1940s

Class of ‘41

Myldred (Mitzi) Sones Ehrhardt writes, “At eighty-four, my life has slowed down. My husband is homebound and takes a lot of care. I’m still playing tennis three times a week.”

Class of ‘47

Polly Huggan Tripp still claims Florida as her home but is planning on moving to California soon. “All four kids, grandchildren and one great grandchild are fine. Would love to hear from anyone in the ‘47 class or others.”

1950s

Class of ‘51

Ruth Barnes Moynihan’s oldest grandchild, Heather Lisle, graduated in Earth Sciences and Physics and as a Presidential Scholar Athlete from Dartmouth ‘07. Her three grandchildren are entering college in the fall of ‘07-Amherst, Hamilton, and William and Mary.  Her other fourteen grandchildren are thriving and achieving. “Me? Second hip replacement coming up, also cataract surgery.  But I’m still kicking!” Adele Olmstead Sullivan celebrated her 50th year anniversary as an alumna of Connecticut College in 2006. “In February 2007, husband Dan and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. On September 29, 2007, our youngest child, Andrea Sullivan, married Randal Burbage.”

Gwyneth Campbell Seay writes that her second grandson, Joel Appleby, was born on May 12, joining his brother, Evan, in her daughter Pam and son-in-law Matt Appleby’s family. Gwyneth’s other daughter, Cynthia, is working on an A.A. in the technical side of the media industry. Cynthia’s daughter, Miriam, is four and a half years old.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Moore Schumann retired from teaching (7 & 8th grades). Her husband, Dave, also retired from the US Forest Service. Their son John Romadka and wife Karen live nearby in Madison with Jocelyn, age two. Their son Derek and wife Michele are in Providence, RI with Eli (3) and Simon (4 months). Their daughter, Martha, is in Silver City, NM, working as a representative of The Nature Conservancy. “We currently have our cabin on Detroit Island for sale, and then who knows what our next great adventure will be? We love peace and quiet and the outdoors, so it will surely be in that direction.” Betsy compiled a Class of ’57 newsletter with the following news about her classmates:

