1962 Class Notes for 2018
As I write this, the NE has been hit with yet another Nor’easter. I hope by the time you read this it will be summer! Several of you bemoaned the tough weather in the NE but fortunately escaped to various destinations: Catherine White to Aruba, Mary Sullivan Henry (Sully), her sister and brother-in-law, and Mary Ann (Mia) Schofield McAloon to Ireland. Others like Carol Murray Hogan and Sarahleah (Mary Lou Swiggard) Hankes live in FL full time.
Carol and Brian have had a good year and she is ever so grateful for attending Reunion and spending time with so many classmates. Last year was a springtime of grandchildren graduations in their family: Colin graduated from Williams College and is presently doing a two-year commitment with Teach For America at a high school in MS; Maeve graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT, and is now at Columbia U. Carol remembered that Patricia “Cookie” Glennon Whamond and her sisters and cousins all attended that same Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT. Carol and Brian are lucky that the children, busy as they are, fit in a few times a year to come their way. And, her sister, Sarah Ann, Green Class of 1966, and her husband came up from Naples to join Brian and Carol for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration! Also, Carol and Brian, avid gardeners that they are, continue to put their talents to work with maintaining the public gardens of the Association on Manasota Key Barrier Island. Sarahleah loves FL and is ever so happy she and Lynn made the move there. Lynn continues to lecture and teach at Florida Atlantic University (my son, Matthew, the geologist, graduated from FAU). The Hankes children are doing well in their respective careers: Bill, a public relations executive and former journalist, founded SQOOP for Reporters; Lisa is an artist; and Nancy, who is getting her master’s at Stanford, was accepted for a fellowship in Japan. Of course, the little ones are always a pleasure to be around! Sarahleah, ever busy, started four new businesses, building a new site for Jewish meditation and practical spirituality and spiritual coaching.
Ann O’Hearn is FL-bound for the month of April and looking forward to the annual Family Reunion in Naples and catching up with TC friends. Her joy in life is the grands who will soon will be 6 and 8 years of age. Mary Catherine McGarraghy Beyda, like so many of us, laments the very long, very cold winter. Fortunately, though, Joe is recovering from a fall he took in November when he broke his arm and shoulder.
Joan Selke Sallee has had a wonderful year. The family grew by two when their youngest daughter, a professor at SUNY Buffalo, had two beautiful little girls whom they visited for several weeks. Also, last year the Sallees visited their eldest daughter and her family who were on sabbatical from Berkeley in Berlin, stopping along the way in Paris and London. Their middle daughter is in Sacramento. Trips to the East Coast to Philadelphia, NYC, the Finger Lakes and Buffalo capped the year but the trip to ID to see the total solar eclipse with the entire family seemed to be the highlight. Joan is still on the Dean’s Advisory Council at UC-Davis and has joined a third book group.
Do you remember Mary Helen Wallace, formerly Sr. Mary Helen (Holiney), SND? She was at our 50th Reunion in DC. Unfortunately her sister passed away last year and her husband just this past February. Needless to say, she is spending her days taking care of their affairs, making decisions and asking God to help her understand everything and do it correctly. The same could be said of Betty McGowan Pirrmann and Barbara Glavin Coleman who both lost their husbands last November. Barbara and her husband had just last May moved from Mobile, AL, to Jamison, PA, to be nearer to the children and grandchildren. She was invited by Mary Liz Fitzgerald Popp to attend the Army/Navy game with her family and enjoyed a lovely day with them. You may recall Barbara and Liz were roommates at TC and their husbands were roommates at the Naval Academy.
Ann Wigglesworth Barbieri wrote that the Barbieri family was marred by the loss of their lovely daughter-in-law, Natalia, who died of breast cancer in November 2017. Her son, Kenneth, and their little girls live in nearby Vienna so she and Bill can help out. Ann still goes to her studio at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria; Bill still sings in the Reston chorale; and all the other kids and grands are doing well. Ann and Bill enjoyed St. Patty’s Day in Delray Beach. Kate Tarbell Powers and her husband moved to a retirement community outside of Cincinnati and on St. Patrick’s Day she sang “Top of the Morning” to her breakfast mates!
