Colby Magazine vol.106, no. 2

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Spring 2018

Colbians work the front lines of climate change Class speaker reached her goals—and then some Another perspective on Elsie the Cow Arming students to fight the sex trade Frozen Four was a game to remember

TRUTH TO POWER At the New York Times, Rebecca Corbett ’74 led Pulitzer-winning—and culture-rocking—investigation of Harvey Weinstein


COLBY Spring 2018

Hats Off

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To the members of the Class of 2018, who received degrees at commencement, May 27. Class speaker Marnay Avant of St. Louis, Mo., told the crowd of more than 3,000 to refuse to countenance injustice. The class—483 strong, from 43 countries and 38 U.S. states, holding 55 unique majors— was addressed by U.S. Senator Susan M. Collins of Maine, who urged that we move past the extremism and intolerance that marks our political discourse. More is online at colby.edu/commencement.


FROM THE PRESIDENT

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Relationships are a sustaining, even replenishing element of life. Sharing life with a great partner and loyal friends makes everything better. Families are rejuvenating and often the very essence of a good life. The seemingly little things, like coaching your child’s soccer team, are often the memorable, gratifying moments.

These phrases are repeated over and again in the narratives prepared by members of the Class of 1968 for their 50th reunion book. Encapsulating 50 years in 500 words is no small task. Yet the returning alumni shared their stories with grace, charm, and authenticity. I read each one, and while there is much to learn about Colby in these stories, there is even more to learn about lives well lived.

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Travel and exploration, especially with the ones we love, enlighten and animate our lives. The reunion book is filled with stunning photos from faraway lands, but I was also taken by how many in the class just loved being in the outdoors, often coming back to Maine for that simple pleasure. More than a half century ago, Colby brought this amazing group of people together and provided them with an education that has served them in ways they never could have imagined. As one alumnus wrote, “Colby [is] engraved on my soul.” Another remarked, “Colby prepared us well for a good life.”

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By the time the class graduated, Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated, uprisings were occurring in major cities across the country, anti-war protests filled Miller Lawn, and recreational drugs were becoming popular among young people. Many members of the class left Colby to fight in Vietnam. David Thomas Barnes ’68 joined the army and was killed in battle just before his classmates graduated. Taking on an ambush, he fought valiantly, surviving multiple injuries before ultimately being stopped. He was awarded a Silver Star posthumously, one of several decorations he received for his brave, selfless service.

Our vocations and avocations evolve over time. The best argument for a liberal arts education is in the paths of people who have lived through decades of radical change. Seeing how many times our alumni changed jobs and fields of work, how they engaged with graduate study and lifelong learning, and how they pursued the things that mattered to them most reinforces in me that we are doing the right thing by educating our students to be inquisitive, discerning, and adaptable.

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The Class of ’68 entered Colby at a time when the “girls” and “boys” were physically separated on campus and lived by different rules. Female students were to be chaperoned for any overnight travel that included college work. Any other overnight absence required parental approval. The dean wrote to the women in the class that she was concerned about “unchaperoned coeducational overnight parties and camping trips.” She cautioned, “We sincerely doubt the wisdom of some of these activities.” Just a few years later, the Women’s Student League Board, which adjudicated the parietal rules for female students, was disbanded as dormitories became coeducational. The world was changing fast, and so was Colby.

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I am blessed.

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Here are the lessons I took from our 50th reunion class.

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I am fortunate.

I want our current students to read about the lives of our 1968 graduates and to know that they, too, will take unexpected diversions in a world that is always revolving. And I hope, 50 years from now, they can look back and say, “I am fortunate.” “I am blessed.”

It was, as many members of the class observed, a tumultuous time. And it turns out, looking back over 50 years, that life itself is tumultuous. As one alumna wrote, life’s path is meandering. It is marked by unexpected change. Life is filled with tragedies and challenges, but it is also replete with love and triumph, discoveries, passions, and fulfillment. Reading the stories of the Class of ’68 gave me inspiration and hope. It was as if they were sharing the recipe for a good life, even while the diversity of their experiences made clear that there is no simple formula for being able to look back on life with gratitude and a sense of good fortune.

David A. Greene

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COLBY Spring 2018

Not a Dream

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Zane Fields ’19 raises his hands in exultation after he raced his way to the best season by a Colby Nordic skier in the program’s history. Fields placed sixth in the 20-kilometer freestyle mass start races at the NCAA Division I championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo., March 10. The top-10 finish made Fields Colby’s first male All-American Nordic skier. He finished 14th in the 10-kilometer classical race at the championships, his best classical NCAA result. “This season has been a dream,” said Fields, a psychology/neuroscience major from Woodstock, Vt. He won six Eastern Collegiate Ski Association races en route to the national championships.


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Study Break Molly McGavick ’18, left, and Isa Berzansky ’19 take a break with a friend at Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka, in January. The environmental studies/ environmental science majors were two of 16 students enrolled in the Jan Plan ES397j, Elephants and Environment in Sri Lanka, with Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Philip Nyhus. The students were learning about elephant behavior (and how to study elephant behavior) with co-instructor and noted Asianelephant expert Shermin De Silva.

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GIVING BACK COLBY FUND “Colby is taking action and making things happen. As a volunteer, a champion, and a donor to the Colby Fund, I see myself as part of the momentum.” —Kaitlin McCafferty ’04 Boston, Mass. Every gift to the Colby Fund helps accelerate the pace of progress.

When you give through Colby, your vision is realized in real time with real impact. Support the Colby Fund in ways that are most meaningful to you. Visit colby.edu/give, or contact 1-800-311-3678 for more information.

Support the Colby Fund by June 30. 6


COLBY Spring 2018 Vol. 106 Issue 2

COLBY | colby.edu

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Hope is the strongest antidote to sex trafficking

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Gifted teachers set this teacher on her path

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Goodbye Smithsonian, hello Lunder Institute for American Art

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“Brilliant” Marnay Avant ’18 is all business

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This o-chem whiz was down in LA—but not out

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Brit Biddle ’18 designs her future

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Marine Corps or meditation? Hello, Nepal!

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Q&A with Richard Blanco, poet and visiting artist

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Colby Climate Project: Colbians face the most challenging global issue of our time

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Truth Teller: Rebecca Corbett ’74 leads culture-shifting New York Times investigations

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GIVING BACK

“Mary and I are deeply passionate about supporting Colby and Maine students. By creatively combining various types of assets, we were able to maximize our impact and open doors for generations to come.” —Steve Ford ’68, P’05 and Mary Ford P’05 Glen Mills, Pa. and West Gardiner, Maine

In honor of his 50th Reunion, Steve and Mary Ford gifted a charitable IRA rollover, a life insurance policy, and real estate to leave a meaningful legacy. Learn more about leveraging your assets by contacting the Gift Planning office. 8

Office of Gift Planning | 207-859-4370 | giftplanning@colby.edu


COLBY Spring 2018 Vol. 106 Issue 2

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Staff Ruth J. Jackson executive editor

Kate Carlisle director of communications

Arne Norris web design Milton Guillén ’15 photo video journalist Laura Meader assistant director of communications

Walter Hatch, director of the Oak Institute for Human Rights, reflects on eight years of progress and change—and a small frustration

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From President David A. Greene

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This Caught Our Attention

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From the Editor

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Colby in Numbers

16

Shorter Takes

30

Media

64

Class Notes

86

Obituaries

91

First Person

4

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Colby Magazine is published three times yearly. Visit us online: colby.edu/mag

In Each Issue

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To contact Colby Magazine: Managing Editor, Colby Magazine 4354 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME 04901 geboyle@colby.edu 207-859-4354

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Alumni Council Executive Committee Chad W. Higgins ’97, chair, president of the Alumni Association David S. Epstein ’86, immediate past chair Stephen D. Ford ’68, P’05, chair, Nominating Committee; Justin C. DePre ’06, chair, Awards Committee; Matthew Hancock ’90, P’19, chair, Athletics Committee; Ben Herbst ’08, chair, DavisConnects Committee; Brooke McNally Thurston ’03, chair, Colby Fund Committee; ​ Jennifer Robbins ’97, member at large; Tim Williams ’08, engagement strategy and analysis officer

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Micky Bedell, Yoon S. Byun, Jared Castaldi, Dennis Griggs, Cliff Kucine, Bassam Khabieh, Heather Perry ’93, Sara Pooley, Dustin Satloff ’15, Grace Yu ’19, Chris Zvitkovits contributing photographers

Administration David A. Greene, president Ruth J. Jackson, vice president for communications Dan Lugo, vice president for advancement

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Anthony Ronzio director of digital strategy

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Laura Maloney ’12, press secretary for U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, learned that in order to create meaningful change, she had to get involved. Video journalist Milton Guillén ’15 captures Maloney’s “True North”

Barbara E. Walls director of creative strategy

Stephen Collins ’74, Maeve Dolan ’17, Rosie Hughes, Bob Keyes, Bassam Khabiel, Laura Meader, Christina Ruiz, Elisabeth Stokes, Mareisa Weil contributing writers

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Exclusively Online

Gerry Boyle ’78 managing editor

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Rebecca Corbett ’74, assistant managing editor, New York Times Photography by Yoon S. Byun

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this caught our

attent on

COLBY Spring 2018

Save, Lawrence!

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Goalie Sean Lawrence ’18 loses his stick as he makes one of 44 saves in the Mules’ NCAA D-III semi-final game against St. Norbert in Lake Placid. Colby roared back after falling three goals down to the eventual national champion but fell a goal short, losing 4-3 and ending a historic playoff run that saw the Mules win the NESCAC championship and defeat the University of New England and SUNY Geneseo to earn the trip to the Frozen Four. Lawrence was clutch, with just eight goals in seven NCAA games. An All-New England selection, Lawrence was a finalist for the prestigious Joe Concannon Award, given to the best Americanborn college hockey player in New England in Division II/III.


EDITOR’S NOTE CONTRIBUTORS

I’m looking forward to your comments, suggestions, and nominations for future profiles for this important look at the most challenging issue of our time.

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Our story—an examination of Corbett’s career and impact through her decades as a journalist—went out to the Colby community and readers all over the world. The alumna who learned the power of words on Mayflower Hill had used them to help change the sensibilities of millions and lessen the likelihood that such sexual abuse would happen or be tolerated in the future.

This open-ended project tells the stories of the talented and committed—and Colby-trained and connected—professionals who have taken on this formidable challenge. The project will reside online at colby. edu/climate and will continue in print.

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We were right. The Colby Magazine online story was ready to go when, on April 16, the world got the news. In a reenactment of that historic moment in the Times newsroom, we pushed the publish button in our offices on the second floor of the Schair-SwensonWatson Alumni Center. Cheers erupted up.

This issue marks the launch of the Colby Climate Project, exploring the climate work of faculty, students, and alumni, from scientists, to policymakers, to activists.

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Maeve Dolan ’17 (“Silence is Golden,” P. 60) is a freelance writer based in Park City, Utah. When she isn’t writing, she leads wilderness trips for high school students.

We all know of the climate change problem—and its increasingly alarming effects. We may know less about the legions of smart and courageous Colby people who are searching for solutions. Beginning in this issue, we plan to introduce you to some of them.

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Bob Keyes (“A Bold Move— With Big Possibilities,” P. 48) has written about the arts in Maine for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram since 2002. In 2017 Keyes received an inaugural Rabkin Prize for Visual Arts journalism. The prize recognized Keyes as among the best arts writers in the country.

Corbett, assistant managing editor at the Times, headed up the painstaking probe that sparked a globe-spanning cultural movement that continues to resonate to this day. (See P.20) That much we knew when we contacted Corbett about the possibility of profiling her for Colby Magazine. We also thought the Weinstein story was a shoo-in for a Pulitzer Prize.

Corbett’s not the only one undaunted by big challenges.

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Rosie Hughes (“The Next Door Opens,” P. 52) teaches young people how to write and tell their stories with the Telling Room, a non-profit organization in Portland, Maine. Before that she was an international humanitarian aid worker in different parts of Africa and a journalist in France and Maine.

Corbett received an honorary degree at commencement in May, and for those of us here at Colby who were fortunate enough to tell our version of the Rebecca Corbett story, it was a fitting ending, indeed.

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Stephen Collins ’74 (“Q&A, Richard Blanco,” P. 62, “The Miracle Mules,” P. 90) retired as Colby’s college editor in 2017. He has published articles in the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, and Christian Science Monitor in addition to his contributions to Colby Magazine.

I tried not to be starstruck. But for an old newspaper hand, talking with Rebecca Corbett ’74 and her team of reporters in the New York Times’ newsroom about their path-breaking Harvey Weinstein investigation was like a college tennis player hanging out on the practice courts with Roger Federer. It doesn’t get any better.

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Elisabeth Fairfield Stokes (“From Teachers Comes the Gift of Teaching Writing—and Writers,” P. 36) has taught at Colby since 2001. Her work has been published in the New York Times, TIME, and Salon. Her essay “Reaping What Rape Culture Sows” was included in the anthology Not That Bad (See P. 30)

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Christina Nunez (“Reasons for Hope,” P. 38) is a writer based in the Washington, D.C., area specializing in energy, science, and innovation. She regularly contributes to National Geographic.

