1958 Class Notes for 2018
“At our age, we’ve beaten the odds. Now we play with the house money,
So enjoy THIS day, every minute, breeze, cloud, friend.
Time to breathe, laugh and see the wonders around us.”
– Barbara McGeary Marhofer
Taking my lead from Bobbie’s wonderful ode to contentment, I’ll zero in on my favorite part – taking time to laugh – to share Lynn Pfohl Quigley’s subway tale: “On a cold January day, I was getting on an ‘F’ subway train in NY, headed to my watercolor class with a large art bag and big purse. As I entered the car, four people rose, two on each side. I mumbled to myself, I thought, ‘Do I really look that old?’ Everyone laughed and as I sat down, I added, ‘Did you notice everyone offering their seat was a woman?’ The middle-aged man sitting next to me replied, ‘That’s because I was hoping to sit next to you.’ By then a whole crowd was laughing and the rest of the ride was not a typical NY one – everyone talking, laughing and wishing each other well.”
Patty Hackett Sheehan and Jack are still doing their part to keep the seniors happy, bartending at the nearby assisted living in NH, while Patty and Nancy Thompson Jackson (’54) solve the world’s problems daily during their two mile walk at the college sports center. As you might expect, a recent surgery did not keep Fran (aptly dubbed “The Franster” by her daughter) Palmison Collins off the tennis courts for long. She’s back “playing just as badly” three or four times a week. And her lament will sound familiar to many – sometimes she wonders why she came into a room.
Lots of happy news from Pauli Lariviere Geurden. She and daughter, Gigi, spent a delightful week in June in Waltham, MA, for her oldest son Rob’s wedding, followed by a satisfying 2nd place finish at the Orlando Special Olympics for Gigi’s four-girl team. Coach Pauli proudly noted that the other teams were all men or partly male.
There’s no good way to segue to the following news from Judy McAdams Cullen about the August 27, 2017, assault of Harvey on the Houston area. “Harvey flooded us out of our home, leaving behind 5.5 ft. of water inside for two weeks. We lost everything – clothing, furniture, cars, appliances, albums – 45 years of memories.” They have been staying with their daughter, Laurie, and family in Dallas, deciding whether to return to Houston or stay in Dallas.
Now to introduce you to some authors: Gina Pleus MacKenzie’s “The Shirt on His Back,” the true story about friends who escaped the Liberian civil war in 1990, was published this March (Amazon and Barnes & Noble). Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, is where we sent freed slaves in the early 1800s. Her friends became Fulbright scholars. Gina remarked that her background from the segregated south would not have predicted her embrace of these friends and this topic. Proceeds from the book will go to the Franciscan Missions.
Terry Kelly Griffin is on her church’s editorial committee, which has just published “Painting on Light – a Restoration.” It’s an account of working with the original liturgical artist, Andre Girard, and a study of Brother Dutton, who went to Molokai with St. Damien. Mary Frann Summers Heidhues, writing from her senior high-rise in Germany (which she loves), reports she has stopped writing about Indonesia and has given nearly all of her professional library to university libraries. Her bookshelves are full again, however, due to her Biblical study and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. If her proposed trip to Italy in the fall takes place, I will have a treasure-trove of news to convey. Mary Frann plans to follow in the footsteps of Dante, including reading the Divine Comedy.
Another scholar still imparting her knowledge is Sylvia Washington Ba. For the past four years she has been asked to speak to a freshman class at Catholic U in a course on DC. Initially, the topic was Brookland, but it was rapidly expanded to include some history of WDC as a southern city, from segregation to gentrification. Sylvia noted that this pursuit “has afforded me significant historical and social perspective as I reflect on our status as octogenarians in today’s disquieting world.” And right down the street, Trinity has snared our ex-congresswoman Barbara Bailey Kennelly for yet another year of “professorship” at the university.
A trip of a lifetime was in store for Mary Fran McGowan Allen last fall when she toured northwestern India. The Taj Mahal viewed morning, noon and night, the ever-present marigold welcoming necklaces, the funeral pyres and tea lights floating in the Ganges, were indelible images. At the same time, Cathy Russell joined Lynn Quigley and Barbara Glunz-Donovan in the Balkans, touring Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – “a culturally enriching experience!” Cathy was on her way to Stowe, VT, to cross-country ski this February, weather cooperating! If not, there’ll be lots of reading, playing games and talking.
