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1958

Shirle Jankowich
sjank@optonline.net

While returning home from New Jersey, Jane Goodman Hunter stopped in Albany, NY, and had breakfast with Ann Ferguson Connolly, who had been in Provence, France, at reunion time last May. Ann is retired, traveling and enjoying her grandchildren.

Congratulations to Elsa Daspin Suisman, whose production The Florida Follies had a successful season in Ft. Lauderdale and will reopen there next January.

Theater is also prominent in Esther Ann Solotaroff Asch’s life. She produced The Vagina Monologues at Town Hall in Manhattan, raising $250,000 for three domestic violence programs in NYC and one in Israel. Esther Ann continues her work at FEGS, the largest human services agency in the US.

Barbara Drucker Smith acted and sang in a sold-out folk opera that ran for three weeks in Newport News, VA. A vocalist with the Virginia Choral Society, she is finishing a book titled A Poetic Journey, slated for publication this fall. Barbara still works full-time as a certified neurolinguistic therapist.

Vallie Hill Beckwith continues to breed and show Norfolk terriers. She mentioned that a friend visiting in Hawaii had lunch with Mniya Umaki Uyeda. Vallie’s oldest son lives in Arizona, her middle son resides in New Jersey, and the youngest is in the Army Special Forces.

Sally Kear Braun and husband Sam spend nine months in Sedona, AZ, and three months in coastal Rhode Island. Their children and grandchildren are doing well. Sally and Sam teach children’s horseback trail-riding and are active in the Northern Interfaith Council, which promotes social justice through the political process.

Retired as a nursing administrator, Deborah Almy Chudy keeps up with her two daughters and two grandsons. A member of her 50th high-school reunion committee, she is also in training to become a Stephen minister. We send our condolences to Deborah on the lost of her husband, Andrew, earlier this year.

Polly Wittenberg Rothstein would like to assure classmates that she doesn’t have multiple sclerosis. She suffered a spinal-cord injury from an infection after back surgery, which necessitated the canes and scooter she used at Reunion last year. Polly recently had breakfast with Mary Avery Gessner.

Julie Greene spends six months in Ormond Beach, FL, and six months in Rhode Island. For three years, she has coordinated an Elderhostel golf program sponsored by Stetson University. She works on her own game during weekends, in preparation for amateur tournaments. In June she embarked on a British golf tour, playing in Wales for six days, followed by front-row seats for the Curtis Cup in Liverpool, where she cheered on the American team.

Our sympathy to Ruth Lesser Heston, whose husband, MacDonald, died last fall.