Class Notes

Class Notes are submitted to the Quarterly 4 times per year by our trusty scribes. Please submit your news no later than the following dates:

  • January 20 for Spring
  • May 1 for Summer
  • August 3 for Fall
  • November 3 for Winter

If you don’t write in about yourself, we don’t know what’s happening — brag a little! Scribes are forced to write about their close friends over and over if they don’t hear from anyone else. Please submit your comments to our class Secretary/Scribes Carol Kent and Judy Osborne, who may be contacted at scribe62@mtholyoke.edu

FALL 2021 CLASS NOTES FOR MHC CLASS OF 1962:

We have our fingers crossed for the upcoming 60th reunion, in-person with hugs.

Frances (Fran) Pincus Freed writes, “Like everyone, my husband and I have been challenged in the Covid era. We have thankfully been fully vaccinated and have not had evidence of any Covid infection. After retirement from medicine in 1997, I set up an edible landscape in our front and back yards with herbs, seasonal vegetables, and fruit trees. Despite the vicissitudes of California weather, I continue to harvest the benefits when the local 4,6, and 8 legged residents allow.”  Here’s the crop list from Fran: jujube, blood oranges, plums, pluots, persimmons, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, limes, peaches, and nectarines.  “Obligatory parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme abound and red seedless grapes provide large leaves suitable to fill as directed by a neighbor of Armenian descent. I enjoyed Hannah MacLaren’s recounting of her backyard vista and regret that we have not been able to join in the MHC Southern California/LA group formerly monthly meetings.”

About her health, family and friends she writes, “The past few years have made the garden more difficult to maintain, as gardening is interspaced with procedures and hospitalizations for a second and different BRACA I associated tumor. Navigating the merry-go-round of medicine in 2021 has been a constant battle. My stepdaughter is still in Arizona, and beloved granddaughters follow their pursuits of physical medicine & rehabilitation and marine ecology. I could not interest them in Mount Holyoke. I find my MHC experiences a constant reminder of how to keep on doing the best I can and try to keep in touch periodically with a few classmates including Anne Zand Barash, Maureen Cahill Altobello, and Gail Angrist LeBow. Peggy Daus Schwartz’s updates are also appreciated. By chance I connected with Betsy Klein Weinstein ’68 in a bridge group a number of years ago and we continued to play until Covid.” 

Nancy Hartman Ruddle sent a note and press release about a very special honor bestowed on her this spring as the recipient of the Connecticut Medal of Science.  Her daughter and son-in-law joined her from Vermont for the ceremony and other family members watched by Zoom.

Here’s the full press release:

Nancy H. Ruddle, Professor Emeritus of and Senior Research Scientist in Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine, has been selected as the 2021 recipient of the Connecticut Medal of Science, the state’s highest honor for scientific achievement in fields crucial to Connecticut’s economic competitiveness and social well-being.
 
Professor Ruddle is a pioneering immunologist who discovered lymphotoxin, an immune signaling molecule or cytokine and demonstrated its roles and mechanisms in cytotoxicity, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes, and in lymph node development.
 
Her work was fundamental to the understanding of tertiary lymphoid organs, accumulations of lymphoid cells that are damaging in autoimmunity but can be key to defense against microorganisms and tumors.
 
Her discoveries have profound implications for the understanding and treating of autoimmune diseases, organ transplantation, and cancer. Before the tools of molecular biology were available, she developed T cell clones and realized that the cytotoxic factor she discovered was a combination of the cytokines lymphotoxin and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Lymphotoxin was one of the first cytokines to be discovered; now there are hundreds. Her findings that cytokines can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) and contribute to autoimmune diseases changed thinking in the field.
 

After reading Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, I (Judy Osborne) wondered about racial issues in my own hometown. I wrote to the historical society in Cheshire, Connecticut to ask about covenants and restrictions that might have been in place during my growing up years of the 40s and 50s. I did not ask specifically about enslavement. It was deeply moving to me that the historical society staff picked up the question and researched the census records. Over 100 enslaved people were listed by name and half as many slave owners were discovered.  Celebrating Juneteenth 2021, a group of volunteers created and displayed a banner listing each enslaved person’s name. The director of the Cheshire Historical Society wrote to say, “Every single person lauded that banner and many pointed out that this was the type of thing that makes a historical society relevant in the community.”  She noted that reading The Color of Law was an eye-opener. It’s always possible to update history by asking questions.

