Member Spotlight

October 2022 – Beverly Kestenis: October 2022 Newsletter

September 2022 – Jan Stout : September 2022 Newsletter

June 2022 – Member Spotlight: Myra Slatoff enjoys handcrafts, especially knitting and crocheting, Words With Friends online, and reading. She and her husband Hank both enjoy traveling and they have been to Israel, Italy including Sicily, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Alaska, Australia and New Zealand. Read more about Myra in the June 2022 Newsletter.

May 2022 –  Member  Spotlight: We are highlighting our board member, Bonnie Larson. Bonnie has been a member of the College Club since her retirement.  She is currently Corresponding Secretary, Newsletter Chair, Book Chair and Lunching Out Chair. Bonnie grew up in Bergen County New Jersey, went to Upsala College for her undergraduate degree and Rutgers University for her Master’s Degree.  She taught elementary school in New York State, New Hampshire, and New Jersey before becoming a reading specialist and supervisor. In 1981, after losing her teaching job in Bordentown Township, she moved into the business world, first at several small companies and then she worked for AT&T.  Bonnie was responsible for sales support and marketing which included tradeshows, brochures, advertising, PR, user groups and launch events. She worked in various AT&T organizations until the group she was with was sold. After AT&T, she worked for several start-ups and eventually found herself back in education, ending her career as Director of a New Brunswick school preschool, working for the Middlesex Regional Educational Association. Bonnie was married twice, the first ending in a divorce, and the second ended with the sudden death of her husband at age 55. Bonnie keeps busy by not only with the College Club, but also the Present Day Club, as a member of the Cranbury Shade Tree Commission and as Chair of the Cranbury Cable Committee. She also runs other dinner, lunch and card groups, including a Red Hat group for 12 years.

 April 2022 –  Member  Spotlight: We are highlighting our former president and current Trip Chair, Kathy Hutchins. Kathy joined the Women’s College Club in 2004, the year she moved to Princeton, from Massachusetts.  In March 2004, her friend Mary Ann was visiting from Massachusetts. Kathy saw an ad in Town Topics for a trip to the Mercer Museum in Doylestown.  Mary Ann and Kathy met the group going to the Mercer Museum in the parking lot of what is now Walgreens.  There they were – Gerry Bowers, Alice Bianno, Marge White, Mary Lincoln, Patty O’Connell, and Barbara Johnson.  Kathy had no idea where Doylestown was so Gerry Bowers volunteered to go with them.  Gerry and Mary Ann were both serious Presbyterians and had so much to talk about that they got lost and arrived late to the Mercer Museum. Patty O’Connell cut her foot on the tiles and Mary Ann actually had Band-Aids with her.  On the way home Mary Lincoln’s car broke down.  And as everyone pulled into the parking lot Kathy decided to join the Club. Marge White invited Kathy to play with her at the Bridge Benefit at the Present Day Cub and at the end of that lunch Kathy had agreed to run the Bridge Benefit the following year. (She was Marge’s partner and they played with a former mayor of Princeton and another woman who kept taking her cards back). That effort made Kathy a board member, the first year of Barbara Johnson’s presidency. Kathy learned all about Princeton by driving Barbara to the board meetings at members’ houses.  And what a great bunch of women who welcomed her into their club.  Ruth Woodward showed Kathy her quilt collection; Jane Coda outbid Kathy for Doris Brinster’s white coat, Mary Laity introduced her to some great books, and Gerry always asked her how Mary Ann was doing in Indiana.  Kathy remembers Doris Tazelaar bringing a loop to check out the donations to the white elephant sale in the President’s dining room at the Present Day Club. Over time Kathy was chair of hospitality, the WCCP Scholarship Committee, and trips. She learned all about the Scholarship Committee from Ramona Peyton and Barbara Chatham who were beyond dedicated to their jobs. Kathy got to know Ginny Mason by planning the scholarship tea at Ginny’s house, and the guidance counselors at the four schools from which we draw our candidates. Thereafter, Kathy was President of WCCP off and on.  All these wonderful women – dedicated to enriching the lives of local young women – helped Kathy write a new chapter in her life. 

