CLASS notes
married in 1957. While raising her children she was a member of the Northern Settlement, the Junior League, Horizon Hospice and the Winnetka Planning Commission. She was a golfer, winning several women’s championships at the Indian Hill Club. She is survived by her husband Bill and her three children Mary, Bill and Sally, their spouses and 8 grandchildren.
1949
classnotes@sbc.edu
Pres Hill attended the wedding of her grandson, Gregory Hill, to Sydney Sharek in Carmel Valley, Calif. on June 17, 2022. It was an intimate ceremony of fewer than 40 people in a gorgeous courtyard at an old Spanish Mission. The reception took place at the family winery that Gregory and Sydney manage. Pres was happy to purchase a case of wine to share with friends in Denver, Colo. Pres keeps up with her Sweet Briar suite-mates Katie Cox Reynolds and Peggy Lawrence Simmons. She also hears from the Class of 1949 President, Caroline Casey Brandt, with regular news from classmates.
1951
classnotes@sbc.edu
Mona Wilson Beard: I enjoy living at Westminster Canterbury in Charlottesville. All is well. I think of SBC friends often and am very grateful.
Joan Vail Thorne: I enjoy living at Pennwoods Village in Newtown, PA, We have a special program with Newtown Friends School and their 3rd and 5th graders come over to our campus to perform. I get to help them rehearse and work on their scripts which is very rewarding. I am still doing screenwriting and am currently working on another play.
1953
Pat Layne Winks
40 Riverside Ave., Apt. SY Red Bank, NJ 07701 floapy@verizon.net
The good news is that our 70th reunion is coming up next June; the bad news is that more of our classmates have passed away.
Mary Chace Powell “Midge” (89) died on Dec. 8, 2021. She was born and grew up in Illinois. After graduation from SBC, she returned to work for the Northern Trust Co. and Leo Barnett Co. After her children were grown, she worked as a realtor for 25 years. She met William Powell in the church they both attended and they
Sarah Swift Harrison Voyles (90) died June 2022 unexpectedly at her home in Houston. She attended school in Texas until her father joined the Naval Reserve as a Lieutenant in 1942. After that, she lived in Cambridge, Mass., NYC, Seattle and Waco, Texas. She attended All Saints School, Vicksburg, the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, SBC, before graduating from the University of Texas in 1953. In June 1954, she married Morse Harrison and moved back to Waco where she and Morse were married for 39 years before his untimely death. She was a tireless volunteer in her community and her church. She was also a member of the Junior League of Waco, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and the Waco Symphony Orchestra. After her daughters were grown she worked at the Moody Library at Baylor University. She was preceded in death by her second husband. She is survived by her three children, four grandchildren and a large and loving extended family.
Catharine Cocke Tarver, known as “Tinka,” died Feb. 27, 2022 at home in San Antonio, Texas after battling Alzheimer’s and Primary Progressive Aphasia for 10 years. She grew up in Alamo Heights, Texas. She attended SBC for two years before attending and graduating with a degree as a Fine Arts major from University of Texas in Austin. After college she worked as a fashion illustrator until she met and married Lewis Tarver. Thereafter she was a wife, mother and artist. Her talents included painting, illustration, dance, sculpture, jewelry making, writing and teaching. She was a devotee of Carl Jung. The Tarver home was
open to creative people such as musicians, dancers, historian and many talented cooks. The couple traveled to Mexico, Guatemala and France. Tinka is survived by her husband and three children, Banks, Catharine, and Clay, as well as six grandchildren.
Carol LeVarn McCabe, a Providence Journal reporter whose gracious and compassionate writing over a quarter century captivated readers and inspired fellow journalists, died Nov. 16, 2022 in Reston, Va., at age 89. Carol was born on a farm in Rutland, Vt. She graduated from Richmond Vermont High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in government at SBC, then became women’s editor of the Washington Daily News. Her career was impressive. She was a publicist for the hospital ship HOPE which treated patients in Indonesia and Vietnam. She was assistant to U.S. Rep. Joe Pool, D-TX following her return from Project Hope. She went to R.I. in 1969 as an arts and humanities publicist at the University of R.I. She was hired by a Providence Journal editor who admired the prose in her press releases. While on the staff of the Providence Journal from 1971 to 1996 Carol was a national correspondent, a Washington bureau reporter, editor of the Sunday magazine and book review editor. She traveled the world, frequently with a photographer reporting on national and international issues. She was recipient of many awards including Newspaper Woman of the Year from the Women’s Press Assn.; the Scripps Howard Ernie Pyle Award in 1977; and a 1986 World Hunger Media Award. She was inducted into the R.I. Journalism Hall of Fame in 2000. For a six-part series entitled “Hungry in America” she won the United Nations 1986 World Hunger Media Award. She was one of the women who overcame the mostly male culture and leadership of the Journal and other newspapers at the time. Carol is survived by her daughters, Meghan McCabe and Caitlin Mc-
sbc.edu 46 CLASS NOTES
Pres Hill at her grandson’s wedding in Carmel Valley, Calif. on June 17, 2022.
Cabe Cissel, a great-granddaughter, Avery Vargas, brother George LeVarn and a step-daughter Martha Garrison.
Mary Ann Mellon Root asked, “whatever happened to safaris and trips round the world?” Six years ago she moved to The Seabrook, a retirement community on Hilton Head and loves it. COVID canceled her travel plans, so Seabrook is a nice place to be. Her daughter Francie ‘80 lives in Atlanta; her son Randy and wife, Leslie Wright ‘83, are moving from Colorado to Bluffton, S.C., only 10 miles away. Son David is still in Colorado and not planning on moving at this time. M.A. used to see Jackie Lowe Young often, but she and her husband Richard moved and both died last year. (Note: no details were found on the internet.)
Josephine Wells Rodgers, known as “Jay,” writes that “I am well except for a few pesky health issues.” She lives in Houston as an independent in a retirement community. She is active in a writers group and a poetry group. Her daughter Mary lives only three blocks away and two sons come to visit, Robert from Tennessee and Charlie from Wisconsin Two granddaughters live in Colorado and Texas. Her sister Pauline lives nearby. She has fond memories of her suite mates, Harriette, Janet, and Ginnie and her Jr. Year in France. She still attends a French class on Wednesday afternoon.
Mary Alexander Sherwood lives in Houston in a house that she and her husband built 65 years ago. She has since turned her property into a city nature preserve with great bird watching. Although she is limited by arthritis in both hips and knees, and is on her fourth set of hearing aids, she is still able to read and drive, taking into consideration days and times. Twin sons and wives live in Austin, and a granddaughter (25) in DC. Mary has lived through 13 hurricanes and is still experiencing power outages, even when weather is not a problem. Her present and future project is having a generator installed at a reasonable cost.
Kirk Tucker Clarkson, my most faithful responder over the years, responded to my plea for news despite having surgery in July. She did not supply details other than she and Jack live 10 minutes from the Mayo
Clinic in FLA. In addition, their family (two children, four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren) all live in the Jacksonville area. We should all be so blessed. She and Jack were saddened to learn that Ginger Ludwick Timmons died. Ginger spent her Junior Year at Sweet Briar and through that connection the Timmons and Clarksons became close friends and traveled together to the Rockies, Morocco and Canada. Kirk has been in touch with Betty Behlen Stone and Katty Turner Mears and both claim to be doing well. I hope by the time you receive this issue that Kirk is completely recovered.
Katzy Bailey Nager wrote that she had a “four score and 10 birthday celebration last December.” She knew that stateside family were coming, but was “utterly amazed” when two grandchildren from Brazil arrived unannounced. Although they have owned a home at Spanish Main Yacht Club in Longboat Key for over 30 years, she and Chuck have only been living there full-time for the past four years. They have settled in. Katzy is on the Altar Guild and chair of the Flower Committee at the Angel by the Sea Episcopal Church. Through their Outreach Committee, they are sponsoring Habitat for Humanity as so many are in need of affordable housing now.
Carol Exnicios Tucker and I appear to be in the same leaky boat— poor vision (hers from macular degeneration and glaucoma and mine from macular degeneration and a damaged retina) and completely shot hearing. Her joy is the purchase of a pooch from the Humane Society to replace her 17-year old Cairn Terrier. “Pooch” is very thoughtful and affectionate and adjusts her walking speed to Carol’s. A second joy is having two children living close by in or near Tampa. She also utilizes recorded books, podcasts and other gadgets. Life continues to be a challenge.
Dr. Jean Felty Kenney retired in 2000. Initially, she was busy with volunteering and travel, but is now just a “homebody” with her dog Ollie. A year ago she had surgery for oral cancer. She says “So far, so good, but I don’t think at this stage you can really be certain of the ultimate outcome. I hope, in spite of challenges, you are finding joy in the ‘Golden
Years.’ How fast life has gone by. I still think of times at Sweet Briar as they were just yesterday. With God’s Blessings, Jean”
Mitzi Streit Halla
1733 Kirby Road
Apartment 1307
McLean, VA 22101
Mitzihalla2015@outlook.com
Mitzi Streit Halla, 1955 class president, is humbly trying to step into Emily Hunter Slingluff’s shoes as Class Secretary. We all miss Emily’s humor, love of life and friendship. Halla family news revolves around our eight grandchildren. Two are college freshmen; the other six, college juniors. Ken, Debbie and their three children (McLean, Va.) chose Italy for their summer vacation, while Brian, Colleen and their five children (Chapel Hill, N.C.) were in Quebec and Maine. We’ve been blessed to have enjoyed visits from them all. The 14 of us will be together again in Chapel Hill for Thanksgiving.
Bexie Faxon Knowles continues to enjoy her retirement community (Scarborough, Maine), with the Atlantic Ocean nearby and a view of her own garden from her window. She gave up her beloved tennis at 83, but now is an enthusiastic bocce player. She’s joined a thrice weekly exercise program and is an active member of the gardening and food and nutrition committees. Earlier this year she and Nella Gray Barkley both enjoyed vacations in Portugal!
Catherine Roberts McHaney was thrilled to return to Chautauqua, N.Y., last there 50 years ago! The week was filled with lectures about “The Role of America in the World Today.” She also enjoyed a family reunion in central Texas. By the time you read this, Catherine will have had her right hip replaced, after successful surgery a few years ago on her left. In February, her father, Morris Roberts, was inducted into the Texas Press Association Hall of Fame. Catherine still is on the Editorial Board of the family newspaper, Victoria Advocate, founded in 1846. While it continues to provide daily news, it’s currently printed three times weekly. Catherine is bless-
ed to have her four children (three sons, one daughter) and families, including 11 grands, in Texas. Her twelfth grandchild lives in Calif. Victoria, Texas, Catherine’s hometown, boasts a local symphony season and a world-renowned Bach festival, now in its 48th year.
It was wonderful to hear from Ruth Campbell VanDerpoel: “My first great-grandchild was born July 31st! Annabelle Ruth is the daughter of my granddaughter, Lauren, who lives with her husband, Cliff, in Marlborough, NH. Very exciting news in an otherwise fairly quiet life in Morristown, NJ.”
Jeanette Kennedy Hancock and Frances Bell Shepherd were close friends at Sweet Briar and have continued as best friends ever since. They now have adjoining rooms at Kirkwood Retirement Community near Birmingham. Jeanette’s son and Frances’ son have also remained best friends since childhood. Earlier this year Jeanette’s grandson, who was moving to Birmingham, bought Jeanette’s son’s home! Her nine grandchildren all live in Birmingham.
Jane Feltus Welch enjoyed a two week visit with family in Murray Bay, Quebec.
Anne Lyn Harrell Welsh’s beloved youngest daughter, Carol, died Dec. 28, 2021, after living for 21 years with ependymoma, a rare brain and spinal tumor. A beautiful Celebration of Life service was held last March at the Madeira School, overlooking the Potomac River. There were about 150 friends in attendance, including Carol’s friends from elementary school through her degrees at Madeira, Princeton, and William and Mary and all other parts of her life. In May, the family once again formed a team for the Race for Hope to Cure Brain Tumors. Carol had attended the race every year since 2004. It was a sad but joyous day. “Friends of Carol Welsh - Super Survivor” team raised more than $35,000 to find a cure for brain tumors! In June, after more than 20 years in her home, Anne Lyn moved to Falcons Landing, a retirement community in Potomac Falls, Va. She is getting settled, but as those who already have moved know, it is an adjustment. Anne Lyn’s husband Bill graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and most of the residents
fall 2022 47 CLASS NOTES
1955
have a connection to the military. Two other classmates also changed locations this year. Phyliss Joyner traded her Washington Square, NY apartment for a beautiful assisted living community in Norfolk, Va. Phyllis loved N.Y., but she was persuaded it was time for a quieter life near Va., relatives.
Anne Williams Manchester and Eli sold their beloved Cohasset ocean-front home, and moved to Fox Hill Village, a Boston apartment complex for seniors, closer to their two daughters. “We see a lot of them and our five grands, which is a great treat and almost makes up for our sadness leaving Cohasset. We have a great apartment and there are a lot of trees in the area, which makes it more like our old home. Charlie graduated from Wesleyan and works in computers here in Boston; William graduated last year from Williams College; Anne just graduated from Dartmouth. She majored in computer science and will work in N.Y. Laura and Ginny are students at Hamilton and Bates. Eli and I are still a mobile couple and (somewhat) active.”
Betty Byrne Gill Ware and Hudnall have 15 grandchildren. They’ve been several times to their lakeside condo, an easy drive from their Richmond, Va., home as well as to Wrightsville Beach, N.C. with six of their grandchildren.
Gretchen Armstrong Redmond lives at Westminster Canterbury retirement community in Winchester, Va. She has family nearby, her two brothers and daughter Beth and husband, who recently moved there. Son Ben is in Annapolis, Md. The youngest of her three grandchildren is a high school senior.
1957
classnotes@sbc.edu
Page Phelps Coulter says “I have been in isolation here in sunny N.H. with my friend John Lamperti and Emma G—an Australian shepherd pup and twin cats for almost three years. This past Christmas, I published my sixth book of poetry, called, ‘Call it a Mountain.’ Thanks to Zoom, I continue to hold regular weekly poetry and general writing
workshops from home and once a year, a poetry program with Osher at Dartmouth. Two of my daughters live here in Sandwich nearby, which is wonderful. The other two are living happily with their families in Seattle.”
Jan Pehl Ettele reports, “Three and a half years ago I moved into an apartment at Royal Oaks Retirement Community in Sun City. It’s been a wonderful place to live. We have interesting classes, great entertainment and fantastic residents. I volunteer at our gift shop every Monday afternoon. At my church I serve as a Deacon and also as a Stephen Minister leader. I have season tickets to the local symphony and also to a local dinner theatre. Last November, I went on a California coastline cruise.”
1959
Ann Young Bloom
77 Middle Rd. #364 Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 (610) 283-5949 (call preferred over email/no texting)
annbloomie@gmail.com
Catherine Brownlee Smeltzer writes she is still alive but “not kicking anymore.” She was recently hospitalized for COVID but “almost died from boredom in the hospital.” Mike and Catherine enjoy their lake place and hope to get back there soon. She misses all of her Sweet Briar College friends but does not miss the hard work. Catherine hopes everyone is doing well.
Tabb Thornton Farinholt writes she has moved to a lovely place called Cedarfield on the outskirts of Richmond but still visits her home in Gloucester. She says, “of course I found some delightful Sweet Briar alumnae here among all the friendly folk.”
The Reverend Fleming Parker Rutledge writes travel is very restricted now since her husband has begun the long descent into Alzheimer’s. She recently preached her last sermon. However, Fleming still works on writing, “a little,” and will have a new book coming out next year. She is grateful for her good health (“so far”) but suffers from “fear of falling” as it seems to be her
specialty! Fleming swears by Edith Wharton’s dictum that old age is not to be feared as long as one can “find pleasure in small things.” She is reading the Patrick O’Brian series and watching “Shetland” for the second time! Fleming is thrilled with the way the “ancient” alumnae keep giving to SBC in strong percentages, thereby upholding our reputation. She thanks Ann Young Bloom for continuing to hold ’59 together and is amazed to know that many of us are still here!
Ali Wood Thompson writes she and Travis are enjoying life in Maui but they are not traveling anymore because of its difficulty. She enjoys growing orchids and walking on the beach every day for about 40 minutes. Ali loves meeting lots of friends who are walking their dogs or just out for a stroll. She says balance is a bit touchy now so Travis does the driving. “Much Aloha to all of you -Ali”
Elizabeth Johnston Lipscomb writes she has felt especially close to Sweet Briar this year, first through all the Zoom meetings with alumnae class officers, and then attending much of the All-Class Reunion in June. A highlight for her was President Meredith Woo’s breakfast with post-50th graduates and she continues to be impressed with President Woo’s remarkable leadership. Elizabeth enjoyed taking her two teenage granddaughters, Emily and Sophia, for a campus visit. They had a van tour to places she had never seen! They had a meeting with the Biology professor to discuss Emily’s special interests and then a long conversation with Dean Teresa Garrett about the advantages of a liberal arts education. Although her granddaughters live far away (Colorado), Elizabeth hopes at least one can be persuaded to come to Virginia. “Thank you so much to all of you who have given to the Sweet Briar Fund this year. We exceeded the goal of 30% class participation. I hope you have all put June 2024 on your calendars for our 65th reunion!”
The Honorable Gay Hart Gaines writes “our generation was the luckiest in world history to have lived in America when we did! We were blessed ladies and I am grateful.” Gay works every day for many political candidates who are patriotic and
love America. In addition, she is remodeling their apartment in Florida She finds it both fun and exhausting! Gay is the owner/designer and says it is pretty daunting. Both Stanley and she stayed in Palm Beach for the first time this summer so she could work on the apartment every day. She has found it to be lovely with sunny skies and ocean breezes. She adds “President Woo is doing a remarkable job!” Gay shared with me she definitely wants to be at our class reunion in 2024. She also sees Alice Cary Farmer Brown when they are in Fla. In fact, Alice Cary and husband, Lee, spent a happy Easter Sunday with them.
Kathy Tyler Sheldon writes she is still living on New World Island with her husband, Dr. John Sheldon. Both of them are well into their 80s she says. They plan on selling their home of 58 years this fall and move into a retirement home in St. John’s, Newfoundland’s capital. Their two children and four grandchildren live there so a bonus! They do not plan on traveling off of Newfoundland again as air travel is now beyond them but Kathy sends her love and good wishes to all and is “amazed so many of us are still alive!”
Betsy Duke Seaman is planning to get her old bones back for Reunion. Betsy and Anne Young Bloom are going to redo the freshman show and you all will be in it—hehehe!
Ann Young Bloom has enjoyed hearing from a number of you and always enjoys (and prefers) phone calls instead of email or text due to her limited eyesight. She feels the point of class notes is communication among classmates and plans to organize a Zoom Reunion through Sweet Briar’s Alumnae Office in the future to further that communication. As always she appreciates Allison (her assistant) who helps put all of this together. 1961
Rue Judd
Susie Prichard Pace sent in this request “Hi Classmates! PLEASE email me (pacesusie@gmail.com) your birth month info so I, as class steward, can send you a birthday card and my own greetings! Please
sbc.edu 48 CLASS NOTES
let me hear from YOU!!!” As for Susie’s personal update, she is still living in her Bon Air-Midlothian Richmond home where she has been for over 40 years! Susie’s 4 grown kids and 6 grands all live nearby and include her in their activities. She is still in charge of her rental properties with a helper for half of them. Susie plays team tennis, volunteers through church, participates in garden and book clubs, and tries to walk a mile daily. She also reads a lot for diversion. Susie reports, “At lunch with my lady friends, we solve all the world’s problems! Ha Ha!”
Mary Denny Wray is happily living at Westminster Canterbury in Richmond. She seems to be very busy on and off campus. Her 3 sons and families are in Richmond, NYC and Fishers Island with 2 grandchildren in Richmond, 2 in Charlotte, 1 in DC and one still in college.
Judith Greer Schulz reports that big changes came into her life this year, as Steve, her husband of 60 years, passed away in June. She decided to make the move to Westminster Canterbury and is now surrounded by friends, old and new. Judith is teaching piano at Sweet Briar and is delighted with the students and all Meredith Woo and her team are doing to grow the college! Judith encourages our classmates to come visit and see for themselves all the progress being made. Her daughter, Cecily,
lives in R.I. and teaches at Boston University School of Law. Cecily’s son is a BU graduate and daughter a sophomore there. Son Garth and wife Karen live in Rye, NY, and have a son at Boston College, another at Iona, and a daughter graduating in June from SMU.
