class notes

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In Memoriam | People & projects

1950s

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1958

Priscilla Knowlton Tavenner
tavenner@gwi.net

Deborah Almy Chudy retired as director of night nursing services at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. The mother of two daughters, she also taught at Stamford Hospital’s school of nursing.

Claire Steinmetz McCleery served two years in the Army Nurse Corps, then stayed home to raise two children. She lives in Palm Springs and San Francisco, CA, with her husband; they both love to travel.

Judith Podlesney, who lives in Reston, VA, taught nursing as a clinical instructor, and thanks Skidmore for opening up her appreciation of the arts and literature. At the age of 57, she volunteered to teach nursing in the African country of Malawi with the Peace Corps.

Gail Dodge Meade considers Skidmore’s nursing program one of the best in the country. Wherever she has gone, her degree has opened doors. Her first job was with the Visiting Nurse Service in NYC. A specialist in home health care for 40 years, she opened her own agency in Florida.

Constance Masciale Carino, who lectured at our 50th reunion, holds a master’s and PhD in psychiatric nursing, specializing in the psychological and emotional response to serious illness. She has served 35 years in the mental health field and founded the Wellness Community in Philadelphia, offering support services to cancer patients and their families. Herself a breast-cancer survivor, she understands the disease from the perspectives of a patient, a family member, and a teacher.

Catherine Yacker Winter, who on her 40th birthday found a life of prayer, enjoys the beauty of the flowers and the ocean on the West Coast in La Jolla, CA.

Elaine Merola Canavan continues to enjoy a “state of peace and grace with continuing enlightenment and learning.” Education has provided her with an opportunity to expand her horizons through travel and cultural encounters.

When re-reading Reflections, our 50th-reunion class-history book, I am always touched by how classmates have surmounted life’s serious challenges. Flora Crisp Rowse’s son Roger was confined to a wheelchair as a young man, as a result of an accident. Flora helped him graduate from college, become a CPA, and complete a master’s in taxation. She has three other sons. Her husband, Roger, died in 2006.

I am recuperating from a fall that resulted in a broken ankle in December.