CLASS OF 1985 | 2026 | FALL ISSUE

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I write to you fresh from the first week of classes at the University of Maryland, College Park. In my Cyberpunk seminar, we’re revisiting the 1980s. For today, we read “Burning Chrome,” by William Gibson, written and first read publicly in the fall of 1981. Talking about the cultural context of the time was … weird. Each class we have a song of the day, and today’s was REM, “Radio Free Europe.”Feel free to dance, my friends.

Last week, my husband, Michael MacDonald, and I had dinner with Hillary Hess and her husband, Peter Gimlin. They are both retired from the federal service (Hillary from the Commerce Department and Peter from the EPA). They’re looking forward to a trip to Egypt later this year.

Kate Holden and her husband, Scott Falk, are also retired. Kate writes, “Our eldest daughter, Erin, just had a little boy in August, making us grandparents, and our youngest, Kristen, is getting married in the spring.” Congrats!! Scott has become a master naturalist and volunteers at Huntley Meadows Park (Alexandria, Virginia), while Kate volunteers at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, “transcribing colonial ledgers and letters (George Washington’s cousin, Lund Washington, bought a lot of cheap rum in 1782, it turns out).” In addition to taking classes at American University and George Mason University, they also just got back from a trip to Mallorca to see the eclipse. 

Jolynn Jones has also retired (from nursing) and has moved to a stunning new apartment in Marin. She also has a new kitten, Jackie O!

CAROLINE WILKINS |  cwilkins8530@gmail.com