Marion (Mimi) Lucas Fleming, a 13-year senior judge in the state of Florida who was called back after officially retiring in 2009, was honored by the St. Petersburg Bar Association with its 2022 Judicial Appreciation Award in May. In addition to her legal acumen, Mimi authors and illustrates a series of children’s books set in the locale of her Georgia childhood home near Savannah. She took up quilting during the COVID lockdown and made a quilt incorporating the monograms cut from her youngest granddaughter’s smocked dresses.
[See photo of Mimi and Julie with quilt taken at Kanuga] Julie O’Neil Arnheim, Mimi’s roommate freshman and sophomore years, enjoyed a week with Mimi and her extended family at Kanuga in Hendersonville, N.C., in July. Julie continues as a student at CofC taking Islamic Civilization and Contemporary Ethics in fall 2022. Ethics is a hot topic today! COVID finally caught up with Julie, who took the wonder drug but also suffered the infamous rebound.
Another ’61 author is Lou Chapman Hoffman. Lou’s past literary output centered on NOLA’s artists, but her latest work transcribed the 1829 journal of her great, great aunt when she sailed with her English husband to England to meet his family. The book affords a glimpse of her life, important to the historical record of New Orleans of the 1810s and 1820s and includes her later Civil War experiences. “Catherine: The Pritchard Papers, 1829-1899” are held in the Southern Historical Collection at the Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill.
Maria Garnett Hood all but destroyed her hip in dance class in Nov. 2021. She reports, “PT has been a godsend but didn’t quite get rid of the evidence.” Her doctor is thrilled with her progress; and, despite a limp, Maria returned to Camp Greenbrier in WV in summer 2022 in charge of Arts and Crafts…and doing much more no
doubt! We know Maria. Maria’s roomie, Laura Conway Nason, has been living near her younger son in Olympia, WA, for the past few years. She has made many new friends in her apartment complex. No longer driving, Laura has no problem shopping or doing errands…and parking is no problem! Julie says, “Laura’s contagious laugh must bring smiles wherever she lives.” Sadly, her older son, Teddy, passed away in 2021 in Pennsylvania.
In June Anne Semmes Stavopoulos joined the class Zoom reunion from her home in a suburb of Athens, Greece after midnight her time! Her husband passed away some years ago, but she has remained in Greece, although their two sons live in the U.S.. Neither had been able to visit Anne for almost two years, but the restrictive COVID travel regulations had just been lifted at the time of our Zoom and her sons were en route. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that more safe travel is in all our futures. Ever active, Faith Bullis Mace, Anne’s suitemate in Gray senior year, took a really bad fall from her bike on July 12. She broke her ankle in two places and was in a—or several--casts. Next was a removable boot, which she says is very heavy. Other scrapes and bruises have healed well. Faith reported that Marjorie (Deeda) Hill Bradford, Faith’s roommate freshman and sophomore years, passed away after years of Parkinson’s and scoliosis on June 22 . She lived near her eldest son, Jay. Deeda’s husband and loving caretaker, Reed, had died three months earlier. Sue Aborn Cunningham, who married after our sophomore year, passed away May 9, 2021. Deeda and Julie were bridesmaids in Sue’s wedding in Fair Haven, N.J. Sue lived for many years on Martha’s Vineyard.
Congratulations go to Stephanie “Stevie” Barutio Welch and Mickey who celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary in Albany, GA. They have 2 children, 3 grands and 5 great grands.
Bee Newman Thayer reports all is well in “the north country.” Her time is continuing to be spent between Hanover in winter and Whitefield in summer. She keeps busy with family, friends, community activities, and trying to keep in shape! Bee has
enjoyed returning to SBC and is so impressed. Bee will be returning in October for the dedication of the new Thayer turf field. She says, “do visit if you are able to. We need to celebrate Celia Williams Dunn for being awarded the Distinguished Alumna for 2022!”
During Reunion this past June, Celia Williams Dunn was presented with the Distinguished Alumna Award for her extensive community involvement and remarkable career in real estate spanning Savannah, GA and the surrounding area for over 40 years. Her husband, Larry, granddaughter, Mimi and classmate, Bee Newman Thayer, were on campus with Celia when she was awarded the honor. Congratulations, Celia!
1963
Allie Stemmons Simon 3701 Guadalajara Ct. Irving, Texas 75062 asimontc@outlook.com
Greetings, Ladies of SBC 1963! Now that we have all passed 80 (!) our news centers around happy reunions with children and grandchildren and resumption of long-awaited travel adventures—since the COVID restrictions have subsided we just don’t like being cooped up!
It is great to hear from so many of you and I’m just going to report in the order I received all your news. Just after our last news came out I heard from Mary Ann Utterback Burritt who wanted me to know that her grandson, Luke Burritt, is attending SMU to play soccer. She and Jim have spent much of their “down time” on their sailboat, a great way to “socially distance.”
Sad news is that our classmate, Carol Cline Palmer, passed away on March 17, 2020. We send our sympathy to her family.
Judy Johnson Hays sent a dear tribute to her friend, Cecil Collins Scanlan, whose death was reported last year. “Cecil was my BFF. We grew up in Atlanta together, went to grammar school, camp (Merriewoode) together, high school, Sweet Briar, UNC. I really miss her. But thanks to her and her mother, I ended up at SBC and am very proud to be an
fall 2022 49 CLASS NOTES
Marion (Mimi) Lucas (l) Fleming and Julie O’Neil Arnheim at Kanuga in Hendersonville, NC in July 2022. Unique quilt Mimi designed and stitched incorporating the monograms cut from granddaughter, Avary Fleming’s, childhood dresses. SBC colors predominate!!
alumna of this fine school. Thanks to Betsy Parker McColl for being my roommate and life-long friend. Love to you all. Judy.” Betsy herself sends greetings to all and says she is thankful to still be playing tennis. Jim and Betsy continue to enjoy their house in Blowing Rock, N.C., and have turned the garage into a bedroom in their house in Columbia, SC so stairs won’t be an issue in the future.
Keitt Matheson Wood reports that she and Frank are doing well –no COVID – and finally made their long-anticipated family trip to Sedona, and they also visited their daughter, Helen, in Denver. Lee Kucewicz Parham and John came to Louisville for a visit in the fall and in July Keitt and Frank escaped the heat going to Harbor Springs, Mich.—their first time there and highly recommended.
Bettie Lou Hamrick White has moved to Ft. Worth to be near family due to declining health.
Lynn Carol Blau and Jeffrey are still in West Hartford where they are active and enjoy hosting children and grandchildren and a grand party for Lynn’s 80th. Their grandson Cole has just started his freshman year at SMU – there’s another one! Their son’s kids in Nashville are high school age. No travel except every now and then a quick trip to their NYC apartment.
Dearing Ward Johns has really been traveling! She just returned from a week on the Amalfi Coast followed by a one-week family reunion (three generations, total 20 people) in Woods Hole, Mass. Now she is heading for a week on the Mediterranean Coast followed a few days in Paris. She says she stands behind her belief that vaccines and boosters protect against severe COVID and is fortunate to have friends and family to travel and spend time with.
Laura Lee Brown says, “Not much news from me. Managed to avoid bad COVID but did have slight bout this summer. Beach trips this summer and a visit with youngest daughter and her husband in Oxford, MI.
From Margaret Millender Holmes, short and to the point – “Downsizing, house sold, horses given away. Living with son’s family for two months until new place is ready. Big change – I hope I’m ready!”
Cynthia Hubard Spangler and Charles are doing well and avoiding COVID but don’t go out as much as before the pandemic. Charles works out but can’t play moving sports due to his Parkinson’s diagnosis, and they miss playing together. Cynthia still plays tennis and pickleball. They beat the heat by going to Mont. this summer.
From Jean Meyer Aloe, “Enjoying historic Doylestown, Pa., in my 1829 house. Younger daughter is in walking distance. For my 80th birthday this year I treated myself to a 1979 MGB and joined a British car club. Signed onto 2 dating sites – interesting but exhausting! Looking forward to our 60th Reunion.”
And from Rinda King deBecck the ultimate in brevity: “Allie, I think at this point we should all report in if we are still alive. I am!”
Valerie Elbrick Hanlon is thrilled to see a lightening of COVID isolation and returned to Paris in April. “What a joy to be back in Europe, even to step on an international flight!” Valerie rotates between the Butternut Valley in upstate NY, to Waterford, Va., Washington, D.C. and Paris. Her family is well and successful with two high school grandchildren, and she acquired a COVID puppy who keeps her on her toes and walking out early each day.
Jane Goodridge says she has been doing nothing in Richmond but has just adopted a rescue kitten, just adorable of course!
From Cheri Burchard, “This has been a very trying year. Difficult but with a peace to notice beauty and blessings. My husband is now on the road to senior health. I am finally free to visit for a few weeks and be in an art show.”
Olive Wilson Robinson and Roby hosted each of their three daughters and families at their farm north of Atlanta this summer. Daughter Sara’s son is the CEO of a startup bio-chemical company in Los Angeles and her daughter is working on her doctorate in Native American studies at Northwestern. Daughter Trigg’s daughter, Livie, attends Tulane and is spending a semester abroad in Madrid and her brother, William, is a sophomore at SMU. (That’s three! I hope all these SMU boys will call me if they need any
local help in Dallas!) Their third daughter, Eleanore, is a veterinarian in Atlanta.
From Harriett Reese Jensen in Denmark: “All well here! I joined “the 80s club” last December and started off with a dachshund puppy which has been a challenge but with no regrets! Two more of my 7 grandchildren have graduated from Soroe Academy which is high school level and my oldest granddaughter got her master’s in political science this year from the Univ. of Aarhus. I am still playing tennis and golf and am an avid bridge player. That’s it for now. Best wishes to all our classmates from those wonderful four years so long ago.”
Sallie Yon Williams writes that the good news is all her family has survived the last two years despite everyone catching COVID over the last year despite vaccinations and boosters. She has now gone back to volunteering at the hospital in Va. Beach and plays mah jongg with a group of good friends. She traveled to London in May to see her family there for the first time since October 2019. Granddaughter Allegra is in her second year at St. Andrews Univ., Emyr is a 10th year student in London and Rayan is in sixth year. As Sallie says, “Time goes so fast. They keep getting older!”
Tish Skinner Dace writes, “Hi Allie! I figure we should all get back to you this year to assure you of our survival!” A fine thought! Tish has had medical issues which have made the pandemic extra dangerous for her so says she is “celebrating still being here. I have always looked for the silver linings in the cloud. Hope everyone in our class has found those.” Tish has lived for almost 20 years on the Dutch island of Bonaire where she scuba dived for many years until disabilities made it prudent to stop. She still enjoys the gorgeous sea and tropical birds and tiny lizards – such survivors – and her cat Rachel is a great companion.
Ann Funkhouser Strite-Kurz has attended two family reunions this summer, both unfortunately due to the deaths of her two brothers. They are having a joint Celebration of Life for both brothers at the family farm in W.V. over Labor Day. After three years Ann has started teaching her
crewel classes again but only accepting regional jobs where she can drive. The airlines have stranded her one time too many!
I always look forward to an email from Priscilla Langley Pay and she never disappoints. Her main news this time is that she and Tony have become great grandparents for the first time – daughter Sarah, granddaughter Amanda and now great granddaughter Jasmine Isla born April 1. “Most exciting and she’s just gorgeous!” Priscilla reports a “quite a bad health year but we are still here so that’s got to be good and lots of bad weather but nowhere near as bad as you in the USA.” She wants us to know that for her birthday her sister sent her a book from Amazon, The Sweet Briar Magazine from Oct. 16, Vol. 8, “which is fascinating and brought back loads of memories of our times.”
Chris Devol Wardlow writes that her highlights from the past year were a surprise 80th birthday party and celebrating 58 years of marriage. After a short detour in southern Georgia, she and Gary are snowbirds again, commuting between Vero Beach, Fla., and Castle Pines, Colo. One grandson is getting married this fall and another is starting college in Indiana, majoring in robotics.
Ann Carter Brothers sends the happy news that Jess and Cary, her youngest son, had a son born Aug. 9 – Finnegan Talley Brothers. He is her sixth grand but the first boy. Ann is hoping that Anne Leavell Reynolds and Herbert will soon be joining her at the Blakeford Retirement Center in Nashville. They are first on the waiting list.
Mary Lou Morton Seilheimer and Charlie are doing well and enjoying their many activities in Orange, Va., but as much as they love their home there they have put it on the market with the plan of moving to Charlottesville and downsizing. Son Charles and family live in Charlottesville where the grandchildren attend St. Anne’s-Belfield. Daughter Anne Prentice and Josh live in NYC and their children attend Taft boarding school in Connecticut. Heinz and I (Allie Stemmons Simon) are enduring the ridiculous heat in Texas this summer, having been forced to sell our wonderful Colorado house
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because Heinz could not manage the altitude at 9000 feet. Two weeks ago I had a hip replacement and am now in rehab, walking with a walker and looking forward to such mundane pleasures as standing at the kitchen counter, driving the car and going to the grocery store! We have lots of good help in our house for which we are most thankful.
And finally, from our Class President Lucy Otis Anderson: “We live a very quiet life – which is definitely not all bad. We are enjoying getting back to “normal”—whatever that is—and finding that there seems to be a lot more traffic than I remember! David and I have had our shots and boosters and so far have avoided COVID. We are feeling so adventurous and optimistic that we’ve signed up for a Rhine River cruise next year.” Lucy also says, and I join her, that we are looking forward with great excitement to our 60th Reunion in June 2023, and hope to surprise Sweet Briar with the largest 60th year gathering in history. You will marvel at the beauty of the College and the many changes, improvements and advances which have been made there. And you will enjoy renewing friendships of 60 years’ duration. Please plan to come! All the best - Allie
al Geographic Explorer. Everyone wore masks except at meals—it’s not time to let our guard down yet. But the memories of climbing a volcano and bobbing in a Zodiac beside cliffs covered with nesting puffins are irrepressible.
Since then Bonnie Chapman McClure wrote from France that they are perishing from the heat. She keeps throwing wet towels on her little French bulldog. There is little air conditioning anywhere. Temperatures have reached 104 degrees and are taking a terrible toll on the wildlife. The boars’ watering spots have all dried up so they have to cross a nasty road and come to the river to drink.
Laura Haskell Phinizy wrote that she is having fun with family and friends at Kanuga. For three generations Laura’s family has gathered at Kanuga in August.
Milbrey Sebring Raney flew to N.M. to visit her daughter and family—dreading the air traffic snafus but so happy to be visiting grandkids.
Betsy Kurtz Argo reports from Kewadin, MI, that she enjoyed a visit with Toni Naren Gates and Bud, who flew into Charlevoix, Mich., in June as they wended their way to Lake George for vacation. Betsy also said that she has adopted new activities – from bridge and knitting to mah-jongg and gardening – after retiring from a long and impressive, 30year career of riding and fox-hunting and work as a Deacon and Elder in her Presbyterian Church. With husband, Jimmy, she also finds time to visit her kids and grandkids in Asheville and Portland, Maine, and makes trips back home to Columbus.
Randolph Barr.
Sally Hubbard
47 Parsons Green Circle Sewanee, TN 37375
931-636-7320
sally@hubbard.net
The Class of 1965 had a Zoom call on June 26, 2022 and enjoyed visits with Marianne Micros, Susan Strong McDonald, Carol Ann Reifsnyder Rhoads, Nancy MacMeekin, Lynnie Morgan Reynolds, Betsy Benoit Hoover, Katy Weinrich Van Geel, Whitney Jester Ranstrom, Dasha Morgan, Mark K. Lee McDonald, Sally McCrady Hubbard and Brenda Muhlinghaus Barger. Notes from the conversation were sent to the class.
Sally McCrady Hubbard and her travel companion, Laurence, came down with COVID in July on the way home from a splendid circumnavigation of Iceland on the Nation-
Carol Reifsnyder Rhoads, her husband and son are going to Australia and New Zealand in September, a three-week trip with Odysseys Unlimited. The trip is sponsored by her husband’s alma mater, Rice University, and is limited to 24 people. She is playing a lot of bridge online and became a Life Master in May. She Zooms with her roommates every few months—Katy Weinrich Van Geel, Anne English Wardwell and Susan Strong McDonald
1967
Gracey Stoddard
1225 Park Avenue, #10E New York, NY 10128
graceystoddard@hotmail.com
Thanks to all of you who responded to my Aug. 7th email requesting Class Notes for SBC’s Alumnae Magazine. I really enjoyed reading your news, long or short, about how you are doing navigating these challenging “golden years” of our lives.
I hope that more of you will send me news on my next appeal. Who knows? It might bring back great memories for all of us who were at SBC from ‘63 – ‘67!
From Richmond, Va., Sally Twedell Bagley writes that 2022 marks her 50th year teaching piano, even though the COVID shutdown forced her to adapt to virtual instruction. She happily reports that after two years, she was able to hold her first in-person recital! In addition to her teaching, she also found time to be involved with the Children’s Museum, the Va. Museum of Fine Arts and the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance, as well as enjoy her children and grandchildren and reported the exciting news that one granddaughter, Kinley Willis, is a rider and is interested in attending Sweet Briar. She also continues her connection to SBC by staying in touch with Dixie Anne Thompson Hanes, Linda Grizzard Tiffany, and Mary Sabra Gillespie Monroe, the latter, in part, because she is teaching Mary’s grandchildren piano.
World traveler Victoria Baker also reports that unfortunately due to COVID, as well as turmoil in the country of Sri Lanka, she had to cancel her plans to revisit the village there where she had spent so much time doing anthropological research. Undeterred, she is now hoping that husband, Lee, and she can embark on a cruise from November to December, where the last port-of-call will be Capetown, South Africa, giving them the opportunity to visit friends she made during her Fulbright time in Potchefstroom.
Margy Dortch Brooks excitedly writes from Nashville, Tenn., that her oldest grandchild will be attending UVA this fall, providing her the opportunity not only to see UVA’s beautiful campus again, but also to visit Beth Glaser Isaacs and Carol
Ginny Stanley Douglas gave the best and, perhaps, only excuse I can think of to miss our 55th Reunion when she said that, during a threeweek trip to Italy, she and her husband celebrated the 75th birthday of a friend with 40 other lucky people at two villas in Lucca, Italy. Other highlights included visits to Florence, Ravenna and Padua, where in Padua they saw Giotto’s Scorvegni Chapel. For Ginny, it brought back memories of Dr. Barton’s opening lecture on the History of Art in Babcock in 1963 and made her realize how much her life has been enriched by the History and History of Art classes she has taken. Ginny is also enjoying her children and grandchildren and is looking forward to more trips in the future.
Linda Fite, as always, takes the cake for most unusual and original reporting, so I will not even try to sum up her news. Here is Fite speaking to us in her own words only slightly shortened due to space restrictions: “How on earth do I avoid the “organ recital,” as my neighbor calls the Old Farts chorus of complaints? Let’s just say that a pinched nerve has resulted in my canceling a much-anticipated trip to Sicily (with Susan Bokan ’68). Ah well. As we say here in N.Y., “Excelsior!” Meanwhile the big drama of the last three months is the steady raiding of my chicken coop and the poultry’s formerly safe free-range wanderings. At the end of April, I had nine chickens. First it was the fox family, picking them off one by one in the meadow while I was in California for two weeks. Then after I started restricting the remaining hens and one rooster to the enclosed run — which worked — the raccoons got busy and literally broke into the coop and took the others. One rooster was left until yesterday and today -- nothing but a bunch of feathers at the bottom of the coop! Country living! I may try again in the spring with a new batch of chicks and a reinforced coop. But maybe not. I am still freelance copy editing (keeps my brain active maybe), and I enjoy it. I am wickedly gleeful when I find typos and misspellings -- my kids always called me Grammar Cop. The whole family, i.e. my three kids and their kids and a couple of spouses (one
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spouse is training in Texas with the National Guard preparatory to being deployed overseas to Africa) are headed to Bethany Beach, Del., for a week at the shore. Oh, how I need to be by the ocean at least once a year. So restorative . . . heaven knows we all need some “restoration” after the last couple of years!”
