1954 Class Notes for 2015
Dear Best Friends from the Class of 1954:
So many of the 27 who returned for Reunion in May remarked on the wonderful opportunity to re-connect with friends and, in many cases, get to know other classmates better. We still remain a very caring, faith-filled, collegial and grateful group despite continuing health issues. I am amazed at your energy for volunteering, be it in the community or your church, and that you are always thankful for your many blessings even in the hard times. I sincerely think this is a “Trinity thing” which we have carried along with us these 64 years.
Genevieve “Jean” Perry Connell expressed it beautifully while re-reading Christmas card messages of perseverance and hope that filled her heart. Her advice: “hold on to your joy.” She and Jim are healthy and she continues to work two days a week because she loves what she does. She is a clinical social worker doing individual and couples therapy. She plays bridge weekly with Nancy Crecca Schaefer and Helen O’ Neill May, who called in her greetings and to say she is alive, well and always ready for lunch with the bunch. The DC Metro-area lunch bunch lost three of
its members this year. Mary Gorman Lawler died in June after a lengthy and courageous bout with cancer. ClaireBiberstein Kendall died in July and Rosemary “Rosie” Greenslade Belson died in November. Claire was a day hop who did not graduate with us, but was a Trinity legacy, as her mother had been a student there also. Rosie was very fragile at the Reunion luncheon, but loved being with so many of her best friends. Rosie died after a long period of
decline. Our local Trinity classmates turned out to pay special tribute to her, as did the homilists and the family members with their moving and frequently funny memories.
Ann Horbett Groshek and Mike came back for Reunion. Ann had just had surgery in April. She and her sister Rita Horbett Burns ’55 went down to Ocean City, MD, to check out their old haunts – though only the beach is the same! Ann and Mike continue to do volunteer work and spent time hiking last summer in Mallorca and Germany with UK and American friends.
Pat Smith Daley and Mick celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and Mick’s 85th birthday last fall. They continue to travel to many of Mick’s Army reunions all over the country. Pat, of course, was our Reunion chair, along with Anne Carusone Landry, and they did their usual organized and flawless job of keeping us all on time and focused. The dinner in Social Hall was especially lovely as we were able to just drift in after the reception on the front lawn, look
at the site for the new academic building near the library and enjoy a delicious dinner with classmates and spouses. Now that we are a 60th Reunion class we were guests of Trinity! Anne has volunteered for five years for the St. Jude’s Gala Committee. She enjoyed having Elizabeth “Sis” Heffernan Shay spend Reunion weekend with her also.
Ellen Daley Prokop and Mike are still enjoying retirement in NC but Ellen found Reunion somewhat bittersweet. She enjoyed being with so many good friends but wondered how many would still be with us in 2019. Ellen has had many health problems but felt blessed to have her whole family together for Thanksgiving.
Peggy Inglesby Greenslade and John have sold their beautiful “camp” at Schroon Lake and are full time in Glen Falls, NY, quite near sons Michael and John. She keeps in touch with Pat Keeler Bader, who probably has moved to a co-op with elevator in Bronxville when you read this. Peggy and John’s great sorrow is the loss of his only sibling, Rosie,
who fought so long and is now at peace.
Peg Malone Fisher wrote with the sad news of Frank’s death in July after a wonderful Father’s Day celebration with all of the family. Six of her children are within five to six hours of Peg in Kure Beach and she plans to do some traveling to keep up with family and some of those 27 grandchildren. She wants us to know that she was with us in spirit at Reunion.
There was a hilarious email from Pat Cardamone Guida way out in Idaho. Her four children live far apart but get together with mom, siblings and Pat’s mumsey children for skiing in Idaho. At my request Pat identified the “mumsey” children, since she had no role in mothering them, as grands (she eschews the G word): nieces, nephews or anyone else close to the family. She is currently engrossed in researching the Underground Railroad on the Eastern Shore and particularly William Still, an abolitionist from there, who interviewed slaves in Philadelphia as they passed through. She is preparing to send her findings to the Historical Society. She researches anything else that piques her interest. Music remains a major factor in her life, especially the Bee Gees and the Brandenburg Concerti. The latter makes her think of Maureen Armstrong Allegaert, her beauty and grace, who mentioned that she loved the Brandenburg Concerti. I wonder if Maureen remembers that.
Cathy Dawson keeps in touch with Maureen and Cathy Cloney McGoldrick for lunch. Cathy says her life is same old, same old, and she stays busy with friends, travel, family and reading. Maureen and Win also enjoy lectures, exhibits, concerts, operas and daily walks in the city.
