The Latest From Your Class Scribe
Sue Keller eagerly awaits your news. Here is a new and easy way to get your news to her.
Click on the email address and let her know what you are up, or not up, to.
Our class news will still appear in the Quarterly, but you can see the column here in advance.
 | ||||||
| ||||||
Sue Nutter Keller
August 2025
Very Sad News---Obituary on our Memorial Page
I am forwarding the gist of a text I shared with the IFPO board last night. I am sorry to tell you of the tragic death of Juli Towell.
Juli was hit by a car at Winchester Gardens on Friday night as she crossed with her walker from her bungalow to the main building for dinner. The person who hit her was a guest whose foot got stuck or mistook the accelerator for the stop pedal. Juli died in the ambulance before she even reached the hospital.
Juli was a remarkable woman, a leader wherever she went, including at Winchester Gardens. Besides IFPO, she was behind the creation of Apostles House - another MEND food pantry in Newark, and numerous other initiatives for interfaith dialogue and racial understanding and education. She was 93 yr old and totally intellectually aware and engaged.
Juli was my role model for what I wanted to be when “I grew up” and that MHC bond was an added feature. She was remarkable and kind and such a good listener who never judged. We are all blessed by knowing her and very sad she is no longer with us.
| ||||||
September 2025
Carol Monick Huth was sorry to miss our reunion but was still recovering from two hospital stays this past winter and spring. She had both surgery and then pneumonia, but she's back in the swing of things now and raring to go. Carol is still working believe it or not, and says she loves it. Her patients come to her and she listens and suggests and loves iher practice.
Polly Laszlo Brody lives in Southbury, CT and is grateful to have her daughter, Deborah, living with her. Son Chuck lives in nearby Simsbury and grandson Daniel with his wife Sarah live not too far away in Dedham, MA. Grandchildren Maya in MA, Peter in CA, and Winona in Hawaii complete her family. Polly still enjoys bird watching, now from her small electric wheelchair.
Joan “Wink” Winkel Ripley is not only our extraordinary Class President. She also leads our class agents, manages our monthly Zooms, adds to our class website every month and keeps us all involved in the Class of 1955 and MHC, Somehow she and her husband, Mills, also find time to entertain their 5 children and spouses, 17 grandchildren with numerous husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends and 8 great grandchildren.
No matter what time of year, Jane Barth loves to visit her “summer home” in Michigan which overlooks Lake Huron. She has been going there since 1940 which is almost her whole life!
I, Susan Nutter Keller, visited the Frances Perkins National Monument, a beautiful site in Newcastle, ME on the shore of the Damariscotta River. Frances Perkins was FDR’s Secretary of Labor and the first woman to serve as a cabinet secretary. In the simple but elegant brick house on the site, Frances spent many happy summers visiting her grandmother who was an important influence in life. In the Homestead Barn there is a self-guided exhibit presenting an overview of Perkins’ accomplishments where, I am pleased to report, MHC is well represented. I also looked into the Archives at MHC and learned that Frances was president of her class her senior year (1902) and was voted “Girl who has done most for the Class.”
Diana Alexanian Jalelian lives in Arlington MA. She is cheerful and content in her own home with her daughters living nearby. One daughter, Cerise, accompanied Diana to reunion and took some wonderful pictures. You can see how young we all look on our class website!
October 2025
Nancy Schuster Hanson volunteers at a beautiful library in Savannah which is staffed entirely by volunteers, which seems quite unusual for a library, but works perfectly in this case. She also enjoys visits with daughter in Maine where she had lived several years ago.
Joan Haskell Vicinus, returning home from a wedding in New York City, survived a fall down a Port Authority escalator without breaking a single bone. She had some bruises and cuts but was very grateful because it could have been so much worse. Good news (and good bones), Joan!
Mary-Carey “MC” Bachmann Churchill had lunch with Ellis Batchelder Weatherly and her daughter in Southport, CT . They had a lovely time reminiscing about old times and catching up on all the new news.
Janice Williams Libby likes to spend time in Stonington, ME where there are kayaks and a sailboat for visiting family to enjoy. Jan is not alone among us in having dry macular degeneration. At home in Providence she has a small device, OrCam MyEye, which can read to her the text from any book or screen. Her iPad has an app that reads the text on the screen. Amazing technology.
