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Constance Woodruff (Atwell)

Just a quick note in response to Sally and Alice's query about classmates in the AAAS.  I am sure there are lots, given the disproportionate number of science graduates at MHC (at least in 1963). I too was also elected as a Fellow for my work in science policy at the National Institutes of Health.  Looking forward to seeing you all (I live in North Carolina now) at reunion in May.

Connie Woodruff Atwell

Elizabeth Meehan (Short)

Great comment, Connie.  I just voted this year's slate for AAAS candidates...Great to hear from you.  I'm now in Pasadena, CA.  Still watching science policy.

Libby Short

Elaine Cox (Jacoby)

Thanks for your interesting comments, Libby, Connie,et al.  It's exciting to see people getting enthusiastic about our forthcoming huge 60th reunion.  I'm so glad to hear that people I haven't seen in years - like you, Connie - are coming.  And with Gretchen Luft leading the discussion on Saturday evening, I'm sure there will be plenty of scientific news!  See you all on Memorial Day week-end. 

Elaine

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Alice Godfrey (Andrus)

Dear Classmates, 

Here's to our great reunion team, led by Reunion Chair Sally Donner and overseen by President Elaine Jacoby and their steady work all these months to bring us to the closing months before reunion. Soon the registration packets will arrive and inspire us to make a trip to beautiful South Hadley to see each other and celebrate 60 years. However, today, I'm thinking of all of you who for one reason or another, won't be joining in the festivities. Particularly, I'm focused on those of you with illness or incapacity  or with ailing spouses precluding a trip in May. We will miss you and hope you will sign in with us and let us know your memories, thoughts and messages of friendship and love. We would love to send you Chariots of Gold lined with Ermine Fur to snuggle in for a aerodynamic ride through sunny skies to be at our side. 

If you have a classmate who you know is unable to join us because of illness or incapacity, please reach out to them with a card or email to let them know you are thinking of them and will miss them. Or if for any other reason, those who were close to you will miss reunion reach out to them as memories flood in of your good times together. 

If you would like to hear from classmates by card or email, you can let us know by joining the member chat. 

Meanwhile, for all those coming, be sure you practice your wave and get amblin' so you are ready to parade once more. love to all, a 

Edith Dulles

What a wonderful and empathic message, Alice! You seem to serve an "ace" every time🙏😘<>>

Edie 

Edith Dulles

Dear Classmates going to 60th Reunion,

     I'll be in NY City on Friday, May 26. Would you recommend the best way to get to South Hadley in time to register for the weekend? Should I make a reservation on a train or bus? Please know I can look up options, but  being in the Southwest so long has made it a puzzle to travel to small towns in the East. If you have a surefire recommendation, please jot it down here. Thanks! 

Edie

Stephanie Smith

Hi Ekie,

There's an Amtrak train from Penn Station to Springfield (I don't know the times, but you could check the website).   That would seem to be an option to get you to South Hadley.   A cab or uber or such from Springfield to SH would be possible.

Looking forward to seeing you at reunion.

Elizabeth Meehan (Short)

Edie & others,

How to get to MHC for reunion:  Going by train and getting picked up at Springfield Station is one option if you are in NYC or have access to the New England train stations.

---to bypass all the limitations of small airports with infrequent flights and limited connections  eg., Bradley Field airport (closest one to MHC), ditto the Springfield train station--we fly from Los Angeles to Boston/Logan Airport. From Logan we rent a car for the weekend, and drive to Campus. (~2hrs drive)  

Libby Short

Marjorie Muecke

in rather belated response to Sally Nunnelly's question on message #657 on 6/07/22 (!!!): While the Radcliffe participation in nursing education wascompletely snuffed out by Harvard (Med, likely), in 1999the whole of  Radcliffe College was  swallowed up by Harvard University, cut & transformed to become the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. That means Radcliffe has not been on of the 7 sister colleges for 24 years. very sad indeed.

Sally Nunneley

Recommend that all read Heather Cox Richardson's story of Frances Perkins, dated March 25. It can be found by searching for HCR by name, then selecting "Letters from an American" on Substack. If you don't want to give your email, just click "no thanks" and the site will take you to her archive.

Karel Mortenson (Koenig)

Yes, Sally, I agree about Heather Cox Richardson's letter on March 25, the anniversary of the 1911 New York City garment factory fire.

