Class of '40

Spring and our 60th reunion will soon be here. The staff at the Alumni Office and the 1940 reunion committee are working on creative approaches to this millennial occasion. If you have ideas for a dramatic event, please send them along. Your presence on campus on June 1-4, 2000, is essential. Let the Alumni Office know if you are planning to come. If other plans prevent your attendance, please send a greeting, which will be read at the reunion dinner. Here is the latest information on the Memorial Scholarship. Nine undergraduates have received a total of $18,600 in financial assistance for the academic year 1999-2000. This amount has been secured from current donations and income from the principal, which is now $112, 711.84. It was a pleasure to receive a letter from co-vice president, Charlie Utter, who wrote, “Ed Irwin’s memory of the Glenn Miller band in 1939 brought back memories long forgotten. Annice and I had to leave early because I was to perform in Kake Walk the next evening. Sigma Phi brothers were at the house to make sure that I came home and went to bed. We placed second in the event in 1939.” Charlie was one of the New England journalists who was admitted to the former Soviet Union. He added that later they followed Halley’s Comet to Rio de Janeiro by boat, including a night on the Amazon to get away from the local sky glow. We extend our sympathy to Charlie on the recent death of his wife Annice Swertfeger Utter ’39. Mildred Guttormsen Emerson and her husband have moved again, but they are still in the Sacramento area. They recently visited their son in Seattle, Wash., “where everything centers around Bill Gates and family.” The Emersons enjoy playing tennis three times a week, and they credit that and “the Lord’s goodness to us” for their making it this far.

Class of '42

A memorial service for Dr. Harriet Dustan was held at the Ira Allen Chapel on September 25. More sadness for the class of ’42: Our sympathy to Pearl Marvin Welch and her husband, Clayton, on the death of their grandson, Joshua Welch. Also, Myrna French Partridge passed away at Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vt., where she lived with her husband, Chester. Barbara Brewster Howard has Ariels from 1939, 1940, and 1941 to give away.

Class of '43

We hope you have all had a good autumn and are looking forward to the end of the millennium celebrations. I recently received a great letter from Mim Mack Andrews, who was a freshman with me in Robinson Hall. That brought back a lot of good memories. Mim is just becoming computer literate (as they say) and is having lots of fun with email. She would love to hear from you at <mim@statesville.com>. Mim is enjoying life among family and friends at her year-round home on Lake Norman in North Carolina. Last year, she and her husband spent two weeks in Florida. Her son-in-law worked on the Mars Probe, and his family was invited to see the launch at the Kennedy Space Station. I’m sorry I haven’t heard from more of you, but I will keep putting out these pleas for news. Talk to you again in the next century.

Class of '44

Did we expect all this, the winter millennium? Of course, we really did. It’s here, and we like it or we don’t. We’re finding it no different, or we’re aware of promising days and nights ahead. Please send us news, and we’ll print it. A classmate we are all proud of, Col. Rosamond Hughes, died last fall on October 14. She had a very distinguished military career, winning the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit Award, among other honors. We extend our condolences to her family.

Class of '45

Plans are being made for a wonderful 55th reunion on June 1-4, 2000. Our reunion committee would love your help. If you’d like to be part of the planning, please contact the Alumni Office at (802) 656-2010. Please be sure to save the date so that you can join us for an exciting weekend on the UVM campus.

Class of '48

Joanne Kouris and Thomas Bell were married on August 29, 1999, in Denver, Colo., where they make their home.

Class of '49

Kudos to our reunion committee for planning a joyous reunion. Special thanks to Gladys and Malcolm Severance for opening their hearts and home to returning 49ers. Betty Cox of Summit, N.J., was honored by the Women’s Political Caucus of New Jersey for more than twenty-five years of outstanding service and dedication to the concerns of women. While others are retiring, Evelyn Jacobs Ortner of Millburn, N.J., has, for the last decade, chosen to run the Unity Group, a non-profit advocacy group for battered women and their dependent children. Lionel Lewis wrote, “I was the one who married my second wife, Dr. Raquel Doldan of Uruguay and who lived with her there in Montevideo, not my 14-year-old grandson, Sean, as printed in the 50th Reunion Memory Book.”