1970 Class Notes for 2019
Green Class of 1970
Welcome to the 2019 class notes for the class of 1970 at Trinity College. Thank you to all of you who responded to our plea to let us know if we had correct mail and email addresses, and many more thanks to those of you added your news. Chris and Margaret had a wonderful time putting together all of your stories. Perhaps because we missed soliciting news last year and/or because our 50th Reunion is approaching, we were heartened that so many of you wished to reach out and share.
We see certain themes: Essentially, we are in good health, although some of us have dealt with serious issues, and most of us spend more time with doctors’ appointments (our own and others) than we would like. We are involved with the taking care of elderly parents, while at the same time enjoying our children, grandchildren, and extended families. We have individually resolved our issues with faith and religion and are at peace with our conclusions. Generally speaking, we are pleased to find we are 70 years old, physically capable of doing what we want, and excited about travel and volunteer possibilities. In short, we are committed to and engaged in living our lives to our own definition of “fullest.” The upheavals of 1968 prepared us well to deal with the challenges we face in life!
Donna Jo Haight Ganson got married on St. Patrick’s Day 40 years ago at the New York Junior League and is still celebrating the event at that location. (Why mess with success?) Attending the most recent party were her daughter, Joanna, a Foreign Service officer posted in Sri Lanka with her family (2 granddaughters); daughter Lindsey, a PR executive, up from Nashville, with her husband and son, and Blair, in her second year at Harvard Law, as well as Barbara O’Neil Mingle.
Donna Jo is currently the historian of the Garden Club of America and next year will become a national director. She refers to this as a full-time obsession. Hutch continues to work on the safe streets initiatives with the organization he helped start after he was mowed down by a reckless driver in a pedestrian crosswalk.
Donna and Hutch travel a lot, especially to Sri Lanka, visiting India and the UAE on the way. They enjoy spending February in Florida and summer on Long Island, with the rest of the time spent in Brooklyn.
Donna also writes that Claire Stazeski Luken, Kathleen Ryan Sellew, Christine Jones Akram, Pam Hauserman Meyers, Barbara O’Neil mingle, Kathy Costello Jones and Barbara Sullivan Benic and I had a virtual reunion last spring and were so happy to connect. They plan to do it again although time has gotten away from them. She was able to visit with Kathleen Ryan Sellew this spring when she joined Hutch and me in Florida for a few days. We even had dinner with Kathy Costello jones who lives there part time. Our Trinity friendships have not faded after 50 years and we hope for an in person meet up in the near future.
MICHELLE (MIKE) WILEY trying on glasses in Boston.
Michelle (Mike) Wiley moved to North Adams, MA, in 2017 after falling in love with a wonderful guy. She reminds us that it is never too late. She teaches music and voice at Massachusetts College of Music of Liberal Arts. At seventy years old this past December, she is so grateful that life is still full of surprises.
Judy Frabotta is still living in Canada as a Canadian citizen. She writes “although our federal and provincial governing bodies have their share of problems and scandals, it does seem that the political climate here is less toxic than in the US. In particular it is evident, especially in the urban areas, that there is more than just lip-service to diversity, and even the very stubborn issues concerning the first nations people are starting to receive attention.” She is still coaching and mentoring the next generation of leaders, both in the US and Canada; and is also working to find the time and head space to write a book and do workshops on the subject of life transitions.
She has two standard poodles, Sophie and Jasper. She and Sophie go to hospice every week to visit with patients. “Hospice work is the gift that truly gives back on so many levels.” Jasper is younger and full of beans. He likes to run straight up hills. She writes Sophie is her spiritual advisor and Jasper her personal trainer.
Judy suffered the loss of her Mom in June – the last year was tough on everybody, most of all, her mother. “Knock wood, feeling healthy, hitting the gym every week to weight lift and run a bit and generally trying to live every day with gratitude and an open heart.”
Susan Lyons Murray and husband Paul recently moved into the Westminster Lifecare Retirement Community in Winter Park, FL. “We’re in good health, thank goodness, and are glad that we shouldn’t have to move again. There are more activities than we could ever join. I’ve gotten involved in some resident committees and we enjoy getting to know our new neighbors. Although downsizing was a several year challenge, we find it freeing to live with fewer things. While Paul golfs, I continue to volunteer at the Central Florida Zoo and love working with the animals and encouraging guests to support wildlife of all kinds. May the road rise to meet you and the wind be ever at your back.”
