Promises Kept

Wes Bonney ’50 has been honored for his long and valuable service to his home state, Maine.

In November 2022, the philanthropic John T. Gorman Foundation donated $500,000 to the Mitchell Institute to honor Bonney, who retired last year after 27 years of service on the Gorman board.

The Mitchell Institute, whose president and CEO is Jared Cash ’04 (shown with Wes), is a nonprofit scholarship organization founded by Sen. George J. Mitchell to improve college outcomes for students from every community in Maine. Students supported by the Gorman grant will be named Wes Bonney Promise Scholars.

In his career, Bonney held leadership positions at banks throughout Maine and New England. Born in Turner, he has been a Bates trustee, a founding member of what is now Educate Maine, and a member of the Maine State Board of Education. Throughout, he’s enjoyed the challenge of working to increase student success in Maine.

“It’s encouraging to see these young people who are so bright. They’ll be able to solve a lot of problems,” he said. “It just gives me hope.”

“The isolation was harder than the virus, because I was vaccinated and boosted and given meds.” She works with a Lifelong Learning Institute at Ohio Wesleyan and calls herself “blessed to be emotionally close to my three children and their spouses, grandchildren, and a new man in my life.” Coe has Reunion in her sights and asks, “How about you?”...Writing from Hawai’i, Kay Johnson Howells is “happy and healthy and still enjoying all my activities, plus a strength-and-balance exercise class and a weekly widows’ coffee. Mike, my permanent fiancé, joined me to celebrate my son Tom’s 50th birthday.” Grandson Tommy enjoyed a college trip to Scandinavia, and grandson Sam, a Spanishlanguage program at a university in Costa Rica....Marilyn Miller Gildea “had a lovely extended Christmas visit at my daughter’s home in Grover Beach (try to find it on the map) with my three

California children’s families. I especially enjoyed falling asleep on the den sofa bed, hearing my children, their spouses, and the two college-student grandsons chatting quietly in the living room far into the night.”...

Donald Moses and Sally Dean Moses ’60 celebrated their 65th in January. “Our health is good enough to avoid doctors as much as possible. We live in Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain where I spend my time fishing for bass in the summer and whatever through the ice in the winter. Sally is into Chinese brush painting and playing the piano.” A psychiatrist, Donald still works with patients over the phone — “when I am not fishing.” Their younger son, Erik Moses ’87, lives at Stratton Mountain, “where our grandchildren attend the Stratton Mountain School and are training for ski racing.” The older son, Richard, is a retired preservation architect who “travels the world scuba diving.”...Peter Post reports that Jane Anderson Post is physically well, but has little short-term memory. He hopes that a classmate will volunteer to be co-president of the class. Please call him to discuss at 508-434-2053….This from Jim and Barbara Stetson Munkres: “After more than a year in our retirement community, we are convinced that this was the right place for us and that we moved at the right time.” Barb attends art classes, belongs to a book group, and enjoys weekly sessions of seated volleyball. Jim enjoys weekly duplicate bridge sessions, and keeps his piano skills sharp by playing dinner music outside the dining room. lives in the Special Care unit at the Meadows at East Mountain assisted-living community in Rutland, Vt., daughter Cathy writes. “She enjoys expeditions to see the countryside, fall leaves, Christmas lights, clouds, and a nice meal or a musical performance. She is still gracious and kind and always up for an outing, but generally confused about life. Alzheimer’s is a tragic disease.”…“I saw that Dick Simon and Dan Spink, the last of my 10 roommates, have passed away,” writes Bruce Young (Editor’s note: See In Memoriam, page 89.) “My 2022 Viking cruise, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, was canceled when Russia invaded Ukraine, but I have one booked for July, from Paris to Prague. It will likely be my last, as my ability to get around becomes more limited. I live with my daughter, her husband, my youngest granddaughter, and her two daughters.”

