Nancy LaClair Stults
416 Livingstone Drive
Cary, NC 27513
nlstults@aol.com
Life in Lexington, Va., continues to agree with Anne Sauder. Her dog, cats
and horses thrive on the country life, too. Anne teaches French in both Rockbridge
County middle schools, belongs to her church choir and the Rockbridge Choral
Society, and is on the church vestry. She also loves to cook (but not to clean
up!) and writes a monthly food column for a local publication.
Jeanie Beazley Gilbert is doing well, more than a year after being slammed
by Hurricane Isabel. Her husband, Chuck, works for Delta, so the family travels
often from their Virginia Beach home. Her daughter, Laura, attends William
& Mary. Daughter Melanie, 13, has been a student guest clarinetist with
the Virginia Symphony, was an extra in a movie starring Anthony Hopkins, and
has danced in The Nutcracker with the Moscow Ballet when it came to town.
Cyndi Hammond Sosnowski lives in Westchester, N.Y. Daughter Riley, 3, loves
dolls and princess costumes. Her kindergartener son, Tyler, plays soccer for
two leagues. Cyndi helps raise money for a local Habitat for Humanity chapter,
plays guitar at church for a toddler class twice a week, and has a serious
passion for gardening. She keeps in touch with Sindee Sours, who lives in
New York; and with Sameena Ahmed and Barb Moseley, both of whom are in Northern
Virginia.
Amy Meyers Becker has been living in southern California for the past 20 years.
She is married with two children (ages 6 and 8) and a dog. She enjoys working
as a project manager for Wonderware, a software company. She and Beth Murray
Patterson try to get together at least once a year, despite living on opposite
coasts.
Janine Peake has happily given up the investment banking lifestyle to become
a partner in the New Grafton Art Gallery in London. Her husband, John, is
still at IBM while daughters Maria, 8, and Allegra, 7, are thriving. Janine
got together with Ford Hart, Joanne Whelan Nikitakis, Vicky Nichols Wilder,
Kit Givens Burns, and former roommate Christina Zushin Brown while visiting
Fredericksburg in the summer of 2003. Janine would love to have visitors at
her home in the UK.
Leslie Hortum is an executive recruiter at Spencer Stuart, helping to find
presidents of organizations including AARP, the American Diabetes Association
and the Business Roundtable. For instance, she has been involved in the search
to replace Jack Valenti, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association.
Her husband, J.D., is an Episcopal priest and rector of a parish in Alexandria,
Va. She has two boys: Evan, 13, and Dru, 11.
Robin King Campbell’s daughter, Sarah, is pursuing music (she loves
the baritone sax) and theater in college. Her son, Shawn, a senior in high
school, wants to play football in college and major in environmental science.
Robin brags that Shawn recently set the school record for the bench press.
Robin is the guidance director at Osbourn High School in Manassas, Va. She
recently spoke to Fatima Allibhai Khaja, who is doing well and still living
in Fairfax, Va., with her son, Komail.
As for Amy Hauck Newman-Greig, life is as chaotic and exciting as ever with
daughters Kelly and Katleyn, and son Josh. Josh “lives and breathes
lacrosse,” and the girls also play, so the game schedule dominates their
lives from October through June. Amy continues her job as a research chemist
at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She traveled to San Juan last year
to chair a symposium. She and her husband, Nigel, also spent two weeks in
Europe.
Life is good for Gail Melanson Carr, who still is in newlywed mode with her
husband, Tom. They were married in June 2003 in a small wedding followed by
an Alaskan honeymoon. Gail is working on a second master’s degree, this
one in school counseling.
Patty Goliash Andril has a vacation house on the West River in Maryland with
lots of room for guests, so we should think about a Framar reunion. Patty
also reports that while attending a regional science fair with her seventh
grade daughter, she was tapped on the shoulder by Joanne Whelan Nikitakis,
who was there with her daughter. Small world!
Linda Howell Bressler is keeping busy in the great Northwest with her family.
Her 16-year-old son is driving and is busy with school and ice hockey, which
he hopes to pursue in college. Her two youngest boys, who are both autistic,
are doing fine and continue to make progress. Linda and her husband, Mark,
are always on the go with meetings, work, hockey and therapy schedules. Mark
is still a dermatologist in the same office that Linda E. Jones helped them
move into many years ago. Speaking of Linda, she is still doing the professor
thing at Alfred University, involved in research and teaching. She recently
received the New York State University’s Chancellor’s Award for
Research and Scholarship. Linda also has been adding on to her house in upstate
New York.
From Kimm Harty: “Not much happening out here; same old, same old.”