     Heather describes the horrific scene - the personal tragedies she watched as the shirt factory went up in a blaze from which no one inside (mostly young women and some children) could escape. Frances Perkins and her friend watched in person. She then continued to devote her life's work to improving working conditions for women, children, the elderly, and the unemployed. Her courage and persistance, and her fearlessness in the halls of power are truly a legacy of civic and political pride, and inspiring and heartwarming to recall.

Karel Mortenson (Koenig)

Nancy Welker who will receive an honorary degree at Commencement this year.  At our MHC '63 mini-Reunion in October 2021 Nancy, having retired, gave a fascinationing presentation of her step by step promotions during her 55 year career at the National Security Agency. The vast majority of her work was top secret so that until her retirement she could not speak of it at all. We were privileged to hear her.

In 2021 when Nancy won induction into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame Sonia Paul wrote in an article for the Mount Holyoke news that Nancy credited a significant part of her pioneering success in a male-dominated field to her decision to attend Mount Holyoke College. Ms Paul quoted Nancy:

 “I would say that a women’s college has two purposes. One is to give you a very good education. … And the second is to convince you you can do anything you set your mind to. And I don't think that all coed schools would do that for you.”

Congratulations and Thank You, Nancy!

Nancy Welker

Thank you so much, Karel.  I am, as my British friends would say, completely gobsmacked by all of this.  Any other honors I have received during my career pale by comparison.  I look forward to seeing you and many of our classmates at our reunion the week after Commencement.

Nancy Selinka (White)

Nancy--It is okay with you if I quote you in the Class Notes in the summer issue of the Quarterly? This will be my last time around as scribe, and I would love to include this exciting news, even though the summer issue will come out after commencement. Thank you, Nancy.

Elaine Cox (Jacoby)

Nancy, I am thrilled by Mount Holyoke's recognition of your lifelong accomplishments.  Congratulations.  I look forward to seeing you at our historic 60th reunion.

Best, Elane

Edith Dulles

Edith Dulles

NY Times, 4/19/23 Arts Section (P C, 4)

Tita Owre

I recently learned that Dianne Carneval Freeman-Merrill died in California in 2020.  I couldn't have asked for a better roommate and am saddened she is no longer with us.

Sally Nunneley

Sorry for this news, Tita. Can you (or anyone else) provide more information as to time and place? I have been unable to find anything on line, and the college does not acknowledge deaths unless they have an obituary or confirmation from immediate family.

Elaine Cox (Jacoby)

I, too, am saddened by the loss of Diane.  She was a good friend in college.  I had not heard from her in several years, and now I learn that she's gone.  I hope Tita can provide more information. 

Thanks, Elaine

Edith Dulles

Am writing this at 10:00 pm at 60th. Judy Williams Irving needs to leave Abbey between 9:30-10:00 to arrive at Bradley airport in time for her flight to N. Carolina. Anybody able to get her to Hartford Airport tomorrow AM ( Sunday, May 28)?

Please Reply 

Edie

Alice Godfrey (Andrus)

What a glorious time in South Hadley will all of us who returned. Shining sun and the sky "the color of a Paris sky on a June day." Can't wait to share all the photos and messages. Enormous thanks to Sally Donner's reunion team. You pull;ed out all the stops.Wouldn't have missed this for all the tea in China! Thank You! 

Edith Dulles

Dear Classmates, I found a red mouth guard case & mouth guard exactly like mine in my suitcase! Please, please let me know if you are missing yours. I have mine, and want to return this as soon as possible to its rightful owner. It's embarrassing to have picked it up, but I know the importance of this to me, so please know I'll send it in overnight mail if you'll let me know personally your information. My phone for calling & texting is 214-289-5443 and my personal email is e.dulles@gnail.com

Miserable at my error, Edie Dulles

Lucy Carlborg (Rosborough)

SO VERY SAD TO MISS OUR 60TH!  Please share stories and photos with all of us who, for one reason or another, were not able to attend.  Glorious weather and I'm sure the campus looked gorgeous as did all of you classmates who were there!  Sending love, Lucy

Alice Godfrey (Andrus)

Lucy, You were missed. Such a fun time, Wonderfl poetry reading by Barbara Goldberg. Wonderful discussion on Saturday night. Great meals. Met the new President. The campus was exquisite with many new plantings.