Class of 1958

Dear Classmates, we’ll call this “news”, but actually it’s a reiteration of what we are all going through right now during this pandemic and our resilience in dealing with it –lots of books, lots of walking, more phone connections, and for some bridge.

Lynn Pfohl Quigley, reminiscing on her 50 years in her Forest Hills, NY home, is facing “trash or organize” decisions. In addition, having been a math and science major, Lynn remarked that this would seem to be an ideal time to investigate the “great books” others tackled in college. Opting out of both choices for the moment, Lynn visited Helen Lynn Shea in NYC where they had a carryout dinner recently on the balcony of Lynn’s NYC condo. Lynn Quigley remarked about Lynn Shea’s “can-do” attitude, her knowledge and sense of humor.

Catherine “Cathy” Crotty Higgins described huddling inside during the hot days and coping with bridge games but looking forward to a cool fall. Eleanor “Ellie” Moynahan Bagley is also staying close to home and reading a lot. She recommends “Ghosted” by Rosie Walsh. “Every time I thought I had the plot figured out, it took a new twist and I was wrong again.”

Barbara Durand Zimmerman fills up her days with swimming five times a week at her community indoor pool. They require a reservation, but in the summer Barbara enjoys swimming every day at her lake cottage with her two children and their families. Always the “crafty one”, Barbara’s latest interest is diamond-dotz pictures. A kit includes hundreds of tiny multi-faced gemstones (about 2.5 mm wide) which the artist attaches to a sticky canvas, creating a tactile, 3-dimensional picture. The kits range by skill level and cost between $10.98 and $16.99.

Off we go to France where Jean Volpe Rotondi now lives full time. “I love the cultural richness, the friends, open markets, the languages all still delight me. I don’t need a car but with the pandemic, Paris is not the same. No jazz concerts or plays but life is still rich here. I often walk to my destination eating only in restaurants on a terrace outside and spending a lot of time in our beautiful Parisian parks.” Jean became interested in the Korean language while watching Netflix and has begun online Korean language lessons. She and her daughter hope to visit Korea next year.  She is delighted to report that soon there will be seven Rotondis living in France. Her daughter is a professor in a nearby town. Her son John and his wife will be living in the south of France and Jean has a married, pregnant niece living in the Franche Contee region. If you plan to visit Paris any time, let Jean know!

Coping with the Pandemic has been a challenge for restaurant owners.  Ask Barbara Glunz-Donovan, the owner and proprietor of the 1888 Glunz Liquor Store and Tavern in Chicago!  And then came the riots!  Last March, Chicago celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. It was the biggest day of the year at The Glunz Tavern and it saved their business because all restaurants and bars were shut down soon afterwards. The shop, however, was allowed to function and with everyone staying home, cooking and dining well, their business was good, people like wine!  For a while their shop was boarded and protected by National Guard at the corner. Barbara stayed home until May then went back to work, masked and sanitized. Her final comment: “It’s still easier to come into my bar than get into my church.”

Talk about “self-help”, Barbara Mcgeary Marhoefer reports a sign in her condo lobby in Reston, VA from the knitting group: “Knitters: Do NOT FEAR SELF-QUARANTINE. This is WHAT WE’VE BEEN TRAINING FOR.” Barbara has found her own challenging way to handle boredom – researching family history. The best resource she says is ancestory.com.  The first month is free when you sign up, then it’s $29 a month. Her advice:  “Go to the top bar, click SEARCH, fill in the name you’re searching, the city where they lived and a date. Click search.” She also mentioned good information on the US Census reports.

Yvonne Thel Driscoll said it aptly, “These are surreal times. I find myself saying the TC prayer over and over these days: ‘May the power of the Father govern and protect us…’. Beautiful enduring memories.”  She mentioned a call from Elizabeth “Liz” Booz Mowser where even Trinidad is in a COVID lockdown. Ruth Donovan Grady has the right idea “COVID time has given us time to reflect on the important things in life – family, faith and friends.”  And in common with most of us, is enjoying many books, a walk a day, bridge and crossword puzzles. Tom and Ruth planned to head back to Naples in October and stay there until May. Please note that after submitting this note, Ruth passed on February 15, 2021, as noted by her daughter, Susan.

Virginia “Ginny” Kilroy Mckaig lists the exciting agenda we all have now:  grocery store and Walgreens! She is grateful, however, for the internet, FaceTime and Zoom, and the fact that people are more prone to pick up the phone now that we are all in such isolation. Thinking about the tenor of the country though, Ginny bemoaned the divisiveness of our national discourse.

Someone who will testify there is still beauty around is Virginia “Gina” Pleus Bergin MacKenzie, featured recently with a full-page photo on the cover of her retirement community, TidePointe in Hilton Head, SC. Gina graciously sent me a copy. I wish you could all see it, as she looks lovely.  The article explored Gina’s artistic talents as a painter, quilter and needle pointer, skills honed in the last two decades. It showed a Chinese watercolor triptych in her living room of flowers painted on delicate gold rice paper. Another was a depiction of the cliffs surrounding the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, painted from memory during an art class she had in China. Then there were handmade quilts – some with prize ribbons awarded by the Palmetto Quilt Guild – including one with an intricate image of the Taj Mahal adorned with real pearls and Swarovski Crystals. Gina and her husband have traveled to more than 100 countries together and she still volunteers with a ministry program at women’s prison in Columbia, SC.

Now it’s a trip to North Carolina where we are going to “smell the flowers” with Mary Frances McGowan Allen as she takes two hour hikes up the mountain trails near her. “I do not go without a hiking companion as the mama bears are out protecting their teenage cubs these past few months.  My reward is the view across the valley to the Smokies. I have had time to identify and appreciate all the wildflowers along the path this spring. With the summer rains, the assorted toad stools peppered the woods bordering the trails. I have explored recipes for one. I recently checked out a book on Neil Simon plays and another on the mind of the Japanese.”