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

Regina Abbiati Lucas is “doing great with mostly replacement parts: eyes, back, boob, now hip. I’m so lucky to live near Boston where fabulous doctors make magic! Years from now, when they dig me up, they’re going to find nothing but plastic and metal!”...Ross Deacon moved to an independent living facility in Venice, Fla. “Living by myself in Melbourne proved to be too challenging following two failed right-eye retina surgeries,” he reports.…Since moving from Pittsburgh to Lisbon, Maine, in 2019, Calvin Wilson and Elizabeth have encountered numerous Bates graduates in the area, “which gives us the impression that we have returned home. Every two or three months we visit my former roommate Howard ‘Budge’ Walen in Belfast. It’s always a delightful encounter replete with remembrances of Bates days together. We were deeply saddened by the death of Cliff Lawrence, our other roommate, in 2021, which was followed by a magnificent Celebration of Life in Andover, Mass. Hearty greetings to all my fellow classmates.”

1960

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Trogler Reynolds

“It is wonderful to have given up trying to maintain a house and yard, and having to prepare dinner every night.” Jim adds, “Barb has some memory issues and no longer drives, and we both use walkers, but our health is stable.”...Jo

Louise Hjelm Davidson lchdavidson011@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Pete Skelley dskelley@satx.rr.com

Bob and Jane Braman Allen write from Venice, Fla.: “We made our first trip to California in three years to see son Scott Allen ’84 and family. In June, our first family reunion since 2019 took place in Truro, Mass., where we spent a week with more than 30 family members.”

Bob’s summertime passion is gardening at their Cape Cod home, “and we were again invited to be on the library garden tour, which attracted over 800 people!” During the autumn, their daughter Beth, of Knoxville, Tenn., recovered from endocarditis thanks to excellent care at Vanderbilt Univ. Medical Center. Thereafter the Allens ping-ponged between Venice and Barnstable, “where we celebrated Christmas with family. We are grateful to have daughter Julie and family next door to support us in the aging process.”...Sandy Folcik Levine checked in following one of the few really wintery weekends in the Northeast, with sub-zero temps and vicious wind chills.

“Reminded me of the time that Bates classes and activities were canceled because the temps were minus 40. Do you remember that?” Sandy hasn’t been able to visit extended family in England since the pandemic began.

“For a while, England wouldn’t allow me to enter,” she explains.

“Then a couple of English family members were diagnosed with cancer and didn’t want to take any chances!” But she has been a regular presence at Back to Bates and Big Game Saturday — where, last fall, she and Nan Harrington Walsh met a drone pilot “who took pictures of us and posted them on his drone website! We’re famous!”...Stephen Hotchkiss has published two books via Amazon: Essentials of Macroeconomics with Moral Dilemma Commentary and Essentials of Microeconomics with Moral Dilemma Commentary.

“I have saturated one market: my family. Hopefully Bates students will benefit.”...Congrats to Jim Wylie and Karen, who celebrated their 60th in January. Jim still works full time as executive chairman of NanoDx, a medical diagnostics company.

“We’re planning the launch of our first product for the rapid point-of-care and point-ofinjury diagnosis.” Jim and Karen returned to campus for the Big Game during Back to Bates. “The memories continue! Unbelievable student support!”

1961

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Gretchen Shorter Davis norxloon@aol.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Mary Morton Cowan mmcowan@gwi.net

Dick Watkins rwatkcapt@aol.com

Sally Benson and Steve Nichols live in Steve’s hometown, Palm Springs, Calif. “We are thrilled to have Lauren Nichols ’00, Nick Gurnon ’01, and our grandchildren living next door.” Writing in mid-December, Sally was looking forward to a holiday visit from Sally Marshall Corngold ’62….“Family time together is great!” says Alan Cate. A resident of Bradenton, Fla., he accompanied visiting family on an Everglades experience last November — “the swamp of cypress trees, alligators of all sizes, a coiled water moccasin cleverly hidden alongside a trail built on a long-gone railroad track, pods of dolphins, birds, and a dying coral reef outside Key Largo.”

Over the New Year’s holiday, their grandson from New Jersey “spread good cheer as we took in some plays, saw the illuminated pineapple waiting to drop in Sarasota on Dec. 31, picnicked on white-sand beaches, enjoyed family heritage meals from Croatia lovingly prepared by his grandmother, and talked about his early acceptance to Stevens Institute of Technology.”...

