Sweet Briar College Magazine - Spring 2018

CLASS NOTES
Melinda enjoyed meeting her and
was very impressed with her ideas.
Mel Freese Cota injured her foot
in August and has stopped teaching
yoga, but continues to take it and
will attend a yoga retreat (their 11th)
with her 80-year-old brother in
April in Playa del Carmen. Husband
Alberto (87) and his classmates had
a great time celebrating their 60th
anniversary of graduating from dental
school. Alberto’s vision is severely
limited by macular degeneration.
Son Memo is living with them at
present and is a great emotional and
physical support for them both.
Babette Fraser Hale and her delightful
96-year-old husband are still
kickin’ down in TX. They’ve been
spending a lot of time at their country
place while their 1960s condo
is being “re-piped.” Babette writes a
personal essay column for their local
paper and volunteers for Winedale,
a nearby historical center. She’s had
several short stories published in
literary journals, one of which was
selected among the Other Distinguished
in Best American Short
Stories and is included in the New
York Public Library digital collection.
They have five grandchildren,
ranging in age from 2 to 37.
Bunny Sutton Healy and husband
Jay are enjoying their first
grandchild, Eliza, and their daughter
Elizabeth in Denver.
Sally McCrady Hubbard is taking
an intensive Spanish course at
Sewanee in preparation for walking
another section of the Camino to
Santiago, this time from Porto, Portugal,
with daughter Anna in June.
Son Hayne and Katie live in Fort
Worth and will celebrate their 25th
about the time their daughter Margaret
graduates from Trinity Valley.
Margaret plays the violin in the Fort
Worth Youth Symphony and has
won theater awards for sound design.
She is headed for Carnegie Mellon
in Pittsburgh next year, and Sally is
headed for her theater productions!
Sally chairs a Caregiver Group at her
local parish church and continues to
fundraise for HIV orphans at Hope
Institute in Uganda.
Peggy Jones recommends that
we read Anne Butler’s book “Weep
for the Living,” about Anne’s neardeath
experience.
Libba Hanger Luther caught
up with Elvira McMillan Mannelly
and Aline Rex McEvoy at lunch in
Atlanta last December.
Mary K. Lee McDonald’s work
as our Class Fund Agent is well underway.
She encourages everyone to
contact classmates and share news
of current happenings at the College
with enthusiasm and optimism.
Mary K. spends every other February
in Scottsdale and was joined for
a week by Lynn Morgan Reynolds.
She had a long lunch with Whitney
Jester Ranstrom, who escapes Montana
winter in Sun City. Mary K.
and Anne Lutz Dravigny caught up
with each other on a long phone visit.
Milbrey Sebring Raney writes
that she has enjoyed talking to our
classmates before the big fundraiser.
It’s great catching up.
Susan McDonald Strong’s newest
botanical paintings are on exhibit
at a gallery in St. Augustine, FL. You
can research her botanical skincare
products at singingflowerstudio.com.
Susan and Paul are enjoying the
weather and new friends in Jacksonville,
FL.
Laura Haskell Phinizy continues
plugging along, enjoying Stewart
as he is — happy, pleasant, and
still able to get about. Pruning her
showplace yard, with azaleas and camellias
under tall pines, until the sun
sets, gives Laura great pleasure.
Saralyn McAfee Smith survived
breast cancer surgery, chemotherapy,
and radiation in 2017. She recently
went to Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
MN, for help with a vicious rash
caused by all the stress, but it seems
there’s nothing much to be done but
let the rash run its course. She and
Hamp are okay, and the Smith Clan
is doing well — granddaughter Sierra
graduated a semester early from
high school and is now a student at
the local junior college. Daughter
Laura is the marketing director for
the famed Boot Hill Museum, and
granddaughter Cheyenne is now in
fifth grade. Saralyn is the secretary of
her local branch of the DAR.