Gerry Boyle ’78, P’06 Managing Editor

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FEEDBACK Colby Magazine was looking to feature a story about Elsie the Cow. Winter 2018

A painting secretly connected Colby women Corrie Marinaro prescribes more than medicine Jack Burton jumps on the ice for pro hockey Cancer becomes giving opportunity for David Pulver

THE RIGHT PATH Colbians help make education possible in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Baseball Analytics Club creates a pipeline to the majors

The Rest of the Story of Elsie the Cow

COLBY Spring 2018

I received word of the planned Colby Magazine story about the painting and tradition of Elsie the Cow prior to its publication from my good friend Adrienne Clay ’97. I am calling her “my good friend” despite the absence of communication between us for over 20 years. In 1994, when I attended Colby, she was an upperclassman who was worldly and socially conscious (awake?) about issues for which I had limited language that was disproportionate to my encounter throughout my public high school experience. Needless to say, I looked up to her immensely.

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In 1994 Colby existed with President William Cotter and his wife, Linda, and without the Pugh Center or the present-day Colby pub or Alfond Apartments. I have little sense of Colby’s newest facilities. In 1994 the Colby pub sold nachos with microwave-melted cheese for $3, and most of us black and brown students worked at the little store or drove the jitney because it was the only way we had access to snacks on campus or to the Walmart (Kmart?) in Waterville. I was happily surprised to see Adrienne’s name and email address pop into my inbox, and I felt a wave of nostalgia when she told me that

a freshman, I had no idea what a thesis statement was. In my efforts to seek help, much of my academic inadequacies met The wave of nostalgia passed rather condescending pity. I remembered the quickly and turned into dread. What had arguments with white students about happened to that cow? I remembered whether or not having a group or a building Elsie. I remembered Adrienne giving the was in itself a form of self-inflicted portrait to me. I remembered the honor I marginalization. I remembered the stigma felt that Adrienne had chosen me; in fact, to be chosen by Adrienne Clay meant more of sitting together in Dana Dining Hall long than anything ever could at that time in my before Beverly Daniel Tatum, the author of the book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting life. I was a sophomore and crawling my Together in the Cafeteria, unmasked us way out of academic probation, trying to in the cafeteria. I remembered the daily figure out whether interactions that I had made the made painfully correct choice to clear the ways remain at Colby. that Colby was Colby would an institution not break me, I that was not had told myself, made for us, by and I opted to us, or in unison. stay rather than When I received leave, though I the Cow, I did probably should not care about have done the Colby tradition. latter when I had I cared about had the chance. survival, and at I was fighting that time I could ghosts it seemed, barely attest to an and Colby was experience where winning. Yet, I felt affirmed receiving Elsie and welcomed. I was an honorable was not a part of moment, not Colby; there were because of its always too many tradition or the The painting Elsie the Cow, which was discovered in an fights for breath opportunity I office and had a long and rich history. and belonging. would have to Elsie, Elsie, Elsie pass it forward, … the irony of this tradition in the face of but because it affirmed connection. those who preferred its disappearance is There were people on that campus who poetic even now. cared about me, and the Cow was a noteworthy reminder. I remembered the mixed emotions at receiving this “honor.” I remembered the many ways I felt isolated, racially and ethnically, and how academically unprepared I had been as a Colby student. I remembered being left to flounder by professors who scoffed at my not knowing how to write a thesis statement. Yes, as

My days at Colby got better, one G.P.A. point and friend at a time. I was then, and continue now, to be forever indebted to creative writing professor Ira Sadoff, who believed in me when I could not believe in myself during that Jan Plan course freshman year. Professor Sandy Grande and my voice and public speaking professor, David Mills, exist within that


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On Professor Jack Foner Facebook:

When we had the anti-war college strike in May 1970, and we were doing pass-fail instead of continuing to attend classes. He asked my senior seminar to take exams because he was still new and needed the feedback.

@ScottShaneNYT: “Remarkable tribute to Rebecca Corbett, my editor, friend and mentor for 26 years. Nice to see someone who is such a force behind the scenes get a little limelight.” @MattHjourno: “an inspiring profile of Rebecca Corbett, who edited the NYT’s Pulitzer-winning stories on Weinstein”

­ Mayra Elise Diaz ’98 — Washington, D.C.

@ktbenner: “I love @ColbyCollege’s profile of Rebecca Corbett and her work to make the @nytimes investigations team the very best.”

Editor’s note: Mayra Diaz is assistant principal of the middle school at Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.

@jessicalustig: “This profile of Rebecca Corbett, who leads the @nytimes investigations team that just won a Pulitzer, lets you see inside the thinking and process in building a bulletproof story”

On Their Ticket to the Show

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@jodikantor: “Meet Rebecca Corbett, an unsung titan of American journalism and my personal True North”

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Cheryl Gorman ’74: “Definitely one of my favorite Colby professors. I learned from him once again reading this article. I thought of him almost every day as I rode the elevator past the W.E.B. Du Bois museum, which was in my building in Harvard Square.”

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NYTimes Communications: “Incredible @ColbyCollege profile of Rebecca Corbett with quotes from current and former colleagues @deanbaquet @jodikantor @mega2e @catrineinhorn @mattbpurdy and @AoDespair”

On Rebecca Corbett ’74:

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Twitter:

We all respected him so much that we agreed. They were the only exams I took that semester. I learned more about him after graduation and had even more respect.”

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Chicki Helen Barnes ’76: “Loved this guy and I took every course I could from him

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Aamira Marshall ’89: “Thank You for sharing a piece of my history. I took a few classes to ensure accuracy. And I was happy with what the program shared about a piece of my heritage. Colby, my little one is preparing to join you. I told her how awesome you always treated me. I felt welcomed as a Ralph Bunche Scholar!!!!!”

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So, the Colby tradition of Elsie fell upon my deaf ears, and I unapologetically handed the portrait to a classmate, also a woman of color, who left it somewhere in the abyss of a storage room. I never signed my name. I opted out of a tradition that diminished significant portions of my identity and sense of being. I am happy the portrait was found and that the story allows me an opportunity to add to the narrative. Whether you publish this part of the story—probably one of its richest parts—is up to you. I do not regret having been a Colby student or the lessons I learned as a result. In fact, for that experience, I take great pride. If Colby should create an homage for Elsie the Cow—and it should— they should do so knowing that its story is greater than any display of famous signatures could ever capture. The story of Elsie the Cow is far richer, and hopefully now, more complete.

Colby Conversation via Social Media

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debt as well. For me, Colby was a time of self-discovery and realization that in order to succeed, I had to continue to fight. I did, I suppose, as many did and will continue to do, at whatever cost. Now that I am an older adult with a greater sense of my naiveté, pride, and self-centeredness then, I recognize now how a bulk of my sadness and bitterness at Colby were in many ways self-imposed; and, for those, I take full account. I would be remiss, however, if alongside my own faults, I did not hold Colby at fault for perpetuating the systematic and institutionalized forms of racism embedded in my experiences. Given the current state of race relations in our country, I can’t imagine (sadly) that my experience at Colby over 20 years ago won’t resonate for students of color in some form today.

Facebook: Nancy Berrian-Dixon: “This is amazing! I never knew this was a real job—I thought Moneyball was an anomaly. Wow! Can they use the same applications in other sports? Like hockey?” Marybeth Maney Wilhelm ’01: “Made me think of our stats-loving boys.” #liberalartsforthewin.

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NUMBERS

COLBY Spring 2018

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The number of hours about 80 students from Colby and around NESCAC had to design and complete a project in the annual CBB Hackathon, held April 21-22 at Colby. The top winner was a Mule team—Kyle McDonell ’18, Jacob Young ’20, William Wisener ’18, and Maddie Taylor ’19—that designed an open source myoelectric prosthetic arm. The team built the arm with a Raspberry Pi computer, open-source Arduino software, servomotors, and even a few paperclips and rubber bands. Then

they used a machine-learning algorithm based on EMG (electromyology) to record and monitor skeletal-muscle electrical activity. Sensors placed on someone’s forearm, whether they have a hand or not, pick up their actual or intended movements. Neural-network AI differentiates between them and simultaneously communicates them to the prosthetic arm. Of course. In photo above, the competitors bear down in Grossman Hall, home of DavisConnects.


NUMBERS COLBY | colby.edu | facebook.com/colbycollege | twitter.com/colbycollege | instagram.com/colbycollege

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The number of existing and anticipated LEEDcertified spaces at Colby. The existing list will soon be supplemented by Grossman Hall, the home of DavisConnects, which is anticipated to be LEED Gold/Platinum, and Bill and Joan Alfond Main Street Commons, which is expected to be LEED Silver. Shown above is the kitchen area for a student apartment at Alfond Commons, which will open in August. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a widely used green building rating system that recognizes buildings with sustainability achievement.

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SHORTFORM Too Big to Govern?

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he C

olby Libraries

That’s the question asked by Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology Neil Gross in an op-ed article in the New York Times May 11. More precisely, Gross wrote:

ct Lare e r i D ese Hall,

or

The Colby College Lib

rari

es FUTURE-FOCUSED what Lareese Hall will be as Bixler • —that’s iller Libraries. • Olin Hall • Sp incoming director of theMColby says ecacademic ial Collections libraries can be “creative and dynamic collaborative platforms for curiosity and learning.” She comes to Mayflower Hill from the Rhode Island School of Design.

“There are clear economic and military advantages to being a large country. But when it comes to democracy, the benefits of largeness—defined by population or geographic area—are hard to find.”

HEAD OF FALLS HATHAWAY CREATIVE HISTORIC POST OFFICE

CONCOURSE

COLBY Spring 2018

FASTER AND FASTER

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Sophie Stokes Cerkvenik ’19 is the national champion in the 100-meter hurdles. Stokes Cerkvenik bested the field at the NCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse May 26. Running a 14.06, she took the lead at the sixth hurdle and accelerated to the win. Stokes Cerkvenik received her medal from head track and field coach Dave Cusano.

HOT SPOT Downtown Waterville will have free wireless in public spaces downtown, thanks to a partnership between Colby and the Central Maine Growth Council. Who benefits? Local businesses, residents, and visitors.

RESCINDED... … Comedian Bill Cosby’s honorary degree, conferred in 1992. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rescind the degree following Cosby’s conviction in April on multiple counts of sexual assault. The trustees also convened a group of students, faculty, staff, and trustees to review its policies regarding rescission of honorary degrees.


SHORTFORM

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“I think the most important thing is to cultivate an atmosphere in which people are respected, to cultivate a context in which people feel free and vulnerable enough to speak from their hearts and minds and souls. So before one jumps to an issue of freedom, it’s very much an issue of what kinds of relations and the quality of those relations in the culture.”

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Elementary

Starting this fall both will be the menu at 173 Main Street in Waterville, where Money Cat Fried Chicken and Donuts will open—across the street from Alfond Commons. The cuisine is inspired by Thai street food, in which fried and sweet are a delectable combination. Money Cat joins Portland Pie Co. on the ground floor of the Colby-owned office building, part of the ongoing revitalization of the city’s downtown. The mixeduse residential complex opens in August.

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This year it was Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Travis Reynolds, who is the 26th faculty member to receive the annual Charles Bassett Senior Class Teaching Award. Watch for a profile of Reynolds in an upcoming installment of the Colby Climate Project.

CHICKEN/DONUTS

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That’s how Benard Kibet ’18 made it seem as he was named a 2018 Watson Fellow, one of just 40 U.S. college seniors to be awarded a grant to join the prestigious program. The Watson will see Kibet traveling to Ghana, India, Tanzania, and South Africa to study organizations that work with the disabled. This follows two Davis Projects for Peace awards, which Kibet used to bring running water and a renovated school classroom to his hometown in Kenya. And oh, yes, Kibet also raised $15,000 for construction of two additional classrooms at his elementary school. He needed something to do between commencement and leaving on his Watson project.

CHANNELING CHARLIE

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That’s what Sharon Corwin calls the Lunder Institute for American Art allstars—artist Theaster Gates, Associate Professor of Art Tanya Sheehan, and curator Lee Glazer. Gates, renowned in contemporary art, is the institute’s first distinguished visiting artist and director of artist initiatives—a three-year appointment. Sheehan, currently the William R. Kenan Associate Professor of Art, is the new distinguished scholar and director of research. She will teach courses that support the institute’s mission, and create research opportunities for Colby students. They join Glazer, recently appointed the founding director of the institute (See story, P. 48), and poet laureate and artist in residence Blanco (See Q&A, P. 62).

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DREAM TEAM

—Professor, philosopher, author, and activist Cornel West, interviewed at Colby on the subject of free expression on college and university campuses. A Q&A appears at colby.edu/mag

!

ea

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Th

AKA a billionth of a second. That’s how long you have to get a look at a carbene, a chemical species studied by Fulbright Global Scholar and Professor of Chemistry Dasan Thamattoor. Thamattoor will do research in Japan and the Czech Republic and teach in Singapore. So how do you get a look? You freeze it to absolute zero.

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SHORTFORM

PROUD MOM AND DAD! David and Adrienne Carmack and their daughter Adrienne Carmack ’18 moments after it was announced that Carmack had won the 2018 Condon Medal for engaged citizenship. Classmates honored the Veazie, Maine, resident for her contributions in a broad range of areas, including racial diversity and gender equality.

