Class of 1960 Plans Their 55th Reunion
Last year the Class of 1964 had their 50th reunion that several sisters attended and reported how great it was. Now the Class of 1960 has their 55th reunion the weekend of October 16-18, and several sisters from across the country are planning to get together in Evanston to renew our friendships. So far Mernie (Morris) Daniels, Kathy (Stults) Titus, Dolly (Thorsen) Schmitz, Carolyn (Cook) Steffens, Donna (Gavin) Clarke (along with Roger) and Carol (Larson) Bergdahl are making our reservations for what we know will be a fun weekend. We hope that more of you will join us. Contact Mernie (maryjdaniels@gmail.com or (630)595-0681) ASAP if you want more information.
--Carol Bergdahl
In this issue:
Click on the Name or Pictures below to read the submission or see the pictures
Carol Bergdahl, ’60
Sally Bonnaker Warburton, ’64
Charlotte Swanson Shade, ‘64
Sherry Thomas Watkins, ‘64
Linda Beia Elliott, ‘65
Jean Grommes Feehan, ‘63
Nancy Brunstetter Corbin, ‘63
Darlene Parrish Prestbo '63
| New Addresses:
Jean Morris Cray Susan Levinson Mednick |
The Warburtons are spending winters in Isle of Palms, near Charleston. We've finally escaped the cold. Winters here are much milder, and the historic nature of the place gives us much to explore. I have continued with Jazzercise (35 years), P.E.O., and church activities. Phil is involved with Rotary. I could never leave northeastern Ohio in the summer and fall though. We look forward to enjoying Hudson and its Western Reserve character starting at the end of the month. We are healthy and have done yearly trips to Turkey to see my exchange student sister and family as well as add-ons to other countries along the way. A particular interest is finding World Heritage sites that might not be as well known. My Turkish "sister" who is a well-known architect in Istanbul has done a rehab project at Pammukale in southwestern Turkey.
Our daughters are busy with little ones. Betsy (lives in Marietta, GA) is currently with Microsoft in sales. Her husband has been doing mom duty to their two and doing it quite well. I wish I'd thought of some of his techniques! Carrie (Washington, DC and NU grad) is loving being a stay-at-home mom to a one-year-old boy. She has an active interest in calligraphy and is really quite good. However, I think ultimately she will want to return to work in the law or on-line teaching, two of her three degrees. I think I mentioned in a previous message that she and her husband met on Match.com. It's a crazy new world.
Sally
--Sally
The Shade Family has been rather busy the last several years.
Our youngest son, Paul and wife, Heidi, presented us with our first grandchild, Lillian Elizabeth on July 13, 2011.
--Char
Last year kicked off with a 10-day visit from my son Craig, who is still living with his wife Rebekah in Saudi Arabia. We had a lot of special one-on-one time, which was just terrific–and Craig even managed to steer clear of the polar vortex and several nasty snow storms that dominated much of our winter. After the “winter that was,” spring was so welcome, and actually brought me some work for Marketing Savvy–income–-what a concept!
Craig had wonderful career success in May, when he was honored to have an article written about him on the front page of the monthly scientific “journal newspaper” published by King Abdullah’s University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where he works. He developed the University’s first open-source product, KUBE, which is a benchmarking framework for analyzing performance of software applications and systems. I am so proud of him, not just for inventing the software, but also for negotiating the politics at the university that enabled him to be featured on the front page of this prestigious publication!
In July and August I visited my Finnish foreign exchange student “sister” Birgitta, who spent a year with our family when we were both in high school. She lives in Helsinki and she is a professional tour guide, so I was the lucky recipient of the “creme de la creme” of tours of Finland. On one of the days we spent together, we attended an opera festival held in a medieval castle in Savonlinna, Finland and saw a Puccini opera there...what a treat!! We also took a couple of days and flew to Stockholm (loved the Nobel Prize Museum!), and also took a boat trip from Helsinki to Estonia. How charming Tallin is!
In October I drove to Chicago to attend my Northwestern University 50th college reunion, along with sorority sister Carol Humphreys and other classmates. The university really did a nice job–amazing food and drink, terrific lectures for “us alumni,” a reception with the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, a lovely cocktail party and dinner, a lavish tailgate, great football game (although we lost to Nebraska!), and it was wonderful being back on campus.
