Lee Hall Archer
112 Barberry Road
Johnson City, TN 37604
huntenlee@charter.net
Beatrice Draper Atkinson completed a round-the-world, 94-day cruise last April, one of 700 who took the trip on the Queen Elizabeth and the new Queen Mary. With 30 ports of call, Bea enjoyed seeing sites she had never seen before – the Arabian Peninsula, the Suez Canal, the Philippines and Japan.
Ann Middleton Kelly sold her house after her husband’s death in 1993 and bought a little cottage, which suits her well. She remains active in her garden club, plays bridge and volunteers at a museum in Aberdeen, Md. She also serves meals to the homeless or those who can’t buy their own groceries. (Her Mary Washington home economics degree is coming in handy!) Ann and Jane Edmunds Ford ’47 spent several days in Ocean City, Md., this summer. Ann wrote, “Seems like yesterday I would join Jean Boyle, Carolyn Pittman, Frances Wills, Glade Burnett ’42 and Ruth Spadler ’42 for the memorable ’dinner hour.’ Aren’t we glad we don’t have to walk from our dorm for our supper now?”
Cheers for Jewel Spencer Marvin, who sent me a copy of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, dated Oct. 18, 1942. The headline blares: “City Recovering From Flood Catastrophe.” The Rappahannock River had crested 45 feet above normal level, flooding the town and causing extensive damage. Memory Moment: Mary Washington was under quarantine; we were without water or electricity, and had to line up to take those big typhoid shots.
The newspaper quoted Dr. Combs as saying, “There is plenty of food on hand, but no way of cooking it.” He added, “The diet at present consists of coffee, crackers, fruit juice and soft drinks.” The water shortage also created a serious sanitation problem. Remember the bucket brigade from the indoor pool to the dorms, so we could occasionally flush? Remember the rescue squad bringing 90 girls from Cornell Hall up the hill by the squad boat and a canoe? And remember our horseback riders who volunteered to go into town to direct traffic on their horses? Flora Copenhaver Scott was one of those traffic cops. What an ordeal, but we survived – all 1,140 of us!