University of Mary Washington - Index

University of Mary Washington - summer08 - Index

56
CLASS NOTES
committee, and acting as associate
editor of the monthly newsletter. She
was just elected to the resident council,
a seven-member governing body for her
community.
Ladies, please send your letters and
emails for our next edition. We want to
hear from you!
1948
Bette Worsham Dunford
1500 Westbrook Court, #5143
Richmond, VA 23227
Awhawk2@aol.com
You have made my job lots of fun this
time – your response was wonderful! By
the time you receive this, many of you
will have been to our 60th reunion.
Last fall, Earle and I had a great
cruise from Venice to Istanbul,
disembarking in Athens after cruising
the Greek isles. My family all gathered
in Richmond at Thanksgiving for a
rare reunion. On the agenda this year
are trips to Rome and New York City,
two grandchildren’s graduations, and
several weeks in Maine. Unfortunately,
I could not be at the reunion because of
conflicting plans. Stay healthy.
Headlines in
the Richmond paper
in early December
recorded the death of
Jane Maury Denton,
wife of ex-POW
and former senator
Jeremiah Denton.
Do you remember
the pretty May Court
sophomore from Mobile who left school
at the end of that year to marry her
childhood sweetheart during June Week
at the Naval Academy? The article spoke
of several honors she had received in
recognition of the wives’ efforts to bring
POWs back home.
Betsy Robertson and I occasionally
chat, and she last reported that Anne
Barnes Baugh had spent Thanksgiving
with her in Danville and “hadn’t
changed a bit.” Anne herself wrote that
she is keeping up with volunteer jobs,
bridge, and exercise at Gold’s Gym three
mornings a week. I think she is a real
role model for us over-50 ladies. She has
five grandchildren, two of whom are
still in school. Anne planned to leave for
Chile, Brazil, and Argentina in March for
three weeks and to spend much of the
summer at Virginia Beach with family,
as she generally does. She, Betsy, and
Marge Batty Hill planned to be at the
reunion.
Marge wrote that turning 80
was hard to accept, and I guess most
of us agree. She and her husband,
Irvine, spend January and February in
Richmond during the General Assembly,
and planned to spend March and April
in St. Augustine, a lovely city full of
history. Marge has two sons and two
grandsons who live close by in Norfolk.
Virginia Spickard Manson
enjoyed a surprise 80th birthday party
surrounded by family and friends from
her church. She is “at peace and growing
in spiritual relationships and Bible
study.” She has just completed a 15-foot
mural for her church and has illustrated
a Christmas story coloring book to be
sent to mission fields in Africa, India,
and Siberia. A similar book of the
Easter story is in production. Virginia
has a son who works at Bridgewater
College, another son who is a pastor in
Oklahoma, and a daughter who is in the
mission field in a Muslim country.
From Hattiesburg, Miss., Charlotte
Smith Hill wrote that she and her
husband belong to a wellness center
and are doing their best to hold back
the ravages of time. They enjoy classes
and activities offered by the Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute of SMU. Last
July, they visited their son in Granville
Ferry, Nova Scotia, and explored that
province from the Bay of Fundy to Cape
Breton on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
the Atlantic Ocean. At Christmastime,
Charlotte received cards from Sylvia
Sheaks Moore, Ruby York Weinbrecht,
Margaret Ruth Harrell Youngblood,
and Marie Adams Griffith, all of whom
live in Virginia except for Marie, a South
Carolina resident.
In recognition of her community
service, Lois Saunier Hornsby
’48 graced the cover of a recent
Williamsburg pamphlet.
Our class president, Lois Saunier
Hornsby, graced the cover of a recent
Williamsburg pamphlet that recounted
the many ways that Lois serves her
community. She has a particular interest
in promoting literacy through reading
programs, but her concerns are many and
diverse. Her personal motto – “to be is to
do good” – was quoted. She also wisely
philosophizes that “life is meant to be
enjoyed – it’s an adventure!” I think she
has not only had an enjoyable adventure,
but also has contributed a great deal. Lois
met with several of our classmates to
make plans for our reunion.
Byrd Stone Helguera, healthy
all her life, had more than a double
whammy when she turned 80: three
breast surgeries and follow-up radiations,
then a heart attack requiring three stents.
Her husband remains relatively active
but uninterested in travel because of his
walker. Their sons live in Nashville and in
New York. Byrd spent a week in Virginia
in 2007, visiting friends and attending the
Chattanooga Jazz Festival. Saddened by
the death of her roommate, Jane Burton
Pennewell, she stopped to visit Jane’s
daughter while in Virginia. Byrd and
Mary Elizabeth Mould Huestis phone
and write, as always.
Peggie McVey Mason wrote
her usual upbeat and peppy message.
Her son brings her coffee and
breakfast every morning, she has
UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE����������������
the most beautiful 2-year-old greatgranddaughter
in the world, and she
thanks God she is alive. She spent
February in the hospital in ICU with
not much hope, but now she is enjoying
being home and is looking forward to
her spring and summer flowers. While
in the hospital, she was visited by her
old friend Ashby Griffin Mitchell.
