CLASS NOTES
34
spr ing 2013 | st. Lawrence Universit y Magazine
Other Laurentians included george van wyck
‘53,
John ‘67 and Kathy Meyer, my brother-in-law
Jim crowley ‘52, and also from the class of ‘52 Joe
r usso and Barbara r obertson Mitchell. Football
teammate Bill ‘55 and sandy steinkuller plimp-
ton ‘59 wrote from the shores of the st. Lawrence
r iver.
peter ‘58 and Becky Blaisdell van de water ‘60 re-
minded me that his reminiscences of more than
50
years in canton appear in his book, available at
the Bookstore. it’s a nice piece of work that i think
you’d enjoy; it’s entitled
This is What I Thought at
the Time.
two of our oldest friends, John Quirk ‘48 and
Helen “aitchie” aitchison ellison ‘45, were early
greeters. also sending christmas greetings were
phil ‘57 and colleen Morey and Jim ‘56n and BJ
Laidlawwilkinson‘57. stevewahl‘62 sends an an-
nual newspaper called “t he wahl street Journal,”
which is enjoyable reading. christine Koski ‘79
keeps us in touch with her interesting world-wide
travel schedule. steve ‘83 and Jacquie Hasper
Kuno ’84 also produce a photographic family up-
date. whitney Brice ‘87, like Jacquie a former co-
worker in the alumni office, keeps in touch. Dave
Batson ‘82 and wife Karen produce the only cali-
fornia card we receive, while Barbarajean schae-
fer Blodgett‘72 annually comes up with an artistic
(
and funny) masterpiece.
By the time you receive this humble effort, we’ll
only be a year and a couple of months away from
our 60th class reunion.
1955
Connie Doughty Knies ’55
43
Westgate Blvd.
Plandome, NY 11030-1452
516-365-9029
cdknies@optonline.net
˜
next r eunion: 60
th
, 2015
Joyce SullivanThompson
is the author of this col-
umn, her last. Her class and the University thank her
for 57 continuous years as class reporter.
what with the aging process and my lack of tech-
nology, this is my final letter as your class reporter.
Connie Doughty Knies
has kindly agreed to step
in. please send her your news at any of the con-
tacts provided above.
i enjoyed many notes in holiday cards. One was
from connie and Dick ‘54, describing how they
survived Hurricane sandy but were without power
for two weeks. t hree huge hemlock trees crashed
across their back yard, taking down the power
lines.t heir house and Dick’s cherished antique cars
were spared.
t hey took a caribbean cruise last January and also
did an antique car tour of about 700 miles in their
100-
year-old car. inMay, connie traveled toDevon,
england, and visited englishgardenswithher sister
Betsy. t he Knies’s grandson is a freshman at a colo-
rado college.
connie ended her note with a motto for after
sandy: “if you’re here to complain about it, you’re
lucky!”
Budpatnode Jr.‘54got his“over 80”season ski pass
at alta and was skiing when wife
Elaine Peatfiel
Patnode
wrote the christmas note. t he patnodes
continue to reside in cottonwood Heights, Utah.
Keith
and
Marjorie ConklingWallace
continue
to live in south Burlington,vt. inMay, their grand-
daughter graduated from st. Michael’s college
and returned home to Ohio. t hey miss her many
visits.
Betsy Platt Thomas
and husband Dud live
in palm coast, Fla., and are enthusiastic about
travel by cruises, through the Mediterranean and
later to alaska. in March, a south seas cruise was
planned. Betsy wrote that she,
Betsy Comfort
Palmer, Marian Kelley Fuchs
and
Nancy Means
Ball
all keep in touch.
Mary Oates Geran
and husband Mike were
also visited by Hurricane sandy in Maplewood,
n.J. t hey were without power for eight days but
had no floodin . t hey spent February in clear-
water Beach, Fla., and in October celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary with a caribbean
cruise.
tom ‘54 and
Vivienne “Sistie” Sime Lewis
have
13
grandchildren; one granddaughter attends st.
Lawrence! t hey visited prince edward island and
nova scotia in september and loved the fantastic
beauty of those provinces.
Gina Potter Jacobsen
wrote that a granddaugh-
ter is graduating from Duke and a grandson is a
freshman there. gina enjoys playing golf and
keeps busy singing in a choir. she also continues
as a trustee at a local nursing center.
