UNABRIDGED CLASS OF 1971 NOTE – Nov., 2024
Submitted by Ann O’Regan Keary, Class Secretary
Continuing the news begun in our May Class note reporting on a mini-reunion at Laura Munder’s DC home, we learned that Mary Essember Peterson has lived in Colorado, England, and DC, working in International Education, but after daughter Kate was born in 1994 Mary and her family left city life behind and settled in Bozeman, Montana. Mary served as development director for MSU’s College of Nursing, the Museum of the Rockies, and Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter. But her favorite job was as executive director of Eagle Mount, an organization that provides therapeutic/adaptive recreational activities. And as president of the Montana Nonprofit Association, she co-facilitated a leadership program for nonprofit directors. Mary reports spending her retirement playing “Bossy Big Sister” to many nonprofits. “This place taught me the meaning of community, and I’m honored to help Montana’s hardworking and high-performing nonprofits as they strive to make the world a better place.”
Rhoda Whitlock Canter writes: “Had great fun catching up with Barbara McKnight Trafton in her new hometown, Brunswick, Maine, this July-August, where we hiked on the grounds of the Bowdoin Marine Center. Fond memories of rowing for Severance and winning the dorm races our final year! (Pic below of Rhoda on left and Barbara on right.)
Helen Gerard Faure reports from Paris that she had a terrific time serving as a volunteer for the Paris 2024 Olympics in the fan zone located in the ruins of the ancient Roman Arènes de Lutèce, in the 5th arrondissement. “I responded to questions of visitors and took hundreds of photos of them using a special frame created for that purpose. I was also able to attend Quarter and Semi-final Taekwondo bouts in the beautifully restored Grand Palais, and Final Individual events for Rhythmic Gymnastics. Paris has been joyfully transformed for this period!”
Belinda Wilkins Tepper forwarded a contribution from Kim Hamilton Gottshall, about a long-standing weekly zoom. “Almost four years ago as it became obvious that our class would not celebrate our fiftieth reunion on campus, Belinda Wilkins Tepper pushed, prodded, and charmed a bunch of us into weekly zooms - one for a group of us who had been in Munger freshman year, another for those of us who had been in Shafer our senior year. Some of us make it every week and others only occasionally , but the chance to stay in touch has been wonderful. On Tuesdays we hear from Parmelee Eastman about her downsizing move from the town of Wellesley to a lakefront home, from Delna Dastur about her incredible artwork, from Mary Helen Lorenz about her long road trips to stay in touch with family (and view the eclipse), from Peggy Darger Sacher about her work with a children’s chorus and the advantages of blue hair, from Beth Cary who we got to see translating from Japanese at the Golden Globe and Academy Awards, from Tina Williamson Bender on hiring a new executive director for the Huntington Gardens, from Patricia Epstein Rosenberg on exotic foreign trips, from Lesley Kisner Cafarelli on the professional side of genealogy research, from Ruth Reisner Brock about the Nile and the terracotta warriors in China, and from Belinda who helps us out with all computer questions. On Wednesdays we hear from Ann Sutphin Hafer about trips to Maine and a group that works to keep Latin taught in the Virginia schools, from Julia Halle from her home in London (unless she is in Switzerland or France), from Debbie Smith Pabst about breeding thoroughbred horses at Blue Ribbon Farm and racing some of them, from ChorSwang Ngin about appearing as an expert witness for asylum applications from Southeast Asia, from Natalea Skvir about life in the State of Washington, from Dee Curley about the opposite side of the country in Maryland, from Catherine Kusnick '70 who seems to work much too hard in her retirement job, Rebecca Peck Hansen, ’70 and her incredible bird photography, from Fran Fowler Slade who explained what a piano babysitter is, and from Ellen McMonagle news from her Downeast garden. Added to both of these groups are Faye Harned Sinnott '70 who moved to Cambridge without downsizing, and planted her garden during one call and lastly, me, Kim Hamilton Gottshall, who has told everyone about the lighthouse and croquet club on Bald Head Island. Peggy Darger Sacher once explained re the lasting appeal of this zoom, “This is a safe place where we can complain about anything, with friends we have known for 50 years."
Beth Cary recently wrote: “This may be late to the game, but as a fellow Alameda County resident (Oakland for me), I noticed two memorials to Wilma Chen Chan, who was hit by a driver while walking her dog in Alameda and passed away 3 years ago. She had a long career in service to local and state politics.
One of the memorials is a small park in the Chinatown area of Oakland, Wilma Chan Park. And the other is Wilma Chan Highland Hospital, the county hospital. In this day and age when large donors get their names on institutions, it is rare to honor a public servant with sch nomenclature. This write-up about the Park is a bit skewed but the photo has the reason she is honored in 4 languages (diversity wins in Oakland!).” See links below.
WilmaChanPark: https://sf.streetsblog.org/2022/11/04/hipocrasy-at-ceremony-for-wilma-chan
HighlandHospital: https://www.alamedahealthsystem.org/the-highland-hospital-campus-is-renamed-the-wilma-chan-highland-hospital-campus/
Hopeful anticipation continues for our Class Mini-Reunion scheduled for May 4-9, 2025 in Asheville, NC, though discussions are ongoing with our trip leaders from Road Scholar (which did a great job for us with the ’23 Mini-Reunion in San Diego) about whether the major damage suffered by Asheville from Hurricane Helene might derail our visit. It appears now that Road Scholar will be resuming tourist trips to Asheville next March, so we are optimistic. (There are still several slots available for classmates who are interested.) See Banana Blasts for further info.
As you may have seen in the last Banana Blast, Fran Fowler Slade, our pianist extraordinaire, has again invited us to enjoy her Piano Concert via Zoom on January 1st, (Fran’s birthday) when she will perform at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, NJ, at 3:00 p.m. EST. The program will include music by Bach, Beethoven, Grieg and Debussy. Please register on line to receive the zoom link. (See Banana Blasts, or the Class Website or Facebook page, for the registration link.)
Finally, on a sad note, Kirsten Dutton reported “My husband Howard Rosenberg died on February 25. 51 years ago he was my law professor. 41 years ago, we started dating, and 31 years ago, we were married. My only child, Matthew Dutton Simcox, died 2 1/2 years ago, so recently it's been a bit of a rocky road. Our condolences go out to Kirsten, and to the families of two classmates who recently died: Shelley McIntyre Fagg Draper, who passed away in Malden, MA in February, and Margaret Stout Whiting, who died in May in Finland, where she had lived for many years. (See In Memoriam page in the Fall magazine.)