Maria Wiglesworth Hemmings reports that, as she is writing her notes, she is unfortunately recovering from COVID, while also missing her life’s work – nursing – due to a forced stoppage. However, not to be undone, she has been volunteering at lot of vaccine clinics and health screenings; she’s also become a Stephen minister leader at her church, connecting to others by Zoom during COVID; continued to downhill ski; walked 4 miles per day while listening to books on tape to keep up her strength; and taken up watercolor painting with a travel friend. She says her family are all well, with daughter Anne still going strong after opening her own business in 2020; and 45-year-old daughter Emery about a week away from giving birth to Maria’s first grandchild!
Author Priscilla Blackstock
Kurtz writes that her children’s book “Little Monkey at the Paris Zoo” has just been published and is now available at Amazon.com or on
her website, priscillakurtz.com. The drawings in her book are based on the old zoo in Paris, which, she says, was one of the first zoos in the world. She also tells me that her blog on her website talks about her adventures in France, which may be interesting for some of her SBC classmates.
Sue Morck Perrin writes that she has been keeping in touch with many of her classmates, including Sally Haskell Richardson, whom she visited briefly in Richmond, and with Gretchen Bullard Barber, whom she speaks with twice a year around the time of each of their birthdays. Sue reports that Sally looked great during their visit, and Gretchen has spent a lot of her COVID days dusting off rusty piano skills and tackling some fairly complicated pieces. Closer to home, Sue says that she and Bill are “plugging along in Ware Neck” following their youngest child’s wedding held in their backyard last fall, and keeping busy with community projects, boating, family visits, and travel.
Bonnie Blew Pierie reports that during the past year she and Tim have considerably downsized from a large home in Grafton, Mass., to a much smaller, old ranch-style home in Princeton, Mass., which, partly by design and partly by sheer good luck, is located right next door to their daughter’s home. True to their
can-do spirit, Tim and Bonnie are now very busy bringing their “new” home up to 21st century standards with new plumbing, heating and other modern necessities. At the same time, they help their daughter and son-in-law with the care of various pets and seeing them through the empty-nest syndrome, since their four grandchildren are now all either in college or about to begin their freshman year (twins).
Judi Bensen Stigle, our past President Emeritus for 40 years and Secretary for 10 years, Judi reports that she is well and has fortunately so far avoided catching the COVID bug. She recently traded in her office job for a position caring for the elderly which she enjoys very much. Judi also saw a lot of Bonnie Pierie and her husband, Tim, in Venice, Fla., this past year, when naturally they talked about SBC.
Madeleine Long Telleamp writes that she has no exciting news to share. However, she also says that she is very involved in the activities of her church, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tampa, Fla., where she especially enjoys feeding the homeless population and helping anyone who is down on their luck.
Gracey Stoddard continues her work as a vice president on the Board of the African Dream Academy Foundation (ADAF) that sup-
ports a tuition-free, coed school, the African Dream Academy (ADA) located in Liberia, West Africa. After 11 years with the organization, she was thrilled to attend ADA’s first high school graduation of 16 12th graders in March 2022. Currently many of the graduates are either attending college or seeking funds to pay college tuition fees at schools in Liberia. In June, she visited Sweet Briar for five days to attend our class’s 55th Reunion and to meet several SBC international students to see how they like the college. She is hoping that one of her ADA students who was Valedictorian of her class and is interested in studying agriculture may study at SBC in the future. Later in July, Gracey enjoyed a wonderful visit with Bonnie and Tim Pierie on Lake Champlain in northern Vermont, where Gracey had rented a cottage; and also loved visiting Gretchen and David Barber in Warren, Vt., at the Barber home for several days.
1969
Claudette Harloe Dalton
175 Rosewood Drive Nellysford, VA 22958
cla.dal2t@gmail.com
Greetings from “just down the road” from Sweet Briar! It has been
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Anne Rhett Taylor Merrill and Carolyn Mapp Hewes. Mary Marco Mahan, Ann Moore Lust and Sue Roessel Gibson
a hot summer but enough rain to keep things green and growing. I will return shortly to how things are “growing” at SBC, but first, the news from the class—although that is not as abundant as I would wish!
First to reply was Maria Ward Estefania. She has volunteered for a Head Start Center for homeless families for over 30 years and retired this year. So, I want to stop right here and thank Maria for such a wonderful gift of her time and energy to children! What a lovely legacy. She and her husband Bob filled the empty time with what sounds like a dream trip to Spain. Their villa near the Costa del Sol had an orchard full of fruit and overlooked the Mediterranean. They took side trips to Cordoba, Marbella, Granada and Seville and could probably advise all of us on how to get the most from a trip to Spain.
Another world traveler is JP Powell who is planning a return trip to Italy in September. She is planning a long stay in Lucca, a walled city near Florence with a few days in Paris at the end. She deserves this trip and more, having found and beaten Stage 0 breast cancer this year. She pleads with all of us to get regular mammograms and other check-ups. She saw Mary Blake Beeler Meadows in June and Haden Winborne in February and rounded it all off in May with a big family reunion in Williamsburg. JP volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House and with the League of Women Voters.
Betsy Blackwell Laundon has continued living at Westminster Canterbury in Lynchburg after her husband’s death in 2020. As always, she stays busy with church activities (treasurer), the WC board of trustees and driving for Meals on Wheels. She has a special new male friend to share activities with and they frequently visit Smith Mountain Lake often. What lovely news, Betsy!
As we all know from past newsletters, Nancy Crawford Bent is funny and entertaining! She writes that her second granddaughter was born with such a luxurious head of black hair that her father calls her “Elvis.” Nancy’s family is eclectic to say the least with a wildlife biologist cousin who has an 18th century farmhouse in N.H. I always look forward to her letters and appreciate her wit.
I am inspired to change my couch potato status after reading Hattie Coons Babbitt’s note! She and her 84-year-old husband, Bruce, take a hike each year on the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona It isn’t long but apparently pretty rugged. You cross the creek 13 times before you finish. The Babbitts have remained active all through the COVID crisis and should be proud of their healthy lives.
Ann Tremain Lee is also traveling more often now. She and Saint went to California for a granddaughter’s high school graduation. That granddaughter and her sister will attend UVA! Then they went to Maine for a reunion of Saint’s family and she had lunch with Jan Huguenin Assmus and her husband Gert who summer in Maine. Ann sees Joan Adriance Mickelson, Melville Douglas Krebs, Betsy West Dripps and Sue Thompson Watkins often. I hope next year she can squeeze some news tidbits from them. (Although Betsy is a loyal correspondent!)
Another gathering of the clan was reported by Mary Mahan Marco. She and Ann Moore Lust met at Sue Roessel Gibson’s house on Canandaigua Lake. Not sure where that is but the picture of all three of them shows some gorgeous scenery! Mary and her husband are traveling often. Hilton Head, SC; Williamsburg, Va.; Marblehead Mass., and on to Northern California soon. Youngest son Todd now works her for Google and has promised a tour of headquarters. My younger nephew is also a Googler and he says the place is awesome. I hope Mary will send us details.
Menie Hill Pettit also has a monthly zoom call with Carolyn Mapp Hewes, Anne Rhett Taylor Merrill and Ann Arnspiger Canipe and everyone must be fine because no bad news was reported. Menie says she has grandchildren from nine to 33 years of age and that this makes reunions very interesting! Some are married (does this bode well for great grandchildren?) and others are still pre-college!
You may remember from the last letter that Ronde Kneip Bradley was moving to Center City Philadelphia. Her daughters and their families live nearby and having them close really helped during COVID. But
like so many others post COVID, she has “left the building” and is taking art classes, learning soul line dancing and keeping up with her Zen practice of over 20 years. She is traveling along the East Coast to see family but still harbors dreams of travel to India.
Carolyn Mapp Hewes reports that after dodging COVID for years, this last mutation caught up with her and husband Lem and they got rebound to boot! But in happier news, she attended the wedding of Anne Rhett Taylor’s son, Zan. It was lovely and even lovelier is the picture of Anne Rhett and Carolyn at the event. She volunteers at Emory University for Alzheimer’s and Autism research. You all may remember that we notified you of Adele Perry Hart’s passing from a form of dementia. Carolyn attended the memorial service in April (they were freshmen roommates) along with Kay Giddens Glenday. (Adele was only at SBC her freshman year and returned to Texas for the rest of her college.)
Well, that is the news that came via the ozone! You can easily see trends: first, our classmates are on the move. Post-COVID, they all have itchy feet and have hit the road, water and air to travel! We wish them all Bon Voyage! Secondly, they seem to have weathered the pandemic pretty well. I got no reports of major medical disasters. And third, our friends have done some amazing and generous things in their careers. Outside work, volunteering and raising successful and fulfilled children. So proud of all of you! We are a pretty eclectic group of smart, tolerant and strong-minded women. Speaking of amazing lives, I do want to remind you that we lost Sue Scanlan this year. Sue did more for women everywhere than anyone else I can think of. An official Women’s Day, a Women’s History Museum, legislation of all kinds to benefit especially women in the military— the list is long. There was a Zoom memorial service for her on Aug. 11, but unfortunately, the sound was not good so we are hoping for a recording that will be made available at some point. I will get the link to you if that happens. Martha Brewer, Ginny Stanford Perdue, Elizabeth Lewis, Nancy Crawford Bent, Jan Huguenin Assmus, Jan Sheets
Jones, Lynn Pearson Russell and I were all online. We could tell there were some iconic Scan stories being told from the audience’s laughter. If you have a “Scan” story, please send it to me and we will compile our own memorial to our witty and brave friend.
I also want to acknowledge and thank Jan Assmus for her monitoring of Sweet Briar’s progress toward a sustainable future. Jan has experience in the higher education realm and can assess whether the changes being made are realistic and helping. I am glad to report that Jan is cautiously optimistic. Admissions are up with a good number of international students. The trend toward agriculture (vineyards, bees and other husbandry) has been the subject of many higher ed articles as has the leadership core curriculum. Some classes have been very generous. The class of ’72 gave ten plus million for their 50th reunion but our class leadership is still monitoring the level of dependence on alumnae giving. As I have said in the past, the threat of closure saved Sweet Briar by galvanizing the alumnae. For those of you still hesitant, there will be some opportunities for restricted giving for discrete projects like building renovations. But all in all, your leadership feels the school is close to the tipping point toward a sustainable future. We are looking forward to going back to the College for our 55th reunion!
Stay cautious about COVID, keep loving your families and your SBC classmates and please send in news next year.
Barbara Brand
3415 Fairfield Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325
babrand@embarqmail.com
Alix Sommer Smith
39 Goose Creek Circle
Fredericksburg, VA 22406
alixsmith9@hotmail.com
Your class secretaries so enjoyed reading, editing and now sharing your notes, seeing how you have kept yourselves busy during the pandemic, and how you have begun to
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Daphne Lindabury Carey and her German Shepherd herding dog, “Berta” with Performance Award of Merit ribbon.
Barbara Brand with a BIG poison ivy vine at Sweet Work Weeks
Wendy C. Weiler with daughter Caroline Chappell Hazarian ’09 in beautiful Sweet Briar vineyards during Reunion 2022
Kathy Garcia Pegues at Sweet Work Weekend on campus in late March. It snowed, hailed, and was freezing with 45-mph winds!
venture forth once again. We found common threads – grandchildren, gardening, handiwork, dogs, travel – and some unique interests as well. We apologize that our word limitations forced some cutting, but we hope that we captured the essence of everyone’s life this past year – and, in a few cases, these last 51 years!
Mary Frances Oakey Aiken wrote that she and John were enjoying the summer in Richmond, VA, close to their children and grandchildren – at a slower pace than usual because she had just joined the “joint replacement club” with a new knee. She was looking forward to the waiting stack of novels and Netflix movies.
Pammy Henery Arey has recently enjoyed motor coach trips with other seniors to Asheville, N.C., and to her old stomping grounds in Connecticut., Rhode Island, and Cape Cod. Her downsizing continues – she found all her late husband Pat’s “courting” letters from Ft. Hood and Vietnam (her junior and senior years). A blessing to read and remember!
Barbie Gracey Backer is busy and happy with work, family and charita-
ble, church and club projects. Three children and five grandchildren (and one on the way) live nearby in Delray Beach. She still works full-time at their insurance business and two of their children have joined the firm. They traveled this year on a Disney Cruise with 36 family members!
Beryl Bergquist loves retirement and volunteering in non-law-related matters, from cleaning church closets to organizing the Olmstead Linear Park Alliance nonprofit records. She has helped friends downsize and renovate properties for rental. She bought a Sky Valley, Ga., mountain home to Air B&B and for family enjoyment.
In addition to donating time to SBC as a Class Secretary and during Sweet Work Weeks, Barbara Brand is busy juggling her part-time job at the Gettysburg, Pa., Library and volunteering for several garden club organizations at the local, state and regional level.
Todd Mosely Brown tells us it has been a crazy year. She had breast cancer surgery, COVID and suffered the loss of a nephew. Despite arthritis, she is staying active with church
choir and fellowship gatherings. Her husband Bill is a gym rat after heart issues. Life is good and busy, one day at a time.
Daphne Lindabury Carey reports that, after leaving SBC, she and Peter were married in 1970. Following the birth of their daughter, Daphne graduated in 1973 from Drew University in Madison, N.J. She retired from retail management, then began breeding German Shepherds, training them in both large flock sheep herding and Schutzhund – a dog sport that includes tracking, obedience and protection. Their daughter has the same love of dogs and has bred and shown other AKC breeds.
Ann Sniffen Cates is thankful for good books, knitting yarn and air conditioning (to counter the hot Charlotte weather!) Her primary activity is knitting caps for the local cancer center – about 100 this year. She and her husband Ward look forward to celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in November.
Denise Beardsworth Costa and her husband moved to Richmond, VA, in 2019 to be near their daughter and her family after retiring from
newspaper jobs in Oregon. Sadly, her husband lost his battle with heart disease in 2021. Denise is comforted by her family – all five grandchildren are only ten minutes away. She is involved with the Osher Institute at the University of Richmond, and slowly getting used to humidity again after decades in the arid West.
Lynne Manov Echols still has a few copies of her book, A Good Seat: Three Months at the Reitinstitut von Neindorff – part training manual, part travelogue, part cultural commentary. Even non-horse people like it! She also sends word to classmates who have tried everything to lose weight after 50 that she has recently dropped 20 pounds.
Mimi Fahs beat the heat this summer with a new lap pool at her home in Orient, Long Island. In addition to serving on the Boards of Sweet Briar and the Ashokan Foundation, she recently joined the Board of the North Fork Audubon Society. She was Chair of the 50th Anniversary Benefit Committee, hosting a celebration for 200 at her home, with dancing and music by her band, the Mudflats, with twin fiddle fusion!
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Kathy Garcia Pegues at reunion with Bee Newman Thayer ‘61
Carole McIvor at Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica.
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Kathy Garcia Pegues takes a break from gardening with her helpers Zoë and Zelda.
Daphne Lindabury Carey (center) with her German Shepherd “Berta” after completing a rigorous Schutzhund trial
Katie Horan and her English Cocker Master Agility Champion “Gabby” with ribbons
Barb Wuehrmann and Betty Santandrea ‘70 taken at Ghost Ranch, N.M., in Sept. 2021
Kathy Garcia Pegues’ husband, John, with Erin East ‘00 and Kris Harris ‘99– “The Mulching Machines” at Sweet Work Weeks.
Carole McIvor in St. Petersburg
Maggie Mather Feldmeier is thankful for good health, time with grandchildren and the resumption of travel. She and her husband still work some, but found time to take two grandsons out west to national parks and they spent two weeks in Italy in May. They have a belated 50th anniversary trip planned to Bruges and Eastern France in September. They split their time between homes in Cazenovia, NY, and Hilton Head, SC.
Judy Brown Fletcher spends most of her time gardening and improving soil. Their great joy is their Swissy rescue, Ruby, a former Amish brood bitch. The vet who rescued Ruby estimated that she had had nine litters in five years, earning $90,000 for her owner. Now at 6, she has learned to smell, pick up fallen people food, eat watermelon and chase squirrels.
Carol Remingon Foglesong moved in May 2021, shortly before our 50th reunion, and it was a great decision. Meeting lots of people from varied backgrounds and interests reminded her of freshman year, and it has kept her busy and engaged. Her twice-postponed cruise to the British Isles finally happens in September, and two more cruises are planned for 2023. She has four grands nearby and one in Texas.
After a 20-year career at the Terra Foundation in Chicago, Elizabeth Glassman retired and flew, mid-quarantine, to Santa Fe where she has a small house. While she is still in and out of Chicago, Santa Fe is feeling more and more like a place to land. Retirement feels a bit like adolescence, a fun adventure.
Lendon Gray continues to be busy teaching intensive dressage programs to kids all over through Dressage4Kids, Inc., an organization she founded in 1998. She also serves on several equestrian boards as well as the SBC Board.
During the COVID shutdown, Carol Johnson Haigh restored an antique Canadian tapestry and sewed a log cabin quilt. She also created a “travel closet” for their “expedition equipment.” After quarantining, she and her husband have traveled to Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands and the West Indies, pursuing their shared hobby of nature photography. They also enjoy the company of their grandchildren.
Katie Horan hopes everyone is doing well and enjoying life, taking the time to do at least one thing every day that brings them joy! She is still breeding, training, and showing her beloved English Cocker Spaniels. She has also been doing a lot of painting since she retired.
Linda Whitlow Knight is still practicing law. She and Dick celebrated their 51st anniversary and will celebrate with a trip West in September. Their older daughter is General Counsel of Mitsubishi North America in Franklin, Tenn. Their younger daughter and her Italian husband live in Rome with their two sons.
Katherine Wilson Lamb wrote from her summer cottage overlooking the Straits of Mackinac that her daughters and grandchildren are well and happy, and her husband Rex is holding his own. She continues to battle Myelodysplasia, a blood cancer, with transfusions every two weeks, and wants to thank Jacque Penny for checking on her often.
“Thanks to SBC for giving me the confidence to dream large,” wrote Carole McIvor, who travels whenever possible for greater involvement with the world. Her trip-of-a-lifetime combined SCUBA-diving and birding in Raja Ampat, West Papua. In the last two years, she has stayed closer to home, with ecotourism trips to Costa Rica and Panama.
Louise Dempsey McKean and her husband travel between homes in NH and Quebec. Her daughters and their families live nearby in NH, and her son and family recently moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, providing a destination during the long, cold winters. She is also looking forward to a fall trip to Ireland with UVA friends.
Mim Washabaugh Meglan and husband Vaughn recently celebrated their 48th anniversary with a week of golf for him and sporting clays for her. She is concentrating on distance and falling targets. Still substitute playing at church services, Mim is working on a position paper to support the refurbishment of Sweet Briar’s magnificent but long-neglected pipe organ.
Beverly Wright Miller is enjoying retirement, reading anything she wants, trying new recipes, making
quilts and even considering writing a novel! While treasuring moments with family and friends, playing with her small dogs gives her the most fun and peace. She loves knowing that SBC is going strong and providing women a foundation for their futures.
Kathy Garcia Pegues and her husband John spend most of their time gardening at home and at Sweet Briar. She remains a volunteer with Sweet Work Weeks, is stewardship co-chair with Wendy Norton Brown and Amanda Megargee Sutton, serves on the Lifelong Learning Committee and soon on the Friends of Art board. She and John are looking for a home to buy near campus so they can bring their Lab pups with them
Many of us would echo Jacque Penny. She expressed her pleasure with the state of the college and the leadership of President Woo. She looks forward to being with classmates again when she feels safe traveling.
Janice Pogue retired as the Library Records Officer for the Tennessee Valley Authority. She lives in the Chattanooga home where she grew up and she and her nephew are restoring an old house in the historic district downtown. She enjoyed the isolation of the pandemic as it provided time to begin the process of sorting and downsizing.
Robbin Richardson expressed gratefulness for good health and energy, three spectacular children and spouses, seven fabulous grandchildren and homes in the Triangle of N.C. and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. “For a Neb. girl, I can hardly believe that I own a residence on the shore of the Pacific and one on beach of the Atlantic!”
Susan Schmidt wrote: “At UVA for grad school, Ph.D. committee told me to choose between critical and creative voices, so I started teaching. Since retiring from teaching 40 years, I have published four books http://www.susanschmidt. net/books.html. Third poetry book, Drought Drought Torrential, will appear Christmas. I lead a critique group, take Orion poetry workshops, and work as a developmental editor https://www.the-efa.org/memberinfo-susan-schmidt-13097/.”
