Onyx Anneau Spring 2021

Marilyn Gaudreau Hackett expressed her appreciation for Zoom: she and her children live in four different time zones! So, communication with all online is a challenge and has to be coordinated. She has stayed healthy and anticipates her vaccine shot. Then there’s our own Mary Jo Augustine ! With Team JoJo’s enthusiastic family support in 2019, she won two golds, three silvers and one bronze in the six strokes she swam in the Senior Swimming Olympics! Husband Jim and Jo were both hit hard by COVID this past year and are slowly but surely recovering their “mojo.” When I shared Jo’s video of her swimming events, I blew it! I did not record all the appreciations Jo received for her accomplishments nor the names of those who sent them. I apologize to several who are not included here even though I did hear from them! Margarita Felipe Gonzalez did write “Thank you for sharing! Having been a swimmer, a mother of swimmers, and grandmother of swimmers, I enjoyed every minute of it.” Another person taking advantage of “home- bound-ness” is Jo Ann Surmont Hribernik . She and her husband are sorting and getting rid of “overbought stuff” in preparation for a downsizing move. Jo Ann says, “We are off for our 17 move…I am an expert.” Diana Schmitt Barry shares her news “such as it is.” She and her cat Kiki are home together. Diana has served virtually on two boards, worked on quilts, made about 100 masks and had several phone conversations with Billie DeBeck Brunsman . Hearing from Masako “Micki” Ishii Inoue in Japan slammed home the extent of this pandemic. She is healthy and staying home! (Sounds like most of our class!) Her activities include yoga, walking and watercolor painting. She hopes the Tokyo Olympics become reality this July and that COVID would “please go away from the earth quickly.” Kathleen “Kathy” Dunne Alexis and Ron continue to do OLLI classes online, bird watching, puzzles, cooking and Netflix movies. Kathy is recovering from hip surgery. One daughter is on leave from American Airlines while the other teaches media (both in-person and online) from Indianapolis. Bill and Carol Burger Schuler are in good health now but had early scares: Carol with mild pneumonia and Bill with a detached retina. I’ll close with a sustaining poem written and shared by Carol:

on his eyelid. She concludes with “We have an AWESOME God who loves us all and will take care of us.” Elizabeth Baginskis Kursitis and Vitalis are in Florida for the winter and the pandemic. Their two children with spouses and two boys each enjoy board games, “some controlled” video games, and the pool when they come for spring and Christmas breaks. Geraldine “Gerri” Gornik is semi-retired and working permanently from home. She tested positive for COVID and had seven days of hospitalization right before Christmas. She is now fully recovered and “grateful to be alive!” She hopes an in-person May Reunion is possible. Despite being homebound, Alice Beha Frerman celebrated with granddaughters: two college graduations without the ceremony and one wedding in a backyard and limited to forty guests! She is starting her fourth quilt, reading up a storm and working many jigsaw puzzles. Don and Margaret Curley Burk have “hunkered down” in Oak Park, Illinois, this last year. They have only seen children and grands virtually. Margaret is writing personal and historical family stories, producing, and participating in virtual storytelling shows. She is eager to be “live and in person” again! With 14 grandchildren, Bob and Billie DeBeck Brunsman are spending lots of virtual time! Billie hopes to attend at least one ceremony when the two oldest girls graduate from law school and Purdue in May. She sends “huge hugs to the class of 1966!” From Sedona, Arizona, Melissa Crider Andrea reports, “doing fine here.” She is staying well and reading a lot, feeling blessed to be sheltering in such a beautiful location. “As I watch awesome sunrises and sunsets, I feel much gratitude for being protected in these times that are cruel to so many people.” Following the COVID guidelines and mostly staying home is the theme for David and Marilyn Marks Oberhausen . A February hip replacement, productive vegetable gardening, outdoor walks, and 6:30 a.m. Mass and virtual coordination of parish lectors help to fill Marilyn’s days. Praying for all of us is a daily part of Dennis and Margaret “Peggy” Dooley Nitka’s life. They welcomed a new grandson on March 1. They walk every day and are “grateful for everyone’s health so far and for backyard family fire pit gatherings warmed by love.” From Venice, Florida, Jennifer “Jen” Jones Endsley has reached out because she “felt a need to connect.” (Don’t we all, Jen!) She has missed traveling to see her two children and reaching out with her volunteer work. “But after my vaccine, I will be right back at it!” Winter has passed more quickly for Mary Ann Lightner Kowalski because she has moved to a condo and remodeled and decorated with her daughter’s help. She alerts us “moving and changing addresses is a big pain.” However, she is happy with the move!

Thank you to all who kept us connected by sharing simple events. I’ll keep you informed about Reunion when I receive news. Blessings and love, Mary. barbarahgal@gmail.com ’67 Carolyn “Susie” Shelton Schmidt news from New Albany, Indiana, is like most will be, it has been quite a 2020. She did get the virus in January and was fortunate to have only a mild case. During that, her brother passed away. He was 81 and died of natural causes. To fill her time, she has tried her hand at painting with acrylic paints and doing many crossword puzzles. Alice Margevich Dockus suitemates Barbara “Barb” Marszalek Butvilas , Doris Linne Gross , Sally Wagner Boyd , Barbara “Bobbie” Norton O’Brien have been texting during the COVID restrictions. Her children and grandchildren live close so they are lucky and they have Zoomed with out of State family including her sister, Arlene “Zipp” Margevich Hogan ’74 . Barbara Marszalek Butvilas shares that COVID changed many of us. She contacted several of her classmates, who were dear friends via group text. They have found the tie that binds them, The Woods, is alive and strong in them. They share jokes, vaccine news, prayers and true friendship again. Electronics is not so bad. Marilyn Leerkamp Webb ’99G lives alone with her dog companion, Annie – and she is well, as is her family. Zoom has brought her together with lots of folks she may never have met without this time of quarantine. The main things that have kept her active are online yoga, attempting new and more difficult quilting projects, and working on new culinary skills. All is good with Barbara “Bobbie” Norton O’Brien . She cancelled a planned trip to Europe in 2020 and is currently taking an online exercise class, walking a lot and texting and Zooming with friends and classmates — good for my physical and mental health. Her great-niece Emma, a fifth member of my family is now at The Woods —Class of 2024. ’68 Marilyn Beckman Ward 8116 Wolf Creek Ct Evansville, IN 47712-7623 812-306-4561 nana68westEv@wowway.com Our hearts were saddened and our prayers go out to the families of Class members Helen Higgins Roe , Kathleen “Kathy” Echle Rice and Barbara Zeller, SP who died in 2019 and 2020. These ladies will be greatly missed. Jim Rice wrote to say that K athleen “Kathy” Echle Rice passed away in September 2020, following heart surgery to replace two valves. “Kathy loved The Woods and her Woods friends,” Jim noted, “always beaming when someone recognized her Woods Ring from across the room.” Leigh Schuster Gallian’s brother Bill died on Veteran’s Day. We are so sorry, Leigh. Barbara Gal 9 Ward Ct Lakewood, CO 80228-5026

Dear Lord Jesus, On the days when you carry me I lie in your arms – I live in your dreams Your Eternal Hope sustains me I am Your All and Only One, it seems. In return – what is my part? I will try to follow your command As I learned at the start It is with You that I will stand You have my soul, my mind, my heart.

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