1970 Class Notes for 2015
This was our 45th Reunion year, so we were very excited to hear the news from our far-flung sisters, as we gathered again at Trinity. However, sadly there are not as many voices in the chorus of our reportage this year. We are disappointed that several people have slipped through the communication cracks due to unrecorded changes in emails and addresses. We’ve committed to improving our system to keep viable contacts active with everyone, managing updates and also encouraging attendance at our next, and fiftieth, Reunion – never too early, and it pays to advertise!
Sadly, our class reunion committee has experienced considerable tragedy, with the passing of Diane FineranHarmatuck in 2012, and the death of Jean Bell Hessenauer’s husband, Tom. Rosalie Angelo generously offered to step in for Diane and Jean.
First out of the mail chute was Jeanne Blakeslee, who is hopeful that she can come to at least part of our Reunion, having missed reunions in the past because the AP reading (“edu-talk for grading AP exams”) is the end of May and beginning of June, but she is free of that now. Last July she switched gears and became the principal of the school where her career first began, Mercy High School in Baltimore.She loves her new job, especially when she gets to call snow days! And she welcomes the challenge of daily problem-solving, having a wide range people to interact with, and daily planning and decision-making.
Jeanne and Whit have three children – a librarian, a soldier and a farmer, and all are married. She has one grandchild with another on the way: “Slow starters, my kids. Lots of grandchildren of my friends are going to high school and mine cannot even walk yet!” Jeanne closed by writing that she hopes we are all well. She ends with those words we always love to hear, that while most of her donating capacity does go to assist her school, “a check is in the mail” for our Class Fund.
Kathleen Gallagher writes that she’s still working as the Health & Safety Officer at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, with no thoughts of retirement yet. Her facility merged with another institution so she’s interviewing for positions elsewhere, to keep her options open. Kathy said, “I’m hoping my marketability hasn’t gone down as my age has increased,” and she’ll catch us up on every detail at Reunion. Kathy’s “vacations” have included driving her daughter, Halaina, and accompanying “stuff’ around the country, from Michigan to DC, and points in between. Her daughter, Bridget, son-in-law Mike and her grandson, Javier, are living in nearby Worcester. Kathy promises to regale us at Reunion with tales of Javier’s misadventures at kindergarten. Kathy laments the passing of cars with CD players, and, like the rest of us, she is rattled by juggling a plethora of passwords for ever-changing technology.
Kathy closed by stating that she is planning to be at Reunion, and she voices our feelings by saying she “hope[s] anyone who has stayed away all these 45 years will join those of us who haven’t. It has always been a great experience and I come away 10 years younger. I don’t know how that happens every five years, but I swear it does.”
Patricia Condon Swift shared the big news that she and Myles happily closed their software company and retired at the end of 2013. Since then they’ve visited Ajijic, Mexico, a long-sought goal. Now she’s getting their place ready to sell so they can downsize: “40 acres and three buildings seem to take way too much work!” and they’re looking at places on the Oregon coast for their next home. Trish couldn’t make this Reunion but will try hard to get to our 50th.
Cathy Largay McCarthy had a lot of news to tell including praising her four-day work week, which allows her to enjoy and catch up on sightseeing, movies, lunches, and the beach. She is happy about the relocation of children and a new grandchild, Francis Dominic, born in April 2014, to join his sister Sophia (7). Our prayers go out to Cathy on the passing of her husband, Mike, last November, after a brief but difficult illness.
Mary Beth Marquardt and her husband, Rod Coleman, retired from their jobs as Navy civilian employees and moved from Potomac, MD, to Hernando, FL, where they appreciate the healthier and quieter lifestyle. They enjoy doing river and sea-going cruises, have seen Prague and Budapest, and were packing for another cruise as Mary Beth wrote us her news. She and Rod welcomed two new grandchildren recently: Rachel, born last August to Rod’s daughter; and a long-hoped-for baby, Matthew, born to Mary Beth’s son and daughter-in-law, last November.