Kimmie Halligan McCann writes, “I really don’t have much to report, but will attend my 3-year-old granddaughter’s birthday in western Massachusetts this summer. I shall not get to South Hadley on this trip.  I did have lunch recently with Jeane Stewart Samuelson, ’64.  We see each other pretty often as we have been hiking and backpacking together for 45 years.”

From Martha (Marty) Sturgis comes this, “The only news I have is that I am downsizing to a retirement community near my home. I will still be near family, friends and doctors.  I think it will make my life easier and even more fun.  It is hard work though.” Many of us can relate to the hard physical and emotional work of downsizing.

We received sad news of the death of Susan F. Lander on February 18th of this year.  After MHC she went on to the University of Chicago for her BA and received an MSW from Columbia University.  She enjoyed a long career at the University of New Mexico as director of their Human Services program.   Her husband of 36 years, John Barker, shared that she enjoyed travel and gardening at their Oregon home. 

And we also received news of the death of Karen Steffensen Sturges of Needham, MA and Harpswell, ME. She died in June after a 6-month battle with Lymphoma. She issurvived by daughters, Meg McDermott and Annie Gatewood, their husbands, Jay McDermott and Bob Gatewood; grandchildren, Jake, Molly, Peter and Ben McDermott and Julia and Ellis Gatewood. Karen was predeceased by her beloved husband, Hale Sturges II. She graduated from East Grand Rapids High, MI in 1958 and received an MA, from Wheelock College in 1986. Karen began her career teaching elementary grades in the Lexington, MA public schools. After taking time off to raise her daughters, she resumed her teaching at the Pike School, Andover, MA where she taught 2nd grade and was Head of the Lower School for 28 years. In addition, Karen assisted Hale serving as dorm parents for 26years at Middlesex, Concord, MA and Phillips Academy, Andover, MA. In retirement, Karen served on the board of trustees at Wheelock College, was a teacher, trustee and overseer at Mother Caroline Academy, Dorchester, MAand a trustee of the Phillips Academy Cemetery. She was also a board member of Beacon Hill Seminars. Karen was a faithful member of Trinity Church, Boston, where sheserved on the Altar Guild. She shared her love of reading, cooking, knitting/sewing, and traveling with her family and many friends. 

SUMMER 2021 CLASS NOTES FOR MHC CLASS OF 1962:

Sandra (Sandy) Short McKenzie reports that she is still living in England and summering in NH. She accompanied husband, George for his sabbatical in 1970 and they stayed on. After she retired from IBM in 2003 they toured the world. After George’s death in 2009, she toured the world alone. During COVID restriction she has confined her travel to Cornwall and New England. Taking up dowsing in 1998 was a life changing experience for her and opened a new world of friends. She plays a lot of competitive bridge – now online, of course – and looks forward to reunion next summer.

Nancy Detrick Braun writes, “It is with great sadness that I am telling you of the passing of my husband, Dave, from pancreatic cancer. We had 58 wonderful years together including my years at Mt. Holyoke and when he was at Amherst. Our children were with us when he died at home with hospice care. Three weeks before that the entire family (all 14) were able to come to CT (except for one grandson who is in the Army) to be with him and it was such a treasured time.”

From Alice Tetelman, “I am writing with the sad news that my wonderful husband of 40 years, Martin Wenick, passed away from Covid-19 last May – just shy of his 81st birthday. Martin was a Foreign Service officer at the State Department for 28 years, and then directed several non-profit organizations. As our ‘retirement project’ we started a company renting villas and farmhouses in Italy for vacations, and did that together for 16 years until we finally retired. I continue to live in Washington, DC, my longtime home.”

Ann Lovering Ramirez shares that this pandemic year became uneventful once husband Alejandro and she survived the trip back to Mexico from Australia. They got the last flight out after visiting their son and family in Melbourne. They have happily downsized to a condo while their other son moved into their former home. She says, ”Mexico is struggling with COVID like many other Latin American countries but it is vaccinating faster than I thought it would. The street markets are a real problem because they are a lifeline for so many unvaccinated people.” She herself has been vaccinated and is following the reunion preparations with interest – although it is too soon to decide whether she’ll be attending.

