1973 Class Notes for 2014-2015
Dear ’73 Classmates,
With changes in the Alumnae publication schedule, there’s been a longer period of time between Blue Class reports, and we had a Reunion year in the middle of the time frame. First, many thanks are reiterated to the Reunion committee for the planning and work. Many special thanks are exclaimed to Elizabeth “Ronnie” Toth Weaver, who was our leader in all things practical, delightful and full of the warmth of friendship. The other committee members were: Monica Johansen Morgan, Maru Sanchez-Carlo, Helen “Burkie” Mullin and Barbara Dempsey. The Morrison Clark Inn proved to be an excellent venue for reminiscing and catching up.
Reunion attendees included: Mary Pat Kelly Clark, Kathleen Connelly, Barbara Dempsey, Jane Glover Foss, Mary Eva Yates Hayes, Elizabeth Traczewski Higgins, Helen Kane, Fran Brooks Keith, Mary Beth Koch, Annie Rodriguez McCollim, Maureen Cullen Mellen, Monica Johansen Morgan, Burkie Mullin, Rose Noonan Gordon, Joan Russo,Maru Sanchez-Carlo, Theresa Talerico Scafetta, Eileen Grieve Stokes, Ronnie Toth Weaver, Maureen Power Wilkerson, Pat Woller Bond, Molly MacSweeney Fowler, Christina Kielich, Margot Mininni, Mary Beth Sweeney Donnelly and myself. If I missed anyone, I apologize. This group had a walloping good time with many spouses and friends enjoying our storytelling and singing.
Always a delight at Reunions, by phone or at any Trinity event, Mary Beth Koch, was a busy Reunion participant. I am sad to tell the class of her death in December 2013. Mary Beth was a Trinity alumna in the truest sense. Her prodigious memory, her love of history, family backgrounds, family trees and her bright friendliness made her a good conversationalist. I will miss her and how she knew so much about everyone and could keep one up-to-date. Mary Beth had many enthusiasms and she shared her love of family, the beach, historical places and her Trinity classmates and connections in witty dialogue. In her gentle way she used her knowledge to keep us all closer in touch. We’ve lost a kind of class historian. As I write, her obituary is still posted on the website of the John E. Day Funeral Home. Her family asked that memorial donations be made to the Trinity Alumnae Fund.
Other sad news came from Pat Kelly Wenck who wrote of her husband Edwin’s untimely death on July 3 after a very short illness. Our thoughts and prayers are with Pat and family members. Pat mentioned that she treasures her memories of Trinity days.
Christina Kielich loved seeing everyone at Reunion and is happy she is now on the ’73 Facebook page. She’s in Alexandria, VA, and works at the Department of Energy as a press officer. Christina visits her father in St. Davids, PA, where the family recently celebrated her sister Paula’s 60th birthday. Chris says, “When your younger sister turns 60, that’s just sad.”
Sue Taft-Colavecchio sent a picture of herself with a patient, Mary P., who is 100 years young and still volunteers as a greeter at Kent Hospital. Sue reports that her husband and son are well and that she passed an eight-hour computerized exam for her family medicine boards, “so I can continue to practice another 10 years.” Sue’s letter had many astute comments about how computers have modernized medicine, especially pertaining to patient care. She receives an annual Christmas card from Kathy McQuade.
Always busy, Maru Sanchez-Carlo spent March 2014 in Florence taking Italian lessons, traveling in Tuscany and taking as many cooking classes as she could. She continues with Italian lessons in DC and hopes to travel to Sicily this fall. Maru continues her part-time job at the olive oil and balsamic vinegar store in Old Town Alexandria. She tends her garden and enjoys cooking up a storm of Italian food for anyone who shows up at her townhouse. When I was in a play in Houston, Maru surprised me with a short visit. We see each other a couple times per year. Taking advantage of good weather, Maru traveled to Olympia, WA, and Cushing, ME, and, of course, to Puerto Rico. She sees Annie Rodriguez McCollim and her husband, Gary, often. They are retired and well.
Speaking of Annie, I had the great pleasure to be with her on her (and my) birthday this year. Gary and Annie treated Maru and me and four other friends to a lovely birthday luncheon. There were many stories of Annie and Gary’s trips to France, reading selections and movie favorites. Annie is a year younger than me and she likes to remind me of that fact.
Barbara Dempsey has been in touch regularly and has been a big help with scribe advice. She didn’t send a great deal of news but mentioned working on an annual company dinner that takes place in DC at the “Top of the Hay.” Barb is a promoter of the class Facebook page. Find her updates along with others’ posts at Trinity Blue ’73.
With family close by in N. VA, Mary Pat Kelly Clark and husband, Jim, welcomed a second granddaughter in February. Son Daniel and Maggie have their hands full with Jack (20 mos.) and baby sister Ella James Clark. Son Patrick is well and lives in Ashburn and youngest son, Jesse, lives at home as he finishes up at George Mason U. Mary Pat and Jim are enjoying retirement with a “glorious trip to AK … and other small trips here and there. We are still hoping to move a little farther south toward Richmond, to Lake Caroline, in 2015 or 2016.” She had a great deal of fun seeing everyone at Reunion and wishes all a safe and healthy year.
Sheila Wade Tobin shared the happy news that she married John C. Tobin, “who shares my faith, humor and lifestyle” in July 2013 in a very simple wedding at Sunday Mass at his parish church. She’s still teaching. Sheila missed Reunion due to the birth of grandson Daniel Elvis McGarvey and continues to take pride in the accomplishments of granddaughter Bridget who as a high school junior has an internship with the National Cancer Institute.
