class notes

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1970s

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1973

Joanne Rubin
jrubin610@aol.com

Our class extends a hearty thank-you to Elizabeth Raff Nace for all of her effort and time as class secretary. Bibsy did a wonderful job keeping us informed about classmates, and we appreciate her commitment.

Lainie Damask Levine (lainie718@hotmail.com) is renovating and decorating a 110-year-old Victorian home in Englewood, NJ. She graduated from Cardozo School of Law and passed the New York Bar in 1982. She decided to delay her career and raise her children full-time, a decision she rarely regrets! Daughter Lauren graduated from a fashion school in NYC in May (unfortunately conflicting with Reunion). Jason, a Stanford University graduate, is working for the Republican Party. Over the years Lainie has worked at the Bergen County Law Library, volunteered at Hackensack University Medical Center, and played lots of golf and tennis. She’s also kept very busy doting on husband Jerry, also an attorney, her two children, two stepchildren, and two adorable grandsons, Jacob and Lucas.

Trish Bissell has had some health challenges over the last few years, including cancer and Parkinson’s disease. In 2006 she retired from a career in speech therapy. She and Ed have been “traveling and enjoying life immensely,” she says. Trish wasn’t sure if they’d show up at Reunion but encourages classmates to contact her to reconnect.

Joy Glucksman was named one of Georgia’s top attorneys by Super Lawyers magazine. Inclusion is based on peer evaluations and professional achievement. Joy has also earned the highest rating for quality and ethics by Martindale Hubbell publications for about 10 years. Her practice in Atlanta emphasizes family, employment, and corporate law. She is also an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. She and husband David Markus, also a lawyer, hosted the annual holiday party for the Dekalb County and Atlanta bar associations.

Kyle Caparosa is an attorney in Palm Beach, FL. She could not attend Reunion because daughter Wallis’s eighth-grade dance was the same weekend, and Wallis would be “most disappointed if her mother would choose Skidmore friends over her.” Kyle expected to spend the weekend chauffeuring her only child to and from the manicurist and hair dresser and entertaining eighth-graders and their parents before the dance. “She really does look beautiful in the sunshine-yellow strapless dress we spent hours selecting.”

Bett Farber is facilitating groups in nonviolent communication, a model of speaking and listening for feelings and needs. She would enjoy connecting with any other alumni involved in teaching or learning this communication model and can be reached at bfarber@crocker.com.
Cynthia Hettler-Ingerson is enjoying her first year of retirement after 32 years as a middle-school counselor. Her four grandchildren keep her busy. The whole family of 10 took a wonderful trip to Disney World last June.

Carolynn English Ainsworth and husband George are codirectors of Year of Your Life, a Christian residential discipleship program that helps young people ages 18–26 establish a strong foundation for their lives and discover their destiny. Their son John is married and a computer programmer; daughter Joy is in medical school, and Alyson is applying to veterinary schools.

Diane Stone Kendall lives in Houston, TX, and was not able to make our reunion due to parenting responsibilities. Her youngest is currently a high-school junior. Diane is editor of Children’s Software Press.

Jennifer Smith Linck is retired and loving it. She spends her time traveling—most recently to Ireland, Hawaii, North Dakota, and Utah. She is off next to Acadia National Park. Son Brett is a pediatrician; he and wife Jamie have a daughter, Erin 4. Daughter Kimberly is a shock-trauma nurse in a neurology unit. Jenny, who spent two years at Skidmore and the next two years at Colgate, has been in touch with Rose Sanders Harple ’74.

Kristina Hansen Wardwell is an attorney at Goodwin Proctor in Boston.

Debby Barton lives in Maryland. She helped plan her daughter’s June wedding, and the family was thrilled with the celebration.

Claudette Magarian Turck is a senior contract negotiator for MultiPlan Inc., a large national PPO in Manhattan. She previously worked for Private Healthcare Systems, a national primary PPO, until MultiPlan acquired them in 2006. Claudette has a daughter Kelly, 19. She keeps in touch with Claudia Randel Little ’74, Sue Cortley ’74, and Sue Taylor ’74.

Lauri Landau is a busy CPA in New York.

Diane Mathews Faber has moved to Fall City, WA. She has a beautiful 14-month-old granddaughter. Diane continues to compete in triathlons as an age-grouper.

Harry Alverson is in his 13th year as managing director of the Carlyle Group, a global private-equity firm based in Washington, DC, and will be delighted when the elections are over. He and wife Katie Groves Alverson ’74 have three children: the oldest will be a freshman at Dartmouth’s Tuck School in September; the middle one is working on a master’s in education at Leslie College; and the “caboose” is looking at colleges. Harry has curtailed his travel schedule while recovering from a broken shoulder resulting from a skiing accident. The Alversons see John Danzer ’75 regularly in NYC and are in touch with Reed Manville in Los Angeles.

Barri Lynn Jones Moreau lives and works in Portland, ME, where she is director of education at PCA Great Performances. She has a daughter Maria, 12. She and her husband took Maria to see Skidmore last summer on their way to Cornell to reconnect with her husband’s old college buddies. Barri says, “Maria enjoyed looking at Skidmore, and having me point out where I lived, but it was difficult recognizing Skidmore and Saratoga from my memories.” Barri loved the colorful horse sculptures around the city, and observed that “there are so many more buildings on campus!”

Phyllis Digges LaTouche Rawlins spent the winter in St. Croix.

Chris Barnstead Arneson is traveling to South Africa.

Maggie Moss-Tucker spent most of the winter in California.

In Miami, FL, Wendy Berger Boyar says her MS has been pretty stable for the past few years. Mike’s business is expanding. He now has added on Boyar Executive Search, a head-hunting branch. Son Matthew will be a senior at the University of Miami next year, majoring in business management.