In addition to Road Scholar expeditions to Michigan and Arkansas last year, Jerry and Gretchen Shorter Davis enjoyed a trip to Palm Springs to attend a film festival, and dined with residents Sally Benson and Steve Nichols….Beverly

Graffam Ketchum is the “proud mom of Andrew Ketchum, flight manager for the most recent flight of Artemis I,” the successful uncrewed lunar orbital mission. She adds, “I am fortunate to have had two lunches with Gretchen Shorter Davis, her daughter Jen and granddaughter Amelie; Sara Hayes and her daughter, Kathy; and my daughter Laura.”... Jack Henderson continues to improve after a major illness last year. “Physical therapy is a big plus,” he says. “The enthusiasm of our granddaughter Samantha Gamber ’25 for Bates is an ongoing delight. She interned this summer at the Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area and loved it. Her geology course took her all over the Maine coast and a couple of islands — she’s seen more of the coast now than Mary Jane and I have. Her livestreamed vocal recital in Olin was wonderful. What fun to share her excitement about Bates.”...Sara Kinsel Hayes reports from Belfast, Maine, that she and Arthur ’60 have survived the pandemic, but Arthur has health issues that keep him mostly housebound.

“I remain actively involved on the board of the Belfast

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Auto Biography

John and Sue Jones Curtiss ’63 have been married 59 years, and in that time he’s owned 64 cars. “Sixty-four includes daily drivers, my first antique auto — a 1948 Ford coupe — and along the way, GTOs, Mustangs, and even a 1939 Packard Phaeton,” says John.

He’s posing with their 1941 Mercury 8 Club Convertible (built by Ford Motor Co.), which he and Sue enjoy driving around town. “It was a barn find that had been in the same family for 81 years,” John says. “I started my collection with a Ford V-8 and will end it with the same.”

Historical Society and with the local chapters of the D.A.R. and P.E.O.”...Sue Kittredge Barnard and David “are living the quiet life at an over-55 condo community in West Boylston, Mass.,” she reports. “After 19 years, I resigned my position as parish administrator of a local church about a year ago. It has taken me a while to adjust to not working, but I’m glad to be home with Dave who will soon be 97 and at current count is a great-grandfather 21 times over. As a World War II veteran and lifelong Worcester-area resident, he has quite a bit of history to share with that extended family!” Sue, Dave, and their cockapoo, Pepper, were featured in December’s edition of the Tufts Univ. veterinary school newsletter. “Perhaps our experience will be helpful to other ‘senior seniors’ hoping to adopt a shelter pet.”...Mary Morton Cowan notes that in lieu of the 60th Reunion nixed by COVID-19, classmates last September enjoyed luncheon on campus and a tour of the Bonney Science Center. Along with Mary and Carl, attendees included Dennis Akerman, Jerry and Gretchen Shorter Davis, Emily Dore Fletcher and daughter Sarah, George Goodall and his wife, Mary, Beverly Graffam Ketchum and daughter Laura, Sara Kinsel Hayes and daughter Kathy, Jack Henderson and his wife, Mary Jane, Judy Rogers McAfee, and Dorothy Sweetser Larsson and her husband, Alan. A couple of months later, Mary played organ with musicians including daughterin-law and cellist Marianne Nolan Cowan ’92 in the annual service of carols at the First Congregational Church in New Gloucester, Maine….Colorado resident Carol Smith thinks that Batesies, for the sake of their grand- and great-grandchildren, should somehow keep accounts of these extraordinary times. “I have a diary that belonged to my great-grandfather who was a principal of a normal school in New York state, and he lived in extraordinary times, yet his diary is filled with only day-to-day events. This was disappointing, as I hoped to have a glimpse into his mind and what was going on in his world.” At least, she adds, “my family was all together for Christmas, with the six grandchildren running around, playing tag and sardines. Maybe that’s all the extraordinary that I need.”

1962

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Cindy Kalber Nordstrom cindyknordstrom@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Rachel Harper Garcelon raegarcelon@gmail.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT

David Boone doboone@peoplepc.com

Peter Green is still “throwing pots in Portland, Maine,” he reports. Extreme cold in February caused a pipe to burst — “water, water everywhere. So it goes.” On a happier note, he and a niece drove “to Virginia’s Eastern Shore to visit a cousin and her four-generation family, including a genuine Chesapeake Bay waterman who supplied crabs and clams.”...Lorrie Otto Gloede couldn’t attend Reunion, but had a good visit with Caroline Taber Kiessling just prior to it. “I am so happy we did that, since she died suddenly about two months later. I was also fortunate to be able to visit Marcia Holt Thompson on Labor Day weekend, and we had a great time reconnecting at her home in Pennsylvania.” Writing from Dover, Del., Lorrie feels “blessed to be able to live in my home and take care of it, to travel to northern New Jersey weekly for social dancing, to play in a bell choir at church, and to have good health.” She concludes, “All is well this year so far, although somewhat different as a widow.” Wolfgang Gloede passed away in February 2022.

