Thank you very much to Wilberta (Naden) Pickett ’50 for sending in some information about herself and some classmates, who she continues to keep in touch with.

Mildred (Gaston) Berryman ’50 was a public school music teacher, organist and a choir director. She continues to live in Virginia, and still very much enjoys visiting with others over the telephone.

Clara (Zaccaro) Madonia ’50 spent time playing the piano duet arrangements of the Beethoven Symphonies when they first arrived, and at Illinois Wesleyan learned how to speak English while hanging out with friends at Professor Lowell and Stella Hazzad’s daily tea open house. She was a social worker and now lives in New Jersey. Her sister, Marina Firestone ’49 came to IWU on a scholarship from Italy, speaking no English.

Nadine (Callahan) Simpson ’49 was roommates with Wilberta during her junior year. Nadine and her husband went to Mozambique, where he was a missionary doctor and Nadine was a journalist. They are doing well, and live in Tennessee.

Ruth (Belyea) Beamis ’50 lives in Maine and has one daughter. She is active in Caring Connections, visiting nursing homes. She and Wilberta were part of a team sponsored by AFS during the summer of 1949, and worked for six weeks at the Lincoln State School in Lincoln, Illinois.

Wilberta (Naden) Pickett ’50 herself will turn 92 in June, and she is still blessed with good health with her husband John. The two will soon celebrate their 69th anniversary. The remain active, enjoying exercise classes and the social and cultural life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her Masters in Sacred Music from the NYC Union Theological Seminary in 1952. She received a Choir Master degree from the American Guild of Organists and is a Certified Church Musician from the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.

Haroldine (Johnson) Bourelli ’51 was Wilberta’s roommate her senior year. She had six children, one of which was Alex Bourelly ’86, an attorney in Washington, D.C..

If you are interested in contacting any of these alumnae fill out this form and we will get back to you as soon as we can.