Download PDF - Sweet Briar College

M A G A Z I N E 

Fall 2011

D E A R F R I E N D S : 

Isit down to write these greetings at the start of 

Homecoming. Alumnae and families are 

gathering to enjoy what I’m sure will be an 

enchantingly beautiful fall weekend on campus. 

I’ve just had lunch with many of Sweet Briar’s most 

loyal supporters, after which we enjoyed lively 

presentations from faculty members and students 

highlighting outstanding academic programs – the 

new y:1 program, e Blue Ridge Summer Institute 

for Young Artists (BLUR), and the Margaret Jones 

Wyllie ’45 Engineering Program, specifically. 

Homecoming always seems to strike very satisfying 

“back to school” notes for me. e air is crisp and 

clear, we’re just beginning to need sweaters, the trees 

are starting to turn (they look spectacular from the 

hockey field), and faculty members and students are 

enthusiastic about the unfolding possibilities of the 

year ahead. 

e juxtaposition of alumnae and new students at 

Homecoming is particularly meaningful. New students 

are just beginning to explore what it means for them 

to be Sweet Briar women; in this issue you will have a 

chance to read about some of their earliest experiences 

and impressions. Alumnae are reflecting on what it 

means to be back on campus, with its many reminders 

of their younger selves, and on how the years since 

graduation have been shaped by all they learned and 

achieved here. We’ve asked several of them to share 

their experiences of being Sweet Briar women on 

Facebook; you’ll see some of what they said in the 

article on “You Went To Sweet Briar If…” in this issue. 

If you weren’t able to come to Homecoming to share 

reminiscences directly, we hope you’ll enjoy this 

feature! 

In short, Homecoming is a vivid reminder of the way 

that Sweet Briar has been passed from loving hands to 

loving hands for generations. Alumnae from many 

decades welcome new graduates into their midst every 

year: seniors, juniors and sophomores welcome new 

first-year students every fall. Faculty leaders like the 

late Dr. Ernest Edwards, profiled in this issue, create 

intellectual legacies that are treasured and carried 

forward by their younger colleagues and by their 

students, who in turn pass on their knowledge and 

dedication to others. 

I have always found this chain of intellectual 

generations, this vision of knowledge and love handed 

from elder people to younger ones down the years, 

deeply moving. It is, I believe, what is noblest about an 

academic institution, and I never lose sight of what an 

honor it is to play a role in extending it. At the same 

time, of course, talking with alumnae and former 

faculty reminds me more clearly than anything else 

could that on a college campus the one constant is 

change. So much has changed at Sweet Briar since the 

class of ’45 graduated! Buildings have been added and 

others have been repurposed, academic programs have 

both emerged and disappeared, scientific theories have 

arisen and been confirmed or perhaps discredited, the 

curriculum has been revised more than once, and of 

course Sweet Briar is no longer in the dairy business! 

But somehow we recognize in all that change an 

enduring core, a genuine connection extending from 

the College’s founding to the present day. Of course, 

this is the context in which our strategic planning has 

taken shape. e title of our plan says it all: it is a plan 

for “sustainable excellence.” We must preserve what is 

excellent about Sweet Briar and we must ensure that 

we can sustain that excellence through the second 

century of the College’s life as those who came before 

us sustained it through the first. 

In coming months, and in future issues of this 

magazine, you’ll be reading more about the actions we 

are taking to strengthen and extend the chain that 

connects past, present and future Sweet Briar women, 

that connects great faculty members like Dr. Edwards 

with today’s faculty members and their students, that 

connects today’s donors with the foundational 

philanthropy of Indiana Fletcher Williams. 

I hope this issue of the magazine gives you a sense of 

the vitality of your own personal connection to Sweet 

Briar! 

Best, 

Jo Ellen Parker 

SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE MAGAZINE POLICY 

The magazine aims to present interesting, thought-provoking 

material. Publication of material does not indicate endorsement 

of the author’s viewpoint by the magazine or College. The 

Sweet Briar College Magazine reserves the right to edit and, 

when necessary, revise all material that it accepts for 

publication. Contact us anytime! 

MAGAZINE STAFF 

Zach Kincaid, editor 

Meridith De Avila Khan, photographer 

Jennifer McManamay, staff writer 

EDITORIAL BOARD 

Louise Swiecki Zingaro ’80, vice president and chief of staff 

Ken Huus, dean of admissions 

Heidi McCrory, vice president for development and alumnae 

Zach Kincaid, director of media, marketing and communications 

Jennifer McManamay, staff writer 

Designed by Jon Scott 

Printed by Progress Printing Company 

Contact information 

Office of Media, Marketing and Communications 

PO Box 1056, Sweet Briar, VA 24595 

(434) 381-6262 

zkincaid@sbc.edu 

Find Sweet Briar online 

sbc.edu 

Twitter: sweetbriaredu 

Facebook: sweet.briar.college 

YouTube: youtube.com/sweetbriarcollege 

Foursquare: sweetbriaredu 

Geoid.me: geoid.me/sweetbriarcollege

Contents 

Sweet Briar Magazine | Fall 2011 

Features 

12-13 

Sophomore Honors 

Be part of the journey 

with a group of 

sophomores as they 

work on their yearlong 

honors projects 

14-19 

You Went to 

Sweet Briar If... 

Alumnae respond about 

their Sweet Briar days 

20-22 

Rays’ Hope 

Good Science Defends 

Maligned Predator 

23-27 

First-Year Follow 

We follow several firstyear 

students in the 

opening days of their 

Sweet Briar experience 

28-29 

Buck Edwards: 

Sweet Briar’s 

Bird Man 

Honoring someone 

who never stopped 

being curious about the 

natural world 

Departments 

2-11 

On the Quad 

Engineering students go to 

Brazil, summer theater 

schedule, hard questions 

about testing tolerance and a 

new weather station. 

32-33 

Because of You 

Because of you Sarah 

Lightbodyis preparing to 

change the world along with 

many other current students. 

34-65 

Alumnae Focus 

- Class notes, 2011 Reunion 

photos and more. 

63 

Reunion Focus 

Were you there last May? 

Are you planning to attend 

in 2012?

The Sweet Briar Choir 

2 

SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE | SBC.EDU

SBC.EDU | SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE 

3

Girls on the Run 

SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE HOSTED 

the Girls on the Run of Greater Lynchburg 

fall 5K event in November, which brought 

more than 550 girls ages 8 to 13 to campus. 

e local chapter serving Central Virginia is 

part of a national organization whose mission 

to empower young girls through its 

curriculum makes Girls on the Run a natural 

partner of the College. 

“is is a campus where women discover 

their strengths and achieve more than they 

imagined they could,” says President Jo Ellen 

Parker. 

“Girls on the Run at Sweet Briar will be an 

opportunity for younger women to 

experience the exhilaration of striving for a 

challenging goal.” 

Hilary Bowie '12 is among the student 

volunteers. She is a leader in the crosscountry 

club on campus and has worked with 

Girls on the Run in her home state of Kansas 

for several years. 

Hilary Bowie '12 

Engineering Treks to Brazil 

A TEAM FROM SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE WENT TO 

Ilhéus, Brazil, for two weeks in June with the objective of 

improving the daily routines of clients in an occupational 

therapy clinic. e trip was part of last spring's Technology 

and Society: A Global Perspective class, in which students 

designed and built assistive devices for individuals with 

impairments ranging from autism to complete paralysis. 

4 


Riders Train 

with 

SPORT'S ELITE 

MORGANNE YOUNG ’11, OLIVIA 

Smith ’14 and Sarah Hibler ’14 were 

selected for the Zone 3 Emerging 

Athletes Program Level I Training 

Session, a competitive program of the 

U.S. Hunter Jumper Association. During 

a two-day session last May in Lexington, 

Va., they rode with Olympic gold 

medalist and internationally recognized 

rider and trainer Melanie Smith Taylor. 

e EAP identifies riders younger than 

21 who show promise in the sport and 

fosters their talents by providing rare 

opportunities to work with world-class 

trainers and riders. ose who 

participate in Level I training may be 

selected to advance to levels II and III, 

which are regional and national clinics 

respectively. Olivia and Sarah both 

advanced to Level II clinics. 


5

A Place to be Heard 

November brought a weeklong 

residency by novelist Masha 

Hamilton, who founded and 

runs the Afghan Women’s 

Writing Project. The website, 

awwproject.org, gives voice to 

the women of Afghanistan — 

moderate voices desperately in 

need of listening to, says 

Masha, to counter the 

extremist crescendo she hears 

in the lead up to the U.S. troop 

withdrawal in 2014. Masha 

spent the week talking with 

students about her work as a 

writer and founder of two nonprofit 

organizations. 

The New Carter 

Glass Professor of 

Government 

PROFESSOR STEPHEN BRAGAW IS 

the Carter Glass Professor of Government 

at Sweet Briar College. Steve began 

teaching at Sweet Briar in 1994. His 

research and writing focuses on the role of 

the Supreme Court in negotiating the 

boundaries of power and authority, with 

secondary interests in media and politics. 

6 


Hard 

Questions, 

No Easy 

Answers 

THE SwEET BriAr commuNiTy BEgAN 

the year — the 10th since the attacks of Sept. 11, 

2001 — asking tough questions about extremism, 

globalization and diversity. The inquiry is part of 

a theme of “testing tolerance” that underlies this 

year’s Honors Program; the common reading 

selection, reza Aslan’s Beyond Fundamentalism: 

Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of 

Globalization; and the y:1 program, which is built 

around reza’s book and complementary texts. 

Throughout the academic year, lectures, films, 

honors and y:1 seminars, class discussions and 

related events encourage campus wide and 

multidisciplinary examinations of these issues. in 

September, reza spoke at the college from his 

perspective as an iranian-born American writer, 

activist and university professor about the rise of 

islamophobia in the u.S. 

Don goodrich, who with his wife, Sally, created 

the Peter m. goodrich memorial Foundation in 

honor of their son who died in the attacks, spoke 

with students about their work. He screened 

scenes from a new documentary film, Axis of 

Good: A Story From 9/11, about the foundation’s 

projects, which include building a school in 

Afghanistan. Also visiting in october was rafia 

Zakaria, who spoke on “Sharia Law, muslim 

women and the Quest for Justice.” rafia, an 

attorney and doctoral candidate at indiana 

university, is the first Pakistani-American 

woman to serve as director of Amnesty 

international uSA. 


7

Weather Station 

Forecast is 

Excellent 

UNDER GRAY SKIES ONE 

EARLY FALL DAY, SENIORS 

in Tom O’Halloran’s advanced 

environmental science lab 

hoisted a roughly 10-foot 

weather station tower into place 

and began installing an array of 

meteorological instruments. e 

station will record air 

temperature, wind speed and 

direction, humidity and 

precipitation, along with a few 

extras including soil moisture 

and temperature and radiation 

levels. When the station is 

complete, an on-board computer 

will transmit the data every 60 

seconds to the Internet. 

e Campbell Scientific weather 

station was purchased to support 

ecological and environmental 

research with a National Science 

Foundation grant obtained by 

the biology and environmental 

studies programs. e 

instrumentation and the data it 

collects will be used by faculty 

and students in research and 

coursework. e data also will 

be useful to farmers and 

others in the community to 

monitor weather conditions 

such as drought. 

8 



9

Endstation Theatre Company 

2012 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE 

A COMEDY OF ERRORS - JUNE 1 - JULY 20 

written by William Shakespeare 

is madcap Shakespearean comedy, performed outdoors on 

the grounds of Sweet Briar House, will run in repertory 

throughout the entire season. Performed with only six actors 

portraying all 13 of the roles, the high-energy comedy is 

bound to be a night of mistaken identity, hilarity and utter 

nonsense. 

BIG RIVER - JUNE 21 - JULY 1 

music and lyrics by Roger Miller, book by William Hauptman 

adapted from the novel by Mark Twain 

A classic musical based on Mark Twain’s novel, e Adventures 

of Huckleberry Finn. Huck and Jim’s journey down the 

Mississippi River hosts a folk- and bluegrass-inspired musical 

score and Endstation’s exciting and fresh approach to musical 

theater. 

Endstation Theatre Company Receives Tourism Grant 

Endstation Theatre Company at Sweet Briar College 

has been awarded $5,000 through the Tourism and 

the arts Grant for a collaborative project with the 

lynchburg Convention Visitor's Bureau, Nelson County 

Conventions and Visitors Bureau, and Bedford Tourism 

and Welcome Center. 

MACBETH - JULY 6 - JULY 22 

written by William Shakespeare 

One of Shakespeare’s most popular tragedies. e story of 

Macbeth is a morality tale about greed, ambition and the lust 

for power. Endstation will again collaborate with the 

bluegrass-inspired rock band Virgineola to create a powerful 

and exciting night of live, outdoor theater. 

Endstation Theatre Company’s 

Twelfth Night, part of their 

summer 2011 season. 

10 


Wyllie Engineering 

Receives ABET Accreditation 

SWEET Briar CollEGE’S MarGarET JoNES WylliE ’45 

Engineering Program received accreditation for its engineering 

science degree program from the accreditation Board for 

Engineering and Technology, the recognized accreditor for college 

and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering 

and technology. 

“Becoming an aBET-accredited program is a huge step forward for 

Sweet Briar engineering,” says director Hank yochum. “We are eager 

for our students to enjoy the increased employment opportunities 

associated with graduating from an aBET-accredited degree 

program. While our graduates have done well with jobs and graduate 

school placement, this will certainly open new doors to them.” 

Poet Publishes 

Second Volume 

JOHN CASTEEN, WHO TEACHES 

creative writing at Sweet Briar, recently 

published For the Mountain Laurel (2011), 

his second book for the VQR Poetry Series 

from the University of Georgia Press. His 

first book, Free Union, was published in 

2009. 

John founded and directs Sweet Briar’s 

Undergraduate Creative Writing 

Conference. He also serves on the 

editorial staff of the Virginia Quarterly 

Review. His poems have appeared in the 

Southern Review, Ploughshares, the Paris 

Review and elsewhere, and he has written 

non-fiction for Slate.com, the 

Washington Post and other publications. 

He is traveling and teaching through 

Semester at Sea during the fall 2011. 


11

Sophomore Honors 

The Anne Gary Pannell Merit Scholarship is a competitive award that provides top students of 

exceptional initiative and ability with an opportunity to explore an area of interest more fully during 

their sophomore year. Eligible students are invited to submit proposals for scholarly projects, research, 

creative endeavors, travel for academic purposes or service. Students awarded the scholarship receive a 

merit award applied to Sweet Briar College tuition as well as funds to support the proposed project. 

Clockwise from left: Spencer Beall, Bri Kaak, Frankie Beyer, Brieanah Schwartz, Megan Salazar, Amanda 

Wager, Lilian Tauber, Anna Richards. Not pictured: Katlyn Fleming, Amanda Johnson 

12 


Spencer Beall 

How do you judge the value of art and how do you manage 

procuring and making sure rights are insured for the owner of the 

artwork? What if that owner is a country that acquired work during 

war? researching case law and forming an interpretation will 

provide better understanding of the difficulties. 

Frankie Beyer and Bri Kaak 

What is the culture and history of Spain’s Catalonia region? How will 

a progressive ride on horseback through the countryside provide 

new and challenging perspectives? The Mediterranean Sea, the Bay 

of rosas, the Pyrenees, villages and historic landmarks will all be 

part of the experience. 

Brieanah Schwartz 

on Cumberland island, Ga., there are wild horses. are they invasive 

and harmful or native and a valued part of the ecosystem? What is 

the history of these horses and how can the National Park Service 

be informed with further study? a major portion of the research 

involves photography as a way to capture the natural environment 

and habits of the horses. 

Megan Salazar 

organizing, transcribing and working with the Fletcher Williams 

Collection at the Sweet Briar library in order to bring the several 

boxes of documents and photos up to modern archival standards. 

Amanda Wager 

Exploring career options in chemistry, visiting different types of 

laboratories to find out more about the different areas of chemistry, 

including inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical 

chemistry, biochemistry and organic chemistry. What are the career 

options in the field? 

Lilian Tauber 

What are the causes of the current popular uprisings in the Middle 

East and how might we understand them? Starting with the 

“Jasmine revolution” in Tunisia to the present, what are the 

historical factors and transnational interests? Has technology 

directly influenced it? 

Anna Richards 

in Ethiopia there are approximately 1.5 million blind people, many 

due to malnutrition and glaucoma. How can their lives be improved 

through education, awareness and a center specifically for their 

needs? richards’ experience and research will be enhanced through 

volunteering with Door of Hope Ethio: Ministry for the Blind. 

(NoT PiCTUrED) 

Amanda Johnson 

The scattering of light by particles is a thoroughly researched 

subject. However, recent discoveries have suggested the 

importance of a phenomenon during scattering that had long been 

assumed to be extremely weak at optical frequencies. it was 

previously believed that magnetic contributions from light 

scattering could be ignored, but research from the past few years 

has shown that it can actually be quite strong. What can we learn 

from this and the effects of light power and the intensity on this 

“optical magnetism?” 

Katlyn Fleming 

learning more on molecular modeling using software to construct 

and study a model of a CoX-ii inhibitor. How do small effector 

molecules recognize and bind to larger molecules? How is 

modeling used in modern chemistry research and is it an area to 

pursue for graduate studies and/or a career? 


13

You Went To 

Sweet Briar If… 

On Aug. 5, Marilen Sarian Crump ’00 formed a “You went to Sweet Briar if ... ” 

group on Facebook and invited her friends, who invited their friends, who 

invited their friends, etc., to complete the sentence. In a matter of a few days, 

the responses were pages deep and ran the gamut from serious to playful. In 

all, the feedback provides a firsthand view of the “sisterhood” that is created 

at Sweet Briar, something that stretches through time and is grounded in 

common experiences. It means that if you went to Sweet Briar, your experience 

is both captivating and compelling. We trolled through the comments and 

picked out some highlights. Here they are verbatim. 

Georgianna Conger-Wolcott '87 

Went to class in your riding boots and 

britches after that early morning riding lesson 

or for that matter after the afternoon lesson! 

Christy Allison '99 

...you don’t regret passing up a fullride 

scholarship to that-Other-school 

one little teeny weeny bit. Sweet 

Briar = Worth the Loans! 

Emily Koch '12 

you’ve developed a 

sixth sense to detect when 

guys are on campus. 

Karen Hott '91 

Tears and a little choked every time you 

seen the sign on 29, you are home! Cannot 

wait to drive onto campus and introduce my 

nieces to the most amazing place I’ve ever 

known, all that I have accomplished is a 

result of my Sweet Briar Experience! 

Patty Sagasti Suppes '93 

you scheduled your own exams. 

Rebecca Jackson '99 

Texas Inn — proof I was there :) 

Beth Goldring '05 

you were overcome with glee when 

you realized that J. Crew named a 

pink and green argyle sweater 

Sweet Briar!!!! (lots of years ago) 

Sarah Van Deventer Monahan '90 

You know someone who tried to kidnap a 

calf and bring it back to the dorm 

14 


Kate Hall Lombardi '97 

Your daughter gets her braces put on this morning 

and chooses pink and green! So proud — 

Holla~Holla Grace Kathryn, class of 2023! 

Julia Schmitz '03 

Devon Vasconcellos Bijansky '99 

One of my favorite SBC shirts — Fall 

Formal my freshman year (pardon the 

wrinkles). Didn’t realize until I went to 

take a picture to post that it’s OLD 

ENOUGH TO DRIVE! 

if you and your roommate heard 

Daisy walking above you in the attic 

of Meta Glass in the middle of the 

night (right, Laura Ison Russell?). 

Sarah Barrett '04 

Lilian Tauber '14 

Alicia King '97 

When you randomly bump into 

another alum from a totally different 

year (me: ’97, her: ’05) and not only 

recognize one another, but then you 

both instantly have to tweet and FB 

that you ran into each other. ... Joyce 

Scott and I were both at SMX Search 

marketing conference this week, and 

tomorrow, I get to hang out with my 

Secret Sophomore! 

Julia K McClung '09 

You own at least 25 t-shirts that no 

one else understands. 

You swam in the fountain in front 

of the library — pool floaties and 

toy sailboats and all! 

Leigh Watkins '85 

you remember 

Christmas caroling on 

horseback on campus 

at night in the Quad. 

Aquarius always 

thought the parking 

lines were jump poles 

on the ground = how 

cute is that?! 

You stood in your room during 

an earthquake thinking that it 

was just the elevator or Daisy. 

Kim Mounger Storbeck '94 

...you saw the Dave Matthews Band play 

in the cafeteria. I still have the poster. 

Mtesa Cottemond Wright '94 

when you returned from Junior Banquet to find 

your room covered in foil and a strobe light 

hanging from the ceiling; or your floor covered 

in popcorn and you kept finding bagels in your 

drawers for the rest of the year. 

Sarah Kingsley '99 

You are preparing for a 

hurricane and fondly remember 

the power outage during the 

January-term blizzard of 1996. 

CeCelia Valentine '95 

You still have a scar from 

sledding down the dell (snow had 

turned to ice) on a carpet from 

the Chapel with Justina Carlton. 

Tina, that is a night I still laugh 

about. Miss you girl! 

Amanda Ryan Samford '10 

you miss how surprisingly 

mature SBC women were 

compared to once youget out 

in the big bad world! 

Dawn Grobe '98 

You climbed in a window to get 

into Prothro, not to steal food, 

but to hang a banner and Bum 

Chum bells. With your QV and a 

Bum Chum mom. 


15

Alysha Norbury '10 

You can still recite the 

honor code years later 

Lee Sakowicz '86 

you can identify this building 

(and your vehicle could 

find it on autopilot) 

Marilen Crump '00 

you just added a ghost to 

your facebook group. 

Rexanne Baker '83 

you swiped trays from the 

cafeteria to sled down the dell 

in the snow storms. 

Amelia Dudman Atwill '96 

you have a problem and all your SBC friends 

rally around you in aheartbeat! Thanking 

God right now for my SBC friends!!! 

Katie Cesarz '00 

Leigh Ann White '86 

You spent all night in the Pit 

“studying.” 

it was normal for a dog to come into 

class while the professor was lecturing. 

Meghan Pollard Leypoldt '99 

Whenever you see a bell tower, 

your innate reaction is to climb 

up it and hang a banner. 

Jennifer Hooper '00 

My girls just watched a 

ring game (that 

included an entire 

proposal) on YouTube. 

They thought that was 

the most romantic way 

to get engaged. 

Kelly Turney Gatzke '99 

Kimberly Roda Moorhead '95 

You got to write poetry for college credit 

and have it critiqued by Pulitzer Prizewinner, 

Mary Oliver, your professor. 

Rachel Allred '02 

If you ever threw yourself on a giant 

rock in order to protect it from a 

mob of paint-throwing sophomores. 

You sincerely hope your 

daughter chooses SBC too 

and have already started 

talking to her about it ... 

even though she’s only 4! 

Melissa Fauber Carter '00 

You’re sleeping in your Sweet 

Briar shorts and “All I really 

needed to know I learned at 

Sweet Briar” t-shirt! 

Megan Glover '99 

If you never (really) left. 

Alison Cooper '00 

you went on a 

SWEBOP trip 

Meredith Tillery McNamara '99 

“ran into” Dave Matthews at the 

Laundry Mat, Prothro, etc. 

16 


Kelli Bergmann Thomasson '04 

Helen Chatt '10 

You think it’s fun to still wear 

your tap club hat. 

Andrea Hidalgo '01 

You know what 

SCREAM 

night is before finals week. 

Germaine Gottsche-Wilson '00 

You re-enacted trench warfare for a class 

using the ditches they made building the 

new gym. Best day of class ever. 

Dolly Garcia '67 

Doing the dairy route at 

3:00 am with Amy and Joie 

to go visit Daisy 

Debbie Jones '84 

you had to pass your 

comprehensive exam to 

graduate, no matter how good 

your grades were ... 

Amy Dickson Riddell '92 

you remember the onion 

flavor in the milk when the 

dairy cows would eat the 

wild onions every Spring. 

That is a taste treat you 

won’t soon forget! LOL 

Rachel Allred '02 

If your entire bridal party consisted of 

Sweet Briar alums (bestfriends a girl 

could ever have)!! 

You made the best friends of 

your life there! 

Ashley Hill '00 

You nearly fell off the couch shouting 

out “Sweet Briar!” to the 2009 

$1,000 Jeopardy question: 

“Riding to hounds is a traditional 

activity at this “sweet” Virginia school, 

SBC for short.” 

Korina Adkins '94 

In winter, campus was 

awash with J. Crew barn 

jackets, L.L. Bean duck 

boots, and Patagonia fleeces. 

Meredith Keegan Ensley '95 

watching the Oscars with the people 

on the floor and your RA because her 

Aunt is nominated for a Best Original 

Screenplay for writing “Thelma and 

Louise.” AND SHE WON! 

Kirkland Wohlrab '04 

you saw someone run across the 

Dell at 2am in a gorilla suit and 

thought ... ehhh, no big deal! 

Laura Martin '90 

You were ever thrown into despair 

when you opened your mail during 

your senior year in HS and found 

the thin envelope from Sweet Briar, 

expecting a rejection letter 

(acceptance letters come in FAT 

envelopes!) and then were 

screaming in joy when you read 

that YOU MADE IT!!!! 


17

Jennifer Lundy '10 

You miss living 3 houses from your 

Dean of Students and frequenting her 

house for dinner. 

Kelli Bergmann Thomasson '04 

when you’re being interviewed for 

a new job by a woman you 

immediately check her finger to 

see if she’s wearing our ring. :) 

Nicholle L. Baugher '01 

Wylie J. Small '83 

Hearing the Sweet 

Tones carol in the 

middle of the night 

right outside your 

dorm room before 

Christmas break. 

Angela Roberts '03 

You learned how special, intimate and wonderful 

Worship could be with a guitar and treble voices, 

during an IVCF or CCFC meeting. 

you went to a john mayer concert for free, and found 

yourself asking, “who the hello is john mayer?!?” lol. 

Jean Spillane Benning '90 

You knew NOT to wash your 

clothes after a rainstorm for fear 

of your clothes turning red due 

to the clay in the water. 

Heather Armbruster '98 

you know what a Guionite is! I was 

proudly one for 4 years! 

Rebecca Waite Del Piano '02 

Lucy Chapman Millar '83 

you had to sign in male visitors on a list 

posted on your floor forall to see. Am 

dating myself here, and my freshman 

year was the last year this was 

required. ....very quaint! 

Aimee Kass '79 

you meet classmates all over the 

world. Summer after graduation, 

backpacked through Europe and 

ran across a classmate from creative 

writing in Oxford and 6 weeks later, 

another in my class in a 

“workhaus” in Munich. Serendipity. 

You got to do graduate-level 

projects while getting your 

undergraduate degree! 

Kathryn Deriso-Schwartz '88 

Dr. “Buck” Edwards would let 

you take a Bio Bounce Back test 

if you did poorly on the first one. 

He was one of my favorite 

teachers. He just passed away at 

the age of 92. RIP. 

Julia Skilinski Brooks '93 

You graduated in 1993 but still 

post “holla holla’ on your SBC 

friends’ walls. 

Sarah Kingsley '99 

someone asked you if you will 

get annoyed by the church 

bells you are moving across 

the street from and you know 

that the Big Ben song on the 

hour will only make you feel 

MORE at home. 

Christina Savage Lytle '88 

you know the true value of a 

women’s college education. 

Valerie Walston '98 

Heather Armbruster '98 

You start the countdown to the next 

reunion as soon as one ends. 

You saw Dave Matthews not 

at a music festival or on 

Saturday Night Live but 

rather in Reid Pit or the dell. 

18 


Mary Ritzo '96 

Dawn Elizabeth Schwarting '95 

Anyone remember the ice storm which 

paralyzed the region? Classes were 

cancelled except I had to care for my cell 

tissue project sliding to Guion everyday. 

Several people left to stay at any hotel 

they could find. We made do by having a 

murder mystery party in the Browsing 

Room in the library by candlelight. 

Jennifer Hooper '00 

...is it wrong to see a SBC bumper 

sticker on a vehicle attempt to 

catch up in traffic to 

“Holla Holla” them? ... lol 

you bounced right 

out of bed to be first 

in line at breakfast 

on omelette day ... 

Chandra Garcia '94 

You find you have to explain to 

your “Big Ten” friends that 

classes were actually classes 

not mass lectures. 

Jennifer Major '99 

you remember 

September 11, 2001 and 

no one could get a 

phone line out to call our 

families and we didn’t 

know if VMI was going to 

be targeted also and we 

had to stay on campus all 

day wondering what was 

happening on the 

outside until we could 

get a line out much later 

that afternoon. 

Kathryn Yunk '91 

you still miss yogurt made at the Dairy. 

Meghan Pollard Leypoldt '99 

You lived for the mornings that 

there were elephant ears in the 

bread drawer. 

Cara Ardemagni '92 

...you “vogued” in your pj’s in the parlor of your 

dorm, ate fresh yogurt from the dairy on campus, 

painted the hitching post and rock in the middle 

of the night, cried at step singing and lantern 

bearing, ate Jell-o shots on the night of junior 

banquet ... i could go on and on and on! 

Dianne Hayes Doss '93 

You regularly saw professors and staff 

at meals, babysat their children, were 

invited to their houses, and still keep in 

touch today. Very uniquely Sweet Briar! 

Kelleigh Smith Sommer '94 

You had coax cable strung from 

window to window outside Dew in 

order to get cable TV to each of our 

dorm rooms. We watched 90210 and 

Melrose religiously! 

Schyler Ellis Burke '04 

You know Route 60 like 

the back of your hand 

(either direction). 

Brooke Agee '09 

Laura Lee Rihl Joiner '96 

You slept through a morning class and 

the professor called your dorm room 

later to ask if you were feeling better. 

If you see a bunch of girls dressed 

up in different costumes, and it’s 

nowhere near Halloween. ... and you 

think, “Ah, Jr. week!” 

Lori Kovatch Long '01 

Being loud and obnoxious 

was a good thing and 

rewarded, at least by the 

EARPHONES!!! 


19

A female ray went into labor while 

McKenzie Grundy ’13 (from left), Doreen 

McVeigh ’09 and Maryanne Grey ’12 were 

pumping her stomach. The trio “delivered” 

the pup and sent it on its watery way. 

20 


Rays’ Hope: 

Good Science Defends Maligned Predator 

Maryanne Grey ’12 chooses lunch carefully 

on days that she is working on her senior 

independent study research. Sorting through 

the semi-digested contents of cownose ray 

stomachs and intestines is smelly work. 

by Jennifer McManamay 


21

“I TRY TO EAT SOMETHING THAT IF I DO GET 

sick, I wouldn’t mind it coming back up,” she says. 

Once past the odor, it’s easy to get excited by what she 

finds. Much of it is too small to easily identify but the 

discovery of three quarter-sized crabs is pay dirt. Going into 

the project, Grey expected the rays’ diet to consist of bigger, 

high-caloric prey such as clams and crabs. After examining 

20 or so stomachs, that’s not what she is finding. 

Cownose rays are those sleek kite-shaped, long-tailed 

fishes you often see swimming around in aquaria “touch 

tanks.” Seems odd, then, that life in the Chesapeake Bay is 

considerably more hostile for the stingrays. 

“I have seen these beautiful rays shot with guns and shot 

with arrows and had large stones and cinder blocks dropped 

on their heads, all because everyone assumes that they are a 

direct competitor that needs to die,” says Grey’s advisor John 

Morrissey, a marine biologist at Sweet Briar. 

e rays have been accused of a host of atrocities from 

wiping out the softshell clam fishery and plundering 

commercial oyster beds to destroying delicate grasses that 

conservationists have been at pains to re-establish in the 

environmentally troubled Chesapeake. 

e problem is they migrate into the Bay every summer 

by the millions. ere they both reproduce and feast — 

leaving behind telltale feeding craters in the sediment where 

they’ve searched for prey. In such numbers, and with each 

adult weighing 25 to 35 pounds, they do eat a lot. But what 

exactly are they eating? 