Betsy Kelly Hoey writes “our big news this year is the arrival of Alexander Jackson Hoey, born December 18 to our son Tim and his wife Trish. Xander is our third grandchild, joining Miranda (10) and Elena (8), daughters of son Andy and his wife Angela. It’s fun to have a little boy following the two girls. All in the family are healthy, including Jack and me, which is the most important thing.
Jack and I did a lovely trip to Switzerland last fall and have trips to France and Italy this year.”
Mollie Shannahan MacAdams “My husband and I are happily living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I am putting my retirement papers in this week but will teach through June. Our kids are all great – six beautiful grandchildren. Amazing J.
I hear from Mary Winston Hansen, Imogene Drummond, Mary Helen Lysaght Cathles and Patty Mahon Hayden – but not often enough! Maureen Foley Abramson and her husband came to Annapolis for a visit over lunch. Looking forward to the next. Not surprisingly we have a huge amount in common. Long-time friends are the best!”
Susan Chamberlin Lom reports that it’s been a year of surprises and great change for her family. Her children arranged a top-secret 70th birthday gathering for her in Arlington, VA, and she was 100% surprised! All four children were there, and it was incredible—a YouTube-worthy moment. They also celebrated Max (#5), Pepper (#3), and Charlie (#76) birthdays there. She and Charlie went on an extended “grand tour” of friends, relatives, great cities and national parks in May, culminating by celebrating her granddaughter Emma’s high school graduation in Tucson. She’s on a full scholarship at the U of AZ now and they are so proud of her. Susan’s daughter Ellen (and 3 cats) moved from PA to Richmond, VA ; son Greg and his family moved from Africa to Albuquerque; son Stephen moved from AZ to their Canandaigua cottage (attending college); and son Daniel changed jobs (and, they assume, many lanes) – driving 1.5 hours to work, on his new electric motorcycle. Charlie was gifted with two new grandchildren: Sadie (2/15) and Benjamin (7/31), bringing their combined total of grandchildren to nine. They joined a bowling group, a card group, and are still playing bridge and volunteering nearly every day. And they just returned from a week exploring the Keys and Key West – Whew! Retirement continues to be wonderful, busy and rewarding. They are grateful that it also continues to be happy and healthy for both of them and for their loved ones. Susan has our 50th reunion in 2020 in her eyes, and in Christmas cards reminded TC friends that they better plan to attend!
Ava Vogel Smith writes “I haven’t changed email or physical address in 15 years, a record for Bob and me. We are doing well. Sold the business (skilled and rehab nursing facility) a couple of years ago so are really retired now. Nothing note-worthy about my life. Just trying to not get too depressed about state of the world. Best to all.”
Anne Byrne McGivern writes “I was adopted by the Greens of ’70, having been a member of the class of 1969 through my junior year until taking a year off to serve in VISTA. I don’t have to explain to you how the world, including TC, had changed between 1968 and 1969! I’ve always been grateful for the many members of the class of 1970 who warmly welcomed me back and added so much interest and fun to my senior year.
After graduation, I returned to my native Chicago area, went to grad school at Northwestern, and got married. Art and I are still married (as of this writing, anyway!), and have been blessed with four children and nine grandchildren along the way.
I taught in the field of special education early in my career and in middle school settings later on. Writing has always been a study and an interest of mine, and I love having more time for it now that I’m retired. My first novel, Danya: a Woman of Ancient Galilee, was published in 2018 by Wipf and Stock Publishers.
I hope to catch up with the Greens of ’70 at Reunion 2020!”
Grace Doherty Delatour says “We’re still living in Berkeley, Ca. in our first house. We welcome visitors. Both Michel and I are retired and are very active. Michel makes a lot of red wine. I’m trying golf and mahjong and am having lots of fun. Our 2 boys are married. We have one grandchild who lives in New York City so I get there a few times a year when I usually have lunch with Imogene Drummond and Kathy Costello Jones. To celebrate my 70th birthday, we enjoyed an unusual amount of travel this year: Grand Canyon Raft trip, golf in Ireland, wine tasting and hiking in Argentina. We are very happy and grateful for our current good health, family support, and friends. My years at Trinity were very rewarding and I cherish the many memories. I volunteer weekly at The Alameda County Food Bank and I believe senior citizens’ volunteer activities are an important part of support social services.”
