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Scripps Magazine Class Notes
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MANY THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES.
In 2010, the Scripps Alumnae folks appointed me Class Scribe, which mostly means I get to encourage you to submit YOUR Class Notes for publication in the print Scripps Magazine.
Hoping to hear from YOU about current doings & observations. - Marga Rose Hancock '69, Class Scribe
NOMINATION DEADLINE 12/15/17: ALUMNAE SERVICE / AWARDS
Service to the College: ALUMNA TRUSTEE
Recognition by the Alumnae Association: DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA AWARD, OUTSTANDING RECENT ALUMNA AWARD
Please click here for details.
CLASS NOTES
Ruth Hatch Rahimi 10/11/18: I first bought Icelandic horses in 1995. At the time, I had an Arab that had a very rough trot and I was getting older. I signed up for a horse training clinic in Vernon B.C., Canada, that used the TTouch method developed by Linda Tellington Jones. I still see this method as the most horse-friendly. The clinic was at The Icelandic horse farm and taught by Linda's sister, Robyn Hood. (Yes, that is her real name.) Thls clinic was a life-changer for me. I love all horses and when I rode Icelandic horses, I realized that this breed was the breed for me. They have very smooth gaits and are a lot of fun. They are said to have Tina Turner hair and Michael Jackson feet. They are large-pony-sized which is good for me ,as I am only 4'11''. For horses, they are very calm.
Over the years, what I have realized about myself is that I am happiest when I am outside. In my psychotherapy practice, I used my horses for a group of women with eating disorders. One summer I gave a horse camp for boys with ADHD. Now I teach horsemanship classes for kids from a local Waldorf which includes some riding.
Mary Breckenridge 6/9/16: Hoping you'll come along on the Scripps Summer in the Sierras horseback pack trip (nearest airport: Fresno) August 14-20.
Judith Davies 1/26/16: "We returned from a month in Havana in mid January, and I am taking two workshops this semester, one in glass fusing and the other in bronze-casting, so I can get back into my own work again, possibly combining the two mediums--that's my 'personal goal' for 2016!"
2024 UPDATE: Judith Davies at Scripps: "Moving through the Dimensions of Sculpture and Dance"
Rebecca Painter 6/22/15: "‘Hosting my 2nd-ever Piano Soiree, June 26—a gathering of New York pianists and friends, the core of which being four former students of Scripps' revered Artist in Residence, the late Alice Shapiro. Three are from the class of ’69: Ellen Ashcraft, Susan Gaustad and myself; plus Kazuko Hayami, class of ’70. In February, seven pianists performed at the first Soiree for friends who'd braved the bone-chilling weather. Friday’s group—photo to come—promises to be larger, though Ellen will be sending her support from Colorado. A 3rd Soiree is planned for the Fall."
*Susan Ball 6/9/15: My wonderful husband John Brigham and I continue to triangulate among Connecticut where I work and we mostly live; Massachusetts where he teaches at UMass, Amherst; and Hudson, NY, where we have a country house and lots of special friends. I work in Greenwich, but we live in Black Rock, CT. I participate as often as possible, but not as often as I would like in a delightful Scripps Book Club. I supervise a very smart young Scripps graduate, Tara Contractor, who is soon to head off for PhD in art history at my grad school alma mater, Yale. I am very involved in Yale, serving on the executive committee of the Graduate School Alumni Association and an active member of Yale Women of CT. At the Bruce Museum, where I am deputy director, we are opening on July 1st an exhibition I co-curated, The Sins: Pride--a seven museum collaboration, each of us featuring one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Life is good. *Christina (Feldmann) O'Reilly 12/4/14: divorce 2 1/2 years ago. hip replacement surgery. healing slowly but walking without a cane. my poetry book EVERYDAY MERMAID POEMS with my visual artist collaborator is almost complete which is very exciting. two grandchildren. a daughter who is a sound artist. life really is a surprise and a mystery. you can see my poems at lighttouchtheater.com under "poetry and plays." strange to be alone but slowly finding the simple pleasures. love to hear from old friends.