Having lost two husbands and two younger siblings since 2015 and with no children, Alix Sommer Smith has decided to confront the inevitable. She has invited her nieces, nephews, and godchildren to visit and pre-select their inheritances. Her will, which includes Sweet Briar, is current. She is writing her memoirs. Meanwhile, she feels fine, swims six days a week, and keeps up with two book groups.
Wendy Weiss Smith traveled with Susan Greenwald to Southern Italy. With her husband of 46 years, she sailed by small ship between Athens and Istanbul and also hiked a week in Malta. At home in Durham, she is a docent at Duke Gardens and enjoys walking her dog in the verdant woods daily.
Amanda Megargee Sutton met up with Brooke Thomas Dold in CT when she and Wylie came to see her mother, age 101! She did Sweet Work Weeks last year but long COVID kept her away this summer.
After 14 years of babysitting, Elodie Taylor Thompson sent her youngest grandchild off to kindergarten last fall. She now keeps busy volunteering at church, with a student supplemental food program, retired teacher group and Friends of the Library. She is making quilts and would like to start basket-weaving again. She really enjoyed the 50th reunion.
Nancy Liebowitz Voss reports that their daughter just got married in a small family wedding. A larger reception also celebrated their own 50th wedding anniversary. She and her husband have also been doing a lot of traveling stateside and overseas. At home, she is involved in pet therapy (three dogs), a prison ministry and church activities.
Wendy Weiler attended this year’s reunion along with Kathy Garcia Pegues and said it so much fun, especially seeing all our friends from the class of 1972, who made an historic contribution of over $10 million. “It shows the confidence in Sweet Briar College, which is so exciting. Our beloved alma mater is doing so well. We should all be so proud. It was always beautiful, but it is even more gorgeous with the vineyards, apiary, and huge greenhouse.” She also applauded our class’s giving
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rate of 32.5%, “a vote for Sweet Briar’s success!”
Barbara Wuehrmann resides in Green Valley, Ariz., and spends summers and one winter month in a condo in Frisco, Colo. She spends most of her time hiking, biking, and attending concerts in Colorado She is planning some travel, with hopes that COVID will behave. Twice a year she passes through Santa Fe, where she is able to visit Betty Rau Santandrea ’70.
Deborah Chasen Wyatt loved seeing classmates at the reunion last year—first time in fifty years, and she was glad we all had name tags! She saw Anne Holler on her annual NYC trip. She is finally getting ready to do something about a completed manuscript – literary non-fiction— but she is finding that it is a “jungle out there for novices!” The highlight of her life is her grandson, bi-lingual as his mom is from Costa Rica.
Diana Zeidel recently moved into a larger condo in Richmond, Va., as she and her husband expect to be spending more time there now than in their other home in West Palm Beach. That will make it easier to reunite with Caroline Tuttle Murray and Mimi Pitts Dixon. In fact, the three of them recently enjoyed a weekend at the Williamsburg Inn.
1973
Evelyn Carter Cowles
P.O. Box 278
Free Union, VA 22940
ecc52@icloud.com
Carol Anne Provence Gallivan: Mills and I are doing well and have begun traveling again. Our biggest news is that when COVID set in, our two daughters, one with her husband and three children, moved back to Greenville. Our oldest daughter, upon her return, found the man of her dreams and was married in February! Our son, his wife and three children are still in Greenville, so we have six grandchildren in town. Our family of 16 recently had a great vacation together at Kiawah. Recently Betsie Gamble, Lisa Winslow and I had fun lunch when they came through Greenville. Mills is still practicing law and very involved in his legal organizations, as well as
community ones, and we celebrated our 49th anniversary in June!
Diane Dale Reiling: Chuck and I moved to the Charlotte area of NC in May this year. We had to sell our OR property three times before we finally closed it. We said goodbye to wildfires and drought, but hello to humidity and bugs. Not a bad trade! We are having a nice “summer vacation” in an Airbnb near Lake Norman waiting for the construction of our new home in a 55+ community to finish by the end of October. It is nice finally to have a summer of no house projects, no yard maintenance and no mortgage. Both of our grown kids have come to visit and now I can DRIVE to SBC. See y’all at Reunion!
Joan May Harden: Our seventh grandchild, Oliver Blake Harden, was born April 26 in Richmond and our eighth grandchild, a girl, is due to arrive here in Lexington in November. Our oldest grandchild, who lives in Fredericksburg, turns 16 in a week! We feel lucky to have all three of our children’s families here in Va. I am now a member of the board of Historic Lexington Foundation and I will be the new secretary, succeeding Margaret Lyle Samdahl ‘72. Rick and I had lunch with Ken and Julie Johnson Evans last month while they were here for his 50th W&L reunion. They looked great and are happy in Dallas, near one of their sons.
Ann Major Gibb: I have just returned from a two week trip to Alaska…very interesting place. We saw Denali’s peak and humpback whales! Looking forward to our reunion in June.
Kathy Pretzfelder Steele: We are still enjoying our retirement and living in an active adult community in Florida with lots of activities with many interesting people from all over the country. I am also heading up our annual Fall Craft Fair for the sixth year! We enjoyed a fun-filled family vacation on Hilton Head Island with our daughters and their families in June. It’s always a joy to watch our grandchildren (10, 6 and 2 1/2) spend time together and interact. Dave and I are doing some local traveling this year i.e. drivable; but we are planning a land and sea tour of Alaska next summer for our 50th wedding anniversary. But first, I am
really looking forward to our SBC 50th reunion in June. I can’t wait to see everyone!
Laurie Norris Coccio: We have had a good year. My husband is still working, but he can manage the business from away most of the time. So we bought a place in Deland, FL, for three or four months in the winter and love it. I also took up golf, which is quite a challenge at my age! And I am loving that too, probably because I don’t keep score. I see Sue Dern Plank as often as possible for lunch and mah-jongg!
Susan Dern Plank: Life continues in a sort of pattern: David’s homecoming/reunion at Norwich University in September; travel to northwestern Tennessee in October for grandchildren’s weeklong fall break; meeting our daughter & family in eastern Tennessee for Thanksgiving; back in Tenn. for our grandchildren’s spring break in March and again in April for Grandparents Day. They visited us in July for two weeks this year as volleyball camp is important to a middle-schooler. We were in Florida for a Road Scholars kayaking trip on the Indian River Lagoon/east coast of Florida in Feb, driving from N.Y. so we could see friends along the way (Laurie Norris Coccio). We recently went on an L.L.Bean fourday, 25-mile “off grid” camping & canoeing trip on the North Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine. Our Belizean “surrogate daughter,” Elisa, graduated from SBC magna cum laude with a double major in math and engineering and is now working as an electrical engineer at AIC, a small engineering firm in Altavista. She finds her degree has prepared her very well for life outside the “pink bubble.” Ginger Woodward Gast and Paul were also present at graduation as they have been an integral part of Elisa’s life in the States the past two years. I am planning to attend Reunion in June 2023, with hubby in tow. Having made frequent visits to campus the past two years has allowed me to see how the college has evolved to meet the demands of a changing world, the commitment of the faculty (especially in the engineering department) to their students, the wonderful bonds of friendships made among the students and how they have matured into young adults ready to make a
contribution to society. There is no doubt in my mind that there continues to be a need in academia for women’s colleges/universities!
Jeanne Schaffer Bingham: Our son, C.J., has become a successful talent scout for high paying jobs and now lives in Pompano Beach. Our daughter, Stacy, who lives next door has three sons (5, 11 and 14). The oldest, Brody, threw a very boisterous pool party for 45 members of the incoming freshman class at his high school. They make our lives very entertaining.
Barbara Prentiss: After a very rewarding career for 30 years in academic medicine at the University of California Irvine and the University of Washington, I retired in 2017. My husband, Al Davis, and I moved to Estes Park, Colo., to be more accessible to our five children and eight grandchildren who live on the East Coast and the southwest. We love living in the Rocky Mountains. Al and I, receiving a special calling from our town, are the official Santa and Mrs. Claus for Estes Park! Trying hard not to fail at my retirement, I do volunteer work in the community which keeps me very busy these days. I cherish all the amazing and wonderful friends we’ve made, and I send love and peace to all of my Sweet Briar sisters.
Anita L. McVey O’Connor: I finally officially retired from the Kennett Area Senior Center, but I’ve been doing a lot of fundraising work for the center, mostly proposal writing, which I enjoy very much. I also continue to volunteer as treasurer for the Pennsylvania Association of Senior Centers, as well as for the Chester County Dept. of Aging Services Advisory Council. Life is a lot less stressful now, especially with my husband, John, retired. We don’t get to travel together as much as we’d hoped, mainly because of COVID. We are very cautious due to health issues, but we are still enjoying retirement very much. We just celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary and still going strong!
Nan Robertson Clarke: First, I hope everyone has June 2-4, 2023 marked on their calendar in big pink and green letters for our 50th reunion. Evie, Diane and I can’t wait to see everyone! For fun this year, I have been doing lots of reading and gar-
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dening: it turns out that latent genes from my Alabama farmer ancestors suddenly asserted themselves when I turned 40 and I am happiest with my hands in the dirt. I also equally enjoy seeing our seven grandchildren AND resting after they’ve gone home to their parents. Truly looking forward to being together on our beautiful campus next June.
Susanne Garrison Hoder: My husband John and I live in the small town of Punta Gorda, Fla. on the Gulf after selling our Rhode Island home last year. We enjoyed two months of travel this summer to see family and friends up the East Coast, fly fishing in Western Maryland, boating in Annapolis, walking along the rocky New England coast and visiting our two sons in D.C. Our oldest son has just started a new company to match companies with carbon reduction credits, and is doing well. Our youngest son is traveling this year so we are keeping our “granddog” who is the closest we have come to a new generation of Hoders. We are just grateful for good health and good friends.
I have had a very busy year. We
sold our place in Mont. to allow time to travel different places. We just returned from 10 days in England, experiencing punting in Cambridge, watching the gallops in Newmarket, touring the York Minster (an amazing very old cathedral), hiking near the Dales and seeing the coast near Scarborough. There were numerous lunches and dinners at pubs and inns visiting friends. I have really enjoyed working with Nan and Diane on our 50th (full disclosure they have done all the work…what a team). We all really hope as many as possible can come even if just for one night or a day!
1975
Anne Cogswell Burris **NEW ADDRESS**
423 Cheves Drive Charleston, SC 29412
ac_burris@comcast.net
Randy Anderson Trainor: I am still running my interior design business and am busier than I have ever been in 35 years! New construction
and second home remodeling continue to show no signs of slowing down. Our oldest granddaughter heads off to Villanova this fall. Her brother is a junior at Brooks in Andover, MA. Our son’s daughter is 8 years old. Our youngest daughter’s daughter is 1 1/2 and she has already been on skis six times. Loves it! I continue to ski and play golf as much as possible and my husband (retired) gardens, skis and golfs, and is my support staff.
Karen Bewick: Where to begin?
Our greatest joy is our 9-month grandson, Holden, who is easy and sweet and funny. Like most of us, we also experienced a loss due to COVID (my dad died January 2021). Otherwise, we have been blessed with no other four or two legged transitions. As always, I’m working on projects: I created a huge rock garden using stones from the property; I’m building a conservatory off the rear of the house surrounded by a beautiful deck; and I continue to add to/refine my woodland area. In addition, we have a small vegetable garden and apiary. I so love our bees … Funny story: Ear-
lier this spring I discovered bear scat in the hive area. My craftsman was busy for about a week and I knew the hives would be destroyed before he could rebuild the electric fence. So, I bought a tent and set up my comfortable sleeping cot inside, and Miss Gracie and I stood guard until Dave’s return. I brought bells and drums and sprayed a bear deterrent on the fencing. We saved the hives! The bear must have thought that anyone that crazy shouldn’t be messed with. I love retirement. I think I’m busier now than I was while teaching which is a 24/7 job. My heart goes out to all those who suffer in this crazy, chaotic, and sometimes cruel world. Many Blessings to all!
Catherine Cranston Whitham: 2022 has been a big year for us. We smart-sized/downsized after 42 years in our wonderful old 1909 house in Richmond and moved around the corner into smaller, contemporary digs. Then came a cancer diagnosis that, thankfully, was identified early and treated successfully. Whit and I celebrate our 46th anniversary this year with three grandchildren and one on the way. With
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At the Royal Windsor Horse Show, May 2022. Left to right, Beverley Heffernan, Jo Strange - Cleveland Bay Horse Society, Jim Heffernan, and Jane Frierson ‘74 at the conclusion of the show.
Karen Bewick’s grandson, Holden.
COVID testing restrictions relaxed for returning travelers, I’m looking forward to a trip to Morocco in October with BackRoads. I see Beth Montgomery, Randy Anderson Trainor and Libby Whitley often; Terry Starke Tosh gives me invaluable garden guidance. SBC friends endure!
Coni Crocker Betzendahl: We are enjoying our time with grandchildren ages 9, 5 and 4. They all live nearby. I am busy with my gardens, perennial and veggie! My horses are both fine, and I mostly ride the Icelandic as the Rocky is pretty much retired. I am headed to Iceland the end of August for my third trek on horseback with a loose herd. We are spending the summer at our condo in Cape May between home in Chadds Ford. If any of you are in the area, give me a holler! Be well everyone!
Cyndi Hardy McCabe: We’ve had a very busy year which included selling our home in Pennsylvania and moving into our home in Wintergreen, Va. Dave retired in 2020 so we look forward to new adventures. Granddaughter Cassie (SBC ‘25) just returned for her sophomore year and it has been a lot of fun sharing her journey. Dave and I were unable to celebrate our 45th anniversary (pandemic, 2020), so we now hope to reach our 50th in 2025. Brian, Tiffany (‘04), and Caitlin and all of our grandchildren are doing well and we are grateful!
Ellen Harrison Saunders: I am still in Suffolk and enjoying volunteering for our local free health care clinic and Sweet Briar’s Class Leaders Working Group of the AAC. Whitney has replaced the practice of law with being President of a private foundation which is very rewarding. Mary-Carson, Josh, Edie B (6) and Virginia (3) are nearby in Norfolk. Harrison, Rachel, Emmeline (7) and Charles (3) are in Philadelphia and Grace is in Durham. I am so glad to have Betsy Brooks Jones and Kathy Rose Rawls nearby. Zooming with Betsy, Cathie Grier Kelly, Carol Brewer Evans, Patty O’Malley Brunger and Pam Myre Turner has been so special!
Chris Hoefer Myers: Huge THANK YOU to all who made gifts this year and a BIG SHOUT-
OUT to the Class of ‘75 callers who personally updated all of us on Sweet Briar’s thrilling financial and enrollment numbers.
Linda Lucas Steele: Life is wonderful for the Steeles. Roger is a walking miracle. We are blessed with two grandsons born a week apart in June, which brings our grandson total to three. We are so grateful for the love and blessings of our Sweet Briar friends.
Janet Richards Oikawa: My husband, Shio, and I participated in Sweet Work Weeks 2022. It was hot and we worked hard but we also enjoyed the camaraderie. All the meals were delicious buffets. I would love to see more volunteers at Sweet Work Weeks 2023 from our class!!! I hope to see many of you at our big 50th Reunion.
Ginny Shipe Cameron: I got to see Elaine Altice and her husband Saman along with Heather Macleod Gale in August in Ocean City, Md. We had a great time together and laughed a lot but our visit was way too short. Also, David and I just purchased a 54-acre farm with several buildings to start a “family and friends” complex/event venue. It’s my next chapter! Stay tuned! Hope everyone is doing well!
Gray Thomas Payne: What can I say....it is a milestone year for most of us. I am hoping to do some traveling but COVID will dictate when and where. We are fortunate to spend our summers in Maine and our winters in Nashville, TN, where my son and daughter live with their spouses/families, including my four grandchildren age 15 months up to 8 years old. It is great to be there with them. Any SBC classmates in Nashville please shoutout! All is good.
Patti Tucker O’Desky: Billy and I have been trying to see the world before he gets too old and I get too tired! So far this year we’ve been to Maui and Kauai, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey and London. We are heading to Lake Como in September for a wedding. Then in October, we will jump aboard a Viking Cruise from Athens to Bangkok. We will visit Israel and Egypt and the route will take us through the Suez Canal with stops in Jordan, Oman, India, Malaysia, Singapore and more! However, our most exciting news
to report is our son and daughterin-law are expecting our first grandchild Jan. 30, 2023. So we happily canceled everywhere we’d planned to travel early next year. We are thrilled to be future grandparents and finally experience all the fun you all have been having!
Carroll Waters Summerour: Toby and I have six grandchildren ranging from 5 to 15 and all are finally in school. The youngest started kindergarten in August. I’ve become involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters. I’ve been with my “Little” for almost three years now. She’s entering her junior year in high school and is phenomenal. I hope things are good with everyone. For my 70th birthday, all 14 of us are heading to Isle of Palms, S.C., the week after Easter in 2023. We will all be staying in one house on the beach, and I hope we don’t kill each other!
Ann Wesley Ramsey: I am happy that the COVID symptoms seem to be milder this year, and we are able to gather again with our friends! President Woo is doing an outstanding job and I am proud of our college. In family news, we had two more additions with the arrival of Griffin Ramsey and Miles McDaniel in 2021. Seven grandchildren keep Rick and me on our toes. We still spend the summer months in Manchester By the Sea, Mass. Our home, however, is Richmond, where we are learning to manage some additional land we purchased recently. We are conservation oriented, which probably started, for me, living for four years on Sweet Briar’s magnificent grounds!
Wendy Wise Routh: I am so honored to be leading our incredible class in preserving Sweet Briar’s legacy. This year was daunting in the beginning but with the help of our team and then some...It was an incredible experience...so thank you for your support! My family is luckily healthy and slowly returning to normal after the pandemic. Lexie is with Bloomberg Philanthropy in the arts and JohnCarlos is with Hello Fresh in charge of logistics for the eastern coast! Charleston and Memphis (our home bred labs) lost their mother Tinker in November but continue to bring joy to us. Carlos is working on his golf game every
day between Shinnecock and Gulf Stream, and I am busy decorating on both coasts! Right now in Water Mill we are enjoying the ocean and hummingbirds and gorgeous sunsets and moon risings! I will be talking to y’all again soon....but remain grateful for the chance to serve!
And, I, your faithful scribe, am in my third house in two years! Our housing plans seem to change annually! After purchasing a lot and drawing up plans to build a new house, we shifted gears. We bought the house we were renting, sold the lot with house plans, moved to a rental down the street and are renovating the rental house we bought. We got off to a slow start in 2022, but plans are to be in our FINAL home by spring 2023. I am still working part-time, playing golf two to three times a week and spending time with our four younger grandchildren, ages 3, 4, 5 and 6. The boys enjoy golf, swimming and soccer, while the only girl, Birdie, a first grader, enjoys swim team, dance, tennis and children’s choir at church. Our oldest grandson is 9 and now lives in Camden, SC, and enjoys golf, baseball and horseback riding. In June, we had a fun visit in Richmond, Va., with Rocket and Ann Wesley Ramsey for our niece’s wedding. I also visited with Beth Montgomery during my stay. I keep in touch with Wendy Wise Routh, Patti Tucker O’Desky and Chris Hoefer Myers as well. Lon has no plans for retirement but manages to hit the golf course six days a week. (Yes, the club is closed on Mondays!) For his 70th, he took sons, Scott and Will, and son-in-law, Sam, to Scotland in August for a week of memorable golf and a performance of The Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle. The two of us are planning a trip to France in 2023 for my 70th and to celebrate 47 years of marriage (COVID prevented anything for 45 years!). In the meantime, we are looking forward to finally getting into our dream house.
NOTE FOR NEXT YEAR: I am getting too old to chase everybody down, so next year, when the notice for news goes out, I am hoping my mailbox will be filled with news from my fellow SBC Septuagenarians!! Best to all and thank you for your continued support of Sweet Briar. I am so proud to read of all the
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accomplishments and advancements the school has made over the past seven years!!
1977
classnotes@sbc.edu
Debbie Koss McCarthy has weathered the COVID storm and is enjoying retirement, splitting her time between Charlotte (20 minutes from two grandchildren) and her “happy place,” a little mountain house at Rumbling Bald on Lake Lure. Her third grandchild lives in NYC. Debbie stays busy with church, book groups, music, hiking, volunteering and for husband, David—golf. The 45th Reunion in June was wonderful. Already excited about the 50th and hoping for a record breaking turn-out of classmates returning to Sweet Briar’s beautiful campus in 2027!