“Well, everyone in the area simply assumes that they are 

eating whatever is important to that person,” Morrissey says. 

“So commercial clammers are ‘certain’ that the rays are eating 

clams, and recreational crabbers are ‘certain’ that they are 

eating crabs, and the oystermen are ‘certain’ that they are 

eating oysters. 

“Bottom line? Everyone hates them and a grassroots 

campaign to exterminate them is vigorously under way.” 

Worse, there’s a movement afoot to establish a 

commercial fishery to control their numbers in the Bay— 

something scientists fear would endanger the migratory 

species and have ecological repercussions. ey reproduce 

slowly, there’s no reliable estimate of their actual numbers 

and no one knows where they go when they leave the 

Chesapeake in September. 

To take some of the heat off the beleaguered fish, Grey 

and Morrissey are collaborating with Doreen McVeigh ’09 

and her master’s thesis advisor Drew Ferrier at Hood College, 

to determine what it really does eat. Previous studies 

produced conflicting data, but one in the late 1970s 

concluded they eat softshell clams exclusively. It was later 

supported by a 1985 study. at fishery, however, no longer 

exists in the Bay. 

In the summer of 2010 Grey interned with McVeigh 

at St. George Island, Md. ey, along with McKenzie 

Grundy ’13 and Morrissey, spent several weeks trying to 

catch rays. 

Several fruitless fishing trips led them to befriend 

commercial fishermen, who are happy to hand over the rays 

that wander into their pound nets. e fieldwork taught Grey 

to expect things to not go as planned and to work with what’s 

at hand. “at’s continued on with the research I am doing 

now,” she says. 

Actually, the unpredictability in the field and lab appeals 

to her and she has decided to apply to marine biology 

graduate programs. “I was pre-vet for a while,” she said, 

stopping herself. “at’s a lie, I was pre-vet since I was five.” 

Under Morrissey’s guidance in the lab, Grey is working 

with frozen specimens this semester and she will report on 

her findings in late November. ey may not be ready to 

draw conclusions by then; much depends on how many 

samples Grey is able to process. So far, however, the diversity 

of worms, fishes and nearly microscopic bivalves contradicts 

earlier studies suggesting their diet is highly specialized. at 

could go either way for the cownose ray. 

“Frankly, I would be shocked if they don’t eat something 

that is of commercial value,” Morrissey says. “But if we can 

show that they are still very narrow in their prey selection, 

then maybe we can cause, for example, oystermen to 

continue to despise them while everyone else leaves them 

alone. 

“Would the rays get to swim around with fewer arrows 

in their backs after that?” 

22 


1 

F I R S T - Y E A R F O L L O W 

We wanted to know, who are the 

members of the Class of 2015? 

What are their interests and 

aspirations? And what’s it 

like to be an entering 

student at Sweet Briar? 

We’ll introduce you to four 

students who agreed to let 

us find out. And it won’t end 

here, because just as their 

college careers are getting 

started, so is our story. 

M E G A N K E L LY | S I X T I N E A B R I A L | R O S I E P U R V I S | 

R A N I J A N G 

by Jennifer McManamay 


23

1 

Megan Kelly, 

Cascade Senior High School, 

Everett, Wash. 

MEGAN KELLY’S FIRST DAY ON CAMPUS 

started badly. She missed orientation registration after 

a string of travel mishaps. She reached campus 

confused, hungry, and needing $200 —and counting 

— for the unanticipated cab ride from the Richmond 

airport. 

But things looked up when College photographer 

Meridith De Avila Khan saw her plight and led her to 

an ATM. Meantime Sweet Briar Vice President Louise 

Zingaro heard the story and invited her and another 

late-arriving classmate to her home for a late lunch 

since the dining hall was closed until dinner. 

So when we asked what has been the most 

pleasant surprise about Sweet Briar, Megan’s answer 

was ready. “Other than finding ten bucks in my 

closet? It would be that everyone is legitimately as nice 

as SBC boasts. I am constantly shocked by how nice 

people are.” 

Megan says she is “pretty much set on 

international affairs” as a major. She is taking 

introductory Spanish, a course on German fairytales, 

international politics and an education class. She also 

is enrolled in the y:1 seminar “Muslim Immigration 

and Assimilation in Modern Europe.” 

A few weeks into the semester she was involved in 

the German, Environmental and Future Teachers 

clubs, in addition to creating one of her own. 

“I am also starting, with a few others, a Harry 

Potter-esque club. We’ll be playing Quidditch and 

being nerdy together.” 

For Megan a “school full of traditions” was 

important. She wanted a great education program and 

small classes. So far, so good — Sweet Briar has all of 

those things. She would need financial aid to realize 

these goals, but she wasn’t interested in a public 

university close to home. In fact, she was looking for 

something completely unlike her Northwest home, 

which may be a case of careful what you wish for. 

“e most difficult thing to adjust to, I want to 

say is the weather,” Megan says, “but in reality you all 

have some weird bugs here. ey are big, loud, and in 

your face. I had never seen a stinkbug, a firefly, and 

many other creatures till I arrived here.” 

24 


1 

Sixtine Abrial, attended Princess Anne High 

School for International Baccalaureate diploma, 

Virginia Beach, Va. 

SIxTINE (PRONOUNCED SISTINE) ABRIAL 

is the daughter of a French air force general who is 

serving a three-year post as NATO’s Supreme Allied 

Commander Transformation in Virginia. Sweet 

Briar is the latest stop on her world travels. 

e campus immediately appealed to her. “It 

was the only college I visited on which campus I 

didn’t feel stressed, nervous or anxious,” says Sixtine, 

who also hopes to be able to ride horses. 

She has dual French and American citizenship 

having been born in Alabama. At one time she was 

also a citizen of her mother’s native Germany. 

Although she describes all of her professors and their 

classes as “amazing,” her favorite so far is Spanish — 

“I love learning new languages,” she says. 

She’s already joined the French, German and 

International clubs. Sixtine is leaning toward 

majoring in modern languages and literature paired 

with a minor in international affairs or history. She 

likes the idea of being an interpreter. 

Her happiest discovery since arriving on 

campus — aside from feeling even more welcomed 

in the community than she’d expected — is that she 

needn’t wait for her junior year to go abroad for 

study or internships. 

“I am already starting to plan it by looking at 

different programs!” she says. 


25

1 

ROSIE PURVIS SETTLED IMMEDIATELY INTO THE 

rhythm of college life except for one thing: the hours at 

Prothro Dining Hall. She is training for the Modern 

Penthatlon Junior World Championships in Buenos Aires in 

November. 

“As an athlete I’m used to eating between meals, so I keep 

getting thrown off by the dining hall being closed,” she says. 

Pentathletes compete in fencing (in which she qualified 

for the 2011 Junior Olympics Championships), swimming, 

running, pistol shooting and riding. Rosie is aiming for the 

2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in modern pentathlon. 

To maintain some balance, her extra-curricular activities 

so far overlap with training. She joined the fencing and crosscountry 

clubs, although swim team practice conflicts with 

cross-country’s regular schedule. 

For Rosie, who took some college courses her senior year, 

a challenging academic program in engineering clinched her 

choice to come to Sweet Briar. “Along with that, it’s a small 

college. I won’t get lost in the crowd and my professors know 

my name and face,” she says. 

is semester her classes include calculus III, an 

introductory engineering course and first-year honors seminar 

on molecules, plus two languages. Along with engineering 

science, she is thinking about a double major — maybe math, 

but she hasn’t decided. 

Rosalie Purvis, homeschooled, 

Montgomery City, Mo. 

26 


1 

WHEN WE CAUGHT UP WITH EUNYONG 

“Rani” Jang about mid-September, she was worried 

about an upcoming essay in English Professor John 

Gregory Brown’s course, “ought and Expression.” 

She likes the class, though. 

“He is always enthusiastic and brings us out of our 

comfort zones and drags us to discuss the stories,” Rani 

says. 

Rani comes to Sweet Briar having lived in diverse 

places. She attended the fourth grade in the Philippines. 

She graduated high school from the International 

Christian School near her home in Cheonan, South 

Korea, about an hour from Seoul, but spent her 

sophomore year as an exchange student in California. 

She is perfectly at home at Sweet Briar, enjoying 

watching TV, shopping and chatting with friends, 

whom she treated to her country's home cuisine at the 

earliest opportunity. She loves to cook and listen to 

Korean pop music and she had both going on one 

Friday evening with a gathering of friends at the Green 

Village campus apartments. 

“Meeting lots of friends sharing similar life goals 

who also have the warmest hearts. We have so much 

fun together!” Rani says of her experience so far. 

She knew she wanted to attend a liberal arts 

college and was accepted at several schools. Low 

student-faculty ratios and a reputation for discussionoriented 

classes were high priorities, but Sweet Briar’s 

exclusive focus on women tipped the balance. 

“I loved the mission, ‘Sweet Briar College 

empowers and educates young women to build and 

reshape their world however their passions lead them,’” 

she says. “I was certain that Sweet Briar College would 

help equip me to be successful in every way possible.” 

Rani isn’t ready to say in what field she will seek 

success. “I want to see what I am truly passionate about 

and what I am truly good at. I want to study abroad in 

Russia, do an internship, [and try other things] before I 

settle down with one major.” 

EunYong Jang, Pyeongtaek 

International Christian School, 

South Korea 


27

Buck Edwards: 

Sweet Briar’s Bird Man 

On September 27, Dr. Ernest P. “Buck” Edwards, 

Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Ecology, 

emeritus died at the age of 92. We know that the 

Sweet Briar community, both people and birds, will 

miss the beloved Bird Man who never lost a chance 

to observe the wonders of the world around him. 

IN THE SEPIA-TONE PHOTO, TWO 

grinning, barefoot boys sit in a rowboat, side 

by side. ey’re wearing knickers and shortsleeved, 

collared shirts, and their feet appear 

blackened, perhaps from running around 

shoeless on a warm summer day. 

In the background, Sweet Briar’s Lower 

Lake stretches to what is now a hardwood 

forest on the other side. In the photo it is a 

grassy hill, dotted with young trees. 

e two boys are Ernest Preston Edwards 

and his brother George Griffith, who is 

holding two small-mouthed bass. Ernest 

Preston would eventually be known as 

"Buck," and, years later, a world-renown 

ornithologist and Sweet Briar's Dorys 

McConnell Duberg Professor of Ecology. 

Buck was one of the College’s oldest 

emeritus professors and perhaps one of its best 

known, having been Sweet Briar’s 

ornithologist, or “bird man,” for decades. He 

lived out his final years at Westminster 

Canterbury in Lynchburg, but made frequent 

visits to campus. 

When he visited campus, he brought 

with him a black paper photo album of images 

taken during childhood. Among the photos 

affixed to its fragile pages were snapshots of 

the family dog, a white collie called Mohini, 

and the cat, a striped tabby named eodore. 

ere were photos of Camp Tye Brook in 

Lowesville, some from a visit to Monticello 

and images of Sweet Briar from the 1930s. 

One photo shows Edwards and other campus 

children hanging from all sides of the 

Williams family monument and another of 

him and some kids sitting in a bird bath. 

Early Life at Sweet Briar 

e Edwards brothers, which also included 

eldest brother Howard, moved to Sweet Briar 

in 1927. eir father was a physics professor 

at the College from 1927 to 1943 and their 

mother, a librarian. e couple had met and 

married in India while working as teachers 

under the auspices of the Presbyterian 

Church. 

Buck's father, also named Ernest, grew 

up a Southern Baptist in Darlington, S.C. He 

wanted to “roam around the world,” Edwards 

said, an opportunity the Baptists weren’t 

offering at the time. So, he hooked up with 

the Presbyterians and traveled to India, where 

he met and married Mabel Griffith, of Utica, 

N.Y. 

ree of the couple’s four children were 

born in India, including a daughter, Ruth 

Cary, who died when she was a year old. 

Edwards describes his mother as quiet and 

unassuming, and believes she never completely 

got over losing her daughter and having to 

leave her buried so far away. 

Buck has fond memories of growing up 

at Sweet Briar, first at Faculty Row No. 4, then 

down the street at No. 6. His mother would 

cook food with curry powder, perhaps a 

carryover from her time in India, and he and 

Griffith would play basketball and field 

hockey with the Sweet Briar girls. He doesn’t 

recall having any crushes on the students but 

says he liked them very much. 

He went to Amherst Presbyterian Church 

with the students, and they took him to 

Lynchburg when Ringling Brothers’ circus 

came to town. His mother chaperoned them 

at dances at the University of Virginia, 

Virginia Military Institute and Hampden- 

Sydney, and they would visit the house on 

Faculty Row. 

“Mostly, we’d hang around the 

28 


gymnasium or the hockey field or the baseball 

field and play sports with them,” Buck said. 

Buck and Griffith sold root beers to men 

building Williams Gymnasium and Mary 

Helen Cochran Library, and newspapers and 

magazines to faculty and staff. ey also 

learned how to milk cows at the school’s dairy 

farm. Edwards said his dad, disdainful of the 

dairy’s Holsteins because their milk had a 

lower percentage of butter fat, kept a Jersey 

cow behind their house for a while. 

At Halloween, “when trick-or-treating 

had never been heard of,” Buck said he and 

Griffith went to a costume party on Faculty 

Row, where they “bobbed for apples from the 

Sweet Briar orchard and drank cider from the 

orchard.” 

e brothers went on a late-night coon 

hunt on Paul Mountain with a man who 

worked at the dairy farm and spent lazy 

summer days at the lake, fishing, boating and 

sometimes camping on its banks. Buck said 

Sweet Briar’s director of grounds once scolded 

him for playing hopscotch “from one boat 

seat to the other as we launched a rowboat 

from the dock.” 

He remembers their route to the lake. It 

took he and his brother past the Boxwood 

Inn, today’s Alumnae House. “ey had a 

soda fountain and I knew the lady who ran 

the place, and they would give me free ice 

cream sometimes if I looked real hungry,” 

Buck said. 

Shortly after the Edwards family moved 

to Sweet Briar, eldest brother Howard went to 

Darlington to attend high school in his dad’s 

hometown. He lived with an aunt, and when 

old enough, each of his brothers followed the 

same course. 

Buck, who towered over most people at 

6 feet 6 inches tall, was small for his age in 

high school, having skipped third grade back 

in Amherst. Buck said he was a good 

basketball player in high school, and would 

have liked to have played varsity ball in 

college but with his labs and classes didn’t 

have time to practice. 

The Bird Man and 

the Wildflower Girl 

Buck thinks he first became interested in 

birds when he made a blue bird box as a 

kindergartener living in South Carolina. In 

high school his passion was cemented. 

“We lived near a cypress swamp and I 

went down there and saw a hooded warbler 

and ruby-crowned kinglet and then that 

really hooked me hard,” he said. 

For college, he wanted to go to Cornell 

University for its well-known ornithology 

program. Buck couldn’t afford it so he went 

to the University of Virginia, where he earned 

a biology degree in 1940. 

Soon afterwards, Buck finally got the 

chance at Cornell. Over the next eight years, 

he earned a master’s in ornithology and 

vertebrate zoology and doctorate in 

ornithology, zoology and botany, dividing his 

studies with a stint in the U.S. Army during 

World War II and the Korean War. In 1954, 

at the Army’s Chemical Corps in Frederick, 

Md., he met his wife, Mabel acher. 

Mabel, a naturalized Canadian, also 

worked for the corps, and she was head of a 

branch of the Maryland Ornithological 

Society. She also liked wildflowers, 

particularly terrestrial orchids such as lady 

slippers, Buck said, an interest she developed 

as a child on family trips to the mountains 

and lowlands of Kentucky. 

“I guess we first met just walking around 

the Army base,” he said. “I think she’d 

probably heard that I was interested in birds, 

so I gave a talk to the Ornithological Society.” 

ey were married a year and a half 

later, and they began “vagabonding,” as he 

defined it. Buck had a summer job in 

Wisconsin, which was followed by two or 

three weeks studying birds in Mexico. He 

taught for a friend at Hanover College who 

was on sabbatical and then for three years 

served as associate director of the Houston 

Museum of Natural History. During this 

time, he also did Audubon lectures about 

birds. 

In 1965, after teaching for five years at 

the University of the Pacific in California, he 

and Mabel came to Sweet Briar, where he 

taught biology until he retired 25 later. For 

20 of those years, Buck and Mabel lived in 

Sanctuary Cottage. As a couple, they hiked all 

around campus in search of birds and 

wildflowers and cataloging them. 

Mabel died in 1996, and there is a 

wildflower garden on Farmhouse Road in 

her memory. 

Buck's bird records include a typed list 

of nearly 150 birds, along with pen and 

pencil notations about when they were seen 

or heard. e list, dated 1965, includes 

everything from mockingbirds and crows to 

less common birds, such as the eastern wood 

pewee, orange-crowned warbler, Lincoln’s 

sparrow and American redstart. 

In addition to surveying Sweet Briar’s 

forests and sanctuaries, Buck and his wife 

traveled the world together, studying the 

birds, wildflowers and cultures of Africa, 

England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, 

Central America and many U.S. states. 

During this time, Buck wrote several books 

and field guides including, “Finding Birds in 

Mexico,” “Finding Birds in Panama,” “A Field 

Guide to the Birds of Mexico” and “A Coded 

List of Birds of the World,” which has been 

called the “first complete one-volume list of 

the species of birds of the world to be 

published anywhere.” 

Buck also made films about his travels. 

He produced and narrated “Travels in 

Guatemala and Mexico: Ornithology, 

Archaeology, Anthropology,” and numerous 

other films shot overseas and at U.S. 

national parks. 

During his travels, Buck spotted some 

very rare birds. “I saw two whooping cranes 

spending the winter in Aransas Wildlife 

Refuge in Texas when there were only 

thirteen in the entire world, including zoos,” 

he said. “I saw two trumpeter swans on a 

swampy lake in the Grand Tetons … when 

there were only a few dozen known to exist in 

the world. 

When asked about his favorite birds, 

however, he said two of his favorites in the 

U.S. are the wood thrush and indigo bunting. 

(e original article, now edited and updated, was written in 2009 by Suzanne Ramsey.) 


29

30 



31

Kendall Harris 

on a zoo of a summer 

THIS PAST SUMMER I SPENT TWO MONTHS AS 

an intern at the Oakland Zoo, in California’s Bay Area. I 

had the opportunity to work with some fascinating 

animals such as giraffe, eland, Aldabra tortoises and 

alligators. A typical day involved a lot of physical work 

such as cleaning exhibits and night houses, and setting up 

feed. e most rewarding part of the day was helping 

with animal training and medical procedures, during 

which I was able to work with some of the best animal 

trainers in the country as well as some truly amazing and 

passionate veterinarians. e giraffe were definitely the 

most enjoyable animals to assist with in training. We had 

one giraffe named Benghazi, who would become very 

pushy when there was food around, and would go so far 

as to pull a bucket into the exhibit by grabbing it with his 

tongue. To teach him to get out of our personal space, the 

trainers taught him to move his head back past the barrier 

when our hands were on our hips, and he learned this 

signal very quickly. To be able to achieve that level of 

communication with so many different animals (to my 

surprise even the tortoises were very fast learners) was 

definitely the most satisfying aspect of my time. 

As a final project at the zoo, I designed a moving feeder 

system for the giraffe that encourages them to walk 

around more as they eat. It was great being able to build 

enrichment devices for the animals and watch them learn 

how to use it. e internship certainly encouraged my 

goal to become a veterinarian, and has made me want to 

specialize in exotics/zoo animals. As a biology major, I 

found that it was very important to gain this experience 

outside of the classroom and lab, and to be able to 

immerse myself in the field that I’ve spent so much time 

working towards. 

Kendall is majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry. 

She’s active on the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association 

team, Riding Council and the pre-vet club. 

32 


I chose Sweet Briar so that one day I will 

work on the forefront of medical 

discoveries, and 

I am gaining hands-on experience today. 

I want to become an engineer, and 

continue the research I’ve started at Sweet 

Briar, so that one day I can engineer a 

low-cost prosthetic for use in developing 

countries that is very similar to state-ofthe-art 

prosthesis. 

h L 

CLASS OF 2012 

MAJOR: Engineering Science 

HOMETOWN: Warren, Ohio 

Because of your gifts, Sweet Briar 

students are preparing to change the 

world in more and more significant ways. 

We invite you to hear more stories and 

share your own at sbc.edu/becauseofyou. 

Your gift to the Annual Fund goes to 

work immediately, impacting every phase 

of life of Sweet Briar, from scholarships to 

faculty salaries and student activities.

C L A S S N O T E S 

A life of dance — and teaching 

THE NATIONAL DANCE EDUCATION 

Organization presented Anne Green Gilbert 

’69 with a lifetime achievement award at its 

annual conference in October 2011. It is one 

of the NDEO’s most prestigious honors. 

In the spring of 2011 Anne marked her 

30th year as director of the Creative Dance 

Center and Kaleidoscope Dance Company, 

which she founded in Seattle in 1981. e 

center offers creative and modern dance and 

ballet classes for people of all ages. 

Kaleidoscope is the center’s dance company 

for children ages 8 to 14. 

Sweet Briar dance professor Ella Magruder 

notes the significance of more than 30 years of 

contributions to the arts, and says Anne is a 

continuing credit to her alma mater. 

“I still remember her witty dances,” says 

Ella, who as a student at Amherst County 

High School watched Anne perform at Sweet 

Briar. “Although she was just a student in 

college she influenced me at an early age.” 

1938 

Frances Bailey Brooke 

405 Jackson Ave. 

Lexington, VA 24450 

1942 

Ann Morrison Reams 

771 Bon Air Circle 

Lynchburg, VA 24503 

Amrsbc42@gmail.com 

It appears that many of you have 

moved into smaller, less demanding 

quarters. I’m grateful that I’m 

still in my home is all on one floor. I 

always look forward to Sally Van 

Allen’s visit to Lynchburg to see her 

son, Kent and his wife, Kay. I have 

had wonderful emails from Bobbie 

Engh Croft, who now has 16 grandchildren 

and 14 great-grands. 

Daughter, Jean, and sons Doug and 

Bill live close by. I was thrilled to 

hear from Edie Brainard Walter that 

her daughter, Anne and her husband 

Mike, are coming east this 

fall, and they have decided to drive 

down to see Sweet Briar and me. 

They may come the weekend of 

Oct. 15, which will be Founders’ 

Day and Homecoming at the College. 

I haven’t seen Edie for years. I 

used to stay with her in D.C. in the 

days when the Alumnae Association 

project was selling Dutch bulbs for 

scholarships. Can you believe that 

our class will celebrate our 70th reunion 

next spring! How I wish that 

some of you could make it. I expect 

to go and would love to have your 

company. You would be so pleased 

and proud of our College and all the 

amazing things going on there. I 

hope you keep up by reading the 

magazine. It saddens me to report 

the deaths of Diana Green Helford 

in December of 2010, Frances 

Caldwell Harris in April 2011, and 

Peggy Cunningham Allen in 2007. 

I would be so pleased if you would 

pick up a pen and paper and jot me 

a note. Maybe you don’t think you 

have anything exciting to say, but 

we just want to know that you enjoy 

thinking about all of your classmates 

and the wonderful times we 

had all of those very special years. 

Love to all! 

1944 

Alice Lancaster Buck 

21085 Cardinal Pond Ter., Apt. 106 

Ashburn, VA 20147 

alicelbuck@gmail.com 

1945 

Dale Sayler Morgan 

486A Beaulieu Ave. 

Savannah, GA 31406 

dalemorgan@comcast.net 

Julie Mills Jacobsen 

4416 Edmunds St. NW 

Washington, DC 20007 

ljamj@erols.com 

Mary Haskins King 

501 Kimberly Dr. 

Greensboro, NC 27408 

1946 

Mary Vandeventer 

Saunders 

955 Harpersville Rd. 

Newport News, VA 23601 

1947 

Linda McKoy Stewart 

18 Osprey Ln. 

Rumson, NJ 07760 

lmckstewart@verizon.net 

1949 

Catherine C. Reynolds 

20 Loeffler Rd.T408 

Bloomfield, Ct. 06002 

reynolds@duncasteremail.com 

The move to retirement communities 

continues. Our honorary classmate 

Walter Brown has moved to 

one in Princeton, N.J. Pat Brown 

Boyer has moved from her house in 

Winter Park, Fla. to 1620 Mayflower 

Court, B425, also in Winter Park. 

Kitty Hart Belew connects often 

with Caroline Casey Brandt, Margaret 

Towers Talman and Libby 

Trueheart Harris at their retirement 

community in Richmond. Libby reports 

the death of Betsy Dershuck 

Gay on 9/4/09. Betsy had suffered 

from Alzheimer’s disease. Death 

sometimes brings us together, too. 

Mary Fran Brown Ballard saw 

34 


Bertie Pew Baker at Bertie’s brother’s 

memorial service in Philadelphia. Bertie 

still lives in Chester, Nova Scotia, and 

doesn’t get to the U.S. often. Perhaps 

her next trip will be for our next Sweet 

Briar reunion. 

Sue Corning Mann and Hank moved in 

mid-June from their Shrewsbury, Mass., 

condo to New Pond Village #232, 180 

Main St., Walpole, MA 02081. The new 

location is near Sue’s kids and Hank’s 

forbears. They’re visiting Mann ponds, 

farms, streets, etc., and making lots of 

new friends. Sue was expecting a visit 

from her roommate Anne Fiery Bryan of 

Charlottesville. 

Frances Pope Evans wrote in July that 

she’s “alive and kicking” getting “all 

brushed up” for her granddaughter’s 

wedding in fall. She extends an open invitation 

to all friends who get close to 

Columbus, Miss. to visit the antebellum 

home called Pratt Thomas Home. 

Frances manages that ancestral home 

as well as her more modern one in 

Houston. 

Judy Easley Mak and her husband, Dayton, 

a retired CIA agent had a most interesting 

week in Chautaqua, N.Y., with 

many CIA people and the first female 

British head of M15. 

I had a fine reunion with Preston 

Hodges Hill and Larry Lawrence 

Simmons last March in Midland, Texas, 

at Larry’s attractive Spanish colonial 

style house. It was the first time the 

three of us had been together by ourselves 

since 1949, and we found the 

conversation flowed just as freely as it 

did in Gray 200. Larry showed us 

around Midland, including a visit to the 

school she headed for 20 years where 

the upper school is named for her. Larry 

traveled back to Ohio in July to join 28 

family members for the dedication of 

the Gertrude Lawrence Woods, named 

for her mother and given to the public 

by the Lawrence family. She traveled to 

British Columbia in Aug. to visit Charles’ 

sisters and their families. 

Carolyn Cannady Evans and Preston 

proved themselves the most intrepid 

travelers in the class when they made a 

trip to the Middle East just two months 

after the uprising in Cairo and the subsequent 

Arab spring in Tunisia and 

Libya. Preston reported an exciting if 

rather lonely trip in Egypt, since tourism 

declined by 90 percent after the uprising 

in Tahir Square. They also visited 

Jordan and Israel. 

I’m expecting to see Ann Henderson 

Bannard and Yorke this fall when they 

come to New England from Tucson to 

see their son and SBC classmates. 

They will visit Kay Veasey Goodwin and 

Dave in Merrimac, Mass., and Betsy 

Brown Bayer in Roslindale, Mass. Ann 

still enjoys time in her studio and is currently 

involved in constructing sculptures 

of objets trouves, which she and 

her hiking pals pick up in the Ariz. 

desert. Ann continues to be “grateful to 

Sweet Briar, not only for friends, but for 

giving me wings as our sculpture in the 

courtyard symbolizes. A pinnacle in my 

life is the support and contribution of 

that by the forty-niners. It’s never too 

late or redundant to say thank you 

again.” And we say “thank you Ann” for 

your exquisite sculpture “Growing 

Wings”, a lasting gift to the college from 

the class of 1949. 

1951 

Patty Lynas Ford 

2165 West Dry Creek Road 

Healdsburg, CA 95448 

patella2@sonic.net 

Lynne McCullough Gush: Thank you for 

your splendid account of Reunion Weekend! 

Studio demographics have certainly 

changed! I have students from 

Thailand, China, Korea, Switzerland, 

Russia, and a few WASPs in pretty 

clothes and braces. This fairly opulent 

suburb has lots of executives. Everybody 

seems to have a Ph.D. Nancy and 

I are performing three tangos by Piazzolla 

and some Gershwin. My CD of 

Emanuel Ax playing the former is awe-inspiring, 

but the Gershwin is pretty easy. 

Pinkie Barringer Wornham: Your reunion 

notes were fabulous, and I so enjoyed 

them. Wish I could have joined 

you all since you are all close to my 

heart and my images of you are the 

ones I have stored in my memory just 

as you were in 6/51. My life is simple— 

sort of. Tom and I are coming up on 60 

years married, and it has been quite a 

ride! Grandchildren are “grown up.” 

Tommy IV (Wornham) (21) is a senior at 

Princeton, quarterback and captain of 

the Princeton football team; Amara 

(Warren) (20) is a junior at UVA, in 

Bangladesh for the summer saving the 

world; Celestine (Warren) (19) is a sophomore 

at Harvard in South Africa saving 

THAT part of the world; John (Wornham) 

(18) is in Greece not saving anything, 

but enjoying the political scene; Chloe 

(Warren) (17) enjoys horses as a camp 

counselor in Wyo.; and Caleb (Warren) 

(16) is hiking the Swiss alps with a sort 

of Outward Bound group of French boys. 

I swim 3/4 of a mile every day in the 

pool at Bishop’s to keep the moving 

parts moving. It is my lifeline and still 

do Altar Guild at St. James By the Sea. 

Jane Moorefield: Thanks so much for 

the reunion report. I loved the pictures! 

I’m sorry I couldn’t be there. It’s always 

great to hear from you! 

Joan Vail Thorne: Thank you for writing 

up the notes of the reunion and for 

sending the photos. You were all splendid 

representatives for the rest of us. It 

all seems so far away in time, but the 

college still looks like its lovely self. 

Ann Mountcastle: Thank you, yes, still 

white hair. I like it and George, too, so 

we are a pair, 81 and 98. Wow! 

Joan Davis Warren: Thanks for your 

wonderful notes and pictures. I was so 

sorry to miss Reunion. I spent all of last 

year stitching a kneeler for church. 

There are eight of them around the altar 

rail. I usually visit my daughter in Ariz. in 

spring and fall, hiking and generally enjoying 

the desert. 

Janet Broman Dingle: It was such fun 

seeing you and our other classmates at 

our 60th reunion in May. The campus 

was as lovely as ever and the college 

rolled out the red carpet for all of us to 

have a truly memorable weekend. After 

reunion, I enjoyed a nice visit with Mona 

Wilson Beard in Charlottesville. Love to 

all of you who attended reunion as well 

as those who were unable to attend. 

Sue Lockley Glad: Ned and I decided to 

move to a retirement community in 

Bend, Ore. and found a great place 

called Touchmark with a condo-type unit 

right on the Deschutes River. Before we 

had completely unpacked, Ned sudden 

passed away—a great shock. I am sure 

many of our classmates have been 

through this and know that the next 

months were hectic what with the move 

and the death combined. Clearly, I was 

unable to get to the reunion, and I’m 

sorry about that. The service for Ned in 

Los Angeles (ashes in the ocean, private 

luncheon on the Queen Mary) was 

lovely—all planned by Amy and Lissy 

and then back to Ore. to begin a new 

life. At the moment I am at Black Butte 

Ranch where we have a second home 

and expect to stay there through most 

of Sept. The children and grandchildren 

(and dogs) were mostly here for the first 

couple of weeks in July, and it has been 

quieter since then. Special love to allstay 

healthy! 

Angie Vaughan Halliday: Thomas Jefferson’s 

place near Lynchburg was quite 

new to me. We will try to get there when 

we visit our son and family in Charlottesville. 

Bob and I are spending a 

week in Colo. in the mountains with my 

brother Bob and his wife Betsey. It is an 

extended road trip for Bob and me— 

next we head off to northern N.M. and 

will visit Ghost Ranch and Taos. Great 

for a watercolor painter as it is so dry 

and the paint dries so rapidly. All children 

and grands are well, and Bob and I 

continue our “careers.” Bob paints and 

I do my small business accounting. Still 

live in our house of 41 years, yard much 

too large, but we do love the old place. 

