“Why be afraid of 60?” asks Mary Farrell. “Just hire a band and let it rip.” Mary wishes a Happy 60th to everyone!
Barbara Feinsilber Kanegesberg stays active and productive. “The possibilities are endless. I was influenced by my family. My mom is what I hope to become with 30 more years of practice. She keeps up the house in Trenton that I grew up in, takes courses, and helps out at the local retirement home from time to time. My dad used to come home late from his retail business and read to me. At the end of each story, he would explain that the most important thing for me to do was to enjoy every single day, find work that I loved, and, most important to never, ever own my own business. I took most of his advice.”
Barbara and husband, Ed, have a consulting business, BFK Solutions, and also a non-profit organization, Surface Quality Resource Center. “I have become known as the cleaning lady, but I do optics, not windows. I also enjoy designing wire-wrap jewelry in my spare time.” Barbara’s daughter Deborah was just promoted to Clinical Supervisor of the Los Angeles Early Head Start program, and son David, the photographer, will be married in April to Sandra Hart.
Having joined a group of six other like-minded Maine women, Ann Livingston Holland is writing a memoir. “I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! After my first meeting with them (most of them have been together for about 9 months), I wrote three separate vignettes that weekend that had sprung from our Friday evening session. At the close of the evening, one woman said, ‘We should have a name!’ Another looked around as we leaned against kitchen counter and said, ‘There are seven of us. We should be the 7 Sisters!'”
Class President, Penny Milbouer, has her own story to tell about the 2005 hurricanes. “We were very lucky. Husband Shep drove to Baton Rouge a few days after Katrina to pick up his sister and her family (and one dog and two cats and one bird), who had managed to escape New Orleans by wading through toxic flood waters to where they could hitch a ride in the back of a truck. We had them for about two or three weeks in Houston before they regrouped to Little Rock, where my brother-in-law’s employer reassigned him. My sister-in-law continues to commute to New Orleans to rehab the house. The family is eager to return. Then came Rita. We were due for a direct hit. Shep’s brother, nephew, and parrot spent hours on the road to drive from Galveston to here. Normally, the trip takes about an hour. We boarded up the house and watched the big red dot that was the satellite image of Rita on television. We were spared and Galveston was spared, as the path moved eastward. At this point (end of November), there are still heart-breaking stories about the effects of Katrina and Rita in the newspaper. I just cannot read past the headlines.”
Jeanne Lance reports that her mother, Helen Lance, died in the early hours of January 2. Jeanne was able to spend Helen’s last 10 days with her mom, which they both enjoyed and tried to make festive. Helen’s funeral was a great send-off, complete with Dixieland Band playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Helen would have been 84 on February 12.
Mary Stewart HoodMary Stewart Hood died of cancer on February 6 of this year. She spent only a year at Bryn Mawr, but she made a deep impression on those of us who lived in Denbigh Hall with her. Her passion was bridge, and her bridge skills, even at 18, were already far beyond those of anyone else in the dorm. She was part of the Denbigh southern contingent, but definitely a bit apart, her own person. She often sat in the upholstered chair in front of the window, where she could see who was going in and out of the front door, smoking, taking it all in. Or she sat on the floor, smoking and playing bridge over by the couch with her favorite partner. She didn’t’ go to class, which is probably why she didn’t stay for long. Her blatant refusal to grind it out like the rest of us seemed appalling at the time, but she followed her passion and was not afraid to shape her life around it. Mary Stewart became a Gold Lifemaster in bridge when she returned to North Carolina, but her life interests were varied. She worked for the Research Triangle Institute, the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh, the Cape Fear Literacy Council, and public radio station WHQR. She was a founding member of the New Hanover County Library Advisory Board, treasurer of the New Hanover County chapter of the North Carolina Symphony, treasurer for the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History, and a board member for the Tileston Clinic. She was active in the American Association of University Women, the Thursday Morning Music Club, and the League of Women Voters. Mary Stewart not only tolerated the rest of us, she even taught us, becoming a major influence on our college bridge playing. She was a great teacher, patient and steady with her less gifted students, and a good story-teller, with her soft drawl and dry humor a potent combination. Thanks to Terry Newirth Hirshorn, Dorothy Dow Crane, Ellen Dubrowin, Cile Yow Whitman, and Claudia Mangum Roach for their contributions to this memorial. |
Taffy
’67 Class Editor
Taffy Brecht Everts
803 Rebecca Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-4899
taffy@cruzio.com