Keeping It Greene

In nearby Greene, Bates retiree Judy Marden ’66 continues to safeguard her land from development.

She had previously established the Marden-Chittick Refuge, a 200-acre conservation easement. Recently, she protected her historic farmhouse through an easement with Maine Preservation, which was notarized in the college’s Muskie Archives by college archivist Sam Howes, with classmate Bill Hiss ’66 attending.

“It’s wonderful to know that these easements will travel with the deeds forever, and no matter what happens to me, the land will stay forever wild, and the antique farmhouse will be protected from development or destruction,” says Marden.

The house, which dates to the late 1700s, and the land got the name Alpine Farm around 1870 when it was a dairy operation. Marden purchased the farm in 1975 with the help of the late Jane Parsons Norris ’46, a local banker who went to bat for Marden, a single, divorced woman, so she could secure a mortgage.

minutes of jogging or 30 minutes of walking at least a few times a week, to enjoy a longer and healthier life.”...The concept of retirement has no reality for Peter Handler. As a climate activist, he’s a group leader of the Philadelphia Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby and a co-founder and principal of Honoring the Future. And he is also a custom furniture maker. The lease on his studio wasn’t renewed, so Peter has gone in with a friend on a different workspace. His wife, Karen Singer, is in remission after a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, six months of chemotherapy, and a stem cell transplant. Peter adds that their grandchildren live nearby — their grandson is 5 and his sister was born “two days after the Insurrection.”…William Menke bought an Airstream Atlas (Tommy Bahama Special Edition) last fall and drove it 1,500 miles westward from the point of purchase in New Jersey to see his daughters: Kris and her husband, Craig, in Issaquah, Wash., and Anna and Jackson in

Berkeley, Calif. “Have now visited all states except three. Idaho and Utah are my new favorites.” He’s back at home in Twain Harte, Calif….Larry Power is “still laughing about the ‘reading of the rules for incoming Batesie males’ at our 50th Reunion. Priceless!”...

Pastor Sam Richards told us about the February production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream offered by the youth theatrical troupe he oversees, the Southern Maine Association of Shakespearean Homeschoolers, aka SMASH. Held at Monmouth’s Cumston Hall, longtime home of The Theater at Monmouth, the three-performance run was “entertaining, excellently acted.”

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

James Glinski directs his energies in two directions since retirement: contributing to the history of Scituate, Mass., where he and Susan Denniston ’72 reside, and helping protect the South Shore environment. “Combining both interests, I wrote an article for the North and South Rivers Watershed Association on the history of the saltwater marshes of the South Shore.” He has also published a new local-history book, The Ceaseless War Against Intemperance: Scituate’s AnteBellum Temperance Movement, and joined the Scituate Historical Commission….John Shea spent a week on campus during the Bates Film Festival in April

It’s Catching

Alex Wood ’66 enjoyed fly-fishing in Argentine Patagonia last year and reports that the rainbow trout — one of which he’s displaying — the scenery, and the beef at dinner “were all outstanding.” (Trout fishing in South America, you ask? Yep: Trout were introduced from the U.S. in the early 1900s.) Alex also got the chance to introduce his grandson Christopher to fly fishing for bonefish on the flats of Andros Island in the Bahamas.

2022 and presented Grey Lady, the 2017 romantic thriller that he wrote and directed. “I met lots of talented film and theater students and great faculty, and did a Q&A in Schaeffer Theatre on the very stage where I got my start. Thank you, Bates.”...

For Christopher Wright, 2022 was a year of health troubles. Early in the year, working with his daughter Lydia, he undertook a regimen of daily dressing changes and applications of honey, and nothing else, to control an infection. Despite his month in bed with COVID, they were able to declare success by Easter Sunday. “I call this our ‘100-day miracle.’” Later on, though, increasing difficulty in breathing led to a diagnosis of stage 4 myelofibrosis. “So, in addition to the rare connectivetissue disorder that has wrecked my entire life, I get to experience a rare cancer,” he writes. “Many people with this cancer can survive for years, and I’ve likely had it for years. Severe anemia causes perpetual exhaustion. Pain, suffering, and anxiety have become my roommates until the Reaper knocks on my door. Thanks to having lived with the constant deterioration of my skeletal system, I have learned to live with this challenge. In the meantime, I eat well, get the occasional blood transfusion, and continue reading, researching, and enjoying the gift of an active brain.”

1971

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Suzanne Woods Kelley suzannekelley@att.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Michael Wiers mwiers@mwiers.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT Jan Face Glassman jfaceg1@hotmail.com

Frank Foster served as an election official in Arlington, Mass., last fall. A strong turnout made for a “20-hour day.” He adds, “Reunion 2022 was very special, loads of fun and very well-planned and executed. Looking forward to staying in touch with classmates as we approach our 55th.”...Carol Hendrickson returned to Guatemala, a longtime focus of her professional work, in

December after a three-year pandemic hiatus. For two weeks, she volunteered with the Maya Educational Foundation’s Volunteer English Language Program, working with Maya university students. “After that I traveled to Tecpán, where I first did anthropology research in 1980. At that point people were still recovering from the 1976 earthquake that had flattened the town. These days, however, Tecpán is booming. It’s a huge business and market center as well as being known for its role in the ‘Maya Renaissance.’ I was stunned by all the changes in just three years.”...Jim Miller and Marsha have spent more than three years wandering the West in their 2012 Airstream trailer. They’ve enjoyed unique sights at Hueco Tanks, Texas, and Dry Falls, Wash.; hiking at mounts Rainier and St. Helens; biking the Coeur d’Alenes and Hiawatha Rail trails, in Idaho; beach time in Newport, Ore.; the Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, and, of course, Roswell, N.M. Wintering in Durango, they worked on the design for the house to be built on their five acres of mountain land in Fairplay, Colo.