*MiniReU 9/14, Seattle: Regula (Feldmann) & Doug Campbell's visit for a family wedding occasioned a gathering including Susan Skilling & Susie Stanley Wilhoft et moi - Marga
*Ruth Hatch Rahimi 5/3/14: I have reunited with my stepdaughter as we missed each other so much and will be attending granddaughter's graduation from UCLA this June. Pani has a 4.0 and will receive double honors. Farnaz Rahimi, my daughter (we have dropped the "step"), has been publishing books for me on Kindle. Madame de Paris and the Pony Balonies, for kids and Net of Stars, my book of poetry that has been out of print since 1980, are already available on Amazon. The Pony Balonies and the Power Animals and Shaman Songs are in the works.
My big project is writing a psychological theory based in ethics. It started out as a book on Martin Buber's philosophical anthropology (my mentor for twenty years was Maurice Friedman Ph.D., one of the top Buber scholars) but it wasn't coming together until I decided to review the latest psychoanalytic literature and continental philosophy that has been translated into English in the last 15 years. Generally people's eyes glaze over when I describe what I am doing.
Otherwise, I am living in North Idaho on my Icelandic Horse farm and letting the local 4-H horse group use my arena.
* At noon March 4, 2014, Regula Feldmann Campbell, landscape architect and Principal at Campbell and Campbell, will lecture at Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps: “Investing in Nature: Sacred Landscapes."
From Susan Savell 12/31/13: "Dear Scripps friends, Over the last 30 years I have been working in public service for two Governors of Maine, and currently a behavioral health organization, Spurwink Services. My career is culminating in the procurement of a $13.2 million grant from President Obama's Investing in Innovation Fund for the validation of an evidence-based education reform program -- "Building Assets Reducing Risks" -- for 9th-grade students in 57 High Schools in Maine, California and Minnesota. I will be co-directing this project for the next five years as the Director of Spurwink's Center for Positive Youth Development.
I am also continuing to record original music and compete with my two Portuguese Water Dogs in agility trials. A very full life, for which I am deeply grateful."
From Kathleen "Kat" Snipes 9/8/13: "I may be able to retire before May 1 for the reunion. I gave my talk at the AFA [American Federation of Aviculture] on "Parrot Foraging in the Wild" and people liked it. I could broaden it a bit to give a talk at the reunion on avian societies, or flocking and foraging. It's pretty interesting to think about--how birds socialize and their agendas for foraging, play and roosting. Common to most flocking birds. Most of the people at the meeting breed birds that are going extinct (less than 100 left in the world.) Very nice group. Zoo curators, breeders, scientists and pet owners, vets."
From Shelley Smith Calabrese 9/6/13: "Even though I have had little chance to participate in Scripps events since graduating, Scripps does and always will take up a much larger—in terms of time and memories—place in my heart than the 4 years should warrant. Partly because of that, I was very saddened by the news of the death of Carole Cochrane ’67 in the last Scripps magazine. Carole was such a lovely free spirit in my freshman/sophomore years—those defining years of one’s college experience--and I treasure my fragmented memories of her then—so down to earth, friendly, such a talented person. She was an example of those remarkably creative entities who seemed/seem to abound at Scripps—and one of the people who contributed to making this time such a special one in my life."
From Elizabeth Wuthrich Westling 9/3/13:
"I've let my Scripps experience slip from my fingers over the years, but as I get older and hopefully wiser, I know I should reclaim some of the blessings of my college years. Please post my email address on the class notes: Ewest135@gmail.com.
After 32 years of marriage and three children—Emma, Matthew and Andrew—I am divorced and living in Cambridge, Massachusetts with my partner, Larry Tribe. I also have a new profession. I graduated from the Landscape Institute in 2008 with the valedictorian awards in both Landscape Design and Landscape History. My valedictorian speech entitled "A New Career Late in Life," appears as one of my submissions to the Huffington Post.
In my landscape history and design work, I use the lessons learned in my Scripps Humanities courses almost every day. I still have and use my Jansen History of Art and my Dante and Goethe. And though dog-eared and worn out but closest to my heart, is my copy of Wordsworth. My memory fails me for the teacher’s name [Richard Fadem] but have never forgotten the subject matter of that class."
