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Class Notes Fall 2023

Class Notes Fall 2023

 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. 

 

screenshot of a dorm call on Zoom, August 2023

 

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. 

 PLEASE SEND YOUR NEWSY NOTES ALONG FOR FUTURE  POSTINGS IN THE ’71 CLASS NOTES !  

  

 Ann O’Regan Keary 

 Class Secretary