class notes

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1950s

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1950

Adele Altenburg Mardirosian
setadele@erols.com

Carol Hamann Howard left Skidmore after her sophomore year to concentrate on art studies at Pratt Institute. For many years she has been associated with the Atlantic Gallery of NYC, where she exhibits her work. Carol does a lot of traveling, as she has three daughters and four grandchildren, all on the West Coast.

Trudy Giese Vilaska is enjoying retirement. She exhibits and sells her artwork in Paris, Norway, and the US. She also ushers for ballet, opera, and symphony performances at the San Francisco Opera House and was pleasantly surprised to spot Nancy Lang in the crowd one evening. Trudy’s work can be viewed at www.WorldsBestArt.com, www.artworldgallery.com, and www.justoriginals.com.

During Ted and Joan Weller LaPann’s February vacation in Ft. Myers, FL, they drove up to Longboat Key for a luncheon reunion with Buzz and Nancy Appel Gross.

Ruth Niederlander Shoumate plays golf three times a week and enjoys line dancing.

Joan Stubbe Aker recently returned from a Yale alumni tour of Bermuda homes and gardens. She attended a Skidmore tour of Sarasota Bay along with Sis Gould Markham and Joan Sonnenblum Sands. Joan also enjoyed another Sarasota alumni gathering where guests were serenaded by the Bandersnatchers and met new prexy Phil Glotzbach and his wife, Marie.

Ellen Kelsey Dubocq reports that more than a dozen baby goats were born on her Arizona ranch this past spring. Many of the guests Ellen welcomes to the ranch stay in their motor homes, while others are accommodated in her guesthouse. In February, Ellen and daughter Jean took an Elderhostel culinary tour of New Orleans, a trip she highly recommends.

Jan Sutherland Fairservis spent another winter in Honolulu, where her grandmother was born, and where she has “comfortable family connections.” Daughter Teviot has decided to settle there, and Jan helped her renovate an old co-op apartment and painted a mural for the bathroom. Jan continues to travel and volunteer.

Carol Eaton McMillan had a break from Connecticut’s cold, wintry weather by meeting former roommate Sibyl Averett Carlson for an Elderhostel experience in Galveston, Port Aranas, and Padre Island, Texas. The two had a great time birding and exploring sea life and local history. Last year they also traveled together on a Grand Circle trip to Costa Rica and the rain forest.

Nancy Radack Strauss is now in her sixth year of organizing a local book and author event and enjoying all the reading it entails. She also has been involved with a group of women established in 1890, who research and write papers annually. In between, she enjoys cooking and gardening.

Nuria Pi-Sunyer Carrasco is writing a memoir on her life in exile since leaving her home in Catalonia in 1938. Over the years she resided in France, London, and Caracas before returning to Barcelona, where she has lived since 1974.

For years Roberta Fast Lazarus has been the custodian and curator of her late husband’s photographs. Former attorney Marvin Lazarus became a photographer who captured many of the famous artists of the 1960s and ’70s (Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, etc.) in their studios both here and abroad. The Neuberger Museum in Purchase, NY, recently exhibited about 40 of his portraits, paired with art works from the museum’s permanent collection. Bobby has been assisting in this assemblage and speaking to many groups about her visits to the artists.

Irene Marcus Senter is co-founder of Third Wave Television, a video production company run exclusively by and for women, now in its sixth year. She and her colleagues are currently producing a video series about women and the vote in this election year. Irene, who is recovering from hip replacement surgery, bought a lake house in Seneca, SC, earlier this year.

Jacqueline Murphy Duff continues to live in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, for eight months of the year, and on Martha’s Vineyard the other four. Last year she explored the volcanoes and jungles of Costa Rica, and this year she embarked on a tour of the glaciers and totem poles of Alaska.

Jane Nickum Eastman and husband Yale had a long visit with Sallie Sloan Teaf’s family, following her death in November (Nicky and Yale first met at Sallie’s wedding). Nicky reports that the family is working on a memorial for Sallie at the Philadelphia Zoo, where she served as docent for 25 years.

Rhoda Siegelman Kittay reports that moving to Heritage Village in Southbury, CT, was one of the best decisions she and husband Bill have ever made. They are busy, healthy, and surrounded by nice neighbors.

Fay Syrett Kester commutes between homes in Florida (where she is redecorating) and Montana most every month. She had to leave her museum work but still volunteers at church and does her own art work in Montana. Her husband just retired from banking, so they plan to travel more. With 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, the Kesters keep busy.

After 14 years in Atlanta, GA, Joan Foreman Spangler is moving to Melbourne, FL, to be close to her brother and his wife.

Bob and Miriam Dyer Dunning are enjoying life in sunny Florida, catching up with classmates Sis Gould Markham, Ann Perkins Ott, and Judy Rehr Dunning. Bob and Mim still love traveling and most recently enjoyed a trip to Sicily.

A “typical grandma,” Gloria Dahar Ashooh has eight adorable and smart grandsons but still no granddaughter. Although husband Joe is in poor health, Gloria is “hanging tough.”

In February Mary Dickinson Furth underwent a second surgery for macular degeneration, which preserved some central vision. She is grateful she is still able to read.

Nancy Gallup Barbano and husband Ed took a cruise to the Mediterranean in October. After several days touring Barcelona, they cruised for 12 days, ending up in Rome, Italy.

Our sympathy to Marion “Penny” Copp Hinds, who recently lost her husband, Ed.

Set and yours truly traveled to Egypt in January where we saw the pyramids, the sphinx, temples and tombs, and the magnificent collection of antiquities in the Cairo Museum; we sailed down the Nile…and I finally got to ride a camel (Mr. Bauer would be proud).