Sweet Briar College Magazine - Spring 2018

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CLASS NOTES Chris Svoboda, Ginger Reynolds Davis, Helen Pruitt Butler, Louise Jones Geddes, Sharon Ingham Brown, Sue Walters, Liz Sprague Brandt, Penney Parker Hartline, Elizabeth Harley Willet, Cathy Toomey Gregorie, Debbie Jones Karen Williams Wickre hosted the Washington, DC, area alumnae back-to-school event in fall 2017 The RioQuijos EcoLodge, second home for Juliet Jacobsen Kastorff Sharon Ingham Brown with her Sweet Briar roommates: Louise Jones Geddes, Penney Parker Hardline and Cynthia “Skip” Pierce Kohlensberger Skip Pierce Kohlensberger and Debbie Jones sbc.edu you. I received emails, electronic notices from the SBC website and snail mail postcards from you all. If I inadvertently omitted someone, I humbly apologize! Send me an email, and I’ll add your news to the next magazine in autumn. Anne Hutchison Pede is feeling truly blessed as she reports that her husband was promoted to Lieutenant General for the Army, they sold their house and moved to the beautiful Fort Myer Post in Arlington, VA, she retired from teaching so she can travel with Chuck and her son graduated from college. Sharon Ingham Brown is still in FL, splitting time between Tampa and Miami with her job as vice president of Assurant. Sharon’s son, Davis, seems fully recovered from brain surgery two years ago, and her daughter Caroline, a student at Georgia Tech, enjoyed lunch with Louise Jones Geddes recently, and thanks Helen Pruitt Butler for recommending her for ADPi sorority! Sharon loved reconnecting with SBC friends this past year — an amazing group of women! Vida Henry Fonseca writes, “About every 18 years, I get rear-ended by a drunk while doing favors for hung-over friends on long weekends. I have studiously avoided doing favors or even going out of the house on holiday weekends for years, so this time I got hit on the cusp of the Saturday Women’s March and the Sunday Women’s March. Car totaled; body battered. Maybe I should take up drinking?” Gosh Vida, we hope the year improves! Caroline Reece Aquino lives in The Plains, VA, with her husband of 30 years, Agustin. Her son, Jamie, attends Old Dominion University and is doing well. Caroline teaches and trains foxhunters, hunts with Orange County Hounds and helps the MOC Beagles, which is a mounted children’s pack. Penney Parker Hartline is busy working in development 66
CLASS NOTES at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. When visiting her son, Parker, at Hampden-Sydney College, Penney enjoys seeing Mary Earle McElroy and Lee Sparks ’83 whose sons are also at H-SC. Through her visits to VA, Penney has also reconnected with Mary Baker Brockman, who is in Lynchburg. Elizabeth Harley Willett writes that she has enjoyed recent SBC events, particularly the 2018 SBC Day event at the Swan Coach House in Atlanta and also a recent mini-reunion of several 1984 classmates in Charleston. Colleen Kuebel Lewis is still transacting commercial real estate in New Orleans. Her two sons, Alex (17) and Colin (29) are well, and Colin recently began his own real estate career. Colleen recently celebrated three years with an “amazing fella,” and with their union Colleen gained two beautiful daughters, their husbands and even has grandbabies added to the mix! She is incredibly grateful for this new family and for the SBC friendships that transcend time. Karla Kennedy Hicks writes, “Autism is really tough when your twins hit 21. I will not gloss over this. So many resources go away on that birthday. My husband is a saint and rock!” Karla also reports that her career is going great and that she loves Vanguard and will sit for the CFP exam soon. Her daughter is working in Korea. Karla misses her but loves her sense of adventure. Susan Dickinson Lindner has been working as an oncology nurse for the last eight years and loves it. She had the opportunity to get together with Holly Pflug Allport several time in 2017 and loved re-connecting with her. Susan also took a trip to Zimbabwe last year with both brothers and a sister-in-law. She spent two weeks traveling and went on an incredible five-day safari. Susan is looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion next year! Juliet Jacobsen Kastorff writes, “I sit in my lodge, the Rio- Quijos EcoLodge in Ecuador, thinking about what a monumental year this will be with the 25th anniversary of my company, Endless River Adventures. 25 years includes a lot of Chris Svoboda, Mary Pope Hutson, Louise Jones Geddes, Sue Walters, Cindy Pierce Kohlenberger, Debbie Jones, Ginger Reynolds Davis, Liz Rodgers Boyd, Cathy Toomey Gregorie, Kathy Kp Papadimitriou, Erika Marshall, Penney Parker Hartline, Sharon Ingham Brown, Elizabeth Willett, Liza Sprague Brandt really special memories working with Sweet Briar students and alums, sharing days on the river whitewater kayaking and rafting. I have so much to give thanks for, including how my time at Sweet Briar helped me in so many ways.” Congrats to Juliet and I think we should attempt a road trip to visit her lodge! Michelle Venema changed jobs. After 30 years rising through the ranks of the banking industry, from teller to executive vice president of business banking of a community bank, she switched career paths to the nonprofit world! She followed her passion of community volunteering and now is the CEO of Home of the Sparrow, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of homelessness for women and children in Chester County, PA. She has been in the role for over a year and continues to be inspired, challenged and energized every day by the success stories of the women and children who are safely housed. After SBC, Michelle returned to her hometown and thinks it’s the perfect place