Matilda Giampietro in a performance of Renaissance music with the Wykeham Consort
Matilda Giampietro, singer, performer and teacher extraordinaire, wrote about her year of travels and musical accomplishments, and her continuing 34-plus years working for the Montessori (music) system. This includes her teaching at Western Connecticut State, and workshops at other schools around the country (one of her students was Michelle Wiley, who stayed with Matilda for a week of catching up). She also worked and performed in China, Vietnam, Puerto Rico, Italy, at the Village Health Works in Burundi, and at Shining Hope School for Girls in Kibera, Nairobi. Matilda’s four equally-accomplished and entrepreneurial children have given her three grandchildren: Milo, born in August 2014, living in Brooklyn; Oliver, almost 2, and his sister, Hazel Matilda, born in December 2014, living in San Francisco.
Matilda Giempietro with son-in-law, Chris, and new grandson, Milo
Mary Hickey Weiss retired last year from her position as general counsel for a Chicago-based investment management firm, and is now teaching part-time as an adjunct law professor in Rhode Island. She and her husband Don divide their time between home in Rhode Island, traveling to Chicago to visit their son Andrew, and to NYC to see their daughter Jaime.
Mary Mauriello Kelly reported that a reunion of the “Oxford Group” was held last May in the Brandywine River Valley. In attendance were Louise Donohoe Resor, Carol Doerrer Bradof, Jacqueline Miller Hill, Frederica MansfieldTempleton, Kathleen Ryan Sellew, and herself. They all had a lovely time touring the DuPont gardens and the Wyeth studio and environs. On a personal level, Mary says that she and her husband Tom are still enjoying their work in Seattle (law and medicine) and are proud of their two children, Nicholas and Claire, who are about to graduate from GW and the University of Michigan law schools, respectively. Mary also told us she keeps in touch with Claire Stazeski Luken, who is delighted with the arrival of her second grandchild, Max, and with Nancy Principi Scull, who is a prominent real estate lawyer in California.
Recent news arrived from Lorena Meunier, who wrote that during 2014 she continued to take mostly language courses at the University of Delaware’s lifelong learning institute. She is also involved with the International Women’s Club of Wilmington for language study. Her vacation highlight was taking a French immersion course at l’Ecole Coeur de France, in Sancerre, France. While she was in class, her husband Bill cycled around the vineyards in the beautiful Loire Valley; after those two weeks they visited the Loire Valley chateaux from their base hotel in Tours. “C’etait formidable!” Thanksgiving weekend was special not only because they were with Lorena’s brother Steve and his wife Laurie in Framingham, MA, but also because they met Carolyn (Po) Foster Locke and her husband Steve for lunch one day – the first time since Reunion 2010. Lorena rounds out her activities by connecting with family and friends near and far, hiking, experimenting in the kitchen and knitting.
Jackie Miller Hill wrote that, having experienced “Catholic, Black Baptist and Unitarian Universalist” churches, and through associations in the independent church she organized in 1998, she has worked to preserve the Low Country treasure of the ACE Basin, local art, and that she also enjoys birding. She echoes her interest and enjoyment seeing members of the “Oxford Group,” and in influencing the trails she travels.
Imogene Drummond wrote that she’s still working very actively with her Divine Sparks endeavor, adding a book proposal to her successful film project. She is in close touch with several Trinity classmates, and is grateful for her frequent visits with Kathleen Costello Jones, Grace Doherty de Latour, and Mollie Shannahan MacAdams. She often stays overnight with Mollie and Art on the Eastern Shore during her travels, enjoying Art’s fabulous cuisine. Imogene and Grace caught a performance of Phantom in NYC recently, and she and Kathy attended an art opening and dinner, also in NYC. She closes by saying that, “we are so blessed to have forged such wonderful relationships with such incredible women,” at Trinity.