Sarah Louise Clayton is a psychotherapist at Psych Care Associates in Ludlow, MA. Travel took her to Peru last year, camping in Kenya two years ago, and three weeks in China in 2000. Next year, she plans on going to India. Her oldest son is married and is a lawyer who lives in Warsaw, Poland. They have a one-year-old son named Chris. Her second son has his Masters and lives in Springfield, MA. Her third son also has his Masters and is attending graduate school in Accounting. Her fourth son is married, living in Seattle, WA, in his second year of law school, and has a three-year-old son named Sammy. “Being active in the civil rights movement in Durham, NC and later in the Feminist movement gave me direction as an activist.  I am now studying Zen Buddhism and practicing the tenets of my life. MacDuffie gave me intellectual stimulation, love of learning and I learned to question authority and find answers myself.” Eleanor Huckans Johnson has enjoyed staying in touch with Anne Larson Goodchild ‘56 and Judy Perinchief Welke ‘57. Her daughter, Jennifer, has completed a residency in family medicine; Jennifer and her husband have a daughter, Sierra (5). Eleanor’s son, Zachary, is married and living in Los Angeles where he is involved in music and acting. Kay Perinchief Gartner lived in Bermuda for sixteen years. Her husband, John, is about to retire as a part owner and Inventory Manager at Gorham’s True Value Home and Outdoor Center. A retired Kindergarten teacher, Kay has also been a Remedial Reading teacher and a team teacher for neurologically impaired children. She has spent most of her professional career teaching young children. “It was more than a job for me – it was a way of life and I loved it!” After college, Joanna ‘Jo’ Read Schurmann taught high school math at a private girl’s school in Los Angeles after which she took a position at Hughes Aircraft doing what was called “Scientific Programming” in those days. She enjoyed working on the simulations done for the Surveyor spacecraft that eventually landed on the moon prior to the manned flights. Jo spent the remainder of her career developing applications for large telephone systems at Bell Labs. Starting in l971, she was at home for a period of twelve years with her three sons. Then she returned to AT&T in l983 and eventually Lucent, working on the wireless base stations until she retired in 2001. She moved into management in l995 and led a group doing both hardware and software architecture for the 3rd and 4th generation platforms. After losing her first husband to cancer in l983, she married Herb Shurmann in l988. “He jumped right into being a father and friend to the boys and a partner to me.” Jo and Herb retired to Cape Cod where they enjoy lots of activities. They like traveling and visits with the kids and grandkids. Rebecca Courtney Parks Gordon and her daughter are writing a book together about autism.  Her daughter is married, holds a job, and has autism. Becky has been an Astronomer who, with her husband, did some of the early work on pulsars. She has also worked as a nurse practitioner. She currently consults on autism. Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Ayers LeMieux has been married forty-seven years. Libby and her husband have three children and two grandchildren. Libby retired from volunteering at the Maine Medical Center and Ronald McDonald House. She plays golf, tennis, kayaking, bridge and is involved in a Book Club. “Attending MacDuffie helped me with focus and life direction.” Sarah ‘Sally’ Bays Manville writes in, “I am retired as a public school children’s librarian, divorced and busy!  I live with my younger daughter, her husband and two grandchildren, ages five and ten. My other three children and four grandchildren live nearby and we see each other all the time.” Sally keeps busy babysitting, homemaking, visiting with family and friends, and traveling. Alice Hughes Channing and her husband have three children and four grandchildren. Alice keeps busy with her antiques business in early German toys (Steiff, etc.) and travel. She went to Russia this fall. She is currently fighting breast cancer. Everyone in the MacDuffie family sends Alice best wishes for a speedy recovery. Alice Sisson Willis moved back to the Cleveland area two years ago. Her son, Brooke, is in Cleveland and she sees him at least once a week. Her older son, Brad, just moved to Australia with his wife, Tracey. Brad and Tracey have two children, Alison (6) and Tyler (4). Alice is looking forward to visiting them in Australia soon. “My life was shaped by moving a lot and being open to new experiences, people and places. I’m a liberal Democrat, pro-choice, belong to an open and accepting Congregational UCC church and my son, Brooke, is a gay activist and my best friend.” Margaret ‘Kerri’ Webb Anderson writes in, “After the death of my first husband, David McQuiddy, in 1999, I remarried on Feb. 14, 2004 to the husband (widower) of my maid of honor and couldn’t be happier. My three children are all grown, the boys are married and have given me five beautiful grandchildren, ages twelve through sixteen, three boys and two girls. Bill’s home (my new husband) is in Bethesda, MD and mine is in Nashville, so we split the year at each location.” Jean Cusick Phillips and her husband, Sid Schneider, recently enjoyed a trip on a passenger-freighter going out of Papeete, Tahiti, to the Marquesas Islands. Their last trip was two weeks on a Clipper Ship, cruising the coast of Thailand. “We love traveling by small ships as your hotel moves with you rather than you moving to a new hotel every day or two!” They love the retired life, splitting their time between their home on the coast of Maine (across the bay from Bar Harbor) and living on their boat (a cruising catamaran) near Punta Gorda, FL. Along the way, they visit many of their fourteen grandchildren. Jean’s sister, Eunice Phillips ’55, lives next door to them in Maine and is thriving in her retirement. Jean reports that Vieva Luce ‘57 is living in Elmira, NY and is married to Robert Izzard. “I last saw her three years ago and she had hardly changed, the same old Vieva!”

Carole Rund Robinson writes, “Dave and I celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary in December. Our five children all live in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We have six grandchildren - three girls and three boys. Life is good. We are so happy here in New Hampshire.” Carolyn Garrett Meyer writes, “I so enjoyed meeting Kathryn Gibson last spring when she made her West Coast trip.  I bored her to tears with our travel exploits, so here are a few more. In June, we returned to Kyoto, Japan for the month when my husband teaches medicine, and we had wonderful reunions with long-time friends. In early May, we spent two incredible weeks in South Africa, Zambia and Botswana - amazing experience and fabulous safari adventures.”

