Bates Magazine, Fall 2022

“What makes Matt great is how true to himself he is in his work.”

Fall 2022

13 Campaign success and presidential search update.

31 When young Benjamin Mays saw Hollywood’s most racist movie.

37 A pandemic timeline featuring the best of Bates photography.

OPENING THOUGHT:

KUSH SHARMA ’23

Source: Sharma, a theater major, describing to BatesNews how his environmental studies courses informed his choice of a climate change–themed play, Hurricane Diane, for his senior thesis in directing.

People often respond to the facts and numbers about climate change by running away. They get overwhelmed. Art is able to bridge that psychological dissonance, able to get people to think of climate change as happening and real, and able to think, “I can be a part of change. I can effect change.”

Inspired and Trained Bates’ proposal to secure five tenure-track positions in climate and environment is a bold step forward (“Bates College announces faculty cohort-hire initiative in climate and the environment,” BatesNews, Aug. 2, 2022). But Bates will stumble if it overlooks the foundation of geosciences that it has provided for decades.

It may be, as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Malcolm Hill imagines, “kind of an ‘if you build it, they will come’ scenario.” However, what is certain is that Bates geology, now the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, has been “building it” and “they have been coming” to it for well over the last 35 years.

Take, for example, the contributions of recently retired Bates geology professor Mike Retelle. As was noted at his retirement, “Generations of Bates students simply loved being in Mike’s classes as he made learning about Earth’s surface processes so accessible, pertinent to today’s changing world, and, most importantly, filled with his passion for teaching linked to his own high-quality research in glacial geology and climate change.”

One geology professor, dedicated to field learning and geosciences, has inspired

and trained science teachers, researchers, and geoscience professors now working around the world — all of whom are dedicated to helping us better understand climate and the environment.

Given the ambitions of Bates, we hope the college sees the value in reappointing someone to teach about sediments and landscapes, topics foundational to studying paleoenvironments and climate change; it is critical for students to comprehend these processes before developing models that attempt to characterize them. A solid investment in the future of earth, environmental, and climate

education at Bates should include a faculty position in earth surface processes.

Allie Balter-Kennedy ’14, Greg de Wet ’11, Lauren Farnsworth ’13, Wesley Farnsworth ’11, Daniel Frost ’05, Ingrid Knowles ’11

The signatories are Bates geology majors. — Editor

Young Again

Awesome line, Teresa: “I’m never going to be this young again” (Q&A: “Commencement senior speaker learned to plant seeds of her own confidence,” BatesNews, May 26, 2022).

Dang, and how! This Class of 2010 Bobcat is marveling at how wise and true this statement is, and cheering for you! Wishing you and your classmates more and more joys and triumphs ahead. Helena Turner ’10 Cambridge, Mass.

Build Trust

Such a powerful Commencement! (“Be someone who builds trust,’ Dr. Nirav Shah tells seniors at 156th Bates College Commencement,” BatesNews, May 29, 2022).

Could be the best in the 52 I’ve experienced. Yes, I just

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

On a cold January day in 2014, Professor of Geology Mike Retelle led his students in the course “Earth Surface Environments and Environmental Change” to Garcelon Field, where they used the field’s 100-yard distance to create a 4.6-billion year timeline of the Earth’s existence. This cohort is crowded along the final 10 yards or so of the field — representing the last 460 million years — holding posters indicating, from left to right, the “recent” appearance of life: fish, plants, reptiles, dinosaurs, primates — and bobcats.

Teresa Chico ’22 of New York City leaves the Coram Library porch after delivering her Senior Address at Commencement.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

added them up. I’ve missed only a few! What Dr. Shah said about “building trust.” We all needed to hear that. Let’s try again.

Judith Marden ’66 Greene, Maine

“Be someone who builds trust,” said Dr. Nirav Shah in his Commencement address. He added, “The thing is, trust happens one conversation at a time. It is like a bank account, and you may have to make multiple deposits in the account before you can start making withdrawals.”

— Editor

A Fine Group

What a fine group of professors — my colleagues for many years (“Bates celebrates retiring professors for their ‘persistence and care, grace and humility,’” BatesNews, June 14, 2022). I wish them well in retirement. I am certainly enjoying mine!

Drake Bradley Edmonds, Wash.

The writer is a professor emeritus of psychology.

— Editor

Ice Out

When I was at Bates there was only one way to know that spring had “officially” arrived: Our unofficial celebration (at night) of “Ice Out Day,” the day the ice finally disappeared from the Puddle. Some guys actually swam in the Puddle, but most just gathered around and celebrated with a beer, typically around 11:30 p.m., when the women had to be back in their dorms.

There was a lot of noise, and the dean of men occasionally showed up (he was invited and informed in advance, of course), but left when the chants became “Throw the dean in the water.” One time the LPD arrived, and then left, smiling, as the chant became “Throw the cop in the water” — and we were joined from the open windows at Page and Smith.

I expect that Bates is much more civilized now. Actually, I really don’t hope so.

Peter Heyel ’65 Redding Center, Conn.

Lindsey Hamilton ’05 arrived over the summer as director of the college’s new Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning, and we were talking in her office in Dana Hall, formerly Dana Chemistry Hall, recently about the curious ins and outs of feeling comfort in an ever-evolving institution like Bates.

Hamilton majored in neuroscience, which includes chemistry courses, so Dana feels comfortable to her, even sporting its new post-renovation look, as a state-of-the-art academic building focusing on introductory science teaching.

Even her office feels familiar. “It’s the first faculty office that I ever walked into as a student,” Hamilton said. Back then, it belonged to her first-year faculty adviser, Paula Schlax, now the Stella James Sims Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. So in one sense, Hamilton’s Bates homecoming was, as they say in the customer-service biz, frictionless. “I did feel unnaturally comfortable” at first, Hamilton told me. “I have advantages coming in as an alum. I know where things are, I know the buildings’ names. Some of the same people are here.”

But she knows that such an “advantage” is actually a familiarity trap. “I had to keep reminding myself that I knew Bates from 2001 to 2005 as a student, not as a colleague. There are so many new people and new units and new programs that did not exist when I was a student. And the student body is different — much more diverse — than when I was here.”

So she’s been asking herself, “What is Bates today?” Which is always a good question, especially in a year in which Bates is conducting a presidential search (see pg. 13).

After Bates, Hamilton earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience, fully intending to do research, but found herself drawn to pedagogy, the study of teaching. Specifically, she was drawn to inclusive teaching, an academic field that was delivering a lot of evidence that “teaching is a skill that can be improved.” Teachers just have to adopt strategies “that we know work.”

Inclusive teaching isn’t something you learn from a YouTube how-to video. “It’s not a checklist,” she said. “It’s a set of strategies, a lens that we apply that helps us ask, ‘Are all students being invited in? Who is being left out?’”

Back in 2001, as a first-year student, Hamilton convinced Schlax to let her take an upper-level psychology course taught by John Kelsey. On the first exam, she got a D “at best,” she says.

In grading the paper, Kelsey circled one of Hamilton’s lengthy, but very wrong, answers and wrote, “No — but you are thinking like a scientist. Come talk.” She did, and those first conversations created a springboard to Hamilton’s career. (Now retired, Kelsey’s legacy lives on in the John E. Kesley Professorship in Neuroscience, funded during the Bates Campaign.)

Kelsey’s invitation to Hamilton was a small example of inclusive teaching. “John invited me into a conversation. He coached me on how to be better prepared. He maintained high standards in a way that invited his students into full participation,” Hamilton said. “And his mindset was, always, anyone can do well.”

Which brings us back to the question, “What is Bates today?” For all the changes at Bates over the years, there are some straight lines from yesterday to today, especially professors who want to invite their students into transformative, four-year conversations — and who want to learn how to do it better.

H. Jay Burns, Editor jburns@bates.edu

Comments are selected from Bates social media platforms, online Bates News stories, and email and postal submissions, based on relevance to college issues and topics discussed in Bates Magazine. Comments may be edited for length and clarity.

Email: magazine@bates.edu

Postal: Bates Magazine Bates Communications Office 2 Andrews Rd. Lewiston, ME 04240

BATES IN BRIEF FALL 2022

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

“Life’s too short not to ride a skateboard with your best friend,” says Nathan Huynh ’23 (left) of San Diego after he and Jack Cantor ’23 of Chevy Chase, Md., zoomed along a Historic Quad walkway on a beautiful October afternoon.

STUDENTS

All Class

Six members of the incoming Class of 2026, all members of the college’s Bobcat First program supporting first-generation college success, pose in front of the Bobcat statue during pre-orientation activities in August. Twelve percent of the Class of 2026 are first-generation college students.

By various measures — and as Bates Admission continues its work to expand Bates’ national and international reach — this year’s 520-member incoming class is the college’s most diverse ever:

• 67 percent of the class are from outside New England, the highest percentage ever. (A quarter-century ago, 44 percent were from outside the region.)

• Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) from the U.S. represent 29 percent of the incoming class, the highest percentage ever.

• 12 percent are first generation to college.

• 10 percent are international students.

• 44 percent are receiving institutional need-based financial aid.

• 13 percent have received Pell grants, a typical measure of a college’s commitment to access to low-income students.

— Eli Kushner ’24, a double major in biochemistry and music from Philadelphia, trying to explain the rich aroma of the germination room at the Blue Ox Malthouse in Lisbon Falls, where he had a Purposeful Work internship last summer. In a climate-controlled room, he’s raking grain that will be malted for use by the region’s top craft breweries. He also learned a range of quality-control processes in the malthouse lab.

The Bates club Women in Economics addresses gender inequities in the field.

In June, Clean Sweep sells stuff students leave behind to support nonprofits.

ELI “It’s as if you took a bakery and soaked it in water for a long time.”

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

Advantage Vantage

Whether or not it’s an offshoot of their lockdown experience during the pandemic — needing to discover physically distanced outdoor pursuits — we noticed a penchant for tree climbing among the Class of 2026.

In mid-October, Will Siebert ’26 found a perch in this maple tree on the Historic Quad; that’s fellow first-year Aidan Wee heading up the trunk to join him as George Fauver and Fletcher Libre, also Class of 2026, check out the scene. Speaking literally — but perhaps suggesting a metaphor for life at Bates — Siebert said that a little elevation helps “you get a new vantage point and see the world a little bit differently.”

During Back to Bates weekend, Elizabeth Nahigian ’26 of Needham, Mass., guided her younger sister, Emma, up the crabapple tree behind Lane Hall. Elizabeth had climbed the tree with her new Bates friends and “wanted to give Emma the collegetree experience.”

A $1M grant will expand support programs for firstgeneration students.

Bicycles are available for checkout from Ladd Library.

There were 13 student tour guides on campus last summer.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

Dana Debut

After more than a year of renovation that has redefined the role of Dana Chemistry Hall at Bates, the building reopened with a campus gathering on Aug. 29.

Now simply known as Dana Hall, the building’s transformation created a more user-friendly interior, replacing a dim and labyrinthine set of hallways and rooms with bright surfaces, long sightlines (one can get a glimpse of both the Historic Quad and Alumni Walk from windows on either end of a second-level hallway), and cheerful student spaces.

And the project broadened Dana’s academic mission from a singular focus on chemistry to a wider role as the home of introductory chem and biology, with a side order of three active-learning classrooms suitable for any subject. Bonney Science Center, meanwhile, has taken on the job of offering more advanced scientific environments.

Academically and socially, in other words, the renovated Dana is now a place for all Bates students. Central to that objective are features such as glass-walled study rooms, furniture casually sited along public ways, and an inviting “living room” with fab views of Alumni Walk.

Consultations with the campus community during the design phase revealed that Bates students, like their peers elsewhere, seek out seemingly random seating for myriad purposes — for solitude, for a quiet conversation, for a perch to munch a power bar between commitments.

“That was in the back of our minds for spaces like this,” said architect Michael Hinchcliffe of the firm Payette. “Most campus buildings from the ’50s even into the ’80s were over-programmed. Everything was super efficient. They didn’t have this little bit of extra space for students.”

Increasingly, Bates academic buildings offer a kind of “third space” — a term coined by sociologist Roy Oldenburg — that doesn’t feel like a classroom space (i.e., work) or a residence (home).

“So if you’re working on a problem set or on a project with some peers, you can come here and work in a way that’s different from someone’s dorm room or a classroom,” Hinchcliffe said. “It’s a little bit more public” — which can afford a sense of security when people don’t know each other well — “yet it still provides a focus, and quiet, and resources like whiteboards and monitors.”

Another duck nested in a petunia planter in front of Pettengill.

A duck chose to nest in a Historic Quad tree 10 feet off the ground.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

Mike Hussey, a member of President Clayton Spencer’s staff; College Librarian Pat Schoknecht; and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Leigh Weisenburger talk in one of Dana Hall’s bright new classrooms during the reopening event on Aug. 28.

Academically and socially, the renovated Dana is now a place for all Bates students.

On the Level

This multi-level abyss was created during the ongoing renovation of Chase Hall. It will be filled by a new central stair and an elevator to connect all levels of Chase.

A fun fact for readers, if not for the renovation team, is that Chase, with its two additions, is a three-story building containing nine discrete floor levels.

Handy to the existing Campus Avenue entrance near Muskie Archives, the central stair will constitute one of the main new arteries through Chase. It will touch four building levels — ground floor; the Residence Life and Health Education area a half-level up, near the loading dock; the first floor; and the Office of Intercultural Education floor, another half-level higher.

As a goal of the college’s 2016 Institutional Plan, the Chase renovation will create space for more studentfocused programs and make the historic building active and viable 24 hours a day. The renovation is scheduled to be completed for 2023–24.

Cutting Edge

The Russell Street Track got a new Mondo-brand surface over the summer, and one of the most painstaking jobs of the installation fell to Corey Ernst, a worker for Wicked Flooring of Rockford, Ill., subcontractor for Miller Sports Construction of West Chester, Pa.

The new rubbery track surface came in 50-foot rolls, like carpet, that were about the width of one track lane. After the rolls were placed, and given time to expand, the fabric needed to be trimmed to fit. And that was Ernst’s job: to trim — by hand — more than a mile of Mondo.

He was asked if he gets into a flow state when doing his job, which was mostly under a hot summer sun. “You kinda have to, if you’re going to do this work,” he said.

The Mondo Sportflex Super X 720 is a two-layer product produced by the same Italian firm that supplied the track’s original surface 21 years ago.

There are 27 Adirondack chairs on the Historic Quad.

Campus residences are kept between 68 and 70 degrees.

Drinking fountains in Page Hall were converted to bottle fillers.

DOUG HUBLEY

JAY BURNS

BATES IN BRIEF FALL 2022

ACADEMICS

Faculty in politics, education, and psychology earned Fulbright fellowships.

Summa

these young voters’

they want

Toil and Bubble

If an atomic physicist like Nathan Lundblad could slip the surly bonds of Earth’s gravitational pull, what kind of space-age experiment would he dream up?

About a decade ago, NASA posed that very question to physicists around the country, calling for proposals to do funded research aboard the International Space Station.

Lundblad, a Bates professor of physics, had a proposal at the ready: He wanted to do something never before done on Earth, create a tiny bubble made from ultracold atoms.

In 2014, NASA awarded funding to

Lundblad’s and six other projects to conduct the first experiments aboard the ISS, specifically in the Cold Atom Laboratory, which was launched to the space station, about 250 miles above the Earth, in 2018.

Last summer, Lundblad and his coauthors announced a triumph in the journal Nature, reporting that they had successfully created ultracold bubbles.

Lundblad’s research at Bates looks at what happens when a cloud of atoms becomes ultracold — near absolute zero, that is. The 10,000 or so atoms in this ultracold cloud slow down — way, way down — until they come together “in a blob, or clump,” explains Lundblad.

Large enough to be visible to the naked eye, this blob of atomic gas is known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, which is considered a different state of matter from a gas, liquid, solid, or plasma. BECs intrigue physicists for their quantum properties, such as acting like a wave rather than individual particles, a property called “wave-particle duality.”

“Imagine a bunch of atoms bouncing around in a box kind of like the molecules in the room you’re sitting in,” Lundblad told NASA. “If we make them go slower and slower and slower, the laws of quantum mechanics actually blur out where they are, they behave more and more like waves.”

Physicists can create Bose-Einstein condensates no sweat — hundreds of research groups around the world now routinely produce BECs in their labs. Creating an ultracold bubble wasn’t possible because gravity here on Earth squashes them. But the space station is gravity-free.

cum laude honors go to the top 2% of the graduating class.

GEOFF LIVINGSTON

Mission specialist Soichi Noguchi traverses the outside of the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station in 2017. The Cold Atom Lab, which runs experiments led by Professor of Physics Nathan Lundblad, is located in the Destiny lab. (NASA)

NASA

Pro-democracy protesters march in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2020. But

views on what

from their government are paradoxical, says Associate Professor of Economics Sandra Goff.

What Do You Want?

As they have experienced the pandemic and the federal government’s national response, the youngest generation of American voters have paradoxical feelings about what they want — and don’t want — from the government.

The findings, based on surveys of college students done before and during the pandemic, come from research co-authored by Associate Professor of Economics Sandra Goff and published in Contemporary Economic Policy

For example, young Americans want the federal government to get bigger, but at the same time, they’re now more distrustful of government.

And while they want a bigger government, they don’t want it to play a larger role in carrying out any of its various traditional duties, such as safeguarding the workplace, helping people get out of poverty, or taking care of infrastructure. “It seems like students want some idealized form of government,” Goff says.

The ultimate TBD question for our times is what, exactly, these young people want their government to do more of. There are examples from the past, when government took bold new steps to solve crises and problems, such as the massive Clean Water Act, enacted in 1972 thanks to the efforts of U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36.

“That’s a great example of what was, in its time, a break with the past and a reimagining of what government can do,” Goff says.

And though the survey focused on a single age group, Generation Z, the upshot is powerful: “Young, educated people throughout the U.S. are discontent with government, see a strong role for government, and yet are unsure of exactly what that role should be.”

Professor of Physics

Nathan Lundblad says producing bubbles of ultracold atoms on the International Space Station creates “interesting and counterintuitive effects, and gives more insight into the nature of quantum matter.”

Interest has boiled up around ultracold bubbles for the same reason that “doing physics on a curved earth instead of a flat earth” is instructive, Lundblad says. “You can get interesting and counterintuitive effects, and gain more insight into the nature of quantum matter.”

Lundblad gets access to the Cold Atom Lab for several days every few weeks. He communicates with the Jet Propulsion Lab in California, which executes what Lundblad outlines. (The astronauts aboard the space station are not involved.)

The experiments are run during West Coast business hours at JPL, so the data starts coming in later in the day back East. “The first inflated bubbles we saw came when I was actually just settling down for the night after putting my kids to bed, and just feeling so excited.”

Before the Cold Atom Lab, Lundblad used a machine in Carnegie to do his ultracold experiments. “It was like an extension of my senses.” Now, working with the Cold Atom Lab as it circles the Earth a couple hundred miles above the Bates campus, Lundblad knows he’s said goodbye to a more hands-on era of his work.

“It’s just a new way of doing things.”

THIS JUST IN

A sampling of recent faculty-authored articles

Recovery of the Biphasic Hypoxic Ventilatory Response in Neonatal Rats After Chronic Hyperoxia

Publication: Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology • Author: Ryan Bavis (biology) and coauthors, all Bates students • What It Explains: How young mammals’ breathing recovers after long exposure to an excess supply of oxygen. Greater understanding of decreased oxygen levels (hypoxia) and increased levels (hyperoxia) is vitally needed in neonatal care.

“Auch bei uns im fernen Transsilvanien”: The Transylvanian Saxons and the Long Shadow of the Third Reich in the Work of Bettina Schuller

Publication: Edinburgh German Yearbook 15 • Author: Raluca Cernahoschi (German) • What It Explains: How a memoir about growing up in the 1930s and ’40s in a Transylvanian Saxon enclave in what is today Romania sheds light on the relationship between the Third Reich and ethnic German groups in Eastern Europe.

Cannibal Nihilism: Meat and Meaninglessness in the Anthropocene Imaginary

Publication: Science Fiction Studies • Author: Tyler Harper (environmental studies) • What It Explains: How cannibalism, which frequently appears in environmentally oriented speculative fiction, is used for more than its shock value. Instead, it serves as a proxy for a more complex conversation: about the very viability of political hope in a world defined by so many environmental crises.

Chemistry, Structure, and Function of Lone Pairs in Extended Solids

Publication: Accounts of Chemical Research • Author: Geneva Laurita (chemistry and biochemistry) and coauthor

• What It Explains: How the familiar concept of the “lone pair,” which refers to paired-up electrons within some molecules and materials, might have a more exciting role in designing new materials with practical applications in electronics, energy, and drug delivery.

Geology is now the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences.

The fee to audit a Bates course is $750.

Scarab, the online repository of Bates scholarly materials, has seen 500K downloads.

Hansel and Gretel meet the cannibalistic witch in this illustration by Arthur Rackham. In a new article, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper explains the role of cannibalism in speculative fiction.

SARAH CROSBY

Campaign Success

The Bates Campaign closed on June 30 with gifts and pledges totaling $345,745,082, the highest total ever for a Bates fundraising campaign.

A total of 19,686 donors and 822 volunteers contributed to the runaway success of the campaign, which established successively higher records for total annual giving in four of the five years of its public phase, which began in 2017 with a goal of $300 million.

“Today, we are better-resourced and equipped to broaden access to a Bates education and to offer a life-transforming experience for our students,” said President Clayton Spencer, now in her final year as Bates’ eighth president. “We owe the success of the Bates Campaign to the exceptional generosity of our alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff, and students.”

The campaign’s four priorities focused on academics, financial aid, student programs, and overall financial sustainability. Donors gave more than $135 million to support need-based financial aid, nearly doubling the goal of $75 million.

The most striking embodiment of the campaign’s success was construction of the new Bonney Science Center, funded by a $50 million campaign gift from the family foundation of Michael Bonney ’80 and Alison Grott Bonney ’80. The center is a centerpiece of the college’s $75 million investment in science education and the transformation of the college’s approach to STEM teaching and research.

We

“The ‘why’ of the Bates Campaign has never been more self-evident — to support the success of our talented students who will do their part to make the world a better place,” said President Spencer, seen at Commencement with Zoe Gallate ’22, an American studies major, as they pose for a photographer.

Bates has 30 vehicle parking lots and areas.

Bates has 14 electric vehicle chargers.

owe the success of the Bates Campaign to the exceptional generosity of our alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff, and students.

PHYLLIS GRABER

JENSEN

Presidential Search

A 19-member Presidential Search Committee is now working to identify and recommend to the Bates Board of Trustees the next president of the college. Bates’ ninth president will succeed President Clayton Spencer, who announced last spring that she will step down on June 30, 2023.

The committee comprises Bates faculty, staff, students, and trustees.

Among the trustees, eight are Bates alumni and four are Bates parents.

Working with search partner Isaacson, Miller, the committee is developing and evaluating a candidate pool following a series of early-fall listening sessions. The Board of Trustees hopes to announce the college’s ninth president in the spring.

@ Presidential Search bates.edu/presidential-search

Presidential Search Committee

Andrea Conklin Bueschel ’90

Trustee (co-chair)

Gregory Ehret ’91, P’23 Trustee (co-chair)

John Baughman

Associate Professor of Politics

Geri FitzGerald ’75 Trustee Emerita

Aydan Gedeon-Hope ’25 Student

John Gillespie ’80, P’13, P’18 Chair, Board of Trustees

Evelynn Hammonds L.H.D. ’11 Trustee

Faith Hauger Administrative Coordinator for Student Affairs

David Longdon ’14 Trustee

Alexandra Manning ’23 Student

Lance Matthiesen ’85 Trustee

Charles Nero

Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies

Katy Ott

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Stacey Rizza P’20 Trustee

Michelle Rosenberg ’94 Trustee

Christine Schwartz

Associate Vice President for Dining, Conferences, and Campus Events Anelise Shrout

Assistant Professor of Digital and Computational Studies

Darryl Uy Director of Admission

Jean Wilson ’81, P’05, P’13 Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE COMMITTEE: Scott Bierman ’77 Trustee Emeritus and President of Beloit College

New Bates Trustees

In July, the Bates Board of Trustees announced the election of five new trustees to five-year terms:

Kelli J. Armstrong ’86, Karen Gordon P’24, Benjamin E. Robinson III ’86, Anne Wade P’26, and Melissa Wilcox Yanagi ’03.

@ Bates Trustees bates.edu/trustees

Two Join Senior Leadership

President Clayton Spencer welcomed two new members of the college’s senior leadership team over the summer.

Eric Foushée is now vice president for college advancement. A member of the advancement staff since 2014, Foushée succeeds Sarah R. Pearson ’75, who retired June 30 after 10 years at Bates and 42 years in higher education.

Tracey A. Reeves, former associate vice president for research and academic communications at Georgia Institute of Technology, joins the college as vice president for communications and marketing, succeeding Sean Findlen ’99, who departed Bates last spring for a position in the private sector after serving the college since 2015.

Bates grants honorary doctorates in seven fields.

The Bates registrar is deemed a member of the faculty.

“ForSale” is the email listserv for selling, searching, and asking for advice.

Eric Foushée

Tracey A. Reeves

Associate Professor of German Raluca Cernahoschi takes the cake with her dish, a “spur-of-the-moment concoction,” she says, of vanilla soft-serve, fruit salad, and a Mississippi Mud Square, a favorite Bates dessert combining chocolate cake, marshmallows, walnuts, and chocolate sauce.

YOU OLD SOFTIE

photography by phyllis graber jensen

In Commons on a late-July day, diners of all ages posed with their apres-lunch soft-serve creations, each inspired by both appetite and imagination, and sprinkled with sweet smiles.

Family Plan

A perfectly executed penalty corner had Paige Cote ‘24 of Auburn, Maine, jumping for joy after seeing her shot get tipped into the net by her sister Anna Cote ‘25 during the Bobcats’ thrilling win vs. Bowdoin on Sept. 10.

Cat Quotes

Quotes from Bobcats, gleaned from the Bates Bobcast podcast and elsewhere

Five varsity athletes were among 20 sophomores selected as Dana Scholars.

Women’s rowing has had top-three finishes in 11 of the last 13 NCAA regattas.

Already a top Bates golfer, Ruby Haylock ’26 of nearby Hartford, Maine, has won the Maine Women’s Amateur Championship twice in the past three years.

1. “It’s amazing what a sandwich can do for you.”

— Ruby Haylock ’26 of Hartford, Maine, on how she bounced back at the Wesleyan Fall Invitational. After carding three bogies and a double bogey over four holes, she had a bite to eat, settled down, and earned tournament medalist honors

2. “It doesn’t end at the collegiate level. It keeps going. It’s a lifelong network of great collegiate runners.”

— Cross country runner Krishna Kakani ’25 of Monroe, N.J., on the camaraderie at the 50th edition of the Alumni Cross Country race in September

3. “I just kind of stood there, shocked. It’s like my stomach dropped. It’s one of those things that you always want to happen but you never expect it.”

— Henry Ehrlich ’26 of Portland, Ore., on his hole in one at the Bowdoin Invitational at Brunswick Golf Club on Sept. 24

4. “You’ve gone way longer than eight kilometers, so you know you can do it. The longer you can run on long-run days, within reason, the better.”

— Cross country runner Ned Farrington ’24 of Cohasset, Mass., on the benefits of doing long runs, up to 18 miles, to prepare for 8K races

5. “Stay controlled through the first mile, and then just kind of open it up and go with the flow.”

— Jillian Richardson ’23, an All-American cross country runner from Auburn, Maine, describing the strategy for her dominant win at the Bates Invitational

6. “She just looked at me and said, ‘Let’s get it done.” And I just shot it, ripped it, and it went in.”

— Anna Lindeis ’25 of New Canaan, Conn., on how she and Molly Harmon ’24 of Farmington, Maine, teamed up on an overtime goal to beat Williams in field hockey

Sport Specific

Curtis Johnson’s job at Bates is to coach track and field. Danny Feldman’s job is to coach cross country.

Sounds simple, but before this fall, the head coaching structure for cross country and track and field at Bates was much different, organized by gender rather than the sport.

In other words, there was a head coach who led the men in cross country and the men in track and field, and a head coach who led the women in cross country and the women in track and field.

Now, Johnson coaches the men’s and women’s teams in track, and Feldman coaches the men’s and women’s teams in cross country.

The long tradition of gender-based coaching was cemented by continuity and excellence in the coaching ranks. Since 1952, the men’s cross country and track programs had just two coaches, the late

THEOPHIL SYSLO

Curtis Johnson, head coach of men’s and women’s track and field, talks with track alumni Liam Evans ’22 and Garrett Evans ’22 before the annual Cross Country Alumni Meet on Sept. 3.

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Propane grills are allowed in tailgating areas; charcoal grills aren’t.

Up to 50 swimmers are allowed in Tarbell Pool during open swim hours.

Walt Slovenki and Al Fereshetian, who retired in 2021. The women’s programs had just two coaches since 1979, Carolyn Court and Jennifer “Jay” Hartshorn.

The reorganization, designed to play to the strengths of each coach and to unite the athletes under the umbrella of their sport, was put into motion following Hartshorn’s resignation as head coach of the women’s cross country and track programs last spring and the appointment of Feldman in August.

The athletes have taken the change

in stride. “It’s been super fun to have the men’s and women’s teams combined,” says Jillian Richardson ’23, an All-American cross country runner from Auburn, Maine. “I think [Feldman] has done a great job at building community and getting us all excited. And he’s really good at making sure that everyone feels included.”

“It’s definitely different,” says newly minted graduate Tara Ellard ’22, also a Bates All-American. “But I’m sure it’s going to work great. I think it will really help bond the men’s and women’s teams

even better. It will be good for them.”

Hartshorn, now head coach at Mount Holyoke, led the Bates women’s cross country team to five NCAA Championship appearances and developed five All-Americans along the way.

In indoor track, she coached 25 Bobcats to 49 All-America performances in 11 events. Outdoors, she coached 11 athletes to 20 outdoor NCAA All-America performances in 11 events, including one NCAA title.

Bates Athletics ran a holiday toy drive for the local community.

I think [Feldman] has done a great job at building community and getting us all excited.

Danny Feldman, head coach of men’s and women’s cross country, talks to his women’s team before Bates faced Tufts on Sept. 17, 2022.

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ARTS & CULTURE

Red Means Go

Bates families and friends visiting campus for Back to Bates got a visual treat at the Marcy Plavin Dance Studio, located in Merrill Gymnasium, where the Department of Theater and Dance presented an artistic showcase featuring the dazzling talents of student performers. Star Yang ’24 of Guangzhou, China, performs during the showcase.

Take a (Long) Look

The visitors to the Bates Museum of Art on a mid-September afternoon weren’t strolling from artwork to artwork, but instead standing — or sitting or lying — stock-still before one work for what seemed like a very long time.

The occasion was a class session of the First-Year Seminar “Arts and Spirituality,” taught by the college’s multifaith chaplain, the Rev. Brittany Longsdorf.

Their trip to the museum was to practice visio divina, or “sacred looking.” The idea is to look at something — a picture, a sculpture, anything — for 30 minutes or so with the expectation of seeing and feeling sacredness

in it. It reflects the belief that the divine can be found in everything. It’s also a way of looking at something intentionally, and “giving it that kind of presence and attention,” said Longsdorf.

Longsdorf developed the seminar a few years ago after seeing many young adults finding sacred experiences outside

institutional religion. “[They] might not be attending worship in traditional ways, but are going to concerts and art museums and are journaling and painting and dancing,” she says. “They’re saying that those places are where they feel wonder and awe and feel their true size — feel connected to something bigger.”

First-year students practice visio divina, or “sacred looking,” at the Bates Museum of Art. The student at left is gazing at Gone, a digital print by Isabella Kirkland that depicts the 63 animal species that have become extinct since the colonization of the Americas.

The Edible Books Festival featured food items inspired by book titles.

The Bates Dance Festival turned 40 in 2022.

