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Mary (Flanagan) Williamson AIS class of 1974 Marywilliamson74@aol.com February 13, 2011
Born in Hong Kong and adopted at age 3 to State Department parents, Mary has two older sisters who did not attend AIS/AES and a younger sister, Ellen, (’76) who did attend our school. She and her sister were raised in Indonesia, Iran and India (both Calcutta and New Delhi). At AIS New Delhi, Mary was active with cheerleading, basketball, swimming, horseback riding and the yearbook club. Mary currently serves as President of the AIS AES Alumni Association Board of Directors. Mary has three beautiful children (now adults) and is married to Dave Williamson, the Command Chief Master Sergeant for U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Mary and Dave recently moved from Hawaii to Germany, where Mary is very active with supporting our military families in Europe. As Dave’s wife, she represents the military spouses and families, helping to make sure their needs are being met. She leads a number of various organizations and activities for our military families and is constantly on the go! In addition to having an active role with the 2010 reunion planning, Mary has made a number of signification contributions to the AIS/AES alumni community. Most noteworthy were her campaign in 2007 to initiate the Alumni Class Secretaries Program and the online class rosters. Thanks to these efforts, we have been able to better reach out to our AIS/AES friends and to stay more up-to-date with address changes and life events. Mary also was very active in locating a number of “lost alumni.” When we told Mary we were going to publish a welcome message to her on our Web site, she asked that we extend her thanks to all the amazing class secretaries who have worked hard to push our communications to our alumni community. “The class secretaries are an important part of our leadership team. Without them helping us, for example, we wouldn’t have had nearly the success at our 2010 All Classes Reunion that we did.” She also wishes to again thank everyone who helped make our last reunion a success “It was also really wonderful how our own alumni came from all directions to pitch in for the reunion. It just goes to show what we can do when we pull together as a team. July 16, 2006
Just wanted to report that the American International School of Calcutta (AISC) Reunion Weekend, 14-16 July 2006, was the first ever and was very, very successful! We met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and pretty much took over the downtown Historic District! We had our "Ice-Breaker Party" on Friday night at the hotel, ate our big Saturday night dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant, and had our "So-Long, Farewell Brunch" on Sunday at the hotel. That time period in Calcutta, in the late 60's, is now a small sliver in our lives; but the turnout showed that it had a huge impact on all of us.
It was really fun to see the "children" in us come back to life as we talked about AISC...Calcutta...India, in general... You could see everyone re-connecting while reminiscing. Alums were pulling out old photos, yearbooks, and memorabilia; there was a lot of laughing; there were tons of photo flashing and we even had several "class photo sessions!" Along with me being a student who attended both AISC and AIS-Delhi were Alan Egler ('74) and Barbara McCabe ('75). It was truly an amazing and fun reunion.
Editors note: In addition to being the organizer of the Calcutta reunion, Mary is class secretary for AIS New Delhi class of 1974. She has done a tremendous job getting biographies from many of her New Delhi classmates, and also keeps a list of those class of 1974 alumns still needing to be "found." Thank you Mary! May 16, 2006
Big news from the Class of 1974!! I was married on Wednesday, 10 May 2006, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, to David Williamson in a small private ceremony amongst friends!! Dave is a Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force, and currently stationed at McGuire AFB. We have been in New Jersey almost a year now. We will probably be here until summer 2007 or 2008 as chief assignments are usually two years, but no longer than three. I will now go by the name MARY WILLIAMSON. Please note my new screen name and address: Marywilliamson74@aol.com. To flash back big time, I was in India for a total of six years…four years in Calcutta, two years in New Delhi. I was in New Delhi from 1971-73 and attended 10th and 11th grades at AIS. I graduated from high school in Washington, DC, and then spent a year in college in Indiana. I decided college was not for me and went to a voc-tech school for a year to train as a legal secretary. My first marriage was in 1976 and ended in 1996. Twenty years! That marriage produced a son and two daughters who are now, ages 27, 25, and 19. None of the kids live at home anymore. Their father, USAF-retired, now lives in Oregon; and is doing well on his own. My biggest regret in life is not having joined the US Air Force myself. I always wanted to but messed up and never joined. I did the next closest thing and worked as a civilian for the USAF for most of my adult years. However, since moving to New Jersey last summer (from Utah), I have not worked outside the home but intend to look for employment again soon. As mentioned earlier, Dave - who could retire from the Air Force anytime now but can max out for another seven years - is not sure how long we will be stationed in New Jersey.
I have enjoyed my role as class secretary for the past year for the Class of 1974 and am trying my best to keep us all together in the world of cyberspace! Two years ago I founded the alumni program for my grade school, AIS-Calcutta (dubbed “GoAISC”). This summer I am hosting and organizing the first-ever AIS-Calcutta Reunion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For both the Calcutta school and our Class of 1974 AIS-Delhi, I try to publish each an informal newsletter twice a month. I am also the director of a new program the Air Force has implemented to help aid spouses of deployed men and women. My goal before year’s end is to take my re-certification so I can be paid to teach fitness and aerobics classes again (and not have to teach it as a volunteer instructor anymore). I still work out on my own three or four times a week, but I miss teaching my own classes. Hard to believe that this year most of us in the Class of 1974 will be reaching another milestone by turning 50 years old! But life for me is great now, and I cannot complain. I hope the same goes for you, and remember “Gooooooooooo Class of 1974!!!!” See also Mary and Dave's wedding announcement.
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Mary (Flanagan) Williamson at the American International School of Calcutta (AISC) Reunion
Barbara McCabe, left, Alan Egler and Mary Flanagan Williamson attended AIS in Calcuatta and New Delhi.
Mary (Flanagan) Williamson with her husband, Chief Master Sergeant David Williamson, on their wedding day, May 10, 2006. 
Mary (Flanagan) Williamson, right, is the secretary for the class of 1974. AES librarian Bandana Sen is at left.