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1940s

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1944

Dorothy Roman Guenther
SynchroDottie@aol.com

Regarding the cards that Skidmore sends out requesting class news, someone commented that instead of detaching the preaddressed card, she turns it inside out, tapes it closed, and mails it back. In this way I receive your name and address typed and don’t have to worry about spelling your name wrong.

In February Libby Cone Gardner and husband Clint enjoyed two weeks of warm weather in Sanibel, FL, “which got us through Vermont’s worst,” she says. Libby exhibited at two art shows in May and July; another is scheduled for September.

Betty Dornheim retired as librarian at the Princeton Club in NYC. She is now reachable at home, where she is busy clearing things out. “Wish me luck!” she says.

In March Marie-Louise Flinker Putney and husband Blake flew out to Palo Alto, CA, for a weekend to see their oldest granddaughter, Jennifer, play the part of Sally Bowles in her high-school production of Cabaret. She’s off to college this fall. The couple’s newest grandchild was a girl, Cynthia Marie, not a boy as reported in a previous issue of Scope. The Putneys “felt blessed” that most of the family, with the exception of one grandchild, were able to celebrate Christmas together last year.

Genevieve Gerard Conroy shares the good news that her home sold last November. She and her husband will move into brand-new quarters at White Sands Retirement Complex in La Jolla, CA, in late 2006, when the complex is completed. In the meantime, the Conroys are getting used to being hi-rise tenants. The bad news, reports Genevieve, is a ruptured disc that impeded the moving process. She and Dick are planning a fall cruise when Dick retires after 36 years with the Scripps Clinic.

Harriet Hebden Avery’s family had a wonderful Christmas last year. Hebbie and husband Baldwin spent five days with their daughters, granddaughters, several husbands, and a couple of boyfriends in Lansdale, PA. The clan had not gathered in its entirety in 13 years—“a real treat!”

Doris Merz Wyckoff enjoyed reading Clint Gardner’s book D Day and Beyond and recommends it to others. Despite the variable weather in Florida last winter, says Doris, it was still better than snow. Doris wouldn’t mind having a reunion in Florida.

Sally Seelbach Narrigan and husband Richard sold their home of 46 years and moved to a retirement community in Bryn Mawr, PA; they are delighted with all the activities and friendly people there. Sally reports that Edie DeMott Hutchison underwent open-heart surgery in January and spent two months in the hospital before being transferred to the medical wing of her retirement community.

Ronnie Whiting Brandon informed me that Edie continues to have serious problems with her legs but is gaining strength. Ronnie meets every winter with over 200 of her curling friends from all over the world at the Montebello resort (just north of Montreal), where they vie for much-coveted trophies.

As a member of the “age-challenged” set, Dorothy Sielaff Armstrong says her 81-year-old body has endured the gamut of medical procedures over the years, including a knee replacement, a cardiac stent, and a pair of lungs that do their job with four lobes instead of the original five. However, she still works out three days a week, volunteers in a hospital emergency room, and works part-time at a local bank. She stays in touch with Bill Keating, husband of the late Frances Colotto Keating; they both have vowed to “remain stubbornly independent and active.” Dorothy continues her spring treks to point-to-point and steeplechase racetracks, which she enjoyed with her late husband. “And it helps to have a sense of humor,” she adds.

Peggy Gluck Wolf enjoys her residence in Tucson, AZ, and would love to hear from Skidmore friends living in the area. We extend condolences to Peggy, who lost her husband of 60 years, Robert, in March.

We also send condolences to Gertrude Osterhoudt Cooke, whose husband of almost 60 years, Bob, died of a massive stroke in April 2004. Buff is glad that they had moved into a retirement community near their daughter in Boulder, CO, where she loves her two-bedroom balcony apartment with a view of the Rockies. She stays active in painting and golf groups in the Denver area.

Sadly, Betty Mann Margison’s husband, Bob, also passed away in April 2004. Sally attends a class given by a local hospice called “Understanding Your Grief,” which she highly recommends. On the joyful side of life, Betty’s granddaughter finished law school last May.

Kathy Baldwin Miller, daughter of Jeanne O’Brien Baldwin, who died in 1973 (when Kathy was just 16), asks classmates willing to share memories of her mother to contact her at miller.john@
comcast.net.