Fall 2011 - Wheelock College

Lynn still volunteers with the Swinomish Tribe
after-school support program as well as (volunteer)
teaches science to the tribal preschoolers one day a
week and subs in the preschool. Having completed
her term as president of the docents of the Museum
of Northwest Art, she continues to volunteer as
a school tour leader. She loves being a stepgrandmother
to a 4-year-old who comes to stay with her
and her husband for a few days every couple of
months. They get away for two or three trips a year
and most recently have been to the Yucatan, the
San Diego area, and Italy.
“My life is rich and full and very happy,” writes
Deb D’Amico ’73/’79MS, who married Tom
Musco in 2008 and instantly became stepmother
to his two grown children. Now in her sixth year as
principal at Hardy Elementary School in Arlington,
MA, she adds: “This is by far the most challenging
work I’ve done in my nearly 40-year career. It
is satisfying to work hard at such important work.
The school community is vibrant and very supportive
of children and teachers. The kids continue
to amaze and delight me. At the end of the day, it is
how children think and learn that fascinates me the
most, a legacy from my years at Wheelock.”
Amanda Griggs Miles retired from Broward
County (FL) Schools at the end of last year. Her
twin boys graduated from high school in June and
are now in college—Michael in Orlando and Rob
in Boulder, CO. “Life is good at 60!” Amanda says.
Abby Squires Perelman and husband Steve retired
in June 2008, sold their house in Connecticut, and
now split their time between Nantucket, MA, and
West Palm Beach, FL. They are loving retirement!
Both of their sons are married, and they have two
sons each; one lives in Manhattan, and the other
recently moved from Manhattan to Scarsdale.
All continues to be well for me (Regina) in
North Carolina, and I am teaching again this year.
I have been enjoying my two grandchildren, Trey
and Samantha, and feel lucky to have both of my
adult children still living in North Carolina as well.
1974
Laura Keyes Jaynes
Nancy Blumenthal Lewis teaches at the
McDonogh School, an independent school in
Baltimore County, MD. In the spring, she wrote:
“My second-graders and I are currently working on
a play I wrote, ‘Hawaii, What Really Happened.’
It is the story of Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last
queen, and we are incorporating music and song as
we tell the story. We are having a lot of fun.” The
performances were held in May.
1975
Leslie Hayter Maxfield
“Lordy, are we old!” writes Judith Black. “In the
’60s it was hard to imagine we would live this
long. I continue to create and tell stories around
One of two paintings that Wanda Arrington Meekins
’74 had on display at a museum in Gastonia, NC, in March
the world. This past spring I offered performance
programs and workshops for adults and students
in Finland, Amsterdam, and Paris, and then joined
friends and family in Tuscany to enjoy a house
won in the MassMouth big ‘Mouthoff.’ To view
this four-minute story about waiting for my son
to return from combat duty in Iraq, go to http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOVgkVCQ2AQ.” (That
son, Solomon, now lives in D.C. and works for
the DOD.) Back home in the Marblehead, MA,
area, Judith runs a peer mentoring program, sings
with a women’s chorus called Calla Lily, cooks at
a homeless shelter, raises a big organic garden, and
“[continues] to try to earn a living.” She adds, “The
education received at Wheelock continues to resonate
through all my work.”
Dorothy Cresswell is in her final year of teaching
kindergarten in Leverett, MA, and has loved it.
Her children are grown, and she is a grandmother
to four delightful little girls, ages 6 months to 4
years. “I’m still in a five-part women’s band, and we
produced our third CD last year,” Dorothy writes.
“My wife, Dusty, and I live on a lake in western
Massachusetts and plan to start ‘A Space for Grace’
when I retire, a support network for those with
chronic illness and their caregivers. At this time we
lead The Healing Circle Singers and are Caring
Companions in our church. So my life is in transition,
but it’s all about love and taking care of one
another, isn’t it?”
Stephanie “Abbi” Fletcher Deeran got a kick
out of the reference to someone from ’75 having
“given birth to Hope” in this year’s scribe note.
“Yes, I gave birth to Hope in October 1991,” she
writes, “and she is now a junior at UMass-Amherst,
majoring in chemistry. Time doesn’t just fly—it
goes at warp speed!” Abbi lives in a gorgeous condo
in Salem, MA, and is a full-time special education
English and reading teacher in the Lynn public
school system. She works with inner-city middle
school students, primarily boys, with social and
emotional issues. “It has taken me a while, but I
now have four professional-level teaching licenses
and am closing in on number five,” she writes. “Of
the several positions I’ve had in my life, this particular
public school teaching is by far the most chal-
lenging and, at the same time, the most rewarding.
It saddens me that teachers are shouldering so much
criticism now and are being made scapegoats of the
failing economy. It puzzles me that teachers will
be held accountable (and now, fired) for students’
failing MCAS scores, when there are so many other
factors that affect successful learning.”
In the spring, Patricia Gardiner Hill wrote, “I
have just completed my 25th year teaching fourth
grade at Agnes Irwin [Rosemont, PA], making
my total teaching years . . . 35!” Nancy Smalzel
’75/’94MS still works at FEMA in Boston but is
now the recovery division cadre manager. Daughter
Jessica, 14, graduated from Derby Academy and will
start at the Cambridge School of Weston this fall.
Which ’75 alum is “busy wearing six different
hats these days”? That would be Debbie Cann
Westcott. Monday to Friday she sells air time for
Pat Sajak’s 1430 WNAV AM radio in Annapolis,
MD, and every weekend she is a comfort consultant
at HealthyBack, a store providing back,
neck, and shoulder relief to baby boomers. “In and
around all of that,” she writes, “I consign clothing
and household items at two local consignment
stores, rent out the lower level of my home on a
monthly basis, kitty cat sit locally, and I’m still running
my Wheelock B&B [most guests have family
at the Naval Academy or go to the area for boat
shows].” Last December Debbie fell and fractured
her right shoulder, and she is still trying to get back
to 100 percent mobility.
1976
Angela Barresi Yakovleff
Maryanne Galvin was happy to have her short
documentary Real Danger: Restraints and Our
Children shown at both the Downtown Boca
Film Festival (Boca Raton, FL) in April and the
Hope and Freedom Film Festival (Long Beach,
CA) in May.
reunion 2012
June 1–3
1977
Margaret Smith Lee
Lisa Brookover Moore
Class NOTes
1980
Elizabeth Corning DeMille
Kathy Formica Harris
“My strong educational foundation from Wheelock
has certainly helped me get this far along in my
career!” writes Ann Marie Christian Dargon, who
became the superintendent of schools in Ashland,
MA, in May 2010 and enjoyed her first year in the
position very much.
The biggest news in Cindy Richardson
Wallace’s life in the spring was that daughter
Dayna graduated from High Tech High North
County, “an AMAZING charter high school.”
Wheelock Magazine 49