Patricia Rose Falcao – Patricia was the recipient of the Massachusetts Medical Society 2015 Woman Physician Leadership Award. Patricia writes that of the 25,000 physician members of MMS, about 40% are women, and the Committee on Women in Medicine has worked hard to establish annual awards that are then given on behalf of the entire Society. The Society also succeeded in establishing annual awards for Women’s Health and another for Women’s Health Research. You can read more about Patricia and her award here: http://www.massmed.org/News-and-Publications/MMS-News-Releases/Patricia-Rose-Falcao,-M-D–is-honored-by-Massachusetts-Medical-Society-with-the-2015-Woman-Physician-Leadership-Award/#.XJkAlShKjIU.
Patricia’s husband of 33 years, Jim Blumenfeld, is a telecomm engineer, and her daughter Alexandra, born in Boston, now age 30, is a Licensed Psychological Counselor, married, lives and works in Denver.
Penny Johnston Roen says “Although I’d love to see everyone else’s news, I don’t have much myself. Bill and I retired and moved back to Florida almost nine years ago after several years in Savannah. As far as my state of mind is concerned—or should I say the state of my mind—my car warns me when I have something behind or next to me and tells me how to get places; google supplements my memory; my phone gives me alerts and alarms all the time; and people I don’t even know (but who do have the same Tampa Bay area code as I do) call all the time to help me with my student loans, high interest credit cards and, most recently, how I can get vacation property in Florida! It’s not our mothers’ age 70!”
Sr. Marlene Biasiello is currently working as a chaplain in Stella Maris Nursing Home in Timonium, MD. She has been there for 29 years.
Mary Mauriello Kelly retired as a diagnostic radiologist two years ago. She says, “Since then I have stepped up my efforts to learn the cello. I am in a community orchestra, I play with friends and I take private lessons. I am in three book clubs. I do Pilates and go to the gym. My husband, Tom, and I maintain two houses, one in Seattle and one in Carefree, Arizona. I am pleased to spend more time with my family of origin, including my 92-year-old mother and my five siblings.
Both of our children, Nicholas and Claire, are lawyers like their father. Nick is a public defender in Seattle and Claire is a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. I helped Claire plan her wedding to Robin Liu, which occurred in Seattle in September 2018.
Of our classmates, I most regularly see Claire Stazeski Luken and members of the Oxford Group of 1967-68: Nancy Principi Scull, Carol Doerrer Bradof, Louise Donohoe Resor, Frederica Mansfield Templeton, and Kathleen Ryan Sellew.
I wish for our classmates, who experienced a huge cultural upheaval during our four years at Trinity, the grace of peace and health in the next phase of their life.”
Kathleen Gallagher says “I’m still working full time. Two years ago I made a move from my Safety Officer position in Boston to a position as EHS Manager at a MedTech Company in NH. The transition was tough, but I’ve settled in. I hope to stay working for at least another year, but I may cut back to a four day work week. My 50 minute commute seriously cuts in to my shoveling and mowing time at home. I now have two grandsons, brothers Javier (9) and Rowan (2). They live close by and I am able to spend quite a bit of time with them. I find this rejuvenating…….and exhausting. I am looking forward to taking them to see the new dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in DC this year. Hope to see you all there and, if not, at the reunion in 2020.”
Kathleen Hogan Breckenridge – “I am still in Kansas City but getting ready to make the big downsize move to Chicago (my old hometown when I was at TC). Haven’t bought anything yet and still working on getting my house sold in KC before I buy, but looking in Chicago West Loop or Lakeview areas. My daughter Molly and her family live in Roscoe Village and my brother lives in Libertyville. I have high school friends that I have kept in touch with and hope to find some TC friends in the Chicago area too. Anyone from TC (the class of ’70 or otherwise) send me an email. My personal email is katebreck27@gmail.com. I hope to continue my law practice remotely from Chicago at least for a while, so not retiring yet. All three daughters are married and each has two children, but no one in KC, so this will bring me closer to one of them. The others are in NJ and Dallas. Looking forward to our 50th next year!”