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Scheduled for Impact

Scheduled for a fall 2023 opening, the college’s new Immersive Media Studio — a focal point of a major new arts and technology project funded by a $500,000 grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation — will occupy a prime spot right at the center of campus, the first floor of Coram Library.

The centrality is purposeful. Equipped with cutting-edge sound, visual, and multimedia technology, the studio is meant to be a magnet pulling everyone from scientists to playwrights into collaboration.

Does a professor from the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences have an idea for a Short Term course where an installation could make sea-level rise and glacial melt come alive for observers? The plan is, they’ll be able to find both the training and the tools to do that in the IMStudio. So will the theater major who dreams of a career on Broadway and wants to take the leap into fully virtual production design.

The Bates Arts Collaborative, which developed the grant proposal, has a multi-pronged approach to supporting technology-based arts practices and education at Bates, and the IMStudio is just one example.

Supporting technology-based arts practices and education at Bates is the goal of IMPACT 21st. Seen in 2018, a student dancer wears a sensor during a creative collaboration among faculty and students in music, dance, and digital and computational studies.

Dubbed IMPACT 21st (Innovation, Media, Process, Arts, Collaboration, and Technology for the 21st Century), the project seeks to deliver technology upgrades, including green technology; bring artists to campus to share their expertise; provide training to faculty in using new equipment and developing new courses; and support students who wish to develop their own technologybased arts projects.

Students can take lessons in the ney, one of the world’s oldest instruments.

The Winter Arts Festival showcases student artists. The 2022 Bates Film Festival held screenings on campus and in Freeport.

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Rise and Shine

Shortly after sunrise on Aug. 20, hot air balloons dot the sky above the Androscoggin River as spectators at the Great Falls Balloon Festival gather to watch from Auburn’s Bonney Park.

That distinctive balloon is Tico the Sloth, one of the festival’s featured balloons, reflecting the festival’s theme as well as the event’s return from a two-year hiatus, “Return from the Wild.”

At far right is the footbridge across the river that now is named in memory of John Jenkins ’74. See story on next spread.

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BATES

John Jenkins’ nephew Abdul Lateef puts his arms around two young relatives as they cross the newly named John T. Jenkins Memorial Bridge on June 10, 2022. Among those behind them are Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Auburn mayor Jason Levesque, and Lewiston mayor Carl Sheline.

What’s in a Name: Edward Little

Across the Androscoggin River in Auburn, the public high school is named for Edward Little, a 19th-century lawyer and philanthropist.

The Person

Born in 1773, Edward Little was a lawyer in Newburyport, Mass., before moving to what is now Auburn in 1826. After inheriting a large amount of land, he worked to realize the area’s civic and economic potential, long before Benjamin Bates and his fellow industrialists arrived from Boston. Praised by Lewiston’s Evening Journal for his “energy, zeal, and liberality,” Little died in 1849.

The School

Edward Little established Lewiston Falls Academy in 1834. It was renamed Edward Little Institute in 1849 and became Auburn’s public high school in 1874 with the condition that the school always be named for Little. Now under

construction, a new Edward Little school build ing, adjacent to the old school, opens in 2023.

The Sculpture

Near the high school is a bronze statue of Edward Little. Unveiled in 1877, it was the work of Franklin Simmons, a prominent 19th-century sculptor who attended the Maine State Seminary before it became Bates College.

The Mascot Lore has it that Little’s ghost roams the school hallways, which is why the teams were originally called the Red Ghosts (red being the school color). The nickname evolved to the Red Eddies by the 1940s, but it’s not clear why. Easier nickname to cheer, perhaps?

The House Edward Little lived in a home on Main Street in Auburn that today is the only remaining example of Federal architecture in Auburn.

This statue of Edward Little, by the prominent 19th-century sculptor Franklin Simmons, stands near the high school.

Lewiston won a $30M federal grant to revitalize the Tree Streets neighborhood.

Bates staffer Mana Abdi of Lewiston is the first Somali American elected to the State Legislature.

John’s Bridge

When John Jenkins ’74 arrived in Lewiston from Newark, N.J., to attend Bates, the Androscoggin River was polluted and stinky.

No one would ever — ever! — imagine spending time along the river to bike, kayak, walk, jog, or just hang out. And it definitely wasn’t a place to celebrate the memory of someone with imagination and hope. But things change, sometimes for the better.

Fifty years later, on a former railroad trestle turned walking bridge over the Androscoggin, a big gathering of friends, family, colleagues, and admirers came together to remember Jenkins, who died in September 2020, and to dedicate the span as the John T. Jenkins Memorial Bridge.

Everyone misses Jenkins, but every message at last June’s gathering, held during Reunion, was upbeat, positive, and hopeful. Because that’s who Jenkins was. “He had the ability to make people feel good just by showing up,” said Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who spoke fondly and respectfully about Jenkins, an unprecedented figure in Lewiston, Auburn, and Maine history.

He was the first Black citizen elected as mayor of Lewiston, as a Maine state senator, and as mayor of Auburn, the latter as a writein candidate, becoming the only person to serve as mayor of both Auburn and Lewiston.

A major figure in international martial arts, he was a member of the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Locally, he worked as a community organizer and was a popular motivational speaker.

Last year, both city councils voted unanimously to name the footbridge — orginally built as a railroad trestle, across which trains brought Canadian immigrants to Lewiston — in memory of Jenkins.

The naming ceremony was one of two events during Reunion to honor Jenkins, the second being a long-postponed memorial service in the Lewiston Armory. Bates friends were close by throughout the weekend, and a committee of alumni has been raising funds to endow the John Jenkins Scholarship Fund.

There are enough memories of Jenkins to fill a book, and that was another task of the committee: supporting a biography, John Jenkins: The Mayor of Maine, written by Chuck Radis ’76.

Before he was an elected mayor, Jenkins was known during his student days as the “mayor of Bates.” He was genuine and kind and everywhere; he acted in early modern dance productions for Marcy Plavin, and ran track for Walt Slovenski. He would keep everyone laughing on bus rides until the legendary coach stood up and yelled, “No belly laughing!” — he didn’t want someone pulling a stomach muscle by laughing too hard.

Jenkins taught John Emerson ’73 how to be easier on himself as a student. “I felt pressure to succeed and to perform,” Emerson recalled. “It can overwhelm you. John would help you put all of that in perspective. He helped me believe that friendships and relationships and how you handled winning and losing was what really mattered.”

Both mayors also spoke at the event, as did Ann Parker, Jenkins’ companion. She said that anyone walking across the Jenkins bridge will never walk alone.

“I really hope that when you walk across that bridge, you feel the spirit of John,” she said. “If someone’s having a difficult day, walk across John’s bridge. I guarantee it’s going to lift you up. If you’re having a wonderful, awesome day, walk across the bridge, because John’s gonna be there with you in all his awesomeness.”

THE MAYOR OF MAINE

John Jenkins: The Mayor of Maine, contact Chuck James ’78 by email, cjamesjr99@gmail.com, or phone, 703-307-4199. For information about the John Jenkins Scholarship Fund, contact alumni@bates.edu

To order the biography

A First-Year Seminar focused on Lewiston to explore larger issues, like immigration.

Newly installed downtown, Maine’s largest free-standing sign says “Lewiston.”

The Androscoggin River’s Great Falls drops 37 feet.

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JAY BURNS

Longtime Bates student dean James Reese talks with John Jenkins’ sister, Mujiba Wadud, and her husband, Abdul Razzaqq, during the ceremony dedicating the Jenkins Memorial Bridge.

Abdul Lateef holds a red carnation and a copy of the new Jenkins biography, written by Chuck Radis ’76.

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Seville, Spain

“This man worked at a snack stand located between my homestay and where I went to school. I saw and spoke with him most days. Probably most of us come in contact with workers every day, whether at our favorite restaurant or at the local grocery store. These daily check-ins bring comforting and reliable conversations, brightening our days with something to look forward to. In my case, our conversations brought joy to me and, I hope, to him. It’s a relationship to cherish in its own unique way.”

major Adrian deCola ’23 of Southbury, Conn., took this in March 2022 while on a CIEE program in Seville, Spain. The image was featured in the 2022 Barlow Off-Campus Study Exhibition.

THE WORLD

Bates has more students from Kenya (3) than Kansas (1).

The history course “Latin America during the Cold War” examines Guatemala’s 1954 coup.

Physics

A group of Davis United World Scholars at Bates celebrate United World College Day on Sept. 21, 2022.

On This Day

United World College Day is an annual global celebration coinciding with the International Day of Peace. At Bates, the day is marked by a friendly gathering of students who are alumni of United World College schools around the world. James Reese, associate dean for international student programs at Bates, organizes the event.

Bates is among 99 U.S. colleges and universities that partner with the Davis UWC Scholars Program, which provides access to graduates of UWC schools worldwide. The number of UWC Davis Scholars at Bates is growing: 30 students from 24 countries last year, and 42 students from 29 countries this year.

At Bates, UWC Scholars who receive needbased financial aid are supported by the newly endowed Frank Global Scholarship Awards, created through a $5 million gift from Jonathan Blair Frank ’89 and Tena Fishman Frank ’89.

“UWC Scholars at Bates are engaged, intellectually curious, and deeply committed to the principles of cross-cultural understanding, making them highly successful Bates students,” says Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Leigh Weisenburger.

United World Colleges is an international educational network that makes “education a force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.” Twenty UWC schools operate on four continents.

Fulbright Trio

Three Bates professors earned competitive Fulbright U.S. Scholar fellowships to research and teach abroad in 2022–23.

Professor of Politics Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir has returned to her home country, Iceland, to study the country’s shifting policy priorities within the Arctic region.

Senior lecturer and Director of Secondary Teacher Education Anita Charles is in India bringing her teaching expertise to Fergusson University in the western Indian state of Maharash.

Professor of Psychology Amy Douglass is in Japan to team with researchers to test if and how eyewitnesses from different cultures (the U.S. and Japan, in this case) remember scenes differently.

‘To Be Seen and Heard’

“This is finding freedom after years of hiding who I really am from my family and friends,” said Ruslan Peredelskyi ’25 of Donetsk, Ukraine, during a flag-raising at Garcelon Field on Oct. 4 to celebrate Coming Out Week. He was joined by Mason Bunker ’23 of New York City and Campus Safety officer Jim Miclon.

“This is a privilege,” Peredelskyi continued. “My friends who stayed in Ukraine do not have the opportunity to come out without risking their security. Coming Out Week is here to remind us about liberty to be seen and heard, and propels us to embrace it to fight inequality and discrimination that still exists around the globe.”

Peredelskyi and Bunker are peer mentors for the SPARQ program at Bates, a network of resources that strives to support students’ positive development of gender, (a)sexuality, and (a)romantic identity.

They raised the Progress Pride Flag, a variation on the traditional rainbow flag emphasizing inclusion and progress.

A 2023 Short Term course heads to Chile to study the country’s COVID-19 response.

37 titles in the library have the phrase “The world according to” in their name.

Kolacky is a jam-filled Czech pastry baked at Commons.

Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir

Anita Charles

Amy Douglass

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BOOKS

Killers of the Flower Moon by David

Grann

Suggested by Jonathan Cavallero, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies: The source material for Martin Scorsese’s next movie, this book documents dozens of Osage Native Americans who were murdered or died in the 1920s after oil deposits were found on their land.

Reconsidering Reparations

by Olúfemi O. Táíwò

Suggested by Paul Schofield, Assistant Professor of Philosophy: Many think of racial reparations while focusing on the past or the present. Táíwò proposes a third perspective: a“constructive” future addressing climate change and using distributive justice.

On Earth We’re Briefly Georgeous by Ocean Vuong

Suggested by Sonja Pieck, Professor of Environmental Studies: This lyrical and haunting novel takes the form of a letter from a son to his mother — who can’t read. It’s as much an expression of love as it is an exploration of social issues.

Pachinko Min Jin Lee

Suggested by Leigh Weisenburger, Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid: This novel follows a Korean family in the 20th century as they navigate war and displacement from Korea to Japan. It’s an intergenerational struggle with identity, faith, and family.

FINE PRINT

At Commencement last May, Alex Gailey ’22, an English major from Berkeley, Calif., shows off “HEEM-MAN.”

Gailey modeled a 3D design of his creation from drawings, then used a 3D printer in the Coram Library Visualization Lab to create the final figure.

“I spray painted it silver for crispiness,” he says. “I thought it would be fun to mobb across the stage with one of my lil’ buddies.”

Book suggestions from the college’s annual Good Reads summer reading list:

JAY BURNS

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A century ago, Dean of Men and Professor of Biology Fred Pomeroy told the male students that this activity was “not an excuse to hug a girl.” What was the activity?

Answer : Dancing. Specifically, Pomeroy warned students against jazz dancing — newly popular and more sensual. Dancing at Bates had only been allowed since January 1922.

BATES.EDU/STORE

And for that Jar...

Keep your Bates cookie jar stocked with vegan chocolate chip cookies, a popular Commons recipe developed by Owen Keene, associate director of culinary operations and executive chef.

Start to finish: 45 minutes | Yield: 24 cookies

1½ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon table salt

½ cup or 1 stick margarine

1 cup sugar

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon silken tofu

1 tablespoon pancake syrup

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Vegan Chocolate

Chip Cookies

• In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then, in a large bowl, beat margarine and sugar until fluffy.

• Using a food processor or medium mixing bowl, combine tofu, pancake syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the tofu mixture to the margarine and sugar mixture and beat until incorporated (scrape the bowl so there are no large margarine chunks).

• Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated; add chocolate chips and mix until incorporated. Scoop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 12–14 minutes or until golden brown.

My Pond!

A stretch of the Burgoyne Walk at Lake Andrews was an avian gauntlet this summer, thanks to this angry red-winged blackbird, a species whose males are notorious for aggressively defending their nests. When not squawking a warning, he didn’t hesitate to divebomb any and all passersby.

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THIS VILE PICTURE

A scene from The Birth of a Nation shows Klansmen on horseback riding against the post-Civil War army of occupation.

BY JAY BURNS

On an April weekend in 1919, Benjamin Mays and some friends walked downtown to see a movie at a Main Street theater. When the movie was over, they sprinted back to campus, fearing for their safety.

It all had to do with the film they saw, The Birth of a Nation. When it premiered, in 1915, it was a tour de force, featuring filmmaking wizardry that audiences had never before seen. For a comparison, “Star Wars would be a close analogy,” says Charles Nero, the Benjamin Mays Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, who specializes in film, literary, and cultural studies at Bates.

The movie’s special effects were mind-boggling, especially the Civil War battle scenes, “which were epic, something that cinema had not seen before,” Nero says. Throughout the movie, director D. W. Griffith employed new storytelling tactics, including flashbacks, closeups, and panoramic filming.

But in contrast to the way a good-vs.-evil film like Star Wars uses filmic tactics to reinforce audience sympathy for the good, The Birth of a Nation was all about reinforcing and celebrating evil: white supremacy and racism against Black Americans.

“It taught white people that ‘Black people were horrible,’” Nero says. The late critic Roger Ebert emphasized that The Birth of a Nation “did more than any other work of art to dramatize and encourage racist attitudes in America.”

The plot of The Birth of a Nation intertwines stories about two families during and after the Civil War, one Northern and one Southern. The first part, featuring amazing battle scenes, is set during the Civil War; the second part is set during Reconstruction.

An undated poster for a screening of The Birth of a Nation.

In spring 1919, Benjamin Mays and his Bates friends headed downtown to see the epic film The Birth of a Nation and experienced firsthand the power of the most racist movie ever made

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Reconstruction segment features perhaps the film’s most infamous scene, where Gus, a freedman and soldier played by a white actor in blackface, wants to marry Flora, a young white Southern woman. She rejects his advances and flees into a forest. Gus gives chase.

Through the scene, director Griffith’s cinematic innovations retain their power a century later.

Gus trips over a log, allowing Flora to get away from him — but then he closes the gap. While Gus chases Flora, her brother, a potential savior, tries to pick up the trail. Tight shots of Flora’s terrorstricken face complement wide shots of her weaving through the trees and Gus in pursuit.

As a junior, Benjamin Mays (far left) saw The Birth of a Nation “with other Negro students at Bates.” They may have been (clockwise) Birtill Barrow, a senior from Barbados; his brother, Ellis Barrow, a classmate of Mays’; and two sophomores from Washington, D.C., Roscoe McKinney and Lewis Moore.

Landmarks along the chase, such as a blowndown tree, help the viewer keep track of who’s where, heightening the sense of drama. Frequent crosscuts from Flora to Gus and back again build the suspense as he chases her up a rocky hill.

“She’s going higher and higher, so you know that she’s probably going to get to the top and have to make a decision,” says Nero. “What’s going to happen? Your heart starts to race.”

Up until that scene, Mays and his Bates friends may well have been drawn in and entertained by the movie. And Mays himself was probably feeling quite good. Not only was winter turning to spring — a reliable barometer of optimism on campus — but he was fresh off a debate team victory.

Just a few days before, The Bates Student, in a story filling nearly the entire front page, called out his winning performance in Bates’ triangular debates vs. Clark and Tufts, in which one Bates team debated Clark in Lewiston, and another, Mays’ team, headed to Medford to face Tufts.

At the start of the shocking Birth of a Nation scene recalled by Benjamin Mays, Flora Cameron (Mae Marsh) comes face to face with Gus, a freedman and soldier, portrayed in blackface by Walter Long.

Pursued up a rocky hill by Gus (left), Flora is cornered on a precipice.

THE BIRTH OF A N ATION

THE BIRTH OF A NATION

By April 1919, Mays was a confident junior, well on his way toward accomplishing what he set out to do by attending an integrated Northern college: prove “that superiority or inferiority in academic achievement had nothing to do with color of skin” and “dismiss from my mind for all time the myth of the inherent inferiority of all Negroes and the inherent superiority of all whites — articles of faith to so many in my previous environment.”

We know that Mays — who would become one of the leading civil rights leaders of the 20th century — went to see The Birth of a Nation in Lewiston from two sources: his autobiography, Born to Rebel, and an undated TV interview, likely filmed in the early 1980s, when Mays was in his 80s.

In the autobiography, he describes seeing the film “with other Negro students at Bates.” While he doesn’t specify, his companions might well have been Birtill Barrow, a senior from Barbados; his brother, Ellis Barrow, a classmate of Mays’; and two sophomores from Washington, D.C., Roscoe McKinney and Lewis Moore.

And this wasn’t your typical modern theater with 100 or so seats. This was the grand, opulent, and bygone Empire Theatre on Main Street, about a 20-minute walk from campus and, in 1919, in its infancy as a motion picture theater. The Empire had nearly 600 seats on the ground floor, another 360-plus in the balcony. There were also eight box seats — akin to today’s luxury boxes at sports stadiums — with 44 seats. And an upper balcony, known as the “family circle,” offered another 500 seats.

(Side note: Theater owners named the upper balcony “the family circle” to push back against a perception that these cheap seats drew a rough crowd. “Sociologists railed against the cinema in

the early 20th century,” Nero explains. “They saw it as a place of license, where social deviance — for-profit liaisons — could happen because it was dark.” It wasn’t limited just to movies either; as early as the 1860s, Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., had named its upper balcony the “family circle” to address the same stigma.)

The film screened at the Empire over three days in 1919, April 28–30, with matinee and evening shows each day. Admission ranged from 25 to 50 cents, depending on the seat. A big ad in the Lewiston Evening Journal proclaimed, “Still The Greatest Film Ever.” Depending whether or not the film drew a full house, upwards of 5,000 local citizens could have seen the film. The population of Lewiston and Auburn was just under 49,000 at the time. Seated in the Empire Theatre, Mays and his Bates friends would have had good reason to grow uneasy as Flora scrambles to the top of the steep hill to escape Gus. Finally, she is trapped on the precipice with no place to go. Gus draws near.

THE BIRTH OFA NATION WAS ALL ABOUT REINFORCING AND CELEBRATING EVIL: WHITE SUPREMACY AND RACISM AGAINST BLACK AMERICANS.

This undated postcard shows the grand, bygone Empire Theatre on Main Street in Lewiston, where Benjamin Mays and Bates friends saw The Birth of Nation in April 1919.

ROBERT R. BEDARD POSTCARD COLLECTION

And rather than be touched by a Black man, she jumps to her death. (Nero notes that 1992’s version of Last of the Mohicans has a nearly identical scene: Alice jumping to her death rather than being with Magua.)

And that’s when all hell breaks loose, as Mays recalled in the TV interview. Though he misremembers the scene as Flora drowning, his recollection of what he felt is vividly told:

“The reaction [the scene] had for these Maine boys [in the theater] was so violent…when the white woman ran into the water and drowned, instead of having a Black man touch her.” Mays also recalled the incident in his autobiography, Born to Rebel, describing how the scene “evoked violent words and threats from the audience.” He called the movie “vicious, cynical, and completely perverted...[a] vile picture.”

In the TV interview, Mays said that he and his friends “ran to the campus” when the movie ended. “We didn’t know if we would be mobbed or not. We didn’t know if they were chasing us or not. That was the first real experience of how powerful The Birth of a Nation was.”

Nero can picture young Mays and his friends in a state of terror. “It had to be frightening to suddenly recognize, to look around and realize that you are one of a handful of Black people in the cinema. Are people yelling, ‘Oh my God!’? Are people yelling about the N-word? He doesn’t reveal that except to say that violence was instigated. And the violence was so intense that he and the other Black students that he was with felt it necessary to run back to school.”

Nero suggests that we ask ourselves who was in the audience with Mays and his friends that night. Throughout the late 1800s, hundreds of thousands of French Canadians had emigrated to New England, many settling in Lewiston. Between 1910 and 1920, Lewison’s population had grown by 20 percent.

“These people would not have had any direct experience with Blackness,” says Nero. But then along comes The Birth of a Nation, which, during its three-day run in April 1919, would serve to “socialize the understanding of anti-Blackness.”

And by 1920, newer citizens of Maine would see other examples of Blacks being erased from the cultural landscape. The various Civil War monuments in the state exclusively honor Union soldiers (presumably white) such as the one in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park, which says, “Justice demanded the sacrifice. We willingly offered it.”

Just as in the South, the Union monuments don’t reflect or represent Black America. “They represent the white Union soldier and the Union cause.”

The screening of The Birth of a Nation in Lewiston in 1919 would have “socialized the understanding of anti-Blackness” locally just as it did nationally, says Charles Nero, Benjamin Mays Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies.

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THE BIRTH OF A NATION WOULD SERVE “TO SOCIALIZE THE UNDERSTANDING OF ANTI-BLACKNESS.”

In Lewiston, with its large immigrant population, there might have been only a “dim memory of the Civil War,” Nero says. With The Birth of a Nation, “they’re being told that we have this internal enemy in our presence, and it’s the Black. If you were a new American or a new arrival, and you saw this film, you would immediately learn: The enemy is inside of the nation, inside the borders of the country. It’s the Black, and that might be useful if you are an immigrant: ‘It’s not us. It’s them.’”

The Birth of a Nation begins with the Civil War tearing apart America and infamously ends with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the idea that the KKK saved America.

“What a film like The Birth of a Nation does is suggest that in order for reconciliation between North and South to happen, Blacks have to be punished — anti-Blackness is central to this reconciliation. Blacks have to be subordinated, pushed into place. Blacks have to be shown as profoundly” — and here Nero pauses as he chooses the word — “horrible.” n

In 1967, Benjamin Mays, by then a revered elder statesman of the civil rights movement, talks with baseball great Henry Aaron when the Atlanta Braves honored Mays for his efforts on behalf of the United Negro College Fund in Atlanta.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY

814 DAYS

Here’s a timeline of the pandemic at Bates, from shutdown in March 2020 to a long-postponed celebration in June 2022. Getting from there to here involved a lot of reactions and proactions, plus grit and purpose.

THESE DAYS , the pandemic is a bookshelf with one bookend.

At Bates, the first bookend, the moment COVID-19 came calling, is clear: 10:07 a.m. on Friday, March 13, 2020, when President Clayton Spencer’s email arrived around campus, announcing that due to the surging pandemic Bates would immediately suspend in-person classes.

All 1,700 students, except those granted waivers through petition, would need to move off campus in preparation for fully remote learning to begin in 10 days. “My heart goes out to all of our students,” Spencer said. But “we are at a pivotal moment with respect to both the spread of the COVID-19 virus and our ability as a college to take proactive, rather than reactive, steps.”

A lot of Bates teamwork over the spring and summer culminated in a return to campus in August 2020. It was in person, yes, but filled with restrictions: no sports and few club activities; no campus-wide events like Gala or Puddle Jump and no dining in Commons (all takeout); and twice-weekly COVID testing. Students could not visit friends in other residences and could not leave the state without special permission.

The entire academic calendar was overhauled in order to further reduce the movement of students around campus. Students took just two courses at a time, rather than four. To ensure that students kept on pace to graduate, each course met for double the amount of time per week. The effect was that of a fire hose, students trying to drink a semester’s worth of content in a 7.5-week “module.”

Not since World War II, which saw Bates adopt a year-round academic program, suspend athletics, and welcome a contingent of sailors through the V-12 Navy officer training program, has Bates seen such a wholesale disruption of every part of college life.

“In other words,” said Josh McIntosh, vice president for campus life, in an email to students, “social life as you have experienced it on campus in the past is no longer possible.”

Then, after Bates spent a year hunkering down, the 2021–22 academic year got better. (But as John Lennon sang, “Can’t get no worse.”) The opening photograph of this story, taken by Theophil Syslo, shows a masked dancer reaching skyward in a purple-lit Schaeffer Theatre. The image reflects the hybrid year most institutions found themselves grappling with: mostly in person but masked whenever COVID numbers spiked.

Folks were still vigilant and wary. “Mask on, mask off, with an occasional call from a contact tracer,” said Phyllis Graber Jensen, director of photography and video for Bates Communications.

And that second bookend? It’s TBD, but for the sake of this story, we’ve selected one that we like, the long-postponed campus celebration for the Class of 2020 — 814 days after the 2020 shutdown announcement, in a year when Commencement was fully virtual. Sharing their joy was good for the soul, a reminder that things can get better.

Here’s the story that took place between the bookends, from March 13, 2020, through to June 4, 2022.

12:06 p.m. | March 13, 2020

Two hours after President Clayton Spencer’s announcement that students would need to leave campus and complete their studies remotely, a student, with a rough sweep of his hand across his head, expresses the collective worry and uncertainty of the campus community.

The class, which teaches concepts in environmental science, was taught by Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Holly Ewing. As she does before each class, she led her students

in guided meditation, this day a bit longer than usual, given the morning’s announcement.

2:21 p.m. | March 16, 2020

Alex Gailey ’22 an English major from Berkeley, Calif., and Christine Bourdeau ’21, a biology major from Milton, Mass., found a warm, quiet place to hang out together one last time — midfield at Garcelon — before leaving campus to begin remote learning at their respective homes.

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3:34 p.m. | March 16, 2020

Waiting outside Chase Hall to board a bus home, Sultan Hashmi ’23 of Belvedere Tiburon, Calif., tucks a philodendron cutting from his Bates dorm room into his travel organizer. “I couldn’t bear to leave it behind,” he said.

11:17 a.m. | March 25, 2020

Alison Gouveia ’22 (left) of Jenkintown, Pa. composed this image for her “Perceptions and Expression” photography course.

Set in the Gouveia family’s living room, the image shows newspapers with alarming, huge headlines (“Wolf Expands Order to Stay Home”). At right, in front of her brother, Will, is a stockpile of canned goods.

“It was taken when every day brought heaps of a huge, unnerving headlines and information,” she said. The image “expresses common concerns about food availability and mental health during these unprecedented times.”

Gouveia and her classmates in the course taught by Senior Lecturer in Art and Visual Culture Elke Morris could choose to execute their photos in one of two styles, documentary or directorial.

In a directorial approach, the one chosen by Gouveia, the photographer “creates, consciously and intentionally, events to photograph,” explains Morris. As she reviewed her students’ work, she says she was “especially struck by the sense of continuity but also sadness perceived in these images.”

6:13 p.m. | April 5, 2020

Professor of Spanish Baltasar Fra-Molinero (left) and Charles Nero, Benjamin E. Mays 1920 Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, wave from a distance on the Historic Quad as they walk through a mostly empty campus with their dog, Caesar.

3:27 p.m. | April 24, 2020

Maya Seshan ’20 of Wilton, Conn., poses for a photograph next to a window at home. It’s as close as she could come to her favorite spot to study at Bates, at one of the large tables by the windows on the first floor of Ladd Library. “I loved being surrounded by the lightfilled windows and in an open space buzzing with noise.”

The photo was taken via her phone’s FaceTime app. Director of Photography Phyllis Graber Jensen was on the other end of the call, guiding Seshan and her pose. Such were the photographic gymnastics needed to tell student stories during the pandemic.

12:06 p.m. | April 28, 2020

Assistant Vice President for Dining, Conferences, and Campus Events Christine Schwartz hauls a stack of “Bobcat Boxes” to an assembly line of staff who

All 1,700 students, except those granted waivers, would need to move off campus for fully remote learning.

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packed and shipped a selection of pre-Commencement swag to members of the Class of 2020, who would celebrate their Commencement virtually. “With every box, I think of every senior,” said Schwartz.

Many hands made light work. Many hands also helped write the final chapter of the most unusual Commencement in Bates history.

“My job was bubble-packing the diplomas and nestling them into the boxes,” explained Kerry O’Brien, assistant dean of the faculty. “As I wrapped each diploma, I thought about all the energy and imagination and sheer effort that earned it. There’s a long story in each one.”

11:55 a.m. | May 31, 2020

Around the world, Bates seniors showed spirit and creativity as they celebrated their Commencement away from Bates. Kathleen Smith of Piedmont, Calif., and the family dog, Hibby, took a jump into Donner Lake.

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1:37 p.m. | June 2, 2020

Samuel Mironko ’21 of Belmont, Mass., took this photograph of participants in a Black Lives Matter protest gathering in Boston’s Franklin Park in the wake of the May 24 death of George Floyd.

3:24 p.m. | June 16, 2020

A final steel beam wearing its ceremonial evergreen and an American flag is lifted by a crane at the Bonney Science Center site.

Drawing a few dozen people to the construction site, the toppingoff ceremony had an emotional heft out of proportion to the little tree mounted on the girder that would complete the facility’s steel frame. It was the first time most had seen Bates colleagues in person since COVID-19 had descended three months before.

7:00 a.m. | June 30, 2020

“I’m going to talk about chairs now,” says Professor of Politics Stephen Engel as the college’s Fall Planning Team digs into the dizzying details of how to ensure physical spacing in classrooms, which will eventually involve removing hundreds of chairs from classrooms and putting them into storage.

The Fall Planning Team, co-chaired by Vice President for Campus Life Josh McIntosh and Associate Professor of Politics Senem Aslan, kicked into high gear after Spencer’s announcement that Bates would open campus for an in-person academic year in 2020–21.

8:42 a.m. | July 8, 2020

Facility Services custodian Rose Wilson pauses from cleaning Pettengill Hall.

With the campus mostly empty during the summer — no summer programs, no Admission tours, few student researchers — the college’s custodial crew took on different tasks around campus, including working outside with the grounds crew, keeping the campus looking good for the hoped-for return of students.

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3:16 p.m. | July 29, 2020

Politics major Georgia Moses ’21 does arts activities with children at Hillview Family Development, a public housing community in Lewiston.

“Working with kids during a pandemic is a challenge. Many haven’t participated in activities in a structured way since March,” said Moses, whose work was supported by a Harward Center Summer Civic Fellowship.

“That said, they clearly know the importance of keeping themselves and their communities safe and healthy, and they are incredibly eager to put their minds to work and spend time outside around others. They’re itching to do things.”

1:30 p.m. | Aug. 10, 2020

A big moment that helped convince Bates leaders that the college could open its doors comes during a briefing by Dr. Stacey Rizza P’20, infectious disease expert at the Mayo Clinic and consultant to Bates, along

with colleague Dr. Jack O’Horo, during a briefing for all Bates faculty and staff.