Thank you so much for your wonderful 

recounting of Reunion. I do wish we 

could have been there. We went the 

next weekend to Charlottesville! 

Patty Lynas Ford: Reunion was splendid 

as I have told you all. On 8/15, Dick 

and I celebrated our 58th wedding anniversary 

and his 81st birthday (now 

were both 81). Both daughters were 

with us for almost a week. Elizabeth 

from south of San Francisco and Becca 

from Leesburg, Va. The delightful time 

flew by with conversations, walks, happy 

meals at home and out, and relaxing on 

the deck. I am into my 15th year of volunteering 

three days a week at our local 

animal shelter. I wish everyone could 

have been at Sweet Briar in May. It is, 

indeed, a very special place, and we 

were so fortunate to have spent part of 

our lives there. 

1952 

Patricia Layne Winks 

312 Arguello Blvd., Apt. 3 

San Francisco, CA 94118 

plwinks@earthlink.net 

There’s a dearth of news as I write this 

(in summer 2011). Anne Hoagland 

Kelsey writes of her ongoing connections 

with classmates. She often sees 

Charlotte Snead Stifel at functions in 

Vero Beach, Fla., where both reside in 

winter. While in Houston, Anne reconnected 

with Pauline Wells Bolton. They 

discussed a possible mini-reunion in 

NYC. In the past Anne and Joanne Holbrook 

Patton have been able to corral 

as many as 16 of us to gather at the U. 

Club there. Let us know if such a gathering 

would be do-able for you. Meanwhile, 

I hope many of you are looking 

ahead to our 60th reunion in May 2012. 

More classnotes online 

sbc.edu/magazine 

Please send Pat Beach Thompson any 

memorabilia for our anniversary scrapbook 

as soon as possible. We’ll keep 

you apprised of the reunion schedule. 

Polly Plumb Spaulding enjoys her work 

as a professional tour guide in Washington, 

D.C., educating visitors from eighth 

graders to senior citizens. Joanne Holbrook 

Patton continues to run a certified 

organic farm, and welcome a wide 

range of groups for weekend visits— 

from alumnae/alumni of Sweet Briar, 

George Washington U., West Point to 

say nothing of children and grandchildren 

and their affiliations. Though I officially 

retired at the end of May, I still 

spend a few hours a week in the office. 

Unfortunately our class is getting 

smaller. In recent months we lost Mary 

Gesler Hanson and Susanna Crist Lee. 

Mary is survived by her husband Royce, 

four children and four grandchildren. Her 

obituary reflects a rewarding life. She is 

survived by her husband of 60 years, 

two daughters and four grandchildren. 

Helen Graves Stahmann filled me in on 

the disastrous flooding of Toowomba, 

their home town in Australia. Fortunately 

their own house is high on a hill, 

and they sustained no damage. Pat 

Beach Thompson and husband Calvin 

remain well and vigorous. Calvin (87) 

and Pat both play tennis. Pat tends her 

extensive garden and volunteers at 

state gardens. Daughter Melissa is a 

dog trainer, and a successful painter of 

animal watercolor portraits. Both Pat 

and Joanne Patton consider moving to 

smaller quarters. Joanne expects to be 

the last resident of the historic Patton 

home, family occupied since the 1700s. 

In anticipation of the move, Joanne purchased 

property adjacent to their farm. 

She hopes to move in the fall. Meanwhile 

son George, who relocated to 

Colo., is recuperating from serious 

heart surgery, which necessitated removal 

of his sternum. Being part of a 

couple after so many years on my own 

has brought many happy changes in my 

life. Henry and I have taken several 

trips, including one to the Pacific Northwest. 

While in Seattle we enjoyed lunch 

with Nancy Morrow Lovell, whose outdoor 

activities on her large property 

clearly keep her looking young and fit. 

Henry and I are visiting Europe in Oct., 

and SBC in May. I look forward to seeing 

you there. 

1953 

Florence Pye Apy 

67 Rivers Edge Dr. 

Little Silver, NJ 07739 

floapy@verizon.net 

I regret to report that Ann Vlerebome 

Sorenson died on 4/8/11 in York, 

Maine, of Alzheimer’s disease. Ann 

earned her Masters of Divinity degree 

from Union Theological Seminary. Her 

marriage to John H. Sorenson, a minister, 

produced two children, Marael 

(Mary) and Mark. Later, as a single parent 

she joined the faculty of Northfield 

Mount Hermon School where she 

served until her retirement in 1988. 


35

She was an early activist in both the 

AIDS ministry and the peace movement. 

Ann was survived by her son and daughter, 

two grandsons and two great-grandsons. 

Ten days later Elizabeth Easly 

King died. She was the widow of 

Richard King. Betsy transferred from 

SBC to Ohio State U., then to Raymond 

Walters Coll. of the U. of Cincinnati. She 

was a mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother. 

We send our sympathy to 

both families. 

On a happier note, Kay Amsden wrote 

that she and Mary Lou are still enjoying 

life in their retirement home in Concord, 

N.H., and engaging in volunteer work in 

their community. She reports that they 

spent a delightful weekend in May in 

Ogunquit, Maine, with their Yorkie, 

Rosey, in tow. 

Eleanor Johnson Ashby’s three children 

joined her for a three-week visit to their 

favorite spot, Applecross, in the Scottish 

Highlands. While there, they scattered 

husband Garnett’s and Nancy Mc- 

Donald’s ashes in some of their favorite 

places. Now home, next on Eleanor’s 

agenda is knee replacement surgery. 

Eleanor recently heard from Virginia 

Jago Elder, who is well and busy. Ginger 

Timmons Ludwick reported on another 

adventure with Kirk Tucker Clarkson 

and Jack. This time Ginger and David 

rendezvoused with Kirk and Jack in Vancouver 

for a 12-day trip through the 

Canadian Rockies from Jasper to Lake 

Louise and Banff on the Rocky Mountaineer, 

a luxury train traveling out of 

British Columbia to Calvary, Alberta. 

Most of us have already celebrated or 

will celebrate our 80th birthdays this 

year. A good time was had by all in May 

when Jane Perry Liles, Katzy Bailey 

Nager and C.J., and Maggie Graves Mc- 

Clung and David, Dale Hutter Harris 

and Ted, Dolly Wallace Hartman and 

M.A. Mellon Root celebrated at June 

Arata Pickett and Bob’s home in Fla. 

Unfortunately Cinnie Moorhead McNair 

and Norman missed the fun because 

Cinnie was ill. (Ed. Note: Next year they 

will have to do it again for Dale’s and 

Dolly’s birthdays.) Jane also reported 

that her twin grandsons are excited 

about going to Woodberry this year, another 

grandson is a senior in high 

school, still another is a senior at the 

Athens campus of the U. of Ga., and yet 

another is an engineer in the working 

world. 

Hear ye! Hear ye! Last but not least the 

Apys welcomed their tenth grandchild, 

sixth grandson, within the past hour today, 

August 31, as I am completing this 

column. 

PLAN AHEAD: Our 60th reunion is 

scheduled for the weekend of May 17- 

19, 2013. So put the dates on your calendar 

now. We want to see all of you. 

Following the submission of my notes, 

June Arata Pickett notified me of the 

sad news that Cinnie Moorhead McNair 

died in late Aug. of pancreatic cancer. 

We send our condolences to Cinnie’s 

husband Norm and to their family. 

1954 

Bruce Watts Krucke 

7352 Toogoodoo Rd. 

Yonges Island, SC 29449 

b.krucke@hughes.net 

Brief notes this time—nobody sends me 

anything. I shouldn’t have to beg every 

issue. Don’t be shy. 

Lately we always seem to start with 

condolences. This time it is to the family 

of Jo Nelson Booze, who died in June 

of COPD. You can read a very nice obit 

online at baltimoresun.com. 

I did hear from Mary Jane Roos Fenn, 

who is planning a trip in the fall for a 

mini reunion with high school friends on 

a houseboat in Boston harbor. I am going 

to China in Oct. with a Sweet Briar 

group and Mary Jane reminded me that 

she and Faith Rahmer Croker went to 

China a few years ago—a wonderful 

trip. 

I saw on FaceBook that Shirley Poulson 

Hooper Broyles welcomed her first 

great-grandchild, John Pendleton Leachman 

IV, in Aug. Do any others of you 

have great-grandchildren that I could announce? 

The only Krucke grandchild has 

just started her freshman year at Emory 

U. in Atlanta. 

Bill and I had a terrific trip to Finland, 

Lapland, and Norway in July. It was another 

Grand Circle trip—we’ve done several 

with them—and I’d recommend it 

to all. We enjoyed the 24 hour summer 

daylight. 

I’m sure you’d like to read more about 

your classmates as we enter our 80th 

year, so please do send me news. We 

can also put pictures in too now, so include 

them, especially if you meet with 

another classmate. 

1955 

Kathryn Beard 

1074 Zanzibar Ln. 

Plymouth, MN 55447 

Kbeard3283@aol.com 

Betty Byrne Gill Ware: On the weekend 

of Aug. 6, I was responsible for holding 

the Gill family reunion at Sweet Briar. 

My husband took a picture of my sister, 

Edith Page Gill Breakell ’45, her daughter, 

Page Breakell Beeler ’79, my daughter, 

Ellen Byrne Chaney Webster ’83, 

and me. 

1956 

Frances Shannonhouse 

Clardy 

1700 Queens Rd. W 

Charlotte, NC 28207 

clardyfw@aol.com 

Nancy Salisbury Spencer 

2580 Club Park Rd. 

Winston-Salem, NC 27104 

jyspencer@aol.com 

1957 

Carol McMurtry Fowler 

10 Woodstone Sq. 

Austin, TX 78703 

carol@curnon.net 

Those with the slightest bent for history 

or nostalgia are sure to know that 58 

years ago this Sept. we enrolled as the 

Class of 1957 at Sweet Briar. We were 

a class of 161 students to start. Two 

classmates left before Christmas. Each 

year starting in 1954 new classmates 

joined us. 

Each time I write notes an effort is 

made to determine just how many 

women can be counted in the Class of 

1957, and math is not my long suit. But 

I am going to settle on 179 and that includes, 

for example, the late Clare Harrison, 

a Brit who was in our class 1956- 

57 as well as former prez Betsy 

Muhlenfeld and spouse Larry Wollan 

who were made “honoraries,” at our 

50th reunion 

Six dorms, Fletcher and Academic, Boxwood 

Inn, the east and west dells, Mary 

Helen Cochran Library, the chapel in 

Manson basement, the Quadrangle, Big 

and Little refectories, old Daisy Williams 

Gym, Sweet Brian Station, Anne Gary 

Pannell and Sweet Briar House, constituted 

our world. All of the above plus a 

“black list” for bad boys, night patrols 

by Mr. Lawhorne, one pay phone on 

each hall for outside world contact and 

autos for second term seniors. 

That was then and this is now, so moving 

right along to future events, such as 

May 2012, when we celebrate our 55th 

reunion. Dates are May 18-20. You will 

have received a letter from Cynnie Wilson 

Ottaway, our class president and 

me, along with a questionnaire to be 

completed, and returned to me at the 

above address. We are also soliciting 

photos, the more the merrier, for inclusion 

in the Class Scrapbook. 

You will hear from fundraisers next 

spring. Dig as deeply as you can. Everything 

we give goes to the Alumnae 

Fund, which frequently runs a low. 

If you are reading this and IF you have 

NOT filled in your questionnaire and 

gathered all the pix you want in the 

scrapbook, please do so right now. I advise 

against using the jpeg format as I 

use a high-speed laser printer, which is 

black and white only. No color whatsoever, 

which makes color photos pretty 

dull. But if you don’t mind the absence 

of color, my email is carol@curnon.net. 

And I will say thank you so very much 

for all news. This is my last Notes 

Rodeo. Hurrahs come from Boston. 

For the finale, there are several categories—New 

Brides, the Eyes of Texas, 

Short, Sweet and to the Point, mainly 

good news and some sad and bad 

news. 

Diane Duffield Wood, she with the terrific 

golfing game, all around athletic 

ability and slender figure, suffered a 

major stroke in early Sept. As Notes 

went to the publisher, her situation was 

serious. 

Via email, Duffy and snail mail from 

Babs Falge Openshaw, had just come 

word of their recently completed Great 

Train Trip. Theirs was a 10-day ride on 

the rails, Vancouver to Toronto, with 

stopovers in Banff/Lake Louise and Niagara 

Falls. Their individual accommodations 

were a bit on the tight side, 

Duffy wrote, and Babs confirmed, and 

were complete with a disappearing toilet 

when the bed down. But together they 

found their individual sleeping quarters 

adequate and had found lots of other 

good things to fill them with laughter. 

Babs and Duffy’s friendship predates 

SBC. They were high school classmates. 

Death has taken two of our classmates 

in the past year, Jody Raines Brinkley 

of Richmond, Va. on November 17, 

2010, and Enid Winkleman Sharpe, of 

Cleveland, Ohio, on August 26, 2011. 

Enid, whom we all called Winkie, spent 

her first two college years at SBC, before 

transferring to Case Western Reserve 

in her native Ohio. The death of 

Jody, the stalwart, sharp-tongued, generous 

and uber-funny friend stunned her 

far-flung friendship empire. Those who 

continue in disbelief are legion. Jodes 

was not a mere person; she was a force 

of nature. Both daughter Darby and son 

Randy were with Jody virtually night and 

day during her month-long hospitalization, 

and they planned a fine tributary 

memorial service for her at St. James in 

Richmond. Flo Winston Barclay, 

Margery Scott Johnson and Earl, Jane 

Pinckney deButts and Hunter, Joy Peebles 

Massie and Jimmie, current SBC 

prez Jo Ellen Parker, Louise Zingaro ’80, 

newly minted VP/Chief of Staff, but better 

known as our best ever Alumnae 

Czar and former prez Betsy Muhlenfeld 

were there to say hail and farewell, as 

was I. Adios querida amiga, nos alegra 

estes libre del dolor. 

We have four in our Brand New Brides 

category, so Here’s to the Ladies, God 

Bless ‘Em: Taking wedding vows in 

2009 were Liza Stevens Burton of Gerradstown, 

WVA, who married writer and 

published author Bill Stevens, making 

her; Liza Stevens all over again; also in 

2009 Mary Elizabeth “Baba” Conway 

married a fellow she met first in 1955, 

a Brit, actually; in 2010, Charlotte 

Heuer DeSerio, of Yardley, Pa., Fort 

Lauderdale, or some cruise ship in any 

part of the world, married Robert Allen 

Watts and now adds Vt. to her long list 

of where-she-lives/and-or hangs out a 

lot; and out in Poway, Calif., Dagmar 

Halmagyi Yon and Augustine Buscont 

Montfort Jr., called Bud, made it down 

the aisle following 28 years of prior conjugal 

bliss. Best wishes and congratulations 

to the brides and the grooms. 

Charlotte’s email set the tone for many 

who supplied news. LIFE IS GOOD, she 

wrote. This sentiment echoed through 

emails and the pitifully few post cards 

that were returned to me. Lest there be 

any question, the Class of 1957 is very 

alive, very active and having one hell of 

a good time. Go girls! 

In the fall of 2009 Liza and Bill Stevens 

were married and are living in Liza’s 

home, some of which dates to 1782. As 

soon as she can divest herself of multiple 

rooms of mainly antiques, they will 

move to Albuquerque, N.M., replete with 

a family of two dogs and a cat named 

Sweetness. Bill recently published the 

first book of a trilogy about the struggles 

of an Irish family who arrived in 

N.Y. in the 1870s, entitled “The Promise 

of America,” and is halfway towards 

completing the second volume. Liza advises 

she is the winner take all contest 

in the class, with six great grands, oldest 

house and most marriages, five in 

toto. Liza was widowed for nine years 

before she and Bill married. 

Baba did not provide the praenomen of 

the groom, but signed off as Mary-Elizabeth 

Debicki-Guinness. In a bubbling 

email, she noted the first meeting 56 

years ago adding that he lives in a small 

village in the south of France, called La 

Bar sur Loup, a half hour from the Med. 

The courtship was whirlwind, said she, 

and they are now realizing that it’s a tad 

stressful traveling back and forth be- 

36 


tween France and Kansas, maintaining 

two homes and keeping tabs on their 

combined 8 children and 18 grands. 

She plans to attend a grandson’s graduation 

May 1-4 at W&L, which does not 

bode well for a return trip a couple of 

weeks later to SBC. 

The new Mr. and Mrs. Watts honeymooned 

in Vt. and liked it so much, they 

immediately purchased a large townhouse, 

which was immediately filled 

with friends and family—or families— 

Charlotte and Bob’s, which includes an 

unknown number of Westies. The summer 

was filled with kayaking, dog walking, 

eating, and drinking, and attending 

Bob’s 55th reunion at Brown. Sole fly in 

the ointment was a tumble by Char, 

which means they possibly didn’t make 

it this fall to Bob’s Italian house that 

overlooks Lago Maggiore, that gorgeous 

long skinny lake that abuts Switzerland. 

Dagmar and Bud asked families and 

close friends to their December 4, 2010 

wedding, at which her sister Norma 

Hanson, an ordained Episcopal priest, 

and her son Jody Yon, an ordained Buddhist 

priest (a concelebration, look it up 

and improve your mind) wrote the ceremony 

“with elements of both cultures.” 

Dagmar’s son, Steven, was the best 

man. Truly a family affair. Icing on the 

wedding cake was a total renovation of 

their home prior to the wedding. A threegun 

salute to their energy field. 

A good number of our class battened 

their hatches as Hurricane Irene tore up 

the coast from Fla. to Maine. No reports 

of major bad results, other than 

frustration, too much rain, no electricity 

and a few missing shingles. 

Down in Macon, Ga., Saynor Johnson 

Ponder and Bobby remain locked in 

wedded bliss, are healthy and happy 

with nine grands, two in college. Travel 

found them in Alaska last summer, the 

Greek Isles this summer. They still hang 

out some at Sea Island, but sold their 

home there before the recession hit. 

Wise woman, Saynor. 

Janet Pehl Ettele cleverly avoided a 

chunk of the heat in her Sun City, Ariz. 

(only place hotter than Texas this summer) 

home, spending her third summer 

at Utah State U. participating in its 

Summer Citizen Program for seniors. 

This appears to be a fabulous opportunity 

mixing educational courses, culture 

and various athletic activities on multiple 

levels from short to long hikes to 

golf, etc. Jan lived in student housing, 

took in the Utah Festival and Opera Musical 

Theatre as well as local rep companies, 

AND took “easy” trips to the 

Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. 

Jane Campbell Englert, still in 

Manorville, Pa., is now officially “with 

it,” as a certified member of Facebook. 

It was self-defense as her family kept 

writing about her, posting photos, etc., 

so Jane gave in to find out what was being 

said or viewed. Her daughter Anne 

was married at Cape Hatteras two 

months before Irene got there, which allowed 

other members of Jane’s family 

to celebrate both the marriage and have 

a family reunion. And Jane says she finally 

bit the bullet and sold her parents’ 

home in WVA, got help from her son 

Tom and cleared out “stuff” gathered 

over 40 years. 

The poet of our class, Page Phelps 

Coulter, Center Sandwich, N.H., published 

a new book of poems in April, “A 

River Called Bearcamp,” when Page 

calls her “best yet poetry.” The book is 

enhanced she says by landscape photos 

taken by Dale Lary. Page read her 

poetry at a bookshop signing in June. It 

must have been a grand success, because 

the book apparently sold out at 

Bayswater Book Co. in Center Harbor, 

N.H. 

From Rutherfordton, N.C., Chris “Doodle” 

Smith Lowry writes she has “no 

news,” then adds she and Britt are RE- 

ALLY HAPPY. Can there be any better 

news? Britt (82) plays golf four times a 

week, she and Britt serve as court appointed 

representatives for children in 

their county who are neglected and 

abused, Chris is an elder at her church 

and makes pillows for Hospice. That’s a 

world of wonderful news. 

And since I could not locate Nancy Shuford 

Dowdy in Hickory, N.C., (her post 

card was returned, undeliverable) and 

my phone call was unanswered, Chris 

provides the bare-bones report that 

Nancy was on a European art tour last 

spring, and that she remains an indefatigable 

golfer, Fla. in the winter and 

the Blue Ridge Parkway town of Blowing 

Rock, N.C. during the summer. 

It was absolutely grand to hear from 

Priscilla Bowdle Lamont after too many 

years without word. Pris has not been 

back to a reunion in these almost 55 

years, so in her mind’s eye, we remain 

the sassy young 20 something’s of yesteryear. 

That’s better than a fine 

facelift. She and David have been married 

for 47 years, raised four children 

and five grands. Three of her offspring 

are scientists; a daughter is a special 

ed teacher. Her life in Woodstown is far 

removed from the rat race—a fine old 

farmhouse, barns, goats, chickens, 

cats, and dogs. It is good to walk on the 

earth instead of hot pavement. Like 

several of us, Pris has a new titanium 

knee. 

And Anne Ford Melton has a brand new 

hip. She sent news from Charlotte, 

N.C., where she is recuperating at her 

daughter’s home, clearly a better deal 

than going it alone on Lookout Mountain. 

Always involved in some form of 

writing, Anne says she is about a third 

finished on a novel she is calling 

presently, “Whispers at Sunrise.” Set in 

her hometown of Charleston, S.C., Anne 

says she is using foundations like her 

childhood home, the church graveyard, 

alligator, a neighbor’s dragon chair, the 

High Battery and more. 

Our third classmate to qualify for membership 

in what I call the “Ding Club,” 

that unpleasant noise one makes when 

going through airport security, Carolyn 

Westfall Monger made it just at the 

deadline wire, responding she was off 

on her first trip away from her Stamford, 

Conn., home since April when she, like 

Pris, acquired a new knee. As bad luck 

would have it, Westie fell and twisted 

her ankle badly enough to be wearing 

one of those unlovely boots. Booted or 

un, she was clever enough to take Irene 

warnings seriously early, and bought water, 

flashlights and batteries early— 

there were none to be had on the eve of 

the big storm. Never dull on the east 

coast this late summer, earthquake one 

day, hurricane the next. 

I was certain Mimi Chapin Plumley was 

writing from Arlington, Va.’s St. Elsewhere 

as she recounted multiple family 

accidents (none to either her or Allan, 

however). Her son had extensive shoulder 

surgery following an accident, then 

her oldest grandson and a friend driving 

on a dirt road, skidded, flipping the convertible 

four times, and walked away, 

nary a scratch, while still another grandson 

dislocated his shoulder. But Mimi’s 

dry sense of humor is blessedly intact: 

“other than that it was an uneventful 

summer,” she noted. Downsizing is under 

consideration for the Plumley’s, 

Mah Jongg, bridge and books round out 

her days. 

In the contradiction in terms category: 

Virginia Marks Paget, still calling Yellow 

Springs, Ohio, home relays she encountered 

a long and unexpected recovery 

from minor surgery and, though well 

now, claims she is “feeling her age.” 

Next breath she is off with a group of 

Episcopalians visiting a youth center in 

Sablino, Russia (just down the road 

from St. Petersburg), which the group 

has been supporting. If this is feeling 

your age, tell me where to buy the pills. 

To be fair, a bus ran down Ginny about 

five years back in Washington, D.C., and 

we are more than fortunate to have her 

still with us. That sort of an invasion 

would have to make an occasional bone 

creak. 

Took one of my long naps after reading 

Ann Frasher Hudson’s whirlwind life 

schedule, which revolves around the Aspen 

Institute, Van Cliburn Competition, 

new building on the Kimbell Art Museum 

grounds, operas in N.Y., LA and 

San Francisco, completed trips to Rome 

and Romania, Cuba on the agenda. For 

fun when she is in Fort Worth long 

enough, there are football and lacrosse 

games starring four grands—12, 14, 15 

and 16—for down time. 

From the Mile High city of Denver, Enid 

Slack points out that Colo. has been a 

wonderful place to call home these last 

41 years, a locale that taught her to 

hike peaks of 14,000 feet, ski in deep 

powder, snow shoe and love that vast 

cool Colo. landscape. But you can’t take 

the peach out of a Ga. girl, so Enid 

turns south on occasion, frequently seeing 

her old roommate, Marguerite Mc- 

Daniel Wood, then headed to Maine for 

time at Cape Cod. Enid keeps her 

French in top order at the Alliance 

Française. She will be off on her fifth 

trip to NZ in December, with a “dear 

gentleman” friend, a trip including a 

saunter on the Tasman Coast Track, a 

really fabulous trek with the Tasman 

Sea in view much of the way and some 

of the world’s best beaches. 

Move over Enid, you have more SBC 

company with you in Denver, other than, 

of course the non-responsive and reclusive 

Joan Grafmueller Grier. Carolyn 

Scott Arnold, aka Scottie, and spouse 

Mark have vacated “Paradise” and now 

live in your fair city, well outside of it, 

anyhow. It was time to be closer to family, 

said Scottie. The new address is 

7175 Kipling Street, Unit 301, Arvada, 

CO 80004, with a phone number of 

(303) 424-4241. Scottie attended the 

10th reunion, but getting from Hawaii to 

SBC was a hurdle. And if those of us 

have downsized and cleaned out homes 

after 39-40 years, imagine the hurdle of 

moving almost 5,000 with your bits and 



pieces. I hope you had an Oahu sized 

beach sale. 

Sticking to the Wild West, Fran Jackson 

Lee and Lewis are keeping cool in Jackson 

Hole with their son Lewis and wife, 

Alison. They drive out yearly from Fla. 

with their dog (my kind of people). Inveterate 

travelers, the Lees made the 

famed Spitzbergen run looking at polar 

bears, took in Portugal, some of Spain 

and the French coast, and though Fran 

was a bit casual with the geography, 

they left the ship in Portsmouth, England. 

They will probably be back in 

Spain before long as they have two 

grandsons attending school in that 

country come fall. 

Sydney Graham Brady, still living in 

Galesburg, Ill., writes that she has no 

news, none, nada, zip. Those of us who 

know Sydney find that hard to believe. 

Last time she made such noises, she 

was getting ready to venture Fla. way to 

help her mom celebrate her 100th. Sydney’s 

daughter and son-in-law are longtime 

Austin residents whom we run into 

from time to time. A most handsome 

couple. 

Casting call. Day Gibson Kerr’s 

youngest son Edward has written a computer 

application for all wannabe actors, 

or for the current bona fides. Check out 

www.rolestar.com. Day says log on and 

“you can select a scene or two from a 

growing list of movies, and perform the 

scene on your web cam with a friend, or 

with anyone, anywhere in the world on 

Facebook.” She closes with a classic 

suggestion: “indulge your inner ham.” 

From Greensboro, Ga., clever Elaine 

Carleton Kimball says all is well with 

her entire family, including the scholarly 

and soft-spoken Sam. This is Elaine, in 

haec verba: “our parts continue to wear 

out but not our spirits. Despite condition 

of parts, we hope to have a cruise 

in the Black Sea and eastern Med this 

fall, avoiding dictators in place and 

places recently free of them.” Hats off 

to a fine wordsmith. 

While working on my iPad earlier in the 

week, got a call from Suzy Neblett 

Stephens who offered a report, viva 

voce, because, said Suzy, she has not 

learned how to use her iPad. The pure 

pride and pleasure poured down the 

phone line in Suzy’s voice as she relayed 

her best news was the graduation 

in May of grandgirl Jocelyn Stephens, 

magna cum laude from SBC. And Suzy 

and Jocelyn, neither a slouch in the 

good looks category, were featured in 

the summer edition of the Alumnae 

Magazine, in glowing color. Suzy and 

Bob Lee are still in Irvington, Va., still 

funny retired from their wonderful Tides 

Inn operation. 

Suzanne Gipson Farnham, who founded 

Listening Heart Ministries many years 

ago, keeps on keeping on and joyfully 

announced publication of two books in 

May. One was a 20th anniversary edition 

of “Listening Hearts: Discerning 

Call in Community,” and other, “Keeping 

in Tune with God: Listening Hearts Discernment 

for Clergy,” which included a 

foreword by The Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton, 

Episcopal of Md. Take the time to 


37

Sally Old Kitchin '76, Outstanding 

Alumnae Award recipient 

Alumnae choir 

1976 dinner in the FAC, Lisa Nelson 

Robertson and Sally Old Kitchin 

38 


Alumnae just miss each 

other at 19,340 feet 

on aug. 14, 2011, Sarah 

Belanger levinson ’01 

reached the top of Mount 

Kilimanjaro, the highest 

peak in africa at 19,340 

feet. Sarah didn’t forget 

her Sweet Briar pennant, 

and that’s a pink and 

green buff under her 

parka hood. They didn’t 

cross paths, but Sarah 

says Kimberly Sandver 

reese ’04 reached the 

summit a few days ahead 

of her by a different route. 


39

Google Suzanne Farnham and Listening 

Hearts Ministries. A huge round of applause 

for Suzanne’s tireless efforts. 

Like Gaul, Jackie Ambler Cusick and 

Ralph, divide their lives into three equal 

parts, not a single one of them shabby: 

four months in Chevy Chase, Md., four 

on North Capitva, that wonderful island 

on Fla.’s west coast and the final four at 

Rehoboth Beach, Del. Their three sons 

and two grands, Olivia (16) and Hayes 

(12) all live close by in D.C. 

Turning the Eyes of Texas on four classmates 

now: 

Mary Webb Miller, continuing life in 

Houston, apparently does not use a 

computer, based on the empirical observation 

that in her prior correspondence, 

the missive was in long hand, and this 

time, husband Tom sends word, dead 

pan, that Mary has had a grand summer, 

cooled off in Colo. with the family 

and saw a grandgirl, Caroline Brown play 

winning volleyball for Davidson. If I ever 

saw guy-speak, there it is. 

My longest running friendship of this 

lifetime, that with Elayne Steele Shults, 

of Amarillo, Texas, which began when I 

was four and she a mere three, did not 

pull any weight with Elayne. The maximum 

she would allow that she “remains 

on the planet.” But I will tattle and reveal 

that life for a large number of people 

in the Texas Panhandle would be 

bleached bone dry and without hope of 

any sort without the constant and kind 

ministrations of Elayne. 

From Waco, Carol Turner Crosthwait, 

writes of a joyous 75th birthday celebrated 

last Dec., featuring piñatas, poetry, 

a band and bubbly all courtesy of 

her three daughters, their spouses and 

eight grands. This spring found Carol in 

her “down South” mode, in Savannah 

and Charleston for flower shows. 

Charleston was a special treat because 

Carol made it a point to visit a number 

of locations singled out in a speech 

given by Pat Conroy at the Dallas Museum. 

It was N.Y. in May and a trek to 

Pa. for a grandson’s graduation from 

Haverford Coll. Smart girl—she plans to 

escape the Texas heat with time in 

Santa Fe. 

Big D, which has claimed Patricia 

Lodewick for so long I forget she is not 

a native Texan, but she got here as 

quickly as she could, to mis-quote Lyle 

Lovett, mentioned she took her second 

SBC trip this June, this time to Eastern 

Europe where she ran into and became 

re-acquainted with Ninie Laing. Patricia 

continues her volunteer work in ICU at 

Baylor Medical Hospital, and spends as 

much time away from the hideous Dallas 

heat in N.M. 

Continuing with several sweet and 

straight to the point responses from: 

Carroll Weitzel Rivers considers herself 

mega lucky, spends all her time in 

Charleston, S.C., or Cashiers, N.C., one 

of those villages near Ashville that has 

100 full-time residents and 20,000 

summer folk. Carroll adds her grands 

are in their teens and are “very interesting,” 

and oh, by the way, “I have a 

beau.” 

From Redondo Beach, Calif., Lou Wallace 

Wilemon is “off” the horses herself, 

but has a budding champion in a 

nine-year-old grand, which she finds 

most satisfying. Lou plays penny poker 

and swims with friends in a heated pool, 

but loves her lovely cool summer living 

near the beach. 