Margaret Rose “Ro” McCrory Foley has a new email address, as she is no longer with Howard Hanna Real Estate. She can now be reached at margaretfoley546@gmailcom. Three days a week Ro has been doing in person tutoring at Notre Dame College in Ohio. And a voice from the District, Carolyn Moynihan Funkhouser has always been in DC but four years ago moved to assisted living, Brighton Gardens at Friendship Heights. “I loved it till the lockdown. Now I am missing my friends and of course the dining room.” Carolyn has an aide so she can still go for walks and was enjoying visits from Margot Farranto Badran who would come for a meal before the lockdown and they’d order in.

 Jeanne “Jean” Mazurek Kennedy, echoes the common theme – “read more, walk more, play golf three to four times a week.” She also commented, “My heart is heavy about our country. Enraged, depressed and embarrassed about the killing and hating of Black people for so many years.” To counteract negativity, Jean joined Dothemostgood.org and writes postcards for candidates while watching baseball, golf and “Money Heist.”

“Bring your own lunch and a chair” was a formula that worked well for Cathleen Russell recently, when 12 people from her active seniors group showed up in her back yard for a pleasant, distant afternoon. Cathleen has been responsible for their monthly Boston area mystery events which, of course, have been cancelled for the season. On Sundays, she participates in a Zoom prayer service organized independently by some of the parishioners, where they pray and share comments on the readings. Like all surveyed here, Cathleen has been doing a lot of reading, walking, gardening and biking.

From her 11th floor apartment in her senior residence in Germany, Mary Fran Somers Heidhues has been viewing the COVID world as we have, but also producing intellectual output. With a co-author, she produced a manuscript about Edith Stein’s experience while studying in Gottingen.  She’s also read about plagues. Poe’s Red Death, Garcia Marques (more about love), Camus, and Pale Rider about the 1919 influenza which killed a sister of Mary Fran’s mother. She commented that Poe shows that you can’t escape and Camus predicted a lot of what happened. Another favorite was Sr. Helen Prejean’s memoirs, looking back at her education and the changes made by Vatican II in our spiritual lives. While expressing disappointment in missing the annual international and interreligious Bible Week (Zoomed this year), and Berlin visits with children, Mary Fran feels the hardest part is the uncertainty of it all. When will it end? Why do such disasters hit the poorest, most disadvantage the hardest?

I don’t know how many already know this, but Jean Ganley Caputo-Williams lost her husband recently. We all send love and prayers to you, Jean.

I will close by reporting life is the same in Heritage Hunt, Gainesville, VA (my over-55 retirement place) as it was last year, only I am one year older, doing less gardening (all in pots now), more reminiscing and being continually grateful to consider you all my friends. I came across this recently: “Time is not measured by the years that we live, but by the deeds we do and the joy we give.”

On that note I will bid you adieu and pray “Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder, and your hand over my mouth.”

Kate Malone Geddes
kgeddes24@yahoo.com

Green Class of 1958

From her aerie condo in Reston, VA, Barbara McGeary Marhofer jump-starts these notes again with her poetic thoughts on “Being in a Special Place in Our Lives”.  Extolling the senses, she writes that she is “Experiencing a new sense of being.  Colors more intensely.  Beauty, composition everywhere.  Comfort from ladies locker room chatter.  Toddlers in strollers smiling easily.  Small dogs begging to be petted.  Food tasting better. This is your day!”  Her message – savor the moment!

Perfectly capturing that attitude is Sally Santen Gleason, resplendent for her one-minute walk-on role in “Aida” at the Opera Naples production in December.  She is a board member of Opera Naples, having been President of the Grand Rapids opera company for many years before Sally moved to FL.  Since moving, she has helped found a Women’s Giving Circle which now numbers 80 members, pooling their resources to aid needy agencies. The Christ Child Society is also a beneficiary of Sally’s time.

At this time in our lives, Jean Mazurek Kennedy rejoices having more time– time to text old friends like teenagers do, to take “girl trips” to bucket places, to enjoy the theatre, new and old movies and a glass of wine afterwards with girlfriends, and to read more books.  Current choices have been “The Quantum Spy”, “The Other Einstein” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Two fifth graders enjoy Jean’s time twice a week when she works on their reading skills.   Word has it Jean was seen chanting “Clean God’s house” in front of the Apostolic Chancery in DC, but not recently, as she is currently recovering from rotator cuff surgery.

 

 

They’ve moved again!  Look for Sheila Kallan Keegan in Scottsdale, AZ.  (Email me for her address.) Total landscape change for these sea lovers in October.  Now its scorpions, bobcats and rattlesnakes. “Don’t leave your garage door open”, Sheila advises, or you, too, may have a 4’ rattlesnake visit!  Remarking on the changed climate, Sheila said, “You know it’s cold there when the organ pipe cactus in a neighbor’s yard is wearing Styrofoam cup hats.”

 

Our congresswoman is moving on.  Barbara Bailey Kennelley has taught political science at Trinity for seven years, but will move back to Connecticut in June, having worked in Washington for the last 33 years.  “Having the opportunity to mold the minds of another generation of Trinity women has been an honor and a pleasure.”  She feels like it has been a two-way learning street.  Barbara and four of her students visited her congressional successor, Rep. John Larson on the Hill recently.

   Yvonne Thel Driscoll (Oradel, NJ), though retired from hands-on medicine, is voraciously reading articles about how doctors have contributed to the opiate epidemic of the ‘80s, which is growing more lethal every day.  “Pain has become a fifth vital sign,” Yvonne warned.  She and John are active in their parish.  John runs the Board of Education for the parish school, and Yvonne is a Eucharistic minister.