Angela Scully is enjoying painting – it makes her happy.
Christine Hand Weerasinghe is glad to be retired at long last. She spent the last two years editing short stories she had written over two de-
to join her sister Nora Jane next spring. Finally planning to travel again, booking a few trips. Looking forward to seeing everyone next year.
1981
Brendy Reiter Hantzes 3771 Vernacchia Dr Chantilly VA 20151 BHantzes@aol.com
Anne-Marie McAndrews Pagli: After raising four boys we finally got our girl! Our son Christian married Rachel last September. She has been a wonderful addition to the family. John started his own investment business so there is no retiring for him. I continue to sell real estate which has been challenging due to the lack of inventory. Our youngest son, Preston, will be graduating from college (yes, we still have tuition) next May but who’s counting. Looks like we will have three sons living in the sunshine state so we will see where life takes us….
cades ago. Her first book will come out later this year, title: From Colonial Ceylon to Down Under. Her second book (Life in All its Quirkiness) will be self-published shortly thereafter. Christine loves relaxing in the garden with her four cats.
Glenn Springer King missed seeing everyone at our 45th, but looks forward to our 50th! Glenn has had a fabulous trip all over France. Son, John, is there studying for his MFA. While there, they had a great visit with Jill Steenhuis ‘80. Upon her return they were greeted with the happy news that her daughter, Haden, is having their first grandchild. They are so happy at prospect of finally being grandparents!
Gay Owens Gates and Bob left Mass. when Bob retired from Andersen Windows after 40 years. They have spent a few quiet years during COVID staying safe and healthy while enjoying being grandparents, boating and retirement in Md. She and Bob are busy planning a wedding for their daughter, Lily, this October in Media, Pa., and celebrating the news that their daughter, Lauren and her husband, Anthony, are expecting a new bundle of joy
where my 94-year-old father will be honored on the field. Next year, hopefully, Brendy Reiter Hantzes will be my partner at the Farmington Tennis Member Guest.
K Ellen Hagan: First of all, I’m enjoying serving as our class stewardship person. Please make sure SBC has your updated contact info. Also, we need your birthday month. I will be going to West Yellowstone in September to spend time with my family. Last November I was honored with Pioneer in Education Award for the Banks Co. school system. Also enjoying mentoring in Hall Co. and connecting with SBC classmates.
DJ Stanhope: I said goodbye to the USO in March to return home to Maine to be closer to my elderly parents and godparents and have enjoyed my first summer in many years. I’ve done all the quintessential seasonal activities – Sea Dogs games, the beach, the lake, trips out to Casco Bay Islands, touring historic houses and lighthouses and cultural festivals. I would welcome any Vixens visiting Maine to look me up.
Carol Hays Hunley: 2022 has been a busy year for my family. Tom and I welcomed our first grandchild, Peyton Ann, in February. Her parents – middle daughter Chrissy – and her husband Mac, live 15 minutes away in Charlotte so we are loving seeing a lot of them and Peyton! Our oldest daughter, Barbie, got engaged in April and married here in Charlotte in August. Her new husband, Ray, is a UVA grad and his brother is a VMI grad! I am so glad that travel has opened up and we have been able to see more of family and friends.
Tressa Lange: I have been traveling to Charleston, SC, and NYC to visit my daughter, son, his dog and family. Labor Day weekend I will be attending the UVA football game
Sandra Meads Turturro: We’ve had a wonderful year! Our youngest got married Memorial Day weekend and 92-year-old Dad moved four minutes away. My husband, Michael, and I stay busy with work. Michael is busy building new distribution centers for Chick-Fil-A. I just started my 41st year of teaching and still love what I do. We love spending time with our two grandchildren, Jackson and Annabelle. We travel often to see our children in N.C., N.H. and San Diego. We also are busy checking new places off our bucket list and are enjoying all life has to offer.
Betsey Simpson Hilberts: All going well outside Philadelphia. Getting ready to start school after a fun summer with trips to Mallorca and Maine. Last school year was BRUTAL but I am sure this one will be better? It has to be, right??! Our three daughters all live in N.Y. Tom and I enjoy going up for visits and have loved exploring all that the city has to offer. Both our parents are still doing well, for that we feel extremely grateful. Love having FB and IG to “keep in touch” with SBC friends.
Ansley McKenzie Browning: We moved to Camden, S.C., from Winston-Salem this summer. It is situated halfway between Charleston where our daughter, Liz lives with her husband, Nick, and babies Ellison (5), Topper (3), and Baker (10 months) and Elkins, N.C., where our son Tanner and Catherine live and will soon be welcoming a baby boy in December.
Brendy Reiter Hantzes: Not too much going on with me this year. Officially closed my business so I
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Enjoying the wine tasting at the vineyard are the class of ‘77 friends Ebet Little Stevens, Jane Mooney, Ellen Sellers McDowell, Debbie Koss McCarthy and Becky Frost Good.
guess that means I’m retired. Very much enjoying my grandson, Archer, who is 18 months and so much fun; playing tennis as often as I can (and yes Tressa Lange I would love to play in your member guest). Lately I’ve been traveling to play in Racquet Wars. If you play tennis at any level or pickleball you must check it out. This is the first year since 2015 that Eve Devine and I have not been to Sweet Work Weeks. Timing didn’t work out; I had to take some down time for a leg injury and Eve couldn’t take time off work. She’s retired from the Md. Zoo and is running things at Faidley’s at Lexington Market. Eve and Tania Voss Ryan did take a road trip to Farmville and on way home visited SBC; it was the first time Tania had been back since graduation day 1981. Needless to say, she was amazed at the beauty and progress of the campus. If you haven’t been lately you need to visit. A great way to keep in touch and stay connected is, as Betsey Simpson Hilberts mentioned, Facebook and our Class of ’81 page.
And lastly and most importantly, I want to thank Claire McDonald Purnell for serving as Class
Secretary for the past 20+ years. You did an amazing job keeping us all on track to stay connected. Starting with the next set of notes, Anne-Marie McAndrews Pagli will be taking over the pen.
1983
Virginia Claus Buyck vbc414@aol.com
Mary Ware Gibson and Brian live in Charlotte. She has been a teacher for 29 years and is currently at Charlotte Latin School teaching the third grade. Brian continues his ENT practice and plotting retirement. Their sons are now married. Taylor married Rebecca Laube and Andrew married Effe Gharte-Tagoe. Daughter Claire loves life on the West Coast working for Adidas. Mary and Brian had a great time catching up with Ann Goldmann Uloth, Anne Alleva Taylor ’84, Anne Little Woolley and Kathy Barrett Baker and their husbands in June for a lovely dinner at the Boar’s Head Inn. Another educator, Melodie Goodwin, retired last year after 39 years. As a
retirement gift she received a golden retriever puppy that is keeping her busy. Martha Riggs Lowry and husband Ron are doing well, living in Winston-Salem with their cat Moon Pie. Her interior design business, Design of the Times, Inc. has been very busy. They had a wonderful trip to Ireland and Scotland this year. Wylie Jameson Small published her debut novel, A Knight’s Duty (available on Amazon), and contracted to follow this book with a three book series. Wylie and her husband Stuart will travel back to England in the fall and then to Kiawah for the winter. Their son Rudy (28) is working in banking and living in Rochester, N.Y. Tracy Gatewood sold her home and moved to Fairhope, Ala., an idyllic community overlooking Mobile Bay. It was just what she needed following the COVID induced “rough and tumble” two years in the CRE industry. Fairhope has been so enjoyable she will be staying for a while longer. While there she has caught up with classmates/alums: Tresy Robinson Hillyer, Carson Irvine Nicolson, Tricia Graham ‘79 and spoke with Julie Corte Bierster ‘84. (The state of Alabama was well represented at
SBC from ‘79 - ‘84!) Tracy started teaching real estate in January which has been great fun. Lizzie Pierpoint Kerrison sent the happy news that daughter Adair had a little girl the first semester of medical school October 2021: Evelyn Adair McCafferty. Lizzie’s son Horry is a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corp finishing aviator training to fly C-130s and will hopefully get his wings in 2022. Ann Sterling Hart is thrilled to become a grandmother soon. Both of Ann’s girls are having daughters in January 2023. The oldest, Stephanie, lives in Seattle, WA with her husband, Lee, and Ann’s youngest, Ali, lives in Shreveport with her husband Ross. The babies are due a week apart so there will be lots of traveling! Ann moved to Ocala, Fla., last year and spends time rehabbing her really cute new farm and building a small barn for her horses. She runs dressage shows and her lovely mare, Kashmir, has been retired on her new farm. Her pasture mate is Ann’s new show horse Ike. Ann had dinner with Elena Quevedo in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and enjoyed seeing her and catching up. Libby Glenn Fisher is loving their new place in west-
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Lizzie Pierpoint Kerrison’s son Horry next to a navy trainer in 2021.
Mary Pope M. Hutson and Perry Liles Lucas, ‘85 reconnect at the member guest golf tournament in Blowing Rock, N.C. on July 13, 2022.
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Mason Bennett Rummel with husband Rick and granddaughter Ellie in N.Y.
Lee Anne Mackenzie Chaskes with husband Rob and son William celebrating his summer in NYC.
Lizzie Pierpoint Kerrison at the June christening of Evie (Evelyn Adair) with mother Adair and aunt Tia Eliza. Tresy Hillyer Robinson, Tracy Gatewood and Tricia Graham ‘79 in Mobile, Ala.
Alicia Nygaard Formagus with her youngest son at his graduation ceremony after receiving the Masters in Christian Ministry from Dallas Baptist University.
ern N.C. She has had the opportunity to see several SBC classmates in the last year. Libby visited with Sue Gay Dailey in N.Y. and reports that she and Rob are empty nesters and that their get together was filled with, as expected, lots of laughs. Libby also visited with Elena Quevedo and her partner Kevin for a hike and dinner at Eleanor Bibb’s cabin in Asheville, N.C. Miriam Baker Morris and Clay are enjoying semi-retirement, spending time with their children and grandchildren (Margaret and Baker), traveling and golfing. Mason Bennett Rummel reports she and Rick are finding this 60s decade interesting and fun. They are enjoying their three children and beautiful 2 ½ year old granddaughter in New York. Mason spends a lot of time at Sweet Briar with board duties and reports she feels great enthusiasm about our alma mater, the extraordinarily beautiful campus and the direction of our college. Gigi Harsh Mossburg joined a group of us last December for the very fun and delicious cooking class hosted by Elena Quevedo and Lee Anne MacKenzie Chaskes and presented by Marielle Levine, the owner of Creation du Jour in Calif. Gigi is on grand jury duty from April to September in Annapolis, Md. This is a six-month commitment every other Friday with the same 23 people who do not decide “guilt or innocence” but rather if someone will go before a jury or judge and have a trial. On July 4, Gigi was lucky enough to be invited to a friend’s 14th floor Watergate Apartment in D.C. to watch the fireworks on her outside terrace. The view was perfect with the fireworks right between the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial. Mary Pope Hutson reconnected with Perry Liles Lucas ’85 at the Blowing Rock, N.C. member guest golf tournament in July. Alicia Nygaard Formagus and her husband Nace retired their dental practice in November. They are expecting their fifth grandchild on Labor Day. Alicia and Nace spend most of their time in Dallas with one son and his family and Corsicana with their other son and family. Their youngest son recently graduated with honors with his Masters in Christian Ministry from Dallas Baptist University. Lee
Anne MacKenzie Chaskes reports she is finally an empty nester with her wonderful husband of 36 years, Rob. Lee Anne’s sons are doing great, with William completing his last year at W&L Law School, Robert managing a liquor store in south Fla. and Adam living large at the College of Charleston. The pandemic brought many changes to Lee Anne’s life, including the renovation of her house, a new kitchen, and Rob working completely from home (as of this writing 24/7 for the past 981 days and counting). Lee Anne is very supportive of Rob’s golf game and reports he had two holes in one last year. Lee Anne enjoys working for Sweet Briar and appreciates the remarkable support of our class. Leslie Wright Root and Randy are temporarily living in Jacksonville, Fla while their new home is being built in Bluffton, S.C. (only six months behind schedule!). In the meantime, they are getting lots of time with kids/grandkids as both boys and granddaughters live in Jacksonville. Leslie and Randy will celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary this year. They are still catching up on missed travel due to COVID, with visits planned for Alaska, Asheville, and Telluride in the books by this publication. Elizabeth Taylor Webster wrote that this past year has been full of ups and downs, but she is blessed to have a close family. She has two children scheduled to graduate from college in the not-too-distant future and perhaps can retire. Elizabeth is selling real estate and renewed her law license so may decide to practice real estate law. She is playing lots of USTA tennis, trying not to get old(!), and enjoyed reading Wylie Jameson Small’s new book, which she noted is a really good read. Come see her in Pinehurst! Lisa Rogness McDermott and Tim have twin college sophomores on opposite sides of the country. While they miss the girls, empty nesting turned out to be easier than they thought. Tim is inching toward retirement from parish ministry, and Lisa happily works in the music department at St. Olaf College. COVID caught up to both Lisa and Tim but thankfully vaccines and boosters kept them out of the hospital. Lucy Chapman Millar is splitting her time between Atlanta
and Bluffton, S.C. Anne Little Woolley and Blair Clark Swoope came this past spring to visit, and they had a ball. In October, Lucy will join Anne, Alice Cutting Laimbeer, Wylie Jameson Small and their spouses for a fun trip. Lucy shared the very happy news that her daughter, Peyton, and Will are expecting in January – Lucy’s first grandchild! Elena Quevedo started her own nonprofit consultancy practice and is enjoying being her own boss. Elena’s daughter, Olivia, finishing her master’s in painting at the N.Y. Academy of Art, with a show coming up. Her son, Sebastian, has adapted well to his group home, and they both love seeing each other every weekend. Elena is planning a six-day yoga retreat to the Ecuadorian Amazon in October – message her if you would like to join. Cate McNider had a solo art show in New York in July and August entitled “Reading the Living Book.” Prints and originals can be purchased at catemcnider. com. Her first poetry collection is available for purchase at catemcnider.net, with a second collection to be published soon. The Listening Body healing sessions packages can be ordered at www.bodymind.training. Suzy Turner Brennan and her family had a wonderful vacation this summer in Isla Holbox, Mexico. Suzy is in Alexandria, Va., and her children are in Nashville, NYC, and D.C. Leslie Malone Berger is still working as a speech language pathologist and keeping busy with her Girl Scout Troop of 60+ year old women, earning badges for wine tasting, axe throwing, and zip lining! Leslie and Kevin enjoyed a trip to Kentucky, complete with bourbon tour, to celebrate their 35th anniversary. They are looking forward to the November wedding in Raleigh, N.C., of their son, Kiernan, and his lovely fiancé, Maddy.
All good in my world. Joined the 60 Club in January. I traveled to Paris with my sister in July which was great fun. Took a quick visit to Reid Hall where I “studied” spring semester junior year in the Wesleyan program. Brought back many great memories (except the definitely scary memory of the first class where I think I understood maybe two words taught by the French professor). My fault
Monsieur Leveau, not yours! Children are in D.C., and Columbia and Charleston, S.C. Hope to see everyone in June at Reunion!
1985
DeAnne Blanton
501 E. Riverside Dr. Bridgewater, VA 22812
ddblanton@gmail.com
Catty Hubbard Andry writes, “Our last babe is off to JMU this fall. Our middle son is taking a semester in Australia, and my eldest graduated with high honors from N.C. State last spring. He is doing one more year and will finish with a masters in mechanical engineering. To celebrate our empty nest, Michael and I are going to Croatia in September with some friends from Asheville. It is a bittersweet time for sure. I am not sure what my next steps will be as my stay at home mom job comes to an end! I have a couple of Etsy shops that haven’t been very successful, but I may try to reenergize them when we get back from our trip. We have a nice group of alumnae here in Asheville, but COVID slowed down the gatherings.”
Ellen Carver’s daughter Sophia chose to be a Duke freshman at JMU, rather than a Vixen, but Ellen continues to promote the college to high school students in Hampton Roads, where she is a champion for girl empowerment as executive director of Girls on the Run.
Jane Cox Childress is now director of marketing and communications for Kanuga, an Episcopal camp and conference center near Asheville. She sees Catty Andry regularly.
Laura Morrisette Clark is loving retirement and is spending lots of time sewing, golfing, and enjoying her four grandchildren.
Barbara Tragakis Conner loved spending time with family and friends on Cape Cod this summer. After working from home throughout the summer from the Cape, she just returned home to Middleburg, Va. where she will welcome her 13th Foxcroft School senior class to campus. Daughter, Margaret, and son, Kit, are doing well. Her grandson is now 4 years old – and so precious!
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Linda Manley Darling’s New Year 2022 began in Disneyland, Calif., one of her favorite places on earth. Her extensive travels this year include visits to the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle; the Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, Wash.; Mount Rushmore; and Agate Beach, Ore. Linda also makes TikTok videos of her tuxedo cat, Royce.
It’s been a busy year for Renata Leckzas Davis. She has a new grandson and son Andrew is engaged to be married next September. She and her husband spent a month in Scotland, making it to the Orkney Islands and her old stomping grounds at University of St. Andrew’s. She also did some traveling in the States, meeting up with Heidi Cromwell in Florida and Caperton Morton in Kansas City.
Roshani Gunewardene is still practicing law in her boutique law firm, and assisting SBC by organizing alumnae get-togethers in southwest Florida.
Garland Harvie recently ended a seven-year stint driving a big truck, 18 wheeler! She’s now back to spinning and fiber production, making handspun wool and alpaca. She is hoping to start a regenerative farm in the near future. Garland has gotten back to riding and just purchased a Dutch harness horse for dressage. She’s back on the Eastern Shore and loving seeing old friends.
Beth Anderson Kearns is now in “year two” of retirement and really enjoying it. She has started to
travel again and enjoyed a trip to the Washington coastline. She is recently back from a swing through Virginia that included Sweet Work Weeks – her first time. She writes “it was awesome! Highly recommend. Met so many wonderful Sweet Briar women from across the years and generations.” Beth is also continuing to practice karate and is diving into more home improvement projects.
Perry Liles Lucas writes “my happy news is that my oldest, Robby, is engaged to be married in June. My less happy news is that I was diagnosed with ALS at the end of April. We are figuring out how to live life to the fullest through love and laughter.” Your Sweet Briar sisters are sending you love and light, Perry!
Whitney Macknik writes “I am getting ready to start my 27th year as a math teacher in central Vermont, a job that I love! In addition to traditional math classes, I am designing and teaching programming classes, working to help more women discover the love of coding that I discovered at Sweet Briar. I was recently chosen as Vermont’s Air and Space Forces Association State STEM Teacher of the Year. Outside of school, my husband and I do a great deal of work with our beloved rescued Australian Cattle Dogs. We compete around New England at agility trials and love working with our dogs and the agility community. My young, deaf dog, Rooster, and I are not at all good at it yet… but we’re getting better and the journey
has been a blast!”
Anne Maus continues her a career as a senior branch office administrator for an investment firm. She currently serves as the N.C. co-chair for the Grassroots Task Force advancing the interests of individual investors. They are advocating for the passage of SECURE 2.0 to help millions of Americans attain a secure and dignified retirement. In her free time, she continues to work as an “extra” (background actor) for movie productions filming in North Carolina. She has a movie being released on next year titled Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret based on the Judy Blume book. She played multiple characters in the movie and had a scene with Rachel McAdams. She writes that “being an ‘extra’ is a fascinating and really fun experience and once you have been an ‘extra’ you tend to view movies with a completely different perspective.”
This has been quite an adventurous year for Caperton Morton. In March, she and Mitzi Morgan took a phenomenal road trip to Waverly, Pa., where Laurie Newman Tuchel ’80 opened her art exhibit “A Sense of Place” at The Waverly Small Works Gallery. In April, Caperton was thrilled to be accepted for a twoweek residency at the Va. Center for the Creative Arts. While there, she worked on her podcast, Unfolding a Story, and began researching the history of the VCCA, the Mount San Angelo home and its dairy, which was managed by her great uncle.
After her residency ended, she and El Warner, who was on campus for a meeting, caught up during dinner together. Caperton’s podcast is scheduled to launch in early 2023. She and her husband were back in Virginia over the summer, where she got together with Madge Hall Vosteen, Mitzi Morgan, and Teresa Aagaard ’87. Caperton is also thrilled to report that she and her husband, Chris Smith, are moving to Va. permanently. She is looking forward to being close to her son in Asheville and super close to Sweet Briar to help out in any way possible. She even scored her post-graduation Sweet Briar Post Office Box Q!