Barbara O’Neil Mingle moved from Ithaca, New York, to Virginia to be closer to family. They may move again later in the year.
Mary Beth Turner Marquardt says “I can’t believe I’m turning 70 this year. My husband (Rod Coleman) and I have been keeping very busy with exercising and socializing in our Florida community. All of our family loves Disney so we generally meet up with each family there once a year. As season pass holders we go over regularly. In between we have been traveling: Panama Canal cruise, Australia/New Zealand/Fiji, Switzerland and Rhine River Cruise, Canadian Rockies, and eastern Canada cruise. We still have a few more places we want to visit – including South Africa! We enjoy visiting with our four children and five grandchildren. The oldest granddaughter is graduating college and the youngest two are starting kindergarten!
I feel we have been very fortunate, with our families, our travels, our friends, and our health. I’m really looking forward to our 50th next year, to catch up with a lot of classmates in person.”
Mary Finn Vanderbrook – “You mentioned our 50th reunion in your letter. It is stunning to realize that we have arrived at that auspicious point in our lives so rapidly. As joy-filled eager-to-embrace-the-world Trinity graduates of 1970, it wasn’t possible for us to envision ourselves across a 50-year timespan. Fifty years was an eternity from the perspective of a young woman graduate and at that moment we held eternity in our hands. Yet viewed through the lens of hindsight, it has been a mere instant in time since our graduation day. In that “instant of time” my husband, Marty, and I married, lived all over the world, raised a family and managed our careers.
Marty and I are retired now, he from his position as Director of Space Flight Systems for Space Shuttle Operations at United Space Alliance and myself from the employment sector of the Houston business market. Now we celebrate the reign of ordinary days, free from the pressures of places to be and deadlines to meet and never enough time. What glorious days these ordinary days are! We are now more involved in all that is important to our life – our faith, our family, our environment and the arts. It is a blessing to live very close to our daughters, Margaret (an attorney) and Jennifer (a school counselor) and their families. Our Parish is very large, serving over 6,000 families, and we continue to be active in several of its ministries. We are also passionate about gardening, the Houston Grand Opera, Society for the Performing Arts and the arts community.
Like so many of our classmates, our greatest joy is being involved in the lives of our grandchildren, Ryan (24), Brendan (16), Mary (14), and Joseph (8) who keep us young and very active. Lately I have been helping our youngest grandson with his homework. In reflecting on this, I have concluded that our lives have come full circle…. we are once again playing in the dirt and practicing our reading skills. Life is good!”
Maureen Talty Konschnik – “Dave and I continue to live in the house we raised our children in while we consider the downsizing exercise that many of our friends have already successfully accomplished. We love this area, our son and his family live close by and we expect our daughter to return here one day so we are not looking at a geographic move but rather at more manageable space. I broke my knee last winter hiking in New Zealand and after great care and successful surgery there, I came home to a house with stairs I could not negotiate for six weeks. It gave me new insight into one level living!
I am back on two feet again and we both are enjoying good health, travel, retirement, and lots of time with our adult children and our two adorable grandchildren (I expect that last comment will be a common theme in all the notes you get) so life is good. But we are both aware that we celebrated our 70th birthdays last year and while 70 may be the new 60, we are not 45 anymore!
I am not sure whether you want to address the political situation in our country but if you are polling, I am appalled with the current administration and the total lack of political civility and ethical behavior in what I believe is still a great nation.”
Diane LaPlante Cabrales – “I am so happy to hear from you both and looking forward to reunion in 2020. Hard to believe it was 50 years ago. What happened to us? Just life I guess. I am not yet retired, though I could be, and my husband Mike has been for six years. He is happily playing a lot of golf, and I am happily coming to the office. Although, it is certainly time for me to take a fresh look at life. We have my mom living with us now, she will be 92 in May. She can manage the stairs to get up to her bedroom and is generally in decent health – but I am always reminding her to walk, walk, walk – go take a shower and hair wash, make your bed, pick up after yourself. I thought I was past that when my kids left home. Good thing she is easy going and pleasant to get along with.
