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1969

Elizabeth Mckinley Loomis
lizyloo@comcast.net

A longtime teacher at the BOCES Alternative Education School in Utica, NY, Barb Holsberg has stepped down from being a teacher of biology to a teacher’s assistant position. Her new role assisting the instruction of behaviorally challenged but academically mainstream students is “less money but less stress.” She reports that her own kids are doing well.

Last summer Liz Knope and friend Gary, both avid sailors, joined Laurie Grossman Schwiebert and husband Van for a weekend of sailing on Lake Champlain. Laurie and Van are raising fewer animals and vegetables on their Vermont farm after 30 years, although “the flower beds are expanding.” Laurie still works part-time as a visiting nurse. She has also rediscovered a passion for theater, acting in and directing several church skits and a musical production. She and Van frequently travel to Connecticut and Seattle, WA, to visit their three grandsons, ages 2 and under.

Cathy Cordova Reinitz teaches fifth-grade language arts and social studies at a private school in Rockville, MD. Husband Josh is enjoying retirement. Their three grown daughters live and work in Manhattan: Karen is a fashion editor at Elle magazine and has her own line of clothing in department stores and boutiques; Julie is a real estate analyst at a bank; and Amy is a media buyer in an ad agency.

Debbie Koop Saner, a member of our class freshman and sophomore years, says Skidmore made a lifelong impression on her. She and husband Len run a 135-acre organic cattle farm near Keuka Lake in Penn Yan, NY. Len is a pilot for United Airlines, and Debbie is active in town politics and land protection. She also directs Keuka Yacht Club’s junior sailing program.

In protest against the Bush wars and to fulfill a lifelong dream, Nancy Twist Sienknecht is moving to southern Spain. She will consider returning if and when she becomes a grandmother and once Bush is out of office.

Leslie Valk Benton, Chris Babcox Vilas, Meredith Thompson Kerr, and Pam Vuillemenot Waesche had a mini-reunion last fall at Pam and John’s summer home in New London, CT. The four classmates had not been together since Leslie’s wedding in 1972. “Armed with the latest Reunion news from Chris and Leslie, photos from ’65 to present—and the yearbook—we covered a lot of territory in two days and had a wonderful time,” Leslie notes. She, Chris, and Merry are hoping Pam will decide on “same time next year.”

Linda Tomasi Babic is an elementary-school counselor, and her husband of 35 years, Tom, owns an accounting firm. Oldest son Kevin is comptroller for Sugarbush Ski Center in Vermont; Kristopher is a consultant for Sun Micro, currently contracted with Toyota; daughter Cassie is the mother of a son, 5, and daughter, 18 months; and youngest child David is making the US Ski Team World Cup circuit in moguls (he came in 11th in the most recent World Cup competition, skiing the final event with a torn meniscus).

Congratulations to Michelle Cherney Gillett on the publication of her book of poetry, Blinding the Goldfinches, which was chosen by Hayden Carruth as winner of the 2003 Backwaters Poetry Prize (see www.thebackwaterspress.homestead.com). Michelle’s two daughters report that her family is well, and with both daughters in the West she is traveling a lot.

Phyllis Muenz Stolls and husband David played with juvenile pandas while traveling in Cholong, China, last summer. Phyllis likened the animals to big puppies. They also spent time in the Himalayas and Mongolia, riding camels in the Gobi Desert. In March Phyllis hosted Marilyn Ball Wecksell and her two daughters.

Ron and Victoria Prescott Brown are enjoying retirement. They spend winters in Tierra Verde, a small island off the coast of St. Pete Beach, FL, and summer in Mashpee on Cape Cod. Victoria has become an avid golfer, boater, and fisherwoman. Both children are happily married and doing well: daughter Heather is working on an ExxonMobil drilling project off the west coast of Africa, and son Randy is production manager at Plug Power in Clifton Park, NY. Victoria and Ron always find time in July or August to visit friends and beloved places in Saratoga.

In February, after 32 years in Nashville, TN, Dusty Deming moved to Greenville, SC, where she works for an advertising agency. Her parents live there too. Dusty hopes to resume painting, volunteering, and Scottish country dancing. Although taking on a new career in a new town is challenging, she notes, “It feels right, and my parents need me more than my children do.”

Annette Tolbert Carothers and husband Tom live in Cincinnati, OH, where she continues to paint. Their four children include a married son doing an orthopedic residency at Duke, a daughter beginning a biology PhD at Ohio State, a daughter working for a nonprofit in Boston, and a son who is a freshman swimmer at Stanford.

While traveling through the Berkshire Mountains last June, Ann-Linn Diamond Glaser and her husband stopped to visit Laura Fabel Dumouchel. Ann-Linn works for an educational accreditation agency, and Laura is principal at Becket Washington School—which coincidentally was going through the accreditation process. “We had a lot to talk about,” notes Laura. Laura’s daughters Renee (a Williams grad) and Ali (a Middlebury grad) live together in NYC. Ali works for a corporate law firm and will begin law school this fall; Renee works for City Lights Youth Theater, a nonprofit. Son Evan is a junior at Middlebury, studying film and theater. Laura invites classmates to visit this summer.

Moie Kimball Crawford and husband Jim’s New Morning Farm in Hustontown, PA, was featured in the February edition of New Farm, an online magazine devoted to helping independent, organic growers utilize Web-based marketing (www.newfarm.com). The Crawfords sell their produce year-round in the Washington, DC, area. Moie would love to connect with Skidmore pals anytime. Son Arlo lives in NYC, and daughter Janie is in Pittsburgh.