I need to add a new response category: “Oh, that’s funny!” Ginny Kilroy McKaig’s answer to whether we are still pursuing intellectual curiosity qualifies.  She confesses that her attempts amount to finding her car keys or her mobile phone. She was in the throes of organizing the 19th Naples, FL ’58 reunion in March. Always qualifying in the humor camp is Fran Palmison Collins, still playing tennis in Bethesda, MD and suggesting that she is occasionally at a loss for words, specific ones.  Not the Fran we know.

The Naples reunion included Ro McCrory Foley, who retired from practicing law three years ago and is now a residential realtor in Cleveland.  For 20 hours a week, she tutors Language Arts subjects at Notre Dame College in Cleveland.  According to Ro, Cleveland has a renowned system of metro parks called “The Emerald Necklace”, with walking, biking and hiking trails, encircling the entre Cleveland area, which she enjoys immensely.

Jane Locraft Head was at the Naples reunion, too.  Being with Trinity friends was tops on her list of favorite things – sharing being on their own, past memories, and of course, opinions on current happenings.  Half of the year Ruth Donovan Grady is in Naples, too!  Coincidentally, her sentiment echoes Jane’s.  “Just being with Trinity friends makes me a better person.”  Her motto:  “WWJD” (What Would Jesus do?), a consideration she learned from a priest, has been a helpful guide in making decisions.

When you think of Trinity memories, you think of singing, lots of singing!  I think of Verna Hook Siford (Hellam, PA), Nancy Jo Pyne Walker (Encinitas, CA) and Jeanne Curtis Dickson (Ocean Pines, MD).  Verna’s back at it, even climbing spiral choir loft stairs to play the organ after a knee replacement.  She still volunteers at The Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education, a non-profit, but has curtailed her gardening to tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers.  Other pursuits, knitting scarves, gloves and slippers, and reading.

With tongue in cheek, Nancy Jo reported that as the list of things wrong with her grows longer, the better she feels.  She thinks the maladies are canceling each other out.  I think it’s her can-do attitude, still singing in the parish choir, and involved in anti-war movements. As for Jeanne, when not playing bridge, she also sings in the church choir and with a community group.  Reading is still a joy.  Jeanne credits the Trinity faculty for the “ability to think for ourselves and keep close to what is true in these trying times.”

In July Barbara Glunz Donovan spent a week in the vineyards of Portugal, thanks to the hospitality of “Wines of Portugal.”  Next was “The Big Move” from her long-time house to an apartment one block from Lake Michigan and five blocks from the Glunz Establishment in Chicago.  With that under her belt, Barbara has plans to visit Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on the Black Sea in September with Lynn Pfohl Quigley.

Yes, Mary Frann Somers Heidhues, writing from Germany, did follow in Dante’s footsteps as anticipated in last year’s Journal, traveling from Florence to Ravenna and more.  She found it interesting to re-read his travelogue from hell to paradise, having read it at Trinity with Sr. Margaret.  She remarked, “While I was fascinated by his ‘hell’ as a student, I now found ‘heaven’ more intriguing.  We age.”  (I have her address and email for those interested.)

Let’s go to Egypt. Margo Ferranto Badran moves between Washington and Cairo and was in London in March for a conference on the centennial of the 1919 Egyptian Revolution which broke out when an Egyptian was prevented from participating the Paris Peace Conference.  She spoke on the women’s demonstrations and how their political activism led to the creation of the feminist movement in Egypt. She planned to be in Washington this spring.

There’s snow-tubing and there’s being 82.  Normally, never the twain shall meet, except when you’re talking about Barbara Durand Zimmerman and Cathy Russell.  They were seen doing it in MA recently.  Barbara still is the avid bridge player from “smoker days”, plus mahjong and is an occasional knitter.  When Cathy isn’t hurtling down a slope, or trekking across snowy terrain in snowshoes, she reads (recently it was Henri Nouwen’s “Prodigal Son”), contributes to food pantries, recently cooked up five lbs. of meat for a soup kitchen stew in Boston and sings in her parish choir and a choral.

In my “esoteric” question to you all, I wondered how you are passing on our blessings. Well, Margot Kennedy Walsh has been doing that for ages, running a small advocacy not-for-profit to ensure funding on local, state and federal levels for beach replenishment, including dunes and living shorelines.  Her book club just finished “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and her greatest pleasure is time with Trinity classmates!

There’s another philanthropy with a Trinity touch. Anne Ruthling Holmberg

and her late husband started a foundation in the Florida retirement community where they moved, giving qualified employees over 82 scholarships since its inception.  The result?  A bond between the employees and residents which has blossomed into a caring relationship.  On Monday nights Anne is at their rehab center, calling bingo numbers – a real challenge with players with dementia, loss of hearing and an urge to be disagreeable.  Anne’s solution?  See the humor of it all!

Over in Hobe Sound, FL, Ann Mulville Geupel is busy with The Arts Council of Jupiter Island, helping to find art for the new Town Hall.  The Council also brings a variety of artists, curators and architects to discuss their works and collections.  Annually they take art enthusiasts on a day-long bus trip to the “Art Basel” show in Miami, a world famous show which started in Switzerland.  A recent trip included a visit to the reopened Norton Museum in Palm Beach, FL.  In between you’ll find Ann on the golf course, or romping with canine friends, Patrick and Bridget.

Carrying on our noisy Green Class tradition, Janet Curran McDermott (Arlington, VA) dons green attire every year to be serenaded with “Top o’ the Morning” by her daughter’s kindergarten class (not at the unearthly hour we bombarded the sleepers!), after which they decorate and eat shamrock cookies.  One of the blessings Janet enjoys now is being able to attend daily Mass, praying for family and country.  She worries about the divisiveness and hatred spewed today.  I do like her guiding principle:  try to do small things with great love.