Bud Kinsler
celebrated his 80th birthday last
May at home in st. Marys, pa. He is enjoying good
health, keeps active and will give up winters in
Florida to be home instead.
Fran and
Paul Setter
keep busy at their home in
Murrells inlet, s.c. Future travels will include only
the Usa to see family, instead of riverboat cruises
in europe.
Ken and
Jane Carpenter Patterson
live in new
smyrna Beach, Fla., and claimgood health despite
advancing ages (like the rest of us). Last year they
traveled to ecuador but plan to stay in Florida this
winter even though their house is rented for three
months. Ken is reactivating his real estate efforts
with a fi mer housing market there.
Jane Fippin Thompson
reported the sad news
about the recent death of husband Oreay ‘56. He
had been sick and chose to stop treatments. she
wrote, "He went quickly and peacefully with no
pain.” Our deepest sympathy is sent to the fam-
ily. Jane lives in stone Mountain, ga.
George Stade’s
most recent novel,
Swimming
Through the Flotsam in Which We Live and Move
and Have Our Being
,
is available at the st. Law-
rence bookstore
(www.brewerbookstoretext
.
com).
Dave ‘54 and our fi e daughters are all healthy
and happy with lots of activities. Jobs include a
French teacher, nurses, school administrators and
a director of city tourism. Our 11 grandchildren
are very busy with hockey (ice and field), swim-
ming, basketball, soccer, etc. we enjoy seeing
them as much as we can.
i have thoroughly enjoyed my alumni magazine
reporting andworkingwith all themany excellent
staff over the years. Keep in touch with me and
also our wonderful outstanding alma mater.
1956
Priscilla harvey schroeder ’56
2215
Windbrook Court
Westlake Village, CA 91361-3538
805-495-9758
memowind@roadrunner.com
next r eunion: 60
th
, 2016
Many thanks for season’s greetings with the pri-
mary message of love, peace, hope, good health
and happiness in 2013!
Mary Ellen Rhodes McConnell
sent a photo of
her family of three children and seven grandchil-
dren. Her husband, Jack, started the volunteers in
Medicine clinic on Hilton Head 20 years ago and
there are now 92 viM clinics around the country
with another 15 in the pipeline. what an accom-
plishment! page is their musician son who plays
keyboards with the band phish. t heir older son,
steve, lives with his family in san Francisco. He and
wife paula both have MBas. t heir youngest, Katie,
is in her third career – a board-certified lactation
consultant. she is pursuing her rn degree at Hart-
wick college in Oneonta, n.y., where husband Karl
teaches economics.
Last year was big for Barbara and
Dave Joy
.
t hey
moved from palm coast to Orange city, Fla. t hey
decided on a continuing care retirement facility,
John Knox village, and welcome a visit anytime.
t he campus-like setting is meticulously main-
tained, the food is excellent and there are many
activities and outings. Best of all, there are six golf
courses nearby!
Nancy Purcell Murphy
plans to sell her south
carolina house and move back to altamont,
n.y., where she lived before sailboat-living days.
t hanks, nancy, for your sign-off message, “take
care of each other.”
Steve Avery
included his business card in his
note – executive golfer, international Junior golf
academy. t heir slogan is “champions are trained,
not Born.” steve sent some wonderful family pho-
tos of children and grandchildren, including twins
who are 6. steve is still working approximately 18
hours a week and is doing a little winter gardening
with r on Boyd ’58. He is in regular touchwith
Dick
Contee
and trades emails occasionally with
H. A.
Thompson
.
DottieWhitaker Cannon
has a small-world story
to share. Her step-daughter met one of our class-
mates at an art gallery opening in Buffal . she and
Robert Freudenheim
are planning to meet in al-
bany.
Mary Warren Eichenlaub
wrote about a 2012
highlight with her sister: t hey met with all of their
first cousins (11) in newark, n.y., to celebrate their
aunt r uth’s 100th birthday. grandson shane
played eight regulation golf courses in one day,
with three other men, to break the guinness re-
cord of fi e!
Lola Somerville
and
Bill Schott
report that son
D.J. completed an ironman race two weeks before
his 50th birthday. t hat is a 2-½mile swim, 112-mile
bike ride and 26-mile run. what an accomplish-
ment! t heir granddaughter courtney will earn her
doctorate in occupational therapy in May. as part
of her training, she spent two months in sweden.
Meanwhile, their granddaughter r achael has re-
turned to napa valley to learn organic farming.