Cathy Chabot Fredericks would love to know if anyone is visiting the Richland, WA, wine country. She would love to show them the sites. Her email is cfred468@gmail.com. Susanne Kuttner Potts has no news except that her husband and three children and six grandchildren are all wonderful. She did say, though, how very proud she is of women’s growing activism and feels it is making a difference. Marianne Nelson O’Donoghue MD continues practicing dermatology two days a week, but now works for her son! Her husband’s mother was also a Trinity graduate.
Meg Acosta Martin has had a few changes since Reunion and, like so many of you, thought it was wonderful to see everyone. She is still working full time at the tax law firm and recently moved to new, smaller quarters down the block from The Tonight Show…tourist country, surrounded by enormous tall buildings! The Library print collection was cut by 75 percent, which broke her librarian’s heart to have to dispose of so many books. At least she convinced the upper echelon to keep their wonderful Legislative History Collection of all the Tax Acts back to 1913! Now she is trying to get Bloomberg-Bureau of National Affairs to put much of it online. You may recall for those of you at our Reunion Dinner last year that Meg’s eldest granddaughter, Elisa Nolasco, joined us. She is finishing her junior year at NYU and taking extra graduate classes so she can finish both degrees in five years! Emma, the second granddaughter, is taking her SATs this year and baby Alexandra is 12. Meg is going to Spain for Holy Week and is hoping to see some of the Processions. Sixty years since her first trip to Spain!
Susan Watson Madigosky and Walter toured castles in Ireland to celebrate their 55th anniversary and were joined by their daughter, Sharon, and her husband Gene, who were celebrating their 25th. Sue and Walt will be traveling to CO and MD for the confirmations of their three granddaughters and Sue plans to attend her 60th high school reunion from Notre Dame Associates in DC. They both anticipate singing in Fatima during the XII International Pilgrimage of the Teams Our Lady during which time they will reunite with their Spanish families. As always, they are grateful for the influence of SNDs in their lives.
Bobbie Cresci Kunath and Karl enjoy their visits to CT to see the granddaughters. Their only regret is that they are in CT and so far from the West Coast. Bobbie is still active in the Juvenile Court Book Club, which is a literacy program serving incarcerated teens in the San Diego juvenile justice system. She also chairs a scholarship program at the Assistance League of Greater San Diego, which awards scholarships to students transitioning from community college to four year colleges and universities. Just recently Bobbie and Karl enjoyed a visit from Jeanne Becker Lynch, who was embarking on a cruise with her brothers Dick and Paul, and Paul’s wife. She commented that the cruise was very interesting and a lot of fun, although there was not that much to see on the west coast of Central America. Costa Rica and Cabo San Lucas were beautiful, and the Panama Canal was very interesting. Jeanne then enjoyed more time with Bobbie and Karl in San Diego before heading home to VA where she continues practicing law, albeit part time, doing wills, trusts and an occasional divorce. Jeanne is looking forward to spring and opening the house in CT.
Margy Leahey Gerber and Richard did a combination business/family visit trip to London and Dublin. Margy’s son John (now a tenured full professor at the College of Charleston) visited in May and she hopes to get to Chicago this spring to see daughters Anne and Marga and granddaughter Eloise. Richard’s son, James, a FDNY Lieutenant in Red Hook, Brooklyn, was married on October 21. The bride is a forensic accountant with a British-based company. R & M Gerber Books had a booth at the Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair in February 2018. Margy said it was a good experience.
Patty Stumpf Zachwieja, after 30+ years, is selling her house in New Bern. Tackling 30 years accumulation of “stuff” is indeed a daunting task but now she will be in Virginia Beach near her youngest daughter. Anita Hinchliffe Weiss and Bob retired in 2017 and spent four months trying to clean out their home of 53 years. Then came the move to Lancaster, PA, near her daughter, Julie. Her latest occupation (of three) before the move was as a personal chef for the Xavierian Fathers at their Order House. Bob and Anita continue their trek to Canada each year for their annual fishing trip; they visit each of their kids as often as possible to keep up with all the events in their lives. This year they celebrate their 55th anniversary and already six grandchildren will have graduated from college! They are very proud that several of the grands are doing a year of service before starting their careers. You can reach Anita at aweiss640@aol.com. She would love to hear from you.
