Summer 2007 - Hood College

Summer 2007Hood Magazine 331964Barbara Maly Fish1006 Urban Ave.Durham, NC 27701(919) 688-9125bfish2@nc.rr.comSally Stoecklein Bregenser sent me the sadnews that Helene Kight Abel died January 25,2007. I send the sympathy of the class toHelene’s husband Bruce and their daughterTiffany Abel Smedley ’91. I also send our sympathyto Pat Finan Tibbetts and Kate JenksPowell, whose mothers died recently. Sally senthappier news about her own family. Her husbandJim and their son Jim Jr., work together asbuilders and developers of custom homes andproperties. Jim Jr., lives across the street from hisparents, which means that Sally can see hergrandchildren—Mary, 8, and Jimmy, 10—anytime she chooses. She also enjoys golf, strengthtraining, membership in the PittsburghSymphony Society and keeping in touch withfamily and friends. Since retiring, Henry andChris Santangelo Blenke have moved fromNew Jersey to Cape Cod. They are not far fromtheir children, who live in Darien, Conn., andBoston. Judy Rice Swenson, Chris’ Hood roommate,is also nearby. The Blenkes recently welcomeda third grandchild, Connor. Other retireeswho have happily relocated are Tom and BetsySpeed Rich, who moved to West Glacier, Mont.,in 2002. They enjoy hiking and biking and thewhole Montana lifestyle. After teaching kindergartenfor 25 years in Maryland and Oregon,Beth Myers was called to a ministry of prayer in1990. From her home in Westminster, Md., sheprays for individuals, public officials, Christianministries and missionaries. She also leads twoBible studies a week. Says Beth, “Serving the Lordand loving people is my passion.” Five years ago,Nancy McCandlish Rock retired from socialwork and now volunteers for mental illnessorganizations. She is a trustee with the NewJersey National Alliance on Mental Illness and isactive in the Bergen County chapter. She has alsobegun tracing her Scottish genealogy. After along career with the Boone County (Ky.) PublicLibrary, Lynn Byers Gorz retired for the secondtime last November. She so enjoyed a horsebackriding holiday in Ireland that she bought a horsewhen she returned. The Gorzs welcomed theirfirst two grandchildren within three months in2006, when Declan Casey Seyer and AaronPreston Gorz arrived in July and October. MaddieGutekunst Hedeman retired from 18 years as asubstitute teacher—someone give her a medal,please—and now devotes herself full time to herfour beautiful granddaughters: Julianna, 6,Ashlyn, 4, Gwen, 2, and Eliza Mae, 1. Maddiedescribes herself as a widow with a very full life.Another busy widow is Donna Wiley Martinez,whose husband Abel died in a boating accidentfour years ago. Donna still teaches at a small privateschool in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, andrecently became a mother-in-law when her sonAndy got married. For 13 years Betsey Covelcommuted from Frederick to D.C., in successivelybetter editorial positions, and then decided tochange direction in 2003, shortly after her mother’sdeath. She works from home doing medicaltranscription and lives in a great retirement community.She also participates in volunteer communitygroups. Kay Starcher Klausewitzreceived her doctoral degree from the Univ.Massachusetts Amherst in 2005 and now teachesand does research in the education departmentat Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.Her husband Ron is a computer science professorat Salem State College. They have two grownchildren who are busy with careers. Ron and Kaylove to travel and have visited all of the states inthe lower 48, plus the Galapagos Islands, CentralAmerica and Hawaii. They plan to visit China thissummer. Others who enjoy world travel are Joeand Susan Lyeth Sternfeld, who spent fiveweeks in India in 2005, mostly home stays and insmall hotels. One of the highlights of the trip forSusan was a visit to an open air market wherewomen were selling used saris. She bought abunch of saris and plans to use them to makequilts. In October 2006, Susan had a wonderfultrip to China with a large group of social workers.Not ready to retire is Barbara Strayer Brittain,who still finds her work as executive director ofFamilies Plus! to be fun, challenging and rewarding.She creates programs, raises money andlooks for community partners to solve problemsaffecting families and their many needs. Barbaradownsized a few years ago and now lives in an1850s stone house in a small village—Wolfsville—not far from Camp David. She is also not far fromher mother-in-law, Dorothy Dutrow Brittain’37, and her daughter, Cathy Brittain Altomare’88, mother of Barbara’s three grandchildren—Brittain, 13, Taylor 11, and Danny, 7. Tom andEllen Roberts Glaccum celebrated the marriageof their son