Fran Rose Besmer reminisces about assignments from Marjorie Kaufman to write on what the New Frontiers meant to us; a bus trip to Springfield to witness JFK’s last rally before the election; and her post- graduation Peace Corps experience in Nigeria where she met husband, Monty. They are still parenting the last three of their twelve children – 3 biological and 8 adopted.

Obituaries:

Diane Infante Mantho died on 2/25/21 of pancreatic cancer in Morehead City, NC. She is survived by husband, Bob, and two children and five stepchildren. A son, Sean, predeceased her.

Diane attended MHC, University of Pennsylvania and American College. She became a vice president of insurance sales for a third party administrator, working at various locations in CT.

Living in NC since 2004, Diane and Bob traveled in a recreational vehicle all over the continental US, including Alaska and the Maritime Provinces of Canada. In 2018 they visited Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Poland and Russia and in 2020 visited New Zealand and Australia.

After her son’s death in 2010 she rediscovered her passion for painting. She played golf and was particularly proud of a hole-in-one at a Lake Tahoe course. She loved pickleball, mahjong and dogs; she and Bob shared their home with several furry family members. She was also very active in her church and volunteered for many different causes.

Deborah (Debby) Martin Pearse died on April 6, 2021 at her FL winter home. Her death was unexpected, following complications from an operation. Debby was born in Worcester, MA on June 8, 1940 to Reverend John Martin and Marie Farley Martin ‘38. She lived a life of love, unending friendships and serial entrepreneurships.

Her mix of genuine interest in all she met naturally led many to nickname her ’Mom’ for her guidance, gentle support, and love. Never ‘cool’ or ‘fancy’, she and her husband of 38 years, Bruce Donath, managed to entertain and surprise friends and family with a variety of interesting adventures outside the typical confines of their suburban lives – leaving several tales and myths in their wake. She is survived by her loving family including her husband, Bruce Donath, her children, Johnathan, Mystic, CT, Julie, Marshfield, MA, Chung Sook Valdes, Worcester, MA, stepchildren Kate Ferreira of Plymouth, MA and Jeffrey Donath of Hudson, WI and nine grandchildren.

Starting at the age of 6 selling stationery and Girl Scout cookies in her hometown of West Boylston, MA, Debby over the years was involved in: tailored clothing from Hong Kong; Tupperware; women’s college wear; and ‘hot’ televisions. For 6 years she founded and managed the Southborough (MA) Secretarial Services while also being a member of the founding team of the Southborough Villager newspaper. She considered herself fortunate to have graduated from the Northfield Mt. Hermon School, Mt. Holyoke College (Economics) and the University of New Hampshire (Masters in Economics). A very unique adventure for Debby and her husband was the purchase and on-site management of the Sandcastle Hotel in the British Virgin Islands from 1995 to 2005. The small hotel of 4 cottages located on a gorgeous beach was the perfect venue for Debby’s in-born hostess talent. The first year of ownership Debby’s husband kept his employment in Providence, RI while Debby and her niece ran the hotel. Three hurricanes in that first year tested the whole idea of the venture, but with Bruce joining her full-time for the next nine years and its famous bar, the Soggy Dollar. The venue proved to become an oasis for overnight guests and day-trippers arriving by boat. Surprised by good fortune, fearless in the face of challenges and undeterred by petty criticisms, Debby crafted an ambiance of fun, patience and love while truly thankful and surprised that the guests were so patient with the vagaries of a beachside, small-island hotel. She became the part-time choir director in the local church and while maintaining a patient, caring management of the hotel staff. This all led to warm relationship with the local residents of the island of Jost Van Dyke. And what stories she had to tell about that time!

After retiring to Kennebunkport and Gulfport, she enjoyed the growth of her grandchildren, playing bridge, the occasional RV jaunt, perfecting shrimp toast, producing and donating a tsunami of holiday cookies, and joining gatherings of friends. She perfected the ‘Debby-style’ BYOB at the drop of a hat whose zenith were the annual Christmas sing-alongs crowded into her home. She will be missed.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in her honor to Atlantic Hall (atlantichall.org, Church on the Cape (churchonthecape.org) or her favorite theatre, Good Theatre of Portland (goodtheatre.org).

Classmate Remembrances of Debby Martin Pearse:

From Virginia Foster:
A strong seismic shock rippled through all of us MHC ’62 classmates when we heard the news about Debby. She was such a central figure in our lives for so many decades and leaves a deep, wide, unfillable hole.

