Class of 1972

It has been wonderful to hear from our classmates, especially after our 45th Reunion last year!

Margaret Fisher is too busy to think about retiring. She recently launched a statewide Civic Learning Initiative with the goal of providing quality civic learning to all young people in WA. Margaret continues to teach street law at the Seattle University School of Law, to run a youth court in Seattle, and to teach professional development in civic education for teachers at the federal court. Except for some arthritis in her right knee, her health is pretty good. She keeps in touch with Jane Friedmann.

Barbara Mauriello writes that “life continues to surprise me!” Last fall she joined the faculty of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia teaching bookbinding in the MFA Printmaking and Book Arts program. She loves everything about this class, including her students, and looks forward to her weekly train ride to Philly. In the summer, Barbara will have another teaching adventure: an Italian artist has invited her to teach a group of women in northern Italy, who for decades, have been gathering on Tuesdays – to embroider! Barbara will teach them how to make simple books with interesting sewing techniques, and they will teach her how to embroider. They also plan to teach her how to prepare the specialty dishes of their region. As Barbara said: life is surprising!

Patricia Kenny-Priest writes that she continues to work at the Census Bureau and her husband Dan is still an employee of the state of VA. Two or three times a year they visit Pat’s son Eric Oberlander in Baton Rouge. A neurosurgeon, Eric and his wife Carrie have two children, Kai (8) and Wren (5). Pat and Dan’s daughter Danica is at a coding camp in Bali called CodingNomads. Danica plans to balance her love of music with computer skills.

Fran Tolson writes that she had lunch with Kitty Bowe Hearty in Philadelphia when she visited the Barnes Foundation and the Rodin Museum, and we’ve had lunch a couple of times in Georgetown. Fran has traveled to Cheyenne, WY, for Frontier Day and to New York City for great food and cultural events. She has a new job in Denver. Fran has been working on the list of contact information for our class and will be getting that out in the next few weeks, so we hope there will be more of us at our 50th Reunion. On a sad note, Fran lost her sister Yvonne, Class of 1959, in January.

Vikki Bea is continuing to enjoy retirement, working part time as a math instructor at her local Mathnasium, and volunteering at her church and with Catholic Charities. With her husband Keith, Vikki will travel to Mexico later this month to visit their daughter and her husband, who are posted to the US Consulate in Merida for two years. Vikki has never been to Mexico, and she is very excited about their trip!

So, this is the year of our 50th high school reunions (Class of 1968). Because most of us were born in 1950 and were 18 years old when we graduated high school, 50 years later means “The Class of 1968 Turns 68,” and four years after that (because we were 22 when we graduated from college), “The Trinity Class of 1972 Turns 72.” This appeals to Vikki’s “math nerd” sense, but it is fun to think about it!

Ginny Voorhees wrote that she loved our Reunion last year. We all were so comfortable and happy together. Maybe one of the good parts of aging is that you learn to really appreciate your longtime friends. Ginny hopes everyone makes it to our 50th! This has been a very good year for Ginny. One of her daughters got married and is expecting! The other one lives in San Francisco, and Ginny and her husband have had wonderful visits with her there. Ginny had dinner with Kathy O’Malley Ross and her husband Don when they went to FL. Ginny shares news of our classmate Madelyn Reiss Peeler who has two new grandbabies: Charlie, who lives in CA, and Reiss, who lives on Capitol Hill.

Jill Ailleo writes that it was wonderful to see everyone at our Reunion. She and her husband Bob are enjoying their home in FL and they are very happy to miss all the snow back in CT. They will head back to CT in May to see their grandkids: Jack (8), who will be making his First Communion, Nick who will celebrate his 6th birthday, and Will (2 ½), who “just loves life!” Their daughter, Amanda, graduated from Emory University in December with a master’s degree in nursing. She is now a nurse practitioner in Atlanta and got engaged on St. Patrick’s Day – they are all so happy! Jill and Bob are planning a river cruise on the Danube this summer.

Kathy O’Malley Ross writes that she and Don are enjoying the winter months in Jupiter, FL. They “are typical Snowbirds,” escaping the cold in Westhampton, NY, and enjoying golf and the beach in sunny FL. Their family is doing well. They have been blessed with eight granddaughters, one grandson and another grandbaby due in September. Both Kathy and Don enjoyed our Reunion last June.

Sue Docktor wrote to say that on a recent trip to DC, she and Barbara York went to Cynthia Lancer Barnes’ mother’s funeral. Mary Ann Taylor Guentner and her husband, Ken, were also at the funeral. Sue and Barbara also came over to the Tombs in Georgetown to have lunch with me, which was a ton of fun and super yummy!

