“HE EMBODIES WHAT BATES ROWING IS ABOUT.”

And that’s where students, including hungry rowers returning after their morning workouts, got to know Sylvester. He recalls with a chuckle how “they’d come in and shout, ‘Hi Ralph, how you doing?’ The guys on the football team were the loudest.” The students would come and go from Ralph’s table, an endlessly rotating conversation from morning onward, and Sylvester had no shortage of stories to tell.

When the new boat arrived, Steenstra asked his captains to think about a name, something meaningful to them and their college. “They came back a week later or two, and said they didn’t have anything that really dug deep for them.” That’s when Steenstra suggested naming it for Ralph Sylvester.

Presented with that idea, the captains’ eyes widened, recalls Steenstra. They quickly asked their coach, “You mean that older gentleman who’s in Commons quite a bit? The one we’ve all seen?”

Steenstra, turning to look at Sylvester during the dedication, said, “It was a great sense of pride for them to discover more about you. They couldn’t have been more happy and more proud to put your name on the shell.”

Before the boat christening, Steenstra had a surprise gift for Sylvester: a Bates rowing blade.

Senior Bates rowers receive a blade at graduation to recognize “commitment to the program from the start to the finish,” Steenstra explained to the audience. “The honor is 100 percent attainable but by far the most difficult thing to achieve.”

“We have never given one of these to anyone who was not a rower for Bates. But there is no question in my mind and the team’s mind that if anyone deserves it, it’s you.”

Finally, speaking for many in the audience, Steenstra said, “This is by far the least that we, in this little school, in this little town, can do to say ‘thank you’ for everything you’ve done and everything you are.” n

Who, What, Where, When?

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

1899

William Allen Saunders, Class of 1899, is the subject of a biography released in September. Man of Sterling Worth: Professor William A. Saunders of Storer College was written by Lynn Pechuekonis, who learned about this important West Virginia educator when she bought his former home, in Harpers Ferry. Saunders, who taught at Storer from 1907 into the 1940s, was “an incredible man who served in his community and was a leader throughout the area” and state, Pechuekonis told a local reporter. Saunders taught so many courses over so many years, and touched so many lives, that he helped define the Storer experience.

1940

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

1941

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENT

Margaret Rand alpegrand@aol.com

1942

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

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, June 12–14

1947

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

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

“A year has passed since Walker died, and I miss him enormously,” Sylvia Stuber Heap writes. “We met at Bates in 1946, were married in 1951 — 70 years!”...Ralph Sylvester was featured in Sun Journal coverage of a Veterans Day ceremony in Lewiston. An Auburn resident, Ralph recalled his World War II army service, including hitting Omaha Beach on D-Day and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. A combat engineer, he met U.S. generals Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery during planning for the Normandy invasion. The holiday “brings back a lot of memories of all the others that were killed,” Ralph said.

1951

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Bill Dill wmrdill@gmail.com

Jean McLeod Dill

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT Wilfred Barbeau whbarbeau@gmail.com

Betty Kinney Faella and Tony “feel fortunate to be healthy with family nearby,” she writes. “In September, the family had a fabulous party to celebrate Tony’s 100th birthday, complete with 100 cupcakes, with candles he blew out with a fireplace bellows!”...James Vetrano and Ginger Buhl Vetrano ’54 are still in reasonable health and enjoying retirement, he reports. On Valentine’s Day they celebrated 70 years of marriage with a gathering of children and their spouses. “It has been many years since we stepped on the Bates campus, but we continue to be strongly thankful for our experiences there.”...Robert Wilson is “still chugging along at 93,” living in a continuing-care retirement community in Santa Fe, N.M., and working on his third novel-memoir. “I’m missing my dear wife Jane Seaman Wilson, who died in August ’20. She would have enjoyed our three great-grandchildren.”

1952

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Marilyn Coffin Brown mcbrown13@verizon.net

Peter Ault turned 92 on Jan. 31. “Must have a lot of company,” he says.