Margaret Mary “MM” Collins O’Brien loves trying to keep up with her pride and joy and only grandchild, Erin, who is a freshman at a Catholic high school in Virginia. MM is in an independent living complex in Silver Spring and likes visiting
with her neighbors in the court. She was unable to come to Reunion but did have a nice visit down memory lane with Rosie at her Annapolis home last last summer. Her “volunteering” is family-based as she is the matriarch of a very large Irish family and keeps them all connected and in line somehow.
Carol Aiken Preece’s pride and joys are her three great-grands, children of her daughter Maura Preece Young ’81. She wishes you could tell the gender from their names, Hadley, Barrett and Graeme, though thinks there might be a Graeme in the Celtic calendar. That is two boys and one girl, you figure it out. She is in to genetic genealogy and is planning a European train trip with an English friend in the summer.
Mary Healy Deely retired from the front desk of a Wellesley real estate firm after 20 years. Since she still has not needed repair work on hips, knees or eyes, she is celebrating by travelling to Ireland, Boothbay Harbor, ME, and is taking a winter trip to Naples, FL. She volunteers at Rosie’s Place, a women’s shelter nearby.
Helen Brady Crowley, Janet O’ Leary Clement and Joan Sullivan all remarked on how much they enjoyed coming back for Reunion, turning back the clock and catching up with old friends. Helen and Janet were part of my sleuth team with Helen finding Marcia Mazzuchi Shannon. Janet and Paul also just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and love spending family time at their cabin in New Hampshire. Janet sent a lovely front porch picture with Armelle Simoneau Gormley, both as tiny as ever.
Marcia and Janet, as Canadian residents, often miss Trinity communications – extra postage required – so I was thrilled to find Marcia in Kingston, Ontario, a town with two universities and an international heritage site as well. She sent a lengthy bio, which must be condensed, unfortunately. She and John are enjoying retirement in a condo overlooking Lake Ontario. She is a retired librarian and keeps busy with designing gardens – her business is named Marcia’s Path. She serves on the music program for the oncology ward of her local hospital, on the arts committee and enjoys pottery. John’s sister, Pat Shannon ’53, was Class Song Leader.
Dottie O’Brien Meisenzahl and Bill are also enjoying independent living and socializing in a housing facility of about 100 in Burlington, VT. Their daughter in New York has recently become engaged to a young Irish man and the family is excited about wedding plans.
Maggie Kenney Berkey has moved to a retirement community in nearby Philadelphia and enjoys the concerts, poetry nights, activities and, most of all, having meals prepared and cleaned up for her.
She roomed with Diane Cusolito Moonan for Reunion and they both remarked on how alert and able we all are at 80-plus. Maggie’s mother, Class of 1920, was scribe for her class and Maggie remembers the flap when her mother was trying to put it all together. (Scribe’s note: It’s much easier now that we have email, but still so hard to condense and edit while still capturing the spirit.)
Eileen Denney McLaughlin reports that 2014 was a happy year for her, with two family weddings which required her to just attend and enjoy, several great vacations and Reunion. She plans to meet Sis Heffernan Shay, Francesca“Sisti” Rokosz and Maggie Kenney Berkey for a St. Patrick’s Day drink ’em down lunch.
Hope Savage Crawley notes there is so much to read, but it’s now or never. She hosts a bi-weekly book group that has enjoyed reading Pope Francis’s On Heaven and Earth. Hope volunteers at the Salvation Army once a week, working with the homeless and helping them get showers and fresh clothes. “It is a privilege to get to know them and I even hear some of their success stories.” She reports that Mary McLaughlin Bedard, with her quiet sense of humor, is busy with church work and rides her horse daily.
Anne Denison Morgan-DeAcetis mentioned that old age is not like just sitting on the porch swing as she visualized it. She stays young with church work, audiobooks and travel.
Flo Philbin Dowling says she and Bill lurch around on their walkers, work hard driving their children crazy by not answering texts promptly and demanding emergency help for new apps and, most importantly, commenting on their grands’ lifestyles.
Irma Fiol de Alvarez and Tony spend September and October in Spain, May and November in Gainesville, FL, and the rest of the time in Puerto Rico. They have a senior residence at University of Florida, Gainesville and are quite comfortable with the many friends they have made there. When the time comes to say goodbye to Puerto Rico that is where they will live permanently. The situation is very difficult for Puerto Rican citizens, as taxes are very high and the best-educated young people are moving to the United States at the rate of 100,000 a year. This could be alleviated if Puerto Rico could become a state, but meanwhile the businesses that cannot move are heavily taxed.
