1960 Class Notes for 2018
Dear Reds,
This is the first newsletter I’ve done on my own and I appreciate all the letters, news, emails and checks I have received.
An early respondent was, as always, the indomitable Molly Scanlan Kelly. She’s had two strokes and is blind in one eye, but still gives glory to God. She was planning to have lunch with Rosemary Murphy Dinnhaupt and talks frequently with Pat Nelson Sheils. Pat and Jim renewed their wedding vows fifty years to the day after they first took them. They are now living in St. Augustine, but had no major issues with Hurricane Irma.
Kathy Conole Reynolds misses Skip dreadfully, but is involved with the church, swims five days a week, plays bridge and follows book suggestions from her freshman roommate Mary Knipe Hartman, who suggests we all read “A Gentleman in Moscow.”
Betty Dooley has had to give up her parish volunteer work because of a diagnosis of breast cancer received on her 79th birthday. Her surgery went well, though chemotherapy was difficult. We pray that her next birthday will be among her best. She wrote that Maggie Reid Raffa was up from Florida for part of the summer and visited Mary Jean Gallagher and Angela Musetto Imhof. Betty sees Marie Lalor Rozan, who keeps busy with courses on Beethoven and World War I, book clubs and the symphony. Marie had a wonderful dinner recently with Ro Dinnhaupt and Kathleen Lobo Magill. She hears from Joyce Anastasia Urbanski and Barbara Wojie Deem.
Angela Musetto Imhof is still recovering from the weddings of two children within three months of each other! She’s very involved with the Parkinson’s Foundation and preparing to do advocacy in DC with the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Agnes Maguire Clarizio and Sal spent three years clearing out homes in VA and CT to move into a condo. But, such is the way of the Almighty; Sal died five days before their furniture arrived. Agnes continues to work in the parish and the Bridgeport Diaconate Women’s Group. Marie Meng Caffrey is the Coordinator of Ministries for her parish for the Diocese of Scranton, but she also finds time for bowling, bridge, children and grandchildren.
Fran Sprague Laughlin is pleased to have three daughters and their families living nearby in Belmont, MA. Fran is taking Pilates to strengthen a weak leg and piano lessons to feed her soul. Her husband, Malcolm, a long-time model train buff, repairs old Lionel trains and sells them on eBay.
The peripatetic Mary McMahon Shannon and her sisters visited their brother in New Zealand and stopped in Honolulu for a week to see her oldest son.
And now the news from FL: Lots of classmates mentioned grandchildren, but only Barbara Weber Budde wrote about her two grand-grandchildren. She spent Christmas week with her whole family in Cabo San Luca and then wintered in January and February in Ft. Myers, FL, before she went back to St. Louis. Barbara Clare is “mastering the art of leisure” on Amelia Island. Agnes Sullivan O’Brien spent the winter in FL until April 1. She is planning a June family trip to Ireland. Brenda Daley Carr and Bernie spent February on Captiva Island, FL, and spring and fall on Cape Cod. The FL mini-reunion was a cocktail party at Danna Crowley’s home. Denise Maloney O’Hearn was out of town for the FL party; she considers herself very fortunate playing bridge, teaching literacy to young children and spending the summers at her home in Southampton, NY. Kathleen Mulhern Tattan also wrote from FL where she and Bill spent two months. Last year they spent three weeks in Rome and, for their 55th anniversary, they cruised from Boston to Montreal. Another “bucket-list” check-off was visiting the Biltmore at Christmas.
