Association news & class notes
Our dear classmate Claire Morris North has passed the job of class reporter to me and with a hopeful heart I begin. I am looking forward to the chance to reach out and reconnect us. Claire and I both hope that more of you will begin reporting so we hear more news from classmates. Time has a way of escaping and friendships waning due to the pace of life, even lost without fair notice. And so, it is with a heavy heart I must report the passing of our classmate Marshall Weimann on Oct. 26, 2022. I, like many of you, will remember his great spirit, gentle heart, and remarkable fortitude.
Claire Morris North, to whom we all owe a gigantic hug for serving as class reporter for so long, promptly reported in that she has retired from her teaching career as well as class reporting! However, she continues to advise me and is substitute teaching and tutoring to make a contribution. In addition to staying involved, she is doing a lot of golfing and traveling with her hubby, Michael, for fun. Their son, Michael, is a family doctor resident in Charleston, South Carolina, where she plans to visit often.
Jamie Spivey has truly spread his wings and is living in the Philippines permanently now. Not too long ago, he married a lovely local woman named Jessa and adopted her 7-year-old daughter, Jea, to join his family of two other adopted children, Roses, 18, and Angelo, 10. Now retired, Jamie enjoyed a successful career in law, was a pilot, and eventually became an instructor of piloting. He shared that he survived bone cancer in 2020, and so with a grateful heart he embarks on a new life with Jessa and their blended family in the Philippines, which includes a delightful pet chicken!
Martha Voss Smith reports that she retired in 2020 and resides in Ocean View, Delaware, with her husband, Rupert, with whom she recently renewed her marriage vows! She is especially glad to have her daughter, Caroline, living nearby in Ocean View with her husband, Joe, and the grandchildren. Martha is in regular contact with our classmates Leslie Thomas-Vitek, Cathy Beedenbender Wiley, and Maria Hutchinson.
Tammy Wase is happily married to her husband Manny and still selling real estate, now for 36 years! She has also taken over the management of her mother’s cleaning business, “Moppin Mommas”! She reports lots of time spent on the shores of Assateague Island, loving the scenery and wild horses. Tammy recently visited with my brother, Mike O’Neill ’80, and his wife.
Susan Frost Mosbacher reported that she is living in California and adjusting to the loss of her husband in 2021. She is working as the statewide UC Master Food Preserver Program coordinator and is responsible for the organization of programs that teach home consumers how to safely preserve foods. She has learned to be her own handyman and reports that she is never bored, looking forward to what each day brings, and will soon celebrate her daughter’s graduation from nursing school.
Virginia “Ginnie” Eisenbeis Zawacki, M.S. ’88 and her husband, Brian Zawacki ’83, are still happily residing in Westminster, Maryland. Ginnie retired from teaching elementary school in Carroll County after 30 years. She is currently assisting in the development of academic support programs for a local youth center called Together We Own It. Their daughter Anna Zawacki Skinner M.S. ’17 joined her parents as alumni of McDaniel by graduating with a master’s degree in Special Education in 2017. Their daughter Kara lives in New York and is a director of marketing, while son Dan is the director of undergraduate administration at Towson University. Ginnie is still hiking, gardening, and loving yoga. She and Brian have been in contact with Cindy and Richard Newton ’80, Melissa and Tim Stump ’81, and catch up with George Kleb’s band when they can.
Beth Heckle Staton reports an exciting year in 2022 as she retired from the University of Michigan Hospital, took a summer-long vacation, and moved to her cottage on Lake Huron. She also became a grandmother with the arrival of son Chris’ baby girl, Hattie Renee, in July, and then her daughter, Celia, had a baby boy, Jameson, in October.
Stephanie Opdahl Hubach and her hubby, Fred Hubach, are enjoying active careers, grandchildren, and boating on the Chesapeake Bay. Fred switched his career from engineering management to ownership of his own company called Fair & Square Home Care, which specializes in home improvements. Stephanie works for Covenant Theological Seminary as a research fellow in disabilities ministries. In 2021 and 2022, she added several publications to her resume. Her book “Parenting & Disabilities: Abiding in God’s Presence” came out in 2021.
Teresa Baker reported that she, too, retired in the recent past but continued to serve as a volunteer during the COVID-19 crisis in the Maryland Medical Reserve Corps. She lives in Columbia, Maryland, and enjoys the close proximity of her sisters and a beautiful forest full of “entertaining critters.” When she is not traveling across the United States for fun, she heads into NYC and catches Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers live. Otherwise, she is staying politically active organizing speaker events for people to stay informed.
Barbie Peterson Dawson and Jim Dawson report that Jim is in his 37th year of teaching and Barbie is super blessed to be helping rear and babysit her grandchildren. Jim is still refereeing, and they keep themselves entertained with biking. They were beaching it in Fort Lauderdale this year with Jane Burch Friddell and Katie O’Dwyer Steadley.
David Simpson reports that all is well on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He recently moved back to his hometown of Salisbury, Maryland, after 10 years in Ocean City, Maryland. I had the pleasure of working on our high school reunion with David not too long ago and can say reconnecting with him was loads of fun.
Kay Davis Moore is retired in Raleigh, North Carolina, and loving it. She is beaching it every summer, volunteering in a food pantry, staying committed to her church, and has even gone back to school for fun, taking classes she finds interesting. She keeps up with good friend and classmate Lori Keen Snyder and they visit when possible. Lori is still working for Volvo Construction Equipment, and she and her husband, Ed, are now proud grandparents!
Randy Heck and Cindy Swezey Heck ’83 are still living in Darien, Connecticut, and are now first-time grandparents to Evie. All three of their daughters are living in NYC and their son is in Brooklyn. Randy is still going strong in his investment career, but can be found on the golf course for fun, and Cindy is still raising bees. Not too long ago they had the pleasure of skiing with Joe Menendez ’81 at Beaver Creek where he expertly headed up the skiing efforts.
As for me, Jenny O’Neill, life continues to deliver the unexpected, like the adoption of four siblings eight years ago at the ages of 1, 2, 4, and 7, thereby turning our empty nest into a house in motion. It is an unexpected journey full of trauma, history, and healing, and our service to children in need of a home, love, and a path less traveled. Teaching my beloved Political Science and Sociology classes at the local community college ended with COVID-19 and the adventure of homeschooling four children at my kitchen table! But we continue to manage our own environmental services company, Living Ecosystems. Our small farm, Holly Hope Farm and Kennel, survived COVID-19 despite two years of no Labrador litters. In the meantime, we grew in preparation for the future by buying new Labrador stock, adding pigs, then goats, and now sheep to our homesteading efforts. Soon we will be spinning wool!
In no time at all, it will be our 50th Reunion year. I hope to see you there.
Best Regards,
Jenny O’Neill1982 Class Reporterjoneill377@gmail.com