The original Sunshine Class Mini-Reunion in DC was fully subscribed. Unfortunately it was called off due to COVID. It was rescheduled for May 8-12, 2023.
And now it's over! The 2023 DC Mini-Reunion was a great success, thanks to the careful planning of the DC Mini-Reunion Planning Committee listed at the bottom of this page.
For details,click on the bold header above that says "WC67 Mini-Reunion in DC May 8-12 2023."
See highlights of the itinerary below the group picture.
Group picture of attendees in front of the National Cathedral
Front row: Sarah Smith Malino, Joan Hunt Robinson, Dana Stambaugh Semeraro, Erry Johnson, Kathy Chaiken, Dorothy Furber Byers, Susan Wright Marino, Carol Phillips, Rhoda Morss Trooboff, Sassy Isherwood Besset, Helen Currie Foster, Diane Donley, Vivian Witkind Davis
Row 2: Judy Kohn Cohn, Ann Armstrong Van Dusen, Elin Mainwaring Richards, MJ Mittenthall Levine, Betsy Osborne Bond, Grace Pachman Allison, Sue-Ellen Davison Levavy, Bonnie Kime Scott, Elaine Steere Johnson, Bonnie Ladd Hamilton, Terry Cauthorn, Carole Leonard Parks
Top row: MJ Dodd Schultz, Susan Follett Langer, Diane Baer Ryan, Gretchen Smith Bolton, Margy Meyers Robfogel, Christine Marsden Chamberlain, Leesa Heydenreich Campbell, Deb DeWitt, Rita Ravell Carroll, Lee Ferguson Gruzen, Kate Pillsbury, Linda Hurd Stebbins, Margie Kitchen FitzSimons, Prue Richardson Beidler
Missing from photo but in attendance: Nancy Happe, Pamela Hyde Smith, Leslie Laird Luebbers, Ann Bennett Spence, Jane Thorbeck, Helen Sandalls
Class of 1967 Mini-Reunion in DC, May 8-12, 2023
ITINERARY
Printable version to download (.docx)
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Monday, May 8
Late Afternoon: We kicked off our mini-reunion with a welcome reception at the home of classmate Pamela Hyde Smith at 2909 Foxhall Road in NW Washington. The reception started at 5:30 pm. Pamela served "heavy hors d'oeuvres," both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, enough to constitute dinner, with wine, beer and soft drinks.
Tuesday, May 9
Morning: The National Museum of Asian Art is among the Smithsonian’s lesser-known treasures. The permanent collection comprises thousands of exquisite objects representing cultures stretching from the Middle East to Japan and reaching 4,000 years back in time. To learn more about the museum, go to https://asia.si.edu/.
National Museum of African American History and Culture, the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by an Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. The museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institution. To learn more about the museum, go to nmaahc.si.edu.
Dinner and Evening: We enjoyed a three-course-plus-wine mezze dinner at Zaytinya in DC’s busy, historic downtown/Chinatown/Gallery Place neighborhood. Under the direction of Chef José Andrés* and his ThinkFoodGroup team, Zaytinya offers a menu inspired by Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese cuisines and served in a sleek, modern setting. Since opening in 2002, Zaytinya has ranked consistently as a top DC dining destination, with five Bib Gourmand awards in recent years in the Michelin Guide to Washington, DC.
* Spanish-American Chef José Ramón Andrés Puerta is the founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals to people in disaster areas. Often credited with introducing small-plate dining to the US, Chef José owns several restaurants in the DC metro area and other major American cities. Awarded a National Humanities Medal at the White House (2016) and beloved to DC residents, Chef José received George Washington University's honorary doctorate in public service, delivered GW’s commencement address (2014), and threw out the first pitch of the Washington Nats baseball season (2021). He holds honorary degrees also from Georgetown, Tufts, and Harvard, and in 2022 he was awarded Ukraine’s Order of Merit.
Dining at Zaytinya is a reminder of the core mission of Chef José’s World Central Kitchen, “providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises."
8:30 pm Bus drive through downtown DC and along National Mall, return to Cosmos Club
After dinner we took a bus tour through DC’s historic downtown and along the National Mall, with commentary by Susan Sullivan Lagon, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute and in-house historian at the Jefferson Hotel.