Elizabeth Morriss Srinivasan and her husband celebrated at the wedding of their son, Christopher, in June. Their son, David, graduated from Emory Law School and completed a one-year fellowship at Legal Aid. She also writes, “Reaching my 60th birthday in August, I feel so very grateful for my Sweet Briar education. Almost every night at 7 p.m. during Jeopardy, I am reminded of my strong liberal arts background. Thankful that Sweet Briar continues to educate young women. SBC is not just surviving; it is THRIVING! How wonderful.”
Jeannie Guthans Wilkins and husband Richard celebrated 35 years of marital bliss, the first birthday of their first grandchild, Samantha, and the marriage of their son, Christopher. Laura Clark and Cathleen Dunkle were guests at the wedding.
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Jane Cox Childress and Catty Hubbard Andry in Asheville, N.C.
Laura Morrisette Clark, Cathleen Brooks Dunkle, and Jeannie Guthans Wilkens at the wedding of Jeannie’s son Christopher.
I am loving small-town life in Bridgewater, Va., with my five rescue cats and husband, Dick Higgins. I now work as an event coordinator at Bluestone Vineyard, which is only 10 minutes from my home. Starting a new career at my age was daunting, but I love this new role, and I especially enjoy learning all about wine and the Virginia wine industry. 1987
Verda M. Andrews Colvin colvinverda860@gmail.com
Karen Conway Holloway is plodding along. She writes that she has started needle and wet felting as a bid to do more creative stuff outside of work. “Finding time is a chore, as all the available time I have, I want to spend with my gorgeous grandson (who is soon to turn four). Where has the time gone? He starts school in September, but he is still my little precious baby. It would be lovely to attend a zoom meeting and see you all again!! I still look fondly back on those days, where we were sheltered by the Sweet Briar loving arms.”
Vikki Schroeder says, “This summer was my eighth year being on campus for Sweet Work Weeks. I love seeing how the campus has changed over the years. It is great to work with so many alumnae from many class years. I still hang out the rest of the time in Minn.”
Verda M. Andrews Colvin writes,
“I decided to finally be ALL IN. SBC has been a significant factor in my progression — personally and professionally. From a trial judge to the Georgia Supreme Court, I have always given kudos to SBC. Teresa Pike Tomlinson helped me in my judicial campaign this year. She is amazing! My kids are adulting and doing well. I’m now stepping up to be our class notes compiler. Let’s ALL be ALL IN. We are fierce Vixens who have been empowered to make a difference. I hope to have notes from our entire Class of 1987 next time!!”
1991
Carey A. Bates
65 Railroad Avenue Apt. 1B Milford, CT 06460 c.bates.c@gmail.com
Squiffy Walker Christopher wrote to say that she is still teaching preschool in RVA. Her daughter Wizzie, class of 2020, works at an interior design firm in RVA. Sallie, a senior at JMU, is majoring in accounting. Her husband Robert is still a librarian in Henrico County. It’s been a good summer, nannying with some family and weekends at the river with her mom. Love talking/texting with SBC friends and hope to see some soon!
Karen Hott reports that her design projects continue across the Southeast thanks to so many SBC
friends. She visited Bunny Mellon’s gardens at Oak Spring Farm with Leigh Ann White ‘86. She spent Easter Sunday on horseback - an extraordinary experience overlooking the original Brick House. The week ended attending the Middleburg Spring Steeplechase. Grateful that the design industry has not slowed down here and she knows that her clients will emerge from their much improved homes! Over the past year, it has been amazing to see projects in person that started via FaceTime from a house in Hunt Country, Va., to a Monument Avenue condominium in Richmond to another project on the ocean in Fernandina. While in Atlanta, Karen has enjoyed seeing smiling Vixen faces such as Kim Norman ‘85, Karen Nickles ’86 and classmate Carey Bates! She also visited Kathy Fons Barkley ‘87 at her beautifully renovated farm in Oxford, Ga., complete with a picnic with the cows in the pasture. How Sweet Briar is that?!
D’Andra Simmons is launching two new products in her Hard Night Good Morning skin care line to be released in the fall, and essential oils called Essthree to be launched during the holidays, including perfume and food items. They are moving to a new home on an acre of land in the fall, so she is excited about having a large garden and privacy! She acted in two films this past spring: one for Lifetime called “Brutal Brainwash” and another feature called “My Dear” that will
be released in theaters in September. Her YouTube cooking show, “Simply Simmons,” is going well, too.
Ann Keating Ashley reports that after a long hiatus, she is writing a book and a screenplay. She has also accepted a role with a breakthrough sleep apnea medical device startup, at WhisperSom Corporation. Her two children, Philip and Eileen, are directing their efforts to take control of the family businesses, and attending college at the University of Maryland, respectively. She has reduced scale and moved into a “tiny house” in Annapolis, Md. After removing her boot from a broken foot (playing Frisbee in espadrilles), she plans to get back on the music scene, assisting musicians in the mid-Atlantic accomplish their dreams!
Elliott Pitts loves living in Portland, Maine, where she starts most days paddling a kayak, then spends the rest of it raising needed funds for children’s hospitals. She just finished a six-year stint as Town clerk (need endless entertainment? Go to a town meeting). She is President of the Squirrel Island Chapel Association, a summer chapel and recently returned from the Episcopal Church’s General Convention where she caught up with one of her favorite people, Percy Grant ’81. Speaking of favorite people, in 2022, she’s hugged Dawn Nelson, Anne Galanides and Mamie Farley in Richmond, and Penny Tadler in N.Y.!
Mary Lanford Price is still living in Lexington, Va., and now works
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Sandy Compton Sellman, Ellen Duffie-Fritz, Allyson Welch Cain, JoAnn Bogolin, Madeleine Blanchard Corbo at their mini-reunion.
Andrea Williams Oakes: Mayor of the City of Staunton, Va., has her flat Vixen!
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Jennifer Jarvis Ballard’s kids at Sweet Briar Graduation, Ethan and Jesseca Ballard ’22
Norma Bulls Valentine & Tracy Imse Thomson
Norma Bulls Valentine & Jen Hoskins Miller
Jesseca Ballard ‘22 and Jennifer Jarvis Ballard before SBC graduation in May 2022.
for the VMI Alumni Agencies as a development writer. It’s a job that she has definitely had to grow into, but so far, so good. She quit riding six years ago when the number of things on her plate just got to be overwhelming, but they’ve recently moved back to her mother’s property, which has some acreage, so she’s thinking about getting donkeys. She needs an equine or two in her life, and the stature just doesn’t matter!
Dr. Signey Hoffman Swartley says that she has had a very busy schedule this year working their cans off in the health care and education systems. Draining, dissociative and dysfunctional. She and husband Curt have carved out some needed family healing time. Thankfully, they were able to travel regularly. For her birthday, they took Amtrak’s coast starlight up to Seattle and enjoyed good food and sites for a long weekend. For three weeks this summer, on the California central coast, their daughters Piper (15) and Scarlett (10) took surfing lessons. Now, they can officially hang ten. Scarlett now loves oysters! Lol..figure that one out. She’s the pickiest eater ever. They are now off to the Bahamas for beautiful blue waters. Penelope (Penny) Tadler just finished her 31st year in the classroom. (Only four to go until retirement!) After a few years of staying put, she finally got to travel again. This spring, she spent time in Florida and California It was so nice to get out of New York for a while. She is once again spending two months in the Catskill Mountains, enjoying summer away from the city. She was lucky to share a fun filled mountaintop weekend with Elliott Pitts. Penelope keeps in touch with Allene Doucette and Judith Kobliska Goetz. Cathi Tavi Goslau Rainold reports that life is as busy as ever! Her son starts high school in the fall and she can’t wait until he can drive himself around. She lost her beloved partner, Almond Joy, in June due to a freak accident, which has been very difficult. She is helping her husband in the office with his blind business and learning how to play golf! She sends well wishes to all!
Suzanne Petrie Liscouski has been working on equine certifications for the last two years toward her goal of incorporating functional anatomy
at her farm, Briar Creek Farm. She is completing the full three year Masterson Method cert and Equinology. She and her husband Bob are doing well and got to ring the bell to closing bell for the NASDAQ for his quantum computing company (QCI). Their son, Bobby (14) starts Evergreen Christian High School this fall. He is working toward Eagle Scout and plays the violin. Recently, he was Mufasa in a local production of Lion King! Suzanne is one proud Mama!
Joan Dabney Clickner says that she writes in a semi-recumbent position, having averted the worst of COVID by “horse dosing” with antiviral herbs. Life is good in Charlottesville. Still really enjoying her remote Wellness Program Coordinator position for an Arlington-based firm. Son Ian is finishing up his sophomore college courses this fall and will transfer to Virginia Tech in 2023. Daughter Georgia is starting 10th grade - still hoping she’s SBCbound! The boxer pup is huge now, tall and springy and fun, and the backyard hens are as cute as ever, at least to me. Our class has started wonderful quarterly Zoom get togethers. Please join us!
Stephanie Berger writes that they have been spending more time in Flagstaff, Ariz. She is still making monthly trips to NYC for work. She says it is the best of both worlds. She has been blessed to have Amber Vellenga visit along her trip to the Grand Canyon as well as Melanie Duke who made a trip to NYC. While Mel was visiting, she got to meet our newest addition to the family, Clancy Lamb (which she ended up naming). Stephanie just recently saw Kristin Urbach, indicating that it was a great few hours catching up. She is feeling grateful for her SBC sisters as well as her family.
Kathryn Hagist Yunk just completed her term as one of the Alumnae Alliance Operations Co-Chairs. What a fantastic group of alums who give countless hours to the college. If you are looking for a way to stay connected, meet new people and have a great time, check out one of the Alliance’s Working Groups.
Megan Read Lindberg cannot believe 30+ years has passed since graduation! Their two oldest chil-
dren have flown the nest with one living in San Francisco and the other in Dallas. Their youngest is leaving this fall for his first year at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. They will be the dreaded empty nesters. She is filling her time with the startup of a reining horse breeding and training operation in Plymouth, CA, which should keep her sufficiently busy so as not to pine too much. She had a great zoom call with some classmates last month! Hope to continue that!
Gwen Glew is living in Haverford, Pa. After a break to care for relatives, she is hoping to reenter medicine this year. Her two sons are in college now and she just celebrated her 30th wedding anniversary with her husband (Rich). She is still in touch with Edie Rue Scholin ‘89, Kathryn Johnson Glass and Leslie Corrado Stillwagon ‘88. She loves seeing Facebook photos from our classmates.
Victoria Campo Byrd says that she hopes everyone is healthy and happy! She and husband Gar (HSC ‘90) are still in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and keep busy with their kids (Garnett, Ellie and Caroline). Garnett is a senior at W&L and spent the summer in Utah interning at Northrop Grumman. Ellie will be a sophomore at the UVA and plans to major in math and minor in dance. Caroline will be a junior in high school and plays a lot of lacrosse! Sadly, they lost her mother last year and they miss her every day. Hug your loved ones and enjoy every moment!
As for me, I am celebrating my first year as a writer for Morgan Stanley and recently moved from Brooklyn back to coastal Connecticut. We lost our dear mother last summer to vascular dementia, so it has been a time of healing after losing my dad in October 2020. My niece who incurred a TBI two years ago is doing really well. She is re-enrolled in a local university! My heart is very grateful to all of you that offered support to my family during this time, especially Beth Robinson Dean who was local in Ala. at the time of the incident. I just returned from a week of striper fishing in Maine in honor of my late father. Amber Vellenga and Margo TenBroeck visited in December! In June, Amber Vellenga and I traveled from D.C. to Connecticut after going to a Nats game. We then connected
for dinner with Suzanne Petrie Liscouski for dinner in Branford, Conn. Such a nice evening! Many said Holla, Holla! Until next time!
1993
classnotes@sbc.edu
Sarah Alexander: I am a grandmother to Justin’s son, Landon (2) and mother to a teenager so I am on my toes! Just hit my 25th anniversary with Lockheed Martin and was promoted to Technology Strategy Lead for my line of business. (That’s being in charge of R&D funds, leveraging them to meet our business objectives.) I have worked R&D in the past, at a smaller scale, but love it though I will miss testing UUVs offshore. I have been advocating for LAM awareness, playing violin, doing pilates & diving with Stephen with the rest of my time. Life is good!
Dianne Hayes Doss: Our son graduated UGA and is planning a gap year to hike/climb/adventure and do seasonal work. After a gap year, he plans to go to grad school, possibly for environmental policy. Reach out if you have connections/ thoughts to share. Our daughter is heading to Oregon State University in the fall—to row and study ecological engineering. I would love to connect with some alumnae on the West Coast when I go to visit!
Norma Bulls Valentine: I’m currently serving on the board of directors at Sweet Briar. Still working in real estate. Spending part of the year in Florida and part in South Carolina with my sister, Nancy Bulls. I caught up with classmates Tracy Imse Thomson and Jen Hoskins Miller this winter. Can’t wait to see everyone at our 30th Reunion June 2-4!
Julia Skilinski Brooks: This school year I moved into a math interventionist position for grades K through 2. I am nervous but excited at the same time! I had a wonderful summer, spending time with my mother, my brother from Kentucky, and my sister from Washington, along with three of their daughters. I am in regular contact with Laurie Palmer and Patty Sagasti Suppes, who moved to New York. I won’t be
sbc.edu 68 CLASS NOTES
able to make reunion but wish everyone who will be attending a fabulous time.
Sally Estes Vigexxi: Started an awesome new job with the Macomb Police Department as the Community Service, Diversity and Recruitment Officer. I keep very busy working with our underserved community. I’ve befriended a local prospective SBC student, in a small Midwest town where almost no one has heard of SBC. Keeping fingers crossed she attends! She loved her visit to SBC!
Sutapa Mukherjee: Excited to share my daughter received dual degrees in Mechanical Engineering and International Studies from Lafayette College in May. Jim and I continue to enjoy living in Palo Alto with our three cats and travel when we can.
Jennifer Jarvis Ballard: I really enjoyed watching my daughter graduate as part of the class of 2022 and join the ranks of Sweet Briar alumnae. It was a wonderful weekend and it was wonderful to witness the new traditions for graduation. Jesseca loved her years at Sweet Briar and the friends she made. It was great to
share so many traditions with her. She is now at Atlantic Vet College at Prince Edward Island University in Canada studying to become a veterinarian. Super proud of her! Our son, Ethan continues to work hard as a diesel mechanic.
Sabryna McClung Roberson: We’re still enjoying life in Northern Calif. and somehow our younger kiddo just started high school!
Continue working with a nonprofit (TeamGiving.ORG) to connect volunteers to nonprofit partners across our region — 30,000+ hours since our inception! Would love to rendezvous any visitors in the Sacramento region, Lake Tahoe, Napa/Sonoma or the Bay Area. Looking forward to seeing many ‘93 classmates in June for our milestone Reunion! 1995
Katie Schellhammer katie@schellhammer.net
Shana-Tara Regon O’Toole is grateful to share news that the non-
profit she founded is (so far!) surviving the devastating impact the pandemic has had on fundraising and business growth. She hopes other SBCers are also hanging in there! Other news to be grateful for: her 15-year-old french bulldog is still enjoying walks in the woods with her. They spent the summer away from sweltering D.C. in a cabin in Quebec and her gratitude abounds for that blessing as well!
Nicole File’s nonprofit Softer Streets went international this year, serving Ukrainians caught in war. Their supplies were some of the first on the ground and they now have volunteers getting items even into the hottest areas (and often extracting refugees on the way out). Softer Streets now serves people unsheltered for any reason: poverty, disaster or unrest. Nicole is also preparing to sponsor a family of five refugees in the Atlanta area. Nicole celebrated her 50th birthday in Atlanta this month with Karen Hott ‘91, Dianne Hayes Doss ‘93, Emily Kuchar ‘96, Meg Hammock ‘08 and Jackie Merritt ‘11.
Kristina Pody Hibdon is proud to
say she went back to school and obtained her master’s in Public Administration. This was her COVID project and it coincided with her twin daughters start of college at the same school. It was a wonderful time for them to bond over term papers and research projects. Her oldest daughter also blessed them with their first grandchild. Della Rae Hibdon made her entrance into the world this spring and spends most of the week with Kristina at her office while her mom has gone back to work. Truly Blessed this year.
Christie “Trista” Newman Wright says, “After living in Richmond, Va., for most of my life, I am excited to make the move in mid-September down to Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.! The beach is a happy place and I am looking forward to making it my home! I still work in insurance and will be making plenty of trips back to Virginia to visit my family in Charlottesville and my friends and clients in RVA!”
Christine Patten Hundertpfund is still living on the south coast of England and after about two years of renovations, their house is finally
fall 2022 69 CLASS NOTES
Emily Kuchar ‘96, Meg Hammock ‘08, Jackie Merritt ‘11, Dianne Hayes Doss ‘93, and Karen Temple Hott ‘91 were among those celebrating with Nicole File (second from left) on her 50th birthday in Atlanta.
Kelly Hall driving in the Serengeti.
waterproof and looking nice. “Now to start the garden, oh dear!!” Amy Woods Jarich moved 20 minutes from her, so they meet up for dog walks and laughter. Christy has been down to Amy’s incredible 13th century house in France to help build a kitchen and is planning a road trip back there in September. Otherwise, she is still working on her mediumship and loving every minute! She is bringing her daughter Éloïse to the states for Halloween, she is so super excited about that. She sends love to all!
Elizabeth Dunck Curry says, “Great summer. Dropped off my bonus son (Bennett) at The Citadel and girls (Tricia and Addison) are freshman at the Catholic High School here in Charleston, S.C. After 12 great years at my precious company, I made the switch to VP at Guaranteed Rate Affinity Mortgage Lender. Really enjoy helping so many people relocate to South Carolina. I get to see Jenn Wissman Rosenkranz for a brunch date every couple of months.”
Tricia Lynn had a busy summer! She went to a graduation in Mont., then went for a 20 mile hike up to Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park. She also coordinated a summer math program for 45 first generation college students. Now it is back to the classroom for the fall and continuing as department chair for the new academic year.
English Griffith Koontz reports that “All is good here. Just returned from a trip to Dallas to move my daughter in for her freshman year at SMU. Rebecca Nelson Freudigman ‘94 helped me through it! Look forward to seeing some Dallas ‘95ers on future trips!! Everything is quiet here in Hunt Country, Va. Have loved our class engagement lately and appreciate our energetic leadership! Sorry to have missed the last call, but I look forward to catching up on the next one!”
Kara Dickey Moore says, “I had been overseeing corporate philanthropy at Bloomberg LP for six years before taking a leave of absence to work on Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. When that ended, I went over to his foundation to oversee the fundraising and opening
of a new performing arts center that Mike chairs. It will open in 2023 on the World Trade Center site and will be the final building to complete that re-building of lower Manhattan. My son, Oliver (14) just finished seven weeks at sleep-away camp and will start high school at The Calhoun School next month. He’s been there since he was 3 years old, so not a big change! We are still living in NYC and my mom is still in Middleburg and we visit often.”
Jennifer Nelson Gaudette just got promoted to Information Technology Director of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine. Her IT career started back in 1991 at Sweet Briar when she worked in the computer lab showing students how to number pages in Claris Works. It evolved into working for the computer center and running backups on the old SBC VAX system. Computers and technology have always been second nature so to have a job where she can “live out my faith and help everyone in the diocese use technology safely and efficiently is a great place to be. Holla! Holla!”
Kathryn Czarkowski and her husband, John, are celebrating 2022 like it’s the early 90s all over again by seeing Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros in Chicago in March and at Radio City in April. They closed out the Dead & Company Summer 22 Tour with both nights at Citi Field in July. They also snagged a reservation at Alinea while in Chicago (if you know, you know). They will see Bobby et al. again when they come to their neck of the woods - New Haven - in October. Unfortunately, they recently missed Phil Lesh and Friends, but next time!
Jennifer Parker Raudenbush says “I’m still living in eastern Pennsylvania with my husband, teenage son and Westie pup. I host SBC mini reunions with Cari Miller James and Kelly Hall, (and sometimes Karen Giorgetti) every summer in which we do a lot of hanging poolside and visiting amusement parks. I’m writing full-time now and my debut children’s picture book “In the Palm Of My Hand,” is being published by Running Press Kids (Hachette) March 14, 2023! Anyone who wants
to keep up with my book news can join the newsletter on my website, www.jenraudenbush.com.”