1972

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY Dick Thomas rthomas14@comcast.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Erik Bertelsen ecbertelsen@gmail.com

Michael Miskin and Liz took a “fabulous cruise to Italy, France, Greece, Malta, and Croatia. We started in Venice and ended up in Valbonne, France, for a couple of nights — actually enjoying the daily village life more than the scheduled, touristy part of the trip.”...Steve Mortimer’s 2022 was “great fun.” A high point was the wedding of son Ben Mortimer ’95. There was also travel to San Francisco, NYC, Chicago, Florida, and Acadia, as well as learning pickleball and seeing bears, coyotes, bobcats, and fisher cats in his back yard in Raymond, Maine — not to mention the 50th running of the Bates Alumni Cross-Country Race and “spending time with so many wonderful classmates at our 50th Reunion.”

1973

Reunion 2023, June 8–11

CLASS SECRETARY Kaylee Masury kmasury@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Tom Carey tcarey@bates.edu

This from Ira Waldman in California: “As I try to sort out what kind of retirement or semi-retirement to head toward, I realize that I have many socially relevant interests that continue to excite me. I am a founding member of the Homelessness Task Forces created jointly by the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) and my law firm, Cox, Castle, and Nicholson. I recently received, along with my firm, the Ruth Schwartz Legacy Award from Shelter Partnership.” Ira also co-chairs ACREL’s Climate Impact Affinity Group, dealing with the effects of real estate development on climate. And he has taken part in public Q&As with Eric Nusbaum, the author of Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, a study of the development of Dodger Stadium and the displacement of Mexican-American communities.

1974

Reunion 2024, June 6–9

CLASS SECRETARY Tina Psalidas Lamson tinal2@mac.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Don McDade mcdadecbb@gmail.com

Social Media Coordinators

Bill and Karen Lord Cunningham karenlc67@gmail.com

Vicky Aghababian Wicks and Bruce are enjoying retirement in Rhode Island and traveling frequently, including visits with grandchildren in NYC and Portland. “We’re looking forward to our 50th Reunion and to reconnecting with lots of classmates.”...Ronald and Jan Neugebauer Brown have retired from working the Eastern States Exposition (“Big E”) Llama Show after nearly 30 years. “We started off as barn crew, shifting llama pens, helping llama owners handle their gear, and acting as runners. Then we graduated to clerk and announcer. Jan’s programming and organization skills were in play from August to the last weekend in September as she tweaked her database, recorded llama and handler entries, resolved questions, produced a show book, and recorded show results and produced final reports. Ron pretty much made copies, got supplies, fixed the printer, then just showed up and talked. It was a wonderful ride!”...Writing in February, Cindi Byrkit was “heading into 2023 looking forward to a better and more satisfying year” — better than 2022, which included “an unplanned move, a positive COVID test the day before Thanksgiving, and too many canceled travel plans.”... Wayne Douglas was sworn in as an associate justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in March. Citing his “sharp legal mind, measured temperament, and dedication to the fair and impartial administration of the law,” Gov. Janet Mills selected the Ocean Park resident for a seven-year term on the court. He became a judge in 2002 and a York County Superior Court justice in 2015….This from Julia Holmes Reuter: Because of both the “dismal” grade in Beginning French at Bates attained by Jim Reuter ’75, and “his pitbull mentality — won’t let go once he sets his mind to something — we spent an amazing week in Avignon, France, in December.”

In the ancient walled city, “decked out for Christmas,” they took a one-on-two immersion course continuing their French studies. “A week hiking in the Pyrenees preceded it and the rainy forecast failed to deliver!”

1975

Reunion 2025, June 5–8

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

1976

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Jeff Helm bateslax@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Bruce Campbell brucec@maine.rr.com

Marge McCormick Davis and Clara Smith Hubbard joined a Marist College classmate in revisiting some favorite places from their junior-year stay in Oxford, England, in September….David Snow and Lynette Yezierski Snow were named honorary alumni of Clemson University in October, in recognition of their generosity toward the South Carolina school. Their daughter Ashley is Clemson ’15. Her twin, Lauren, graduated from Elon University. David and Lynette live in Darien, Conn.

1977

Reunion 2027, June 10–13

CLASS SECRETARY Steve Hadge schmuddy@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Keith Taylor drkeithtaylor@msn.com

Donald Earle is “really enjoying being a first-time grandfather.” In September, moreover, he saw “the field hockey team beat Bowdoin for the first time in something like 30 years (one of my daughter’s former athletes at Newton Country Day School is a first-year on the team). To celebrate, we went over to touch the Bobcat sculpture and then to the Goose so I could show Cooper where Grampa spent many an enjoyable Wednesday night. No, we didn’t go in!”...Joel Feingold describes the past year or two as “momentous.” In 2021, “everyone I knew got COVID, and Houda and I did not. The entertainment market was gross” (Joel is an agent and manager for entertainers in diverse fields). “And my theatrical project died an ignominious death.” He adds, “when I used the word ‘ignominious’ on the golf course my playing partners ribbed me for the next several holes.” He adds, “I enjoyed our 45th Reunion very much. It never ceases to amaze me how interesting Batesies are.”...

Liz Strout has had some big months as an author. One was April 2009, when her novel Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Well, September 2022 was another. Her novel Oh William! was shortlisted for the