She said, “I believe that with the appropriate measures, policies, and procedures in place, including thoughtful screening, it is appropriate and safe to have people come back to campus. We are very impressed with the thoughtfulness, thoroughness, and due diligence that the Bates leadership has put into considering how to reopen the campus.”

8:25 a.m. | Aug. 25, 2020

“Where do I stand?” asks Harris Manganiello ’21 of Collegeville, Pa., first in line outside the Bates Testing Center, a repurposed Underhill Arena, on the first day of student arrivals for the most unusual Bates year ever.

Luckily, that question had been anticipated: spray-painted squares, at the familiar distance of 6 feet apart, told students where to queue up for the first of their twice-weekly COVID-19

tests. “I’m nervous to see how it goes,” he says. “But I suppose in a few minutes, it will be normal.”

11:12 a.m. | Aug. 26, 2020

On the second of three movein days, designed to keep the density of people low, President Spencer greets families and students outside of Parker Hall on Alumni Walk. She is speaking with Dave Griffin, father of Molly Griffin ’24, whose mirror is photographed.

A return to campus, but with restrictions.

7:06 p.m. | Sept. 3, 2020

Throughout 2020–21, Commons was closed to inside dining. Instead, students picked up their food to go and then found someplace to eat, preferably outside. Garcelon Field, seen here on a warm late-summer evening, was a popular dining spot.

2:41 p.m. | Sept. 9, 2020

Snug in her hammock hung from pines next to Lake Andrews, a student creates a daybook like none before: besides academic demands — GRE prep, physics labs, thesis meetings — she adds her twice-weekly COVID-19 testing.

9:36 a.m. | Sept. 29, 2020

Environmental studies major Sam Gilman ’22, at right, of Mendham, N.J., and lab partner Zoe Knauss ’23 of Buffalo, N.Y., dig a hole during fieldwork for the course “Soils.”

During 2020–21, faculty and students could choose to offer or to attend courses in person or remotely. Holly Ewing, the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, said that “Soils” needed to be taught in person. “The course absolute-

ly relies on students being able to see, smell, and feel soils in a variety of landscapes,” she says.

1:53 p.m. | Oct. 1, 2020

Henry Morjikian ’22 of Pelham, N.Y., swabs his nostrils in a curtained testing space at the Bates Testing Center in Underhill Arena. For students and employees, heading to Underhill for a scheduled COVID test quickly became a familiar routine. Here’s how it went:

1. Outside Underhill, blow your nose at one of the eloquently named “snot stations.” (Because snot can mess with the test.) Apply hand sanitizer.

2. Inside, walk onto the iceless arena surface to one of the testing ID stations, staffed by a Bates person taking time from their day job.

3. Show your Bates ID and receive a bar-coded collection tube and a sealed swab.

4. Head to one of the several curtained spaces nearby, reminiscent of a blooddrive setup or even an upscale tattoo parlor.

5. As a medical assistant watches, take the swab out of its packaging, swirl it around in each nostril three times — no brain scraping required! — then seal it back inside its container.

7:03 p.m. | Oct. 2, 2020

Physically distanced, the Discordians hold their Friday evening meeting in Chase Hall’s Little Room. Chem-free and community-oriented, the gaming-and-gathering club hosts everything from Magic tournaments and snow-decorating contests to the campus-wide Humans vs. Zombies game.

12:48 p.m. | Oct. 8, 2020

Outside Page Hall, Junior Advisor Kama Boswell ’23 (right) of Bellevue, Wash., plays a game of Battleship with first-year student Julia Johnson of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Boswell used the game as a way to get to know her first-year students in Page while staying physically distant. With the absence of larger social gatherings during the difficult 2020–21 year, Bates hoped that Boswell and her fellow JAs would be able to create

“comfortable spaces for deeper conversations,” said Molly Newton ’11, associate dean of students for residence life and health education.

4:30 p.m. | Oct. 22, 2020

Asked to physically distance for a portrait, Perla Figuereo ’21 of the Bronx, N.Y., and Lebanos Mengistu ’21 of Somerville, Mass., co-presidents of Bates Student Government, extend their arms to create the required 6 feet, and a note of strength, connection, and community.

3:15

p.m. | Nov. 6, 2020

A mild fall 2020 allowed professors to meet and teach students outside. On a balmy November day on the Historic Quad, Associate Professor of German Jakub Kazecki teaches his course “Margins and Migration,” examining the question “What is German literature?” through the lens of writers who are “difficult to incorporate into a national narrative.”

5:36 p.m.

| Nov. 30, 2020

As the projected Zoom image of guest artist Kendra J. Ross looms like a benevolent Wizard of Oz, Claire Kaminski ’24 of Montclair, N.J., and fellow dancers rehearse Ross’ How the Wind Blows, which explores the energy of Oya, a female warrior deity of African origin. It asks the viewer to ponder “our relationship to death and rebirth during COVID,” said Ross.

To ensure physical distancing, students performed within 10-foot squares in the Plavin Studio. Bags of soil added to each dancer’s square made possible a “more visceral and tactile excavation” of the dance’s themes. In turn, the dancers used their bodies to create “phrases in the dirt to discover what that unearthed,” said Ross, who joined the class remotely from her home in Brooklyn.

“Unlike what a lot of people

think, during a pandemic performance is possible,” said Kaminski. “We just have to completely change the definition of what that means and what it consists of. It’s something we are all proud of.”

2:49 p.m. | Dec. 2, 2020

Muskan Verma ’21 of Shimla, India, poses on Alumni Walk. Like many international students, she hadn’t been able to leave Bates since March. A close family member recently died, and “just the fact that I didn’t even have a choice” to return home — “that hit harder,” she said.

Midday | Dec. 15, 2020

Vahid Rohani, pharmacy director at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, opens the door of an ultracold freezer, one of a few loaned by Bates to St. Mary’s and Central Maine Medical Center, as Bruce Campbell ’76, director of the pharmacy at CMMC, places newly arrived COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer into the unit.

DEC. 15, 2020

Without the ample storage provided by the freezers, the CDC would not have shipped large quantities of vaccines to Lewiston, Campbell said. “This was the moment that we felt like we could get some things under control,” said Campbell. “It was a real-life example of what collaboration can get you.”

8:42 p.m. | Dec. 31, 2020

Artist Charlie Hewitt’s Hopeful sign shines brightly on the side of Bates Mill No. 5 on Main Street, framed by holiday lights on nearby Lincoln Street.

Dec. 15, 2020: COVID-19 vaccine arrives.

Midday

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3:23 p.m. | Jan. 25, 2021

Sherwood Heights Elementary School teachers line up in front of the Auburn school as they receive Ashley Bryan “swag bags,” delivered by Bates Museum of Art education curator Anthony Shostak. The gift bags included Bryan’s Beautiful Blackbird and other education materials about the Maine artist, author, and illustrator, whose work was exhibited at the museum through the year.

5:36 p.m. | Jan. 26, 2021

Six-year-old Ryder Landry poses for a photograph while playing some pond hockey with his family — father Nathan Landry of Lewiston and brothers Tanner and Hunter Landry. Especially in the early months of the pandemic, Lake Andrews was a popular place for local residents to spend some restorative outdoor time.

12:53 p.m. | Feb. 12, 2021

Revisions to the academic calendar included a longer winter break, to avoid having students return during the accurately predicted early-winter surge, and elimination of Short Term.

Here, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jennifer Koviach-Côté and colleague April Hill, Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM, greet and

guide students to a waiting area in Merrill Gymnasium where they await their screening results.

As part of the February return, Bates implemented rapid antigen screening in addition to the twice-weekly PCR tests. While the latter is the gold standard for testing, the former gives faster results, helping Bates to quickly identify active cases of COVID-19.

7:45 a.m. | Feb. 23, 2021

Ten days into the winter semester, Ed Zuis ’24 of Monmouth, Maine, takes a morning jog. He had a bit of cabin fever, “cooped up and wanting to start doing something.” His inaugural jog had some fresh snowfall underfoot.

12:16 p.m. | March 7, 2021

Centering body and mind in the prayer posture, Amelia Keleher ’21 of Brunswick, Maine, joins a yoga session on Lake Andrews in early March. Katia Ryan ’23 of Amsterdam, N.Y., led the morning gathering. “Yoga on ice is quite wacky, which matches the wackiness of this past year,” said Ryan. “I think I’m always looking for new perspectives. You can have the same practice on land, ice, water, and have it be a completely different experience. At Bates we are looking for new ways to connect to the campus we love. Sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective.”

1:33

p.m. | March 21 2021

A masked-up Brianna Gadaleta ’23 of Chappaqua, N.Y., plays defense as the women’s basketball team defeats Colby, 65–57, in Alumni Gym.

It was the team’s first home game since Feb. 15, 2020 — a span of 401 days, but who’s counting — and the second of just two games that the team played in 2020–21. The men played just one, and it was an unofficiated scrimmage.

9:04 a.m. | April 7, 2021

Lauren Nudi ’23 of Wayzata, Minn., and roommate Courtney Tally ’23 of Hanover, N.H., pose at the window of their Nash House residence, where they hung their spirit-raising sign after a surge of COVID cases forced Bates to implement inroom isolation for all students.

2:19 p.m. | April 9, 2021

The in-room isolation lasted 18 days, during which Bates staff stepped up to help meet students’ needs, delivering everything from snacks to tissues. (Students could leave residences to pick up meals at Commons.) Associate Dean of Students for Residence Life and Health Education Molly Newton ’11 uses her scooter to make a delivery.

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6:07 p.m. | May 7, 2021

At Tarbell Pool, swimmer Lauryn Boucree ’21 of Bethesda, Md., celebrates senior day with her “family,” the cardboard-cutout version, that is.

Visitor restrictions in 2020–21 prevented parents and families from attending most student events, including the few sports contests that were held. From afar, families did what they could to support their students, like sending whatever versions of themselves they could to help their senior celebrate the end of their college sports career.

2:40 p.m. | May 25, 2021

Bates mason Ron Tardif smooths the mortar after installing the Class of 2021’s ivy stone, a distinctive entry in the Bates tradition.

The stone features the Bobcat; a pandemic face covering; and a raised fist, the century-old, iconic symbol of resistance and activism made freshly ascendent in the Black Lives Matter movement. For a class that witnessed the country explode in powerful protest after the June 2020 murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, it made great sense to Muskan

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Verma, who designed the stone, for the symbol to be present.

8:07 a.m. | May 27, 2021

Prior to the morning Commencement procession, Stella James Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Paula Schlax displays an action figure for the times: Dr. Anthony Fauci holding the word “Congratulations” (Fauci received an honorary degree from Bates in 1993.)

To reduce density on campus on Commencement Day, the college split the class in half alphabetically and held two identical events, morning and afternoon.

8:01 a.m. | Aug. 17, 2021

The first customer to step into the Bobcat Den after the campus eatery’s 516-day closure was a regular, 97-year-old Ralph Sylvester ’50, who was restarting a routine that had been disrupted by the pandemic, heading to campus for breakfast with Bates friends. Seeing the Den open again was “like seeing a long-lost family member,” said manager David Evans.

5:35 p.m. | Sept. 30, 2021

Emily Dewey ’22 of Wayland, Mass., raises her arms at center

stage during a dress rehearsal of After All/This on Sept. 30, 2021, at Schaeffer Theatre.

Dewey and her fellow dancers of the Bates Dance Company were preparing for a return to the Bates stage after the pandemic shut down in-person arts performances during 2020–21. The piece was choreographed by Assistant Professor of Dance Brian Evans and staged on Back to Bates Family Day, Oct. 2, 2021.

Numbers” as he walked into his Pettengill classroom on Friday, October 29, 2021.

“I love Halloween and major holidays because ultimately they are about social cohesion and coming together to celebrate something bigger than ourselves,” he said. “This year has been hard and I wanted to dress up a bit over the top to give people something to smile about and have fun.”

3:44 p.m. | Nov. 15, 2021

2:19 p.m. | Oct. 29, 2021

Associate Professor of Sociology Mike Rocque had a treat for his students in the course “Thinking Sociologically with

Masks, the fabric of our times. Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read models an outfit for the annual Trashion Show that was tailored by Assistant Dean of the Faculty Kerry O’Brien. Its signature trash: 152 face coverings. Explaining the outfit in fashion-forward vernacular, Read and O’Brien note that “this masked man wears the premiere collection of COVID loungewear from the House of Read–O’Brien — Nous nous masquons donc nous sommes, ‘We mask, therefore we are.’ Light. Breathable. Yet every pore protected. Stitched completely from discarded campus face coverings. Your shame is our fame.”

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2:11 p.m.

| Feb. 11, 2022

Sophomores Nick Gajarski of Dublin, Ohio, Nina Greeley of Scarborough, Maine, and Sofia Hahn of Tuxedo Park, N.Y., leap into Lake Andrews during the annual Puddle Jump. After a year’s hiatus, the Outing Club–sponsored tradition returned, in all its icy glory. It was one of the first large student events since the pandemic’s start nearly two years before.

3:44 p.m. | March 18, 2022

Outside Hathorn Hall, members of the South Asian Student Association celebrate Holi, a festival of colors symbolizing the beginning of spring and the victory of good over evil.

COVID-19 prevented upclose-and-personal campus Holi celebrations in 2020 and 2021, so it was “so special to be able to bring a piece of our culture to Bates and express the love and joy we have in our community and friendships here,” said Sanika Shah ’22 of West Harrison, N.Y., a double major in psychology and rhetoric and SAGA co-president.

3:04 p.m. | April 20, 2022

Taking part in a spring Bates ritual, first-year student Miles Hagedorn of Yarmouth, Maine, helps senior history major Liv Silva of North Billerica, Mass., bind her thesis (titled “Excluded from the Gold Mountain: Anti-Chinese Misogyny and

Racialized Immigration Restriction”) in Ladd Library, each of them giving it a kiss to make it official. The two became friends while working together in the Bates theater production of 35mm

12:26 p.m. | May 29, 2022

Amina Mohamed ’22 (left), a double major in neuroscience and history from Tucson, Ariz., and Sandia Taban ’22, a politics major from Nairobi, Kenya, take a celebratory leap at the top of the steps of Hathorn Hall after Commencement.

Weatherwise, it was an epically beautiful Maine day, giving the Class of 2022 some competition visually. But the seniors rose to the challenge,

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like Taban, unforgettable with vivid orange pants and sky-high black platforms and Mohamed kicking off in eye-catching green sandals.

Who couldn’t look at those orange pants without starting to smile? They represented the purest thing about the day: exuberance. The joy of being together, masks off, hugs and hand holding allowed, all free expression encouraged, accomplishments recognized and a new beginning starting after a picture-perfect farewell to the newest graduates of Bates College.

12:14 p.m. | June 4, 2022

Sukanya Shukla ’20 and her classmates toss their mortar-

boards to the sky as the long-postponed graduation celebration for members of the Class of 2020 concludes on the Historic Quad. Two years ago, on their official Commencement day in 2020, the pandemic meant the ceremony had to be entirely virtual.

But on June 4, 2022, Bates delivered on its promise to bring the class back. The celebration, and the Class of 2022’s Commencement the week before, marked another step toward a return to normalcy.

“This graduation celebration is more reunion than leavetaking,” said Spencer. “It is a time of coming back together, not being torn apart.” n

2022: The longpostponed campus celebration for the Class of 2020—a reminder that things can get better.

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Bestselling children’s book authorillustrator Matt Tavares ’97 makes a creative leap for his newest book, a graphic novel inspired by the true Cinderella story of a girls basketball team in mid-1970s Indiana

PHOTOGRAPHY

STORY BY MARY POLS

BY PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

MATT TAVARES ’97 has been writing and illustrating children’s picture books for more than 25 years. He’s a serious, established artist and author, with the awards and glowing reviews to show for it. Kirkus Reviews has called his illustrations “magisterial.” The Washington Post has raved about how gorgeous his work is. His 2019 picture book Dasher has had multiple appearances on The New York Times bestseller list and, as a seasonal release, is poised for another run at it this winter.

But his latest book, Hoops, nearly seven years in the making, challenged Tavares like no other. Hoops is historical fiction inspired by the true Cinderella story of a high school girls basketball team from Warsaw, Ind., that was formed after the 1972 enactment of Title IX. It’s a graphic novel, a genre Tavares has long admired but never tackled before, and it has, conservatively, 20 times as much artwork as he is used to producing.

Picture books, his usual medium, are typically only 32 pages long, and often, there might be a single drawing or painting that covers two of those pages at a time. Hoops is 224 pages long and as with most graphic novels, often has several frames on a single page. That meant Tavares had to generate a lot of art. “Probably like a thousand pictures,” Tavares says.

There’s nothing boastful in his tone (but with Tavares you get the sense, instantly, that he’s never going to be a boaster). It’s more like a seasoned marathoner telling you about their first 100mile run. You know they prepared for it and they wanted to do it, and yet still, it was grueling. And maybe on some level, even they can’t believe they got through it.

“Definitely there were some days where it felt sort of scary and terrifying that I didn’t know what I was doing,” Tavares says, sitting in his kitchen in the southern Maine town of Ogunquit. It’s a late summer day, and he’s in the final proofreading phase with Candlewick Press, his longtime publisher, for Hoops, which hits bookstores in March 2023, just on the heels of the 50th anniversary of Title IX. “I feel like I’ve been doing picture books for a long time, and I love making picture books, but this was like, this...”

His voice trails off as he ponders how hard the process was but if you filled the space the words might be: Really. Hard.

Thing. “I almost couldn’t believe they were letting me do this,” Tavares says. “Like, I have a family to support, this needs to be good.”

“Two hundred-plus pages of all artwork,” says his friend and fellow children’s book author, Chris Van Dusen (author of picture books like The Circus Ship and Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee). “It is just crazy. But he is passionate about his artwork and this story. I kept saying, ‘You are a better man than I.’”

Tavares didn’t start the project with intentions to make a graphic novel. But he wanted to do justice to an important story, one about gender equality in sports. In 2016, when he first learned about the 1976 Warsaw Tigers, he’d been spending “countless hours” watching his two young daughters, Ava, now in her first year at Bentley College, and Molly, a junior at Wells High School, play basketball. “It was definitely something that felt personal to me,” he says.

He’d discovered the Tigers and their star player, Judi Warren, in the pages of the National Book Award finalist We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History, by Phillip Hoose. In the early 1970s, “most schools had sports programs for boys but very little to offer girls,” Hoose writes in the 2001 book. Basketball-crazy Indiana had its huge statewide high school basketball tournament, made famous by the 1986 movie Hoosiers — but just for boys. It wasn’t until 1975, by coincidence the year Tavares was born, that the impacts of Title IX permeated Indiana to the point where a statewide competition for girls basketball was considered a necessity.

Even then, at Warsaw High, the girls team was hardly a priority. The “Lady Tigers” had neither uniforms nor a bus to take them to games. They practiced at the grade school, at dinner time, and when they asked the boys’ basketball coach for equal access to the gym, he told them they’d have to be able to fill the gym with fans for that to happen. Then they went on to (spoiler alert) win the state championship.

With Hoose’s blessing, Tavares contacted and interviewed Judi Warren, and through her, several of her Tigers teammates. Their stories felt rich, filled with details and a thread of persistence and true love of the sport.

OUT IN MARCH 2023, Matt Tavares’ graphic novel Hoops dramatizes the struggle for gender equality in high school sports.

Tavares’ work in general tends to the historical and biographical, with a speciality in origin stories. In Growing Up Pedro, he told the story of Pedro Martinez’ journey from the Dominican Republic to baseball’s Hall of Fame. In Henry Aaron’s Dream, readers learn about Aaron’s childhood in Alabama, through his time in the Negro Leagues to his

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Major League Baseball debut. He illustrated a book about the vision for and completion of the Statue of Liberty and wrote and illustrated another about the Great Blondin, the 19th-century tightrope walker who crossed Niagara Falls.

Tavares’ first book was Zachary’s Ball, published in 2000. A revised version of his Bates studio art senior thesis, the book became a regional sensation, chosen by the Boston Red Sox for a reading day event and named one of the 100 classic New England children’s books by Yankee magazine. He has written and illustrated nine more of his own books, along with illustrating a dozen more authors. They’re all intimate works, every face and detail lovingly conceived of and executed.

“Matt’s work is great not because of the detail or the research or the compositions that he creates,” says Mo Willems, the author of such treasured children’s series as Knuffle Bunny and Elephant and Piggie. “Those are the things that make him good. What makes Matt great is how true to himself he is in his work. He puts himself into every page.”

By 2018, two years into the project, Tavares realized he needed more pages for Hoops. “The story he had in mind really suited a longer format,” says his friend Ryan T. Higgins, a Maine author who Tavares mentored when he was still at the self-publishing stage (today Higgins is a New York Times bestseller, five volumes into his Mother Bruce series). Higgins and other writers in their friend group encouraged Tavares to try a graphic novel.

Tavares was already seriously intrigued by the genre, especially by the way Ava and Molly were reading them. “Just devouring them, and then reading them again.” In his childhood, the only graphic novels were essentially comic books, and looked upon as some lower form of literature. Now they were widely respected and they could also reach a broader audience, appealing to older and younger kids.

But how to go about it? He read and reread Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. With the word balloons and timestamps and multiple panels per page, he decided he needed to change his artistic approach. “I felt like the art needs to focus more on clarity and just simplicity. Just tell the story and get the information across. As opposed to in my

“WHAT MAKES MATT GREAT IS HOW TRUE TO HIMSELF HE IS IN HIS WORK. HE PUTS HIMSELF INTO EVERY PAGE.”

TAVARES’ STUDIO is tucked behind the family living room in his home in Ogunquit, Maine.

picture book art, where I would try to get into every little detail and make, you know, fully rendered paintings. Logistically, I knew, if I’m ever going to finish this book, I have to figure out a simpler process.” He threw away countless sketches of Judi, his main character, as he pared down the imagery.

“You have to redraw the same character a couple of hundred times, and it’s a matter of figuring out, what do the characters look like? What shape are the faces? What are the eyes? Are they going to be dots? There’s so much personality in those simple lines. To be able to express a full range of emotions with just a few lines is in a lot of ways more powerful.”

Tavares looked at the work of colleagues, like that of Willems, a multiple Caldecott and Emmy winner, and considered how much simple, seemingly quick sketches could convey. They’ve swapped art in the past, and two of Willems’ Elephant and Piggie sketches hang in Tavares’ house in Ogunquit while an original drawing from Tavares’ Lady Liberty hangs at Willems’ house, part of a “who’s who of contemporary illustrators as a reminder for me to do my best and be my most authentic,” Willems says.

“More people might connect with Elephant and Piggie [as they are] than if they were a specific, realistically drawn human character,” Tavares says. “That’s something that kind of took a while to get through my head. Now I look at these little cartoon characters I drew for Hoops and I feel like I get across all the information I would want to get across, but it’s just kind of boiled down to its essence.”

Along with the stylistic change, he was making a digital leap. A few years before, Higgins had given him a high-tech hand-me-down that would turn out to be a vital tool in his creative process, a Wacom drawing tablet. “A number of people had suggested digital artwork to him,” Higgins says. “I think I was the one who was most persistent. I like the idea of Matt trying new things. His traditional art work is so intricate and lifelike. I just know how long that artwork takes him.”

When they first met, about a decade ago, Higgins was selling self-published books out of the back of his car. “It was at a very important time in my life where I needed to see someone who did that job on a very successful level,” he says, joking that he latched onto Tavares. “I drew a lot of inspiration from him. When I had a book that I wanted to present to publishers, he was the one that really helped me navigate that.”

TAVARES FOUND JOY in the graphic novel format of Hoops: He had much more space to develop the characters.

WORKING DIGITALLY on a Wacom tablet lets Tavares do “all these amazing things that I can’t do on a piece of paper.”

So he was more than happy to teach Tavares how to use the Wacom. And working digitally has been revelatory. In his home studio, tucked behind the family’s living room, Tavares pulls up a few pages from Hoops onto the screen to show how the Wacom works (he’s since upgraded from the one Higgins gave him). “I can do all these amazing things that I can’t do on a piece of paper.” Like move faster, and more nimbly. He grabs a copy of 2022’s Twenty One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which he illustrated for author Jeff Gottesfeld. “I drew the soldier on one piece of paper and I drew the background on a different piece. Then I scan them in. If it’s all on one piece of paper, I can’t move the soldier unless I start over.” The Wacom gives him the digital freedom to play around. While tackling this new genre for Hoops, that leeway was essential.

“It was great to see him get into it,” Higgins recalled. “He just sort of lit up and had this fire to him.”

“When I try something new, it’s like my brain awakens,” Tavares says.

Part of Tavares’ joy was the gift of more space to develop the characters in Hoops. While he changed some of the timeline of the Warsaw Tigers story, he used much of what he learned from those conversations with Judi Warren and her two close teammates as inspiration. For instance, their real-life quirky pre-practice habit landed in Hoops. “They would all eat baby food before practice,” Tavares says. “It was like something they could eat that wouldn’t make them feel sick. And it just turned into like this fun, just weird thing that high school kids do, you know?” He cherishes some of the quieter moments he illustrated, as when Cindy, Judi’s best friend, starts dating someone. “And all of a sudden Judi’s alone after school. And I just remember illustrating that scene where I can show her bored and just kind of annoyed. It was so cool to be able to just take that time, to get into those little quiet moments.”

It’s now been 25 years since Tavares had his last formal art instruction, at Bates, where he took “fundamental art classes,” courses in drawing, painting, sculpting, and color theory. After graduation, he moved into self-teaching mode, revising his thesis project, which was black and white, getting feedback from art directors, and, after Candlewick bought Zachary’s Ball, continuing in that vein. “I learned a lot just by doing,” he says. The five Lupine Awards, the Maine Library Association’s highest honor for children’s book authors, hanging on his studio wall are a testament to how well he’s taught himself.

As he goes, he’s working through a short list of professional goals. One was to make The New York Times bestseller list. “Like one week,” Tavares says. “Just get on there.” Dasher, the story of a young reindeer who escapes from a traveling circus with dreams of finding Santa and the North Pole, took him there on multiple weeks, climbing as high as the No. 3 spot on the children’s list. “So that was pretty amazing, just to get that call from my editor.” (A sequel is in the works.)

Another is to win a Caldecott honor (the American Library Association prize for excellence in children’s books). “Like, I don’t want the gold,” he

— MATT TAVARES ’97

says, smiling. “Just at least a silver one. One time.” Higgins says his friend also quietly aspires to have a truly iconic holiday picture book, in a similar vein as The Polar Express. Higgins believes Tavares will get there. “I think Dasher will end up being like The Polar Express,” he says.

Taped to the wall in a corner of Tavares’ studio is a testimonial from another loyal fan. It’s a list created by his daughter Ava when she was a preteen, titled “Top 10 Reasons You Are the Best.” It’s worth noting that four out of the 10 listed are book-related.

You make fabulous books.

You let my family be the first people to see your new books.

You teach me how to draw.

You are the best children’s book author and illustrator. n

“WHEN I TRY SOMETHING NEW, IT’S LIKE MY BRAIN AWAKENS.”

P rop Watch

Here are the creative ways students propped doors on Opening Day, including one with a self-affirming message, which is important: Those doors weigh a lot

BY JAY BURNS

Bates doors aren’t made to be propped, so students have to be inventive on Propped Door Day — err, move-in day, when current students help new students move in.

Opening Day, as it’s called at Bates, is like a state’s taxfree day: You can prop open any campus door without penalty. The rest of the year, a propped door means a fine, up to $400 per incident

(divided among the residents).

The no-penalty rationale for keeping doors open is to create easy passage for all the stuff that first-year students bring to campus. Here’s what we saw on Aug. 31, 2022, as we welcomed the Class of 2026:

1. FIRST CHAIR

This doorstop gets points for multiple uses. Door prop and rest spot for a tired parent.

But see how it lists to the side, as if it knows it’s not supposed to be there and is trying to flee the scene.

2. GETTING HITCHED

No one at Page could say who decided to use this length of knitwear to hold open the door. But given that the knot appears to be a half-hitch, we’re hazarding a guess it’s either a Scout (boy or girl) or a sailor.

3. STONE ALONE

We saw this river stone at Page Hall, decorated with a face and the words, “I love me.” Self-affirmations are important, especially during times of stress. That door weighs a lot.

4. BUCKET BRIGADE

Can’t say we liked seeing this portentous doorstop: It’s a pail of the stuff we’ll be needing soon, salt to melt winter ice. From Maine Salt Co., the blend is called “Paws Applause,” unrelated to the Bates Bobcat but a reference to its pet- and eco-friendly blend of crushed limestone and magnesium chloride.

5. STAGE RIGHT

Propping open an interior door at the 280 College Street residence, this slab of iron was both highly effective and a researcher’s delight. About a foot long and hefty, around 25 pounds, it has notches at either end.

So we asked the project managers at Facility Services. They’ve prowled every corner of the Bates campus in their work overseeing the construction of new buildings and the endless renovations and restorations of older buildings. We expect them to know it all, and they usually do.

“It’s an iron weight from the old theater rigging system in Schaeffer Theatre,” explained Paul Farnsworth. “They were counterweights that could be added and removed as needed to balance the weight of a scenery set hanging above the stage.”

Schaeffer’s rigging system, also known as a fly system, was replaced in 2007. Since then, the weights “traveled on their own across campus,” he says.

6. ADOORABLE

The friendliest door holder: a Bates student, David Nimura ’25 of New York City. In the fine Bates tradition of holding the door for the next person, he’s at Kalperis Hall, home of the College Store, where he is a Junior Advisor.

JAY BURNS

JAY BURNS

PHYLLIS

GRABER

JENSEN

Who, What, Where, When?

Send your Bates news, photos, story ideas, comments, tips, and solutions to magazine@bates.edu.

1933

Passing Through: A Yankee Radical’s Journey is a memoir by Clive “Joe” Knowles, described as “an extraordinary man who fought throughout his life to improve wages and workplace conditions” for U.S. workers.

The book contains several chapters on his years at Bates, and his adventures in labor and during World War II make for fascinating reading. (An appendix features a Bates profile of Joe by Bates Communications Office staffer Phyllis Graber Jensen.) Joe died in 1996, but the book was published last June thanks to the efforts of his son, Jonathan Knowles (Living Dreams Press).

1940

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

1941

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENT Margaret Rand alpegrand@aol.com

1942

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

1943

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

1944

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

1945

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY Carleton Finch cfinch612@gmail.com

1946

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENT/ TREASURER Jane Parsons Norris janenorris@roadrunner.com

1947

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY/ TREASURER Jean Labagh Kiskaddon jean.kiskaddon@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Vesta Starrett Smith vestasmith@charter.net

1948

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

1949

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Carol Jenkinson Johnson rollincarol@comcast.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Bud Horne budhorne@gmail.com

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT Beverly Young Howard

1950

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENT Wes Bonney wbonney@maine.rr.com

1951

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS Bill Dill wmrdill@gmail.com Jean McLeod Dill

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT Wilfred Barbeau whbarbeau@gmail.com

James Vetrano and Ginger Buhl Vetrano ’54 “are still well and enjoying our later years in a nice retirement home in Kennewick, Wash.,” Jim writes.

Brookdale Canyon Lakes is just “a few miles from our oldest son, but the rest of the greatly enlarged family is literally all over the world so we no longer hold ‘all-family’ reunions. Our life in retirement is pretty serene with no big up or down bumps so we do not have much news to report.”

1952

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Marilyn Coffin Brown mcbrown13@verizon.net

CLASS PRESIDENT John Myers johnmyers52@comcast.net

“I am pleased to let classmates know that Ed Swain, Peter Ault, and Gene Harley attended our 70th Reunion,” writes Class Secretary Marilyn Coffin Brown Nate Boone and Harriet Howell Boone found themselves in the Bennington Banner last February as columnist Don Keelan noted that on Vermont’s fifth annual Nathaniel Boone Day, there are many racial-justice success stories to celebrate. He cited Nate’s triumphs against segregation as one of the “Montford Point Marines,” the first African Americans to serve in the Marine Corps. Trained in the 1940s at the segregated Montford Point facility in North Carolina, thousands of black Marines broke the color barrier in a time and place where segregation was the order of the day. “May we all stop for a moment on Nate Boone Day and reflect on all that Nate has had to endure and accomplished during his four-score and 15 years,” Keelan wrote….The Boones welcomed Austin and Zell Wilcox Rich for a visit as they came to Vermont for the Marlboro Music Festival.

