Witt Aitken ’93

Nessim Al-Yafi ’97

Michelle Anderson ’11

Abby Schmidt Anzalone ’00

Lindsay Arnett ’12

Melinda Wick Aufmuth ’92

Cassandra Smith Babbitt ’78

Michelle Badger ’06

Charlotte Barbour ’16

Florence Rowe Barnick ’80

Beryl Bergquist ’71

Marina Biel ’18

Katrina Balding Bills ’97

JoAnn Bogolin ’89

Sarah Bohn-Ichikawa ’04

Charlotte Bonini ’92

Susan Desmet Bostic ’72

Emily Barton Bottum ’11

Liz Rodgers Boyd ’84

Kerri Rawlings Burtner ’97

Sarah Butcher Howell ’95

Emily Virkus Calle ’98

Catherine Lanter Carrick ’96

Theresa Carriveau ’21

Abigail Carter ’89

Ellen Reed Carver ’85

Paige Chamblin ’18

Robyn Chamblin P’18

Charis Lease-Trevathan Chase ’06

Lee Anne MacKenzie Chaskes ’83

Kayt Colburn ’11

Kelly Collins ’96

Deirdre Conley ’72

Yuliya Rigg Cormier ’13

Caroline Corum ’88

Ann Kiley Crenshaw ’76

Chris Cruz P’23, P’26

Angela Withers Dawson ’02

Jeanne Rovics Dees ’88

Sophie Dessart ’20

Caroline Byrd Dozier ’08

Margaret McClellan Driscoll ’92

Jane Dure ’82

Heather Colson Ewing ’90

Gladden Adam Falivene ’90

Keri Falk ’11

Patricia Dolph Fallon ’84

Kimberly Harden Fella ’00

Nicole File ’95

Katy Flattich P’26

Rebecca Nelson Freudigman ’94

Kelly Turney Gatzke ’99

Janet Nelson Gibson ’72

Megan Butt Glover ’99

Patsy Roby Gotfredson ’84

Jenness Gough ’13

Rachel Cooper Gray ’96

Lydia Rhode Green ’11

Kelly Bowman Greenwood ’98

Claire Dennison Griffith ’80

Amanda Strickland Haas ’09

K. Ellen Hagan ’81

Meg Hammock ’08

Caroline Chappell Hazarian ’09

Heather Theis Hernandez ’95

Maeve Hillengas ’21

Katherine Cole Hite ’88

Jessica Hiveley ’97

Barbara Lee Homiller ’69

Kay Ellisor Ellisor Hopkins ’76

Courtney Hurt ’10

Dawn Czaplicki Hutchison ’88

Kelly Meredith Iacobelli ’88

Katie Blaik James ’94

Phoebe Jiang ’14

Verena Joerger ’15

Jasmine Jones ’10

Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan ’92

Sally Old Kitchin ’76, P’04

Jo Ann Soderquist Kramer ’64

Catharine King Laufer ’96

Lauren Schwartz Lazaro ’09

Baylee Worth Leazer ’18

Ruth Lechner Lechner ’21

Anne Bostain Legum ’03

Cortney Lewandowski ’12

Lee Watson Lombardy ’82

Lisa Wray Longino ’78

Danielle Lowery ’15

Christina Savage Lytle ’88

Cecilia Mahan ’19

Dawn Martin ’01

Andrew McAllister P’21, P’24

Shannon McCarthy ’16

Holly McGlothlin ’78

Maureen McGuire ’06

Lauria McShane ’23

Brianna Meighan ’05

Margaret Melchor ’10

Tana Migit P’26

Stephanie Althoff Mills ’09

Citlali Molina ’16

Royal Rasoulian Montgomery ’14

Maria Kitchin Moore ’04

Bettie Lee Moore ’77

Arielle Sperrazza Morgan ’15, ’16

Frances Kirven Morse ’68

Patti Snodgrass Mullins ’82

Danielle Ross Oberg ’03

Amy Boyce Osaki ’83

Elizabeth Conner Pace ’86

Muffy Hamilton Parsons ’78

Isabel Patterson ’10

Cristina Peniche ’12

Julia Pesek ’86

Susan Dern Plank ’73

Virginia Stevens Purcell ’72

Stacey Hannan Quinn ’89

Shanthi Ramesh ’06

Camille Reding ’15

Sarah Reidy-Ferguson ’96

Kirsten Reinhart ’20

Trish Moynahan Rice ’80

Megan Thomas Rowe ’01

Emily Dodson Sadler ’18

Sarah Andres Sale ’90

Ellen Harrison Saunders ’75

Katie Maxwell Schellhammer ’95

Blair Redd Schmieg ’83

Julia Schmitz ’03

Janine Paris Schofield ’96, P’27

Vikki Schroeder ’87

Megan Shuford ’16

Elizabeth Perkinson Simmons ’78

Alix Sommer Smith ’71

Amanda Soler P’27

Annamarie Lichtenberg Spencer ’13

Samantha Spencer ’22

Catherine Gumpman Springer ’10

Alexandra St. Pierre ’12

Natasha Nickodem Stevens ’01

Sally Stooks ’21

Jill O’Ree Stryker ’87

Caroline Tade ’08

Evangeline Easterly Taylor ’00

Jennifer Torres P’24

Suzanne Stryker Ullrich ’78

Virginia Everett Ulsaker ’07

Norma Bulls Valentine ’93

Epiphany Soward vandeBogart ’15

Stacey Vilar ’88

Sarah VonRosenberg ’72

Kirk Waldrop P’27

Lisa Moore Walton ’04

Lindsay Webster ’09

Katie Tipton Wilson ’08, ’09

Valerie Winborne ’86, P’28

Nancy Finley Worcester ’85

Emily Wrenn ’22

Susan Wooldridge Yeatts ’95

Samantha Yew ’18

Word of Mouth Marketing

What to share with prospective students and families

As we shared in the December issue of The Briar Wire, Sweet Briar has embarked on a “word of mouth” marketing campaign to augment our efforts to recruit future classes for the College. We created a chart of talking points for alumnae and friends to help you address Sweet Briar’s greatest strengths in conversation with friends and prospective students.

Cultivate Leaders

Unique Women’s Leadership Core Curriculum

8 out of 10 students hold leadership roles on campus

The Honorable Verda Colvin ’87 is a Georgia Supreme Court justice

Powerful Sisterhood

Valued traditions, including tap clubs, athletics, and riding

Sweet Briar alumnae are executives, entrepreneurs, and educators, like Leah Solivan ’01, founder of Task Rabbit

A global alumnae network—more than 14,000

Academic Excellence

Beautiful Campus

6 out of 10 students conduct undergraduate research, which is three times the national average

ABET-accredited engineering program

Sweet Briar alumnae go on to graduate school at Duke, Georgetown, Columbia, and more

2,847 acres and more than 20 miles of trails to explore and find your favorite spot

Outdoor recreation equipment on loan at no cost for students

22 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places

Personal Exploration

Each student receives a grant for engaged learning, up to $2,000 for a personal project or off-campus study during one of their three-week sessions

Academic centers that encourage collaboration and research: Human and Environmental Sustainability; Creativity, Design, and the Arts; Science, Technology, and Engineering

Add your personal experience through stories from your time at Sweet Briar to make these talking points your own. Having examples of your experience at Sweet Briar will make the conversation more personal and authentic. Think about these questions to help you get started. Your

How did Sweet Briar cultivate you as a leader? What does your version of the Sweet Briar sisterhood look like? What was your academic experience like? What was your favorite spot on campus? How did you explore your own path at Sweet Briar?

Raise bees in our 20-hive apiary or create a ceramic masterpiece in our wood-fired kiln

Tour Overview

Take a photo at the book arch, Monument Hill, or the Boathouse Highlights

Eat a meal in Prothro Dining Hall

See the greenhouse, athletic fields, dorm rooms, and riding center

Meet friendly students, faculty and staff

Schedule a tour at sbc.edu/visit

approximately

3K steps

(Equivalent to 1.5 miles)

23 buildings highlighted

60 minutes

19 student ambassadors giving tours

Our student ambassadors come from 5 states, 3 countries outside the U.S. and represent 11 different majors.

More than

500 prospective students and guests (since July 1, 2023)

Sweet Briar’s Certificate Programs

Sweet Briar offers several certificate programs that allow graduates to have a “leg up” in the professions after college. These programs, developed and taught by Sweet Briar faculty, have led many students on to careers with practical experience well in hand.

Abigail McAllister ’24 (left) and Audrey Flattich ’26 in one of Sweet Briar's vineyard tracts. Audrey is earning her Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Certificate.

Arts Management Certificate

The College’s Arts Management Certificate debuted in the 1982–1983 academic year and was first administered by the late Bill Smart, who also directed the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts from 1975–1997. According to the College Catalog, the “purpose of the program is to give students practical experience in arts management within the framework of a liberal arts education.” At the time, two arts management practicum courses comprised the entire program.

Now, the Arts Management Certificate is taught and administered by Dr. Clare van Loenen, Sweet Briar’s Director of Galleries and Museums and Program Lead for Arts Management. The certificate has three art form pathways: performance, visual arts, and public history. “We set students up to gain expertise in one area, but also with transferable skills that will make them flexible candidates who can make things happen in various creative and cultural contexts.”

Students choose from a selection of courses for each pathway, but all students must also take foundational courses in Arts Management, Philosophy in the Arts, and Business Marketing— alongside an internship on or off campus. Recent placements include the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Lynchburg’s Academy Center of the Arts, and the Irish Archaeology Field School.

Alumnae who have earned the Arts Management Certificate have gone on to successful art careers, such as Poplar Forest educator, MET Gala events director, and public art commissioner. Many of our students also secure places in strong graduate programs, such as those at the Savannah College of Art and Design, UNC Chapel Hill, and Birkbeck College, London. However, first they get to test out their skills in the impressive arts programs here at Sweet Briar in our three galleries, performance spaces, and museum.

Arts Management Certificate Checklist

Requirements

DART 105 Introduction to Arts Management

PHIL 236 Philosophy of the Arts

DART 377 Internship

Choose 1 of the following courses below:

BUSN 150 Marketing

BUSN 205 Immersion in Management

BUSN 213 Social Media Marketing

Performance Pathway

DART 113 Technology for the Arts

MUSC 115 Daisy’s Harp

MUSC 139 Music in Global Context

DANC 234 Dance History

THTR 214 Performance Lab

Visual Arts Pathway

VART 115/116 History of Art: A Global Perspective I or II

VART 101 Intro. to the Vis Arts: Analysis and Practice

DART 113 Technology for the Arts

DART 123 Art, Science, & History Onstage: The Smithsonian

THTR 214 Performance Lab

ARAS 220  Cultural Heritage Management & Stewardship Abroad

ENCW 224 Literary Magazine Publishing

VART 332 Women and Art

Public History Pathway

DART 123 Art, Science, & History Onstage: The Smithsonian

DART 113 Technology for the Arts

HIST 214 Building the Past

ARAS 220 Cultural Heritage Management & Stewardship Abroad

HIST 220 Introduction to Public History

ENCW 224 Literary Magazine Publishing

HIST 346 Telling the Told: Oral History

Damarys Rodrigues ’24 talks with Dr. Clare van Loenen about the artworks she studied for her internship.

Equine Studies Certificates

Sweet Briar’s Equine Studies Certificates, offered with two concentrations, allow students to have practical experience that paves the way for a career in teaching and schooling or barn management. Implemented in the 2003–2004 academic year, these programs have continued to evolve as the demand in equine-related careers has also evolved.

While many student riders come to Sweet Briar with an interest in pursuing our certificate programs, several of them come to realize that the certificates can be a lot to work toward. Whether or not our students complete the certificates, the work to obtain them provides practical experience that is invaluable to their careers.

The barn management concentration provides education on not just how to manage horses on a day-to-day basis, but managing events, judging horse shows, and other areas of running an equine facility. Teaching and schooling is often the track taken by graduates who want to ride professionally or become trainers themselves. The teaching and schooling track also includes prerequisites each student must achieve in their skill levels as they advance through their education at Sweet Briar. Both concentrations require an internship, which allow students the opportunity to specialize in a specific area they may want to pursue after graduation.

“In today’s age, people do not normally have a job that is their singular career for their whole entire life,” says Mimi Wroten, director of riding. “There are times in people’s lives that they’re going to fall back on what they love and enjoy. I think this fits really well with that because it gives them more knowledge to work from and knowing what area they might be interested in when life gives them that opportunity.”

Alumnae who have earned the Equine Studies Certificates have gone on to have careers in barn management, competition management, professional riding and training, equine-focused business marketing, and riding instruction.

Equine Studies Certificate, Barn Management Concentration Checklist Requirements

BUSN 127 Accounting I: Financial Accounting

BUSN 150 Marketing

BUSN 205 Immersion in Management

ENVR 215 Environmental Policy

RDPR 169 Basic Horse Care

RDPR 207 Equine Activities Management Class

RDPR 218 Horse Care and Stable Management Practicum

RDPR 390 Farm and Stable Management

Choose one of the following courses:

RDPR 361 Special Study

RDPR 377 Internship

Equine Studies Certificate, Teaching and Schooling Concentration Checklist

Requirements

BUSN 127 Accounting I: Financial Accounting

BUSN 150 Marketing

BUSN 205 Immersion in Management

RDPR 169 Basic Horse Care

EDUC 103 Introduction to Teaching and Learning

RDPR 198 Introduction to Natural Horsemanship

RDPR 295 Teaching Techniques for Student Teachers

RDPR 297 Student Assistant Practicum

RDPR 392 Theory and Practice of Schooling Horses

RDPR 396 Contemporary Riding and Teaching

Choose one of the following:

RDPR 291 Introduction to Schooling Horses

Another 1-credit riding activity class at the 200-level or above

Choose one of the following:

BIOL 221 Principles of Animal Behavior

PSYC 101 Introductory Psychology

Director of Riding Mimi Wroten '93 teaches at the Harriet Howell Rogers Riding Center.

Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Certificate

Students in any major can earn the Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Certificate. Regardless of the career paths these graduates choose to take, they are equipped to contribute to a more sustainable and just food culture.

Kass Carpenter ’24, who is about to graduate with the certificate, says “I am working towards this certificate program because of my love of forestry and agriculture. I love to learn about the outdoors and how humans interact with it. Through this program I have had opportunities to learn about and grow my agriculture and leadership skills.”

The certificate program has three primary goals:

1 / To build student leadership capacity in agriculture, agribusiness, food systems, natural resources conservation, and land stewardship.

2 / To prepare students for careers in the above fields and to incorporate ways of thinking and priorities from these areas into their work in other fields.

3 / To provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities, both on-campus and in real-world settings, and through this, strengthen Sweet Briar’s on-campus food systems sustainability and Sweet Briar’s sustainability/agriculture relationships/ partnerships in our region.

In just the second year of the program, five Sweet Briar students in the Class of 2023 completed the certificate. Alumnae who graduate with this certificate may go on to have careers in farm, food, or beverage business management; climate-smart agriculture lobbying; greenhouse growing; agricultural communications or public relations; community or extension food systems education; and crop variety trials research, among many others.

Dr. Lisa Powell, STEM Division Head, Director of the Center for Human and Environmental Sustainability, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Agriculture, explains some of the outcomes of the program. “While some completing the program have gone into fields directly related to agriculture and natural resources—such as teaching agriculture and environmental science in a local high school, working on integrated pest management at a botanical garden, operating an ag and garden supply center, and pursuing graduate studies related to land use and climate change— the integrated systems thinking skills and hands-on experiences that students gain in the program can be applied to whatever they pursue after graduation.”

Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Certificate Checklist

Requirements

Take at least one course

ENVR 382

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

ENVR 385 Food and Environments in the U.S. South

Take at least one of the following Business courses

BUSN 112 Social and Sustainable Ventures

BUSN 347 Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Take at least one of the following Economics courses:

ECON 205 Economics of Wine

ECON 207 Economics of Poverty

ECON 342 Environmental Economics

Take at least one of the following courses:

ENVR 215 Environmental Policy

ENVR 356 Natural Resources Management

Take at least one of the following courses:

BIOL 214 The Plant Kingdom

BIOL 217 Entomology

BIOL 221 Principles of Animal Behavior

BUSN 205 Immersion in Management

BUSN 242 Negotiation

ENGR 335 Soil Mechanics

Required course

ENVR 201 Agricultural Operations (two semesters)

Agricultural Leadership Seminar

AGRI 421 Seminar: Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

On-Campus Learning Experience

Students must participate in at least one on-campus, structured experiential learning opportunity related to agriculture. Examples include: Honors Summer Research Program (with an agriculture-focused project)

• Research, directed study, or capstone course (with an agriculture-focused project) On-campus job (e.g. student agriculture and greenhouse assistants)

• Willits Summer Food Systems Fellows Program

Off-campus Learning Experience

Students must participate in at least one off-campus experiential learning opportunity, preferably in the Central Virginia region, such as an internship on a farm, internship with an agribusiness or food systems business, or an internship with a cooperative extension office. Experiences outside of the region may be considered; a student will need to submit a written petition.

Kass Carpenter ’24, who recently earned the Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Certificate, planting shrubs as part of her coursework.

SWEET BRIAR ’ S 14TH PRESIDENT

MARY POPE M. HUTSON

A SWEET BRIAR WOMAN LEADING HER ALMA MATER AND

theSecuringFuture

BY PHYLLIS WATT JORDAN ’ 80

PHOTOS BY ANNA KARIEL PHOTOGRAPHY

“MP”

MARY POPE HUTSON ARRIVES AT PROTHRO DINING HALL at lunch time and is immediately in her element. She talks to a freshman about a possible internship in conservation and to a senior about finding a job at a law firm. She chats with a table full of Aints ‘n’ Asses about their upcoming show—and bristles at the bells on a Bum Chum’s scarf, intended to scare QVs, like her. She puts her arm around the food services manager as they confer about whether to serve fish or beef for the next dinner party at Sweet Briar House.

Mary Pope met Sandra Day O’Connor when she was in Kenya serving in the American Embassy, U.S. Department of State.

Mary Pope during her assignment as the Guam Desk Officer, U.S. Department of the Interior.

As Sweet Briar’s first alumna president, Mary Pope, Class of 1983, brings to the job a keen sense of the task before her—not just from her four years as a student, but also as a leader in the fight to keep Sweet Briar open and in her eight years raising money and managing alumnae relations and development.

“We need to take the College from strength to strength, and we need to secure the future,” she says. “We’ve saved; we’ve stabilized. Now it’s time to lift our eyes to the horizon and challenge ourselves to ask, ‘How are we going to secure the future?’”

She’s speaking on a dreary February morning from her office on the second floor of Fletcher Hall. In the shelves behind her desk sit a painting of the Sweet Briar campus, a photograph of the campus bell tower with a rainbow behind it, and a bright pink hard hat. The whiteboard to her right outlines her three strategic working groups for the spring: Achieving greater visibility for Sweet Briar and its academic programs, especially its focus on women’s leadership; expanding enrollment pipelines; and diversifying its funding sources. The corner of the whiteboard proclaims “Carpe Diem,” seize the day.

This particular day takes her from staff meetings to lunch at Prothro, to a conversation about bond ratings, to a development team call, to a review of outgoing alumnae communications, to a meeting with a key local business leader, to a confab with engineering students, and finally to a dinner for National Engineers Week, drawing 175 students and business community members.

Mary Pope seems to become more energetic as the day wears on. “She’s always been that way,” says Sally Mott Freeman, Class of 1976, a Board of Directors member who

Mary Pope and other Land Trust Alliance leaders on Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill making tax incentives permanent for land conservation.

Work Experience

• Legislative Research Assistant for Domestic Policy, U.S. Senate, 1983–1985

• Office of Territorial and International Affairs, Department of the Interior, U.S. Virgin Islands, 1985–1986

• Guam Desk Officer, Office of Territorial and International Affairs, Department of the Interior, 1986–1987

• Staff Assistant, Office of the Assistant Secretary, Territorial and International Affairs, Department of the Interior, 1987–1989

Special Assistant to the Ambassador, American Embassy in Kenya, U.S. Department of State, 1990–1992

Acting Director of Development, Historic Charleston Foundation, 1994–1995

• Director of Tours and Educational Programs, Historic Charleston Foundation, 1993–1998

• Executive Director, Low Country Open Land Trust, 1997–2002

• Executive Vice President, Land Trust Alliance, 2002–2015

• Senior Vice President for Alumnae Relations and Development, 2016–2023 (also led Communications and Admissions Offices in 2019 and 2023, respectively)

• Interim President, Sweet Briar College, June 2023–November 2023

• President, Sweet Briar College, November 2023–present

Volunteer Positions and Appointments

Marine Advisory Committee SCDNR, Chairwoman, 1995–1999

• Marine Recreational Fisheries SCDNR, Advisory Board Member, 1995–1999

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Board Member, 1995–1999 (appointed by S.C. Governor David Beasley)

National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of South Carolina, Board Member, 1999–2002

• Advisory Team, Department of the Interior, Bush-Cheney Transition Team, 2000–2001

• North American Wetlands Council, 2003 to 2016 (appointed by three Secretaries of Interior)

• Friends of Athletics Steering Committee, Sweet Briar College, 2005–2012

• Sweet Briar College, Board of Directors, July 2, 2015–December 2015

• National Park System Advisory Board, U.S. Department of the Interior, Chairwoman, 2018–2023

• Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Board Member, May 2023–present

• Board of Historic Resources, Commonwealth of Virginia, appointee by Governor Glenn Youngkin, July 1, 2023–present

Mary Pope also enjoys photography, and shot this lilac breasted roller in Kenya in 2011.

A photo of black rhinos taken by Mary Pope while in Kenya in 2011.

worked closely with her during the Saving Sweet Briar campaign. “She really draws energy from being around other people. And this is for her a highlight of her career. She’s going to spend every minute making the most of it.”

Mary Pope’s path to the president’s office started decades ago on a private school campus where her father served as headmaster. She was one of two girls living there. “I think that while I was growing up on a boy’s boarding school campus, I was reminded each and every day that women have a voice and that we need to use it to calibrate the expectations that men have they can do things better than we can, that they have more information on any given subject.”

Her father instilled in her the value of education and a loyalty to institutions. After all, he worked for both of his alma maters: Christ School in North Carolina and Sewanee, the University of South, in Tennessee. Mary Pope’s time on these sprawling campuses imbued her with a love of nature. She spent her childhood exploring caves, fishing, building rafts, and playing sports.

Sweet Briar, with its beautiful campus and strong academic culture, was a natural fit for a young Mary Pope Hutson. “Right away the traditions captivated me,” she recalls. “I remember to this day how exciting the first step singing was. And the walk up to Monument Hill. Tradition is embedded in the culture of Sweet Briar.”

Mary Pope joined the tennis team freshman year and quickly bonded with the other players. “I also became the dance instructor on my hall, because I had friends from the Northeast, and they didn’t know how to shag.” In the years that followed, she was tapped to be a QV, an Earphone, and a member of Aints ‘n’ Asses. She served on the Social Committee, Varsity Sports Council and was a DJ on the campus radio station, WUDZ.

One of her tennis teammates, Jane Dure, remembers Mary Pope possessing a fierce competitive streak on the court and an innate ability to get things done. When Dure broke her glasses right before a four-day trip to a regional tournament in Kentucky, Mary Pope drove her into Lynchburg to a shop that promised new glasses in one hour. Except the only pair that fit was adorned with Superman insignias. Mary Pope persuaded her to buy them. “You can’t see; we need you in Kentucky,” Dure recalls her saying. “She’s still like that: Here’s a problem, we’re going to fix it.”

Mary Pope came to college intent on becoming a marine biologist, “but I hit the chemistry wall,” she says. “It was that and the calculus class that were hurdles for me. I’m glad I made it through them, but let’s just say it encouraged me to find my strong suit and my other interests.” That turned out to be government and international relations, which she explored with professors Ken Grimm, Milan Hapala, and Tom Gilpatrick. She pursued internships on Capitol Hill, the International Trade Commission, and other institutions.

Mary Pope with her brother, Elliot, and mother, Harriet.

Her first job out of college was as a legislative aide to a U.S. senator. After two years, she moved to a position in the U.S. Department of Interior, initially stationed in the Virgin Islands before returning to Washington, D.C., to serve on the Guam desk. Her work included coordinating disaster relief in the U.S. territories and advising on aviation and drug policy. She then became an assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Nairobi, Kenya, where she managed activities among 10 U.S. agencies and various Kenyan constituencies. She also spent time on weekends exploring Africa on safari and became interested in land conservation.

“Never take anything for granted. And you have got to keep your stakeholders engaged whatever you do. Think about the fundamentals of a successful movement.”

When she returned to the states, she switched gears: moving to Charleston, South Carolina, where she lived in her early childhood and where her family dates back 13 generations. She spent five years leading the heritage education program for the Historic Charleston Foundation, which focuses on preserving the city’s architecture, culture, and history. She spent the next five years as executive director of the Lowcountry Open Land Trust, working with landowners, communities, government agencies, and nonprofit groups to conserve land along the coast.

During that time, she became the first woman appointed to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources of the Wildlife Commission setting land, water, and wildlife policies for the state. At her first meeting, one of the older members called her “honey.”

“Everything came to a complete halt; there was a dead silence in the room,” she recalls. After a moment, she turned to him and said, “My friends call me Mary Pope.” That was the last time anyone on the board called her anything but her name.

Her work in South Carolina led her to the Land Trust Alliance and back to Washington. She was a principal who advanced the organization’s first-ever capital campaign, raising $41 million. And she led its policy program and the effort to persuade Congress to make permanent the land conservative easement tax. Every year, she traveled the country, giving speeches to land trust organizations about the importance of maintaining the pace, quality and permanence of conservation.

On one of those trips in March 2015, her phone started buzzing with texts and emails: The Board of Directors had just announced Sweet Briar was closing. “I had a profound sense of grief, that feeling of a cannonball shot through your chest, and you think this absolutely can’t be,” she recalls.

She folded up her standard speech. “I just found out that my college is closing,” she told the audience in Sacramento, “so I think what I really want to pivot and talk to you about today is this: Never take anything for granted. And you have got to keep your stakeholders engaged whatever you do. Think about the fundamentals of a successful movement.”

On a layover in Phoenix that night, she met with a vacationing Sally Mott Freeman, and together, they sketched out fundraising ideas on cocktail napkins at a Tex-Mex restaurant. Within days, Mary Pope was fully engaged in

Mary Pope and her father, Henry, sailing near Charleston.

The Hutson family in the fall on the campus of Sewanee.

Mary Pope’s brother, Elliot, visited her while she was on assignment as Assistant to the Ambassador in Kenya.

the wide-ranging grassroots movement that sprang up literally overnight to save Sweet Briar, serving as the head of the Major Donor Task Force (MDTF). In less than six months, the MDTF and other alumnae-led fundraising efforts raised $21.5 million. Every Monday from 6 to 7 p.m., she would lead a conference call to explore possible opportunities from major donors. The alumnae didn’t have the benefit of the College’s official donor lists, so they tapped students to visit the campus library and copy names from past publications. They also developed pledge forms to assure donors their gifts would go to save the college, not to close it. Mary Pope hasn’t forgotten those fraught times: The ringtone on her cell phone is still Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song,” the unofficial anthem of the Saving Sweet Briar campaign.

In the aftermath, she was appointed to the reconstituted Board of Directors and became chair of its advancement committee. At one point, she took President Phil Stone aside and told him he needed a permanent vice president of alumnae relations and development. When he said he wanted her to take the job, she initially declined.

“Oh no! I’m not coming,” she recalls telling him. “I have a life and a great job in Washington. I love what I’m doing in conservation around the country.”

“You can come and conserve your college,” he told her.

With that, she applied for the job and after a series of interviews became his vice president. She worked with Stone and with the next president, Meredith Woo, to stabilize the campus through two interlocking goals: engaging alumnae and raising money. Each new initiative brought with it the need for more resources. Alumnae funding for the College’s Presidential Scholars program brought in more students. A refurbished riding center, tennis courts, and a turf field helped draw student athletes. The women’s leadership core curriculum, a series of 10 courses that students take throughout their time at Sweet Briar, needed funding for guest speakers and other priorities. Investments in an apiary and 26,000-square-foot greenhouse re-envisioned the College’s agricultural legacy while providing new academic opportunities for students interested in sustainable farming and conservation. Since 2015, Sweet Briar has raised more than $140 million.

“Her level of energy, her commitment, her drive is pretty much unparalleled,” says Sarah Clement, who worked closely with Mary Pope both during the Saving Sweet Briar movement and later as a co-chair of the newly formed Alumnae Alliance.

When Woo announced in December 2022 that she was retiring, Mary Pope decided it was time to return to Charleston. However, when the Board asked her, she put those plans on hold and became interim president when Woo left the College earlier than expected. Still, Mary Pope resisted suggestions to apply for the position permanently until she heard from Phil Stone last August. “You need to do this,” she recalls him saying. “All the work that went

Mary Pope with Saving Sweet Briar volunteers celebrating victory in 2015.

Mary Pope with former president Phil Stone, at Founders’ Day in 2020.

Former president Meredith Woo, Bee Newman Thayer ’61, and Mary Pope at the groundbreaking for the turf field in 2022.

Mary Pope and friends in the 1983 edition of The Briar Patch

Mary Pope at step singing in her sophomore year at Sweet Briar.

into saving this place, you need to take it forward, realize the campaign, make it happen, implement the vision of women’s leadership.”

“It’s very hard to say no to Phil Stone,” she adds.

She entered the search and was one of 25 candidates interviewed for the job. After five interviews, she learned in late November that she would become Sweet Briar’s 14th president. She acknowledges she is a nontraditional choice, given her lack of an academic background. But she’s fond of a quote from a recent Wall Street Journal article describing the modern-day college president’s role: “professional fundraiser and public relations executive combined with the mayor of a city.”

Fundraising remains a key part of her job. After her lunch in Prothro that February day she heads back to her office for a conference call with the development team working to secure early commitments for the College’s upcoming capital campaign, Where Women Lead.

Given her background in historic preservation and land conservation, Mary Pope is keenly focused on the College’s built and natural environment. The core campus, designed by renowned architect Ralph Adams Cram, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The College has done an assessment using drone photography that revealed all the cracks and problems in these historic buildings. It’s now planning a cultural landscape study of the campus to determine what views and open spaces to preserve. Mary Pope is working with the staff and Board to explore plans to convert the campus to geothermal energy with units underground, connecting those already supporting Sweet Briar House and the Fitness and Athletic Center (FAC). That would not only replace the outdated electrical system but also preserve the look of the historic quad. “We should be

Mary Pope and Claire Dennison Griffith ’80 (left) with Olan Mills and Norma Mills (center) at the dedication of Mills Chapel in 2021.

honoring this landscape by not cluttering it with a bunch of condensers on the roofs,” she says. That energy project is an expensive proposition, one for which she is already working with state and local officials to secure grant money.

Ultimately, she would love to create a preservation center on Cram’s architecture, which would offer courses over the summer on how to maintain historic buildings, with skills such as brick repointing and preservation carpentry and masonry. She sees that as an opportunity not just for students, but as workforce development for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Amherst County, and community members who want to learn these skills. After all, Virginia has more historic fabric than any state in the country.

The afternoon fundraising call is followed by a meeting with staff to review an email going out to all alumnae in the days ahead and a video script for March Days of Giving. Next, Mary Pope heads to her new home at Sweet Briar House to prepare for the arrival of a local businesswoman, Kathy Williams, chief executive officer of Framatome North America and the speaker at that evening’s annual National Engineers Week Banquet. The event, co-sponsored with the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance, includes students from three colleges and business leaders from several central Virginia firms.

Mary Pope leads the procession along with former president, Meredith Woo, during Founders’ Day in 2023.

Mary Pope with Carol McMurtry Fowler ’57 at the 2022 Reunion.

“Her level of energy, her commitment,

her drive

is pretty much unparalleled.”

—SARAH

CLEMENT �75

Before the dinner begins, Mary Pope takes her guest speaker to meet with some of Sweet Briar’s engineering students, where they discuss their capstone projects. The group moves across the street for cocktail hour in the campus Fitness and Athletic Center, where Mary Pope chats with students from Sweet Briar and VMI, as well as guests from the Lynchburg area.

Increasingly, her role as Sweet Briar’s president extends beyond the campus to engage the greater community. She is conferring with the new Monacan Indian chief, a woman, about how to acknowledge the tribe’s history on the land and coordinating with the Fletcher family, whose ancestors were once enslaved on the farm. She is looking for opportunities to bring the neighbors onto campus; already about 70 guests turn up every Tuesday and Thursday evening for pickleball in the athletic center. She’d like to see an Audubon bird count and a trail running from campus into Amherst. “This has

been a major priority for me, to make sure we know our community, that we celebrate them,” she says. We are not the college that is the city on the hill. We are the college with open arms.”

A strong relationship with Sweet Briar, and with its new president, is important to the business community, says Megan A. Lucas, chief executive officer and chief economic development officer of the regional business alliance. She markets the central Virginia region as a center of excellence for higher education and mentions Sweet Briar and its ABET-accredited engineering program as a selling point for attracting new businesses. “Companies are looking to hire more female engineers,” she says.