Ann “Tommy” Tomlinson Edmondson reports that she has been galavanting. (Love that word!) She and a friend drove to southeastern PA to visit Westtown School, a co-ed college preparatory school where Tommy’s father had been business manager. Her family had lived in a brick house on campus, home to Tommy from age 3 until after MHC. It was about to be razed for the construction of a new dining facility so Tommy wanted to take a nostalgic look. While there they also visited nearby Winterthur, Brandywine Art Museum and Chanticleer Garden.
November 2025
Karen Zehner Lucas writes--I am fine, spending long weekends at our cottage on the bay and week days here in VA. Husband John and I are both healthy and still driving and are happy to have kids and grand kids near by. Merry Christmas!
January 2026
Newshounds Dee Lamb Barstow, Tommy Tomlinson Edmonton, Pam Moody Harkins, Willie Willenbrok Leonard and I are ready to share news of our classmates in the redesigned and renamed Mount Holyoke Magazine (although I think that it will always be the Quarterly to me).
Sallie Barr Palmer spent Christmas on a Caribbean cruise with her husband. They had visited all of the island stops on other trips so just stayed on board to relax and get waited on for 10 days.
Hanne Bruun Raabyemagle sends New Year’s greetings to all. She enjoys the class newsletter and looks forward to receiving future ones. All is well with Hanne in Denmark.
In spite of macular degeneration, Joan Wharton Witkin was able to attend her daughter’s wedding in California. A happy occasion!
February 2026
After graduating from MHC Alice Czyz earned 3 MA’s and taught English in many foreign countries. Now she has now returned to her roots and is living a happy life in Suffield, CT. There she enjoys visiting with old friends and with their children and grandchildren. Alice listens to the news on BBC which she finds to be more positive than local stations.
For 16 years Pat Steiner Nathan has lived in a condo in W. Orange, NJ. There she volunteers in a food kitchen and feels fortunate to have 2 high school friends with whom she visits regularly. Pat has 3 young grandsons which she calls her own team (“but not football!”) Recently she enjoyed visiting 1 in RI and the other 2 in NC.
Sydney Mautner Reed lives in a wonderful senior housing establishment in Minneapolis, MN, which fortunately is not near all of he immigration unrest currently in Minneapolis. Classmate Gay DeLong Goodhart also lives here. Sydney often talks with Marlene Strum Zeiler who lives in Decatur, GA.
Joan Haskell Vicinus enjoyed a visit from her youngest sibling, her brother and his wife who travelled from Philadelphia. When not entertaining guests Joan watches the nightly news with her friend in the apartment next door since she does not have a TV.
Elizabeth (Win) Pettus Losa renewed her vows with the Society of Anna the Prophet via Zoom. She was unable to attend the ceremony in Atlanta, GA because of bad weather. Win has just begun an intensive 4-year course which has been given by the Episcopal Church for 50 years. Yearly topics are the Old Testament, the New Testament, Church History and Ethics. Win is finding it fascinating and challenging.
Bernice Siman Wolk’s daughter shared this news about her mother. “My mother Bernice Wolk recently relocated into an apartment in the memory care building from her apartment within the continuing care community she has lived in since 2020. She no longer reads email but otherwise is thriving and has absolutely no physical issues. My sisters and I appreciate our mother's foresight in choosing to live where she does. Bernice is happier and more relaxed than she has been in years. She was using so much energy to overcome her cognitive challenges in order to go about daily life to her always high standards. She no longer has to do that and her days are filled with interesting activities with nice neighbors. Bernice has accepted her cognitive decline as a part of aging and constantly marvels that she has reached 91.”
Gay DeLong Goodhart has lived in a senior residence facility, the Kenwood, in Minneapolis MN for 4 years. She has Parkinson’s and uses a
walker full time but is grateful that she still has her marbles.
She has had a full life raising 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls,
while also being a PT therapist . She has worked as a home health
therapist and made 8-9,000 home visits. In 88 or ’89 there was
an earthquake in Armenia that resulted in many injuries to limbs.
Gay went there to help people recover from their injuries and was
the director of a school for PT.
Mary Ann (Mac) Croft Osborne lives in a 7 unit condo in Dedham, MA. An old home was razed and the condo built on the site right around the corner from the houses where Mac and many of her friends lived and raised their children so Mac feels right at home.
