SPRING-OA 2022

closing” music for Mass at St. Thomas, but her pastor requested her service for a daily live-streamed Mass. Not only did Bernie get to Mass every day, but she also ended up composing a setting for the Ordinary of the Mass that they now use every 9 AM Sunday. Patricia “Pat” Lodato Redisi sends love and blessings to all! After eight years teaching French, Pat switched careers to brokerage for 20 years, then returned to teaching. “Retired Pat” has substituted “long-term” each year since 2016, even teaching Italian once. As an adjunct at Daley College in Chicago, Ill., she even taught French on Zoom in 2021! The last of her mother’s seven sisters, dear Aunt Bee aged 95 died in January. Since 2017, wintering in Naples, Fla., has helped Pat joyfully survive. Presented with the Golden Rose of Charity Award for 40 years of service, Marcella “Marci” Hermesdorf, OP , retired from teaching at Dominican University in May 2021. As “emerita” she has an office and serves on some university committees, but considers this “a ministry of presence,” a reminder of the university’s Dominican mission and heritage. Marci hopes to visit England this summer. Settling into her new abode in the Catskills, Midge Maroni contentedly reports that newly planted linden trees weathered their first winter. From her patio window, using birding glasses, Midge was delighted to observe a gorgeous red fox as “she” hunted. Ever the English teacher, Midge occasionally subs in high school. Susan “Sue” Hajicek Connelly from California called Cheryl Van Zetten , trying to find an address for classmate Sharon Sikora . “We had a great conversation, talked a lot about The Woods, and Sue sounded well and happy,” reports Cheryl, who hopes she convinced Sue to come to the 2023 reunion. Yvonne Shepard, Christine “Chris” Roenitz, Cheryl Van Zetten, Susan “Sue” Hajicek Connelly affirm their plans to attend Reunion 2023. Ellen Morley Matthews says that it seems strange not to be planning quick trips to The Woods three or four times a year. After six years on the National Alumni Association Board of Directors, she served nine years on SMWC’s Board of Trustees and chaired the Advancement Committee. She has continued work on a compilation of what the women of “the Great Class of 1968” have done with our degrees and our lives— just awaiting more input from us ladies! As for me, visits from out-of-state family provide the highlights to our year. Julie Ward Wagner ‘92 came home from Oregon just before the delta variant struck. Wrapping up at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ali heads back to DC in June. We’re grateful for having daughters Francie and Stephanie living here in Evansville, Ind. Looking forward to seeing everyone at our 55th Reunion 2023! ’69 Karen Erazmus McNeal 66 S Country Squire Rd Palos Heights, IL 60463-1227 708-448-7540 karen.mcneal@comcast.net It’s been three years now since we had our Golden Reunion and had a wonderful time reminiscing about our years at The Woods and renewing old friendships. Now it’s only two more years until our next official Reunion. Start thinking about 2024 now so our class can come together again and get renewed by that Woods spirit. This June several of our classmates are planning to celebrate their 75th birthdays at The Woods Reunion. What a great place to mark a milestone birthday and celebrate a life made richer by our days at The Woods. This year has been marked by some continuing

