Class of 1950
Class of 1950 bursary total as at August, 2025 | $63,415.24
Mary Ann Turville Simpson is well and happy in her house. She has 6 grandchildren and a great grandson, George, whom she visits often in Ottawa. She returned from 2 weeks in England, volunteers at church and walked 5 km for Coldest Night of Year, Canada-wide fundraiser. A good life!
Class of 1951
Class of 1951 bursary total as at August, 2025 | $109,492.36
Jean Martin Lawrence is living at Belmont House in Toronto and spending her summers at the family cottage at Lake Simcoe.
Elisabeth Marani Bacque gave a talk to the Trent Evening Quilters recently and showed her collage pieces based on traditional quilt blocks, honouring Canadian Women at the Bridgenorth Public Library near Peterborough during the month of July. A former art teacher at Havergal, Miriam Davidson, holds art workshops at Rice Lake Arts. Elisabeth and her daughter, Susan, took a fun basket-making one last summer.
Class of 1953
Class of 1953 bursary total as at August, 2025 | $161,766.73
Happy 90th Birthday classmates. It is so great to be able to report your news.
Catharine (Cathy) Blackie Ross in Unionville is still enthusiastic about life! She keeps in touch with Nancy Lillico Bolliger. Jill Bartlett Colley enjoys her role of great grandmother, stays active with family, church and friends. Super to receive positive news from Jane Milne Harkness. She reports from her waterfront apartment in Vancouver that she walks everywhere, shunning her car. Her attentive children live nearby, but Jane regrets she can’t attend our Old Girl reunions. Anne Aitken Baker looks forward to returning to Chester, Nova Scotia this summer. She celebrates her first great grandchild, and her family is gathering to celebrate her 90th! Last heard from Janet Rough Young, she was doing well.
Judith (Judy) Francis Kilbourne in Calgary continues her involvement with the Philharmonic kid’s program. Her travels this past year included Muskoka and California. It is reported she has 8 great grandchildren who keep her occupied! A brief hello from Barbara Owen Pauli. Nancy Turville Bongard keeps busy with family, church activities and the Shaw Festival. She welcomes visitors to her townhouse in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Cynthia Joan Wight Rossano has been writing and editing, most successfully, for Harvard for 40 years! She reports her family is flourishing in Boston, NYC, Denver and MT. She says: “Havergal taught us to be strong”. From Calgary, Barbara (Bobbie) O’Connor Sparrow tells us she has her own significant health struggles and family issues. Our beloved Head Girl sends this message: “Life sure throws some nasty curves, BUT we all have difficult times, so do your BEST”. Thanks Bobbie! Respectfully submitted, Nancy Turville Bongard.
Class of 1954
Class of 1954 bursary total as at August, 2025 | $38,250.00
Elizabeth Conway Adamson is still living independently in Wolfville, N.B. She has a daughter who lives in Halifax and her other children live in San Francisco, Maplewood N.J. and Toronto. Nine grandchildren live all over the world. She is looking forward to having her eldest granddaughter’s wedding in August in Lunenburg. Elizabeth still takes her annual trip to various spots in Italy with a wine-tasting and cultural group of 15. Last year they spent 2 weeks visiting many sites close to Naples, such as Pompeii, Herculaneum as well as the Amalfi coast. If any of our classmates are in the area, please be in touch. Fondest memories of our reunions.
Jill Kerruish Strickland writes, when Paul passed away in 2016, I moved in with my dog into this wonderful retirement home. Close to my children, grandchildren and now 2 great granddaughters. My daughter Wendy, granddaughter Diana and I have held season tickets to the Alberta Ballet ever since. In December 2023 I fell outside and broke my hip which has curtailed my outside activities without a walker. Organizing activities, going to exercise, entertainment, sharing, friends. Hope you are all well. Love Jill. Anne Coleman writes, so far, approaching my 89th birthday this summer, I’m still loving my life – visiting with my children and oodles of grands and great-grands; where I live (in beautiful Victoria); my daily walks; my friends and book groups. I even had a marvelous trip to France with my son where we attended a wedding in champagne country (groom’s family own vineyards), the reception in bride’s family’s chateau. Too, too amazing.
