1970’s “Reunion in the Cloud” Programming is Starting Soon!

To join the meeting and receive a Zoom link, please register by emailing our administrative assistant, Alicia, at mountholyoke70@gmail.com.

 

Please mark your calendars and join us on Thursday, September 24 at 7PM EDT (details below) for our first virtual reunion program session, featuring Nancy Thorndike Greenspan. Nancy had been scheduled to moderate our Reunion panel discussion on writers and writing at MHC the day after her new book, Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs, was published in NY. As the Reunion has been indefinitely postponed, Nancy has graciously agreed instead to inaugurate the Zoom series of “Reunion in the Cloud” programs we will be having until we can re-schedule our on-campus event.
Our second program, on Thursday, October 22 at 7PM EDT (in time for Hallowe’en), features Libby Tucker Gould presenting a discussion of her book, Haunted Halls, on the folklore of American college campuses.
Registration Notifications for these and future events will be sent by e-mail. Please also check our class website, https://new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/1970 (also reachable indirectly through http://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/) for more information on these and upcoming programs. We hope you will also consider joining the class page on Facebook, Mount Holyoke Class of 70, through Facebook or by contacting Jill Vollmer Blackwood at jblackwood48@gmail.com. Please be sure we have your current email address by checking the on-line alumnae directory at https://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ so that you won’t miss out on any of our program announcements.
We look forward to seeing you again at these and other programs, and we welcome your suggestions for and offers to volunteer your participation in future sessions.
Barbara Cooke Monks (mailto:bcmonks@gmail.com)
Helen Disenhaus (helen.disenhaus@gmail.com) .
 
Exactly 75 years ago, on the evening of July 24, 1945, during the Potsdam conference, Truman approached Stalin without an interpreter and as casually as he could, told him that the United States had a “new weapon of unusual destructive force.” To his utter surprise, Stalin showed little interest, replying only that he hoped the United States would make “good use of it against the Japanese.” In the first salvo of the undeclared Cold War, a top British nuclear physicist had provided the Soviets with invaluable intelligence about the atomic bomb program. It would take even more years before the United States knew the trajectory of the post-war order had forever been altered.
Nancy’s book explores the remarkably complex life of Klaus Fuchs. German by birth, British by naturalization, Communist by conviction, Klaus Fuchs was a fearless Nazi resister, a brilliant scientist, and an infamous spy. He was convicted of espionage by Britain in 1950 for handing over the designs of the plutonium bomb to the Soviets, and he has gone down in history as one of the most dangerous agents in American and British history. He put an end to America’s nuclear hegemony and single-handedly heated up the Cold War. But, was Klaus Fuchs really evil?
 
FROM SOME REVIEWS
One of USA Today’s “Books Not to Miss”
One of the New York Times’s Top-Ten recommended books
An Editors’ pick from the New York Times
“Enthralling and riveting” … “particularly thorough and revealing.” The New York Times Sunday Book Review
“Well told, [spy] stories combine the drama of a police procedural (how did they do it?) with the ambiguities of a psychological thriller (why did they do it?). Nancy Thorndike Greenspan seeks to answer both those questions in the very well told Atomic Spy…a deeply nuanced and sympathetic portrait of a scientist-spy.” Nature
“Nancy Thorndike Greenspan’s biography offers a new look at Fuchs’s story, all the more fascinating for its deviations from typical spy-movie script.” The New Criterion
“Greenspan reconstructs the life and career of Fuchs through detailed research and a riveting narrative. The Wire
“Greenspan gives us fresh and fascinating insights.” The Wall Street Journal
“This richly detailed work . . . blurs the lines between courage and treachery in thought-provoking ways.” Publisher’s Weekly
A three-dimensional portrait of Fuchs … more nuanced than previously presented.” Digital PW
“A detailed and authoritative yet equally interesting and readable study . . . From student to scientist to spy, Fuchs is portrayed as a careful and quiet yet passionate man who nevertheless persisted.” Library Journal
Image may contain: 1 person, text that says 'NESN ATOMIC SPY The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs Presentation & Discussion with Nancy Greenspan, Author & Biographer Thursday, September 24, 2020 7:00-8:30pm This meeting will be conducted on Zoom Log-In Instructions will be provided upon registration NANCY THORNDIKE GREENSPAN Viking, May 2020. More at: www.AtomicSpyTheBook.com'
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

Class Letter August 2020

 

August 2020

 

Dear Classmates:

 

I am thinking of each of you as our country confronts three tough crises: Covid 19, the economy, and race relations.  With the exception of the pandemic, some of this seems way too familiar …and, yes, frustrating, to those of us now in our early 70s.  We will continue to change the world in our own inimitable ways and reach out a hand to you who are suffering.