A group of New England classmates met for a pre-Reunion gathering in February at the Paparazzi Restaurant in Wellesley, MA. Attending were Anne Blodget Holberton, Rhonda Silberberg Canter, Kris Hansen Wardwell, Terry McKee von der Heydt, and Cathy Offinger. The group had a great time reminiscing.

Connie Terry Ferguson lives in Dorset, VT, where she does fundraising for a few of her favorite nonprofits. Son Peter lives in Brooklyn and is at the top of ADP’s national sales force. Daughter Abby, finishing a doctorate in psychology, recently moved from San Francisco to the Boston area to start an internship with a counseling agency in Quincy, MA. Neither of her children are married yet. Connie says both are “too busy working.” She spent six weeks away (and missed her dogs), driving to and from Vero Beach, CA, where she and her husband stayed during March to get a feel for snowbird life. She says, “I love the winters up here, but my husband is starting to feel he needs to get south for a bit.”

Ann Hargrave Loos and Karl moved to Cambridge, MA, almost two years ago and are taking full advantage of city living after years in the suburbs of Boston. Ann is retired, and Karl works from home as a management consultant. Ann volunteers two days a week at the Epiphany School in Dorchester, teaching reading skills to middle-school kids. She also keeps busy with a book group, workouts, visits with their three children and elderly parents, and travel (Belize in February). The Looses also spend time at their cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where the extended family gathers in August.

Sara Hotchkiss is busy making handwoven rugs. She spends her days designing and weaving in her sunny studio on the site of an old farm in coastal Waldoboro, ME. She sneaks out to the garden when time allows. Cluttered with fabrics—solids, prints, snippets of different colors and textures that remind Sara of her grandmother’s flowers—the room contains 10-foot and 12-foot Swedish looms as well as several smaller American looms. Two curious kitties make her nook complete. You can view Sara’s rugs at sarahotchkiss.com.

Trish Kaiser Niemitz’s daughter Becca and her husband live in Princeton, NJ. Trish’s son-in-law is in seminary, and Becca is a dietitian and a nutrition educator in the diabetic program at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Son Matt works for Adobe Systems in San Francisco and is enjoying life on the West Coast. His twin, Ben, is working for Habitat for Humanity on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where they will be rebuilding for a long time. Trish’s husband Jeff completed his 31st year teaching geology at Dickinson. This summer the couple is heading up a mission trip to Mexico to help build a community center and teach vacation Bible school.

Most former McClellan third-floor residents attempted to show up for Reunion. Phyllis Rawlins rallied the troops, including Cheryl Bonini Ellis, Barb O’Reilly, and Ellen Lefkowich Arnold.

Barb O’Reilly spends winters in Florida and the rest of the year in Vermont.

Barbara Lucas-Roberts retired as director of human resource management for the NY State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in 2005. She and her husband devote their free time to motivational speaking, encouraging high-schoolers to pursue a college education. Daughter Jolana received an MS in educational counseling from George Washington University and is nationally certified to work in northern Virginia. Barbara and her husband hope to relocate to Atlanta this year. Barbara is proud of having been part of the first Academic Opportunity Program at Skidmore in 1969 and says the scholarship program changed her life. Both she and her husband are first-generation college graduates and know the importance of “giving back” to others.

Mary Ellen Knight Thompson is moving from her lifelong home near Philadelphia to St. Helena Island, SC. She encourages anyone driving to Florida to stop by and say hello. Daughter Elizabeth graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design a couple of years ago and is operating a small jewelry studio in Brooklyn, NY. Son Alexander is a junior at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mary Ellen spent six months in France last year, living on an 80-foot Dutch canal barge and cruising the canals near Burgundy. The summer before, she joined the boat in Belgium, on its maiden voyage from England, traveling through Belgium and France to the home port near Dijon. She and daughter Elizabeth went to Paris and Burgundy for 10 days in April to celebrate their joint birthdays. Mary Ellen had dinner with Connie Terry Ferguson in NYC last November.

Zoë Vose Morsette again entered a bear in the auction for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The Pumbaa bear, created by her and Andrew Benepe, got the second highest bid of the night, $9,000, topped only by the Spamalot bear (signed by David Hyde Pierce and Clay Aiken), which sold for a whopping $17,000! About 200 hours of labor were required to complete Zoë’s bear. This is the seventh year that she costumed a bear for this benefit auction, and all of her bears together have raised a total of $24,400 for Broadway Cares, one of the big backers of the Actors’ Fund, which provided social services, rent, and health insurance assistance to Zoë when she was undergoing surgery and chemotherapy five years ago. See our class Web site for a photo of Zoë’s bear (go to www.skidmore.edu/alumni, and click on “classes”).

I was saddened to learn from Joyce Marvel Eckblad’s husband, Don Smith, that Joyce died in January. The class extends condolences to the entire family. They have established the Dr. Joyce M. Eckblad Memorial Scholarship Fund at Creighton University, from which daughter Maren graduated last May. Don says of Joyce, “Her work was her life and her passion, including women’s advocacy, domestic violence, social justice, and counseling for those with addiction issues.”
The family of the late Carol Johnson Gentner, who died in 2003, has established the Carol S. Gentner Post-Graduate Nursing Fellowship in memory of her significant contributions to the Legacy Health Foundation and Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, OR.

I was recently elected for another term as Democratic committee precinct captain in Toledo, OH. This will be my sixth term in this position. Son Barry has raised the most money for the Toledo Area Humane Society Walk-a-Thon for the last six years. We are hoping to make it seven years in a row, surpassing $20,000 for this worthwhile endeavor.