isolation, limited, but resurging travels, remote work and some new interests. Our class also had some sad moments with the loss of a few classmates. Catherine “Cathie” Rodefer passed away in March 2021. Our class established a memorial to Cathie by dedicating to her several chairs in the refurbished Conservatory. As you may remember, Cathie loved to sing. Around the first of this year, both Ann Purcell Kuick and her husband Paul passed away from complications of COVID. They left behind two adult daughters, one that was living with them and under Ann’s constant care. Of course, our classmates had plenty of happy times too with grandchildren, retirement and visiting each other. In October, Pamela “Pam” Butler Bromann and husband Gary took a road trip East to visit Pam’s relatives. They also saw Mary Ann Dugan Zaga r and husband Fred. They stopped and spent two days with Barbara “Barb” Fritsch Milner and husband Lew. In December 2020, Barb was hired by the Cleveland Clinic for a six month job to vaccinate staff and community members. She’s now in her second-year vaccinating and looking forward to retiring again. Kathy DeNovo Williams retired from being the director of the Montessori school. She’s already tired of cleaning closets but is having fun redoing a few rooms of her house. She’s doing a lot of reading and spending time with her darling granddaughters. She’s looking forward to getting back into her yard in the Spring. Kathy did get in some traveling to Phoenix to see relatives and friends and then to Cabo San Lucas for some relaxation and sunshine. Karen Erazmus McNeal and husband David met Kathy at a nearby Concert in the Park for a great “old-time” show. Susan “Sue” Starr Tomaszewski’s news is that she finally retired from teaching. Remote learning became more difficult, especially without any administrative support. Sue had determined students with concerned, involved parents, and had class lessons that were fun and interesting, but it was draining that it was never good enough. Now she is enjoying relaxing time at home and feels less stressed. Mary Ann Gibbons Rennels said that the biggest change to her life this year was the birth of her first grandson, Asher Levi, on May 3, 2021. Her son Matthew and his wife Mary are the proud parents. Mary Ann is still in Charleston, Ill., where she is the primary caregiver for Rachel, her church’s comfort dog. Rachel is a golden retriever, so Mary Ann must cope with a lot of dog hair. But it’s definitely worth it for her. Patricia “Pat” Doran Martini is still living in Michigan and working as an electrical engineering consultant. She celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in April 2021. For the past three years, her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson have been stationed in Germany. Pat’s husband has had a bad year with health issues and two heart surgeries, but he is doing fine now. Pat spent six months making two large quilts and has been cranking out knitted projects to make the time pass. Jane Sitzman Clark was recovering from breaking seven ribs, six vertebrae and her tail bone at our 50th Reunion but was glad she went. The following spring of 2020 her husband Larry, a picture of health, was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease of the kidneys, FSGS. With many prayers, especially to St. Mother Theodore, he is presently in remission. Jane and Larry have three grandsons, 10, 18, and 23 and an 18 yr. old granddaughter. Mary Romanyak Brown and husband Mike celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last June. Their sons and their wives drove in for a lovely celebration in Michigan. Mary and Mike are fully vaccinated and boosted and have been healthy

so far. Mary is taking drawing lessons and will start watercolors soon. These art forms are something she always wanted to pursue. Georgette Harber Schraeder has most recently been involved as Formation Director of her local Franciscan Fraternity. She gathers, encourages, and organizes responses to Pope Francis’ call for synodal Council with the world. It reminds her of the excitement surrounding Vatican II that our religion classes at The Woods instilled. She meets in person and via zoom regularly with diverse persons to collaborate and often it provides the impetus for sharing faith journeys with her sons and their friends too. Barbara Wahnsiedler Klein and husband Rich celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on October 17, 2020, but Covid restrictions prevented them from including family and friends. They are both in relatively good health. In December, they both had cataract surgery. Unfortunately, Barbara fainted and broke three ribs. Barbara had been an assistant to her parish’s music director. However, for the past nine years, she has been excited to be a reader and reviewer of new books for various publishing houses. Martha “Marti” Rumely Kuehn has been a busy lady with art studio painting and schmoozing with other artists. Marti’s contributions to The Woods auction in May 2021 were great for both The Woods and for her. Marti has been volunteering to help two Afghan evacuee men. These men were embedded with our Special Forces and had to leave their wives and children behind to escape the Taliban. Marti is learning as much as she is teaching. Rosemary Nudd, SP, is retired after teaching English at the college since 1981 and living at the Woodland Inn on campus. Unfortunately, she had Covid in February 2021, just after receiving her second vaccination. She was in isolation in her room for ten days but only suffered fatigue. In January 2022, Rosemary went to Washington, D.C. to walk in front of the White House, to encourage the president to rescind Title 42, which closes the Southern border to all people seeking asylum. Life has been different for Kathleen “Kathy” Shine Wright these past two years. She sold her house last spring and has been hunting for a new one since then. In the meantime, she has been staying with her oldest daughter and son-in-law. She continues to volunteer at church and at the retreat house. In May, they flew to Oklahoma to bury her children’s father. He suffered from cancer for the past three years. Her four grandchildren are all busy. Therese Connor Benken wrote that all is well in her corner of Cincinnati, Ohio. She developed Covid, but her nurse practitioner daughter set her up with an antibody infusion. She was tired for a few days, then began recovery. Therese is back to subbing. As everyone is, she’s very tired of horrible statistics and mandates and looks forward to the days when we can just go about our business without fear. She also hopes and prays that we become a kinder, more tolerant people. Judith “Judy” Curtin has been keeping busy during Covid mostly shopping and doing drive by/drop offs to various friends who have been stranded either in nursing homes or assisted-living facilities. Judy had her trip to Ireland postponed twice because of Covid, but hopefully, she’ll be able to go in September 2022. She belongs to an official clan in Ireland, for people with a Curtin connection. These folks get together every two years alternating between Ireland and North America. Judy has dual citizenship, primarily for sentimental reasons. Mary Fran Roberts Bennett has had a lot of travels curtailed because of Covid, but she and husband

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