COMING SOON Features of the new 350,000-square-foot athletic complex, now under construction and due to open in 2020, are shown in these architectural renderings. The largest project in Colby’s history, the complex will include,

FOUR LONGTIME FACULTY RETIRE Tamae Prindle, East Asian Studies

Joseph Roisman, Classics

Oak Professor of East Asian Studies Tamae Prindle has retired after 33 years at Colby.

Professor of Classics Joseph Roisman retires from Colby this year after teaching Greek, Roman, and ancient Jewish history and historiography at Colby for almost three decades.

With scholarly interest in Japanese language, literature, and cinema, and particularly feminist perspectives in these areas, Prindle is best known in her field for having introduced Japanese “business novels”—a genre that emerged and grew in the late 20th century—to the United States. She also served as president of the Association of the New England Region Teachers of Japanese Language for 14 years.

COLBY Spring 2018

Hanna Roisman, Classics

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Hanna M. Roisman, Colby’s Arnold Bernhard Professor of Arts and Humanities in the Classics Department, retires this year after 28 years at Colby teaching, researching, and writing about Greek epic tragedies and lyric poetry as well as Roman drama and the reception of classics in modern drama and film. She came to Colby in 1990 and in addition to writing more than a half dozen books of analysis and commentary, coedited five themed issues of the Colby Quarterly with her husband and colleague, Joseph Roisman.

Roisman is Colby career began in 1990. He is the author or coauthor of seven books and was recently a visiting fellow at Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies among other fellowships and honors during his career. Edward Yeterian, Psychology Professor of Psychology Edward Yeterian retires after 40 years at the College, including a dozen years as vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, moving back to the classroom in 2010. At Colby he held endowed chairs in psychology, and in his administrative role, he oversaw the College’s academic departments and programs, libraries, institutional research, career center, and off-campus study, among others. More at colby.edu/mag


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“In the past few years we have focused on ensuring talented students from around the world are aware of Colby’s extraordinary programs and that this education is open to the most deserving students regardless of their means.”

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It wasn’t until years later that I realized how you had shaped my way of reading things. You encouraged us to slow down, take smaller bites, and really concentrate on the themes and ideas that were fluttering past our eyes.”

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— Matthew T. Proto, Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

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The numbers prove it: The demand for a Colby education has never been greater, or more competitive.

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clockwise from upper left, squash courts, an Olympic-sized pool of the type used in Olympic competition, an interior courtyard, and a multi-level fitness center. The state-of-the-art facilities will be a resource for athletes, the campus community, and area residents.

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WORD IS GETTING OUT

—from a note sent to Cedric Bryant, Lee Family Professor of English, in March from Dana Thompson McCray, who was Bryant’s student in 1984 at San Diego State, four years before Bryant joined the faculty at Colby. McCray wrote, “Without realizing it at the time, you were preparing me for the rest of my academic career (which included a second bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and ultimately my doctorate). … Just thought you should know.”

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Truth Consequences

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With Harvey Weinstein investigation, Rebecca Corbett leads as the New York Times triggers cultural change

COLBY Spring 2018

By Gerry Boyle ’78 Photography by Yoon S. Byun

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COLBY Spring 2018

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And then, five months after the Weinstein investigation began, Corbett, her team, and the Times’ highest-ranking editors hunched over a computer screen as the button was pushed. The first Weinstein story was published.


They could see the finish line. But an investigations team at the New York Times still faced grueling hours of intense concentration before they could publish the first of a series of stories that would level explosive allegations against Harvey Weinstein, one of the most powerful men in the entertainment industry.

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One of the key reasons for that was Corbett, assistant managing editor at the New York Times, who is charged with leading the paper’s investigations desk. Operating behind the scenes by choice, Corbett is lauded by loyal reporters and admiring editors for being thoughtful, demanding, meticulous, and tireless—and a critical figure at the highest level of journalism.

“Some TV network or NPR wants to interview you about the story,” Shane said, “and somewhere in the recesses of your tiny little reporter’s heart, you know that you wouldn’t be getting any of this attention if not for Rebecca Corbett’s work on the story.”

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“The Weinstein story was a great investigative story that arrived at a moment when the country was anxious to have a certain kind of debate and discussion, and it kicked off that debate and discussion,” said Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet. “It helped that it was unassailable, completely accurate, and bulletproof.”

But the nature of an editor’s work and Corbett’s personal humility mean that her name, while prominent on newspapers’ mastheads, has rarely been associated with the award-winning journalism she’s overseen—at least in public.

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What followed was a culture-shaking cascade of new, on-therecord allegations from film stars and others that spread from industry to industry and around the world.

This level of achievement has gone on for decades. At the Baltimore Sun, where she worked before moving to the Times, Corbett oversaw multiple award-winning projects, from investigation of what the secretive NSA actually does (1995), to a series about workers who dismember ships under dangerous conditions (1997), to stories about the death of a toddler from dehydration while she was being treated in a high-tech Baltimore hospital (2003).

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And then, five months after the Weinstein investigation began, Corbett, her team, and the Times’ highest-ranking editors hunched over a computer screen as the button was pushed. The first Weinstein story was published.

The Times’ Weinstein investigation won journalism’s highest accolade, the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, on April 16. But while it has gained the most widespread recognition, it’s not the first of Corbett’s projects that have won Pulitzers and other awards. With Corbett’s guidance, teams helped reveal secret surveillance of Americans by the National Security Agency in 2005. A decade later, through documents leaked by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the Times revealed that the NSA was monitoring Americans’ international Internet traffic without warrants or public notice.

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“They were on the phone saying, ‘Okay, we’re sending it right now,’” Corbett said. “And so we’re all standing there speedreading the multiple statements. I’m dictating to the copy editor, ‘Let’s put this in here. … We need to summarize this.’ And then we’re all collectively tweaking.”

Said Twohey, “I’ve been a journalist for twenty years, and she is hands-down the most impressive, engaged editor I’ve ever worked with.”

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At 7 a.m. Corbett returned to her room at a nearby Hampton Inn (she commutes to New York from her home in Baltimore), showered, and changed before heading back to the newsroom. With other editors and reporters, she continued to make adjustments to the story. At midday, the Weinstein team’s response to the allegations came in via email, just minutes after the deadline set by the Times. Activity in the newsroom kicked into overdrive.

Her guidance has shaped some of the most important stories of past decades. “If you stacked up all the big stories and big projects that she has sometimes conceived, but also nurtured and seen through to publication, it is a huge stack,” said New York Times investigative reporter Scott Shane. “And you can pull any story out of that stack and it will be an extremely impressive story.”

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Corbett stayed all night, her critical eye fixed yet again on the Times’ reporting of women saying publicly that movie producer Weinstein sexually harassed and intimidated them. The words scrolled past her on the computer screen as she parsed the story yet again. Corbett did not yet know, nor did she imagine in those pre-dawn hours, the tsunami the Weinstein stories would prompt, ultimately sparking a global movement of women who declared #MeToo.

Corbett’s behind-the-scenes role includes functioning as an in-house critic for Baquet, the top Times editor, who solicits her views on stories she isn’t editing, how other departments are working, and how the Times is faring overall as a news organization, he said.

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On the night of Oct. 4, 2017, reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey huddled with their editor, Rebecca Corbett ’74. At 1 a.m., Kantor and Twohey finally went home, leaving Corbett in their nondescript corner of the Times’ third-floor newsroom.

“If you look on the court and you’re down by a few points and Steph Curry has the ball, you feel a little better about things,” said Baquet, referring to the NBA superstar. “She’s my Steph Curry.”

Leading investigations requires a special collection of skills, said Baquet, who worked with Corbett for several years when he was Times Washington bureau chief. Corbett, he said, must be “part editor, part journalist, part shrink,” he said, “a sympathetic figure but then also deadline enforcer. … She is particularly strong in all those areas.”

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...and somewhere in the recesses of your tiny little reporter’s heart, you know that you wouldn’t be getting any of this attention if not for Rebecca Corbett’s work on the story.”

COLBY Spring 2018

—Scott Shane, investigative reporter, New York Times

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Long known in the business as one of the finest enterprise editors in the country, Corbett and her reporters are a reassuring presence when a news organization is about to embark on a dicey investigative story, Baquet said. “It automatically takes one issue off the table,” he said. “You know the story is going to be right. You know the story is going to be thoroughly reported and wonderfully edited.” Despite this crucial role in some of the most important stories of our time, Corbett plies her craft hidden from public view. But that shunning of the spotlight doesn’t detract from her push for the highest journalism standards and her willingness to stand up with steely resolve to those who want to derail that work. “Because she’s a modest personality, it’s easy to miss the scale of her journalistic ambition,” Kantor said. “It’s not personal ambition for herself. Her true belief is that journalists can confront the powerful and can change society. That is at her core.” That belief has been at her core for many years. Corbett arrived at Colby intending to study science, but fell into the sway of


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literature, captivated by what she refers to as “the power of words.”

“She sent us right back into the copy. … She asked us for a whole other level of depth to the story,” Einhorn said.

Corbett’s reporters take a deep breath and go back to the story, revisit sources, and find new ones, because they know the story that emerges will be much stronger with each iteration. “If you’re going to work with Rebecca you just have to have a shared credo with her that you’re willing to rewrite a certain section of the story seventeen times, thirty-one times, thirty-nine times,” Kantor said. “You just have to have a real Rebecca Corbett ’74 with investigations team members, from left, Nicholas Confessore, Grace Ashford, and Gabriel Dance.

Corbett stayed on, though.

“Rod and I interviewed Ashraf Ghani, now the president,” Corbett recounted. “I attended a dinner of prominent Afghan women with some female journalists, went to the top of Swimming Pool Hill, where the Taliban executed people in yes, a swimming pool. But it was all pretty anti-climactic compared to Matt’s ouster.”

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Times investigations reporter Catrin Einhorn recalls a story she wrote with Kantor about the experiences of Syrian refugee families in Canada. The pair was particularly pleased with one installment and expected straightforward approval from Corbett.

“The next morning, Matt and I did a long-planned interview with two Afghans about alleged misconduct by Navy SEALs for an investigative project that he was working on with my team in New York, met with a government minister, and then Matt had to pack his worldly goods and go to the airport, along with our security chief and others, who were worried about some last-minute arrest. He departed safely.”

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In her more than 20 years at the Baltimore Sun and her subsequent tenure at the Times, that need for perspective has been religiously passed on to reporters. Stories that are merely factual are not necessarily good stories, or certainly not as good as they can be. Reporters who have worked with Corbett at both newspapers say she consistently pushes for stories to probe deeper and wider, to convey the truth about the subject.

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Recalling those formative years in Waterville, Corbett said they taught her a valuable lesson—that stories have an impact on real people. “It’s more than being accurate,” Corbett said. “It’s understanding the big picture as well as the facts that you’re putting into stories.”

She had dinner that night with Times Kabul Bureau Chief Rod Nordland and diplomats, who were adamant that the reporter should leave Afghanistan while he still could. Corbett spent hours on the phone with Times lawyers and editors discussing how to extricate Rosenberg if Karzai chose to detain him. Suddenly, Afghan security officials informed Corbett and Nordland that Rosenberg had to be gone within a day.

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Collins did.

During Corbett’s 16-hour flight to Afghanistan, Karzai alternated between threatening to kick Rosenberg out of the country and threatening to hold him there. “Usually angry governments throw correspondents out, not make them stay,” Corbett noted.

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“At eleven o’clock at night, I got a phone call from Rebecca, who says, ‘I have a question about your copy. I don’t understand this.’” Collins would need additional information to clarify. “I say, ‘Well, all those guys have gone to bed by now.’ She says, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. Call up the chairman of the town council and wake him up and clarify this. We need to get it right.’”

The Times decided it would be a good idea to have a high-ranking editor in Kabul no matter what.

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Collins said his introduction to Rebecca Corbett’s journalism standards came after he filed what he thought was a routine story about a meeting of the town council.

The night before Corbett was to fly out, the Times published a story by Rosenberg about a soft coup being discussed by some of Karzai’s subordinates. “Karzai was furious,” Corbett recalled in an email detailing the trip. “It was pretty clear the interview would be off. The bigger question was what would happen to Matt.”

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After graduation, Corbett was hired as assistant state editor at the Waterville Morning Sentinel. Part of her job was managing freelance correspondents who usually were responsible for news coverage in their rural hometowns. One of those correspondents was Stephen Collins ’74, who was recruited by his classmate to cover the town of Oakland.

It was 2014. Hamid Karzai, then winding down as president of Afghanistan, wanted a high-level New York Times editor to take part in an interview with Times reporter Matt Rosenberg. Assistant Managing Editor Rebecca Corbett ’74, P’09 was nominated.

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As an editor for the Colby Echo, Corbett wrote about a variety of topics, from the cost of living off campus to the implementation of Title IX and college athletics directors’ resistance to government-dictated equality for women in sports.

Anger in Kabul

Corbett’s memory of the action-packed, high-stakes trip? “A fascinating trip,” she wrote with typical understatement.