Marian Bo Ward wrote that the new tax law prompted her to retire. She misses her clients very much. Living in her new house on the river prompts more reading, not fishing as some friends thought!

Kitty Bowe Hearty writes that she continues to work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the executive offices and that her husband Charlie Stainback is the director of the Berman Museum at Ursinus College. They have been living in Philadelphia for five years now and it “definitely feels like home.” A recent high point was the Eagles winning the Super Bowl with part of their celebration occurring on the east steps of the Museum. Kitty Bowe went to London with her sister in January and they were able to see the play “Hamilton” which “was a blast.” Kitty Bowe saw Jane Hughes Paulson over President’s Day weekend in Los Angeles, and she is looking forward to both her niece Alyssa’s First Communion in April and her 50th high school reunion in May.

On a sad note, Betsy Keyes Scrivener wrote to say that her husband passed away after a long illness. Betsy takes comfort in the fact that her husband is now without pain and watching over her and their family from heaven.

I am still a librarian with a special collection in bioethics at Georgetown University, and I don’t know when I’ll retire. I enjoy answering reference requests very much, and there is an archival project that needs a ton of work.

I hope that you all are planning on coming to our 50th Reunion! We had a lot of fun at our 45th Reunion, and the only thing that could make it better would be if the entire class attended.

Tina Darragh
Class Scribe, Trinity Class of 1972

It was suggested by the TC Alumnae Office that we discuss a topic in addition to catching everyone up on the past year’s events. I asked for thoughts on retirement—good, bad and indifferent—since this is the year we get our Medicare cards!  I want to thank everyone who took the time to write.  I’m not being facetious when I say that I learned a lot from your responses.

Laura Kress wrote that after a major stint in the hospital and rehab she adjusting to her “new normal” life.  Physical therapy has helped her to start walking again, but any activity is severely limited.  Her doctors have told her that the reason for her problems with oxygen utilization is that genetically she’s a Viking, probably the shortest Viking in history.  Laura’s views on retirement are socioeconomic—you can tell she’s a Trinity grad!  As the “sandwich generation” many of us are involved with caring for both parents and grandchildren and retirement money is going for these duties.  But on the plus side, Medicare is “the bomb.”  Along with the supplemental insurance designed for catastrophic illness, Medicare has taken care of her medical costs and Laura “thanks God for Medicare everyday.”

Barbara York is thinking of retiring in two more years…!  For now, she continues with “work, more work and more work” at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.   She has asked all her friends who have retired for their best advice.  Here is her summary:

1. Have a plan before you retire;
2. Enjoy the time and space—don’t get hung up on the “to do” list;
3. That said, have a “to do” list but make it flexible without hard deadlines;
4. Set a schedule for the week—for exercise, hobbies and social get-togethers; and
5. Plan to learn something new, but avoid deadlines and stress.

Having retired from the Fairfax County Public School System last summer, Vikki Zegel Bea shared her thoughts on her first year of retirement.  Other teachers had told her “you’ll know” when the time is right, and Vikki confirms their wisdom.  As with many who have retired, she is busier than ever volunteering for Catholic Charities, her parish food bank, and a local performing arts school where she teaches math. Vikki also has a part time job teaching with Mathnasium, a private, after school tutoring program. She works with five to 18 year-olds to develop skills from fractions to advanced algebra—but she lets other teachers teach calculus since “ I haven’t taken a calculus class since 1968-69 with Dr, Varnhorn!”  Vikki recommends balancing volunteerism with a part-time paid job so that when additional hours are requested by either one you can honestly respond that you’re already busy.  Another plus for retirement is the ability to travel freely, and with four children that’s a plus.  Their son Christopher lives and works in Richmond; Celeste has returned after a year of travel nursing to Children’s National Medical Center in DC as a pediatric nurse; Claire and her husband Zach are still enjoying life in Europe from their post in Warsaw; and Carolyn is a licensed massage therapist in California.  Vikki and her husband Keith plan to spend Christmas in Warsaw with Claire and Zach.

Marian Bo Ely Ward has taken the first step toward retirement by buying a dream retirement home on the White River in Indianapolis. It was a stroke of great luck to find it because houses on the White River rarely are on the market.  It’s a “fixer upper” but Marian figures that with three years until retirement they should be able to get it in good shape in time to relax by the water.  Marian and her husband came to Old Town Alexandria last summer to attend the joint burial at Arlington Cemetery of Marilyn Brazier’s parents and to visit the new retirement home where Marilyn and her husband have moved.  Marian’s father passed awayJanuary 2015 “…he went the way he wanted, when he wanted, at home, with all his marbles, and socially active until the end!!”