Elizabeth “Teensy” Wilson Woodruff 

sticks pretty close to home in Virginia 

Beach, Va., but ventured down to 

Raleigh, N.C. at the end of July to see 

her first-born grandson marry outdoors 

with the temperature at 104. (She 

should have been in Austin this summer.) 

Teensy lives alone, and does a 

good amount of volunteer work, swims 

and keeps books for her brother-in-law’s 

duck hunting club. She hopes to be 

back for reunion next May. 

Barbara Tetzlaff, ace solo legal practitioner 

in San Francisco continues to 

work and have no plans, period to retire. 

Though Barbara appears committed to 

the slog, she admits to thinking about a 

“much needed vacation,” this fall which 

would include a drive to Crater Lake, 

then on up the coast into Ore. 

Freshman roomie Dee Robin continues 

to hang her laurel leaves in Chicago, but 

managed in the past 12 months to 

score research trips to Paris, Dusseldorf, 

London and Montreal. Of her three 

grands, the oldest enrolled at the U. of 

Miami, while the other two are in high 

school. Dee, a prolific author, says she 

is working diligently on still another 

book. And to quote her, mirable dictu, 

“I’ve met somebody wonderful and will 

tell all at Reunion.” 

Our belle of Natchez, Ruth Ellen Green 

Calhoun wonders if there is anything left 

to report, other than tales of her many 

grands and questions whether any one 

is really interested. We know, however, 

that a granddaughter will graduate from 

W& next May in same class as Baba’s 

grandson. 

Flo Barclay Winston writes from 

Raleigh, N.C., the one thing worth noting, 

“is that Charles and I are doing 

well.” Worth noting? Worth noting? 

There are scads of people lined up just 

praying for such a life note. Flo trekked 

off to Africa again for a couple of weeks, 

this time taking daughter Marion, son 

Bob, his wife and four children. So she 

can report that none were bitten, or 

eaten, or staked to anthills, and Flo 

knows this trip will have to be repeated 

in a few years for Charles Jr. and his 

family. She and Charles of the great 

laugh and shrewd eye spend time on 

the beach at Figure Eight. And she got a 

new dog. One more Golden for the road. 

The loud wail arising from Charlotte, 

N.C., might be traced to Dot Duncan 

Hodges who has taken up duplicate 

bridge, “oil for the aging brain.” She 

takes lessons, and entered the arena 

fully believing she played a decent 

game. Asks she: “is there no end of the 

various conventions, clues, exceptions?” 

Check with Patricia Lodewick, 

who is one of the best duplicators (can 

this be said?) in Dallas. Would someone, 

or some army, strong-arm Dot and 

haul her to Va. for Reunion? 

June Heard Wadsworth and Frank continue 

to call Old Lyme, Conn., home, but 

spend time in both Fla. and the Bahamas, 

then come summer, head for 

delightful Block Island, where they host 

their three sons, their three wives and 

eight grands. Slender June, who never 

weighed much more than her gym towel, 

says she and Frank work out at a gym to 

stay fit, “not as often as we should, but 

we do THINK about it a lot.” 

Two classmates who joined us after 

1953, Emily Stenhouse Richardson and 

Jane Rather Thiebaud have been splendid 

to keep us informed these past 15 

years or so. 

Jane Rather Thiebaud traded Maine for 

Vancouver, Wash., and those moves 

came after many long years living in 

Switzerland. Before heading west Jane 

completed her doctorate at U. of Maine 

in Orono. And Jane says she continues 

her research, mentoring and writing, 

which “gets more interesting with the 

years.” An unapologetic humanist Jane 

worries about keeping conversation, sociability 

and friendship alive in the increasingly 

mechanical technology world 

in which many survive and thrive. She 

and spouse Luc Guimond will celebrate 

their 21st anniversary in late Sept. in 

Las Vegas. 

Emily, still living in Hume, Va., is another 

of our academic classmates. She continues 

fulltime teaching, at UMD online 

plus courses at community college in 

Northern Va. And she still has, and 

rides, three horses, two in endurance, 

two for hunting, but did not say which of 

the three did double duty. Emily says it 

will be decision time in the next year 

whether to downsize in Hume, or return 

to D.C. Her husband is either in D.C. or 

Asia a good deal of the time. In a series 

of back and forth emails for notes, I 

learned that Emily spent time in humanitarian 

work in two hotspots: Bosnia and 

Sri Lanka. How great IS the Class of 

1957!!! 

Anne McGrath Lederer is still in Earlyville, 

Va., where she was ultimately 

able to get a wonky computer up and 

running and provide a most excellent report 

of both the earthquake and Irene. 

Albemarle County was spared earthquake 

damage, but had to live through 

more than a dozen aftershocks, and 

was lucky a second time with Irene. 

Anne provided an observation that truly 

brought home the extent of the hurricane’s 

swath: Irene covered an area the 

size of Europe. And best news for last, 

Anne’s son is finally back, his last deployment, 

from the Middle East. 

Our only known Irene victim out to be 

KD Moore Bowles, who sent an email 

hours before these Notes were leaving 

for the Notes Czar at SBC. The message 

arrived on a Wednesday, the family 

Bowles having been without electric 

power since the previous Sunday. I know 

it was hot in Chevy Chase, but be thankful 

KD, you were not in Austin without 

AC. She is a busy one, more than ever 

volunteering with her church, garden 

club, and a special program and board 

service to National Cathedral. Between 

John’s hip surgeries, they see a chunk 

of the world—N.M., Colo., Europe by 

river, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt (?) in 

Jan., and South America set for 2012. 

The neatest news from KD is that she 

will be 75 on 11/11/11. 

Stars in Catherine Meacham Durgin’s 

crown for a phone call AND an email. A 

New Yorker more or less to the core 

(though that soft Tenn. accent remains), 

Catherine was on a whirlwind tour of 

seven nations in Middle East in 2010, 

called the trip “fabulous,” and was particularly 

impressed with the Arab women 

she met. Getting views from persons living 

in other worlds motivates Catherine, 

who added, “(this) helps me understand 

why people say and do the things they 

do, and why things happen.” Rome saddened 

Catherine this June; the too evident 

signs of disrepair were evident in 

all areas. 

Marie Whitson Aude and Fritz, still 

mainstays of the farming community of 

Phelps, N.Y. way are members of the 

Double Ding Club, each having had both 

knees replaced. That’s a four-way-ouch 

if I ever heard of one. Marie was hoping 

to be made drug-free by her doc so she 

could resume driving her car; Fritz was 

still farming up a storm and continues 

his work in disaster assistance. Marie 

downplays things a bit in saying she has 

little news, “same spouse, same number 

of kids and grandkids.” That is a 

fine accomplishment and one that 

clearly qualifies as good news! 

The Queen of Sewickley, Pa., Jane 

Fitzgerald Treherne-Thomas, is still gad 

flying about the globe, generally with 

long-time companion William Dietrich, 

who, it is sad to report, is fighting cancer 

with all guns blazing. Currently he is 

on the winning side. Say a prayer and 

cross fingers for him. Mr. Dietrich is as 

cool as Jane herself. Great Britain 

looms large for Jane, London in particular, 

to catch two performances in Royal 

Albert Hall by the Pittsburgh Symphony. 

Jane regrets missing the annual 

VA/DC/MD/PA Christmas 2010 gathering 

at the Chevy Chase Country Club. 

More on that later. Still with me? 

Susan Ragland Abrahamson, sometimes 

of Maine, other times, Fla. and 

Md., also, unless she and Jim sold the 

farm there, emailed from Ogunquit 

where she and Jim spent Aug. Summer 

of 2010 they made a surprise trip to 

Camden where Dudley and I were hanging 

out. We had a good meal and fantastic 

conversations, in our first ever meeting 

since June 1957. Good wine and 

good friends never change. Susan had a 

hugely successful art show in Fla. this 

spring and sold 18 paintings. Anyone 

who knows about Seville in the winter 

should contact her at 

sraglandlewis@gmail.com. 

Susan would do well to contact the several 

years lost, now located Mary Anne 

Wilson, currently residing in Madrid 

where her daughter and family live. 

Mary Anne developed and directed 

SBC’s Junior Year in Spain program located 

in Seville. After retirement she 

made good on her pledge to move to 

Spain, where she promptly fell off the 

radar. Persistence finally paid off thanks 

to Lou Zingaro ’80, who kept digging as 

I kept bugging her. Success comes with 

the following address: Mary Anne Wilson, 

c/o Costa Rica 36, 3 D, 28016 

Madrid, Spain. 

Another demon artist classmate, Sandra 

Stingily Simpson, also had a widely 

successful art exhibit in Birmingham in 

May, selling a substantial number of her 

paintings, many featuring locales in 

Maine. Sandra greeted a grandgirl, 

Alexandra, in March, her first and only, 

compliments of son Karl and his wife 

Jennifer. Her son Evans and wife Jill 

have two sons. Sandra visited Roberta 

Malone Henderson in N.Y. after opening 

her art exhibit. August found her in Lon- 

40 


don for a couple of weeks. A last minute 

cancellation of plans to visit Evans family 

in Larchmont as Irene was bearing 

down on the East Coast saved Sandra 

from being there and evacuating with 

other folks from the city. 

That quintessential Calif. Girl, Lainy 

Newton Peters, though N.Y. was home 

when we were in school, keeps her 

travel shoes polished, and danced off 

late spring to Austria and on to Bologna, 

Italy, for time with her son and his wife. 

In Venice she bought what Lainy describes 

as “a glorious oil painting.” She 

fell back to earth when back in Calif. enduring 

the pains of re-roofing her home, 

but is planning her wardrobe for an Oct. 

cruise in N.Y. via the Hudson. 

Anna “Chips” Chao Pai and David continue 

to love their retirement digs in 

Davidson, N.C., where son Ben and family 

are but 20 minutes away. She was 

actually emailing from Lake Oswego, 

Ore. visiting with other son, Mike and 

family. “Life is still full and fun,” Chips 

says, other than adjusting to problems 

of aging. Clan Pai spent nine days in 

Italy with Ben’s family to celebrate the 

graduation of oldest grandgirl Leanna, 

who chose to stay in state for college. 

Chips is now writing what she calls an 

autobiography, which is really about her 

mother. Her first book, “Choices,” a scifi 

novel about genetic engineering was 

published several years ago. 

Beth McMahan Tolbert would give an 

Oklahoma City, Okla., Bronx cheer to 

Amazon and Kindle were she not a 

class act. She has been selling books 

for donkey’s years, and remains convinced 

that folks really want to hold a 

book, and gather for conversations at 

sites like her Bookstore. Could not be 

more in agreement with Beth. When in 

Boston recently for a physical, Beth 

says the docs told her she could use a 

bit more weight, “so I went out immediately 

and ordered a Mac and Cheese 

with my lobster.” 

Jane Pinckney deButts and Hunter 

keep the road humming between their 

place in Fauquier County, Va., and 

Charleston, S.C., they’re country during 

quail season and at the sandy Carolina 

beach in mid-summer. Jane is a grandmother 

again, a grandgirl born to daughter 

Anne and her husband Bo Blessing, 

and there are the added bonuses of 

Hunter’s great-grandgirls as cake icing. 

Sticking to Va., Mary Landon “PeeWee” 

Smith Brugh, the most hardcore snail 

mail person I know, writes on an exquisite 

note floral card (flowers grown by, 

photographed by and made into cards 

by Judith Ruffin Anderson who remains 

silent in Winchester, Va., to all requests 

for Notes news) that her summer has 

been “great,” two trips to the Outer 

Banks with her kids and grands, and 

that she and the same Judith lunched 

with Carter Donnan McDowell (she, too 

was Notes resistant) in Richmond. Pee- 

Wee is expecting an 11th grandchild in 

Sept. Four of her five kids live in Va. and 

the holdout is in Columbia, S.C. She 

continues to audit courses at SBC from 

nearby Clifford, Va. 

A forgiving Ninie Laing sent her news a 

second time, as I managed between a 

Dell, a dog, an iPad and a Droid, to lose 

her email. Ever active Ninie has two 

horses, one of them new called Salmagundi 

(don’t know whether he was 

named for the 17th Century English 

salad or the art club in N.Y.), but he is 

called Sal for short. They trail ride together, 

and learned together that Ninie 

thinks she no longer has the stamina 

for “real” fox hunting. Ha! Her SBC trip 

to Central Europe in June reacquainted 

Ninie with Patricia Lodewick of Dallas. 

Ninie had both cataracts eliminated earlier 

in the year and while this is her first 

time in memory that she has 20/20 vision, 

she is unsure whether now she 

can see more than she wants to. 

Received a hugely fascinating E from 

Priscilla Vermooten Baldwin, now of 

Tucson, Ariz., formerly of Texas, Hawaii 

and Colo. It is too long to relate all, but 

please email me for a copy and learn 

what a smart, hardworking and dedicated 

woman can do when she sets her 

mind to a chosen task. In brief Priscilla 

created an art institute for the Ariz.- 

Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson in 

1998, which is offering 71 classes in 

the 2011-12 year, with 700 students 

enrolled. The museum lacked space to 

house the institute so it built a new auditorium 

and education wing, and 

named it after Priscilla. She has donated 

her collection of paintings, which 

she commissioned to artists to paint 

endangered, threatened and at-risk animals, 

plants and habitat of the Sonoran 

desert region. Priscilla continues her 

own painting, and was among 100 

artists juried into a show from 2,500 

worldwide entries. Send for her email or 

simply Google desertmuseum.org/arts. 

The longest-running Chevy Chase Country 

Club Christmas Luncheon featuring 

classmates from in and around the D.C. 

area was another grand success in 

2010, with the roll call including hostess 

Jackie Ambler, Ninie Laing, Chips 

Chao, Judith Ruffin, Mimi Chapin, Kay 

Diane Moore, Babs Falge, Jane Pinckney 

and Nannette McBurney (sorry, I 

still think in maiden names). Nannette, 

her daughter Carol and grandgirl Katherine 

ventured to Venice before Carnivale, 

but in time for Katherine to try on a majority 

of what Nannette says were a million 

masks. Nannette was in Mich. when 

she emailed her Notes. She will be back 

in Madison, Va., by Sept. so she can attend 

the fall SBC board meeting as an 

emerita. 

As I was ready to hit the send button to 

the Notes Czar had an email from Joy 

Peebles Massie, whose back surgery 

this summer was a resounding success 

and Joy now lives free of pain. Family 

members were around all summer to 

see that Joy and Jimmie’s house in 

Goochland, Va. ran properly. Joy said it 

was so great, she felt like a guest in her 

own home. There is no tennis in Joy’s 

future, but she can swim and take long 

walks. 

Cynnie Wilson Ottaway, calling both 

Fla. and Mich. home, provided an exquisite 

lesson of life, love, forgiveness and 

unity as she relayed the story of Nick 

Frenzel, her former spouse, who died on 

Christmas Eve. He “died with all his 

grandchildren and children and spouses 

and me, with him…an interesting event 

in ICU with about 15 crowded into his 

room…what made me so proud of my 

family and my extended family of 22 

was our Christmas dinner where everyone 

told a story about Pappy Nick, with 

no tears, just love and admiration. It 

was the best Christmas I ever had.” If 

we cannot learn from this fine story, we 

will never learn anything. 

My good friend of almost 50 years, Dudley 

Fowler, was in hospital and given no 

chance of living last winter when it came 

time for me to produce Notes. I had neither 

the strength, energy or will to do it. 

However, Dudley has clearly fooled the 

whole damn gang of crepe-draped docs. 

We were unable to spend our three 

months in Maine and endured the 

hottest summer in the history of the 

U.S. right here in Austin, Texas. Without 

seven tons of AC, a ghostwriter would 

be completing this, my last set of 

Notes. 

Watching over my good friend Dudley is 

pretty much a full time job. Taking what I 

am told is “respite care,” I journeyed 

with my sister Rosemary Green (she 

has leukemia...is this starting to sound 

like a soap opera?) to cooking school in 

Tuscany this spring, and we are long 

booked for another class in the Loire 

Valley next May, which ends the same 

weekend as the Reunion. If I can find an 

airline schedule that will get me from 

Paris to Dulles to Lynchburg, I will make 

it Saturday. If not, join me in hotter than 

hell Austin. 

A word of sincere thanks to each of you 

who had kind words about all the Notes 

I wrote over the years. It was somewhere 

between fun and frustrating. 

With no disrespect to the victims of Hurricane 

Irene, we, the Class of 1957 survived 

Hurricane Hazel in the fall of 

1954, which killed 95 people in the U.S. 

and an additional 81 in Canada. Debris 

flew all over the campus, which kept a 

number of us locked down in Fletcher 

and Academic, a bucket and mop 

brigade kept Manson from flooding, the 

original Fletcher Oak was toppled, the 

entry to campus was blocked three days 

by fallen trees, hundreds of trees fell 

throughout the acreage, and there was 

no phone service for four days. Parents 

got most of their news from Arthur Godfrey 

who broadcast his TV program from 

Va. And though not on a scale as massive 

as Irene, so deadly was Hazel, that 

name was permanently retired from hurricane 

list names. 

Best to one, best to all, Carol 

1958 

Jane Shipman Kuntz 

4015 Orchard View Pl., No. 1 

Powell, OH 43065 

Jsk05@att.net 

Cornelia Long Matson recently celebrated 

her 35th wedding anniversary to 

husband Dick. Daun Thomas Frankland 

’74 and Rowena Schubert ’76 attended 

the celebration. Daun lives in Paris and 

Rowena in Solana Beach, Calif. The anniversary 

party included many friends 

from Sarasota, N.Y., Washington, Cleveland, 

etc. plus across France. Friends 

said the fireworks were the best! 



1959 

Ali Wood Thompson 

89 Pukolu Way 

Wailea, HI 96753 

travisnali@hawaii.rr.com 

1960 

Carol Barnard Ottenberg 

1420 41st Ave. E 

Seattle, WA 98112 

ottenbergc@aol.com 

1961 

Elizabeth Hutchins Sharland 

1724 Aberdeen Cr. 

Crofton, MD 21114 

thefroghall@verizon.net 

1962 

Parry Ellice Adam 

33 Pleasant Run Rd. 

Flemington, NJ 08822 

908-782-3754 

peaba@comcast.net 

1963 

Jane Goodridge 

31-C Archdale St. 

Charleston, SC 29401 

Jane1729@att.net 

1964 

Virginia “Ginny” deBuys 

H16 Shirley Ln. 

Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 

gdebuys@comcast.net 

Genie Johnson Sigler: My news from Little 

Rock is that after 60 years in this 

house (My parents for 25, and Bill and 

me for 35), we are downsizing to a little 

white house on the corner. Bill retired 

the end of April, our house is on the 

market, and we have a “new” little lake 

house! We will be In Mich. for a month 

beginning in mid Aug.! I can’t find time 

to MOVE yet! That will come soon 

enough. Love to all. 

1965 

Sally Hubbard 

52 Sherwood Trail 

Sewanee, TN 37375-2166 

sally@hubbard.net 

Please, please, send your new contact 

information to Zach Kinkaid at Sweet 

Briar (zkincaid@sbc.edu) and your correct 

email address to Sally. 

Sally McCrady Hubbard sent the following 

email question to her classmates: 

“What’s new for you in the summer of 

2011? What’s changed?” This was inspired 

by the prospect of being phased 

out of her job at the Sewanee Summer 

Music Festival, because she does not 

have the wit or will to learn all the newfangled 

ways of doing things. She is old- 


41

fashioned. A recent SBC mailing quoted 

Yogi Berra, “The future ain’t what it 

used to be.” Who knew that email would 

be obsolete well before our 50 th reunion? 

Or that Twitter and Facebook 

would require additional hours of office 

time daily? The fear in stopping working 

is that she will quickly be out of the 

main stream. But with any luck, if we 

age gracefully, we create our own main 

streams. 

Eugenia Dickey Caldwell says “Anytime 

something new comes up that I don’t 

know about (which happens every 

week), I look it up on Wikipedia.” Peter 

retired in Jan. The little household projects 

that neither of them had time to do 

for the last 20 years are getting done. 

Eugenia is a Technical Enablement Consultant 

at IBM with no plans to retire. 

She and Peter are going birding in 

southeast Brazil for three weeks in Nov. 

They had good trips to New Orleans in 

the spring for her mother’s 90th birthday 

and for wonderful Jazz Fest. 

Melinda Musgrove Chapman reports 

that her son and his wife and four children 

have been transferred to Frankfurt, 

Germany, for the next three years. The 

boys are 18 and 11 and the girls are 14 

and 15. They are all getting to experience 

living in Europe with lots of travel 

time. 

Belatedly, from Mary Ellen Freese Cota: 

“My son Memo (42), who lived many 

years in Brazil returned to Mexico in 

May of 2009. With respect to the day 

Kennedy was shot, I remember well (as 

we all do) that I was with Alberto, the 

young Mexican man I met on the Queen 

Mary en route to my Junior Year Abroad. 

He and I danced our way across the Atlantic, 

neither of us very fluent in the 

other’s language. As we disembarked 

we hugged goodbye, he had only my Alliance 

Francaise address in Paris and 

when he arrived about two months later 

the school was closed as it was a weekend. 

We ran into each other at Mass in 

Notre Dame. Eileen Stroud Clark and I 

were there together appreciating the architecture. 

Alberto and I visited the 

sites in Paris together and one of the 

sites was the market Les Halles. As we 

were leaving late from Les Halles, after 

having a bowl of onion soup on a cold 

night on Nov. 22, the taxi driver on the 

way home told us that Kennedy had 

been shot. We were in total shock. Alberto 

was a great consolation to me. 

The next day Eileen and I went to the 

American Cathedral to mourn and try to 

make some sense out of such a senseless 

act. We felt far away from home, 

and thinking what was going on with our 

country and our families. Alberto has 

been my husband for 45 years now. So 

that is a little of my memories of the 

day Kennedy was assassinated, for 

whatever use. Con abrazos to amigas 

queridas.” 

Elizabeth Hanger Luther sends her new 

email address: libbalu@aol.com. 

After spending the summer in Mont., 

Whitney Jester Ranstrom moved to 

Pecan Plantation in Granbury, southwest 

of Fort Worth, Texas, an hour from her 

daughter. 

Carol Reifsnyder Rhoads has been retired 

since 2003; Bob finally told his 

chancellor he would step down as chair 

of biochemistry in one year. Carol is still 

a bridge fanatic and has 125 master 

points. She sings in the choir and rings 

their tower bells in Louisiana. She volunteers 

two mornings a week at a free 

pharmacy. Her five grandsons are doing 

well; they range from five to 17 years 

old. Her daughter lives in Winston- 

Salem; one son is in Tucson and the 

other in Arkansas. She sends an early 

challenge to our classmates to attend 

our 50th! 

Saralyn McAfee Smith enjoyed anticipating 

her 50th high school reunion in 

Oct. Saralyn loves technology and enjoyed 

reading many books on her Kindle 

last summer, especially “In the Garden 

of Beasts,” which featured her niece’s 

famous grandmother, Bella Fromm, a 

courageous journalist in the early Hitler 

years. 

Elvira McMillan Tate took a 3 ½-week 

trip in Norway to celebrate her 50th National 

Cathedral School reunion, with 

her AFS student Brita, six classmates 

and four of their husbands. She continued 

cruising up the spectacular coast of 

Norway with her NCS roommate, and 

husband and friend. The last 10 days 

were spent driving throughout northern 

Norway, visiting museums, and hiking, 

while her anthropologist roommate interviewed 

Sami teachers and students. On 

this trip Elvira crossed the Arctic Circle, 

visited the most northern community in 

the world, Longyearbyen, and met a distant 

cousin—their mutual ancestors 

lived in Richmond, six generations ago. 

When she wrote, Elvira was in Telluride, 

Colo., enjoying cool weather, hikes, and 

grandchildren. 

Now hear this from Elvira: “Maybe we 

should plan a 50th Reunion SBC Trip in 

2015!” Where would you like to go? It’s 

not too early to think about this! 

Chris Kilcullen Thurlow says she is just 

getting to the point where she can figure 

out email, only to find out that it’s “so 

yesterday.” After 42 years, Steve is 

helping with the laundry, cooking, and 

mail. Life is good. 

1966 

Penn Willets Fullerton 

124 Linden Ln. 

San Rafael, CA 94901 

pennhome@aol.com 

Susan Sudduth Hiller 

4811 Garrison Rd. 

Little Rock, AR 72223 

ssdh22@yahoo.com 

Keenan Colton Kelsey 

101 Hawthorne Ave. 

Larkspur, CA 94939 

kkelsey@earthlink.net 

Jane W. Nelson 

407-C N Hamilton St. 

Richmond, VA 23221 

jnelson@wcrichmond.org 

1967 

Diane Dalton 

1014 N Astor St., Apt 43 

Milwaukee, WI 53202 

dianebdalton@gmail.com 

1968 

Lynne Gardner Detmer 

Highland Farm 

448 Styles Brook Road 

Keene, NY12942 

lgdetmer@aol.com 

1969 

Nancy Crawford Bent 

14 Dopping Brook Road 

Sherborn, MA 01770-1049 

ascb614@comcast.net 

1970 

Stuart Davenport Simrill 

4945 Dupont Ave. S 

Minneapolis, MN 55419 

stuart.simrill@gmail.com 

1971 

Carol Remington Foglesong 

1750 Chippewa Trail 

Maitland, FL 32751 

cfoglesong@cfl.rr.com 

Anne Milbank Mell 

16 Valley View Ave. 

Summit, NJ 07901 

anne.mell@yahoo.com 

Beverly Van Zandt 

9902 Crystal Ct No 107 

Laredo, TX 78045 

beverlyvz@gmail.com 

1972 

Jill Johnson 

2012 Wolftrap Oaks Ct 

Vienna, VA 22182 

Facebook Group: Sweet Briar Class ‘72 

Please join the Group! (It’s private...vanity 

rules.) Lots of photos and irreverent 

comments. Also, upcoming—info on Reunion! 

Dale Shelly and James Graham moved 

to St. Louis in Aug. Now that they are 

truly empty nesters, they decided to 

move to STL to be near Dale’s mom 

(87) who has been in frail health. Kathy 

Keys Graham and husband Bill were in 

town for a wedding in the late summer 

and then spent a day playing with Dale 

and James. 

In a sign of the times for many of us, 

Marcia Wittenbrook looked for almost a 

year and is now working as a lease administrator 

for a property management 

and development company. 

Carol Cody Herder and family sold their 

house in Houston, downsized to a patio 

home, which they remodeled, requiring 

an interim move. They also bought land 

about 30 minutes from Aspen and 

started designing the summer house 

that they plan on building. Carol has 

taken on more jobs with volunteer organizations, 

which has been fun. Both 

kids are married and have gone back to 

grad school. Sarah (28) is in the MBA 

program at UT-Austin, and Charles (25) 

is getting his Ph.D. from MIT. 

Peggy Morrison Outon sends greetings 

from Pittsburgh! Her daughter Katie is a 

One L at Pitt Law School this fall. Her 

winemaking son, Ross, is in Sonoma 

working the crush at a pinot noir house, 

Patz & Hall. Paul and Peggy had a wonderful 

trip to Argentina in April, loving 

their tangoista tour guide in Buenos 

Aires and the Malbac vineyards in Mendoza. 

She’s recently begun a three-year 

research project, “74%: Exploring the 

Lives of Women in Nonprofits.” (It’s 

74% because the nonprofit workforce is 

74% female and the pay gap between 

men and women in the same jobs is 

also about 74%!) She hopes to help 

nonprofit boards do a better job of employment 

and to build some solutions 

for women, young and nearing retirement, 

to create more equity in their organizations. 

Peggy received funding 

from Eden Hall Foundation and the 

Bayer Corporate Foundation and just celebrated 

her12th anniversary as executive 

director of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit 

Management at Robert Morris U. 

Betty Works Fuller’s son, Will, graduated 

in Aug. from Baylor U. with a double 

major in history and political science. 

Patricia Reardon Riggins and 

Betty connected at the Diocesan Council 

in the spring. Patricia has accepted a 

call to serve at St. Andrew’s Episcopal 

Church, Seguin, Texas, as part-time associate 

rector. Patricia also lunches with 

Cutler Bellows Crockard as often as 

possible whenever she comes back and 

forth to San Antonio. 

Vivian Finlay started a part-time psychotherapy 

practice in new home 

Homer, by the sea. Vivian also does volunteer 

grief counseling for Hospice and 

teaches a Grief Counseling class at the 

local college branch of the U. of Ala. 

She and husband Clyde Boyer are very 

involved with Rotary International as 

members of the local club. Clyde is now 

mostly retired from his CPA practice, 

and they both enjoy living in Homer and 

enjoying nature. 

Margaret Lyle Samadhl and husband 

are fine in Lexington, Va. Margaret 

works part time at Lee Chapel and her 

husband full time at VMI. She had a big 

surprise recently when she and Joan 

May Harden ’73, a new Lexington resident 

and fellow church member, finally 

discovered their SBC connection! Margaret 

and Joan actually lived next door 

to each other one year at SBC. 

Mary Pat Varn Moore, from Tallahassee, 

writes that after a long stint with 

the Fla. Legislature and the Governor’s 

Office, she’s moved into the private sector—still 

in the health care arena, but 

now lobbying for health plans with a 

state trade association. Mary Pat says 

it’s much more fun being on the “dark 

side”! She and Paul celebrated their 

35th wedding anniversary last Feb. Paul 

is still in real estate, though on a temporary 

hiatus through the market downturn. 

Mary Pat hopes to retire in a couple 

of years, so she can spend much 

more time in the cooler N.C. mountain 

air. Their oldest son, Warren, and his 

wife, Anna, gave them their first granddaughter, 

Adalyn Grace, in February 

2009. Youngest son, Taylor, is in his 

last couple of semesters at Thomas U. 

in Thomasville, Ga., majoring in English. 

Holly Smith met our inspiring SBC president, 

Jo Ellen Parker, on a visit to alumnae 

in London, England, this spring. Jo 

Ellen brought along her iPad and introduced 

the revised college website, complete 

with a catchy new Sweet Briar 

song. (Do look it up if you haven’t already.) 

This past June, Holly accompa- 

42 


nied husband Neil Osborn on a business 

trip to the western cities of China. 

The annual DAR Congress in Washington 

in July provided the opportunity to 

meet with fellow DAR member 

Stephanie Harmon Simonard. They 

drank hot chocolate at the “Off the 

Record” bar in the Hay-Adams Hotel and 

talked about how much they missed 

their fathers, who both passed away recently. 

In Oct., Holly had dinner with her 

godchild Eliza Weiner, daughter of Sarah 

Chapelle Weiner, in Manhattan where 

she is now living. Mary Heller and 

Karen Medford’s trip to England last 

year was made complete when they visited 

Holly at her flat in London. Actually, 

the main event was dinner at Holly’s 

club, the Royal Automobile Club. 

Jane Powell Gray is thrilled to share 

that son and daughter-in-law presented 

Frank and Jane with a gorgeous grandson, 

Hunter Russell Gray, on August 22. 

Jane is retiring from the bench effective 

3/1/12. Frank and Jane are planning a 

Mediterranean cruise next year for their 

40th anniversary. 

Since Mary Donohoe Carrera and husband 

Jim are spending most of their 

time either at the Bethany Beach, Del., 

house or wintering in Naples, Fla., they 

have decided to leave Hollins Hills in 

Alexandria, Va. 

Gail Garner Resch and husband Michael 

travel as often as possible. This Sept., 

it was another bike trip from Prague to 

Vienna! They also were able to spend 

time in Naples last winter and connected 

with Kathy Walsh Drake and 

Pam Drake McCormick. 

Barbara Tessin Derry retired in June 

2010 from the Lower School Library at 

Collegiate School in Richmond after 17 

years and has rediscovered old friends, 

bridge, and the gift of time. Bill still 

practices law. Son Will (26) graduated 

from U.Va. Medical School in May and is 

at UCLA doing a year of general surgery 

before starting his four-year residency in 

radiology, also at UCLA. Daughter Alice 

(24) is teaching Spanish at Thoreau 

Middle School in Fairfax County, Va. 