Robert Hamerton-Kelly 12/26/38 - 7/7/13, taught religion at Scripps 1966-1970: obituaryMemorial service Thursday, July 18, 4 pm at First United Methodist Church, Portland, ORClassmates remember him:"He was a great prof in my eyes, even though I only had him for Humanities. He was very influential in a vulnerable time of my religious life and I thank him." - Barbara Temple Ayres '69"Hamerton-Kelly was one of the professors at Scripps who made a big impression on me as a freshman and who, I always thought, embodied what a college professor should be. I remember chatting with him at tea in the courtyard about issues like apartheid, and I was so thrilled that one could have these conversations outside of the lecture hall with such urbane (and good looking!) teachers such as he was. Too bad I didn't know he was living in Portland the last few years....." - Ginger Denecke Hackett '69"He was quite active in many of the rallies and other efforts in re the social issues of our times - war, civil rights, South Africa." - Carol Ouchi Brunner '69
"I note the passing of Robert Hammerton-Kelly with a depth of feeling. I read his obit, with bio. I don't think we knew he was raising babies when he taught us so intently round our small-class oval tables during his brief few years that intersected with ours at Scripps. We did know he was South African, anti-apartheid, had participated in the bus blockades.
I wonder how the Stanford students responded to his many subsequent years of sermons in that grand old chapel they have.
I know that he led me astray -- in a good way. Humanities I, freshman year, with obligation to read about music and art and philosophy, it was his obligation to fucking buy Peakes Commentary on the Bible and actually read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, checking the Hebrew and Greek translations, that hooked me on Biblical Studies, which I ended up majoring in. There were many long hours among elect group of majors around the oval table in the seminar rooms. We asked astute questions after he'd go off on a rumination, 'How did you get that much info into your marginal notes?' I recall observing, vehemently, that if you inherited the kingdom of heaven, didn't that mean God had to die first? Wasn't that a forecursor to the Death of God Movement, in sway when we studied? He carried a marvellous cross between deep belief - what you'd like a Pope to have - and very sarcastic dubiousness about any sort of divine authority over the substance of ethical life. He surely made us think. Forgiveness, Righteousness, Love, Justice. These we thought about.
One story. Senior year. Thesis due. Robert Hammerton-Kelly is thesis advisor. He fails my first draft. I revise. He writes, 'A. This is intelligent, demanding, and honest. It does not fit standards for scholarly thought, but argues its right not to do so.'
So, that's an influence on the direction of growth of a young sapling, graduating June 1969." - Ellen Trescher Haas '69
"I have very fond memories of classes and conversations with Hamerton-Kelly--and I still have my copy of Peake's Commentary on the Bible, required reading as I am sure you remember. The obituary describes a full and interesting--but still too short life." - Barbara Ryan '69
"I was crushed to hear this sad news. He was one of the most important teachers I had at Scripps. It wasn't so much what he taught but how he taught. His aim was always to help us bring out our own analytical map of whatever subject we had in class. He taught us how to handle an exegesis of one simple paragraph from St. Paul, for instance. We treated words with critical thinking, zooming into the landscape of the historical past. I never looked at history and philosophy the same after being graced with his wisdom." - Sudy Dostal '69
"Some of us who babysat for Prof Hamerton-Kelly's young children did, in fact, know that in addition to his brilliance as a teacher and thinker, Prof. Hamerton-Kelly was indeed raising children and with a similar deliberative and thought-provoking engagement. Babysitters were instructed in the virtues of "found" as opposed to commercial playthings -- banging on pots and pans being one of the more obvious. These instructions led to discussions about commercialism, simple virtues, etc. and just as his classroom instruction and assignments affected my thinking about life issues, so too did his child rearing philosophy. - Susan Ball '69
"He made a big impression on me as the person who really began my thinking about politics from a strongly religious/moral base. the first one to begin my process of politicization which started from a very different beginning from many I grew up with, given my family background: Dutch father, Hungarian mother, born in Beirut..." - Edina Mommaerts Weinstein '69
"I've never forgotten my interactions with him, his responses to my papers, his lectures. He seemed interested in my mind, which made a lasting impression on me." - Leslie Lasher Monsour '69
"Dr. Robert Hamerton-Kelly was my faculty advisor when I was a first-year student (his first year there as well) at Scripps College. He was generous to his students; a brilliant scholar who set the academic bar high. He was one of the most memorable and impressive lecturers at the Claremont Colleges." - Lynn Randels Raskin '69
Scripps Olive Oil honoredwith thanks to Sue Talbot '69 (AKA Urban Farmer, author of "Sue's Green To Do's")An NBC report 4/5/13 of the Best of Show recognition of Scripps Olive Oil in the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil competition incorporates the recollections of Sue Talbot (Scripps Volunteer of the Year 2010) of the protest some 40 years back that saved the olive trees from destruction at the time of construction of the Humanities Building. Sue took an active role in the protest and has sustained her Scripps involvement in many ways, including recent service on on the Scripps President's Advisory Council on Sustainability. La Semeuse '69 olive tree images attached below.