The last year has been one of blessings for Carole Eisenhauer Updyke. Some have been her trips to our 55th TC Reunion, to Dallas for NCCW Convention and twice to WV in June and December/January. Surviving Hurricane Harvey with no damage was another blessing, as well as hearing from many friends offering well wishes and prayers for all there in Houston in harm’s way. Maintaining status quo health for a year and a half on hormone treatment to keep cancer at bay, along with beaucoup prayers and God’s blessings, has been the best! Carole is thankful to still be active in her parish with stewardship in the Council of Catholic Women, as well as working with Wellsprings Village, which helps homeless and abused women. Patti May Halpin continues to help raise money for the Catholic elementary schools. And Tom is still working and skiing! The kids and grandkids are all doing well: the oldest grand graduated and is working in New Orleans; the youngest is three and entering preschool in NYC; the seven in between are fun and funny!
Mary Anne Browne Lyons spent last summer with her grandchildren, Benjamin (10) and Phoebe (7). She enjoyed watching them as they learned to sail. Mary Anne had made plans with good friends of long standing to take a Central American cruise but, a few weeks beforehand, the husband became very ill and the trip was postponed until later. At the end of 2017 Mary Anne’s daughter-in-law, Yun, became very ill. Around Thanksgiving she became slightly ill, but by Christmas her signs appeared worse and then by the beginning of 2018 she was admitted to a hospital in NYC. Mary Anne said she is really living on family prayers. She asks for more prayers for Yun.
It was so good to hear from Joan Sees Castillo! Her husband passed away in 2010, but she is blessed with two wonderful grandchildren, both boys, from her son Huascar. Daughter Joanne just got married and is very happy. Eric never got married and runs away from the thought! Joan considers herself to be very blessed. She keeps very busy in a Spiritual Marian Movement, Schoenstatt, and does a lot of voluntary work in her parish. She went on to say how difficult this year has been in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria. Most people are doing just fine, yet struggling day after day with the normal problems that appear. In Joan’s home town, Ponce, they are almost 90 percent recuperated, yet there are many mountain families without homes or any light as yet. They have had a lot of help, but since the damage was so intense it really has been hard to recuperate any faster. The people’s attitude is with a lot of hope and patience. Before the hurricane, Joan was able to make a pilgrimage to the Jubilee of Fatima in Portugal and to Lourdes, France. Both were rewarding spiritual experiences. She travels quite often to the Dominican Republic for family affairs and on one of those trips, Joan connected with Ellen Ducy, who is married to a friend of Joan’s husband. It was a wonderful reunion with lots of great memories of Trinity days.
Frank and Barbara Onderchek Black are both doing well and continue their travels. Last May, they traveled to Scotland and the Lake District in England (Frank enjoys driving on the other side of the road!). This May, they will be on a Rhine River Cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, having spent a few days in Lucerne and Murren in the High Alps beforehand. Otherwise, they spend most of their time in Bethesda and head to their vacation home in Garrett, PA, once a month. Their grandson Chris is a junior at Bishop O’Connell HS, on the varsity baseball team and is starting to look at colleges. Granddaughter Kate is a seventh grader and looking at high schools.
Suzy Kramer Glynn spent most of last year recovering from hip surgery. Good news is she is now back to playing a little golf. Soon, she and Jamie are heading back to Long Island for the summer months and she is looking forward to sailing on the bay and spending more time with the family.
I am still in recovery mode after some fairly extensive back surgery last October, but no golf for me, alas. Even so, life in Bethlehem is good. I am blessed to be so close to my youngest son Matthew, his wife Eileen and the twins, Emilia and Brianna, who continue to amaze me. They will be 4 in August! The other two sons are in Toronto along with the other five grands. And, let’s not forget Henry “the Great” (he being the son of my oldest granddaughter Samantha). We will all be celebrating a family reunion in Niagara-on-the-Lake over the Queen Victoria holiday weekend. Also, I continue my involvement with the Hereditary Society Community and sit on four boards. Life is good!
With all good wishes for wonderful year, and much love,
Joan Littley Clark
joanclark62@gmail.com