Marion Walker reports she has a terrific 

grand niece (2), Mary Knox Walker. Marion’s 

nephew Robert has two more 

years in law school, and nephew Jesse 

is in officer training for the Marines. The 

April tornado that came through 

Tuscaloosa did so much damage to her 

childhood home, her grandmother 

Walker’s home and aunt’s home that all 

had to be taken down. Two of the 

homes were in historic districts and 

about to be listed on the National Register. 

The big news is that two brothers 

George and David plus Marion got to 

play golf at Pebble Beach and Cypress 

Point last Feb.! 

There was a wonderful reunion at DG 

and Trish Neale Van Clief’s historic 

home outside Charlottesville, Va., to 

view the Royal Wedding last April. In attendance 

were Kathy Walsh Drake, 

Pam Drake McCormick, Gail Garner 

Resch, Marion Walker, Barbara Tessin 

Derry, Louise Martin Creason, Charlene 

Sturbitts and from ’71 Nan Glaser 

LaGow, Cami Crocker Wodehouse and 

Michela English. There were cupcakes 

made to look like little crowns and hats, 

shiny tiaras, and, of course, scones and 

tea. DG and Trish have FIVE grandchildren 

now and still she plans to “crawl” 

down to Reunion! (We Certainly Hope 

So!) 

Please, PLEASE, Ladies, join the Facebook 

Group. Let’s get ready for RE- 

UNION! 

1973 

Evelyn Carter Cowles 

PO Box 278 

Free Union, VA 22940-0278 

ecc52@earthlink.net 

Susan Craig Wayne: Wayne and I are 

working hard these days, he in commercial 

real estate, I at my design/communications 

business. Our son Bennett 

(24) is working in Durango, Colo., for 

the Southwest Conservation Corps. Edward 

(23) is working in Charleston, S.C., 

for a large shipping line. Last summer 

(2010) Robin O’Neil was in a serious 

wreck and hospitalized in Charleston. 

Shortly after she got home to Columbia, 

her sister died of cancer. Two days after 

the funeral I came down with viral encephalitis 

(inflammation of the brain) 

and spent ten days in the hospital. Today 

I’m thankful every day for my health 

and the people I love! I highly recommend 

giving up worrying and adopting 

thankfulness! We just saw Betsy Cann 

and Scott Akers at a wedding, with their 

son and two adorable grandchildren. 

Jane Knutson James: I’m taking art 

classes from our local community college 

and love being in school! Not working 

is bliss for me, while Michael still is 

working at the LA Times. Both children 

are married, and we have granddogs. 

Linda Lipscomb: I am relocating to Richmond 

from Dallas! I have been appointed 

Deputy Director for Advancement 

at the Virginia Museum of Fine 

Arts as of Sept 1. 

Kathleen Schutz: My daughter Emily 

graduated from SBC this spring. She 

found a job in D.C. in Human Resources, 

which was her major concentration. 

Marion McKee Humphreys: I quit working 

a few months ago, and seem to be 

busier than ever. We now have two 

grandchildren and another due in Sept. 

Hunter is busier than ever and in addition 

to work, he’s still teaching at the 

law school. 

Laurie Norris Coccio: I retired from being 

principal of an elementary school in 

2007, and I just “retired” from my retirement 

job as director of our town library 

in Milton, N.Y. I’m now travelling 

with my husband, Chris, as his business 

takes him all around the world. When 

we are home, we can enjoy our first 

granddaughter Charlotte, born in March 

2011. 

Renee Sterling is escaping the pounding 

Texan heat by taking little weekend 

getaways to Colo. and second home in 

Calif. Estate planning element of her financial 

practice seems to be morphing 

as she reaches these new birthday 

milestones and aging parents. In touch 

with Boyd Zenner and Ann Stuart Kling. 

Kathy Pretzfelder Steele: Dave and I 

bought lakefront property in Mount 

Dora, Fla., and will be moving there next 

summer. Daughter Tracy just relocated 

to Atlanta from Chicago and our other 

daughter Kelly lives in Orlando. 

Kris Howell: I just returned from a great 

trip to Ala. to visit friends. Since I earlyretired 

from teaching at UNCW, I started 

spending spring in Key West (five 

months this last time!) I still go to Germany 

to visit relatives and plan to check 

out Bocas del Toro (Panama) in Oct. 

Sue Dern Plank: I am keeping busy with 

gardening, helping a cousin in the NYC 

area with her baby, taking a Texas niece 

to her college orientation in Mass., having 

former neighbors visit and visiting 

some of the exhibits at area art museums. 

Our daughter has moved from D.C. 

to Tenn. in early April to be with her fiancé. 

Jeanne Schaefer Bingham: As of 

8/20/11, I have two grandsons. Daughter 

Stacy lives 15 miles away, and I 

watch little Carter every morning. Last 

June, Rack and I attended his 40th reunion 

at UVA. I stopped by SBC and of 

course, went up to the stable which 

brought back some really fond memories. 

Diane Dale Reiling: Chuck and I are relocating 

to southern Ore. (Medford/Ashland) 

at the end of Aug. to retire. Son, 

Steven (26), and his serious girlfriend 

remain in Seattle. Daughter, Erica (23), 

has recently moved to LA to be near 

friends. I have been the President of the 

SBC Club of Wash. State since 1999, 

and I am hoping for some alumnae in 

my new area. 

Susan Bundy: I’m still in Charlottesville, 

Va., and still in property management. 

Andre and I are fine. 

Jane McFaddin Bryan: After a mini-reunion 

in October 2010 with suitemates 

Betsie Meric Gambel, Lisa Fowler 

Winslow, and freshman classmate Jane 

Lowrey Tierney at Pawley’s Island, S.C., 

I was excited to visit with Peggy 

Cheesewright Garner in Seattle in May 

of this year. Peg has had some health 

challenges, coupled with the loss of her 

husband, John, last fall, but is making 

great progress toward strength and 

health. We are hoping that the entire 

senior suite, (with forever friend Jane 

L.), can get together on one of the 

coasts soon! Also looking forward to 

Betsie G. again in Sept. when she 

brings her children and grandchildren 

back to Pawley’s for a week. I continue 

to practice law in Charleston, S.C., sharing 

office space with my lawyer husband 

Charlie. Would love to see the old campus 

at SBC again after so many years. 

Kathy Waters Marshall Weatherly: My 

husband, John, passed away on 

7/30/11 after a year and a half battle 

with cancer. Our time together was 

short, but in that time he brought so 

much joy into my life, and I gained a 

wonderful new family. My family continues 

to grow. All three children live in the 

Richmond, Va., area and all are teachers. 

I have five grandchildren with twins 

on the way! 

Creigh Casey Krin: My first grandchild 

Luke Angelo Farisello was born on 

8/17/11. to my daughter Heather and 

her husband, Vincent. My daughter Lindsay 

is finishing up her doctorate at BU. 

John and I visited Jane Lucas and her 

husband Carmen in Austin, Texas, this 

past year. 

Jean Plank Rospondek: Most of our 

travels have been to do LPGA Clinics for 

Women in N.Y., D.C., and N.J. and visits 

to see my daughter Jess and the grandkids, 

Colin (7) and Grayson (5) in Va. My 

youngest daughter, Katie, will marry her 

long-time love, Jonathon Blumenthal, in 

the Hudson Valley, N.Y. at Apple Barn 

Farm on October 1. 



Jane McCutchen McFadden: Oldest 

son, Barclay and family have moved to 

Charleston with our second grand on the 

way. Thomas and George doing grad 

work, teaching and research in organic 

chemistry and environmental science. 

Love seeing the S.C. SBC contingent! 

Jan Honick: Husband Eric is corporate 

atty with McLaughlin and Stern in NYC. 

Our son David will return in Sept. to the 

U.S. after 2 ½ years living and working 

in Milan, Italy. Our son Daniel is living in 

Boston after graduating from Wheaton 

Coll. in May as a philosophy major, and I 

am still working as a travel agent in NYC 

specializing in corporate and luxury 

leisure. 

Robin O’Neil: Lost my sister and nanny 

of 59 years. Taking a break from work. 

Was pres and CEO of Big Bros, Big Sisters. 

Enjoying work on upcoming wedding 

of my niece, a bittersweet time for 

us. Took my daughter and niece to NYC 

a week before Irene for wedding gown 

fitting—a joy. 

Mary Buxton is very stable…same job, 

same house, same family—all good and 

very blessed. Hope to make it to a reunion 

some day! 

Susan Kirby Peacock: With our housing 

development (i.e. retirement plan) in 

foreclosure, I’m still working lots of 

pharmacy. My mother, who had 

Alzheimer’s and lived here in Tallahassee, 

died in June. I have continued to 

work with an NEA grant for art and art 

history in nearby underserved counties, 

offering interactive art classes to seniors 

in nursing homes and senior centers. 

I’m still painting. My husband, Jay, 

and I are starting a family business 

called “As You Like It Fine Art Canvas,” 

and offering the kind of canvas that I 

use, rounded-front gallery-wrapped canvases 

for paintings that “don’t want to 

be framed.” My daughter, Marley, graduated 

magna cum laude from the Georgetown 

School of Foreign Service and is 

actively involved in immigration issues 

and in making her way in the world of 

documentary film making. 

Evelyn Carter Cowles: I am continuing 

to love our new place. Still riding and 

painting and spending time in Mont. 

Took a photographic workshop in Yellowstone 

National Park last Jan., which was 

fantastic, so our group is doing the fall 

version this Sept. I am sad to report 

that our classmate Lucinda Wells Cunningham 

died 8/3/11. Several of us are 

on Facebook, so if there is interest I am 

happy to create a SBC 73 page. 

1974 

Rosalind Ray Spell 

2710 Orchard Knob SE 

Atlanta, GA 30339-4625 

rossiespell@yahoo.com 

Meredith Thompson Sullivan 

PO Box 1283 

Livingston, MT 59047-1283 

gigiinmt@aol.com 


43

Michelle Badger '06 and 

Kathleen Wilson Wissel '06 

Class of 1951 

44 


(L-R): Preston Moore, Maria Kitchin Moore ‘04 (daughter), 

William Kitchin (son), Sally Old Kitchin ‘76, Tippins Kitchin, 

Leggett Kitchin (son)

1975 

Sarah P. Clement 

5028 Domain Pl. 

Alexandria, VA 22311 

scjr@comcast.net 

Johna Pierce Stephens 

1703 Beard’s Creek Ct. 

Davidsonville, MD 21035 

johna_pierce@yahoo.com 

Carol Clement is doing well in Palos 

Verdes, Calif. Carol left her corporate 

career nine years ago and followed her 

love of Yoga, completing all the training 

to become a teacher (and yes, she even 

trained in India!) She hosted a Yoga Retreat 

at a villa in the Tuscany area of 

Italy in May, and it was so successful 

that she is doing it again next May! 

Anne Cogswell Burris had such fun seeing 

everyone at our 35th reunion and 

loves keeping up with all through FB! 

Lon and Anne celebrated their 35th wedding 

anniversary in May with a trip to 

Calif. While there, they had a mini reunion 

in Newport Beach with Patti 

Tucker O’Desky and Beth Montgomery! 

In June, Lon and Anne visited Wendy 

Wise Routh and Carlos at their home in 

Water Mill, N.Y. On the home front, Lon 

continues to ride the waves of the economy 

at Wells Fargo Advisors. Anne continues 

to enjoy freelancing as a bookkeeper 

for a couple of organizations and 

a local law firm. Will and Carrie both live 

and work in the Charleston area, so at 

least some children are nearby. The Burrises 

have created a foundation in memory 

of Ben, which funds a scholarship 

for a student athlete at their local 

school, Porter Gaud. 

Catherine Cranston Whitham has welcomed 

her first grandchild, John Harford 

Cundy (called Ford), born on July 24th to 

Ann and Steve in Missoula, Mont. 

Catherine has just taken on a two-year 

commitment as president of a nonprofit 

here in Richmond, which keeps her 

busy. Son Craig is working on Capitol 

Hill and Whit continues to play golf and 

practice law. Catherine keeps in touch 

with Libbie Whitley Fulton, Randy Anderson 

Trainor, and Celia Robertson 

Queen. 

Beverly Crispin Heffernan and husband 

Jim are still in Sandy, Utah; son Jimmy 

just turned 30! And Chris will be 26 in 

Nov. Bev was promoted last Oct. to Environmental 

Resources Division Manager, 

Upper Colo. Region, Bureau of Reclamation, 

Salt Lake City, Utah; she’s eligible 

for retirement in two years, but in no 

hurry right this minute! Bev and Jim plan 

to go to S. Africa and Zambia this fall 

for a six-day riding safari. She’s looking 

ahead to next year and is planning a 

gala 60th birthday celebration “somewhere” 

with roomies Cynde Manning 

Chatham, Nancy Haight and Robin Singleton 

Cloyd. 

Coni Crocker Betzendahl, when she 

turned 50, got a four-year-old Rocky Mt. 

horse that had only three months under 

saddle. Coni just wanted to trail ride, 

but has ended up hunting with a 

farmer’s pack in Pa. and with North 

Country Hounds in Vt. She is now a 

whipper-in for both hunts! Richard is 

semi-retired and has his own business 

importing, exporting and consulting for 

rare gas industry. They bought a little 

farm outside of Woodstock, Vt., for family 

and friends to come skiing and snowmobiling. 

Coni has gotten into painting, 

especially watercolor. Eldest daughter 

Lindsay was married two years ago. 

Lindsay works with a gov. agency as a 

family therapist, and they live in Ct. 

Younger daughter Ashley lives nearby in 

King of Prussia with her boyfriend, and 

loves being the social media coordinator 

for the Goddard School Systems. 

Bonnie Damianos Rampone says husband 

Chuck is semi-retiring by selling 

some of their businesses. They’re keeping 

the school bus operation, so they’ll 

still have summers “free.” They recently 

sold their very large home and bought a 

smaller one in the next town over from 

Setauket. Son Chuck is managing the 

school bus operating business while 

daughter-in-law Michelle keeps busy 

working at her family’s printing business. 

Son Chris graduated from Northeastern 

with his MBA and will be working 

at Excenture in Manhatten. His Katie 

is working for Conde Nast in Manhatten. 

Both Michelle and Katie are from their 

hometown and their families are still living 

locally, which makes it very easy to 

see everyone! 

Chris Hoefer Myers wrote right after returning 

from NOLA, where daughter 

Christian started studies at Tulane! 

Christian’s older sister, Aidan Hatch, 

graduated from Emory Law last spring, 

took the Pa. and N.J. bar exams this 

summer, and is now on a celebratory 

trip to S.E. Asia with law school friends. 

Aidan’s husband, Mike, is a resident in 

anesthesiology at U. Penn and Aidan begins 

work at Dilworth Paxson LLP upon 

her return from a trip, so Chris will be 

burning up the road to Philadelphia 

soon! Husband Jim has retired from 

USC, but Chris still works hard in the 

USC Development Office. 

Randi Hoffman has three sons and additionally 

her two nephews (her younger 

sister passed away 7 ½ years ago, and 

they came to live with Randi and her 

family) in a household that also includes 

parrots, cats and dogs! Randi worked 

for many years, first as a filmmaker and 

editor, then as a professor and teacher 

of film and video—she had gone to Columbia 

to earn an MFA. Just this past 

June, Randi graduated from a three-year 

acupuncture program in N.Y., earning an 

MS in acupuncture. After taking the 

state boards and waiting for six weeks, 

she is now a licensed acupuncturist in 

N.Y. state, and has just signed a lease 

for a storefront in Dobbs Ferry. She’s 

also created a website about companion 

parrots, at www.newyorkbirds.net ! 

Her 

Carol Leslie St. John says all is well, 3 

½ years post-breast cancer. After 35 

years in the interior design business, 

Carol’s looking to change things up a 

bit—says she’s ready for something 

new. Their three boys are all living in 

NYC. Carol sees Lizanne Potts Fisher, 

Martha French Roberts and Kathie 

Shirk Gonnick. 

Beth Montgomery has written an original 

play about the first female President 

of the U.S., produced it, starred in it, 

and it opened Sept. 8 at the historic El 

Portal Theatre in N. Hollywood! SBC 

friends Gray Thomas Payne, Anne Wesley 

Ramsey, Wendy Wise Routh, Anne 

Cogswell Burris and Patty Tucker 

O’Desky all helped out! 

Denise Montgomery says the book is 

not out yet, and took the publishers 

longer than they anticipated, so they 

pushed it back from April to July and 

now to Oct. of this year. Denise got 

some advance copies and is donating 

one to the alumnae collections at the 

SBC library. Denise stays in touch with 

Cora Snyder, with whom I run the Facebook 

page “Sweet Briar College: The 

Whiteman Years,” and Cherie Lux Cobb, 

whose daughter Elizabeth is entering 

the freshman class of ’15 this fall, and 

Kathy Orr, who, since her retirement 

from Kraft has become an artist. You 

can see her art at http://www.katorriginal.com. 

Denise bought a painting from 

her, Horaijima (Island of Happiness). 

Johna Pierce Stephens stays busy with 

care-giving for her dad and mother-inlaw, 

family farms, travelling, volunteering, 

and motor- and equestrian sports. 

Last Oct., Johna and Tom celebrated 

their anniversary in Aruba. Daughter 

Rachael interned with the Philadelphia 

Mural Arts Program (MAP) her senior 

year at Bryn Mawr College and worked 

directly for Joan Golden her last semester. 

She graduated BMC magna cum 

laude. 

Marsha Powers had the wonderful opportunity 

to visit SBC in May for niece 

Kate Gorman’s graduation. The campus 

was beautiful and the new buildings and 

programs were impressive! She moved 

to Fort Lauderdale from Dallas almost 

four years ago and enjoys being closer 

to her family. She hopes everyone is doing 

well and asks to please look her up 

if you travel to south Fla.! 

Betsy Scott Kimmel has been one of 

three people locating 1543 classmates 

for her 40th high school reunion in 

Sept. and reports her investigative skills 

are getting pretty good! She also began 

volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity 

site weekly. 

Polly Shriver Kochan says work has finally 

begun on their cabin in Wyo.! Jeff 

is still at Temple U. School of Medicine, 

but is really counting down to early retirement; 

Polly continues to find her 

work as Director of Ultrasound and staff 

radiologist at St Christopher’s hospital 

for Children rewarding. Older son 

Michael is a consultant at Bain Consultancy 

in Toronto, and currently is on a 

client-related project in Santiago, Chile 

for four months. Younger son Andrew 

graduated magna cum laude from Hampden-Sydney 

College last May, and is in 

Culinary School in Philadelphia. 

Barbie Tafel is one year out from 

chemo, radiation and double mastectomy 

as a result of breast cancer. On a 

happier note, she also had two weddings 

last summer: Grant returned from 

a year as a Commanding Officer of a 

Coast Guard cutter in Bahrain in May 

and married in Alexandria, Va. in June. 

They just announced that they are having 

a baby, who will be the first grandchild 

on both sides! Daughter Lee (who 

lives in San Diego) had her wedding in 

Louisville in Sept. Barbie still enjoys her 

landscape/exterior design business 

(she has a website and facebook page), 

recently got her real-estate license, is 

on several tennis teams, and continues 

to stay very active and appreciate 

life and friends more than ever! 

Leslie Thornton continues to live in the 

D.C. area, working for the RAND Corporation, 

and sees Wendy Wise Routh ’74 

occasionally. 

Patti Tucker O’Desky, Anne Cogswell 

Burris and Beth Montgomery all spent 

the day together this spring with their 

husbands on a Newport Bay Duffy electric 

boat cruise, along with Anne’s son 

Scott and wife Harriet who are living in 

LA. They had so much fun together that 

later during the summer Patti, Beth, 

Scott, Harriet and Patti’s husband Billy, 

son Charley and niece all met up in LA 

for a really fun night out at the comedy 

show “The Groundlings”—such fun! 

Sallie Scarborough is in Charlotte and 

continues to work in her family business, 

Carolina Foods, Inc. She spends 

summer weekends in the N.C. mountains 

and travels for pleasure other 

times of the year, keeping in touch with 

Dorsey Tillett Northrup and seeing her 

when she’s in N.C. 

Dorsey Tillett Northrup is exercising, 

painting, photographing, traveling in between 

normal stuff and hoping to find 

someone to go to Antarctica this Feb. 

on the SBC trip…anybody game? Email 

her at: dorseynorthrup@hotmail.com 

She hopes to get to NYC soon to 

meet/see Rose Anne Toppin Cranz, 

Carol Leslie St. John, Penn Wilcox 

Brannin and Mary Henningsen Collins. 

Rox and Dorsey have a daughter/son in 

the city.... 

Lisa Walker, husband George, and 

Johnny (20) moved to Atlanta about two 

years ago from D.C. She says it’s going 

to take her “awhile to become a southern 

belle”! She still gets together with 

SBC friends in D.C., including Jody 

Wharton, Sharon Mangus, Cindy Conroy 

and Nancy Piper. 

Bonnie Walton Mayberry is in her seventh 

year of retirement. Jerry is still 

working at Areva. Grandson Thaxton 

turned four July 2 and granddaughter 

Ashlynn will be four on October 14. They 

belong to daughter and son in law, 

Megan and Judson Lee. There will be 

two new additions soon. Larissa (15) 

from Brazil and a baby from the Congo 

sometime in 2012. Bonnie says she’s 

not sure when they plan to stop adding 

grand kids to the family, but they love 

being Nanny and Papa! The more, the 

merrier! 

Carroll Waters Summerour says son 

William and his wife Anne had their first 

child, Jane Bradley Summerour on June 

24, 2011. That brings the tally to 

three—granddaughter, Avery (4 ½), her 

brother, Ford (1), and the new sweet 

baby Jane! They still love the mountains 

of western N.C. with Toby’s clergy job at 

Church of the Good Shepherd in 

Cashiers and their home in Lake Toxaway. 

They expect all 11 Summerours 

for Thanksgiving! 

Wendy Wise Routh says life in the 

Hamptons is great! Carlos is busy building 

mcMansions and Wendy is adjusting 

to being retired. Lexie graduated from 

Rhodes and Johncarlos is graduating 

from Coll. of Charleston. His foundation 

JC for JD (Johncarlos for Juvenile Diabetes) 

is actively funding research for a 

cure with tag sales and beach parties. 

Anne Cogswell and Lon Burris came to 

see the Rouths this June after the 

Rouths had surprised them for their 

30th wedding anniversary! Chris Hoefer 

Myers has been so generous in welcom- 

46 


ing Wendy to her home on the Isle of 

Palms, and she’s loved their time together. 

Wendy says at this stage of her 

life, she is blessed with family and 

friends! 

1976 

Cissy Humphrey 

5016 Les Chateaux Apt 234 

Dallas, TX 75235-8750 

cissy1234@yahoo.com 

Kari Andersen Shipley is in Delray 

Beach, Fla., with the same husband, 

same children, same home, new wrinkles. 

Kari is still raising money for local 

nonprofits and is a board member and 

Deacon at First Presbyterian and cochair 

of mission. Youngest son Matt is 

in the Peace Corp, middle son Walker 

has started his own company and oldest 

son John is senior manager for Double 

Eagle. Loves golf, swimming, painting 

and travel with her husband. She 

hopes to get up to their Lake Toxaway, 

N.C., house in the fall. Come visit! 

Seems that Becky Burt was in Decatur, 

Ga., exhibiting her jewelry and metal 

work items at their Art Festival the 

around Reunion and couldn’t make it 

back to the Patch. She also exhibited 

for the first time at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. 

Her company is 

www.b2metal.com and she lives in Hammond, 

La. Check out her Facebook 

page! 

Kelsey Canady Griffo-Grice is in Virginia 

Beach and was so sad to miss Reunion, 

the first one she has missed! Kelsey is 

a yacht broker, loves it, works all the 

time and has a worldwide clientele, so 

remains quite busy year round. Her children 

are grown, daughter McKenzie 

graduated from U. of Miami and was a 

Miami Dolphin cheerleader until she 

took off to perform on Royal Caribbean 

cruise lines. She had been around the 

world with UVA’s Semester at Sea, so is 

used to life aboard, and loves it. Son 

Parker is a senior at High Point U. in 

N.C., and Pool Director at Cavalier Yacht 

Club at the beach in the summer. Husband 

Chuck is wonderful, happy and 

working hard. See them at www.vayacht.com, 

or stop by if you are cruising 

on the Intracoastal Waterway, you cannot 

miss them at the Great Bridge Lock. 

Lochrane Coleman Smith is still in Birmingham, 

Ala., and had a visit from Carrington 

Brown Wise and Gina Spangler 

Polley. Ellen Sellers McDowell ’77, has 

a daughter who attends Samford U. in 

B’ham. So Lochrane is excited to see 

Ellen when she is in town. Daughter 

Lochrane graduated from U. of Richmond 

in 2010 and now lives and works 

in B’ham as New York Life agent. She 

has been working just one year and has 

won two trips due to her sales volume. 

Melanie Coyne Cody is still working at 

Y&R Brands in Chicago as the VP Talent 

Director, where she recruits and handles 

an assortment of HR duties for 3 

agencies: Y&R Chicago, Wunderman3 

and Design Kitchen. Melanie and Bob 

moved in a snow storm last Feb. to a 

house they admired, made an impulse 

purchase and relocated eight blocks 

north. They are enjoying the new house, 

but about to start some major renovations. 

Daughter, Caitlin is 28 and working 

as a senior strategist at The Martin 

Agency in Richmond. Sarah is 25 and an 

account manager at Marketing Werks in 

Chicago. Recent trips included New 

Zealand, Southern France, Spain, Ireland, 

Polynesia and Costa Rica. She 

spends lots of summer weekends in 

Green Lake, Wis., where Missy Briscoe 

McNatt visited for a week. They had a 

blast “baking our hides on the pier”— 

just like at the SBC Boathouse! Melanie 

also chats with Pam McDonnell Hindsley 

and those conversations make her 

feel all “pink and green.” 

Kay Ellisor Hopkins really enjoyed our 

35th reunion. Kay and husband Joe celebrated 

33 years of marriage in March 

2011. Joe is consulting in the oil and 

gas industry, and Kay has been with 

Neiman Marcus 23 years as of September 

2011. Daughter Sarah (30) works 

for a advertising agency in Dallas, and 

Beth (28) and her husband Jim live in 

Houston, where Beth is now in pharmaceutical 

sales. Son John passed the 

CPA exam and began working for Ernst 

& Young in Dallas October 2010. 

Lynn Kahler Rogerson moved again in 

April, across the street in Alexandria, 

Va., but she intends on that being the 

last move ever! Lynn’s daughter is entering 

seventh grade at National Cathedral 

School in Washington, D.C. and attended 

horseback camp in France this 

summer. Lynn continues to travel internationally, 

developing art exhibitions for 

museums. 

Ann Kiley Crenshaw who lives in Virginia 

Beach, Va., writes that she was in 

Houston, Texas in June for Melanie Holland 

Rice’s son’s wedding and the 

weather was unbearably hot! Welcome 

to the summers in TEXAS! Youngest son 

Gordon graduated from UVA/Commerce 

and is in NYC working in the investment 

banking division of Citi. Clarke Jr. is in 

his last year at UVA/Darden business 

school, will be getting married in July 

2012. Ann also just finished up being 

our Class Secretary for the last five 

years and she did a wonderful job! And 

has taken on being class president for 

the next five years. 

Marilyn “Mare” Moran is happy in her 

job as Director of Client Relations and 

Marketing at The Dorf Law Firm, LLP in 

Mamaroneck, N.Y. In the last year, vacation 

time has been well spent with trips 

to Cancun and Gloucester, Mass. Upcoming 

plans include a visit to Scottsdale, 

Sedona, Grand Canyon and Vegas! 

Son Chris (15) is working at an 

art/framing store and has an apprenticeship 

at a local photography studio. 

Mare is so proud. 

Tennessee Nielsen is in Dallas, Texas 

and writes that she enjoyed visiting her 

former roomie, Jennie Bateson Hamby, 

and her husband, Lou, in Palm Beach, 

Fla., in July. Tennessee is also looking 

forward to representing Region V on the 

Sweet Briar Alumnae Board. 

From Phoenixville, Pa., Karina Schless 

is still working, for the last year at Shire 

Pharma (after 30 years at Wyeth/Pfizer) 

and having a fun, fun time, but thinking 

of moving to her favorite vacation spot 

Jackson Hole, Wyo., in the near future. 

She has been going there since late 

80s and loves the open spaces and 

peacefulness. Still riding her black quarter 

horse, Angus, who is now 20 (young) 

years. Sadly her father died in Feb., so 

she and her brother have been dealing 

with his estate. 

Gina Spangler Polley had a great time 

at reunion in spite of her ankle injury 

and was reminded how caring and supportive 

our classmates are. She is almost 

fully recovered and has even worn 

high heels a couple of times. Lochrane 

Coleman Smith realized that many of 

Gina’s childhood friends from Montgomery 

are now her good friends in 

Birmingham. Lochrane arranged a weekend 

visit and got Carrington Brown 

Wise to drive down from Memphis for 

the weekend. Gina and husband David 

are still working at getting new carpet 

business, VSP Flooring, going. Son 

Frank is still loving D.C. and working for 

Tennessee senator, Bob Corker. 

Tricia Talbott Reed in Fairfax Station, 

Va., survived the 5.9 earthquake and 

several aftershocks. Their daughter has 

moved to Chandler, Ariz., and is enduring 

dust storms and triple digit heat! Tricia 

and family spent most of the summer 

at their home on Gwynn Island, Va., 

on the Chesapeake Bay. The school 

where Tricia had worked for 10 years, 

Clifton ES in Clifton, Va., closed. Her 

last year there, she worked directly with 

two SBC grads, Kathy Tillman Ganahl 

’93 and Nia Fonow Ravenstahl ’01. 

What are the chances of three SBC 

grads (decades apart in age) working in 

the same small school in small town, 

Va.? Tricia and husband Tom enjoyed 

Reunion and Tricia was glad to see her 

old friend Lori Jude Neasham Keegan. 

(who no one had seen in years!) Tricia 

even showed up on for breakfast on Saturday 

morning with her purple and gold 

Class of 1976 t-shirt on! 

Susan Verbridge Paulson and husband 

are settled in Colorado Springs, Colo. 

Susan is principal of a busy elementary 

school, and says it “seems like we just 

work all the time since the nest became 

empty!” 

I, your newly elected Class Secretary, 

Cissy Humphrey, am still living in Dallas, 

Texas, and have a Girls Night Out 

with Beth Bates Locke, Kay Ellisor Hopkins 

and Tennessee Nielsen every three 

months. I am also enjoying my two 

grand nephews, David Giron and Cayden 

Humphrey (4) and grand niece, Carolina 

Giron (1). We also had a tremendous 

time at our 35th Reunion in May. It was 

great being back with the extraordinary 

women of the Class of ’76, and being 

on campus brought back such wonderful 

memories! Remember we have a 

Facebook page, Sweet Briar College 

Class of 1976. I put some reflections 

on Reunion on our FB page. Or you can 

always send me more Class Notes information! 

1977 

Sally Bonham Mohle 

5039 Lewisetta Dr. 

Glen Allen, VA 23060 

SallyISTJ@aol.com 

Sally Bonham Mohle: Everyone save 

the date for our 35th Reunion May 18- 

20, 2012. If you have never come to a 

reunion, you are really missing out on a 

great time. Come check out the new fitness 

center and our class scrapbooks. 

Hope to see you there. Also, check out 

our Facebook page! 

Gay Owens Gates: Lily will be a senior 



in high school in Del. and is looking at 

colleges for social work. Lauren is a 

senior in college in Philly majoring in 

theater mgmt. Bob is working in Mass. 

and living in R.I., and I am in Del. thinking 

someday in 2012 we will all be together. 

Becky Mayer Gutierrez: Teaching 4th 

grade next year and then looping to 5th 

at Greenfield Middle Sch. I received a 

Grinspoon Award for excellence in teaching 

this spring. I am enjoying my three 

grandsons and granddaughter. My 

youngest son is home on leave from 

Germany in Aug., great family time. 