Sean and his wife Ginger last fall.Ellen is mostly retired but she has one “jobette”which involves helping a wealthy friend giveaway money to good causes. Ellen and Tomspend lots of time outdoors in all seasons of theyear, doing whatever people do in rivers, onmountains, in forests, etc. Our condolences toSusan D. Sterner, whose mother Doris WitmerSterner ’37 died Jan. 23, 2007.1965Catherine Beyer Meredith1439 Ivy Hill RoadCockeysville, MD 21030(410) 252-1947alto1cat@aol.comEmily R. Kilby1203B Della RoadDickerson, MD 20842(301) 874-3316erk44@earthlink.netCatherine Beyer Meredith writes: Our condolencesto Penelope Lima Newhouse, whosehusband Wesley died Nov. 11, 2006. Emily R.Kilby had a recent conversation with Barbara D.Mehl, the wife of Paul Mehl, who used to be areligion professor at Hood. Sadly, Barbara saidthat Paul died Dec. 9, 2006. Our condolences toBarbara and her family. Barbara Casey Ruffinoreports that she is still serving on the Hood boardof trustees and is always happy to hear fromalums on any issues. She recently moved back tothe D.C., area, working in consulting with a colleagueshe worked with when she started 35years ago. Barbara’s husband Russ officiallyannounced his retirement in April 2007 after avery successful 15 years as rector of a beautifulchurch in Narragansett, R.I. This following a 15year career in the U.S. Department of Education,following a successful career as a Roman Catholicprofessor at Seton Hall and Catholic Univ. JaneCasey Ruffino ’99 is completing her doctorate inarcheology at Univ. College in Dublin and wouldlike to stay in Ireland. She has become somewhatof a regular arts critic on radio and televisionthere and not only enjoys the role but she iswonderful at it! The Internet makes it possible forme to listen to the radio interviews, which isgreat. Some producers consider her “an acceptablefeminist,” so she also gets gigs on TV andradio on feminist issues as well! Her first love isteaching archaeology to young students and shehas run several summer programs on Irish heritagefor disadvantaged students. Mike is writingand still playing rock music with his band,“The Unband,” known in our house as “not forMother Music!” Emily R. Kilby writes: DianaBeers Lobdell wrote, “Ralph and I live in Jupiter,Fla., six months of the year, and in Park City,Utah, in the summer and fall. Our family is all outwest now. Son Craig and his wife Jen live in SanFrancisco, where he is a senior manager consultantwith KPMG. Son Brannon is an architect inPortland, Ore., where he lives with his wife Pennyand our first grandchild Samantha, 2.” Dianakeeps in touch with Helen Harrison Arringtonwho lives in New Jersey with husband Dean.Helen has three children and two grandchildren.Diana also saw Sarah Lane Howell in October2006, in Monterey, Calif., and had great funcatching up with her. Sarah and Jo Ann SetherBowes were going together to Antarctica inJanuary, also a travel destination for Diana andRalph that month, but via a different tour. SaysDiana, “We are trying to travel a lot while wecan!” Diana also recalled the fourth floor Meyrancrew our freshman year, which included ArleneRubin Raven, whose death from cancer last Aug.1 she’d seen reported in the New York Times.Even as a freshman, Arlene was a creative andintellectual force. She changed her surname toRaven early in her career as art historian, critic,theoretician and poet, after earning an master’sdegree and a doctorate in art history from TheJohns Hopkins Univ. A pioneering feminist, shewas instrumental in the startups of the FeministStudio Workshop at the Woman’s Building in LosAngeles, the feminist art magazine, Chrysalis, theLesbian Art Project and the Women’s Caucus forArt. Author of nine books, Arlene was also the artcritic for “The Village Voice” in the 1980s. Ascholarship in Arlene’s name has been set up atthe Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, whereshe recently served as critic in residence. Amongthe usual good tidings of family accomplishmentsand growth (five grandchildren by now),Katherine Cribbs Tromble’s Christmasletter included the sad news of her older sister’sdeath last summer. Kathie and Bert volunteer asguides at the newly refurbished Baltimore Basilicaand spend a fair amount of time traveling. Thiscoming summer they’ll head for a reunion ofKathie’s maternal relatives in Oregon. “I haven’tseen most of the cousins for many, many years,”Kathie wrote. “I think my sister’s death hasreminded me how important it is to connect withfamily.” For one week in early November,Marilyn Farnell traded her Massachusetts townhousefor a tent in Biloxi, Miss. She went as amember of a church-sponsored effort to helpwith Hurricane Katrina cleanup. “It was a won-