1953

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Ginnie LaFauci Toner vatoner207@gmail.com

Dick Coughlin dcoughlin@maine.rr.com

Donald Peck is “getting older and slower!” — but is proud to announce that great-grandson Robert Donohoe arrived in 2021 around Thanksgiving. “He is the center of attention in family life.” He adds, “Illinois is still allowing me to drive at age 92. And I am still crafting and giving lectures on scientific topics to folks here at GreenFields of Geneva,” his retirement community.

1954

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY/ TREASURER Jonas Klein joklein@maine.rr.com

As both she and Jim Vetrano ’51 have been vaccinated and boosted at Brookdale Canyon Lakes in Kennewick, Wash., Ginger Buhl Vetrano was happy to have all the family show up for her 90th birthday, and half of them for Thanksgiving 2021. With the pandemic easing somewhat, she was able to continue with “Christmas decorating, choir, bell choir, and bridge.”...Don Hamilton lives in Portland, Maine, with wife Ginnie LaFauci Toner ’53. A former state Dept. of Transportation bridge designer, Don enjoyed keeping “tabs on the construction of the new Bonney Science Center.” He enthuses about his daughters — a busy nurse at Mass. General Hospital and an honored Maine Guide — and about his two sons, including Eric Hamilton ’86, and their active families. “Looking forward to our 70th Reunion in 2024!”...The ever-active Sumner Kagan has slowed down some since receiving a replacement biological aortic valve and pacemaker five years ago. He does his best to maintain status and is thankful for the years of “unlimited good health I’ve had.” He’s excited about granddaughter Jordana’s degree in theater and some early success in her pursuit of a screen acting career….Jonas Klein reports that his youngest granddaughter has graduated Harvard Law School first in class all three years, and that his three granddaughters collectively “have earned seven academic degrees!”...“I seriously doubt the life of an 89-year-old is that interesting,” says Bruce McIntyre. A typical day was filled with his adopted dog, a daughter’s church fair, making a seafood chowder, checking email, a grandson’s soccer game, reading Tom Clancy, watching the Celtics — and fitting it all in around medical appointments. Bruce suggests that it may be boring, but “life is good.”...At home in a cozy apartment in son David’s woodland home in Sandy Creek, N.Y., Ruth Scammon Sargent keeps busy with her book club and supporting the local art gallery. Now a great-grandma, she enjoys the “company of (vaccinated) friends” and family. The pandemic has limited inperson family reunions, but she looks ahead to visits with her two sons and their growing families. Ruth enjoys hearing Bates news from a nephew in the Class of 2022, and notes that “college friendships (and) memories…will always be treasured. Thanks to all.”...Priscilla Talbot Holmgren

P HYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

is “trying to carry on through a particularly difficult time.” Her husband, Edwin, passed away on New Year’s Eve, 2020, and her daughter, Maurine, succumbed to cancer in August 2021. Priscilla recently organized an exhibit of Edwin’s remarkable book-arts work that was “well-received and a good memorial.” She notes the excellent care she receives in her Kendal on Hudson community in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y….Having left Bluffton, S.C., and now living in a retirement community in Orangeburg with Sandy and two cats, Ted Thoburn praises its “atmosphere of friendliness and helpfulness.” He adds, “we had known we would have to downsize, but had not realized how much. We have a long way to go.”

1955

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENT Beverly Hayne Willsey stonepost@cox.net

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT Merton Ricker mertr33@gmail.com

Nancy Howe Payne continues “to treasure the Boston Bates Alumnae Book Club. It has been a godsend during this time of COVID, when we were able to meet virtually.”

1956

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY

Fred Huber fredna56@comcast.net

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Alice Brooke Gollnick agollnick725@gmail.com Gail Molander Goddard acgpension@gmail.com

1957

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

SECRETARY Peg Leask Olney pegolney@verizon.net

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Judy Kent Patkin jpatkin@gmail.com Dick Pierce rhpierce52@gmail.com

Until her last days, Jean Dickson Narayanan remained connected to the tremendous friends she made at Bates, including Nan Henson Hey and Marion Glennie Olsen Jean passed away peacefully in Kensington, Md., on Sept. 28, 2021, and is survived by her two daughters and sons-in-law, and two grandchildren….Bill Ryall and Edith “loved the June Reunion and greeting former classmates and other friends. Singing in the choir once more was a special highlight.” Writing in July, Bill said the couple and

eight neighbors were looking forward to a September cruise up the St. Lawrence River from Quebec and then down to NYC….Judith Larkin Sherman had “a wonderful time at our 65th Reunion. So nice to see classmates in person and not just on our monthly Zoom meetings. Thanks to the college for making it a special weekend.”

1958

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Marilyn Miller Gildea marilyn@gildea.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Peter Post postp74@gmail.com

Kay Dill Taylor lost husband

Gene Taylor ’56 in early June. “There is an empty place in my life that words cannot describe, but: I am so grateful for the many wonderful years we spent together, starting with his senior year (my sophomore year) at Bates. I am grateful for our times exploring Maine and Spain, and sharing our families and friends on Peaks Island. I am grateful that he got his wish at the end: He wanted to go before I did, and he wanted it to be quick. And I am so grateful for family and friends who are here for me on this beautiful island in Maine and beyond.”…Charlie Dings and Laurie are doing well and still enjoying life in their Cape Cod home. “Various town, village, and church boards have kept us busy. We look forward to international travel in the near future and to our 65th Reunion next year.”…Judy Granz Yennaco and Bob “are doing great! Spending my time either in my perennial flower garden or at grandkids’ baseball games all over the Northeast. We are looking forward to our granddaughter’s wedding at Carnegie Hall in October. Life is good!”…More than three years ago, Fred Greenman and Janet moved from their beautiful old farmhouse in Cornwall, Vt., to Eastview at Middlebury, a retirement community. “Last year we got a 9-week-old English Springer Spaniel. The first six months were a real test of our patience and training abilities, but she is becoming a great companion,” Fred reports. He adds, “We are so lucky that one of our daughters, her husband, and two teenage children live nearby. Vermont was a great choice for our retirement years. I stopped skiing a few years ago and replaced it with long walks around Middlebury. Life is good and our health is as good as can be expected at 86!”…Colleen Jenkins Huckabee helped nurse her daughter Anna through acute neurological effects of long COVID, followed by relaxation at their camp near Bates. “I had

Bearing Down

Smile! is the name of this painting by John Farr ’63, executed with a dabbing technique, which was among a few of his works shown at the Clayton, N.C., town hall last winter. “The bear is based on a photograph I took in the mountains of North Carolina.”

a lovely lunch with classmate Carol Gibson Smith and a visit with Kay Dill Taylor on Peaks Island. My best wishes to all for staying well.”…Alan Kaplan reports that he and Nancy “are doing well. Our retirement community still has its five-star Medicare rating while we, in independent living, have six M’s: Masks are still required for staff, optional for us. Meals are now served in the dining rooms although sans visitors. Mail is mostly recyclable political ads. Movies are now in our theater as well on our in-house TV. We make Merry with various holiday parties and are on the Move with bus trips to various sites in and around D.C.”…Mary Lawlor Dionne has “finally taken the step and sold the home in Augusta that Peter and I bought 57 years ago, and moved to an apartment in Schooner Estates, a senior community in Auburn. We lived in Auburn for three years after we married. I miss my flower gardens and Augusta friends, but I am enjoying meeting new friends and the easygoing lifestyle. And my daughter and her family live here in Auburn.”…Marilyn Miller Gildea reports: “Sciatica limits

my physical activities to short sessions of yard work, but I still help organize neighborhood activities via my computer and the 400-member neighborhood email list. Video chats

supplement family visits.”…Peter Post called to say that he and Jane Anderson Post are both well….Elaine Prentice Flynn and Bill ’59 celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in August.

“We have been living in a CCRC in West Melbourne, Fla., for four years, and it was a good decision. Our daughters, Peri Flynn DiPietro ’80 and Mary Flynn Larson ’85, live in the same town, and that makes quite a difference for us. We are as well as we can expect for our ages. We both had COVID this summer, despite all the shots and boosters! We have no travel plans, though we do miss New England very much. We look forward to pictures and news of our 65th Reunion! Good for us!!”...Barbara Stetson Munkres and Jim “like our new home at a pleasant community where we have the evening meal daily and enjoy amazing offerings of music, activities, reading groups, and classes. We could be busy every minute if we wished to. We are just four

JAY BURNS

miles from our former home in Lexington, Mass., and have met wonderful new friends. Some health issues here, but we are dealing well with them.”...Twenty years into it, Sheldon Sullaway still teaches dental students two days a week at Tufts and loves working with the young students. “It is good for my ego when they ask my opinion. I also play tennis (old-man’s doubles) twice a week. I miss keeping in touch with Dick Simon, my roommate at Bates and Tufts, who died in June. Carol and I are fine and look forward to next year’s Reunion.”…Nancy Wickens is still enjoying life in north-central North Carolina. She serves on the vestry of her local Episcopal church and enjoys frequent get-togethers with her nearby son David’s family. In February she lost her husband of 45 years, Al Taylor. He died following a bout with pneumonia and was buried with military honors in Oklahoma City, his hometown. Al served in the U.S. Air Force 1966–1970.

1959

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARIES

Jack DeGange jack.degange@comcast.net Mary Ann Houston Hermance donmar23@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Anita Kastner Hotchkiss ahotchkiss@goldbergsegalla.com Jerry Davis gmdavis@maine.rr.com

From Jack D, your class agent and co-secretary: “Congratulations, 59ers! We hit an all-time class best of 84 percent (our goal was 80 percent) in giving participation to the 2022 Bates Fund. We’ve ranged from 72–79 percent for the past four years. This makes us No. 4 in the top five among all classes in giving percentage. Our Bates Fund dollar total of $41,069 was also 84 percent of our target. Keep up the great work!”...Alan Coykendall reports that for him and Betty Drum Coykendall, “there haven’t been many changes, which at our age is probably good!” They did suffer mild COVID-19 cases in May. “I am still in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine trial, so had to report symptoms and take a test,” Alan explains. The trial, locally operated by Yale New Haven Hospital, has been interesting: “I volunteered to see how it worked, and maybe to get vaccinated. Alas, I was in the placebo group, which I suspected based on my lack of reaction. It was all very organized and careful, and many pages of consent forms!” Once the vaccine was approved, he was given the real thing and a booster. Meanwhile, Betty is still golfing and working on the history of Farmington, Conn. Alan sails, and a couple of times a week drives

his BMW 435i at the Lime Rock Park race course. He’s a B-level student — “upper intermediate,” i.e., “pretty fast and smooth and consistent,” he says — in the High Performance Driver Education program....Barb Farnham Grant reports from her retirement community in Southbury, Conn.: “Here in Heritage Village, it’s low-key and enjoyable to gather with neighbors for chats, walks, and swims. There are about 100 clubs so no lack of things to do. My son, Andy, and I enjoy our patio and small garden but weeding is a challenge — they don’t slow down. Betty Reid Rickey and I have good times together and I keep in touch with John Darrow in the Mile High City. Reading, letter-writing and, in season, avoiding bears, coyotes, and foxes, but welcoming deer. And birds galore!”...Chris Miller has “a new avocation: creating crossword puzzles. It’s less strain on the bones but don’t look for me (yet) in The New York Times.” He moved into Keystone Place, a senior living community in Danbury, Conn., in 2020 and calls it “one of the best decisions I ever made, outside of marrying Betty Cook Miller. She would have approved. My move was less than three miles so my network of friends and doctors is intact.” He has swapped golf and pickleball for swimming and fitness classes and, after 25 years, “I’ve given up involvement with the Danbury Westerners of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.”... Robert Stanton was looking forward to the autumn 2022 publication of his book Banquet of the Arts: Essays on Art and Ideas

1960

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY Louise Hjelm Davidson lchdavidson011@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Pete Skelley dskelley@satx.rr.com

Nan Harrington Walsh enjoyed catching up with classmates Jane Braman Allen, Lil Sharp Hoag, and Judie Roberts Williams at lunch in June at Providence Place. She also met with Lin Giraldi Hurley and Judie in Humarock, Mass., in late July. Writing during the summer, she noted that “we are hoping to get together with the larger ‘lunch bunch’ in early October.”

Doug Ayer is still guest-lecturing and counseling at the Virginia Military Institute. He retired two years ago following a 28-year “second career” teaching in the Department of International Studies and Political Science at VMI….Sally Benson and husband Steve Nichols met in 1967 as volunteer teachers in Vietnam. “For 20 years our family has managed a small Asiafocused foundation supporting post-conflict reconciliation, Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance removal, culture, environment, and education projects including the Mekong River Dam Monitor,” she writes. Steve and daughter Lauren A. B. Nichols ’00 attended Lower Mekong Network meetings in Thailand in November. The meetings examined Mekong dams’ effects on communities downstream….Alan Cate and Mae spent two months of early summer driving and flying between their home in Florida, Canada — the Canada round trip totaled 8,000 miles behind the wheel — and Connecticut. These adventures started with a visit to New Jersey to see twin granddaughters and their brother, whose high school rowing team Alan and Mae saw in action (rowing is one of the Bates attractions Alan has mentioned to the grandson, but Mae is parrying with talk of the Univ. of Connecticut). Then off to friendly Québec province, which may become their annual summer getaway. Next, the death of a friend in Connecticut drew them there in a hurry. “Good people came together, and after the funeral, with lots of laughing, tried to move beyond the death and chart our courses into the future,” Alan writes. Back at home, he has stepped up his fitness routine, shaken off the pandemic blues, and, notably, decided to complete the airplane he’s been building instead of selling it. “I do love the camaraderie of fellow airplane builders at the airport,” he says, “and the mental gymnastics of figuring out certain tasks in the building process.” Finally, Alan extends his thanks to classmates who showed their generosity in the recent Bates Fund cycle. “In this current world of turmoil and hatefulness, Bates is a unique culture, and one that we need to support whenever possible,” he says….Mary Morton Cowan and Carl Cowan are enjoying their home at Cumberland Crossing in Maine. “Carl is singing again!” Mary reports, adding that he performed a solo in May during a chorus concert at OceanView at Falmouth. For her part, Mary held a book signing at the College Store during Reunion weekend and, as she often does, attended the Alumni Memorial Service, placing flowers on the altar screen in memory of deceased classmates, and later mailing

worship programs to their families….Jerry and Gretchen Shorter Davis were looking forward to autumn travels, including a November trip to Clearwater, Fla., for a Dixieland jazz festival….Emily Dore Fletcher reports from Fryeburg, Maine, that she and Peter “are both very well and continue our farm life, which is full and seemingly endless. I am always saddened by the deaths of those I knew well, but that is life at this age. Carol Sisson Vose and I have remained dear friends and I am deeply grateful for that. Our five grown children are also well, and our three grandchildren are now grown and pursuing their own lives. Bates College was a gift to me and remains one always.”...

Sara Kinsel Hayes reflects that “we survived the 1980s and all the other decades since the 1960s, but now we are actually in our own 80s, a new challenge. Daughter Kathy and I are active in the local P.E.O. and D.A.R. chapters, and delving deeper into our genealogy. I keep busy too on the board of the Belfast (Maine) Historical Society as the treasurer, not always a fun assignment.” Arthur ’60 is experiencing health issues that are keeping them close to home, but “Kathy and I enjoyed lunch dates with Gretchen Shorter Davis and Beverly Graffam Ketchum and their daughters and are looking forward to more outings with them.”...

Babs Oldach Larson noted in August that COVID-19 had forced the cancellation of two cruises she and Victor were planning, but there was still hope on the horizon. “We are scheduled for a cruise from Boston to Montreal in September. One of our ports is Bar Harbor, so at least we will set foot in Maine. Looking forward to our 65th Reunion in 2026.”...

Nadine Parker sends greetings from New Hampshire, along with news: “I’m finally retiring, after 40 years, from my sales position. It’s been fun and has been good to me. I will miss it, but it will enable me to put more time into my violin and other things. I’m rejoining the Nashua Chamber Orchestra after a long COVID break.” She says, “I’m looking forward to a 65th high school reunion in the fall. Nothing like old friends. Hopefully we will be able to have an in-person Reunion for our Bates 65th.” Her family is well, she adds. “Good health to all and stay in touch.”...

Jack Simmons and Margo have sold their Florida condominium, he writes, and “are content to enjoy our home in Maine.

Happily, we are reasonably well and actively involved with family and charitable endeavors.”...

Dick Van Bree is happy to report that he and Gisela “have been retired in Las Vegas for five years. Recently we traveled to the Sedona area of Arizona to relax. There are many B&B’s

available in Sedona so we stayed in one for several days.” During their trip, they visited Meredith Bragdon Glover in Camp Verde, Ariz. “Meredith related to us that when Dick Glover was alive he would fly his Piper Cub to the Sedona airport for breakfast virtually every morning. Anyone with a desire to visit one of the most beautiful scenic areas in the U.S., visit Sedona.”...Dick Watkins took part in grandson Adam’s graduation from the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School, in Newport, R.I., and his commissioning. “His dad, John, swore him in,” Dick reports, “and I swore two of his classmates in.” Later, guest speaker Rear Adm. Brendan McLane recognized the Navy’s three-generation Watkins family: Rear Adm. John, Ensign Adam, “and this retired captain. A very special time back in New England.”

1962

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Cindy Kalber Nordstrom cindyknordstrom@gmail.com

CLASS VICE SECRETARY Lyn Nelson lynnelson10@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Ed Wilson wilsonjean2@gmail.com

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT David Boone doboone@peoplepc.com

CLASS HISTORIAN Jan Moreshead janmoreshead@myfairpoint.net

1963

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Natalie Hosford nataliemoir@netflash.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Bill Holt wholt@maine.rr.com

CLASS HISTORIAN Dottie Stone dottie@stone-stonect.com

“For the past two years, Jane and I have, it seems, been on a carousel living a Groundhog Day life,” Peter Aransky writes from Chestnut Hill, Mass., referring to the Bill Murray film in which a character keeps repeating a single day of his life. “Fortunately, we are both relatively well and still have a thirst for adventure, with plenty of air miles to use. I have been pretty much retired for the past six or seven years but Jane refuses to give up her part-time esthetics practice — and that’s fine with me because I enjoy the role of ‘kept man.’”...

From Peter Bagley: “Elaine and I are still in Bernardston, Mass., with kids and grandkids nearby. COVID did not slow us down, only gave us more time for other

activities. Winter and spring remain dedicated to skiing. House remodeling followed by a utility-vehicle rebuild added fun to summer. A multi-year renovation of a family house in the Belfast area kept me in Maine quite a bit. I can’t guess how many times I passed the Lewiston exit! Remaining on my bucket list is skiing Sugarbush with Peter Koch. My vehicle never goes in that direction. Maybe this year or next!”...Tom Cameron reports that “all is fine here in western North Carolina. Kids, spouses, and grandsons are all near Janet and me. Happy and healthy. My 2001–2004 stint as an unpaid apprentice in a Jamaica Plain (Boston) pastry shop turned out to be a perfect vehicle for my ongoing need to show off — I keep family and neighbors supplied with bread, scones, English muffins, pita, macaroons, etc. ‘You’re the man, Papa.’”...Jim Curtis is “still singing barbershop with three other really old men! Betsy and I enjoyed a 2022 New Year’s weekend visit with George and Dottie Selden Stone at the lovely home of Debbie Peterson Mawhinney and Alan Marasco in Rye, N.Y. It was refreshing to lay aside the worries of the pandemic and the abysmal political landscape. On the bright side, I still enjoy skiing (now free!), golf, and touring with our fifth-wheel camper.”...On a very hot July 21, at the Stonington (Conn.) Country Club, a golfing John Curtiss shot his age — 82. “Hot!!” he writes. He and Sue are doing well by the water in Groton Long Point….Thom Freeman sent March greetings from Fort Myers, Fla. “It is in the 80s today. We retired here 13 years ago for six months of the year. No more snow and freezing weather. Claire and I have made many friends from all over the country at our club here. I very much enjoy emailing with many Bates alums — Howie Vandersea, Al Marden, John Curtiss, John Lanza ’67, Jim Callahan ’65, and many others that make our discussions challenging. I miss my two roommates, Monty Woolson and Web Harrison, as well as Paul Castolene and the annual golf outing that we had at Ed Rucci’s home in Westerly, R.I., for many years.”...Here’s Bill Holt: “A class letter? Well, sure, even if all I can report is pretty routine and old hat. But maybe that’s the first thing to be celebrated: still being here!” At 81, “I am happy to find I am healthy and doing just fine. Jean Cushman Holt ’62 is, also, and is anticipating her 60th Reunion.” Growing and vinifying grapes remains a focus that, he says, provides him “10–20 hours of activity year round. I keep my license alive and sell a fair amount of wine locally. I am happily still treasurer of both our church and the Ocean Park Assn., work out daily, and am learning

to enjoy reading.” He adds, “Jean and I hosted nearly our entire family for Thanksgiving 2021, complete with nine grandchildren.”...David Hosford and Natalie Shober Hosford are living happily ever after in the southwestern Berkshires. “In celebration of our 80th birthdays last year, we gave away the 1922 Esty reed organ that I had been lugging around for decades,” David writes. “We then bought a gently used electronic Allen organ — two manuals, full pedalboard, and enough stops to entertain and mystify us for the rest of our lives. We both play and it’s a ton of fun! Sometimes the house actually sounds like church.” He adds that he explores local history of the 18th and 19th centuries (and had an article about campus architecture at Williams and Amherst colleges published in the journal Nineteenth Century). “Like all of you, we have spent the past two years living quietly, surrounded by solitude and wearing masks when we go out. Natalie has never complained about having even more time to cook.”...Peter Koch maintains an agreeable schedule. “I am continuing to ski in Vermont during January, February, and March, and then rejoining Debbie in Hilton Head for April, May, and June,” at which time it’s back to Waitsfield, Vt., for the summer. “I decided not to instruct any longer as I only have limited days to ski. I enjoy riding my bike and golfing in flat South Carolina! Looking forward to our 60th Reunion!”...Carol Long Steele and Paul Steele ’62 are “still chugging on together.” They celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary in June and Carol’s 80th birthday in May. “To combat COVID isolation and the political insanity of these last two years, we have fallen back to our old hobbies,” she reports. For Paul, those include tennis, gardening, cooking, and selecting books from the library in Concord, Mass. Carol still plays cello with the Concord Orchestra, but is probably done making new pottery, what with heavy bags of clay and buckets of glazes. “The craziest activity that I discovered this last autumn is pickleball!” she adds. “It’s a great way to exercise, meet people, laugh and shout a lot.” Their daughter Vanessa is a piano teacher in Houston, married to a professional trumpet player; their daughter is a high school senior. Son Mark and his wife are in real estate in Boulder, Colo., and also have a daughter in high school. “Needless to say, we spend a lot of time planning trips and traveling across the country.”...Priscilla Ormsby purchased a condo way Down East in Cutler, taking residence in early December. She enjoys the “view of the Atlantic Ocean from my front window, and no maintenance.” Writing in March,

she hadn’t gotten out much to get acquainted with neighbors or the area because of COVID, but was looking forward to getting more involved in the community. In the meantime, she was enjoying the lovely location….“Thank goodness,” writes Judith Outten Badavas, “for FaceTime with children and grandchildren, my dog, kind neighbors, and pottery. These keep me functioning as a reasonably sane, happy person.”...“All in all, lots of Bates connections,” notes Sandra Parker Workman-Nicolazzi, who lives in Durham, N.H., at a continuing-care retirement community called RiverWoods. “Judy Graham Boedecker lives down the hall. Marnie Webb Snow and her husband Ken Snow ’62 live at one of our other locations, RiverWoods Manchester. Sylvia Woodaman Pollock lives nearby in Kittery, Maine, and joins Judy and me for lunch often. This past fall Pat Minalga Walbam visited us” from Westerly, R.I. “The pandemic was a challenge but it was very well-managed here and we felt quite safe. I participate in many activities including chorus and writing for the newsletter.”... Extensive travels during 2021 for Butch Sampson and Martha included a trip out West that gave Butch the opportunity to celebrate the 50th reunion of his submarine crew in Bremerton, Wash. “After that, we flew to South Africa where we toured the Kruger National Park and saw just about every kind of bird and animal that lives there. What a treat! Moments of excitement occurred when I found a yellow scorpion in my underwear drawer and only a day later a puff adder was right by the car.” They also saw Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope, “the most beautiful town, Stellenbosch,” and Johannesburg, including Nelson Mandela’s prison cell, his home, and Soweto. Butch adds, “Of course, an annual highlight was the return to Vinalhaven at Skip Butler and Judy Mosman Butler’s marvelous place atop a mountain and surrounded by the Maine sea.”...In celebration of his 80th year, Doug Smith hiked 192 miles of the Coast to Coast Walk across northern Britain from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. “The hike took in two mountainous national parks, the scenic Lake District, and the desolate moors and meadows of western Britain, all completed in 17 days. They call it slackpacking — overnighting in B&B’s, hiking only with a daypack, with luggage forwarded each day.”...

CJ Snow writes from Lexington, Mass.: “In these few challenging years, I live at my summer home in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, for five months and return to Lexington for winter and spring. In Maine I am close to family and grammar school classmates. I walk the beach with them and make them dinner. Carol Long

Steele and Paul Steele ’62 visited us overnight in Maine last summer on their way to their family in Mount Desert.” She adds, “The high point of summer is my two-week vacation in Old Orchard with my three children, including Andrea Snow ’90 and Rachel Snow Kindseth ’93, and my six grandchildren. That has been an annual family ritual since my children were young, as I have owned the summerhouse for almost 50 years. It’s all about family and we cherish our time together.”...Dan Ustick enjoys the rural environment of Jamestown Island in Narragansett Bay. “Pattie and I have swapped going out for neighborhood walking and evenings watching Netflix, Hulu, etc., and sports on a new TV that is smarter than I am.” He swims two or three times per week, is hooked on Wordle, and as a Vietnam veteran is involved with Veterans Affairs programs and VFW and American Legion activities. He sends wishes for health, contentment, peace, and political sanity….Howie Vandersea reports that he and Sara Jean have been hunkered down in Brunswick, Maine, for two years: “no trips South, limited family gatherings, few sporting events, and no access to local colleges. Thankful for email to stay in touch with classmates Al Marden and Thom Freeman, and many other Bates friends. Netflix, cable TV, and books can only go so far.” He adds, “My biggest concern today is the lack of trust in science, and the promotion of false information and outright lies. What has happened to honesty, ethics, and good will toward your fellow man? I do believe the good guys will win, but it will not be easy. In the post-80 years — we are all there — I do miss Paul Castolene, Web Harrison, Monty Woolson, and my four-year roommate, Ed Rucci I was fortunate, thanks to Bates, to have lifelong friends such as this quartet.”...Arlene Wignall Nickerson and Nick “are happy residing in one of Scarborough, Maine’s newest developments, The Downs” (former site of the famed Scarborough Downs horse track). “We enjoy the neighborhood and the nearby ocean beaches. We spend as much time as possible in the company of our two daughters and five delightful grandchildren, four of whom are college age.”

Writing in March, Arlene was looking forward to two months on Florida’s West Coast….Here’s an update from Lou Winkler, whom we haven’t heard from in a while: “I closed my orthopedic practice in 2007. Dawn had retired from teaching in 2005. With our family scattered from Massachusetts to Boise, Idaho, we decided that western Colorado was where we would stay. I spent 2007–2008 helping our younger son build our

retirement home about a mile from where we raised our family, and it turned out to be all that we had hoped and more.” In their small community, COVID hasn’t been terribly disruptive, although the pandemic did cause Dawn to give up volunteering at a local assisted living facility. “I have continued to do some medical volunteering and still staff a weekly free pediatric orthopedic clinic for children....Our travels are not very romantic, but they suit us just fine.” In addition to Boise visits, the Winklers get to New England twice a year, each time including two weeks in Cushing, Maine. “Our challenges in 2021 have been mostly medical but not COVID-related, and we have both made good recoveries.”...Eugenia Wise Hathaway sends her “best wishes to all from Southern California. I’m still doing most of the things I love: gentle tennis, easy hikes and bike rides, leisurely and comfortable car camping. Still not ready to move out of my home of 45 years and into senior living where there’s no way to grow tomatoes and squash in summer, beet greens and arugula in winter, and lemons and roses all year.”... Kenneth Woodbury reports that, “having finally retired from teaching, I spent some time completing biographies of the ancestors of my father, maternal grandfather, and paternal grandmother. All of them emigrated to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire respectively in the early 1630s. I also donated a musket to the Windham Historical Society used by Stephen Manchester in 1756 to guard the settlers as they tended their gardens outside the fort in Windham, Maine. Otherwise, I am enjoying the constant sunshine of Yuma, Ariz., and doing some traveling in the West.”

1964

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY John Meyn jemkpmeyn@aol.com

CLASS ASSISTANT SECRETARY Rhoda Morrill Silverberg rhodaeric@att.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Gretchen Ziegler gretchenz958@gmail.com

CLASS VICE PRESIDENTS Joan and Dick Andren dixmont258@gmail.com

CLASS HISTORIAN Dot Harris dotharriswi@gmail.com

Marion Day Czaja and her twin, Nancy Day Walker, enjoyed several days in the cool North Carolina mountains during the summer. They “toured several gardens, hiked around Lake

Junaluska, and took a boat ride to learn about some of the history of the lake. Wonderful break from the heat!”

1965

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY Evie Horton ehhorton@me.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Joyce Mantyla joycemantyla@gmail.com

CLASS VICE PRESIDENTS

Newt Clark newtonclark@comcast.net

Peter Heyel JPTraveler@gmail.com

“Mia famiglia is all doing well,” writes Sam Aloisi. “We were medically unscathed by the pandemic. But I’m dealing with increased neuropathy that’s causing walking issues. The grandkids are all in double digits now, as the youngest turned 10 and the oldest hit 25 soon after. Most notable is my grandson’s work in the Coast Guard: While still an ensign (promoted to lieutenant junior grade last November) he was elevated to operations officer on his cutter, which has made successful interdictions of both drugs and human trafficking. Go Coasties!”...

Karen Brown Johnson has made Damariscotta, Maine, her primary residence after having spent more than a year and a half in the state (although she’s still maintaining her condo in Silver Spring, Md.). “My car is registered here, I am a registered voter here, and my driver’s license is a Maine license. Transition at any stage of life takes serious discernment. At this stage it is one step at a time, steps of paying attention, noticing, listening, pondering, wondering, and more. Whew!”…Summer 2022 resurrected international travel for Newt Clark and Patricia Lord Clark ’67 and family. Their group of 10 enjoyed a week in Paris followed by a week on the Caledonian Canal barge Fingal of Caledonia, crossing Scotland from Fort William to Inverness. However, Newt reports, “COVID took revenge as three of our party tested positive during our trip, even though we were all masked at all times except while eating. So much for revenge travel.”...

Nancy Marshall Kohler has “landed back in Maryland where Bob and I lived for the first two years of our marriage. This time I am in Asbury Methodist Village, a retirement community. It was the right move for me since two of my brothers and three of my nieces live in the area. I’ve made some good new friends and am keeping busy, so I’m happy.”...Peter Reich joined his niece, Renata Reich Moise, in Maine during July for a presentation about his father and Renata’s grandfather, Dr.

The Years Melt Away

This photo illustration underscores the 50 year-friendship between Bates classmates Bill Jeter ’76 and Michael Edwards ’76.