And from the rest of the country: Mary Whaley from the “very cold and snowy Midwest” wrote that it’s been a year of challenges and blessings. In Savannah, Sheila O’Neill O’Connor and Richard have moved to a full-service retirement home. Even though they won’t be overlooking the golf course, they will be able to see the sunset at cocktail time. In Northern California, Margit Glantz Caulfield and Nancy Parina Miller see each other occasionally. Margit fills her week with family, gold and genealogy/history. She plans to visit as many friends as possible this year, especially on the east coast. Adele Jones Calcavecchio and Barbara Clare visited Jackie Morgan Jensen in Newport Beach, CA. Adele and Barbara also visited extended family in several states and traveled to Spain, Maine, Montana and Hawaii. They also saw Joyce Anastasia Urbanski on the way. BIG NEWS! Adele played the lead in a short film entered in the Cannes Film Festival. Another “film star” from our class is Peggy Moffatt Gilman, who was featured on “Antiques Road Show” when it was filmed in Virginia Beach. You can see her on YouTube. Peggy has moved into a senior living residence and is loving it. She’s even doing line dancing! She still translates occasionally for CASA and had a wonderful trip this summer to Russia and the Baltic. And, if you live in the New York area you might have seen Judy Murphy Leheny and her daughter, Ellen, on New York 1 in a feature on the Metropolitan Museum of Art when both were filmed giving their tours. They are the only mother/daughter docents in the museum. Judy and Vinny took the family to Germany for two weeks right before Merkel’s election. They were struck by the rise of the Alt Right Party and the efforts of older Germans to educate disinterested teenagers in Munich, Dresden and Berlin on the horrors of the Nazi regime and the Communist Regime. This May they are all going to the south of France and Paris for some sun and museums.
New York classmates include Lita Janeiro Phelps, who lives near Lake George in the Adirondacks. They travel to see family and to visit Australia. Rosemary Romano Goodman is close enough to NYC in her townhouse in Basking Ridge, NJ, that she can still see Broadway shows. She’s involved in Rotary, a soup kitchen/food pantry, a battered women’s shelter and the Visiting Nurse Association. Regina Ryan lives in Manhattan near Central Park. She is coming to DC in May for her annual visit to interview new authors.
Moving up the coast – there are a trio of classmates in CT: Gloria Hicks Garvin in Newtown and Nancy Phelan Wallace and Mary Ann Torok Neiger in the same complex in Southbury. In addition to writing a monthly electronic newsletter for the computer club, Nancy teaches quilting. Mary Ann is president of her condo. Last year, Nancy and Gloria drove across country visiting friends and classmates. This year, they are going to Norway and Scotland. As Mary Ann wrote of ’60s Reds: “We have done much, loved much, suffered much and remained each of us true to her own integrity.”
Moving south: Barbara Glennon Miles and Pete are selling their house in Dallas and moving to a small town south of Austin, TX, to be near one of their children. This July they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary by taking their entire family on an Alaskan cruise. Then Barbara and Pete will go on a Canadian Rocky Mountain tour to celebrate her 80th birthday. They continue to summer on Cape Cod where they see Judy and Vinny Leheny each year.
Two classmates live in MD. LuAnn Libert Miller sold her home in Fairfax, VA, and moved to a second home on the water in Leonardtown. She took a cruise to Canada with two of Chuck’s USNA roommates and their wives. Mary Anne Schoeb is on the board of the Women and Girls Fund in Easton, MD, and stays at the Greenbrier Hotel in WV several times a year. She and Dick are planning to travel this summer.
Five of us are in VA. Peggy is in Virginia Beach. Ann Davidge Smith and Gary live close to Brenda Carr and Bernie in Fairfax. Noel Burke Cosby has retired as editor of the Lions District 24-E newsletter after 10 years. She continues to chair the “Crafty Ladies” of her church in Roanoke. Last year Noel and Jim took a cruise on the Upper Mississippi – 659 miles on the “Queen of the Mississippi.” The trip started in St. Louis with a ride to the top of the Gateway Arch. That’s one for my bucket list! There were three sorrowful “reunions” this year when a number of classmates attended the funerals of Anne Donovan Whalen, Fred Ganley (Natalie Tholl Ganley) and Ed Kovach (Kathy Cogan Kovach).
I still volunteer with the National Gallery of Art and I’m doing therapy for a broken hip. Recovery is slow but steady. I’m just about ready to throw away my cane. Thanks to all – and especially those who remembered to send in money for the class dues. Those funds go, not just to cover some Reunion expenses, but to purchase books for the Trinity Library in memory of our deceased classmates.
Peace! And Stay Well!
Betty Cole Mullen