While in a “career transition,” Fran Tolson feels that she receives “… so much from volunteer activities” and imagines retirement as a time when our generation will step up and save the world!  She is taking time to relax by going to the National Gallery of Art and dog sitting in Lewes, Delaware. The future feels open and expansive: “ ‘[a]lthough I’ve spent my entire life in the DC area, I don’t feel as rooted here as I once did. So maybe retirement will be time to finally leave ‘home.’ “

Allan and Lynne McIntyre Zebrowski continue to enjoy retirement.  Both are involved with their parish, St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park, MD, where they sing with the church choir as well as with the special Resurrection Choir for funerals. Lynne serves as a cantor for choir masses and for some of the funeral masses—a paid position—plus acts as a monthly Lector and often sings at weddings. Performing at the weddings of former students is really a lot of fun!  She traveled to Dayton, OH, GA, NC, Venice and Lake Worth in Florida.  They have a Pops Subscription to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and are “HUGE Orioles fans going to about 2 dozen games each year.Their oldest son Steven lives in San Jose, CA, where he is a Systems Administrator for NetFlix. They see him at Christmas, during summer vacation, and on Opening Day for the O’s. Their son Rob and his wife Caroline live close by in Columbia, MD. Rob works to ensure that all the digital books for the blind at the Library of Congress are top notch, and their daughter-in-law Caroline is a Media Specialist at two elementary schools in Howard County. Their youngest son Mark and his wife Jana live in New Haven, CT, where Jana is in a five-year doctoral program in Paleontology and Mark is working for the Dean of the Medical School at Quinnipiac University in CT.

Mimi Loferski Fleury continues to work as president and co-founder of the Community of Concern—an educational organization founded in 1999 to help parents, students, schools and other community programs keep young people drug and alcohol-free. Along with co-founder Dr. Jim Power, a former headmaster at Georgetown Preparatory School, Mimi has written a booklet “A Parent’s Guide for the Prevention of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use”. Over two million copies are used for programs in 36 states and four countries.  The website for their program is: www.thecommunityofconcern.org.  Over the year Mimi has seen Megan Murphy, Lynne McGowan Wheat and Kathy O’Malley Ross.  All are well and “…look fabulous as the Class of ’72 approaches 65.”  Mimi and her husband Al have three sons and one granddaughter.

After Patricia Teufel retired from KPMG in December 2010, she accepted a three year term as President and Chairman of the Board for the Casualty Actuarial Society, a professional organization.  She also became an independent consultant and began teaching as an adjunct professor in math/actuarial science at the University of Connecticut.  Pat is involved in a number of philanthropic efforts including projects for the Archdiocese of Hartford and the Actuarial Foundation.  She and her husband Tom are reverse-snowbirds.  They spend summers in Florida at their second home, and as teachers endure the winters up north. Tom teaches middle school at St. Timothy Middle School. Their daughter Rachel graduated in June with an MS in Nutrition/Dietetics from Drexel University and will be doing her residency at Yale New Haven Hospital.  Their other daughter Sarah is working toward a Masters Degree in International Studies at Lesley University and has accepted a full-time position at Lasell College in MA in the International Studies department.

Brook and Mary Ann Brennan Newcomb are still working but are heading toward more part-time schedules. Mary Ann is “LOVING being a grandmother—five grandsons who are three and under…when they are all in residence it is ‘marvelous mayhem!’” Kathleen Hallahan Zeifang was about to come for a visit, and Mary Ann hopes to see more Trinity friends.

Trish Ely Dunn thinks about retirement all the time but is going about it gradually by cutting back to just over 30 hours per week. As the office manager/bookkeeper, Trish can schedule things so that she can go to dance or water aerobics, to Book Club and Garden Club—even to the range for shooting sporting clays (I had to look that up!)  The drawback to working is that she misses doing things like fishing with her husband Chip.  They continue to love living on Sugarloaf Mountain and to enjoy going to the Kennedy Center (only a 45 minute drive!) where they saw “The Book of Mormon” and “Once.”

Patricia Kenny Priest admits that she’s afraid to retire from her job at the Census Bureau—it is good for the mind—and was the only classmate to mention that she’ll start collecting Social Security benefits next year in addition to a paycheck.  Her children both live far away—Eric Oberlander is a neurosurgeon in Baton Rouge where he lives with wife Carrie and sons Kai and Wren, and Danica is a student in London.  Patricia continues to love gardening, swimming, reading, and jazzercising.

