1961 Class Notes for 2014-2015
Well, don’t look for any more Class Reunion parties at the beautiful DC home of Paul and Ann O’Brien Coughlin. In about a six-month window, they sold their home and, with the help of Alice O’Donnell Hoyt, moved into a condominium complex in Greenwich, CT. In just about the same time frame, we also learned that Doug and Judy Skelly Adams are also resettling in CT. Sounds like an O’Connor party in the making.
Continuing with some good news, we received a long letter from Sun Smith-Foret (Linda La Roque Eyerman to the uninitiated) saying that on July 9, 2013, she married her sweetheart of two years, Dr. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus of English literature at Principia College where Sun still has a psychotherapy practice. She says she divorced Ed Eyerman (now deceased) in 1985 and that Colin, a widower, had been married for 50 years to his first wife. Neither one was looking to be married but they fell in love. She declares there is no age limit for that wondrous state. Sun teaches improvisational quiltmaking and invites opportunities for lectures, teaching and exhibitions. Please visit her website www.sunsmsithforet.com as well as Facebook to enjoy her work.
In March, on my way home from a few days of skiing at Stratton Mountain, I took a detour to 432 Under Mountain Road in Salisbury, CT. That’s where Judy Becker’s greenhouse has been all these years. Under Mountain Road is actually Route 41, one of the ways in and out of the Jiminy Peak ski area. I probably have passed the place a million times without knowing it. Judy has a wonderful collection of succulents and orchids among other plants and flowers. She talked about the very cold winter and the high price of fuel that make it difficult to run Lauray of Salisbury profitably. The name of Judy’s business is the morphing of Laura and Ray, her parents’ names.
Katalina Quander Masembwa continues to work in two support groups: the Ladies of Charity and the food pantry of her church. She chanced to run into Mary Anne McInerney, who has moved into an assisted living facility in MD.
Kathleen Keefe O’Keefe is also in the support group world. She put one together with the assistance of some nurse practitioners in the Southampton Hospital network for COPD patients and their families. I get the impression that Kathleen should be running it all by herself. She has so many better ideas about what families need to know than the protocols presented by the so-called professionals.
Joan Gorra Galbi sent her Christmas letter. It’s old news by now but she and her twin, Claire Gorra Shia, took a solo vacation for the first time in 50 years. They went to France so that Claire could speak French and Joan could eat cheese. They were one week in Avignon and one week in Montpellier. Joan said it was unique and wonderful. I would just as soon have her life here in the states climbing the mountains of OR with her husband, Elmer. Look for their picture in our collection. She said they climb so much they received special lifetime achievement badges. Joan continues to keep in touch with Pat Randazzo Greco.
Toni Sgarlata Wiseman always sends a letter chock-a-block with news. She talked about having attended the 50th Jubilee of one of her high school classmates along with Mary Lorentz Clough, Mary Ellen Glassco Frank and Beverlee Balch Lehr. Toni also had a nice visit with Elizabeth Atzert who was recovering from knee surgery. She chastises herself for failing to take a picture at these opportunities but she did take one when she and Mary Ellen attended Sam Shepard’s thoroughly enjoyable play, Heartless, in Shepherdstown, WV, last July starring Kate McGroder Butler. Toni clipped a review for us, which I show in part: “The household is controlled by the invalid matriarch, Mabel, who has all the power, even though she cannot walk or lift her arms. Kathleen Butler infuses Mabel with such willful bitterness that every time she speaks, the other characters cringe, as if they think she might be mean enough to reach right through paralysis and slap them. Moving nothing but her neck and face, Butler somehow fills the stage with motion.”
Avery “Betsy” Glize-Kane wants to know when anybody is coming to Cannes. She has invited us again and again. How about a nice class trip for a future Reunion? Contact her with this address: Avocat Honoraire , US Consular Agent, 20 Blvd de la République, Nice, France Tél.: +33.4.93.38.73.63.
Janet Faherty Berriman can be found in FL these days. Janet retired from teaching in June 2013. She and Ed have made a permanent move to Vero Beach. She and Joan McCafferty Lahey will have to try and find each other.
North of there, we have Sandy Mead Catallo in Ponte Vedra. Sandy is still a tennis champ at her club. She keeps in touch with Sue Revelle Bowers who is on the West Coast in Bonita Springs.
Hank and Maureen Leppard Schroeder were in FL for the month of February. She and Judy Zazzali Hughes visited many galleries together: The Flagler, The Norton, the Convention Center and The Tequesta Museum. She expresses the hope that the new Pope be grounded in this world but guided by the next. Unfortunately, the trip was cut short when Hank suffered a cardiac event. We are happy to report that he is almost all recovered and enjoying the summer in Spring Lake.
Judy is really good at organizing museums. Last year’s fall visit to the Jersey Shore saw a bunch of us trekking to the Wyeth Museum in Chadds Ford, PA. There, Judy arranged for a private tour guide. See if you can find the attendees in one of the pictures: Judy on top, Ellen Cowey Ewens, Regina Kircher Cooper, Ginny Brady O’Brien and Claudia Skladzien Recupero in the middle row; and Marie Tinsley Trost, me, Maureen, Pat Scanlin Callahan, and Zibby Moss Marinelli on the bottom. Mary Meta Kelleher and Georgeanne Chandless Esmerado did not make the photo because they only arrived in time for dinner.
