Class Notes

NEWS OF 1948

NEWS OF 1947

From George Kirkpatrick:

Ladies and gentlemen, I am your new class correspondent. I request your cooperation and participation in a fun project.

In view of our long and varied experience, it might be of interest to alumni, students, even prospective Moravian College applicants, to learn how we spent our lives and careers and about our achievements. Would you please donate about 30 minutes of your time to write me along those lines? Be sure to include your degree and major.

To kick this off: I have a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and was a manager of research and development at Union Carbide Corp. in New Jersey, New York, and Chicago.

I invented the “yellow and blue makes green” zipper bag, Glad degradable trash bags, odor-masking garbage bags, a drawstring bag, Mylar oven bags, and improved Glad Wrap. I also helped develop vinyl stereo records, vinyl garden hoses, PVC pipes, polyethylene bottles, polyethylene trash bags, boil-in bags, and microwave ovenware. I was granted eight patents.

Please write. Your letter will be interesting to all.

NEWS OF 1946

From Ada Zellner Flower:

The surveys submitted by members of our class speak of energetic, committed people fully involved in volunteerism, travel, and work. I especially enjoyed the dorm students’ reminiscences about their antics: throwing snowballs from the roof, cooking spaghetti dinner in one pot on one hot plate, guys climbing the fire escapes to join in the card games, smoking in the rooms (a big no-no!). We day students missed a lot.

Our 55th reunion was very special. Bill and Ann Rosenau Smythe traveled from Colorado and then visited Ann’s brother in New Wales.

Grace Keeler Hodge and David stopped on the way from their winter home in Florida to their summer home in Chautauqua, N.Y. Grace looked lovely in the white suit she wore for their 50th wedding anniversary.

Barbara Shepherd visited Palmerton and Bethlehem friends. She’s found the fountain of youth! Barbara and her son are president and vice president of Shepherd Realty Management Inc.

Ann Root Meyer and Ed visited friends in New Jersey as part of their trip from California for the reunion.

Frank and I visited with Ileen Whitehead Birnbaum and David before we headed for Massachusetts to attend an Elderhostel and visit friends on Cape Cod.

Fran Tallarico Buragino, who volunteers in many ways at Moravian, was with us Saturday.

Lucille Schaffer Wenck and Jane Sullivan Ramsdell joined us for the Founder’s Day luncheon. Jane hoped to get her annuals in before heading for Europe.

Marge Flohr Weiss was with us. She was the inspiration behind our theme: “The War Years, No Males, No Mail, No Etc.”

Marian Emig Hoffman was attending a granddaughter’s college graduation, but she sent a wonderful album from her college years, which is now in the College archives.

Phyllis Clark was attending a family wedding on reunion weekend.

Eve DePoalis Johnson missed the reunion because she was in Wisconsin playing the title role in Driving Miss Daisy.

Sad news. Mildred Henrie Kepler died unexpectedly on Mother’s Day. I have extended our sympathy to her family.

There are lots of changes on the north and south campuses at Moravian, but the buildings and grounds are beautifully maintained. We were graciously received and cared for at the reunion. We rode in the parade in a trolley and held our signs out the windows. I continue to be proud of the institution and our class.

NEWS OF 1945

From Jane Smith Ebelhare:

Beryl Harrison reports that her annual February trip to Florida with other golf addicts was as much fun as ever. In addition to golf, her group played bridge, shopped, and ate out every day. Beryl still takes care of her own lawn with her self-propelled mower but allows time to play golf at least three times a week.

Jackie Stout McGiffert planned to spend most of the summer at her place on Flathead Lake in Big Fork, Mont., where “life is tranquil and uneventful.”

Janet Moyer Paulus was busy entertaining family and friends this summer. As she was writing me, she was expecting a visit for lunch from two childhood friends.

Since Florence Drebert Fritts and her husband, Warren, have moved to a retirement community in Lititz, they’re just 15 minutes away from the home of Dorothy Stump Lied in Ephrata. Dorothy visited them a few months ago and had lunch and a tour of their community. Dorothy has gone on some two-day trips to dinner theaters and the shore this summer and recently spent a weekend at a church conference in Baltimore. Several weeks ago, she went with a group to Gettysburg.

Gloria Gately Chipman and Frank had planned a Mississippi River cruise this past summer and flew to St. Paul, Minn., to embark there. However, flooding on the upper Mississippi cancelled the trip, so they were flown to Cincinnati for an Ohio River cruise instead. They plan a repeat trip to the Panama Canal in October. Frank plays golf three times a week, and Gloria attends water aerobics four times a week.

I’m not sure what Andy and I have accomplished since we returned to Colorado in April, other than a few day-trips to gorgeous canyons. One thing we did was buy an Italian greyhound puppy to spice up our old whippet’s life. Nancy is almost 14 and has lost her hearing and become somewhat depressed. The puppy has helped, but he’s going to need a lot of civilizing before he meets the public in Florida next winter.

NEWS OF 1944

NEWS OF 1943

From Margaret L. Albright:

We extend our sympathy to Joyce Newhard Knapp and her family upon the death of her brother, Allan, on July 12. He was a partner in the family business, Albeth Ice Co. in Allentown.