I am not sure if I am still working because I am so healthy, or I am so healthy because I am still working. I suspect it is a combination. My career keeps me mentally stimulated and very engaged with people, so all good. Meanwhile we have done some traveling with family and friends. Pat Hillman and I have reconnected, and we went to France together in 2017 and the Great Northern Rockies in 2018. Greece is on the agenda for 2019.
I see Katie Hanley Rossner and Ruth Riley Sagar on a monthly basis, as we are all in a book club together. Marybeth (Cookie) Hagis Dowdell and I also see each other, or at least talk on the phone (how much am I dating us?) on a regular basis.
I feel extremely blessed with good health, a very sweet husband and a great supportive family, both children, siblings and grandchildren.
My one sorrow is my son Robert, who is having a hard time in life right now and could use some prayers. Hopefully he will figure things out and get his life back on course. No one gets to be our age without some hardship and rough seas – it comes with the territory. But that doesn’t make it any easier.
Thankfully I still have a pretty strong faith, and that helps a lot. Even though there are currently plenty of reasons to challenge the Catholic Church, you have to know it is because it is a manmade construct, and therefore plenty of things can go wrong. Whew! Enough.
Hope you have lots of responses to your request. I always love getting the Journal and read about what everyone is doing.”
Carol Leffson Baker – “Top o’ the Mornin’ to you, Greens of ’70!!
Remember us arm in arm skipping down the hall of Main singing this entire version? Seems like a lifetime ago. Hope all are well and enjoying some form of retirement. Looking forward to seeing everyone for the big activities being planned for our 50th (though none of us is old enough for that one).
Please think about it now and plan to come. Reach out to the classmates you know and make sure they are coming. See you all next year.”
LORENA MEUNIER, CAROLYN (PO) FOSTER LOCKE, BARBARA STACK MOORE, and
CHRISTINE HOULIHAN EPPINGER at their Main Hall Room 418 Reunion at Barbara Moore’s
house in New York this summer.
Barbara Stack Moore – “This milestone “70” year has been fun! Spurred on by entering this new decade, Chris Houlihan Eppinger, Carolyn (Po) Foster Locke, Lorena Meunier and I had our first ever Main Room 418 reunion in New York. We met freshman year when we shared a quad and 52 years later we had lots to talk about and life experiences to share!
Other Trinity classmates I have seen this year include Julie Sheets Vogel, Karen Segal Griffin, Kathy Schaaf Cropper, Joan Carey McCabe, Nancy Monogan Ziomek, and Kathy Reilly.
My older daughter lives in San Francisco and my younger daughter lives in Paris so we visit both areas frequently. I currently volunteer in a Dominican nuns’ program teaching female immigrants English – the women are a joy to work with and their life experiences underline the good fortune of living in the United States.”
Cathy Largay McCarthy – In April/May of 2018, I traveled with a couple of work pals on a tulip cruise starting and ending in Amsterdam for a week, and we then took the high speed train to Paris for five days – travel seems to be one of the most enjoyable benefits to our “later” years. In late June 2019, these same travel pals and I have booked a Baltic Sea trip starting and ending in Copenhagen, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, and some stops in Germany. I love the idea of a floating hotel. As of the end of June 2018, I am officially retired and working on figuring out how to schedule/unschedule my days but am certainly enjoying no alarm setting. As many of us turn 70, I want to thank my children (and other family & friends) for celebrating me in grand style in November 2018.
Gloria Brozik Barnstorf – “I see Maryrose McCaffery Martino. She is very active as president of her chapter of tax registered agents and accountants. For exact name, ask her! Her daughter Kate will be married in September and George is walking her down the aisle as her dear father Michael passed away. I talk with Rosalie Angelo and Jean Bell Hessenauer occasionally. Both are well, funny and young at heart. This weekend I happened to find Michelle Wiley’s LinkedIn and YouTube. She still has that great voice and style. Loved the jazz!!!! Wishing everyone health and happiness.”
