CLASS OF ’71 UNABRIDGED CLASS NOTE – NOV. 11, 2023
Autumn greetings from Washington, DC. ! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful summer, that you weren’t too affected by our weather extremes, and that you are enjoying a colorful fall!
Adding to our previous list of recommended pandemic reading, we have a few more suggestions from our classmates:
Margot Keam Cleary: “It came out in 1994, but I only recently read T.C. Boyle’s novel The Road to Wellville, about the 'healthy food' movement in the US in the early 1900s. It taught me a lot about that era, and - bonus! - it’s very funny. I discovered the book after reading a profile of Simon Rich (the son of Gail Winston,’71) in which he mentioned that Boyle was one of his favorite writers. Since Rich is one of my favorite writers, it seemed like a good bet; which brings me to another recommendation: Rich’s collection of humor pieces, New Teeth. 'Learning the Ropes,' about a pair of pirates raising a little girl, is just about perfect."
Kim Gottshall: Facing The Mountain by Daniel James Brown -- the story of Japanese-Americans who fought in the Second World War while their families were forced to live in internment camps.
Marcia Williams: 1) The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai, describing the experience of several generations of a Vietnamese family over 75 years, including invasion by the Japanese, the Communist Land Reform, the Great Famine, and the Vietnam War (called the American War there), in which families were divided between North and South. It portrays the complex history of Vietnam, told through the stories of strong women. 2) Home, Toni Morrison. (about a veteran of the Korean War, trying to cope with PTSD, who travels from his Army base in Seattle to his hometown of Lotus, Georgia to care for his younger sister.) Set against a background of the racial and social structures of the 1950’s, it is a story of despair, family, redemption, and coming home.
Nancy Laufe Eisenberg: If you took a class with the former US Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky, who came to teach at Wellesley in the late 60’s, I recommend his memoir, Jersey Breaks. Fascinating! Particularly his description of his early years and his discussion of other poets. I also recommend Ghanaian American writer Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and Transcendent Kingdom.
Ann O’Regan Keary: Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell – a fictional account of the life of Shakespeare’s son, who died at age 11—a touching portrayal of grief and loss in the 1500’s.
And in the latest mini-reunion news, Cathy White O’Rourke wrote: “In early May, the ‘Caz gang’ (Betsy Bowman, Candy Fowler, Susan Guba Fentin, Amy Levin Halket, Anne Quisenberry Spaulding, Carol Gebelein Cavanagh, Gail Winston, and myself) took a trip to Philadelphia, where we
enjoyed the art museum, Longwood Gardens, the Barnes Foundation and Brandywine Museum, and the city itself. We all had a marvelous time being together and reminiscing, as well as exploring. (Pic below) At the Philadelphia Art Museum we were given a tour by Kathleen Foster, ’70, and were joined by local ’71 classmates, Kate Kilborne Cornwell and Julie Burrow Winton.” Unfortunately missing from the gathering was Margi Reeve, one of the organizers, who had come down with a bad cold, and could not fly in from the West Coast.
And in “mini-reunion via zoom” news, I should report that in late August the pandemic zoom group, which was launched in April 2020 by Glenda Starr Fishman and Ann O’Regan Keary, held its 84th bi-weekly zoom session! The group of attendees includes several McAfee-ites: Alice Melnikoff, Susan Irving, Joan Lister, Kate Kilborne Cornwell, Gail Wandel Hendryx, Julie Burrow Winton, Marcia Williams, Christy Pennoyer, Susanna Stevens Hamme, Katie Cheney Creighton, Margot Keam Cleary,
Mary Mottershead, Paula Sonnino, Mary Lou Casey and occasional Class of ’70 fellow-McAfee guests, Meg Duplain Cheever and Ann Clarke, as well as Glenda and Ann.
Lastly, we must sadly report the recent deaths of two classmates: Deborah Soltvedt Tetreault, of Naples, FL, (who began with us all in ’67, but later got married and did not graduate with our class) and Antonia (Toni) Snyder Mann, of Grosse Ile, MI, a frequent member of the Shafer Zooms. (See
her August 5, 2023 Memorial Service on YouTube.) Our condolences go out to their families and friends.
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Ann O’Regan Keary
Class Secretary