Debbie Koss McCarthy: We’ve bought a 

vacation house in Lake Lure, N.C., 

which is half way between Chapel Hill 

and Atlanta, the motive being to see 

more of granddaughter Anna Grace (18 

months). The Augustine Project is thriving 

and expanding, now located in 10 

cities. 

Sarah Bruce Kelly: My husband Frank 

and I continue to enjoy life on the S.C. 

coast, although we’re in the midst right 

now of a few extraordinary events: this 

past July we drove out to Santa Fe, N.M. 

for the Santa Fe Opera’s historic American 

debut of Vivaldi’s operatic masterpiece 

Griselda. I’d been invited to give a 

pre-opera lecture, which happened to 

coincide with the publication of my 

book, “Vivaldi’s Muse” (my third historical 

novel). In Oct., our daughter Mary 

Catherine (Athens, Ga.) is getting married 

to a VMI grad. Our son, Frankie 

(San Diego) is home for a couple of 

months so he can attend all the festivities 

in connection with the big event. 

This coming Nov. I’ve been asked to 

lead a trip to Italy’s Amalfi Coast. The 

trip is through Coastal Carolina U., 

where I teach, and will include visits to 

Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii, Naples and 

Rome. Frank and I depart the day after 

our 32nd anniversary, so we’ll have a 

lot to celebrate! 

Vera Blake Thiers: 2010-2011 saw me 

happily slaving away organizing the 50th 

anniversary celebration events for Frankfurt 

Intl School, where I work in marketing 

and public relations. I survived and 

had lots of fun, but am very glad it is 

back to business as usual. My husband 

and I made a quick stop at SBC last 

summer (2010), which jogged many 

fond memories. We are all healthy and 

my children are still in college doing 

their masters. I am still riding and have 

my second trip to foxhunt in Ireland 

planned for this Oct. 

Carolyn Williams Seeling keeps in 

touch with Jane Maloney ’74, Cora Snyder, 

Jane Mooney, Dorothy Lear Mooney 

’78, and Sophie Crysler Hart ’81. She 

says, “I just returned from summer in 

Punta Cana with daughter, Vermont with 

my twin, trip celebrating 30th wedding 

anniversary to Korea, Bali, Lombok. Active 

member at Himalayan Institute in 

Honesdale, Pa. Special Ed Instructor at 

local public elementary school. Still living 

in Audubon, Pa. Son, Justin, (24) 

bought a townhouse nearby in Philadelphia. 

Daughter, Sarah, entering her 

sophomore year at Franklin and Marshall 

(graduated HS from Agnes Irwin).” 


47

48 


Class of 1961 

1971 

Sarah Longstreth Bradley `77, Chic Grones Gall 

`79, Susan Snodgrass Wynne `72, Sally Old 

Kitchin `76, Maria Kitchin Moore `04, Ann Kiley 

Crenshaw `76, Lisa Nelson Robertson `76 


49

Molly Reeb Nissman: My daughter, 

Nancy (30), was married to Steve Cours 

on 6/11/11 here in Virginia Beach. 

They live and work in Washington, D.C. 

My son Andrew (18) is going off to college 

in a few weeks to Dickinson. My 

son Matt (15) will be a sophomore at 

Norfolk Academy this coming year. I’m 

still working as a financial advisor for 

UBS and playing tennis! 

Barb Bernick Peyronnet: Our summer 

flew by with Maggie (21) home from 

William & Mary while Annie (16) spent 

five weeks away from home as a Junior 

Counselor at Westview on the James. I 

am still treasurer of the nine hole lady 

golfers. Doug is still enjoying his band 

and played outdoors at Dogwood Dell. I 

have enjoyed catching up with classmates 

Dee “Hubble” Dolan and Cindy 

Kendree Thieringer and daughter 

Kendree. 

Nina Baker Neal: My daughter, Natalie, 

will be a senior this year at St. Andrews 

in Scotland. I have left the printing industry 

after 32 years and now work with 

my brother, Dave, at his Asphalt Paving 

Co. 

Ellen Sellers McDowell: Had a wonderful 

family trip to Ala. this summer, fishing, 

hiking, sightseeing. The nice cool 

weather was a reprieve from the hot 

Texas summer. Kate is a sophomore at 

Samford U. in Birmingham, Ala. studying 

nutrition. I am excited about taking a 

group from my Dallas church to Ala. this 

fall to help with Tornado cleanup in the 

Tuscaloosa area. 

Kathy Roantree Renken: Son Tim (18) 

is now a freshman at S.D. School of 

Mines in Rapid City, an 18 hour drive 

from Fort Worth! I hope to do some tutoring. 

I am teaching a GED class and 

love working with students of all ages 

(16-65 years old!) Jeff is still with Lockheed 

Martin. Daughter Emily (22) is living 

with us for the time being, and my 

parents have moved from Ala. to be 

close to us. Doug (25) and Kimberly are 

living in Marieta, Ga. 

Mary Palmer: I’m a sixth-month breast 

cancer survivor. I work full time still in 

the mortgage biz as a loan coordinator, 

still blissfully married to Randy Cone, 

fondly known as Groom. Daughter Kate 

in her third year of teaching sixth grade 

girls at charter school in Nashville. We 

have moved to my mother’s home, 

about a block from our house, to take 

care of her. 

1978 

Suzanne Stryker Ullrich 

820 Waverly Rd. 

Kennett Square, PA 19348 

suzullrich@aol.com 

1979 

Mary “Robbie” 

McBride Bingham 

2044 Murdstone Rd. 

Pittsburgh, PA 15241 

sam8will@msn.com 

1980 

Phyllis Watt Wilson 

3939 Livingston St. NW 

Washington, DC 20015 

phylliswjordan@hotmail.com 

Fran McClung Ferguson 

1917 Maylin Dr. 

Salem, VA 24153 

franferguson@comcast.net 

Allison Becker Chapman is enjoying the 

(bittersweet) start of school, with Sara 

in the 8th grade this year. Allison just 

finished graduate school completing a 

post-master’s program as an Acute Care 

Nurse Practitioner. 

Beth Blair McKinney is still working 

hard at the Estrogen Palace, aka McKinney 

Law Offices. Mac is in D.C. and her 

stepdaughter Maggie is living with Beth 

while attending Duke’s nurse practitioner 

program. 

Amy Campbell Lamphere’s summer 

highlights included the Summer Writer’s 

Conference, several golf tourneys for 

Jim, son Jake working at the Child Guidance 

Center, and Sarah preening for her 

freshman year at KU. Amy is happy repping 

JockeyP2P: her travels on behalf of 

stretchy clothes took her to Nantucket 

and Boston, and great fun with Mary 

Cowell Sharpe ’79, Eithne Broderick 

Carlin, Ann Connolly Simpson and Mimi 

Walsh Doe. She’s also teaching dance 

and NIA to students aged 2-82. 

Ann Connolly Simpson had a rockin’ 

summer, newly single and living on Plum 

Island. Two SBC’ers came to visit: Day 

Pritchart Dodson ’79 and Amy Campbell 

Lamphere. She packed up during 

Hurricane Irene to move into a condo in 

Amesbury, Mass. Ann is still working at 

The Dragon’s Nest toy store—21 years! 

Her daughter Hannah graduated magna 

cum laude from Conn. Coll. 

Claire Dennison Griffith has sent her 

youngest to college: Charlie is at TCU in 

Ft. Worth. Brianna Boswell Brown ’82 

and Ellen Sellers McDowell ’77 both 

have daughters there too. Her oldest 

son Ted lives and works in Atlanta. 

Claire is still working with high school 

juniors and seniors doing SAT and ACT 

prep. She and Luther are going to try to 

work less and enjoy being empty 

nesters more. 

Charlotte Gay Gerhardt and Paul are 

still happy in Williamsburg, Va., and enjoyed 

seeing Pam Koehler Elmets, 

Doug, and their children all the way from 

Calif. Charlotte’s daughter, Catherine, 

started law school at the U. of S.C. Augusta 

graduated from Wofford Coll. and 

is working in Charleston and Ann Burton 

is a junior at W&L. 

Missy Gentry Witherow enjoyed dinner 

this summer with Francie Root, Fannie 

Zollicoffer Mallonee and Barbara Wesley 

Bagbey and their husbands, Anne 

Vandersyde Malbon and Chic Grones 

’79, and several dinners with Anne Darden 

Self and her husband when they 

moved their daughter into UVA. 

Pam Koehler Elmets and Doug have two 

college seniors this year. Lauren will 

graduate from Santa Clara U. in June 

and Andrew from USC in May. Caroline 

is loving sophomore year of high school 

and is a member of the crew team. Pam 

has finished her term as president for 

the National Charity League, in which 

she and Caroline participate together. 

Doug is busy and doing well in the PR 

business. 

Fran McClung Ferguson is pleased that 

her son Robert will graduate from 

Lenoir-Rhyne U. (NC) in Dec. and that 

her daughter Carol will graduate from 

Sweet Briar in May. She is still working 

(at two-plus years) at the Virginia Museum 

of Transportation among all the 

big toys. Norman still enjoys his job at 

Virginia Tech. 

Catherine Mills Houlahan has a high 

school senior, a sophomore, and a 10- 

year-old still in grade school. She says 

job satisfaction is high, life is weird, and 

she’s relatively happy and excited every 

day! 

Myth Monnich Bayoud reports all is 

well in Dallas, although she enjoyed 

spending a week in the cool New England 

weather in July. Charlie is in the 

7th grade and life is good. She sees Susan 

Boline Thompson from time to time. 

Laurie Newman Tuchel’s oldest son Andrew 

is in his last year at Emerson Coll. 

in Boston, studying writing for TV and 

film. Younger son Jamie is in his 4th 

year at the U. of Edinburgh in Scotland, 

studying mechanical engineering. When 

she’s in Grand Bahama, Laurie’s active 

with the Grand Bahama Youth Film Competition 

and the Grand Bahama Heritage 

Foundation. 

Susan Posey Ludeman and Danny 

moved from Richmond to St. Louis four 

years ago and love it. Danny, Jr. and Allie 

are both out in the real world. Son, 

David, is a sophomore at St. Louis U. 

and their youngest, Caroline, is a senior 

at John Burroughs. 

Elizabeth Purdy Thorsey’s two daughters, 

Britt (fourth year) and Katherine 

(first year) are both at UVA. Elizabeth’s 

business is busy as ever. In her free 

time, she competes I-1 with her faithful 

equine partner and schooling the GP. 

Georgia Schley Ritchie stays busy with 

work, children and community. Her son 

Addison has deferred admission to Ohio 

Wesleyan to do a gap year in Australia, 

working and travelling there until June 

2012. Both of her daughters attend the 

Atlanta Girl’s School. Georgia went to 

Morocco and Spain in 2011 and plans 

to go to Cuba and Australia in 2012. 

Lillian Sinks Sweeney and John are 

empty nesters now that Taylor is off at 

Kenyon Coll. They are contemplating 

turning the house into a B&B for traveling 

Sweet Briar folk. Time for the whole 

class to plan a visit to Pittsburgh! 

Kim Wood Fuller had a hot summer in 

Okla. dealing with more than 50 days 

over 100 degrees. She took a vacation 

in cooler Colo. and was looking forward 

to seeing Jill Steenhuis Ruffato and 

helping her with an art show in Oklahoma 

City at the end of Oct. 

Liz Swearingen-Edens writes about a 

fabulous mini-reunion this past summer, 

beginning on Mackinac Island, Mich., 

and then rolling into Canada. Barbara 

Wesley Bagbey, Ginny Faris Hoffman, 

Fannie Zollicoffer Mallonee, Lillian 

Sinks Sweeney, Lisa Schneider Thornton, 

Jeannine Davis Harris, Carol 

Williamson Jenkins, True Dow-Datilio, 

Catherine Flaherty, and Georgia Schley-Ritchie 

represented SBC and nine 

states. Engaging in an exceptionally 

thorough exploration of Mackinac by 

bike and in a cold rain, our intrepid ambassadors 

also stopped to build cairns, 

bowl in the woods, visit Grand Hotel and 

watch people make fudge. 

Carolyn Hallahan Salamon: I am living 

in Frederick, Md., with my two children 

Thomas (12) and Meaghan (10). Their 

dad passed away in June, 2010 so it’s 

been a tough year. I am still working in 

IT and love seeing everyone on Facebook! 

I still dream about the beautiful 

campus, many walks, and my stint 

swimming too. 

Silky Hart Michero: My husband and I 

are looking forward to our trip to Italy 

and France. I’m very excited to be taking 

a week-long painting class with Jill 

Steenhuis in Aix-en-Provence. 

Anne Secor: Twin daughters Romy and 

Naia (5) starting kindergarten at a 

French school and stepson Julian (25) 

starting U. this fall. Mostly, I’ve been 

raising the beauties with some substitute 

teaching and web/graphic designing 

in between. Two recent trips: one to 

Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario, 

the other to Jonesport, Maine. 

Husband Steve still in the IT biz. 

Toni Santangelo Archibald: I started my 

8th year at School of the Holy Child in 

Rye, N.Y., my high school alma mater. 

Single again at 53. My eldest Johnny 

lives and works in Denver, Colo. Franny 

is a senior at the Naval Academy and 

will be commissioned in May. Sara will 

be 20 in Feb. and a sophomore at Loyola 

U. in Baltimore, Md. I love keeping 

in touch on Facebook. 

Ellen Clement Mouri: We are still enjoying 

life in the countryside here in Rixeyville. 

I am riding/training young sale 

horses for a few neighbors. Our children 

have flown the nest: Sarah (’06) graduated 

from vet school in May 2011 and 

is doing an internship at Rood and Riddle 

Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. 

Cameron graduated from JMU in 2010 

and is an aspiring musician in Sarasota, 

Fla. 

1981 

Claire McDonnell Purnell 

Four Thompson St. 

Annapolis, MD 21401-3833 

cpgd@verizon.net 

1982 

Consuelo Michelle Martínez 

7007 N. Tripp Ave. 

Lincolnwood, IL 60712 

consuelomichele@yahoo.com 

Monika Kaiser writes from Fla. where 

son Julius will be a high school junior 

and Alexa a senior at the U. of Miami. 

Husband Richard is still with Pepsi and 

loves the daily challenges. Monica volunteers 

at Julius’ school as their drama 

club coordinator and helps with SAC and 

the PTSO. 

Just returning from a vacation in Maine 

to visit her sister, Jennifer Rae writes of 

visiting her childhood, memorable beach 

spots. She also is planning a visit to her 

childhood home in Westchester, N.Y. 

where her parents and brother live. 

Jenny is feeling much better after having 

undergone two surgeries for skin cancer 

in 2010, a humbling experience. 

After 17 years in Germany, Gracie Tredwall 

is thrilled to finally “go home.” 

While Gracie relocates to Santa Fe in 

Aug., son Christoph (13) will spend the 

fall with his father in Germany. He will 

move to Santa Fe after Christmas to live 

with Gracie and attend her former high 

50 


school. Gracie enjoyed visiting with Patricia 

Whelan Schenk in Albuquerque 

last fall, and found that “she hasn’t 

changed a bit” and is happy to have an 

old “Tone” living nearby. 

Busy with riding and teaching (horses) 

Liz Hoskinson is “gardening like crazy” 

with heirloom herbs, after 

discovering an enthusiastic herb-gardening 

group in her area. 

A brief note from Kit Johnson Parks who 

finished (and survived) the complete remodeling 

of her Cary N.C. home. 

It’s been challenging times for Joan Vetter 

Ehrenberg who writes from Mont. 

Unfortunately her husband Ted passed 

away after Christmas last year from 

metastatic melanoma. Happily married 

for 20 years, and they had a daughter 

Kate (13). Joan writes that nothing can 

prepare one for these events, even the 

fact that in her Jan. interim at Sweet 

Briar, she took a class on Elizabeth 

Kubler-Ross’s book, “On Death and Dying.” 

The one lesson she would like to 

share is “for us to live for today; it is 

still the hardest one to learn. To love 

your friends and family, dear friends 

from Sweet Briar and to cherish them as 

they cherish you.” Our Sincere condolences 

to Joan and Kate. 

Deborah Price Bowman ended her term 

on the local arboretum board joined the 

local Planned Parenthood board to support 

women’s health care. Children 

Katie (15) and Kessler (10) were in 

Maine for a month of summer camp 

while Deborah visited her mother in S.C. 

She started playing for a local USTA 

team and looks forward to attending the 

U.S. Open in Sept. with her daughter 

who is also an avid tennis aficionada. 

Alice Dixon has changed careers and 

become a teacher! This fall she will 

teach 9th grade chemistry at Collegiate 

School in Richmond. Always active in 

sports, Alice coach JV field hockey and 

also lacrosse. Alice sees Carol Searles 

Bohrer and her family frequently, and 

enjoyed a visit from Carol and her 

daughter Emily at the beach in June. 

Brianna Boswell Brown writes from Dallas 

where son Matthew was running the 

3000M and 1500M in the Junior 

Olympics Nationals. Eldest daughter 

Hannah will be a senior at Hendrix Coll. 

and is applying to grad school this fall. 

While Sarah will be a sophomore at 

TCU. Brianna reminds everyone to come 

to our 30th reunion in May! 

Frances Ruth Fowler writes that after 

27 years of marriage, she and husband 

Jack “decided to go their own separate 

ways.” Sons John (19) and Magil (14) 

are fine. Ruth also has numerous parttime 

jobs: ophthalmology, personal assistant 

and helping a good friend/owner 

of popular hair salon. She looks forward 

to moving to an older section of Athens, 

Ga. 

“Life is good in Tulsa” writes Martha 

Tisdale Cordell where she is Dean of 

Students at U. of Tulsa Coll. of Law. She 

looks forward to going hiking on the 

Amalfi Coast in Italy in Sept. and also 

“college shopping” for daughter Mary 

Louise who is a senior. As an almost 

“empty nester,” Martha would enjoy 

seeing more SBC friends. She enjoyed a 

recent visit to N.Y. where she met 

Althea Hurt Randolph. Martha also 

thanks the SBC alumnae who keep her 

up to date on Facebook. 

Molly Finney Grenn writes from Va. 

where she and daughter Gracie visited 

Brianna Boswell Brown in Dallas. They 

enjoyed seeing Brianna’s wonderful and 

fun, husband Randy and children: Hannah 

(21), Sarah (19) and Matthew (16). 

Husband Mike is working on his Ph.D. 

dissertation in addition to his full time 

job. Molly looks forward to seeing all 

our classmates on May 18, 2012! 

Cathy Miller’s oldest daughter, Madeline, 

is at Randolph Macon in Ashland. 

Daughter Ali will be a high school 

senior. Husband David is adding another 

dentist to his practice while Cathy has 

been involved with upgrading the computer 

system at the hospital. She was 

able to take two long weekends with her 

mother; one to West Point for her father’s 

70th reunion and also to Monterey, 

Calif. for a niece’s wedding. 

Now that she is over 50, Gay Kenney 

Browne writes she will be better about 

staying in touch with her SBC gang. Returning 

from a year long sabbatical, Gay 

writes that it seems like until now she 

was busy with kids, being a wife and 

running her own business, that this part 

of her life has fallen by the wayside. 

No longer the Peanut Lady extraordinaire, 

Jean Von Shrader Bryan writes 

from Norfolk that “it is back to middle 

age mom for me.” Son George will attend 

Virginia Tech in the fall, daughter 

Betsy is taking a break from college and 

back home while youngest daughter 

Anne will be a senior in high school. 

1983 

Cary Cathcart Fagan 

329 Kelford Ln. 


cary1983@bellsouth.net 

Alice Cutting Laimbeer’s son Parker 

graduated from Elon in May and is now 

applying to grad schools for molecular 

biology. Margot is still cheering at Elon 

in her second year. Rick and Alice still 

foxhunt on weekends. In Oct. Alice and 

Rick are planning to join Wylie Jameson 

Small and Stuart and Lucy Chapman 

Millar and Ken at the Greenbrier. 

Betsy Birkhead Glick treated herself 

and her mother by celebrating her 50th 

in July with two days in Vancouver then a 

cruise on Alaska’s inside passage. Her 

eldest started at USC (that’s S.C. not 

Calif.) Her son is in eighth grade. Betsy 

is still working at Hilton Head Prep as 

an assistant and her husband has his 

own computer repair business. Betsy 

wrote that it was great to see Lizanne 

Schumacher Quinn last June when she 

and her family vacationed at Hilton 

Head. Betsy keeps in touch with Julia 

Bass Randall who is teaching school in 

Hingham, Mass., and has one daughter 

in college and one ready to graduate 

from high school. 

Elena Quevedo still lives in NYC since 

’83. Her oldest, Olivia, is a senior at Horace 

Mann School. Sebastian (15) is a 

complete teenager in spite of his special 

needs. Elena is entering her sixth 

year with The MacDowell Colony, the oldest 

artist residency program in the 

country based in N.H. and NYC. Elena 

did a lot of traveling this year: Brazil, 

Ecuador, Paris, Hungary, Slovakia and 

Poland. She loves all the re-connections 

with other alumnae through Facebook! 

Elizabeth Taylor Seifert enjoys her work 

in Public Policy for GlaxoSmithKline 

while juggling five children’s schedules 

and busy lives: Jenny (20), Catherine 

(15), Sarah (14), Lydia (13), and Peter 

(11). Elizabeth connected with Anne Little 

Woolley in Williamsburg, Va., and it 

was if the intervening years since ’83 

just melted away. 

Grayson Harris Lane is still living in 

Menlo Park, Calif., as a full-time mom 

and community volunteer. Her daughter 

Virginia (15) is very active with volleyball; 

son Robert (13) is busy with 

lacrosse. Grayson keeps in touch with 

classmates Cynthia Volk Meyerhoff and 

Kim Fox who are both doing great. 

Kathy Barrett Baker would LOVE to receive 

any class photos and/or press releases 

(any class members “In the 

News”); new or old family, Christmas, 

wedding or baby/children’s and 

teenagers Prom (“Red Carpet”) sent to 

her via email to 

sabotschool@hughes.net, Kodak Sharing, 

Facebook or snail mail. She’s been 

working on our scrapbook and writes 

that it’s turning out really well! 

Libby Glenn Fisher writes that the Fisher 

family is setting their sights on retirement 

and moving back to the south. Her 

youngest, Mary Kathryn, is applying to 

colleges this fall and graduates next 

spring. Son Wil, at Pepperdine, is 

spending his sophomore year in Buenos 

Aires. Libby left her nonprofit job in the 

summer. They’ll be making a few retirement 

locale “shopping” trips to N.C. 

and S.C. and may even get to visit a few 

classmates in those areas along the 

way. 

Lucy Chapman Millar’s daughter Peyton 

a senior at UGA and son Schuyler a senior 

in high school. Lucy took over running 

of her local Etcetera agency, which 

is a women’s wardrobing business 

based out of NYC. Lucy is still playing 

lots of competitive tennis in Atlanta, as 

well as competitive sporting clays shooting. 

Lucy wrote she couldn’t wait to join 

Wylie and Alice at the Greenbrier! 

Mason Bennett Rummel is closing in on 

her masters in philanthropic studies. 

Mason’s now in her 23rd year with the 

Brown Foundation, now as president. 

Rick and she are empty nesters now 

with Bennett out of grad school and 

working in NYC, and Annie and Emma in 

college, both studying history. She saw 

Mary Ware Gibson who was a decoy for 

Mason’s surprise 50th birthday party 

last summer. Mason enjoys staying in 

touch with Suzy Ireland Dupree, Libby 

Glenn Fisher, Lea Sparks Bennett and 

Helen Masters Durham ’81. 

Ruth Lewin wrote that she was very 

busy last summer attempting to meet 

the deadlines for her design clients in 

Fla. She took a wire wrapping jewelry 

class and was looking forward to a designing 

jewelry class. 

Wendy Chapin Albert’s oldest Annie 

(19) is back as a sophomore at Susquehanna 

U. in Pa. Wendy and Annie had a 

wonderful summer riding horses together. 

Eleanor (15) is in 10th grade at 

St. Paul’s School for girls. Tolly is CEO 

and a stockbroker at Chapin Davis in 

Baltimore. Wendy has been in touch 

with Blair Redd Barnes, Sarah Sutton 



Brophy and Kathy Barrett Baker on 

Facebook. She loved getting so many 

special birthday wishes from many SBC 

friends! Wendy sends a Hello to Meg 

Price Bruno! 

Cary Cathcart Fagan: As the craziness 

and humidity of summer is coming to an 

end, I anxiously await fall/winter. Not for 

the break in weather or the colors of the 

trees….IT’S FOOTBALL TIME! It’s funny, 

I live in the ACC, I’m surrounded by the 

SEC, I grew up in the Big 8, lived 

through the Big 12 and now am part of 

the Big 10 (really 12). That’s a lot of 

numbers for a girl that’s still bad at 

math! I never played sports at SBC, but 

I think Hollins was our biggest rival? My 

interest at that time was, of course, the 

boys of W&L, so my rival was Southern 

Seminary (at least at ZBT). Paula 

“Pookey” Campredon Snyder and I 

used to love to scare the underclass 

girls by yelling at the radio on Saturday’s 

when they would announce the 

scores of the games (yes, pre-ESPN). 

Now Pookey, although we aren’t direct 

rivals it could get sticky? Nah, we’ve 

survived 30+ years what’s a little football…Go 

Big Red, hee hee! 

1984 

Debbie Hodgkinson Jones 

4416 Bromley Ln. 

Richmond, VA 23221-1140 

elliesam@aol.com 

Jennifer Rotman: Living close to family 

in Conn. for the time being. I’m a freelance 

web copy specialist working as a 

consultant with SapientNitro. In the last 

few years I’ve had the good fortune to 

experience life in the Southeast, Midwest, 

and Northwest. There are a number 

of SBC alumnae I have reconnected 

with via Facebook, and I try and catch 

up otherwise with Pam Weekes ’83 and 

Jen Crossland ’85. 

Vida Henry Fonseca: I moved to back to 

middle Tenn. in May to take care of 

Daddy and got volunteered to teach 

Spanish/ESL and sing in the choir at my 

grandmother’s church across the street. 

I got together with Martha Pollard, see 

many fellow alumnae often on Facebook. 

Maria Elena Ferran: All is well in Charlotte. 

I’m now assistant branch manager 

with Dutch recruiting firm Randstad. 

Daughter Sarah is working at Carolinas 

Medical Center and starting nursing clinicals. 

My son Casey is studying film and 

production. Planning a trip to Italy this 

Christmas and hope to get up to Sweet 

Briar soon! 

Sharon Ingham Brown: We enjoyed a 

vacation in the Charleston area with my 

sister, Kathryn Ingham Reese ’88, and 

her family, during which our kids raised 

money for injured sea turtles. My husband 

Joel, 10 years later, is remarkably 

better from a massive injury-related 

stroke. I am the director of branch operations 

for Burns & Wilcox in Fla. Son, 

Davis, heads off to boarding school at 

Interlochen Arts Academy this fall for 

11th grade. Daughter Caroline is pas- 


51

Newman named head 

lacrosse coach at Beloit 

Meredith Newman ’09 is the youngest head 

coach to lead Beloit College’s women’s 

lacrosse program. She is also its first. at age 

24, the former Sweet Briar athlete is 

entrusted with building a brand-new 

program after two successful years at 

Kenyon College. “i always knew i wanted to 

make an impact somehow. i just wasn’t sure 

how. Being a lacrosse coach really provides 

that outlet for me,” Meredith says of 

working with college students. 

52 


’73 grad leads development 

at fine arts museum 

linda lipscomb ’73 was appointed 

deputy director for advancement at the 

Virginia Museum of Fine arts in 

September 2011, leading exhibitions 

and education funding as well as 

endowment growth. 

“The Virginia Museum is currently 

experiencing unprecedented growth and 

visitation as a result of the reopening last 

year and the blockbuster Picasso 

exhibition this spring,” VMFa director 

alex Nyerges said in a press release. 

“We are pleased to welcome such a 

valuable member to our team as we 

continue to strive to bring world-class 

exhibitions to the commonwealth.” 


53

sionate about running, and has been a 

key member of Berkeley Prep’s High 

School varsity cross country team since 

she was 12! 

Sloane Yeadon Mills: I retired 4-1 from 

U.S. Navy Reserves having served 22 

years. Mary Pate (20) began her sophomore 

year at UNC-Chapel Hill in Aug. 

She is a pre-med/art history major and 

AXO sorority girl. Daisy is a junior at 

Wesleyan School. Jack began middle 

school at St. Francis. I work at the FDIC 

in the Legal Division. 

Leslie Eglin: I’m staying busy with my 

job as head of HR for the Americas at 

The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm 

based in Washington, D.C. Earlier this 

year I spent a week in Athens, Santorini 

and Mykonos. I’d love to hear from any 

SBC alumnae in the VA-D.C. area! 

Mary “Ginger” Reynolds Davis: Jeff and 

I turn 50 in Sept. so I’m taking him to 

Alberta to hunt. Jeff will graduate this 

coming year and then go into the grading 

business like he’s always wanted to 

do. Carter is a sophomore and will continue 

to play on the Presbyterian College 

golf team. I can’t wait until our next reunion. 

Ann Alleva Taylor: I cannot believe it is 

that time of year. Carter, the girls and I 

are living in Vero Beach. We still have 

close ties to Atlanta, but I have found 

lots of new Sweet Briar friends here. 

The girls are flourishing in the sun with 

great outdoor activities, including riding! 

We love to have visitors and all are welcome. 

Elizabeth Harley Willett: We have had a 

fun, whirlwind year with a senior in high 

school. We went all over the east coast 

looking at colleges, including taking a 

very fun trip to Vanderbilt to see Liz 

Sprague Brant and her daughter, Betsy 

(who was a freshman this year). We ran 

into Lili Gillespie Billings and her kids in 

the hotel lobby. Catherine has settled 

on Washington and Lee and her dad 

(Chris, Class of ’78) couldn’t be happier. 

We celebrated our 25th anniversary 

this summer with a family trip to 

South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and 

Zambia. 

Liz Sprague Brandt: Happy to report 

that all is well with the Brandt family in 

Kansas City. Our daughter Betsy is a 

junior at Vanderbilt. Had the chance to 

catch up with Elizabeth Harley Willett 

and Lilli Billings while in Nashville this 

past winter. Lili’s son Jeb is also at 

Vandy . 

Lee Hubbard: In 2008 I left high school 

teaching after 21 years and began working 

at St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo, 

as director of Pastoral Formation and 

Field Education. In Nov., I began a Doctor 

of Ministry in Christian Spirituality at 

Washington Theological Union as I continue 

at the seminary. I do wish that our 

chaplain Mike Bloy could see me now. 

Louise Jones Geddes: Still teaching, 

though part time. Recently caught up 

with Melissa Cope Morrissette ’83 when 

we both dropped our daughters at summer 

camp. Have visited Penney Parker 

Hartline in Birmingham while my sons 

play club soccer around the region. Oldest 

son Charlie is heading to Wofford, 

where he hopes to play soccer. Giles, a 

rising 12th grader. Continue to enjoy the 

SBC community in Atlanta. 

Susan Dickinson Lindner: I have been 

working as a nurse in an oncology unit 

for the last two years. I am excited to 

say that I will be gaining a new sister-inlaw 

in late 2011 and a new daughter-inlaw 

in 2012 as my youngest brother and 

step-son will soon be getting married! 

Camille Mitchell Wingate: We have 

moved our daughter, Caroline into the 

KKG house at UGA for her sophomore 

year! I remember like it was yesterday 

moving into our dorm for sophomore 

year at SBC! Our daughter, Meredith will 

be a junior in high school! I am working 

in sales for Southern Tide, a men’s apparel 

company based in Greenville, S.C. 

Debbie Jones: Still working hard through 

this housing/economic crisis in mortgage 

banking while still squeezing in fun 

trips and expansion of our product line 

with my sister’s vodka venture, Square 

One. Enjoyed speaking again this spring 

at SBC to business students about our 

product and sustainability/organics. 

