University of Mary Washington - Index

University of Mary Washington - summer08 - Index

74
CLASS NOTES
PHOTOJOURNALIST FINDS FOCUS
AT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
When Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Joanna Pinneo ’76
roamed the Mary Washington campus as a student taking pictures for The
Bullet and the yearbook, she hardly could have imagined her photographs
would one day appear on the cover of National Geographic magazine.
During her nine years of work for the celebrated publication, read each
month by more than 50 million people around the world, Pinneo ate dinner
with former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, sustained a bite by a poisonous
scorpion on assignment in Sudan, and witnessed the dismantling of the
Berlin Wall. She credits her college experience – and the personal attention
she received from inspirational professors – with preparing her for a career
that, at last count, had taken her to more than 65 countries.
“I learned to foster an interest in many different things and to be
inquisitive about the world around me,” she said. “These are skills that I
found to come in handy when photographing many different subjects.”
Her Mary Washington majors – art and psychology – also served her
well, she said.
“I learned to express myself artistically as well as show the human
condition.”
While working for National Geographic, Pinneo used her camera to
document exotic scenarios such as camel drives in the Sahara Desert, the
running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and the effects of climate change in
the Amazon rainforest. Her photographs also have appeared in the Baptist
International Mission Board’s magazine, The Commission, and in U.S. News
& World Report.
The journey that led from art student to world-traveled photographer
couldn’t have started without the assistance of several encouraging and
’76
challenging Mary Washington professors.
Lynda Richardson ’81
Pauline King, then-chair of the art department, made it possible
for Pinneo to spend five weeks in a study abroad program in Spain, an
experience that “had a huge influence on me wanting to travel more and
capture the people I saw and met,” Pinneo said.
In the same way, Professor Teruo Hara’s introduction to the darkroom
helped Pinneo realize that the camera was the tool that would best allow her
to express herself.
“It opened me up and showed me how excited I was about photography.”
At 53, she has put aside her travel-intensive National Geographic work,
for now, to do freelance and wedding photography in the Denver, Colo.,
area. She also is working on a personal project, Grrlstories.org, an online
exploration of adolescence that captures – through photos, essays, and
activities – the coming-of-age rituals of teenage girls from different cultures.
But Pinneo, who was on campus in March to share her work with
journalism and art students, hasn’t forgotten the contributions her alma
mater made to her career.
“When I visited, Mary Washington still had the same sense of
community,” she said. “People really get to know each other, and professors
make an effort to know their students personally.”
– Brynn Boyer ’10
During a visit to her alma mater in March, Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist
Joanna Pinneo ’76 (in green) talked to UMW art and journalism students.
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grandmother and enjoys her new role as
“Mimi” to her grandson.
For more than 10 years, Peg
McIntyre Cabrera has been a graphic
designer at KCBS2 and KCAL9, the
two Viacom television stations in Los
Angeles, where she creates on-air news
graphics. Peg is celebrating 30 years of
marriage to husband Vic. She’s the proud
mother of two daughters: Carly, an event
planner in Santa Rosa, Calif., and Allison,
a recent environmental science graduate
of San Francisco State University.
Carole Mercader and Carol Kerney
Peal wrote about a mini-reunion dinner
in September at Tyson’s Corner. In
addition to Carole and Carol, two other
Jefferson Fourth Westers were there
with their husbands: Hope Rudinger
Linehan and Susan McDonald Osborn.
This was the first time this group has
gotten together in 20 years! They shared
a toast in honor of their dear friend,
Peggy Unkle, who had just passed
away in June. (Peggy had been a senior
manager with product assurance at the
IRS; her funeral was attended by Carole
and Susan as well as Mary Byrnes and
Cindy Snyder.) They toasted Peggy’s
quick wit and laughter, and all agreed she
would be sorely missed.
Carole Mercader is a retired teacher
and travels extensively with her husband,
Bob Sowers, who is a contractor with
BAE Systems. Carole has three children,
Sara, Philippe, and Charles. Bob also
has three children, Eric, Curtis, and
Shelly; a son-in-law, Frank; and two
granddaughters.