Gwendolyn Hickey Babcock reports, “So much has happened this past year. Devin and I were married 25 years this past October! Kaeden is in her sophomore year at SBC. She is a Resident Advisor this year in Dew. Rory has had lots of fun being back in the pool since COVID and will be a freshman and on Varsity Swim Team at Dallastown HS in the fall. Weimer Knob continues to amaze us in beauty every day. It’s really stunning to watch the weather come through at any time during the year. You and your family are always welcome here! Relax and stay awhile!”
Michelle Goff says, “Life is busy! My youngest is heading off to JMU to study marketing and my oldest is graduating in a week from ODU and will serve as a special education teacher in Nelson County this year. I am serving in my third year as an Assistant Principal at Nelson County High School after 25 years in the classroom teaching Spanish. I live on Timber Lake in Lynchburg with my girls and golden doodles. I wish all of you well!”
Kimberly Roda Moorhead says “After a wild year, I decided to spend my summer relaxing and travel a bit! I visited family inPennsylvania and New York and took a two-week trip to the Amalfi Coast. I look forward to another fun year reconnecting with classmates!”
Kelly Hall is still the study-abroad director at Cedar Crest College and in the last year she traveled to Tanzania, Morocco, Spain, France, Andorra, and Costa Rica. She saw Jennifer Parker Raudenbush, Cari Miller James, and all their “boys” this summer at Jen’s house.
As for me, Katie Maxwell Schellhammer, I substitute teach, play handbells/keyboard at the church, and follow our three teens around their activities. My husband and I are 100% marching band groupies! My oldest just started at Wake Forest University (in their band too), so we get to drive by SBC every time we visit him. Holla Holla to you all! See you on Zoom and at Reunion!
Melanie Vracas 4207 Fielding Street
Alexandria, VA 22309
Mevracas45@gmail.com
Katrina Balding Bills: I brought our daughter Keara (12) to our 25th Reunion and we had the BEST time. Our son Kenny graduated high school the next week and starts VCU Arts in August. Kevin and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in September. My Mary Kay business is keeping our herd of horses in feed and fun. It also helped fund a new project. I’ve written a book about my best horse Fella and the great life he and I had. We are working on getting it published. Watch for it at www.katrinabaldingbills.com!
Lisa DuCharme Elwell: Attended our 25th Reunion this year and LOVED every minute on campus and with everyone in our class especially. We really lucked out with an awesome group. Can’t wait to return to SBC hopefully yearly moving forward. I’m still across the pond in London with my husband Tristan and our sons, Evan (13) and Edward (10) working for Fidelity International, missing the USA like crazy and hoping you all will come visit the U.K., we have a guest room!
Jill Gavitt: I’m still living in Staunton, VA with my husband (Zack) and our dog (Maisie). I continue teaching Spanish at a nearby high school. I’ve been able to get down for Sweet Work Week events this year - in the cold in March and in the heat in July! I love spending time on campus with alumnae from all different classes. I had a blast at reunion seeing so many of our classmates! I was also able to spend a weekend visiting with Jill Butcher this past April.
Kate Hall: This year has been a whirlwind! Max is entering his senior year of high school and Grace will be a senior at Sweet Briar. This year my stepdaughter will start her freshman year at SBC. Reunion was beyond amazing. I think we should ALL go every year! The class of 1997 still knows how to have a blast!
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1997
Jess Hiveley: Still enjoying life in Minnesota and working at Travelers. I was fortunate to be back on campus for our 25th Reunion and then again about seven weeks later for this summer’s Sweet Work Weeks event. We had a great turnout for both, but I hope to see more ‘97ers at next year’s work weeks!!
Alexa Schriempf: This has been a banner year for me. I started a new job with the Department of Homeland Security as a writer-editor. I am also working on the draft and revisions, of my memoir. My first publishing success was an opinion piece in The Washington Post - the piece is drawn from said memoir. Anybody know agents looking to rep debut authors? Keep me in mind. Miss all of you!!
Christina Benson Stanton: I’m starting a new job as the Director, People, Operations, and Strategy for the Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center. Our 25th Reunion was epic! I hope to see everyone soon. XO
Kelly Turney Gatzke
125 Rosemary Ayers Drive Madison, AL 35756
warriorwomankelly@hotmail.com
In 2021, Christy Carl Allison and her family bought a house built in
1897 in Denton, Md. (in the middle of the Delmarva) and they love it! Christy just started her own business in web design and development, Webbed Presence, and is training three new people at her job of 10 years so she can be her own boss full time. She is also the new VP of the PTA at her eighth grade daughter Laurel’s middle school. They are welcoming a third rescue kitten soon so that their adorable chaotic demon cat will have a willing playmate.
In December, Amy Gibbs Brown met up with Angela Carpita, Marilen Sarian Crump ‘00 and Sarah Kingsley at Maker’s Craft Brewery in Norfolk, Va. for a stand up comedy show. If you need a giggle, follow Amy @amybrowncomedy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok! Also, if you can get 20 people together she will fly to and do a show!
Deborah Lanham still lives on the coast of North Carolina and recently earned her Master of Divinity with honors from Denver Seminary in May after only 33 months. She has just accepted a job running the local county senior center while she works on further academic research and publication in apologetics and philosophical theology. Her middle son is about to head off to Western Carolina U and her oldest is finishing up at Neumont College of Computer Sciences. Deborah and daughter Natalie enjoy cosplaying at comic cons
in their spare time and recently met up with Lindsey Neef Kelly and her family and Russell Harrison and his kids at one in Raleigh.
Emily Sartor Patterson has celebrated her 17th year at Duke Medical Center, where she is an LCSW counseling families with chronic illnesses. Along with husband Brad, she is keeping busy with 2 middle schoolers, Claire and Tyler and is enjoying travel, trail running and volunteering at school.
Rachel Bratlie and her family bought their first family home in December and after a lot of renovation, moved in in March. There’s a lot left to do, but they’re happy to be homeowners. They also adopted their first puppy, Riley, a mixed breed from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Riley is keeping everyone on their toes! Rachel is working as an adult and perinatal psychiatrist for The Permanente Medical Group of Northern Calif.
The pandemic has been an incredibly busy time for Jill Triana, hitting when her daughter, Emory, was only nine months old and transitioning her therapy practice to telehealth, taking over Michael’s (HSC ‘98) home office in order to preserve client confidentiality. Today, Emory is a smart, spunky three-year-old and can’t wait to attend our next reunion, which usually falls around her birthday. Jill’s practice, Capital Counseling, continues to grow!
Both Jill and her business partner won Best Therapist of the Triangle in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Jill talks to her Vixen sisters daily and is forever grateful for their support and friendship!
Aimee Armentrout Peacemaker is in her fifth year teaching at The Carmel School near Ashland, Va. She is teaching first grade for the third year in a row and loves it. She and husband Jesse have two beagle rescues, Gracie and Ella, who keep them entertained. One of the best things that came out of the pandemic was reconnecting with the “Roommate Gang”—Emily Clark Kang, Allison Clark ‘01, Courtney Burkey ‘01—via Facebook and Zoom. The roommate gang chats regularly about any and everything going on in their daily lives. It’s good to be connected again!
As for me, Kelly Turney Gatzke your class secretary, I finally finished my MLIS with a 4.0 and am happy to report I was a much better student in my 40s than I was in my 20s. I began working as a Library Media Specialist at a Title I elementary school in Huntsville, Ala. It feels like I finally found my calling after searching for so long! I am still representing Sweet Briar at college fairs in the Huntsville area, hoping to recruit future Vixens and spreading love for the pink and green. Mark your calendars for our 25th Reunion in 2024!
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1999
Lorelei Cruz ‘23 getting her class ring presented by her sister, Kaelin Cruz ‘26 at the Fredericksburg Alumnae Back to School event.
Megan Thomas Rowe with Robin Mays in dining during Sweet Work Weeks.
2001
Sarah Kenning
sarah_e_houston@yahoo.com
Katherine Morse says, “Hello from St. Simons Island, Ga.” She writes that she is halfway through a second master’s degree in General Curriculum in Special Education at Georgia Southern University while beginning in her third-year teaching in special education at Brunswick Christian Academy. Vixen Creative Marketing, LLC has been growing and helping small-business owners with social media marketing and management since April 2019. Over Thanksgiving last year, Katherine got engaged to Josh Leonard. She is a proud aunt of two nieces and a nephew. In her spare time, she still creates art and continues doing photography.
Dawn Martin started a new job in March with Click2Bind Insurance. She is very excited to be developing/leading a bond department for the commercial insurance division.
Dawn and Liz Parker enjoyed wine and dinner together this spring at Dawn’s home in Lynchburg. Dawn participated in the class zoom call and loved catching up with classmates. She’s looking forward to the next zoom!
Megan Thomas Rowe would love to see more news from our class! Meredith Taylor was making fun of her for always submitting the same notes (yes, she went to Reunion and yes, she went to Sweet Work Weeks). This time Megan wanted to just say that she is so exhausted being a sandwich generation taking care of kids and aging parents, but Sweet Briar keeps her grounded. And in addition to us all being total “girl bosses” as her daughter would say, we still all deserve time with the people and places we love. She hopes that you all got to do that this year! Cheers!
Sarah Belanger Levinson reports she is still crushing it and taking names on the Peloton bike. She recently participated in a triathlon relay with her husband and friends in
O’Fallon, Ill. She keeps in touch daily with Natasha Nikodem Stevens, Anna Lundberg Baso, Sarah Houston Kenning, Dawn Martin, and Nicole Redwine on their group chat where they cover everything ranging from politics, life, and kids to our retired parents’ posts on Facebook and why is Britney always wearing brown pumps in all her fashion videos. And I, Sarah Houston Kenning, am loving being back down South with my husband of 18 years. I frequently run into Sweet Briar alumnae in and around Atlanta, which always makes my day. I am set to visit my niece, Emily Dixon ’23, in October and hope to be able to spend quality time with Dawn Martin while in the area. My son, Jackson (13) is already taller than me, which is very humbling and strange. My daughter, Lauren (10) rides horses, plays lacrosse, and is determined to go to SBC. As Megan and Dawn said above, the class zoom call was wonderful and I hope to see many more faces on for the next!
2003
Nicole Crowder
11003 Howitzer Drive Fredericksburg, VA 22408 swtnic@gmail.com
Holla Holla, everyone! It’s our 20th Reunion this year, so I hope all of you are making plans to return
back to Sweet Briar in June 2023! Please contact me if you want to be involved with planning a great reunion.
Danielle Ross Oberg reports that last fall she met up with Megan Doughtie Stewart and her husband, Mike, for the day at Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. Danielle started a new job at Boehringer Ingelheim as Talent Acquisition Operations and HR Onboarding Specialist in January and ran her first marathon in her hometown of Virginia Beach in March. She took a belated 40th birthday trip to Rome and ended the summer spending time with several of her roommates from the Disney College Program celebrating their 20-year reunion. Stay well, Class of 2003!
2005
Lynsie Watkins Steele lynsie@getvie.com
Sasha Moran Reinhold married in May 2017 and works as a senior financial analyst for Syneos Health. While not at work, her time is spent on the horse farm she built with her husband in central Virginia, where she lives with her three horses: Frosty, Lyric and Forrest. Sasha is still active in the jumper ring with her young horse Frosty, who was champion of the Take2 Thoroughbreds at the Keswick Horse Show
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Brooke Linville ‘04 and Megan Thomas Rowe at Reunion.
Mindy Wolfrom, Stan Tsai, and their cat, Xiaohu (Little Tiger) before signing their marriage certificate in Taipei, Taiwan on Sept. 3rd, 2021.
this spring, and recently restarting her youngest prospect, Lyric.
Catherine (Cat) Brumley lives in Falls Church and is working as a teacher; happy the pandemic is nearly over. She recently adopted a dog and is moving to Alexandria in the fall.
It has been a crazy few years for Brentz Basten East. She had a labral tear in her shoulder fixed in May and has started physical therapy to play tennis again. Daughter, Rosa (14), loves violin, earned her Girl Scout Silver Award and began high school this fall. Son, William (11), loves golf, earned his Cub Scout Arrow of Light and started middle school this fall. Matt and Brentz just celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary this summer! Tamara Himelright Helton, Catherine Brumley, Lauren Byrne ‘04 and Brentz are ready for their yearly SBC girls weekend at Smith Mountain Lake for fun and sun!
Joyce Scott lost her mom in June. Susan Scott was always a passionate supporter of Sweet Briar and cherished memories made there. Thank you to everyone who reached out, sent flowers and donated in her honor. The outpouring of support was very touching and it was wonder-
ful to reconnect with so many dear friends. Joyce has moved back to Dothan, Ala. to be closer to her dad and other family members, and is excited to be reconnecting with Sweet Briar alumnae there as well. She plans to graduate from Brenau University with her master’s degree in Occupational Therapy next year.
2022 has been outstanding for Savannah Humphrey Long! She won the Rising Star Award, selling nine homes in the Denver Metro Area during her first year as a Realtor! She was selected by The Junior League of Denver for the Auction Committee, where she loves the opportunity to give back to her community through fundraising and volunteer work. Savannah and her precious husband Mike visited Hawaii in April for the first time and fell completely in love – they are going back in September for her 39th birthday! Kitty Purry is still spicy as ever, and Princess Sparkle Paws is a furry little darling!
Mindy Wolfrom was living in Taipei, Taiwan, for the past five years where she met her future husband Stan Tsai. They recently got married and relocated to Toronto to live and work for a few years. She still continues to teach Latin & Ancient Greek, has been studying Chinese for five
years, and pursues creative writing projects in her free time. Mindy has plans to visit her mother in Idaho frequently and to do some exploring in Canada, but ultimately hopes to move back to Taiwan in several years.
2007
Cat Ashley-Lizarraga
Elsa Cannon
SweetBriarClassof2007@gmail.com
In June, members of the class of 2007 celebrated their 15th Reunion at SBC. Twelve classmates were in attendance: Amelia White, Betty Skeen Gorinson, Eleanor O’Connor, Emily Olson, Erica Kennedy McCallie, Jennifer Dick, Kim Waddleton Natarajan, Lynnsey Brown Wilhelm, Marissa Wikes, Meagan Chenault Jackson, Sarah Fauerbach and Tiffany Corbin Broyles. Three significant others and one adorable child rounded out the ‘007 crew. It was a gorgeous weekend, and everyone had a wonderful time celebrating and reconnecting. We hope more of our classmates will plan on joining us for our 20th Reunion in 2027!
Whitney Wheeler White is a Lease-Up community manager at Pegasus Residential. She just got married in September 2021, in Charlotte, N.C., to Andrew White. She honeymooned at Playa Mujeres, Mexico and will celebrate one year of marriage in September.
Jaclyn Fowler married Zachary Kimball on Oct. 15, 2021, in an intimate ceremony at the Liriodendron Mansion in Maryland. Bekah McSpadden served as maid of honor.
Eleanor O’Connor married John Roy on Oct. 10, 2021. It was a beautiful day in Belmont, N.C., and the couple felt blessed to be surrounded by family and friends.
Emily Olson, Katie Wilson ‘08, and Whitney White were all in attendance. Eleanor continues to work at the Cato Institute in D.C., where she manages the production of the think tank’s books.
Martha Loftin Snell and husband, Adam, welcomed a daughter, Janie. Martha Jane Snell was born on Nov. 14, 2021.
Emily Olson completed her third and final year of grad school and graduated in May with her MFA in theatre directing from Baylor University. It was a busy year of directing, teaching and thesis writing, but she was able to spend lots of quality time with her family and friends and go on a few fun trips as well. Highlights included spending a week in North Carolina for Eleanor O’Connor’s wedding in October, a trip to Los Angeles for a BTS concert with her sister in December, and
fall 2022 73 CLASS NOTES
Kimberly Battad sporting SBC gear as she welcomes nephew, Kino (now almost four).
Bride Eleanor O’Connor with fellow SBC Alumnae in attendance at her wedding, Whitney White (left), Katie Wilson ‘08, and Emily Olson (right).
sbc.edu 74 CLASS NOTES
Erica Kennedy McCallie with Cat, Fernando Botero during a recent vacation to Barcelona.
Erica Kennedy McCallie and husband on vacation in Spain.
Jaclyn Fowler with new husband, Zachary Kimbal.
Eleanor O’Connor with new husband, John Roy.
fall 2022 75 CLASS NOTES
Bride Jaclyn Fowler with maid of honor, Bekah McSpadden.
Jennifer Dick and boyfriend, Josh, before dinner Saturday night at Reunion 2022.
Friends Erica Kennedy McCallie, Jennifer Dick, Emily Olson, and Eleanor O’Connor catching up at Reunion 2022
Danielle Brigg-Hansen Chase and husband, Jesse, with daughter, Dylan at her second birthday party.
Silver Fox Farm, the farm Sasha Reinhold and her husband built in 2018.
a wonderful trip to Va. in June that included a beautiful Reunion weekend (and celebrating her birthday) at SBC.
Danielle Brigg-Hansen Chase and husband, Jesse, welcomed a daughter, Dylan, in August 2020. They are in love and feel so lucky to have such a funny and cool kid. They’re also proud to say that they’re getting pretty good at this parenting thing! Danielle continues to work for Esri in their downtown Olympia Regional Office, which is a dream as it’s right across the street from the farmers market and the Puget Sound. It’s also near many antique shops and art galleries, which Danielle loves frequenting during her lunch breaks to get inspiration for both her paintings and designing her home. Though they haven’t traveled much in the last couple of years because of the pandemic, Danielle looks forward to taking her family to Door County, Wis., in October so she can participate in a painting workshop with her great aunt on Lake Mich igan and introduce her daughter to her extended family.
Lynnsey Brown Wilhelm and
her husband, Brent, currently live north of Fort Worth in Haslet, Texas. They have two kids: Kathryn (6) and Grady (4). Kathryn started first grade this year.
Kimberly Battad is still in Portland, Ore. where she has lived for close to eight years now. Kimberly left her job of four and a half years at Maryville Memory Care to start exciting new work in the travel industry when COVID hit and the world went bananas. These circumstances eventually led her to her current job with Northwest Perinatal Center, where she helps run the front office for a local high risk pregnancy clinic. Shortly before 2020 she founded Sweet Lemonade Productions, a community outreach project that brings local artists to local nursing and group homes to perform for the audiences unable to access live. She writes: “During the lockdown when we could not perform live, there were a few virtual performances, but as things continue to get safer, my dream is to return to the original mission of live performances in nursing homes.” Volunteering with local community theatres was Kim’s
big passion before the world shut down and as things continue to reopen, she hopes to return, possibly as soon as this fall, with Beaverton Civic Theatre. Other than that, she is just enjoying living in the Pacific Northwest and spending time with her cat, Peach.
Jennifer Dick writes: “I am living in Staunton, Va., and have worked at Mary Baldwin University for four and a half years. I was excited to be able to attend our 15-year Reunion with my boyfriend, Josh. It was fabulous to be back on campus, to see the new greenhouse and other updates and best of all, to see our other classmates in attendance. If you haven’t been back to campus in a while, I highly recommend a visit. There are so many awesome things happening.”
Betty Skeen Gorinson and husband, Hunter, have enjoyed raising their daughters, Ingrid (6) and Lou (4), on Sweet Briar’s idyllic campus for the last few years, especially during the pandemic, where social distancing was no problem. The expansive and peaceful forest setting has been perfect for exploration for their curious and adventurous girls, but they are thrilled to announce they bought a house in Lynchburg this year! Betty is still the dance professor at SBC and while the commute to Babcock is a bit longer now, they are excited for this new chapter. When not molding the minds of Sweet Briar’s next artistic leaders and movement creators, you’ll find Betty spending time with her family in the
great outdoors, looking for Bigfoot and trying to snap a selfie on the side of a cliff.
sbc.edu 76 CLASS NOTES
Erica Kennedy McCallie and husband visited Madrid and Barcelona in May 2022.
Martha Loftin Snell and husband, Adam, with daughter, Janie, who was welcomed on Nov. 14, 2021.
