Wellesley Class of 1950

MINI-REUNIONS

Class Vice President, Elaine Lackman Smith, has been busy organizing mini-reunions in different parts of the country in an effort to bring classmates together and stoke enthusiasm for our 60th Reunion the weekend of June 4 – 6, 2010.  Elaine writes, “Utilizing our explanation of a mini-reunion as a meeting involving more than one person, we have been enjoying a few get-togethers around the country. We are all aware that it is not so simple at this stage to be successful in this undertaking!  However, it puts us all in the reunion mode, and that is important!  

"The New York City/ Westchester/Connecticut group gathered recently at Hopie Lewis’s home in Greenwich.  Nancy Angell Streeter wrote that while some former ‘regulars’ were missed, it was of course satisfying to be together.  In Northern California, Fran Rouse Gaver and Joy Bailey Osborne illustrated the above by sharing lunch together!  Lydia Edes Newell is gathering those in Southern California.  Groups are in process in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area, as well as in New Jersey.  Massachusetts will have a lunch reunion at Betty Weiner Vorenberg’s home in Cambridge on October 22, to which Gail McMaster Alling is hoping to come with a carful from Maine.

"It has been fun connecting with classmates around the country as we try to put together a few more of these gatherings.  If we have not touched your area or you have any suggestion, please get in touch with me, Elaine Lackman Smith, 781-862-2998, elsmit@rcn.com.”

ANNUAL FUND 2008-2009 REPORT

We did it again!! For the third year the Class of 1950 had the highest participation rate in giving to the Annual Fund of ALL classes! My figures show:

I continue to believe that much of the credit for the enthusiasm shown by our class can be attributed to the two outstanding editions of Our World highlighting the achievements of our class members. Even for those of us whose efforts have not been so notable, maybe you realize as I do that whatever accomplishments we have achieved in our families and communities, as well as our professions, can in some part be attributed to the Wellesley experience. I am truly grateful for the opportunity I received, even if I didn’t totally appreciate it at the time!

My continuing thanks to the committee members who have helped me in this endeavor for the past four years:
Julie Norris King
Dorothy Baird Leib
Joann Outcault Munn
Elizabeth Wester Muzzy
Dorothy Davis Pruden
Jane Everhart Rand
Alice Macpherson Ryan
Barbara Chrisman Welles
Mary Brown Willinsky
Nan Lavis Wilson

Next year is our reunion year (the 60th!). I would love to think that our Annual Giving record might surpass all college records, but in view of the 1928 100% record last year (both alumnae contributed), that is too much to wish for. I will simply hope that all of us who can contribute, even a modest amount, will support our reunion year effort.

With gratitude to all who support the College,
Fran Gaver, 1950 Annual Giving Representative

2009 P & J INTERNS

The Peace and Justice Studies Department has informed the Board that the Class of 1950/Emily Greene Balch Summer Internships were awarded last summer to Katharina Dechert ’10 and Sara Minkara ’11.

Katharina writes, “This summer I volunteered at TRAMA Textiles, a weaving cooperative in the city of Xela, Guatemala.  The cooperative was founded in 1988 by widows of the Guatemalan Civil War.  Today TRAMA represents 400 Indigenous women across the Western Highlands of Guatemala, who weave on the back-strap loom, which is the traditional method of weaving in Guatemala.  I worked in their headquarters in Xela… [where] TRAMA offers weaving classes for tourists and sells the textiles woven by the women of the cooperative.

“I learned so much about working with grassroots organizations and about navigating the complexities of working in the developing world.  In the future I hope to use my experience this summer to work for human rights in Guatemala.”

Sara writes, “The education system in the United States extensively supports the learning of students with many different handicaps…Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of developing countries, including Lebanon, my mother country.  In Lebanon physical disabilities prevent students not only from a proper education but from being welcomed into society as an equal…

“As a Lebanese-American and legally blind student, I thus envisioned a time when I could return to Lebanon and teach other visually impaired children.  This past summer, with the help of my partner …we successfully held a summer camp titled ‘Empowerment through Integration’ in Tripoli, Lebanon...The overwhelming support we received was amazing…Not only were we able to accomplish our mission to implement a camp where visually impaired students could be integrated into society, but we formed a place where diversity in all terms – religion, ethnicity, and physical ability could be found.  At the end of camp the volunteers came together to brainstorm ways of continuing the mission ‘Empowerment through Integration,’ and together we are now trying to form a [sic] NGO.”

OUR WORLD

Our World,second edition, the class newsletter/magazine has arrived. It has been mailed to every classmate, and the editors are exploring ways of having more people see it. Editors Elaine Lackman Smith, Bobbie Carlson and Betty Weiner Vorenberg, and several other classmates feel it is deserving of a much wider circulation. The magazine is a look at the “barriers broken and bridges crossed” during the years since our graduation—as told by classmates who helped break many of these barriers. In Our World’s pages, you will find stories related to civil rights, the peace movement, the computer world, and other major themes of our time. Elaine (E-Mail:elsmit@rcn.com) would appreciate any comments (bad or good) you might have about Our World…and about ways to publish it for a wider audience, possibly as a fund raiser for the college.