Spent an evening with Mary Jo Biscardi 

Brown ’86 in Richmond with her delightful 

husband. 

Janet Lewis Shepherd: I am living in 

Ponte Vedra Beach, Mom of four with 

oldest, Robert, attending Georgetown 

this fall. 

Liz Rodgers Boyd: Son Tommy is a 

sophomore at Bethel U. Louie spent 

June in Italy and July at Marine Military 

Academy Boot Camp. He is currently a 

senior and is working on his application 

to The Citadel. NEVER in my wildest 

dreams did I think I would have a boy at 

The Citadel. Tom and I continue to work, 

attend sports events and not much 

else. 

Wendy Birtcher Anderson: Amy, our oldest, 

spent the summer working in 

Chicago and is going back to Notre 

Dame for her senior year; Alex, our only 

son, is a sophomore film and business 

major at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas; Annie 

decided to follow in my footsteps 

and will be a freshman at Sweet Briar; 

she even has the same room as I did, 

209 Meta Glass! Our youngest daughter, 

Adrienne has one more year at 

home. 

Beth Bossong Russell: Busy year for us 

as my college sophomore took a semester 

off to hike the Appalachian Trail. He 

departed February 3 and summited Mt. 

Katahdin on June 23! My second son 

graduated from Greensboro Day School 

and is taking a gap year. He headed to 

Tanzania for fall semester and Baja 

spring semester-both NOLS programs. 

Then he’ll head to college at Elon. My 

daughter (15) has just left for Episcopal 

High School. 

1985 

Ellen Reed Carver 

1315 Bolling Ave. 

Norfolk, VA 23508 

ellenreed8@yahoo.com 

1986 

April Adelson Marshall 

7809 Coddle Harbor Ln. 

Potomac, MD 20854-3253 

adm1127@yahoo.com 

Leigh Ann White 

165 Gray St., Apt 2 

Arlington, MA 02476 

leighann.white@gmail.com 

Beth Ann Trapold Newton had a wonderful 

time at our 25th and wants to 

thank everyone who made the class gift 

possible! Each gift counts, and she is 

so pleased we were able to meet our 

challenge and make such a wonderful 

gift to SBC. Right now, her whole life revolves 

around the children and their activities, 

especially now that they are 

older. Beth Ann’s life is spent either 

working or behind the wheel as a chauffeur! 

Missy Duggins Green reports she and 

her husband Ken celebrated their 20- 

year anniversary on Aug. 24! They took 

a trip to Cabo and enjoyed a nice relaxing 

time at the beach…no kids! Her kids 

are back in school, Miles in 7th grade 

and Nancy in 6th. 

April Adelson Marshall is enjoying her 

position as a technical recruiter at Freddie 

Mac, great environment and team. 

Daughter Lily is in her second year at 

Savannah Coll. of Art & Design (SCAD). 

Son Hayden is a high school senior, interested 

in international relations. April 

hopes to make a move in 2012 from 

Md. to northern Va. April had a BLAST at 

our 25th Reunion and loves SBC and 

her college sisters more than she can 

express! 

In Boston, Leigh Ann White works for 

Biogen Idec supporting a drug in development 

to treat amyotrophic lateral 

sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). She 

and her partner Brian spend long weekends 

in Woods Hole on Cape Cod. Leigh 

Ann thoroughly enjoyed making it to our 

25th reunion. 

Sandy Wyllie is still working at Fannie 

Mae after 24 years, and tries to get together 

for lunch with Lisa Redd Toliver 

on occasion (Lisa been at Fannie Mae 

for the same length of time). Sandy is 

keeping busy with work and kids 

(Cameron, 14; Heather, 12; and Jimmy, 

5). On summer vacation this year they 

visited Anne Duffy and her family in 

Amherst, Mass. 

Shelby Burns reports to be happily divorced 

and went back to work full-time 

at her old company, Capital Research, 

as a research assistant last year. She 

has sole custody of Jack (11) Calvin (9) 

and Sam (6). She is also working as a 

freelance news writer for a bunch of 

websites. She’s hopeful to have more 

time this year, as things settle, to catch 

up with friends and see SBC alumnae 

who live nearby. 

Anne Toxey was thrilled to reconnect 

with so many old friends at reunion this 

May and reveled in Sweet Briar’s gorgeous 

campus. She is also happy to announce 

the publication of her first solo 

book in October 2011, “Materan Contradictions: 

Architecture, Preservation and 

Politics.” While continuing her museum 

exhibit design work with husband, 

Patrick McMillan, this fall she also begins 

a faculty appointment at the U. of 

Texas San Antonio as visiting researcher 

in the Center for Cultural Sustainability. 

Sue Finn Adams reports that she and 

Michael (W&L ’86) and celebrated 20 

years of marriage this Sept., and have 

enjoyed 15 years in Williamsburg! She 

continues working from home in project 

development for a specialty book publisher. 

Daughter Elizabeth is a senior in 

high school. Son Ben is a freshman, 

and Thomas started seventh grade. Sue 

says it was so awesome seeing so 

many of us at the 25th Reunion this 

past spring, and reaching our class 

fundraising goal of $86k! She can hardly 

wait until the 30th! 

June Lee Richardson moved from the 

San Francisco Bay area to southern 

Calif. five years ago for job relocation. 

June is going on 23 years with Sodexo 

(formerly Marriott) and will be celebrating 

11 years with husband Dwain. June 

was able to attend the mini reunion in 

D.C. over a year ago and meet up with 

few of our ’86 sisters including two 

roommates Eve Hill and Catherine Mc- 

Nease Stevens. June is very grateful 

and touched to have seen both April 

Adelson Marshall and Beth Ann Trapold 

Newton at her dad’s memorial service 

last year. 

Amy Simmons had a terrific time at our 

reunion. She was surprised by just how 

much it moved her and how wonderful it 

was to see so many familiar faces. Amy 

has been loving her new sales job for an 

online ad network that specializes in the 

pharma industry. If anyone makes it to 

NYC, Amy would love to meet with you. 

Dayna Avery Hulme is sorry to have 

missed reunion! Daughter Courtney is 

now a freshman at Texas Christian U. in 

Fort Worth. Daughter Alexandra is in 

eighth grade at Harpeth Hall School. 

Meanwhile, she and Tom just celebrated 

their 25th anniversary! 

Debby Klepac-Gaskill is entering her 

20th year as a middle school math 

teacher. She and husband Greer are approaching 

their 22nd wedding anniversary. 

Their son William is entering 

eighth grade, and daughter Lillian is a 

senior at Atlantic City High School, and 

is actively searching colleges. 

Suzanne Bailey is the CEO of ECA Risk 

Management, an environmental company 

she and her husband started two 

years ago. She is also nearing completion 

of her first novel, “The Bornless 

One,” in her young adult fantasy series, 

“The White Stone Trilogy.” Chris (16), a 

junior, continues to advocate for Juvenile 

Diabetes on a national level in a 

Hope For a Cure. Elizabeth (11) is an 

avid horsewoman winning champions at 

numerous shows this year. They still live 

in Birmingham. Great seeing all her sisters 

at our 25th! 

Nancy Palermo Lietz was so sorry to 

miss the reunion. Nancy is living in 

Charlotte, N. C. and works as a physician 

practicing obstetrics and gynelcology. 

She is married to Tim Lietz and has 

three children now ages 15, 13 and 9. 

She sees Mary Yorke Oates often and 

has recently seen Kaky Cassada. 

Elizabeth Lindsey survived another hot 

Nashville summer. Figure skating practice 

sessions are the best during summer—falling 

down provides the perfect 

excuse for lying on the ice and really 

cooling off! 

Linda DeVogt thinks it was great to see 

so many classmates back at SBC this 

past spring! This summer, they took a 

trip to Norway to see the country and 

visit family. Linda is in her 22nd year 

with Anthem, still in Roanoke, Va., and 

is having fun being back on the alumnae 

board as nominating chair. She asks 

that if you are interested in serving on 

the board or have someone in mind that 

might be a good candidate, send her information! 

Catherine Stevens’s son Henry started 

54 


middle school this year. He is taking 

band and learning to play the tenor saxophone. 

He is also playing travel soccer 

again and some of his games are at 

SBC! She and Nelson are both still 

working at the Southern Virginia Higher 

Ed Center in South Boston. 

Susan Swagler Cowles missed seeing 

everyone at the reunion, but will make 

the next one! She had a mini reunion 

with Rushton Callaghan in Tuscaloosa. 

Daughter, Elli, is a freshman in the Coll. 

of Nursing at The U. of Ala. Susan just 

celebrated 10 years at UA and was recently 

promoted to Director of Career 

Management for UA’s College of Commerce. 

Robyn Bailey-Orchard still teaches English 

and directs plays. She also teaches 

an SAT prep class and an arts camp 

course in drama. She enjoys acting in 

community theatre productions and 

keeping up with friends on Facebook. 

Louanne Woody (Outer Banks) is starting 

her second year of teaching math 

(13 years total) at the Dare County Alternative 

School. She is also a lay speaker 

in the United Methodist Church. Since 

her husband died four years ago, she’s 

learned to appreciate the journey of life. 

Mariah Smith Malik’s father died earlier 

this year so it was nice to have something 

fun like Reunion to look forward 

to. It lifted her spirits. Son Jordan is a 

high school senior. This summer they 

enjoyed trips to Bermuda and Venice, 

Italy. Mariah is looking forward to 

seeing Sweet Briar classmates Catherine 

Callender Sauls and McKenzie Reed 

Van Meel at Allie Alden’s (’88) upcoming 

wedding. Looking forward to seeing 

everyone again at our 30th! 

Ingrid Weirick Squires keeps busy in 

Virginia Beach with her husband Dave 

and Thomas (10), who is into church activities, 

Scouts, lacrosse, Newscrew at 

his school and reading everything! She 

is teaching second grade this year and 

loves keeping up with Vixens from ’86 

on Facebook. Ingrid was so upset she 

couldn’t make it for our 25th, but visited 

SBC a few weeks later. Looking forward 

to our 30th! 

Burke Morrow started the 2011-2012 

school year teaching science at East 

High School in Lincoln. Burke had a fabulous 

time at reunion and missed those 

that did not come. 

Lisa Leigh Ringler Bennett has been 

busy working on the farm and attending 

Penn State’s Master Gardener Program. 

She and Bob are looking forward to getting 

away this winter. Daughter, Sydney, 

will be driving in Feb. 

Mimi Holland Dinsmore reports that all 

is well with her one husband, one child, 

one dog and one cat. Mimi really loved 

catching up and with dear friends at the 

25th reunion! She is busy with her 

son’s high school senior year activities 

and continues to curate art exhibits and 

volunteer with hospice. Husband Tyler 

maintains a busy law practice. Mimi 

loved seeing old friends at our 25th and 

looks forward to seeing them again at 

next reunion if not before! 

Sally Engleby Farrell just got a new job 

at St. Mark’s Church in New Canaan, 

Conn., as the director of their nursery 

school. It has been a dream of hers 

since SBC! Sally is finishing up her 

coursework at Virginia Theological Seminary 

in Alexandria where she is getting 

her Masters of Arts in Christian Formation. 

She is aiming to graduate in May 

of 2013. Her oldest son is a freshman 

at Fort Lewis College in Durango Colo. 

Her twin boys (13) are adjusting nicely 

to their big brother being out of the 

house! Sally was so sorry to miss our 

25th reunion, but promises to make the 

next one! 

Jesse Ann White is starting a new job 

as school psychologist in Barre, Vt. 

Jesse was very disappointed to have 

missed the reunion. She loved the pictures 

and looks forward to the next one. 

Rushton Haskell Callaghan is an assistant 

Cross Country Coach at Hampton & 

Farley’s school, Episcopal School of 

Jacksonville. She ran a half marathon in 

Jaffrey, N.H., in July and placed second 

woman overall, 14th in the entire race! 

Rushton saw Meme Boulware Hobbs in 

June in Birmingham. 

Patty Glick was sorry to have missed 

the reunion. She is living in Seattle with 

her husband, Dan Kress, her Jack Russell 

Terrier, Penny, and her new horse, 

Carolina. She’s had the pleasure over 

the past few years to see classmate 

Janice Vandenheuvel Goodman, who 

has a farm in western Wash. Patty is in 

her 13th year at the National Wildlife 

Federation, working on climate change. 

Heather E. Evans loved seeing the Reunion 

pictures thanks to McKenzie. 

She’s now been senior counsel for The 

Williams Companies (an energy company) 

for 11 years. She manages litigation 

and also the Director of Discovery 

for the company. Her twins, Cole and 

Katie (7) started 2nd grade. 

Mary Jo Biscardi Brown enjoyed seeing 

the great number of classmates who 

turned out for our 25th Reunion last 

May! It was a thrill to see and catch up 

with so many old friends. Mary Jo continues 

to work at a law firm in Bucks 

County, Pa., and travels whenever possible 

with husband Frank. 

Terry Cerrina Davis says she’s enjoying 

being a busy and involved at-home mom 

to daughter, Lindsay (9). She loves being 

on the PTO board at the school in 

Park Ridge, N.J. and is still happy being 

a Girl Scout leader while trying to jump 

start her Tastefully Simple consultant 

business. Terry loves keeping in touch 

on facebook. 

Christine Jones Winder reports that all 

is well; she is still in London and busy 

with job and teenagers. Mostly she’d 

like to say how wonderful it was to see 

our classmates at reunion. It was her 

first trip back in 25 years. What a treat, 

a real balm to the soul. 

1987 

Jean Lewis Guergai 

3641 Elderberry Pl. 

Fairfax, VA 22033 

guergai@aol.com 

1988 

Maia Free Jalenak 

605 Camelia Ave. 

Baton Rouge, LA 70806 

maia_jay@cox.net 

Earlier this month, Denise Landau Blind 

visited Julie Martin Collins, on the sad 

occasion of Julie’s father’s funeral in 

Murfreesboro, Tenn. “Being with Julie 

was wonderful,” writes Denise. Denise 

and Julie plan to get their families together 

soon. Denise’s son Tyler is a 

high school junior. Daughter Chelsea is 

entering eighth grade. 

Cecilia Moore, who is an associate professor 

in the Religious Studies Department 

of the U. of Dayton in Ohio, serves 

on the Historical Commission for the 

Cause for Sainthood of Father Augustus 

Tolton. Father Tolton was the first recognized 

African American priest in the U.S. 

Cecilia also serves as the associate director 

of the Masters in Theology Program 

at Xavier U. of Louisiana’s Institute 

for Black Catholic Studies. 

Eden Zuckerman Brown reports from 

Arlington, Va., that she is now writing 

full time. She has just finished her first 

children’s book and hopes to have it 

published as well as adapted into a 

screenplay. Her husband, Bill continues 

to work for Argosy U. and is the Group 

Vice President–East. 

Susan Detweiler had a wonderful summer 

guiding climbers in the Teton Range 

of Wyo. (exumguides.com). She is about 

to embark on her eighth trip to Antarctica 

where she works as a field trainer 

and guide for scientists (for photos: 

pbase.com/antarctic_suze). She missed 

Virginia Bennett Leeds and family who 

were visiting in the Tetons, but hopes 

they’ll be back soon. Susan enjoyed 

seeing Jennifer Roach Childs on her 

spring road/climbing trip. For many 

years, Susan and Jennifer have been 

planning to attend our 25th SBC reunion. 

Amazingly, 2013 is just around 

the corner. Susan hopes that many will 

attend. 

Kate Cole Hite, Kathryn Ingham Reese, 

and Katie Keogh Weidner got together 

in Annapolis for a day to do some shopping 

and catching up. Kate brought the 

1988 banner along for documentation! 

Brooke Rinehart Dunn writes that she 

continues to work as the bookkeeper for 

her husband’s landscaping business. 

She is also the assistant lacrosse 

coach at Charlottesville High School. 

Brooke’s daughters are in eighth and 

tenth grades. Brooke went back to SBC 

in the spring and played in the annual 

“Old Lady” lacrosse game and notes, as 

always, I loved seeing Kate Hite, 

Kathryn Reese, Mary Via Cuoco ’87 and 

Katie Hearn ’85. 

Elizabeth Belser Kistler and husband 

Jim, daughter Lauren (15), and son Sam 

(13) moved into a new house in Spartanburg 

last May. They had a lot of exciting 

travels this summer. Lauren travelled 

on the Grand Western Tour out of 

Winston-Salem, N.C. for five weeks. She 

and 44 other 10th graders travelled 

across the U.S. and had an amazing experience. 

Also, on a very sad note, Elizabeth 

lost her mother, Virginia Lutz ’61, 

to cancer in August 2009. 

Kathryn Deriso-Schwartz writes from 

Miami that she is back to playing softball 

and tennis. She also volunteers for 

a nonprofit organization and works out 

of her home as a part-time independent 

contractor. Katherine just returned from 

taking daughter Kacki to Fla. State U. 

for her senior year. Her twins, Burgen 

and Webb are juniors at a mega magnet 

high school. Webb is in the engineering 

strand. Burgen is in the performing arts 

as first chair flute in the orchestra. 



Chandler is in seventh grade and is into 

photography. 

Lisa Thompson, who practices law in 

Vero Beach, Fla., was recently engaged 

to Trevon Barnes, and they are planning 

to get married the weekend of Thanksgiving 

in Vero Beach. 

Kelly Meredith Iacobelli has returned to 

the marketing department of Coca-Cola. 

Her daughter, Kathleen (9), is enjoying 

gymnastics competition and Girl Scouts. 

Kelly is the troop leader. John continues 

to enjoy his job and cheering for the 

women in his life. 

When she sent me her notes, Jeanne 

Rovics Mexic who lives in McLean, Va., 

was heading out the door to spend the 

weekend in Virginia Beach with Kristen 

Petersen Randolph. She is still traveling 

to all kinds of exciting places with her 

job in Global Sales with Hilton. Son 

Blake is in seventh grade. 

Nici Fraley Pechman writes from Birmingham 

that her kids are starting seventh 

and fourth grade. She also has a 

stepson in seventh grade. She has been 

remarried for four years, and has 

moved, but still lives in Mountain Brook. 

She has enjoyed being a stay-at-home 

mom for 12 years, but is thinking about 

practicing law again, as a guardian ad 

litem specifically for children who are 

kidney failure patients. 

Mary Halliday Shaw writes that her 

twins Mike and Jack (20) are sophomores 

in coll. Their band went on tour 

over the summer on the east coast and 

released a second album. Paige Apple 

Montinaro went to see one of their 

shows in NYC. Mary’s youngest, Kevin 

(16), started his sophomore year of 

high school. Mary and Brad celebrated 

their 21st wedding anniversary last May. 

She is still teaching, and Brad is in corporate 

communications with the Home 

Depot. 

I was very touched by a sweet and inspiring 

email from Martha Graeber 

Thomas who lives in Tyler, Texas. She 

had stage two breast cancer and is cancer-free, 

but is finishing her treatments 

through Nov. Her husband and her 

daughters (Kaitlin who is a sophomore 

at Texas A&M and Elizabeth who is a 

high school senior) have been very supportive. 

She wrote that she wants people 

to know that cancer is so beatable, 

and you can make it through the treatments 

because life and family are worth 

it! 

I am enjoying being a full-time mom 

these days. My son, Jack just started 

his freshman year at Louisiana State U. 

My daughter, Nina, is in seventh grade. I 

am working on a several volunteer projects 

and playing tennis whenever I can. 

It’s hard to believe that it was 27 years 

ago that we were moving in for our 

freshman year at SBC in the fall of 

1984. Our 25th class reunion will take 

place on May 17-19, 2013. Everyone, 

please make plans to be there! 


55

56 


Class of 2006 

Members of the Class of 2006: 

Michelle Badger, Kristen Bergquist, 

Paula Kirkland Ledbetter, Katie Vaughn 

and Sara Coffey via Skype 


57

1989 

Emmy S. Leung 

7102 Wynnewood Ct. 


fan-han@prodigy.net 

1990 

Kelly Wood Erickson 

104 S Winterberry Ct. 

Smithfield, VA 23430 

skjs2@charter.net 

Kelly Wood Erickson: I am still teaching 

first grade and spend most of my free 

time facilitating school, soccer, and basketball 

events for my son Jack (13) and 

daughter Sophie (11). My husband 

Steve has been back in Afghanistan 

most of 2011. We are looking forward 

to him being home in time for Christmas. 

LuAnn Hunt: My daughter Candice gave 

birth to Olivia on April 14. I have decided 

to retire from the city of Lynchburg 

by November 2013 to pursue my passion 

of photography. Currently I run a 

part-time photography business (on 

Facebook: LunAnn Hunt Photography). 

Julie Nyquist: 2011 is flying by! Still 

working in Miami at the John S. and 

James L. Knight Foundation. My son Andrew 

is two. I’ve been able to reconnect 

with Martha Bennett Huffman ’87 who 

is living in Texas thanks to Linked In. I 

have also seen Ashley Flynn Blanchard 

’90 and her kids, who now live in Vero 

Beach, Fla. 

Parker Shultis Pearson: Staying busy 

with my job, challenging myself to implement 

new business development and 

marketing approaches that have traditionally 

only been accessible to companies 

with large budgets! On a related 

note, I went back to SBC this spring for 

their annual Career Panel and was excited 

to see how well SBC is preparing 

everyone for today’s job market. I continue 

riding and showing my horse, still 

training with Kit Sydnor ’66 after almost 

20 years. 

Beth Pesiri Solomita: Daughter Grace 

(7) will be starting second grade in the 

fall, Jack (5) will be entering kindergarten. 

Ava (3) is now with me at the 

preschool I continue to work (going on 

14 years). Mike changed jobs, he is still 

in finance, but is now working at Bimbo 

Bakeries in Greenwich, Conn. I am on 

Facebook. 

Allison Miree Novellino: Keeps up with 

Sallie McIllheran Wunner. Husband 

Marc and I are a year into being small 

business owners of two hair salons, so 

far so good! Children Christopher (10) 

and Anna Marie (4) keep us busy. 

Stachelle Gilmore Hanling: My daughter 

Haylee is starting her junior year in high 

school. My son is four. Love catching up 

with classmates on facebook. 

Jacy Carter Allen: Husband Ben is a 

builder in Aspen and continues to have 

work. Children Noah (8) and Amelia (6) 

keep us busy and happy. Keep in touch 

with Carol Witherington Lumpkin, 

Brandi Beck, Elizabeth Mason Horsely, 

and a few others. Would love to hear 

from anyone. 

Kelleigh Klym Friesen: Hope everyone 

is well! Ava just turned three. Frank and 

I enjoy our pediatric practice, but also 

look forward to family holidays. If anyone 

is visiting the Canadian Rockies, let 

us know! Hope to see everyone in 

2015. 

1991 

Lorraine Haire Greer 

38 Maple St., Unit 2 

Derry, NH 03038 

lhgreer@gmail.com 

1992 

Tricia Pheil Johnson 

62 E Irvin Ave. 

Hagerstown, MD 21742 

1993 

Stacey McClain 

2219 Belote Pl. 

Jacksonville, FL 32207-4053 

stacey.mcclain@gmail.com 

Stacey McClain: The Class of 1993 is 

busy, busy, busy! Connect on our official 

SBC Class of 1993 Facebook Group— 

http://www.facebook.com/groups/sbc1 

993/ Share you memories with everyone 

on the Facebook Group: I Went to 

Sweet Briar College if.. http://www.facebook.com/groups/266755730006157 

/ (Warning - this group is addictive!) 

Start planning for Reunion: the big 2-0 

in 2013! 

1994 

Mary-Linda “Molly” Morris 

1411 S 6th St. 

Columbus, OH 43207-1120 

molly.morris@gmail.com 

1995 

Beverley Stone Dale 

2006 Ashcrest Ct. 


bsdale@comcast.net 

1996 

Sarah Reidy Ferguson 

1915 Edinburgh Ter. NE 

Atlanta, GA 30307 

serferguson@gmail.com 

Mrs. Kelly Collins Lear 

24 Prescott Dr. 

Hudson, OH 44236 

kellycollins13@yahoo.com 

1997 

Kerri R. Burtner 

601 N Rosina Ave. 

Somerset, PA 15501 

kerri.burtner@gmail.com 

1998 

Chantel Nicole Bartlett 

7775 Tiverton Dr. 

Springfield, VA 22152-2021 

pinkgreen1998@yahoo.com 

Cynthia Bumgardner Puckett 

7123 High St. 

Floyds Knobs, IN 47119-9538 

cpuckett@sbc.edu 

1999 

Ms. Lindsey Neef Kelly 

15012 Ashby Way E 

Carrollton, VA 23314 

lindseyckelly@verizon.net 

Christy Carl Allison and family relocated 

to Leesburg, Va. When she’s not spending 

time with future-Vixen Laurel (2), 

she’s running sound/singing at Unity of 

Loudoun County, working for inspirational 

author/educator Suzanne Scurlock-Durana 

or watching Doctor Who 

with husband James. 

Amy Gibbs Brown has moved to Atlanta, 

Ga.! Kenton got a job at Georgia 

Tech doing research. She looks forward 

to restarting her design business 

(www.amybrowninteriors.com) in Atlanta 

and will soon be published in Better 

Homes and Gardens. 

Kristine Bria Brown and her husband 

Andrew are expecting their first child (a 

boy) in January 2012. Kristine still continues 

to work at Connecticut Renaissance 

and is studying to take the CT Licensure 

LCSW exam at the end of Oct. 

Kristine keeps in touch with Sarah Dean 

and Annie Ortengren and several other 

alumnae via Facebook. 

Brenda Elze married Jonathan Mikan on 

Aug. 13 in Omaha, Neb. It was wonderful 

catching up with her SBC sisters: Jen 

Schmidt Major, Jill Stromberg, Casey 

Herman, Alex Sienkiewicz Auer, Krista 

Wigginton Gravatt, Sarah Lester and 

Heather Carson! Brenda and her husband 

now reside in New Cumberland, 

Pa. 

Lindsey Neef Kelly and Sean are preparing 

for the last addition to the family, a 

boy expected in Nov. Their three daughters 

(4, 3, and 1) are thrilled. At work, 

Lindsey is in the middle of the developing 

field of mortgage defense litigation. 

Meghan Pollard Leypoldt continues to 

stay busy as senior associate director 

of admissions at Duke and is thoroughly 

in love with Piper (3) and Lex (1). Over 

the summer, she had a girls’ weekend 

with Sarah Kingsley and Brandi Whitley 

Hilder. Meghan and family also spent 

five days in Figure Eight Island with Amy 

Gibbs Brown and her beautiful family. 

Jen Schmidt Major brushed up on her 

Spanish while on vacation in Cabo San 

Lucas with Mike, Anna (11), Emily (10), 

Allie (4) and Ryan (2). She had a wonderful 

time as a bridesmaid in Brenda 

Elze’s wedding. Jen ran the Buffalo Half 

Marathon with sister Abby this May and 

is training for her next half marathon in 

Sept. 

Emily Sartor Patterson is enjoying her 

two children, Claire (3) and Tyler (1), 

while also working part time at Duke 

providing therapy for families affected 

by cancer. 

Tina Hansel Snover is alive and well in 

Lynchburg, Va., with her two girls (Brenae 

’06 and Lizzie ’09) and husband, 

David. She is still working part time as 

a résumé consultant with Pathway Résumés. 

Sweet Briar is as beautiful as 

ever and if you haven’t been by in 

awhile, you should. The new gym is 

worth seeing! 

Katie Leeming Sparkman is still living in 

Rowayton, Conn., with her husband, 

three kids; Ashley (5), Thorne (2) & Elizabeth 

(1), and their dog. The kids and a 

lot of volunteer work keep her busy. 

Jill Triana began her ninth year as the 

assistant director of the Counseling 

Center at Meredith College, a women’s 

college in Raleigh, N.C. She also completed 

her third Susan G. Komen 3-Day 

for the Cure, a 60-mile walk to raise critical 

funding for breast cancer research, 

treatment, outreach and programming. 

Lindsay Hicks Watrous and husband 

Tim moved from Phoenix to Gilbert last 

fall, and are loving their new neighborhood. 

Sons Drew (3) and Owen (1) keep 

her very busy while Tim travels for work. 

2000 

Marilen Jordas Sarian 

212 Rock Creek Ct. 

Yorktown, VA 23693 

artinspired@loveandmojo.com 

2001 

Julia Varner 

Kientz Ambersley 

912 N Glenwood Trl. 

Southern Pines, NC 28387 

jambersley@sbc.edu 

2002 

Margaret Brooks Buck 

4436 Yoruk Forest Ln. 


brookiebuck@gmail.com 

Lori Smith Nilan 

14600 Windjammer Dr. 

Midlothian, VA 23112 

Susan Seitz Jackson: Enjoying spending 

time with Ben (4) and Sam (2). 

2003 

Courtney Arnott 

Silverthorn 

152 Clubhouse Dr. SW, Apt 203 

Leesburg, VA 20175 

courtney.silverthorn@gmail.com 

Allison Albanis Strohmeyer and husband 

Dax welcomed their first child, 

Brooks William Strohmeyer 4/25/11. 

Melissa Gist Mundy and husband Josh 

also welcomed their first, Cline Edward 

Mundy 6/23/11. Kelly Hughes Kaufman 

and husband Nick had their seconnd 

child Kathryn Kasey Rose Kaufman 

on 6/12/11. Smith Hargett says 

they also welcomed their second son, 

Tate, 2/11. Erin Keck Walsh says she 

and husband Terry welcomed their third 

daughter, Brienne Davis Walsh, 

8/3/11. 

Lisa Renfrow is still living and working 

in San Francisco for BillFloat.com as 

customer support manager. She spent a 

few days with Michelle Badger ’06 and 

Christy Holterman Zeigler ’01 when they 

were each in town; she also tries to 

meet up regularly with Emma Kate 

Payne. Sara Shank Sims went to visit 

Catherine Scheer Rymer ’04 in Calif. 

7/11 and had an amazing time traipsing 

through San Francisco, Muir Woods, 

Napa Valley and Point Reyes! 

Lara Corazalla started a new position at 

SMU in Dallas, Texas, as the periodicals 

and electronic resources librarian for 

the Bridwell Theology Library on cam- 

58 


pus. Tiffany Williamson Norwood lives 

in Midlothian, Va., with husband Ryan 

and daughter Campbell (3). She took a 

job with a law firm in Richmond that 

specializes in mass claim resolution. 

She had a girls’ weekend with Angela 

Grisby Roberts 06/11, and saw Megan 

Gaillardet Steiner 8/11. 

Julia Schmitz moved to Athens, Ga. 

7/11 to start a new job as assistant 

professor of biology at Piedmont Coll. 

She traveled to Chicago 5/11 to give a 

talk at the annual Digestive Disease 

Conference, and to Houston 6/11 for 

an educational conference. She had 

lunch with Jessica Shannon and Lizzy 

Meyer while in Texas, and enjoyed dinner 

with Katy Kummer and Laurel Speilman 

Rogers before she left Chapel Hill 

N.C. 

Sarah Canovaca Poirier and husband 

Booker are enjoying their new home and 

three growing boys Daniel (first grade), 

Dylan (pre-school) and David (1). She is 

working as a youth director for an Episcopal 

church in Maine. 

Claire Affleck is keeping busy running 

her horse farm, Claire Affleck Training, 

in Skaneateles, N.Y. 

Leslie Sidwell O’Neil says her son 

William Liam Tyler O’Neal (2) keeps her 

busy. She and Rob are getting ready to 

take him to Disney World. 

Quinn Smith Hall moved into the dream 

home that she and her husband have 

been building for the past year in Concord, 

Va. She continues to work as a 

mental health therapist for Central Va. 

Community Services and has recently 

relocated to the Amherst and Appomattox 

offices. Laura Ison Russell says she 

and husband Franklin moved back to 

her hometown of Harrodsburg, Ky. and 

are renovating a 100-year-old farmhouse. 

Danielle Ross Oberg went to Chicago to 

attend a taping of the Oprah show, and 

had lunch with Jade Boardman Benning. 