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She just has an incredibly great backbone when it comes to what you need to do to pursue a story— no one intimidates her. —Susan Chira, former deputy executive editor, New York Times

commitment to revision. If you’re not willing to do that, I don’t think the relationship would work out.” It is a close relationship, reporters and editors say. Times Deputy Managing Editor Matthew Purdy said Corbett “is incredibly dedicated, sometimes to a fault, in terms of her work ethic.” That dedication creates a special esprit de corps with her reporters, he said. They know that whatever extra effort is asked of them, Corbett is working even harder. Rebecca Corbett’s bar-setting work ethic—“The woman works tirelessly.” Reporters say they receive emails and edits from Corbett 24-7. (One member of the investigations team confided that Corbett is known for having story-related epiphanies in the shower.) She works with reporters as a project is conceptualized and explored, discusses sources and their motivations, even the best way to approach someone, from email to “door knock.” “She’s an editor who becomes a partner on stories that she’s involved with, while also remaining this incredible critical eye on the story itself,” Purdy said, noting that even with a big-picture perspective, Corbett also scrutinizes the text closely, multiple times. “Every sentence matters, every fact matters,” Purdy said. “You’ve got to get it right.”

COLBY Spring 2018

A former investigative reporter who also oversees Times’ investigations, Purdy said Corbett’s skill and experience are what

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makes a story thorough and accurate enough to withstand pressure or blowback from subjects, balancing the need to be aggressive and accurate and fair.

Rebecca Corbett ’74 confers with colleagues at the New York Times during a recent news meeting.

That open-ended assignment took two years, and resulted in a five-part profile of “Little Melvin” Williams, and educated Simon in the drug history of Baltimore. Later, after his release from prison, Williams would be cast by Simon for the role of the Deacon in The Wire. Corbett also found her way into the show.

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Sexual harassment settlements by political commentator Bill O’Reilly, reported earlier by the Times, had prompted the investigations team to wonder where else these sorts of transactions had occurred. “Are there other powerful men who may have done analogous things and also had settlements with women or had a history that had not been exposed?” Corbett said.

And it was Corbett who approached him one day with a small newspaper clip about the sentencing of a notorious Baltimore drug dealer, saying, “This guy’s a big deal in drug circles. Why don’t you find out everything you can about him.”

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“Rebecca has done extremely important stories, difficult stories—hard to report, hard to write, hard to tell—for years,” Dance said. “She’s faced down people in D.C. She’s faced down people in Hollywood. She’s faced down people in New York.”

It was Corbett, he said, who gave him the confidence to pitch a book proposal on the Baltimore Police homicide unit that would become the award-winning Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.

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Gabriel Dance, Times deputy investigations editor, was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize with the Guardian for its coverage of NSA surveillance, and he has done extensive and impactful reporting on the criminal justice system. Even with that background, Dance said he watches Corbett at work and soaks up her wisdom.

When he was on the night cop beat, where the goal is to cover crime that’s happened overnight and get it into the paper by deadline, Corbett was suggesting bigger projects and features, he said. “I was twentythree,” Simon said. “She was basically telling me, ‘You can write. You can do this job. It’s not all just rote, formula newspaper writing. You can find a voice here.’”

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With Corbett involved in negotiations, the NSA ultimately selected seven that should be withheld and the Times ultimately struck only two from the story, agreeing that to publish them would not be in the national interest, Shane said. “In private, she’s very self-deprecating and quite funny,” he said. “In that kind of situation, she’s very professional. She doesn’t give any ground. But she can also be quite charming to these grizzled male national security bureaucrats. You get the feeling that they are the ones who are intimidated.”

“Rebecca was always trying to stretch you as a reporter,” Simon said. “What you did today was just a preamble for what you might do tomorrow.”

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In a draft of the story written in close collaboration with Corbett, Shane included 30 operational details. He informed the security agency, and they responded that the 30 items were taken from stolen classified documents and the Times should not include any of them. “We said, ‘If we were to use some of them or all of them, could you rank them in some way? Which are the ones you really don’t want us to use and explain why.’”

For the eventual creator of the HBO series The Wire, they were very formative years.

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In 2013 Shane’s reporting on the scope of the NSA’s surveillance operations and techniques, based on documents supplied by Edward Snowden, brought him—with Corbett, his editor—face to face with NSA officials at their Maryland headquarters.

Simon, who earned an honorary degree from Colby in 2008, was night police reporter when she was night metro editor. When Corbett moved to the city desk, he moved with her. When she became head of the newspaper’s enterprise and investigative unit, Simon joined the team. Courted by the Washington Post in 1992, he decided to stay with his mentor.

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Not Harvey Weinstein or his lawyers. Not the National Security Agency.

For a dozen years at the Baltimore Sun, Rebecca Corbett pushed David Simon to write better and bigger stories.

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That blowback can be considerable. Susan Chira, former deputy executive editor at the Times who now writes about gender issues for the newspaper, was foreign editor when she took part in discussions with Corbett and other editors about reporting based on material from WikiLeaks, stories that were strongly resisted by the U.S. government. “She just has an incredibly great backbone when it comes to what you need to do to pursue a story,” Chira said. “No one intimidates her.”

From Corbett’s protegé to creator of The Wire

The editor character Rebecca Corbett, played by actress Kara Quick, was “known for her aversion to purple prose … and skepticism about unnamed sources,” according to HBO publicity. “That,” Simon said, “was my homage to Rebecca.”

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“It takes an extraordinary amount of diligence and creativity to do it correctly,” said David Simon, who worked as a reporter for Corbett at the Baltimore Sun before going on to create the The Wire for HBO. (See sidebar) The Weinstein story, Simon said, “was tailor-made for Rebecca.”

Corbett said she thought the Weinstein reporting would result in “a big Hollywood story.” She didn’t anticipate that it would trigger a worldwide wave of allegations, admissions, toppling of powerful men, and new and intense focus on an age-old societal problem. “People talk about this as a generational shifting, one of the biggest impact stories in a long time,” she said. “I think it clearly still is resonating.”

If something good comes out of this for ordinary people eventually, that would feel very rewarding.”

And incendiary, igniting what had been a simmering movement. Less than two weeks after the first Weinstein story was published, there had been more than 12 million posts on Facebook referencing “Me Too,” the movement that had

Her response to what has been seen as culture-shifting journalism was hardly lofty self-congratulation. “If something good comes out of this for ordinary people eventually, that would feel very rewarding,” she said.

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Corbett said Weinstein has threatened to sue the newspaper but has not done so, nor has the newspaper had to make any corrections relating to the allegations in the Weinstein stories. The product of months of painstaking reporting, writing, editing, rewriting, and careful deliberation, all with Corbett’s firm guidance, the stories have thus far proved to be, in newspaper parlance, “bulletproof.”

Sitting in an empty space on an upper floor of the Times building, with Manhattan rooftops stretching into the distance, she spoke quietly and matter-of-factly about what many would say is the pinnacle, to date, of her career.

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—Rebecca Corbett ’74, assistant managing editor, New York Times

“There are a lot of systemic reasons that sexual harassment has persisted in the workplace as long as it has,” Corbett said. “That is one of the questions we intend to pursue. What really will be the consequence of this? Will change happen? How does it happen? How do you change attitudes? How do you transform a culture?”

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Those corroborated allegations were presented to Weinstein’s representatives, along with a deadline for his response. On Oct. 5, that response was inserted in the story, including the blanket statement that Weinstein “denies many of the accusations as patently false.” The day the first story was published, Weinstein sent a statement apologizing for his behavior, which, he acknowledged, “has caused a lot of pain.” He was subsequently fired from the company he co-founded.

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“A lot of things happened in a room between just two people,” she said. “But often we found that in real time they had told someone—a manager, a spouse—and in every case we ran those down. There were some things that may have well been true, but where we could not corroborate any of it, we didn’t use them.”

The resulting discussion has people asking how to appropriately deal with sexual harassment, with some calling for sweeping cultural change and others maintaining the #MeToo movement and its outing of alleged harassers has gone too far. “There’s clearly this incredible ferment,” Corbett said of the ongoing debate. “And I hardly think we’re at the end of it.” But she questions whether the culture actually has changed in regards to sexual harassment, even with the consciousness triggered by Weinstein’s downfall.

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Kantor and Twohey spent months reporting the Weinstein sexual harassment story full time, conferring with their editor about their findings as the story progressed. The challenge in complex stories like these, Corbett said, is not only to have sources speak on the record, but also for reporters to be able to buttress any allegation with corroboration.

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been simmering since it was started by activist Tarana Burke in 2007. After the Weinstein story broke, the hashtag was tweeted almost a million times in just 48 hours on Twitter, and the movement and conversation spread to 85 countries.

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Aware of previous attempts by journalists to look into Weinstein’s history, the investigations desk had been asking questions about the film producer since the previous spring, Corbett said.

Back in their third-floor alcove, investigative reporters were working, some on the phone, others conferring quietly. The search for answers continued. “The Weinstein story was just one stop along the way in working with Rebecca,” Twohey said. “We get to continue on this exciting and satisfying journalism ride with her. We’ll take it for however long it lasts.”

Framed pages of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stories published by the New York Times. The newspaper’s investigation of sexual harassment allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein was added to that list April 16.

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MEDIA L. Sandy Maisel (Government) and Hannah Dineen ’17

Trumping Ethical Norms: Teachers, Preachers, Pollsters, and the Media Respond to Donald Trump Routledge (2018)

This book was literally born on Mayflower Hill. Maisel, in his first class for Introduction to American Government in the fall of 2016, divulged his Democratic pedigree. That nod to transparency, however, was followed by what Maisel says was his uncharacteristic in-class rant about what he saw as then-candidate Donald Trump’s attacks on American values and general unworthiness to be president. Maisel regretted his diatribe immediately and the next day brought it up at his senior seminar on Ethics and Politics. Dineen was there, a government major in her first Maisel class, and told him that if she had heard that outburst as a first-year, she would have been very uncomfortable, and she didn’t think he should use his professional platform to air his political opinions. With that, the pair became collaborators for a book that explores the ethical dilemmas presented by an unprecedented president. Professors, religious leaders, and members of the media (including political commentator Amy Walter ’91 on reporting an analysis in a time of political disruption; Colby Assistant Professor of English Aaron Hanlon on the challenges of teaching literature in the Age of Trump; and newspaper editor and Lovejoy Award selection committee member David Shribman on the need for mainstream media to adhere to the tenets of its craft in a time of fake news and shifting “facts”) are tapped to provide insights on the ethical challenges posed by this new political world. Elisabeth Stokes (English), contributor, edited by Roxane Gay

Adrian Blevins (Creative Writing)

Appalachians Run Amok

COLBY Spring 2018

Two Sylvias Press (2018)

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It’s easy to understand why poet Blevins’s latest collection has been acclaimed, awarded prizes, had its poems reprinted, and generally created a stir. Drawn from Blevins’s own roots, it’s work that takes honesty and cranks it up a notch so the reader’s reaction is surprise and then a knowing smile. “My desire for babies diminished/after I had them, though naturally/they were still there” … “And sex got spoiled a little too by the lady Baptists/fluttering up Main Street like a gang of fat ghouls” … “just look at the lawn chairs housing the sporty Americans/as they cheer on the not-chess players & the not-bassoonists” … “being in New York or Chicago or LA is to me like having to pee/while driving on the highway in the 1980’s when you’re heavy with child.” The poems lament the despoiling of the mountains, conjure memories of relatives, catch narrators pondering their earlier selves—all in language so raw and real that it leaves you thinking you’ve never done any of those things before.

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture Harper Perennial (2018) In this volume, author and cultural critic Gay has collected essays about what it means to be a woman and, therefore, the not-infrequent target of male harassment, violence, and aggression. Experts, actors, and writers, including Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing Elisabeth Stokes, recount and ponder demeaning, disturbing, and violent (sometimes physically and almost always emotionally) incidents that are tacitly and even openly accepted in our culture. Each piece is singularly powerful; as an anthology, the effect is to show a gender under siege in a world where that is seen as normal. In her essay, Stokes recounts being sexually assaulted and raped in two high school incidents. Her awareness had been sparked as a child through an episode of Little House on the Prairie in which a girl is raped. The first assault occurred in a car, the second when she was incapacitated by alcohol and a knee injury that left her on crutches. The aftermath is lifelong; the hope is that her own daughters, whose world has been different, will escape Stokes’s burden. “They dismiss what insults their souls,” she writes. “They are stronger than I am. This is what they reap; this is what I sow.”


Kevin Emerson ’96

Any Second Crown (2018)

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A redemptive young adult novel about a boy abducted off the street, held in a locked room, beaten and brainwashed for years, then turned loose as a suicide bomber at a Seattle mall? In Emerson’s sure hands Any Second is just that—and an insightful and moving look at the lives of two alienated teenagers brought together by chance and kept together by kindness. Eli is the boy with the bomb—it doesn’t go off—and Maya is the self-tormented girl who holds the switch down until the bomb squad disables the device. They reunite in high school and, with readers in tow, help each other navigate an adolescent world that threatens to defeat them—but ultimately proves to be just what they can—and need to—handle.

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Jesse Salisbury ’95, Donna Brown Salisbury ’65

The next best thing to actually following the Maine Sculpture Trail is perusing this handsome volume that chronicles the 10-year project from inception to remarkable completion. Sculptor Jesse Salisbury ’95 founded and oversaw the effort that brought 34 renowned sculptors (including Salisbury himself) from around the world. Their work stands on the Maine coast from Bucksport to Calais, with inland detours to Bangor and Orono. They are momentous works, and the book is a fitting accompaniment, showing the art and the remarkable process that led to its creation.

