Skip 
to main content.
UMW Today - Winter 2005
 table of contents  index 
 all umw publications  Office of University Publications  print page  e-mail page 

class notes 1954



Ruth Gillespie Simpson
6610 Elgin Lane
Bethesda, MD 20817-5444
regs2000@aol.com

From outgoing Class Agent Vera Bestwick Willis:

Ruth Gillespie Simpson was so pleased to see Carolyn Osborne Jenkins at the reunion; Carolyn had been on the “lost” list. Nancy Hoffman Eidman and Edwina Wright Blackenbaker were sorry they had to miss the reunion.

Gladys Robbins Bryant’s mother died in 2001 at age 97. Gladys sold her mother’s home, which was right next to the 200-acre farm she and Lou own.
Carole Helen Heer Farrell has lived in Rehoboth Beach, Del., since 1997. The grandmother of 11, she works as a freelance editor, plays golf, quilts and reads. Husband Ron works at Home Depot in the complaint department and loves people – most of the time.

Beverly Turner Cooke has announced her retirement as an organist/accompanist at Barcelona Road Baptist Church. Bev started playing at the age of 16 for chapel services in Manila, Philippines, where her father represented the U.S. State Department following World War II. Since then, she has played organ and piano plus handbells in every church and chapel to which she has belonged.

A highlight of 2003 for Barbara Wilson Taliaferro-Potter was a trip to New Zealand with Linda LeHardy Sweet, Jauncey, and three other couples. Linda’s brother organized the trip. They had traveled to China checking out major cities and spending 10 days on the Yangtze River together the previous year. The trips were so much fun that they probably will start planning another soon.

Linda and Jauncey’s son, Christopher Sweet, is listed on the New York Times bestseller list for his edition of Above Hallowed Ground, a compilation of pictures taken by New York City policemen during and after Sept. 11 and over Ground Zero. Proceeds will go to the families of lost police officers. Another son, David, is a professor of English at the American University in Cairo. And Linda and Jauncey are thrilled to have finally become grandparents. They waited a long time for this little boy! Linda also said she ran into Pat Hatfield Mayer recently.


Margy Hogg Sullivan and Barbara Taliaferro-Potter spent a few days in Chicago visiting museums, mainly the Art Institute. Margy is living in Toledo, Ohio, near her daughter and family. Margy and her cousin, Joan Kaitner Lyon, both were classmates of ours as freshmen. Barbara’s husband, Bob, is still working with JHACO, doing hospital surveys once a month. They have been to his Exeter reunion and his medical school reunion in Boston, and also to St. Johns, Newfoundland and New York for his Grenfell Board meetings. Their two sons are still practicing medicine at Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine.

After 12 years as your Class Agent, it is now Ruthie’s time. I have enjoyed working with you.