Kathleen Costello Jones, Mary Francina Golden ’71, Grace Doherty Delatour and Imogen Drummond celebrating Imogen’s recent birthday at lunch at Orsay restaurant
Imogene Drummond (aka Libby Green) “Living near NYC allows me to stay in touch with dear Trinity friends. I treasure special times with them. Grace Doherty de Latour and Kathleen Costello Jones, class of ’70, along with Mary Francina Golden, class of ’71, celebrated my recent birthday at lunch at Orsay restaurant in Manhattan. This past summer, I was an artist in residence at Airgentum Art Residency for three months in Castilblanco, Spain. There I created an interactive video installation–a new direction for me–that connected the people of Castilblanco with the cosmos. In my immersive installation, people moved through the exhibit space and saw imagery of their local landscape and the cosmos projected onto them. To symbolize consciousness, the imagery was also reflected in mirrors. I was thrilled with the enthusiastic response! To see a video of the installation, go to: https://vimeo.com/310449886.
Lynn Erickson writes “My daughter Gretchen, Rod and I own a 112 acre horse farm in rural Berks County. The farm is 210 years old, and yes, we have “ghosts” walking among us. We have 20-30 horses at any given time, two pigs, more chickens than my daughter appreciates, and the occasional coyote, bobcat, a herd of deer and other wildlife too numerous to list. We have three border collies who recently decided to “connect” and their 14 kids are (hopefully) leaving for new homes. After 30 years apart, Rod and I reunited about 11 years ago, and although we’re 70, we’re still working the farm. Gretchen had a serious accident about 15 years ago while in law school. She was stopped behind a tractor trailer, waiting, when another tractor trailer hit her vehicle at full speed. She has had two back operations and is looking at a third, but to say I admire her is an understatement.
Gretchen was on the road to celebrity in the horse world, training with two Olympic riders when the accident happened and drowned her dreams. Although she eschewed the practice of law because of the years of recuperation and surgery, and wasn’t released for riding for most of those years, she didn’t sit home feeling sorry for herself. Instead she put her heart into the horse farm from the ground up, training adults and children, horses others could not, scheduling breeding and generally making the farm a class operation.
Me? I am still practicing law, busier than I want to be. I had hoped that closing my office and moving the practice home (the farm) would allow me some free time to work with our horses, but you can’t have a practice for 45 years and not make friends who still run into problems, and now their kids are needing legal help. I try to discourage new clients by telling them my office is a farm and I’m not dressing up for them, but that doesn’t seem to work. Most of my practice is criminal and family (same thing sometimes) but “hay” (horses gotta eat), it pays the bills.
The story of Rod and I re-connecting is a strange but lovely story, too long for this info-email, but he moved back here from Arizona and the three decades apart seem only flash-by memories. We get to ride occasionally, but short of dinner with friends a couple times a month, we don’t get out much.
Everyone is invited to come play at the farm if you’re ever in the Berks County area. Kids (well I guess grandkids) can walk with the horses (two of which are only 24” tall).”
KATHLEEN COSTELLO JONES, Mary Francina Golden (’71), GRACE DOHERTY
DELATOUR, and IMOGENE DRUMMOND celebrating Imogene’s recent birthday at lunch at Orsay restaurant in Manhattan.
Jean Bell Hessennauer– “My big news this past year was my son’s wedding. Jim and Kristen were married in September 2018 on a beautiful day in the midst of the monsoon weather we had been having. The reception was at a local winery which was a very pretty setting. My brother and his children and grandchildren all came to town for the wedding. All in all it was a wonderful day. I have heard from Gloria Brozik Barnsdorf, Barbara Phippen Cutler, Cathy Looby McCourt, Barb Wurzelbacher Arndt and Rosalie Angelo this year. I guess we all survived turning 70!”
Janet McCabe Maley – “It’s hard to believe that our 50th Reunion is just a year away. Since our last Reunion we have added three more grandchildren to bring the total to five. Each of my three children had a child in 2017. I am still active in my bowling league and my Woman’s Club. I am treasurer of both organizations. My husband is still working as a software developer. I’m looking forward to reconnecting at our 50th Reunion in 2020.”
