It seems funny to be writing for the winter issue of the SAQ when it is 94 degrees in Northern Virginia but just thinking of winter gives me hope for cooler temperatures. In hopes of cool weather, I packed my “woolies” for a trip to visit my daughter in Boulder, CO in July but no such luck there, and a beach adventure in NC with my son’s family later in the summer was even hotter. Such has been the summer of 2022 all over the world, but at least we have been able to travel. Be sure to include our fabulous 50th Reunion dates, May 25-28, 2023, on your travel calendar! By the time you read this I hope you will have created your page in our digital Reunion yearbook.
Ruth Swetland Eppig also has a daughter living in Boulder, a son in Detroit, and another daughter and son with four grandchildren combined, residing in the Cleveland, OH area near Ruth and her husband of 45 years. Ruth manages her family foundation, the Sears-Swetland Family Foundation, with the help of her children and brother; the foundation focuses on environmental health and urban sustainability.
After a long career with a large hedge fund and many years as a non-executive director of several large global companies Mina Gerowin Herrmann has retired to their New York home with her husband Jeff. They have lived most recently in London, England and will continue to visit as their son and his wife and their only grandson are there. Mina’s other son lives in New York City. Mina shares her talents in the non-profit world in retirement and has founded Maths4Girls in the UK, which provides role models in the STEM fields. Mina and Jeff play tennis, and she takes on-line watercolor painting classes, having been in a portrait painting circle in London.
Helen (Francie) Parker Newcomb reports that she has two greyhounds who rule her life. She is active in a garden club that maintains a White Garden in her town’s Botanical Gardens and involved with some civic work through the DAR. Francie is hoping to reconnect with friends are our Reunion in May.
In June, Deborah Sterling Ockert took part in the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Study Abroad Program in Hamburg, Germany. Deborah was an exchange student in Hamburg during her junior year at Smith and has been living in Hamburg since 1975. During the celebration, Deborah was pleased to reunite with the favorite German professor, Margaret Zelljadt, now Faculty Emerita, and a former Director of the Hamburg Program.
Enjoying her soon-to-be-married life in Santa Rosa, CA after a long run in Berkeley is Carolyn Roundey. Carolyn met her fiancée Candace through mutual friends at their LGBTQ+ family camp many years ago, and finally realized they are a fabulous duo. Carolyn’s son, Teo, is in accounting and bookkeeping in Arcata, CA, and her daughter Gina lives in Cambridge, MA where she does computer programming work for startup companies.
Renee Levine Melammed writes to announce the birth of her granddaughter Zohar (sister to Maya, Matan, and Shoham) to daughter Shira, just before Shira received her Ph.D in Chemistry from the Weizman Institute, and headed to Berkeley for a post-doctoral fellowship. Her son is a mechanical engineer with Mobileye. Renee and her husband Uri will be at Princeton starting in January, and she hopes to greet her 150 Elm Street gang at our Reunion.
Jeanne Erlandson Nix lives in Palm Coast, FL and retired from 25 years active teaching in 2018 in Orlando, FL and Flagler County, FL; she spent five summers scoring for the College Board in AP Literature, and leading seminars for teachers. In retirement, Jeanne earned her real estate license, joining her husband who has been a realtor since leaving his corporate career (way too much travel) in 2010. Jeanne feels fortunate to have retired from teaching just before COVID and all the traumas it has brought to education and enjoys the flexibility and socialization of real estate. Jean’s family includes four grown children and four grandchildren with another on the way. She plans to make it to Northampton in May.
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