Sadly, Ashby lost her husband
recently. At Christmas, she went with
family to Telluride, Colo., and spent
a week in a beautiful Victorian town
surrounded by snow-covered mountains.
As I write this, Whickey Whitley
Knight is probably recovering from
jet lag from her Mary Washingtonsponsored
trip to South America. She is
doing fine, is busy all the time, is looking
forward to the birth of her second
great-grandchild, and is anticipating a
summer of gardening, the beach, and
a possible trip to Nova Scotia and St.
John’s. Whickey cruised Italian waters
in the fall.
Like most of us, Mary John
Moore Payne has turned 80, and her
comment was “Ugh.” With the good
news of the birth of healthy twin greatgranddaughters
came the sad news of the
death of her husband of a massive heart
attack. They had been married 56 years.
Fortunate to have reasonably good
health, thanks to vitamins, good medicine,
and country living, Nancy Salisbury
Ellis enjoyed a 10-day reunion over
Christmas with children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren – nine came all
the way from California. Ellis summer
plans usually center around their sweet
corn operation on the farm. The sales
work, which begins around the end of
June and lasts until mid-September,
serves road stands and grocery stores in
the Trenton, N.J., area. While Nancy’s
son now owns and manages the farm and
about 20 employees, she and her husband
manage the pack house and help with
record keeping.
Being a caregiver is taking its toll,
but Jane McCullough is still hanging
in there, tap dancing, playing duplicate
bridge twice a week, and teaching a
bridge class at an assisted living facility.
Her Wright Tappers won a gold medal
at the state finals of the Senior Games,
with her choreographed Rockettes-type
number. Last year, they traveled down
Russian rivers and lakes, from St.
Petersburg to Moscow, and also cruised
from San Diego around the Hawaiian
islands. This year, they planned to take a
spring cruise on a riverboat from Paris to
the south of France and travel to Alaska
in September. Jane always gets travel
insurance because they can’t tell how fast
her husband’s Alzheimer’s will progress.
Jane reported that Margery Johnson
Walter died in 2007. She also wrote that
family was to stay with her husband
while she attended our 60th reunion.
Marjorie Selvage Stone is getting
some articles published and some
rejected. She was saddened to learn
of Natalie Klein’s death last May,
remembering especially what fun they
had on a Chesapeake Bay cruise several
years ago. Marge’s eldest son is with
WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Rick is with a
travel agency in Redondo Beach, Calif.,
and Glenn and his wife both teach at
Washington University in St. Louis.
Marge’s granddaughter is a sophomore at
Columbia University, and her grandson
will enter Northwestern University in
the fall.
Glenna “Sandy” Graves is the only
one among us to stay 73! Isn’t she the
lucky one! Attitude is everything! In
2007, she was in New York to see Tom
Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Museum
of Modern Art, and The Met. She also
dropped in to Sardi’s and Birdland.
Vivian Marie Adams Griffith spent
Thanksgiving in Maryland with family
and Christmas in Georgia with more
family. She has six grandchildren and
four great-grands, and she loves condo
living as she has more time to play.
Shortly after celebrating their
50th wedding anniversary with family
and friends, Anne Williams Cordes’
husband died from heart problems, and
she recently lost a daughter-in-law, so it
has not been a good year for her.
Our bride, Sarah Armstrong
Worman Gregg of Leesburg, Fla., wrote
that she is doing fine, but all birthdays
depress her. She and her family were
in Pensacola, Fla., to see her grandson,
who graduated last year from Annapolis,
receive his wings. Sarah expects to
become a great-grandmother in August.
Her daughter still lives in Charlottesville
and across the street from Carol Byrd
Williamson, so occasionally Sarah
comes back to visit. We had hoped to get
together when she came at Christmas
but time sped by.
Betty Strader Shamburger and
Van are still in their house on the hill
overlooking the South Anna River. Her
daughter is married to a Methodist
preacher and lives in Herndon, Va. Son
Pete and family live in Richmond. Betty’s
granddaughter was student government
president her senior year at Randolph-
Macon College. Betty and her husband
had a wonderful trip to Scotland with
her daughter and her husband in
September. Jean Moore Engleby and her
husband, who moved to Hanover about
the time the Shamburgers did, have now
moved to Covenant Woods Retirement
Community nearby. Betty saw Ruth
Gilmer Huettel when Ruth’s sister, Lib,
died last spring.
Ellie Brackett Buse’s daughter,
who lives in Santa Monica, has invented
a computer animated Barbie doll
program in which Barbie sings and
dances. Her other daughter works with
underprivileged children. Ellie travels
and continues her daily walking.
Lorraine Mock wrote from
Winchester that she is in an assisted
living facility and, after breaking her
hip, is using a walker. She keeps up with
Geraldine White and Emily Lynch
Fairchild.
Charles City Tavern was the
rendezvous spot for the reunion/80th
birthday celebrations of Justin Edwards