The vintage photo is from the 1975 Bates Mirror, explains Jeter, showing the friends after a Bates football game. “We were among a group of African American students at Bates in the 1970s, all from New Jersey, including our friend, the late John Jenkins ’74.”

The current photo was taken when Edwards, who was traveling across America in his RV, stopped to see Jeter in Minneapolis, where he maintains a studio art practice. “We told stories and tales, went to a reggae festival, camped, danced, and saw sights, all with family and friends.”

Edwards is retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, and Jeter taught art in a Minnesota public school to gifted students for 23 years. He’s now a resident artist at Homewood Studios, a gallery, studio for artists, and meeting space in North Minneapolis.

Wilhelm Reich, the controversial psychoanalyst and sexuality theorist. The pair spoke at the public library in Rangeley, the town where Wilhelm established his residence and research center Orgonon in the 1940s. Peter recalled his own childhood and discussed formative events in his father’s life, and Renata spoke about positive developments at the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust and her outlook for the Wilhelm Reich Museum. Peter lives in Massachusetts and served as a faculty and staff member at Boston Univ. until retiring in 2009…Susan Smith Davis reports from Kingfield, Maine, that she’s “now on my third post-retirement job, exercising

my English degree pretty directly — I’ve been writing press releases and newsletters nearly all my life. But now I’m writing for the local papers, covering planning board and select board meetings, etc., and the occasional human interest story. What an education in local politics — isn’t all politics local?! In fact, I helped out Peter d’Errico and Peter Reich on the Bates newspaper, so maybe this is coming full circle?” She adds, “Living in the red half of Maine is quite the social, emotional, and intellectual challenge.” She’s still driving steam cars as a volunteer at the Stanley Museum, which she founded in 1981 and ran for 25 years. “And hiking and walking as often as possible.”

1966

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENT Alex Wood awwood@mit.edu

Richard Derby offers what may be his first-ever submission to Notes (explaining that “our class has always been relatively mute compared to others. We were, and probably still are, an odd bunch.”): He spent 27 years teaching second and third grade military dependents at Hanscom Air Force Base — “a wonderful job.” During a seven-year hiatus, he earned an electrician license, practiced that trade, and returned

Long involved in aquaculture on the Damariscotta River in midcoast Maine, Eric Peters ’87 is now harbormaster for the town of Newcastle, making sure things go smoothly in the harbor and that everyone, from tourists to oyster farmers, are following rules and regulations.

“Not that I wanted more work, but I figured it would be an easy fit,” Peters tells Evan Houk of The Lincoln County News.

A leader in the area’s aquaculture industry, Peters is the owner of Norumbega Oyster Co. with his wife, Kellie. Their oysters are shipped around the country — a recent Facebook shoutout came from a New Orleans eatery, Sidecar Patio & Oyster Bar. The drive to innovate continues to draw Peters to aquaculture, such as innovations in the placement of cages for growing the shellfish on the river bottom and near the surface. And he loves his workplace. “I always loved water, loved boats, going to the ocean whenever I could,” he says.

to Hanscom, whence he retired in 2006. He and Karen Walker married in 1976 and live in Needham, Mass. Their daughter, Anna, taught in the Peace Corps in Africa, now teaches at Bard College, and lives in New Orleans with her husband and sons. In retirement, Richard has taught English-language learners, driven seniors to medical appointments as part of a Community Council program, and taught modular origami in an adult-ed program. He and Karen contracted COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, and her case led to Guillain-Barré syndrome, which required months of recovery and left them both deeply changed. By and large, though, “we’ve had busy, interesting lives, with travel, sustained new and old friendships, and, like most of us, a lot of learning with the passing years. It’s been wonderful to see how Bates has grown and changed. I knew something special was happening years ago when they appointed a female athletic director, and have truly enjoyed my few returns to Bates. Its programs and student body are a far cry from our years, no?” (Suzanne Coffey served as director of athletics and chair of the physical education department 1991–2006. — Editor)....Suzanne “Chris” Falk Fonoti has started a job in Prescott, Ariz., that she’s excited about. “As a paraprofessional at the Yavapai County Juvenile Detention Center, I will be helping adjudicated students on parental release as they complete needed credits online at the locked facility. I subbed there several times last year and enjoyed working with the students. I have always gravitated toward disenfranchised youth.” Kel House reports that he “got Art Valliere out for a sail in September ’21 and connected” with Bob Houlihan and Sue “in Camden when we got back from Greece last July.” He adds that his business, a sustainableconstruction firm based in Brooksville, Maine, and called House & Sun, has had its “busiest year ever in more than 45 years. Still playin’ the game hard.”... Peter Mendall has a request: “Please check out the website for the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine. I’m on the board of directors and would love to share my passion for its work when you are in the area. (Or virtually tour it on Zoom with you!)” Peter and Nina Jewell Mendall ’65 have had an eventful 2021, driving to California and back early in the year and celebrating their 58th anniversary in August. Farming the historic Fisher family farm, established in Bowdoinham in the 1840s by Nina’s greatgreat-grandfather, “is a hoot,” says Peter. “We delight in our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandson.”...John

Wingate Seavey gives public presentations about his family’s history, notably, great-greatgreat-grandfather Paine Wingate. Wingate was a New Hampshire state representative, a delegate to the Continental Congress and an advocate for ratification of the U.S. Constitution, and served in the U.S. House and Senate and on New Hampshire’s Supreme Court. John is professor emeritus of health management and policy at the Univ. of New Hampshire and was the founding director of the UNH graduate program in public health….Carol Stone Haberland was “so disappointed to miss our Sturbridge reunion in April, but was grateful to see all the pictures of so many classmates. Looking forward to next year’s event and eventually our return to campus.”

1967

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS Keith Harvie kcharvie12@gmail.com Pam Johnson Reynolds preynolds221@gmail.com

Tim Hall reports that he, Bryan Carlson, Kevin Murphy, and Dick Reynolds “gallantly represented the Class of ’67 again in the Bates Football Golf Outing at Wentworth by the Sea. We were unable to secure the victory this year, but we will try again next year.”

1968

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Rick Melpignano rickmel713@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Nancy Hohmann nhohmann@yahoo.com

Jane Hippe Reilly traveled from Middlebury, Vt., to Oregon with daughters Jen Reilly Lukela and Jo Reilly Soja ’98, and their families, for a niece’s wedding in Bend. The trip also took in the coast, and Willamette Valley for wine tasting. “I had an enjoyable 75th birthday adventure and celebration of retirement from ChildCare Services,” Jane adds. “I also attended the wonderful memorial for George Wigton on campus in June and visited the new Bonney Science Center and the renovated Peter J. Gomes Chapel.”...Susan Miller Long shares news of The Bates 8: “A wonderful gathering of the clan was held in New Hampshire celebrating the long friendship of Beth Krause Reid, Linda Russell Findlay, Susan Long, Nancy Harris Riley, Barbara Burnham Leary, and Kathy Simmons Schultz. Loving memories of the two classmates they have lost, Norinne Abbott Williams and Jill Howroyd Lawler, were shared. The rest

and change are thriving in aquaculture

class of 1987 takeaway: Eric Peters

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

of the clan is still chugging along.”...Toby Tighe is healthy and active, still in Baltimore, and on the faculty of Towson Univ., teaching healthcare management to undergraduates. With the welcome arrival of Thatcher, Toby and Lina now have nine grandchildren. Toby talks occasionally with Scott Taylor and John Donovan, and says that it’s been a pleasure to be part of their lives all these years. He and Lina hope to return to New Zealand this winter if they can avoid COVID.

1969

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Deborah Bliss Behler debbehler@aol.com

CLASS PRESIDENT George Peters geo47peters@gmail.com

Greg DeLisle retired in June as director of outreach services at Willie Ross School for the Deaf, in Longmeadow, Mass., after 41 years. Previously he worked at the Clarke School for Hearing and Speech and the Beverly School for the Deaf…. Colin Fuller reconnected with Peter Slovenski, son of Bates track coach Walt Slovenski, at the Palisades Tahoe ski area early in 2022. While at Bates, Colin would often go to winter indoor track practice late in the day after chemistry or biology labs. Peter, then in junior high school, would also be there, practicing the pole vault. They had many long and interesting discussions. Peter went on to a successful career in the pole vault at Princeton and subsequently served as head men’s and women’s track coach at Bowdoin for 34 years. Colin and Peter continued their discussions on the ski hill last winter. “For a guy from Maine, Peter is a decent skier,” says Colin, who lives near Reno in Sparks, Nev. During Peter’s visit, Colin, his wife Robin, and Peter had dinner with Bob and Allison Murray Thomas. “Bob was captain of the Bates track team.”...David King retired in January 2022 after practicing law in Bangor, Maine, for 48 years. He tried 135 civil cases to jury verdict in state and federal courts. He is a 1973 cum laude graduate of Boston Univ. School of Law, where he was an editor of the Law Review William Menke sends notes from the road: “After my divorce from a 50-plus-year marriage to Carol Wilbur Menke ’71, I shipped my motorcycle to Issaquah, Wash., where my daughter Kristin and her husband Craig had room in their garage. In July, I visited them from my new home in Twain Harte, Calif., and rode the beast 1,400 miles — including side trips to places such as Mount St. Helens

— to California’s Sierra Nevada Highlights were the superb Oregon and California coasts, and the Avenue of the Giants,” whose famed redwoods were “especially appealing to this landscape architect.”

1970

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARIES Stephanie Leonard Bennett slenben@comcast.net Betsey Brown efant127@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT/ TREASURER Steve Andrick steve.andrick15@gmail.com

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT Barbara Hampel barbaraph@live.com

1971

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Suzanne Woods Kelley suzannekelley@att.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Michael Wiers mwiers@mwiers.com

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT Jan Face Glassman jfaceg1@hotmail.com

Susan Emmet “had a wonderful time at Reunion, but I wish I’d been able to attend on Saturday, too. Great to see so many people, walk the campus (new and old), and reminisce. I had difficulty navigating the new Commons food court, but staff were instantly helpful!”

She adds, “Bates friends who have been Zooming with each other gathered to remember and celebrate Lynn Poland, who died July 11, 2022, after suffering a stroke in 2020. We each had such different memories of Lynn and often ‘filled in the blanks’ for each other. All cherish our friendship and memories of her. Her life was a kaleidoscope of work and adventure.” A religion major at Bates, Lynn taught religious studies at institutions including Bates and at Davidson College, from which she retired.... Jim Miller and Marsha are in their fourth year of living on the road in their 28-foot Airstream. They have toured the West from Las Cruces, N.M., to Missoula, Mont.; Carlsbad to Corvallis; and seen Dry Falls, Wash., and Hueco Tanks, Texas. “But living in less than 200 square feet is getting old,” Jim allows, “and we are looking in earnest for a place to call home again.”

1972

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Dick Thomas rthomas14@comcast.net

media outlet: GQ headline: How the U.S. military gave notes on Top Gun: Maverick

takeaway: Naval aviators are risk-takers but not gamblers

As a key adviser for Top Gun: Maverick, retired Navy Capt. J.J. Cummings ’89, pictured above with daughter Mackenzie at the film’s premiere, worked closely with the filmmakers to help them balance realism and story-telling drama in the smash hit movie.

Cummings’ advice touched on what happens during the movie in the air, aboard ship, and on shore, he told GQ. The original screenplay named the beachside bar The Captain’s Mast. “Which is what the Navy calls its judicial proceedings,” Cummings says. “It’s where you go to get punished.” So it was changed to Hard Deck.

Cummings most recently served as the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, and, early in his career, flew the F-14 Tomcat in combat missions. The essential themes of the film ring true, Cummings told a reporter from the Daily Press of Norfolk News. “It’s really a film about risk,” he says. “That’s what Naval aviation is all about: What are the costs and what do we gain. We’re risk-takers, but we’re not gamblers.”

class of 1989 takeaway: J.J. Cummings

Art of the Possible

Back on campus for the Bates Dance Festival last summer, theater director Ozzie Jones ’92 (left) made tracks to Commons to connect with James Reese, longtime associate dean for international student programs.

“This is my brother,” Jones said. “He made being here emotionally possible” for Jones and for many students of color. “Literally all of us.” After meeting up at Commons, they horsed around outside, Jones grabbing Reese for a hug then suggesting that Reese should pose, finger pointed skyward, for a statue. Reese describes Jones’ theater work in Philadelphia as “noteworthy, socially responsible, and just plainly important. He does all of that under a guise that has him eternally cool.”

At the festival, Jones joined a restaging of Rome & Jewels, the hip-hop retelling of Romeo and Juliet by famed dancer and choreographer Rennie Harris, with whom Jones collaborated on the project.

A theater major at Bates, Jones has returned to campus a few times over the years, but this time it meant returning to the Schaeffer Theatre stage, which created a full-circle moment for Jones. “What I was going to do for the rest of my life, I did in that room,” he said. “That’s existential. That’s heavy.”

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Erik Bertelsen ecbertelsen@gmail.com

“Our 50th Reunion exceeded my expectations!” writes Wayne Loosigian. “Wonderful to see so many classmates. I particularly enjoyed spending time with folks I did not know well as a student — Andy Moul and Matt Cassis in particular. Campus looked great! If you find yourself in southern New Hampshire, please visit our apple orchard, Apple Annie in Brentwood. Come in the fall and try our cider donuts!”...Writing in July, Katherine Mills Myers and Ed Myers were looking forward to a 13-day Mediterranean

cruise with Viking Ocean. The plan was to spend three days in Venice before sailing, and three days in Barcelona afterward…. Steve Mortimer echoes Wayne Loosigian: “Still enjoying the high of our 50th Reunion and yearbook. It was wonderful to see so many classmates, and I look forward to staying in touch. So many great memories from the past year, especially working with the Reunion teams. Now it’s lots of pickleball, cycling, kayaking, gardening, and trying not to leave Maine during the beautiful summer months.”...John Rand and Paulette Nadeau Rand report that they “are finally getting organized in their latest (and hopefully last) house in

Fremont, N.H. Newly installed solar panels make us almostbut-not-quite independent of the power grid and feeling far less guilty. We totally enjoyed the 50th Reunion and are looking forward to our own 50th anniversary this September.”

1973

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Kaylee Masury kmasury@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Tom Carey tcarey@bates.edu

Julio Elorriaga-Gonzalez and Carmen, he writes from Chile, are “happily married and enjoying senior citizen activities” — and are especially happy after Julio’s surgery last April “in Viña del Mar’s new and beautiful hospital by a wonderful and kind medical staff.” While the operation was a success, recuperation was slow. But Carmen, a former nurse with the Chilean Red Cross, “did a great job in taking care of my daily recovery.” These days, Carmen “does choir presentations in concerts at local Catholic churches, and we write poetry books and run entertainment activities and cultural tours for a seniors’ club.”

1974

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Tina Psalidas Lamson tinal2@mac.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Don McDade mcdadecbb@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATORS Karen and Bill Cunningham karenlc67@gmail.com

This from Bill Cunningham: With COVID becoming less of a problem, he and Karen Lord Cunningham “have driven from our home in Maine to visit family and friends: a family wedding in Philadelphia and a family reunion over the Fourth in Harpers Ferry, on the Potomac. We also hosted relatives and friends who wanted to see scenic areas of inland and coastal Maine.” Bill enjoys riding his fat tire e-bike and throwing axes and knives, and Karen quilts, primarily small wall hangings…. Following a 45-year career in natural resources economics and trade policy, Al Goetzl is winding down his consulting business and spending more time doing farm work on the horse farm he and Melinda have near Frederick, Md….Bern Heath reports that “it has been a safe and a healthy year for the entire family and we are most grateful. Deb and I have settled unexpectedly well into retirement, all three kids are

married and have new homes, and our first grandchild, Bernard Henry Heath IV, was born happy and healthy in April. Life with our border collie, Misty, on the edge of our canyon in Durango has been good beyond deserving. My best to my classmates and an open invitation to visit the beauty of southwest Colorado.”... Four years after their home, along with many others, was destroyed in California’s Woolsey Fire, Carolyn Sauer Hoefer and Walter are happily resettled in Pinetop, Ariz., where “we live in the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world.” They weren’t physically injured in the fire, Carolyn says, “but we lost everything but the clothes on our backs. Recovery has been long and emotionally painful. Living in Arizona has been a welcome relief!”...Dirk Visser came to Maine from his home in Belgium in July to witness the engagement of his son Nicolas Visser ’18 and Molly McCoole ’21. “Bates and Maine remain close.”

1975

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARIES

Deborah Bednar Jasak Deborahjasak@gmail.com Faith Minard minardblatt@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Susie Bourgault Akie susieakie@gmail.com Janet Haines jbh580@aol.com

Jim Balano finally retired in June, leaving the Orlando appliance store where he’d worked for more than a decade, and enjoyed summer 2022 in Maine….John Balletto scaled back his muscular-therapy practice in Warwick, R.I., and is “thoroughly enjoying having more time.” He and Janet spent June in Italy, where they visited his father’s home village, Santa Maria a Vico, and he did family research. They visited friends in Rome, Naples, and along the Amalfi Coast. And that wasn’t all: “We spent a week in Siena with day trips to Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Montalcino, and Montepulciano; several days in Cinque Terre; a day in Genoa; took in Rigoletto at Teatro alla Scala in Milan; had a beautiful train ride through the Alps to St. Moritz; and survived 100-degree heat in Parma. A dream trip, for sure. We were happy to come back home to our weed-filled garden and five very active beehives!”… Grace Goldberg closed Savory Maine, her organic restaurant in Damariscotta, in June. A lack of staff forced the closure — in fact, Grace had been running Savory Maine as a one-woman show for weeks prior to shutting down. She opened the restaurant 11 years ago in conjunction with a food store in the same building, later narrowing the focus to

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

serving meals. “I love Maine. I’ve lived in a number of different places and I’m grateful I found this community,” Goldberg told The Lincoln County News…. Dee Dee Grayton “enjoyed” the summer while recovering from long-awaited total shoulder replacement surgery, she reports. She adds, “Paula and I attended our daughter Katya’s graduation from Mount Holyoke College in May. I expect I’ll return to my job as a nuclear medicine technologist for another year to replenish some of those tuition dollars.”…Nancy Johnson Young and Jon Young are still enjoying retirement in Seneca, S.C., “though much of each year is spent visiting our families in Vermont and Washington,” she reports. “We are blessed with five grandchildren who range in ages from about a year to 9. At home, we enjoy hiking, boating, church activities, and volunteering at our local food bank. Travel plans include a fall 2022 Viking Rhine cruise with Steve Markesich and Betsy Slocum Markesich, and an extended-families trip with Mike Ladd ’76 and Carol Gordon Ladd ’76 to Hawaii in 2023. We would love to share our home and temperate climate with anyone traveling this way.”...David Lewis has worked in high tech since the 1990s, with the last 18 years at Boston College — where his “sexy title is Senior Web Administrator, ‘Senior’ being very appropriate,” he writes. “Prior to that, I led the feast-or-famine life of a professional actor. I worked on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in commercials and industrial films. It was very exciting (when I actually worked) and I met a number of famous people — ask me at our 50th Reunion about the time Julianne Moore helped me buy my wedding suit. Most importantly, it was on stage that I met my wife of 34 years, Patricia Riggin, in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Brandeis. After our own production, Alexandra, I reinvented myself as a tech guy and succumbed to having a ‘regular’ job. I continue to hang, virtually and in person, with classmates Susie Bourgault Akie, Janet Haines, Bob “Robbo” Pickett, Sarah Pearson, Geri FitzGerald, and Paul McConnell. I’m so grateful for their friendship over all these years.”...Mary Nucefora Buck and Fred welcomed their fifth grandchild, and the first boy among them, in April. She adds, “We had a fantastic family vacation in St. Lucia last winter and look forward to several trips planned this year, including a two-week Road Scholar trip to Costa Rica. We can’t believe that we have been retired for 13 years. Time has gone by so fast! I had two surgeries this past year with good results, and that puts everything in perspective! I do hope to go to the 50th Reunion

as I have missed so many — and I wonder if I’ll recognize any of my Bates friends.”...Sarah Pearson happily reports “that I retired July 1 after 42 years in advancement, doing work that I have loved with many committed colleagues in higher education. It’s wonderful that my final gig was serving as vice president at Bates, affording me the opportunity to spend 10 years at our alma mater, experiencing anew the campus where we all met. What a gift! I’m settling into my sweet home on the water in Freeport where I can garden, walk, kayak, and enjoy the start of this new chapter. I look forward to working with classmates on our 50th Reunion, but hope we connect before 2025! Please keep in touch and let me know if you are planning to visit Maine.”...

Colleen Peterson Seremet writes that she’s “enjoying my family — especially three grandsons! — and traveling.” She visited Norway and the United Kingdom in April and planned to see the Canadian Maritimes in September. “It’s been great to reconnect with Bates friends in quarterly Zoom meetings as we all anticipate our 50th!”...Chuck Radis held public readings during the summer from Island Medicine: Life, Healing, and Community on a Maine Island (Down East Books). Released in May, the book is a sequel to 2021’s Go by Boat, chronicling Chuck’s experiences as a doctor treating island residents in Casco Bay….More than a year ago, in August 2021, “three roommates from Bates got together in Friendship, Maine, for a longoverdue reunion,” writes one of the three, Gary Richardson. He, Chuck Radis, and Roy Madsen spent a day at a magnificent waterfront home with Gary’s grandchildren. “High tide was great for swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboarding. Low tide was mud flats or enjoying a sunny day. Plans are already underway to do this every 45 years.”...Rick Rizoli was happy to host classmates at his home in Natick, Mass., on two separate occasions in July. One visit brought Dave Ferrucci and Bill McMurray ’78, and following a few days later were Bob Poole and Bruce LeDoyt ’77. Rick, Bob, and Bruce belong to a book club that was formed early in the pandemic, and this was their first face-to-face meeting. “At both events we had lunch, reminisced, and even enjoyed a spirited quiz!”...Valerie Smith, president of Swarthmore College, has joined the board of directors of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., headquartered in Newark, N.J. The firm’s largest subsidiary is Public Service Electric and Gas Co., New Jersey’s oldest and largest investor-owned utility company. A scholar of African American literature, Valerie became Swarthmore’s president in 2015 and served

previously as dean of the college at Princeton Univ. She will bring “a track record of strategic leadership and commitment to the principles of environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and ethical governance that will be a tremendous asset to our board,” PSEGI CEO Ralph Izzo said in a statement.…Pamela Wansker was one of eight people, including other Batesies, involved in creating a scholarship fund for a Bates student in the name of the late John Jenkins ’74. In addition to the scholarship, “which happened after many generous Bates alumni and non-alumni contributed,” the group also collected stories about John that were compiled into a book and published by Chuck Radis. Finally, the eight helped organize two Reunion Weekend tributes to the late mayor of both Lewiston and Auburn: the June 10 dedication of the pedestrian bridge that spans the Androscoggin River between the cities, and the celebration of John’s life at the Lewiston Armory the following day. “John was a very special person, not only for our class but for so many Bates students, faculty, administrators, and alumni, [and for] the people of the LewistonAuburn community and all of Maine. I was truly blessed to know the man and I am so glad that some of the things that we accomplished will keep his memory and purpose alive!”

1976

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Jeff Helm bateslax@gmail.com CLASS PRESIDENT Bruce Campbell brucec@maine.rr.com

CONVERSATIONS WITH CLASSMATES HOST Marge McCormick Davis margedavis@comcast.net

Michael Arrato-Gavrish was inducted into the Pinkerton Academy Hall of Fame. He taught U.S. history and coached track and field and first-year football at the school in Derry, N.H., for 36 years….Marge McCormick Davis writes: “Almost 50 years after we met during freshman year in Parker Hall, eight of us gathered at a Vrbo near the beach in Rye, N.H., for four nights in May: Shari Spencer Parsons, Marge Davis, Mary McMahon Dowd, Wendy Henderson Waymouth, Kathy Hatcher Butler, Sally Booth Wellman, Buff Seirup Bachenheimer, and Clara Smith.” Also in May, Marge was elected to the board of directors of the national environmental nonprofit Scenic America. A writer and editor who lives in Tennessee, she was a founding member of

Scenic Tennessee, in 1987, and became that organization’s president in 2011. She was twice named the Conservation Communicator of the Year by the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, and published a history of the state’s conservation movement, Sportsmen United, in 1997 (watch for an updated edition)....John Pasquini is still practicing cardiology in Charlotte, N.C. He and Jane have had “a happy year. The youngest of our three sons got married and lives in Colorado. The other sons and their wives have each had a baby — a girl in Texas, a boy in South Carolina — so we are now grandparents. We all had a great trip to Italy this summer. Life is good.”

1977

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Steve Hadge schmuddy@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Keith Taylor drkeithtaylor@msn.com

Though retired from Brooks School, John Haile continues to teach English. Last spring, at Maine’s Midcoast Senior College, he led a course exploring how poets Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson embody, though in opposing ways, a kind of artistic expression that Ralph Waldo Emerson called for in his essay “The Poet.” John and Susan Young Haile live in Woolwich…. Stuart Strahl and Melissa, who celebrated 43 years of marriage this year, “are busily retired to our Montana cabin on 80 acres of State Lease land near Seeley Lake. I am engaged with the Vital Ground Foundation, a land trust that protects corridors for grizzly bears and other wildlife, as well as the Blackfoot Challenge, a grassroots conservation organization here in the Blackfoot River Valley. We celebrated the birth of our first grandchild in March: Genevieve Faith Strahl.”... Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Elizabeth Strout joined in a public conversation with novelist-essayist Pico Iyer last May in a presentation by the Arts & Lectures series at the Univ. of California, Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, her novel Lucy by the Sea, was published in late summer. The fourth novel in her series featuring the character Lucy Barton, it’s winning rave reviews.

1978

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Chip Beckwith chipwith@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Dean Berman deanocean@aol.com

Boston Globe headline: Losing his vision opened Mark Erelli’s eyes takeaway: Singing about loss adds an “extra layer of vulnerability.”

Singer-songwriter Mark Erelli ’96 is taking in every sight he can before his eyesight is gone. He talked with The Boston Globe’s Lauren Daley about his diagnosis — an inherited retinal disease called retinitis pigmentosa — and learning to see life in a different light.

As he writes about this new aspect of his life, more people are sharing with him things they have lost, or things they’re struggling with, and “in some ways, the most personal thing I’ve ever done has brought me closer to my audience than I’ve ever been. And that’s a beautiful thing.”

He’s also writing through the experience, and his new album, Lay Your Darkness Down. “This material is the most intimate thing I’ve ever done,” Erelli says. “Songwriting and singing, in general, is one of the most vulnerable things you can do. So to sing about something you’ve lost — there’s an extra layer of vulnerability.”

Linda Carroll started a new job, as a teacher assistant at a private preschool in Marblehead, Mass., in September. “I still enjoy teaching 4- and 5-year-olds!”... Kelly Karpoe has “finally returned to Maine” from Rhode Island, she reports. “I’m spending quite a bit of time here from now on, so please, all my Batesie friends in Maine, do get in touch. I would love to find you all again. I will be living mostly in Bridgton.”...Barb Stewart finished hiking the Appalachian Trail with the 100-plus-mile segment in Shenandoah National Park. All told, it took her 45 years to complete the AT, she says…. Patricia Weil Coates launched a nonprofit organization, The Umbrella Project, following the passing of her husband, Vince, in 2015 and the AT through-hike that daughter Eliane undertook the following year. The project, Patricia says, “provides grieving young adults a supported wilderness hiking experience that promotes personal growth, self-reliance, and therapeutic recreational activity to help in their healing process. I’d love to hear from Bates friends and anyone interested in The Umbrella Project!”

1979

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Mary Raftery mgraftery@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Patrick Murphy patrickm@paceengrs.com

Allyson Anderson-Sterling is still enjoying retirement. Among other pleasures, she and five Bates field hockey teammates got together in March, as they do twice a year, and during the summer she and Rick explored Philadelphia and North Central Pennsylvania. She’s looking forward to biking in Charleston next year….Wendy Kolb Harris was recognized as one of three Distinguished Teachers of the Year by students at Madison College in Madison, Wis. Nearly 200 students took part in the voting. The recipients were recognized at the college’s Student Success Banquet in April….Jackie Miller and Dave Chamberlain are active in the Georgia Native Plant Society and working on habitat restoration projects at two parks. Their own property has been certified as a Native Plant Habitat by GNPS, and their pollinator garden, Jackie reports, was full of bees during the summer….Jon Piper joined the Great Resignation and retired last spring from the biology faculty at Bethel College after 25 years. “I tell people that I’ve retired from teaching, but not from curiosity. I plan to devote my last few remaining brain cells to exploring research questions that continue to intrigue me.”

1980

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY Chris Tegeler Beneman cbeneman@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Mary Martuscello mary@martuscellolaw.com

The prolific Matt Buchman, who became a full-time novelist a decade ago and publishes as M. L. Buchman, has released his 73rd novel, the latest in a 10-book series starring a heroine who is on the autism spectrum. “It was my best launch yet,” says Matt. He and Nanette “are happily dug in after four years on the North Shore of Massachusetts. After 25 years, she’s still the best date I’ve ever had.”

1981

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Cheryl Andrews dr.cheryl.andrews@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Hank Howie hhowie@gmail.com

“Retired! Both Lucy and I retired this year,” says Brian McBride “We’re delighted with our new lifestyle, slower pace, and less stress. She’s playing a ton of tennis and I’m involved in volunteer organizations. To add another milestone to the year, we saw our son, Liam, off to the Univ. of San Francisco in August.”...Perhaps best-known for his tennis exploits, Bud Schultz is also a golfer who competed in the Mass Open in June….In March, Rick Thompson joined the international effort to aid Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. A retired Microsoft vice president, he rented a van in Germany and used it to bring war refugees to safe havens in other countries — including a 1,000mile drive to Brussels, which has a large Ukrainian community, for one group. “It’s the first time in my life that there are really clear good guys and really clear bad guys,” Thompson told the Seattle Times in April....Jean Wilson joined “a wonderful local book club with fellow Bates alums, including Lizette PanetRaymond Greaves and David Greaves ’80. It’s been wonderful connecting with friends and sharing perspectives.”

1982

Reunion 2027, June 10–12

CLASS PRESIDENT Neil Jamieson neil@southernmainelaw.com

Joyce White Vance is one of four noteworthy lawyers whose weekly podcast, Sisters in Law, was recommended on

takeaway: Mark Erelli

PHOTO CREDIT media outlet: The

JOE NAVAS

topical theater

the Maine Crime Writers site.

Reviewer Brenda Buchanan called the program a personal “must listen” and cited the hosts’ “deep experience that gives them valuable perspective”: Joyce and Barb McQuade are former U.S. Attorneys, Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a lawyer and journalist who has covered the U.S. Supreme Court, and Jill Wine-Banks was a member of the Watergate prosecution team.

1983

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Leigh Peltier leighp727@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS PJ Dearden tribecapj@yahoo.com Bill Zafirson bzaf@maine.rr.com

Louis Vachon joined J.C. Flowers & Co., a leading private investment firm, as an operating partner in January. Louis had retired in October 2021 as president and CEO of National Bank of Canada, a position he had held from 2007. “We are delighted that Louis will be joining our firm,” said Chris Flowers, CEO of J.C. Flowers. “We greatly admire his success as a CEO, driving both long-term shareholder performance and the cultural transformation of the organization, and have enormous respect for his investment judgment.”

1984

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Heidi Lovett blueoceanheidi@aol.com

How can candles on a cake compete with this? Steffani Catanese Lomax marked her 60th year by spending June in Europe. “I went hiking in Grindelwald, Switzerland, and Lake Como, Italy, and played tennis on the red clay in both locations,” she says. There were also visits to Geneva, Zurich, Milan, and Paris. “It was great to travel internationally again after the COVID lockdown and long hiatus!”…Cheryl Croteau Orr became a grandmother in October 2021, welcoming Wesley Orr. “Maybe he will be Class of 2043? Yikes.” She adds, “This year, I traveled to Alaska for a guided fishing adventure.”...