 

Still Uncommon After All These Years: Reunion Updates from Jane Hiller Farran, Barbara Cooke Monks and Yvonne Watford-McKinney

Although we have no 50th reunion dates to share, we will be sending a link to a digital copy of our 50th Reunion Class Book in mid-October to everyone who has an email address on file with the Association.  Ellen Cochran Hirzy and others have spent countless hours compiling this book from your personal page submissions and the Mount Holyoke College Archives.   A copy of the book will be given to each classmate who attends our eventual on-campus reunion or will be available for ordering from the publisher for those who cannot be on campus for the festivities.

 

In planning the upcoming Zoom sessions, we are trying not to cannibalize too much of the planned programming for our on-campus reunion.  We are still waiting for more information on those upcoming, on campus events.  If you have suggestions for topics or volunteers, please notify Helen Disenhaus (helen.disenhaus@gmail.com) or Arleen Heiss (arleenheiss@yahoo.com).  For virtual programming this fall, Nancy Thorndike Greenspan will lead a discussion of her recently published book, Atomic Spy:  The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs on Thursday, Sept 24, at 7 pm EDT via Zoom.   On October 22 at 7PM EDT (in time for Hallowe’en), Libby Tucker Gould will present a discussion of her book, Haunted Halls, on the folklore of American college campuses.  Notifications to prompt you to register for each event will be sent by e-mail.  If you haven’t supplied your e-mail address to the online Alumnae Association directory, please read the instructions at the end of this letter. 

 

Class Meeting on Zoom!

Our virtual class meeting on June 6 attracted 48 of you and it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to hear your voices.  I know we all wanted to really catch up, and I remain hopeful that that time will come next year, but ours was a business meeting to update bylaws, approve the Treasurer’s report and elect new class officers.  Here is the slate of classmates who will represent all of you until our 55th reunion in 2025, along with their email address.  Please reach out to us with your comments, concerns, reflections and ideas!

 

President:  Ann Richardson Berkey  – ann.berkey@gmail.com

Vice President:  Katy Hart – Katherine.hart@trincoll.edu

Secretary:  Pat Sobers Mitchell – prsmitchell@gmail.com

Treasurer:  Marjorie Gross – marjgross@verizon.net

2025 Reunion Chair:  Libby Tucker Gould – ltucker@binghamton.edu

Scribes: 

Diane Mayer Murphy – dmurphy@cminc.com

Ellen Cochran Hirzy – ellenhirzy@gmail.com

Communications/Web Coordinator:  Jill Vollmer Blackwood – jblackwood48@gmail.com

Nominating Committee: 

Barbara Cooke Monks (Chair) – bcmonks@gmail.com

 Jill Brethauer – jillbrethauer@gmail.com

 Charlotte Church – cnchurch@att.net

Head Class Agent:  Susan Ellis – sellismhc70@earthlink.net

 

Special thanks go to Susan Ellis, Jean Olson, Martha Doolittle McIver and our stalwart, hardworking class agents and leadership gift committee who had such remarkable success in raising funds for Mount Holyoke these past five years.  Our class participation of 74.9% exceeded our goal of 70%; the comprehensive total of dollars raised was $5.5 million!  Thank you so much to all of you who reached out to fellow classmates, made gifts and fulfilled pledges to support the College and the students it continues to educate.

 

Dues:

We also voted at our class meeting to keep our dues at the same level as we head to our 55th reunion: $20/year or $100 for 5 years.  As you know from past communication, we need your help to provide seed money for our next reunion, for virtual programming (a Zoom business account), for snail mail domestic and international postage.  While you are reading this, please grab a pen, your checkbook, an envelope and a stamp and send a check made out to the Class of 1970 MHC to our Treasurer, Marjorie Gross, 400 West End Ave., #9-B, New York, NY 10024.  It will help us stay connected!

 

Staying Connected

Minutes from our class meeting are posted on our class website, along with the In Memoriam list of those who have left this earth too soon.  We will remember those classmates at a service when we are next together in South Hadley.  Also, on our class website, is our class history which I videotaped for the Alumnae Association annual meeting, accessible through alumnae.mtholyoke.edu.

 

n  Our class website can be accessed through alumnae.mtholyoke.edu or by clicking directly on https://new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/1970.

 

n  Please consider joining our class Facebook page: Mount Holyoke Class of 70 or by contacting Jill Vollmer Blackwood at jblackwood48@gmail.com

 

Your class officers are developing our communication/activity plans for the next 5 years and hope to see you, either at our eventually rescheduled 50th reunion on campus or perhaps close to your own neighborhood once travel is resumed.  Either way, we look forward to staying in touch with you.  At this point in our lives, we, who have a common educational foundation, can benefit from sharing experiences, ideas, and histories, along with periods of great pain and sadness as well as incomparable joy.  We will be all the wiser for these connections.