48 Hour Books (2017)

Nuclear disarmament was a U.S. goal post World War II, and this biography of Stassen shows why that goal is still elusive today. Stassen was given the disarmament task by President Dwight Eisenhower, and the young aide’s dream of total elimination of nuclear weapons soon gave way to work toward international transparency and communication—goals that are still pursued today. Kaplan, emeritus director of the Lyman L. Lemnitzer Center for NATO and European Studies at Kent State University and former professorial lecturer in history at Georgetown University, shines a new and penetrating light on the man whose disarmament goals were unrealized but shaped the nuclear restraint policy that remains with us today.

The growing popularity of the automobile and the organization of the country’s road system in the 1920s diversified America’s vacation traditions. Suddenly, owning a second home on a lake or deep in the Maine woods became a real possibility for those adventurous enough to brave endless dirt roads and the primitive living conditions of these early “camps.” In 1925 Earl H. “Steve” Davis, Colby Class of 1914 and West Newfield, Maine, native, seized the moment and launched his life’s work—a planned summer community on the shores of Balch Lake in southern Maine. Part history and part love letter, Shady Nook Camps in the Kingdom of the Pines explores this summer colony’s first 50 years. Through research, interviews, and personal memoirs, authors Hall and Smith, both summer residents since childhood, bring Shady Nook’s early years to life—and offers a unique look into mid-20th-century vacation habits and culture.

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Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium (2018)

University Press of Kentucky (2017)

Shady Nook Camps in the Kingdom of the Pines: The Story of a Unique Summer Colony on Balch Lake in West Newfield, Maine

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Creating the Maine Sculpture Trail

Harold Stassen: Eisenhower, the Cold War, and the Pursuit of Nuclear Disarmament

Elaine Halberg Hall ’74 and Jane Gammons Smith ’75

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Lawrence E. Kaplan ’48

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MEDIA

Bruce Haas ’72

Great Game! D1 College Hockey: People, Places, Perspectives Beaver’s Pond Press (2018)

Former Colby hockey player Haas has seen his passion for the college game grow over the decades. His book explores “the true essence of college hockey” from the perspective of fans, coaches, and players, and includes a section on the atmosphere of college arenas, recalled by those who stepped onto the ice to a chorus of cheers or boos. Those who follow the game will recognize both players and coaches, including Colby’s own Blaise MacDonald, who opines on the need to bring different personalities into one lineup. “It is the behavioral science of coaching that is really important,” MacDonald says. Science, skill, hard work, camaraderie: it all adds up to a game whose magic Haas has endeavored to capture.

Gretchen K. McKay, Nicolas W. Proctor, Michael A. Marlais (Art, emeritus)

Lynn Brunelle ’85 Illustrated by Anna-Maria Jung

Modernism versus Traditionalism: Art in Paris, 1888-1889

Turn this Book into a Beehive!

University of North Carolina Press (2017)

This was a tumultuous two years in the French art world, as conservate styles espoused by the Academy were juxtaposed with more avantgarde art by artists such as Van Gogh and Gauguin. In addition to the visual texts, students read art criticism of the period, forming their positions in favor of one style or the other. The discussions also include the economics of art, the rise of independent dealers, and the government’s role as patron.

Gregg Jackson ’90

40 Rules to Help Boys Become Men: the Lost Arts of Manners, Etiquette, and Behavior COLBY Spring 2018

JAJ Publishing (2017)

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Workman (2018)

Jackson laments that in past decades basic rules of manners are less often passed on from parents to children, especially to boys. These “basic building blocks of civil society” are compiled here, from “don’t interrupt” to “choose your friends wisely.” Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, in his blurb, says, “Let’s all hope it becomes a runaway bestseller.”

Yes, you can. Use this book to create an actual beehive, that is. Brunelle, four-time Emmy Award-winning writer for Bill Nye the Science Guy, explains to young readers (and old) the life cycle of bees, the variety of species, the principles of pollination (using Cheetos), how bee “dances” lead to food sources, and, yes, how to turn pages of the book into a working honeybee hive. There’s also a section on how to use honey, but readers may already have thoughts on that.


MEDIA FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

With Hoa Nguyen ’20, “Privileged bonds: Lessons of belonging at an elite boarding school,” in C. Halse, Ed., Interrogating belonging for young people in schools, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

Duncan Tate (Physics) and T.F. Gallagher, “Microwave-optical two-photon excitation of Rydberg states,” Physical Review A, 2018.

Bess G. Koffman (Geology), with David J. Polashenski, Erich C. Osterberg, Dominic Winski, Karen Stameiszkin, Karl J. Kreutz, Cameron P. Wake, David G. Ferris, Douglas Introne, Seth Campbell, and Gabriel M. Lewis, “Denali Ice Core Methanesulfonic Acid Records North Pacific Marine Primary Production,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2018. Lauren Lessing (Museum of Art), with Terri Sabatos and Nina Roth-Wells, “Body Politics: Copley’s Portraits as Political Effigies during the American Revolution,” in Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture, Wendy Wick Reeves, ed., National Portrait Gallery, 2018.

With Gabriel T. Forest ’18, Yin Li ’19, Edwin Ward ’16, and A.L. Goodsell, “Expansion of an ultracold Rydberg plasma,” Physical Review A, 2018. W. Herb Wilson Jr. (Biology) and P. E. Dougherty ’16, “Evidence for a relationship between the movements of Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea) and American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis),” The Open Ornithology Journal, 2018.

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Judy Stone (Biology) and Juvenal Lopez ’16, “Single planting creates expanding naturalized population of Quercus palustris far from its native range limit,” Rhodora, Volume 120, issue 982, 2018.

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With Gei, M.G., D.M.A. Rozendall, L. Poorter, F. Bongers, J.I. Sprent, M.D. Garner, M. Aide, P. Balvanera, P. Brancalion, G.A.L. Cabrai, and others, “Abundance of Neotropical legumes during secondary succession across a rainfall

Adam Howard (Education), Karlyn Adler ’11, and K. Swalwell, “Making Class: Children’s perceptions of social class through illustrations,” Teachers College Record, June 2018.

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With Michael Keller, Daniel Piotto, Marcos Longo, Maiza Nara dos-Santos, Marcos A. Scaranello, Rodrigo Bruno de Oliveira Cavalcante, and Stephen Porder, “Landscape-scale lidar analysis of aboveground biomass distribution in secondary Brazilian Atlantic Forest,” Biotropica, Jan. 11, 2018.

Jay Sibara (English). “Disability and Dissent in Ann Petry’s The Street,” Literature and Medicine 36, no. 1, Spring 2018.

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Justin Becknell (Environmental Studies), with Stephen Porder, Steven Hancock, Robin L. Chazdon, Michelle A. Hofton, James B. Blair, and James Kellner, “Chronosequence predictions are robust in a Neotropical secondary forest, but plots miss the mark,” Global Change Biology, Nov. 20, 2017.

With H. W. Pfefferkorn, and W. A. DiMichele, “Impact of an icehouse climate interval on tropical vegetation and plant evolution,” Stratigraphy, 2017.

Julie Millard (Chemistry), with Jiayu Ye ’18 and Caitlin Farrington ’18, “Polymerase Bypass of N7-Guanine Monoadducts of Cisplatin, Diepoxybutane, and Epichlorohydrin,” Mutation Research, Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, 2018.

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S. Tariq Ahmad (Biology), with Mayumi Kohiyama, Danielle Bonser, Lisa Leung, Alexandra Fall, Nathan Canada, Boyang Qu, and Bernard Possidente, “The Drosophila apterous56f mutation impairs circadian locomotor activity,” Biological Rhythm Research, 2018.

Robert A. Gastaldo (Geology), with J. Neveling, J. W. Geissman, and S. L. Kamo, “A Lithostratigraphic and Magnetostratigraphic Framework in a Geochronologic Context for a Purported Permian–Triassic Boundary Section at Old (West) Lootsberg Pass, Karoo Basin, South Africa,” Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 130, 2018.

Loren McClenachan (Environmental Studies) and Ryunosuke Matsuura ’17, “Shifted Baselines Reduce Willingness to Pay for Conservation,” Frontiers in Marine Science, Feb. 2018.

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With Suzuki, Y., “Editorial overview: Development and regulation: Mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity one hundred years since ‘On Growth and Form,’” Current Opinion in Insect Science 25, 2018.

James R. Fleming (Science, Technology, and Society), “In the Year 2017: A Soviet Fantasy of the Future,” Relocating Meteorology, History of Meteorology 8, 2017. With associated video, 2017.

Leo Livshits (Mathematics), with G. MacDonald, L.W. Marcoux, and H. Radjavi, “Hilbert space operators with compatible off-diagonal corners,” Journal of Functional Analysis, April 2018.

colby.edu

With Panfilio, K.A., “By land, air, and sea: hemipteran diversity through the genomic lens,” Current Opinion in Insect Science 25, 106–115, 2018.

gradient,” Nature Ecology & Evolution, May 2018.

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David Angelini (Biology), with Meghan Fawcett ’16, Mary Parks ’16, Alice Tibbetts ’14, Jane Swart ’18, Laura Crowley ’13, Will Simmons ’17J, Wenzhen Stacey Hou ’18, Meredith Cenzer, and technicians Beth Richards and Juan Camilo Vanegas. “Manipulation of insulin signaling phenocopies evolution of a host-associated polyphenism,” Nature Communications, 9:1699, 2018.

“The dynamics of arrivals of Maine migratory breeding birds: Results from a 24year study,” Biology 6 (38), 2017. With Bets Brown (Biology), “Winter movements of Sitta canadensis L. (Redbreasted Nuthatch) in New England and beyond: A multiple-scale analysis,” Northeastern Naturalist, 24 (sp. 7), 2017.

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GOOD

WORKS Colby alumni impact the world in many ways every day. In our “Good Works” section, we introduce you to alumni who are using their Colby education to make a difference in their communities.

Stifling the Thai Sex Trade BILL STAUFFER ’89 ENLISTS STUDENTS TO PROVIDE CHILDREN WITH HOPE FOR THE FUTURE BY LAURA MEADER

T

he Red Light Districts of Bangkok, Thailand—replete with strip clubs and prostitutes—are not where most Colby

students go for Jan Plan. But that’s exactly where Bill Stauffer ’89 took four students for two days last January. Stauffer wanted them to see Bangkok’s sex industry firsthand, he said, before beginning their internships in northern Thailand at an NGO called The Freedom Story, which works to prevent Thai children from being exploited in cities like Bangkok. Keeping young kids from ever entering the industry is crucial, Stauffer said, because “once someone is in the trauma of the sex industry, I don’t know if they ever fully escape it. “I love what The Freedom Story does because prevention, while not as dramatic as raiding or rescuing,” he said, after returning from the volunteer trip, “is a lot more effective.”

COLBY Spring 2018

Kevin Munoz ’20, one of the interns, said Stauffer was instrumental in letting students think about what was happening in the Red Light Districts, to help prepare them for their internship in Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, where most of the boys and girls in the sex industry are recruited.

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Stauffer, an entrepreneur who owns an LED lighting company in Portland, Maine, facilitated the internships through DavisConnects following a suggestion from Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Sonja Thomas, in whose class he had been a guest lecturer on human rights. It was vital, they concluded, that the discussions be followed by real-world experience. “We took whatever path was open as long as it involved getting students to Thailand and exposing them to the situation there,” Stauffer said.


GOOD

WORKS COLBY | colby.edu |

PREVENTION, WHILE NOT AS DRAMATIC AS RAIDING OR RESCUING, IS A LOT MORE EFFECTIVE.”

“I saw that the problem of sexual exploitation wasn’t actually —BILL diminishing,” he said. “It was actually growing as China became wealthy, as Thailand became wealthy.” Stauffer dove back into the issue in 2013 by volunteering with and fundraising for The Freedom Story, an organization he selected because of its success in addressing the main reason for exploitation—poverty. The Freedom Story initially just offered educational scholarships to needy students. Now it includes a resource center, a human rights program, a sustainability program, and a staff of 23. “At the core of the work we do … is build

STAUFFER ’89

Facilitating the internships was rewarding, Stauffer said. “If I can open a door and make the connection, I’m happy with that,” noting that he and Goble are exploring other ways to send Colby students to Chiang Rai in the future.

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The Colby students played a role in this success. “Sex trafficking is ugly, dirty,” said intern Grace Yu ’19, who worked as an ethical storyteller, which called for her to consider the young people in a broader context. “But you’re not telling the kids how awful the world is. Instead, we’re giving them hope that they can still do what they want to do in the future.”

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At the time, in 1988, sex tourism accounted for 3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Now it’s 13 percent, Stauffer said, a fact glaringly apparent when he began traveling to Asia later in life for business, and when he and his wife, Anne (Webster ’89), adopted two girls from China.

The organization’s results are impressive. In northern Thailand, about half of children drop out by grade six, Goble said. “For our organization, we’ve seen that go down to six and a half percent.” And as far as she knows, none of their students have been trafficked in the last year.

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He was wrong.

the resilience of children and communities,” said The Freedom Story president Rachel Goble, who was at Colby with Stauffer in April.