1963

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Natalie Hosford nataliehosford@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Bill Holt wholt@maine.rr.com

CLASS HISTORIAN Dottie Stone dottie@stone-stonect.com

From your Class Officers: “Reunion 2023 marks the 60th for the Class of ’63! This is an exceptional statistic and we’re all looking forward to a grand celebration. Bates staff and a number of individual classes have put together a comprehensive program including lectures, tours, off-campus sports and outdoor activities, and fireworks. Truly something for everybody. Especially interesting are the tours of the new Bonney Science Center, a fantastic, state-of-theart research facility (that will certainly be the envy of those of us who were science majors back in the day). It is hard to believe that 64 years have gone by since our journey began with bibs and beanies. So remember to dig deep into your old junk for photos and mementos from days gone by. There will be enough space in our class lounge to display them all.”…Thom Freeman sends greetings “from a devastated Fort Myers, Fla. Claire and I survived Hurricane Ian, but it was the scariest time of my life as we watched the storm surge come up to the front door, lanai, and garage.” The water didn’t quite penetrate their living space, but their car was totaled. He adds, “I am still trying to accept the recent passing of Howie Vandersea, a classmate, teammate, and wonderful friend for more than 60 years.” (Editor’s note: See In Memoriam, page 85.)...Peter Hollis and Susan sold their home in Harwich, Mass. When he wrote, in February, they were planning a springtime move to Southport On Cape Cod, a 55-plus community in Mashpee. He adds, “Our oldest grandson, Bram, graduates from Bowdoin this year — oh, where did I go wrong!”...Still living in Santa Clara, Calif., Sue King Farr “survived COVID and the hibernation, but I am now getting out more and traveling.” In October, her extended clan gathered for her grandson’s wedding, in Fryeburg, Maine. “We had a wonderful reunion with all of my West Coast family, as well as my brother and his family” from Massachusetts. Writing in January, Sue was looking forward to getting out of California’s atmospheric rivers and spending time in Maui and in Ajijic, Mexico.

1964

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY–TREASURER

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 March Harris dotharriswi@gmail.com