Sally Bryden McCulloch writes not much has changed since last year except that I have now had my hip done and am slowly recovering and looking forward to Muskoka healing waters and being able to swim and spend time with my boys at the cottage. Joan Burns Addison writes, Hi Bet, I know you have a thankless job, and I too am no help. I do not think I have anything to offer. It is too much effort to travel. The USA seems a NoNo since Trump took over and Europe seems too far away. I seem to still be healthy thank goodness though King City and the farm seems just fine. I do have 2 of 4 family living there. I am still driving. I will be 90 years old in June. My 4 kids and spouses as well as myself are going to St. Andrews N.B. to celebrate. DunDrum is 8 yrs old he is a home bred I own his mother. He has won 4 stakes and 3 other very good races. He is now on the farm in King enjoying life. Soon we will teach him to jump, and he will start his new life work. Frances Bond McElroy writes, using a walker full time now does preclude exotic travels. However, we continue to enjoy visiting with friends around our fireplace on wintery days and on the front porch during the rest of the year. We are fortunate to live so close to Stratford that we continue to enjoy all its offerings. “Learning Unlimited” at the Seniors Centre in Woodstock and the “Never Boring Group” in London as well as the NYT puzzles help to keep our minds active too.
Class of 1955
Class of 1955 bursary total as at August, 2025 | $62,716.30
This year has been taken up with planning for our 70th Reunion—which has become more important than ever to many of us since we missed our 65th reunion (because of COVID). We are a shrinking group and it is hoped we can have an enthusiastic turnout for our reunion on Saturday September 27th. Betty Armitage Lawson and Gladys Johnston Massey are working hard with me on plans for an informal lunch. Stay tuned for time and location ! Betty reports that she keeps up with her local book club, attends lectures at Victoria College, U of T and enjoys walking.
We heard from Vickie Atkinson Grant, Nancy White Thoman and Fiona McHaffie McGaw who are all enthusiastic about a Toronto get together. Fiona also reported from Collingwood that she is exercising at the ‘Y’ and teaching water-colour painting to a group of Seniors. Joan Winearls is still helping out with the archives for a women’s group and keeps up with her walking, genealogy and birdwatching! Grace Spendlove Inglis related that she and her husband’s garden at their country place will be included in the annual Gardens of Uxbridge event in June. Grace also continues to participate in several fund-raising activities for the Stephen Lewis Foundation in Port Perry. She reports that the need in Africa is now more urgent than ever because of the USAID funding cutoff.
Heather Kellerhals-Stewart is still busy with her Quadra, B.C. farm and garden – planting potatoes and contending with Highland cattle and “a bunch of unruly ducks”. She continues to visit ‘beautiful’ Chilko Lake where her family had a cabin for years and takes trips to Vancouver to visit two grandchildren at UBC. Lindsay Stewart Morgan in Kingston is sorry she cannot make the reunion event but wants to send good wishes to the classmates that do attend. Susan Beveridge Spratt from Calgary is going to try to make the reunion despite the increasing constraints for her of air travel to Toronto—kudos to her! Barbara Graham Carter is also hopeful that she can attend. Liz Burnett Rolston is unable to attend but would love a full report on the event, and the ‘gossip’. She also offers a ‘bed’ to any classmate passing through Belleville.
Finally we heard from Hanna Bing-Zaremba Mens, Sheila Bowyer Burgard and Ann Goodrich Reynolds who sends good wishes for a great reunion event. Sue Bicknell Leslie and husband William went on a 17 day trip at the end of June to Scotland and England. The trip included a Leslie Family Gathering in Aberdeen, 2 days in Edinburgh, visits with Scottish relatives and sightseeing in the Cotswolds.
Class of 1956
Mary Dennys Bursary (Cl 1956) bursary total as at August, 2025 | $419,443.11
On May 2, Barbara Goodwin Zeibots married Huntly Christie.
Class of 1959
Class of 1959 Bursary bursary total as at August, 2025 | $151,258.41
Last year, the class of 1959 reached an impressive milestone – our 65th anniversary reunion. To celebrate the event, Mary Jean Borden Potter organized an elegant dinner at the York Club. It was attended by Stephanie Stevenson Hutcheson, Tannis Clarkson, Beverly Bruce Hargraft, Nancy Sewell Lorimer, Sandra Gordon Steen, Christine Coutts Clement, Kathleen Bourke Bell, and Mary Jean Borden Potter, all shown in the accompanying photograph. Two days earlier, a few of us, along with Patricia Hamilton Winter, enjoyed a luncheon at the school. At the luncheon, we were joined by Tahlia Cornthwaite, granddaughter of our late classmate Anita Krische von Graffen. Tahlia, in her final year, was Boarder Prefect, just as her grandmother was so many years ago. Christine Coutts Clement