You can’t get a more memorable 82nd birthday than to be invited to do the hula on stage during a luau in Kauai, HI. This is how Barbara Durand Zimmermann celebrated this March, after snorkeling in the afternoon.
It wasn’t India, the Balkans or Hawaii, but Judy Fornili Pauley has seen plenty of different scenery this year – Bethel, AK (one paved road and melting permafrost – access by boat or plane), Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, Ft. Myers, Montreal – all because she and her husband are still working with schools all over the country as process communications trainers. She calls this retirement! Yvonne Thel Driscoll has recovered from a recent fall and she now envisions more travel, figuring out how to attend three First Communions and three Confirmations this spring.
I didn’t know what LAOH was, but Amy Flanagan Burgoyne joined this year. It’s the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and she can testify she has never seen so many freckles nor heard so many brogues. There’s lots of music and dining at the local Irish Center in San Francisco. Heritage search has revealed she is 90% British and Irish. Amy, too, is in the throes of authorship, crafting a fact/fiction story about her 7th great grandfather. Oh, and she’s also joined the DAR. Actually enjoying the brogue in the “old sod” this summer were Lou Collins McCloskey, Peter and their four girls, spending 10 days in Connemara, then visiting the McCloskey home place in County Cavan. In the fall, they marveled at the futuristic displays at the World Electronics Forum in Angers, France, tempering that vision with a visit to the medieval wonders of Mont St. Michel and Chartres.
Food for thought from Sheila Kallan Keegan from Bainbridge Island, where she’s doing lots of reading and watercolor painting. “Glad to have grown up in a simpler time. Although I love the ease of staying connected, I find the divisive tone of much news and a lot of social media disconcerting. Small moments and quiet endeavors are the best.” Echoing that sentiment is Janet Curran McDermott: “The most important thing I have learned is to be kind, loving and thoughtful to everyone you meet. A smile and ‘God bless you’ go a long way in making someone’s day.” She enjoys singing with the 250-member Encore Chorale for seniors, which gave a well-received free concert at the Kennedy Center in December.
“Thanks be to God and the dear Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for the privilege of our Trinity education,” wrote Marybet Lawrence Moss from Springfield, VA, hoping that we will be “steadfast in the faith through these elder years.” Finding joy in their family and friends and their one-level condo in Poughkeepsie, NY, Barbara Schlaich Masciale summarized it beautifully when she wrote: “The nicest place to be is in someone’s thoughts. The safest place to be is in someone’s prayers, but the best place to be in the hands of the Lord.”
Let’s go to the ocean now. According to Neen Haggerty Llewellyn, “the best days are jumping into the waves with the 4th generation” – yes, three great-grandchildren. She and Luke are on the board of the Shipman Mansion in NJ, where she as a docent and Luke a tour guide, plus they are social members of the Red Dragon Canoe and Sailing Club, which owns the mansion.
Jean Mazurek Kennedy posed a “do you remember” list from our college years: streetcars, iceboxes, cigarettes, shift cars – juxtaposed against today’s jets, internet and iPhones, etc., marveling what might be in store the next 80 years. To celebrate her 80th she enjoyed trips to Bermuda and Barcelona/Bilboa. At home Jean delights in one-on-one reading to aid failing 5th and 6th graders, lots of golf and chairing the landscape committee of her 75 unit townhome community.