Steve Barron writes from Fort Myers, Fla.: “I still have my hair but have several more scars because of multiple surgeries to remove skin cancers. Nothing terribly serious, but it seems to be an ongoing issue.” Steve keeps in close touch, via texts and FaceTime, with his three daughters and 10 grandchildren. “My oldest grandchild, attorney Caihlan Snyder, married a wonderful young man, Nick Karkos.” The newlyweds live in Southern Maine. “With so much of my family in Maine, I have been back several times. Sadly, not during Reunion dates. Maybe next time.”...For Norm Bowie and Maureen, “2022 was the year of gradual and cautious re-entry. Fully vaccinated and boosted, I joined my son Brian and his wife in May to visit my granddaughter at Brown. It was a wonderful trip, but I learned it was hard for me to keep up with the young ones, and my daughter-in-law and I both got COVID-19. The vaccines worked as promised — no worse than a slight cold. In June, I joined my other son, Peter, and my granddaughter in NYC. Of course, I did not do any better at keeping up with these family members either. In September we celebrated Maureen’s birthday and our 35th wedding anniversary by going out to eat over and over.”...Pat Folsom feels “blessed to again live in Waitsfield, Vt., where I grew up, in a house Dad built in the ’60s” and with family nearby. She adds, “It’s interesting that people I know here in town are all mutual friends of Eric and Rhoda Morrill Silverberg.” Active in politics for years, in 2022 Pat helped to both pass a Vermont constitutional amendment guaranteeing reproductive rights and support U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in the Georgia runoff. “It feels good to work towards a specific goal in a positive way. Plus, I now have a whole group of friends I never would have met in other circumstances. Activism in my late 70s — better late than never.”...For Paul and Merrilyn Brown Goodwin ’65, “not much has changed. I’m still volunteering at Mystic Seaport Museum and am now transcribing Titanicrelated material. The Seaport recently acquired what is likely the third-best collection of manuscripts and artifacts relative to the loss of that great ship.” Lyn, meanwhile, “also keeps busy with volunteer work. And we both enjoy watching our grandkids growing up!”...Linda Gramatky Smith reports that “life is good for Ken Smith ’55 and me here at Cedar Crest, a continuing-care retirement community in Pompton Plains, N.J. We know many sharp, interesting people, with fun things to do — playing on a bocce team was our new experience in 2022 — and meeting guests for dinner in one of the five restaurants on campus,” in contrast to the exertion of throwing dinner parties. “In 2022, I got back to selling the wonderful Mary Kay products, so that’s been satisfying. For Ken’s 90th birthday last month more than 75 people wrote messages to him that filled a beautiful scrapbook.” Their son, Andrew Smith ’90, brought his sons to the party while their mom minded the store in California. Daughter Christina O’Shea and her family, Linda adds, are just 15 minutes away....Ron Green writes from Bedford, Mass.: “Maria and I, after 53 years of marriage, began to realize our mortality as we crossed the 80-years-on-the-planet mark. Our youngest daughter, the lawyer, living two miles away with her two sons, reminds me that it’s time to really, really, truly clean out the garage — letting go of projects never to be completed and products never to be used.” He adds, “A long addiction to smoking and an overworked back took away any hopes of summiting Mount Chocorua one more time, but I try some shorter hiking on Mount Desert in the summer with the grandchildren.”...David Harrison still works at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, where he has been a researcher since 1970. “Way past retirement age, but looking for interventions that retard aging is too interesting.” He turned 80 last year, but still feels “pretty good,” he says. But cold-induced asthma forced him to give up cross-country skiing in Acadia National Park, a much-loved pastime, about 12 years ago. Now he and Norma Johnson winter in Haines City, Fla. Contact Dave at david.harrison@jax.org Jeff and Linda Pike Hillier ’65 moved to Philadelphia last June. “For those of you familiar with Philly, we are just around the corner from Baltimore and 48th,” Jeff writes. Daughter Laura Hillier ’90 and grandson Alex have joined them, and “we are just a couple of blocks from our other daughter, Amy, and her family.”

Jeff adds, “Prior to Philadelphia, my largest community was Lewiston. My mind is still boggling.”...A resident of Long Valley, N.J., John Holt chairs the Washington Township Democratic Committee, serves as secretary of the Washington Township Land Trust, and is a member of the township’s Green Team. He and Nancy Gable are happily married, have five grandchildren, and enjoy their summers in Seal Cove, Maine….After Paul Holt left the house restoration and real estate business, and he and Pamela left New England in favor of Melbourne Beach, Fla., she encouraged him to try oil painting to balance the time he spends playing wheelchair tennis. He reluctantly “submitted to an art class, which was tedious to say the least. However, it got me started, and now I enjoy the time spent creating something that other people seem to like, or attempting to paint my version of so much of the beauty that exists here near the ocean and lagoon.”...Eric and Rhoda Morrill Silverberg still enjoy spending three quarters of the year in Austin, Texas, and summering on Vinalhaven, off Maine’s midcoast. “Eric is looking forward to summer and the new dock, which did not appear last year, so that he can get out in his boat. I’m still working some, all from the dining room, training teachers to use the Wilson Reading System, a program for struggling readers. I have enjoyed playing fiddle with groups in Vinalhaven and now in Austin. As we are soon to turn 80, I keep thinking of that wonderful Hank Thompson song: ‘The Older the Violin, the Sweeter the Music.’ If I change ‘violin’ to ‘violinist,’ does it still stand?”...Last spring, Nancy Nichols Dixon and Dick “drove from Pennsylvania to

