Class of 1980 Newsletter December 2020

We’re so happy to be in touch with you. It would have been wonderful to see everyone at our 40th reunion this year but we’re all learning patience and how to take the long view these days. Our thoughts are with everyone. Please stay safe and mark your calendars for our 45th reunion in June 2025 in pen.

 

Meanwhile, we’re working on a plan for virtual mini-reunions and we have our Wellesley friends, a dynamic class Facebook page, Class Notes, the college website and local Wellesley Club events to keep us connected.

Ordinarily, you would have met your new class officers at reunion but here we are in writing instead. I was our class president when we graduated and it is a wonderful honor and treat to return to this position. I’m joined by a stellar team: Lisa Blank Braun - our steady VP, Mary Flannery - our crack Treasurer, Nancy Buck - our intrepid Secretary (aka Class Notes maven) and Andrea Furey - our vigilant fundraiser (aka Annual Giving Rep).

Here are a few important items to note as we forge ahead:

GOOD NEWS!!! RECORD BOOK UPDATE!!! If you did not submit an entry to our 40th reunion Record Book, you have an opportunity to add your page; the deadline is January 15, 2021. Follow these instructions - and contact Barbara Paxton (Barbara@barbaradpaxton.com) if any questions. We will publish an updated version of the Record Book on our class website. Meanwhile, you can find the current Record Book on the class website and download the Record Book here. (You’ll need your Wellesley username and password. Set one up now if you don’t have it so you have access to all our class and Wellesley news!)

UPDATE YOUR EMAIL: If you haven’t heard from Wellesley lately, it may be because they don’t have the correct contact info for you. Please give the college with your current email address by contacting recordupdates@wellesley.edu. (Include your first name, college last
name, current last name and 1980.) Or you can do it yourself by logging into alum.wellesley.edu and clicking “Update your profile” on the main page. (You’ll need to create a Wellesley username and password if you haven’t done so already.)

 

STAY CURRENT with your classmates and Wellesley by checking out:

• Our class website: We’ll post news and information on the Class of 1980 website so visit often. (Sign in with your Wellesley username and password. Questions? Review Wellesley Login.)
• The Class of 1980 Facebook group: Join here and catch up in near real time with everyone.
• Send news for our Class Notes in the alumnae magazine - note these deadlines on your calendars: March 1 for Spring issue (May), May 1 for Summer issue (July), September 1 for Fall issue (November), December 1 for Winter issue (February). Please send notes to Nancy Buck McCormick nbmuus@verizon.net.

PARTICIPATION COUNTS! LET’S SHOW WELLESLEY WHAT THE CLASS OF 80 CAN DO!

-- Reunion years are usually when classes are the “giving-est.” Let’s show our stuff and get the Class of 80 participation level over 50% for 2020. (Our highest in the last five years was 45.6% participation for our 35th reunion.) Any amount counts! For online gifts, go to wellesley.edu/give to give to the Wellesley Fund, which provides critical and flexible funds that can be used to address urgent needs and seize unique opportunities. If EVERYONE WHO CAN gives something ($1 is fine!) before the end of 2020, our participation numbers rise and will make Wellesley’s eyes pop.

LOST CLASSMATES
-- We have 47 classmates for whom we don’t have correct contact information. We’d love to include them in our class news, if they would like. Their names are below. If you are in contact with someone on this list, can you ask them if they’d like to be “found” and send us their information?

ALUMNAE ACHIEVEMENTS AWARDS 2020 - WORTH A WATCH!

If you're looking for inspiration and a general lifting of spirits, look no further than the Alumnae Achievement Awards 2020 featuring our own classmate Darby Dyar '80 along with Joan Wallace-Benjamin '75 and Kimberly Dozier '87 with Wellesley’s President Paula A. Johnson guiding the discussion.

A BIG THANK YOU to Irena, Jane, Bonnie, and Mary for all your hard work leading our class for the last five years. We look forward to carrying the Class of 1980 torch for the next five. It’s going to be quite a ride if 2020 is any indication!

Yours - Lottchen, Lisa, Nancy, Mary and Andrea

NEW CLASS OFFICERS 2020 – 2025

• President: Lottchen Shivers (lottchen.shivers@gmail.com) - Rhinebeck, NY
• Vice President: Lisa Blank Braun (braun.lisa@gmail.com) - Roswell, GA
• Secretary: Nancy Buck McCormick (nbmuus@verizon.net) - Reston, VA
• Treasurer: Mary Flannery (maryaflannery@hotmail.com) - New York, NY
• Annual Giving Rep: Andrea Furey (andreafurey@msn.com) - Croton-on-Hudson, NY

1980 CLASS MEMBERS - WHERE ARE YOU?
Please send contact info to Lottchen or Lisa if you want to hear from your classmates and Wellesley (listed alphabetically in order of last name at Wellesley):

Laila Alizai
Christie Anih Udeinya
Linda Barton Walker
Bettina-Sophie Beythan Witteveen
Anne Binnion
Pamela Britt
Rita Davis Canady
Sarah Clifton
Leslie Cooksy
Harriette Downer Draper
Susan Dunbar
Susan Ehart
Eleanor Embick
Jill Fornary
Ruth Goins

Anne Goldberg
Jennifer Guy
Gwendolyn Harrison
Amy Harvey Reese
Maryann Hatfield
Diane Highum Guttmacher
Constance Hodgen
Allison Hughes
Lucille Knight
Cara Koehnk Noble
Jean Kuntz
Andra Larson
Judy LeBlanc
Signe Leiby Orlow
Robin Lynch
Ellen McCullough
Ann Magee Peretzman
Renee Margulies
Maribel Obregon
Valencia Oxley
Suzanne Palin
Elizabeth Parella
Michelle Paul
Dora Penny
Elizabeth Richmond
Linda Rouleau
Julia Salas Lundeberg
Christine Schon Marques
Sonia Smith
Esperanza Sobrino Lanzarote
Patricia Turner
Particia Wright