1950s – 1960s

1950

Many of us turn first to class news when we receive the Vermont Quarterly. You may think you have no news, but we would all like to read about what you do these days, now that most of us are retired. What kind of volunteer work do you do? How do you stay fit? How are you active in your community? Send your updates to me for the next issue.

Send your news to—
Hedi Stoehr Ballantyne
candh@sover.net

1951

Send your news to—
Joan Coffman Sabens
jsabens@aol.com

1952

It was great to see everyone from the class of ’52 who returned for our 55th reunion.  We were all saddened by the untimely death of our longtime class secretary Trudy Rosenberg Wolf, and we can only be thankful for all her efforts on behalf of UVM and our class. At our class luncheon, we elected a new class president, Marilyn Pratt Woodward, and I am sure that we all will support her in her new position. We received word that Jerry Agel passed away after a long illness. He will be remembered as one of the founders of the Program Series, the precursor of the Lane Series. His wife Nina and children Julie and Jesse ’84 survive him.

Send your news to—
Helene Shapiro Hemmendinger
helhemme@comcast.net

1953

Do put our 55th Reunion, scheduled for May 21 to June 1, on your 2008 calendar. Our reunion co-chairs Frank Leary and Robert Woodworth are already planning a Thursday night class reception and a Friday night reception with President Daniel Mark Fogel and Rachel Kahn-Fogel. Of course, there will be a big Saturday celebration dinner, so watch for more information about this great event.  Meanwhile, do send along your personal news for our next column. Classmates are eager to hear about you.

Send your news to—
Nancy Hoyt Burnett
nanhiker@aol.com

1954

Phyllis Cameron Bricker, a zoology major, now a California transplant, has published a novella, Girl Cane and Other Short Stories, published by Rose Dog Books. She has four children and two grandchildren, and she and her husband make their home in Santa Anna, California.

Send your news to—
Kathy Dimick Wendling
kwendling@aol.com

1955

Send your news to—
Dan Burack
dab@burackinvestments.com

Jane Morrison Battles
jane.battles@yahoo.com

1956

Joan Ross Dropkin reported the death of her husband of 48 years Jay (Jason) Dropkin, on December 22, 2005. Jay and she met on a blind date at UVM in October 1954. It was instant love. While at UVM, he was a member of Tau Epsilon Phi, and after graduating with a bachelor’s degree, he served two years as a First Lieutenant with the Army. He went on to found J&C Electronics, exporting electronic parts to the Far East. When he retired, Jay and Joan moved to Longboat Key, Florida, where he was a member of the Longboat Key Club.  Jay left behind two sons, Jeffrey of Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, Craig of Longboat Key, and a daughter, Leslie, of Greenville, South Carolina, as well as four grandchildren. Joan attended UVM for one year, then she transfered to and graduated from Tufts University.

Send your news to—
Jane Stickney
stickneyjane@yahoo.com

1957

What a great 50th reunion we had last June! Didn't we pledge to continue the euphoria of our weekend and keep in touch? I would love to receive some emails with news for the next issue. This is such a great way to stay connected as a class. Just a quick story about our Reunion: At age 71, I want to claim a first, perhaps, for a UVM 50th Reunion. I was able to enjoy a “date” on Friday night for the President’s Reception/Vermont Dinner and a different “date” for the Sheraton banquet on Saturday, and I had a great time each evening! Can you beat that story? Friday night our classmate Bill Paine, an SAE who is a good friend from the nearby town of New Haven, escorted me to Burlington. We had a fun time individually meeting many UVM friends from the past. Our respective spouses, Rae and Bob, thought it was a great idea to send us off to socialize! On Saturday, my “date” of many years (53 to be exact!), Bob, was able to go to the banquet with me. Both evenings were most enjoyable and I felt a bit like a 1950’s co-ed rather than a white-haired Nana of ten! Contact me soon! We need to work at keeping that reunion spirit alive.

Send your news to—
Marilyn Falby Stetson
duostets@vtlink.net

1958

Hello from Vermont!  Homecoming Weekend is over, and our 50th Reunion is on deck. Martha Scott Perkins, Terry Siegel, Sandra Winterberger Thornton, and I attended several events. The Davis Center was officially opened and it is spectacular! The view from the dining room rivals anything in Burlington. Planning for our 50th party is underway. E-mail, write or call any of us or the Alumni Office with any ideas or concerns. We were able to visit the new dorms at University Heights that are available to alumni during reunion. Grab your former roommate or your current roomie and celebrate 50 years of memories. Don’t be among the missing. Your classmates are counting on you to come back and join in the fun at Reunion, May 29 – June 1, 2008.