to live. She enjoys the Philadelphia suburbs and is very happy that the Eagles won the Super Bowl! Suzanne Stovall Clarke visited SBC last summer with her parents, and they walked up to Monument Hill to see the beautiful “We Kept The Faith” plaque. Suzanne lives in Fort Meyer, VA, on the same street as Anne Hutchison Pede, with whom she has enjoyed reconnecting by riding their new Peloton bikes and attending local SBC events. Suzanne’s daughter Madeleine (20) is a sophomore at Tufts University majoring in community health with minors in food systems/ nutrition and Arabic language. She ran the 2017 NYC marathon and is a varsity rower and RA at school. She plans to study abroad in Morocco where she spent a gap year after high school. Son Will (16) is a junior at Washington-Lee High School and also a competitive rower. He will actively pursue collegiate recruitment for rowing this summer. Suzanne is looking forward to Sweet Work Weeks on campus in the fall. Liz Sprague Brandt reports that all is well in Kansas City. Liz runs a high-end designer consignment business out of her home and enjoys being a first time business owner. She has also enjoyed visiting with SBC friends recently, especially her SBC roommate, Elizabeth Harley Willett. Liz writes that after all these years, they are still thick as thieves! Liz’s daughter, Betsy, is in NYC but headed to business school in the fall. Laura DeHaven has been studying Reiki since November 2017 and will complete her Reiki Third Degree Mastership Class in March 2018. She will continue studying other healing modalities and other things of interest. Debbie Jones still loves her small horse farm outside Richmond and still enjoys playing a small part of her sister’s Square One Organic Vodka business. (Note to readers: If you haven’t tried Square One vodka, you are in for a treat! And, think of the SBC connection!) Debbie’s day job is director of mortgage capital markets at Citizens Bank. She recently had a great time catching up with many classmates and a couple gals from ’83 in Charleston. For the last ten years, Diana Crandall Nielson has been living in her husband, Clark’s, state of Utah. She, her husband and three kids love the lifestyle — mountains, skiing, hiking — but she misses the South and the East Coast. She has been busy volunteering and her husband is enjoying his first year of retirement. They are almost empty nesters as their youngest, daughter Leigh, will go to University of Utah in the fall. Diana’s son, James, will graduate soon and older daughter, Claire, is a working woman. Janet Lewis Shepherd writes from Ponte Vedra, FL, where her daughter Anna is a junior in high school. Son William is a freshman at Florida State, daughter Gracie is a junior at Vanderbilt and her oldest, Robert, graduated from Georgetown, completed a fellowship at Princeton and is now working as a consultant in Santiago, Chile. Janet is manager and assistant buyer at LulaMae Boutique, and she and Anna recently completed a breast cancer half-marathon. Two cats and two dogs help round out her full house! Gretchen Hustings is in Santa Monica, CA, and she lives close to her brother and her awesome, surf-loving nephews. She has been studying Spanish for many years and will attend a wedding in Mexico in May and she is planning a trip to Madrid. Gretchen writes of the wonderful memories of her years at Sweet Briar. Tracy Glaves Spalding is in CO and will celebrate 30 years of marriage to Randy in July. Tracy is the lead chef instructor at Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver and she loves training natural food chefs. Her children are almost launched. Emma (24) is back in CO getting her masters at Denver University. Preston (22) is finishing up at Wyoming this year. She enjoys having them close, but she also enjoys being an empty nester. Shannon Young Ray writes that her youngest spring 2018 67
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FORGING A NEW PATH, SWEET BRIAR TUR
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Spring 2018, Vol. 88, No. 1 This ma
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FORGING A NEW PATH, SWEET BRIAR TUR
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TIMING At press time, the details o
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change over time because the facult
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ON THE QUAD Liza Mundy (speaking, t
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ON THE QUAD more than happy to shar
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ON THE QUAD ASHTON MAYS AWARDED 201
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Page 23 and 24: ALUMNAE PROFILE DO SOMETHING NEW Le
Page 25 and 26: ALUMNAE PROFILE TIPS FOR LAUNCHING
Page 27 and 28: Claire Zak ‘18 during her interns
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Page 31 and 32: Giving to Sweet Briar IS EASY. To j
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Page 35 and 36: CLASS NOTES CLASSnotes 1950 Jo Guli
Page 37 and 38: CLASS NOTES of Bobbie’s death in
Page 39 and 40: CLASS NOTES blond.” Billy Isdale
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Page 47 and 48: CLASS NOTES Melinda enjoyed meeting
Page 49 and 50: CLASS NOTES Bonnie Pitman’s son D
Page 51 and 52: CLASS NOTES and I moved to Lynchbur
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Page 61 and 62: CLASS NOTES Armando and Jamie Anne
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Page 71 and 72: CLASS NOTES Ginger Ryon Church ’8
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Page 77 and 78: CLASS NOTES 1996 Eileen MacMurtrie
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Page 83 and 84: Start Planning Your Legacy In 1899,
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