{"id":2143,"date":"2014-08-20T21:35:10","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T01:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2014-09-22T20:43:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T00:43:23","slug":"conway-mini-reunion-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/conway-mini-reunion-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Conway Mini-Reunion 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven gorgeous women enjoy the New Hampshire sunshine.
\nLeft to right: Carol Sweeney Benson, Dee Deferranti Abrahamse, Barbara Freeman Douglass, Judy Marshall\u00a0Kennedy, Diana Diggin, Sue Wheatley Carr, and Marian Strong Moore. \u00a0You’re not getting older; \u00a0you’re just getting better!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Conway<\/p>\n

Classmates- Debbie Holden Franz saw Carol in Come Back Little Sheba at<\/span>
Quarryworks this summer while visiting her son in Essex, VT. Jean Austen also<\/span>
visited Carol and they went to King Arthur Flour in Norwich, VT but missed Diana\u00a0<\/span>Diggin.\u00a0 No surprise, her co-workers sang her praises.\u00a0 Carol also said that<\/span>
Chris Hollister Hila had reconnected with an old friend and was enjoying his<\/span>
company.\u00a0 Carol had a good season at her local theater and is really looking<\/span>
forward to next summer when she plays the evil Moriarity in Baker Street and<\/span>
will reprise her Trip to Bountiful.<\/span>
Reunion- We were lucky to have the two reunion chairs, Sue and Marian,with us.<\/span>
They asked us to imagine a blank slate and then say what we really want at<\/span>
reunion.\u00a0 Spending time with each other, classes and tours\/discussions of new<\/span>
programs, buildings were most important.\u00a0 There was a lot of discussion about<\/span>
ways to cut costs and to be sure everyone can come.\u00a0 One saving could be<\/span>
costumes, with us bringing more as we did with the shoes at the 50th. Another was\u00a0<\/span>to simplify meals, which may not be possible since offerings are pretty much<\/span>
controlled by the college commissary.\u00a0 We also discussed whether the booklet is<\/span>
needed or could be electronic instead of printed.\u00a0 The consensus was that it was<\/span>
important. Another suggestion was that we all read the same book before reunion,\u00a0<\/span>perhaps with an alumnae connection.<\/span>
Which is a segue to books: some that were recommended were Gone Girl, Orphan,\u00a0<\/span>All the Light You Cannot See, and Hope Against Hope.\u00a0 Marion’s book group is\u00a0<\/span>reading the latter, written by Sara Carr (note last name) and describing success\u00a0<\/span>stories of new Orleans schools.\u00a0 Students at Tulane will have this book as a\u00a0<\/span>campus wide read.<\/span>
Dottie Smith Mann visited Judy earlier this summer and posed an interesting<\/span>
question: “If you were Obama, what one thing would you try to do?”\u00a0 Great topic,<\/span>
with discussion about immigration, gun control, taming special interests, and a<\/span>
fascinating political maneuver suggested by Maureen Dowd that Obama either resign\u00a0<\/span>or accept impeachment after initiating executive action on the programs he cares the\u00a0<\/span>most about and allow Joe Biden, the ultimate political maven,to finish the term while\u00a0<\/span>Hillary campaigns for 2016.<\/span>
Other thoughtful questions were how to contribute in retirement?\u00a0 “How can I<\/span>
make a difference?” “What would you like to do as your senior years get more<\/span>
senior?”\u00a0 “What’s meaningful to you that surprises you?”\u00a0 “What are things I<\/span>
dreaded but now welcome and love?”<\/span>
In answer to the last, some suggested public speaking, finding our voice,<\/span>
improving listening.\u00a0 For making a difference, Marion explained her church’s<\/span>
“Pay It Forward” where an individual is given $50 and then reports how that made\u00a0<\/span>a difference.\u00a0 Carol has her own “Abigail’s sister”, based on her role as a<\/span>
homeless woman in Open Me Last.\u00a0 She puts a $5 bill in envelopes, brings them to\u00a0<\/span>the food pantry, and tells them to distribute as they see fit.\u00a0 One recipient<\/span>
said, Wow, do you know how many bananas I can get now?<\/span>
I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon, getting energized by this<\/span>
group of wonderful, active, caring women.\u00a0 How lucky we are.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barbara Freeman Douglass \u00a0<\/span>(I apologize that I can’t italicize or underline.\u00a0 Aargh)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven gorgeous women enjoy the New Hampshire sunshine. Left to right: Carol Sweeney Benson, Dee Deferranti Abrahamse, Barbara Freeman Douglass, Judy Marshall\u00a0Kennedy, Diana Diggin, Sue Wheatley Carr, and Marian Strong Moore. \u00a0You’re not getting older; \u00a0you’re just getting better! Classmates- … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[21593,25042,25043,25038,25041,25039,25040],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mini-reunions","tag-barbara","tag-carole","tag-dee","tag-diana","tag-judy","tag-marian","tag-sue"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}