Maureen Masters Cronin writes, “As one who is roughly 13 years older than most of our classmates, I report on a wonderful retirement so far as health, treasure, family and fate have come together for the moment on my behalf.” She continues to enjoy every minute she can with her five daughters and their families and seems almost perfectly contented with her chosen retirement spot – Truro, MA, – where she stays busy with a memoir writing group and by serving on two boards for the arts center in town and the Community Preservation Commission. Maureen sent wise and good words about staying healthy and reflecting that, “Authenticity in ourselves and those we meet and consider friends seems a central factor. With gray hair, diminishing physical abilities despite yoga, Pilates and walking, what choices do we have but to be our true selves?” She’s learned that grandchildren make brilliant tutors for all things electronic and would love classmates to drop by and say hello if you find yourselves at the tip of Cape Cod.
Eileen Grieve Stokes sent a short note about going through Oxford photos, specifically the Great Northern Tour, to give trip information to son Christopher who was headed to England and the Lake District. In an update, she reported that Christopher’s European trip included getting engaged. Eileen attended her 45th Kennebunk High School reunion and saw classmates for the first time since graduation. She and Bob still have her parents’ house in ME and they’ve enjoyed great trips there once a month or so. Their youngest, Brendan, graduated from Sacred Heart U., but will return for one year of graduate school. She wrote, “It feels like a transition moment to have one engaged and everyone officially finished with college.” Eileen usually posts to the class Facebook page. I encourage everyone to see more updates from her online. She updated her email address with me and Trinity and I thank her for it.
Also sending a short email and a more current email address, Valerie Campbell states that it’s been an uneventful year. She hopes to make it to Reunion one of these years when she’s retired.
Monica Johansen Morgan says life has moved forward since our fantastic Reunion. She continues to work as a consultant focusing on developing and implementing change management strategies for companies preparing for and executing organizational or system transformations, and she expects to work for at least another three years as long as she stays healthy and challenged. In April, Monica spent a week in Barcelona and became totally enthralled by the magic of the Gaudi architecture while also enjoying a day in Montserrat and a couple of days at the Barcelona (tennis) Open. In May she had a great visit with Ronnie Weaver and husband Frank when they came through Rehoboth Beach, DE, as part of a longer trip.
With the family around them, Maureen Power Wilkerson and husband Carl celebrated their 36th anniversary. “Life is good,” she writes with three daughters, two sons and their wives and children enjoying a family vacation in Duck, NC. Maureen hopes to see everyone at the next Reunion!
Mary Durkin sends the update that she switched industries from banking to higher education in 2013. She is now heading up the HR department at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in Flushing, NY. She is enjoying her new position.
With a long, lovely email Ronnie Toth Weaver sends news and more. She and Frank toured in Italy for 17 days and had a trip that covered all the great cities and sights. Ronnie says the biggest surprises were the Italian Romanesque cathedrals and, without planning to do so, ending up in the museum with Dante’s death mask which has had such a popular jolt from Dan Brown’s Inferno. Regrettably, Ronnie is still dealing with balance and vision problems associated with the benign brain tumor for which she was treated in early 2013. She remains hopeful that the symptoms will dissipate and her overall health will improve after a rough year of dealing with several medical issues. On the brighter side, Ronnie continues to work and plan for retirement in a few years. On a trip to the Winterthur mansion and gardens, she and Frank visited with Monica Johansen Morgan in Rehoboth and then continued on to Chincoteague Island to see the wild ponies. Also, Ronnie is co-owner of a new Kuvasz puppy and is learning the delights of dog shows and the intricacies of breeding and whelping a litter. Her letter contained much more about life’s ups and downs, the realities of car and home repairs, and just plain good old wisdom and faith to keep improving and handling what life throws at us. As a closing note, she writes that she has completed a thorough review of her book and is making changes and now looking for an agent.
We send our sympathies to Laura M. Lian-Lesperance whose mother died in December after her health deteriorated very quickly. Coming home from her mother’s funeral, Laura and husband Wayne found the house they wanted in Delaware. She retired from the Census Bureau in March, and they moved from Alabama in April. Laura writes that it is so nice at last to be close enough to visit and be visited without making the trip a major production. They are settling in to a slightly smaller place with moving boxes everywhere, still trying to sell the old house, but the dogs and the cat have adjusted very nicely.
As for me, Andy and I enjoyed Reunion. I always say that I think he has a better time than I do. I retired from Rice U. right before Reunion and stayed home for five months and started to de-clutter the house and renew my playwriting. Two sociology professors who run the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas asked me to return to work as the center’s department coordinator for five months and I accepted the part-time job. It was a wonderful professional experience, but about two months into it, I realized that I really did want to be retired. So, I found them a good coordinator, trained her and retired a second time in April 2014. Meanwhile, I’d been auditioning with local theaters and landed a supporting role in a modern retelling of the Cassandra story. With Andy’s help, Maru Sanchez surprised me by turning up the day before opening night and got to see me as Hecuba. We had a family vacation in central OR with all 17 of us together, and I’ve visited and helped my mother in MD and taken her to a family wedding in IL and to Cape May so she could visit with a bunch of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I’m not volunteering much but plan to become active again and to start being more physically active with walking and cycling. The writing goes slowly but I’m truly enjoying my revitalized friendships with poets, playwrights, actors, directors and producers.
Thank you to all who responded. Your notes, no matter how brief, are inspiring and filled with good will. I urge everyone to check out Trinity Blues ’73 on Facebook. It’s an easy, immediate way for us to post news and continue to share our Trinity friendships. I have this pattern of understanding my wants only after the fact. I don’t want to be scribe – I’ve done it. If you are interested to take over as scribe, please speak up. The Alumnae Office can get you in the schedule for next year.
God bless and keep you!
Kay Sneeringer McStay