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An East Asian studies major at Colby, Stauffer’s interest in the economics of the sex industry began during his Colby junior year abroad in Thailand and Taiwan, when a professor encouraged him to explore the topic in a paper. “My thesis was ‘sex tourism and the foreign visitor,’” he recalled. His conclusion? Once Thailand’s economy grew, the sex industry would diminish as the country lifted its population out of poverty.

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Students in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. Colby students took part in an effort to create alternatives to the sex industry, which draws many Thai girls and women who see no other options to escape poverty.

When Stauffer reunited with the students in April, he gave each a big hug. “They give me a renewed hope,” he said, “that there are some good young people that both care about the issues and are building the skill set … to try to solve or mitigate the exploitation.”

Left, a street scene in one of Bangkok’s Red Light Districts. Top, volunteer Bill Stauffer ’89 with Colby students who did internships with The Freedom Story, an NGO that fights sex trafficking.

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ESSAY

FROM TEACHERS COMES THE GIFT OF TEACHING WRITING—AND WRITERS BY ELISABETH STOKES

COLBY Spring 2018

American Lit. Honors, Lathrop High School, Fairbanks, Alaska, Fall, 1987: our teacher, John Selle, acts out the “gazing grain” in Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death.” He bends his knees slightly, holding them together as if he is about to slalom between our desks, and, motionless, stares off into the horizon at the back of the classroom for several quiet seconds.

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I loved it, and I wasn’t alone. We all—conservative guntoting military brat twins, a girl who was pregnant, and a saxophonist who would later play in the Mighty Mighty Bosstones—begged Mr. Selle to do it every day after that. He, wisely, obliged only occasionally, doling the performance out like candy in exchange for our good behavior. I was a junior; as a sophomore, I’d survived Analysis of Literature, taught by Susan Stitham, the department chair; she was brilliant, hilarious, and didn’t mess around.


ESSAY COLBY | colby.edu | | instagram.com/colbycollege

A few years ago, a student came by my office troubled by an essay revision he was working on. He could sense what he wanted to say; he could feel where the argument needed to go, but it was, for the moment, just beyond him. I listened, asking questions, knowing what he was looking for, but also

The best teachers go ahead, turn, and beckon us forward, help us open our eyes to the beautiful, difficult truths about what it means to be alive, and teach us how to share those truths if we can. Grasp the importance of what books can teach you, they seemed to say, but bigger still is what teaching can teach you. I’m still learning.

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Because of my high school English teachers, I focus on teaching writers rather than on teaching writing. My teachers shaped my sense of what teaching and learning can be. From them I learned that a piece of writing in itself is insignificant; a self-supporting thinker, writer, person—that’s the goal.

These moments are all both bitter and sweet; it was Emily Dickinson’s “gazing grain” that first helped me understand what teaching, and life, can be. But as soon as I had the capacity to more fully understand these things, I also gained, necessarily, an awareness of their end: I became deeply conscious of the arc of one’s teaching life, of the arc of one’s life in general. I cannot think of Mr. Selle, his knees softly bent, his gentle eyes fixed over our shoulders, without a mournful pang in my heart for decades gone by and lessons only now being understood. The enormity of what my teachers taught me is perhaps revealed only in proportion to what I am able to pass along.

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I’ve been teaching first-year writing for more than 20 years now, 17 of them at Colby. My calling began to surface in college when people started coming to me with papers they were writing. Helping them stirred memories of the excitement I used to feel after stopping by Mr. Selle’s classroom while working on an essay he’d assigned. I would explain my dilemma, walking him through what I’d been thinking. He would listen, ask me a question or two, and off I’d go, scribbling distractedly, returning only when I’d spent that fuel. I became addicted to the moment when my muddled thoughts suddenly cleared, when I saw what I hadn’t been able to before; I would go chasing after it like it was a drug. I didn’t know it then, but I had discovered the joys, and aching frustrations, of being a writer. And learning that I could help other people write let me discover the joys, and yes, sometimes aching frustrations, of being a teacher.

knowing that the discovery needed to be his. I sat back in my chair, waiting, watching him struggle. He was coiled, gripping his head with one hand, pencil held tightly in the other. And then it came: he started, his eyes wide. He looked up at me as though I had revealed the secret of the universe, which, in a way, by saying almost nothing, I had. He threw his things in his backpack and ran off to write down all that was coming clear in his mind. I was again a vessel for what had come to me through my three teachers, for what, perhaps someday, would flow through this student. I could see myself in him; I could see all of us who have felt the connection that happens when words and ideas come together, when for a moment, it feels as though you can make sense of anything.

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In between Analysis and Ms. Stitham’s A.P. English class my senior year, there were two other mountains to climb: this American Literature class and B.J. Craig’s A.P. Composition. Mr. Selle had what I understand now as the passionate Dumbledorean belief that “words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.” Mrs. Craig was formidable, all business, and instilled in me a deep respect for deadlines: when I learned in college that people routinely asked for “extensions” on essays, I was offended by the very idea, and I almost never allow them as a professor.

Visiting Assistant Professor of English Elisabeth Stokes has taught at Colby since 2001. Her essay, “Reaping What Rape Culture Sows,” is included in the anthology Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture, edited by Roxane Gay (P. 30).

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Reasons for

HOPE

COLBY Spring 2018

In the face of daunting climate events, Colbians look for answers

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COLBY | colby.edu | facebook.com/colbycollege |

At Colby Magazine, we took in the barrage of news about climate-related disasters delivered in past months. And we began to wonder, is

In search of the answer—and a bit of reassurance—we decided to explore the climate-related work ongoing on Mayflower Hill and throughout the Colby diaspora. With one of the best environmental studies curriculums in the country, we knew this work was going on in Colby classrooms and laboratories, in Washington, D.C., hearing rooms, and on offshore islands. So we decided we needed to meet the Colbians who are devoting their energy, intellects, and careers to the issue of climate. Beginning with this installment, Colby Magazine will present a series of print and digital stories that explore Colby’s efforts to face down one of the most daunting challenges in the history of humankind.

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All of that happened in a single year.

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Drought threatened to bring famine to Somalia. A temperature spike warmed the North Pole, a once-in-a-decade event, three times in one month. The largest wildfire in the history of Greenland raged for weeks. A killer heat wave strained power systems in Europe; massive flooding overpowered relief efforts in Southeast Asia. The fourth-largest ice shelf in Antarctica collapsed. Policies aimed at reducing fossil-fuel emissions were dismantled in Washington.

it too late? Is climate change a genie that will never be stuffed back in the bottle?

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A mudslide in Montecito, Calif., took the lives of 13 people who had just survived the devastating wildfires there. Megastorms Harvey, Irma, and Maria, in a span of just four weeks, flooded Texas and Florida and cut a swath of destruction through the Caribbean.

So are there reasons for hope? Read on. We can decide together.

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Gail Carlson:

Inspiring Students to Step Up

COLBY Spring 2018

By Gerry Boyle ’78

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Today? Not so much.

Vulnerable populations, from the Arctic to Southeast Asia, are already taking the brunt of the impact, and there is a moral obligation for those of us at Colby who are less vulnerable to stay with the fight, she says.

occasionally negated), and the opportunities offered at Colby have grown exponentially. Said Carlson, director of Buck Lab for the Environment and Climate Change at Colby, “We’re not where we were in 2011. We’re at a different place.”

Those efforts will be coordinated with DavisConnects to make sure the relationships are established. “It was a way for me to start that process of building a new partnership so that there are well-worn paths that students can take,” Carlson said.

The Buck Lab has funded more than 30 internships. Additional funds—including one established by Trustee Anne Clarke Wolff ’87 and her husband, Ted Wolff ’86, honoring emeriti professor Russell Cole—have allowed students to undertake a broad range of environment- and climate-related research and work experiences.

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Just a year in, the Buck Lab has connected students with professionals working in environmental fields, bringing alumni and others to campus, and holding networking events in New York. Students have been trained in how to more effectively request grant funding. Some 30 environmental groups, organizations, and companies—all impacted by climate change—came to campus with jobs and internships on offer.

That knowledge and related analytical skills equip students and graduates to consider the complex climate issue from myriad perspectives, Carlson said. “I think they learn about the power of people to make change, not just in an activist sense [one of Carlson’s other fields of expertise], but also in a policy-making sense,” she said. “And I do think all of these gifts to the College around the environment have made a big difference.”

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The Buck Lab, established by Sissy and Sandy Buck ’78 (see related story, P. 42), is one of the key initiatives that have broken climate change work wide open at the College.

can talk about ecology. They can talk about environmental economics. They can talk about social science.”

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—Gail Carlson, associate professor of environmental studies

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When you become a doomsday person, when you’re really pessimistic, it’s because you can’t see that you can make a difference.”

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A few years ago, that difference-making took the form of encouraging energy conservation. But since then, the renewable energy industry has blossomed, international climate change agreements have been reached (and

But climate’s broad implications are being met with an equally broad range of skills and knowledge. “I think our students feel they can make an impact,” Carlson said. Melding hard science, computer science, and environmental policy, among disciplines, students are approaching climate change from an interdisciplinary perspective. “The environmental studies curriculum is interdisciplinary so they

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Carlson says current students view climate change not through a lens of catastrophe but with the knowledge that there are a variety of ways the problem can be tackled. “When you become a doomsday person, when you’re really pessimistic, it’s because you can’t see that you can make a difference,” she said.

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Public health effects of climate have become clear in recent years, as devastating hurricanes and rising water levels have increased the incidence of waterborne illness. “Climate change is exacerbating existing diseases,” said Carlson, a public-health expert. “It makes everything worse.”

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Just four or five years ago, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Gail Carlson found that her first-year students arrived at Colby pessimistic about the future of the planet. “Students were like, ‘I might not have kids. … I don’t know what to think about the future. … It seems so grim.’”

“We have many more [environmental] majors than some other schools, and we also have our expertise and these phenomenal opportunities,” Carlson said. “I honestly think these things are transformative.”

Students already are working with a variety of research organizations, studying ways public health intersects with climate change, whether Maine wood can replace corn in biomaterials, how climate is changing the range of trees in North America, and how climate affects high-elevation lakes.

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Sandy Buck ’78: Seeing Light Amidst the Gloom

COLBY Spring 2018

By Gerry Boyle ’78

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Sandy Buck ’78 was in the office of the Horizon Foundation, on Commercial Street in Portland’s Old Port, talking about climate change. He also wanted to talk about a Colby alumna, Maggie Parrish ’15.

In its first year, the Buck Lab has facilitated connections between students and environmental organizations for internships and jobs (see related story about Director Gail Carlson, P. 40) and funded faculty and student research, including ice-core study this summer in Alaska and at Colby, among other projects. It’s just one part of the initiatives that Buck has started since returning to Maine, renewing a lifelong relationship with the state and the outdoors. A New Jersey native who spent his childhood rambling around the family farm, Buck attended Camp Kieve in Nobleboro, Maine, and is a longtime trustee there. He moved to the Portland area a dozen year and is more likely to wear boots and jeans to a meeting than a suit.

Buck talks excitedly about the consortium’s efforts, from bringing in a marketing expert to better coordinate the message around climate change, to efforts to help Mainers reduce fuel costs and emissions, to finding the way to quantify the impact of climate down to the cost of major storms on town budgets, to climate-friendly no-till farming, to a proposed study of ways to maximize carbon uptake in Baxter State Park. “It’s like pulling up the window shade on a whole bunch of really inspiring local and regional activities,” he said.

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When it comes to climate, Buck has done anything but throw up his hands.

But the consortium was having a hard time explaining the economic benefit. The Maine group, including Buck, helped pay for a detailed economic analysis that showed that the initiative had a major impact in jobs and emissions reductions, especially in Maine, he said.

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“Suddenly the day is a lot brighter,” he said. “If you read the macro story, it’s doom and gloom and horrifying. We’ve ceded any leadership to China in renewable energy. We’ve put all the wrong people in positions of power. … So if you look at the macro, you could come to a grinding halt and throw your hands up. But when you look at the local, and even state and regional levels, there are reasons for hope.”

Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which has brought Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By selling emissions allowances, the states boost clean energy and green jobs.

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Buck eagerly connected Parrish to the Maine Climate Table, a consortium of climate-related organizations, and to other organizations.

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I was like, ‘Damn right. We need people like you.’”

—Sandy Buck ’78

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If you look at the macro, you could come to a grinding halt and throw your hands up. But when you look at the local, and even state and regional levels, there are reasons for hope.”

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The Maine group invited national climate-funders to the meetings and decided to go to work to bolster the Regional

colby.edu

“I had a cup of coffee with her this morning,” Buck said. “She went back after graduation and got a master’s degree at the University of Cape Town. She said, ‘I had exposure to a broad, international community of people working on climate change and the effects. But I feel like I can have an impact in Maine.’

He hired a consultant who helped create a climate-related group with 25 members that now meets every three or four months. With pooled funding and a refined focus, the group has tackled big projects and found success that none of their organizations or foundations could have achieved alone.

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Buck, a Colby trustee who, with his wife, Sissy, established the Buck Lab for the Environment and Climate Change at Colby, had recently met Parrish, a biology major from Falmouth, Maine, who spent a semester studying in Cape Town, South Africa.

Both the foundation and the Bucks have funded many climaterelated initiatives. But three years ago, Sandy Buck felt that he was “just throwing stuff at the wall” and working in a silo without a real strategy. He decided it was time to bring Maine’s climate-funders (as he describes them) together. “What are we all doing?” he asked. “Where are the overlaps? What are we learning? How can we share that information?”