Send your news to—
Joyce McQuilkin Dawson
vtdawson@aol.com

1959

I had a wonderful experience representing UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel at the inauguration of Coastal Carolina University’s new president. I had never attended one of these events before, and I felt that since I was representing Dan Fogel, I had big shoes to fill, but I decided I was going to have fun and enjoy myself anyway. President DeCenzo stepped up, introduced himself to each of us, and I was flattered that he took the time to chat with me for a few minutes. He mentioned that earlier this summer he had visited UVM. After donning my regalia, I lined up for the procession. I was fourth from the front, because the representatives lined up in order of earliest date of the founding. In front of me were the University of Pennsylvania (1740), Washington and Lee (1749), the College of Charleston (1770). There were many speeches, including one by Senator Lindsey Graham that I really enjoyed. Everybody was upbeat and felt good about the new president, who in his speech answered all the challenges that were posed to him by other speech-makers. After disrobing, we all went our separate ways. It was a great experience.

Send your news to—
Henry Shaw
hshaw@sc.rr.com

1960

Send your news to—
Paul Heald
pheald1@cs.com

1961

Steve Berry reported seeing a number of UVM classmates at his 50th high school reunion this year. In Montpelier, he talked with Wayne Foster G’67, who lives in Montpelier; Lillia (aka Lynda) Kittle Davidson of Mendocino, California.; Morris Leno ’62 of Niskayuna, New York, and Jean O’Brien of Montpelier and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Steve also attended Burlington High for two years and at that reunion he had a chance to catch up with Bob Ciardelli ’62 of Colchester, Vermont; Chuck Eldred of Yorktown, Virginia; Lynda Foley Blevins of San Rafael, California; Bob McBride of Peabody, Massachusetts; Jim McCarthy ’62 of Durango, Colorado; Gordy Perlmutter, MD ’65, of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania; Betsy Samuelson Greer of Arlington, Virginia; Ann Wakefield Lanzet of Burlington; and Tony Wasilkowski, MD ’67, of Niskayuna, New York.

Send your news to—
Carol Adams Gater
cpadams02@snet.net

1962

Send your news to—
Patty Hoskiewicz Allen
traileka@aol.com

1963

Shirley Mumford Ferguson has been enjoying retirement in her 170-year-old, now-renovated home in a delightful village in central New York. She seems to be busier than ever. Shirley is involved with some local organizations and loves having the time to contribute in a meaningful way to her community. The last eighteen months have been especially rewarding for her. She spent a month working in several orphanages in Yaroslavl, Russia, a city 160 miles northeast of Moscow. Although she spoke only a little Russian, she had no trouble communicating with the wonderful kids, whose stories broke her heart, but whose spirits continue to inspire her. Later in the year she traveled to Bamako, Mali, where she first worked with disadvantaged children in a private start-up school. After spending several days exploring Mali, two other women and Shirley took a pinasse up the Niger River, sleeping in tents along the way, and finally ended up in Timbuktu. Shirley said “Yes, it really exists, although it’s fairly unimpressive and struggling to survive the desertification that has taken place due to the severe droughts of recent years.” A camel trek in the Sahara, then a night spent in a goatskin tent as a guest of a tribe of Tuareg nomads, provided the perfect ending to her trip. Now Shirley is recovering from a hip revision and chomping at the bit to get back out into her gardens. Shirley also wrote that if any of us ever pass her way, she has a couple of guestrooms and would love to see us and show us the charm of small-town living. We will soon be celebrating the New Year 2008 and with that our 45th Class Reunion. How many of you thought about attending the last reunion yet were unable to attend because of your schedule? Many of us are now retired and therefore have more flexibility in organizing our time. Why not begin planning now to attend the 45th Reunion? You may be hearing from a classmate in the near future who will encourage you to attend the Reunion and to also pledge a donation. Please consider both, as UVM has been a most important experience in our lives. I understand that there have been many additions to the campus during the past five years so that many of us who did attend the 40th will be pleasantly surprised at the ease of accommodations right on campus and near the Reunion events. Also, and very important too, please send me news of your whereabouts as soon as possible in order to have your news shared with your classmates in the next issue of Vermont Quarterly.  That’s all the news from our class for this issue. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Send your news to—
Toni Citarella Mullins
tonimullins@comcast.net