1960s

Class of ‘60

Nancy Taggart Munch is enjoying retirement on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Patricia Olcott Seaward’s new house on Barter’s Island, which was built as a retirement home, is energy efficient, off the grid electrically. She is still overly dependent upon propane, so the house is still a work in progress. Aside from her two jobs, Patricia continues to volunteer for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in both Bay Harbor and Pilgrim Lodge, an outdoor Ministry for the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ.  She has five grandchildren, ages ranging from three to thirteen. Jane Scheckter Feinberg reports news about Pamela Hutcheon Miller: “She had a bout with cancer and while receiving her chemo got dizzy and fell and smashed her ankle! However she sounded great and was in great spirits…” Jane and her husband, Bob, have moved from New York City back to Longmeadow, MA!

Anaïs Laurent writes, “…the gallery has survived over two years now and is launching a new program (Art à la cARTe) – we’ll soon have a website just for that - for the rental and leasing of art works, as well as creating an artist pool for work/project orders, an ArtMobile to bring works to hospitals and nursing homes, doing events (such as installations and art shows) for large conferences (most recently for the national marketing club in Lausanne), and starting a passbook for galleries in the French-speaking region of Switzerland.” Look at her website (www.galerie-quint-essences.ch) to see some of the art exhibited over the past couple of years. “The present show is an interdisciplinary exhibition combining art with poetry – it’s doing very well by the way! – and we are supplementing this with a poetry reading and a TV commercial with real readings!” Anaïs is also trying to find a publisher for a new collection of poetry in Haiku that she completed this year. It’s called Anaïku.

Cynthia Wales Lund continues her work as Special Collections Librarian at the Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. Her husband, Eric, is now Director of International Studies at St. Olaf College, following twenty-five years of teaching.  Their son, Karsten, 26, (Hamilton College, ‘03) received his M.A. in Art History in June from the University of Chicago. Their daughter, Hannah, 24, (Bates College ‘06) is working in Boston and interested in Clinical Psychology. Abigail Sturges Wright bought an 1850s log cabin in central PA and couldn’t be happier. Her daughter, Morgan, is a Technical Sergeant in the Air Force. Her son, Nathan, is a 2nd Class Petty Officer in the Navy. Abigail is working on a Master Craftsman’s program with the Embroiderer’s Guild of America. She’s living life -- reading and stitching!

Linda Lamb Peters is married and living in San Mateo, CA. She is the Picture Editor of the Garden Department for Sunset Magazine -- a magazine about life in the West, covering home, food, garden and travel. Her husband, Rich, is a general contractor. Their guest room is open!  “Dodi, Legs, Donna D.-where are you?  Email me at lindapeters@rcn.com.”

1970s

Class of ‘70

Candace Hackett Shively left public school teaching in 2006 after twenty-seven years in the classroom. She is now Director of K-12 Initiatives for a not-for-profit based in Virginia.  Her chief responsibilities include running Teachersfirst.com, a free, ad-free site for K-12 teachers. She had worked part-time (as many teachers do!) for this company for many years. Now she enjoys working from home (on a lake), as does her husband.  “I do travel a bit as well. The change is exciting. I learn new things every day.”

Ann Austin-Beck and her husband, John, continue to teach at Michigan State University. She now holds an endowed chair – the Dr. Mildred B. Erickson Distinguished Chair in Higher Adult and Lifelong Education. Ann also received the Michigan State College of Education Teaching Excellence Award. Their three children are doing well. Their daughter will be a senior this year at Harvard and their twin sons will begin as freshmen at Bates College.

Shirley Jean Helms is a public health nurse for the state of Maine.