Carol Peal is retired and cares
for her elderly father and her home in
Pennsylvania. Carol and husband Mike
have two girls. Melissa is married and a
second grade teacher; Megan is a civil
engineer.
Hope Linehan is a secondary
reading specialist in Anne Arundel
County, Md. She and husband Chip
have five children: Kelly is a middle
school teacher; Eric and Craig are in
the business world; Mark is a junior
at Towson; and Ryan is a high school
senior.
Susan Osborn recently launched
a new training consultancy. She and
husband Paul have two girls, Kate and
Lauren, and a son-in-law, Chris. They all
live in Northern Virginia.
Marcia Howell Marsh was unable
to join the mini-reunion because of a
death in her family. She is in her 20th
year teaching middle school drama in
Chesterfield County, Va. She and her
husband, Steve, have two daughters in
their 20s who live in Richmond: Katie
is a teacher, and Jeanne is a wellness
director for the YMCA.
Also unable to attend the minireunion
was Sue Lagarenne Harris. The
group’s advice to pass along to all their
classmates was this: Don’t let 10, 15,
or 20 years go by or wait for an official
“reunion” to reunite with your UMW
friends – plan something with two, three,
or four friends and get together now – it
is worth the effort!
Carol Pappas Bartold sings in Los
Robles Master Chorale. Last December,
I had a chance to see and hear her
perform. If any alumni are in the greater
Los Angeles area, I highly recommend
that you try to catch one of these
performances.
Carol went to Sarah Lawrence
College last summer for a nonfiction
workshop with Ted Conover. Since she
was in the neighborhood, she went
to Norfolk, Va., to visit Peggy Kelley
Reinburg ’58, who taught organ in
the music department. Back home in
Glendale, Carol got a real surprise:
Megan Kromer, an old friend from
freshman year in Marshall First South,
called from San Antonio. Megan, with
whom Carol had not talked in years,
transferred to San Antonio’s Trinity
University during sophomore year
and has lived there since. Kathy Davis
Cavalieri, who was also from Marshall
First South, visited Carol last summer;
she teaches art in New Jersey.
Last fall, Carol was concerned about
Sue Early Decesari’s San Diego home
during the wildfires because Sue was
in New York visiting her parents. Carol
talked with Sue’s husband; they didn’t
have to evacuate. In January, Carol had a
wonderful time at a little organ student
reunion in Richmond. The six people
who attended the reunion were in the
first group of organ students Peggy
Reinburg taught in 1973 when she came
to UMW after Mrs. Edson retired: Judy
Mayberry Fiske ’73 hosted the group
at her home; Barbara Taylor Moore
’73 came from Charlottesville; Laura
Blevins Douglass ’73 joined them from
Harrisonburg; Becky Reames ’76, on
Christmas break from State University
of New York, Potsdam, where she’s an
associate professor of music, drove from
her hometown of Staunton; Deborah Peel
Spidle ’76 traveled from North Carolina;
and Carol came from California.
Joanne Rehm recently moved
to Cary, N.C. She is national training
director for Genworth Financial in
Raleigh. Her son is in his third year
at U.Va. She celebrated her birthday
weekend with him there last fall,
watching U.Va. narrowly beat Wake
Forest.
Judy Saul Kraft was diagnosed in
January 2007 with tongue cancer and
had major surgery in February 2007.
Fortunately, the tumor was removed and
all of the lymph nodes from her neck
tested clean. As of February, Judy was
a one-year survivor! Judy’s daughter
was married in August 2007, and Judy’s
family celebrated the marriage and
life with the new couple, Jackie and
Rob. Judy’s son, Alex, is engaged to be
married in September in Cape Cod. Judy
has returned full time to St. Stanislaus,
where she teaches honors math and
computer literacy. Her husband, Phil, is
retired and loves gardening all day.
In August 2006, I visited Maureen
Argo Marks in her beautiful home that
overlooks the Pacific Ocean near San
Diego. She hadn’t changed a bit! She
was looking forward to starting her
part-time family practice work for Kaiser