A couple of days after that, Craig and Rebekah flew in from Saudi Arabia to accompany me to Arlington National Cemetery, where Hansen finally was able to be inurned. When he passed away, he had donated his body to Georgetown University for medical studies. Georgetown kept it for almost 2 years, and then we had to wait for a date at Arlington Cemetery for his ashes to be inurned. The day was sunny and 75 degrees and our pastor gave a lovely sermon. The niche where Hansen is located (and where eventually I also will be) is in a brand new section of the cemetery overlooking Washington DC. In fact, there are direct views of the Capitol and the Washington Monument from the niche wall. What a lovely setting for one who grew up in the Washington area and loved it with all his heart.
I am just loving the National Society of Arts and Letters. I have made several new friends through that group, and this year in addition to being on the DC Chapter’s Board of Directors, I co-chaired the NSAL annual Vocal Competition; co-founded and co-chaired a new Master Class in Classical Voice; and helped edit the newsletter. I love the idea that NSAL is helping 16-22 year-olds compete for scholarships and further their education in the arts.
I also continue to be active in Capital Speakers Club and my “Rogue Hat” group, and I still volunteer for our local Northwestern Alumni Admissions Council for whom I interviewed numerous prospective students this year.
To combat “snow fatigue” and the resultant “cabin fever” during the coming winter, I have decided to once again seriously play the piano, and perhaps even take more piano lessons. To that end, I was lucky to be the recipient of my brother-in-law’s baby grand, which he no longer wanted! Currently I am working on ways to help deaden the echo in the rec room, where the baby grand now lives, and am looking forward to seriously playing again in the new year.
My family is well and active, even including my old Mom, who continues to amaze us all with her mental agility, despite her physical impediment of being in a wheelchair.
And, going forward, I wish good health and happiness.
--Sherry
Lawrie has a new job as Programs and Events Specialist at Alaska Airlines. She has planned several events including meetings, holiday parties and volunteer opportunities for employees. Paul continues to work on the 737 Max program at Boeing. He and Lawrie traveled to Las Vegas where Paul played in the World Series of Poker and two other tournaments. They also climbed Camelback Mountain, while visiting Arizona. Lawrie and Paul are living in Newcastle with their cat Alley.
2014 saw LisaRuth participate in an exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum called “The Possible” as part of a team of weavers. She taught museum visitors how to weave on a floor loom, helping create nine beautiful blankets that were ultimately sewn together and displayed in the show. She also experimented with ceramics fired in an Anagama (wood-fired kiln) dyeing yarns with natural indigo. Work as a historian with Shaping San Francisco and the digital archive (Foundsf.org) continued to be exciting, as she led historical walking tours, guest lectured at USC Berkeley, USF, and San Francisco Art Institute, and provided public programming on local history and current events. At year end, she traveled to Thailand to commemorate ten years since the Indian Ocean Tsunami with other volunteers who gave time after the Boxing Day tragedy.
Linda continues to be passionate about music, education, women’s issues, world understanding and her community. She serves on boards for the Auburn Symphony Orchestra, Auburn Sister Cities and her church. She is part of two book clubs, plays bridge, volunteers at the Auburn Farmers Market in the summer and serves as President of her P.E.O. chapter. In Delta Kappa Gamma, a society for key women educators, she is chair of the International Expansion committee and has traveled for meetings and conventions. In Indy she spent a day with Charlie Tygum, a sorority sister whom she had not seen in 49 years!
Linda has been battling low-grade bladder cancer for a little over a year dealing with too many medical appointments, three surgeries, two kinds of treatment (chemo washes and immune therapy BCG) and one positive attitude that next year will be healthier.
Len had his crosswords published in Northwest Prime Time, the Auburn Reporter and Dell Puzzler’s Sunday Crosswords. He also offered a word search at each Auburn Symphony Orchestra chamber music concert giving solvers a chance to win tickets to a full symphony performance. He picked up his eighth trophy at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament this year, a third place in his age group. He helped the Auburn Farmers Market achieve its best year this last summer. Check out Len’s Wednesday blog at punspuzzlespoetry.wordpress.com.
In January Len and Linda traveled to San Francisco to visit LisaRuth and go with her to Nevada City to attend the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, a full weekend of entertaining and thought-provoking experiences. They enjoyed a week at their timeshare condo on Lake Chelan (WA) and were joined by Lawrie and Paul for a few days. A highlight was a series of concerts sponsored by the Lake Chelan Bach Fest. In September Len and Linda joined several others at a Road Scholar program at the Ashland (OR) Shakespeare Festival. During the week they saw three plays and attended several sessions involving actors, voice coaches, costume designers and others involved in staging performances.