But at least we have “reels” of vibrant memories, complete with a soundtrack of bright lilting laughter – the hijinks on Jost Van Dyke (the hammocks on the beach, the Soggy Dollar Bar, Foxy’s, the Bubbly Pool); the gatherings at The Dock in Cape Porpoise (that pink kayak!, conversations on the deck in the afternoon sun); the reunions in South Hadley (with all the preplanning get-togethers even livelier than the reunion itself); and on and on and on.

You’ve heard all the descriptions – Debby was totally real, unflappable, utterly gracious, unbelievably generous, and on occasion wickedly funny. Plus, of course, a killer bridge player.

I’m going to choose to believe that Debby will organize a big welcome party for us once we’ve all reassembled on the other side. Maybe in an Atlantic Hall three galaxies over – and maybe she’ll even reprise that piano solo.

From Bea Beach Szekely:
To me, coming from a New York suburb, Debby represented the New England prototype of the MHCer: her father, the minister of the West Boylston church; the family cottage in Manomet creeping toward the edge of a bluff overlooking the water (where a group of us spent a fabulous few days after working at reunion junior year); her great aunt Mattie’s (hope that was her name) wonderful accent; and her tie to Mount Holyoke through her mom (Class of ’38).

I remember how smart Debby was completing her college work a semester early, marrying Jeep and coming back for comps and graduation. She had a single in what truly was a converted closet on the third floor of Pearson’s our junior year, studied in her bed that took up most of the tiny room surrounded by books and notes. She knitted beautiful sweaters, a blue green one that winter, being one of us who could take in economic theory while turning a cable. I remember how naturally pretty she was with a very expressive face.

From Elaine Kasparian Elliot:
When I heard that Debby accompanied her mother to her 75th MHC reunion, I asked my MHC daughter, Martha Elliot, Class of 95, to accompany me to my 75th. I’m very sad that Debby will not be attending any more reunions.

From Julia Denny Clark:
Debby was gracious and unflappable. A fire in the kitchen? We’ll have a cold supper. Ten for dinner instead of three? We’ll add two loaves of bread. Rain? We’ll go out and dance in it.

And hospitable. My partner John and I dropped in on them in Maine a few years ago and ended up staying two nights.

Some of us went to Jost Van Dyke for a holiday at their funky hotel on the beach and drank many glasses of whatever at the Soggy Dollar Bar. I had the worst cold of my life, slept on a porch alone and spent most of my alternating between a hammock and the ocean.

A group of us went to Kennebunkport for our joint 70th birthdays. Debby took us all to church and introduced us all during the service, then announced she and Bruce would host a party that evening in the local municipal hall and EVERYONE was invited. They ALL came, brought dishes and drinks and were unbelievably supportive when we staged a “talent show”. Debby played a piece she had learned on the piano in her youth and we all laughed until we cried.

She was a fabulous woman. We will miss her.

From Nancy Hartman Ruddle:
Just a few memories of Debby: Tap dancing and playing speed bridge in the smoker at Pearsons; a time at Manomet telling filthy jokes, drinking, and watching Gone With the Wind; this is a kind of blurry memory! – Bea thinks it was after helping with reunions junior year – I thought it was after comps; Sandcastle where we worked in the kitchen on the cook’s day off and then Debby played the piano non- stop in the church while we waited for the minister who never showed up; later fun times in a rented house on Jost Van Dyke.

From Sara Smith Hill:
I didn’t get to know Debby until a few of us spent time in 2000 at the resort she and Bruce owned on Jost Van Dyke. There were six of us turning 60, so she dubbed us “Six Fabulous 10s.” What a fun and talented person she was! We continued with a get together for our 70th at her place in Cape Porpoise. Her friends brought a host of delicious dishes to the community center and Debby organized a talent show in which we were the main attraction, Debby again used her wonderful sense of humor to name the show “70s Got Talent” after the newly popular TV show “Who’s Got Talent.” That show was billed as “undiscovered talent of all ages.” Although our talent was meager, we did provide a lot of laughs. God bless Debby for these treasured memories.

SPRING 2021 CLASS NOTES FOR MHC CLASS OF 1962:

Marion Fitch Connell proudly shares news of her daughter’s work. “Rachel, is now Rector/Head of School at Chatham Hall, a boarding and day school in Virginia. With strict protocols in place, she managed to have most students, except a few from abroad, on campus and in class during fall term without any cases of Covid. I think that’s quite an accomplishment.” Well done.