Chris Kilcullen Thurlow and
Steve are preparing for their 49th
anniversary. After four decades, they
have moved from Greenwich, CT, to
lovely Vero Beach, FL, never again
to live in a place where the average
temperature is lower than their age.
In addition to their son and daughter
and their spouses, Chris and Steve
are blessed with six grand-monsters,
still living in Connecticut. Chris tutors
in an ESL program and is active
with Audubon. Steve continues his
work with the NFL Alumni, specifically
educating coaches, referees, and
parents about techniques of proper
play to avoid injury and head trauma.
They play lots of golf and travel
internationally with their 200 Club.
Life is good — their health is good,
their minds still function, and they
still laugh at each other’s jokes.
Molly Poole Wolfe lives in the
Virginia Piedmont about 3 hours
north of SBC with 2 dogs, a cat, a
husband of 45 years, and lots of perennial
gardens in fertile soil. They
planted all the trees on the property
and have a glorious view of the Blue
Ridge Mountains from the house
they designed and built years ago.
Their daughter, 38, loves horses and
is the gardener for an estate in Upperville,
VA
Can anyone give me updated contact
information for Alison Flynn
Ringdal? All I know is that she lives
in Jessheim, Norway, a suburb of
Oslo. Does anyone have her email?
Also, I am missing email addresses
for many classmates; so if you enjoy
reading the Class Notes and want
to add your news next time, please
send me your email address. I’d like
to include everyone in my requests
for news.
1966
Susan Sudduth Hiller
4811 Garrison Road
Little Rock, AR 72223
501-821-2400
ssdh22@yahoo.com
Last August, Keenan Colton
Kelsey, Penn Willets Fullerton,
Jane Nelson and Susan Sudduth
Hiller were once again able to have
their annual mini-reunion. It is rare
that a year goes by that they do not
meet some place, and they are already
planning the 2018 get-together.
Quite remarkable after all these
years!!
In 2017, Suzy Moseley Helm
generously offered guest rooms (actually
an entire floor) in the home
that she and Nelson have at the
Chautauqua Institution in New York
state. It was a delightful time of lectures,
faith, friendship and nostalgia
since Susan had been there decades
before with her late husband Frank
Dodson. At the possibility of sounding
trite…the “icing on the cake” was
that classmate Marcy Fisher was
also staying with Suzy and Nelson
while we were there. Okay — here
goes the math: six ‘66’ers in the same
house at the same time.
Plea to classmates: I have not
received any other news, but please
make note. Our next deadline is Aug.
13. Please, please send news to me at
ssdh22@yahoo.com soon. I want
to go ahead and start compiling for
next issue. Also, know that if more
grandkids are born or wonderful
trips taken or any other significant
events occur after you contact me, I
will update.
Thank you in advance.
1967
Gail Robins O’Quin
2651 Kleinert Avenue
Baton Rouge, LA 70806-6823
cgrobins@ix.netcom.com
Charlotte Hoskins Herbert has
escaped the Oregon winters by moving
seasonally to the Oro Valley near
Tucson. She sends greetings and
would love for anyone who is ever
in the area to get in touch with her.
She lives in a active adult community
where she is outside most of the
time. (Sounds glorious — adults and
perfect weather!)
Judy Schlatter Fogle is having
fun with her five grandsons, two of
which have ended up living near Diane
Mann Langford’s son in Atlanta!
(Small world!) Judy is closing on a
new condo in Atlanta right between
both sons — lots of renovations
(and lots of help with supervision)!
She spent a lovely Christmas in
London, England, with her daughter
Suzannah, who is still working there.
Maria Wiglesworth Hemmings
is still fighting the “R” word (she just
cannot let go) and works per diem in
Connecticut in her old unit at Norwalk
Hospital; she loves the patients
and the medicine. “We are spending
time in Florida (where I don’t work)
and Connecticut. Still traveling a fair
amount, still skiing, mostly Jackson
Hole, where our eldest daughter lives
and has her business. Had a great
visit with Sue Merck Perrin after
spring 2018
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