Denver and saw part of the U.S. we had not seen before, i.e., Missouri, Kansas, and eastern Colorado.” She reports, “We were in awe of the wind farms. We wanted to see the prairie grass area, but it was the wrong season — fall is better — and the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, but it wasn’t open when we were there. We finally got to Vail, but not to ski. Only in our dreams, we guess.”...Writing in CovertAction Magazine last November, Jon Olsen argued that the U.S. claim to sovereignty over Hawai’i is fraudulent, noting that “Hawai’i is a country whose government was overthrown by the threat of force.” Jon wrote the 2014 book Liberate Hawai’i! He has also completed a political philosophy novel — “not dystopian, but cautiously optimistic” — and is working to get it published. A Maine resident, Jon is still raising organic blueberries and making his Tropical Maine syrup from passion fruit concentrate with local maple syrup. Contact him at joliyoka@gmail.com Anne Packard reports “considerable progress” in her five-year collaboration with conservation groups to establish an easement for her lakefront property in Freedom, N.H. With “donations from adjacent property owners and a grant from the N.H. Conservation and Heritage License Plate Program, we met our financial goal.” The property will be designated as wildlife habitat. In other news, deciding to visit a friend in New Mexico, Anne and Roger “packed up his car with our camping gear and in mid-October left N.H. for the road trip of a lifetime. We drove through 22 states plus Ontario, hiked the high points of seven states we had not hiked before, and covered 8,000 miles.”...From beginning to end, 2022 was quite a year for Lynn Parker Schiavi and John. “In January, we learned that John needed a pacemaker. Then it was recommended that he get bypass surgery. These were both done while we were in Florida,” with their daughters, Kate Schiavi and Deb Schiavi Cote ’89, in attendance. Lynn, Deb, Paul Cote, and friends later made a pilgrimage to Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany — a trip scheduled around performances of the famed Passion Play in Oberammergau, which take place only every 10 years, and were pushed back from 2020 by COVID....Jerome Scott writes from Jamestown, R.I.: “I am a happy octogenarian living vicariously through my offspring — eight children, 13 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.”… Dick and Joan Spruill Andren count themselves “fortunate to continue our lives — but at a slower pace.” In Dixmont, Maine, last year’s “garden harvest was good even though we fought skunks, groundhogs, and raccoons.” If their pace has slowed, the Andrens still cover plenty of ground: “We had two great visits to Vinalhaven, courtesy of Eric and Rhoda Morrill Silverberg. In the fall, we traveled to Iceland with Pat Parsons Kay ’64. We drove 1,600 miles around the ring road on the quest for waterfalls, hidden valleys, northern lights, and one-lane tunnels.” During the winter, they were looking forward to a California trip to see two kids and five grandkids….This from Joanna Starr in Boston: “I feel fortunate to have reasonably good health and to be able to enjoy life in this wonderful city with my longtime partner, Ron Dennenberg.” Her younger son, Richard, and his wife live fairly close by. Her granddaughter is a med student, and her grandson will soon graduate from Bates — Ryan Starr Weitzel ’23. Joanna’s older son, Bill, and his wife live in Geneva. “Thank heavens for Zoom.” Every year, Ron and Joanna count on a winter month in California and some summer time in Maine and eastern Canada. “I feel blessed to have my family, my friends, Ron, and my sense of humor for company as I trudge along through the ever-challenging landscape of older age.”...Alan and Sandy Prohl Williams “finally got to do a lot of traveling that was postponed due to COVID. Since we were both turning 80 in 2022, we each picked a trip from our bucket lists.” They fulfilled Alan’s interest in Mount Rushmore with a Road Scholar tour of national parks in June, and celebrated Sandy’s birthday on a long-awaited autumn river cruise from Bucharest to Budapest. Other excursions included a wedding in Albany; a family reunion in the Adirondacks, where they caught up with relatives “that we hadn’t seen since we moved to California”; and Thanksgiving in Salt Lake City with family. A more solemn trip took the couple to Wisconsin for a service for Alan’s sister Mary, who passed away in September….“As I approach the big 80,” Gretchen Ziegler reports from Harrisville, N.H., “I have cut back on my most time-consuming volunteer activities, as board chair of the Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge and of the Granite State Ambassadors” — volunteers who welcome the world to New Hampshire. She’s staying on those boards, and will still help train volunteers and state tourism staff for the Ambassadors. “Time to get back on the road traveling,” now that COVID has subsided, “and reading more of the books on the shelves!”