Hannah MacLaren writes from her LA pandemic hot spot. “I only go out for grocery shopping once a week, masked, gloved and distanced and the rest of the time am here alone.” She misses the face-to-face connection but has daily waves and quick conversations with neighbors who watch out for her. “I’m currently the oldest on my block.” She has lots of yard work and reports a variety of birds. She has noticed fewer butterflies. This year she saw “only two monarchs and several painted ladies. I think the fierce heat (114 degrees for days at a time), had them looking for cooler areas.” However, she noticed that her wildlife contingent expanded with the addition of a rabbit. “I’d heard that they were around, but I’d never seen one here before. It appeared one morning, calmly nibbling on new grasses and then stretching out in a ray of sun. So now, in addition to the rabbit, I have my skunk (under the deck), the possum and the raccoon family that roam the neighborhood.” Critters help.

Kimmie Halligan McCann writes “I am sad to report that my husband John McCann passed away on December 15th. Although he had been in memory care for the past several months, his death as a result of a stroke was totally unexpected. He will be missed not only by me, but by many others.” And she adds, “Wish I could report on a wonderful trip instead. Hopefully that will happen soon!”

Susan Higinbotham Holcombe reports, in 2020 we did indeed not travel, but a lot has happened. We had already decided to sell our house in Cambridge when quarantine started and we were successful in doing so. Despite the challenges of deaccessioning that many of us have faced in recent times we found a temporary home on Cape Cod, in an area not densely populated, with access to walking, kayaking and other things to keep us healthy. Arthur and I completed a joint memoir in time to give it to our children and grandchildren for Christmas (“The Roads Taken” by Arthur N. and Susan H. Holcombe—available on Amazon). Part of growing old is taking time to reflect on lives led and to recollect, sadly, the questions we should have asked our parents and grandparents before it was too late. In 2021, when Covid subsides, we will move to Hanover NH, across the river from our daughter in Norwich Vermont. I know some classmates have made this decision and it is a strange one to make. We have watched children of friends scramble to make emergency decisions for their parents’ futures. We hope we can spare our children that and make decisions for ourselves.” And then she observes, “Despite liking to cook, I am tired of cooking three meals a day.”

Catherine Zastrow Onyemelukwe sends news of a stroke in late June. “I now have most of my words back but not all!” And she moved into a new apartment in Norwalk Connecticut. “It’s lovely with large windows, located on a corner. I can look out to the west on the city of Norwalk and the town of South Norwalk at my south. I love it and find it refreshing. She will continue to write her blog on a more limited basis and will focus on racism in the U.S. and news from Nigeria.

Sudy Smith McLaren writes about change as a constant as well as a surprise and delight. “New people in our lives stimulate new brain cells, new directions, new openings, against a backdrop of the consistencies of family and friends. If we listen, we continue to learn. A new friend has re-opened vistas and provided insight. I was scheduled for knee replacement surgery in March 2020, when the Covid lock-down occurred. Because of listening, assessing, and trying ideas that were not so much new as neglected, I no longer face that surgery. Despite being 80, synchronized swimming is still one of my passions. With a little direction, I instituted new strokes/patterns, and strengthened the support tissues to the knee to such an extent that surgery is no longer needed. That’s the kind of change I can embrace with gratitude.”

Sherri Miller Butterfield continues to write and edit her Orange County realtors monthly professional publication. The September/October 2019 issue received Awards of Excellence for both content and cover design. As the pandemic deepened she was asked to produce a video message of inspiration for realtors as they helped clients realize the dream of home ownership despite the challenges that social distancing posed to what is essentially a relationship business. Sherri took another new direction when asked to edit a children’s picture book titled Welcome to Doctor Jack’s Emergency Room. She explains, “It was written by an emergency room doctor named Ali Ghobadi, illustrated by Dan Almanzar. The book tells the story of a monkey named Marvin, a bear named Buddy, an elephant named Ella, and a tiger cub named Chloe whose misadventures result in trips to see a lion named Doctor Jack for treatment of a broken arm, an allergic reaction to bee stings, foreign objects in the nose, and a near drowning. The book is intended for distribution to youngsters whose similar misadventures land them in local emergency rooms in the hope that it will allay their fears (and those of their parents), help them pass waiting room time, and serve to prevent future hospital visits for similar reasons.”