NEWS OF 1942 - Reunion May 31 – June 1

From Mary Kuehl Concevitch:

Founder’s Day saw eight of our classmates at the reception, Lovefeast, and luncheon. Betty Birk Nowicki was on the committee. Keep in mind that 2002 will be a reunion year for us!

NEWS OF 1941

From Ruth Hemmerly Kelly:

Our 60th reunion brought 14 of us from Moravian College for Women and one, Martin Getz, from the Class of 1941 at Moravian College for Men.

A few notes from some who were not there:

Dottie Lukens Comegys was visiting a granddaughter in Denver. Dottie keeps busy with needlework and volunteering at Moravian Hall Square. She has traveled in Europe, especially England and Norway.

Ruth Reitz Balish in Lakeland, Fla., welcomed a January visit from Christian, her fifth grandson, who lives in Tennessee.

Edith Rich Ettinger has two granddaughters and invites us to visit her in South Carolina.

Betty Finger Sutton is in a retirement community in Easley, S.C., close to family. She has 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Mary Yerger Wurst, in Cherry Hill, N.J., has a daughter in Colorado and a son in Maryland.

These classmates were at the reunion:

Ruth Cosgrove d’Aleo has her first grandchild, Cameron. She is researching family history and writing a book about growing up in Allentown.

Marian Carty Durkee is active in Great Books programs, volunteers at St. Luke’s Hospital, and attends Elderhostels. She has signed up for one about Lewis and Clark this year.

Ruth Overfield Fidorack still travels and says she must make up her mind what to do with her vast collection of travel souvenirs. She wants to start a world culture museum.

Lois Yerger Fischel attends current-events lectures and plays bridge. She says she has become disillusioned with air travel.

Thelma Scheifele Heiberger writes that Moravian enriched her life “beyond my wildest expectations.” Her life loves are music, gardening, and, of course, family.

Nancy Reichard Kichline is busy with her garden club and church work. She had heart surgery in February.

Alethea Cliff Shurskis has four granddaughters and is now in a retirement community in Myerstown. She stays active in the Lebanon Moravian church.

Barbara Bastian Uhrig led an active musical life in Tucson, Ariz., while her husband was alive. Now she quilts, sews, and enjoys activities with friends and family.

I am grateful for good health and looking forward to trips to Scandinavia, Eastern Canada, and a safari to Africa in October. After reading Theodore Roosevelt’s African Game Trail as a child, I’m finally going to realize my dream.

NEWS OF 1940

From the Alumni House:

We are still looking for a class correspondent. If anyone is interested, please contact the Alumni Office at 610 861-1366.

NEWS OF 1939

From Elizabeth Batdorf Hummel:

Cleo Funk Rohrbaugh, Dorothea Kissner Arbizzani, and I have been getting together once a month for lunch. In June, as Dot and Cleo were walking over to the restaurant, Dot fell. We had her taken to Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, where an X-ray showed that her hip was broken. After a repair operation, she went to Blough Health Care Center for therapy.

A letter from Lettie Thirza Ward Janecek says her health is fine and she is very much involved in activities in her community. She’s in charge of the knitters who make lap robes, hats, scarves, and sweaters for the residents and also for charity. (Do you remember our days at Moravian when we all seemed to be knitting something?) Along with that, her time is occupied with teaching, organizing, and playing advanced bridge.

Esther McNomee Sleight wrote that she spent a week in July with her daughter in West Virginia. We found that we have several things in common: We both have computers that were gifts from our children, and we both have arthritis—but try to find someone our age who doesn’t.

I had a phone call from Helen Sigmond Rush, whose address had been given to me as Cody, Wyo. She tells me this is not her permanent address; she is living there temporarily with her son. She describes it as a beautiful mountainous country, everything green. Its towns are small, and there are few places to shop. I guess she’ll save her shopping for Pennsylvania.

NEWS OF 1938

From Evalyn Adams Hawk:

Olivia Musselman Barnes attended Founder’s Day and Alumni Day—the only one of us to do so. Thank you, Olivia, for championing our class at its 63rd reunion.

From the Alumni House:

Charles “Teddy” Mazza, Moravian’s first All-American, died July 19. After his retirement from Bethlehem Steel, he and his wife, Shirley, had been living in Florida for the past 20 years.

NEWS OF 1937 - Reunion May 31 – June 1

NEWS OF 1936

NEWS OF 1935

From Wilma Kistler Uhrich:

I hope you had as good a summer as we had. We were on the go all the time.

Mary Pristoff Bosich has been in a home to get much-needed care for severe and painful arthritis. Her 17-year-old grandson attends community college and works one day a week at Mary’s residence. A couple of her friends also live there. My last letter to her was returned; has there been a change of address? My card to Carol Seacrest Messinger also was returned, so bring me up to date.

Anna Neamand took a 32-day cruise to St. Pierre, the Azores, the British Isles, France, Portugal, and Spain and said the sea was very calm for 51/2 days.

Kitty Adams Eckhard was involved in a car accident. A volunteer for 30 years at Phoebe Home, she had been the guest of the Morning Call at a recognition luncheon in the Radisson Hotel. En route home, the car in which she was a front-seat passenger was hit head-on. The air bag deployed, and the large plaque she carried slammed into her chest. After an ambulance trip to the hospital and some tests, she was released. In July she took an eight-day trip to Branson, Mo.