And much of the needed expertise, he said, will come from the next generation of environmental studies and biology majors at Colby, who, like Parrish once was, are being dispatched into the field to do internships and research and will bring that knowledge to the search for solutions. “This is not an ivory tower,” Buck said. “It’s not trivial stuff they’re researching. They’re researching real science that is important and needs to be explored.”

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On a smoggy day, when it’s harder to see the skyline, we get a glimpse of something else: The complex story of our air.

with each other to produce more oxidants—namely ozone, she says, “which essentially means you’re making smog.”

From driving cars to spraying chemicals to making electricity, modern life sends a cocktail of gases into the atmosphere every day. We know that some of these gases are stoking climate change and pollution, but the details of how these compounds react with the natural world are still, well, hazy.

To conduct their work, McKinney and other atmospheric researchers often measure the air from towers above the forest canopy or at “receptor sites” where emissions from people meet those from trees. Lately, though, McKinney has been experimenting with drones to get to territory that’s otherwise unreachable. She has designed and built an air sampler specifically to fly on a commercial drone. “That’s going to be a powerful new way of collecting samples,” she said.

Associate Professor Karena McKinney, an atmospheric chemist who joined Colby’s faculty in 2017, studies those details. Specifically, she explores what happens when emissions from humans collide with those from trees and plants.

Standing forests play a critical role in socking away planet-warming carbon dioxide. But they also emit

If we want to control air quality and address climate change, the solution won’t involve fiddling with nature’s emissions—it will be about cleaning up man-made ones.” —Karena McKinney, associate professor of atmospheric chemistry

volatile organic compounds (VOCs) the same types of gases we try to minimize in paints, carpets, and other human-made products.

COLBY Spring 2018

These plant-produced, or biogenic, VOCs, have always been a part of the natural cycle. What’s changed, McKinney said, is that in an industrialized world, “there can be interesting interactions between natural emissions and anthropogenic emissions that can actually shift the chemistry in ways that produce pollution.”

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She knew by her junior year at Harvard University that atmospheric chemistry would be her field. “I got excited about the idea that I could both do chemistry

McKinney has demonstrated this effect in the Amazon by sampling rainforest air downwind of Manaus, a Brazilian city of about two million people. Like other urban areas, Manaus gives off nitrogen oxide, or NOx: “You get lots of it anytime you have a city with cars and power plants and lots of oxidation going on,” McKinney said. She and her fellow researchers have been able to demonstrate that when those human-caused NOx emissions meet the rainforest VOCs, they react

and do something that had this very tangible effect in terms of its benefit for society,” she said. The chemistry of our air involves a fine balance with many questions yet to be answered. How that balance tips in different scenarios is intricately tied to climate change, of course, but it also has implications for respiratory health and how we use land—even the kinds of trees we plant in city parks. It turns out that VOC emissions vary among species. “We need to have a pretty detailed understanding of these underlying mechanisms,” McKinney said, “in order to be able to have effective policy.” If we want to control air quality and address climate change, she emphasizes, the solution won’t involve fiddling with nature’s emissions—it will be about cleaning up man-made ones. “Yes, the biogenic emissions contribute” to pollution, she said. “But that’s not the knob that you want to turn.”


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Mapping a Clearer Picture of Air Pollution’s Effects

Karena McKinney:

By Christina Nunez

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Tyler Clevenger: Advancing Climate Policy at Home and Abroad

COLBY Spring 2018

By Christina Nunez

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To current environmental studies undergraduates, Clevenger would say first, “We need more of you.” But he also advises to look beyond Washington, adding that work on climate issues is being done all over the world and across the U.S., in places one might not imagine.

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As college approached, the first thing he told his school counselor was that he didn’t want to go anywhere cold. But he was aware that Colby had a great environmental studies program—and he happened to visit Waterville on a sunny, 82° April day. “I knew it wasn’t always that nice,” he said. But the campus “just felt good.”

His interest now is in expanding the number of cities and states across the political spectrum that recognize that renewable energy sources can benefit people, no matter where they live: “It doesn’t have to be a partisan issue.”

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“I appreciated pretty early on that that would represent my generation’s defining challenge,” Clevenger said. “It would take the best that we as people have to offer.”

Back in the States, he wants to expand interest in renewable energy across states and cities. He joined WRI just months before Trump’s election, getting “swept into the maelstrom and playing more defense,” he said.

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Now he is back in Washington, D.C., where, as the son of a banker in Asia, he spent the latter part of an upbringing filled with travel and exposure to different natural landscapes. He also remembers being inspired as a kid by An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 climate change documentary starring Al Gore. It scared him but also conveyed a sense of what was at stake.

—Tyler Clevenger ’16

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I appreciated pretty early on that [climate] would represent my generation’s defining challenge,” Clevenger said. “It would take the best that we as people have to offer.”

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For his environmental studies capstone project at Colby, he also spent a month in Tanzania researching more sustainable weed- and pest-control techniques at one of East Africa’s largest coffee plantations, an experience he calls “intensive and immensely rewarding.”

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“There was a lot of excitement,” Clevenger said, “about how energized the unofficial U.S. sub-national delegation was.”

Three courses at Colby—Environmental Ethics with Rick Elmore, then a faculty fellow in philosophy, Radical Ecologies with Associate Professor of Philosophy Keith Peterson, and International Environmental Policy with Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Travis Reynolds—were among those that led Clevenger to his current focus on policy. The classes, he said, “showed me the enormous scale of the challenges and the barriers that are in place.” He learned to think about not only solutions, but how to implement them.

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Tyler Clevenger ’16 was with them. The recent Colby graduate is a research assistant at the World Resources Institute (WRI), which provided analysis for an America’s Pledge report presented at the conference in Germany. Entities representing more than half the country’s economy remain committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the report says, no matter what happens at the federal level.

He saw in Denmark the value of “knowing what resources you have and jumping on them,” he said. “Being proactive and looking toward the future.” COLBY |

As international climate talks convened last November, an unofficial cadre arrived in Bonn to affirm support from the United States. Cities, states, and businesses promised to honor the 2015 Paris Agreement under an effort dubbed America’s Pledge, despite President Donald Trump’s promise (subsequently affirmed) to withdraw.

“Just don’t be discouraged,” he said. “Be energized.”

A semester in Copenhagen and a summer in Reykjavik followed. While it didn’t exactly offer a respite from the Maine winters, Denmark did serve as a model of climatefocused policy to study. Denmark was an early adopter of wind energy in the 1970s.

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A BOLD MOVE —WITH BIG POSSIBILITIES

MUSEUM

Lee Glazer leaves the Smithsonian for Lunder Institute at Colby

COLBY Spring 2018

BY BOB KEYES

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MUSEUM

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Lee Glazer, founding director, Lunder Institute for American Art

“Whistler witnessed an incredible transformation and gentrification of certain parts of London in the late 19th century,” she said. “Maybe we can bring in scholars to research the changes in Victorian London and draw parallels to the south side of Chicago and the changes happening in Waterville today. As I started thinking about those possibilities, that’s what catalyzed for me, in concrete terms, the kinds of things the institute can do and the ways in which we can bridge the gaps of time and place.”

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Established with a gift by Paula and Peter Lunder ’56, the institute is designed for scholarship, creativity, dialogue, and mentorship among the College’s many communities. Glazer will set the Lunder Institute’s scholarly and creative direction, working with artists, faculty, and students, as well as the curatorial and educational teams of the Colby College Museum of Art. She also will collaborate with the institute’s first director of artist initiatives, Theaster Gates, recently appointed to a three-year term. “I love Theaster’s work, and I am excited to see what this relationship is going to look like.”

Glazer is eager to explore exhibitions that compare changes in Whistler’s London to changes in Waterville today— and perhaps the changes experienced on the south side of Chicago, where Gates makes community-based work.

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As they discussed the institute, Greene told Glazer to think of it as a mash-up between the experimental mid-century North Carolina arts school Black Mountain College and the Aspen Institute, a contemporary humanities-driven think tank, where new ideas are nurtured by cutting-edge scholarship.

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THIS IS A TIME IN HISTORY WHEN PEOPLE ARE QUESTIONING THE VALUE OF A LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION AND THINKING IN MATERIAL TERMS ABOUT THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION. TO ME, [DAVID GREENE’S] INVESTMENT IN THE ARTS IS NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED.”

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Glazer has worked at Freer|Sackler 11 years and curated almost 20 exhibitions. A Whistler scholar, she was drawn to the Lunder position in part by the Colby museum’s deep Whistler collection. The Lunder Collection —Lee Glazer, founding director, of James McNeill Lunder Institute for American Art Whistler includes more than 300 etchings and lithographs, as well as oils, watercolors, and pastels and more than 150 books, journals, and photographs.

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Ultimately, Glazer decided to trade her life in the nation’s capital for Mayflower Hill because she shares President David A. Greene’s vision for the institute and his commitment to the arts. “It’s so encouraging and unusual that David Greene is putting the arts and creative endeavors at the heart of his vision for Colby,” Glazer said. “This is a time in history when people are questioning the value of a liberal arts education and thinking in material terms about the role of higher education. To me, his investment in the arts is not to be overlooked.”

Glazer’s background includes some history in Maine. For about 15 years, she and her family have spent a summer week or two at a cabin on Attean Pond near Jackman. They usually stay at a hotel in Waterville the night before heading into camp, and their trips have often included stops at Colby. “We have this abiding affection for the great beauty of the state of Maine,” she said.

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Glazer grew up in Washington, raised her family there, and made her mark as a Whistler specialist and curator of American art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Taking the Lunder Institute job—launching a research center for American art at a undergraduate liberal arts college in northern New England—is in some ways a bold move. Typically these centers are nestled in big research universities with large populations of graduate students.

The institute will actively participate in Colby’s ongoing revitalization of Waterville, an aspect of the job that particularly excites Glazer. “We see the institute as one of the many institutions driving the creative revitalization of Waterville and the region generally, and doing so in a way that does not disrespect the history of the community and the people who live there and have roots in the community,” she said.

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Lee Glazer wrestled with the decision to leave her home in Washington, D.C., and the security of a curatorial job with the Smithsonian Institution to move to Waterville and become the founding director of the Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby.

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STUDENTS

COLBY Spring 2018

“BRILLI A N T ”

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A GIFTED LEADER AND ACADEMIC, MARNAY AVANT IS READY TO INSPIRE AS A PROFESSOR OF COLOR By Mareisa Weil


STUDENTS MARNAY AVANT ’18 DOES NOT MESS AROUND.

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“People would ask me where I was from, and I would say, ‘Oh, the U.S.,’ and they’d say, ‘No, where are you really from, where are your ancestors from?’ And me having to talk about how I don’t know because I am a part of the history of slavery in the United States. For black Americans, your history starts with slavery, and so being there—I don’t even have the words. It was just a very emotional time.”

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Avant’s spirit of social engagement extends far beyond her role as a Colby Cares About Kids mentor. Her cocurricular

about her social class as a United States student traveling abroad and dissected preconceived notions that people stateside often harbor about African social-class structure. (Spoiler alert: They are not all either destitute or exorbitantly wealthy.) But most of all, she found a place to grapple with her own origin story as a black American.

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“One of the things I like best about her is her spirit of social engagement,” Johnson said. “It would be easy for a young African-American woman at Colby to frame her experience as one of displacement and alienation. Instead, Marnay’s approach was to try to work outward from what she saw as a position of comparative privilege—a student at Colby—and get to work tutoring kids in rural Maine.”

—Marnay Avant ’18

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Walter Johnson, Avant’s Leadership Alliance mentor (and a professor at Harvard), used the same words: “A brilliant young woman. I don’t just mean that she is smart, although she is terrifically smart. I mean she is sunny—happy and generous.

I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE A PROFESSOR, ESPECIALLY A PROFESSOR OF COLOR, BECAUSE YOU GET TO INSPIRE AND SHAPE THE MINDS OF SO MANY PEOPLE.”

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That bodes well for the future of higher education, says Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies. “She is a brilliant young woman who works very, very hard,” Gilkes said. “Very often you have a gifted academic or a gifted leader, but rarely both—and she is both.”

“It’s so cliché to say that it changed my life, but I would say that it made me think,” said Avant. She faced assumptions

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“First I thought that I might want to be a civil rights lawyer, and then I got involved in this program and realized that I love research, and I love higher ed,” Avant said. She wants to give back some of what was given to her in the classroom. “I think it’s important to be a professor, especially a professor of color, because you get to inspire and shape the minds of so many people; not just shape their minds, but also help them develop their own opinion and let them explore. Passing the torch is kind of how I think of it.”

Avant took Bunche Scholar trips to Canada and the Dominican Republic (where she worked with the Batey Foundation, founded by Matthew Toms ’97), but all the while had her sights set on Africa, or as she calls it, “the Continent.” She spent spring semester last year studying in Ghana.

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Chosen by her class to speak at Colby’s commencement, four years ago she was talking to Colby Magazine about changing the world for the better. She wasn’t sure what that would look like, but her studies in sociology were guiding her. She was already thinking through the social implications of her mom’s teenage parenthood and the racially segregated school districts in her hometown of St. Louis, Mo. Now, for the past two years, she has been working with the Leadership Alliance, a consortium of research and teaching colleges, universities, and private industry that mentors students from underrepresented demographics and helps them train for Ph.D. programs and research-based careers.