Roseanne “Flag” Flaherty Madden and John like their new living space in Winnetka and treasure each day they have together. Inspired by the Trinity reminder, Flag is going to use the life and death of Sr. Dorothy Stang, SND, as an example of a contemporary martyr with a group she belongs to. Unfortunately, there are currently too many choices.
Julia “Judy” Ryther Majcher went from Reunion to Paris, Sri Lanka, Java, Bali, Hanoi and Shanghai before returning to California. She designs and makes one-of-a-kind necklaces sold for the benefit of local Catholic charities. She loves incorporating beads and designs from her travels into the jewelry.
Dottie Gorman Dwyer stays busy as the grandmother attending the children’s games and school functions. When Hailey (6) said her corporal work of mercy would be to “clothe the naked,” a few eyebrows went up. Her reply: “I always pick out my brother’s (3) clothes.” Dottie raves about granddaughter Alyssa Kahr, a dedicated nursing student at DeSales University.
Ellie McDonough Good is a lawyer whose job, for 32 years, was conducting in-person, telephone and on the record Medicare B Hearings for beneficiaries and providers dissatisfied with the processing of their claims. “I would say that 75% percent of my work was with beneficiaries.”
Mary Curtin Smith and Bernie spent some winter time in FL and are thankful for Bernie’s recovery.
Our dear Sr. Benedicta Chang was honored as a diamond Jubilarian at a celebration of her 60 years of service to the Church as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. When she came to Trinity in 1950, “it was my first experience in a Catholic school and I was enchanted! I loved the atmosphere, the daily Mass, the practices and devotions. I was inspired by the Sisters. I have taught mostly art in schools in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and Maryland for 42 years. I am grateful to God for the gift of life. My dream of service has been fulfilled many times over. My gratitude to God extends to all my family and friends who are part of my life, and I ask God’s blessing on them all.” (Scribe’s note: The foregoing sentiments are from Benedicta’s thoughts as expressed in the order’s Endeavor magazine honoring the celebrants.)
Sis Heffernan Shay remembers Reunion as a time that makes one realize how blessed our lives have been. She can still navigate the airports to see her six far-flung families and feels fortunate to have her youngest son nearby. Love and prayers for all those not feeling up-to-par.
Anne Hayes Cleary writes the best Christmas cards. She reviewed her past 80-plus years. From running boards to rumble seat rides to changed meaning of words, “a mouse was an animal you didn’t want in your house to…grass was something you mowed…and a chip was a piece of wood!” She says she is doing some writing. I hope she will share it with us.
Jennifer Chazal Watson and Jim are all settled into a condo close to their daughter Joanie near Warrington, VA. They hope to be snow birds at some point this winter. Sisty Rokosz Farley lives in Swarthmore, which means she can get together more and do lunch and catch-up with Sis.
From Annette Pieslak Kane: “It was wonderful to see so many classmates at Reunion and to recognize that, in spite of the passage of years, the divergence of paths and the geographical distances, there is still a bond of common experience and shared lives that keeps us close to one another.”
Like so many of us, my days are filled with various volunteer activities – tutoring through the Literacy Council, preparing meals for the homeless and serving as accompanist for the parish Resurrection Choir, which provides music for funerals (50 funerals this past year!). I also study piano and am in a French conversation group. I belong to a neighborhood book club and another one in the parish. The latter has introduced me to some challenging books in theology. Outings and gatherings with my children and grandchildren bring great joy to my life. One special trip was accompanying daughter Paula (who is now a full professor at the University of Pittsburgh) to Holy Cross College where she gave a lecture on her recently published book and where granddaughter Marie Therese is a freshman. Some of Paula’s former professors came to hear her presentation and I had the delight in seeing them again and also meeting my granddaughter’s friends. It was a great cross-generation experience.
It was a thrill for me to attend a Trinity-sponsored chamber concert by the National Symphony Orchestra as part of the NSO in Your Neighborhood, Brookland to NOMA (North of Massachusetts Avenue is a booming area!). It was held in the Chapel, with its wonderful acoustics, and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts brass ensemble joined with the NSO for the performance. There were many neighborhood folks and alums there. A reception with hot chocolate and cookies in Social Hall followed. It was such a nice mix of ages and interests and an opportunity for Trinity to show off a bit.
Another year of gathering has been almost as much fun as the first. I am amazed at the dedication, spirit and caring you all mention. So many continue to volunteer in their parish and community and stay busy with book clubs, gardening, reading and enjoying life. I remain blessed with good health and enough energy and mental focus to try to keep up with my ever-increasing family and volunteer work. My great thanks to Annette who has proof-read this letter countless times and made it English-major-perfect, I hope. Stay well and the Lord’s best blessings to you all!
Ruthann Twomey Arnsberger