“Let’s keep learning!” This is Norene Kindstrand Rootare’s guiding principle.  She can usually be found in her home library, reading in Dunwoody, GA!  Not light reading, exactly.  The Summa Theologica, Part One and Part Two.  She also recommends the History Channel or any media which challenges the mind, taking time out to enjoy the beauty of nature frequently.

Terry Kelly Griffin, writing from Stowe, Vermont, gives back by mentoring a Chinese woman through a driver’s license and citizenship. She also is a weekly lector and leads the Divine Mercy Chaplet on Fridays after Mass.  She is an editor of “Painting on Light – a Restoration”, the history of Blessed Sacrament Church in Stowe and the restoration of Andre Girard’s dramatic windows and outside murals.  Girard is the 20^th century master artist known for painting on and through light where you actually see both sides.  This collection of photos of the windows and murals is a treasure for art students and available on Amazon.

Another author, Gina Pleus MacKenzie, has had such success with her book, “The Shirt on His Back”, that she has been able to send $1200 to the Franciscan Missions.  In February she went on tour with the book and in March gave three speeches and book signings.  Classmates can purchase it through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  Proceeds help the missions.  Gina continues to be active in KAIROS prison ministry in the women’s prison in Columbia, SC.  In February she had an art exhibit at the Art Academy in Hilton Head. They’re in a retirement community in Hilton Head now, but it doesn’t sound like Gina’s retired!

Helen Murphy Moran, doing “a lot of reading” in West Somerville, MA, appreciates the background in theology and philosophy that Trinity imparted, and recommends two contemporary authors:  Robert J. Spitzer, SJ, “New Proofs for the Existence of God” and Guy Cosmolmagno, “God’s Mechanics:  How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion.”

 

Marybet Lawrence Moss (Springfield, VA) would add to that reading list the biography of Cardinal Newman, “Blessed John Henry Newman.”  She was also intrigued with 17^th Century North American martyrs, among them, Isaac Jogues, and recommends “Fr. Jean de Brebeuf, Saint Among The Hurons” (Ignatius Press).  Oct. 19^th is the feast day of both saints.

Now if you were a history major, as Lou Collins McCloskey was, your focus would turn to history, specifically historical biographies. “There’s so much to learn from the past that pertains to our present time,” Lou wrote. She and Pete have been at their vacation house at Bryce, VA since Christmas, hoping for snow but entertaining family nevertheless.

Ellie Moynihan Bagley is in a French class in Ridgefield, CT and has done several knitting workshops, resulting in many sweaters, scarves and cowls for grandkids, but more importantly, she’s a reader, a 22 year member of a book club.  It used to consist of hours of book discussions and then lunch. Now, well maybe five minutes and then lunch!  It’s become a sisterhood with an intellectual connection.  Ellie’s rule of reading:  if it doesn’t capture her interest in 100 pages, move on.  “The Rent Collector” by Cameron Wright and its lovely prose is her recommendation.  She’d love to hear classmates’ recommendations.

She’s still traveling and working with educators to keep kids in school, but Judy Fornili Pauley (Potomac, MD) had a huge setback a year ago, when she fell off the stage at Olney Theatre and broke her leg.  This meant no weight on it for three months, then two more months in a cast.  The highlight of the year, however, was being honored at the American Chemical Society dinner for 60 years of service.

    Susie Black Webb, writing in Chicago, retired a few months ago just in time to take on a new role as recovery nurse for her husband who ended up in rehab after falling in the kitchen.  Lest we suspect super-zealous cleaning, Susie says her floors were not wet from her scrubbing.

Our architect classmate, Lynn Pfohl Quigley in Forest Hills, NY, has come up with a creative summary of what our lives can be like now. “Fewer pastimes, fewer friends, but that means we have to hold on to them tighter.” She suggests though we have less work and fewer responsibilities, we now have more time to enjoy our children and grandkids.  And although I know she still plays tennis, she counsels that when we can’t run as fast, it gives us more time to notice the flowers and the setting sun. We have fewer party scenes but more energy for books and telephone chats with friends.

Lynn Shea writes to thank the class for their cards, letters and thoughts.  She believes they are making a real difference in speeding her recovery.

 

It’s my turn to answer my questions to you.  What am I giving back?  Well, I will not make your response so difficult again.  I will say “tell me anything.”  Any time I hear from you is good!  I will add that Trinity friends are the best.  I am trying to forge a new life without Dave.  It’s hard.  I’m not good at it.  I don’t like lonely dinners, so I am very well versed in MSNBC topics. Playing blessings forward, here’s my Irish wish for you:

“May the dreams you hold dearest

be those which come true;

The kindness you spread

keep returning to you.’’

 

And always, “May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight.”

 

Love,

Kate Malone Geddes

Kategeddes1@yahoo.com

13217 Triple Crown Loop

Gainesville, Va. 20155

“At our age, we’ve beaten the odds. Now we play with the house money,
So enjoy THIS day, every minute, breeze, cloud, friend.
Time to breathe, laugh and see the wonders around us.”
– Barbara McGeary Marhofer

Taking my lead from Bobbie’s wonderful ode to contentment, I’ll zero in on my favorite part – taking time to laugh – to share Lynn Pfohl Quigley’s subway tale: “On a cold January day, I was getting on an ‘F’ subway train in NY, headed to my watercolor class with a large art bag and big purse. As I entered the car, four people rose, two on each side. I mumbled to myself, I thought, ‘Do I really look that old?’ Everyone laughed and as I sat down, I added, ‘Did you notice everyone offering their seat was a woman?’ The middle-aged man sitting next to me replied, ‘That’s because I was hoping to sit next to you.’ By then a whole crowd was laughing and the rest of the ride was not a typical NY one – everyone talking, laughing and wishing each other well.”