1964

I just returned from Polchenego, Italy, where I had a wonderful visit with Sue Weatherby Engbrecht. Sue and her husband, Ronald, have lived there for more than thirty years, and they have enjoyed every minute of it. Now that Sue is retired from the DODDS School system on the air base in Aviano, she has lots of time to enjoy the beauty of the area, and we certainly did that while I was there. I hope winter brings more snow for all the ski buffs. I am looking forward to having more time on my cross country skis this winter. I recently received an email message from Lee (aka Leon) Golden. He is a trusts and estates attorney in New York City.  He is divorced and has two great sons. After reading “Remembering Raul Hilberg” in the fall issue of Vermont Quarterly, he started to think about his UVM years and how great Raul Hilberg and Lyman Jay Gould were as political science professors. He recently visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and thought about Professor Hilberg. I think it is great when our classmates send news after something  triggers their memories of our wonderful years at UVM. I hope you all are enjoying yourselves doing whatever you enjoy doing. Ciao.

Send your news to—
Susan Griesenbeck Barber
suebarber@verizon.net

1965

Send your news to—
Colleen Denny Hertel
colleenhertel@hotmail.com

1966

Nancy Castellanos Miller and her husband, Chris, a 1966 graduate of Dartmouth College, recently moved back to Saratoga, California, after having lived in Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies, for seven years. Although Nancy enjoyed the expat life, she is very happy to be living in the USA again. Nancy’s oldest daughter, Anna, a 1999 graduate of Dartmouth, is an engineer with Ford in Michigan, and her youngest daughter, Laura, a 2002 graduate of West Point, is an Army captain deployed to Iraq. Nancy and Chris enjoyed meeting with my husband, Ken McGuckin, and me last summer at their summer home on Lake George, New York. Last spring, Tom Donohue and his wife, Adrienne, moved from Ridgewood, New Jersey, their home for thirty-one years, to a condominium on South Prospect Street in Burlington. Their son Mike ’97 and his wife, Berne Broudy, live in Richmond, Vermont, and their other son, Chris, lives in Bloomington, Indiana. Tom and Adrienne reported that they especially enjoy the quality local produce available in Vermont. Larry Heath wrote that a group of UVM ski team alumni skied in Chamonix, France, with Penny Pitou (www.penny pitou.travel.com) last March, including Steve Berry ’61, Larry Heath, Laurie McBurney ’91, Hugh Harley ’64, and Ian Ferguson ’60. They all enjoyed a sunny week of skiing at Aiguille du Midi cable station and the Vallee Blanche twelve-mile run. All are members of the International Skiing History Association. 

Send your news to—
Kathleen Nunan McGuckin
kkmcguckin@prodigy.net

1967

Carol Green wrote that the nursing class of ’67 has been in contact by e-mail and phone and they gathered as a group on Saturday during reunion weekend for lunch and a nostalgic tour of the Nursing School in the Rowell Building (which didn’t exist back in the day). Thanks to Carol, Linda Corey and Sandra Snowling Wiggins, they now have an active communication within this class and hope to have many more mini- reunions. Besides those already mentioned, others present at their special lunch and afternoon were Trudy Young Dias, Kathy Brush Dick, Anna Paquette Gage, and Elaine Swinyer. Other than being almost struck down by lightning, it was a great afternoon. Paul Malone ’68 sends an invitation to members of the class of ’67 to join his class in celebrating reunion in 2008. Check the class of ’68 web page for details.

Send your news to—
Jane Kleinberg Carroll
jane.carroll@cox.net

1968

Since graduating from UVM with a degree in nursing, Jean Jordan has worked in a hospital in Newport, Vermont Her daughter, Laura Kelsh, is in her second year in UVM’s nursing program. She is also an active member of the UVM Crew Team. Plan now to attend your 40th reunion! Book early at our host hotel, the Best Western. If you wish to join a committee (fund raising, events, or communications), please contact chairman Paul Malone at mba3@mindspring.com.  Now is the time to get involved. If you haven't attended a prior reunion, they have been exciting and memorable. So, grab another classmate, spouse, significant other, or come solo, but definitely plan to attend. The fun and memories will make you feel young again!

Send your news to—
Diane Duley Glew
ddgvt@comcast.net

1969

The class of ’68 Reunion committee, led by Paul Malone ’68, sends an invitation to our class to join their class at Reunion 2008. It might be fun to celebrate a 40th reunion two years in a row. Check the class of ’68 web page for details.

Send your news to—
Mary Moninger-Elia
rere1112@aol.com

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