1965

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Evie Hathaway Horton ehhorton@me.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Joyce Mantyla joycemantyla@gmail.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENTS

Newt Clark newtonclark@comcast.net

Peter Heyel JPTraveler@gmail.com

Jim Callahan and Elsa still live year-round in Massachusetts. “With two sons and their families, including four granddaughters, in Southern California, we visit them periodically,” Jim writes. “Thankfully, our daughter and her family, including three grandsons, live in Marblehead.” He and Elsa enjoy traveling, even though he contracted COVID on a 2022 Mediterranean cruise. “Fortunately, there were only three days left on the cruise. I wish I had done better in Dr. Alexis Caron’s French courses, because we wound up quarantined in Marseille, Elsa for seven days and me for 10.” Luckily, she didn’t get sick....

Newt Clark attended Back to Bates for two reasons. “First, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Bates Outing Club. And second, to join with members of the Class of 1967” — Patricia Lord Clark’s class — “to celebrate the life of Peter Gomes ’65.” A high point “was the gathering of about a dozen alums who shared stories about Peter. For example, speaking at a NESCAC conference, Peter commented on how prestigious each of the schools represented were, as he had an honorary doctorate from each of them.” Newt says, “I have fond memories of Peter.”...

Ralph “Tom” Day had a letter to the editor published by The Wall Street Journal. Responding to an article about reparations as a response to the climate crisis, Tom wrote, in part: “This century’s warming will take time to settle into a new equilibrium. Reparations are a side issue.”...Al Harvie had an adventure late one autumn evening “when a bear came up on my porch searching for birdseed.” Living in Auburn, across the river from campus, “I have seen lots of deer and an occasional fox, but a bear was new to me.” Al’s health is stable, he reports, and he’s writing an autobiography with lots of Bates stories. “It won’t be a tell-all, however.” Al wants to hear from classmates: alharvie65@ gmail.com Peter Heyel and Joyce Mantyla were the oldest Batesies at the December alumni meeting in NYC, he writes. “Good grief.” The occasion was a presentation by President Clayton Spencer, who ends her time at Bates on June 30. Peter is working for NBC Universal full-time and enjoys chatting on the phone a few times a month with Ted Foster, “who says to say, ‘Hello.’”...Brynna Kaulback and Rosemary Talmadge met in 1979 and were together until Rosemary’s passing last year.

“I am grateful for the many years we had together,” Brynna writes. She has since moved from Brooklyn to Westport, Conn.

“COVID has had a huge impact on what I can do,” she continues. “The vaccines aren’t effective on me and I have a lung disease, so I have been pretty isolated. I keep busy sorting through the flotsam and jetsam of my life, and I am thankful for technology which allows me to communicate with others from a distance.” Brynna enjoys the companionship she has found in a few online groups, and gets outside whenever she can. But most of all, “I write, write, write. Thanks to all the teachers and professors who opened my mind to all the things to write about!”...Joyce Mantyla still likes to drive between homes in NYC, where she enjoys summer and fall, and Palm Beach, land of “birds, boats and sunsets! And warm weather!” Attending the previously mentioned New York Bates event with Peter Heyel, she says, “one of the older graduates we met was enthusiastic about his recent ‘combined Reunion,’’’ necessitated by pandemic-related cancellations and attended by members of three Classes. That alumnus appreciated the enlargement of both attendance and socializing opportunities. “Dear Classmates,” Joyce asks, “What does everyone think about that?”...John Norton published a number of children’s books last year. Illustrated titles aimed at younger kids are entries in a birthday series: Rudy, Santa’s Ninth Reindeer; Dear Tooth Fairy, Is Today Your Birthday?; and Henry, The Spare Parts Dog, alongside a newly revised edition of When Is Santa’s Birthday? Meanwhile, The Adventures of Eva and Buckskin Charlie is a series for advanced young readers and mid-grade students. The latest title is Eva’s New Older Brother, but The Fortune Teller on the Train and Eva’s Secret Name are also available in newly revised editions. John, of Davidson, N.C., expects the remaining Eva and Buckskin Charlie titles to appear this year. Folks who would like to be early readers or editors of these and future books, please contact John: john@johnnortonwriter. com Susan Smith Copley and Douglas are “settling well into our modest but comfy apartment at RiverMead, an outstanding continuing-care community in our hometown of Peterborough, N.H.,” she reports. “Quite a process to give away most of our worldly belongings — including thousands of books! — and officially downsize. We enjoy the residents, staff, programs, and events here, but miss our extensive gardens and dear neighbors at our former home.” Susan stays in touch with Bates roommate Linda Olmsted, of Danbury, N.H., and sees Merry Webber Stockwell in a women’s hiking group that explores local backroads and Monadnockarea trails....Living in Kingfield, Maine, Susan Smith Davis is in her fourth retirement gig: “writing for the local paper, a perfect full circle from my English major at Bates. Other fun writing projects included surveying Franklin County farmers for the Greater Franklin Food Council. And Carrabassett Valley just hired me to write up minutes for their select board and planning board meetings. I’m getting a great civics lesson in local politics!” Susan planned to keep those plates spinning remotely “while celebrating my 80th birthday with my sister, Janet Smith, in Italy during March and in Sweden, where she lives, during April. The magic of Zoom!”