Did you know that Welsh names don’t like vowels? Norene Kindstrand Rootareeducated me on that when I asked about a new grandson’s name – “Rhys,” as in “Reece.” Another piece of news from Norene is that she’s acquired a second residence in Dunnellon, FL, “one of the coolest towns in the US, the bass fishing capital of North America.” I followed up on that lead, and no, she doesn’t fish, but it’s still a cool place. In counting her blessings, Sue McGrath Dunn ranked having all their children and grandchildren in the Minneapolis area as tops. They do escape, though, when the wintry blasts are imminent, so they enjoyed a January Caribbean cruise and then a trip to Oceanside, CA, missing MN’s biggest snowfall of the season.Lest you have any doubt, Verna Hook Siford is still singing and playing the organ every Sunday in York, PA. She’s still gardening, too, although she said it will be smaller this year, but will still include Charlie’s favorite heirloom tomatoes – Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter and Cherokee Purple. At the same, time she will continue volunteering at the Horn Farm Agricultural Center. It’s no surprise to hear Nancy Jo Pyne Walker is anchoring the altos in her St. Elizabeth Church choir in Northern San Diego where she has been living with her daughter and family for 12 years. Another indefatigable advocate is Margo Kennedy Walsh. She continues her work as an advocate for shore protection and preservation. This has turned into a lifetime commitment with the Jersey Shore Partnership – “Sand on the Beach People.” Margot is still in Little Silver and Jean Kennedy O’Brien is in an assisted living center in Spring Lake.
As we know, there’s a good life in Naples, FL, too. Just ask Sally Santen Gleason. They moved to a senior living community nearby – “new friends and old friends, golf, bridge, some volunteer activities and very little cooking! And no snow!!!” Ginny Kilroy McKaig can second all that, admitting that “it takes a little longer to accomplish certain things … such as a good round of golf or learning Mah Jong!” There’s a condo in Naples with a decidedly Trinity flavor, too. That’s because Nancy Welch Ryan is renting an apartment there after selling her villa and Jean Ganley Caputo Williams is a neighbor. Nancy still supports My Brothers Table and has enlisted four grandkids, as well. Ann Mulville Geupel reports from Hobe Sound, FL. She visits with Pat Doyle Pryles and Cathy Crotty Higgins while she’s there.
Jean Volpe Rotondi’s Naples condo is also for sale; she plans to look for a Boston area apartment, but her heart’s in Paris, so she will be keeping the apartment where she spent two month this December. Daughter Joy teaches in France and they rented a house with a big fireplace in the deep countryside south of the Loire for Christmas week, visiting the tallest chateau in France. Finally, my Facebook browsing has revealed that Jeanne McQuillen Galego, roommate Sheila Stevinson Dockery and their husbands have enjoyed getting together annually for almost sixty years.
How about ending with something mouth-watering? Barbara Glunz-Donovan has been running her family’s 130 year old Chicago wine and liquor store for many years and added The Glunz Tavern five years ago. I will quote the rest of it: “Since joining the salaried workforce in 1977, my fellow employees have always been at least one generation younger. My age was a secret. In August, I admitted to 80 with a gathering of 60 family and friends for a wonderful four course dinner with Rose Champagne, Vosne Romanee Burgundy and Austrian dessert Riesling at the Glunz Tavern. Entrée was Mennonite Chicken from the Watergate of our college years.” She still presides over the “House of Glunz” every day. Susie Black Webb, also in Chicago, sent me a suggestion I feel compelled to follow as I send these notes on: “Sit back now, put up your feet and have a glass of wine.”
Life has shadows as well as sunshine, so it is with great sadness I report the deaths of my husband, Dave; Jean Rotondi’s husband, Roger; Jane Locraft Head’s husband, Dan; and our classmate, Genevieve Leonard Lynch. And a one-minute vignette from Gen’s Memorial Mass at St. Peter’s in DC in February: Setting – church vestibule. Discussion – misplacing glasses. Participants – Jean Kennedy, Barbara Kennelly, Janet McDermott and me. Solution – wear them on a cord around your neck. Response – Barbara (“I have five cords. Never use them”); Jean (“Me, too.”); Kate (“Mine’s hanging on my bulletin board.”) Consensus – makes us look old. Forget it.
Joan McIntee, handling response duties for Lynn Shea, reports that Lynn’s sense of humor is intact and she thanks everyone from ’58 for their warm and caring thoughts. Joan tossed out this upbeat couplet she heard from a 91-year-old friend: “Everything comes to pass. Nothing comes to stay” and remarked, “Sounds good to me!” Sending a warm hello to our other house-bound classmates, Rafi Valdez Echeverria, Nancy Britt Juliano and Pam Connolly Bartlett, I’ll close with this Irish toast:
“May God grant you many years to live, for sure He must be knowing
The earth has angels all too few and heaven is overflowing.”
And one more shot of humor: “As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.”
Kate Malone Geddes
kategeddes1@yahoo.com