Wednesday, May 10
Morning and Lunch: Hillwood Estate, Museum, & Gardens, is one of Washington’s “hidden gems.” The estate, with its gardens and mansion, was home to Marjorie Merriweather Post, internationally known businesswoman, socialite, philanthropist, and collector. It is fascinating to see how she lived, her collections of French, Italian, and Russian art treasures, and her gardens. After a short video, we took a self-guided tour of the house, gardens, orchid house, and a special exhibit: “Determined Women: Female Art Collectors.” To learn more, see https://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillwood_Estate,_Museum_%26_Gardens
Afternoon: Docent-led tour of the Washington National Cathedral. This included information about the cathedral’s gothic architecture, stained glass windows, great choir and organ, and Bethlehem Chapel in the crypt. We heard a bit about the many national events that have taken place in this site. For more, please see: https://cathedral.org/visit-us/
Thursday, May 11
Morning: We visited Glenstone, the new contemporary art museum in Potomac, Maryland, created by Mitchell Rales and curated by his wife, Wellesley alumna Emily Wei Rales ’98. In anticipation of our May plans, Emily sent a welcoming message to Erry Johnson, who arranged our visit. In it, she included a link to a new video so we could have a sneak peek here.
Glenstone is a self-directed experience, optimized to create a serene, contemplative, and unhurried journey for visitors, with knowledgeable guides stationed throughout the museum who are eager to engage with visitors around art, architecture, and landscape. Glenstone’s newest pavilion was awarded the 2020 AIA award in architecture. "The Glenstone Museum is a virtuoso display of design and detail, and a poetic integration of art, architecture, and landscape." – Jury comment https://www.glenstone.org/
Glenstone was featured in this 2019 Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/is-glenstone-a-great-art-museum-or-a- billionaire-couples-folly/2019/05/28/a4ada93c-7d7d-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html
Evening: Our final banquet was at the Cosmos Club in the first-floor Powell Room. Originally the carriage house for the Townsend family around 1900, the room has been transformed into a golden- pillared lecture and banquet space. The Powell Room is named for John Wesley Powell, one of the founders of the Cosmos Club in 1878. In 1888 with others at the Cosmos Club, he also helped found the National Geographic Society. Our featured speaker is Betsy Griffith, Wellesley '69, author of Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality: 1920-2020. She had the paperback edition available for sale.
Friday, May 12: Farewell!
Additional Places to Explore in DC
Near the Cosmos Club:
Phillips Collection https://www.phillipscollection.org/
The National Geographic Museum https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/visit-our-museum Anderson House https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/
Heurich House Museum http://heurichhouse.org/
On a nice day, stroll along Embassy Row up to the British Embassy.
On the Mall, within minutes of the Museum of African American History and Culture: The National Museum of American History https://americanhistory.si.edu/
The National Holocaust Memorial Museum https://www.ushmm.org/
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (don’t miss the Mark Bradford!) https://hirshhorn.si.edu/exhibitions/mark-bradford-picketts-charge/
Close to the White House:
The Renwick Gallery https://americanart.si.edu/
Planet Word Museum (new in 2020) https://planetwordmuseum.org/
Between the White House and the Capitol:
The National Building Museum https://www.nbm.org/
Georgetown: Oak Hill Cemetery https://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/ Dumbarton Oaks Museum and Gardens https://www.doaks.org/
Arlington: Military Women's Memorial at the ceremonial entrance to Arlington National Cemetery https://womensmemorial.org/
If you’re in DC on Saturday, May 6, or Saturday, May 13, consider the citywide Passport DC Festival https://eventsdc.com/passport-dc
And lots more…
https://washington.org/things-do-washington-dc
DC Reading List
Nonfiction
§ Wellesley Alum and DC Historian Jane Freundel Levey (’75), and her husband, DC journalist Bob Levey, have written many articles chronicling aspects of local DC history. Together they published Washington Album: A Pictorial History of the Nation's Capital. 2000. It’s no longer in print but is available online https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer- listing/1930691009.
§ Estella M. Chung, Director of Collections, Hillwood Estate: Marjorie Merriweather Post: The Life Behind the Luxury. 2019
§ Cokie Roberts: Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848–1868.
HarperCollins. 2015.
Fiction (from Washington Wellesley Club’s Literary Circle reading list):
§ Henry Adams. Democracy
§ Dinaw Mengistu. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
§ George Saunders. Lincoln in the Bardo
§ Rhoda Trooboff, Wellesley ’67. Correspondence Course: The Bathsua Project
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Your ’67 in DC Planning Committee |
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Leesa Heydenreich Campbell (Chair) |
(540) 672-8320 |
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Gretchen Smith Bolton (Treasurer) |
(301) 529-7719 |
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Betsy Osborne Bond |
(401) 804-8216 |
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Diane Donley |
(202) 255-9100 |
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Erry Johnson (Honorary “Local”) |
(617) 571-2599 |
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Pamela Hyde Smith |
(202) 360-7776 |
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Rhoda Morss Trooboff |
(202) 236-8946 |
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Ann Armstrong Van Dusen |
(202) 360-1660 |
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Judy Kohn Cohen (Communications) |
(540) 480-4550 |
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Dorothy Furber Byers (Web Admin) |
(513) 235-0077 |
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