From Judith Davies '69 4/5/13: "As a continuation of collaborative efforts with other dancers, I'm currently working on costumes and props for an African dance piece that will be performed at the Broad Theater in Santa Monica on May 2-3, choreographed by Angela Jordan, as part of the Global Motion Dance program of SMC. "Also, I am delighted to say that I am contributing two African round huts (one pictured here). which I previously built, for an African dance performance April 12-13 for Scripps College, at the Garrison Theater, working with choregrapher and teacher at Scripps, Phylise Smith."
New Work by Susan Skilling '69 at Greg Kucera Gallery Seattle January-February 2013At left: "Forest Poem"
Leslie Monsour '69 Victorian Violet Press & Journal Featured Vocalist December 2012
Posted on Facebook 11/27/12: Claremont Colleges promotional video, c. 1963, including classroom exchange with Professor Philip Merlan, in whose memory the graduating Class of 1969 established the Merlan Lecture in Philosophy
Los Angeles Times 10/26/12: "A High Sierra state of mind""Once a year Mary Breckenridge treks across the High Sierra with a horse and two mules. The beauty, the self-reliance, the solitude drive her."
Caroline Rob Zaleski: Long Island Modernism 1930-1980 (W. W. Norton, September 2012)
Susan Ball co-edited The Profitable Artist, a 2012 publication of the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Elizabeth Hieronymus (fka Wilma "Billie" Bott) d. 6/29/12 Classmate Susan Dillon sat with her in the hospice where Elizabeth/Billie spent the final 10 days of her life.
Obituary published in Bangor Daily News
At left: from La Semeuse 1969
Susan Ball marries John Bingham 5/19/12
At Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, Woodstock NY. Among those in attendance, classmates Susan Dillon & Marga Rose Hancock
Barbara Wilson Ryan 10/11/11: Since 1995 I have been president of the Silver Gate Group, a small women–owned company in San Diego. We engage in editorial, research, and meeting planning for the U.S. Department of Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and non-governmental organizations, such as the American Medical Association. We published and I edited the quarterly magazine Prevention File: Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs from 1986 until 2009, which received an award from Project Censored, a nationwide media-criticism program—the jury included Ben Bagdikian, UC Berkeley, Noam Chomksy, MIT, George Gerbner, University of Pennsylvania, Rhoda H. Karpatkin, Consumers Union, and Herbert I. Schiller, UCSD, for coverage of significant news underreported in the general media. We currently are organizing the international conference Alcohol Policy 16, Building Blocks for Sound Alcohol Policies, scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, in April 2013. This 16th international conference in the Alcohol Policy series will explore progress in advancing sound alcohol policies at the local, regional, national, and international levels and will draw about 400 participants from five continents. I have been professionally involved in this series of alcohol policy conferences since 1981 and my company has helped organized this meeting since 1992.