Andrea Schimmel Baevsky lives in Harrison, NY with her husband, Jeff Baevsky and their three children – Melanie (18), Ben (16), and Erica (13).  Melanie recently graduated from Rye Country Day School and is attending Cornell University. “As I sat at her graduation, it felt like yesterday that I graduated from MacDuffie with my long white dress and twelve red roses! Time flies so quickly! Would love to hear from anyone in the Westchester area!”

1980s

Class of ‘87

Caris Thornton Drury writes, “Our kids, William and Lauren, are twelve and nine. We currently divide our time between New Jersey and Bermuda where my husband David works.”

Jennifer Mitchell Martin and her husband Doug welcomed another little girl in their family. Allie Lou was born November 25, 2006. “Katie loves being a big sister. It is so much fun to watch them play together.”

1990s

Class of ‘92

Erika D. Babineau and her family (husband, Greg, and their two sons, four-year-old Noah and one-year-old Caleb), are moving from Colorado to Highland Park, NJ. Greg is still working hard in the Retirement Plan Department of MetLife and Erika is looking forward to exploring new opportunities and activities in New Jersey. “I hope all is well and please give a very special hello to Kathryn Gibson and my wonderful teachers in the English department, Carol Tomkiel and Jan Hill.”

Kerri Demers McManama and her husband, Steve, are overjoyed to announce the arrival of their daughter, Caroline Demers McManama, on February 4, 2007. “We are so in love with her!” Shebibah Ali-Birdsong writes, “Hello to everyone and well wishes to all of my classmates. I graduated from Wellesley College in 2000 with a B.A. in French and Latin American Studies. After college, I lived abroad in the Middle East for the past seven years, namely in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I currently reside in the United Arab Emirates in the city of Dubai where I have worked as a Marketing Coordinator for Saks Fifth Avenue. I also volunteer at a not-for-profit Ladies’ shelter called City of Hope. I’m engaged to be married to a young man who is a national from Dubai. I’ll write more after the wedding ceremony.”

2000s

Class of ‘00

Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Bowen is engaged to Chris High of Dallas, TX. Liz is at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, TX, pursuing a degree in Environmental Science.

Melody Serafino has been promoted to Senior Account Executive at The Rosen Group, a full-service public relations firm in New York City.  The Rosen Group handles a variety of clients, ranging from publishing to non-profit organizations to consumer products to environmentally green companies.

Spencer Paschal graduated from Susquehanna in May and moved down to New Orleans a couple of weeks after graduation. He is working for a non-profit organization called Katrina Corps where he had volunteered earlier. Spencer loves his new job as Volunteer Coordinator.  You can reach him at spence@katrinacorps.org or (413) 627-4992.

Yuen-Ling ‘Elaine’ Ng writes, “Dear all, currently I am in Hong Kong working as an intern. Busy, busy, busy! Summer has been great so far. I met up with a lot of friends from MacDuffie, like Tom Gralinski’07, Sherry Chu ‘05, Ken Chu ‘06, Roy Huang ‘08, Iori Endo ’06, Shelley Tso ’05, Kathy Lam ’05, Sunny Wang ’08, and Nate Davidoff ‘06. I met Iori and Nate when I was in Japan visiting my family. Tom, Sherry, Ken and Roy came to Hong Kong and Shelley, Kathy, Sunny, Maggie and I all met up with them!  Andy Wang ‘11, Sunny’s younger brother, is also going to MacDuffie as a freshman this year and it was nice that he tagged along and had a MacDuffie reunion with all of us in Hong Kong! We have our own MacDuffie circle in Hong Kong! I send you all my best regards!” Samantha Wilson is doing great at Elmira College (Elmira, NY). She is a psychology major with a focus in organizational psychology and is looking into an associates degree in business. She is doing very well in and out of the classroom by participating in clubs on campus and the orientation program (for the new class of 2011). She is hoping to gain membership to the Psi Chi (psychology) honor society on campus because she will be eligible after her second semester of sophomore year. Right now, she is proudly holding a 3.3 GPA and finding college to be much easier after all the rigorous academic training she had at MacDuffie.