--Linda
Last year was busy for us. Jason, Peggy and our two grandsons Liam (8) and Brendan (soon to be 2) came back from Ireland for over a year and have infused much joy into our lives. Jared is now living on the north side of Chicago, and Jim continues to enjoy retirement. I still work as a lawyer in between other activities of interest. My sister Joan and her husband Bob are now full-fledged residents of Florida with summers in Wisconsin. Their sons John and Jeffrey live and work in Lake County, Illinois. Jeff and his wife Karen soon will have their oldest son James depart for college in 2015. Jacob (15), Madigan (12), and their youngest, Matthew (10) may miss him.
--Jean
This past year has been one of a number of very good days, but then some of quite bad ones. I started the new year with a large, noisy, bad one. On New Year’s Day I was warming up a container of leftover lasagna for dinner. As I pulled it out of the microwave, the rim of the pan was too hot to hold and it fell onto the kitchen floor. Instantly I had three Golden Retrievers racing for the unexpected treat! I quickly turned to the sink to grab a handful of paper towels. My foot landed on some pasta, coated with hot cheese, tomatoes, etc.
I landed flat on the floor on my lower back with my feet in the air. The loud bang and a few unladylike words didn’t deter the dogs – a great gift for them had descended from on high! As they worked on cleanup – the floor and me – I gathered myself and got up. I hurt, but I just assumed I’d feel ok when I recovered from my unexpected fall. I went to bed and woke up in the early morning realizing something was really wrong with my back
At Stanford Hospital they found I had cracked two vertebrae (L1 & L2). Dr. Ho, who had fixed my upper back a few years ago, did the injections of “cement” (I call it super glue), and that fixed those problems. However, I didn’t walk out the door all better like the previous time. Turned out I also had damaged soft tissue, ligaments, muscles, etc. After four days my personal doctor said I needed to go to a rehab facility for a week before going home. I objected since one of my dogs (Galle) was failing – I needed to be with her!
My housekeeper, Lourdes, was able to help me until a good friend, Pat, was able to drive down from Oregon for a week. I’m so grateful to them for their help because I was able to spend meaningful time with Galle before she passed away about 10 days later at the age of almost 14! My vet came to my house to help her over the Rainbow Bridge with me holding her on my deck overlooking the Pacific.
With exercises, etc. I slowly returned to normal, but still had a great deal of pain in my right hip. A trip to my MD resulted in several shots of cortisone in that area which worked! I was ready to resume driving after that and haven’t really had any trouble since. But in May, Cara, Galle’s sister, passed away suddenly from an aneurysm on her aorta. She was going to be 13.
A visit from Joe’s nephew, Jim, and his wife, Nellie, with news of their seven (now adults) children and their grandchildren provided a nice interlude. They were on their way from Manzanita, OR, to Monterey, CA to visit a son who is at the Navy Post-Grad School.
I also had a visit from my nephew, Geff, and his wife, Lisa and daughter, Julia, who were on a whirlwind college tour from Pennsylvania. I hadn’t seen Lisa and Julia for a long time, but Geff has stopped by on some business trips to the West Coast. Julia finally chose American University in Washington, D.C. and seems to really like it there.
My garden did quite well, but the cool weather didn’t produce zucchinis. I finally finished up on my green beans and tomatoes early in December with help from friends and neighbors. Right now my camelias and calla lilies are going nuts -- very out of season but appreciating the (finally) very wet December we’re having. Our drought seems to be receding somewhat, but the rains will have to continue for many more months til we can breathe easier about it and maybe wash our cars!
--Nancy
After enjoying New Jersey for 32 years, John and I decided to retire and move to Charlotte, North Carolina, in July, 2014, to be near our daughter. The next few months were filled with challenges for me...leaving good friends and my career as a social worker, surgery and radiation for breast cancer, two cancer-related hospitalizations in January, and a slow but gradual recovery. My prognosis is good, Spring has come in all its glory, and I am looking forward to doing some traveling with John. In July, he and I are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary with a family cruise (11 of us) to the southern Caribbean. I send good wishes and caring thoughts to all of you.
--Daryl
Ed. Note—See “The Prestbo Press” below.