Marlene Strum Zeiler did not graduate with our class (she received her degree from Stanford) but her heart has always been with MHC. Marlene recently moved “around the corner” to a senior living complex in Decatur, GA where she has a lovely apartment and has found a group of like-minded friends. She owned a bookstore in GA for 30 years and, not surprisingly, loves to read. She used to be a runner and is now walking a very impressive 4 miles a day.
March 2026
Elizabeth Bergamini writes she got a card from her old room mate Susan Shepard Alexander who is now living with her son, spending three months in her old home in Friendship, Maine (right on the water) and the rest of year in Annapolis, Maryland. Sounds ideal.
April 2026
May 2026
Lois Gaeta wrote...believe it or not, I was hit by a car on the corner of 49th and First and minor injuries but ambulance to the ER and so forth. Then the full deal with filing papers and papers but State Farm is supposed to handle it all and I have every confidence it will.
My GYN who is also “small” as in “short” or “not tall” had warned me to carry a cane to fend off people coming towards me but I did not have a cane with me (now I generally do and wave it at oncoming cars).
At any event, I am fine.
Gay DeLong Goodhart has lived in a senior residence facility, the Kenwood, in Minneapolis MN for 4 years. She has Parkinson’s and uses a
walker full time but is grateful that she still has her marbles.
She has had a full life raising 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls,
while also being a PT therapist .
She has worked as a home health therapist and made 8-9,000 home visits. In 88 or ’89 there was an earthquake in Armenia that resulted in many injuries to limbs.
Gay went there to help people recover from their injuries and was the director of a school for PT.
Marlene Strum Zeiler did not graduate with our class (she received her degree from Stanford) but her heart has always been with MHC. Marlene recently moved “around the corner” to a senior living complex in Decatur, GA where she has a lovely apartment and has found a group of like-minded friends. She owned a bookstore in GA for 30 years and, not surprisingly, loves to read. She used to be a runner and is now walking a very impressive 4 miles a day.
Lois Gaeta gets to London about twice a year. When she is at home in NYC she extends an invitation to all classmates visiting the city.
Marilyn Jacobson Nasastir and her husband, David, have moved to an independent senior community and have just welcomed into their family 4 new great grandchildren. That brings the number to 18, and since the oldest is married, the Nasastirs are hoping that a great-great is “in their crystal ball.
Nancy Nutting Lane continues to lead an active life at her retirement community in Stamford, CT. She is now Chair of the Nominating Committee for the Resident Council and Secretary of the Associates Appreciation Fund. She has recently enjoyed taking a course in Prehistoric Cav Art, as well as attending lectures and musical programs
June 2026
Marilyn Jacobson Nasastir and her husband, David, have moved to an independent senior community and have just welcomed into their family 4 new great grandchildren. That brings the number to 18, and since the oldest is married, the Nasastirs are hoping that a great-great is “in their crystal ball.
Nancy Nutting Lane continues to lead an active life at her retirement community in Stamford, CT. She is now Chair of the Nominating Committee for the Resident Council and Secretary of the Associates Appreciation Fund. She has recently enjoyed taking a course in Prehistoric Cav Art, as well as attending lectures and musical programs.
Carol Monnik Huth is still active as a psychologist, seeing 6-8 clients a week. She has taken art appreciation courses in Ancient Roman Art and Anatolian Art. One of Carol’s sons lives around the corner with his wife and 2 children; the other, a professor of physics at Harvard, lives in Boston.
Sally Barr Palmer and her husband, Peter, traveled to London to celebrate Peter’s 93rd birthday at the Union Jack Club. Then it was on to Wales to visit Peter’s last surviving cousin, 100 years old. Now they are back home with no more travel plans scheduled for a while.
Barbara Mulvehill Gray and her husband Rich are delighted to report that they will soon have 2 great granddaughters. One will join her 2 ½ year old brother in Chicago and the other will be welcomed in Brookly, NY.
Peggy Henry Weeks is doing well but, like most of us, is slowing down. She no longer plays golf but does play bridge regularly. Peggy still lives in her own home but she has many friends and neighbors as well as 2 daughters who all live nearby.
Ada Ball Liggett also lives in her own home and, like Peggy, she is slowing down physically. Ada is still able to drive in the daytime and can read large print books. She likes being independent but did not enjoy the NJ winter.
July 2026
