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1957

Dorothy Dodd O'Meara
dottieomeara@yahoo.com

Bonnie Ward Wood agrees that last year’s Reunion was a smashing success: “It was a great time we’ll always remember.” She reports that Margy Bishop Maynard is helping found a Skidmore alumni club in the Annapolis-Baltimore (MD) area.

Judy Fletcher Baker was sorry to miss our 50th but heard glowing reports from all who attended. She had a great visit with Judy Lyman Shipley and Walt in Santa Fe, helping them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. She plans to spend Christmas in Hawaii with son Geof and his family, on a house exchange.

Jo Leach Lewis was delighted to have lunch with Toby Rowe Hohenstein, who was on her way to New Zealand for the winter. She and Joan Firmery met Shirley Gunnell in San Francisco for lunch. Joan was on her way to Calistoga. Jo looks forward to seeing more ’57ers who might be on their way to or through San Francisco.

Sue Gordon Mize and husband Charles are enjoying retirement in Santa Fe, NM, volunteering as home hospitality chairs with the Council on International Relations and as board members of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. They enjoy having benefit musicals and small concerts in their home. In 2007 they traveled to Kauai and Japan and took birding-focused trips to Iceland, Mexico, and Ecuador. They visit son Gordon and his family often, having great fun interacting with their grandchildren.

Barbara Bigelow Roy enjoyed reconnecting with classmates at Reunion 2007 and was glad to see so many of them looking so well. For our 55th she is pulling her roomie Jan Sawdon Smith back by her hair, if necessary. Barbara sends kudos to all those who worked so hard to make Reunion so special, including those who did the fundraising, planning, and especially making the memorial garden so nice.

Hope Thompson Kerr didn’t take her annual Florida trip this past winter, but the same group—Julie Gains Phalen, Pat Naigles Lyons, and Elise Snow Aston—had their annual luncheon near Sarasota. Hope spent Christmas with both her daughters and their families in Jackson Hole, WY. In November she spent three weeks in Africa, traveling with her twin sister in a group of 12. They spent two weeks on safari and then traveled to Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe before flying to Cape Town. They saw plenty of elephants, baboons, wildebeests, giraffes, zebras, and water buffalo. They also went to see Cape of Good Hope and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela lived for 17 years. Hope has been to all seven continents and says she will keep going as long as she can carry her bags!

Ruth Link Jaffe, who was a foreign student from Argentina, would love to know the whereabouts of certain fellow graduates. She stayed in the US and graduated with a PhD in psychology and later a postdoctoral degree in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy from NYU. She settled in NYC in 1957 and lost touch with Skidmorites along the way, except for some who live in her town of Washington, CT. She has a practice there and in NYC. She and husband Robert, a physician, have a daughter, Ariana, who’s a lawyer and was married last year. Ruth has three stepsons and six grandchildren.

Camilla Vilas Durfee spent last summer in Washington, DC, with short trips to visit family in Los Angeles; Boulder, CO; Jackson, WY; and New Jersey. She is hoping to jump the US boundary soon to visit their youngest in Hong Kong. Her passion the last 20 years has been rowing with “other gray-haired women and men.” Her group won the 60-and-up division in the Head of the Charles in Massachusetts! She truly loved reconnecting with so many at Reunion last June.
Alice Hawkins Wells is sorry to have missed our 50th. She and her husband have nine grandchildren, all of whom live close to the Wellses’ home in Denver, CO. Alice continues to enjoy watercolor painting. She was saddened by the death of Janne Ward Cowdery, who was her first cousin.

Lenore Glasser Horowitz was sorry to have missed Reunion 2007, but, as usual, she and her husband were traveling. Although Herb is retired from the Foreign Service, he still works on special projects for the State Department. In September Lenore joined him in Berlin and Vienna, and last spring they took their annual trip to London to see friends and attend the opera. Her most exciting event of 2007 was the wedding of their younger son, Richard, an associate professor of history at California State University. His wife, Elline, has published a book of poetry.

Toby Rowe Hohenstein and George celebrated their 50th anniversary by visiting Australia and New Zealand, using a friend’s camper-van since arriving in November. They spent an incredible four months checking off their “must-do” list: being guests on a dairy farm, riding with friends showing their five Morgan horses and stagecoach at a local fair, traveling with new Kiwi friends for six weeks, and staying at race courses, camps on beaches, and lakes. Toby and George have decided to sell their French canal boat after 17 years of “gypsy life” and try life on land, at least for now.

Joan Page Hayes and Bob enjoyed a cruise with Sally Huberlie Hale and Jud, traveling from Spain to the Canary Islands this past fall. Joan passed along news that Hope Kerr was honored by the Montclair (NJ) Economic Development Corporation’s sports award for her time and energy in helping make Montclair a special place to live.