Patty Hackett Sheehan and Jack are still doing their part to keep the seniors happy, bartending at the nearby assisted living in NH, while Patty and Nancy Thompson Jackson (’54) solve the world’s problems daily during their two mile walk at the college sports center. As you might expect, a recent surgery did not keep Fran (aptly dubbed “The Franster” by her daughter) Palmison Collins off the tennis courts for long. She’s back “playing just as badly” three or four times a week. And her lament will sound familiar to many – sometimes she wonders why she came into a room.

Lots of happy news from Pauli Lariviere Geurden. She and daughter, Gigi, spent a delightful week in June in Waltham, MA, for her oldest son Rob’s wedding, followed by a satisfying 2nd place finish at the Orlando Special Olympics for Gigi’s four-girl team. Coach Pauli proudly noted that the other teams were all men or partly male.

There’s no good way to segue to the following news from Judy McAdams Cullen about the August 27, 2017, assault of Harvey on the Houston area. “Harvey flooded us out of our home, leaving behind 5.5 ft. of water inside for two weeks. We lost everything – clothing, furniture, cars, appliances, albums – 45 years of memories.” They have been staying with their daughter, Laurie, and family in Dallas, deciding whether to return to Houston or stay in Dallas.

Now to introduce you to some authors: Gina Pleus MacKenzie’s “The Shirt on His Back,” the true story about friends who escaped the Liberian civil war in 1990, was published this March (Amazon and Barnes & Noble). Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, is where we sent freed slaves in the early 1800s. Her friends became Fulbright scholars. Gina remarked that her background from the segregated south would not have predicted her embrace of these friends and this topic. Proceeds from the book will go to the Franciscan Missions.

Terry Kelly Griffin is on her church’s editorial committee, which has just published “Painting on Light – a Restoration.” It’s an account of working with the original liturgical artist, Andre Girard, and a study of Brother Dutton, who went to Molokai with St. Damien. Mary Frann Summers Heidhues, writing from her senior high-rise in Germany (which she loves), reports she has stopped writing about Indonesia and has given nearly all of her professional library to university libraries. Her bookshelves are full again, however, due to her Biblical study and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. If her proposed trip to Italy in the fall takes place, I will have a treasure-trove of news to convey. Mary Frann plans to follow in the footsteps of Dante, including reading the Divine Comedy.

Another scholar still imparting her knowledge is Sylvia Washington Ba. For the past four years she has been asked to speak to a freshman class at Catholic U in a course on DC. Initially, the topic was Brookland, but it was rapidly expanded to include some history of WDC as a southern city, from segregation to gentrification. Sylvia noted that this pursuit “has afforded me significant historical and social perspective as I reflect on our status as octogenarians in today’s disquieting world.” And right down the street, Trinity has snared our ex-congresswoman Barbara Bailey Kennelly for yet another year of “professorship” at the university.

A trip of a lifetime was in store for Mary Fran McGowan Allen last fall when she toured northwestern India. The Taj Mahal viewed morning, noon and night, the ever-present marigold welcoming necklaces, the funeral pyres and tea lights floating in the Ganges, were indelible images. At the same time, Cathy Russell joined Lynn Quigley and Barbara Glunz-Donovan in the Balkans, touring Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – “a culturally enriching experience!” Cathy was on her way to Stowe, VT, to cross-country ski this February, weather cooperating! If not, there’ll be lots of reading, playing games and talking.

You can’t get a more memorable 82nd birthday than to be invited to do the hula on stage during a luau in Kauai, HI. This is how Barbara Durand Zimmermann celebrated this March, after snorkeling in the afternoon.

It wasn’t India, the Balkans or Hawaii, but Judy Fornili Pauley has seen plenty of different scenery this year – Bethel, AK (one paved road and melting permafrost – access by boat or plane), Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, Ft. Myers, Montreal – all because she and her husband are still working with schools all over the country as process communications trainers. She calls this retirement! Yvonne Thel Driscoll has recovered from a recent fall and she now envisions more travel, figuring out how to attend three First Communions and three Confirmations this spring.

I didn’t know what LAOH was, but Amy Flanagan Burgoyne joined this year. It’s the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and she can testify she has never seen so many freckles nor heard so many brogues. There’s lots of music and dining at the local Irish Center in San Francisco. Heritage search has revealed she is 90% British and Irish. Amy, too, is in the throes of authorship, crafting a fact/fiction story about her 7th great grandfather. Oh, and she’s also joined the DAR. Actually enjoying the brogue in the “old sod” this summer were Lou Collins McCloskey, Peter and their four girls, spending 10 days in Connemara, then visiting the McCloskey home place in County Cavan. In the fall, they marveled at the futuristic displays at the World Electronics Forum in Angers, France, tempering that vision with a visit to the medieval wonders of Mont St. Michel and Chartres.

Food for thought from Sheila Kallan Keegan from Bainbridge Island, where she’s doing lots of reading and watercolor painting. “Glad to have grown up in a simpler time. Although I love the ease of staying connected, I find the divisive tone of much news and a lot of social media disconcerting. Small moments and quiet endeavors are the best.” Echoing that sentiment is Janet Curran McDermott: “The most important thing I have learned is to be kind, loving and thoughtful to everyone you meet. A smile and ‘God bless you’ go a long way in making someone’s day.” She enjoys singing with the 250-member Encore Chorale for seniors, which gave a well-received free concert at the Kennedy Center in December.