She graduated from ODU with a MSEd 

with a concentration in tourism and 

recreation 12/10 and took her first 

overseas trip to London 3/11. She, 

Megan Doughtie, Virginia Uchello Lyon, 

and Carrie Deshazor celebrated their 

30th birthdays in Virginia Beach, and 

she also saw Megan in Ga. Her biggest 

news is that she and her husband are 

expecting their first baby, Nora Anne, 

10/11. 

Courtney Yerdon Gleason graduated 

with her masters in accounting from 

UNC Charlotte 8/11 and is now halfway 

through the four CPA exams! She went 

to Europe for the first time 6/11 and 

spent three weeks on the trip of a lifetime 

in Germany, Austria and Prague. 

Courtney Arnott Silverthorn received a 

Certificate in Biotechnology Enterprise 

from JHU 5/11. She is still working in 

intellectual property at SAIC and is glad 

to be living in Va. again after eight years 

in Md. 

2004 

Virginia Wood Susi 

7975 Dunstable Cir. 

Orlando, FL 32817 

ginnysusi@gmail.com 

2005 

Melinda Katherine Wolfrom 

1218 Columbus St., No. 2 

Houston, TX 77019 

mindywolfrom@gmail.com 

Mindy Wolfrom spent four months with 

her mother and brother in northern 

Idaho after her father passed away in 

May from a two-year battle with cancer. 

Her mother recently bought a condo in 

Houston, where Mindy also moved. Fortune 

granted her an amazing job at a 

well-respected private high school in 

Houston as a Latin teacher. 

Torrey Shallcross now works as the Corporate 

Relations Manager for The 

Melanoma Research Foundation. She 

lives in D.C. and enjoys spending time 

with Alexandra Kolhberger, who lives in 

New Can Aan, and is happily married to 

Jared Kolhberger. 

Caitrin Delaney Blake and her husband 

Chris just had their second child, a little 

boy named Collin, on 7/12/11, and 

their daughter Cameron (2 ½) loves being 

a big sister. 

Leah Reedy Revelle finished her M.A. in 

environmental studies at VCU. Her husband 

and she are expecting their first 

baby (a girl) the week of Thanksgiving. 

Christie Sears Thompson and her husband, 

Kevin, went to Cancun, Mexico, 

for their first year anniversary in 11/10! 

Christie has been working on her M.A. 

for Marriage and Family Therapy from 

Regis U. in Denver, Colo. She visited 

Italy in 5/11 for a Play Therapy Institute 

as part of Marriage and Family Therapy 

training, and also visited Madrid, Spain, 

in this same trip. She volunteers with a 

nonprofit organization (with Melissa 

Massy ’06) called Judi’s House in Denver. 

Denise Uribe still sees Ashley Ruffead , 

Beth Goldring, Sasha Moran, and 

Kathryn Haynes from time to time. She 

now lives in Harrisonburg, Va., and 

works for Cargill as the area’s Farm 

Safety Coordinator for the Breeder and 

Hatchery Division. 

In addition to loving her job at College 

Park Church in Indianapolis, Liz Eager 

Marvel spent a month in Togo last summer 

working at a missionary hospital, 

made many trips to Ga. to see family 

this past year, and took a short trip to 

Wis. in Jan. to see Casey Knapp Fleming 

and son Charlie (Liz’s godson). She 

continued working at her church until 

her husband graduated from medical 

school in May, and they moved to 

Springfield, Mass., in June. Since then, 

she started an M.A. in Church History 

at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. 

Michelle Whitaker Hemingway is working 

as an international bloodstock agent 

with racehorses and is the director of 

sales at Stonewall Farm Ocala. She is 

married with one son. 

Ginger Tripp McAdams and her husband 

moved to Charlotte, N.C., in 6/10. 

She is still teaching first grade at Charlotte 

Latin School, and they are expecting 

their first baby in Jan.! She saw 

Brooke Sagalowsky (left our SBC class 

after sophomore year) at an SBC wedding 

(Maria Kitchin ’04) in June and she 

often runs into Tori Hankins ’06 and 

Tamra Scott ’06. 

Lynsie Watkins Steele is expecting with 

a due date of 3/12 (she’s still waiting 

to find out the sex of the baby). This 

winter will see a chaotic household, 

since they’re building an addition to 

their home in order to house all of the 

new babies. 

Catherine “Cat” Brumley resides in 

Falls Church, Va., and is working in publications. 

She recently met with Heather 

Bowen ’96 in Crystal City for lunch. 

She’ll see Brentz Basten East, Tamara 

Himelright Helton and Lauren Byrne ’04 

for their annual “girls weekend” at the 

lake later this month. 

Katharina Fritzler moved to Germany in 

March and has spent the summer exploring 

the country. She is studying German 

and will receive a language certificate 

in 5/12. She transferred schools 

and is now enrolled at NDSU. Her focus 

is gerontology. In Aug., Katharina helped 

to start a group called the ChickHaus. 

The group helps other English-speaking 

women acclimate to living in Germany. 

Laura Brockman Bryan just went back 

to teaching at Amherst County High 

School after two years of being a stayat-home 

mom. Walker Addison Bryan 

(21 months) was born 12/18/09. Laura 

enjoys having playdates with Krystal 

Dean Tucker and her son, Wyatt. Laura 

opened a successful, thriving photography 

business in 2009. 

2006 

Nicole Brandt 

105 Prestwick Ct. 

Yorktown, VA 23693 

brandt06@sbc.edu 

Victoria Chappell Harvey 

PSC 76 Box 7851 

APO, AP 96319-0057 

chappell.victoria@gmail.com 

2007 

Emily Olson 

382 E. Scripps Rd. 

Lake Orion, MI 48360 

emilynicoleolson@gmail.com 

Our 5-year reunion is coming up in May! 

The small, but mighty class of 2007 is, 

as usual, up to amazing things. 

Betty Skeen writes: “I spent three years 

as a grad. student and T.A. at the U. of 

Md., where I earned my MFA in choreography 

in 2010. Upon graduation from 

UMD, I was asked to join Sara Pearson 

and Patrik Widrig’s dance company, 

Pearsonwidrig Dance Theater, and I 

have been dancing/collaborating with 

them for over a year now.” 

Kelsey Jeffers wrote: “I am now working 

for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration as an Officer in 

the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. 

I am currently training at the U.S. Merchant 

Marine Academy in Kings Point, 

N.Y., to work on one of NOAA’s ships 

conducting scientific research starting 

in late Nov.” 

Heidi Trude is in her 4th year teaching 

French at Skyline H.S and received 

tenure. Heidi was elected to serve as 

the VP of the Warren County Education 

Association for 2011-12. 

Laura Schaefer started in May as the 

sustainability manager for the Oregon 

National Primate Research Center, part 



of Oregon Health and Sciences U. 

(OHSU). Of her upcoming wedding, she 

writes, “I’m looking forward to celebrating 

with Rachel Reynolds and Margaret 

Loebe ’06 as bridesmaids. And I’m looking 

forward to visiting and showing off 

Portland to Maggie Saylor Patrick, Jennifer 

Wolf, Natalie Pye and Angelica 

Shea Lamke ’06 who are all planning to 

make the trip out for the wedding.” 

Morgan Roach continues to reside in 

Washington, D.C. and work at The Heritage 

Foundation as a research associate 

specializing in transatlantic relations, 

Africa and Middle East policy. Last 

spring Morgan travelled to Brussels as 

part of the European Union Visitors Program. 

She then traveled to Islamabad, 

Pakistan and then to Astana and Almaty, 

Kazakhstan as part of the U.S. State 

Departments Legislative Fellows program. 

Shortly after, she participated in 

a transatlantic risk assessment conference 

sponsored by Johns Hopkins 

School of Advanced International Studies 

on the eastern shore in Md. She 

continues to blog for the Foreign Policy 

Associations U.S. Diplomacy and European 

blogs. 

Elsa Mittelholtz continues to work at 

Tetra Tech, Inc. as a Conference Planner 

in Fairfax, Va. This year she has kept 

busy planning her wedding to Scott Cannon 

(son of Francine Ely Cannon ’75). 

The wedding will take place in late Oct. 

of this year. Bridesmaids include Gwen 

Reyes ’06, Danielle Briggs-Hansen and 

Kelsey Jeffers. Elsa hopes that there 

will be other alumnae in attendance for 

a mini-reunion! 

I, Emily Olson, continue to teach musical 

theatre classes and costume. This 

past spring I became involved with a 

nearby nonprofit community theatre, 

and I’m now serving as a member of the 

board of directors for the theatre. In 

April, I attended an SBC alumnae reception 

here in Mich. where President 

Parker spoke. It was my first time meeting 

her and the first alumnae event that 

I have been able to attend. I can’t wait 

to see you all at reunion! 

2008 

Kathryn Purnell Mills 

6004 Treyburn Pl. 

Glen Allen, VA 23059-5483 

kpmills@affiniongroup.com 

2009 

Julia McClung 

5111 Block House Ct. Apt 728 


Julia.McClung1@gmail.com 

2010 

Alaina Cavelier McKee 

5939 W Friendly Ave., Apt. 44K 

Greensboro, NC 27410 

Andria Pasquel is now working as an enrollment 

consultant for a company 

called k12 and living in Herndon, Va. Allison 

Bailey a job teaching at the SEED 


59

School of Md., which is a public boarding 

school in Baltimore, Md. Amelie 

Drake received her M.A. from Sweet 

Briar and has moved to Williamsburg 

where she is working as an elementary 

special education teacher. Alysha Norbury 

is a manager at West Marine and 

volunteers twice a week at Rising Tide. 

Since Feb. 2011, Ashley Carroll has 

been working at SBC as John Jaffe’s executive 

assistant. Kristen Miller took 

part in the opening of a new branch of 

Heartland Hospice, for which she works. 

In the fall she is starting classes to get 

her nursing license. Janika Carey has 

had various part-time and freelance jobs 

since graduation, including obituary editor 

for the News and Advance and translator 

for Omniterrum. She is currently a 

content editor for a local nonprofit organization 

and writes articles for Magazine33. 

Bryca Brewer is still working at 

Michaels, but is now also selling Cutco. 

Carina Finn was awarded a Nicholas 

Sparks Fellowship to work as an intern 

for Grand Central Publishing in NYC, for 

the 2011 summer. In fall, Carina is taking 

over as co-editor of Action, Yes Online 

Quarterly. Carina also has poems, 

fiction, and essays some published and 

others forthcoming in TYPO, S U P E R 

M A C H I N E, alice blue, Storyglossia, 

and many others. In addition, Kate 

Durbin interviewed her for the literary 

magazine Extended Play. A chapbook, I 

HEART MARLON BRANDO, will be released 

from Wheelchair Party press in 

July, and an as-yet-untitled e-book is 

forthcoming from The Argotist. 

Allison Garrison will graduate in May 

2012 with her master’s in Spanish from 

UNC at Greensboro. She accepted a position 

as lead teacher for a language 

school in Greensboro and is getting 

married 6/2/12. Mary Rachel Taylor 

has started her M.A. program at Appalachian 

State U. in sustainable development 

and has been awarded a graduate 

assistantship. Jenna Wasylenko 

has finished her first year of the Chemistry 

Ph.D. program at the U. of Kan. 

Jenna was awarded the prestigious fouryear 

Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship. 

Anna Rij is now living in Lynchburg, Va., 

while she finishes her B.S. in Biology 

with chemistry minor at Randolph Coll. 

and has started the application process 

for graduate school. She still volunteers 

with the Crisisline of Central Virginia. 

Mollie Linden is in her last year M.A. 

program in social work at Arizona State 

U. Catherine Gumpman has gone back 

to school part time, working towards her 

MBA at Lynchburg Coll. while working in 

admissions at Sweet Briar. Tina Tolpa is 

attending VCU for a post-baccalaureate 

in chemical engineering. Meredith 

Paysinger lives in Newark, Del., for the 

summer, but will be traveling home to 

begin a three-year graduate program at 

the U. of S.C. for scenic design in theater. 

She also got engaged on 5/13/11 

to Patrick Hart, and they are planning a 

wedding back home in Columbia, S.C. 

either for the spring or next fall. 

Finally, Congratulations to the members 

of the Class of 2010 who have gotten 

engaged and married. Katie Dodge got 

married on June 18 and is now Katie 

Taylor. Ashleigh Caissee is now Ashleigh 

Bain. She got married June 3, 

2011 and Jennifer Lundy and Kristen 

Miller attended the wedding. In addition, 

Ashleigh is working for Wells Fargo. 

Amey Landreth got married to Everett 

Jones who went to Hampden Sydney 

Coll. and graduated this year and honeymooned 

in Boston and NYC. Amey and 

Everett currently live in Ga. near Fort 

Benning and Columbus where Everett is 

an officer in the Army. In Aug., Amey will 

be going to Virginia Maryland Regional 

College of Veterinary Medicine. 

Sarah Packard is teaching English at a 

private school in Jinhae, South Korea. 

She plans to either renew her contract, 

or travel to other Asian cultures teaching 

English. 

Brook Schulze got married in Germany 

on June 11, 2011 to Justin Stark. She 

has changed her name to Alyssa Brook 

Stark. Misty Purvis received her MAT 

from Sweet Briar in May. She also got 

married on June 11 and honeymooned 

at Daytona Beach. She will now be 

teaching fourth grade at Madison 

Heights Elementary School in Madison 

Heights, Va. Melanie Higgenbotham 

and her fiancé Ryan bought a home in 

March 2011, not far from Sweet Briar. 

She hopes that her SBC friends will visit 

soon! They have also started planning 

their wedding, which will take place 

6/2/12. While working full time at a veterinary 

hospital Melanie is also starting 

an internship with Amherst Co. Social 

Services. 

2011 

Ms. Ashley Corren Hinkle 

1124 Lady Ginger Ln. 

Virginia Beach, VA 23455 

hinkle11@sbc.edu 

In Memoriam 

If you wish to write to a member of the family of someone recently 

deceased, please contact the Alumnae Office for name and address. 

1931 

Barbara Metz 

Mrs. Edmund Cluett II 

Virginia Burrows 

Mrs. Benjamin B. Halpern 

Dora Lacy 

Mrs. Dora B. Lacy 

Jane Bikle 

Mrs. John M. Lane Jr. 

Miriam Rubel 

Miss Miriam Rubel 

Norma Schade 

Miss Norma Schade 

Sara Harrison 

Mrs. John Scheetz 

Carlotta Satterfield 

Mrs. William Burke 

1932 

Jane Milar 

Mrs. Judge MacBride 

Virginia Pruit 

Mrs. Kivas Tully 

Patricia Mason 

Mrs. John C. Stedman 

Lilian Shidler 

Miss Lilian S. Shidler 

Caralisa Barry 

Mrs. James J. Pollard 

Marcelle Dominique 

Mme. Maurice Perrot 

Elvie Hope 

Mrs. J. L. McClennan Jr. 

Madeline Williams 

Mrs. Norman H. Blair 

Elizabeth Job 

Mrs. A. H. Jopp 

Frances Jeffers 

Mrs. James W. Haymore 

Jane Hays 

Mrs. Jane Hays Dowler 

Irwin Reay 

Mrs. Henry Cuscaden 

Sara “Sally” 

Shallenberger 

Mrs. W. L. Lyons Brown 

Elizabeth Kelley 

Mrs. Arthur P. Bondurant 

Gazelle Ware 

Mrs. G. Bruce Kamp 

Margaret Orchard 

Miss Margaret O. Orchard 

1933 

Jane Patterson 

Mrs. R. W. Kaltenbach 

Augusta Wallace 

Augusta Wallace Lyons 

Mary Walne 

Mrs. Whitfield H. Marshall 

Caroline Hogue 

Mrs. George Morris Jr. 

Martha North 

Mrs. John V. Pollitt 

Clara West 

Mrs. Thomas Stark Jr. 

Mary Stewart 

Miss Mary H. Stewart 

Eleanor Niggli 

Mrs. F. A. Tyler 

Patricia Ireland 

Mrs. Robert F. Hall Jr. 

Isabel Wade 

Mrs. Charles Bacon 

Charlotte Tamblyn 

Mrs. Nathan A. Tufts Jr. 

Lucy Oliver 

Mrs. J. Hampton Brooks 

Elizabeth Taylor 

Mrs. Edwin E. Andrews 

Kathryn Brown 

Mrs. C. W. Butler 

Frances Atkinson 

Miss Frances H. Atkinson 

Joan Brown 

Mrs. Joseph Guzy 

Mary Brooks Barnhart 

Mrs. John B. Carlton 

Ruth Kimmey 

Mrs. Prentiss Carnell Jr. 

Nancy Ruffner 

Mrs. William E. Chilton II 

Marjorie Jones 

Mrs. John G. Cook 

Jane Word 

Mrs. Robert S. Driscoll 

Barbara Munson 

Mrs. Edward Garfield 

1934 

Marjorie Thuma 

Mrs. Marjorie T. Kotte 

Eleanor Clement 

Mrs. William H. Tunison Jr. 

Dorothy Hussey 

Mrs. John D. Rockaway 

Betty Clapp 

Mrs. Kip Robinson 

Patricia McMullan 

Mrs. William T. Old Jr. 

Marion Cox 

Mrs. Beattie C. Luck 

Margaret Beaver 

Mrs. Alexander F. List 

Helen Closson 

Mrs. Leo F. Hendricks 

Marjorie Dexter 

Mrs. Frederic M. Clark 

Helene Hetzel 

Mrs. B. Kenneth 

Johnstone 

Marjory Collins 

Miss Marjory Collins 

Elizabeth McAllister 

Mrs. Millard Draudt 

Bernardene Johnson 

Mrs. Frank W. Foote Jr. 

Marjory Prentis 

Mrs. James A. Hirchfield 

Ruberta Bailey 

Mrs. Ernest Hesseltine 

Frances Weil 

Mrs. Millard I. Binswanger 

1935 

Dorothy MacKenzie 

Mrs. Henry W. Kraebber 

Jane Ullman 

Miss Jane M. Ullman 

Jeannette Van Wie 

Mrs. Dan Smith 

Frances Spiller 

Mrs. Ralph E. Scott 

Alma Simmons 

Mrs. William C. Rountrey 

Bernice Elizabeth 

Thompson 

Mrs. B. Elizabeth Reif 

Marion Crow 

Mrs. E. Fletcher Lord 

Loaine McLaughlin 

Mrs. Howard M. Snyder 

Jane Bucher 

Mrs. Edgar A. Chibouk 

Mary Mason 

Mrs. Otis Hawkins Jr. 

Barbara Miller 

Mrs. Jack Gibson 

Jacqueline Greil 

Mrs. Albert L. Fischel 

Alice Field 

Miss Alice W. Field 

Mary Hastings 

Mrs. Joseph H. Dunfee 

Juliet Halliburton 

Mrs. W. Burke Davis Jr. 

Virginia Team 

Mrs. James H. Knorr 

Margaret Morrison 

Mrs. Frank S. Moore 

1936 

Logan Phinizy 

Mrs. William A. Johns 

Lydia Warner 

Mrs. Harry Kanhofer 

Roberta Walker 

Mrs. George A. Mills 

Adelaide Saunders 

Mrs. Paul A. Page Jr. 

Mary Wilson 

Mrs. Robert W. Richardson 

Dorothy Converse 

Mrs. James C. Schnur 

Harriet Butler 

Mrs. Thomas S. 

Stevenson 

Harriet Hicok 

Miss Harriet Hicok 

60 


Priscilla Grainger 

Mrs. Grant Swartz 

Louise McDonald 

Mrs. W. L. Byerly Jr. 

Sophia Campbell 

Mrs. Edward F. Brown 

Annette Weiss 

Mrs. Karl H. Beyer Jr. 

Catherine Ahlheim 

Mrs. Howard Henry 

Eleanor Krekeler 

Mrs. Allan S. Chrisman 

Frances Robinson 

Mrs. Wendell S. Clough 

Edith Shackelford 

Mrs. Karl L. Eddy 

Alice Andrews 

Mrs. William E. Fackert Jr. 

Mary Vogdes 

Mrs. William W. Haines 

Elizabeth Whayne 

Mrs. John H. Hardwick 

1937 

Geraldine Bonkmeyer 

Mrs. Claibourne Darden 

Mary Holderness 

Mrs. Thomas L. Gilbert 

Martha Hardesty 

Mrs. Martha Hardesty 

Ansley Spaulding 

Mrs. Francis Hill 

Rosalie Hall 

Mrs. Harold R. Hurst 

Page Walker 

Mrs. Edmund Laprade 

Mary Lightbown 

Miss Mary J. Lightbown 

Vera Searcy 

Mrs. Joseph R. McGonigle 

Virginia Menchen 

Mrs. David S. Morrison 

Margaret Young 

Mrs. V. Gilbert Nielsen 

Henrietta Arthur 

Mrs. Richard S. Skinner 

Virginia Richart 

Mrs. Homer C. Stewart 

Katherine McKinnon 

Ms. Katherine M. Wilkinson 

Katherine Wheat 

Mrs. Roland W. Hyatt Jr. 

1938 

Shirley Haywood 

Mrs. T. W. Alexander Jr. 

Hannah Cobden 

Mrs. Isaac L. Merrill Jr. 

Matalie Elliott 

Mrs. Daniel B. Griffin Jr. 

Mildred Pharr 

Mrs. T. A. Clark Jr. 

Anne Searcy 

Mrs. Robert Yoder 

Moselle Worsley 

Mrs. Moselle W. Fletcher 

1939 

Yvonne Leggett 

Mrs. Gordon W. Sanford 

Catherine Lawder 

Mrs. Harry R. 

Stephenson Jr. 

Mary Elizabeth Barge 

Mrs. William H. Schroder 

Martha Fuller 

Mrs. John Leys 

Florence Bailey 

Mrs. John B. Adams 

Jean Black 

Mrs. Frederic B. Jennings 

1940 

Kathleen Ward 

Mrs. John C. Allen 

Elizabeth Gockley 

Mrs. Robert S. McLellan III 

1941 

Shirley Shaw 

Mrs. Richard M. Daniel 

Frances Chichester 

Mrs. Richard D. Hull 

Nelle Hudgens 

Mrs. Walter E. Levvis 

1942 

Frances Caldwell 

Mrs. James W. Harris 

Margaret Cunningham 

Mrs. Robert H. Allen II 

Daphne Withington 

Mrs. Daphne Adams 

Diana Greene 

Mrs. Diana H. Helfrich 

1943 

Helen Lawton 

Mrs. J. Stuart Mitchell 

Ann Jacobs 

Mrs. Dikran S. Pakradooni 

Eloise Ellis 

Mrs. Charles R. Simons 

Frances Taylor 

Mrs. Locke H. Trigg Jr. 

1944 

Marjorie Willetts 

Mrs. Marjorie W. Maiden 

Patricia Stickney 

Ms. Patricia Stickney 

Juliet Tchou 

Mrs. James C. Ling 

Jean Ryan 

Mrs. William B. Kehl 

Mary Newell 

Mrs. William C. Baird 

Martha Rugeley 

Mrs. Richard C. Bachman 

Norma Bradley 

Mrs. Joseph L. Arnold 

Elisabeth Vaughan 

Mrs. Louis P. Bishop 

1945 

Ann Richey 

Mrs. Robert L. Oliver 

Leila Barnes 

Mrs. John H. Cheatham 

1946 

Sara Thompson 

Mrs. C. O. Mikell 

Adeline Jones 

Mrs. Stephen C. Voorhees 

Margaret Fish 

Mrs. Margaret F. Rockwood 

Patricia Thompson 

Mrs. Patricia T. Bennett 

Bertha Lee 

Mrs. William F. Toole 

1947 

Nancy Alexander 

Mrs. William H. Blaney Jr. 

Natalie Hall 

Mrs. Daniel Chisholm 

Judith Burnett 

Mrs. John S. Halsey 

1948 

Jane Miller 

Mrs. Howard W. Wright Jr. 

Nancy Snider 

Mrs. William Martin 

1949 

Polly Plummer 

Mrs. Polly P. Mackie 

Elizabeth Blair 

Mrs. Elizabeth B. Gosling 

Elizabeth (Betsy) 

Dershuck 

Mrs. Frank L. Gay 

1950 

Agnes Veach 

Mrs. Oliver Brooks 

1951 

Jane Clark 

Miss Jane Clark 

1952 

Patricia Ruppert 

Mrs. David M. Flanders 

Mary Gesler 

Mrs. Royce Hanson 

Susannah Crist 

Mrs. James C. Lee 

1953 

Janet Martin 

Mrs. D. Scott Birney 

Elizabeth Easly 

Mrs. Richard C. King 

Nancy McDonald 

Mrs. Nancy M. McDonald 

Cynthia Moorhead 

Mrs. Norman H. McNair Jr. 

Ann Vlerebome 

Ms. Ann V. Sorenson 

1954 

Jo Nelson 

Mrs. Jo N. Booze 

Susan Scott 

Miss Susan T. Scott 

Meri Hodges 

Mrs. Walter O. Major 

Ann Venable 

Mrs. D. Richard Rogers 

1955 

Barbara Garforth 

Mrs. B. Ivey Jackson 

Diane Drouet 

Mrs. Alan Pierce 

1956 

Ruth Philips 

Mrs. Ruth P. Hollowell 

Stephanie Smith 

Mrs. Stephanie Mackie 

Anne Hooper 

Mrs. Anne H. Stavrolakes 

Elizabeth Anne Hodgin 

Mrs. John E. Williams 

1957 

Joanne “Jody” Raines 

Mrs. Arthur S. Brinkley Jr. 

Enid Winkelman 

Mrs. Albert P. Sharpe III 

1958 

Adda Sue Robison 

Mrs. Adda Burris 

McFeeters 

1959 

Caroline Green 

Miss Caroline T. Green 

1961 

Nell Morlidge 

Ms. Nell L. Morlidge 

1962 

Rosalie Smithy 

Mrs. R. S. Bradham 

Gloria Mederer 

Mrs. Wilby Coleman 

Marilyn MacFarland 

Miss Marilyn MacFarland 

Katherine Carter 

Mrs. Neill Nelson 

Anne Mayhew 

Mrs. George Pfau 

Mary Louise Russell 

Miss Mary Louise Russell 

Lynn Taliaferro 

Miss Lynn F. Taliaferro 

1963 

Julia Arnold 

Mrs. Russell G. Morey 

1964 

Geraldine Bailey 

Miss Geraldine R. Bailey 

Sarah Townsend 

Mrs. J. Waller Harrison 

1965 

Grace Powars 

Mrs. William A. Banks 

1966 

Meredith Aldrich 

Ms. Meredith Aldrich 

Elizabeth Gianotti 

Mrs. John Hunter Booker 

1967 

Neil Orloff 

Ms. Neil Orloff Covatta 

1968 

Alicia Glass 

Miss Alicia M. Glass 

1969 

Margaret Mabry 

Chambliss 

Mrs. Mabry C. DeBuys 

1971 

Marilyn Kolb 

Ms. Marilyn K. Kolb 

1973 

Lucinda Wells 

Mrs. Robert N. 

Cunningham 

Angela Miller 

Ms. Angela Miller 

1974 

Ellen McMillan 

Ellen McMillan-Herman 

1982 

Lisa Garmon 

Miss Lisa L. Garmon 

1984 

Sara Bolz 

Miss Sara L. Bolz 

1989 

Jennifer Spillman 

Ms. Jennifer 

Spillman Hogue 

2010 

Rebecca Almond 

Ms. Rebecca 

Catherine Almond 

2013 

Victoria Shuler 

Ms. Victoria Anne 

Marie Shuler 

Non Alumnae 

Lydia Daniel, 

wife of Peter V. Daniel 

Buck Edwards, faculty 

James Meade, staff 

David Orvos, faculty 


61

1 2 3 

4 5 6 

7 

8 

9 

11 

10 

1 Cornelia Long Matson ’58 (center) at her 

vineyard, Le Cleret, with Daun Thomas 

Frankland ’74 and Rowena Schubert '76. It 

was a celebration of Cornelia‘s 35th wedding 

anniversary 

2 Royal Wedding Reunion. L-R: Michela 

English ’71, Nan Glaser Lagow ’71, Charlene 

Sturbitts Ahern ’72, Gail Garner Resch ’72, 

Cami Crocker Wodehouse ’71, Louise Martin 

Creason ’72, Kathy Walsh Drake ’72, Trish 

Neale Van Clief ’72, Marion Walker ’72, Pam 

Drake McCormick ’72 and Barbara Tessin 

Derry ’72 

3 L-R: Page Breakell Beeler '79, Edith Page 

Gill Breakell '45, Betty Byrne Gill Ware '55, 

Ellen Byrne Chaney Webster '83 

4 Bruce Watts Krucke ’54 and husband Bill 

cruising down the west coast of Norway 

5 Holly Smith and Panda in Chengdu. Gloves 

protect the panda! 

6 Karen Medford ’72 visits Holly Smith ’72 in 

her garden square in London 

7 Vivian Finlay ’72 and husband Clyde Boyer 

hike at home in Alaska 

8 Caroline Anne Gay, new daughter of 

Melissa Coffey Gay ’98 and her husband 

Tommy 

9 Graham’s move to St. Louis party. L-R Mary 

Heller ’72, Dale Shelly Graham ’72 (seated), 

Karen Medford ’72, Jill Johnson ’72 

10 Julie Martin Collins '88 and Denise Landau 

Blind '88 

11 Ellie Creasey, daughter of Grace Turner 

Creasey ’01, ready for Sweet Briar 

62 


1 2 3 

4 

1 Move-in day at Sweet Briar: Annie Anderson ’15, Wendy Birtcher Anderson ’84 

2 Sarah on graduation day from Atlantic Veterinary College, PEI Canada. From left to right: 

Richard, Sarah and Ellen Mouri ’80 

3 Kathleen Schutze ’73 and her daughter Emily displaying their rings 

4 Erin Coppersmith Aitken ’09, with her husband Thomas on their wedding day, July 17, 

2010, at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, Calif. 

Classes celebrating Reunion 2012 

have a fabulous celebration ahead! 

Record-holders coming back in May 

The Class of 1957 will be on campus to enjoy their 55th Reunion. These 

alumnae leaders in giving to Sweet Briar set an all-time record for Reunion 

Giving in 2007 at their 50th Reunion Celebration with a class gift to the 

Annual Fund of $617,951! 

RE 

UN 

ION 

2012 

Another record-holding class celebrating in May is the Class of 1972. 

These alumnae hold the record for three reunion years—the 15th, 25th and 

35th. What amazing and generous supporters of Sweet Briar in the Class of 

1972! The record for the 40th Reunion is held by the Class of 1969, with a 

total of $135,859. Will the Class of 1972 shatter this three-year-old record? 

Celebrating their 25th — the Class of 1987 

Another amazing group of alumnae has much to celebrate as they come 

together on campus for this milestone reunion. Over the past 24 years, 

members of this big, diverse class of 207 alumnae have gone on to become 

artists, cattle ranch owners, teachers, mothers, computer programmers, flight 

attendants, sales consultants and even a mayor! Holla! Holla! 

Celebrating their 50th – the Class of 1962 

These alumnae leaders have for months been actively planning and 

preparing for their 50th Reunion and it is destined to be a grand success. 

Everyone in the class is encouraged to attend—you won’t want to miss this 

one! Congratulations as you achieve this wonderful alumnae milestone. 

Five years out: Class of 2007 marks first Reunion 

What a terrific class from 2007! From around the country and the globe, 29 

states and eight countries, including China and Turkey, these ladies will come 

together on campus for their first reunion celebration. Will they break the 5th 

Reunion Giving record just set in 2010 by the Class of 2006? The bar is high 

at $14,498 but Sweet Briar alumnae are known for taking on challenges and 

far exceeding expectations. 


63

64 


Heather Wyllie daughter of 

Sandy Wyllie '86, at Reunion 2011 

Class of 1971 


65

Box 1056 

Sweet Briar, Va 24595 

Non-Profit org. 

U.S. PoSTaGE 

PaiD 

PPCo 

Change Service Requested 

Laurel Melton '13 on her way to class

Download PDF - Sweet Briar College

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?