Well, I was so inspired by that gathering that I decided to put one together in the Westhampton Beach-area where we have a weekend home. The newly relocated Parrish Art Museum is a venue that is popular with many visitors to Long Island. To the above list, I added Kathleen Keefe O’Keefe, Ann O’Brien Coughlin, Rosemary Rebholz Jansonand Judy Skelly Adams. Afterwards, Rosemary took us all to a legendary watering hole in Southampton for a beautiful lunch. We tried to get Kate Meng, Mary Jane O’Malley Shea, Kate McGroder Butler, Alice O’Donnell Hoytand Joan McCafferty Lahey to join us. They all had serious reasons why they could not join us except for Kate. She was going to Aruba! But, Ann and I would like to build on this gathering in future years by putting up some people at a bed and breakfast in town. Let us know if you would like to be included.
Mary Kelleher keeps in touch with Fran Peluso Bennett who is back from the continent and living on Park Avenue in NYC. Along with Regina, we keep making lunch dates and breaking them. We’re moving that to the top of the to-do list for this fall.
I spent time with Jeramy Lanigan Landauer in May just before my 16-day trip to Switzerland. I had hoped to detail the gold and silver awards won by Landauer Publishing this year. But Jeramy right now is recovering from the shock of the sudden death of her beloved husband, Chuck. I don’t dare bother her with minutia. So I will simply say how much I loved Chuck, too. I met him the weekend in July of 1968 when I gave up smoking. I thanked him again and again for his counsel on this and other life enhancing subjects. For 48 years, he was a good friend, partner, muse and husband to my dear friend, Jeramy.
Eileen Curley McGoldrick was the first one to tell us about the death of Irene McAndrew Prendergast Collier on March 11, 2013. Then, Celeste Caulfield Ward wrote to say that she had had a long conversation with Irene’s former husband, John Prendergast, about Irene’s death. She had been in a nursing facility for about 10 years. John said and that she was very much in contact with her children. Celeste reflected on all the fun and happy memories she has about time spent with Irene. We also received a copy of Irene’s obituary from her daughter, Mary Prendergast. Irene had lived in Co. Cork, Ireland, where she and her second husband, Robert Collier, ran a B&B, a guest house, an American-style deli called The Yankee Clipper and a curiosity/consignment shop called Castaways.
We also lost Sheila Garvan Holderness on June 23, 2013. The New York Times obituary stated that Sheila was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. She attended Trinity on a full scholarship and went on to get a M. Phil. in American studies at Yale. She married and raised two daughters in Brooklyn Heights. Her life’s work centered around people in need, particularly girls, women and recent immigrants to the US. At the time of her death she was a member of about a dozen boards including Girls Incorporated and the Korean-American Family Service Center.
Betty Ewens Quadracci lost her long battle with COPD on December 9, 2013. I forwarded the entire obituary from the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel by email at the time but here is a small quote for those who are not online with me. “Most people knew Betty Quadracci as the ‘Queen Mother’ of Milwaukee’s magazine industry or for her philanthropy that breathed new life into the Milwaukee Art Museum. Others recognize her for her work as an early childhood educator and mentor to women trying to break into business. Yet her largest accomplishment may have occurred outside the public eye in the battle she fought – and won – over the polio that struck her as a little girl.”
Harry Lambert wrote on March 14, 2014, to say that Joan Randall Lambert, his “bride of 52 years,” had died that morning. He said she “went out like a trouper hanging on until she had seen everyone in the family including her newest granddaughter.” I forwarded Harry’s message to our classmates at that time and many must have contacted him because he recently wrote to thank me for getting the word out.
Zibby did the work on searching for an obituary for Consuelo “Connie” Donohue Smith Browne who died on April 10, 2014. The Darien Daily Voice did not disappoint. It said in part that she was raised in Merion and Paoli, PA, attended the Merion Mercy Academy and Trinity College in Washington, DC. She started her career with IBM in Philadelphia subsequently making career moves to VA, MD, NY and finally, CT. She was a member of The Savoy Company in Philadelphia, appearing in many Gilbert and Sullivan productions. She also sang in local church groups and locally-produced operas.
Finally, our first “class husband” Jack Locke, sent word that Clarice St. Martin Locke, his wife of 53 years, died. Her obituary, which I did attach to most of you, describes a 10-year career in real estate, 15 years as a volunteer driver for the American Red Cross, followed by an extended period as an ombudsman for the county to visit assisted living homes. Then, it mentions the activities that we knew: her bridge playing and tennis.
Many friends expressed themselves so beautifully with respect to the deaths of our classmates. Irene Moynahan Splaine, Sun Smith-Foret and Kate Butler did so particularly about Betty Quadracci. But Rosemary Griffin Murrayspeaking about Connie Donohue seemed to capture all of it: “We should all be so grateful for what we have in our lives. … Life goes so quickly.”
We received an advisement from the Alumnae Office to be sure to reread the previous year’s letter because some of the scribes are repeating the news! Sometimes I wonder if anyone would know the difference! Of course, our deadline this year has been delayed by six months in order to do whatever they are doing. That’s why so much of our news is over a year old. But I shall continue to send mass mailings when anything comes to me that I think you will want to know soonest, like when Kate Butler performs in a regional theatre near you.
Also, in past years, I have always forwarded the newsletter directly to the people in my contact box even as I sent it off to the Alumnae Office. But this time around: the news will be available almost instantly online from the Alumnae Office at www.trinitydc.edu/classnotes.
Please be in touch.
Rosemary Owens McAllister