FASBENDERanne

Greetings to the Exceptional Class of 1956!

All your bios make for fascinating reading. It appears that many classmates are already retired. My lucky cousin Bruce is retired in Maui. He sails his boat "Rhapsody" to French Polynesia, where he watches the sun rise behind the mountains of Bora Bora.

While I was still in high school, my father became director of the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport and we moved into the main house there. My father founded the Vanderbilt Planetarium that I hope some of you have been able to visit and enjoy.

In the fall of '56, Lorna Deans and I went off to Washington, DC to attend American University. Sadly, in our senior year, Lorna died and was awarded her degree posthumously. After graduation I sailed to Europe on the SS United States for the "grand tour" and returned to Washington, a city I grew to love for its cultural diversity. I took a job with the Department of Commerce for a few years and then left to work at Georgetown University Medical School. In '69 I moved to the George Washington University Medical Center, where I am now assistant to the vice president for educational resources. I feel very much at home in the academic world and was fortunate that my daughter Jennifer, born in 1969, was able to earn her MBA tuition-free.

Jennifer is a change management consultant with Accenture and her husband Jeremy is a marketing director at AOL headquarters in Loudoun County, Virginia. My grandson, Colin, was a Year 2000 baby and is the shining star of my universe.

"Growing old isn't for sissies," as Bette Davis once said. Despite the aches and pains, I have found it to be true that the older I've become, the better my life has become. A bit of trivia: What do Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson have in common? They were both born in 1956! It was indeed a very good year.

Jane, Allan, Sheila and webmeisters Ford and Jack-you have all done a remarkable job in putting together the reunions and website.

Best wishes, and hope to see you at our (gulp!) 50th.---Anne

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