Catherine Dana Cormier is “having a blast grandparenting our new granddaughter, who moved East with our daughter and son-in-law after being in Arizona for five years. I’ve also been loving doing marketing consulting for TJX Companies the past five years.” She adds, “I’m looking forward to moving back to Maine, where it all started with Phil Cormier ’83,

as our plans include building a house in Harpswell. We have the land, just need our builder to free up! Looking forward to reuniting with classmates in the area.”...Heidi Lovett is now a supervisor at the NOAA Fisheries facility in Silver Spring, Md., and had an “exciting four months as acting chief of staff at our venerable Northeast Fisheries Science Center,” headquartered in Woods Hole, Mass. She says, “Life has been pretty good and I’m glad travel has resumed for work and pleasure. My older son started the Univ. of Maryland this fall; the younger one will be in grade 11 and is aiming for his driver’s permit. We also became a dog family, adopting the loving Ruby, a 5-year-old standard poodle, during the pandemic. She’s the best!”...Brian McGrory, The Boston Globe’s editor since 2013, helped the paper celebrate its 150th anniversary with an essay spotlighting what sets the newspaper apart. “The Globe has always been at its best when it gives voice to those who wouldn’t otherwise be heard and holds powerful people and institutions to account,” wrote McGrory, who became a reporter there just five years after graduation. A political science major at Bates, McGrory was a Bates Student reporter and editor whose top stories included coverage of a demonstration against military recruiters on campus by students protesting the ban on gays in military…. Karen Palermo Saxena had a busy summer. She and Amol celebrated his 60th with a trip to Munich and Mallorca. Sydnee Brown Goddard and Jeffrey were among friends who took part in the celebration. Karen’s son has a new job and will be marrying a woman with an 8-year-old, she adds, “so I’ll become a grandparent. My oldest daughter will get married next May. My youngest is dancing and auditioning in LA. I’m still teaching part time and coaching. I have taken up bridge and love it.”…Performer, director, and scholar Artemis Susan Preeshl had a number of journal articles published during 2022, including “The American Elizabethan Accent: Sea Island Residents Talk” (Voice and Speech Review) and “The American Elizabethan Accent in the Ocracoke Brogue” (Education, Language and Sociology Research). Among her workshop presentations were an examination of gender fluidity and identity in Boccaccio’s Decameron and two Shakespeare plays, offered at an American Boccaccio Assn. conference in Padua, Italy; and an analysis of Gullah Geechee accents in English on Sapelo and Daufuskie islands, held at the International Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora Conference in South Carolina….Lisa Quintal Loeb enjoys her new job at One Schoolhouse, a supplemental

Pandemic Perspectives

In the summer of 2019, Jonathan Adler ’00, a professor of psychology at Olin College of Engineering, embarked on a creative journey, seeking a way to tell lesser-known stories from the AIDS pandemic in the U.S.

Part of a team at Olin that received a Mellon Foundation grant aimed at integrating arts and STEM, Adler teamed up with Jim Petosa of Boston University to write a play. The pandemic intervened, but offered a way to tell a more complex story. The result was Reverse Transcription, a play that juxtaposes the stories of gay men during the AIDS and the COVID pandemics in the U.S. It premiered off-Broadway last summer at The Atlantic Theater Co.’s Stage 2, produced by PTP/NYC.

Adler’s day job is as a psychology professor but theater has never been far away. He was president of the Robinson Players as a Bates psychology major and has directed plays ever since.

“For me there is no separating psychological issues and theater,” he said in an interview with the newsletter of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. “I’m a narrative identity researcher. Like all stories, all plays feature characters trying to do something, so there are always psychological topics to explore.”

Comparing the two health crises, Adler believes that “one of the biggest tragedies” of COVID is that society didn’t embrace the psychological lessons learned during the AIDS pandemic. “The gay community came together in the ’80s and ’90s,” but during COVID, the pandemic “ultimately became a force for polarization, not interdependence.”

Jonathan Adler ’00 (center, blue T-shirt) poses with the cast of his co-written play, Reverse Transcription.

STAN BAROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

media outlet: Migration Information Source headline: Governments eye new approaches for trans and nonbinary travelers

takeaway: A third gender option on passports is just a small step

Following the cues of Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, and others, U.S. passports now feature a third gender option, but that doesn’t make international travel or migration any safer for nonbinary, intersex, or transgender people, writes C.L. Quinan ’00, a lecturer in gender studies at the University of Melbourne, in Migration Information Source

“Transgender and gender-diverse populations regularly experience harassment and disenfranchisement while traveling internationally,” writes Quinan. Policies and procedures that don’t recognize nonbinary or transgender identification can result in travelers being stopped for alleged falsification of identity, or other complications.

“Some trans and nonbinary people have developed strategies to prevent questioning or actively conceal their gender identity by traveling as a gender that matches their documents but not their true identities.”

educational organization that provides courses and programs for students and adult learners. She teaches French and works as an instructional designer. Still living in Wallingford, Conn., Lisa and David also stay busy with granddaughter Lizzie Mae. Their daughter is in the doctoral program in English at the Univ. of Virginia and their son works for Charter Communications in Stamford, Conn.

1985

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY Elissa Bass bass.elissa@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Lisa Virello virello@comcast.net

Dan Bliss spoke to the Bangor Daily News about a tradition that he and friends have maintained since Dan’s senior year. The self-described “founders’ club” has met in Maine every February since then, ostensibly for a weekend of ice fishing, but really just because they enjoy getting together. Originally a motley crew of Maine college students and longtime friends, the group has expanded to incorporate other friends, family, and acquaintances. “This is something important that we need to hold onto and tell those stories and remember the times that we had together and what we did. Life is short,” Bliss told the paper. (He was not able to attend in 2022.)... Robin Waterman writes from Golden, Colo.: “The past several years, I have had a number of exhilarating and deeply satisfying times with friends from our class. It started with attending the Telluride Film Festival and having Judy Kohin, who has lived in Telluride for many years, spot me among the crowd.” The next day, they spent a few hours fondly reminiscing over the Bates yearbook — and the next year, they assembled a small reunion of friends including Dan MacDonald, Beckie Jones, Jeanne Cahill Zaia and Joe Zaia, Patty McAndrew and Mark Payne, Beth George, Sam Smith, and Stefanie Fairchild ’87. That group has met almost every year since. “We connected in powerful, timeless ways across a love of intellectual engagement and caring about the world around us, with an aim to make it better, and a love for being active and outdoors. We also created a special space to mourn the tragic loss of Stefanie’s husband and our classmate, Geoffrey Wright.” Robin has also gotten together with Sam Paul and Pete Cassat, and has enjoyed visits with favorite professors and administrators on campus. “I was grateful to host Purposeful Work interns for four summers at my nonprofit, the Aurora Community Connection

family resource center,” where she was executive director for 14 years. “I’m now working for Healing Waters International, where I work alongside people in Mexico and Central America to help them create access to clean drinking water in their own communities.”...Michael Aram Wolohojian was profiled in February by the Boca Raton Observer. Known for the artistic household and ritual objects, as well as public art, that he creates under the name of Michael Aram, he told the paper about cultural influences on his work — including his upbringing in a close Armenian family in Scarsdale, N.Y., and a visit in his 20s to India, where he now employs some 200 artisans. Michael, husband Aret Tikiryan, and their twins moved from NYC to Florida two years ago.

1986

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Erica Seifert Plunkett ericasplunkett@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS Bill Walsh messagebill@gmail.com Catherine Lathrop Strahan catstrahan@gmail.com

Scott Hoffman retired from the public schools in Harvard, Mass., after 35 years. During his career he taught fifth-grade math and social studies, and seventh-grade social studies; coached varsity girls tennis and varsity boys basketball; and served more than 10 years as associate principal at The Bromfield School, Harvard’s public middle and high school, before finishing with six years as principal. “I truly loved working with the students, parents, and community, and will miss them greatly,” Scott says….

President and CEO of the Lumina Foundation, Jamie Merisotis was named chair of an ethics task force established last winter by the Council on Foundations, a leadership organization for philanthropic institutions. Writing on the council’s website, Jamie cited Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, Class of 1920, as an ethical role model. “An individual of principle, moral courage, and faith, Dr. Mays’ always-ethical perspective has guided much of my work in higher education, public policy, and philanthropy. My wife Colleen and I even named our son after him, in the hope that our son and his generation will carry on that pursuit of justice.”...

Dave Reynolds is still teaching English at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, “while exploring the nearby mountains, rivers, and prairie. Seeing old Bates friends is a great tonic and reminds me that you cannot make new old friends.”...

Carolyn Ryan was named one of two managing editors at The New York Times. She and Marc Lacey have filled the Times

C.L. QUINAN

newsroom’s No. 2 role, serving under executive editor Joseph F. Kahn, since June. Carolyn previously was deputy managing editor. She joined the Times in 2007 and has held a variety of key positions, including taking a leadership role in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. She is the first openly gay journalist to serve as managing editor of the Times. “We are essentially and fundamentally driven by rigorous and original reporting, on-the-ground reporting,” she said in an announcement of the appointments. “That has to be at the heart of everything that we do.”...Erica Seifert Plunkett was glad to report that after nearly 18 months of upheaval and four moves, she and Conor have relocated from Holliston to Newton, Mass. “Not only have we relocated, but we’re living in the actual house in which Conor grew up!” Erica adds. They gave the 1876 Queen Anne–style structure new windows, HVAC, kitchen and baths “in hopes that it will not be a future money pit and will be accessible as we grow older. Somehow we upsized where most people our age are downsizing!”

Their new abode is closer to their daughter, Molly, and to Erica’s work, in Wellesley, and Conor now has a real office for working remotely. “We have plenty of space for Bobcat friends to visit,” Erica says — speaking of which, they enjoyed the annual Bobcat weekend in New Hampshire with Cat Lathrop Strahan, Kathleen O’Brien Pagano, Kristen Carlson Garnett and John “JH” Howard

“A great time was had by all,” with some assistance from Erica’s spicy watermelon margaritas.

1987

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Val Kennedy brickates@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Erica Rowell ericarowell@mac.com

Marcia Dougan Moore became chief operating officer of Cardurion Pharmaceuticals in February. With facilities in Boston and Japan, Cardurion is a clinicalstage biotechnology company focused on creating novel therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases. Marcia, a resident of Old Lyme, Conn., came to the firm from biopharmaceutical company Arvinas, bringing more than three decades of experience in clinical development, project management, and strategic planning….Jamie Ervin was elected to the Duxbury (Vt.) Selectboard in April. She has worked in the field of natural resources since 1991, primarily for nonprofit organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy, focusing on sustainable forestry, land conservation, and land use planning. Jamie has served on the

Duxbury Planning Commission and various local nonprofit boards relating to sustainability…. Scott Quigg, president and CEO of Pennsylvania’s Pump N Pantry chain of food and fuel stores, joined the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Assn. board of directors in June. Scott, who earned an MBA from Boston Univ.’s Questrom School of Business, bought Pump N Pantry in 2001. He and Melinda Potts Quigg live in Montrose, Pa., and have two grown children, Haleigh Quigg and Hunter Quigg ’20…. Sean Slade and Karla are pleased to announce that their son, Henry Silas Slade, is a member of Bates’ Class of 2026.

1988

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Astrid Delfino-Bernard flutistastrid@sbcglobal.net Ruth Garretson Cameron ruth.eg.cameron@gmail.com Mary Capaldi Gonzales marcapcar@me.com Steve Lewis mojofink@gmail.com Julie Sutherland-Platt julielsp@verizon.net Lisa Romeo romeoli66@gmail.com

Joan Bering Harvey was appointed to the board of directors of PAVmed Inc., a commercial-stage medical technology company and the corporate parent of cancer prevention company Lucid Diagnostics. Known as a healthcare services industry leader, Joan is president of care solutions for Evernorth, Cigna Corporation’s health services business. She and Richard live in Stuart, Fla….Sally Bryant has been promoted to associate university librarian for public services and instruction at Pepperdine Univ., Malibu, Calif…. Steve Lewis has retired from his position as an instructor in composition and literature at Helena College Univ. of Montana after 15 years. “Michelle and I plan to travel,” he says. “To cap off my final year, I was awarded the Employee Excellence Award, which made leaving on my own terms even more fulfilling. I will miss the students and the daily interactions that energized me, but not the bureaucracy, daily grind, or the alarm clock!”...You can get a Bird Man sandwich in American cities from Brooklyn to New Orleans, but opportunities to chow down on a Birdman sandwich — one-word name — are much scarcer. One such appears courtesy of Rich Ridinger, whose Lakehouse Tavern in Hopkinton, N.H., offers the poultry-and-cheese delight on the menu. (Thanks to Darius Shahinfar for the tip!) Or you can make your own Birdman thanks to Andy Mallio, who shows how on YouTube. The three

classmates trace their interest in the delicacy to a now-defunct convenience store in Auburn. The One Stop sold Birdmen (or maybe it’s Birdmans), both at the store and from a mobile unit that often visited campus. In fact, as Andy says of his version, “the only thing that would make this more genuine is if I wrapped it in aluminum foil, drove it around from One Stop to Bates, and sold it out of the back of a hot box off a truck.”

1989

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Sara Hagan Cummings cummings5clan@gmail.com

STEERING COMMITTEE Sally Ehrenfried sjehrenfried@gmail.com Deb Schiavi Cote debscote@yahoo.com

Paul Dill completed his 26th season as the head coach of women’s volleyball at MIT, calling it “a dream season,” as his players gave him his 1,000th win as a collegiate coach, went on to a 29-4 record winning the NEWMAC Conference Championship, and made it to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. Paul and Dawn are enjoying life in West Newton, Mass., with their kids Theo (9), Maggie (6), and dog Izzie….Becky Flynn Woods, head coach of men’s and women’s Nordic skiing at Bates since 1994, departed during the summer to become director of cross country skiing at Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation in Idaho. Born and raised in Auburn, Maine, Becky was a standout skier herself as a student. She went on to coach three Olympic contenders, including Justin Freeman, who was also one of four Woods protégés named All-American student-athletes. Becky’s grandfather was Lawrence Flynn Sr., Class of 1929, an outstanding ski jumper. And her father, the late Bob Flynn, coached at Bates for more than 50 years. “Bates has this incredible foundation, and that foundation is a deep-rooted community and a drive for excellence,” Becky said in announcing the transition. “I am grateful to be shaped by that.” Assistant coach James Upham is the team’s interim head coach…. Last May, Zack Robbins became director of development for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. A professional fundraiser of long standing, Zack was development director for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, and his Wisconsin experience also includes stints with the Morgridge Institute for Research, the Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison Arts Institute, and the Wisconsin Science Museum. He and Laila live in Madison and are raising two sons….Karen Stevens continues to live in Cambridge, Mass., with husband

George White, daughter Zoe, and five pets — one dog, two cats, two birds. “Although working as the deputy director of the Somerville Public Library keeps me busy,” she writes, “I have recently rediscovered ‘hobbies’ and now spend my free time not just reading, but also rowing on Boston Harbor and attempting to throw pots.”

1990

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY Joanne Walton joannewalton2003@yahoo.com

1991

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Katie Tibbetts Gates kathryntgates@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT John Ducker jducker1@yahoo.com

Steve Cassell was appointed as chief marketing and brand officer at Point32Health, a health and well-being organization headquartered in Canton, Mass. Steve came to Point32Health from Cigna, where he had served as senior vice president and chief brand officer, and he previously held marketing leadership positions at J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, HSBC, Stryker Corporation, and American Express. Steve and his family run a foundation, The Pendleton County Fund, that provides scholarships to rural youth for educational and developmental programs….Adrienne Shibles, the winningest coach in Bowdoin women’s basketball history, now in her second season at Dartmouth, was showered with accolades in 2022. In August, she was inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame, and in April she was one of two recipients of the Mount View High School 2022 Alumni Awards. The school, in Thorndike, created the award to inspire current students by highlighting exceptional alumni achievements. Adrienne has more than 400 college coaching wins and scored more than 1,000 points as a player at Bates.

1992

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

executive committee

Ami Berger ami_berger@hotmail.com

Kristin Bierly Magendantz kmagendantz@comcast.net

Kristen Downs Bruno Kris10DBruno@gmail.com Roland Davis roldav92@gmail.com

Peter Friedman peter.friedman@alum.dartmouth.org

Leyla Morrissey Bader leyla.bader@gmail.com

Jeff Mutterperl jeffmutterperl@gmail.com

A July gig in Boston led comedian Maria Bamford to speak with the Globe Interviewer David Brusie said that Maria “specializes in an entirely original mixture of joy, darkness, humility, and embrace of the absurd.” The article touched on her time as a Brooks Quimby debater — “her comedic starting point, which she later realized was a mistake.” Maria told Brusie, “I thought that was going to be more like stand-up. ‘Wait a minute — I have to argue something I don’t care about?’”... Professor of sport studies and chair of the division of social science and communication at Manhattanville College, Amy Bass shared her respect and affection for student-athletes in an essay that she read last May on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, in Albany, N.Y. “After becoming adviser to many of them, I started to follow their team results — I had to do something to offset the hardships of being a Red Sox believer,” she explained. She made her debut as a Manhattanville Valiants fan at a women’s hockey home game in November 2019. “It was all kinds of fabulous, perhaps especially the moment that a rather quiet and studious member of my Ethics in Sport class checked the daylights out of her opponent. That, I thought to myself, is a side of Janet I have never seen.” She continued, “What I’ve discovered by dedicating time and attention to their games is that I am, quite honestly, in awe of them.”...Craig D’Ambrosia and Betsy “recently became grandparents for the third time. We feel so blessed!” he wrote in July. “Bumped into Ian Smith at the Yacht Rock Revue show in Boston. So great to see him and his partner.” He adds, “Sorry to miss everyone at the 30th Reunion, but I plan to see you at the 35th!”

1993

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

by supporting the regional normalization process, managing the Kurdish issue, and accepting that the country could join an expanded European community — albeit while retaining its strategic autonomy.”...Matt Bogyo has taught at Stanford since 2003. A professor in the departments of pathology and of microbiology and immunology, he studies the role of cysteine proteases in tumorigenesis and in the life cycles of human parasites and bacterial pathogens….Shahana Koslofsky writes: “After 20 years on the West Coast, I am excited to be back home” in the Washington, D.C., region. “I spent the last year completing a fellowship on Capitol Hill and will start another fellowship in the State Department this fall. It is wonderful to be home close to friends and family!”...Kyle O’Bryan, account director at the Boston law firm Mullen & McGourty, was inducted into Maine’s Midcoast Sports Hall of Fame in October. A basketball player at Bates, he won varsity letters for three years in soccer, basketball, and baseball at Lincoln Academy, and captained all three teams in 1989, his senior year. In hoops, Kyle stood out in both defense and offense — he was a 1,000-point scorer for the Eagles, who won the state Class B championship in 1989.

1994

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Courtney Landau Fleisher courtney.fleisher@gmail.com Jonathan Lewis jlewjlew@mac.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS Mike Charland mfc@wilkinsinvest.com Jason Hanley jason.hanley@wexinc.com

A senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Asli Aydıntaşbaş published a brief in July illuminating a shift in Turkey’s attitude toward its neighbors in the Middle East. Both domestic politics and regional dynamics have persuaded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to replace confrontation with a more conciliatory approach, she explained. “The EU needs to adjust to this new Turkey

Josie-Ann Brown became the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Pittsburgh’s Point Park Univ. in March. An African studies major at Bates, she holds a master’s degree from Queens College and a doctorate in philosophy from the Univ. of New York at Stony Brook. Born in Jamaica, “I moved when I was elementary-school-aged, and I was also a first-generation college student,” Josie-Ann told the campus newspaper. “Those two aspects really influenced my career path and what I do today. Going to school as a firstgeneration student, I understand the challenges because I faced them myself.”

1995

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jason Verner jcv@nbgroup.com Deb Verner debverner@gmail.com

Scott DeMartino joined the national law firm Kutak Rock last spring. Now a member of the firm’s national tax-credits practice group in Washington,

D.C., Scott was previously a partner with the tax-advantaged investments group at Dentons US LLP. “Kutak Rock’s reputation in the tax-credit space is significant, and adding someone with Scott’s background, experience, and industry relationships not only strengthens our firm’s capabilities, but also elevates our client service proposition,” said Scott Neill, tax credit partner at Kutak Rock. “Scott brings an energy and skill set that complement our team.”...Evan Halper joined The Washington Post business desk in April to cover energy. He worked previously in the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times, where he reported on the intersection of global warming and politics (and broke a story about then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filling the gubernatorial Hummer with illegal biodiesel fuel). Evan also helped lead coverage of the past two presidential elections and wrote deeply reported pieces on California’s campaign to blunt the effects of Trump administration environmental rollbacks. In the 1990s, Evan was, first, a summer intern and then a staff writer at the alternative newsweekly Maine Times. He also served as editor of The Bates Student Carolyn Kavanagh Gaither and Edmund “Joey” Gaither “were sad to miss our 25th Reunion do-over, but enjoyed seeing fellow Batesies around the Northeast this summer,” she notes. “We continue to be based in Texas due to Joey’s job at BHP. Despite working remotely for the foreseeable future, we’ll stay until the kids are out of high school. With a rising senior and a rising sophomore, we know it will fly! Hope to see more Batesies as traveling finally gets easier!”

1996

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Ayesha Farag ayesha.farag@gmail.com Jay Lowe jameslowemaine@yahoo.com

Amanda Barney and Matthew Orr ’94 live happily on Long Island’s North Fork. “Our son Oliver graduated from Yale in 2019 and now works as a lab manager in Yale’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Daughter Jillian is a junior at SUNY Geneseo, majoring in sociomedical sciences. And our youngest, Zoe, has started junior high school. We were thrilled to visit with Christian “Hoz” Gaylord ’94 on Long Island and in Minneapolis in summer 2021 and spring 2022.”... Caren Frost Olmsted and her Olmsted Mural Group completed two community projects at public schools in New Jersey last winter. A mural at Sussex Avenue School in Morristown involved the participation of some 90 pupils along with teacher and parent

Right Now

“Reunited, and it feels so good!” says Jane Finn-Foley ’04.

“Since our freshman year, a group of us have been getting together every summer, and after the pandemic caused a two-year hiatus, it was awesome to have many of us back together this past summer in Boston for a much-needed Bates crew reunion.”

From left, standing: Chris Eckhoff ’04, Elizabeth Jackson Eckhoff ’04, Jackie Fullerton ’04, Taryn LaFlamme, Brett LaFlamme ’04, Kevin Foley, Mark Ribeiro ’04, Jane Finn-Foley ’04, Nat Weller ’04, Katie Hardy ’04, Andy Hardy ’04, Scott Duddy ’04, Catherine Ribeiro ’04, Ben Clements ’04, Lizzy Clements, Ariel Duddy ’04.

Front, crouching: Jake White ’03, Lynne Antinarelli ’04, Channon Smith.

volunteers. Theme: healthy bodies and healthy minds. A monthlong residency at Glenwood Elementary in Short Hills, also involving students and parents, illustrates facets of the Glenwood experience — the love of learning, the infusion of arts throughout the curriculum, and abundant acts of kindness….After 21 years in Maine’s largest city, Jay Lowe and Amy have moved a few miles down the road from Portland to Saco. “We both work for the same veterinary pharmaceutical company there,” he explains — “me in sales and she in project management.” He adds that they had a great time reconnecting with friends at their 25th Reunion: “The Goose did not disappoint!” Their older son, Jake, is in his second year at West Point, and younger brother Mac has applied there too. “Beat Navy!”...An executive at the NYC real estate firm KKR & Co. since 2015, Matthew Salem was elected to the board of directors of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. in February. Matt also serves as the company’s CEO and is a partner and head of KKR Real Estate Credit. He and Elizabeth live in Weston, Conn.

1997

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARIES Todd Zinn tmzinn@hotmail.com Pat Cosquer patcosquer@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Stuart Abelson sabelson@oraclinical.com

Jeff Parent lives in Connecticut with Kristin and their sons, Daniel and Andrew, who are in their mid-teens. “I work as a psychotherapist in private practice, and I love what I do.” The family spent the summer visiting colleges for Daniel, but made sure to include some fun, too — such as an excursion to Vermont, “where we enjoyed hiking in the Green Mountains and tubing down a beautiful river.”...Jeremy Pelofsky and Christine Grimaldi welcomed Genevieve Helen GrimaldiPelofsky, their first child, in April. “She is named for her grandmothers on both sides,” says Jeremy.

1998

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS COMMITTEE

Doug Beers douglas.beers@gmail.com Liam Clarke ldlc639@gmail.com Rob Curtis robcurtis@eatonvance.com Renee Leduc rleducclarke@gmail.com Tyler Munoz tylermunoz@gmail.com

Kate Bishop is in a yearlong training program in Washington, D.C., as she prepares for a new position as a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development.… Having earned National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification some years ago, writes Vanessa Carroll Pyles, “I’m enjoying pushing myself in my new role as grad+ coordinator at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colo.” She explains, “I help students gain access to programs designed to ultimately make them more marketable to either colleges or the workforce, such as workforce certifications,

PHOTO CREDIT

JANE FINN-FOLEY

media outlet: The Boston Globe headline: Six art-school stars from around Boston to watch in 2022 takeaway: Art can answer a “longing for community”

Early in the pandemic, Katy Rodden Walker ’07 had a new baby, her grandmother had died, and she was trying to find ways to continue her art. “I was being pulled in a lot of different directions. I wanted a material to express some of those ideas,” she said. One material was gauze.

Rodden Walker’s installation Enmeshed “reflects her longing for community,” writes reporter Cate McQuaid for The Boston Globe, which named Rodden Walker, who earned a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, as one of “six artschool stars to watch in 2022.”

“Made of gauze, clay slip, and glue, it hangs overhead in a sheltering embrace,” writes McQuaid, noting that the work was “inspired by the interconnectivity of rhizomes and mycelium.” “What would a rhizome feel like at a grand scale?” Rodden Walker wondered. “I wanted to try to put somebody inside of that.”

Seal of Biliteracy, STEM Seal, Concurrent Enrollment, Dual Enrollment” — the latter two referring to opportunities for high school students to take college credit–bearing courses. “And I work with teachers to design and build these programs.” She adds, “My family and I are still loving our annual camping trips with classmate Rachel Agoglia and her family.”...

Kenneth Kolb, a professor of sociology and department chair at Furman Univ., last December published the book Retail Inequality: Reframing the Food Desert Debate, which examines efforts to increase healthy food access in marginalized communities. Interviewing Ken about the book in March, a writer for Hunter College’s New York City Food Policy Center asked what key messages policymakers and educators should take from it. “Being poor makes life more complicated and time consuming,” he replied. “People facing poverty are problem solvers, so designing solutions to help them shouldn’t pile more burdens on their plate. Assistance programs with convoluted requirements and means-testing protocols simply take time and money that could be spent helping people fulfill their core needs.”…Comedian, puppeteer, and musician Justin Lander, co-founder of the Modern Times Theater in Vermont, was awarded a grant from The Jim Henson Foundation to create The Baffo Box Show, an eccentric and absurdist solo hand-puppet show now touring New England. Justin and his spouse, Rose Friedman, co-founded Modern Times in Hardwick, Vt., in 2007... Tim Sargent made his annual June fishing trip with Jesse Strandberg ’97 and Peter Kutny, and, he reports, “once again came home empty-handed. I also got to hang out with Justin Abramson and his wonderful family while they vacationed in Vermont,” where Tim lives.

1999

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY

Jenn Lemkin Bouchard jennifer_bouchard@hotmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Jamie Ascenzo Trickett jamie.trickett@gmail.com

“Seeing my 10-year-old in one of my old Bates T-shirts is a real reminder of how time passes,” notes A’Llyn Ettien. “I’m now working with interlibrary loan in addition to cataloging, archives, and website updates at Boston Univ. Alumni Medical Library, where I’ve spent 14 years. There’s always something new to learn, which keeps things both challenging and interesting.”... Rebecca Gasior Altman, a Rhode Island based writer and sociologist who explores the social

history of chemistry, plastics, pollution, and our environmental legacy, is working with Simon & Schuster’s Scribner imprint on her first book, an intimate history of plastics. Meanwhile, her byline has appeared this year in the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post, among others….Still happily ensconced in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood, Brian Henry is working as a transit planner for King County Metro. “It’s super fun planning bus connections to the new light rail,” he says. “My daughter Josie is now 12 years old. My wife, Alicia, and I are enjoying lots of trail running, backpacking, and hiking around the Pacific Northwest woods.”... Amy Keith was re-elected to the position of second vice president of the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area. She is also a co-chair of the Voter Services Team and helped run the League’s Election Protection poll monitoring for the midterms in 2018, the year she joined the organization. Having spent most of her career working for humanitarian and refugee organizations in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, she has some 20 years of experience in nonprofit management, and is grants director at Empath Health….Jenn Lemkin Bouchard’s second novel, Palms on the Cape, will be published in 2024 by TouchPoint Press.

2000

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY Cynthia Link cynthiafriedalink@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jenn Glassman Jacobs jenniferellenjacobs@gmail.com Megan Shelley mhshelley@aol.com

Kate Haesche Thomson explains that she had “resisted moving home to Marblehead but succumbed in 2019. She spent 2020–2022 in uncomfortably close proximity to her husband Mark ’03 and daughters Julia, 11, and Grace, 8. She freelances as a marketing strategist and swims in the Atlantic year-round.”…Justin Scheck, a veteran investigative reporter and co-author of a book about Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has joined The New York Times as an inaugural member of its international investigations team. Justin came to the Times after 15 years with The Wall Street Journal, where his achievements included a role in the paper’s Pulitzernominated investigation of Amazon’s third-party marketplace.

2001

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Noah Petro npetro@gmail.com

CHARLES MAYER PHOTOGRAPHY

takeaway: Katy Rodden Walker

class of 2011 takeaway: Anna Hogeland

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jodi Winterton Cobb jodimcobb@gmail.com

Kate Hagstrom Lepore khlepore@gmail.com

The community of Leland sits about halfway up Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula, and in June a local news organization added Ben Maier to its “Personalities of the Peninsula.” Ben, wrote The Ticker, “is celebrating a lot of things these days. For just a couple, it’s the 20-year anniversary of his eponymous ceramics gallery on Main Street near Leland’s Fishtown, and right next door, the opening of his and wife Caroline’s grab-and-go lunch/gourmet food shop called Picnic.” Ben’s wood- and sodafired tableware and decorative pieces have won recognition across Michigan — and beyond, as prominent office-furniture maker Steelcase has made him a “Makers Market” sales partner, featuring his work on its website.

2002

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS SECRETARY Stephanie Eby steph.eby@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jay Surdukowski jsurdukowski@sulloway.com Drew Weymouth weymouthd@gmail.com

Liz Coulson Libre is still living in and “loving Brooklyn, N.Y.! And still running Lewis (named after Lewiston!), a line of printforward textiles for babies and kids that I founded with my dear friend, Lizzy Sall Ott. (We have really great baby gifts, if you’re looking!)” She adds, “Between work and three kids, life is full” for her and John Libre, “and for that, we’re grateful.”...Vanessa KalterLong Ford and her husband, J.R. Ford, talked with NPR’s All Things Considered in late 2021 about their co-authored children’s book, Calvin, which explores one child’s experience of coming out as transgender. The book was inspired by the Fords’ experiences parenting Ellie, who came out at age 4. Something they learned, Vanessa told host Audie Cornish, was that “kids are really open. They are accepting and interested and curious. It’s really adults and political figures who have taken the issue of trans kids and politicized and put all this fearmongering out there, when in our experience and the experience of many people we’ve talked with, kids may have a few questions like Calvin’s friend did, but then it’s on to recess.”...Finn Walter, owner and chef at The Nicolett, a restaurant in Lubbock, Texas, was a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s 2022 award for Best Chef: Texas. He was also featured in Forbes for his innovative work on zero-proof cocktails. (Thanks to Kate Reinhalter Bazinsky for the tip. — Editor)

2003Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Kirstin Boehm

kirstincboehm@gmail.com MelissaYanagi melissayanagi@gmail.com

Seven members of the Class, friends since their early days at Bates and several of them Maine residents, gathered on the shore of Lake Megunticook during the summer for a long-overdue mini-reunion — delayed in part because of the pandemic, of course. They were: Elisabeth “Boo” Markus, Jeff Burnap, Margot Fine, Abigail Poe Akre and Andrew Akre ’04, Ellie Kreischer, and Jenny Guillaume. The seven, says Ellie, “have 12 kids under 12!”... Prerana Shrestha was one of at least five scientists of South Asian origin to receive a Sloan Research Fellowship, recognizing early-career potential and achievement, in February. A biochemistry major at Bates, she is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Stony Brook Univ., and studies protein synthesis regulation in memory systems. Prerana and Sameer Maskey ’02, president of the artificialintelligence firm Fusemachines, live in Smithtown, N.Y….