Betsy Kelly Hoey has enjoyed a very happy, healthy and busy year, on the go traveling all over the world, checking off points on her “bucket list.” She and husband Jack visited New Zealand, French Polynesia, the Fox Glacier, and Machu Picchu, and after this, she’ll be happy to confine their trips to Europe and North America. She remains healthy and active by continuing to golf, swim, walk and sail, and loves living near her granddaughters (6 and 4).
Pat Hillman Shields and husband, Rich
Pat Hillmann Shields wrote that she and husband Rich have begun their next great adventure: semi-retirement, while still working part-time for the new owners of their dental practice. She intends to spend more time with her mom in Asheville, and they’re beginning to fill their free time with a week-long trip to Key West. Pat wants to stay in touch with us and has offered her email and cell phone number so we can contact her.
Jean Mulcahy Vanek’s busy year reads like a travelogue. She and husband John welcomed granddaughter Lana Maeve in August 2014, the first girl born into the Vanek family in nearly 75 years. In April and again in October, Jean and her husband traveled to Mexico City to help their son Matthew settle into a new apartment. While there, they visited Jean’s brother Jim and his family in Torreon, in north central Mexico. In June, Jean and her husband traveled to Bali (“beautiful, fascinating and well worth the 37-hour flight”) for their nephew’s wedding. In August they traveled to Olympia, WA, for the waterfront installation of her husband John’s second sculpture, “Dignity and Labor.” Christmas was spent in Sand Pointe, ID. In January 2015, Jean and her husband began training for the “Camino de Santiago,” a 500-mile walk across northern Spain. They plan on taking six weeks to complete this epic journey.
Kathy Maley McCartney describes 2014 as a banner year for grandchildren, beginning with granddaughter Kate Minelli, born in February. Grandson Jack McCartney, born in April, joined brother Quinn (4). Kathy admits babysitting is her favorite past time, and she also continues to practice law with husband Don, and to teach government contracting.
As for your scribes, Janet McCabe Maley wants us all to know that she has experienced considerable milestones since she last wrote. Janet and Dick’s son John was married, and they welcomed their first grandchild Caitlin in August, 2013, for whom they babysit twice a week. In July 2014 their younger son Michael was married in Richmond, VA, during a wonderful wedding weekend filled with family and friends. In October, 2014 their daughter, Jennifer, had her first child, Aspen Alessandra. Janet and Dick went out to Idaho to spend a whole month with Jennifer after the birth, which was wonderful – after not having seen Jennifer since 2008, it was a real treat to be with her three times since June, 2013. Janet’s husband Dick’s work as a software developer has allowed him to telecommute, so hopefully his increased flexibility will allow more travel in their future. For now, spending time with children and grandchildren, family and friends, in addition to her volunteer commitments, are what happily occupy her time.
Lastly I, Susan Chamberlin Quick Lom, have also survived a year of great change. I retired from my long-time position as reference and genealogy librarian at the Allentown, PA, public library, in June, 2014. In July, Charlie and I sold our home in Emmaus, dividing four generations of stuff between our cottage in New York, our new condo in Cape Canaveral, FL, and the Salvation Army. (Believe me, it was tough; and my kids wouldn’t take enough!). We battled a sewage flood throughout our cottage, which occupied our summer months, and we had to leave for our new little condo in Florida in November, with yet more restoration to face when we return to New York in May. Now we’re enjoying life as “cliff-dwellers” in Cape Canaveral; it feels like we’re on a six-month (and one day) vacation. Recently, we entertained Carol Leffson Baker and her husband Larry Berger, for dinner. They were en route to their annual cruise, and Carol had lots of good news to share about her daughters. She and Larry raved about the exotic and abundant wildlife around their custom-built home on the Pamlico River in rural Chocowinity, NC, and we thoroughly enjoyed our “mini-reunion.”
My husband Charlie and I have begun some serious bird-watching, and we are thrilled to view rocket launches from our stairwell. Retirement has brought me luxurious hours of needlework, art, reading and contemplating the meaning of life, which becomes more profound as time goes by.