Remembering Madeleine

Meaningful read (“The Negotiator,” summer 2022). Secretary Albright was one of the most influential in our time. Thank you.

Rosarie Jastrow Hartmeyer ’76, Moraga, Calif.

Live Fearlessly

Wonderful story on Madeleine Korbel Albright ’59 (“The Mentor,” summer 2022). Her question is my new mantra: What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Wish I’d thought of that decades ago.

JoAnn Cansler Risher DS ’85, Arlington, Texas

Keep on Rolling

I loved “Rolling Through the Years” (summer 2022)! My little sister, Teresa Pazdral Hale ’91, saved me an amazing spot at the front of the line for my race. I was grateful to her and busy imagining my victory … until the race began, and I got trampled in the first 30 seconds. Ah, well. I passed on my “sister” hoop, of course, but bought myself one to take with me. I brought it with me to my 25th reunion and all of those present signed it. It makes me happy every time I look at it. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Chris Bicknell Marden ’90, Sidney, Maine

Protesting a Tradition

I was disappointed that this article (“Rolling Through the Years,” summer 2022) omitted my own Wellesley Hooprolling experience in 1974, when my friend Kathleen Johnson and I streaked it as a protest against the “first to marry” tradition. Nearly 50 years later, those fleeting seconds still stand as the most memorable, meaningful, and fun I experienced at the College. We made the papers all across the country, so clearly someone considered it a newsworthy event.

Gigi Simeone ’74, Swarthmore, Pa.

A Different Take on Tradition

I read Amita Parashar Kelly’s article about Hooprolling (“Rolling Through the Years,” summer 2022) with interest and thought you might enjoy a photo from 1976. Then, the winner was still supposed to be the first to marry, so Janice Blake Bergman ’76 and I chose an alternate costume to the usual cap and gown to run the race. We both did marry, have children, and earn doctoral degrees after our graduation.

Felice Meadow ’76, Round Rock, Texas

An Inspiration

Lilian Armstrong ’58 (“In Memoriam,” spring 2022) was only eight years older than I was when I took her course in Northern European Renaissance sculpture. She understood the extra issues I was facing as a married student my senior year and gave me every encouragement. Although I never knew Peter Fergusson, I wrote my senior thesis on French cathedrals, and she encouraged me in that, too. She was an inspiration to me.

Molly Wakefield Milner ’66, Lancaster, Pa.

Go, Blue!

As a member of the class of 1970, I rowed in those tubby shells Melissa Ludtke ’73 mentioned (“The Girls in the Boat,” fall 2016), in both class and dorm crews. I rowed because I could, never realizing at first how much I would enjoy it. In pre-Title IX days, none of my friends at coed schools had a chance to try this sport. I thought my rowing days were over until I discovered the Cohasset Maritime Institute and started rowing in its oceangoing coxed fours. In a tubby, but stable-in-the-chop, boat I’ve been rowing again since 2009, enjoying the coastal views outside Cohasset Harbor. What a joy to read about others who have found a way to row again after Wellesley (“Still Rowing After All These Years,” winter 2022), and to see the NCAA success of the Blue (“We Are the Champions,” summer 2022).

Sandra Perry ’70, Cohasset, Mass.

What You Really Think

In our email announcing the summer issue in July, we asked readers to write in with their thoughts on the magazine. Below is one of the responses.

Glad you asked!

Recently in cleaning out my mom’s house I brought back some old issues from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Perhaps the chief attraction of rereading these was the humor in them—cute captions accompanying anonymous candid photos around campus, for example. Today’s issues are so very earnest, and to this reader, sometimes offensive in their condemnation of political conservatives. We aren’t all progressives, I think, and content that always conveys a social-justice moral leaves me hungry for nostalgic reminders of the Wellesley I attended.

Cheryl Weissman ’75, Rockville, Md.

Publishing with Julia

I was amused to see the article about Julia Child in the most recent issue of Wellesley (“Dish by Dish with Julia Child,” summer 2022). As VP of production at her publisher, A.A. Knopf, I produced most of her cookbooks, beginning with Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. II, and had the distinct and often amusing pleasure of working with her and her discoverer and editor, Judith Jones, for a couple of decades in the process. She was an absolute professional and a generous human being.

Ellen McNeilly ’62, Orient, N.Y.

In Remembrance

Thank you for posting the memorials. For us older alumnae who might not have had the opportunity to read newspaper obituaries, these memorials refresh our memories (“whatever happened to …”), i.e., they are a way of keeping our classmates alive in our memories. One of the things about Wellesley that I cherish most is the friendships—not always easy to keep up with as we get older.

Francine Berth Myles ’57, New York City