1953

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Ginnie LaFauci Toner vatoner207@gmail.com

Dick Coughlin dcoughlin@maine.rr.com

Jean Chapman Neely lives in Shepherdstown, W.V., “where I’ve been since 1980,” she wrote in January. “Unable to walk, I use 24/7 caregivers from two agencies. By mid-February I’ll have an accessible bathroom! Can’t wait to have a real shower!”...Darien “Bud” Terrile is sad to report that he lost Ellie last year after 62 years of marriage. “I’m in a senior-living community in Salem, N.H., but still active,” bicycling in the summer and walking in the winter.

1954

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY/ TREASURER

Jonas Klein joklein@maine.rr.com

1955

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENT

Beverly Hayne Willsey stonepost@cox.net

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT

Merton Ricker mertr33@gmail.com

1956

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Fred Huber fredna56@comcast.net

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Alice Brooke Gollnick agollnick725@gmail.com

Gail Molander Goddard acgpension@gmail.com

Louise Baker Malcolm sends family news: She enjoyed a vocal concert by son Chris Malcolm ’82 last spring at the Green Acre Bahá’í Center in Eliot, Maine, not far from her home in New Hampshire. Son Ben Malcolm ’88 visited from South Korea last summer. “Daughter Andrea makes the trek up from Princeton, N.J., on a regular basis,” she continues. Louise lunched with Marcia Baker last fall and has kept in touch with Gail Molander Goddard and Nancy Mills Mallett Richard Condon writes that “my dear wife, Colleen, passed quietly at home from this life to the next on May 30, after a decline of about four years. We were blessed to have 66 great years together.” Friends and Condon children have helped him cope. He adds, “Reading, writing, and music have always been my recreations (or addictions) and I’m still able to enjoy them all.”...Diane “Dinny” Felt Swett recently visited Arkansas, New Hampshire, and the Jersey Shore, as well as Connecticut to see family. “Nancy Mills Mallett and I see each other regularly and I talk with other classmates on the phone,” she says. “I only wish there were more from Bates in the area.”...Fred Huber has been “reflecting on the 66 years since we made it out of Lewiston and the 10 years since I lost my high school sweetheart, Edna.” He says, “One certain thing is that our four years at Bates stood me in good stead with my chemical degree” — Fred’s chemical industry career spanned 45 years. “Another certain thing is 57 happy and thankful years of wedlock that produced two loving daughters and six lovable grandkids. During that time I’ve managed to keep in touch with many of you. Truly blessed am I.”...Peter Hutchinson joined the Navy and saw the world, visiting 45 countries and 25 states and having an Antarctic island named for him. He earned two master’s degrees, taught at the university level, published journalism and poetry, and participated in archaeological digs from Maine to Virginia. Peter had three daughters with Anne, who passed away in 2007. A stroke five years ago cost him the use of an arm and leg, “but I survived.” His Bates circle included John Davis, Bob Gillette, Dave Olney, and Jim Riopel....“Hurricane Ian hit us dead on,” Loe Anne Kimball Pino reported from Port Charlotte, Fla., in November.

“Writing this from a house with floors rippled, wall-to-wall carpeting sliced up, belongings piled sky-high, and the washing machine doing overtime.” She and Dick rode it out in the house, but vacated after two days without water and electricity. Their elder son, Richard Pino, lives in North Carolina, and younger son Parkinson lives in Maine but plans to join his wife and child in England, where she teaches....Nancy Mills Mallett lost Russ in March 2022. “We are fortunate to have moved to this retirement community and enjoyed five years before his health declined.” She still travels from Basking Ridge, N.J., to summer at Lake Winnipesaukee and enjoys visits from children, grandchildren, and their friends. “Conversation with family aged 20 to 60 years is a joy when living with folks 75 to 100.”...

Gail Molander Goddard notes that with the worst of the pandemic behind us, things have opened up in New London, N.H. “In July I had lunch with Dinny Felt Swett” and, at The Flying Goose, with Nancy Mills Mallett and Louise Baker Malcolm. Gail walks almost every day and kayaked five times last summer. “My biggest problem is getting out of the kayak!”...Elise Reichert Stiles and Phillip “perform with a seven-member recording group (which he started) and I am still teaching pottery. Life is good!”... Mary Rogers Barnard and her husband of 62 years, Ken, live near Bates in an independentliving retirement community, their daughter Karen Barnard Choate reports. They’re a few blocks from Karen, a couple miles from daughter Amy, and son Charles lives in Portland. Mary was hit hard by the death of her daughter-in-law last July. But, Karen continues, Mary is looking forward to connecting this summer with Bates roommate Claire Poulin Damon. “This is a visit they have been able to maintain every summer for more than a generation!”...Sylvia Small Spradlin and Lou are doing well in New Smyrna Beach, although they summer in Glenville, N.Y., to avoid the Florida heat and visit their daughter, Heather Spradlin. She adds, “all the family enjoys doing Wordle and comparing our scores via text, email, or phone.”