She is in her 20th year of living in Utah, “land of clean living, blonde-headed
children, and the highest per capita ice-cream-consumption!”
Katy Hayman Sommers has been living in Chesapeake, Va., for the past 15 years.
Thanks to her job at Williams-Sonoma, she has a kitchen filled with great
gadgets. Her daughter is a freshman at James Madison University, and her son
is a sophomore in high school. Katy is in touch with Kathy Snyder Dooling,
who moved with her family back to Cincinnati in the summer of 2003. Her oldest
son is at Indiana University and loves college life. Her middle child is now
driving, and her youngest is in sixth grade. Katy and Kathy catch up with
each other every summer when Kathy’s family spends a week at Virginia
Beach.
Kit Givens Burns is enjoying life in Fredericksburg. She and her husband,
Howie, are heavily involved with their sons’ sports. Kit still plays
tennis and golf. She gets together every so often with fellow Fredericksburg
Mary Washington grads Joanne Whelan Nikitakis and Vicky Nichols Wilder. When
Kit drives by the campus, she sees the young students and thinks, “That
was us once!” Vicky is happy to announce that the first Framar baby
is off to college. Her daughter Nicole is attending U.Va.
Kathy Epson Peakes’ oldest son, Sean, 20, is a Marine based in Japan
on the USS Harpers Ferry. Son Jarrad is a high school junior and a skateboarding
fanatic, and daughter Erin has been accepted to a private high school with
plans for a career in marine biology or the theater. Kathy loves her career
as a financial professional; she helps clients create, manage and protect
their wealth and is one of her firm’s top representatives. She also
enjoys visiting schools to teach kids the value of investing early. On a sad
note, Kathy’s godmother, Betty Sparks Unrue ’48, passed away recently.
She was the reason Kathy applied to Mary Washington, and Kathy will miss her
dearly.
I received a phone call from Mary Russell Witham, who is living in Annandale,
Va., with husband J.C. and sons Russell, a junior in high school, and Ryan,
who is a year old! Ryan was born on April 1, 2003, when his dad was flying
F16s over Iraq. J.C. is home now and is a pilot for American Airlines. Besides
keeping on her toes with a baby, Mary works as a water fitness instructor.
She keeps in touch with her good friend Julie Jensen Schwartz, who lives in
Fredericksburg.
Theresa Goodwyn-Harmon went to nursing school after Mary Washington and now
works for Neighborcare at Home. Her husband, Gary, is a jazz pianist, and
they live on the bay in Shadyside, Md. They enjoy traveling.
Ilona Kassy-Schrager lives in Manassas, Va., with husband Alan, and their
two boys. Warren, 10, is in the gifted and talented program at school and
Aaron, 4, is in the Montessori school where his mom teaches French, Spanish
and art. Alan is a percussionist who teaches privately and plays in a jazz
band that recently released a CD.
Debra Dovel Daube, who lives in Lake Ridge, Va., was a photographer and real
estate agent before becoming a mother to three kids, now ages 18, 12 and 10.
Her oldest, David, is a member of the Mary Washington Class of 2007. Debra
is the founder of The Preservation Station, an archival and museum supply
firm.
George Sempeles, a cartographer for the FAA, traveled to Beijing last December
at the invitation of the Chinese government. His mission was to assess China’s
ability to construct and maintain low-altitude, air-navigation charts. In
April 2004, a team of six Chinese aeronautical engineers visited the United
States and received intensive training from George on the same topic. His
hometown paper, the Winchester Star, wrote a nice article about the trip.
Amanda Parker Volkoff and family are back in Annapolis, Md. Her husband, John,
was deployed for two years to Central Asia following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. She and daughter Olivia lived in Germany and traveled around Europe
for one of those years. Amanda would love to hear from Moira McKeough Ross.
Cheryl McKay Comes still is in denial about reaching middle age, even though
she inherited five grandchildren. Ryan, her oldest grandson, recently participated
in the regional science fair and made it to the state competition level. Cheryl
still is at Philip Morris after all these years, but has moved into the public
affairs arena. She misses the philanthropic and employee volunteerism work
that she was doing in New York, but says it’s nice to be back in Richmond.
All is well for me and my family. My husband, Larry, is a patent attorney
at Syngenta and his invention, the Kidsmart talking smoke detector, is now
being sold. Daughter Katie, 13, made a smooth adjustment to middle school,
and son Tanner, 10, is in fifth grade. I continue to work in the elementary
school office part time and spend every other free moment driving kids to
their various activities or volunteering somewhere.
Whew, what a fantastic response this time! Everyone seems excited about our
25th reunion in June. I look forward to seeing all of you there.