MATILDA GIAMPIETRO teaching at Washington Montessori School
Matilda Giampietro – “My son Gabriel, the oldest of my 4 children, has a fantastic, Michelin star rated restaurant in Brooklyn called The Finch. He is also getting married this summer to the mother of their three-year-old son, Jasper. Gabe and FonLin (Chinese medicine practitioner) live in Brooklyn and are remodeling their recently purchased brownstone in Brooklyn. My daughter Rebecca and her husband Chris Roddick live in Brooklyn as well, with their four-year-old son Milo. Rebecca is an outstanding horticulturist, runs the Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Chris is the arborist of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. My daughter Jessica lives in Berkeley, CA, with her husband Alex Harvill and their two children, Oliver (6) and Hazel (4). Jessica has worked for Pixar for many years. If you watch through all the credits on Cars, Finding Nemo, Coco and other Pixar films you will see her name (Jessica McMackin Harvill). My daughter Meghan lives in Brooklyn with her husband Dan Gregoras and their two-year-old son Aiden. Another son is due in June. She was the JCrew jewelry designer for many years and now is starting her own jewelry line.
I love performing with my group Wykeham Consort, and these days we are fascinated with Sephardic music and love performing and sharing it. I am still teaching at Washington Montessori School, and enjoying it.
A good bit of my summertime is usually spent teaching in China, doing Montessori teacher training workshops and doing volunteer work teaching music with S’Cool Sounds in Jordan with Syrian refugee children, in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya (Kibera is the largest slum in Africa) and in Burundi. Village Heath Works in Burundi is a truly astonishing place. It is a testament to strength of character and perseverance in the face of incredible difficulties and ethnic cleansing rage (think Hotel Rwanda). Deo Gratias Niyizonkiza, who founded this clinic, in my opinion, is a saint. You can read about him in the book Strength In What Remains, a NYT best seller by Tracy Kidder.
I am also the cantor on Sunday mornings in my Catholic parish in Bethlehem, CT. I feel grateful for the chance to use my voice to pray.
In 2016 I was awarded the Golden Alumna of the Year award from Stone Ridge, Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, where I went to high school. What else…. my mother is 94 and lives in an assisted living place 15 minutes from my house. I am divorced and have been for 23 years. I would love to find my true love, but have not found him yet. Any suggestions, send them my way!”
A selfie from TERRY MILLEA MANION with husband Chuck in Alaska celebrating her
70 th birthday
Mary Teresa Millea Manion a picture is worth a 1000 words. Here’s a picture of Terry and Chuck in Alaska to celebrate her 70th birthday. Enough said. Terry had just undergone cataract surgery, so wasn’t up for writing.
Mary Riordan Bejan writes “My mom passed away January 2018. She came to Trinity from a farm in CO in 1945. There was only one other student from “out west” and they were constantly asked about buffalo and cowboys. She went to spring break with friends her first year at Trinity and story goes that my dad, a Georgetown grad, who had just finished with army and was celebrating a bachelor party spotted her “under the clock at the Biltmore.” He turned to his friends and said “See that red head over there – I’m going to marry her” and he did. Much to her mother’s dismay, she left Trinity after her freshman year and married my dad, who passed away in 1970. So Trinity plays a big part in our family story.
We have been in Durham since 1985 with Adrian a Professor at Duke with no plans to retire until he physically and mentally has to. I have been managing mom’s estate and my grown children, the second of whom is at Duke this week giving two talks. You can find her TED talk online with more the a million views. Reilly (Margaret) and I attended last year. Adrian will be giving one in DC next week.
We will finally have a wedding in the family next year in September, the youngest of our three.
Maureen Gerrity Boyd – “I am happy to report that I am still enjoying skiing, bridge and travel! In May two of my granddaughters are accompanying me to Paris if the yellow vests don’t shut the city down. Turning 70 was bearable because my sons gave a party in a mountain cabin for me and all my family members were there to celebrate. Hope all are healthy!”
Kathleen Gilligan Sebelius says “I left government service in July, 2014 and continue working in health care with private companies and non-profit organizations. I help friends in KS and around the country get elected to office but my days as a candidate are over.
After 43 years in Topeka, KS we moved to Lawrence, KS, in mid-2017, and we love our new community. And I get on airplanes a lot. Our two sons are both married; one in KS and one near Boston, with our three grandsons. Everyone is healthy and happy most of the time.”
