Class Notes Winter 2024

    UNABRIDGED CLASS OF ’71 CLASS NOTE 

                       JAN. 10,  2024 

 

Belated Holiday Greetings to all! As I write this from Washington, DC, the temperatures are in the 30’s here and the precipitation, sadly, is only rain! Hard to believe the holidays are behind us already. Do others also feel like time is racing by? 

 

Thank you for the newsy items we have to share in this note—Please keep them coming! 

 

You will note that here, in the Unabridged Notes, I can include your complete news and comments, while I will frequently have to edit your messages for length and personal content for the magazine note itself. The edited Class Note, with much of the below content, will appear in the next issue of the Wellesley Magazine, which will be published in the spring.  

 

  Now, onto the news !

 

    Belinda Wilkins Tepper wrote about a mini-reunion lunch gathering at the Princeton home of Frances Fowler Slade, which included Deidre Curley, Natalea Skvir, and Peggy Darger Sacher. As Belinda reported, “After three years, this gathering, which began with just Frances and myself, is becoming an annual Halloween celebration. Last year there were four of us suitemates from Shafer, and this year we added a fifth member of the class.

 

   Deirdre drove three hours from Chevy Chase, MD to join us. Nat was visiting her brother nearby as part of her annual east coast tour. Frances is centrally located near Princeton and welcomed us in from the cold. I came from Fairfield where I visit two of my grandsons each October and Peggy drove two hours from Newark DE. (Peggy's hair is usually not so blue, but she loves how many strangers talk to her, even the young ones, to whom women our age are often invisible!)

 

 

Pictured below: Left to right, Deidre Curley, Natalea Skvir, Frances Fowler Slade, Belinda Wilkins Tepper, and Peggy Darger Sacher.    

 

     In the vein of reassuring the rest of us who may be turning 75 soon, Kate Kilborne Cornwell wrote: “I have now been 75 years old for 28 days and am encouraging you all to join me in making 75 a year to remember.  I live in Narberth, PA, a small town just outside of Philadelphia, where I have been engaged in a family therapy practice for many years as a licensed clinical social worker.  Since the pandemic I have been doing teletherapy from my home. I love my work, in part because it keeps me in touch with other people’s experiences and broadens my own life.  At this point, with my daughter Sarah and her family living nearby, I work only three days a week, and on the other two I babysit for my granddaughters, ages 5 and 1.  

 

Keeping connected with Wellesley friends may be even more important to me as I age. There is so much tragedy in the world today that finding ways to make a difference is a challenge, which I find my Wellesley friends  are up to. I am so thankful that I can continue to learn from you all!”

 

      Susan McLucas writes “I’m still enjoying working at my Bicycle Riding School (BicycleRidingSchool.org) in Somerville, MA, but thinking of retiring one of these years. I'm training a new teacher and have another new one who just started, making 6 teachers working currently.  The slow season is coming up, which will give me more time for other projects, like my work in Mali with Healthy Tomorrow, trying to end female genital mutilation (StopExcision.net). We have our main fundraisers coming up in December.  I'd love to put you all on our mailing list for updates.  Our current news is 2 new villages that just celebrated their decision to stop FGM in September, bringing our total to 19.  I'm also putting a lot of energy into trying to get Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, out of prison and, of course, trying to stop the genocide in Gaza. I'm still living in my co-op house and liking it. Starting to feel a few aches and pains but nothing too bad.”  

   And on the international front, Margi Reeve reported “My husband and I got our Italian elective residence visas which allow us to stay in Europe for one year ! We found a great place in Rome, and plan to be there December to May. Ci vediamo!”

Sadly, another loss from our class must be reported.  Genevieve Steele Edwards died on October 5th, 2023. Her husband Don and granddaughter Genevieve Edwards, provided a lovely obituary which has been posted on our class website and Facebook page. We send our condolences to her family and friends.

 

   Hope to receive more newsy emails from you before our next note, due March 1st.

 

          Ann O’Regan Keary, Class Secretary