James Wilcox was appointed vice president of business development and head of the Enovix Mobility division of lithium-ion battery maker Enovix in June. James, who joined Enovix in 2008 as part of the engineering team that developed the company’s proprietary battery design, will lead Enovix efforts to expand into the electric vehicle marketplace. A chemistry major at Bates, he earned a doctorate in materials science and engineering at the Univ. of California, Berkeley. He and Kari Edwards Wilcox live in Pleasanton, Calif.

2004

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Eduardo Crespo eduardo.crespo.r@gmail.com Tanya Schwartz tanya.schwartz@gmail.com

Stephanie Borges Folarin spoke with the Chestertown (Md.) Spy for its “Profiles in Education” video series.

Stephanie has led the Wye River Upper School, a college-prep school in Centreville for students with learning challenges, since last July. In the video, she touches on her goal to make the school more affordable, how it helps prepare students for college or other vocational choices, and the challenges parents face with children who require a different approach to

media outlet: The New York Times headline: Asking the hard questions about motherhood takeaway: Not much stands between women and reproductive bondage

Anna Hogeland ’11 delivers a “crucial” collection of narratives about the “complex realities” of reproductive health in her debut novel, The Long Answer, reviewed by The New York Times’ Brenda Shaughnessy.

“This book addresses all those experiences, truly a breathtaking roundup of the many ways that women carry and lose babies and pregnancies, so many possible and impossible choices to be made, so many capitulations and coercions to be endured,” Shaughnessy writes.

Hogeland’s book unwinds the narratives of several women experiencing issues with reproductive health.

“Whether or not this book brings together their voices harmoniously, it does clarify and reiterate that precious little stands between women and reproductive bondage.”

COURTESY ANNA HOGELAND

secondary education. “Sometimes they’re struggling more than their child is struggling because they want to just fix it,” she says. “As parents, you want to just fix it.” …In the Portland Press Herald, Mitchell Institute head Jared Cash called on Maine colleges and universities to expand financial aid to truly support low-income, first-generation-tocollege students. He argued that such students often carry financial burdens that don’t affect more affluent students. “If we hope to sustain Maine’s economy and help young people achieve their full potential...we must fully account for true need in the cost of higher education, and we must, through public and private investments, meet that need in full,” he wrote. The Mitchell Institute annually provides a $10,000 scholarship to a college-bound senior from every public high school in Maine…. Elizabeth Jackson Eckhoff became executive director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard Univ. in July. She served previously as chief administrative officer of the Greater Portland (Maine) Health Center and has also developed and overseen health and education programs in Africa for Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She and Chris Eckhoff will continue to live in Falmouth, Maine…. Based in Crystal River, Fla., Andy Peters continues to get rave reviews as a comedy magician…. Regina Readling joined the NYC law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges in July as a partner in the executive compensation and benefits practice. Coming to Weil from Sullivan & Cromwell, she focuses on the executive compensation and employee benefits aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and initial public offerings…. Adam Waite has been managing director of D.A. Davidson & Co., a national financial services firm headquartered in Montana, since May. Working in the Boston office, he serves clients in the financial technology sector, as well as attending to the blockchain and digital assets sector. “As an independent, employee-owned company, Davidson is in the enviable position of being free from many of the conflicts faced by competing investment banks,” Adam said in an announcement of his hiring. “We have been vocal and steadfast supporters of the opportunities afforded by blockchain technology long before it was popular.” Adam joined Davidson after nearly eight years at Piper Sandler and its predecessor firm.

2005

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Kathryn Duvall duvall.kathryn@gmail.com Melissa Geissler melissa.geissler@gmail.com

Michael Downs and Lindsay are enlarging Mount Chase Lodge, their sporting camp sited on scenic Shin Pond, near Baxter State Park and the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. “We still cater to traditional Maine activities, but have expanded our offerings to include activities that we are passionate about, such as cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, mountain biking, canoeing, hiking, and ‘dark skies’ stargazing,” Michael told the Gorham (Maine) Times in March. Their current mile-long snowshoeing trail will grow to about 10 miles of multi-use trails. The couple bought the lodge in 2016 from Lindsay’s parents, who owned and ran it for 40 years….Julian Felch joined BMC Investments, a Denver-based real estate investment company, in January as vice president of asset management. He oversees management of the company’s workforce housing portfolio and leads renovations to certain classes of property….Lindsey Hamilton is “thrilled to share that I am returning to Bates as the inaugural director of the new Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning,” effective in mid-August. She came from the Univ. of Colorado Denver, where she has served as an associate professor in psychology (clinical teaching track) and as director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. In addition to a bachelor of science degree in neuroscience from Bates, Lindsey earned a doctorate in neuroscience from Wake Forest Univ. in 2010…. Leah Skowron Kingman was appointed director of the 20th Century Design Department at Skinner Auctioneers in Marlborough, Mass. Leah is an art historian, licensed auctioneer, and specialist in 20th- and 21st-century design, notably hand-wrought silver and the Arts and Crafts movement in New England. A specialist at Skinner in the early 2010s, she also served as assistant director of European decorative arts at Eldred’s prior to rejoining Skinner. (Among other professional highlights, she oversaw the sale of a Patek Philipe watch for $260,000 while at Eldred’s.) “It is with great excitement we welcome her return to Skinner in this important role,” Skinner CEO Karen Keane said in announcing the appointment. Leah and Shawn Kingman ’04 live in Yarmouth Port, Mass.…Eben Sypitkowski became director of land management in Maine for The Nature Conservancy last March. Previously director of the state’s famed Baxter State Park, Eben earned a degree in environmental studies from Bates and a Masters in Forestry from the Univ. of Maine. He now oversees the management of more than 300,000 acres of conservation

land. (The organization holds conservation easements on the Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area, which is managed by Bates.) “How we take care of our natural places has never been more important than it is right now,” Eben said in an announcement of the appointment….Blake Wayman, executive vice president at Boston Partners Financial Group, was named one of the Union Leader newspaper’s 40 Under 40 in January. (Israel Piedra ’12 was another honoree.) The list celebrates movers and shakers in the Granite State. What advice would Blake give his 22-year-old self? “Small, consistent habits will yield huge results,” he told the paper. “Knowing how many people depend on me for their financial futures is an extremely motivating factor in how I live my day-to-day life. Balance all of that with humility, and a good sense of humor.” He and Katrina Bergevin Wayman, a nurse-midwife, have two children and live in Hooksett.

2006

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Chelsea Cook chelsea.m.cook@gmail.com Katie Nolan knolan06@gmail.com Johnny Ritzo johnnyritzo@gmail.com

Keelin Godsey was cited by Outsports as one of more than two dozen trans athletes who have been out while competing and who have competed at the college level. A topnotch hammer thrower, Keelin finished in fifth place at the PanAm Games in 2011 and barely missed out on a spot on the U.S. team for the 2012 Summer Olympics…. The Christian Science Monitor talked to Matthew Moretti for a July 5 article about Maine’s kelp-farming industry, which is providing new revenue for fishermen and ameliorating effects of climate change. Matt may be best-known to Batesies because of his family’s Portlandbased firm Bangs Island Mussels, but he has also gone big into kelp — which oxygenates and reduces the acidity of seawater, benefiting mussels growing nearby. Kelp is “not going to solve climate change,” Matt told the Monitor. “It’s not going to solve ocean acidification. But it’s one way we can make a difference that’s measurable and significant in our local ecosystem to help the problem.”...Jenna Dela Cruz Vendil has returned to Bates as the associate director of democratic engagement and student activism at the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. A Maine resident passionate about building inclusive systems through social action, public policy, and electoral participation, Jenna

has worked as field director of the League of Young Voters and statewide organizer for Planned Parenthood, and in 2009 was the first Asian American woman elected to the school board in Portland, serving for nearly a decade. “Outside of community building,” she notes, “I find joy in taking care of my succulentplant babies and designing the next family adventure with my partner Marc LeBourdais and my real baby, Mateo Cruz.”

2007

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Keith Kearney kdkearney@gmail.com Rakhshan Zahid rakhshan.zahid@gmail.com

Lauren Gold and Chris Mechem welcomed Quinn Katherine Mechem in late June. “Big brother Jamie loves telling her all about Bates Bobcats!” says Lauren. The family lives in Lawrenceville, N.J.

2008

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Liz Murphy elizabeth.jayne.m@gmail.com Alie Egelson alisonrose.schwartz@gmail.com

Jonathan Brennan and Melinda welcomed their second daughter, Lydia, last January. “Their nearly 4-year-old daughter, Evelyn, is excited to take on big sister duties!” Jonathan says. The family lives in Barrington, R.I…. Erin Faulder is now a digital repository systems engineer at MITRE, an operator of federally funded research and development centers. She went to MITRE after six years as a digital archivist at Cornell Univ. Library….Bill Jack joined the Travis Mills Foundation in May. Located in Rome, Maine, the foundation provides “recalibrated veterans” — military men and women injured on active duty or as a result of their service — with programs that help overcome physical and emotional obstacles, strengthen their families, and promote rest and relaxation. Bill helps with programming at the foundation’s Veterans Retreat, which affords fully accessible opportunities for injured veterans and family members to enjoy the Maine outdoors. (Bates bestowed an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree on founder Travis Mills in 2019.)...A physician, Sam Milstein opened Ridgeway Health Primary and Urgent Care in September 2021. “We were the first private outpatient COVID treatment facility in Oregon,” he reports, “and worked with the Oregon Health Authority for the allocation and disbursement of federally rationed medications, advocating for rural and medically underserved Oregonians.”...Kim Nelson Pryor and her wife,

media outlet: Hispanic Executive headline: Monica Nichole Rodriguez encourages employees to be their authentic selves takeaway: Showing empathy is a path to a

healthy workplace

As legal affairs manager of labor and employment at United Rentals, Monica Rodriguez ’12 is at the center of her firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, reports Hispanic Executive.

After earning a law degree from Boston College, Rodriguez worked in matrimonial law before joining United Rentals — the world’s largest equipment rental provider — where she transformed a workplace diversity program into a robust DEI initiative that created safe spaces, education awareness, and networking opportunities.

In a healthy workplace, employees can safely be their authentic selves, she tells Hispanic Executive. For a manager, that means showing empathy. “If your employees feel comfortable enough to be their authentic selves because empathy is valued, you are going to have a better experience with your direct reports and with the company at large.”

class of 2012 takeaway: Monica Rodriguez

MONICA RODRIGUEZ

media outlet: The Atlantic headline:

takeaway:

From the loyalty of a golden retriever to the guard-dog personality of a German shepherd, dog breeds carry firm stereotypes. But that’s all they are — stereotypes — reveals a research paper co-authored by Kathleen Morrill ’15 and reported nationally, including in The Atlantic

“Does breed matter? Does breed not matter?” says Morrill, a dog geneticist at the Broad Institute and UMass Chan Medical School, in an interview with The Atlantic. “Really, it’s both.”

“Morrill and her colleagues seem to have hit upon some solid connections,” writes reporter Katherine Wu. “In the end, they couldn’t find a single behavioral trait that was either absent from any of the breeds they surveyed, or present in every dog within a given breed.”

In other words, a breed’s various behaviors are “predilections, not prescriptions.”

Lindsey Pryor ’11, welcomed Frances Emily Pryor in February. Frances, her 3-year-old sister, Meg, and parents visited Bates for the first time during the summer, writes Kim. “At the Commons cereal wall, Meg chose Trix.”...Sam Rigby has served as technology director for public schools in Gorham, Maine, since May. Sam went to Gorham from the Westbrook School Department, where he led the technology department and tech initiatives for nearly nine years. Prior to Westbrook, he worked in the technology and foreign language departments for the Hanover, N.H., schools and with the technology staff for a school network in Chile. Sam and Laura French Rigby ’07 live in Yarmouth and have a daughter, Sloan….Matt Savas is a co-host of Conbini Boys, a weekly podcast exploring the world of the Japanese convenience stores known as konbini. (Yep, it’s spelled with a “c” for the podcast and “k” for the convenience stores.) According to Matt and colleague Mike Markey, konbini offer “a dizzying array of products, from bento lunches and novelty snacks to household items. A microcosm of society, konbini shed insight on contemporary Japan’s dynamics and role in the world.” A resident of Cambridge, Mass., Matt also serves as content director at the Lean Enterprise Institute.… Aaron Schleicher joined the NYC office of international law firm Sullivan & Worcester as a partner in the firm’s Capital Markets practice group in May. He represents issuers, investment banks, and private equity firms in a wide array of capital-raising transactions, with a focus on initial and follow-on equity offerings. He previously was a partner in the capital markets group at Kirkland & Ellis. David Danovitch, co-director of Sullivan’s corporate department, praised Aaron as “an extremely talented lawyer whose capital markets, corporate governance, and SEC compliance experience will offer significant value to our clients.”...The 10th anniversary of Lewiston’s Tree Street Youth organization last summer prompted NextCity.org, an advocacy journalism site focusing on urban issues, to talk with Julia Sleeper-Whiting about Tree Street’s formative years. (SleeperWhiting co-founded Tree Street with Kim Sullivan ’13.) The piece focused on the role played by the CDFI Genesis Community Loan Fund, which helped Julia forecast a budget to buy a building and assessed the feasibility of her raising funds to repay a bridge loan. That loan helped Tree Street obtain and renovate its headquarters and gave her time to raise money — almost all of it from individual donors. Meanwhile, Julia was one of three recipients of the Univ. of New England’s 2022 Deborah Morton awards, honoring women who have achieved high distinction in their careers and public service,

or who have shown exceptional leadership in civic, cultural, or social causes.

2009

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Tim Gay timothy.s.gay@gmail.com Arsalan Suhail arsalansuhail@gmail.com

Meagan Doyle and Chris Bird welcomed Henry Doyle Bird in April. The family lives in Brunswick, Maine — Meagan is the digital archivist at the Bowdoin College Library (and Chris is Bowdoin ’07)....Lily Hanstein was named vice president of strategy for The MEMIC Group, a superregional workers’ compensation insurance company licensed in 46 states, last spring. An English major, she joined MEMIC as director of strategy in February of 2020, after working as a senior consultant with the corporate strategy and culture consulting group and as a branch manager for Gorham (Maine) Savings Bank. “Some of an organization’s best strategic thinkers are the people who have to execute the work each day and face customers,” Lily said in an announcement of the promotion. “A really good day in this role is being able to mix it up with lots of different areas of the business and collaborate to surface solutions that they can help lead.”...Rachel Ogilvie is an epidemiologist at Optum, in Boston. For the past two years, she worked with the Federal Drug Administration to design and execute studies on COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness. Her manager at Optum, by the way, is Najat Ziyadeh ’95….

An attorney at the regional law firm Murtha Cullina since 2018, Joseph Szerejko became the independent consumer advocate for the Metropolitan District of Hartford, Conn., in January. Such advocates protect consumer interests across a spectrum including water quality, water supply, and wastewater service.

Joe is a member of the litigation department and varied practice groups at Murtha Cullina, and was named a “New Leader in the Law” by the Connecticut Law Tribune last year. 2010

takeaway: Kathleen Morrill

Humans can’t quit a basic myth about dog breeds

A dog’s breed cannot fully predict behavior

UMASS CHAN MEDICAL SCHOOL

Sarah Dice-Goldberg has been a proud member of SEIU 1021 as an emergency department registered nurse at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center since October 2019. She started an additional position as an ED nurse practitioner at the Regional Medical Center of San Jose in August 2021. She supports Bates employees’ efforts to unionize and urges the college to stop its union-busting tactics, including, she says, “dragging out the process in its attempt to stop unionization at all costs.”…. Christine McCall was one of 17 residents of the Lowell, Mass., region honored by the local chamber of commerce with its Distinguished Young Professionals Award. As assistant city manager and director of the Department of Planning and Development, she oversees daily operations of Lowell’s economic development, community development, planning, housing/ energy, transportation, and development services teams….

Eliza Read-Brown Nussdorfer joined Peak Physical Therapy & Sports Performance in Quincy, Mass., as a physical therapist in June. A resident of Somerville, Eliza earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Boston Univ. last year after a few years as a paralegal….Emily Russell covers Adirondack State Park for North Country Public Radio. In a June profile, the online community bulletin board Adirondack Almanac profiled the environmental studies major from Glens Falls, N.Y. The piece looks at her embrace of journalism while working toward a master’s degree in Alaska, her time in Alaska public radio, and her dedication to bringing fresh perspectives to her reporting….After a decade with the African Leadership Group, building educational institutions across Africa, Theodore Sutherland moved from Kenya to Boston in August 2021 to spend time with his wife, Selamile Dlamini, as she started at HBS. Now he has joined HBS as well. “It’s been great to be back in the U.S. and reconnect with Batesies on the East Coast including David Longdon ’14, Cynthia Alexandre-Brutus ’13, Linda Kugblenu ’13, Victor Babatunde, and Clyde Bango!” he says. “We’re often traveling back to Nairobi, Joburg, and Accra, so if you’re in any of those cities at some point, reach out — you never know if our paths may cross.”...Ali Vingiano is a writer, actress, and filmmaking comedian nominated this year for a Writer’s Guild Award for her work as a writer and executive story editor on Apple TV’s The Morning Show. Profiled on the podcast Last Things First last January, she told host Sean McCarthy about an early venture into the industry: a screenplay

based on the book Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. At age 13, she said, “I wrote 116 pages of the script and then I found out that it was already being turned into a Lindsay Lohan movie, and I cried. And I wrote a letter to the studio begging them to read my version, which they didn’t.”

2012

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Mikey Pasek mikeypasek@gmail.com Sangita Murali sangitamurali12@gmail.com

Reid Christian, who joined the venture capital firm CRV in 2017, has been named to the annual Brink List, recognizing emerging investors making their names in the field of venture capital. Reid was recognized for his success in the crowded early-stage tech sector, boosting founders in the U.S. and Europe. The Brink List is published by Forbes and the VC firm TrueBridge in conjunction with their annual Midas List of the Top 100 venture capitalists….Bringing a decade of healthcare, insurance, and startup experience, Matt Conetta became president and co–CEO of Tripment Health last spring. NYC–based Tripment is a healthcare marketplace providing access to services for underinsured and uninsured patients. “Matt is joining Tripment at the perfect time — we are actively fundraising for our next capital investment, and I am confident he will help us take Tripment to the next level,” Alex Radunsky, Tripment founder and co-CEO, said in the announcement….James Dowling-Healey received a Master of Science degree in biology and a graduate certificate in environmental science from the Univ. of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Conn. He was inducted into Beta Beta Beta (aka TriBeta) Biology Honor Society at Saint Joseph and worked as an adjunct faculty member…. Taking part in the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum last March was Cosmin Ghita, CEO of Nuclearelectrica, the only nuclear energy producer in Romania. Under his leadership, Nuclearelectrica plans to double its capacity in the next decade, bringing the plant’s contribution to Romania’s CO2–free energy production from about 20 percent to 66 percent. Cosmin majored in politics and Russian at Bates and served as president of the student government….Julia McCabe is the sole Lewiston resident to play with the LA Maples, Lewiston-Auburn’s semipro women’s basketball team. She first came to town for Bates, where she majored in women and gender studies — but didn’t play basketball, thanks to an ACL

class of 2018 takeaway: Alisa Amador

Alisa Amador ’18 performs at the Bates Campaign Celebration in Boston on Sept. 28, 2022

media outlet: NPR’s Morning Edition headline: Announcing the winner of the 2022 Tiny Desk Contest takeaway: Multicultural can mean “in-between-ness”

Alisa Amador ’18 is a “singer-songwriter from Boston with a powerful voice whose tender performance commands attention and fosters connection,” said Bob Boilen, host of NPR’s All Songs Considered, as he announced Amador as the winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest.

Amador, who grew up in New England, Puerto Rico, and Argentina, tells NPR that her winning entry, the Spanish-language “Milonga accidental,” is “an ode to in-between-ness, to having several identities at once, to feeling split between cultures and languages.”

As she sings in the song, “Cuando sabré descifrar mi razón? / Cuando sentiré mi hogar en mi voz?” “When will I know how to decipher my purpose? / When will I feel at home in my voice?”

The performance, “marked by a soaring vocal improv and imbued with Spanish inflection and a crystalline sense of purpose, captivates from start to finish,” says contest judge Nate Chinen.

EVGENIA ELISEEVA

alumni awards

Strength in Numbers

The pandemic paused in-person award ceremonies, so we saw a bigger than usual group of award winners, including recipients of signature Alumni Association honors, who gathered at Back to Bates on Oct. 15.

Front: Sally Ehrenfried ’89, Papaioanou Distinguished Alumni Service; Carolyn McNamara ’08, Alumni Community Service; Wayne Loosigian ’72, Bates’ Best; Todd Zinn ’97, Bates’ Best; Sara Hagan Cummings ’89, 2021 Stangle Award for Distinguished Service to the Bates Community.

Middle: Lisa Marshall-Schwiebert ’86, Alumni Professional Recognition; Heather Beebe ’85, Bates’ Best; Beth Tener ’89, 2021 Stangle Award for Distinguished Service to the Bates Community; Amanda Webb Dickerson ’01, Alumni Community Service.

Back: Terence Welch ’83, 2021 Bates’ Best; Eric Foushee, vice president, College Advancement; Bruce Stangle ’70, trustee emeritus; Kevin Moore ’93, president, Alumni Association.

injury in high school. Still, the 15-year gap in her hoops career didn’t stop the Maples from inviting her to join. Her “work ethic has earned the respect of her teammates and coach,” Sun Journal reporter Robbie Hoden noted. A teammate told Hoden, “Sometimes I think she’s not even in the vicinity of the play and she somehow comes up with the ball, and you’re like, ‘How did she get over there?’”...Mikey Pasek moved to Chicago during the summer as he started a new job as an assistant professor of psychology at the Univ. of Illinois Chicago. Writing in July, he was looking forward to getting to know the Bates community in

Chicago and hoping that Maine winters prepared him well for the Windy City….Israel Piedra, an attorney, brass band musician, and state representative for Manchester, N.H., was named one of the Union Leader newspaper’s 40 Under 40 in January. The list celebrates movers and shakers in the Granite State. (Blake Wayman ’05 was another honoree.) Asked what motivates him to give back to his community, Israel replied: “I don’t like to sit on the sidelines, especially when I feel I have something to contribute. I am also passionate about all of the community activities I participate in — music, law, and

politics are all longtime interests of mine. So it is easy to want to stay involved.”…A website for City Connects, a Boston College program that helps support students in schools serving under-resourced neighborhoods and families, profiled Rebecca Schmidtberger in June. The piece focuses on her dedication to bridging the gap between educational research and what actually happens in classrooms. A former teacher and school counselor, she is working toward a doctorate in counseling psychology at B.C., having discovered that “I wanted to be one of the providers I was sending students to.”…Emily Tato finished first among women and second overall in the Mattapoisett (Mass.) Lions Club Triathlon in July. Described by a reporter for The Wanderer as a “prolific and now-professional triathlon champion,” Emily had won age-group nationals in 2020 before a long illness with COVID-19 and related ailments canceled her past two competitive seasons…. Kailee Wilson Sullivan joined Horizon Technology Finance Management, a registered investment adviser that underwrites and manages secured loans made to companies in diverse industries, as staff attorney in May. She came to the firm from Prospera Law, where as an associate attorney she advised clients on corporate governance, mergers, and acquisitions, and venture capital and private equity investments. Based in Horizon’s Farmington, Conn., headquarters, she manages legal aspects of the firm’s portfolio and is an adviser on corporate legal matters.

2013

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Megan Murphy megan.a.murphy3@gmail.com Ryan Sonberg rsonberg9@gmail.com

Mollie Ann Kervick received a doctorate in English from the Univ. of Connecticut in June. A fellow at the United States Military Academy at West Point, she is a civilian instructor of composition and literature in the Department of English and Philosophy.

2014

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Milly Aroko mildredaroko@gmail.com Hally Bert hallybert@gmail.com

Mohdis Baker was named general manager of Portland Rising, the Premier Ultimate League team based in Maine’s

largest city, last spring. She coached the flying-disc sport at Bates. “I get to see a different side of the team I didn’t see previously,” she told the Portland Press Herald. “It’s fun to be backstage.”...Catherine Elkhattaby Strauch is working toward a Master in Music Education from Longy School of Music Bard College, she is in her fourth year teaching music at Wildwood Elementary School in Amherst, Mass., and she and Nour had their first child in November.

2015

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

James Brissenden brissendenja@gmail.com Ben Smiley bensmiley32@gmail.com

Gabrielle Concepcion-Taveras was one of five first-generationto-college med students hailed by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as exemplars of resilience. The Einstein profile explained how, as she neared her Bates graduation, Gabby realized she would need to bolster her medical application and boost her MCAT score in order to get into medical school — and so went on to spend three years as a medical scribe. In the profile, she advised first-gen students to take advantage of help and to support others along the way. She added, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” She began a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in July.… Talia Mason graduated from the Univ. of Maryland with a Master in Education and a certificate for teaching French at the K–12 levels. This latest master’s degree came on the heels of her MFA in experimental choreography from the Univ. of California, Riverside. In September, Talia began teaching French full-time at Tilden Middle School in Rockville, Md….In July the National Federation of Professional Trainers website profiled Andrew Seaton, who was NFPT-certified in 2021. One reason for earning the certification, he said, was that learning more of the science behind “health and wellness would help me prepare to return to an academic environment.”

Indeed, after some years spent coaching athletics at the collegiate and club levels, he’s now in a Master of Public Health program at the Univ. of Michigan — and has joined the NFPT staff of bloggers…. Nick Steverson graduated as valedictorian and as a member of the Order of the Coif, a national recognition of high achievement in legal studies, from the Univ. of Colorado Law School in May. Writing in July, he was looking ahead to the bar exam and a year clerking at the Colorado Supreme Court.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

2016

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Andre Brittis-Tannenbaum andrebt44@gmail.com Sally Ryerson sallyryerson@gmail.com

Hannah Albertine has been food editor for Philadelphia magazine since last spring. She edits and writes for Foobooz, the magazine’s online food and drink hub, as well as its print products. A writer for the Bates Communications Office during her years on campus, she subsequently covered NYC’s restaurant scene for the Infatuation dining guide….A hoops standout at Bates, Mike Boornazian portrayed an L.A. Laker earlier this year in an HBO series chronicling the team’s ascent to the 1980 NBA championship. In Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, he played a rookie shooting guard drafted out of UCLA to play on that legendary team. He worked alongside such actors as John C. Reilly, Michael Chiklis, and Quincy Isaiah, who portrays Magic Johnson. Mike worked as a segment producer on the prominent talk show Maury from 2019 until the series finale last March….Britta Clark is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics this fall. A researcher addressing ethical and political issues raised by the climate crisis, she is writing a dissertation exploring a theory of intergenerational justice that can guide climate policy in deeply unjust circumstances. A particular interest is the intergenerational dimensions of solar geoengineering…. Jimmy Walsh has joined the Univ. of Maine football staff as special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach. His early coaching career included a stint as cornerbacks coach at Bates, where he played both football and baseball as a student. He came to UMaine from Rice Univ., and previously coached at Merrimack and Springfield colleges.

2017

Reunion 2027, dates TBA

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jessie Garson jgarson4@gmail.com Matthew Baker mattdbaker13@gmail.com

An analyst for the Cincinnati Bengals, Sam Francis and colleague Dan Pitcher spoke to the Hear That Podcast Growlin’ podcast about their work in creating the Bengals Book, a manual of responses to any conceivable gridiron situation. “We have talked through situations, watched

them together, and gone through them so many times it’s really just communicating to Dan, ‘Hey, remember this? This situation, this is what we do.’ It ends there,” Sam told a writer for The Athletic sports news site’s podcast….Colin Kraft became business manager of the Skinner auction firm’s Oriental Rugs Department after completing a master’s at Indiana Univ. Bloomington and studying art history at Florida State Univ. until 2021.

2018

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

John Thayer john.robert.thayer@gmail.com Jake Shapiro shapirojacob6@gmail.com

2019

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

Harry Meadows harry.meadows4@gmail.com Cara Starnbach cara@carastarnbach.com

For the April installment of his Natural Resources Council of Maine blog Maine Adventures With Josh, Josh Caldwell reflected on off-season beach visits. The beach in question: Seawall Beach at the Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area. Outlining threats posed by climate change to Seawall and other Maine beaches, Josh wrote: “I prefer not to think of my visits to places like Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area as a ‘last gasp’ to enjoy a fading beauty. Rather, visiting these places reminds me of the immense responsibility we have to change course and protect the living systems around us that enable our existence.”...

Trevor Fry reports that he is studying law at Boston College while continuing to work part-time as a cheesemonger in Cambridge….Andrew Mikula co-authored a book published in May by Boston’s Pioneer Institute, a public policy research organization. Back to Taxachusetts? argues that a proposed state tax hike, submitted as a constitutional amendment to voters in November, would largely miss its intended taxpayer base and would hurt the commonwealth’s economy. An economic research analyst and candidate for a Master’s in Urban Planning at Harvard, Andrew co-wrote the book with Pioneer research chief Gregory Sullivan and author Liam Day….Blogging for the Massachusetts tutoring firm Cambridge Coaching, Sarah Rothmann drew some thoughts about the power of questions from her time as a Fulbright grantee teaching English in Europe after Bates. Assigned to quickly convey the basics of

Romeo and Juliet, she found that intense questioning did the job. At first, her students were baffled by this approach — but “then, slowly as they kept answering my questions, they realized the deeper meaning and looked shocked and proud as they shared their thoughts with me.”

Sarah is a graduate student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

2020

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

Priscila Guillen priscila.guillen65197@gmail.com Maya Seshan mayaseshan55@gmail.com

Living in NYC, Nina Flores and Mateo Echeverri ’18 have two pets they’re pretty happy with. Nemean is a cream-colored cat, about 2 years old, adopted from a veterinary clinic where he was left a week-plus after his birth. Getting him to adulthood took some close attention, but “now he is a friendly cat who loves to be held and meet anyone who comes through the door.” Their puppy is a “super goofy” miniature dachshund, almost a year old, named Kerberos. “We named him after a moon that orbits Pluto. Our dog, Pluto, passed away last September at age 14. We wanted to honor him in some way.”...Alexandria Onuoha, director of political advocacy for the community organization Black Boston, spoke with Boston public radio in February about the failure of law enforcement to effectively pursue cases of Black women and girls who go missing. The problem, she told WGBH, stems in part from a lack of strong state action and data collection. “Black women and girls... are usually the ones that have to fight for our freedom, our liberation. And that’s why I really think that it is time for elected officials to start helping.”...A pitching standout at Bates, Kirsten Pelletier keeps her softball career aloft as coach of the Auburn Invaders, a traveling team composed of players from Lewiston’s sister city and nearby. This past summer was her third coaching the Amateur Softball Assn. team, which plays four or five tournaments annually in Maine and beyond. “It’s been so awesome to see it grow and see girls (join) that have never played travel softball,” Kirsten told the Sun Journal in July.