 

In this year when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19thAmendment and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act allowing women to vote, we can best honor the courageous women leaders of those eras by taking the time to vote this fall, whether in person or by mail.  This is our cherished right and our incontrovertible privilege.

 

I wish you times of peace as well as moments of action and reflection.  Whether you are alone, in family groups or slightly larger social bubbles, I hope you will stay safe.

 

Best to each of you for brighter and safer times ahead,

 

Ann

 

Ann Richardson Berkey

Class President

 

 

 

Our temporary e reunion and ZOOM class meeting!

We are still awaiting info on the rescheduling details of our 50th reunion. If you missed the ZOOM AA meeting and our class meeting, here are a few interesting details to give you the flavor:
Our Reunion ClassAward winners:
Medal of Honor: Charlotte N. Church

Achievement: Pam Giles Bailey
Joele Frank
Lila Gierasch

Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award: Julie Solso Guelich

Loyalty Awards:

Helen Disenhaus
Susan Ellis
Diane Mayer Murphy

A link to our Class History , wonderfully prepared by Ann Richardson Berkey, Class President
https://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/blog/reunion-2020-class-histories/

 

s

Our reunion registrants as of March 19:

Member Name  
Allan, Barbara  
Andrews, Carolyn  
Bataille-Hastings, Jane  
Berkey, Ann  
Beth, Eleanor  
Blackwood, Jill  
Blackwood, Robert (guest of Blackwood, Jill)  
Booth, Louise  
Brethauer, Jill  
Broderick, Lorraine  
Brown-Wagner, Marie  
Bryan, Trevor (guest of Bryan, Violet)  
Bryan, Violet  
Buhr, Jean  
Buhr, Robert (guest of Buhr, Jean)  
Church, Charlotte  
Clark, Holly  
Clark, Holly  
Decker, Claire  
Decyk, Betsy  
Decyk, Viktor (guest of Decyk, Betsy)  
Disenhaus, Helen  
Driscoll, Brian (guest of Disenhaus, Helen)  
Falsey, Susan  
Farran, Jane  
Farran, William (guest of Farran, Jane)  
Fellows, Katherine  
Frank, Patricia  
Goodwin, James (guest of Goodwin, Linda)  
Goodwin, Linda  
Gould, Elizabeth  
Gould, Geoffrey (guest of Gould, Elizabeth)  
Graves, Linda  
Graves, Peter (guest of Graves, Linda)  
Greenspan, Nancy  
Gross, Marjorie  
Groulx, Judith  
Guelich, Julie  
Guelich, Robert (guest of Guelich, Julie)  
Hadden, Rebecca  
Hanford, Kathleen  
Heiss, Arleen  
Heiss, Robert (guest of Heiss, Arleen)  
Hirzy, Ellen  
Imboden, Kathryn  
Jacobus, Caroline  
Kendall, Katherine  
Kennedy, Joan  
Khodabakhshi, Susan  
Kofron, Elizabeth  
   
Kohler, Susan  
Kunz, Ann  
Kurz, Christopher (guest of Kurz, Deborah)  
Kurz, Deborah  
Lewis, Linda  
Lorenzo, Sharon  
Lornell, Randi  
Melconian, Linda  
Merritt, Dorothy  
Millman, Lorrie  
Mitchell, Patricia  
Mohn, Christine  
Monks, Barbara  
Morrone, Enid  
Olson, Jean  
Parkinson, Karen  
Phinney, Mary  
Pollak, Jane  
Rawson, Bob (guest of Rawson, Judy)  
Rawson, Judy  
Rossmann, Susan  
Sabatini, Jane  
Sabatini, Mario (guest of Sabatini, Jane)  
Schwarzfeld, Jamie  
Schweiger, Diane  
Seiver, Barbara  
Sherman, Merrill  
Shively, Gretchen  
Stanley, Mary  
Thiele, Pamela  
Thomison, Robert (guest of Andrews, Carolyn)  
Tschann, Antoinette  
Van Citters, Louisa  
VanLear, Robin  
VanLent, Anne  
Weinberger, Linda  
Wesp, Anne  

Letter from Barbara Cooke Monks, Reunion Co-Chair

We all are horribly concerned about the COVID-19 outbreak and how it affects Reunion. The Reunion Committee is in constant communication with the Alumnae Asssociation and also is monitoring the workings of the Emergency Task Force on campus through its website: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/health/coronavirus. We are more than 2 months out from reunion and need to step back and make sure that we all are taking all precautions to be well. The situation is changing by the minute and we are assailed on every front with information true and false. Stay positive! It’s good for your immune system! There still is time to make changes. In the meantime, as the planning continues, be aware that the registration fees are refundable and that the airlines are refunding reservations.