Pinkie Truitt Farrar retired from Verizon in 2009, earlier than she’d hoped, and gradually adjusted to not going to work everyday. Pinkie briefly worked at a local community college, but decided that she would rather have the freedom to be with her husband, exercise, read, and keep in touch with family and friends.

Jennifer Bruno Terry retired after 30 years in banking and “…doesn’t miss working at all!” For 10—15 hours a month Jennifer works as a bank consultant, but most of her time is spent traveling, exercising, sleeping, and spending more time with her four grandchildren and 94 year-old mother.

As an artist, teacher, and proprietor of a hand bookbinding business, Barbara Mauriello was used to accepting most jobs that came her way. Now her version of retirement is  saying “no” to dull-sounding projects, and concentrating on collaborations with writers and visual artists whose work she admires.  She is also focusing on her own art work. Barbara spent the month of April in a beautiful small town in Colombia, teaching and setting up a production studio to create handmade books. At the end of her stay she didn’t want to leave the incredibly loving community that had embraced her. Barbara is hoping for more life-changing events in the years ahead.

Another artist classmate is Kathleen Hallahan Zeifang.  After losing both her parents and her husband, she started putting a lot more time into her painting and she travels with artist groups to beautiful and/or exotic destinations. After moving to Chevy Chase, Maryland, Kathleen became Vice President for Development at Trinity.

Life is both hectic and loads of fun at Madeleine Leveille’s household.  When Madeleine retired from her school psychologist position three years ago, she joined her husband’s forensic psychology practice and became the associate director of the Kelly-Connolly Longitudinal Study of Marriage and Personality.  Madeleine and her husband also have been doing a lot of traveling: they spent three weeks in the wild, rarely visited parts of Patagonia in Argentina, took trips to Thailand, Myanmar, and the several countries that once made up Yugoslavia.  They were looking forward to celebrating the 102 birthday of her mother who regularly trounces Madeleine in Scrabble.  Her mother is an example of their research finding that the personality trait of persistence is predictive of a long life.

Mary Curry Narayan started a Nursing Ph.D. program at George Mason University a couple of years ago to study professionalism in the practice of home health nursing.  For her, the program is about continuing to learn (and showing off to her three engineer sons!) and is part of her Alzheimer’s Prevention Program along with exercise, red wine, dark chocolate, and studying Spanish.  Her husband’s retirement and the addition of a grandchild may alter the time frame for her studies.

Beth Nelson also thinks of employment as Alzheimer’s Prevention Therapy as the celebration of her Medicare birthday proved to be a bit shocking.  Beth ran a half marathon last June to prove that being 65 is just fine.  She and her husband Will continue to live in Chatham, NJ. Their children Julia and James live in Hoboken (as do 10,000 of their friends) and work in New York City. Their son Ben is a senior at Wesleyan. Beth has been in touch with Ann Marie Curran Wheeler and Ellen Capro Vannucci, and visited with Brian and Katie O’Connell Harkins last fall when she was on a family trip to Washington, DC.

When a reorganization at work resulted in Elizabeth Cating being unemployed, she decided to fulfill a long time dream and go into business for herself.  She started with a snack company called Muffin Ma’am which morphed, with the help of the local SBDC (Small Business Development Center—had to look that up!), into Elizabeth M Cating, LLC dba (Doing Business As—had to look that up, too!) The Blue Ridge Snack Company.  Elizabeth produces roasted almonds and granola at home in her USDA certified kitchen. “So at the age of 65 I am having a blast and have no intention of slowing down until I’m over 70 when I hope to either sell my company or manage it from the beach.”

Late breaking news from Marilyn Newhouse—she has a new grandson, Zachery! All are happy about the wonderful addition to the family.

I have enjoyed reading everyone’s take on retirement.  It was like sitting around in Alumnae Hall after dinner talking about classes with retirement being a class “writ large.” For my part, I’ve been trying to have a social life no matter how busy things become. I make sure to have lunch with friends as frequently as possible, and have had lovely meals with Fran Tolson and Marilyn Newhouse.  I also went to a memorial service at Georgetown Law Center to hear Margaret Fisher, who flew in from Seattle, and gave a eulogy for her close friend and colleague Ed O’Brien who started the Street Law Project that Margaret has helped to implement not only here in the U.S. but in South Africa as well.

Several people have asked me to remind them how they can contribute to our class fund to help with reunion expenses and to pay for Masses for our deceased classmates. You can send contributions to the Alumnae Association of Trinity University, 125 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20017.  The check should be made payable to the AATC Class of 1972.  We have almost $1,000 in the account.  Here is the class funds listing

Thanks to all for writing!

Tina Darragh