Association news & class notes
1984
Chris Soto is thriving in retirement with long walks and hikes in the Tennessee mountains, reading, birding, and traveling. Two recent trips included birding in southeast Texas and visiting in-laws in Chicago, a city she loves to explore. By retiring early, she also got to spend a lot of time with her mother before losing her in October 2022. Chris keeps in touch with Mary Denion Long, Debbie Dale Seidel, Mary Chaney Dawson and Jeff Dawson, and Linda Block. She also keeps in touch with retired professor Nancy Palmer, a fellow avid reader and someone who had a great influence on Chris’ life.
Ann Hilton Horn continues as an adjunct professor at Stevenson University. It was both interesting and challenging to support potential science and math teachers through the pandemic. Ann had to observe them while they were teaching virtually! Ann and her husband sold their house in southern Carroll County and moved to a 55-plus community in Taneytown, Maryland. It has been an adjustment for them, particularly because Ann and her husband are a good bit younger than most of their neighbors, but they have enjoyed the travel and entertainment opportunities available through the community. Apparently, those older folks know how to have fun!
Jeff Trice reports that the two questions he gets asked the most are, “Are you still working?” and “Do you have any grandchildren?” The answers are “Yes” and “No” in that order, but he is hoping that by the next time this update rolls around, he can flip those answers around! On a more serious note, Jeff does still enjoy the work he does and is fortunate to have a flexible schedule. While waiting to retire, he’s taken some wonderful trips for vacation to Hawaii, California, and New England and for business to Arizona and Florida. Jeff hopes to make it to our 40th Reunion next year.
For the past 36 years, Jim Rapp has been working for the federal government. He splits his time between Pasadena, Maryland, and North Fort Myers, Florida. Thanks to the grace of God, Jim, his wife, and their house in Florida, survived Hurricane Ian with only some damage to plants, while other houses surrounding them suffered more significant damage. Jim looks forward to turning 62 next year, retiring, and officially becoming a Florida snowbird.
Linda Aberts Christensen is one step closer to being an empty nester as her youngest left for college at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, last August. After nearly 38 years as a Navy civilian employee, Linda retired in September 2022. She and her husband, Paul, moved into their retirement home in the Poconos this past spring. Linda says that after 15 moves in 25 years with the Navy, it feels nice to finally settle down. Linda is enjoying getting acquainted with her new town and rediscovering hobbies. She likes to kayak on the neighborhood lake, is working on her flower and vegetable gardens, and now has more time to devote to genealogy. For whatever free time she has left, there is a stash of yarn and fabric waiting for her! No weddings or grandchildren yet — just a granddog! Since Paul had knee replacement surgery recently, they are staying close to home but hope to get back to traveling soon. Though they have settled in Pennsylvania, Linda and Paul have three sons living in Maryland, so they head south of the Mason-Dixon Line often.
Seemingly busier than ever, Linda Block is currently holding three jobs. She works half-time at the Children and Family Resource Center as a bilingual parent group facilitator, teaching parenting classes and facilitating parent support groups in English and Spanish. She teaches Appalachian clogging and flatfoot classes from the most basic beginner level to advanced classes. She also gives private lessons when the opportunity arises. In 2020, Linda was accepted as a Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Traditional Artist. Quite an honor! Finally, Linda is finishing up her second two-year term on the Buncombe County Board of Elections, overseeing and ensuring an accessible and equitable elections process. A lifelong learner, Linda got 100% on her state certification exam! Those are Linda’s paying jobs, but she also finds time to volunteer as a community mediator and with Braver Angels, an organization dedicated to building communication across the political divide. Linda recently facilitated a workshop at Asheville Ideas Fest and in February 2022, for her work as a mediator, Linda received the National Volunteer of the Quarter award from the National Association of Community Mediators. The weekly Spanish conversation group Linda started after receiving a Rotary Club Scholarship to study Spanish is almost 16 years old now, and Linda still performs with the Green Grass Cloggers. Linda still connects with her pompom squad buddy Chris Soto, old roomie Lauren Ruberg Jensen ’85, and Warren Smith ’86. She and her partner of 14 years joined households last August. He is a retired biology professor.
Krystie Adams Herndon and her husband, Tim, celebrated 27 years of marriage this year. They enjoy their calm home life but love the visits from their kids! In February 2023, Krystie received the Terri Nation Outstanding Advisor Award from the Indiana University Bloomington Academic Advising Council. This is the highest award given annually to academic advisors on the IU Bloomington campus. There are upwards of 120 academic advisors across the IU Bloomington campus. Krystie is preparing her promotion dossier for the title of advisor expert in the IU College of Arts and Sciences. This is the top rung of her profession in her unit, and she hopes to hear good news by the end of the year. In June 2023, Krystie celebrated again by being named a recipient of the 2023 Outstanding Advising Award-Primary Role from NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising. This is a national/international professional organization with over 10,000 members. What a joy for Krystie to be recognized for doing what she considers the best job in the world! You may remember that Krystie is a twin, and she travels each year to Springfield, Virginia, to see her sister, Audrey Adams Bigelow, and to check on their mom, dad, and stepmom. Krystie is grateful Audrey lives so close to their parents and can tend to their needs!
