Rosemary Avery's
Christmas Letter 2024
It is always such a treat for me to write my Christmas letter each year. It gives me time to look back over the year’s happenings, give thanks for all the blessings, and embrace all the changes that have occurred. And 2024 has indeed been a year of change for me.
After six years of tremendous enjoyment as House Professor and Dean of Flora Rose House on Cornell’s West Campus my term was completed, and I said farewell to a “student-emersed” life and moved into my new townhouse less than a mile from campus. While the separation from close contact with friends and colleagues was hard, I remain close to a few wonderful friends and my new home has been a continuing meeting place for weekly dinners. The memories created over the past six years will last forever!
Flora Rose House 2018-2024
The move to my new abode, which I call my “goldilocks” home (not too big, not too small, but just the right size) came with a delightful added bonus, my next-door neighbor, Nancy, has quickly become a cherished friend and kindred spirit.
This has been a blissfully uneventful year for my beloved daughter Mandy. She continues her brave fight against this dreadful disease, enduring weekly chemotherapy infusions with such strength and fortitude that amazes us all! She is under the best cancer treatment team at Dana Farber/Mass General in Boston, and she is holding steady under the treatment with no new tumors developing. She was in for more surgery before Thanksgiving, but that was only to remove some radiation-induced necropathy that was threatening to put more pressure on the brain.
Through it all the family managed to have many precious times together this year. The Hellers had a February break trip to the Bahamas, several other trips to lacrosse tournament events, and many weeks on Nantucket Island where they have a home (Mandy’s “happy place”). I was able to spend a week with them there in August, and although the beach is not my thing, I was able to walk and bike the island for hours on end and was able to read four books (thank goodness for Audible!)
The BIG news event for our family this year was Alexa’s (Mandy’s oldest age 17) recruitment as a student lacrosse athlete to Cornell University starting in the 2026-2027 academic year. These days the athletic recruitment starts in the junior year in high school, is a very aggressive, stressful and competitive process. We are all so proud of Alexa, and what an amazing Christmas gift to me that I will have a granddaughter here at Cornell in a year. Jessie’s (aged 15) recruitment will start in September 2025 as she is also a star lacrosse player.
Avery/Heller family moments in 2024
The family news would not be complete without a special moment of focus on our youngest member, baby Uma who turns two in January. The growth in our little girl has been amazing over the past year. She started walking, then running, and now talking up a storm! Dave and Jill are doing so well. Dave started a new job yesterday, and both of them seem to be loving “toddlerhood.” We had such a happy time together at Thanksgiving on Nantucket, and baby Uma is embracing her cousins nicely.
Uma Gage Key almost aged two
Of course, it was another amazing year teaching and working with my outstanding group of teaching assistants. I do so LOVE my job!!!!! The academic year always starts off with a white-water rafting trip (my passion) on the Black River up near the Canadian border. The year also includes many dinners together, pickle ball tournaments, the annual volunteer event (packing food for Feed My Starving Children), and apple/Brussel sprout picking in the fall. Graduation (in May) always brings some hard farewells, and this year was a particularly hard one for me as I said farewell to Shilvaan, Mukund, Andrew and Jason.
The most amazing thing happened this year on the TA team. Without any provocation or encouragement from me, the groups of older TAs recruited all the new TAs to join them on a spring break trip to France, staying at hostels, enjoying delicious meals, and seeing all the sights. What a bonding experience it was for them all, and a truly super functioning team returned to campus. Hopefully I will get to enjoy these amazing young people for a few more years to come.
Avery TA team 2024
What would a year be like without some serious white-water rafting experience? I swear I was born with rapids running through my veins. I got to enjoy two separate trips this year, one in February to Patagonia in Chile to run the Futaleufu River (a long-time dream of mine that did not disappoint), and a majestic trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho in July-August. While I have copious evidence of the Patagonia trip (see videos below) I unfortunately have scant photos of the Salmon River trip. My dearest friend (and trip leader) Bob Katz took a bad fall on the second night of the trip injuring his knee badly, and he and his wife Arline had to be evacuated off the river for an urgent flight to New York City and the emergency room. Fortunately, six months later after surgery and lots of physical therapy he is planning another river trip in August next year – he must be recovered! After Bob and Arline left the river, we were all in a bit of shock and photo taking fell off my priority list. I won’t make that mistake again.
What can one say about Patagonia and the Futaleufu River? It was an experience of a lifetime and the most exciting and mammoth continuous white-water I have ever rafted. Patagonia is breathtakingly beautiful, offers spectacular mystical scenery, and hosts a wide variety of residents from South American countries. The food was amazing, the river guides experts in not only the river but the fauna and flora of the area. The only downside of the trip? It takes forever to get there, three flights and a three-hour bus ride both ways!
We had a professional videographer on the trip, and he put together an amazing video memory for us all documenting the bridge-to-bridge passage, the day of kayaking on the side tributaries, and the “pièce de résistance” the breathtaking Terminator Canyon. The trip was six days long and the videos are VERY long (both 18 minutes), so I don’t expect many of you to watch more than a few minutes of scrolling through. But, if you are an adrenalin junkie like me and love white-water sports, you are in for a great treat watching. Either way, take a peek so you know what you are missing. There are great interviews with us all.
Futa River days 1 through 3
Futa River days 4 through 6
I will end this already far too long Christmas Letter by sending you all God’s richest blessings and my love for 2025. May you all enjoy good health and the love of family and friends this year and may we all survive the next Trump administration!
Rosemary
© 2024 Rosemary Avery