class notes

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UWW | In Memoriam

1950s

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1957

Joan Page Hayes
joanhayes@verizon.net

In September Betty Hartz Hewitt, Marge O’Meara Storrs, and I had a wonderful visit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC with Ada Vapnek Ciniglio and Joan Benninger Nixon. Joan had traveled from her home in Sarasota, FL, to visit with Ada and then on to see Lindsay Pyle Behne in Niantic, CT.

Norma Swift Fennell is saddened to report that Janne Ward Cowdery passed away in August. Janne’s husband, Mark, told Norma that his and Janne’s marriage of 51 years was an extremely happy one.

Betty Torjesen McCullough and Jean Kreger Carlson enjoyed a long telephone mini-reunion this past summer, reminiscing about their days as history majors and trying to catch up after 50 years.

Chick Glassey Ehbrecht and Susie Schanck Fawcett achieved a 50-year dream by reliving their postgraduation European trip. In 1957 they spent the summer traveling with bicycles, had lot of laughs, and stayed overnight for 25 cents in youth hostels. This time they repeated some locations including Paris, the Loire Valley, seeing the Lipizzaner horses in Vienna, and visiting friends in Switzerland. They traveled on to Germany for a dressage lesson and a visit with Sabine Hummel Krechel. Flying home to New York on July 4, they saw fireworks bursting over Long Island.

Alice Bemis Wiggin is back giving quilt talks after a four-year hiatus. She loves sharing stories of the impact of quilts in American history. She continues to make comfort quilts for the sick and needy, which she can do at home with Dick, who needs her nearby.

Pat Naigles Lyons followed Reunion with six weeks in Washington State. She and Herb decided to make the Adirondacks their legal residence and return to Florida during the cold months.

Vivian Weisenfeld Gans and Ken celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at a Washington, DC, area country club with dinner and dancing. Among the 83 guests were friends from all over the country, including Steffie Merber Lench and husband Myron.

Nancy Mann Germanetti and Hugh enjoyed 64 nights at sea aboard the MS Amsterdam, a cruise ship with 1,300 passengers. They set off from Seattle, WA, to ports in Russia, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Fiji, Western Samoa, and Hawaii before debarking in San Diego, CA.

Becky Albrecht Welte and Dick celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by going back to Falmouth, MA, where they had honeymooned. While there Becky reconnected with E. Jane Bergeron, who lives on Martha’s Vineyard. Now they e-mail each other weekly; she says, “Old friends are forever!”

Harriet Kaye Sobol continues to run writing workshops and lead book discussion groups. She likes to choose literature from other cultures and relatively unknown authors. She enjoys book hunting almost as much as taking care of her 4-year-old grandson. Harriet’s husband, Tom, is retired from Teachers College but continues to teach there and chair a committee, Public Schools for Tomorrow.

Doris Shilliday Grayson watched Camilla Vilas Durfee compete in the Masters National Rowing Regatta in the Graysons’ hometown of Knoxville, TN, this past August. Doris and Art cheered as Camilla won two gold and two bronze medals.

Mary Gund Farr shared the sad news that her son died unexpectedly in January 2007, leaving a wonderful wife and a 7-year-old son in Boston, MA. Mary and Hap, who live in Ohio, help as much as they can. She admits to a tendency to “smother” her grandson with love.

Joy Hamann Shaw missed Reunion but was surprised she recognized so many classmates in the class photo we all received. Last summer she and Gordon enjoyed a week in Mt. Desert Island in Seal Harbor, ME, with their entire family, calling it “hectic but fun!” She and Gordon also finished a “barn” addition to their Center Sandwich, NH, home. In August they enjoyed a three-hour lunch with Julie Gaines Phalen.

In September Ginny Carter Lombardi, Tink Haller Wallace, Sylvia Chalk Currie, Karen Handler Lent, and Nina Hills Hodge met at Judy Fletcher Baker’s home in Santa Fe, NM, for a mini-reunion. Seven of them have been keeping a round-robin letter going for the past 50 years! Joy Bell Mayhew couldn’t attend. Ginny and husband Richard escaped the Dallas heat this past summer at Sea Ranch, CA, and Ashland, OR. They traveled to India in October.

Jo Lyon Short was sorry to have missed our big 50th reunion, but she and husband John were traveling through the Northwest following her husband’s shoulder surgery. She is a first-time great-grandmother to a darling little girl who arrived three months early and weighed less than three pounds. Happily, both mother and baby are fine.

Jo Leach Lewis and Dotty Wakeman Mattoon visited northern Italy this past fall, including a week on Lake Como, another in Florence, and the third in Siena. The weather was perfect, the food was exceptional, and they made train, bus, and plane connections without problems. “We walked a thousand miles and drank a thousand glasses of wine and came home exhausted!”

Irene Greenberg Stern and Mark enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up with everyone at Reunion. Afterward they traveled to Florida for Irene’s niece’s wedding, and then to Memphis, TN, for a grandnephew’s bar mitzvah. Irene spends as much time as possible with her grandson and says, “Life is full!”