My husband Frank -- whom I married on June 14, 1969, in Margaret Fowler Memorial Garden to the Rolling Stones Between the Buttons album, played loud—is working as a physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory at Point Loma.
Leslie Lasher Monsour: New poems/chapbook honors, published 2012 by Finishing Line Press.
Suzy Stanley Willhoft 5/14/11: After teaching Drama (and some English and Art) and directing plays for 31 years (with a few breaks) in four very different middle/high schools in DC and Tacoma, I am retiring this June. Still married to CMC alumnus Joe Willhoft, with son Spencer (33) married, musical, and living in Bellingham. Plan to keep directing, take some classes, travel, write, and journey on!
Susan Ball 12/13/10: Susan reports the release by Rutgers University Press of her new book The Eye, The Hand, The Mind: 100 Years of the College Art Association. She served as Director of the College Art Association 1986-2006, & now as a director of programs for the New York Foundation for the Arts. Judith Becker 12/11/10: I retired [from teaching in Stockton CA], I have my house on the market and am getting ready to move up to Fort Bragg again. I would say I am fine, happy to be single, and READY TO WRITE. Fort Bragg and Mendocino have a nice contingent of Old Hippies and a great lunch at the Senior Center and Pub Night in Caspar to raise money for the Senior Center and a Master Gardener program at the Mendo Coast Botanical Gardens so yippee and apologies to MLK for witless frivolity, FREE AT LAST...
Marga (Rosencranz) Rose Hancock 12/10/10: Since our 40th Reunion last year I've enjoyed interaction in various media w/ several classmates, including nearby Seattle-area ones Ellie David, Shelley Smith Calabrese, Ellen Trescher Haas & others. In October the local Scripps Alumnae WeWA observance of Ellen Browning Scripps's Birthday drew 30+ of all generations from among some 400 locals, with much pleasure in hearing stories from our original gang as well as from more recent grads. At Thanksgiving, HistoryLink published my biography of world-renowned engineer John Skilling, father of our classmate & distinguished painter Susan Skilling.Ellen Rumsey Bellenot 11/15/2010: I'm pottering along, accruing no honors, just savoring the days. Good marriage, good kids, good life. I'm doing polymer clay and art sewing, which, in my case means lousy craftsmanship. Still can't spell worth a hoot.
Elizabeth Wuthrich Westling 10/3/2010: "A New Career Late in Life," in Huffington Post
Charla Connelley Shadduck 9/14/2010: AAUW played a big part of my summer activities. In May I was awarded the Woman of Achievement award for our branch, the Fall River-Intermountain Branch of AAUW in Burney, CA (Shasta County).
In July I was a dorm mom for the third year at AAUW's TechTrek camp at Stanford University. TechTrek is a camp for seventh grade girls interested in science, math, and technology. As soon as the girls checked out at Stanford, I headed south to help open the new TechTrek camp at the University of California, Irvine. In 2011 I will again work at the Irvine camp. I will also help open the new camp at UC Davis. Our girls from the Intermountain Area will be attending camp at Davis in 2011 rather than Stanford.
Leslie (Lasher) Monsour 7/16/2010: Garrison Keillor selected my work for the FOURTH time-to feature on his NPR program "The Writer's Almanac." I am now on the planning committee for the Women Poet's Timeline, an online database launched this year at the National Museum of Women in the Arts Washington D.C.In January 2011, Leslie's son Nicholas Monsour recorded and posted Leslie in song.
At Reunion 2010, Scripps honored the achievements of two members of the Class of 1969, Dr. C. Gaye Burpee and Sue Talbot. Gaye received the Distinguished Alumna Award, and Talbot the Volunteer of the Year.
Christina (Feldmann) O'Reilly 7/18/2008: "The last couple of years have been momentous for us. I wrote, produced, directed and choreographed my first play: "Skeleton Woman" and started Light Touch Theater - a nomadic theater. Our eldest daughter got married at home in Sonoma County to an Australian. My youngest daughter is working on a solo album and tours under the name Avocet. Check out Make and Craft magazines published by my husband's company O'Reilly Media. Fun. My eldest daughter is a staff editor for both publications."
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