“Thanks be to God and the dear Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for the privilege of our Trinity education,” wrote Marybet Lawrence Moss from Springfield, VA, hoping that we will be “steadfast in the faith through these elder years.” Finding joy in their family and friends and their one-level condo in Poughkeepsie, NY, Barbara Schlaich Masciale summarized it beautifully when she wrote: “The nicest place to be is in someone’s thoughts. The safest place to be is in someone’s prayers, but the best place to be in the hands of the Lord.”

Let’s go to the ocean now. According to Neen Haggerty Llewellyn, “the best days are jumping into the waves with the 4th generation” – yes, three great-grandchildren. She and Luke are on the board of the Shipman Mansion in NJ, where she as a docent and Luke a tour guide, plus they are social members of the Red Dragon Canoe and Sailing Club, which owns the mansion.

Jean Mazurek Kennedy posed a “do you remember” list from our college years: streetcars, iceboxes, cigarettes, shift cars – juxtaposed against today’s jets, internet and iPhones, etc., marveling what might be in store the next 80 years. To celebrate her 80th she enjoyed trips to Bermuda and Barcelona/Bilboa. At home Jean delights in one-on-one reading to aid failing 5th and 6th graders, lots of golf and chairing the landscape committee of her 75 unit townhome community.

Did you know that Welsh names don’t like vowels? Norene Kindstrand Rootareeducated me on that when I asked about a new grandson’s name – “Rhys,” as in “Reece.” Another piece of news from Norene is that she’s acquired a second residence in Dunnellon, FL, “one of the coolest towns in the US, the bass fishing capital of North America.” I followed up on that lead, and no, she doesn’t fish, but it’s still a cool place. In counting her blessings, Sue McGrath Dunn ranked having all their children and grandchildren in the Minneapolis area as tops. They do escape, though, when the wintry blasts are imminent, so they enjoyed a January Caribbean cruise and then a trip to Oceanside, CA, missing MN’s biggest snowfall of the season.Lest you have any doubt, Verna Hook Siford is still singing and playing the organ every Sunday in York, PA. She’s still gardening, too, although she said it will be smaller this year, but will still include Charlie’s favorite heirloom tomatoes – Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter and Cherokee Purple. At the same, time she will continue volunteering at the Horn Farm Agricultural Center. It’s no surprise to hear Nancy Jo Pyne Walker is anchoring the altos in her St. Elizabeth Church choir in Northern San Diego where she has been living with her daughter and family for 12 years. Another indefatigable advocate is Margo Kennedy Walsh. She continues her work as an advocate for shore protection and preservation. This has turned into a lifetime commitment with the Jersey Shore Partnership – “Sand on the Beach People.” Margot is still in Little Silver and Jean Kennedy O’Brien is in an assisted living center in Spring Lake.

As we know, there’s a good life in Naples, FL, too. Just ask Sally Santen Gleason. They moved to a senior living community nearby – “new friends and old friends, golf, bridge, some volunteer activities and very little cooking! And no snow!!!” Ginny Kilroy McKaig can second all that, admitting that “it takes a little longer to accomplish certain things … such as a good round of golf or learning Mah Jong!” There’s a condo in Naples with a decidedly Trinity flavor, too. That’s because Nancy Welch Ryan is renting an apartment there after selling her villa and Jean Ganley Caputo Williams is a neighbor. Nancy still supports My Brothers Table and has enlisted four grandkids, as well. Ann Mulville Geupel reports from Hobe Sound, FL. She visits with Pat Doyle Pryles and Cathy Crotty Higgins while she’s there.

Jean Volpe Rotondi’s Naples condo is also for sale; she plans to look for a Boston area apartment, but her heart’s in Paris, so she will be keeping the apartment where she spent two month this December. Daughter Joy teaches in France and they rented a house with a big fireplace in the deep countryside south of the Loire for Christmas week, visiting the tallest chateau in France. Finally, my Facebook browsing has revealed that Jeanne McQuillen Galego, roommate Sheila Stevinson Dockery and their husbands have enjoyed getting together annually for almost sixty years.

How about ending with something mouth-watering? Barbara Glunz-Donovan has been running her family’s 130 year old Chicago wine and liquor store for many years and added The Glunz Tavern five years ago. I will quote the rest of it: “Since joining the salaried workforce in 1977, my fellow employees have always been at least one generation younger. My age was a secret. In August, I admitted to 80 with a gathering of 60 family and friends for a wonderful four course dinner with Rose Champagne, Vosne Romanee Burgundy and Austrian dessert Riesling at the Glunz Tavern. Entrée was Mennonite Chicken from the Watergate of our college years.” She still presides over the “House of Glunz” every day. Susie Black Webb, also in Chicago, sent me a suggestion I feel compelled to follow as I send these notes on: “Sit back now, put up your feet and have a glass of wine.”

Life has shadows as well as sunshine, so it is with great sadness I report the deaths of my husband, Dave; Jean Rotondi’s husband, Roger; Jane Locraft Head’s husband, Dan; and our classmate, Genevieve Leonard Lynch. And a one-minute vignette from Gen’s Memorial Mass at St. Peter’s in DC in February: Setting – church vestibule. Discussion – misplacing glasses. Participants – Jean Kennedy, Barbara Kennelly, Janet McDermott and me. Solution – wear them on a cord around your neck. Response – Barbara (“I have five cords. Never use them”); Jean (“Me, too.”); Kate (“Mine’s hanging on my bulletin board.”) Consensus – makes us look old. Forget it.

Joan McIntee, handling response duties for Lynn Shea, reports that Lynn’s sense of humor is intact and she thanks everyone from ’58 for their warm and caring thoughts. Joan tossed out this upbeat couplet she heard from a 91-year-old friend: “Everything comes to pass. Nothing comes to stay” and remarked, “Sounds good to me!” Sending a warm hello to our other house-bound classmates, Rafi Valdez Echeverria, Nancy Britt Juliano and Pam Connolly Bartlett, I’ll close with this Irish toast:

“May God grant you many years to live, for sure He must be knowing
The earth has angels all too few and heaven is overflowing.”