1966

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENT Alex Wood awwood@mit.edu

1967

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

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

Peter and Judy Harvell Andersen have moved to a newly built house in an activeadult retirement community in Cumberland, Maine. The move came after 50 years in one house in Willington, Conn. “We are now MFAs — Mainers From Away — and closer to daughter Kristen Andersen ’00, other relatives, and our summer cottage Down East. We enjoy the Portland area, the maintenance-free lifestyle, and winter in Maine once again.”...Ann Warren Turner and Rick, thinking about the end of life, “started a small group of older friends from church to discuss our remaining years, what to tell our kids, and how to deal with our remains. Rick dubbed it, ‘Death Cab For Cuties,’ after the rock group. Check out The Five Wishes program for help in doing this” — www. fivewishes.org. “Otherwise, we are still in our high-hill passive solar home, gardening (reduced), shoveling snow, and oh, yes, falling hard on the front deck to dislocate a shoulder. Do not do this!” Ann continues to write short stories and the blog Faith Is My Operating System Rick “is loving retirement.”...

Helen Woodruff Paganucci and Fred visited their son near Ramstein Air Base, in Germany, for Christmas. “While there I was able to visit Sachiko Matsumoto

Kleefisch in Trier,” she writes. “Unfortunately she had suffered from a stroke and is confined to a nursing home, but it was still good to see her and visit with her son and his family.”

1968

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY

Rick Melpignano rickmel713@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Nancy Hohmann nhohmann@yahoo.com

Gretchen Hess Daly enjoyed a fun cruise up the Inside Passage in Alaska last July with 18 family members and friends. She returned to Maine with an unwanted souvenir: COVID. “Thanks to vaccinations and boosters, it was a mild case.”...Aija Ronis Hopstock is enjoying partial retirement from the insurance business and spending quality time with her grandchildren — 5-year-old twins, a boy and girl. She, David, and family are all in good health although taking life more slowly.

“My weeklong bike rides are now short, a leisurely 20 miles.”

1969

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY

Deborah Bliss Behler debbehler@aol.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

George Peters geo47peters@gmail.com

Dick Brogadir still practices dentistry after 50 years — “a dream job,” he writes. “I work two days a week. I have no collection worries, no managing employees, no concerns about no-shows or broken equipment. And they even pay me. Fortunately I still have my health and skills.

I am lucky and blessed. Bettina and I have seven grandchildren whom we see often. How great is that!”...Mary Buckson Fuller is “catching up on travel. First time at the Grand Canyon in 2022, and headed to Kenya and Tanzania in April!”...Greg DeLisle finally retired from Willie Ross School for the Deaf, in Longmeadow, Mass., “after 41 years there and 53 years in deaf education. When I graduated from Bates, I had no idea that such a career was even a remote possibility, but I enjoyed every year.” He also really enjoyed the 50th Reunion and sends thanks to those who planned it….Colin Fuller, his daughter Meaghan Fuller Stoddard ’00, and her husband, Ian, completed the Big Bear Marathon in southern California in November. Colin’s time of 4:14 qualifies him to run in the 2024 Boston Marathon. A cardiologist, Colin urges us all to “keep moving, as little as 10