For Nine Women Known As The Round Robins, College Ties Can Ne’er Be Broken

Since meeting in McDaniel Hall in 1966, the Round Robins have remained connected through the decades with monthly book club gatherings, weekly Zoom cocktail hours during the COVID-19 pandemic, and annual getaways. In April this year, they gathered once again to honor one of their own after the passing of Patricia Johnson “PJ” Krantz ’70.

The legacy of the Robins will continue here on the Hill through a generous bequest, including an endowed scholarship and Round Robins memorabilia to be placed in McDaniel Hall.

In addition, Krantz left an Itzchak Tarkey watercolor painting titled “Café Society” to the college. She was drawn to it because of the number of women in the painting: nine, the number of Round Robins in her friend group, which included Susan Robertson Cline ’70, Carol Harris Dietrich ’70, Sherry Swope Peck ’70, Jane Butterbaugh Shapiro ’70, Barbara Payne Shelton ’70, Karen Wagner Tegges ’70, Barbara Thomas ’70, and Sue Morales Yingling ’70, M.S. ’00.

“Every time I look at the painting, I think of eight wonderful women and cherish our friendship — this picture honors them,” Krantz wrote in her bequest intention in 2015.

“I think a lot of people take for granted the value of what they got at a small college like McDaniel,” says Trustee and Round Robin Barbara Payne Shelton ’70. “The lifelong friendships we formed at McDaniel are such a huge part of our lives.”