Submitted by Barbara W. Carlson

CLASS SCHOLARSHIP FUND

In a letter to the members of the class Cameran Mason, Vice President for Resources & Public Affairs, expressed the thanks of the College for "establishing and sustaining your endowed fund" that makes "such a difference for our students and for Wellesley." She continued to explain the new admission and financial aid initiative, which ensures that no student who receives financial aid graduates with a debt burden in excess of $12,825.

As of January 1, 2009 the Class of 1950 Scholarship Fund totaled approximately $461,850 with an estimated 2008 - 2009 income of over $27.000. This year our Scholarship Fund recipient is Hannah Morrison ’12. A freshman from Wichita, Kansas, Hannah writes, "This Wintersession, I went to New Orleans for a week to help Habitat build homes for the people who are still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. This experience was one of the best in my lifetime, and I would not have been able to go if it were not for Wellesley’s generous financial support."

"In the future, I plan on becoming a doctor so that I can become part of a larger effort to increase patients’ quality of life. In this way, I will be continuing my quest to serve where it is needed…I thank you and Wellesley for supplying me with the financial resources so that I am able to participate in its mission and attempt to grasp the stars."

NOTES FROM CLASSMATES

Mary Hope Lewis, Greenwich CT, has written (October 2008) about The Lewis Conservation Easements:

Twenty members of the Lewis family inherited a large parcel of land and an 1888 house at the gateway to the village of Warwick, New York. We all love and use the house and thirty acres of houses, fields, lawns, pool and beautiful trees. Fourteen deer, a family of foxes, woodchucks galore, a white skunk and a vast variety of birds share the habitat. The family has discussed many economic options. Finally, we worked with our local land trust and their stewardship committee to protect eleven acres in perpetuity. Their stewardship committee agreed to monitor the property and enforce the stipulations in the easements. We agreed to forfeit our right to build structures on these eleven acres.

The scenic easement on the front lawn prohibits the construction of six homes. It preserves a vew of the l888 house from the main street into the village. It also protects the many diverse hundred year old trees. The family retains the other property rights such as using the open space for morning strolls, soccer games, and tents for weddings.

The six acres of woodland protection easement prohibits disturbance of native trees, shrubs and habitat of mammals and birds on this forest land which had a potential for six house sites. Also protected are a unique collection of large limestone structures with dependent ferns.

Easements are not easy to work through. However, we have found that determining the future of our beloved land and its natural resources is truly satisfying. Keep the faith and call me.

IN MEMORIAM

Since our 55th Reunion in 2005 we have lost 26 classmates.

• Sally Brackett Bryant, August 30, 2005
• Mary Anita deVillafranca Rider, October 3, 2005
• Libby Pemberton Forscher, October 10, 2005
• Prentice LarRieu Sack, January 14, 2006
• Mara Brown Stidham, March 5, 2006
• Joanne Healy Hines, July 20, 2006
• Barbara McClung Hallman, November 19, 2006
• Diane Allen Goodman, January 16, 2007
• Judith Anderson Sterling, May 22, 2007
• Jane Reeves Kuhl, May 22, 2007
• Nancy Bonsall Vail, June 10, 2007
• Mary Simmons Flynn, June 10, 2007
• Susan Knight Banks, July 1, 2007
• Joan Sayward Franklin, August 11, 2007
• Nicole de Messieres Spurney, August 18, 2007
• Bettie Warner Thompson, October 15, 2007
• June Schoubye Kenney, December 21, 2007
• Phyllis Shannon Degen, January 10, 2008
• Helen Waldie Hicks, January 18, 2008
• Margaret Allen Gramling, February 14, 2008
• Gloria Anderson, February 17, 2008
• Elizabeth Weiss Parnes, May 13, 2008
• Ellen Somers Horgan, July 17, 2008
• Ruth Donkersley Westlund, December 11, 2008
• Carol Ray Berninger, December 30, 2008
• Jane Hanscom, May 14, 2009

We lost Ibby Grey Danforth on March 30, 2005, but Barb Baird Rees notes that Ibby's husband Bill continues Ibby's tradition of posting Christmas greetings and concerns in August. Bill is now 81, and writes that he is close to their four children and fourteen grandchildren, and they are all now "competitively caring" for each other. "Once again I am carrying on Ibby's tradition of a Christmas letter in August. (August 15, 2008). This year I will concentrate on family and a summer camp. . . .I am touched that three of my four granddaughters and my only great-granddaughter bear Ibby's name, Elizabeth."

We worry about other classmates in poor health and wish them solace and loving care .