And one more shot of humor: “As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.”

Kate Malone Geddes
kategeddes1@yahoo.com

Rumor has it that most of us are turning 80 this year, but you wouldn’t believe it from the ambitious itineraries – Dubai, Barcelona, Alaska, Angola, the Dalmation Coast, Rome, Paris, Singapore and Connemara!

How many can say they have visited 100 countries?  Gina Pleus MacKenzie and Bob reached that goal last November, when they met with other Secular Franciscans on the west coast of Africa.  Gina was amazed to learn Angola is 60% Catholic.  Back home she participates in KAIROS prison ministry, a life-changing experience.  All this news came in a photo card of her exquisite, award-winning Taj Mahal quilt, adorned with beads, braid, fabric paint and crystals.

A cruise with a “pirate drill?”  Jane Locraft Head and Dan can brag about experiencing that as they cruised on the Red Sea past Somalia, on their way from Dubai to Barcelona.  No pirates were sighted!  Jane expressed the recurrent theme in all your responses, gratitude for good health, friends and family.

The fragrance of warm French bread almost came wafting through Jean Volpe Rotondi’s email.  She and Roger spend six months every year in their Paris apartment, filling their days with jazz clubs and language exchange, volunteer visits with long-term surgical patients in Les Invalides, and daily trips to the bakery two doors away.  The other half of the year they are in Naples enjoying Trinity friends, concerts, plays, restaurants and heavenly weather.

Mary Frann Somers Heidhues lives in Gottingen, Germany, but was invited to Singapore again this past November to give a lecture.  In June she spoke in Leiden about the Chinese in Indonesia.  She admits it’s nice to feel she is still in demand.  She also fits in time with a Syrian refugee grandmother to practice German with her, helping her acclimate.

The Connemara news was from Louise (Lou) Collins McCloskey.  She and Pete flew to Ireland in July to visit three granddaughters who were spending the summer there, biking to their jobs!  They hosted their 16 year old grandson from Alaska this past year, so he could attend Gonzaga High School, and were initiated into today’s teens’ busy lives.

She says she’s going to retire, but Margot Kennedy Walsh is still Executive Director of the Jersey Shore Partnership, an advocacy group for ensuring funding from federal and state sources for beach protection. She still lives five miles from the beach. Jean Kennedy O’Brien lives an hour away in a retirement community. Margot was headed to Rome in November for the Pope’s Jubilee year.

Marjorie (Mimi) Argo Buss and Dick are the Dalmatian Coast travelers next year.  At the moment, when not engrossed in genealogy, Mimi relishes the special moments around Annapolis, spotting a blue heron or baby ducks, the gorgeous sunsets and rainbows, and a new bundle of energy, puppy Zoe.

Barbara Bailey Kennelly celebrated her birthday on the Danube, but was back in time to participate as a delegate for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic convention in July.   And that’s the international roundup, so now we will trek up to a small lake in the mountains of New Hampshire where Patricia (Patty) Hackett Sheehan and Jack have lived since 2001, on Checkerberry Lane.  Besides entertaining their families, winter and summer, they volunteer for their lake association, church and, as good Irish-blooded people, bartend at the pub in an assisted living facility!

The 80^th birthday celebration got off to a rousing start for Anne Harkins Holmberg at her half-century old, bi-annual family reunion in the Catskill Mountains with 34 family members.  A year ago she and Bill started a foundation to distribute scholarships to the employees at their Florida retirement community and this year they were able to award 18 scholarships, totaling $61,000.  Now they are involved in the first non-partisan political forum at the community to discuss severe river pollution.

Philanthropy is the driving force in Karen Bucy Wasik-Saunders activities.  After serving the last two years as the Treasurer for the Maryland Federation of Women’s Clubs (a member of the International Federation), she has been elected First Vice President.  Since the 1990s Karen has been actively involved in women’s clubs in the USA and abroad to combat domestic violence and “be God’s hands here on earth.”

Another unique birthday celebration:  a hay wagon ride up to a mountain cabin in Vail for a gourmet birthday dinner.  Sally Santen Gleason, Tom and their five year old grandson enjoyed that, while the rest of the family met them at the restaurant on horseback.  They sold their beach condo and moved into a new senior living development on the grounds of their club in Florida, but still spend summers in Michigan and Colorado.  A river cruise in Portugal was on the horizon in September.  Sally had lunch with Margaret Rose (Ro) McCrory Foley in Vail when Ro was in the area visiting two daughters to celebrate her July birthday.  From her email it looks like Ro is a realtor in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

The “cursive award” goes to Theresa (Terry) Kelly Griffin in New Hampshire whose beautiful penmanship told of admiring swooping bluebirds, finches and butterflies from her deck on a quiet Sunday morning while Gerry plays cool recordings through open doors.   A highlight this year was seeing Fr. Gonzalez and Fr. O’Donovan from Trinity days at Gerry’s 60^th Georgetown reunion, plus their first cruise to the Bahamas.  The DC visit included touring the “fantastic” St. John Paul II Cultural Center and Trinity’s newest building (“impressive”).  “I did note that the St. Patrick statute still has two left feet!”  Her sad notes were of the deaths of two of her brothers-in law.

Visiting family has been easy for Judy McAdams Cullen, as all 24 of them live in Texas, but DC may be seeing more of Judy after 2017 when one of their grandson attends GU on a lacrosse scholarship!  Wryly, Jeanne Curtis Dickson remarked that it had taken her two weeks to decide she had no updates, but applauded Trinity’s current efforts to enrich the lives of young men and women who otherwise might not have the opportunity to grow.  “Sr. Julia has to be pleased!”