In December, Skidmore’s Hartford, CT, club held a reception honoring President Phil Glotzbach and wife, Marie. An impressive and enthusiastic gathering of alumni, parents, and friends enjoyed this festive evening—including Betty Hartz Hewitt, Jane Tiemer Croft, Marge O’Meara Storrs, and me. At the conclusion of the evening, President Glotzbach updated us on our alma mater and answered many questions.

Ingrid Kolseth Zola had a nice conversation with Judy Lyman Shipley at the Colony Tennis Club in Long Boat Key, FL. She and Judy keep in touch with Judy Mack Bohrman. Eight grandchildren keep Ingrid busy. The eldest will be attending Duke University in the fall. His mother is Laurie Zola Gendell ’81. Son Rob has 4-year-old twin girls (Ingrid’s youngest grandchildren) and a 6-year-old daughter.

Book discussion leader Harriet Kaye Sobol has a Web site (www.planetbookgroupie.com), which includes a list of books she’s used, new books, and background on each. She would love to have classmates visit her blog to offer feedback.

Sara Sprague Monick passed along some information about New York Times reporter Patrick Healy, who is covering the Clinton campaign. He is the son of Carol Higginbotham Healy, and a wonderful writer. Sara, Ditto Briwa Ball, and Carol had a great visit with the late Barbara Senderowitz Ross in June, for which they are very grateful.

Rachel Peckham Elder attended military promotional ceremonies for her son, a new colonel in the US Air Force in Thailand, and a son-in-law, another new colonel stationed in Washington, DC.

Dermatologist Harriet Harris Winston is working two days a week supervising young internists on Staten Island and one day a week with residents at NYU. She enjoys living in Manhattan. She goes to concerts and museums with husband Stu and travels occasionally. Her children and grandchildren are doing well. She still thinks fondly of her days at Skidmore.

Joy Hamann Shaw does a lot of grandkid-sitting to help her children, who all live nearby. She is also still cutting wooden jigsaw puzzles. Joy splits her time between Concord, MA, and Center Sandwich, NH, the latter being inundated with snow this past winter, which made for great snowshoeing.

Lyn Pyle Behne toured national parks in Utah and Arizona, with a side trip to California. She enjoyed winter skiing in Vermont with older grandchildren and skied in Colorado with two little granddaughters.

Doris Shilliday Grayson and Art celebrated their 50th anniversary in April. They flew to Spain to visit their eldest grandson in Granada during his semester abroad. From there they traveled to Dubai to cruise down the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Suez Canal, ending in Alexandria, Egypt. They enjoyed visits to the pyramids and sphinx and a camel ride along the way.
Sheila Josefsberg Kasten, who renewed her friendship with Timmie Buck Wiant at our 50th reunion, had a wonderful and memorable four-day visit with Timmie and Jim in St. Louis in March. They did some sightseeing and visited the art museum, but mostly reminisced, ate, drank, and laughed a lot.

Nancy Mann Germanetti is delighted to be hearing so much news from classmates. Her life has been busy. Hugh closed his corporate office at the end of February and moved 53 years of records back to a home office, where he started his company.

Ann Laurie Douglas Moore reports that life in Tucson, AZ, has been good to her and her family. She has had good health and success in her chosen field of real estate for 30 years. Still working full-time, she plays golf, bikes, and swims. Ann is now training her husband, Bill, and son Edward to join her in her business. She and Bill also enjoy traveling, especially in Italy, South America, and Mexico.

Barbara Donadio Doyle and husband Bill moved from NYC to Brighton, MA.

Sue Flood Fricke wished Reunion was longer. However, she did see Suhn Yung Song Ahn, whom she met senior year in Skidmore Hall. They were on the same floor in the dorm and were acquaintances. Suhn and husband Ken winter in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, where Sue and Tom now reside. Since Reunion they have gotten together several times and are fast friends.

There was sad news from Mo Keeney Nunnery, who informed me that husband John died January 28 after a courageous struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. “He was an amazing man and never complained as his need for oxygen became greater as time went on.” You can e-mail Mo at momnunnery@verizon.net.

Geri Snook Sutphen sadly reported that Ann Wetherell Mowle, whose death was noted in the last issue of Scope, died as a result of depression brought on by being victimized by a Jamaican lottery scam. Ann was a retired Princeton University bookkeeper and raised three children as a single parent. Geri was a very good friend of Ann’s but lost touch with her after moving further away and is sorry she did not make more of an effort to stay connected. Geri’s husband, Paul, is very involved in local politics, which keeps them tied down. Also, their eleven grandchildren keep them busy.