Krystie Adams Herndon ’84 was the recipient of two prestigious awards in the collegiate academic advising world. Herndon is a senior undergraduate advisor in the Department of Criminal Justice, Linguistics, Art History, and Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, Bloomington.
She was the 2023 recipient of the Terria Nation Award, which is “the highest honor an academic advisor can receive, as the award demonstrates exceptional service to academic advising, the IU Bloomington campus, and the Bloomington Academic Advising Council.”
Herndon also received the 2023 NACADA Outstanding Advising Award in the Primary Advising category. NACADA is the National Academic Advising Association, an international association with 12,000 professional advisors, counselors, faculty, administrators, and students working to enhance the educational development of students.
And now from Audrey Adams Bigelow: She and her husband, Mike, covered 4,267 miles in 16 days this summer as they visited Mike’s mother in Boulder, Colorado. Audrey continues to sing a lot — as second alto section leader in The City Choir of Washington for seven of the 8½ years she’s been in the group. Audrey was proud to serve on the selection committee that hired The City Choir’s new artistic director. Audrey’s second singing adventure is her contract to sing mass at the chapel at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. This is a nice complementary gig to her part-time library page job, a job she’s had for 12½ years. In the midst of her singing and library responsibilities, taking care of her grandfather’s estate has proven to be an interesting challenge. Mike and Audrey feel blessed to still have three of their four parents (plus a bonus stepparent) to fuss over, and don’t mind when their parents fuss over them! Of course, Audrey visits with her twin, Krystie Adams Herndon, but she also tries to get together with Heidi Snyder Wethered, M.S. ’86 quarterly, and keeps in touch with Debby Neely Kennedy and Denise Humphrey. Debbie’s oldest daughter, Rachel, is Audrey’s goddaughter and on their cross-country trek, Audrey and Mike were able to visit Rachel on the remote Texas panhandle cattle ranch that she and her family co-own. All in all, Audrey doesn’t think the “being 60” thing is all that bad!
For Heidi Snyder Wethered, M.S. ’86, the past year has been full of changes. In June 2022, her father left this world and went home to be with the Lord. Then in August 2022, Heidi and her husband, Bennett, sold their house and moved in with their daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons. They had the basement renovated to become a grandparent suite and love spending so much time with the grandkids. According to their eldest grandson, “It’s so much nicer having you downstairs.” In April, a fourth grandson joined the party, so it’s really handy to be able to walk upstairs when needed or for a grand visit! As Heidi and Bennett downsized, their daughter Becca bought a house in Richmond, Virginia. This proved very handy in the downsizing process. Heidi still works for the local adult education program where she considers it a joy to see people finally earning their high school diplomas or GEDs. Her other part-time gig is teaching high school English with a homeschool co-op, which she really enjoys. When not working or hanging out with her grands and students, Heidi enjoys scrapbooking, spending time with friends, and traveling with Bennett. They celebrated their 34th anniversary this year. Heidi was able to visit recently with Audrey Adams Bigelow and Krystie Adams Herndon, and she keeps in touch with Debby Neely Kennedy, who she doesn’t get to see nearly enough!
All is going well for the St. Johns. Rick St. John is an Army contractor working at the Pentagon, and his wife, Kim, retired from the Army in April after more than 30 years of service. Looking down the road, the St. Johns look forward to retirement in the next few years. The final retirement destination is still unknown, but while figuring it out, Rick and Kim are checking out a lot of possibilities. Their travel includes trips to Greece, Turkey, Italy, Egypt, and the Holy Lands.
In Ocean City, Maryland, Tom Zimmer just finished his 39th year in education and is looking to go one more year! His wife, Beth Chapman Zimmer ’85, retired this year, although she will take on a few independent bookkeeping jobs. Tim and Beth are blessed with six beautiful grandchildren, five of whom live only a couple of miles away. Tom enjoyed seeing many WMC friends at Greg Shockley’s ’83 Shenanigans this past fall.
As for me, I jumped on the lifelong learner bandwagon as well and earned a Master of Professional Studies degree in Community Leadership from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) this past May. I am not sure exactly how to describe the journey, but I am truly glad that I did it. It was joyful at times, challenging at times, energizing at times, and discouraging at times, but it was definitely worth the effort. I was especially thrilled that in some classes, I was not the oldest student in the class! UMBC also happens to be my employer. I serve as the executive assistant to the president. My husband, Mike Conner ’82, is still working in the biotech industry and enjoys woodworking when not at work. Our two oldest children and three grandchildren live in Maryland. We enjoy hanging with them often. As with many of us, grandparenting has become our favorite gig. We live on my family’s farm, and we are especially grateful that our grandchildren are the fifth generation to walk the land. It is a treasure.
Michele Hutschenreuter Conner1984 Class Reportermichele.conner19@gmail.com