Eleanor (Ellie) Moynihan Bagley had yet to have an 80^th birthday, but did remark that “no news” is “good news” these days.   Cathy Crotty Higgins isn’t 80 yet either, and her explanation for being with the “big kids” is that the nuns started a girls’ school and were desperate for bodies in first grade.  The only requirement was that you had to be taller than the desks!

Judith (Judy) Fornilli Pauley and Joe are officially retired, but they keep getting calls from former clients asking them to run seminars focusing on dropout prevention.  They fly SW Airlines so much that Judy is flying free on a companion pass for the 9^th year in a row.  In between they spend time at their cottage in Michigan, walking for an hour every day.

What do two knee replacements do for you?  For Barbara Durand Zimmermann it meant dancing with 11 of her 13 grandchildren to “oldies” at “a great birthday party!”    The exhausted coach of the Special Olympics bowling team, Paulette (Pauli) Lariviere Geurden, isn’t blaming the coaching chores.  It was all the walking she did in Orlando with Gigi to see the sights.  Her trophy, blue crystal Mickey Mouse earrings!  Pauli is officially retired from H&R Block now.

Now a little history lesson.  Sue Cherry Foote lives in Washington Crossing, PA over the Delaware River bridge from New Jersey.  Yes, the place where George crossed, and so, according to Sue, he actually slept there!  She takes Tai Chi twice a week and has become a big Elvis fan after seeing an impersonator two years ago.  Do you remember her running through 4^th North singing “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You” in 1956?

What gives you joy?  For Jean Ganley Caputo-Williams it’s a second copy of coffee while reading the Globe, doing the Sudoku, bridge and crossword puzzles, taking a walk before lunch, maybe afternoon golf with the grandkids and dinner with family or friends.  Alice Levangie McIntyre eagerly anticipates the two winter months in Siesta Key, FL every year where one of their sons owns a home.  She and Jack recently moved from Ashburn, VA to McLean to be closer to two of their children and they are now in the same parish as one of their daughters.

She feels like she’s “died and gone to heaven” since Tycie Shea suggested “Meals on Wheels”, but Ann Titterton Keen is still in Sarasota, enjoying independent living, including being mistress of the TV volume and room temperature.  Cathleen (Cathy) Russell’s specific point of joy was the night after her cataract surgery when she could read easily again, while Janet Curran McDermott relished the beach week with 17 family members, including her  dear husband, celebrating her birthday.

For Verna Hook Siford it’s tending her flower and vegetable garden, playing the organ at Mass weekly and accompanying the cantor and choir in season. Then there are her kind neighbors with whom she enjoys a glass of wine sitting down at the creek.  She’s glad she drags herself to “Silver and Fit” three times a week, because of the male characters telling jokes.  Maybe the thought that Barbara Schlaich Masciale sent me summarizes it most aptly – “Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want; it is the realization of how much you already have.”  Barbara has soldiered through some serious medical issues this past winter and spring, but finds great pleasure in their new community in Poughkeepsie, with its interesting mix of people.

Lucky Yvonne Thel Driscoll  saw “Hamilton” in NYC in May with two of their daughters and can attest that “it is spell-binding – the high energy, staging and music.”  June saw the whole family in Martha’s Vineyard, and also produced birthday calls from Joan McIntee, Liz Booz Mauser and Tycie Shea.

My faithful “humorist at large”, Sheila Kallan Keegan, has exchanged her serene mountain view on Hood Canal for the busy waterways and ferry crossings on Bainbridge Island, seven minutes from daughter, Kathy.  In the downsizing experience, Sheila utilized the tidying up tips from Marie Kondo’s book by consolidating like items – and discovered 25 packs of dental floss.  She still finds time to exercise and create watercolors.  Their summer had a sorrowful note, however, with the death of their daughter Beth’s husband in June in Evanston.

Suzanne (Sue) McGrath Dunn, too, joined the chorus of classmates grateful for health, faith, family and friends.  My senior year roommate, Pamela (Pam) Connelly Bartlett, has been courageously straight-forward in acknowledging the onset of Alzheimer’s.  She moved to a senior housing in Avon, CT this year, and has been lobbying for a bus to take the residents to various venues for a change of scenery.

Nancy Welch Ryan has had a difficult year with the death of her youngest and remaining brother, then back surgery, followed six weeks later by the sudden death of her husband, Joe, in October.   She and Jean Ganley Caputo-Williams attended the wake and funeral of Joan Wargo Schroder May 29 in DeWitt, NY.    They said Joan’s nine children had a beautiful ceremony and remarked how much Joan had loved her Trinity friends.

That Trinity love was so well expressed when Helen Murphy Moran’s husband, Francis, died this July.  Helen writes “I want the class to know of the wonderful and generous help from Cathy Russell before, during and after the funeral.  Such a friend makes it so much easier to carry on.”

Leave it to creative Barbara (Bobbie) McGeary Marhofer to come up with a magical image to close these notes.  She and Joe live on the sixth floor of a condo in Reston, VA, 20 miles west of Trinity.  They often sit on their balcony looking at the sky, so they joined the Cloud Appreciation Society, founded in 2005 in the UK (more than 40,000 members in 165 countries).  Membership entitles you to a pocket-sized cloud-identifying wheel, and a daily email “Cloud-A-Day.”   One week included towering cumulus with a verse by Percy Shelly, an ominous storm front over North Dakota with baseball-sized hail and a vivid blue outflow, and a Van Gogh painting showing a lenticularis cloud.

Happy Birthday everyone, current and future octogenarians!  May God bless us all!

Kate Malone Geddes