March 2022 –  Member  Spotlight: We are highlighting , Lorraine Haucke, our Vice President and hospitality chair. Lorraine guesses that one could say that she is a little “southern” as she was raised in Vineland, N. J. But she was born in Brooklyn and all her relatives lived there. After high school she worked a couple years, attended community college and graduated from C. W. Post College in Belleville, L.I. in 1970. Afterwards she worked for AT&T for a couple years and then took a position with the Region 2 General Services Administration. Lorraine held a few different positions: secretary to the Personnel Officer, Historic Preservation Officer and Art in Architecture Officer. These last two positions enabled her to travel throughout the region-New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. She totally loved this work as she worked with interesting, talented artists and architects. Having married her husband Ronald late in life, she does not have children. Lorraine was fortunate to retire in 2005 and lives in the Rossmoor Community in Monroe. She enjoys travel, movies, theater, and reading mystery books. She learned wood carving, mahjong and rug hooking at Rossmoor. Her membership in WCCP since 2005 has been very rewarding.

February 2022 –  Member  Spotlight: Connie Loukatos, our club’s President, was born in Santander, Spain and grew up in Newark N.J. After getting a degree, in economics from Rutgers University, she worked as an internal auditor at Chemical Bank for three years. At the same time, she attended New York University at night and studied real estate. She started working for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the Newark office in 1972 as a Loan Specialist reviewing financial statements and monitoring the physical condition of FHA insured multifamily housing properties. Throughout the forty-one years she worked at HUD, she had increased responsibilities, including Director of the Multifamily Division of the NJ HUD office. In 1997, she was appointed to the position of Director of the Philadelphia Multifamily Hub. As Director, she administered the FHA multifamily insurance programs, as well as the Section 8 Rental Assistance Programs. The region included the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and West Virginia. The work of the four offices covered over 2000 multifamily properties and more than two billion dollars in mortgage insurance and a staff of over one hundred. Her interests include traveling, reading, attending concerts, volunteering, and spending time with her husband of over 50 years, her two children, and two grandchildren.

January 2022 –  Member  Spotlight: Susan Luty received a BA in Biology conferred by Douglass College, Rutgers University. In 1980 she began studies at Mercer County Community College (MCCC) in the fine arts. Susan was employed as an editor for 17 years — first at Carter-Wallace in research and development and subsequently at Educational Testing Service in the Advanced Placement Program. Susan has exhibited her art work since 2006 and had received many awards and recognitions. Currently, she works in both her home studio and the MCCC ceramics studio. In the summer when the MCCC studio is closed, she takes ceramics workshops at crafts schools such as Penland in North Carolina and Snow Farm in Massachusetts.

April 2021 – Member Spotlight: Mary Laity, a longtime member of the club and former board member, is an avid reader, so we asked Mary for some recommendations of books that she has read recently and would recommend to the group.  Below are her recommendations: Novels by Anita Shreve (especially THE WEIGHT OF WATER); novels by Anna Quindlen (BLESSINGS, and also other novels of hers); any collections of stories by Alice Munro (e.g. RUNAWAY and other stories) and any mysteries by Hakan Nesser (THE WEEPING GIRL; HOUR OF THE WOLF; THE RETURN; MIND’S EYE; WOMAN WITH A BIRTHMARK etc.).

March 2021 – Member Spotlight: Nora Anaños, Board Member, our club photographer. Nora is not only a great photographer and graphic artist, but a fabulous painter. Nora  got the 3rd Place for her painting, titled: “Magnolia“ in the Oil-Non Pro category at the 2020 Mercer County Senior Art Show – ONLINE EDITION, sponsored by the Mercer County Division of Culture & Heritage and the Mercer County Office on Aging.  80 Mercer County Senior Artists participated in the show.

February 2021. Member Spotlight: Lorraine Haucke, is on the Board, serving as the Hospitality Chair. Lorraine is very proficient in hooking rugs. 

“The camaraderie of the women and generosity of sharing knowledge and material, as well as encouragement, have enabled me to complete several projects.”