2021

Reunion 2026, dates TBA Imani Boggan imaniboggan@gmail.com

Julia Maluf jmaluf120@gmail.com Jade Zhang jadezhang9843@gmail.com

Eliza Blood, an environmental studies major, spent much of 2022 working as an organics recycling intern in Brunswick, Maine. As the town works to double the amount of food waste recycled by residents, Eliza has conducted community workshops and presentations to help people take advantage of available recycling options…. Sasha Cadariu is pursuing a Master’s in Bioethics at King’s College, London, but he’s also reporting for the online AI Time Journal, which explores possible benefits of artificial intelligence and exponential technologies, a field close to his interests. His bylines have included an interview with influential data scientist Jarrod Teo and a look at “generalist agents” — versatile artificial intelligence systems — that are now in production….Living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, William Hibbitts covers Canadian legal news for Jurist, an online legal news service headquartered at the Univ. of Pittsburgh School of Law. His bylines have included examinations of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the national Emergencies Act in response to Ottawa’s Trucker Protests, and of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police response to a mass shooting in 2020 that left 22 dead in Nova Scotia.

2022

Reunion 2026, dates TBA

Anna Landgren aslandgren@gmail.com Rachel Retana rachel7600@gmail.com Ognyan Simeonov ognyan99@gmail.com Sean Vaz savyvaz@gmail.com

A neuroscience major, Lily Kinder became a research assistant in a migraine relief study conducted by the laboratory of Vitaly Napadow. The lab is part of the Center for Integrative Pain NeuroImaging, a partnership between Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology….A resident of Blue Hill, Maine, Mary Richardson organized a peaceful protest in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Some 150 demonstrators took part in the action in the center of Blue Hill, reported The Weekly Packet. The protest was subdued at first, but “once we started getting going, chanting, the stage fright melted away,” said Mary, who double-majored in art and psychology at Bates and worked at the Blue Hill Inn after graduation. “This is not a left or right issue,” she told the paper. “This is up to the person who is carrying the child.”

Please email your high-resolution Bates group wedding photo to magazine@bates.edu. Please identify all people and their class years, and include the wedding date, location, and any other news. Wedding photos are published in the order received.

Smith ’10 & Johnson

Laura Smith ’10 and Nick Johnson, Sept. 10, 2021, Estes Park, Colo. From left: Sara Ellen Godek ’11, Grainné Hebeler ’10, Brianna Bakow ’10, Liz Casline ’10, Laura & Nick, Kat Moraros ’10, Danielle Schaefers ’10, Marilla Pender-Cudlip ’10, Mallory Ayres ’10.

Foster ’13 & Merrick

Mikayla Foster ’13 and Scott Merrick, Aug. 29, 2021, Omni Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, N.H. Back, from left: Chris Chiappetti ’13, Sula Watermulder ’14, Matt Isaacs ’13, Alex Henrie ’13, Danny Kuzio ’13, Katie Kuzio, Jon Woelfel ’13, Taryn Woelfel ’13, Alison O’Neill ’13, Jen Brown ’13. Front: Shoshana Foster ’15, Scott and Mikayla, Liz Bassani ’14, Val Jarvis ’13.

Fetro ’13 & Arnell ’13

Kate Fetrow ’13 and Max Arnell ’13, Oct. 16, 2021, Camp Takodah, Richmond, N.H. Class of 2013 unless noted. Back, from left: Eric Barry, Conor Maginn, Ned Donaldson ’15, Danya Morris, Ted Wells, Virginia Flatow, Anna Gerngross, Ben Smith. Front: Julia Ofman ’15, Nina Sevilla ’16, Kate & Max, Holly McLaughlin, Cat Djang, Munroe Graham, Maud Welch, Margaret Pickoff, Hank Woolley.

Webber

& Burger

Ryan ’14 & Abbott ’14

Aisling Ryan ’14 and Zach Abbott ’14, June 11, 2022, The Inn on Peaks Island, Maine. All Class of 2014 unless noted. Back, from left: Garret Johnson, Christopher DeBrase, Anthony DeBenedictis, Maggie Coco ’16, Adam Cervenka, James Preiss, Dan Arsnow ’11, Sean Gemunden, Matthew Comstock, Nicholas Termyn, Sean Keller, Heather Monty, Alexandra Hill, Norah Wallace, Hallie Balcomb. Middle: Becky Flynn Woods ’89, Tyler Silvey, Tyler Harwood, Aisling and Zach, Laura Entwisle, Liz Bassani, Sophie Termyn, Susan Russell, Lindsey Loy, Katie Williams ’15, Catherine Elkhattaby Strauch. Front: Kaelyn Woods ’20, Abby Abbott ’17, Jenney Abbott ’17, John Frye, Andrew Grillo, Ethan Kass, Sean Thomas, Taylor Kniffin, Grace Glasson.

Reed ’08 & Sigovich

Erin Reed ’08 and Meg Sigovich, May 29, 2022, Camp Ketcha, Scarborough, Maine. From left: Craig Angevine ’07, Molly Ladd ’09, Susan McCulley ’86, Meg Sigovich, Erin Reed ’08, Mariah Pfeiffer ’07, Carolyn McNamara ’08, Kim Wettlaufer ’80.

Ben Porter, Chloe Mitchell, Kathy Yannopoulos, Carolyn Attenborough, Kendra Asklof, Emma Getsinger, Jack Strain, Jason Shrubb, Jay Stephansky, Nicholas Sorice, Kate Hubbard, Andrew Cannon, Krista Prouty, Stephanie Benson, Alex Daugherty, Zac Trkla, Tyler Schleich ’16, Matthew Wallace, Aaron Nickelsberg, Hannah McGrath, Hamilton “Brooks” Wood, Cosmin Barden ’16, Nicholas Margitza ’16, Natalie Frost ’17.

Alfrandre ’88 & Walker ’88 Rachel Alfrandre ’88 and Keith Walker ’88, June 11, 2022, Stamford, Conn. Back, from left: Jonathan “Joc” Clark ’86, Alex Johnson ’85, John Abbott ’87, Dave Reynolds ’86. Front: Kaja Reynolds ’88, Alison Swan ’88, Rachel Alfandre ’88, Dan Calder ’84, Bradley Turner ’86, Nicolas Lindholm ’86.

Butterworth ’03 & Villamizar ’03 Emily Butterworth ’03 and Sindy Villamizar ’03, June 18, 2022, Medellín, Colombia. From left: Laura Griffith Kurlinski ’03, Lili Shaughnessy ’03, Lee Calihan ’03, Sindy and Emily, Lindsey Korotash Roth ’03, Mary Roohan Hallquist ’03.

Rife

’11

Kate Webber ’11 and Steve Burger, Aug, 21, 2021, Cazenovia, N.Y. From left: John Cassidy, Margaret Pickoff ’12, Steve & Kate, Nina Halperin ’11, Blaise Thompson ’11, Catherine Elliott ’12, Haley Foydel.

Kalra ’15 & Newson ’15

Natasha Kalra ’15 and Ryan Newson ’15, Dec. 19, 2021, Merrimon-Wynne House, Raleigh, N.C. All Class of 2015. From left: David Kurey, Matt Welch, Derrick Barnagian, Sam Hundley, Steven Hild, Ryan and Natasha, Kendall Hodges, Brenna Callahan, Adam Cuomo, Emily Regan, Caroline Kern Privitt, Brin Goldin, Frances Jennings.

Stein ’15 & Lee ’15 Madeleine Stein ’15 and Henry Lee ’15, June 25, 2022, in the Berkshires, Mass. Class of 2015 unless noted. Susan MacDonald ’80, Ted Stein ’79, Ben Stein ’09, Meredith Miller Stein ’09, Robert Cramer ’79, Kim Doble ’79, Liz Doble ’79, Jay Reilly ’79, Susan MacDonald ’80, Susan MacDougall ’81, Ben Stein ’09,

& Butt ’01

Erica Rife and Asad Butt ’01, Sept. 7, 2021, Brookline, Mass. Back, from left: Kristian Bodek ’01, Sean Hurley ’03, Joel Anderson ’05. Middle: Anne Lockard ’01, Sarah Kaufman ’01, Sarah Kellar Hvozda ’03, Rachel Kellar ’06, Leora Seri ’03, Kara Mertz ’03, Peter Mertz ’03, Liz Hurley ’01. Front: Andy

O’Sullivan ’14 & Sonberg ’13

Caroline O’Sullivan ’14 and Ryan Sonberg ’13, Oct. 8, 2021, Brick South in Portland, Maine. Back, from left: Grace VanNoy ’14, Melanie Ehrenberg ’18, Miranda Shapiro ’14, Meg Murphy ’13, Ryan Espiritu ’13, Rockwell Jackson ’15, Nate Pajka ’15, Johnny Murphy ’13, Andy Doyle ’86, Jack Gonsalves ’14, Andrew No ’14, Matt Place ’14, Nick Anania ’10, Julie Gleason Doyle ’86. Middle row: Keith Tannenbaum, Lexie Carter ’14, Kristin Calvo ’15, Andrea Meyer ’14, Griffin Wagner ’13, Sarah Merullo Murphy ’12, Kara Garland Hodgson ’14, Joe Drinkwater ’12, Mike Antonellis ’13, Blake Downey ’17, Luke Wamboldt ’11. Front row: Katie Meade Gonsalves ’14, Jenny Snyder Place ’14, Kelly Yardley ’14, Alayna Garbarino ’14, Sarah Bennett ’22, Donna Preli Sonberg ’82, Ryan and Caroline, Sandra Picano O’Sullivan ’87, Erin Augulewicz Antonellis ’13, Maria Garbarino ’18, Ellie Mandzhukova-Wamboldt ’15.

Paré ’10 & Shaughnessy

Kaleigh Paré ’10 and Tim Shaughnessy, February 2021, celebrated February 2022, Plymouth, N.H. From left : Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan ’10, Molly Richmond ’10, Kaleigh and Tim, Harita Dharaneeswaran ’10, Lila Totino ’10.

Mauer ’06 & Tuccio

Cynthia Mauer ’06 and Anthony Tuccio, Aug. 13, 2021, Shadow Creek, Purcellville, Va. From left: Toshi Odaira ’06, Sonija Parson ’06, Cynthia and Anthony Tuccio, Marina Langdon ’06, Henry Mauer ’77.

Otley ’18 & Russell

’18

Teal Otley ’18 and Connor Russell ’18, June 18, 2022, Shady Lane Farm, New Gloucester, Maine. Class of 2018 unless noted. From left: Chris Menzel ’81, Grace Samolis Menzel ’84, Elizabeth Stark Otley ’85, Kathy Bellucci VanDeursen ’83, Victor Otley ’83, Randal Hoder ’83, Regan Haas, Connor DiVinzenco, Parker Strong, Clarke Jones, Lisa Slivken, Connor and Teal, Camille Belletete, Grant Leet-Otley, Allie Solms, Adam Blau, Augy Silver, Annie Duke, Becca Otley ’14, Allison Dewey, Jake Shapiro, Asher MacDonald, Burke Smith, Sophie Olmstead.

Elsmore ’12 & Whitaker ’14 Leah Elsmore ’12 and Steve Whitaker ’14, July 23, 2022, Cleveland (Ohio) Museum of Art. Back row: Graham Oxman ’14, James Meyo ’14, Ishan Reese, Ayanthi Reese, Charlie Thaxton ’12, Pamela Ross ’13, Leah, James Reese, Steve, Soni Arseculeratne Reese ’93, Alana Plaus ’12, Nora Murray ’12, Colleen McManus ’10, Elizabeth Birle ’12. Front: Zak Kofos ’13, Casey Andersen ‘12, Olivia DaDalt ‘12, Claire Gittleman ‘12, Elizabeth Bowling ’13.

Roseman ’15

& Honan

Emily Roseman ’15 and Greg Honan, June 25, 2022, Rowley, Mass. From left: Tessa Holtzman ’17, Matt Summers ’15, Jessica Nichols Tolosky ’15, Emma Israel ’15, Maria Kim ’15, Emily and Greg, Olivia Krishnaswami ’15, Eliza Kaplan ’15, Frances Jennings ’15, Abigail Zwetchkenbaum ’15, Evan Cooper ’15, Teddy Poneman ’15.

Pollack ’17

& Greenblatt ’14

Ashley Pollack ’17 and Logan Greenblatt ’14, March 26, 2022, The Village Club of Sands Point, NY. Back, from left: Madeline Smit ’17, Michael Martin ’17, Matt Neckes ’14, Jess Wilson ’17, Tiago Correia ’17, Christian Sundstrom ’15. Front: Jake Nemeroff ’16, Tom Leonard ’15, Logan and Ashley, Julia Rabin ’15, Tracy LaPointe ’84.

1942

Elizabeth Sundlie Worthley

July 18, 2022

1943

Nancy Terry Park March 20, 2022

v-12

John Greeley Chapman Oct. 12, 2022

1944

Anne Locke Alach Dec. 17, 2021

Stanley Whittier Doe Feb. 23, 2022

1946

Roula Petropulos Kottaridis Oct. 14, 2022

William Dana Perkins Feb. 4, 2019

1947

Joyce Hawkins Parker May 25, 2022

Charlotte Welch Quaintance Sept. 3, 2022

1949

Betty Jane Cederholm Balentine

Jan. 27, 2022

Eugenia Sullivan Carpenter Aug. 21, 2021

Mary-Jane Brown Karpoe July 17, 2022

Barbara Middleton Pinkham April 8, 2022

Edith Mary Routier Jan. 23, 2022

1950

Lois MacKinnon Davis Aug. 24, 2022

Athena Giftos Garivaltis 2022

Walker Ratcliffe Heap Jan. 14, 2022

Avon Cheel Oakes Oct. 1, 2022

Lois Keniston Penney Feb. 16, 2022

Agnes Perkins Shera Aug. 1, 2022

Stanton Thomas Ingersoll Smith August 2021

1951

Phyllis Hayward Chase Jan. 28, 2022

Dorothy Fryer Hoyt March 20, 2022

1952

Norma Crooks Coughlin March 26, 2022

Shirley Beal Dallam May 9, 2022

John Francis O’Brien Sept. 23, 2022

John Albert Sevigny Feb. 13, 2022

Marshall Zane Solomon May 25, 2022

1953

Ronald Clayton Aug. 27, 2022

Carolyn Adlington Easton Friedman Jan. 24, 2022

Donald Robert Holstrom July 14, 1905

Artemis Spanos Paras Sept. 22, 2022

Richard Winsor West May 7, 2022

In reviewing how and where Bates Magazine and online BatesNews share news and tell stories about Bates and Bates alumni — the mix of print or online — we have changed how we publish information about community deaths. We hope that this new format, presented below, will allow inclusion of news closer to the day you receive the magazine and, online, allow you to connect to family-written obituaries. This list is through Oct. 31, 2022. See bates.edu/memoriam. — Editor

1954

Jane D’Espinosa Feb. 11, 2022

Joseph Arden Green June 12, 2022

Dwight Wade Harvie January 2022

Donald George Langlais May 10, 2021

Carol Anderson Robinson May 29, 2021

Donald Emery Weatherbee April 2, 2022

Thomas George Whitney Aug. 24, 2022

Lynn Willcox Willsey March 14, 2022

David McVickar Wright Jan. 26, 2022

1955

Joseph Anthony DiMartinis Dec. 26, 2021

John Ciriacos Houhoulis April 29, 2022

Sharon Noyes Jeffrey Dec. 8, 2021

Beverly Dennison Shea Aug. 10, 2022

Roger Eliot TannerThies Sept. 23, 2022

1956

Moira MacKenzie Blake Sept. 3, 2022

Jane Lippincott Reid Feb. 24, 2022

Elaine Van Vliet Talleur Sept. 1, 2022

Eugene Goss Taylor June 3, 2022

Burke Osgood Trafton March 31, 2022

1957

David Ross Ault May 8, 2022

Mary Rudolph Callan June 18, 2022

Donald Lindsay Foulds July 21, 2022

Charlene Goudey Golden Jan. 19, 2022

Rodney Dexter Henrikson Jan. 8, 2022

Jean Dixon Narayanan Sept. 28, 2021

George Howard Schroder July 21, 2022

Richard Keith Sullivan Sr. Oct. 3, 2022

1958

Louise Oncley August Feb. 3, 2022

Janet McKay Gustafson May 27, 2022

Richard Edgar Hall Feb. 4, 2022

Paul Franklin Hoffman October 2022

Paul Nay Kimball April 22, 2022

John Arvid Liljestrand Aug. 31, 2022

David Richard Lowry Feb. 14, 2022

Nancy Smith Noyes Oct. 17, 2022

Richard Arnold Simon June 26, 2022

Daniel Herbert Spink Sept. 18, 2022

1959

Fredric Kent Auwarter Aug. 25, 2022

Robert Laurence Cox June 22, 2022

Kurt Richard Schmeller Jan. 15, 2022

Linda Tanner Winham May 27, 2022

1960

Janet Russell Baker Oct. 14, 2022

Philip Candelmo May 19, 2022

Gerald Alan Feld May 20, 2022

Joseph William Mees Jan. 28, 2022

Robert Francis Muello Dec. 31, 2021

1961

Jerry Alan Badger Feb. 8, 2022

Rosalind McCullough Boyle Sept. 17, 2022

Gerald Marvin Feder Dec. 6, 2021

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

1961 cont.

Richard Arlon Jeffers May 17, 2022

Gary Wallace Reed March 21, 2022

1962

John Eugene Follett

June 14, 2022

Bruce Alan Gray March 17, 2022

Caroline Taber Kiessling Aug. 12, 2022

Richard Gardner Parker Jan. 9, 2022

Eliza Ann Bowman Scholl Dec. 19, 2021

Katherine Marshall Stricker April 30, 2022

1963

Martha Webb Snow Sept. 12, 2022

1964

Roslyn Avery Fishbaugh April 14, 2022

Linda Corkum Keeffe Jan. 11, 2022

Paul Carnes Williams Dec. 20, 2021

1965

Carol Chase Bjerke Oct. 11, 2022

Sharon Lee Templeman July 24, 2022

Dana Russell Wagenfeld Jan. 1, 2022

1967

Kenneth Ludwig Blank June 17, 2022

William McCrea Ramsey April 19, 2022

Charles William Stratton IV March 21, 2022

Paul Harding Swensen Dec. 19, 2021

William Harris Tucker May 31, 2022

Alan Arthur Virta Dec. 1, 2021

1968

Jill Howroyd Lawler Feb. 1, 2022

Anne Kingwill Morin Aug. 21, 2022

1969

Blake Eric Swan July 21, 2022

1970

David Lee Baker April 24, 2022

Alexander Nesbitt April 20, 2022

Robert William Ostermeyer Nov. 16, 2021

Beverly Donovan Randall Aug. 1, 2022

Geoffrey Paul Remond (date of death not available)

Richard Joseph Warchalowski April 19, 2022

1971

Judith Robinson Cox May 3, 2022

Sheila Tibbetts McNamara Sept. 20, 2019

Lynn Margaret Poland July 11, 2022

1972

Carey James Campbell Burns March 2, 2022

1973

David Irwin Porter July 18, 2022

Edward Stephen Sahady (date of death not available)

1975

Dorothy Jean Macomber Sept. 24, 2022

1976

George William Bardaglio April 11, 2022

Susann Pelletier Lysen Sept. 15, 2022

1978

Barbara Lee MacRae Nov. 23, 2021

Paul William Ploener Jan. 21, 2022

1979

Gary Francis Pachico Jan. 24, 2022

Debora Furlong Wentworth Sept. 1, 2022 1981

Robert Corbin Griem March 12, 2022

1982

Tracey Skinner Riggens March 14, 2022

James Christopher Robertson Aug. 14, 2022

Neil Allan Holmes April 13, 2022

Charles Thomas Anzolut March 2022

Craig Barrett Brown Jan. 31, 2022

William Michael Pineo Jan. 26, 2022

Jennifer Fenander Dec. 9, 2021 1991

Nathaniel Davis Wheatley June 25, 2022

Daniel S. Lee Oct. 5, 2022

Glen Andrew Philley Dec. 17, 2021

Thomas Frederick Martin May 21, 2021

William Richard Gluck June 22, 2022 2020

Torri Santo Pelletier March 17, 2022

PHYLLIS

In a quintessential pose and place, Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36 sits behind his desk and engages in what appears to be a lively discussion with Vietnam veterans from Maine on April 22, 1971.

The Desk Remains the Same

How the legacy of a piece of furniture — the office desk first used by Edmund Muskie ’36 — mirrors the responsibilities of representing Maine in the U.S. Senate

by mary pols

WHEN NEWLY ELECTED SEN. ANGUS KING, an Independent from Maine, was preparing to move into his office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in 2013, he was offered a choice of desks. The one King picked is big and broad, with slightly curved legs that square off in an angle at the top, interrupting its otherwise perfectly rectangular shape, and end in an ornate “bun” foot.

The legs are distinctive but even more so is the desk’s rich legacy, having served as the desk of Edmund Sixtus Muskie ’36 during his time in the U.S. Senate.

The desk was command central as Muskie was working on landmark legislation, including the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, the latter of which had its 50th anniversary this fall. Muskie chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Environ-

mental Pollution, a role that famously earned him the nickname “Mr. Clean.”

“There was no question in my mind this was the right choice,” King says. “If you’re ever given the option to use Edmund Muskie’s desk, you take it!”

And other Maine politicians have done exactly so: When Muskie left the Senate in 1980, after more than two decades, to become Secretary of State to President Jimmy Carter, his former assistant from the early 1960s, George Mitchell, then a federal judge in Maine, was appointed to fill Muskie’s seat in the Senate. King says Mitchell took the Muskie desk as well.

Then, when Mitchell left the Senate in 1995 and was succeeded by Olympia Snowe, she moved the desk into her office. At Muskie’s memorial service in 1996, Snowe described coming to

MUSKIE ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY

Washington in 1979 as the new congresswoman from Maine and being touched by Muskie’s kindness and grateful for his advice. “We were congressional colleagues for only a year and a half, but our friendship lasted throughout the years.”

The furnishings and decor around it changed — Muskie liked to hold forth from behind the desk, with visitors grouped around it in chairs, while Snowe was typically pictured in her office sitting side by side with guests in more elegant striped gold and red high backed chairs — but the desk of the senators from Maine remained the same.

The parties did not though. As was Muskie, Mitchell is a Democrat but Snowe is a Republican.

“This desk’s bipartisan (now tripartisan!) history is one of my favorite features,” says King. “It’s a reminder that I stand on the shoulders of giants who made it their habit to work across party lines to deliver results for our state and our nation. I’m humbled by the legacy of accomplishments left behind by the leaders who came before me.”

Muskie died on March 26, 1996, just two days shy of his 82nd birthday. The son of immigrants, he grew up in Rumford, where his father was a tailor who, had changed the family name from Marciszewski to make it easier for Americans to pronounce, he said. Like many of his classmates during the Depression, Muskie needed to work his way through college, including being a waiter in Commons. By the time he graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1936, he was class president and a skilled and confident debater — an activity that gave him a structured way to escape shyness.

In mid-March, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine raging, King, an adroit user of Instagram who writes often soulful captions for his own

photography, posted a sunlit shot of his office, showing part of the desk, his bust of Lincoln, and the rich red walls behind it, hung with paintings by Maine artists (Marguerite Robichaux and Linden Frederick). The scene, and the moment in time, prompted him to share some perspective in light of the Ukrainian crisis. “In difficult times like these,” King wrote on the post. “I find temporary refuge in history.”

That refuge included considering Muskie’s feat in leading Maine, and the nation, “into the environmental era,” King wrote, noting that Muskie managed the first Clean Water Act to a “unanimous (!) vote in the Senate. And came to embody the idea of integrity in politics.”

There’s no question that Muskie worked at this desk as he crafted the Clean Water Act, King says. “Looking back on it, the fact that Muskie got this bill enacted into law speaks to his relentless perseverance. He held hearing after hearing on this subject, drawing from both scientific data and his personal experiences in Rumford to advocate passionately for the importance of clean water in every community across the country.”

Rumford sits on a bend of the Androscoggin River, so in his youth, Muskie could literally see (and smell) the water and air pollution generated

U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine poses in his Senate office with “the desk,” which was used by Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36, then senators George Mitchell, Olympia Snowe, and now King.

“It’s a true working desk then, not ostentatious. It’s solid. Like Muskie.”

ANGUS KING

by the small city’s pulp and paper mills.

“He eventually wore down his opposition, and the bill passed the Senate unanimously,” King says. “When I’m working on the toughest issues we face and feel like I’m at an impasse, Muskie’s example reminds me to keep going.”

Some mysteries remain about the desk. No one seems to know exactly what kind of wood it is, but King says that “it’s from the early 20th century, and had been in the Russell Senate Office Building originally.” It’s double-sided, so it could accommodate two people sitting across from each other, with a footrest for each. “I’ve never used the desk for that purpose,” King says. “So I get extra room to stretch out my legs.” (A nice feature when you’re 6-foot-2.)

It’s a true working desk then, and despite the turn of its legs — which make it easy to identify in historic photos, like the one of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan making her way into Snowe’s office for a meeting when she was still a nominee — it is not ostentatious. It’s solid. Like Muskie, who The New York Times described in its obituary as “above all, a creature of the Senate. A blunt man, with a hair trigger temper that detonated often, he nonetheless became one of the Senate’s most influential members. An aide once said that ‘sham and pretense grate on him like sandpaper.’”

Note the mention of the temper, which was legendary. The first time George Mitchell glimpsed the desk that would eventually become his, he also saw the temper. On March 26, 1996, Mitchell shared his memory as part of the many Congressional memorial tributes to the former senator from Maine. Mitchell recalled going for an interview for a job as an assistant in Muskie’s office. He was fresh out of law school. Mitchell had been advised to prepare a memorandum on the legal aspects of an issue that was being considered by the Senate.

“I thought the memo was pretty good, but unknowingly I had made a huge mistake,” Mitchell said. “I reached a conclusion that was the opposite of the Senator’s. I had never met him but he didn’t bother with any small talk. Within minutes of our introduction, he unleashed a ferocious cross-examination. He came out from behind his desk, he towered over me, he shook his finger at me and he took my memo apart, line by line.”

Mitchell was stunned and intimidated. “I couldn’t control the shaking of my legs even though I was sitting down. I tried as best as I

could to explain my point of view and we had what you might call a lively discussion. As I left he said, ‘The next time you come in here, you’ll be better prepared.’ That’s how I learned I’d been hired, and I sure was better prepared the next time.”

King says he tells visitors about the desk’s history, “often and eagerly, without any prompting.”

A few years ago, King ran into Ned Muskie, the youngest of Ed and Jane Muskie’s five children, in Washington, D.C., and invited him for lunch in the Senate dining room. “I said that would be incredible,” Ned Muskie says. “Because I have wonderful memories of Dad taking us there. Back then, Dad was like a rock star, even among other senators. They all wanted to interact with Dad. So our lunches would be interrupted by people like Hubert Humphrey or Sam Nunn.”

But before King and Ned Muskie went to lunch, they stopped by King’s office. Muskie remembers King telling him, “I have something special to show you. And sure enough, it was the desk.”

It was set at a different angle — “Dad had it in a very conventional way, at the end of the room” — but Ned knew it immediately. “Hell yeah,” he says. He told King about his own history with the desk.

“I knew this desk from when I was a very little boy. Very similar to John-John Kennedy, who would sit on the stretcher below his father’s desk, I also did the same thing. Dad would be on the phone and I’d crawl under the desk. I’d tickle his feet or do something silly like that, so I have very fond memories of the desk.”

Ned’s four siblings would sometimes join him in play under and around the desk while his father worked. “How Muskie ever got the Clean Water Act passed with kids darting back and forth, I’ll never know!” King says.

King considers the desk timeless. “Not only because it’s been passed down from senator to senator, but because the impact of the work done at this desk still affects Maine people today. Just look at the Clean Water Act: Mainers depend on the ocean, lakes, and rivers to live and work. Without this historic legislation, our waterways would not be the same today.

“Thankfully, Maine had Ed Muskie working for us. So yes, the desk is timeless. It’s a piece of history, and I’m honored to continue the tradition.” n

Future U.S. senator from Maine George Mitchell sits with Sen. Edmund Muskie '36, presumably at Muskie's Senate office desk, in this undated photograph. Mitchell was Muskie's executive assistant from 1962 to 1965 and took over Muskie's seat in the Senate — and his famous desk — in 1980.

U.S. SENATE HISTORICAL OFFICE

Bib Deal

Through the 1960s, under the guise of helping newbies learn the ropes, first-year students faced hazing sponsored by the respective men’s and women’s student governments. During the first few weeks of the first semester, women had to wear bibs (and had to sew their names into the bib) and men wore beanies. This photo was likely taken in fall 1949 in Cheney House. Standing with bibs on are Mary Leckemby Merrill ’52 and Shirley Veale Davenport ’53. Seated before scrapbooks are Caroline Jaques ’52 (left) and Dorothy Pierce Morris ’52. The woman at right is unidentified.

Go Figure

These warped tracks on Campus Avenue belonged to the trolley that ran a loop through Lewiston and a loop through Auburn, hence its name, the Figure Eight. The curve in the track, known as a “heat kink,” was caused by the rails expanding on what was likely a hot day.

Trowel Power

This trowel helped to plant an ivy to celebrate the installation of the Class of 1910 ivy stone, located on Hedge Hall. While ivy stones are still a tradition, the buildings themselves are now ivy-less. Mabel Eaton, a 1910 graduate, became Bates’ famed librarian — an assistant from 1921 to 1941 and as librarian until 1957 — gave the trowel to Bates.

from the muskie archives and special collections library

Pin for the Win Pinback buttons like this, adorned with ribbons and football charms, were the cat’s meow in the mid-1900s.

outtake

I was photographing students in a First-Year Seminar along the Maine coast when these ducks suddenly appeared. My heart clenched in anxiety: I wanted to make a photograph with birds and Batesies in the same frame, connecting the students to their environment. With a wide-angle camera on my shoulder, and a telephoto in hand, I had only enough time to raise the telephoto, and the result was a photograph of the birds solo. I quickly talked myself down from my disappointment in order to be grateful for what I had received. — Phyllis Graber Jensen

Bates Magazine is published twice annually at family-owned Penmor Lithographers, just a few minutes from campus. We use paper created with 30 percent postconsumer fiber and print with inks that are 99.5 percent free of volatile compounds.

On the Cover Photographed in his home studio in Ogunquit, Maine, best-selling children’s book author-illustrator Matt Tavares ’97 makes a creative leap for his newest book, a graphic novel inspired by the true story of a girls basketball team in 0mid-1970s Indiana. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen.

Nondiscrimination Bates College prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status and other legally protected statuses in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its education policies and programs, or in the recruitment of its faculty and staff. The college adheres to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations. Full policy: bates.edu/nondiscrimination

FROM A DISTANCE

This circa-1957 photo was taken as Bates was building out the area around future Lake Andrews. 1

Newly built Page Hall (1957) was nicknamed “Smurd” in its early years for unclear reasons. 2

Before Adams Hall (1967) and Olin Arts Center (1986), these former military barracks were apartments for married World War II veterans.

The baseball field moved across from Alumni Gym in 1986. 4

Lake Andrews was a year away from excavation.

Pettigrew Hall (1953) awaits its companion, Schaeffer Theatre (1960).

Garcelon Field’s old cinder track hosted its last track meet in 1976. The Russell Street Track debuted in 2002.

Lane Hall (1964) and Pettengill Hall (1999) succeeded the heatingplant chimney and maintenance center.

Athletics facilities and Cutten Maintenance Center are here, along with lots of trees, still.

A residence hall came to Rand Field in 2007.

GRAND TRUNK

Framed by goldenrod foliage and bluebird skies on an October afternoon, Will Siebert ’26 of Bainbridge Island, Wash., finds a toehold and handhold as he tackles the trunk of a campus maple. See page 7 to learn if he got where he was going — and what the view was.

Bates Bates College Lewiston, Maine 04240

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN