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| March 2008 Newsletter |
| The American University of Paris Alumni Chapter of Greater Washington, DC (AUPDC) |
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My dear fellow alumni: Alumni have also asked to know more about their fellow alumni lives and careers. Since our newsletter can be a conduit for that, we are offering a bio feature and ask that you submit your own. To encourage you, I have agreed, with some shyness, to offer my own. You may know a thing or two more about me, but I look forward to getting to know each of you better! My interest in the French language really started in my high school years in New Orleans. Even with the European background, and strong French and Cajun influences of the area, it was an exchange program one summer to live in a French family that hooked me. I landed in Annecy in Haute Savoie with a family of 5 children, most around my age. Although it took 2 weeks for my French language to kick in, there was never a dull moment. I learned so much and loved the beautiful area. Through the same contacts, I had to good fortune to go for it again the following summer as an exchange with a student from Lyon. By then, my French was better and I was making some pretty good friends. The excursions on this side of the Atlantic with these new French friends were just as interesting as ours were there. By the following summer, I learned that my father was transferred to Lyon in a partnership project with DuPont and Rhone Poulenc. Did I want to move and live there for my college years? No hesitation! So I translated for DuPont that summer to help the 10 American families who were moving to Lyon. I also enrolled at the American College of Paris and found an apartment in Paris. My first roommate was a student from New Jersey. Unfortunately, her health forced her to return to the states within a month. Through a posting on the bulletin board at our school, I found my next roommate who has become a life long friend. Although we lost touch for 20 years, she found me later through AUP, somehow! Since I never could believe I lost touch with such a dear friend, I believe that experience motivated me to help forge an alumni effort for AUP a few years ago in DC. I also think that through the network of our alumni, the lives and opportunities are so broad that it can lead to some enrichment of our lives through interesting new contacts and friends within our small and unique sphere. When I returned from France, I ended up in the communications field for many years and later in wealth management. The international experience didn't end up in my career so much as it did in becoming a huge part of who I am overall.
Sincerely yours,
Sherry Hanks: AUP Class of 1966 Cheryl (Sherry) Conover Hanks, 62, a real estate agent in Washington, died of a stroke December 3, 2007 at Arab Medical Center in Amman, Jordan, where she was attending a wedding with one of her daughters.
After earning her doctoral degree in psychology from Boston University, Sherry taught child development, statistics and social psychology as well as negotiation at Boston's Northeastern University from 1971 until 1981. She resigned from her tenured position to raise two daughters and work part time for nonprofit and political organizations while writing and editing newsletters and screenplays. Sherry was born in Minneapolis and grew up the daughter of a U.S. Agency for International Development official, living in Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and Jordan. Sherry attended the American College in Paris from 1964-66, while her family was posted in Jordan. She then graduated from Boston University. She spoke French, Arabic and Farsi, and did volunteer work for several foundations that sought peace in the Middle East. Her husband of 22 years, Toby Hanks, died in 1993. Survivors include two daughters, Jennifer Vilas Hanks of New York and Charlotte Hanks Moher of Johannesburg; and two brothers. Some 150 family members and friends celebrated Sherry's life in December at a moving memorial service that drew elements from Islam, Unitarianism, and mysticism. Joe Ruth, a friend of Sherry's from AUP, was the only alumni at the service. Sherry's mother-in-law provided a humorous counterpoint to the eulogies, remembering how Sherry and Toby wrote their marriage vows, which they then exchanged among family and friends in the Hanks' backyard in Boston. Mrs. Hanks said that she suddenly realized part way through the service, "wait a minute, this isn't legal" and how she quickly tracked down a justice of the peace to make it so.
We will miss you, Sherry. Nine area alums, who attended AUP over more than a thirty-year span, met February 7 at AUP's monthly get together. The venue this time was La Madeleine in Bethesda. Perhaps the food did not measure up to dishes we tasted at previous gatherings held at Bistro du Coin or Les Halles, but participants very much enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere and incredibly reasonable prices. They resolved to speak more French at future gatherings. Please join us at La Madeleine in Alexandria, 500 King Street, on March 19, from 6:30 pm until... (see Upcoming Events).
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After living many years in Boston, Sherry moved to Washington's Tenleytown neighborhood in 1993 and began selling homes in 1995.
March 1-April 14: French-born artist Isabelle Babington displays her most recent paintings.|
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