She’s worked with Mary Pope several times and finds the new president not only approachable and genuine, but also fully aware of the job before her. “She’s the CEO of a company, she’s the mayor of a city, she’s the general of a military,” Lucas said.

Ultimately, Mary Pope says her most important role is to make Sweet Briar a preeminent liberal arts college in America and to steward, preserve, and advance the college that helped shape her. “Sweet Briar has given so much to me, and I’m honored to give back.”

Through His Lens: Medford Taylor’s Life and Photography

BY CLÉLIE STECKEL

Medford Taylor, Adjunct Instructor of Visual Arts: Studio Art in Photography has been teaching at Sweet Briar College since 2016. One of his former students, Cece Mahan ’19, who is now an advocate attorney at the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, shared her

reflections on Medford. “He gave us the expertise and knowledge of someone who has perfected their craft with years of dedication and hard work, but, more importantly, he had the excitement and curiosity of someone who just wants to see, do, and share.”

Throughout his life and career, that is exactly what Medford has done. He has seen many areas of the world, he has explored, and he has shared his love of photography with his students, the entire Sweet Briar community, and readers all over.

Medford’s sense of curiosity is omnipresent, no matter whether he is on assignment for a publication or exploring something for himself. He has covered a host of subjects: Monarch butterflies in Mexico; mass baptisms on the James River in Virginia; poverty in Bangladesh; the dog fence, shepherds, and cattle stations of the Australian Outback; poor conditions in a mental hospital in Petersburg, Va.; the Catholic heritage of Madeira, Portugal … the list goes on.

But it all started with the United States Navy.

With the caveat that “I’m still growing up—it’s a work in progress,” Medford says he always knew two things in his youth: “I would go to college. I never questioned that. The other is that I would go out to sea. I would be on a ship and see the world out there. And I did ’em both.”

Medford had aspirations of becoming a physician, and he graduated from High Point University in 1961 with a BS in biology, pre-med. After graduating, Medford went to Navy Officers Candidate School and served for three years, all the while reading medical journals.

After his service, Medford intended to continue pursuing his medical career, but he hadn’t taken organic chemistry while earning his undergraduate degree. So, he enrolled in an organic chemistry course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On the first day of class, in an amphitheater-style classroom, the professor skipped his introduction and headed straight to the blackboard, writing structural formulas. Everyone in the classroom, except Medford, was furiously taking notes. Medford, watching the scene before him, mentally uttered one of his trademark phrases: “Holy mackerel!”

He left the classroom and headed immediately to Wilson Library, where he checked out all of the books he could find on photography and photojournalism. “This was something that had been building in the back of my little mind,” says Medford.

While poring over his cache of library books, Medford learned that most of the photographers he was reading about had some kind of military combat experience and had photographed wars. One such book was Margaret BourkeWhite’s Portrait of Myself, published in 1963.

Bourke-White was the first American female photojournalist and the first photographer allowed to enter the Soviet Union. “So I started right off studying about women and how women get involved, which ultimately led to teaching at a women’s college,” says Medford.

After three days of research into photography and photojournalism, Medford knew he had to go back into the Navy to get some additional experience. “So I got on

→ A young bull rider Medford shot for a 1992 National Geographic article on The Simpson Outback in Australia, which covered the cattle stations there and the people who run them. This image was planned to be the cover of that issue, but unfortunately, world events at the time took over, and this photo was not included after all.

← Medford with his beloved cat, Luke, short for “Cool Hand Luke.” Photo by Karen Bell.

the horn and called the Pentagon and said, ‘I think I’d like to come back in.’” The Pentagon agreed they’d like to have Medford back in the Navy, and he asked to go to Vietnam and get command of a swift boat or a riverboat. Unfortunately for Medford, those commissions are typically reserved for U.S. Naval Academy graduates. Instead, Medford’s assignment was liaison officer for the US Military Sea Transport Service in Chu Lai and other ports.

“All of these cargo ships would come in, sometimes 20 at a time at anchor in the port. They’re bringing cargo and all kinds of stuff from all over into the war zone,” he remembers. “I had a chief petty officer and a yeoman, and the chief would take me out in our own motor launch. We’d go out to the ship, and I’d go aboard and meet the captain and take care of whatever needs they had. They had all kinds of problems and one ship arrived with a deceased crewman in the refrigerated cargo hold.”

Medford was all over Vietnam—Saigon, Chu Lai, Da Nang, Nha Trang. While on base, he headed to the Navy Exchange, where Navy personnel can shop. “I was just looking around for anything for diversion, and I found a popular photography magazine. It was probably three or four months old, but it didn’t matter—I’d never seen it.”

The cover story was about the Missouri Photo Workshop.

The Missouri Photo Workshop, started in 1949 by Cliff Edom, is a week-long workshop that, at the time, featured staff from National Geographic, Black Star in New York (a photo agency), and other renowned photojournalists. “I read that story and I said, ‘Damn! That’s it. That’s my ticket,’” Medford recalls. Knowing that he didn’t have the experience for the workshop, Medford still wrote a letter to apply to the program. He was accepted.

With about a month left before he was supposed to come home to the United States, Medford was due for R&R. He chose to spend it in Hong Kong for a week, where he bought everything that Nikon made at the time, and more. “I didn’t even know what to do with most of it, and I didn’t care. I just bought it all and came back.”

And so Medford came home.

“I’ll never forget the day I flew out of Saigon,” Medford recalls. “That was something to leave that place after one year, just hoping you’re going to make it out, get out of there alive.”

Medford had one year of duty left, which he spent as the public affairs officer at the Fifth Naval District Headquarters in Norfolk, Va. As soon as he arrived in Norfolk, he asked for one week of leave to go to the Missouri Photo Workshop. The location of the workshop changes each year, but is always in rural Missouri. Participants are tasked with developing their own concept for a photo project. At night, they gather with faculty, going out for beers and getting to know each other better. Medford met Stan Wayman from LIFE magazine, Bill Garrett from National Geographic, Howard Chapnick of Black Star and fellow student, David Alan Harvey, who became a lifelong friend.

Most of the workshop faculty became friends and associates throughout his career as a photojournalist, but more importantly, the workshop affirmed his intentions.

“I left that week in Missouri knowing without a doubt that this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I was hooked. I was locked in. That was it. Boom, decision made.”

The next year, Medford asked to leave the Navy a little early in order to go back to school. He enrolled at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in the Master’s program in photojournalism. Toward the end of 1967 and the beginning of 1968, most of the students in the program left just before graduating, “mostly because the country and the world were coming unglued out there.”

The year 1968 was a tumultuous time in United States history. Antiwar sentiment was growing around the country while President Lyndon B. Johnson was increasing the number of troops going to Vietnam as the war escalated. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April, followed by riots around the nation. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in June. The women’s liberation movement was gaining traction. The Cold War and the Space Race were in full swing.

↖ A photo of Medford from his time serving in Nha Trang, Vietnam in 1966.

↘ A photo Medford took while he was in Mexico.

However, it was the Poor People’s Campaign that attracted Medford’s attention. This campaign was an effort organized by The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was led by Ralph Abernathy after King’s assassination. The campaign advocated for economic and human rights for disadvantaged Americans from all backgrounds in an effort to alleviate poverty without violence.

Medford met up with John Beard, a classmate from Missouri who had also left the Master’s program. The two headed to Marks, Miss., where the Poor People’s March on Washington started its mule train. It left Marks on May 13, leading covered wagons with messages on their white canvases. Medford and John followed the train by car, taking turns riding on the wagons with the drivers and photographing the marchers. Medford also carried a tape recorder to document interviews. Each night, the mule train would circle the wagons, camping in a field or other remote areas, while Medford and John would find a motel. John set up each motel bathroom as a temporary dark room, processing the film that he and Medford had photographed that day. While John processed, Medford was on the phone, talking to magazines and news organizations like the Associated Press and United Press International to get their photos published.

“I probably wouldn’t have the nerve to do all that today, but back then, I didn’t know any better. You’re innocent when you’re young.” says Medford. But it worked.

Medford earned a “double truck” (a photo spanning two pages in a magazine) in Newsweek, photos in Time

← After Medford attended the Missouri Photo Workshop, and before he had left the Navy, he and his brother went to a Louis Armstrong concert in Norfolk. “I was shooting every chance I could get,” says Medford. At the set break, Medford approached the stage manager and asked him if he could photograph Mr. Armstrong. The stage manager checked with the legend in the dressing room, who welcomed Medford and his brother back.

Describing this photograph, Medford says, “I had just told Mr. Armstrong I was going to leave—I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. I said, ‘Mr. Armstrong, thank you so much. I really, really appreciate you being so kind.’ He looked at me, and he said, ‘Daddy, it goes with the horn.’ And he picked up that horn and he started playing, and that’s when I shot him.”

Magazine, and one of his photos made the front page of The Washington Post on May 18, 1968.

By this time, Medford was building quite a portfolio of images, and he started looking for a job with a newspaper. He met with Don Sturkey, director of photography at The Charlotte Observer, who didn’t have any positions available, but promised to keep Medford in mind. The meeting paid off when Don contacted Medford to let him know that The Houston Chronicle was waiting for his call. Medford worked the night shift, capturing images of events in the Astrodome, sports, rodeos, and of course, crime. The Houston Chronicle also had a large society section at the time, so Medford covered galas and costume parties and the like. While it was a good introduction to working for a newspaper and gave him great experience, it was not what he had set out to do.

After a stint at a small daily paper in Georgia, Medford landed a job with The Virginian-Pilot, where he won the Slover Award in 1971 for excellence in photography. For three years, Medford covered the news in Norfolk while also shooting for his own enjoyment.

Medford wanted to begin shooting in color, and he wanted to do it in Washington, D.C., so that’s where he headed. On his way to Washington, he stopped in to see his friend David Alan Harvey in Richmond, where they went out for a meal with other photographers from The Richmond Times-Dispatch. One of them mentioned that an ad agency in Richmond was looking for a photographer. Medford reached out to the agency, whose main client

A

→

photo Medford captured of Queen Elizabeth II when she spoke in Charlottesville in 1976 in honor of the United States’ 200th Anniversary.

was the Christian Children’s Fund. He got the job and for the next three years, traveled to more than 25 countries around the world, capturing still photography and 16 mm film for the agency. After this stint in Richmond with the agency he finally moved to Washington, D.C. and began freelancing for magazines including Time, Newsweek, GEO, Smithsonian and Air & Space magazine. In 1984, an assignment from National Geographic Traveler Magazine on Cooperstown, N.Y. lead to more assignments from National Geographic Society publications, like NG Traveler, NG Books and National Geographic Magazine for the next thirteen years. There was a stock photography agency within National Geographic, and the sale of Medford’s images from the National Geographic Image Collection and Black Star Publishing in New York provided income after he left Washington and moved back to Richmond,

↗ A 1990 photo of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the conservationist, suffragist, and journalist who championed the Florida Everglades.

Douglas published a book called The Everglades: River of Grass, (1947) and founded Friends of the Everglades in 1969, both of which were pivotal to restoring the Everglades and establishing Everglades National Park.

Medford and a writer from National Geographic visited with Douglas for a story when she was 99 years old. The writer asked Douglas to what she could attribute her long life. It was about five o’clock, and Douglas responded, “Well, about this time of day, I usually have myself a little toddy, and if you’ll get that bottle of Scotch over there, we’ll have one right now.” Douglas lived to be 108.

allowing Medford to continue his work on personal projects.

These projects included Monarch butterflies in Mexico, shooting the Great Blue Herons and Ospreys during the annual “fish run” at the falls of the James River in Richmond, and a book project. Saltwater Cowboys: A Photographic Essay of Chincoteague Island was published in 2002, and explores the annual pony penning at Chincoteague, as well as the people and wildlife of the island.

Four forces were at work that eventually brought Medford to Sweet Briar College. First, he met Suny and Joe Monk through his friend Brent Cavedo while Suny was the head of school at Aylett Country Day School, and he got to know the couple well. At the time, they had a second home in Amherst County, not far from Sweet Briar, where Joe was an adjunct professor in art. Medford would visit Joe and Suny when he had the chance, both in Richmond and in Amherst.

Then, around 2005, Medford saw a television program about Monarch butterflies, in which Lincoln Brower, professor emeritus at Sweet Briar, spoke on the dangers facing Monarchs and the importance of their annual migration from Mexico. Medford was fascinated by the story of Monarchs, and he contacted Sweet Briar to get in touch with Lincoln. After making a phone call, Medford was invited to Lincoln and Linda Fink’s home in Nelson County, Va. Medford then traveled to Mexico and shot Monarchs until Lincoln arrived for his research.

In 2009, Medford came to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, across the highway from Sweet Briar, for a fellowship. Shortly after, the College hosted an exhibition of

↑ One of Medford’s shots of one of the Blue Angels, along with a photo of Medford as he boarded the plane. Recalling the photo shoot, Medford says, “It was the best ride of my life!”

Medford’s works, entitled “Silent Journey: A Photographer and Millions of Butterflies Travel to the Heart of Mexico.”

In 2015, Medford watched Sweet Briar’s history unfold. “I watched the video of Mayor Teresa Tomlinson’s commencement address at Sweet Briar and I was hooked,” he recalls. Once Sweet Briar was saved, Laura Pharis, professor of studio art, asked Medford whether he would consider teaching digital photography here. He didn’t hesitate. Eight years later, he’s expanded his course offerings to teach a beginner and advanced digital photography class as well as a course on smartphone photography, which was adapted for the Sweet Briar Summer: Arts & Writing Retreat (see page 14).

As alumnae and friends of Sweet Briar well know, this campus is infinitely photogenic. Medford has inspired his students to capture our landscape, buildings, native and non-native species, and the people who make up the Sweet Briar community. In each of his courses, he assigns his students a project to create their own self-published photo books to show off their work in a product that is a source of pride. Kate Kotany ’23, now enrolled in the Applied Environmental Geosciences masters program at Tübingen University in Germany, recalls, “Medford loves taking his students outside of the classroom and showing them what the close surroundings have to offer, such as the baby geese or toad migration during the spring, the changing colors or mushrooms during the fall, or the wildflower field and butterfly bushes with the Monarchs and wide variety of other insects during the end of summer. He is a really wonderful professor, and I will always remember his constant encouragement to go outside and explore new things with the camera.”

Medford Taylor is someone who has never stopped working and probably never will. In addition to teaching and shooting on his own, he’s working on a few more photo books. He plans to return to a few of the places he’s previously photographed, including Mexico to photograph more Monarchs. Retirement will just have to wait.

→ Medford not only teaches students how to explore Sweet Briar's campus with a camera; he provides an example for them, too. Check out Medford's campus photos on his Instagram: @medfordtaylor

↗ Medford shot a story about baptisms in the James River that appeared in The Virginian-Pilot.

↑ A shot of sand dunes and poached egg daisies (Polycalymma stuartii) in the Australian outback, taken by Medford.

TWENTY YEARS OF SWEET BRIAR ENGINEER

BY Clélie Steckel

Illustrations by Jeannie Phan

WHEN MARGARET “PEGGY” JONES WYLLIE ’45 ENTERED SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE AS A FIRST YEAR IN 1941, THERE WAS NO ENGINEERING PROGRAM AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS.

Engineering programs rarely admitted women, and there weren’t any such programs at any women’s colleges at the time. Peggy, who wanted to become an engineer like her father was, graduated from Sweet Briar with a degree in chemistry and went on to Johns Hopkins University to earn her Master’s degree, where she met her husband, Jesse, in the lab across the hall from hers.

ING

Sweet Briar’s engineering program began in 2004. In 2020, at the age of 86, Peggy and Jesse decided to help create a pathway to a future for young women at Sweet Briar that she could not earn for herself. Together, they made a transformational gift of $3 million to endow Sweet Briar’s engineering program, and the first named academic program at Sweet Briar was born.

In the past five years, the size of Sweet Briar’s engineering program has doubled. Jon Bender, director of the program and professor of engineering, says, “I think that being one of only two full-fledged engineering programs in the U.S. at a women’s college helps a lot.” However, Jon attributes the recent growth to more than that key point— the number of undergraduates in engineering nationwide increased at a rate of 5 percent for five years. Sweet Briar is paving the way in this area, too, with the highest percentage of engineering science majors at any liberal arts college. “It really goes to show how that initial gift from the Wyllies really did help provide the cornerstone for the program’s continual operation and growth.”

Sweet Briar’s engineering program, centered around an engineering science major, is multidisciplinary, with students able to explore mechanical, civil, electrical, and chemical engineering through their coursework and capstone projects. As director of the

program, Jon is more than a faculty member—he’s also its chief recruiter.

Jon’s eyes are keenly focused on the future of the program, how it can best support our students, and grow.

“My vision is to make Sweet Briar the preeminent engineering program in the nation for women—period.”

The engineering programs current faculty have skillsets and experience that match the multidisciplinary nature of the program. Jon’s background is in chemical engineering; he worked in research and development for more than 20 years at Afton Chemical Corporation. T.C. Scott, professor of practice, spent 35 years as undergraduate laboratory director in the University of Virginia’s mechanical engineering department. He currently serves as a consultant for the Advanced Powertrain Thermal and Vehicle Scientific Labs at Chrysler, in addition to teaching at Sweet Briar. Michelle Gervasio and Bryan Kuhr, both assistant professors of engineering, have backgrounds in materials science and engineering.

Md Golam Rosul, also an assistant professor of engineering, earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia.

Lem Curran is a mechanical technician who works in the engineering department, who has worked as a mechanical engineer and taught at Altavista High School.

“We’re able to provide broad instruction in engineering as a whole,”

says Jon. “We’re all engineers, which is not true for a lot of engineering programs at liberal arts colleges.” Many liberal arts colleges had physics programs, which decreased in popularity over time. Some of those programs then evolved into engineering science programs taught by physicists who did not have practical engineering experience. “We’re all engineers. We do engineering here,” says Jon.

In addition to being an engineer and teaching engineering, Lem also earned his MBA. His experience in marketing led the engineering department to perform analysis on some of the components of our program. Specifically, Lem researched what Sweet Briar students think are some advantages of our program. There were four distinguishing characteristics of Sweet Briar’s program that our students communicated distinguish the program from the rest.

When alumnae and friends of Sweet Briar see this list of characteristics of our engineering program, something stands out: these characteristics aren’t confined to the engineering program—these are characteristics of the Sweet Briar experience as a whole.

As chief recruiter for engineering, Jon is using these points during the recruiting process. These talking points are critical when speaking with prospective students during campus visits, promoting the program through events like Explore Engineering, and in communicating with future Sweet Briar women in collaboration with the Admissions Office.

As with any program, one of the key indicators of success and consequently, one of the biggest draws to the program are Sweet Briar student outcomes in engineering. The list of graduate programs that alumnae have recently been accepted to and attended is an impressive one.

While many students go on to graduate school, more often, they go directly into the workforce. “Our students are in demand,” says Jon.

DISTINGUISHING PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS

1 // Sweet Briar students are able to have a voice in the classroom. They are unafraid to speak up in class and advocate for themselves. Their opinion matters.

2 // They are confident to grow. Our faculty are focused on undergraduate education instead of writing research grant proposals to fund graduate students.

3 // They feel encouraged by others. The small class sizes make it easier to get to know each other and to be mutually supportive. “Engineering is a team sport,” says Jon. Most students benefit from working with each other.

4 // They feel they contribute to our campus community. Their impact on Sweet Briar goes beyond their coursework.

By the end of the Society of Women Engineers conference that Jon and several students attended earlier this academic year in Los Angeles, half of Jon’s capstone students had job offers. Placements for recent alumnae include Whirlpool, Cummins, Dominion Energy, NASA, NAVAIR, Boeing, Amtrak,

the United States Navy and the United States Army, Johns Hopkins University, BWXT, IBM, NovaTech, Babcock and Wilcox, Northup Grumman, and many others.

Sweet Briar’s engineering program is enhanced by partnerships with companies close to campus, including those who participate in

BLADESMITHING STUDENTS FORGE AHEAD

When Dr. Michelle Gervasio and two of her students arrived in Orlando for an international metals and materials conference, they had something special in their luggage: a Roman Pompeii Gladius sword. The students had made it themselves and were Sweet Briar College’s first participants in the annual TMS Bladesmithing Competition.

Maddy Paige, Nathalie Schelin, and Samantha Champion (who could not attend the competition) were students in Dr. Gervasio’s Practical

Metallurgy class in spring 2023 and took on the additional challenge of taking what they had learned to craft a sword worthy of the competition, that included many R1 research universities and longtime bladesmithing competitors.

Dr. Gervasio says, “The elective combined the academic aspects of what happens to metals as they are heated and cooled with the hands-on experience of actually using a forge. So students who wanted to geek out with me over the science could do so, while students who really wanted to beat hot metal with a hammer got the chance to do that.”

A small group of students enjoyed the class so much that they took on the challenge of forging a sword for the competition.

“Most academic conferences have a student design competition,” says

the annual National Engineering Week Banquet held at the College each year. In 2024, Katherine Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Framatome North America, was the keynote speaker. Each year, the Engineering Week Banquet brings together industry professionals, business owners, high school and college students from other campuses, and educators from the Lynchburg region for an evening of learning and networking.

The Engineering Week Banquet ties into the engineering major as well. For example, one course, Engineering Design in the Community, which is a prelude to the capstone project, gives students the opportunity to develop a project for a nearby company to help them solve a problem in a new and innovative way. Engineering faculty also offer

SWEET BRIAR IS PAVING THE WAY ... WITH THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF ENGINEERING SCIENCE MAJORS AT ANY LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE.

Dr. Gervasio. “For the bladesmithing competition, students were judged on aesthetics, historical accuracy, resourcefulness, and a technical report. The majority of the evaluation is of the technical report, doing good metallurgy, understanding all of the underlying principles and processes that are going on.”

Determining how to get from a blank, rectangular piece of steel to the finished product was challenging. Should they start with the tip or the tang? How do they craft the bevel? Dr. Gervasio offered advice and maintained safety, but left her students to work through the challenges themselves and to learn from their mistakes. This approach reflects the advice Dr. Gervasio gives her engineering students as they prepare to work in a male-dominated industry. “I tell my students they just have

lunch and learns, often with industry representatives, so students have the opportunity to engage directly with engineers and learn more about what they do. Students aren’t just learning about engineering at Sweet Briar, they’re doing engineering here.

The future for Sweet Briar’s engineering program and its students is bright. The faculty provide a solid foundation for our students’ education. Community partnerships enhance the program, giving students the opportunity to learn outside the classroom as well as in the lab. Our students’ outcomes speak for themselves and further expand Sweet Briar’s inimitable alumnae network. And with capital improvements to Guion Science Center on the horizon thanks to the Where Women Lead campaign, the trajectory points in only one direction: up.

to get out there and try. Just go out and try, make mistakes, struggle productively, and get better. It will be hard, and you won’t get everything right but as long as you are learning from the experience it’s worthwhile.”

The bladesmithing competition was certainly worthwhile. Though they did not win (and never expected to), these students took the challenge head on, learned new skills, practiced perseverance, represented themselves professionally, experienced an international industry conference, and they got the thrill of beating hot metal with a hammer.

See the sword in the news article on our website:

Engineering and Engineering Technology

Dartmouth College

Computer Engineering

Johns Hopkins University

Electrical Engineering

Johns Hopkins University

Mechanical Engineering

Pennsylvania State University

Biochemistry

University of California Santa Cruz

Computer Science

University of California Santa Cruz

Mechanical Engineering

University of Maryland

Chemical Engineering

University of Virginia

Mechanical Engineering

University of Virginia

Systems Analysis

University of Virginia

Biomedical Engineering

Virginia Commonwealth University

Mechanical Engineering

Virginia Commonwealth University

Nuclear Engineering

Virginia Commonwealth University

In Memoriam

1944

Elaine Johnson Edwards December 27, 2023

Virginia “Dykie” Watts Fournier December 30, 2023

1946

Roberta “Robin” Evans Stroud November 30, 2023

1947

Martha Smith November 27, 2023

1948

Elizabeth “Betty” Yougene Johnson August 16, 2021

1949

Joan McCarthy Whiteman December 6, 2023

1950

Margaret “Muffet” Murchison Corse October 31, 2023

Joyce Roseborough Whiteman January 3, 2024

Mary-Dame Stubbs Broad February 9, 2024

1951

Patricia “Patty” Lynas Ford October 22, 2023

1952

Mary “Polly” Plumb deButts September 29, 2023

1953

June Arata Pickett October 11, 2023

Katherine “Katty” Turner Mears October 25, 2023

1954

Virginia Bramlett Lowrance November 21, 2023

Jean “Sissy” Morris Long December 24, 2023

1955

Elise Wachenfeld De Papp March 5, 2024

Ruth Campbell Van Derpoel March 7, 2024

Yolanda “Yola” Avram Willis October 1, 2023

1956

Marguerite Geer Wellborn November 9, 2023

1957

Jan Armstrong Neuenschwander January 20, 2024

Marie “Mimi” Chapin Plumley January 2, 2024

Nancy Mayer Sheppard December 1, 2023

Nannette McBurney Crowdus October 31, 2023

Judith Ruffin Anderson November 4, 2023

1958

Stephanie Butan Profaci January 31, 2023

1959

Catherine Brownlee Smeltzer February 6, 2024

Ann Hufendick Hamman February 4, 2024

Judy Nevins LeHardy November 22, 2023

1960

Martha Boyd McFadden February 14, 2024

1961

Jeanne Bounds Hamilton December 14, 2023

Sue Stubbs Cutler January 8, 2024

1962

Mary Sturr Stuart May 4, 2023

Mary Jane Schroder Oliver Hubbard April 4, 2024

1963

Ann Clute Obenshain October 22, 2023

1964

Frances “Fran” Mallory Meyers February 1, 2024

1967

Gayle Dearborn Vance February 15, 2024

1968

Julie Amanda de Coligny March 30, 2024

1969

Gene Anderson September 7, 2023

1971

Martha Roton Terry January 31, 2024

1972

Elizabeth “Eliza” Walbridge October 28, 2023

Mary Elizabeth Kestner Pearson April 8, 2024

1973

Charlotte Battle Robbins February 9, 2024

Susan Bundy November 23, 2023

Elizabeth “Lisa” Slatten December 28, 2023

1976

Lisa Nelson Robertson December 30, 2023

1985

Perry Liles Lucas March 8, 2024

1986

Dayna Avery Hulme January 5, 2024

1998

Jennifer Toler Ober February 1, 2024

2021

Wendy Hermanson Easley November 24, 2023

Data reported as of April 8, 2024. Please send alumnae obituaries to alumnae@sbc.edu

Lisa Nelson Robertson

DECEMBER

Lisa Nelson Robertson of Virginia Beach, Virginia, died peacefully in her home surrounded by her beloved husband and family on December 30, 2023. She passed away knowing that her hope is in Jesus Christ and she will be with Him for eternity.

Lisa Delavan Nelson was born March 9, 1954, to David and Barbara Nelson in Colorado. She grew up in Denver, attended Kent School for Girls, and had a lifelong love of the mountains and skiing.

She attended Sweet Briar College in Virginia, graduating in 1976. There, she led their Annual Religious Conference and invited Dr. Pat Robertson to be the keynote speaker. Unbeknownst to Lisa, Pat’s acceptance was based on two parallel motives: first, to make up for some of his college antics while he was an undergraduate at Washington and Lee, and second, to persuade his “adventurous” son, Tim, then a student at the University of Virginia, to attend as well. The rest is history. Lisa and Timothy Brian Robertson were engaged in the same year of 1976 and married in 1977. They celebrated 46 joyous years of marriage in 2023. As Lisa loved to say, “God is the God of romance!”

Together they have five children and sixteen grandchildren, to whom she is adoringly known as “Honey:” Laura Robertson Kraus (Peter Robert Kraus) of Virginia Beach, with children Louisa, Susanna, and Harrison; Elizabeth Robertson Williams (Bernard John Williams III) of Atlanta, Georgia, with children Bernard IV, Virginia, Abigail, and Mary Churchill, Willis Hunt Robertson (Caitlin Johnson Robertson) of Woodland Hills, California, with children Annabelle, Willis Jr., and Amy, Caroline “Cally” Robertson Everett (Marshall Bradley Everett) of Virginia Beach, with children Robertson, Adelaide, and Warren Brewster; Abigail Robertson Allen (Derek Bernard Allen) of McLean, Virginia, with children Annalisa, Daniel, and Elizabeth (on the way).

Lisa is also survived by two cherished sisters, Jennifer Nelson Miner (Court Miner) and Barbara Sears Nelson; along with many nieces and nephews who know that “Honey” consistently loved and prayed for them.

She was predeceased by her sister, Laura Nelson; her brother, Sherlock Nelson; and her parents, David Sears Nelson and Barbara “Babby” Sherlock Nelson.

A noted author, Lisa wrote the book, The Path of Life: Walking in the Loving Presence of God; a devotional, Advent: Making Christmas About Christ, which is featured annually on The 700 Club; as well as a series of Bible study guides.

She was a strong advocate for the importance of early childhood education, serving as a founding board member of E-3 (Elevate Early Education), a statewide initiative in Virginia promoting school readiness for children under 5. As part of E-3’s predecessor organization, Smart Beginnings South Hampton Roads, of which she was a board member, Lisa developed Faithful Beginnings, which links faith foundations with school readiness milestones. Biblical examples are used to teach younger children about their faith and to give them a solid foundation as they start kindergarten. She pioneered the implementation of Faithful Beginnings in low-income housing projects. In 2012, Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell appointed her to serve on the Virginia State Board of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Lisa enjoyed tracing her American roots through her membership in The Mayflower Society and the Colonial Dames. She loved sharing these discoveries with her children and grandchildren.

In addition to skiing, Lisa enjoyed playing tennis and golf, taking prayer walks with her friends, and cheering for her beloved Denver Broncos and UVA’s “Wahoos.”

Lisa’s favorite roles were as a wife, mother, and grandmother, and she always considered her greatest accomplishment to be her family, whom she loved and cherished so dearly.

1957

Nannette McBurney Crowdus

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Nannette McBurney Crowdus, 88, died peacefully at home on October 31, 2023.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Willard Blakeslee and Nannette Griffeth McBurney, she lived an extraordinary life full of love, family, friends, and service to numerous charities and her beloved alma mater, Sweet Briar College. At Sweet Briar she served as a Board Trustee, President of the Alumnae Association, and in numerous volunteer roles. During her senior year, she met her late husband William Warren “Bill” Crowdus on a blind date. They were married for 55 years and had three children together. During their marriage, they lived in 12 different cities, finally retiring to Madison County, Virginia, in 1998. Nannette loved to travel, having visited 46 states and 31 countries, many of them more than once, with Italy topping the list.

Nannette had a successful professional career which included serving as Vice President of the National Association of Realtors and volunteering extensively. She was President of the Madison County Boys and Girls Club. Her other interests included reading good books, gourmet cooking, music, especially opera, and entertaining friends. Setting a beautiful table to share with friends and family gave her great pleasure. Her children and three grandchildren were her greatest source of pride and joy.

Nannette was predeceased by her husband Bill, and daughter Nannette. She is survived by her son, W. Warren Crowdus (Barbara “Lou” Rollinson) of Washington D.C.; as well as her daughter, Carol Crowdus Barbour (Jeff) of Glenview, Illinois. She will be greatly missed by her three grandchildren, William Crowdus of Washington D.C., Elizabeth Crowdus of Brooklyn, New York, and Katherine Barbour of Bloomington, Indiana; as well as her companion of the last ten years, John “Penn” Bowers of Rochelle, Virginia.

Class Notes

1952

Patricia Layne Winks

312 Arguello Blvd., Apt. 3 San Francisco, Calif. 94118 plwinks@earthlink.net

Class notes have changed over the years. Now our children are retiring. We record the accomplishments of grandchildren. We admire our cute great-grandchildren without being expected to chase after them. I’m grateful that we were spared the anxieties of today’s helicopter mothers. Cell phones and GPS are useful, but aren’t we glad our parents didn’t have them? The joy of checking mailboxes twice a day is gone. No more letters from significant others, today’s texts and emails are quickly deleted. We search newspaper obituary sections, and too often find a familiar name. Our class deeply mourns the loss of our beloved president, Joanne Holbrook Patton, who kept us connected for so many years.

Some of us have been living in retirement communities for a number of years; others have moved only recently. When Jackie Razook Chamandy moved to Edgehill in Stamford, Conn., she was astonished to find Ginger Sheaff Liddel living directly across the hall. Ginger is no longer with us, but her lifelong friend and classmate, Kate Shaw Minton, is also at Edgehill. Jane Russo Sheehan moved from her large 200-year old home on a 30-acre farm to a comfortable condo at Carleton-Willard Village

in Bedford, Mass. Imagine her surprise to find a Sweet Briar classmate there: Nell Perkins Zinsser, who lost no time in corralling Jane into working for the quarterly magazine. Jane’s long time friend Betsy Wilder Cady lives nearby at Lasell Village in Newton, Mass. Pat Beach Thompson moved from her home in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., to a retirement community in the same town, where she continues to enjoy the company of old friends. Phoebe DeFoe Adams is happily settled in a condominium community in New London, N.H. Her children also live in New London, so Phoebe keeps up with family doings, and stays involved in the local garden club. Wherever we live, we welcome the visits of our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I think Frances Street Smith has the most great-grandchildren—11. Any contenders?

It has been hard for some of us to give up the pleasures of travel. As soon as the lockdown ended, I resumed my annual visits to New York City. Pauline Wells Bolton and I have renewed our passports. Who knows if they’ll acquire stamps, but the possibility brings us joy.

I hope you’re able to participate in Sweet Briar events in your area. I went to a “meet-up” in Golden Gate Park, near my home, and had such a good time with four other Sweet Briar grads, each of us from a different decade. I was also able to connect with Jerry Driesbach Ludeke ’54. She has traveled far and wide: from Beirut, Lebanon, to Bakersfield,

Calif. where she and her husband were college professors. There are Sweet Briar graduates all over the world! But though we may no longer explore the globe, we can still connect with each other, share memories, and take pleasure in family and friends. Fortunately, we do not need to master new electronic devices to keep in touch. Let me remind you of that excellent means of communication, the phone. I’ve had such wonderful conversations with some of you, and hope you will reach out to classmates you may have lost contact with. The college and I will happily provide phone numbers and addresses.

1954

Bruce Watts Krucke 201 West 9th St. North—Unit 184 Summerville, S.C. 29483 bwkrucke@gmail.com

It’s too bad that nearly all the news for this issue is obits from our class.

The first is Anne Brooke, but I have no details other than that she died last spring.

Here is part of Carolyn “Kobo” Chobot Garner’s obituary: Caroline Chobot Garner, of Signal Mountain, died at her home in Alexian Village. Mrs. Garner, a native of Chattanooga, was the widow of Rev. Thomas Gailor Garner Jr. She was an alumna of the Girls Preparatory School and graduated from SBC. After graduating, Mrs. Garner went on to become a teacher. As an avid traveler, she spent much of her early adulthood exploring Europe and up until recent years adventured often with her family. She was also a devoted Atlanta Braves fan. Mrs. Garner is survived by her daughter, Laurie Garner Ford; son, Thomas Gailor Garner III; grandsons and two granddaughters.

Then in August we lost Shirley Poulson Hooper Broyles Shirley was born and raised in Richmond where she attended St. Catherine’s and was Richmond’s Teen Queen in 1948. The write up about Shirley’s many community services, volunteer, and business work in Baltimore is too long to copy. She did all this while raising five children too. A few years after

her husband Gil Hooper’s death in 1991, she married Norris A. Broyles and they made their home in Atlanta. Shirley is survived by her devoted husband of 30 years. She leaves behind her daughters: Holly Leachman, Laurie Fisher, Michelle Hooper Springer, and her son Trey Hooper. Shirley was also grandmother to nine grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. In addition to her immediate family, Shirley is survived by three stepchildren. She was a loving step-grandmother to seven step-grandchildren. Shirley is preceded in death by her first husband and their daughter, Stacey Ellen Hooper.

On November 21, Virginia “Pony” Bramlett Lowrance passed away. She graduated from Clarksdale High School as valedictorian in 1950, attended SBC and Rhodes College where she was a member of Chi Omega sorority. She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Charles Joseph Lowrance III. She is survived by her two children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Through the years she was an active member of several local organizations and clubs including Memphis Garden Club, Memphis Country Club, and Memphis Hunt and Polo Club.

Jean Carolyn “Sissy” Morris Long passed away Christmas Eve 2023. A true renaissance woman, Sissy grew up on a farm and a one room school, graduated from SBC and got a masters later in life. She taught in many different schools, belonged to and served as president in many different philanthropic groups, was a deacon in her church, published three books, sang with the symphony, played tennis and the piano, was in the DAR and Colonial Dames, among others. Sissy is survived by her three children, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

I’d like to mention here also the passing in December of my 100-year-old sister, Virginia Anne “Dykie” Watts Fournier, SBC class of 1944. She attended her 70th Reunion so we should try to also.

On a happier note, our class does have our 70th Reunion coming up May 31st to June 2nd this year! So far I have only heard from two people who are going.

Liz Carper Hoffman has a daughter living in Lynchburg now, so she plans to attend Reunion. Liz

has three children, five grands, and four great-grandchildren. They don’t travel much anymore other than to the Gulf Coast.

Jerry Dreisbach Ludeke is going to come to Reunion all the way from California by train. She has recently moved there to a retirement home near her son and family. Her other son still lives in Costa Rica. In August, she and both sons and their wives had a wonderful trip to Alaska, where they even were able to walk some land she bought there in 1961. Jerry is enjoying the active Bay Area Sweet Briar group.

Rumor has it that Vaughan Inge Morrissette might come to Reunion—hope so. It looks as though I won’t be able to make it—too difficult to leave my nearly 98-year-old husband, but I really hope some of you will make it and send me back all the details.

1956

PO Box 1057

Sweet Briar, Va. 24595 classnotes@sbc.edu

Mary Koomy Gynn: I’m still in the 1885 brick house near Churubusco, Ind. that we bought in 1937 on 350 acres of farm land and 80 acres of woods. Things are pretty much the same although I retired from farming in 1980, sold my grain bins and equipment and now stay busy with golf, walking and yard work. I will always look back on my Sweet Briar College as one of the most important parts of my life.

Jane Slack Sigloh: Denny and I are living at Westminster Canterbury in Charlottesville. I’ve mostly retired from priestly work—except for occasional responsibilities here and there. As one friend so aptly put it, we are “winding things up.” With hope and promise.

1958

Jane Oxner Waring

700 Quay Cir, Unit 708 Charleston, S.C. 29412 foxyoxy7@gmail.com

Jane Oxner Waring: As we say in the Deep South, we’re getting older than dirt!!!! This does not mean that we can’t use a little fertilizer writing notes to our classmates. I accepted this job with the hope that each of you will continue to share your adventures with the rest of us. It’s important to keep up with each other. Please let’s keep exchanging news. We had a great time at our 65th reunion. The younger classes seem to look at our name tags with amazement. 65th REUNION stood out in big letters. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were hoping they’d make it to theirs one day. I’m still living at Bishop Gadsden (independently, thank goodness) in a gorgeous new flat. A pond’s out front filled with turtles and fish. Ospreys and Ibis are always nearby. I’m playing a lot of croquet and duplicate bridge with old and new friends. You can never have too much of either! Please keep in touch. Very best, Jane (aka Foxyoxy)

Wonderful news! A 1958 class member, who would like to remain anonymous, is generously conserving The Bird Residents of Sweet Briar College in memory of Lynn Prior Harrington ’58. This charming 3.5’ x 5’ hand drawn campus map with watercolor and gouache depictions of birds on the campus in 1937 has hung in Guion for decades and will be expertly restored.

Mary Johnson Campbell: Am delighted Tibby Moore Gardner & Bill have moved into Cedarfield. She has been my long-standing friend since first grade! So far no snow in RVA by the end of 2023!

Tibby Moore Gardner: We’ve moved to a retirement home … Cedarfield. Similar to Westminster Canterbury but more in the country and smaller. Tabb Thornton Farinholt, Mary Johnson Campbell, Louise Gray are here too. We call it “Terminal Towers.” We have lots going on and Bill and I go to our farm, Woodgrove, and our place at Virginia Beach pretty often. Was

sorry to miss our Reunion but moving at age 87 is grueling. Love to all.

Ethel Ogden Burwell: I have a new great-granddaughter, the granddaughter of Lisa Burwell Reichard ’84. I am absolutely and utterly delighted that Mary Pope Hutson ’83 is SBC’s new president

Winnie Leigh Hamlin: I enjoyed attending a recent Sweet Briar Day lunch in Dallas where I heard a professor speak, saw photos of beautiful Sweet Briar and enjoyed fellowship with alumnae.

Claire Cannon Christopher: It makes me happy to think about our last SBC reunion which Jane Oxner Waring and I attended together. It was very special to attend the Vineyard dedication for our beloved classmate, Lanny Tuller Webster

Beedy Tatlow Ritchie: My children married at a mature age so I have young grandchildren which is fun for me. We welcomed our youngest Eleanor Scott Ritchie on March 2, 2023. She joined her two brothers—Charles (5) and William (2) at their home in Darien, Conn. My other granddaughter, AJ, lives with her mother in Beverly Hills where she is in the third grade. My husband’s grandson is a sophomore at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and rows crew just like the fellows in the movie “Boys in the Boat”—a must see! His other grandsons are a senior and a sophomore in high schools in Orlando. We love them all and see them when we travel east in September after a couple months in Traverse City, Mich. Happily, Bruce and I are both upright, playing golf, water aerobics, swimming, walking, eating, drinking and enjoying our life here in Palm Desert, Calif.

Mimi Garrard: This has been a good year for me and the Mimi Garrard Dance Company. I am now creating a dance for a video that is shown world-wide. We have won over 1,000 first place awards from international film festivals. We are planning a Seawright/Tsai sculpture exhibition. Our son, Andrew, is making a piece for the show. Our grandson, Sam, recently graduated from Seattle University and our granddaughter, Hayden, graduated from high school and is attending the University of Berkeley.

Edie Knapp Clark: Roger and I now reside at an assisted living facility due to his lack of

mobility. We are still in Oregon. I’m out and about doing tai chi in the park, volunteering at Planned Parenthood and lunching with friends. We both read a lot. Recent books I enjoyed include: Trust (Hernán Díaz), The Pull of Stars (Emma Donoghue) and Foster (Claire Keegan). Our two sons and their wives live in Oregon. The 2 grandkids (and mates) live in Missoula (the runners) and Reno (the environmentalists). All are thriving.

Lee Cooper van de Velde: This past summer, my husband, Chris, and I had not one but TWO delightful visits with Linda and Hays Rockwell. Much laughter!! I don’t think we took a picture: you’ll have to remember us the way we were! Best to all. Coopie

Mary Lane Bryan Sullivan: I am spending time in Dallas close to my daughter, Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan ’92, who works for SBC’s Alumnae Relations & Development.

Eleanor Humphreys Schnabel: I am living in Salem, Mass. I have no major health concerns except going deaf. On the whole, all’s well for all of us. Daughter Ellie (SBC ’81) lives nearby. Her sister, Liza & my only grandchild Nathan, have moved to Honolulu. Hard to believe it’s been 65 years since we graduated. I hope all are enjoying life as I am!

Cornelia Long Matson was one of the main speakers at the ribbon cutting of the transformation of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota on Jan. 9, 2024. She is a board member of Selby.

Liza and Ellie, daughters of Eleanor Schnabel.

1958

1960

Lura Coleman Wampler 1406 Thomas Rd Wayne, Pa. 19087 Lcwampler@comcast.net

Barbara Beam Denison and husband George moved to a senior living community near their home of 57 years in Bethesda, Md., and are VERY happy there with many new friends. She is still painting, immersed in politics and grateful for good health.

Sue Styer Ericksen is enjoying her Reading, Pa., CCC with lots of old and new friends. She is planning another skiing trip to Snowmass at the end of February with Bessie Bulkley Bradley and her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren (7 and 12).

Lee Cullum writes about the performing arts for a magazine in North Texas, and the visual arts for the Dallas Morning News. She did a fascinating interview last year with a cofounder of Infosys in Delhi. She will travel to India again in March.

Jane Riddle Lancaster and husband, John, are still upright & doing fine. They live in Dallas, Texas and are enjoying their first great grandchild.

Mickey Oliveri Svoboda has turned into quite a traveler. In September, she went on a cruise from Lyon to Arles in France with her daughter; a highlight was floating under the Pont d’Avignon. In November, she flew to Paris with her younger daughter. The trip was fraught with a diverted flight, lost luggage and when they finally reached their hotel, there was no electricity due to a bad storm. You can’t make this up!

Patti Powell Pusey feels blessed to have enjoyed another year of good health and happiness. Carolyn King Ratcliffe lives next door in her Richmond retirement community and her three kids, eight grandkids and three great grandkids live nearby. Her special man of six years is still healthy as well.

Isabel Ware Burch This past summer Isabel had lots of visitors at Ware’s Wharf, a family home on the Rappahannock River in Virginia. In Williamsburg, she continues to take her therapy dogs to visit hospital patients and is very

active at Bruton Parish Church in the gift shop and the food ministry program. She spent Christmas in Philadelphia where her son, Charlie, produced a Christmas album with several of the Eagles football players who are good singers; this album raised over $2 million for local children’s charities.

Jane Tatman Walker and husband Frank in Indiana are doing well and became great-grandparents for the first time in June. A new life chapter for them.

Betty Forsyth Harris sent in this medical warning. After experiencing a funny tingling feeling (not pain) in her jaw, she ended up in the hospital due to a heart attack. Apparently, this symptom is not unusual for women. Three stents were put in and she is now completely well. She and her husband are still in their Lynchburg house with three daughters and four granddaughters nearby. She enjoys quilting and Mah Jongg.

Carolyn Gough Harding still lives in her house in Sterling, Va., with her older son. Her younger son and his family live in Baltimore. She had a lovely visit last spring to Sweet Briar with her granddaughter. They were amazed at the stables!

Gale Young Walker from Canada would like to hear from former classmates and their take(s) on the current U.S. congressional deadlock. Who’s willing to tackle this???

Maline Gilbert McCalla is still enjoying life in Austin, Texas. Two of her three sons live nearby and are very helpful in caring for

Linda Sims Newmark ’60 with her two granddaughters Belle Williams SBC ’23, and her sister Mary Grace SBC ’20. 1960

her 92-year-old husband. She has kept up with some of her UTEX friends and finds being social is a great boost to her morale.

Katie Mendelson McDonald left Florida over two years ago and, after a year in Madrid, is living in Hong Kong, where she lived previously for 39 years. She is now near one of her daughters and family. She also had a visit with Min Ho Kwaan when she returned briefly to Hong Kong from her current home in California. They have known each other since grade school.

Jean Morris Stevenson writes that her precious Don, her dearest friend, lucid to the end, passed away in March at 97 years. This leaves a void assuredly, but his passing was so peaceful that he and she were both blessed. She’s selling her condo in Charlotte and moving back to the ranch in Texas.

Elsie Burch Donald lives in London and was finally able to travel to Memphis in the spring of 2023 for her first post COVID visit with family. She also had a reunion in France with former roommate Nancy Corson Gibbes when Nancy and her new partner Curt were en route to a hiking holiday in Spain during the summer of 2022.

The highlight of Linda Sims Newmark’s spring 2023 was attending her granddaughter’s (Belle Williams) SBC graduation with her sister Mary Grace ’20 (the class with the COVID home virtual graduation). Belle is now an engineer working in Chesapeake, Va., for Dominion Energy.

Barbara Murphy Hale has received permission from the State to amend her conservation easement. This allows her son and daughter-in-law to move there, which means she can continue to live on her beautiful Eastern Shore farm, now conserved entirely for wildlife. She still enjoys book club, church, League of Women Voters and local non-profit activities.

Judy Cowen Jones is in the very difficult process of placing her husband of 62 years in the memory care of a nursing home. She has the emotional support of her three children (one of whom is a Sweet Briar graduate). She’s also decided to downsize from her Waynesboro, Va., home of 50 years and 48-acre property. She remains active with her book and arts clubs and works out physically when time allows.

Lucy Martin Gianino is now Chairman of NYC Parents In Action after 43 years of involvement. She is preparing to moderate the Annual Teen Scene Panel, where 16 teens, ninth through 12th grades, share, on behalf of their peers, what’s going on in their lives, socially, academically and emotionally. She continues to be a mainstay at her two churches, St Bartholomew’s in the city and St Andrews on Fire Island. Last spring, she filmed an independent movie at Coney Island playing an outspoken Brooklynite who wandered on the beach playing an accordion in a comedic costume with purple hair!

My husband, Fred, and I are still in our home of 53 years. We keep saying one more Christmas, one more summer! I continue to keep busy with my church, garden club and going to sports games and theatrical plays to watch our grandchildren perform. I send a little prayer to all as we deal with being in our mid-eighties, multitudinous health problems, the loss of a spouse and uprooting from a beloved home. Also please take a moment to remember our classmates Margot Saur Meyer and Becky Towill McNair who died in the last year. 1962

Adele Vogel Harrell

8300 Burdette Rd., Apt 507 Bethesda, Md. 20817 adeleharrell@gmail.com

Our class has some headline news. Louise Durham Purvis was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for “voluntary service to the prison community in Scotland.” She and her late husband John housed the Prison Fellowship of Scotland offices for a time in their home and were deeply involved in Christian ministry to prisoners and their families. She received the honor at the Palace where she reports a lovely conversation with King Charles. We are all so proud of her service and its recognition.

Jocelyn Palmer Connors is grateful that she and Tom are happy and healthy, enjoying life at Arbor Acres, their retirement community in Winston-Salem.

They are still able to enjoy nature, garden and golf. They have seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter. All this adds up to a baptism, many weddings, graduations and sadly (now that we are in our 80s) funerals. The years at Sweet Briar were foundational for the formation of a rich and meaningful life and lasting friendships. Knowing that the college thrives means the world to me.

After 40 years practicing law (criminal defense and family law) in Raleigh N.C., Sally Scherer is retired and living outside Baltimore, near her older daughter. In 2008, she closed her practice to start a legal/mental health nonprofit (The Child’s Advocate) to provide free legal representation for children. Since retiring, Legal Aid has taken over and tells her that no other state has anything like it. She really misses working with children and practicing law (as well as earlier working with children when a medical technologist at UVA). She is happy, though, to have three children and six grandchildren who’re happy, healthy, kind and good!

Bettye Thomas Chambers and Al are traveling as fast and furiously as they can while we’re still vertical and mobile. Last stop: Machu Picchu and the Galapagos; next stop: a riverboat cruise from Budapest to Bucharest. We’re operating under the mantra of another traveling friend, “May the last check bounce!”

Despite the continuing progression of Paul’s pulmonary fibrosis, continues Sally Sharrett Prettyman says they still really enjoy dinners here at Devonshire with friends and of course with their son’s family nearby. So many great activities here to keep all us old folks happy and busy!

Julia Shields is totally smitten with her great-grandniece

Ruthie (1), daughter of her grandniece and namesake Julia and her husband William.

May Belle Scott Rauch has been staying in touch with classmates. She and Ted enjoyed dinner in New York with classmate Anne Allen Simonds and Taft in December and gathered in Brevard, N.C. last summer with Patsy Carney Reed and Alice Allen Smythe

Katherine Crommelin

Milton is still in Berkeley and delighted to be continuing her study of howler monkeys, traveling twice a year to Panama for field work. Her office at UC-Berkeley is theoretically shared with one or two other retirees but so far is hers alone.

Ann Ritchie Baruch gives us an overview of her post-Sweet Briar life. She fell in love with the beauty of the Low Country sea islands of S.C. and moved in 1999 from Bryn Mawr, Pa. to a new house on Spring Island. For the next 20 years, she enjoyed magnificent sunsets from her deck, propagated and distributed native plants, became a South Carolina Master Naturalist, watched dolphins strand fishing on the mudflats and made wonderful friends who shared her passion for the conservation of the beautiful land on which they lived. These friends included Ginger Mitchell ’63 and her husband Ed. In 2020, she moved back to Bryn Mawr and settled into Beaumont Retirement Community, where she reconnected with many old friends and continues to make new ones. Anne Bloom ’59 is a fellow resident. She plays bridge several times a week, travels, tends her (much smaller) native plant garden and keeps up

with her children and grandchildren. Ann’s three children (Richie, Marcy and David) live in Mill Valley, Calif., Boulder, Colo., and Darien, Conn. respectively. They have blessed her with five precious grandchildren, ages 12, 11, 10, 9 and 7. There is nothing better than having these special young people in her life! She stays in touch with Adele Vogel Harrell, Nancy Hudler Keuffel, Alice Allen Smyth and Maybelle Scott Rauch and periodically with Jocelyn Palmer Conners, Ray Henley Thompson and Patsey Carney Reed. She is very grateful for the friends and wonderful education received at Sweet Briar. Parker and I, like many of you, have made the transition to a retirement community, Fox Hill, in Bethesda, Md. not far from our home of many years in Washington, DC We had a wonderful 10 years in Ocean Ridge, Fla. and, while we miss the sunshine, we enjoy being near old friends, familiar places and our doctors. One daughter, Logan, is nearby and the other visits frequently from her home in Puerto Rico. Our delight is staying in touch via facetime with our far flung eight grandchildren (Berlin, Cambridge UK, Cambridge, Mass., Evanston, Ill., Raleigh, N.C., Princeton, N.J., Puerto Rico, and Chevy Chase, Md.). We play bridge and I serve on the Board here at Fox Hill. It is a wonderful treat to stay in touch with classmates by compiling notes and look forward to hearing from you.

1964

Virginia (Ginny) deBuys 7312 Saint Georges Way University Park, Fla. 34201 gdebuys@gmail.com

Virginia Del Greco Galgano and Michael went to see the Northern Lights and VM came back singing the same tune, “Come to our 60th Reunion. I want to see each and every one of you!” Many of you told me (Ginny) of personal losses this year—husband, son, daughter, best friend—and of the support you received and gave during their final days. We hope your friendships in the Sweet Briar community have helped sustain

you through difficult times; please remember that it is never too late to call an old classmate or reconnect in a class Zoom.

Mary Caroline (M.C.)

Elmore Harrell: I am fulltime in Culpepper, Va., now. I am still working part-time as a CPA and volunteering at a local food bank. I am looking forward to a 3-month Master Gardener Training Course.

Vera LeCraw Carvaillo: 2023 has been spent adapting to life without my dear Philippe. I am thankful to say the peace I received immediately has never left, as well as the gratitude for our 55 happy years together and the loving support of my children, grandchildren and friends. I may never make another trip from France to the States, but am thankful Philippe and I were able to attend our 50th Reunion. He was the one who insisted we go! You are all invited for a visit if you ever come near Annecy in Haute Savoie (near Geneva).

Rosamond Sample Brown: I am thankful to be in good health and able to travel the world but 2023 has been a sad year for me. My younger son died of cancer caused by HPV. Today there is an HPV vaccine, but it was not available when my children were young. Each year, I go with a group from my church, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, to Tela, Honduras and work with a church and private school there. We spend each day in a different barrio where we support community needs—doing crafts and songs with the children, working on construction or painting projects, putting fluoride treatments on the kids’ teeth. I spend my time meeting with adults in the barrios to fit them with reading glasses. They need these readers to sew, do close-up construction, and to read (for those who are literate). We all know what a miracle reading glasses can be and the people are thrilled. I use the various sized print in their local newspaper as my chart to determine what is clear and which reader strength to try. I never ask anyone to read out loud in case they cannot read. We work hard all day and then, like typical Episcopalians, we gather each evening for cocktails, dinner and stories about the day’s events.

Louise Durham Purvis receiving her MBE from King Charles. 1962

Nancy Gillies is a fixture in Charlottesville at Christmas where she “wears weird outfits and rings the bell” at the Salvation Army Kettle. Claire Dennison Griffith ’80 and Virginia Del Greco Galgano have rung with her too! She is “Miss Nancy” to the children at the church nursery where she has worked for 35 plus years. Think of all the people you meet in your daily routine. If you meet Nancy, this compassionate spirit will soon know your name, your family, your joys and sorrows, and give you hope and comfort. She blesses everyone she meets.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Stevens Prioleau: I moved this year from Charleston, S.C. to New York City to be near my granddaughters in Philadelphia. The paperback of my biography of publishing titan and heroine of the 19th Amendment, Mrs. Frank Leslie, titled “Diamonds and Deadlines”, came out December 19, 2023. Many thanks to Sweet Briar for honoring me this year in the alumni spotlight. See you in New York!

Marsh Metcalf Seymour: In May I finally got to Japan with a group from Asian Art, SF. This third trip for me was extensive, extraordinary and exhausting! We concentrated on ancient art and architecture in the Kyoto/ Nara area and contemporary art on islands in the Inland Sea. A highlight was visiting a Shigaraki climbing kiln owned by a potting family of four generations. Later in the year, I went to the Highlands of Scotland. This trip (again, a third) was much too short, but I loved the (inclement) weather and scenery. I am enjoying having two grandsons at Stanford! A third graduated in 2020. Sorry, Sweet Briar … I

have had this stream of young hungry men who love to be taken to lunch and handed a container of home-made cookies. The crops (Illinois and California) were good. I watched the grape harvest at our family vineyard in Calistoga. It took place at night, by LED lights, small, skilled, hand picking in teams of eight or so. It was like a carefully choreographed dance of people and small tractors trundling bins back and forth to a gigantic flatbed truck. When I awoke the next morning, there was not a trace anyone had been in the vineyard!

JoAnn Soderquist Kramer sees the climate changes in Vermont. “This was the first year in 29 that I have put my Christmas tree out with no snow to rest it on. It was a tough season for ski resorts and vacationers in Vermont.” Fortunately, a week or so later, it did finally snow.

For Grace Mary Garry Oates 2023 was spent visiting or receiving visits from family—except for her obsession with the Baltimore Orioles, who happily took up much of her time. After visits to Texas, New Orleans, and Richmond, she planned a rest. But then my dear younger brother Jim had a heart attack while leading a Road Scholar Hiking group in the rugged Beartooth Mountains in Montana. Fortunately, he was rescued by a helicopter that flew him to a trauma center in Billings, where I met him and got him back to his home in Wyoming. Now in Texas, he is doing well. In mid-October my three nieces joined me for two weeks during my annual visit to Rome. They were filled with energy and enthusiasm, and it was even more fun than I’d imagined. (My great accomplishment of the

trip was a count of 29,300 steps recorded on my iPhone. Perhaps there’s life in the old girl yet?)

Since Wally’s death, I have come back to Texas for Christmas with Jim in the house we grew up in. I plan to come back down in April for the Total Eclipse, a spectacle not to be missed if you’ve never seen one.”

Anne Day Herrmann: Her family (13 in all) went to Barcelona in February. “Everyone coming and going but it was marvelous. Many adventures planned by Mia and Jed—excellent food and a real treat for me to have everyone together. This Fall, we spent three fascinating weeks in India—a trip full of adventures meticulously planned by an English woman and her husband (dinners in the desert, royal apartments, tours of an array of artists’ studios, forts and museums, sighting a leopard at dawn, an early morning Hindu service, the Ganges … ). One son is in DC and another in Luxembourg. Everyone is traveling. Jed’s goal is to visit 100 countries, mine is not to lose my luggage, my passport or credit card (a couple of close calls). We all gather again in Maine for a week in the summer. We are constantly grateful for our good luck. Glancing at newsletters and newspapers is the best I can do. So many things are awful and will get worse if we all give up hope. As our children say to theirs, “Do your best and be kind.”

I, Ginny, had a great call with Betty Page Carlton Shroeder who is recovering from a little hip surgery. At this writing, she is living in Floyd, Va., where she is near her son and has easy access to what she needs nearby.

Mary Ball Payne Morton reminded me that she and John were the first couple to be married in the Chapel. After a difficult year or two, she is looking forward to a brighter new year—and Reunion.

Hedi Haug White: I’m not unhappy to see 2023 behind me. COVID and spinal surgery with complications provided more challenges than I would like to repeat. However, keeping my eyes forward, I am personally hopeful about 2024 and our 60th Reunion is a very helpful goal! See you all there!

Margaret (Peggy) Aurand enjoyed a visit from her grandson (21) from Taiwan who she last saw when he was eight. She introduced him to snow, surfboarding and the

sights and sounds of Hawaii. For those of you worried about the study of history in the future, do not fear. Peggy says “Robert loves to read the signs on historical exhibits. It took him three days to see everything at Pearl Harbor.” Peggy went on to visit Utah, West Point, and other places to see friends and family. She enjoyed guests at her house and continued the fight to allow less than 30 day rentals. The lower limit allowed during the wildfires meant she could help some refugees from Lahaina.

Margery Kala Fleigh: Bob and I continue to have fun together and we’re grateful for our health. I enjoy art, writing, and Qigong groups. I have had a marvelous experience recently reading two books which I highly recommend about the importance of women in WWII: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell. The woman was from Baltimore and had a prosthetic leg; she was amazing working in France and developing the French Resistance. It is a real thriller. Code Girls by Liza Mundy is also a great read. Virginia (Ginny) deBuys: I enjoyed a visit from Libby Kopper Schollaert and friend, Dan, in the spring. My golfing husband understands that I have a classmate just about everywhere we go. A couple of misses this year. We had two trips to Dallas not timed to see Rosamond Brown Elizabeth Matheson skipped town for Italy when we were in N.C. But then, we missed her photography exhibit at the Upstairs Artspace (Tryon, N.C.) in October. She says: “I photograph what delights me and asks for my attention.” It is worth joining Facebook just to see her daily posts. Jerry wanted to golf at Sawgrass near Jacksonville to which I readily agreed. We had our anniversary dinner at the Sawgrass Club and the next night a great visit with Susan Dwelle Baxter in her new abode there. She has just helped us schedule a Tauck Canyonlands tour. We will travel while we can! I will close as we began with a word from Grace Mary Oates: “On May 31–June 2 I’ll be at Sweet Briar for our 60th Reunion. Please, please do not miss it. We all want to see you. How many more chances are we likely to get?” Come see the changes, the beauty we remember so well, and pretend you are 18 again.

The Royal Herrmanns. 1964

Keenan Colton Kelsey keenankelsey@comcast.net

Hello Classmates!

I just made the deadline, thanks to SBC’s indulgence and flexibility! So here we are, facing (gulp) 80th birthdays this year. I am already practicing saying “I’m only 80 … ”

Penn Willets Mullin writes “I find myself hovering between an inability to connect “that number” with ME and a feeling that if I look the date right in the eye (with a big party!) I will sail right into this new decade.” She continues, “I’m thankful all’s fine in my corner, I have all my kids and grands not far away, and am still in my home of 52 years! It is my safe harbor, like an old friend. I get to see Randi Miles Long often, and we are hoping to meet up with Robin Cutler soon! Fly Fishing with family in Montana is still the highlight of my summer each year. I’m now working on getting my grandkids “hooked”! My husband George has had to go into a memory care facility nearby. I get together with him often; his dementia is now on a manageable level where we can be in each other’s lives again. A wonderful job fell into my lap a year ago: I am teaching and mentoring young autistic adults at a school nearby. It’s a great community to be part of and I am learning so much from these amazing young people!”

Margot Brown Bucaty is still working as a school bus aide for special needs children, perhaps it is a similar reward.

Jean Campbell Barquin is busy traveling. After a one-month cruise from Barcelona to Cape Town she was home for Christmas, and now preparing for another cruise from San Juan up the Amazon. Then, “taking our eightyear-old granddaughter to Paris in May. Reliving my JYF! We took our oldest granddaughter when she was eight and it was perfect so we are repeating.”

Sally Kalber Fiedler writes: “You know the old saying: If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans. That said, we’re grateful to still be alive and have each other and be able to stay in our home. Doing well, considering all.

Daughter Julie (in Newport News) visits every month and Lee gets home a couple of times each year. We are blessed. I’m sad to have lost my roomie, Deanie Finch Hampton, this past summer. We had visited with Deanie and Tom in Dallas a few years ago. She had not been well for some time.”

Losing classmates, some of the longest-term friends we have, is hard. This year Susan Sudduth Hiller ended a short, intense, brave fight with brain cancer in the arms of her daughter and husband. Jane Nelson and I attended the memorial. Penn, our fourth roommate, couldn’t come but was there in spirit. We miss Susan constantly and cherish memories of annual reunions.

Martha Madden Swanson was also very sorry to lose her four-year roommate Andrea Pearson Pennington and her one semester roommate Deanie Finch Hampton both this past year. Martha is very active with Georgetown University Retirees, organizing events and attending classes; and still President of the School of Hope Foundation which raises money for a high school in the Kibera slum in Nairobi. She proudly boasts “Twenty years of free tuition for high school and university. We have two graduates who are medical doctors and several lawyers.” They had two cruises, 21 days in the Caribbean and 12 days from Maine to Toronto via the St. Lawrence River. Then a week with her daughter in Palm Springs, who just started a new job with the World Tennis Association Ventures as Chief Brand Officer. Their purpose is to raise the profile of, and treatment for, women tennis players. Her son is still happy where he is.

She adds lots of plays and sporting events.

Virginia Lee Butters has also been active: biking in Croatia with husband Dave, seeing Portugal with international friends from Dave’s class at Columbia; visiting son’s family in Texas, a wedding in La Jolla, Thanksgiving in Delaware. She doesn’t plan to leave her time zone for a long while! She has been in email contact with Robin Cutler, Betty Booker Morris, Margo Langenberg, Pam Mendolia Abernathy, Marilyn Garabrant Morris and Mariana Oeschle Rubini

Jane Nelson worries that every year she writes the same thing: “dividing my time between Culpeper and Richmond, with church and volunteer involvements in between”. But it continues to be true! And, if she’s like me, it’s all in between doctor appointments. Aging, I find, takes a lot of maintenance! She and I see each other when I am on campus (I have two more years on the Board, a challenging but so rewarding opportunity).

Kit Baker Sydnor, Vicki Chainski Verity, and Marcia Pace Lindstrom all checked in, happy to see our college on such a promising track.

Mark and I celebrated our first anniversary last fall, and I love being married! A bonus is that he makes traveling fun and possible: Spain, Portugal, England, the West coast, NYC, etc. Life is bright! I never thought I’d be in love again. There is always hope. I think I speak for all of us, when I say I hold that hope against all the traumas and troubles of our world. God bless us.

1968

Pembroke Herbert Kyle 26 Canterbury Hill Topsfield, Mass. 01983 pembroke.kyle@gmail.com

Martha Bennett Conner writes that she and husband “enjoyed a beach trip to Bald Head Island, N.C., with three of our four children after our 55th Reunion. I had fun with Betsy Wolfe in Hilton Head this fall. Son, Hartwell, finished two years of work designing some of the cargo space of Tenacity, a cargo Dream Chaser Spacecraft for Sierra Space in Erie, Colo. Currently NASA has it for testing, hoping it will fly to the space station this year. C.V. says I need a sign, Babysitting and Carpooling … which I am glad I can do. I still enjoy golf. The two girls are in Durham while the two boys are in Kansas City & Erie.”

Christine W. Dean happily reports, “I’m still riding my horse, which is my freedom! My old car is dying, so I am having to get a new car, hopefully before my current car dies, or catches on fire. It will be strange to drive something

new—and all the new gadgets! My old dog died this past summer, so I hope to be able to travel some this year. I had surgery on my shoulder, as parts seem to be wearing out. Unfortunately, they have not made bionic parts yet. Ah, well, growing older is a challenge!”

Barbara Dunlap says, “classmates, congratulations on your 60th high school reunions this year. I can’t wait to catch up with my SBC classmates Marianne Schultz Galt, Kathy and Jackie Israel, and Anne Stupp McAlpin at our high school reunion this May! I am still in charge of a Bible study. Charlie and I hope all the rest of you and us stay well!”

Melinda Everett writes, “she and her hubby L. Vincent Klos, and I have been at Brooksby Village In Peabody, Mass., for almost two years, after moving from Newburyport into this “Continuing Care Retirement Community” of almost 1,800 people. Lots of activities and meaningful things to do. I’m starting up a Mystery Fans Book Club to go along with the four other Book Clubs (two are literary, one Banned Books, and one Jewish focused). English major Heaven! My sons, Phil and Jeff, and their families are doing well. Our highlights in 2023 include celebrating our 30th anniversary, seeing “Hamilton” (finally), unpacking our moving boxes, and celebrating good friends’ 80th and 85th birthdays. I’m looking forward to my 60th high school reunion this coming Fall. The days are hurtling past (being an “old person” is way more time-consuming than I ever imagined!) and the world can be a scary place. As “The Desiderata” says: “Hold hands and stick together.” Sending all my classmates best wishes for health, peace, and safety in the coming year and love always”

Libby Harvey FitzGerald said, “she missed the fun of our Reunion, but was overjoyed that my shoulder surgery (to repair 70 years of tennis fun/abuse) was completely successful. Our 2023 travel highlight was an art/archaeology/history/culture cruise in the Greek Islands, including ancient Ephesus in Turkey; then via rental car from Athens to Delphi, to Olympia, and Mycenae. We spent a joyous Thanksgiving week with one of my sisters and family in the Seattle area. We continue

1968

CLOCKWISE 1. Martha Bennett Conner’s Christmas card. 2. Barbara Dunlap and granddaughter. 3. Rickey Hendricks and Jeremy on tour of Monaco and Monte Carlo. 4. Bonnie Pitman and son, David Gelles, at Christmas in Charleston. 5. Frances Morse and John at “Crimes of Fashion” party at Channing House.

to stay active in our Petaluma Valley Rotary Club, our community, schools, and anything to do with historic Petaluma and the Petaluma River. Come visit us!”

Jennie Lyons Fogarty said, “she so enjoyed our Reunion in June, seeing so many classmates as well as the beautiful campus. This past summer I continued my “take a teenage grandchild to a place on my bucket list” ritual and journeyed to Italy’s Amalfi Coast with 15-year-old Mathias. I highly recommend this special time with

lake and sell programs at an opera at the lake. Every year I go to the conference of the International Federation for Theatre Research. This year it will be held in Manila. Last year we were in Ghana, a friendly country with much fewer mosquitoes than I had feared.”

Penny Oliver Hawkins says, “the class of 1968 has been so kind. I enjoyed hearing from friends from whom I have had no contact in years. Your cards and letters bring me such joy. With the help of my family and doctors, I’ve enjoyed two unexpected years of joy. I was able to attend my eldest grandson’s graduation from Colorado Academy in May. Oliver (16) traveled to Iceland and Raymond (9) is taking fencing lessons. My Florida home was devastated in IAN. I’ve not been able to travel so I’m staying in Denver and receiving care here. Thanks again to my classmates.”

Rickey Hendricks reports, “last August Jeremy and I went to southern France on a Rhone River cruise from Lyon to Avignon, then to Nice. It was hot and busy with other tourists, but wonderful! My eldest grandson, George, turned eighteen in October, and graduated from secondary school in Brisbane, Australia. Gabriel, turned five in Aptos California, in December. Harry, also in Brisbane, started the new year with his sixteenth.”

Carter Hunter Hopkins said, “she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The result of the surgery was partial face paralysis on the right side, resulting in deafness and issues with the right eye. Recovery has been very slow for this impatient and independent woman. Another surgery at the end of December may speed the process.”

still practicing law, I’m still office manager, and we have two paralegals. We specialize in divorce and family law, so nothing is dull or boring. Thanks to my great academic experience at SBC, I know how to write, and nothing drafted by the paralegals goes out of this office without my review. We had a fabulous trip to Africa not too long ago with family and friends, and enjoyed cruises. John is still a rock ‘n roller, so we go hear our favorites live when possible.”

Amy Thompson McCandless writes that “she and husband Steve began the year with a Windstar cruise to the Grenadines. We boarded the ship in San Juan and sailed to Grenada, Bequia, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, and St. Maarten. Then for me, it was back to playing tennis, volunteering at Grace Episcopal Church as a reader, intercessor, chalice bearer and usher as well as vestry secretary, serving on the editorial board of the SC Historical Magazine and on the College of Charleston retired faculty/staff advisory council.”

one young person—it’s “grand!”

Sara Granath tells us, “in 2018 I stopped teaching after many years, on many levels. I still work as a theater critic, I am the secretary of the Strindberg Association and I lead book talks on his work at the Strindberg Museum in Stockholm. I am on the board of the KAF, the association of women academics. I read lots of books, meet with my book club, go to the movies, watch sports on TV and write articles. In the summer I stay in my brother’s summer house by a

Ann Jackson happily reports that she “found her freedom in travel this year! Finally, the COVID lockdown has eased and in 2023 I hit the road. I was in India, Nepal and Palm Beach during the winter. Back to Maryland for the spring steeplechase season and then SBC for our 55th Reunion. Summer found me mostly in Maryland, but with side trips to Saratoga Springs, Vermont and the Adirondacks. In November I went to Morocco! And back to Maryland for Thanksgiving and Palm Beach for Christmas with all my family and extended family.”

Tricia Sparks Lyndon tells us that “her husband John is

Francie deSaussure Meade happily writes that “our 55th Reunion was amazing! Such a meaningful connection for us all, and fun for me being Betsy Wolfe’s roommate again! I’m still here in Burke, Va., lucky to have my three children and their families not too far away. I have six grandchildren (24–16) and the latest wonderful news of number seven (baby boy) due in June!” So happy being in close contact with them, my four siblings, lots of close neighbors and friends. My main travel is to visit sisters in Jacksonville, Fla. and Flat Rock, N.C., plus an annual family week in Nags Head. I garden outdoors in the summer and indoors in the winter—it’s a jungle here. And I have a lot of books to read!”

Frances Kirven Morse is “hanging in there” in California! She really enjoyed “being with 22 classmates at our 55th Reunion. She and John recently took a Road Scholar Civil Rights Trip through Georgia and Alabama—a life changing experience. They have now been at Channing House (CCRC) for four years and are settled in. She started and chairs its Racial and Social Justice Committee, sings in the chorus and tries to age gracefully. She recently was with Jing Wang Huang and Jeannie Preston

Jacobs at a gathering of California SBC alumnae at Jing’s house in San Francisco. She gets peace and serenity from monitoring bluebird nest boxes which help in trying to interpret the words, actions and preferred pronouns of her two wonderful grandkids Asher and Xylia (16 and 19)!”

Julie Northup says she is “happily retired from my active law practice but even more happily have continued to provide legal services pro bono as an Emeritus Attorney at Pisgah Legal Services, including assisting Afghanistan asylum seekers, helping unemployed workers receive benefits and representing employees with discrimination or wrongful termination claims. Fred and I now spend winters at our second home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. We travel more often to visit our children and grandkids in San Diego and Seattle as well as our siblings and their progeny around the Southeast. We have also taken advantage of Fred’s retired-clergy-turned-cruiseship-chaplain status to take “free” cruises, most recently to French Polynesia. We both still sing in church choirs and/or community choruses in both Asheville and the Virgin Islands, and I sometimes play keyboard and sing with an island jam group. We crazily adopted Charlie, a miniature schnauzer-chihuahua-poodle mix, a couple of years ago. She is small enough to travel under the plane seat and has brightened but complicated our lives in myriad ways.”

Phoebe Brunner Peacock “continues to love living at Watergate South, across the street from the Kennedy Center, in walking distance of museums, galleries, monuments, all that Washington has to offer. I enjoy retirement as much as I loved my work as the Library of Congress Classics Specialist (made possible more by my Sweet Briar Latin major and Greek classes than my masters in Library Science). I volunteer for ad hoc community projects and several committees at the City Tavern Club in Georgetown. I coordinate the Watergate South New Yorker readers group and participate in the building’s book group. I enjoyed my role on our 55th Reunion committee and regret that shoulder replacement surgery prevented me from attending the reunion. I take the

train to Philadelphia to visit my grandchildren, my veterinarian daughter, Mary, and her husband, Phil. Mary’s identical twin sister, Anne, lives in Old Town, Alexandria, Va. and we get together as often as possible.”

Bonnie Pitman tells us that she “continues my work at the Center for BrainHealth developing research and programs on observation and my practice of doing something new each day. Happily, I continue teaching on art and medicine with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. David Gelles, my son, is the lead reporter on Climate Change with the New York Times and keeps us all aware that this is the most critical issue of our times. My grandchildren, Franny and Clark, continue to amaze me with their delight for life and involvement with so many activities. Life is good and we hope to go to Paris this year.”

Nancy Hickox Wright says with a smile “Our CCRC put on their yearly November Follies— including an Ass level skit! Fleet Landing is definitely my kind of place! Along with the skit, I got roped into singing 1950 & 1960 songs in harmony with a small ‘girl’ group. I’m here to tell you that memorizing all the words was harder for me than singing!”

We had both Prescott and Tim with their families up to our old family farmhouse in Frog City, Vt. I did not make that name up although the formal post office address is now Plymouth. The five grandchildren had so much fun they formed a Board of Directors to run the place next year! OMG! I loved seeing everyone at our 55th Reunion and understand why many could not make the trip. As we all well know, it’s not easy to get to Sweet Briar!”

1970

Mardane Rebentisch McLemore

719 Jones St Suffolk, Va. 23434

jlmmrm39@gmail.com

Those attending the Class of 1970’s 75th Birthday Bash had a fabulous time. Everyone enjoyed reminiscing with former classmates and seeing the campus. For the sake of

brevity (which SBC encourages) I have edited out the enthusiastic reviews of our classmates who attended. The following is an informative report from Heather and Barbara.

Heather Tully Click; Barbara Offutt Mathieson: On the weekend of October 13–15, thirty-four of our Sweet Briar classmates, plus a daughter and two dedicated husbands, gathered at the college to celebrate our 75th birthdays. One of us, Dayna Kinnard Shah was celebrating her actual birthday with us. We enjoyed tours of the college’s productive vineyard, apiary and greenhouse, and the recently renovated riding center. A stop at Monument Hill offered a beautiful autumn view of the historic campus buildings below and an opportunity to remember our classmate, Barbara Hastings Carnes, who rests in the columbarium. We were awestruck at the lovely, remodeled student spaces, particularly Reid Pitt and the dorm parlors. The Class of ’72 sponsored the creation of an extraordinary outdoor area christened in 2022 as the Lower Quad, located between Meta Glass and the back of Reid. It offers a venue for special events or simple enjoyment of the landscape. We heard about the Leadership Core Curriculum, learned the energetic Holla Holla cheer from a Sweet Briar student and, most importantly, spent prized time with our wonderful Class of ’70 friends. A very special highlight of the weekend was the collaboration of Sweet Tones and 13th Floor entertaining us in our Hospitality Room in the Elston Inn, which was the center of social activity and witnessed many a toast to the Class of 1970! As one class member said, “Those were moments of pure joy!” In addition, we are proud to report that our Class made a gift to the Christine F. McClain ’71 Research Fund in honor of President Woo. The McClain Fund enables both faculty and students to participate in original research projects, an activity strongly supported by President Woo. We can’t wait for our next gathering! Let’s plan ahead to May 2025 and our 55th Reunion. It will be here before we know it!

Now the news from our classmates:

Lorie Harris Amass: I’m still in Denver, but in a new home in a townhouse community. I knew I couldn’t continue to live alone and life is good here, with interesting and welcoming people. I was launched from a golf cart after my grandson (10), who was driving, hit a tree (who on earth gave him that responsibility??!!). I broke some bones in my sacrum and in a few other places and appreciated the wonderful visits and thoughtful gestures from my neighbors. But, after two months of taking it easy while the bones healed, I fell in my garage and broke my pelvis. Again, there was nothing to do but give it time to heal. I am turning a new leaf to pure health. Note, this was just one fall. Somehow, I still feel life is good. I am more than fortunate to have my sons and their families not too far.

Schuyler Gott Andrews: Bob and I moved to Connecticut to be closer to our grandchildren, which is a delight! We love it here and have just about finished a major rehab of our condo in Fairfield! We had a wonderful trip to South East Asia on a Viking cruise line …Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Amazing contrast of fabulous contemporary architecture and 3rd world neighborhoods. Quite eye opening! We have a new dog named Sparky, who is just a blast! He’s a young boy, full of personality—a Shih Tzu Poodle mix.

Kim Mitchell Bethea: We are happily settled in the Villages, Fla., but still spend our summers in Madison, Wis. We travel to Boston (Arlington, Mass.) almost once a month to see our two whirling dervishes (boys, 3 and 7). Our one big trip last year was our first Tauck river tour on the Rhine, from Amsterdam to Milan, for which we gave a very big 2 thumbs way up. Our most exhausting (but memorable trip) was just one hour away at Disney with the little boys. WHEW! As always, we would love to see any of the SBC friends passing through our part of Florida.

Debbie Ohler Bowman: I’ve had an amazing year of good old learning and growing. The highlights include my total knee replacement that went very well. My sister insisted I not rush things. But … then at six months while I was serving at a retreat, I overdid it, and wrecked the knee,

Class Notes

not the implant thank goodness. After two additional months of PT my knee is back to a great place. In August, I spent two fun weeks of misadventures and mischief on the Greek island Poros. Volunteering, book studies with church, friends’ gatherings all continue to be my highlights, and I’m so thankful. In September—another highlight, a silent retreat—silent all day except for lunch and the evening. Holidays were spent with my sister, brother-in-law and a new joyful puppy at their house.

Baird Hunter Campbell: Bill and I are still living in the Hilton Head area with no plans to move. It’s a central location for our three children, and seven grandchildren, not to mention a golf mecca (for Bill) and a beautiful beach (for me). Life is good! We have lots of visits from family and friends and would enjoy seeing SBC friends who travel up and down I-95.

Betty Brewer Caughman: In June 2020, I married a friend and neighbor who also lost a spouse to cancer. Our boys (his four and my one) grew up together. My son, David, a management consultant, was married a year ago in Charleston where he and two of Ben’s sons, their wives and children live. We’ve not traveled much recently due to a freak accident that resulted in my broken leg! I now understand the seriousness of a fracture, but am back as good as new thanks to a great surgeon and physical therapist. We frequently spend weekends at our home in Blowing Rock, N.C. or in Charleston and expect to be traveling more in the coming year.

Candace Buker Chang: I don’t have any exciting news to report—other than surviving hurricane season in the Caribbean. I was so sorry to miss our class Birthday party, but had promised to take care of my grandchildren, who live on St. John, during the first three weeks of October— AKA "hurricane season". We got a tropical storm the day after I arrived—six inches of rain in 24 hours and some wind, and then another storm arrived the day I left. Fortunately I got to St. Thomas before they closed the ferries, and flew out just before the storm started. The good news is that I’ll go back in January, when there should be no storms—and I’ll be joined then by Jo Shaw Lawson and Jane Gott, so that

should be fun. I can report that Jo had the year from hell: she nearly died of sepsis in February which took her months to recover; then in August, while in Colorado, she fell and broke her femur and had surgery (metal parts and screws) and rehab. When she returned to Memphis they told her the leg repair was a complete failure (screw pulled out, chewed up the bone) so she had to have the surgery and rehab again in Memphis. She is still mending, but doing well. She and I plan to go to Egypt in March, barring further disasters or expansion of the war in the Middle East.

Jonna Creaser Clarkson: All is well here in beautiful Nelson County, Va. The mountains were particularly spectacular this Fall. I keep busy with our farm, animals, and youth mission in El Salvador and enjoy whatever opportunities come up in our community, like volunteering at the Fleetwood trail ride and the Rotary Pancake Day. Our mission team packed shipping boxes that have just arrived safely in rural El Salvador to be distributed to 100 families at a Christmas fiesta.

Our mission representative and her daughter will visit here for a few weeks in January. I have seen several SBC alums: Deb Bowman, ML Moore, Nora Hagar ’92, Janet Page ’87 and Jane Mckenzie Davis ’03. I keep busy, but with very relaxed timing, taking time to be intentional and appreciate each day.

Heather Tully Click: After three years of pandemic precautions, Richard and I ventured out in the world again in May 2023 to see our son Ben and his family who are currently living in Paris, followed by a three week small-ship voyage in northern Europe. It was a wonderful trip but we were ready to get back home after a month of traveling. The real highlight of 2023 (besides turning 75) has been seeing so many SBC friends. I have ridden the train down to Lynchburg from Alexandria (alas, it no longer stops at Sweet Briar Station) and had lovely visits with Debbie Ohler Bowman, ML Moore and Jonna Creaser Clarkson. In the run-up to our Class’s big birthday celebration I had a wonderful phone conversation catching up

with Suzanne Elkins Major who still lives in Oklahoma, raised three boys and recently married “her soulmate”! Susan Holbrook Daly lives near me and we caught up over an al fresco lunch in Old Town Alexandria. And one day I had a surprise encounter with Kate Schlech at the Library of Congress where she is a docent! The planning for our Class of ’70 Birthday Bash in October 2023 involved monthly Zoom meetings with Barbara Offutt Mathieson, Mardane Rebentisch McLemore, Jane Gott, Kay Parham Picha and Nia Eldridge Eaton. The class-wide Zoom calls have also been fun. Isn’t technology great?! Richard and I ended 2023 with COVID, which pre-empted our Christmas plans with our daughter Amanda and her family but didn’t dampen our immense gratitude for life, 53 years of marriage, family and friends old and new.

Emily Gooch Crenshaw: After living in many places I have been in Greensboro, N.C. for 25 years. I have three children and five grandchildren. I love traveling,

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Katie Harris with husband Marvin Rudnick and newlywed daughter Virginia and husband Mark Balch. 2. Sue Holbrook Daly ’70 with daughters Andrea and Stephanie. 3. Left to Right: Connie Haskell, Wallis Wickham Raemer, May Humphreys Fox, Jessica Holzer, Mary Jane Hipp Brock, Frances Gravely, Katie McCardell Webb in Florence, Italy—(Missing: Lorie Harris Amass) ’70. 4. Susan Holbrook Daly with husband Skip. 5. Kristin Herzog ’70 with her painting “Ride of the Valkyries III” at MAC Fine Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

1970

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Lyn Barr Hoyt, Barbara Offutt Mathieson, Nia Eldridge Eaton, Jane Gott, Frances Dornette Schafer, Debrah Denmark at Class of ’70 Bday Bash. 2. Mary Jane Hipp Brock, Pat Swinney Kaufman, Fran Griffith Laserson. 3. Ann Wheeler Ehrich and Jane Gott at Class of ’70 Birthday Bash. 4. Members of the Class of ’70 at their 75th Birthday Party. 5. Stuart Camblos, Marcia Pollock Ragsdale, Jane Gott at Boat House for Class of ’70 Bday Bash.

playing tennis, walking and being with friends. Last year Ron and I drove across the country to California where unbelievably we were in a hurricane in Palm Springs. There’s so much to see when you drive!

Susan Holbrook Daly: Our big news is our younger daughter, Stephanie’s second wedding was in April in Charlottesville. Our daughters have given us five grandsons (all over 6’). We had a perfect day at The Clifton Inn, so a good time was had by all! I’m still enjoying my shop on Cameron St. in Old Town, Alexandria and am fully retired from real estate after nearly 43 years.

Tauna Urban Durand: I missed the BDAY BASH because of a two month case of COVID caught on a cruise to Norway (five weeks) and Great Britain one week). Still I will remember this great trip longer than I’ll remember my bout with COVID. We have lived in Sarasota, Fla. for 20 years now—the longest we have lived anywhere. And we still love it. We have three sons and four grandchildren. The sons are spread out between Austin, Springfield, Mo, and Savannah. Our

oldest granddaughter will graduate from University of Georgia in May, get married June 1st and hopefully, the couple will start medical school after that. Two of our grandsons are in college and the third just entered into the Air Force. We feel fortunate to have our family. Doug and I have kept busy during retirement. Before COVID, we traveled extensively, including three world cruises that changed our lives most profoundly. We feel fortunate to have been able to travel. When at home we both have done a lot of volunteer work—mostly centered around education since that is our background. We would love to see anyone who would like to visit— especially during the fall, winter and spring months. It can get pretty hot here during the summer! I have kept up with one of my roommates from SBC—Carol Covington Bellonby. After years of exchanging Christmas cards, we finally got together about two years ago for the first time in almost 50 years. It was like all those years melted away and we talked forever like we used to do sitting in our dorm room. Life is good and I feel lucky to be a part of such a great class of women.

Elsa Jones Forter: It was great to spend time with my roomie Ann Wheeler Ehrich at the Birthday Bash. Ann and I enjoyed Skyline Drive on the way down. Afterward, I made a quick trip down to Durham N.C. to see my granddaughter in a fencing tournament and also to celebrate my grandson’s 14th birthday. I’m in touch with Emmy Moravec Holt who didn’t make it to the bash, but hope to connect when she is visiting her daughter in Chapel Hill and I am in Durham again.

Nia Eldridge Eaton: As you know I’m spending my dotage in museums: Brandywine River Museum (American Art pivoting around the Wyeth Family—NC, Andrew, Jamie) and Winterthur Museum (Home, Garden & Library of Henry Francis DuPont). In March, I volunteer as Ambassador at the Philadelphia Flower Show. It’s essentially a Help Desk role fielding every good & oddball question from the public … always a fun & wonderful way to get my butt kicked into spring.

Put Mundy Ebinger: Having celebrated my 75th birthday, the 50th anniversary of my marriage

to Charley Ebinger, the 20th anniversary of our god-daughter’s marriage and the graduation and admission to Dartmouth of her eldest son Will, it was quite a summer this year. We spent the entire season in Nantucket and returned to the DC area in October. We joined friends for Thanksgiving and will visit with Cheryl, Mark and the boys for Christmas. We plan to return to our travels abroad this spring.

Ann Gateley: In 2023 I traveled to Greece, Albania, Italy, Scotland, Mexico and the Netherlands. Coming up in 2024 is Italy, Japan and Croatia before SWW (Sweet Work Weeks). My health is fine—out with an old knee and in with a new one. My gallbladder was donated to a useless organ bank. I am still cycling. SWW and our class birthday were terrific. Peace and love to our classmates and to the world.

Jane Gott: Ron and I ended 2023 grateful that Ron has been placed on a newer drug for Parkinson’s which controls his symptoms better without bad side effects. He has joined three zoom groups for speech therapy

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Ann Tedards, Karen Hartnett, Elizabeth Smith, Betty Glass, Kate Schlech, Kay Parham Picha, Susan Lykes Mueller, Heather Tully Click, Mardane Rebentisch McLemore, Nia Eldridge Eaton, Betty Rau Santanrea, Debbie Ohler Bowman, Jarrett Dudley, Emily Gouch Crenshaw, Lyn Barr Hoyt, Mary Scales Lawson, Jane Gott, Debrah Denmark at Monument Hill. 2. Emily Gooch Crenshaw, Carol Covington Bellonby, Nia Eaton Eldridge. 3. Barbara Offutt Mathieson, Heather Tully Click, Karen Hartnett, Ann Gateley ’70. 4.

Left to Right: Ann Gateley, Mardane Rebentisch McLemore, Kate Schlech, Laura Sickman Baksa, Jane Gott, Betty Rau Santanrea, Elsa Jones Fortner ’70. 5. Mary Scales Lawson, Marcia Pollack Ragsdale, Ann Gateley ’70.

and exercise, and we found a local group really close for Parkinson’s patients and caregivers. I am taking an art history and painting zoom class. The 75th birthday reunion was fun beyond words. I was astounded by the dorm improvements. How I would have enjoyed the Reid Pit of today. The furniture was comfortable!!

Deborah Hand: I’m afraid I don’t have much to report as I am in a nursing home in Brockton Mass. and it isn’t very exciting. However, Christmas was rather festive and I’m looking forward to the new year. I wish you and all SBC friends a happy, healthy and prosperous 2024! I just finished listening to Professor Penfield’s

who included a Paris stop on their honeymoon. Really sweet! Here in Southern California, I’ve had nary a sighting of a ’70 classmate, but I did drive to Santa Barbara for a very nice lunch hosted by Georgene Vairo ’72 in August. The other alums who attended were very smart and interesting! I missed the 75th party because I’d long promised to host a party for Marty Baron when his book Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post was published—highly recommend.

Kristin Herzog: This year was a quiet one for me. I stayed home and painted in between work on my mini job and full-time occupation as a cat slave to KoKo. Though I’ve had dreams of travel and far-off lands, my desperate search for more space in which to paint landed me with a builder whom I’ve named Godot. We have now started construction, which is slow but better than nothing. I’m hoping we’ll be done soon as I’m leaving this spring for VCCA and SBC. I can’t wait to go. The one excursion I did manage was to the MAC Gallery in Ft. Lauderdale last month for their season’s opening. It’s always so validating to see my paintings hung in a professional gallery. They look so much nicer than in my studio. I’m looking forward to a much more exciting 2024!

formational experience was in St. Francis’ Assisi. His work with lepers and the poor sets such a crystal clear call for a simple lifestyle of serving others. Returning home right before my Christmas scramble has raised many questions to be pondered as to how to celebrate next year.

Page Kjellstrom: I retired to Florida quite a few years ago. I keep busy with tennis and other activities and travel a lot. I usually organize trips for friends and their friends so we have been to Scotland, southern and northern Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, Austria, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania and Sicily. I even managed to see some of Bavaria and the Passion Play in Oberammergau last year and the tennis at Wimbledon again this past summer. Scandinavia next year! I volunteer for the Little Mo Tournament in Florida, as well as a few other charities. I try to keep up with seven godchildren, some of whom are married and have their own children, and my twin nieces in Richmond and Charleston. I saw Lorie Harris Amass when she came to Florida last year, and have seen a number of SBC classmates over the years.

presentation about ethical leadership on the SBC lifelong learning page. It was most impressive and I recommend it to all who believe in the value of a liberal arts education. It reminded me of my religion class with Trygve Skarsden (a visiting instructor from Yale); it was very thought provoking. SBC is a special school and I hope it continues to thrive.

Katie Harris: In September, our family had a happy wedding—daughter Virginia wed Mark Balch in Austin. Afterward, Marvin and I went to Paris, having last been there in 1977 (that is not a typo). There we celebrated my birthday with a rooftop dinner organized by Virginia and Mark—

Emmy Moravec Holt: My year has been both busy and fulfilling. Lots of trips—Australia, New Zealand, England and Croatia. A favorite one was with Connie Haskell to Sicily. Bill and I are healthy and love spending time with our nine grands—eight boys and one Swiftie! I continue to work with children diagnosed with dyslexia, a practice I’ve enjoyed for many years. I’m now working with children of parents whom I taught to read.

Deborah Jones: John and I are both reasonably well, still COVIDfree but also still pretty self-isolate. I am hoping that changes soon. I still swim 35–40 minutes/day and that keeps me sane. Looking forward to our 55th!!

Lawson Calhoun Kelly: Our big news of the year was a pilgrimage to Rome, Assisi, and Florence with our small church in the mountains. The highlight in the Vatican was Michelangelo’s Pieta, which shows signs of resurrection life in the corpse of Jesus, subtle but obvious in the raised veins in his extremities. Our next trans-

Fran Griffith Laserson: This was a year of celebrations for my bi-coastal family. We all cheered as my daughter Galen graduated from UCSF Medical School and her daughter, Ellis Ladd (2) was christened in San Francisco. Then we gathered on the East Coast with daughter Tenley and her family to “warm” their new home in Quogue. It was joyful to have my three granddaughters in one place. I celebrated a fabulous 75th at the Lake Austin Spa with my daughters, my sister and my niece. Happy 75th to the Class of 1970!

Mary Scales Lawson: Jeff and I have lived in Greenville, S.C. since 1979. We have loved being a part of the evolution of a small city that now has all the amenities of a major city. We are thrilled that both of our daughters chose to live in Greenville. Our son lives in Charlottesville. We have six grandchildren, ages five to 12, four in Greenville and two in Charlottesville. We also have a 19 year-old cat who never scratched or hissed at a grandchild no matter how many times her tail was pulled by toddlers. I have an addiction for art and decorative arts. I

worked at the Greenville County Museum of Art until I retired in 2011. Now, a friend and I have an antiques business that allows us to enjoy objects, learn about them, and then pass them on. We often feel we run an adoption agency, finding new happy homes for these objects. I have had setbacks as we all have. Mine was a significant stroke in 2018, one week after my youngest granddaughter was born. It affected my right side, and I couldn’t move my right arm or leg. I spent six weeks at in-patient rehab, and then came home in a wheel-chair with a caregiver. Out-patient therapy ensued and continues five years later. One of my therapists told me that with strokes there are no milestones, only inch-stones, but over time, inches become miles. It is true. I am still a work in progress, but I can do most things that are important to me.

Barbara Offutt Mathieson: It only took one evening of peering in confusion at everyone’s Birthday Bash name tag before I could clearly see the 20-year-old girl I remembered in each face. It was such fun to spend time with so many old friends on campus. Phone conversations with classmates before the reunion were also delightful. Here’s an

informal report on several who couldn’t make it to the reunion: Lalita Shenoy Waterman told me about her still-thriving law career in the San Francisco Bay Area; Lorie Harris Amass spoke happily about her wonderful family and life in Denver; Mary Kelley was awaiting shoulder surgery that prevented her traveling to reunion. Vicky Steele also suffered some injuries from her career that slowed her down, but she is now happy to be drawing again. It also was fun to reconnect by phone with a few classmates who transferred before graduation: Jane Rush Davenport shared her joy in her new mountain retreat home outside Greenville. Debbie Hand said that when she left for Washington University in St. Louis, the first person she met there was Christy Love, who was getting her teaching certificate and a Masters in French. On my small farm in Oregon, Tom and I keep busy with fruit trees, flowers, chickens, and our grandkids. I also spend lots of time with Buddhist meditation, my passion in the second half of life.

Mardane Rebentisch McLemore: This has been one of my busiest years—lots of travels. I began the year with a trip to Costa Rica, in March I took a month

long trip to Australia and New Zealand and then in June took my family to London, Normandy and Paris. I had my usual two weeks at the beach on the Outer Banks, and then in the fall went to the panhandle of Florida with my sister Sally Rebentisch Randolph ’74 and her family. I hadn’t been in over 25 years and was shocked at the growth and changes. After our 75th Birthday Bash at SBC in October, I spent a few days in the hospital with kidney stones (ouch!), an almost septic UTI and pneumonia—then over Christmas I got COVID. Oh well, we’re at that age! I love playing golf and am in two ladies golf associations. I also love bridge and play socially as well as duplicate. I volunteer and am in several book and social clubs. All is good—but busy! I see Betty McLemore who has had some serious health issues, but still maintains a great sense of humor. I also visit with Kathy Rawls ’75, Ellen Saunders ’75 and Brenda Darden Kincaid ’68 who lives in Lynchburg but returns often to her home town of Suffolk, Va. I have three children (Norfolk, Richmond, and DC) and five grandsons who are now substantially taller than me!

ML Moore: Since leaving Oregon about three years ago for the Amherst area, I have enjoyed

Sweet Briar offerings, mostly walking regularly on their beautiful trails (bringing back memories of riding). The recent 75th Birthday Bash was terrific fun, and seeing many old friends and catching up was often hilarious. SBC, as usual, did a masterful job corralling us all for the myriad activities. Having moved three years ago and ‘updating’ an old house, I came to realize inexplicably that I wanted to move again and am now outside of Charlottesville. So now I’m living in a tiny house furnished with cardboard boxes. I’m hoping that I’ll live long enough to get settled for the last time.

Mary Jo Petree Murphy: Another wonderful year in Colorado with good friends, tennis, dog Salem and visits to and from my three children. Everyone was here for Christmas. It was fun!

Kay Parham Picha: We take four to five big trips per year. This fall I took a Jazz Cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. David and I moved to River Landing, in Colfax, N.C. almost four years ago. We have enjoyed getting to know new friends and staying active. There is always someone to do things with, just like in college. We travel, play games, enjoy concerts and wonderful meals. We have met some fun new people. We are taking a class about UFOs or UAPs, history and motorcycle travel all taught by residents. We have two children and four grandchildren who live locally, so we enjoy watching grand-kid sports, too. I like this age.

Wallis Wickham Raemner: Sweet Briar buddies: Connie Haskell, Wallis Wickham Raemer, May Humphreys Fox, Jessica Holzer, Mary Jane Hipp Brock, Frances Gravely, Katie McCardell Webb and I celebrated our 75th birthdays in high style in Florence, Italy this past October. We had a week together at beautiful Villa Olmi on the outskirts of the city. Mary Jane Hipp Brock and May Humphreys Fox, and I enjoyed a trip down memory lane, visiting Piazza Savonarola where we studied together during our junior year at SBC—55 years ago! We even had lunch with May’s Italian boyfriend, Chico! We all learned how to make fresh pasta at a cooking class, toured Santa Croce and the Medici Palace with Frances’ fabulous associate, Paola, whom she met through “Vietri”,

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Left to Right: Laura Sickman Baksa, Jane Gott, Barbara Offutt Mathieson ’70. 2. Nia Eldridge Eaton ’70 at Winterthur’s Chinese Parlor during Yuletide. Don't let the Veuve

1970 Cliquot on the piano fool you—no toasts for me house allows no liquids my champagne is epoxy. 3. Schyuler Gott Andrews ’70 lively shitzu poodle mix—in a rare calm moment. 4. Kay Parham Picha ’70 and ML Moore ’70 at Pippin Hill Farms near Charlottesville. 5. Kay Parham Picha ’70 with Greensboro Mascot.

Spring 2024 Sweet Briar Alumnae Magazine

her fabulous Italian housewares business, and celebrated our 75th with a special dinner planned by Jessica and MJ!! It was quite a reunion! Carpe Diem to all!

Marcia Pollock Ragsdale: Along with my seven teenage grandchildren, I’ve been busy with two new kittens that are rescues and into more than the teenagers. I don’t know if my Christmas tree will survive. I’ve had email from Candace and Jo, and along with Stuart hope to get together in the future. Will spend New Years at our mountain place at Caesars Head and planning some trips in the spring.

Joanne Hicks Robblee: Paul and I are enjoying our seventh year of living in Lexington, Va. We enjoyed our cruise around the United Kingdom in August, and the three days in Iceland before the cruise were a real treat. Busy with volunteering. One of my new endeavors is teaching a class for the local Hospice Center called “Ducks in a Row.” This class, which meets monthly for six months, helps folks pull together important documents and information as they make end of life plans. Sounds morbid, but I get to meet interesting folks and there is lots for everyone to learn, including me.

Betty Rau Santandrea: I bookended the SBC Bday weekend with visits to Lynchburg friends and my son’s family. I lived in Lynchburg 28 years after we graduated, but am now in northern New Mexico. I am planning to travel to Tuscany late April with Roads Scholar, followed by a train ride from Firenze up to Lausanne, Switzerland to see my daughter and her family on their sabbatical year from Cornell.

Tracy Savage: It killed me to miss our gig in October. I’d gotten super pumped about seeing everyone, and after the phone call with “Groovin” in the background—I really teared up. I am doing what I can to reframe my next chapter. Since Jeremy’s death last spring, I have gradually come to realize how much focus he brought to my life. I’d been independent for so many years (56) before we married 18 years ago. I figured returning to “my former self” would be simple. Not. But learning, adjusting, re-thinking—these feel like healthy things, even if the soul is a little out of whack. I will stay in Saratoga

Springs, N.Y. for most of the year. It is a community I cherish, with good friends and loving family nearby. We had a little bungalow in Naples, Fla. where we spent the depths of winter. The jury is out on that—will try it in January—we’ll see. Gotta find warmth. Location is up for grabs. Reconnecting with friends from the recent and distant past is a compelling endeavor—missing the B-day reunion at SBC felt like a blow to the gut. But have my travelin’ shoes on: did a bunch of short visits to long-lost buddies in August & September; took Jeremy’s children & grandchildren to Tuscany in late September; went back to see Virginia family twice in December, and am designating 2024 to be the year of quality time with relatives and comrades of every sort. I am doing a good bit of volunteer work—exploring a few things with Wellspring Saratoga—a center for assisting survivors of domestic violence. I am on the Board of my prep school alma mater, Madeira, and just fished nine years on the Board of Norfolk Academy. I still do the tiniest bit of consulting with nonprofits in their fundraising efforts, but am on the cusp of full retirement. How I wish I could have heard the goings-on of so many SBC women—what they’re doing and how they’re thinking about the times they are in. I was relieved (stunned frankly) to actually recognize so many from the October pictures—bless all for taking & sending them. Other than having drifted a bit from my musical affinities, I am glad to be “upright and above ground” as they say. I have my health, my energy, and my optimism. I do wish our world—from Congress to Gaza to AK-47s—might collect itself just a bit. I remember learning about centrifuges in high school—sometimes I think we’re in one. May not be able to wait until 2025 to see some Sweet Briar folks. Beware, I might be knockin’ on your door in ’24.

Kate Schlech: What a blessing to see so many dear friends at our 75th birthday party with lots of singing, lots of laughs, lots of stories. So I’m putting out the call now for all of us to convene for our 55th in 2025. Little changes in my life as I have neither spouse nor kids nor grands to report on. I’m just a retired old bag doing miscellaneous volunteer stuff

(that I love). But I’m heading to Patagonia, Tierra Del Fuego and Easter Island for 3 weeks in February so you’ll get a full report on that in my next missive.

Betty Glass Smith: I had a great Christmas and am looking forward to 2024. Seems health issues have been on the forefront this year, especially for my husband Bill, who turned 80! He developed numerous gastric issues and had major shoulder surgery, but is doing better. He just can’t do all the things he wants to do. We both are enjoying quieter times. Highlights of the year were my visit to SBC for the Birthday Bash and a long visit in the summer by my oldest son and his family from Olympia, Wash.

Ann Tedards: Looking forward to our next reunion in May 2025 as it was so much fun reconnecting with everyone at the 75th Bday Bash. Meanwhile I’m navigating retirement from 30 plus years of teaching music at the University of Oregon. Grateful to have landed all those years ago in such a beautiful part of the country.

Katy Warren Towers: I continue to feel very blessed with good health (although I do have more aches!), good times with friends and family, good travel, good outreach opportunities, and good learning experiences. God is so good to me! In 2023, I got to go to Morocco AND to Turkey and loved both countries. I also made fun trips to Baltimore, Nashville, and Key West as well as several places in North Carolina and Mobile. I’m trying to travel while I’m still able—but I also realize there really is no place like home!

Katie McCardell Webb: I am almost blissfully “retired “from various higher education activities which have provided stimulation for the past twelve years. Gene and I were blessed to travel to London and Paris this summer with other grandparents with whom we share two grandchildren. Very special!

Hope everyone has a great 2024! Don’t forget to begin thinking about the 2025 Reunion!!!

Jill Johnson jilljohnson@isisllc.us

Mary Sue Morrison Thomas

msuethomas@gmail.com

Ellen Brown Apperson reminds us to remember the experiences we had, about 50 years ago, as we got caught up in the student strikes and the Civil Rights movement. From that time, many of us took an interest in travel and foreign languages and set our sights on ambitious goals. Ellen majored in music and then went on to earn advanced degrees in German, Liberal Arts and History and is so glad she did. As she looks back now, she feels satisfied with her choices and very pleased with her children and grandchildren—ever so thankful for their support and encouragement. Ellen encourages us to look at her digital archive at the following site: www.adirondackactivism.com

Under her artist’s name of CC Elian, Claudine C. C. Elian Clarke’s work is featured in two shows on artists who work with language—one show is at the Art Center in Pasadena, Calif. and the other is an international show online. The accompanying links are for a Print Magazine review by David Heller of the first and the other to the artistic research project itself. www.printmag.com/ daily-heller/the-daily-heller-quasi www.researchcatalogue.net/view

Dierdre Conley made it to Reunion in June 2023 to participate in her second 50th Reunion with the class of 1973 with whom she graduated, although she started with 1972 and is officially 1972. Jeannette Pillsbury was also at Reunion and led a wonderful memorial service remembering Alumnae lost in 2023. DeDe sang in the memorial service choir for the first time and got to know several impressive musical alums from multiple classes. Before Reunion, DeDe attended a nephew’s wedding in Wilmington, N.C. and was privy to the excellent hostess skills of Sarah Von Rosenberg, along with Marty Neill Boney, Jane Powell Gray and Mary Pat Moore for a weekend at the beach. DeDe

continues his work in the wine industry in Sonoma and daughter, Katie, continues as a busy nonprofit executive while raising a 14-year-old daughter.

enjoyed a delicious dinner and overnight stay with Jane Powell Gray and husband in Raleigh, N.C. After Reunion, DeDe and husband Gerard finally made it back to France after four years of COVID and enjoyed being back in their second home after so long. At a stopover in Madrid, she saw a fabulous interactive media Monet exhibit and got to see Guernica for the first time. DeDe is now working on learning Korean for a future adventure and has become a kpop and Korean drama fan! She recommends language books with the new technology “audio” pens which provide pronunciation audio at your fingertips.

Dale Shelly Graham and husband James are glad to report they are in good health and doing well. Their wonderful news is that daughter Lily in Charlotte, N.C. is expecting their first grandchild March 2nd. After several years of enjoying only grand dogs, they can’t wait to welcome a baby boy to the family.

Martha Holland and husband, Chris Iribe, finally broke out after COVID and went back to Europe in the Spring of 2023. In mid-May, they flew to Naples and boarded a small cruise ship for a trip around

Sicily and Malta. The weather was awful—cold and rainy for the Mediterranean that time of year, but the trip was great. They saw many Greek and Roman ruins and learned the history of the islands. They disembarked in Naples and flew to Dublin for a bus trip around Ireland, which was beautiful: warm and sunny for two weeks. They joined friends for the trip and had a grand time. They were gone for 28 days. In October they welcomed their third grandchild, a second granddaughter. She is growing very fast and Martha loves holding her.

Beverly Dommerich Horne and Sade Dabbs Fryer enjoyed Sundowners in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, Namibia, Africa. Together they traveled on to Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.

Jill Johnson and MarySue Morrison Thomas are inspired with the responses of exciting news from so many alumnae to share with our class for the Alumnae Magazine Spring Edition. Thank you to all who freely came forth with such vivid communication. To everyone reading this, never fear; if you missed out, you will have another

opportunity to participate at the same time next year. We do our best to accommodate.

Cinda Pierce Lawrence sends news that last May she and classmates Penny Walsh Gilbert, Jeanie Mann Hardesty, along with Patti Reardon Riggins joined Cutler Bellows Crockard in San Antonio to celebrate Cinco De Mayo. The lively group enjoyed four fun days of talk, laughter and reminiscing plus The Alamo and margaritas. Linda Odum was unable to join them but made special brightly colored Sweet Briar pink and green potholders for the travelers.

After nearly 24 years of founding and leading the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University, Peggy Outon Morrison retired on June 30th only to turn around on July 1stt to open Excelsior Consulting. Peggy reports that she is thoroughly enjoying her new life since she and husband Paul celebrated their 50th anniversary in May. They took a memorable trip in the fall to Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, remarking about such physical beauty where the warmth and stories of the people were the best part. Their son, Ross,

Kitty Adams Murphy summarizes her life as hectic, blessed and quite ordinary. Though she is physically challenged by the ongoing toll of RA and global lymphedema, she continues to take advantage of opportunities to help and share camaraderie. With the Garden Club of Nashville, Kitty takes part annually in Weed Wrangle (removing invasive weeds from local parks), the native plant sale (to benefit Cheekwood and other community gardens), and recently served on the committee charged with evaluating which grant applications to fund in 2024. She is working with another member to try to build an educational exhibit demonstrating a functioning aquifer for the upcoming zone meeting and has recently joined the committee that is trying to identify the most sustainable and impactful project to celebrate GCN’s 100 years. Kitty is still researching a paper on the soil carbon sponge—a task she relishes and will probably continue as long as she lives. On the lighter side, she continues to play bridge twice a week and delightedly reports that she and husband Pat and son Colby have become huge Predators hockey fans, watching nearly every game. Kitty and Pat also take thorough advantage of the Nashville music and theater scenes, enjoying the incredible symphony, opera, local theater, author talks, and the occasional comedy club program. Kitty did have two surgeries in 2023: a reverse shoulder replacement along with three more knuckles, and surgery to remove 25% of her 27-year build-up of lymphatic waste in her arms. Thankfully both surgeries improved life. Beyond that, Pat and Kitty continue to serve as doormen and kitchen help for their two senior golden retrievers. Life is good, no, better than good in the Murphy household. Kitty expresses sincere hope that 2024 will bring some classmates to Nashville to visit them.

Jeannette Pillsbury is grateful for all the communications she has with our class. In the late fall, classmate Carter Frackleton

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Sade Dabbs Fryer, Deborah Wilson Hollings, Elizabeth Williams Bowman, and May May Bryan Gay at the Spring Carolina Cup Steeplechase in Camden, S.C. 2. Carter Frackelton, MarySue Morrison Thomas, Jill Johnson, Mary Heller, and Janet Nelson Gibson at one of Carter’s many Sweet Briar mini reunions held throughout the year. 3. Cinda Lawrence Pierce, Jeannie Mann Hardesty, Cutler Bellows Crockard, Patti Reardan Riggins, Penny Walsh Gilbert, sporting Linda Odum’s (missing) colorful potholders. 4. Sade Dabbs Fryer and Beverly Horne Dommerich enjoyed Sundowners in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, Namibia, Africa. 1972

Class Notes

brought a young friend, a prospective student, to campus at Sweet Briar for a visit. It was great to share time with them. At the end of December, Jeannette had a great visit with Frances Stith Nilsson and her husband Ed who were driving home from a holiday family gathering.

Holly Smith said Sarah von Rosenberg helped her sail through her hip replacement over the summer by providing lots of useful advice. Holly enjoyed corresponding with her roommate, Sue Jensen, after reconnecting at the 50th Reunion. Holly’s Garden Square News magazine continues to flourish and is now in its 28th year of serving London’s communal garden residents. Her most recent cover story detailed how Airbnb customers are positively impacting garden squares.

Deborah Hollings Wilson shared that May May Bryan Gay, Elizabeth Williams, and Sade Dabbs Fryer joined her and husband Michael at the Spring Carolina Cup Steeplechase in Camden, S.C. for a fun day at the races. Deborah further reports that on April 26, 2023, her husband Michael received a new kidney after being diagnosed with chemo-induced kidney disease. She extends heartfelt gratitude for all the prayers and messages from the class. Their son, Chris, subsequently started “Find My Living Donor”, a non-profit focused on helping patients find donors using social media. Once the doctors gave them the green light in October, Deborah and Michael went on a relaxing trip to Beaulieu-sur-mer, France to visit family and friends. 1974

Bonnie Chronowski Brophy biancabrophy74@gmail.com

Mary Landon Darden has been enjoying working on our 50th Reunion committee. In October, 2023 she and husband, Bob, caught up with Holly Hoffman Frazier and husband, Dan, in Lynchburg, Va. At SBC, they visited friends and toured the new Greenhouse, then went on to Wilmington, N.C., to see Susan White Hough and husband, Bruce. Both are planning

to attend Reunion in May. Mary is working on her third book and looking forward to semi-retiring in May 2024. Bob retired last May.

Leslie Elbert Hill traveled a lot last year: to see her grands in North Carolina, and to Maine with Susan Stephens Geyer, Jane Hutcherson Frierson and Elizabeth Andrews Watts Staying at a lovely seaside resort, they took long walks on the beaches, ate a lot of lobster, and enjoyed the dense rows of blooming hyacinths. In August, she cruised the Danube from Budapest to Prague with a neighbor, spending several days exploring the cities along the way. Leslie keeps very busy in Arlington, Texas with her grand, participating in the many women’s church activities and the Dallas SBC Book Club, and engaging in her addiction to Octordle, Connections, and Waffle. She’s looking forward to seeing many of us at our 50th Reunion!

Ann Stuart McKie Kling reports, “Lots of travel in 2023: Newport Beach, Calif. in Feb. and Thanksgiving; Charleston, S.C. for Mother’s Day with my daughter,

Shelby; Saugatuck, Mich. in July; girls’ bike trip to Willamette Valley, Ore. in Sept.” She is also doing treasurer work for a fledgling non-profit which focuses on school shootings and also participates on Sweet Briar’s historic preservation committee. Bill continues to work on new product ideas, the most recent being a specialty mouth rinse. Ann Stuart is enjoying helping with our 50th Reunion Committee and really looks forward to seeing classmates at Reunion in May, 2024.

Deborah Pelham Bigum and Randy continue to enjoy their summers in North Carolina and winters in Miramar Beach, Fla. Lindsay, Dan, Natalie and Alex live in Norfolk, Va. Lindsay is excelling at Pickelball tournaments and Dan is an orthopedic doctor. Courtney lives in Atlanta working for Equifax and completed her MBA from Wake Forest. Debbie feels very fortunate to be in good health and share memorable moments with our family and friends!

Elizabeth Thomas Camp traveled North to see the color this Fall and was able to have lunch

with Robin Christian Ryan during a stop in Boston. Robin had just returned home from a trek to California to visit her son’s family. We missed our daughter, Sophie, and grandchildren who were being entertained royally by my third floor Reid roommate, Ellie Plowden Boyd, in Southbury, Conn. We held a four score celebration honoring Jack in Georgia.

Boxwood Girls Barb Ashton Nicol, Paula Hollingsworth Thomas & Emory Furniss Maxwell joined the celebration. Jan Renne Steffen began a business in copper and silver jewelry after her husband passed away. Her jewelry is sold at shows and fairs in San Diego county. Five years ago, she moved from California to Arizona just 20 minutes south of Sedona. Jan has joined a few quilting and weaving guilds and owns a long arm machine with a 12’ frame. Jan enjoys her three dogs—a Shitzu, Lhasa apso and a lab/curly haired dachshund mix.

She also reports she is seeing a nuclear submarine captain who was at Annapolis the same time as our class.

Deborah

Country

1.

FROM

Wis. 2.

L

Pam

and other friends

Big

Pam

Suzy Castle Rolewick and other friends. 3. Robin Christian Ryan and Liz Thomas Camp share a few laughs in Sept. over lunch in Boston. 4. Boxwood Girls Barb Ashton, Emory Furniss, and Paula Hollingsworth, with husbands Robert, Charles and Steve join Liz and Octogenarian Jack Camp to ring in the next Decade. 5. Janie Reeb Short and Betsy Biggar Hellmuth at the memorial service in Cleveland for Betsy's father, December 2022.

CLOCKWISE

TOP LEFT

Standing L to R: Bonnie Chronowski Brophy,

Cogghill Graham,

Marcus Bagley; Sitting

to R: Suzy Castle Rolewick

at

Foot

Club,

Bonnie Chronowski Brophy,

Cogghill Graham,

Janie Reeb Short checked off a bucket list item in May by traveling to Provence to take an 8 day “en plein air” painting workshop led by well known painter and SBC Alum, Jill Steenhuis ’80. She is still doing some part time estate planning consulting but her husband, Win, went cold turkey May 1 from his law practice. They are both enjoying more time to travel and focus on their grandchildren. One of our twin granddaughters (17) has been accepted as a Presidential Scholar to SBC. Janie has her fingers crossed that she will attend.

Julie Shuer has been living between LA and Tel Aviv for the past 10 years but decided that her home is on the shores of the Mediterranean. Her son and his family of three little girls live in Jerusalem and one of Julie’s daughters is a nursery school teacher in Tel Aviv. Needless to say times are trying but, “Together we will win”.

Lee Wilkinson Warren celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary to husband, Charles, having married before she graduated SBC. 2023 was a year of travel for Lee, following the passing of her mother at 100 years-old! After a short trip to the Dominican Republic, Lee and Charles spent two weeks in Greece as well as two weeks in western Canada and other trips with the grandgirls to DC and Monticello. Though retired, Charles still fills in for area judges and Lee continues her spiritual studies, leading a Zoom group with Canandians and Americans. Lee and Charles are grateful their son-in-law is cancer-free (leukemia) and are celebrating their son’s recent engagement!

Lynn Watson Norfleet writes that she is blessed with five grandchildren! She is looking forward to spending our 50th Reunion with my sister, Lee Watson Lombardy ’82, on campus.

Mary Witt writes, “Our 50th reunion is coming soon! I know the time has flown; many classmates are already planning on attending. The committee is busy talking with classmates about plans to return.” Mary is busy and happy in Richmond and reports that most of her free time is spent taking care of her energetic, beautiful and friendly four year old cockapoo, Angus. Mary enjoys having time to spend with friends over coffee or lunch, especially at

the Virginia Museum of History and Culture where she has learned so much history!

Mimi Hill Wilk is so thankful for her health and happy family. She says, “Our Reunion adds the spice we need to keep up with our dear friends. Viva la SBC!”

Nancy Blackwell Marion shared that in 2020, her husband, Dave, died after a six-year-long battle with cancer. That same year, she sold her office building in Lynchburg and moved her office to a smaller 1850s house she had downtown. The next year, she finished clearing out her big house and sold it. Nancy is still working, publishing books, walking her dog, and loving life. She has met a very nice man named Chuck, whom she spends a lot of time with.

Ruthie Willingham Lentz finally understands her clients who said they were so busy in retirement that they didn’t know when they ever had time to work! She has enjoyed lots of traveling (Colorado and Tahoe), entertaining friends and staying engaged with church activities—Vestry, Outreach, Endowment, and weekly soup kitchen ministries. She recalls her fond JYA in France, as she attends a monthly cocktail hour of a dozen Francophiles who gather to drink wine and speak French—in anticipation of Memphis in May celebrating France in 2024.

Victoria Bates is completely retired now, but her husband, David, still does some Applied Math research with colleagues in Germany, Spain and Sweden. They are getting out more now that COVID seems less threatening. David has taken up electric guitar and Victoria enjoys puttering with lever harp. She has taken up birding again and is having fun learning to recognize the local birds. She and David are finally redoing their patio and installing a succulent garden at their Southern California home. Plans for 2024 include a trip to the Greek Isles!

Barbara Ashton Nichol is looking forward to our 50th reunion! She still resides in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and has been married to Robert for 32 years. Together, they have six grandchildren—one in south Texas, two in Mobile, Ala., and three in the Atlanta area. Her son, Chris (42), is getting married for the first time in April at their home. Robert

1974

and Leslie Elbert Hill enjoyed being together in Maine.

2. A gathering in Virginia Beach of Sweet Briar friends in celebration of artist Jill Steenhuis, SBC Class of 1980. From Lft to Rt: Molly Reeb Nissman ’77, Janie Reeb Short ’74, Chic Grones ’79, Ellen Harrison Saunders ’75, Ann Kiley Crenshaw ’76, Sergio Ruffato (Son of Jill Steenhuis), Claire Dennison Griffith ’80, Jill Steenhuis ’80, Keedie Grones Leonard ’76, Sally Old Kitchin ’76, Maria Kitchen Moore ’04.

3. Sweet Briar Gals in Provence taking a painting workshop from SBC Alum Jill Steenhuis. From L to R: Marcelle Niles ’90, Janie Reeb Short ’74, Jill Steenhuis ’80. 4. NicolSchiller families Dec. 2022. 5. Mary Witt and Angus, her four-year-old overactive cockapoo.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Susan Stephens Geyer, Elizabeth Andrews Watts, Jane Hutcherson Frierson,

has had some challenging health issues the past two years with five surgeries. Barbara and Robert stay busy with church activities and visiting grandchildren.

Bonnie Chronowski Brophy writes from New Jersey that she enjoyed her trip to Palm City, Fla., for Pam Cogghill Graham’s annual Derby Day party with husband, Jim. Pam is the hostess with the mostest! It was fun also to see Debbie Hooker Sauers and husband, Gary (who hosted golf), as they, too, reside at Piper’s Landing. She feels particularly blessed to be able to spend so much time with her two grands who live close by, and savored time with them on Nantucket in August. Bonnie had a blast on Lake Geneva, Wis., visiting Suzy Castle Rolewick, along with Pam Cogghill Graham, Deborah Marcus Bagley and other friends at her lovely home, the equivalent of a 5 star resort! (Sadly, Drea Peacock Bender and Debbie Hooker Sauers weren’t able to make it this year.) Dinners, lunches, games, boating and a tribute Neil Diamond concert are only a few of the highlights. Jim and Bonnie finished off the summer with Helen Travis at her ancestral home, The Homestead, and at the beach at Laurel Hollow, N.Y. Family gathered again for a spectacular wedding weekend in Rhode Island at the Chapel in Watch Hill and reception at the Weekapaug Inn in October. She can’t wait to see everyone at Reunion!

1976

Lynn Kahler Shirey

Rock Moore House 121 Duke Street Alexandria, Va. 22314

LynnRShirey@gmail.com

Class President Sally Mott Freeman reports that it has been too long since she sent a class note, perhaps because she sees and talks to so many class members throughout the year—and also because she spends quite a bit of time at Sweet Briar! This marks Sally’s seventh year on the Sweet Briar Board of Directors, fifth as Board Secretary plus service on its many good committees—most recently on the presidential search committee. She is thrilled to now be chairing the inaugural committee for dear friend and president-elect, Mary Pope Hutson ’83. Sally is blessed to continue five decades of memorable times with our one-and-only ’76 thespian queen, Megan Morgan, including a recent ‘road trip’ to Sperryville (much tamer these days but no less fun!). She had some excellent 2023 gatherings with our fearless class secretary, Lynn Kahler Shirey and (also at Lynn’s) a great catch up with Maureen O’Hearn Slowinski and Tennessee Nielson. This past fall she had a short but full gabfest lunch with Meg Shields Duke and Caroline Bickel McLoughlin when Meg was in town. Meanwhile, with Treacy Markey Shaw, Tricia Cassidy O’Callahan and Kate Kelly Smith (the fearsome foursome), she rendezvoused at Treacy’s mom’s 90th birthday celebration (in Greenwich) and also a NYC weekend of culture, cuisine and so much laughter, joy and conversation. Tricia snagged four tickets to “Summer of 1976” on that trip—an excellent show and topical treat for ’76ers. Her work on the board of the muchloved Writer’s Center continues, as does the Pentagon Memorial Foundation Board, which is working to create a Visitor Education Center near the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, similar to the ones in Shanksville, Penn., and NYC. Now that COVID is behind us, she’s back on the road doing book talks on The Jersey Brothers—most

recently to the Military Order of World Wars in Lynchburg. She will be keynoting the annual commemoration of the USS Houston this March. Time for these efforts is in good part possible because husband John vows he will never quit working. They did take a bucket-list trip to Morocco this past year—“highly recommended.” She enjoys chasing around their three single-digit grands—Mott (3.5) and Penny (1.5), and Riff (1) who is in San Diego. Along with Lynn Kahler Shirey, Kay Ellisor Hopkins, Sally Old Kitchin and the entire class, she looks forward to planning our FIFTIETH (yikes!) Reunion! While we had 19 classmates on campus for the Ookie Hayes bird observation tower dedication, Sally hopes we can quadruple that number in 2026!

Marsha Horton reports that “it finally happened!” She and Bobby are both retired! Bobby retired for the third time last year and, after more than 50 years in education, Marsha retired in August and is loving the freedom and flexibility. During the summer, she and Bobby did a short getaway to Hampton, Va.; she and daughter Jazz did a girls’ trip to Atlanta; and, with her sister, hosted a Black Girls Rock Weekend for the nieces (Jazz and her brother’s daughter, Sophia). They topped it off with moving Jazz back in for her junior year at Creighton University. They both enjoy being very busy at church. Their son is out on his own, exercising his entrepreneurial spirit—so they are essentially empty nesters. She enjoys being able to just get up and go when she wants to and they plan to do more of that—and asks her classmates to share news of nice, inexpensive getaways!

M Larkin Barnett enjoys owning her own Pilates Studio (called Pilates Evolve) in Spokane, Wash., within Vida Spa and Wellness! She continues her passion of teaching movement since receiving her degree in dance from Sweet Briar.

Karina Schless said goodbye in November to her horse and best buddy “Angus” (32) who she had cherished for 22 years. She misses him terribly saying, “he loved his cookies!” She took her usual trip to Red Rock Ranch in Jackson, Wyo., with cowgirl friends in September and will be

heading to the Hideout Ranch in Cody, Wyo., next September. In May, she will be traveling back to Italy with a UK friend—“traveling while I can!” In April, she visited Chelsea and South Kensington in London, where she grew up. She still finds working for 10 doctors to be busy and fun.

Susan Paulson is enjoying a busy but quiet retirement routine of spending time with three grandchildren, staying active at church (singing in the choir and once in a while filling in as organist) and taking advantage of good weather and beautiful parks and trails around Colorado Springs. “Life is good!”

Kari Andersen Shipley is busy with fundraising, board work, painting, hiking, riding when she can, taking care of her mother (92) and spending time with grandchildren. “Life is rich and rewarding and blessed beyond words!” She spends relaxing time painting, with all sales going to charity. This year she painted covers for three books and won best in show in North Carolina, where they spend summers in the mountains. She enjoys playing golf and getting together with Liz Day Dalrymple ’78 and Meg Shields Duke during the winter months in Delray Beach. She is very close friends with Barbara Gracey Backer ’71, as are their children. Kari keeps in touch with Cindy Webb ’77 and Linda Guardabassi Michael ’77. Catherine Adams had a busy fall. She is still working part time with her friend, Christine Fox, in her boutique in Warrenton—it has been 33 years! She’s also Conservation Chair of her garden club, and on the Garden Club of Va. Committee, so keeps up with current issues. In September, she had a dream trip with Jane DeButts Kates to Lake Como, the Dalmation coast of Croatia & back to Venice aboard the Sea Cloud II; “I would recommend a trip anywhere on that beautiful ship! Virginia Spangler Polley and husband, David, are enjoying life on Lookout Mountain. She graduated with a MSL degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in May, and received a certificate to be a Rule 31 mediator. She is now doing pro bono mediation for medical debt. She and David are continuing their import business for LVT flooring (everStep Flooring LLC)—no retirement for them! They travel

to see their son and his family (a boy, 2) as often as they can. And Virginia is transitioning out of showing horses.

Ann Works Balderston and husband, Big, are now residents of Wyoming and have settled into their new home, Sky Ranch, in Bondurant, Wyo., southeast of Jackson. Sarah ’09 is an ER and oncology nurse in Jackson and Maggie ’11 is employed by the Jackson Hole Winery—so both are close by. John is a senior consultant at Deloitte and lives in DC, but finds his way out to Wyo. on a regular basis. They spend 4 months in Pittsford to stay in touch. She and Big love having plenty of space and lots of projects!! “If you get out this way, give me a call!”

Andie Yellott shares the sad news that her dear Mother, Anne Benet Yellot ’51 passed away in May; she cherished her years at Sweet Briar and is sorely missed. At Thanksgiving she “took leave of all my remaining senses” and picked up a two-month-old Bluetick Beagle puppy, having conveniently forgotten just how much time and effort a young puppy requires. Fortunately, he and her old Coonhound girl get along famously. Both of her sons live in Baltimore with their wonderful partners; both are struggling artists, but at least they are following their passions. She remains in touch with Workado.

Sally Old Kitchin moved! The months-long restoration of a one story 1950s house is finally finishing up. It is very near her daughter and her family, old friends and their church. Her new address is: 1112 East Bay Shore Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23451. Her cell number is the same (757-641-6575). [Your secretary adds that Sally is the catalyst behind our wonderful class ZOOMS, and is a special glue that holds our class together. Thank you, Sally!]

Kay Ellisor Hopkins and husband, Joe, celebrated their 45th anniversary in 2023, and took a road trip in August to escape the Texas heat. They looped through North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Claire Dennison Griffith ’80 gave them the VIP tour of SBC; the Kentucky visit included Bourbon Trail stops and Churchill Downs; in Nashville, they visited their son and his wife. Three granddaughters (10, 8, and 1) continue to be a delight!

She enjoyed representing SBC at college fairs this fall and as our class’ stewardship co-chair. She gets together with Cissy Humphrey, Tennessee Nielsen and Beth Bates Locke from time to time—“always fun!”

Hilda Dent found a contractor last summer who took over her historic window restoration business of 25 years, and is now a semi-retired consultant. In August, she went on a three week walk-about to Ann Arbor, Mich. (staying with son, Horace, and fiancé Catie), to Montana on the Empire Builder, 966 miles touring Montana, back to Michigan and then to Frederick, Md., for Preservation Trades Network. Horace and Catie married in October in Ann Arbor, after 16 years! Son, McCormick, and partner Wren are with her in Montgomery. Now she’s helping write up Window Restoration Standards for architects.

Maureen O’Hearn Slowinski and husband Hill had an exciting summer with two fun weddings. Their son, Brooke, married Zoe Grotophorst at Glenview Manor in Maryland in June and, over Labor Day weekend, daughter Erin married Ryan Chakroff in Stone Harbor, N.J. Their two granddaughters Caroline (4) and

Cameron (2) Steed proudly led the processions in both ceremonies as the cutest flower girls ever. Lynn Kahler Shirey and husband Steve attended both weddings. Your class secretary continues to enjoy her passion for antique Packard motor cars—particularly the invitation to show her 1934 Super 8 Formal at the Amelia Island, FL Concourse d’Elegance last March; and leadership roles in the Old Dominion Packard Club and the Classic Car Club of America. Participating in Sweet Work Weeks continues to be an obsession, and there are multiple flower beds on campus for which she feels special ownership! Gathering with SBC friends Maureen O’Hearn Slowinski, Sally Mott Freeman, Tennessee Nielsen and Janet Whitehurst Binder ’75 at Christmas was great fun. She also treasures SBC neighbors Saralee Cowles Boetler ’79 and Gail Rothrock Trotzo ’64, and visits her Father (94) daily. It is with a sad heart that we mourn the passing of our beloved classmate, Lisa Nelson Robertson. Lisa died on Dec. 30 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. There will be an opportunity for us to remember her as a class with a special gift at our 50th Reunion.

And, to “The Class who Can’t Say No,” this is your early reminder about scheduling for our upcoming 50th Reunion—just 2 years away! NOW is the time to put early June 2026 on your calendar!

1978

Suzanne Stryker Ullrich suzullrich@aol.com

What a year it has been! Are any of you still recovering from the rush we all got at our 45th Reunion? It still amazes me how diverse a group we are, how accomplished we all are on so many levels. How wonderful it was to talk with such bright and interesting women. I wish there had been more time to just sit and chat, with all of you. For now, we will share our news here. Anne Taylor Quarrels Doolittle has had her time filled with horse, art and family! Her horse, Roy, has completely recovered from a broken jaw and having Hunter Davis’s horse, Max, next door to him, Ann gets to see Hunter often. It was a busy year with her Outer Cape Arts Collective, a group of 23 artists who met and worked together

on

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Karina Schless’ horse Angus. 2. Maureen O’Hearn Slowinski, Sally Mott Freeman, Tennessee Nielsen, and Lynn Kahler Shirey celebrate the announcement of new SBC President Mary Pope Hutson ’83 in the Amherst New Era-Progress. 3. Sally Mott Freeman’s grandchildren Mott, Penny and Riff. 4. Kari Andersen Shipley’s award-winning painting. 5. Maggi Balderston ’11, husband Biv, Ann Works Balderson, son John, and Ann. 1976

zoom during the pandemic. They had their first art show at a venue in Provincetown, Mass., this past Fall, which was a great success. She and Bob went to Japan last spring and to Egypt in September. What diverse cultures! In between trips from Nashville and the Cape, there are frequent visits to see Betsy and her family who have moved to a new home in Crosspoint in the Fairfax Station area of Virginia.

Lenore Cox wrote that she and Lisa Spruill Darby celebrated their November birthdays together with some of their other friends, ending in a magical evening. “The friendships, bonds and memories we made at Sweet Briar last forever and that is one reason SBC is so special!” Isn’t that the truth!

Nancy Robinson Lindbergh and Mike ended up in Greece during the hottest summer in history! “I’ve never sweated so much. I was however properly supplied with multiple sunscreens, and I can say that I returned as pale as when I started.” With the new year Nancy and Mike were hoping to travel to Belgium and the Netherlands and later hiking in the Dordogne. A trip to Iceland last summer had to be postponed but they are hoping to go to Norway in November, Nancy adding “I won’t need much sunscreen then!” Too funny!

“Things are well in Lexington” reports Toni Christian Brown. With Maggie Laurent Gordy living nearby the two classmates get together for tea at Maggie’s house often and they have even taken a road trip to see Mo Moffett Kyle. Toni’s midlife crisis car, a Z3, is the perfect car for a road trip up to Staunton for lunch, with the top down of course! Maggie and Toni hosted a Sweet Briar social out at the farm house last September which was attended by about 18 guests. Cindy McKay and Muffy Hamilton Parsons arrived a day early to help plant flowers and polish a little silver. Toni commented “we couldn’t have done it without them.” It was a very fun gathering, which included Holly Cromwell, and may be the beginning of the Valley Vixens club! Toni’s husband Jim is slowing down with the real estate business yet Tony still manages the office with daughter, Claiborne. Jim stays busy doing rotational grazing for a farmer on their land. Toni also stayed busy with her horse, Dan,

who had been injured, bringing him home from another stable. It made it easier to take care of him. Toni and Jim have started planning a trip out to the Southwest later this year and Toni was looking forward to a mini reunion with Muffy, Cindy, Lynn Spillman Williams and Suzanne Stryker Ullrich in Williamsburg this spring, after the crew had a grand time in Florida last Spring. When not keeping up with friends and animals, Toni stays busy with quarterly trips to the beach in South Carolina, keeping up with the grandchildren who live 10 minutes away, attending many activities, riding, singing, swimming, and lacrosse!

It was a year for retirement! Cannie Chrysler Shafer wrote how much she enjoyed attending our 45th reunion last spring, “getting to see and visit with such an interesting, positive and fun group of women!” While still adjusting to being retired, Cannie is teaching only one or two times a week, volunteering at her church office, mentoring in the graduate Department of Education at UPenn and going to the gym over the winter. Cannie stays active with indoor tennis and simulator golf! Some trips in 2024 will include NYC and Seattle to visit their children.

Edie Baird spends a lot of her time taking care of her mother and pets since she retired last February, which gives her much joy. She looks forward to spending time in 2024 with friends in Powhatan scrapbooking and doing various crafts. She also plans to work with her nephew on their family history. After having such a wonderful time at our 45th, Edie was hoping to attend her 50th high school reunion in June. (Think a lot of us are in that boat!)

After going back to teaching high school chemistry, Lee Carollo Boyes wrote that she was now six months post-chemo, and loving being back with her students. In November, Lee had recently gotten back from my son and daughter in law’s celebration of their newly adopted son’s first birthday! She had a lovely Christmas with her grandson (14 months) and 90-year-old parents, claiming it was “quite a generational gathering!” Recovery continues to go well and now it is just (fingers crossed) wait and see if all the treatments worked. For fun, I am riding again with a friend and

1978

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Kim Hershey Hatcher’s daughter Lynn and fiancé Will Bensur. 2. Susan Negaard Harley on one of her last business trips in Phila., meeting up with fellow Bio major Suzanne Stryker Ullrich … just before Susan’s retirement! 3. Mo Moffitt Kyle, Maggie Laurent Gordy, and Toni Christian Brown together for lunch. 4. Sue Griste Russell, Muffy Hamilton Parsons, Janet Smalley Todd, Jane Lauderdale Armstrong, and Ann Yauger getting together when Muffy was in Atlanta. 5. Cathy Mello Goltermann ’78 and son Woody at his wedding.

walking the dog. I have enjoyed the online Zoom meetings we have had for the class as well.” Always on the lookout for a student who might be a good fit for Sweet Briar, Lee has a junior in one of her classes for whom she hopes Sweet Briar would be a good fit! We should all keep our eyes and ears open for prospective students!

Melanie Bowen Steglich wrote about something we are all probably feeling these days, saying, “The older we get, the busier life seems to be.” How very true! After selling his dental practice Lee and Melanie are enjoying retirement however Lee likes to stay busy—he is teaching Tuesdays at Texas A&M Dental School and helping out a friend with his practice on Wednesdays. “That gives me two

days to do girl things!” With their Taiwanese ‘kids’ living in Dallas, Melanie and Lee feel blessed to have two adorable little girls to dote over. “We are Grandma Melanie and Grandpa Lee! I truly understand what it is like to have precious grandchildren!”

After a busy year last year, dealing with losing her mother and working with her brothers going through generations worth of things at the house in Michigan, Katie Renault Baldwin wrote in that theme things seem to have settled down a little. Her youngest daughter has a little boy who turned one in December. Katie was thrilled to have been able to go down for his birthday. “I see my oldest daughter and her two girls once a week and right now I am

just trying to keep busy. I’m already looking forward to the spring with less rain and mud and more light.”

Katie stated also “I guess we are all going to be a little busy going to our 50th high school reunions this year. That’s a little scary!”

It’s great to hear from Dudie Jimenez DiLeo! After leaving Sweet Briar, Dudie went to University of Missouri. She is married to her high school sweetheart Tony and was happy to report that they have two married children and five grandchildren who are great fun to be with. Two are nearby and three are in the Midwest. She keeps in touch with Anne Key Lucas and enjoyed hearing about Ann’s trip to SBC for our 45th Reunion. Here’s hoping you will come back for our 50th, Dudie!

Ann Thrash Jones enjoyed two 45th Reunions. The first was with Bob at W&L and the second was with our GREAT Class of 1978 this year. “The campus looked great and it was such fun to reconnect with everyone. The Greenhouse tour was amazing!”

Both being interested in history and the background information about Sweet Briar, Jane Hemenway Sullivan and Ieke Osinga Scully have spent time in, of all places, Ludlow VT. For Ieke, it started with a memory of playing on Monument Hill, climbing trees and seeing Elijah’s monument between two big boxwoods with Ludlow, Vt., etched in it, followed by a skiing trip in Ludlow! Bells began to chime in Ieke’s mind! Ludlow, as it turns out, is the birthplace of Elijah Fletcher, Indiana’s father. Jane, who serves on the Board of Trustees of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, and was in Plymouth Notch (Coolidge’s birthplace), Vt., to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Calvin Coolidge being sworn in as the 30th president of the United States. It was this visit to Vermont that took Jane to Ludlow. Jane found the Fletcher Homestead which is now a Community Arts Center in town. There was also a house built by the former governor, Indiana’s uncle, which is now a resort hotel. “It was quite a wonderful find, and quite remarkable to see that the Fletchers’ emphasis on education and giving back to the community is still alive and well in that little corner of Vermont. All of the students at SBC should know this. Indiana

was a businesswoman in New York City. Daisy Williams was a NYC kid and she died in New York as a NYC woman. Indiana was indeed a businesswoman and an educational visionary. She got that educational vision from the Fletchers who instilled the importance of education for women!” This is indeed a part of the Sweet Briar history that we should all know about and celebrate. Jane and Ieke are going to continue to investigate and explore the Ludlow part of Indiana Fletcher Williams heritage.

Jane continues to be very active with her ladies club, the Women’s National Republican Club, which hosts all types of speakers and even supported our Savings Sweet Briar auction. Jane remarked that if anyone needs a cozy place to stay in NYC the WNRC is the place to be. It has spectacular views of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and right around the corner from Rockefeller Center with all of the shows and museums close by. While being very active in the SBC alumnae group in New York, Jane also went to an SBC event at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut, organized by Katie Keogh ’88. Unfortunately, Jane was delayed coming down to campus for Reunion. Jay threw out his back so was unable to come, Jane missing the fun pre-party held at Maggie Laurent Gordy’s house. She did

however jump on a train, much the way Indiana Fletcher Williams had done so many times from NYC, to make it down for most of Reunion. One of the highlights was spending time with Nelly Osinga ’75 and Ieke Osinga Scully. Nelly had been in remission from her cancer however a month later it came back sadly. Nelly was a huge supporter of Saving Sweet Briar and will be dearly missed, but not forgotten. “Last September, retired and active duty FBI agents (members of the New York FBI Office) were honored by the FBI for their status as 9/11 responders. The ceremony was held at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan. FBI Director, Christopher Ray honored me and other agents and support employees with recognition, a letter of commendation, and a gold medallion, specifically designed for “Service over Self“ after the 9/11 attacks. Jane continues to compete with her dragonboat breast cancer survivor team and reports their team is #1 on the East Coast. They will be going to Europe again next year to compete again. Her team, The Empire Dragons, practice out of the World’s Fair Marina in Flushing, NY. A recent trip to DC to celebrate her dad’s 97th birthday was attended by the whole family. “He’s like the Energizer Bunny, keeps on going!”

Carol Baugh Webster experienced a lot of changes during the past 18 months. After a long battle with Alzheimer’s, her mother Elisabetha Baugh passed away and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with her father. “She will be sorely missed”. After selling their home of 27 years in Hendersonville, Tenn., Carol and husband Tim moved to Ormond Beach, Fla. They are loving it so far and enjoy having friends and family visit. Carol retired in September 2022, closing her marketing consulting business, Cassell International, and admits to really enjoying retired life. “This is a beautiful area and I am obsessed with the many rocket launches happening at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral. Tim and I both look forward to spending more time together, finally working on some long dormant hobbies and doing some traveling. We hope to see Sally Ann Polson-Slocum when she is down in the area early this year”. Katherine Powell Heller hasn’t written in for a bit so had lots of news to report. Having raised only girls she admitted to being a bit nervous with the addition of a second grandchild, John Whittaker George, born in December 2021. Whittaker (2) joined his sister, Virginia (3 1/2). With joy comes sadness, and just before Whittaker was born,

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Mimi Borst Quilman, Meg Richardson Wiederseim, Ginny Craig and Poppy, Suzanne Stryker Ullrich. All ’78, together on the patio at Mimi’s. 2. Inaugural SBC Club meeting

1978 of the Valley Vixens! Left to Right: Cindy Mckay, Maggie Laurent Gordy, Muffy Hamilton Parsons, Lee Ramsey Simmons and Holly Cromwell. 3. 1978 at the pre-party in Lexington at Maggie Laurent Gordy’s. 4. 1978 Reunion photo—class picture taken on campus at Reunion. 5. 1978 in front of Grammer at Reunion. 6. Cocktails at the beach—Tim and Carol Baugh Webster

Class Notes

Katherine had to say goodbye to their 15-year-old Havanese and 10-year-old Golden Retriever in early 2022. She reported that for a while she enjoyed treating Whittaker as her new puppy stating that he was much more adventurous than either of the dogs and required constant surveillance when in her care!

Katherine and John started traveling again post COVID with a cruise to the Arctic in June 2022 which resulted with Katherine getting COVID on day three! After three attempts to rebook and complete a cruise to Antarctica, they were finally able to go in mid-February this year. That takes care of John’s bucket list items, with Katharine’s being a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands in Spring 2023, immersing themselves in tulips! With all of the fun Reunion activities this past Spring, Katherine also mentioned how excited she was to see her freshman hall-mate, Robin Stuart Noble, who came in from California introducing her friend to places in her past while the two were east for his family’s reunion. Katherine and Carey Johnson Fleming see each other when they both vacation at the beach in Hilton Head, sharing loads of fun stories no doubt!

How wonderful to hear from Leslie Anderson Battle! “In Jan. I stay busy with golf, yoga, and gardening. I also manage the care of my mother, who is 95. But the loves of my life are my four grandchildren! We are enjoying traveling again: trips to London, Paris and Burgundy last year. Another trip to England is planned for Jan, and to Amsterdam in April. We spend increasingly more time in our home in Linville, N.C., during the summer months and into Fall. I keep in touch with Katie Brown Eney.” (Ok you two, put our 50th on your calendar now! People miss you!)

Leigh Ramsey Simmons continues to have strong connections with France. She reports that she now feels ‘like a shrimp’ next to her grandchildren Emmie (16) and Marius (11). Her daughter came to the US for the Christmas holidays. Leigh was already looking forward to seeing their son and his family back in the US in March. The whole family will be together again when Leigh and her husband travel back to France in October for a visit. Leigh and Maggie Laurent Gordy are regular ‘thrift-

iers’, always contemplating their next adventure, to Adamstown, Penn., Spring 2024.

Carrie Ruda Clark writes: “2023 was an eventful year. We are blessed. Church vestry and discernment responsibilities proved demanding, yet rewarding as this summer we called a wonderful new rector. For recreation, I keep plodding along with landscaping and enjoy our backyard birds. Despite persistent COVID symptoms, in May, I hosted our families and many of Jim’s friends from all over for his 70th birthday. August brought a 10-day trip to Ireland with 39,000 other Americans to support our beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish as they challenged Navy in Dublin. Unforgettable! Kids seem happy. No grandchildren, only dogs!”

Sally Ann Polson-Slocum mentioned that 2023 had been a good year, with good health and the opportunity to see many family and friends, including many from our SBC 45th Reunion. She continues to be president and CEO of MedWatch, a medical management company, and she loves the continued challenges of each day. Despite the rigors of work, Sally and Bill have continued to travel with a recent trip to Africa (Eight game drives in South Africa and Botswana, a visit to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, receiving a warm welcome in a remote village in Namibia, stopping at many world class wine estates before finishing up in Cape Town). Seeing Penguins on the southernmost tip of Africa was a treat! In December she and Bill visited Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, “countries numbers 98, 99 and 100 for my husband Bill!” This bucket list trip for both of them— around New Zealand—included many ports-of-call while visiting the scenic sounds and fiords of southern New Zealand. “We found each country to have a rich blend of cultures, breathtaking landscapes and very friendly and welcoming people.” When not traveling Sally Ann loves hosting friends at their lake house in Virginia. (Sounds like the perfect place for a mini-reunion—Hint, Hint!)

More news from the St. Louis area! Cathy Mellow Golterman wrote that her son, Woody, married his soul mate, Thamara from Brazil, whom he met on their first day of law school. It was ‘magical’, said Cathy, with grandson (19 months),

William, being the ring bearer. The family was able to be together in Salem, N.Y., where hubby, Chris, performed the ceremony. Woody and Thamara are both attorneys in NYC. Grandson William (daughter Christen and Peter’s son) will be starting at the pre-school where Cathy teaches so seeing him everyday will be a treat! Cathy’s other twin-daughter, Catherine, moved back from Arizona and loves her new teaching job at Mary Queen of Peace, and enjoying being back home. Cathy was looking forward to being a camp counselor this coming summer and spending time in Minocqua, Wis., this summer with family.

Kim Hershey Hatcher wrote that their son, Georgie, and his wife, Alex, had their second child—Liza Ann Hatcher, born December 2023. One granddaughter, Olive, turned three this past January. (Hopefully a couple opportunities for a Legacy student!) Kim’s daughter, Lynn, became engaged in October to Will Bensur, son of Sally Ann Sells Bensur ’79. “The kids say that Sally Ann and I planned it back in the 70s at Sweet Briar! This year George and I will celebrate our 47th wedding anniversary. We were married when I still had a year to go at Sweet Briar.”

Ginny Craig came north from Florida last October and got together for a mini reunion at Mary Goodwin Gamper’s home in New Hampshire. Mary, Mimi Borst Quillman, Meg Richards Wiederseim, Addy Eshbach Donnelly and Ginny were all together for their almost annual event. There is always a lot of hiking to be done, and they all went to the Center Sandwich Fair. They also met up at Barbara Behrens Peck for some Fair Fun! On the return home, with her new puppy, a stop at Mimi’s in Pennsylvania included a great afternoon on the patio with Ginny, Meg and Suzanne Stryker Ullrich. There is never enough time when classmates are together!

Lauren Place Young was very excited to report that she and Chris are now grandparents! Elora Emma Meyer was born in January 2023 to daughter Makenna and her fiancée ‘Chris’ Meyer. They live just under two hours away from Lauren and Chris in South Hero, Vt., on Lake Champlain. In April, 2023 their oldest son, Jake, was married to ‘Lauren’

Brais. They reside in Boston and Jay (Peak), Vt., which is about 45 minutes from Barton, Vt., where Lauren and Chris live. “Chris and I occasionally get caught stuttering with the additional Chris and Lauren in the family!” Lauren and Chris consider themselves lucky after the severe flooding last July in Vermont. Their property abuts the Barton River. It took a while but they were finally able to get their two tractors going. This past summer until mid-December Lauren and Chris were able to enjoy time at their 1882 Bristol, Rhode Island home. “The painting contractors are almost finished but we’ll have to return next March to finish the exterior.” Their second child, Brittany, lives in Maui and is surfing every day!

Brittany was however able to pull herself away and visit the northeast for three months this past winter. Lauren ended with “we feel blessed to have my Chris moving around more and more, a bit more active compared to the last two years since his stroke.” Indeed, he has come a long way!

Lisa Wray Longino reports “that our 45th Reunion was such fun with the exception of a few blips ( IYKYK). George and I enjoyed a late summer lunch in the North Carolina mountains with Kathy Howe, Dru Oswalt, Mary Stewart, Cannie Shafer, Deb Klein and their cute husbands. We are also looking forward to some future travel this year. I keep in touch with Betsy Ryan Glenn, where we swap new book suggestions with each other and complain about how exhausted we are!

And that leaves myself and Muffy to report on! After a very busy 2022 and 2023, all leading up to our 45th, we were both a bit exhausted, yet exhilarated. As Muffy put it ”2023 was a very busy year highlighted with our 45th Reunion which was a total blast. It was great seeing our sisters who came from all over to be at SBC.

We had a wonderful pre-reunion party at Maggie’s beautiful home in Lexington, which was the best way to start reunion festivities! Of course, we were all excited that Suzanne was awarded Alumna of the Year!” There was ‘no rest for the weary’ as Muffy was on to serious planning time for her and Don’s oldest son’s wedding. James married Rachel in October in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Thanksgiving weekend was also a little life changing for Muffy with the birth of their first grandchild, Brooks Simpson Parsons, to Devon and Spencer, living north of Boston. Traveling to meet Brooks in mid-December was fun and memorable! “I continue to be thankful! It’s a joy to be in touch with our classmates, plus I get to have lunch often with Cindy McKay! Priceless! Our doors in Columbus are always open and ready to have a dinner party. The mantra is ‘will travel for parties!’” Rick and I, along with Liz Williams and Chuck, and other friends of theirs, were finally able to take the long awaited, COVID-delayed sailing trip on a catamaran in the BVIs in early May. How lovely it was to rock on the water, and snorkel, along with a few Painkillers! Liz and Chuck made sure we saw all of the best spots and restaurants (when not cooking for the gang on board!). Sadly, Rick’s father passed away while we were away. Luckily, Rick was able to say goodbye by video. A memorable trip, on many levels. Sometimes I feel that I am still recovering from all of the fun times in Lexington and on campus in June! The planning and implementation of everything went well, but you can bet that plans are already in the works for our 50th! Nature abhors a vacuum so it didn’t take long for mine to get filled! After being involved in a knitting class from a woman in Norway (online) for about six months, I became aware that some particular wools were not yet available in the U.S. Wheels turning! After speaking with Cindy McKay who has a knitting shop of her own (Yarn It and Haberdashery in Columbus), I dove into importing and selling some lovely wool from Norway. (Who, at 67, starts a knitting yarn business?? Only a Sweet Briar alum who has been told ‘There’s nothing that we cannot do!) SUFibers (how original~) went live last September and has been building momentum. Thank goodness the kids aren’t in the house anymore. It feels like the Tribbles have invaded! After numerous weddings this year, (one being the above mentioned one in OH and another in RI for Lauren’s son) life slowed down until Hugo Carl Ullrich, Ned and Mariah’s third son, arrived on the

living room rug! Yes, Ned was in such shock that Ben (3 1⁄2) had to inform us! Gus (not-quite 2) was still at daycare and missed the excitement! We travel to Buffalo, N.Y., where Alex and his sons, Leo and Dylan, live and Vermont to see Ned and his, as often as we can between Rick’s travel for work. (He promised only for a couple more years!) Andrew and his daughter Laurel (7) live relatively close but we still wish we saw them more often. I’m still busy with (too) many volunteer groups (Colonial Dames, Community Board, an Admissions Ambassador for SBC, and doing all sorts of Class related things), but it does keep the brain working, so no real complaints! I hope you will all plan your own mini reunions to keep the fabulous Class of ’78 energy going! You all are truly remarkable, each in your own way!

Until next time—

Hugs, Suzanne

1980

Vickey Clarendon Richter vrichter@comcast.net

Carson Freemon Meinen: I have enjoyed spending time traveling to Denver to babysit my grandson. I survived nine days alone with a 10 month old while my daughter and son in law traveled to Germany for work in May 2023. I forgot how much energy a young one takes, but I loved every minute. We are expecting our second grandson in April and excited that this one will be in San Antonio and easier to visit.

Carolyn Hallahan Salamo: Still living in Frederick and just trying to make it through each day since my son was killed in a car accident three months shy of graduating from Hampden Sydney in January of 2021. My daughter is a Marine and I did see her briefly over Christmas. I finally have time to sort through things and am getting rid of stuff I should have not kept but as a single mom (husband died in 2010) just boxed things up and moved on. Now is the time, but some days the memories are hard. Hugs & Love to all.

Claire Dennison Griffith: I can’t believe I have been at Sweet Briar for almost 9 years! It has

1980

FROM TOP 1. Spring 2023 at The Hermitage: Lisa O’Hara Faulkner,

Sally Gray Lovejoy, Kim Wood Fuller and Janel Hughes Wiles. 2. From left, John and Janel Wiles ’80, Claire Dennison Griffith ’80 and husband, Luther.

been an honor to work with so many wonderful alumnae, as well as the students, faculty and staff on campus. I look forward to planning our 45th Reunion next year! Luther and I will be celebrating the marriage of our younger son, Charles to a great Texas girl (both are TCU alumni) in August.

Michele Baruch Jeffery: Since October 7th our family has become very angry. The massacre in Israel; the burning of live babies, beheading of parents in front of children, kidnapping of people of all faiths and nationalities has heard no outcry. My family is disappointed in so many ‘friends.’ I experienced antisemitism at Sweet Briar. It was unpleasant. My father, our commencement speaker, spoke about and warned against this. I hope Sweet Briar will eventually do a better job than many universities in the US. It’s a shameful time.

Lisa Faulkner O’Hara: I had a great mini-reunion weekend in Nashville with Sally Gray Lovejoy, Kim Wood Fuller and Janel Hughes Wiles this spring. Also became a first-time member of the grandparents club when our son and his wife welcomed their baby daughter in September. I hope everyone in the Class of 1980 is healthy and doing well!

Mimi Walch Doe: Tom and I split our time between Concord, Mass. and Austin, Texas. We are

both still running our respective businesses and loving our lives as grandparents. The ultimate juggle! Top Tier Admissions, the education firm I founded 20 years ago, has grown leaps and bounds and is keeping me busy. The college admissions landscape has changed yet again and I’m so proud of the ethical and amazing team of women I work with! Love to see any classmates in Texas or Massachusetts. Cheers and here’s to rocking our lives at 65+.

Patti Snodgrass Borda Mullins

15 10th Ave Brunswick, MD 21716

Pattibmullins@gmail.com

Liz Hoskinsen: My life revolves around volunteer garden-club commitments, which have me planning tours of the many gardens, rooftop farms, and historic sites of NYC; reviewing grants and doing site visits; and working with residents to re-plant street trees in NYC; a new book club with the leader from the Morgan Library. I’m still riding, and still involved with eventing through the Millbrook Horse Trials and committee work for the USEA; the pickleball tsunami swept through, and I’m part of a group of women and a few good-natured men who are all quite the players. I see classmate Rhoda Harris lots — these enduring friendships are one of the outstanding legacies of my four years of Sweet Briar—and have genuinely enjoyed the SBC NYCarea get-togethers. I’m looking forward to working in my garden(s) this year once winter has passed, and travel is high on the wish list for 2024.

Consuelo Martinez Quattrocchi: I look forward to enjoying the Arizona sun in Paradise Valley with classmates Brianna Brown, Jean von Schrader Bryan, Lele Frenzel Casalini, Nancy Daugherty Davidson, Jane Dure, Marie Engel Earnhart and Molly Finney Grenn. In October 2024, I will walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, pilgrimage to the burial site of St. James the Apostle, with Brianna, Jane, Lele, Molly and Nancy, We’ll start in Porto,

Portugal, travel along the Atlantic coast to Galicia, Spain. Hopefully, we’ll have enough energy to travel further north to Luarca, in Asturias, Spain, home of my paternal ancestors.

Lucile Redmond Flournoy: I retired from the custom frame shop that my sister Frances Redmond Malone ’75 sold this past year after 25 years in the business. Tom and I have been traveling, first in a 44-foot Class A RV and then in a 30-foot Airstream camper. Camping all over the US has been great fun. We hope to go to Alaska in 2025. In September, we spent a month visiting Morocco, Egypt and Tanzania, traveling with our niece and her husband. We were the first tourist group into the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco after the devastating earthquake that hit. Then in Egypt we toured the pyramids and temples. We spent five days on the Nile in a small 20-cabin boat called a Dahabiya. It was then that the war in Israel broke out, which made us a bit nervous. In Tanzania we had wanted to see the great migration, but global warming changed the schedule, and it had already occurred. Still, on the fabulous trip we saw plenty of animals. Lee Watson Lombardy came for a visit after our trip.

Lee Watson Lombardy: I retired from the City of Orlando in April after nearly 24 years of service. I immediately hit the road with my husband, Warren, celebrating retirement and 30 years of marriage. We enjoyed a trip to Italy, Belgium and France. Other travels include trips to Nova Scotia and to my hometown of Columbus, Ga., where I caught up with Lucile Redmond Flournoy. I finally was able to participate in Sweet Work Weeks over the summer, painting and pressure washing around campus with Liz Kauffman and Jean von Schrader Bryan Heather Pirnie Albert: This has been a year full of travel: spent August in Iceland, Greenland and the Arctic. We are to be in Antarctica in January. On top of this, we moved from Dallas to San Antonio, Texas, in December. We spent October sitting with my granddaughter (6) for two weeks in Atlanta: What a tornado! Reason why I had children in my 20s.

Monika Kaiser: I traveled to Germany twice this year to give my

sister a well-deserved break from caring for our 90-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia. I have been doing this for the past several years. Living in Florida, I enjoy walking my dog Freya and cooling off in the pool. Husband Richard retired from PepsiCo. Our son Julius lives with us and works close by at Science Cares, while daughter Alexa is living a happily married life in Largo, Fla., with her husband, Dallas.

Molly Finney Grenn: Adjusting to an empty nest, as daughter Grace is doing well at William & Mary. I look forward to a trip to Spain and Portugal in October–with Jane Dure, Brianna Brown, Nancy Davidson, Consuelo Martinez Quattrocchi, Lele Casalini—to walk Camino de Santiago!

Kit Parks: After three years of full-time traveling, I have settled down in Johnson City, Tenn., where I bought a home with a decent yard so I could get back to my gardening. I’m looking forward to the great hiking in this area and to getting involved in my new community. I continue to host the Active Travel Adventures podcast, where I feature fun hiking, biking and paddling adventures around the world that regular people can do on their vacation.

Monty Tripp: After a wonderful family-filled Christmas in California, Don and I scooted home to celebrate our 39th anniversary and complete the final renovation of our near century-old house in Arlington, Va. It’s time to celebrate! We expect Juliet Jacobsen Kastorff ’84 to be one of our first guests. Others are always welcome!

Catherine Miller: 2023 was a very busy and wonderful year. My mom turned 97 and enjoys good health. Our granddaughter Charlotte (2) just gets cuter and more fun every day. Both daughters, Madeline and Ali, are doing well. Our big news is we got a puppy, Elke. She is a standard Schnauzer. We have been doing lots of training and enjoying her sweet personality. I still work part-time as a pharmacist for long-term care facilities. Husband David, a dentist, works full time. By the time this is published I hope he will have found a fulltime dental hygienist.

Jean von Schrader Bryan has welcomed a new dog, Stormin’

Norman, a great Pyrenees and continues to serve on the vestry of Ascension Church. She and husband Peter had a great Christmas, with kids joining them at home in Amherst, Va. Jean extends an open invitation to classmates to stay with her when visiting SBC.

Frances Mantho Belliveau: It’s hard to believe I’ve been in Lexington for almost 25 years! Anna is a correctional officer and a sergeant in the Virginia National Guard. Michael is an Army captain living in Texas. Ned and his wife live in Richmond. Husband, Scott, is still at VMI Alumni Agencies and is an adjunct professor in the International Studies and Political Science Department. I’m in my 21st year and the director of a local preschool. I also work part time at Kroger a few days a week. It’s always nice to see Ethel Burwell Dowling and Anne Edmunds Hansen when they come into the store.

Patti Snodgrass Mullins: Daughter, Virginia, graduated with a B.S. in environmental science and is looking for work in that field. In July, husband Earl and I boated (mostly motored) on his 32-foot Bristol from Annapolis through the upper Chesapeake, down the Delaware Bay, and around to Cape May, N.J., in a trip that was originally going all the way to Maine. Heat, lack of wind, and a persnickety anchor deterred us. For this novice sailor it was quite an adventure. I was happy to return to my air-conditioned work as press secretary for the Maryland State Education Association.

1984

Louise Jones Geddes 2590 Woodward Way NW Atlanta, GA 30305

LJGeddes5@gmail.com

Hello Class of 1984! By the time you read this it will be time for our FORTIETH Reunion! Yes, 40! I am looking forward to seeing so many of you on campus.

By now you all should know that we have a new President at SBC: Mary Pope Hutson ’83. Did you know that Mary Pope is the first alumna to be President? Holla, Holla to that! Those of you

who remember Mary Pope from our days as students likely will remember her as a fierce competitor. I, for one, think the College is so lucky to have tapped her for this position and believe she will be a fabulous President.

This report is a little short because I never followed up to remind and re-remind folks to send news. Thanks to all of you who did send news after the initial request, and hopefully, we will all be catching up in person very soon anyway.

Liz Rodgers Boyd reports that all is well in Minnesota. The highlight of her 2023 year was Louie’s wedding in beautiful Asheville, N.C. She welcomes wonderful Sarah into her family, and says Sarah is a great fit! Louie is a captain in the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton. Sarah is an occupational therapist in San Diego. Tommy is teaching and coaching in Saint Paul, and Liz loves having him close by. She is looking forward to seeing everyone in the Spring. (photo!)

Sr. Leanne (Lee) Hubbard has transitioned from 15 years of teaching at the seminary in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to the Provincial Leadership Team for the Sisters of Notre Dame, USA. This requires more travel back and forth to Ohio and Kentucky from her residence in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Ann Alleva Taylor writes that after moving to Charlottesville in the middle of the pandemic she decided to retire. Boredom set in and she was soon back to work as the Director of Advancement at Child Health Partnership. The girls and Carter have acclimated to the cold and the seasons. Charlotte, her youngest, is loving Virginia Tech. Ann had hoped she would attend SBC, but Charlotte was a firm "no" to a small school after graduating with top honors from St. Timothy’s School in Maryland. Alyson Carey Kurtz ’86 has moved within a stone’s throw of Ann and Ann is looking forward to spending time together.

Robin Cannizzaro is still living in Brooksville, Fla., with her partner, Deborah Cappola, and their 3 French Bulldogs, Dobie, Boxer, cats, horses, cows and birds. Robin’s busy Homeopathic Holistic Veterinary practice keeps her on her toes including podcasts with various organizations. She enjoys riding her giant palomino warmblood, Barbados and improving

her skills in dressage and jumping. She and her partner are blessed to enjoy their 10-acre farm where they all live in nature and peace.

Sharon Ingham Brown is still living in Tampa but making many trips to Evanston, Illinois and Edmonds, Wash., to visit daughter, Caroline, son, Davis, and adorable grandson, Thomas! Sharon is looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion!

Liz Caldwell Boyer is excited to be the Exclusive Realtor of the Florida Panthers NHL hockey team! Liz’s oldest son Will got married to a wonderful lady Karson last September in Jackson Hole!

Susan Dickinson Lindner continues working as an oncology nurse and loving it. 2023 was her 15th year in nursing. Last August she traveled to Tanzania with her brother and sister-in-law. She spent 2 weeks there and enjoyed an incredible safari. Her parents moved to assisted living this summer too. It’s quite a challenge as the roles reverse. Susan is looking forward to Reunion.

Lisa Burwell Reichard moved to the greater Nashville, Tenn., area in 2021 to be closer to her youngest son, who was at Lipscomb University at the time.

Having finished home-schooling

her younger two (of four) children, she is currently working at a Williamson County ES. In her available time, she enjoys singing with the Williamson Community Chorus, hiking trails throughout the beautiful region, going to Lipscomb basketball games and events, and visiting the families of her eldest two who both live in Grand Rapids, Mich. Her eldest son and his wife have twin, four year old boys, Beckett and Elliott, who have just started pre-school (and are VERY entertaining!). Lisa’s daughter and her husband just had their first child, Eloise Elisa, on Sept. 13th, and this child shares a birthday with Lisa’s mom, Ethel Ogden Burwell, ’58. Lisa’s third child is teaching English in Seoul, S. Korea, which he is really enjoying along with the country and the food, and her youngest has now graduated and is working as a Civil Engineer in the area.

Debbie Jones writes that she added a fourth horse, Murphy, to her herd. This one came from a Wyoming cattle ranch and she is hoping that she and Murphy can do some Hunter paces and fox hunting in 2024. She had a busy year with work in the mortgage industry and a lot of advocacy work with the trade organizations on regulatory finance policy issues and industry speaking engagements which Debbie enjoys immensely. After four years in leadership on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Capital Markets committee she is looking forward to her new leadership roles over the next few years for the Certified Mortgage Banker Society, which focuses on a prestigious designation after intense education for the most qualified in the industry. Debbie has enjoyed spending time with Ginger Davis a couple of times recently including the new year holiday. Also saw Chris Svoboda, Ann Aleva Taylor, Anne Gonya at the Charlottesville Sweet Briar Day. Debbie’s mom, class of 60, was with Debbie, and Debbie writes that “It was a lovely event at the Farmington Country Club and that Mary Pope gave a fabulous talk about the inflection point and future steps at Sweet Briar.” Ladies, It’s an exciting time and she hopes we all get to feel it when we see each other at our 40th Reunion coming up in a couple of months!

As for me, 2024 will be a full

year! My first grandchild arrives in mid-February and my daughter Lucia gets married in July. In between I am looking forward to Reunion at SBC! I enjoy staying in touch with Elizabeth Harley Willett and with Penney Parker Hartline and can report that both are doing well. I also have reconnected with Elizabeth Cahill Sharman, through our daughters who were roommates in DC, and now that my daughter Lucia is moving to Mobile, Alabama with her fiancé, I am looking forward to reconnecting with Laura Morrissette Clark ’85 and Melissa Cope Morrissette ’83. See you all at Reunion! Cheers —Louise

1986

Alis (Piper) Van Doorn 1612 Slater Street Valdosta, GA 31602 alisvandoorn@hotmail.com

Missy Duggins Green 12221 Alhambra Street Leawood, KS 66209 missygreen@kc.rr.com

Alis (Piper) Van Doorn had an uneventful 2023. Until late August. Then it was all the things all at once. A lengthy, expensive auto repair necessitating a sixweek car rental, and a week and a half into that a hurricane hit, devastating Valdosta, leaving the whole city without power for a week, destroying her backyard privacy fence and gorgeous kitchen in her 100-year-old, raised cottage. Thank goodness for Star Hollis Waldron, who not only pitched in with the hot, sweaty (no a/c) work of cleanup and washing endless loads of wet towels, but also offered a safe haven while her house was uninhabitable. And then she broke her ankle! Piper says, “it’s been a journey, but the grace and kindness I experienced left me awed and humbled.” Needless to say, Piper is happy to bid 2023 goodbye and looking forward to 2024 unfolding! Alyson Carey Kurtz reports a year of big changes! She and Rick H-SC ’86 were married in April! Deirdre Smith Brassard, and her husband Raymond stood for them. Brett Chappell H-SC ’86 officiated, and they were fortunate

CLOCKWISE 1. Liz and the Boyd Boys. 2. Carter and Ann Taylor, Mason ’83 and Rick Rummel at Reunion 2023. 3. Liz Caldwell Group / Compass. 4. Robin Cannizzaro’s big blond boyfriend, Barbados.

to celebrate with many H-SC friends and their families. They lost their beloved Cavalier King Charles to cancer in May, then bought a horse farm in Madison County, Va., in August! They are loving being back in Virginia and have reconnected with several friends, including Ann Alleva Taylor ’84, and her husband Carter. They look forward to seeing many more friends!

Ann Bruce Faircloth Porter writes that she continues to enjoy living in Auburn, Ala.; her daughter, Brucie, has her master’s in history from Auburn University and is working on her PhD. “So wonderful to have her in town!

Beth Ann Trapold Newton reports that she, Liz Gallagher Jeffery, and Lynn Mather Charette visited Carolyn Hepperle Richardson in Brussels. Carolyn’s husband is the Charge d’affaires in the American Embassy and they stayed in the beautiful guest house next to their even more beautiful home. BA says that Carolyn was the perfect hostess and the four of them went all over Belgium including Ghent/ Bruges and then spent two days in Amsterdam. “Truly the trip of a lifetime with the friends of a lifetime!!”

Burke Morrow says she is enjoying retirement after 33 years of teaching science. The January temperatures in Nebraska have

dropped to a consistent 20 degrees below zero for almost a week with 30 degrees below expected. She plans on a winter getaway next year. South. Anywhere south sounds fun to Burke.

Christine Navratil Deeter writes that this was a big year for her; she turned 60 and went back into real estate. Her son, Jonathan (30), is in NYC and her daughter, MacKenzie (24), is in her third year of law school at SMU in Dallas. So Christine is dividing her time between Dallas and New York and tries to squeeze in a couple other fun adventures throughout the year.

Elizabeth Lindsey says she’s still editing the manuscript that’s been the albatross around her shoulders for too long. She’s hoping to finish and return it to its author before year’s end. They are both heartily sick of it. She’s still helping Ken move every year for his interim pastor work; she packs a U-Haul like a pro. Elizabeth has discovered that William Bassett cooperates more graciously if he’s sung to (“strange dog”), so she is singing more now to ward off bad attitudes. Scottish and English country dancing and yoga keep her moving. She writes “Been reading histories and mysteries lately. And aging, declining parents in two states are always on our minds.”

Ingrid Weirick Squires reports that her son graduated

from UVA and is in law school at William and Mary, which is her husband’s Alma Mater. One of these trips to Williamsburg she’s looking forward to seeing Susan Finn Adams! She has thoroughly enjoyed serving as a class officer/ class President, as well as making and sending cards to our ’86 sisters. She’s had so much fun connecting, and Ingrid is wishing our classmates all the best always.

Julia Andrews Milstead says it’s been a busy year! She’s still working as the spokesperson for the City of Raleigh while shuttling around her son and going to his high school football and lacrosse games! Tennis continues to be her outlet, and her sanctuary is the getaway with SBC friends. Kia Flores Ector, Lee Malley Lowe, Tracy Gilmore Tilkin, Christina Babcock Morris, Jennifer Janos Chaladoff, Olivia Hardin Pettifer and she got together in November. “Always the highlight of the year!”

Karen Gonya Nickles reports that retired life continues to zip along; her three young grandchildren make life fun. She had a wonderful visit to Rushton Haskell Callaghan’s home in December to see the Ravens take on the Jaguars. Karen will be taking

her annual trip to St. Maarten in February with some ’85 friends: Ann Martin Gonya ’85, Katie Hearn ’85, Lanette Archard McCampbell ’85, Kim Knox Norman ’85, and Chris Corcoran Trauth ’85. She and Lance will celebrate both turning 60 in June by taking a cruise to Alaska. They also look forward to seeing Jennifer Frost Holden and Anne Smith this summer. Their door is always open for Vixens! Karen Harcum Levy says they are finally settled in Virginia. They bought a house in Midlothian with five acres. They have started amending the soil and building the deer fence; let the gardening begin! Their middle daughter’s wedding will be in June 2024 and their second grandchild will be born in June 2024. Their son started working at the Library of Congress in July 2023. Karen says, “it’s been a good year and it’s wonderful being in closer proximity to all our kids.”

Mary Beth Miller Orson writes that she is still in Scottsdale, Ariz., with her husband Carl, daughter Caroline (24) and son Eric (20). She is working as SVP, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Pathward Financial and dreaming of retirement “one day”. She’s on the

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Olivia Hardin Pettifer, Julia Lewis Milstead, Christina Babcock Morris. 2. Christine Navratil Deeter. 3. Julia Andrews Milstead, Jenny Jahos Chaladoff, Lee Malley-Lowe, Olivia Harden Pettifer, Tracy Gilmore, Christina Babcock Morris, Kira Flores Ector.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT 1. Lynn Mather Charette, Beth Ann Trapold Newton, Liz Gallagher Jeffery and Carolyn Hepperle Richardson in front of the Manneken Pis in Brussels, October 2023. 2. Rushton Haskell Callaghan, Karen Gonya Nickles, Katie Hearn ’85. GO RAVENS! 3. Alyson Carey Kurtz and Deirdre Smith Brassard.

board of the Central and Northern Arizona Red Cross and sings with the Phoenix Symphony Chorus (orchestral works with a choir and annual Holiday Pops and Handel’s Messiah concerts). Mary Beth is still leading the Arizona alumnae club; she’s pretty busy! Gail Gilfort and her children visited her this year in Arizona which was wonderful. And she sees Ava Spanier, who lives a few miles away.

Missy Duggins Green reports that 2023 was a fun year. Her daughter graduated from MIZZOU with her MAcc, while her son passed all the tests to earn his CFA. She and Ken went on a Viking Cruise in July to the Bordeaux region and spent several days in Paris. Missy decided to get away for her big birthday in December and spent a week in Maui. She’s been enjoying her frequent visits with Jennifer Frost Holden. Olivia Hardin Pettifer says that in early November she, Julia Lewis Milstead, Christina Babcock Morris, Jennifer Janos Chaladoff, Kira Flores Ector and Tracy Gilmore Tilkon, gathered for five days to be with each other and their gracious hostess, Lee Malley Lowe at The Lake of the Woods in Virginia. They played games, laughed, cried and so enjoyed each other’s company. They mostly laughed. A gift to be reunited. A gift to have one another through the great times and the challenging times. They have known each other for 41 years and Olivia is grateful for these special Vixens.

Sally Engleby Farrell lives in Venice, Fla., where the winters are heavenly, the summers, hot! Sally is the Director of an Episcopal Day School with 76 students and 17 teachers. She says, “it is so wonderful to be surrounded by children, starting at 14 months, and watch them grow and learn.” Her oldest son got married by a river in Durango, Colo., in September 2022. Her twins are 25 and live in Bozeman, Mont., and Nantucket, Mass.; they are fun to visit! Sally welcomes any vixen that needs a break from the cold, or just a break in general, and just wants to float in the pool and read!

Suzanne Craft Bailey reports that she and Drew will celebrate their 33rd anniversary this year; they continue running their company, ECA Risk Management. Their daughter, Liz, married her high school sweetheart last year.

She’s an account manager with Uptick Marketing, co-managing over 45 clients. Their son, Chris, owns his own media company, csbproduction.com, working with renowned producers and award-winning directors. Suzanne and Drew were selected to be on the Board of JDRF Alabama, working to raise funds for a cure. Their son, Chris, was diagnosed with type One at 13. Suzanne is writing her YA Fantasy and poetry and hopes to be published one day.

Terry Cerrina Davis writes “Hello Vixens! Happy 2024!”

Terry says they took a lovely trip to England and France summer 2023 (partially to see the Chicago Cubs play in London) and they did that and much more! They are in the home stretch with their one and only daughter heading into her last semester of college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She’s not sure who will miss it more! The next steps are TBD for them as true empty nesters. Terry loves seeing many of you on the socials and greatly enjoys your updates and photos. She sends Cheers to all.

1988

Jennifer Crawley Lewis lcrllc@aol.com

Alesia Hildebrandt: Year 34 of being in a classroom, year 27 in public education. Still love Kindergarten although my energy doesn’t match theirs! Living the single life and learning to navigate without my son as he has moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of working in film. Still love living close to Sweet Briar!

1990

Amanda Priddy Berkey apberkey@gmail.com

Thank you to those who were kind enough to take the time to submit class notes. Here’s the latest from the Class of 1990.

Amy Kroeger: It’s been a fun year of milestones. Marissa graduated from ASU in May with her BA in Forensic Psychology. She also got engaged in October to

Andrew Hopkins, who graduated from ASU in May with his masters in Botany. I love being a mom to Macy. Her first birthday was October 1st, which she attended all clad in pink and green. It wasn’t planned but great colors, and I thought she looked pretty fab! She is a ton of fun. I’ve taken her to a few Arizona SBC Alumnae Club events, where she has been Miss Popularity. I am in the process of transitioning out of clinical practice into pharmacovigilance. I welcome any advice or connections!

Renee Merion Everett: This coming April, I will have completed 30 years as a prosecutor. I am wrapping up my time as Chair of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Committee as my second/final term expires soon. I am still teaching every chance I get for the District Attorney’s Association—teaching both new prosecutors and new victim advocates on the juvenile court system. Greg and I are looking forward to our 2024 international trip … still in the planning stages. We went to the French Riviera this year and then explored France’s southern wine regions with our good friends. Of course, we made it to Walt Disney World too. The girls and their families are doing well. Our grandchildren are growing so fast; Lily is 7 1/2 and Liam is 6. It’s busy between work, the grand-kids and helping out with our parents.

Karen Malmquist: Big news from Maine—I’m expecting my first grandchild in 2024.

Leslie Carson Albizzatti: We’ve been in Atlanta for over 26 years now. Kids are all grown with the youngest graduating from college this spring. We did a family vacation to Costa Rica this summer and had an absolute blast. I love hanging out with the fam. Nicolas and I have a place in Western North Carolina where we love to spend time when we can get away from life’s responsibilities. We love to hike, bike and putter on the property. I stay busy at church with women’s ministry, prayer group and book studies. In my free time I am working on a book, working out to stay healthy and playing guitar, which I picked up as a hobby about 10 years ago. I’ve recently been in touch with Stacy Gilmore Hanling, Amy Calandra Davis and Lisa Waldrop Hammerschmidt

Cheryl Bishop Gilman: Time flies and we are still having fun in KC! 12 years here and Scott and I have built a sweet life surrounding his coaching high school girls lacrosse, 15 years at Valic Financial, my midwifery practice Midwife KC has grown exponentially in 10 years, and having a blast fox hunting with Fort Leavenworth. The only downside of living in the midwest is that all our kids have flown the coop. They are spread to Asheville, N.Cn, Northern Va., Northern Calif., Thailand and Texas! Thankfully we gather together at least twice a year which is so much fun with the grands (5, 3 and almost 2).

Beth Babbitt and I stay in contact monthly and there are a few SBC alumni in the KC area. Anyone who wants to come try fox hunting there is an open invitation from November through the end of March. Look forward to hearing everyone’s updates!

Allison Richards: 2023 has been a year of enjoyment when not working in the real estate industry full-time on 30A. Scotty and I have mentored team members throughout the year and enjoyed expanding our business. In our downtime, we travel to our second home in Ocala where we keep our KWPN dressage Horse Gigi. With a side trip to one of our favorite, neighboring towns in Apalachicola for the we have stayed local in Florida.

Anne Richardson Lackey: Post COVID, we sold our Property Management business and decided to relocate to our retirement home about an hour and a half north of Atlanta. This allowed us to focus more on our two newer businesses—HireSmart Virtual Employees which provides quality virtual workers to save clients money and yet find quality workers & HireSmart Cares, a non-profit organization whose focus is on helping equip the next generation with scholarships, tools, technology, and teaching. My husband Mark and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in 2023 and are enjoying life together. We have traveled and have some amazing places to go next year. While I never had biological children, I am “Grandma” to three amazing young people— Aria (6), Zara (4.5), and Bron (1.5). So we have a lot keeping us busy. My hope is that all my SBC

friends are doing great and that life is fabulous.

Kimberly Dickey Melcher: Enjoying life on the farm in Central Virginia! Renovating our kitchen in the old farmhouse. Lots of Fur & Feather babies—five cats, two dogs, & 50 chickens. Saw Jennifer Chambers Glenn in August—her daughter Gretta is attending Longwood College.

Dolly Garcia: Everything is great down here in Puerto Rico. Just built a Pickleball Court at our house so we have joined the craziness!! We are having a lot of fun. Miguel Juan passed the bar exam and now is working at Mikey’s law firm as an Associate. Dolly is working as a graphic designer at an Advertising Agency in Puerto Rico and Mari is living in Brooklyn as a junior at John Jay College in NYC.

Julie Brooks Nyquist lives west of Chicago in Wayne, Ill., with her eighth grade son, Andrew, and husband Stephen. They just finished another renovation project on their home and continue to work on the property. They were able to take an amazing two-week trip to Israel and Jordan in April with a group from their church. Julie serves on several boards and volunteers with a few groups in

the Wheaton/Wayne/St Charles area. Julie keeps in touch with Lea Harvey periodically.

Amy Calandra Davis: Just a quick update … Jimmy and I are sending our last child off to college at the end of this school year …  that means an empty nest for us! In addition, we are planning our first wedding for Spring 2024. I am still in the art business, sourcing original artwork for my gallery, Findings Art, and my clients. I am occasionally in touch with Karen Malmquist, and Leslie Albazzati Carson. They have both been great supporters of the gallery. Holla, Holla ladies!

Squiffy Walker

Christopher: All is well in Richmond! I’m still working at the preschool (year 19) and Robert is still with the library system! My youngest, Sallie, is in grad school at JMU, getting her master’s in accounting, and will be working for Deloitte when she graduates in May! Wizzie ’20 started working in admissions at SBC in July! She is remote, so still in Richmond, traveling and loving it. Holla Holla! Wizzie got engaged on Christmas Eve to Joe Hillegass, H-SC ’18! We are so happy and looking forward to the wedding. We attended the RVA Sweet Briar gathering, good

assistant to eighth graders at Shelburne Middle School in Staunton. I was recently awarded Support Staff of the Year! Richard teaches Spanish and History at Fishburne Military School and coaches their cross-country team. He’s a proud owner of another Hobie Cat sailboat, a Getaway. He says that was an upgrade so he can downsize the Cat fleet in 2024.

Candace Collins Preston: Things are going well in Weeki Wachee, Fla., for my husband Steve and me. Enjoying my job as a prosecutor. Just celebrated 30 years in October with the Florida Bar. I have also been blessed to serve with several ministries in my community.

turnout, nice meeting new people and seeing old friends!

Joie Roderick Tankard: Mary Blair is a junior and in her second year at Chatham Hall School. Field hockey, basketball and soccer keep her busy. That has not stopped her from getting her driver’s license. Next up is her boater’s license. Lawrence put Woodberry Forest in the rearview mirror in May. He loved his 2 years there. He has jumped into his first year at W&L with both feet. He even joined the rugby team. For Harriet, 2023 was a year for concert going, with the highlight being Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. In September, she wrapped up her last of many summers of employment in Cape Charles with the Bakery on Mason. She is optimistic about her next employment. Grace and Will married on June 24, 2023, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. They are new homeowners in Nassawadox with their two dogs, Daisy and Grady. Grace teaches Spanish at Broadwater Academy, where I also taught Spanish more than 30 years ago. Will, in real estate acquisition for an apartment developer, commutes to Norfolk four times a week. I circled back to the classroom and am teaching Spanish 1 and working as an instructional

Ann Beatty Malone: On April 9, 2023, Bill and I became grandparents. Our son, Sam, and his wife, Aly, gave birth to a baby boy named Chase Michael. We are very much enjoying being Mum Mum and Pop to this little guy. We are fortunate to babysit him on Mondays and some Fridays and grateful that Sam and his family live only 15 minutes away. Alex is a Junior nursing student at Villanova University. She is enjoying her clinical rotation in the hospital and hopes to secure an externship at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia this Summer. Bill is still working at Coal Fire Federal and traveling back to Virginia once a month for meetings and I am still working for Abbott Diabetes Care in Philadelphia. Bill and I enjoy spending time with Jean Spillane Benning and her husband, JR, and family on weekends and are so happy to be living back in the Philadelphia area.

Chrstine Carriere Zazulak: Scott and I are enjoying our empty nest. Our youngest son, Philip, is a freshman at SCAD. Our son, Stephen, will graduate from LSU in May and plans to get his masters in business analytics. Our other three sons are all working and living in New Orleans. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at our reunion in a couple of years.

Amy Elizabeth: More than 30 years after graduating from Sweet Briar, Mary Ellen Naff Philpott and I still enjoy shared interests! We used to walk the Dairy Route daily; now we get together to explore antiques shops for treasure hunting and confiding hopes and aspirations.

Parker Shultis Pearson: I’ve had some exciting changes this year. I bought a home! YAY! It took

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Mary Ellen Naff Philpott and Amy Elizabeth treasure hunting in Verona. 2. Amy Kroeger’s daughter, Macy, in pink and green! 3. Squiffy Walker Christopher’s daughter’s engagement. 4. LuAnn Haag Hunt and husband, Larry, in the Bahamas.

me a really long time post-divorce to be ready to do that, but I’ve done it and it feels amazing. Moving is just as awful as I remembered, and I consider it a win that I have unpacked every box. Just don’t ask me where things are! Also, the language translation app I’ve been working on called “Cabo” has had its initial release into the wild. We are just trying to get people to try it out so we can gather data and refine it. It works very differently than Google Translate in that it works as a communication app that translates on the fly for you for text, audio and images. It’s available completely free, downloadable from the AppStore and Playstore— would love some people to try it out and give us feedback!

LuAnn Hunt: It’s been a wild ride since I retired in May 2020 (Larry retired March 2020). We didn’t get to do much during the pandemic though. In March of 2022, I was diagnosed with breast cancer (total shock to me!) and had to have a mastectomy and reconstruction. Fortunately, the surgery cured me of the cancer. I’ve been on an estrogen blocker now for 5 years. My mammogram was my saving grace in finding the cancer early before it invaded my lymph nodes. So, ladies, PLEASE DO NOT forgo your annual mammogram! After all that, last December Larry and I took a European River Cruise which was awesome—very cold, but well worth bundling up! We floated down the Rhine through four countries and finished our trip in Switzerland. After that, we needed to warm up so we went to the Bahamas in April and had the best time. We even won the "Lap Dance" game, beating out four other couples, one of which were newlyweds! I guess we’re still young at heart. During the summer I was able to help with Sweet Work Weeks and painted with the best alumnae team ever! I would LOVE to see more of my 1990 SBC Sisters participate at Sweet Work Weeks. You’ll have a fabulous time, I promise!

Jean Spillane Benning: After being laid off in March, I was able to start a new role as a solution engineer at Elsevier, working in higher ed selling research intelligence institutional repositories. I’m so happy with my role and having the privilege of supporting educational institutions. My oldest daughter, Emma, graduated from

Clemson and is working in Boston as a nurse. My daughter, Paige, just got back from a semester in London and will be heading back to Auburn to hopefully finish early and graduate in Dec 2024. My youngest is at Babson as a freshman and is planning her study abroad programs. They certainly got the travel bug from me.

Thank you again to everyone who participated, and we hope to hear from more of you next year.

1994

Lion Farrington lfarrington@sbc.edu

Holly Rache Smith: Wishing you all well and looking forward to the next Hunt Country gathering here in Marshall, Va. I have had a few blessed years with my aging fox hunters and have enjoyed the patience of my aged gelding, Johnny, and fearless connemara Sixpence, as I learned side saddle and entered field hunter championships with the highlight of 3rd at Devon in the Ladies Side Saddle Hunter Hack, Best Turned Out at the Theodore Randolph Field Hunter Championship, and sixth in the Masters of Fox Hound Association of America Regional Field Hunter Championship. Excited to welcome a Connemara colt in February.

1995

Katie Maxwell Schellhammer katie@schellhammer.net

A milestone year for many of us turning 50 years old and sending our kids off to college and beyond. Hugs to you all as we navigate these changes.

Kelly Hall is still the director of study abroad at Cedar Crest College. She traveled this year with students to Rome, and also did some personal travel to the U.K., Ireland, Hungary, and the Dominican Republic. She got to see Cari Miller James, Karen Giorgetti and Jen Parker Raudenbush this summer for a mini reunion in Pennsylvania.

Jen Parker Raudenbush published her first children’s book, In the Palm of My Hand Find and follow her on Amazon and Goodreads!

Kathryn Czarkowski and her husband, John, have continued their quest in 2023 to see as much live music as possible. Highlights include Dead & Co., Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros., Phil Lesh & Friends, JRAD, DSO, John Fogerty, Mule, and Willie Nelson. Best wishes to everyone!

Sarah Clifford Weaver has transitioned to a new position as the Coordinator of Elective Instruction for Manassas City Public Schools in Virginia. She oversees the fine arts, world languages, and libraries for K–12. She and her husband, Bob, just celebrated their 28th anniversary and are empty nesters. Their oldest, RJ, graduated from Virginia Tech as an industrial designer and is teaching a few classes for the university while working remotely for a design company. Their youngest, Tyler, is serving in the Army as a combat medic and is stationed at the 10th Mountain Division in upstate New York.

Heather Theis Hernandez’s son reports that Tiberius is a senior at University of California, Santa Barbara, her youngest, Maximus is a seventh grader, and she is joining the California State University Bakersfield’s Advancement team as a Director of Development in late August. She is looking forward to returning to SBC to celebrate our 30th Reunion in 2025! Go Gauchos, Go Runners, Go Vixens!

As for me, Katie Maxwell Schellhammer, my oldest child had a fabulous first year at Wake Forest University playing the tuba in the marching band. My younger two are in the high school marching band and Winter Indoor Color

Holly Rache Smith—Sidesaddle at Devon.

FROM LEFT 1. Sarah Weaver and family. 2. Heather Aspinwall Chiles, wrinkled Flat-Pearl ’95, Stephanie Pearson Davis, Katie Maxwell Schellhammer, and Anna Reilly.

Guard, so Scott and I put a lot of miles on the car traveling around Virginia and North Carolina. My daughter is in her fourth year taking riding lessons from Katrina Balding Bill’s ’97 childhood coach, Beth DeStanley—who is featured in the beginning of Katrina’s new book, “Dragon”. I also enjoyed reuniting with Heather Aspinwall Chiles, Stephanie Pearson Davis, and Anna Reilly in Alexandria, Va.

Our Class Leaders want to thank you classmates for your 32.7% percent giving rate in 2023. Holla Holla! We enjoyed watching the excursions of our Flat-Pearls (Vixen drawing). Many thanks to Sarah Clifford Weaver and her students for designing Pearl, so we could print, decorate, travel and share our Pearl-selfies! Mark your calendar for our big reunion in late May/early June 2025!

1996

Sarah Chaffee Paris 749 Fieldgate Cir Pawleys Island, SC 29585 sazchaffee@yahoo.com

Elizabeth Groves Aycock had a fun, SBC-filled year. Last January, she organized a Baltimorearea Sweet Briar Days event at a local brewery. It was great to connect with about a dozen alums in an informal setting. She was also thrilled to see Kelly Knappenberger Foit, Laura McGlamery Million, and TC Kennedy ’97 for a weekend in December. It was too long since they last got together and her sides still ache from all the laughter! Elizabeth says, “Not to bury the lede, but one of the greatest joys this year has been joining Sweet Briar’s board. I’m really enjoying giving back and serving with others who love our ‘sweet’ college. It’s great to be back on campus regularly. It looks great and I’m impressed with the students, faculty, and staff.”

Susan Whitehead Froehlich tells me that after 10 years with Manpower, she wanted to shake things up and took on a new role as Director of Talent Acquisition for Signature HealthCARE in August, where she gets to work from home and recruit for the healthcare

industry. Susan turned the big 5-0 in October and her husband rented out the local roller rink for an 80s themed party! Anne Osterholm Pribble and Sandy Jennings Neblett helped her celebrate and came decked out in their best 80s high hair and attire. Susan says, “A bunch of 50-yearolds skating, playing laser tag, and arcade games—it was a blast! I got a tattoo for my birthday of the Prince symbol, what else! I have teenagers—Caden (16) is learning to drive and Lilah (14) has the usual attitude of a fourteen-year-old! I also love spending time with all my pets: dogs, cats, rats, and chickens! Hope everyone is doing well!”

Anne Osterholm Pribble marked twenty years working in the social services department at Centra Hospice and 10 years at Kohls this year. Her son, Connor, is in his second year at High Point University and her daughter, Courtney, is a freshman at Sweet Briar. She says, “Now that our kids are older it has been great to spend more time with Sandy Jennings Neblett and Susan Whitehead Froehlich.”

Kimberly Shaheen White is managing to stay busy by teaching Latin and English, being Dean of Students, and working on the second half of her doctorate in Educational Leadership. She will finish her Ed.D by December of 2025. She lost her standard poodle, Mr. Big, in November, but his little brother, Oswald, is bringing a lot of vitality and spunk into the White house. Her older son, Max, is a junior at Sewanee: The University of the South, and her younger son, Marley, will choose his college soon. They are certain it will be somewhere cold! Jeff, HSC ’96, is the Director of Technology at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School and he spends his free time playing guitar and banjo in four different bands. Never a dull moment around here!

Jen Beck Locke tells me life in Huntsville, Ala., is fantastic. Marte (20) is a sophomore at Sewanee but is currently in Madrid, Spain studying for the next four months. She received academic honors and is a member of the order of the gown, which was a huge goal. Thomas (18) is enrolled in an online high school, attends special needs night classes, and is LOVING it. He has a girlfriend and his newfound confidence is a

beautiful thing. Trae (15) finished football season and moved straight into indoor track a week later and also plays in the band. All three are living their best life. Jen says they are “happy, healthy, and hella fun!” Hunter is still with WestRock and doing quite well both physically and professionally. Jen is volunteering nonstop and enjoying every moment with her family.

Rachel Gray says “I made a crazy decision to go back to school for nursing this past fall. Currently completing prerequisites and I hope to be starting an RN program this fall. College is so much easier this time around!” Rachel also enjoyed being a band booster cheering for Timothy’s marching band, the Blue Crew, this past fall. Every Friday she spent at the concession stand at the football games and every Saturday was a competition. The Blue Crew finished their season in third place at the Atlantic Coast Championships! They are doing pancake breakfasts in preparation for next season. Rachel has been playing violin in her local community symphony, the Northern Chesapeake Symphony Orchestra for the past two years. Timothy recently joined as well playing bass clarinet. Tuesday night rehearsals are a weekly highlight. She also plays in the NCSO string quartet. Rachel got to catch up with Dawn Elizabeth Schwarting ’95 at the Sweet Briar day in Arlington, Va., a few weeks ago!

Robin Bettger Fishburne has had a lot of change over the last six months! Gibbs (18) started Furman University as a freshman in August and they decided to make a big change three days before Christmas. They sold their house in Charleston and they moved to the beautiful seaside town of Beaufort, S.C. They have always loved it there on vacation and now they get to be on vacation every day. Robin is staying very busy with her travel agency, Cozy Cottages Travel. She says, “I would love to help my SBC sisters with their European vacations. I am taking advantage of traveling to new places and experiencing different cultures. Parker (11) is loving his new school, Beaufort Academy and loves playing all types of sports. I was so excited to meet up with Norma Valentine ’93 and other SBC sisters at the Charleston luncheon in January. Looking forward to seeing Norma even more now that we live in Beaufort.”

Melissa (Mo Broderick) Eaton says “Hello from the left coast!” For Mo, 2023 was a delicious year of writing, travel, a Catahoula puppy, a bunch of concerts with the boys, and spending as much time on the river and trails as possible. Her oldest son is in the Marines and is stationed in Norfolk. Her middle son will graduate high school this spring with IB honors, and her youngest is a straight A sophomore with college baseball dreams. Outside of her work in the Bend school district she grew up in, her writing continues to build momentum. Her second book of poetry is coming out in August 2024. She and her family spent a few incredible summer weeks in Sardinia and the Milan/lake region of Italy and Switzerland, and she had the extra special treat of enjoying Thanksgiving out in Charlottesville with her oldest son and the one and only Beth Ike Beth graciously included them in their family meal, and then they had a few days of reminiscing and seeing the best of Charlottesville. She even got to have a lovely breakfast with Annette Dusenbury

Susan Whitehead Froehlich ’96 turned the big 5-0 in October and her husband rented out the local roller rink for an ’80s themed party! Anne Osterholm Pribble and Sandy Jennings Neblett, also class of ’96, helped her celebrate and came decked out in their best 80s high hair and attire. It was a blast!

’97. SBC sisters are the BEST!

Sarah Reidy-Ferguson enjoyed a quick visit with Sarah Chaffee Paris on Pawleys Island in the fall and is looking forward to more mini reunions with SBC Vixens in the Spring/Summer!

I am so amazed by our class of 96 sisters—your updates are inspiring! We are still in Pawleys Island, S.C., and I work as a copy editor and proofreader. Bella (20) and I went to Tenerife in the Canary Islands in March and had an awesome time exploring. I continue to enjoy traveling to regattas with Stevie (16) and helping to coordinate his high school team and his other sailing adventures. Charlie (13) is now playing the electric guitar and enjoys the gym and hopes to join the track team. Jonathan (H-SC ’96) and I traveled back to the UK with Bella in the fall and took in a Wrexham football game, visited a few castles in Scotland, and then spent a couple days in Wales before Bella started her final year at Aberystwyth University. I had a super quick visit with Sarah Reidy-Ferguson in Pawleys and was very lucky to see Jesse Durham Strauss, Jen Beck Locke, Rachel Baltus Price, and April Collins Potterfield in November in Aspen. I would like to thank our class leaders and all our sisters for supporting Sweet Briar and each other. It’s wonderful keeping up with you all!

1998

Cyndi Hague Hineline 1613 Finefrock Rd. Fremont, OH 43420 cyndi.hineline@gmail.com

Cynthia Bumgardner Puckett: After 11 years, I am blessed to be CANCER FREE! Emily Virkus Calle: I started a new job as an Editorial Assistant at the International Atomic Energy Agency in September. It’s exciting (and challenging!) to be back to working full time.

Heather Thomas Armbruster: What an insane semester! I was part of a team that published two articles in Human Anatomy and Physiology Society’s Educator. These summarize the

results of a survey of lab teaching principles in A&P, and I was able to work with Julia Schmitz ’03 in the process. I love that I’ve found Vixens amongst “HAPSters”! This year, I presented my talk, "Decreasing the Distance in Distance Education," at three different forums (state, school, and national levels). I also took over a course when someone quit midterm and that left me with a double overload! I’m looking forward to a slightly calmer Spring!

Bronwyn Beard Gartland: I started my 13th year as Human Resources Manager at Summit Racing Equipment and still feel challenged every day. In August, we welcomed Gavin to the family! He joins big brother Greyson (3). I never thought I’d be at my 25th Reunion seven months pregnant! It was so great being back on campus and seeing everyone!

Sam Brodlieb Platner: I joined Fora Travel as a travel agent this fall. It’s the perfect mix of my love for travel and my 16-year career in public relations. I am growing my business and loving it. Miss y’all! Please reach out—no trip is too big or too small! samantha.platner@fora.travel

Catherine Zahrn and Shannon Bazar Zahrn ’99 love life in Austin, Texas, where they are remodeling their home and beekeeping at their ranch in the Hill Country. Their daughters love horseback riding, gymnas-

ing with the Toledo Opera Chorus in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette and the musical Ragtime.

2000

Amanda Atkinson

709 Cedar Grove Rd. Broomall, PA 19008 amanda.atkinson@gmail.com

tics, parkour, and martial arts. They had a blast visiting Marisha Bourgeois ’99 last summer in Juneau, Alaska!

Chantel Bartlett: It’s been a year of many firsts for my little family. Reese took her first plane ride in April to Seattle, and she was the most fantastic traveler. I can’t wait to book our next trip: maybe Los Angeles to see bestie Candice Broughton-Maillard. Reese’s first visit to SBC for our 25th reunion and then the fall saw the start of preschool. She loves school and her weekly ballet class. We are all things Frozen these days. Chantel had an incredibly busy travel schedule last year with a trip a month. Candice was able to join me for a formal work function when I was in Long Beach. 2024 will be a little lighter on travel. I am just hoping we make it through the cold season!! I’m in constant communication with Kim Izquierdo Cyndi Hague Hineline: Since our last Class Notes publication, Alex (17) graduated high school and started attending the College of Wooster, where we enjoy seeing the marching band perform at football games (Go Scots!). Shawn and I celebrated our 19th anniversary in November, and we both can’t believe how fast time flies! I still love my position as a Deputy Clerk at the Sandusky County (Ohio) Juvenile Court, but I also continue to perform as a “side job”; this season has included sing-

Marilen Sarian Crump: I’m currently serving on the board of the York County Chamber of Commerce and developing their first ever Business Incubator. In December 2023, I took a seat on the board for the Youth Volunteer Corps of Hampton Roads. After winning Dancing with the Williamsburg Stars for the past two years, in February I served as a judge at this charitable event to help raise money for Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Literacy for Life. I’m also working on a book project with the legendary Motivational Speaker, Les Brown which will launch in 2024.

Evangeline Easterly Taylor: Our family adventures living in Türkiye include exploring the ancient Cappedocia caves that hid early Christians, walking in Ephesus, climbing the ruins in Hierapolis, swimming in Cleopatra’s pool, touring ancient Nicea, seeing the oldest Neolithic archeological site at Gobekli Tepe, and eating baklava everywhere we visit.

Kim Harden Fella: I still work as a high school counselor. My husband, Chad, continues to work part time as a technology specialist in our local school system, and also found himself elected as the president of our neighborhood association! We added a new corgi—Augustus (Gus)—to our family, giving our older corgi Hazel a playmate. During our last summer vacation, we spent three weeks traveling around South America—Rio de Janeiro, Iguazu waterfalls, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo. Looking forward to a spring break trip to Utah in 2024 and hopefully getting some home renovations done during the coming summer break.

Allison Davis Atkinson: I still live in New Orleans with my husband, Jon, and son, Kai. Jon and I just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary and went back to Belize where we had our

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Chantel Bartlett and Candice Broughton-Maillard. 2. Emily Virkus Calle holding the IAEA’s

1998 Nobel Prize! 3. Jennifer Toler Ober ’98 and her family in Boxwood Alumnae House in 2023. Jennifer passed away on February 1, 2024. 4. Virginia, Darrin, Cynthia, Abram, Joshua, Eliza, and Natalie Puckett.

honeymoon. We also traveled to Turkey to visit a friend from my JYA year at St. Andrews in Scotland and explore the country. Kai (3) keeps us busy, enjoying pre-school, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and every parade and festival the region has to offer. I still lead the Resilience and Disaster Recovery division of my engineering and consulting firm, CSRS, and love my work.

Josie Beets: After lockdown in 2020, beating lymphoma in 2021, and moving to Tampa, Fla., in 2022, 2023 was supposed to be quiet. Instead, I started a new job in the Office of the Secretary of Defense working on policies and programs to promote military spouse employment. In 2024, our family expects to move back to Alexandria, Va., just in time for my oldest to start high school.

Elizabeth Baker: Hello from N.C.! I am moving into my 22nd year at JCC and 5th year as a department chair over

English, Humanities, and Foreign Languages, while still teaching English classes. I spend a lot of time with my sweet 3-year-old niece, Lainey, and I celebrated the big 45 with a trip to Pittsburgh to see P!nk and Brandi Carlile. I also was able to sprinkle in an overnight trip to SBC on the way. The Elston Inn was absolutely beautiful and the campus was breathtaking, even in the pouring rain. Wishing everyone a wonderful year until our next Reunion!

Emily Pegues: After being derailed by long COVID (entering year five with chronic illness—please be safe and wear your masks!). I was glad to submit my long-overdue Ph.D. thesis on Netherlandish sculpture to the Courtauld this autumn. I recently moved into a lovely house with a garden in Warrenton — do visit if you find yourself in town or en route to SBC. While I still keep one foot in the city by working at the National Gallery of Art, my free time is becoming increasingly rural, for example volunteering at Caromont Farm to help midwife baby goats during spring kidding season.

Amanda Atkinson: In July 2023 my husband, Noah, and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a lovely trip to London and Paris. As always, I enjoy getting these glimpses into your lives and look forward to seeing everyone at Reunion next summer.

2002

Amanda Davis Stevens 5625 Hoag Pl. Davis, CA 95618 stevens.amandar@gmail.com

Liz Waring McCracken and family are all still happily living life in Boone, N.C. She is teaching dance history to Appalachian State undergrads, baking cakes on the side, and practicing some yoga for fun. Chris is doctoring and enjoying Jiu Jitsu, where he has risen to a blue belt. Isadora (14) and Athena (11) are voracious readers and tackle middle school with gusto. They keep her busy with swim team meets and sleepovers. They traveled to Prince Edward Island this summer and found lupines, potatoes, and Green

Gables. She sends love to all our kindred spirits

Brook Tucker Buck, Maria Thacker Goethe, Denise McDonald Gentry, Kelly Monical Goossens, and Ashley McGee ’03 finally got together as a group in the mountains this fall! Sadly, Lori Smith Nilan got COVID and couldn’t come! They were very sad to not have their magnificent planner with them! Brook was fortunate to see Kelly in Raleigh earlier in the summer; and Denise and Lori this past spring in Midlothian, Va. They spent the day at WaterCountry USA! And Maria came in late October! Brook and her family are still in Raleigh— James is in 2nd grade and enjoys Baseball! It’s been a great year!

In September of 2023, April Callis started a new job at Princeton University as Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion and the Director of the Gender + Sexuality Resource Center. She, her partner, and their four huskies moved to New Jersey from Oxford, Ohio.

Mary Tassone Dunlevy accepted a position teaching high school English, after many years in the middle school grades, and moved with her daughters Ariana (13) and Lorien (9) to Cincinnati, Ohio. Mary loves her new school and she has been dubbed the "nerdiest teacher" by the students thanks to her love of Star Wars and comic books.

Susan Seitz Floyd recently began working at Sweet Briar’s Elston Inn as the Hospitality Manager. She encourages all to “come stay with us!”.

Katie McNamara Brown can’t believe she has a child old enough to drive! Katie and husband,

Adam, are spending a lot of time in the passenger seat these days as Carolyn has recently received her learner’s permit. Carolyn continues to be devoted to an intense ballet schedule while balancing high school commitments. Nathaniel enjoys school, all outdoor activities, creating elaborate robots, his sweet pony Coco, and soccer. Katie and Adam both work for Federal Agencies in DC and thoroughly enjoy their work in public service. They both recently reached personal career milestones and look forward to celebrating an upcoming anniversary in June!

Aja Grosvenor Stephens was promoted to Executive Director of the Federal Bar Council in August 2023. It’s a big change from events, but she is getting the hang of it. She got a chance to work with Arney Walker on a fancy wedding at the "Wedding Crashers" movie house in September. Then in October, Amy Mullen, Jee Park Pae, Ashley Trantham, Tia Trout Perez, and Arney visited New York for a girls trip where they ate late night cookies—some things never change!

Amanda Davis Stevens continues to love living in Davis, Calif., where they purchased a new home last Spring. She is able to walk to her office, dropping Graham (10) off at school on the way. The Stevens have a lot of travel planned for 2024 including Maui in March, and Philadelphia and DC in November when Amanda runs the Philly Marathon.

Rachel Roth Allred is currently in her second year of teaching in Howard County Maryland, and this year she moved back to fourth grade. She also just signed

Aja Grosvenor Stephens, Amy Mullen, Jee Park Pae, Ashley Trantham, Arney Walker, and Tia Trout Perez in NYC.

FROM TOP

1. Evangeline Taylor ’00 family at the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Türkiye. 2. Emily Pegues ’00 and newborn baby goat, Caromont Farm near Sweet Briar.

up for her second year of singing in the HCPSS employee choir. She and her husband celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary in August and became the parents of a teenager last April. She is enjoying reconnecting with her classmates through the birthday cards that are being sent out as stewardship co-chair for our class. And Sara Lopez Dawson is loving living in Tennessee with her three boys and husband, John. She and John celebrated their 15th anniversary this past Fall, and she is enjoying her third year of teaching pre-K.

2004

Ginny Susi ginnysusi@gmail.com

Jessica Long: I am still living in Macungie, Penn. I am a Principal and the Director of Investment Operations at Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management and I recently completed Charles Schwab’s Executive Leadership Program. I am super excited to be traveling to South Africa and Victoria Falls this summer!

2006

Jenny Lynn sweetbriardaisy@gmail.com

Joelle Andrews: During summer, Charis Chase, Alexandra Blair and I attended Sweet Work Weeks. That Sunday, Jess Mercier Andryshak and Nicole Bergeron Fichthorn joined at the Briar Patch and on campus for a baby shower for Alex. Alex’s baby arrived in November. I’ve been very lucky to travel a lot this year, including to Japan and Hawaii—twice! On my second trip to Oahu, I met up with Victoria Chappell Harvey. Great dinner catching up.

Michelle Badger: Happy 40th Birthday, everyone! I know some have already turned and for the rest of us it is right around the corner. Here is to a new decade! I am still at the same job (in my second year now), won my re-election for School Committee and am now

Chase, and Jess Mercier Andryshak at the Briar Patch for Alexandra’s baby shower during Sweet Work Weeks. 2. Joelle Andrews, Charis Lease-Trevathan Chase, and Alexandra Blair rolled up their sleeves during 2023 Sweet Work Weeks. 3. Jenny Lynn meeting Outlander author Diana Gabaldon. 4. Shanthi Ramesh and her new horse Fergie.

the Chair of the Committee. I have made the decision to run for State Representative in 2024. Here is to new adventures!

Charis Lease-Trevathan Chase: 2023 has been a whirlwind of professional and personal growth. My therapy practice has flourished, and reconnecting with my Sweet Briar sisters at Sweet Work Weeks was the perfect blend of service and fun. Celebrating Alexandra Blair’s baby shower with onesie decorating was the icing on the cake! I hope to see more classmates join in 2024.

Ivey Tabor Godfrey married Hampden Sydney graduate Ryan Godfrey in 2006 and they are now living in Tennessee. She works from home doing graphic art, homesteading, and homeschooling their 5 children.

Victoria Chappell Harvey: 2023 was a wonderful year filled with some great SBC visits with Michelle Badger, Allison Martell Heath, Lea Pyne Klumb, Joelle Andrews, Lisa Robertson, Caroline Chappell Hazarian, and Wendy Weiler. Also was accepted and participated in the 5th cohort of the George W. Bush Institute’s Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program. Still live on Oahu in Hawaii so, if you come to the island, please reach out so we can meet up for a plantation tea, coffee, or mai tai.

only six more projects to go. She just completed a collaborative project of many tinware items for the kitchen at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Shanthi Ramesh purchased her own adult amateur hunter this summer! Fresco or “Fergie” is an athletic Dutch Warmblood and they are already having a ton of fun and success on the show circuit.

2008

classnotes@sbc.edu

Jenny Lynn is continuing with her graduate school program in Museum Studies with the Harvard Extension School. In the summer, she drove all the way up the coast from Virginia to Brooklin, Maine, for a visit with family and some sailing. This fall, she met Outlander Author Diana Gabaldon at the JamestownYorktown Foundation, which was exciting. She is still working in the Tin Shop at Colonial Williamsburg and is nearly a journeyman with

2008

Varun Gajjar and Alyson Napier Gajjar wed on October 21, 2023 in Colonial Heights, Va. PJ Davis, Jenn Doherty and Julie Midgley met up for a girls’ weekend in October to enjoy wine and the beautiful surroundings of Stone Tower Winery in DC. The weekend included a stop by the Sweet Briar table at the Washington International Horse Show.

In July of 2023, Katie Tipton Wilson and husband, Brad, excitedly welcomed a son, Bennett "Ben" to the world after 12 long years of waiting. In October, they got to see Eleanor O’Connor ’07 and her husband, John, when they came to Raleigh for a visit. They are still enjoying living in North Carolina and we look forward to visiting SBC with Ben soon!

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Nicole Bergeron Fichthorn, Joelle Andrews, Alexandra Blair, Charis Lease-Trevathan

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT 1. Mr. and Mrs. Varun Gajjar. 2. Jenn Doherty, Julie Midgley, and PJ Davis at the Washington International Horse Show. 3. Brad Wilson, Ben Wilson, Katie Tipton Wilson ’08.

2010

Victoria Nilsson vgnilsson@gmail.com

Victoria Marshall has been teaching English in South Korea and earned her M.Ed. in 2019. Victoria joined a U.S. Masters swim team called 1776 Colonials. Victoria still swims the 100 fly, 200 fly, 500 free, 200 free, and started swimming the 400 I.M. for something fun and different.

Petra Weisbrich Chesanek celebrated her 10th wedding anniversary to her wonderful husband Randy on Feb. 13, 2023. Professionally, Petra has been paving the way for female firefighters. On June 19, 2022, Petra was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with the New Britain Fire Department, Conn., making her one of the first women promoted to Lieutenant in the history of the Fire Department. Petra also made history on Dec. 28, 2023, where she served on the first ever female crew with the Department.

Jennifer Lundy graduated in May 2023 with her M.A. in International Relations with a concentration in U.S. foreign policy and national security from American University’s School of International Service.

Carina Finn’s debut novel, Feast and Famine: The Last Great Heir—a fantasy adventure story filled with family secrets, magical books, and decadent tea parties— will be published by Sourcebooks Young Readers in 2025, with a sequel to follow in 2026. She currently splits her time between a townhouse in Brooklyn and a small farm in upstate New York, and works as an editor at Bon Appétit.

Kirsten Miller Williams married her best friend, Matt Williams on their 5-year anniversary in Dec. 2023 in Richmond, Va., surrounded by close family. Kirsten is also finishing her degree in Healthcare Administration and working toward the Masters in the program.

Katy Johnstone Hurtz and her husband Nathan are expecting their second child, a baby girl due in March 2024. Katy and her family returned to Richmond, Va., after several years in Alexandria, Va. Katy leads the marketing

department for a national healthcare trade association.

There have been big changes for Tina-Rose (Tolpa) McGuire’s family since she last gave notes. Tina-Rose Started a job as a Project Manager at Ferguson in the Plant Division. The McGuire family also moved into a new home in Western Powhatan, just a little closer to SBC. The move was followed by Tina-Rose’s first pregnancy and the birth of her daughter, Finley, in June 2023.

Ashley Carroll and her husband Jason welcomed their daughter, Olivia, into the world on June 1, 2023. Ashley will celebrate two years working at Cabells in May 2024, having started as a journal auditor and serving as a marketing specialist.

Celeste Rustom Winslow moved out to the Seattle, Wash., area a little over two years ago. Celeste enjoys working for Microsoft as a technical program manager and keeping one kiddo, one cat, three horses, three dogs and chickens alive.

Helen Chatt Mauney and Andrew Mauney, H-SC ’11, welcomed Josephine Grayce Mauney on Dec. 6, 2023.

Brandon McGuire and Finley Sloane McGuire.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Victoria Marshall is still wearing pink and green swim gear! 2. Jennifer Lundy upon her graduation from American University’s School of International Service 3. Kirsten and Matt Williams on their wedding; Photo Credit: Lashlee McCray ’20. 4. Josephine Grayce Mauney (Helen Chatt Mauney). 5. Petra with husband Randy at her promotion ceremony. 6. Celeste Rustom Winslow: Ayla Winslow with two of our ponies. 7. Tina-Rose,

2012

Alexandra St. Pierre Alexandra.StPierre17@gmail.com

Khristian Salters KhristianSalters@gmail.com

Alexandra Grobman after receiving her MBA from American University’s Kogod School of Business in June of 2022, she has been working at AU’s School of Affairs as their Digital Media Manager.

Cortney Lewandowski and college bestie, Emily Koch Hodge, met up for a girls’ weekend in July 2023 to explore Wilmington, S.C. These ladies always enjoy finding adventures together!

Jordan Wilson and her husband, Derek, welcomed their son, Ozzie Lee, in February of 2023.

2014

Katherine Jane Wood 115 Blincoe Lane Charlottesville, VA 22902 Katherinejanedecker@gmail.com

Royal Montgomery: I am currently working on my second Master’s degree, an M.Div from Lexington Theological Seminary. I have been catching up with her fellow Vixens over the past two months, meeting with Annamarie Spencer ’13 for the Alumnae Leadership Conference this past September and joyfully celebrating Katie Holloway’s ’13 wedding in October.

Mary Earnhart: My boyfriend and I adopted a three year old rescue dog, Louie, in May. He fits into the family nicely and always keeps us on our toes!

Olivia Herndon: My husband, Hunter, and I live on my family’s farm in Esmont, Va., outside of Charlottesville. We have two boys Hobson (7) and Baird (5) and we will be welcoming a baby

girl due at the end of January! My dad and I now own a property management company which we are loving!

Elizabeth Harnik: My husband, Andrew, and I welcomed a daughter, Audrey Parker Harnik, on July 15th, 2023.

Jacquie Kohart: In May of 2023, my husband and I welcomed our daughter, Georgia, into the world. She has been a perfect addition to our family!

Olivia Schoener: 2023 has been an amazing year! We finally took our honeymoon in March and spent 10 days exploring Costa Rica. We then celebrated our one year wedding anniversary in July! Lastly, we are so excited to announce that we’re expecting our first child in February 2024. We are currently living in the Upper East side of New York City.

Kaitlin Schaal: After finishing my PhD in evolutionary biology at ETH Zurich in 2022, I have moved to Liverpool, UK to start a postdoc as part of an international collaboration. I miss hiking and riding out in the Swiss countryside, but the people of Liverpool are amazing.

Julia Eckstine eckstine16@sbc.edu

Taylor Patterson Gibson and her family are now residing in Clarksville, Tenn., while Taylor is still working remotely for the College in the Admissions Office. Taylor is going into her seventh year working for the College. Her son, Grayson, just had his first birthday in June and she will be celebrating her second wedding anniversary very soon!

Megan Johnston is living in Charlottesville, Va., and will be starting a nine-month dietetic internship with UVA Health starting in January 2024. She will graduate with her Master’s degree in Nutrition in May 2024 and will sit for the national dietitian exam. In her free time, she volunteers as a Virginia Master Naturalist and is a member of the Alliance Française de Charlottesville.

FROM TOP 1. Cortney Lewandowski ’12 and Emily Koch Hodge ’12 enjoying an afternoon on the Southport Ferry. 2. Jordan Wilson and her husband, Derek welcomed their son Ozzie Lee in February of 2023. 2012

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1. Olivia Herndon with husband, Hunter and sons, Hobson and Baird. 2. Elizabeth and Audrey Harnik. 3. Luke, Georgia, and Jacquie Oliver Kohart. 4. Olivia and Thomas Schoener in Skaneateles, NY.

Taylor with her son, Grayson, and her husband, Josh. 2016

2018

Jules Sudol jsudol7@gmail.com

Arienna Groves arienna.groves@gmail.com

Baylee Worth Leazer: On October 21, 2023, I got married at SBC to my best friend and love of my life, Drew Leazer. He is the son of Susan Leazer ’82 and the brother of Sarah Leazer Johnson ’09, MAT ’10. We were so excited to celebrate on such a special campus, and be the third couple in the family to marry at the most special place on Earth.

Baylee Anne Worth Leazer ’18 and David Andrew (Drew) Leazer on their wedding day.

2020

Jordan Adams Sack

67 Cedar Lake Rd Chester, CT 06412 jordan.adams.sack@gmail.com

In June of 2023, Kayleigh Bekisz got engaged to her fiance Nathan. They will be married in the spring of 2024. After the wedding, they will continue living in the DC Metro area, where Kayleigh is a children’s librarian and Nathan works in broadcasting.

Following an exciting interim as a Gallery Curator, for a wonderful Virginia gallery, I, Amelia “Jet” BurnettHawksworth, have relocated to the United Kingdom! I was able to marry my partner of 4 years on November 1, 2023! My wedding was legendary thanks to the support of my many Sweet Briar friends who joined me. I have had the honor to be featured in several independent publications for my artwork and murals this past year. I also launched a stationary and design company called Orangepressed! I’m excited to see where that journey takes me this year!

Wizzie Christopher writes, “I recently started working for Sweet Briar College in admissions! I work remotely from Richmond, Va. and while I miss working in interior design, I love recruiting the new class of Vixens. Most importantly, I got engaged on Christmas Eve to Joseph Hillegass, H-SC ’18, and am looking forward to wedding planning and traveling in 2024!!!”

Julie Horton writes, “So many changes since graduation … Like several of my classmates, I’ve been on a roller coaster since getting my diploma. I taught history in public school for two years, but I’m working inside the Pink Bubble for now. I am considering a joint research endeavor with a professor in the Education Department, and am excited by the possibility of adding to my alma mater’s academic community. On November 24, 2023, I lost my wonderful friend and Sister Vixen, Wendy Easley ’21. One of the greatest joys as a student was passing my senior robe to her. She will always be a part of my heart and of Sweet Briar College. My daughter, Avery, was nominated for Teacher of

the Year in Virginia Beach. Very proud of her hard work! Older son, Aaron, is doing well and has found his soulmate. Hoping for an engagement before the next class notes! My youngest son, Aidan, is figuring out what he wants to do in life, so he’s exploring options and living his best life. My husband works from home as a government contractor now. He says that the commute is exceptionally easy! My sweet pup, Augustus, is slowing down with advanced age, but his white accents make him look distinguished. I brought another fur baby into the family summer of 2023. Stevie is a golden retriever puppy who exhausts us and brings copious joy at the same time. She is independent and intelligent— sounds like a Vixen to me!”

Mary Grace Williams reports, “I have been living in Atlanta for two years now and enjoying city life. I just got a new job as Program Coordinator at HRC International where we provide J1 talent to luxury hotels and fine-dining establishments all over the United States!”

FROM TOP 1. Photo taken by Gwendolyn Bekisz ’20. 2. The Bridal Party for Amelia ‘Jet’ Burnett, featuring alumna (from left to right) Verlaine Hoeing ’21, Amelia Currin ’19, Emma Zak, Bailey Goebel, and Cailey Cobb.

2022

Annika Kuleba ajkuleba@gmail.com

Caroline Czarra carolinet2000@gmail.com

Caroline Czarra started teaching fourth grade with Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland. She is excited to start her educational journey, as it brings her one step closer to instructing at the college level.

Danielle Dawson graduated with her MBA from Tuffin University with a concentration in forensic and fraud examination. In March 2023, she started as a relationship banker at American National Bank & Trust Company which will soon merge with Atlantic Union Bank.

Elizabeth Sanford moved to Durham, N.C., to start a M.S. in library science at UNC Chapel Hill. She is a public services intern at the Duke University Law Library and a library specialist at Elon University.

In 2023, Hannah Denson graduated from SBC with her M.A.T. She teaches first grade for Lynchburg City Schools.

At the Duke University School of Nursing, Reesa Artz started her capstone internship at the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery, bringing her closer to graduation. She is applying to Ph.D. programs in indigenous community health and to nursing roles within reproductive health spaces. In the department of student life at Duke University, she has advised 17 student leadership organizations and planned over 170 events. In her spare time, she contributes to research on the centering pregnancy model and volunteers as a birth and postpartum doula.

Send in your news!

New career? New baby? New adventure? Update your class secretary or visit sbc.edu/magazine to submit your notes through our online form.

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Disclaimer

While the Alumnae Relations and Development Office reserves the right to edit submissions for any reason, our goal is for Class Notes to represent the multitude of alumnae voices. To that end, we limit editing. Alumnae should be aware that they are submitting notes to a college publication and utilize appropriate grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice, content, and correct spellings of classmates’ names. Please be mindful that Class Notes are a place for updates and friendships but are not to be used as a political platform. The thoughts and opinions expressed in Class Notes are personal and do not reflect those of Sweet Briar College. Sweet Briar women have strong ideas and thoughts that may not be shared by all readers. Our community is a loving and accepting place for all.

Next Class Notes Deadline

(odd numbered class years only): Aug. 9, 2024

FROM TOP 1. Hannah Denson on a Christmas Cruise. 2. Reesa Artz at the Duke Chapel after the Nursing Commitment to Excellence Ceremony. 2022

Step Singing Through the Decades

WWith its song parodies, chants, and of course, the Bum Chum and QV rivalry, you might expect that Step Singing was one of Sweet Briar’s more recent traditions—and by more recent, we mean the last 50 years or so. However, not only is Step Singing one of Sweet Briar’s oldest traditions, it’s also one of the

best documented. Editions of The Briar Patch from the 1940s point to the first Step Singing in 1913. For those readers who are not alumnae, Step Singing happens twice each year, once in the fall and once in the spring. Each class sings at least two songs in front of Pannell (formerly Refectory): one teasing their rival class (rivals are first years versus juniors and sophomores versus seniors), and one bragging about themselves. The seniors sit on the Golden Stairs leading into Pannell, with juniors to the right, sophomores to the left, and the first years at the end of the

walkway to the center of the Quad. At least, that’s the current iteration. Each class’s song was printed for the record in the 1921 edition of The Briar Patch. The songs were short, and the tunes they are based on are also included. With out the necessary cultural and historical context, the meaning is not as clear now as it may have been back then.

Now, students parody popular songs, adjusting the lyrics for the current times, including inside jokes, phrases poking fun at various components of Sweet Briar’s “pink bubble,” and lifting up members of their own class.

Regardless of the year, and no matter which class has the most clever parody, Step Singing is a tradition that carries on as it was originally created, for the most part. Through such traditions, students embrace the spirit of Sweet Briar, find ways to leave their own mark, and share the bonds of their Sweet Briar sisterhood.

Start Planning Your Legacy

In 1899, Indiana Fletcher Williams founded Sweet Briar College through a visionary planned gift. Indiana’s vision of a college for the education of young women inspired her to establish a trust of land and other assets that became her enduring legacy. This planned gift has provided transformational education opportunities for generations of young women for more than 100 years.

Please join us as a Williams Associate to ensure that her legacy—and yours—will prosper in perpetuity. Donors who are 70 1/2 or older may find an IRA charitable rollover gift to be particularly beneficial to you and Sweet Briar College. Visit our website to learn more and keep the bells ringing!

Not sure how to get started? Visit: sbclegacy.org For questions, please contact the Alumnae Relations and Development Office at 434-381-6131 or alumnae@sbc.edu.