At their state-side Oxford reunion last October (front row) KATHLEEN RYAN SELLEW,
JACKIE MILLER HILL; (second row) FREDDIE MANSFIELD TEMPLETON, CAROL DOERRER
BRADOF; (third row) LOUISE DONOHOE RESOR, and MARY MAURELLO KELLY. Also attending, but not in this photo, is NANCY PRINCIPI SCULL.
Carol Doerrer Bradof came in under the wire with this report: “Our state-side Oxford group had a reunion—with some of our spouses—in the Asheville/Burnsville area last October, 2018. We had a wonderful time hiking, cooking, laughing, touring Asheville’s Biltmore and Thomas Wolfe’s museum/home, and simply enjoying each other’s company: friendships that have lasted fifty years. We banned all discussion of the deplorable current presidency and would not let it encroach on our happy reunion. O tempora O mores. We hope to have another reunion soon, perhaps in Scotland, so as to entice our UK classmates, Anne Kulbok Daniels, Christine Malisek Mills, and Carol Lucey Bennet to join us.
Jean Mulcahy Vanek writes “I am eagerly anticipating next year’s reunion, while ruefully remembering helping out at the 1970 alumnae gathering. At the time, I marveled at those fifty-year alums, and couldn’t imagine ever being that old. Fast forward to gray hair, grandchildren, retirement and wrinkles.
Cathy Largay McCarthy and I agreed to coordinate the “2020 Vision” Reunion — because hindsight is always 20/20. To that end, I would like to pose two questions:
- For those who have never (or seldom) attended reunion — Why not? And what would entice you to come next year
- For those who regularly attend — What are your favorite activities? What could be different or better?
Send responses to vanx@comcast.net with a cc to cathmccarth@aol.com. Cathy and I will carefully consider your input as we strive to orchestrate a unique and memorable weekend.”
Margaret Mary Reilly – It was a good two years. A few new additions to my social calendar (who among us does not have a cardiologist?) but nothing that could not be solved or managed.
I have taken to the road in my 2004 Subaru Forester with a moon roof and heated seats. The big trip was cross country to a niece’s wedding in Los Angeles. My travels in the US had been primarily by plane and, therefore, urban. It is an entirely different world on the ground. I stick out. I like to think it is the flowing white hair but I suspect it is the New York license plate. People talk to me and I am happy to report that, as a nation, we are friendly, kind and generous.
Mary Riordan Bejan has joined me on one trip where coming up from DC we took a left instead of a right and ended up somewhere in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Once again, friendly, kind and generous.
My message now is ‘Prepare thyself.’ Chris and I are meeting this summer to scrub the class list, update non-working emails and find “lost” members to hopefully reconstitute the Class of 1970 in some of our sins and all of our glory.
Christine Houlihan Eppinger – Margaret Reilly and I enjoyed visiting (and a few glasses of wine) while reading all of your emails. I was encouraged by how healthy, vibrant, and mostly contented we are.
Since returning to the States from England, Charlie and I split our time between Massachusetts and Florida. Having a dog too big to “fit under the seat in front of you,” we take to the road twice a year armed with our audio books and maps. Our route varies to visit our children, family, friends, and to find new golf courses for Charlie to play. We picked up the travel bug while living in England, and continue to explore new places both in and outside of the US.
My goal in life is to “shed” – pounds, paper, “things.” So far I have been spectacularly unsuccessful. The only thing “downsized” in my life seems to be time. I am learning to play bridge, and Bailey, our Golden Retriever, and I travel to the area Boys & Girls clubs where the children read to Bailey. I volunteer at the Humane Society in FL and the local food bank in MA.
I get to see Barbara Stack Moore when she and Pat visit Florida, and Terry Millea Manion when she and Chuck get to Massachusetts. Somehow these annual visits seem to be only a few months apart!
In closing, a shout-out to the Development Office for their excellent series on Trinity Trailblazers for Women’s History Month.
Also, anyone wishing to contribute to our Class Fund (very important with our 50th Reunion coming up), please send a check to the college [Trinity Washington University, Office of Alumnae Relations, 125 Michigan Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20017] payable to “AATC Class Fund of 1970.”
Finally, please put the dates of May 29-31, 2020 on your calendars for our 50th Reunion. You’ll be hearing more from Jean Mulcahy Vanek and Cathy Largay McCarthy in preparation for the event. We hope to see as many of you as possible there!