1957

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

SECRETARY

Peg Leask Olney pegolney@verizon.net

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Judy Kent Patkin jpatkin@gmail.com

Dick Pierce rhpierce52@gmail.com

This from Judith Larkin Sherman: “The minus 16 degrees on Feb. 3 was the lowest we have seen in our 33 years on the Maine coast. Winds were strong, too.” On a warmer note, she’s “enjoying our monthly class Zoom get-togethers.”...Jim McGrath and Jean sold their place in Naples, Fla., “after many years of going South,” he reports. “We are in Monroe, Conn., year round now. We’ll see how that works out.”

1958

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY

Marilyn Miller Gildea marilyn@gildea.com

CLASS CO-PRESIDENTS

Kay Dill Taylor kaytayloronpeaks@gmail.com

Peter Post postp74@gmail.com

Lori Beer and Lyn had an action-packed 2022, Lyn writes — “full of home cooking, doctor appointments, very little travel, a lot of TV, a bout of COVID that knocked me out for six weeks but from which we both recovered, not enough walks, but full of laughter.”...Malcolm Block was among those distressed to hear of the passing of his good friend Dan Spink in September

(Editor’s note: See in Memoriam, page 89.)...Karen Dill Taylor writes from Peaks Island, Maine that “the love of family and friends and the daily gift of living in such a beautiful place have helped me to regain my balance and joy in life” since the passing of Gene Taylor ’56, last June.

“I still muck out stalls at the barn and go often to our one and only cafe to have coffee and play games with friends. I am grateful to be able to do that!” She adds, “Reunion, anyone?”...Carol Gibson Smith counts herself “very lucky.” She summers in Plymouth, Mass., winters in Safety Harbor, Fla., and welcomes “visits from classmates in either place. Coe Jenkins Huckabee and I enjoyed a lunch at Concord’s Colonial Inn

Century of Smiles

Lou Scolnik ’45 (standing) and Carleton “Zeke” Finch ’45 (seated) have a lot in common: They are classmates, fellow Navy V-12 alumni from World War II, and, as of this year, centenarians. Scolnik turned 100 on Valentine’s Day, and the youngster Finch followed on April 10. They’re seen in October 2019 at a campus reception honoring Bates veterans. Before the pair graduated from Bates proper, they attended and graduated from the V-12 program, which in the early days of World War II provided accelerated academic and military training for future Navy officers. V-12 programs were sited at 131 U.S. colleges and universities, including Bates. Finch lives in Fitchburg, Mass., and Scolnik in Andover, Mass.

last summer.”...“Magnificent!” is how Judy Granz Yennaco describes the Carnegie Hall wedding of her granddaughter Kara Yennaco to Ian Eckstein last October. “Because the wedding was on the Jewish Sabbath, the ceremony had to take place after sundown, so it began at 6:30. Very interesting, as both families were involved in the processional.”

Dinner, dancing, and traditional festivities followed. “A weekend such as I have never experienced, and so enjoyable to see a very happy couple united in marriage.” Speaking of which, she and Bob celebrated their 63rd in December….“We seem to spend more time with medical professionals, all of them kind and helpful, than with our extended family and friends,” Ken Harris writes from Slippery Rock, Pa. “But otherwise, Nancy Tyler Harris ’59 and I remain engaged in life, community, and happily with each other.” He adds, “We are both still driving, but voluntarily restricting it to daytime travel unless it’s strictly local. That probably means we will not make any further Reunions.”

Daughter Jennifer Harris works in special-education services, and “son David had a heart transplant in 2021 and seems to be dealing comfortably with the new life granted to him.”...Coe Jenkins Huckabee still lives independently in a retirement community in Delaware, Ohio. But she finally caught COVID.