Jeffrey, Teddy and May (Mallory) Sherwood Engelstad visiting family in Southern California
Heather Theunissen Gregg with her husband, Brad, and their children, Brooks (3), Harlow (1.5) and baby Gregg #3
Rosanna Hawkins Winner and her husband, Rob, (H-SC ‘07) reside in Edinburg, Va., and stay busy raising their six children. Their daughter Camden completed the family when she arrived in March 2021. Four of their children started school this fall, with Avarose entering sixth grade, Wade starting fourth grade, Henry beginning first grade and Kathleen is now in pre-K. Juliette still has one more year at home before she joins her older siblings. When not shuttling her children to school, dance, soccer, and other activities, Rosanna focuses her time on building her online children’s boutique, Designs by Rosanna Winner. She’s excited for this venture and the possibilities it holds.
Maggie Saylor Patrick and husband, Martin, will be moving to Atlanta in September! She writes: “We are excited for the warmer weather, to be closer to friends and family, and to get involved with the alumnae group there. I’ll be continuing my role as a principal consultant for Korn Ferry, while Martin will be taking a new job at Georgia Tech.”
Cat Ashley-Lizarraga and her husband, Hector, live in Charleston, W.Va., with their two children, Cillian (5) and Marcella Mae (3). Cillian started kindergarten this year, and Marcella is in a church-based preschool program. Cat recently celebrated 15 years in her job as an international trade manager at the W. Va. Department of Economic Development, where she promotes
small business exports, and last year she completed the Advanced Certificate in Global Trade Development at Thunderbird University. The pandemic halted her international travel, but she’s looking forward to getting back on a plane in 2023!
Elsa Mittelholtz Cannon and husband, Scott, welcomed a little vixen, Hailey, in October 2021, days before celebrating their 10-year wedding anniversary. Big brother, Taylor (3) is excited to have a little sister. At the end of 2018, they purchased a home in Burke, Va., where they are raising their family. Elsa recently left the events industry, after working as a conference planner since graduating, to pursue new dreams. She is now a project manager with an interior design firm and is looking forward to the future and being able to spend more time with her growing family.
2009
Jenny Walkiewicz Dill
13938 SW Crist Court
Tigard, OR 97223
Jenny.Dill11@gmail.com
Alex Hiniker Hausler and Caroline Sapp had a relaxing girl’s weekend in North Beach, Md., back in the spring. Alex’s daughter, Addy, and Caroline’s foster dog, Oro, were with them for the trip.
After 13 years with L3Harris, Ashlee Mays Kidd started a new job
this August with Delta Star, Inc. as a senior business analyst.
Blair Sutton Van Selow and her husband welcomed their first child in June. Lillian “Lilly” McPhail Van Selow was born on June 7 at Sibley Memorial Hospital in D.C.
Heather Theunissen Gregg and her family live in Leesburg, Va., close to many mountains, vineyards & breweries! They spent their summer excitedly awaiting the arrival of their third child (a boy!), who was born in September. On the weekends, they love hiking with their kids and Bernese Mountain dog, Bubba (4), spending time at the barn (Brooks did Leadline at Upperville over the summer) and with their family in the area!
May (Mallory) Sherwood Engelstad is thriving in Denver, Colo., with her husband, Jeffrey, and son, Teddy (5), who starts kindergarten this year! Last year, May started supporting both births as well as postpartum families. Almost four years into birth-work, she truly feels like she’s found her calling. When not on call or cooking up food for clients, May loves practicing yoga, hiking, reading and trying out new coffee shops and restaurants in Denver. Any time you find yourself in Denver, be sure to reach out for a recommendation or to catch up over coffee!
Maggie Nicholson graduated in May 2022 from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a master’s in city and regional planning, urban design concentration. She also graduat-
ed with a master’s in historic preservation from Georgia State University in the same month. In July 2022, Maggie moved to San Francisco, Calif. to take a position as architectural historian and cultural resources planner with Page & Turnbull. Holla, holla from the West Coast!
Mary Pat Jones Rodriguez is the senior vice president of construction & engineering at Frontier Communications. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, three children and yellow lab. In January, they welcomed an Oldenburg mare named HF City Coat to the family. City competes in the 1.40 meter jumpers.
Laura Cromwell Starita and her husband, Scott, welcomed their daughter Penelope Kathleen to the world on May 6! Laura finished her
fall 2022 77 CLASS NOTES
Laura Cromwell Starita with her husband, Scott, and new daughter, Penelope Kathleen.
Alex Hiniker Hausler with daughter, Addy, and Caroline Sapp in North Beach, Md.
Ashlee Mays Kidd
MBA in marketing from the University of Denver.
Jadrienne Atkins is a volunteer with Grace Studio, where her daughters dance, as well as at all of her children’s schools. She and her children formed a bowling club with families in the area. They have been traveling a lot, which has behooved her in her art and freelance writing.
Elizabeth Zuckerman has moved! She and her husband are finally back in Philadelphia, their beloved home city, in a lovely condo with a gorgeous view of the city. Jessica Baker was their new home’s first overnight guest this summer; they had wonderful adventures involving good food and great used bookstores.
I, Jenny Walkiewicz Dill, have had the year of travel! In March my husband, Jonathan, and I took our daughters to Disney World and had an amazing time. This summer our travels have taken us to Minnesota, on multiple camping trips and to Black Butte Ranch here in Oregon. This fall I head to California three times! I love traveling, but home is always my favorite place to be. My old-
est daughter, Alexa (6), started first grade this fall and is venturing into the world of sports and musical instruments. My youngest, Emmeline (3), is still home full time and is my best errand buddy. I love collecting class notes every fall and wish all my 2009 sisters the best in the coming year!
2011
Heather Marianne McTague 1065 Brennan Drive Warminster, PA 18974 HMMcTague@gmail.com mctague11@sbc.edu
Jordan McIntire McKenzie and her husband, Mark, welcomed their daughter, Sadie Leigh Lewis McKenzie, on Oct. 21, 2021. They are excited to be a family of three in Richmond, Va.
Heather Marianne McTague began a new job as pharmacy technician in October. She is currently studying to become a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPT) so she can then go
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The daughters of Jadrienne Brown Atkins - Jubilee (8), Remy (11) and Raven (7).
Blair Sutton Van Selow with her husband and new daughter Lillian “Lilly” McPhail Van Selow.
Reese Rodriguez, daughter of Mary Pat Jones Rodriguez, with their horse, HF City Coat.
through training necessary to also be an immunizer. She had a fun time at her 11th Reunion this June.
Kristen Green Walters had her second child, Mason, in February. Jacob turned 3 years old in July and loves being a big brother. Kristen lives in Warrenton, Va., with her husband and boys. She works as an engineering manager for an aerospace and aviation company.
2013
Jackie Montero-Sharpe jackiermontero@gmail.com
Torry Mott had a very quiet and relaxing July, moving from Charleston, S.C., to Charlottesville, Va., two weeks before her wedding. She married her husband, Will, on July 30th (with many Sweet Briar graduates in attendance)!
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Jordan McIntire McKenzie and her husband Mark with daughter Sadie.
Kristen Green Walters and family in 2022.
Bride Torry Mott joined by (from L-R) Elizabeth Houser, Elizabeth Riley, Brianna Belter, Ali Davidson, Alyson Booth, Becca Knox, and Liz Koslow. Also in attendance - but not in this photo - was the ever fabulous Sally Mott Freeman ‘76, Torry’s aunt.
Class of 2011 enjoying their 11-year reunion. Back Row: Alexis Hart, Sarah Schofield, DJ Abernathy, Michelle Anderson, Kayt Colburn, Lena Morrill.
Front Row: Heather McTague, Ria Fyffe-Freil, Jackie Merritt, Annie Colpitts, and Caroline King.
Dani Humphrey-Daniels and her husband, Tim, welcomed their son, Gavin J.R. Daniels, on June 21st. Like his mom, Gavin showed up early to the party so his parents could get packing for their move to Nashville, Tenn.! From the N.J. Shore to the country music capital of the world, #HouseDaniels is making big life moves! Dani works from home full-time as a business development representative for a UK tech company. Stay at home/working mom for the win!
Amber MacKay
1703 N Cliff St Alexandria, VA 22301
amberlmackay@gmail.com
Epiphany Soward has spent the last year reengaging with classmates as the Class Stewardship Officer. In her professional life, she has achieved all six DEQ certifications for storm-
water and erosion control. In her personal time, she enjoys fishing, sewing, and caring for her two horses. Her fiancé, Shaun, is her perfect counterpart and complementary companion.
Hayley Foraker McClendon and her husband, Matt, welcomed their son, James Harold McClendon, into the world on June 19, 2022. In addition, Hayley started a new job as an earth scientist with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in April of this year.
Kim Orchowski Quinn got married in April 2022 in Baltimore, Md., to Kyle Quinn. Kelsey Barta, Amber MacKay, Mary Earnhart ‘14, Allison Hassard, Acacia Robinson, Addie Terwriggler, and Mehegan Morgan all were by her side as bridesmaids!
Verena Joerger is still happily residing in Chester County, Pa., and working mostly from home for the Environmental Protection Agency. Her work-from-home feline friend, Amber, often takes it upon herself
to do some desk reorganization. A highlight of 2022 was taking her first, non-local, vacation since September 2019. She traveled to Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe, Calif. — both of which were beautiful and a nice change of scenery from Pennsylvania.
Caitlin Daniels is living outside of Richmond, Va., and enjoying spending time with her dog, Bear. She is currently busy growing her business, The Brave Girl Collective, and has an online community of over 700 women with chronic illness and disabilities supporting each other’s journeys. She can’t wait to visit Sweet Briar again soon to see it in the fall.
Kaitlyn H. Van Buskirk serves
as the Development Officer at the Roanoke Higher Education Center Foundation. She is a recipient of The Roanoker Magazine’s 40 Under 40 award, Class of 2022. Kaitlyn was recently nominated to serve in Leadership Roanoke Valley and will be a member of the LRV Class of 2023. Her husband, Eric, Jr., is the vice president of Private Banking and Treasury Services with Freedom First. Kaitlyn enjoys volunteering, spending time with her family and rescue pup, Lulu, playing pickleball at Roanoke Country Club, spending weekends at Smith Mountain Lake and traveling frequently.
Abigail Dwire finished grad school in December 2021. She and
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2015
Dani Humphrey-Daniels with Husband, Tim, and newborn son, Gavin, born June 21, 2022.
Hayley McClendon and her son, James Harold McClendon.
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Fun was had by all at the wedding of Allie Raifsnider and husband Taylor Eudy on May 27, 2022! Bride and groom are pictured front and center with their son, Bennett.
Bottom left to right - Allie Raifsnider Eudy, Sarah Cooper, Jan Sheets Jones ‘69, Courtney Kockler, Beth Sheets Reed ‘82, Fiona Stanton, Caileigh Bryant, Lindsey Hawkins, and Morgan Garrison.
Amber MacKay and her fiancé, Marty Weitzel.
Epiphany Soward with her horses and her fiancé, Shaun.
Verena Joerger’s cat Amber. Caitlin Daniels’ dog Bear.
her fiancé, along with their new pup Rory, moved to Hot Springs, Ariz. She started a new job as a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
Roberta Desiderio recently got engaged and started a new job in government consulting. She has moved to Puerto Rico - if you work from home, home may as well be the Caribbean! If any Vixens visit or relocate to PR, she would love to catch up!
Caroline Baker and her fiancé, Russell, will be married in Charles City, Va., in October 2022. They have been making updates to their home and spending time with family and friends. She has changed careers and now holds a position as an underwriter with Kinsale Insurance.
Hannah Kowitz agreed to marry Trevor Coley, of Richmond, Va., on August 13th at the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Va. Kelsey Barta recently got engaged and is planning a wedding for June 2023.
Sarah Cooper had more than a few reasons to celebrate in 2022!
The wedding of classmate Allie Raifsnider Eudy brought old friends together. It was a beautiful day to stand by the bride’s side! Just a few weeks later, Sarah’s now-fiancé, Rob, popped the question on the same day as their gender reveal party, surrounded by close friends and family. The couple will welcome baby Robert Ettenger III in October and cannot wait to settle into their new roles as mom and dad.
Allie Raifsnider Eudy and husband, Taylor, (finally) tied the knot on May 27, 2022, surrounded by family and friends with their son, Bennett (2), stealing the show. In September, the couple purchased their first home in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and Allie also rang in the big 3-0! The Raifsnider-Eudy wedding was a great opportunity to bring old friends together for the first time in a very long time (since graduation for some), and it wouldn’t have been complete without a speech from Uncle Jimmy and a Holla, Holla for the bride!
Amber MacKay is happy to announce her engagement to Marty Weitzel, in May of 2022, and the couple are planning to bring friends and family together in September of 2023 for their nuptials in Bethany Beach, Del. Amber is enjoying her role at the Washington Speakers Bureau and has enjoyed traveling to see friends and family all summer.
2017
classnotes@sbc.edu
Jordyn Elliott resides in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of D.C. and is a development officer for a global health organization focusing on reproductive and sexual health and rights. She is grateful to be able to support such important work during this critical time. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering with the Junior League of Washington, D.C., and the League of Women Voters. She loves spending time with her SBC sisters (especially Hannah Beall) and was thrilled to return to campus for the Class of 2017’s fifth-year reunion! She also enjoyed visiting with Holly Rueger in Massachusetts.
Katrina Buniak is getting married in January 2023!
Vanessa Finnegan had her first child in October, a daughter named Easel.
After graduating from Sweet Briar, Brea Marshall completed a masters of education in clinical mental health
from the University of Lynchburg. She continued to further her interests in the education field by working part-time as an assistant program director at Jubilee Family Development Center in Lynchburg. With this experience, she is employed at R.S. Payne Elementary School as a personal care assistant in the classroom. Brea plans to apply for a teacher licensure in the future. She wishes all her friends of the Class of 2017 all the best!
Kristie Shirlen Lachacz got married in September 2021, in Concord, N.C. Her husband is in the Navy, as a Missile Tech on Submarines. They will be relocating to either Georgia or Washington in early 2023, and
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Trevor Coley and Hannah Kowitz at the Inn at Little Washington.
Kristie Shirlen Lachacz and husband on their wedding day in September 2021.
Brea Marshall
she cannot wait to see where this move takes them. Kristie cannot wait to meet her fellow sisters in either of these places.
2019
Cecilia Mahan
1415 Oliver Walcott Spur
Williamsburg, VA 23188
Mahan19@sbc.edu
After working in construction and a seasonal position in Parks and
Recreation, Sophia Barbieri decided to take a position in AmeriCorps in western Washington with the Washington Conservation Corps. They drove cross-country for the move. They have enjoyed their year in Washington, embarking on many adventures both in Washington and along the West Coast, including chasing the northern lights, going whale watching, searching for bioluminescent phenomena andexploring Puget Sound.
In May, Caroline Thomas married K. Riley Peters, HSC ’19, at her family’s home in Appomattox, Va.
They had so many SBC and HSC friends to celebrate with them on their special day. She is still working for Sherwin-Williams Automotive, and they still reside in Owings Mills, Md., with their two dogs. “I want to send well wishes to everyone in the Class of 2019!”
Cecilia Mahan graduated from William & Mary Law School in May and began a master’s in Accounting at William & Mary’s School of Business. She will finally be done with school in May and plans on never returning for another degree!
Nicole Sabovik is working in
commercial landscape in Richmond. Nicole and her boyfriend just bought their second house.
Lots has been happening for Mikia Hundley lately! She started a new position as a copywriter and marketing strategist at Ocozzio, advancing her career another level. Over Memorial Day Weekend, she got engaged to Jacob Holloway and shortly afterward the happy couple announced they’re expecting a baby boy early this November. Mikia is so thankful for all her Sweet Briar sisters who have shared their love, support and joy this year.
2021
Bea Wray
1824 Duke of Gloucester St. Colonial Heights, VA 23834 wray21@sbc.edu
Julia Bell started in a full-time position with the YMCA of Greater Richmond as an After School Care and Teen Programming Director at the Goochland Family YMCA in addition to serving as the Camp Director for Teen Programming at YMCA Camp Thunderbird in Chesterfield.
Natalie Carroll started working at a retail store a few months ago, where she was promoted to a keyholder position. Natalie will be applying to master’s programs at both Freie Universität Berlin in Germany and at the University of Tartu in Estonia. In the meantime, she is study-
fall 2022 83 CLASS NOTES
At Caroline Thomas’ wedding. From front to back, left to right: Annie Simmons ‘15, Emily Dodson Sadler ‘18, Taylor Allen ‘20, Julia Bell ‘21, Lacey Tucker ‘20, Courtney Nelson ‘20, Nicole Sabovik, Amelia Currin, Kayla Kishbaugh ‘17, Lizzie Baker ‘20, Dharma Kear ‘21, Mikia Hundley, Emily Hawk Melson ‘18, Courtney Barry ‘18, Emily Schlosberg, Leyte McNealus ‘18, Katie Hawk ‘21, Brooke Burnett ‘20.
Nicole Sabovik’s dog.
ing both the German and Estonian languages.
Natalie Jones has accepted a fulltime position at Germanna Community College in Fredericksburg, Va., as a math support specialist mentoring at-risk students. She loves her new job and couldn’t imagine a more fulfilling career! She and her fiancé also recently celebrated their one-year anniversary of buying their home, where they live with their two fur-babies Harper and Fergie.
On Feb. 22, 2022, Jordan England got married to Taryn. The two announced their wedding in April at the Wailes Center. In May, Jordan and Taryn adopted a cat named Sir Tuesday and in June Lord Franco, also a cat, met them at their door-
step. The happy couple also moved to Charlottesville, Va., this past June.
Madison Harpham is now engaged to her partner, Leah. Madison is also going to grad school for special education with a concentration in Applied Behavioral Analysis at George Mason.
M -Xuân Hillengas is living in Tokyo, Japan, attending KCP (Knowledge Coexistence Peace) International Language School.
Olivia Mason’s biggest update is that her pet birds are going to be parents. Lime (female) laid eggs on Aug. 20th. Apart from this, she is alive and well.
Lilly Peterson was married this past year to her lovely husband, Zach. The two are enjoying their
time together as newlyweds after moving to Charleston, S.C. Lilly is currently working as a production coordinator for marketing agency Studio Center.
Caroline Potts is finishing up her master’s in Medieval Studies from Trinity College and will be graduating in the spring of 2023.
Bea Wray is working at Lakeview Elementary in Colonial Heights, Va., as a physical education paraprofessional and has found a career in public education. They plan on attending grad school to get their MLS in the fall of 2023 in hopes of becoming a K-12 school librarian.
Class of 1947
Linda McKoy Stewart 419-575-7479 lmckstewart@verizon.net
Class of 1951 classnotes@sbc.edu
Class of 1953 Flo Pye Apy floapy@verizon.net
Class of 1961 Rue Wallace Judd ruejudd@icloud.com
Class of 1977 classnotes@sbc.edu
Class of 1979
Anne Garrity Nelson nelson.anne@gmail.com
Class of 1981
Anne-Marie McAndrews Pagli annemarie.pagli@raveis.com
Kearsley Rand krrrww@comcast.net
Class of 1985
DeAnne Blanton ddblanton@gmail.com 703-868-1423
Class of 1989
Emmy Leung fan-han@prodigy.net 804-304-7741
Jordan DeSena England: (1) Miss Echo Nova, the queen, is still the first love of my life. She has transitioned from Emotional Support Animal to chunky house cat and loves this part of life. Her love language is quality time and she enjoys watching Grey’s Anatomy with her momma and dad. (2) Lord Franco Niall showed up on our porch on June 5th and we immediately fell in love with him! His love language is physical touch and he fully enjoys sleeping on his momma’s chest. We also believe he is part raccoon as he loves to munch on takeout containers and will fight anyone who gets in the way of his snack. (3) Sir Tuesday Nieko is the youngest of the family, but definitely the biggest. He is named Tuesday as his momma and dad had their first date and got married on a Tuesday. His love language is receiving gifts and he loves to play with his toys day and night
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Caroline Thomas and husband, Riley, on their wedding day.
1 2 3
In 1899, Indiana Fletcher Williams founded Sweet Briar College through a visionary planned gift. Become a Williams Associate Not sure how to get started? Start Planning Your Legacy 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. 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. Visit: plannedgiving.sbc.edu For questions, contact: Margaret McClellan Driscoll ’92 434-381-6337 | mdriscoll@sbc.edu Please join us as a Williams Associate to ensure that her legacy—and yours—will prosper in perpetuity.
If this magazine is addressed to a daughter who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please email us at alumnae@sbc.edu with her new address. Thank you!
-Glenn Stone
