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1960

Marcia Mattson Todd
mmtodd1@attglobal.net

Mary Hoff Fallon, Rosemary Bourne, Hadley Sillick Robertson, and Elaine Perlman Cohen are in the throes of planning our 45th. They held a meeting at Mary’s home in Amagansett, NY, over the summer to set the plans in motion.

“We are at a nice stage in our lives right now,” says Connie Taylor Patterson. She and husband Donald enjoy visiting friends all over the US and traveling the world—most recently Belgium, the Netherlands, and Peru.

Elie McConihe Cain has twice toured Europe by horse and carriage, picnicking along the way and spending nights in farmhouses and castles. One tour was in Tuscany and the other took them from Linz to Vienna.

Peggy Hiller Harris and husband Stanley spent two weeks touring Eastern Europe last July. They were interested in the reconstruction since WWII and marveled at the beauty of Budapest and Prague. During the school year Peggy teaches algebra and pre-algebra two hours a day, five days a week: “It’s the perfect job. It keeps me out of trouble and stimulates my mind.” Peggy also babysits her grandson, which she says is more fun than she ever imagined.

Since retiring as a software administrator, Joan Stilson Callahan has turned her focus to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA. Following a full year of training, she began her new career as a volunteer educator, working with schoolchildren who visit the museum.

Caryn Outcalt Foltz and her husband sold their home in Shaker Heights, OH, and now spend winters at a golfing community in Del Ray Beach, FL. Summers are spent in the quieter, cultural environment of Chautauqua, NY.

Jean Manimon Gallagher lives in Daytona Beach, FL, and, when not volunteering at the local hospital, plays a lot of golf.

Judy Engelhardt Klyde works four days a week as a nurse at a psychiatric hospital, but still finds time for travel. Recent destinations include Sicily, Russia, and Mexico. Judy and her husband enjoy taking tours with NYC radio personality Joan Hamburg of station WOR 710AM.

Retired from teaching in 2000, Betty Kuhl Herter has her own business, training teachers all over the country in computer certification. She also does a lot of consulting and conference coordination.

Sarah Couch McQuilkin and husband Rennie spent last winter taking care of his ailing mother in Pittsford, NY. Following her death, they purchased her home from the estate and now are deciding whether to part with the historic farmhouse in Simsbury, CT, and move to the smaller, easier home in suburban Rochester. Sarah is reluctant to give up her gardens and her many friends; on the other hand, she would love to have the time to paint.

In May Ellen VanDusen Guthrie had a “beautiful experience hiking with a crazy bunch of women in Crete, an island well worth exploring.” Ellen’s mother turned 100 last spring. She is in amazingly good heath and still reads the New York Times from cover to cover, Ellen reports.

Grace Ellis’s life as an artist has included teaching. After retiring from a full-time position six years ago, she began her own business, instructing enthusiastic adults at an art center. In 1996 Grace married Robert Barby.

Another career artist, Dorothy Gordon Englander, is also teaching art to seniors.

Bonnie Vare Smith and her husband moved into two houses in the same week. “It was crazy,” writes Bonnie. At their new place in Memphis, TN, they are landscaping their “sea of mud”; they also have a recently renovated condo in Naples, FL. Bonnie would love to have some Skidmore visitors at either home. She is looking forward to reconnecting with Floss Bishop Bogdan, also in Naples. Seven grandchildren (six girls and a boy) keep the Smiths on the move between NY, Atlanta, and Memphis.

Jean Morrison is a full-time computer professional for the Navy at Marine Corps Base Hawaii (Kaneohe Bay). Her “second job” is raising, training, and showing horses. She and husband Ron do “the horse thing” together. They are doting grandparents and bring their grandchildren to Honolulu from the Big Island whenever they can. Jean writes, “I love Hawaii and can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

In June Eleanor Schmidt Schweigaard Olsen had a wonderful time visiting with June Martin Curtiss and her husband in North Chatham, MA, on Cape Cod.

Mary Winters Cooper and husband Jim are moving, but staying in the Naples environs. “Bubble wrap is the best invention yet,” quips Mary. For the past three years, she has been teaching undergraduate ethics courses part-time for an out-of-state university. Last summer, she also taught a master’s-level course in health-care policies and trends. “The students are dynamic, diverse, and energized,” she writes. “I truly enjoy academia.” Last June, Mary and Jim attended his 50th reunion at Andover. She had been his date for the Senior Spring Weekend there over 50 years ago, and they had great fun renewing old friendships.

After living in the Atlanta, GA, area for 35 years, Lydia Wyman Pope and husband Paul moved to Beaufort, SC, where they expect their two children, their spouses, and six grandchildren to visit often.

Last year Priscilla Healy Schell volunteered at a camp for children with diabetes in Ecuador, where resources are limited and expensive, she says, and outcomes for the children are poor. She has a vacation house on Tybee Island, GA, where her son and family also live. She welcomes e-mail at schellt@bellsouth.net.

Retired attorney Judith Johnson Fernandez is an early literacy volunteer and Elderhostel ambassador. She travels out of the country two or three times a year.

Toni Robb Breckenridge’s daughter Alicia McGreevey ’88 and husband Scott Conti moved near Toni in Walnut Creek, CA. Alicia recently had her first child, a boy, and works as a product development manager. Toni’s in touch with Lorrie Neski Fitch, Anita Brynolf, and Lenore Cleminshaw Lekki.

Last September Barbara Albright Gille enjoyed a second mini-reunion with Peggy Campbell Boeker, Mary Jane Adriance Hall, Ann Schuyler Young, Mary Jane Springer Auch, and Donna Snow—all former Skidmore Hall dormmates. They met at Bobbi’s home in Springlake, NJ, where they shared news about travel, kids, grandkids, and books they had read. The group also walked the boardwalk and visited historic sites in Ocean Grove.

Author and illustrator Mary Jane Auch has published more than 30 books for children and adolescents. She was a featured speaker at the May 2003 International Readers Conference.

Doug and I spent ten days in England last May. We were quite charmed by Cornwall and Devon, King Arthur country. We spent the summer in our special cove in Friendship, ME, reconnecting with Debby Davenport Brooks and Ellie Davies Bowden. Doug and I also celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary in August.