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Diminutive in stature but large in ambition, from the moment she arrived on Mayflower Hill Avant was determined to pursue every opportunity, challenge herself every day, and fully embrace a life of scholarship. What she didn’t know was the number of people who would line up to support her.

activities include roles as a Pugh Center multicultural assistant, Farnham Writers’ Center tutor, First-Generationto-College Advisory Board member, SOBLU (Students Organized for Black and Latinx Unity) leader, and Ralph J. Bunche Scholar. Global experiences have also been an essential part of her liberal arts education.

Now, diploma in hand, she’s ready for what’s next. First, she will be returning to her home state of Missouri to pay it forward as a Teach for America leader. Then she will be pursuing a doctorate. “I know that my professors have equipped me with the tools to succeed in a Ph.D. program,” said Avant. “Of course there will be challenges, but I know that I have an army of people who are willing to help me get to where I need to be, and I will cross the finish line.”

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COLBY Spring 2018

STUDENTS

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STUDENTS

“Right now you’re facing your Mike Tyson, which is life,” Ricky said. “You just need to find a way to duck, dive, survive; fight these next couple of days like Buster Douglas did. Because eventually there will be a window of opportunity where life will get tired. And that’s when you go all out.” From that moment, Esquivel-Amores has done just that. Today he’s a rising Colby senior and one of the College’s top chemistry students. He’s studied a broad range of subjects and traveled to 11 countries. And he says being homeless in LA is just one of many challenges he has faced, embraced, and learned from in his 22 years.

As a high school senior, he continued to challenge expectations by becoming the first in his family to apply to college. When that didn’t work out, his parents encouraged him to work in the factory alongside his dad. While that path would have offered stable employment and allowed EsquivelAmores to stay nearby, it didn’t feel right to him. “I had a gut feeling that that route was not one I should be taking,” he said. Through some “curiosity binges” on the Internet, Esquivel-Amores learned about City Year, an organization that places high school and college graduates in urban, “high-need” classrooms around the country to help students stay in school and graduate. Esquivel-Amores was accepted to the program and assigned to work in a thirdgrade classroom in the Watts neighborhood of LA. His parents reluctantly agreed to let him go.

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When Esquivel-Amores confided that he was thinking of giving up on LA, Ricky replied with the story of Buster Douglas, who, in 1990, knocked out champion Mike Tyson in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

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In his mid-50s, wearing a grey sweatsuit and beanie, Ricky turned out to be from England, an orphan who eventually made a living as a boxer, moved to America, lost his way with drugs, and pulled himself back up.

But from an early age Esquivel-Amores was looking beyond Missouri. At 15, he began working at a movie theater and used his earnings to travel, including to New York City with a friend, to Boston with a friend and his mom, and to Cleveland with his church’s youth group.

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He was about to give up. And then he met Ricky, an older man on a city bus.

The oldest son of Mexican immigrants, Esquivel-Amores was born and raised in Jefferson City, Mo. His mom scoops ice cream at a local Cold Stone Creamery, and his dad works at a factory that makes electrical transformers. They didn’t want or expect their son to leave the state.

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He was broke, had slept on the beach and in a car, and even after finding an apartment, with only his stipend from a community-service job, Esquivel-Amores couldn’t afford both rent and food. He’d resorted to living on peanut butter, and mangos and avocados scrounged from neighbors’ trees.

“As weird as it sounds, I actually enjoy having those heartbreaking moments when you think, ‘Oh, dear God, I think I’m gonna die,’” he said. “They really build character and tell you what you’re made of.”

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Just two months into his long-awaited “escape” to Los Angeles, 18-year-old Ernesto Esquivel-Amores ’19 was ready to pack it in and go home to Missouri.

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By Rosie Hughes

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Ernesto Esquivel-Amores ’19 thrives after taking a rollercoaster path to Mayflower Hill

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THE NEXT DOOR OPENS

No one knew he’d started down a path that would lead to Mayflower Hill.

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STUDENTS He was hitchhiking home one day in LA and told his story to a car full of strangers. One of the passengers said he knew a woman named Barbara who helped young people get into college. He gave Esquivel-Amores her number. Barbara turned out to be Barbara Suzaki, a retired consultant who works with several first-generation college-bound students each year. They met at a Starbucks the following week and hit it off. “He was very high energy, with lots of stories to tell,” Suzaki recalled. She gave Esquivel-Amores a copy of the Princeton Review and told him to go home and highlight every institution with a financial aid rating of 90 or above. For the rest of the year, the pair narrowed down EsquivelAmores’s list of colleges, working on his essays and financial aid questionnaires and refining his applications.

He’s someone who is street smart and savvy and doesn’t get down when things don’t work out.” —Dasan Thamattoor, professor of chemistry

Of the 11 colleges Esquivel-Amores applied to that year, he was accepted to four—one in Missouri; two in California, and Colby College.

COLBY Spring 2018

Esquivel-Amores was leaning toward University of Southern California. It was close to his apartment in LA, he knew students there, and he was even part of a club on campus. But Suzaki was against it, fearing he would end up with thousands of dollars in debt after just his first year.

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Colby offered him the strongest financial aid package, and Suzaki believed a small, liberal arts school would better prepare him for graduate school. “[Barbara] used her consulting skills to completely ‘Jedi Mind Trick’ me into the idea that Colby was the college I actually wanted,” EsquivelAmores said, laughing. When he told his parents he was going to Waterville, Maine, they said, “We don’t understand any of this. You go from the furthest end of the United States to the complete opposite end. Why?”

Suzaki was right about Colby. Esquivel-Amores struggled at first to adjust to small-town Waterville and Maine winters, and the idea that for some students college was a time to work­—but also to socialize. But he’s grown to love Colby and embraces it with characteristic enthusiasm. “I’m always taking that opportunity to explore another avenue, just trying a bunch of stuff,” he said. “You will never be given another four years like this to try so many different things.” During breaks, summers, and Jan Plans, Esquivel-Amores has traveled to Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Canada, Italy, Britain, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Canada, India, and Colombia. While Colby made three of the trips possible, Esquivel-Amores paid for the rest with money he saved working various jobs on campus. His academic interests are as varied as his travels, as he’s pursued subjects from world music to classics to entrepreneurship to chemistry, his major. Esquivel-Amores is “one of the most successful organic chemistry students at Colby,” said Professor of Chemistry Dasan Thamattoor, pointing out that Esquivel-Amores was lead author on a paper published in the Journal of Molecular Structure, a rare accomplishment for an undergraduate. But it’s not only academic ability that sets Esquivel-Amores apart, Thamattoor said. “He’s someone who is street smart and savvy and who doesn’t get down when things don’t work out,” he said. “When he finds a fork, he knows where to go. That’s not something you can teach.” The latest fork may lead yet again down a different path. In January Esquivel-Amores took a Jan Plan class on entrepreneurship taught by several successful alumni. It changed his view of business—and his plans after Colby. “Before I came to college, I was completely anti-business, thinking [businesspeople are] just looking for ways to put money in their pocket,” he said. But after meeting a half-dozen Colby entrepreneurs in January, he saw that many are also motivated by a desire to make the world a better place. (He has a couple of business ideas in mind, but for now is keeping them under wraps. Stay tuned.) And the link between chemistry and entrepreneurship? “Chemistry makes you not just focus on the answer, but to think about how everything interacts. It’s simple, yet you’re combining all these possibilities to create something new.” In the lab and in life, that is just what Esquivel-Amores has done so well.


ACADEMICS COLBY | instagram.com/colbycollege

Colby had hired Jack Foner, a Columbia University-educated historian who was dismissed from his teaching position at the City College of New York in 1941, refusing to name names before a state tribunal during an anti-communist purge.

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“It certainly did not matter that he was not black,” Terrell said, “because he was who he was.”

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Change did come to Colby during Terrell’s time, but it came in the form of a new white professor in his late 50s who hadn’t taught in a college for 30 years because he’d been blacklisted as a communist sympathizer. He singlehandedly introduced African-American history to the curriculum.

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Charles Terrell ’70 was a history major from Washington, D.C., a campus leader, and part of a wave of black activism that, at Colby, included demands for more black faculty members and the end of policies that protestors felt discriminated against students of color.

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By Gerry Boyle ’78

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Jack Foner returned to academe after 30 years and made Colby a leader in African-American studies

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Blacklisted but not Defeated

In a single stroke, a then nearly all-white liberal arts college in Maine became home to one of the first African-American studies programs in the country. “This was revolutionary for Colby,” said Terrell, who went on to teach African-American studies at colleges in Massachusetts. “For higher education, this was highly unusual.” Foner was one of four brothers who were all blacklisted. His brother Henry and twin brother, Philip, were also forced out of their teaching jobs at CCNY.

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ACADEMICS His alleged infractions: supporting labor movements and civil rights for African Americans, both causes associated with communists. He would go on to support his family as a freelance lecturer, adult-education instructor, and as the drummer in the Foner family orchestra at resorts in the Catskills. In fact, the Foner brothers (Philip Foner went on to become a respected U.S. history scholar and prolific author) were ahead of their time in teaching of what we now see as historical perspective. It would be 30 years before American culture caught up to the Foner brothers and their ilk as there was a burgeoning of African-American history programs in the late 1960s. More black students were matriculating and demanding courses that had been taught mostly at traditionally black institutions. “Most basically white institutions like Colby had never had this,” said Jack Foner’s son, Eric, the Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. historian. “Columbia had never had a course in AfricanAmerican history until the late Sixties.” “The only black person in my high school textbook was Booker T. Washington,” he said. “And yet, these scholars [his father and uncles] were teaching about black history.

They were teaching about the history of labor. They were teaching about the history of people like Frederick Douglass and Eugene Debs. They were giving a much broader, more nuanced, more complicated picture of America.” In 1960s America, these teachers were few and far between.

COLBY Spring 2018

“Cultural erasure,” said Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he described the deliberate omission of an entire culture from history textbooks.

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In fact, there was a respected textbook of AfricanAmerican history (From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans by John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham) but its use was largely confined to historically black universities and colleges, Gilkes said. In U.S. history survey textbooks of the time, used in both white and black public schools, there was “pretty much nothing,” she said. “A picture of people picking cotton.”

But in New York State in 1940, teaching a nuanced picture of America was risky. That year, the state legislature convened a committee, known as the Rapp-Coudert Committee, to investigate communist influence in the state university system. A year earlier, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had formed an alliance, and American leftists and communists found themselves in the sights of a “Red Scare.” “McCarthyism predates McCarthyism,” Eric Foner said, “and my father became a victim of that moment.” Refusing to testify, Jack Foner was dismissed from his position along with some 60 other instructors and administrators. Christian A. Johnson Distinguished Teaching Professor of History Robert Weisbrot notes that at the time, by purging so-called communists, investigators also were able to punish union sympathizers and Jews—and those who advocated for African Americans. “If you were a conservative, Jack Foner was just tailor-made for you,” Weisbrot said. It would be 40 years before the New York City Board of Higher Education would issue an apology. “Obviously, my father was deeply hurt by what happened,” Eric Foner said, “but he always was an optimist.”

Foner had been steered to Colby by someone with a Colby connection who had been impressed by his history lectures. He was hired as a sabbatical replacement in 1968 and was so impressive that he was invited to join the permanent faculty. “He was asked, ‘Well, what would you teach?’” recalled Zacamy Professor of English Emeritus Pat Brancaccio, who taught African-American literature. “He said, ‘You have all this unrest going on around the country. How ’bout if I teach African-American history?’” By all accounts, Foner was charming, funny (telling jokes he first heard from comedians as he played in the Foner orchestra), and never seemed embittered. “There was no sign that he had been wronged,” Weisbrot said. “He had such strong views about being in touch with our history and building on that to build a better society. You had no clue how much he had given up to do that.” What was clear was his dedication to history and his students.


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Susan Doten Greenberg ’70, P’04 said her time in Foner’s class gave her new appreciation for the complexity of U.S. history.

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In Foner’s course, she learned about Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the Industrial Revolution, that immigrants were “a disunited labor force” taken advantage of by capitalism until the advent of collective bargaining.

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“You never got a sense that he was slanting things ideologically,” he said. “The way he was doing it was that he was filling you with the details. This is what happened. It spoke for itself. It was the history of oppression.”

There were no textbooks for the courses that Foner designed, so he came to class with notes and sheafs of newspaper clippings. Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, recalls his father as “a great clipper,” who taught him that the present and the past are deeply and directly connected. “You can’t understand what’s going on in the streets without knowing the history,” Foner said. Jack Foner continued to reinforce that lesson through his time at Colby, said Brancaccio, who team-taught a class with Foner that combined history and literature. “He would call me up literally every morning and say, ‘Pat, have you read the

Foner taught that history without mentioning that he had once been a victim of oppression himself. Terrell, Wynn, and Greenberg said he never spoke of his own past in class, and Greenberg and Wynn only learned of Foner’s early travails after his death in 1999. Terrell said that as a student he had heard rumors that Foner had been blacklisted for his political views. A class president who would years later become a Colby trustee, Terrell was also an activist for students of color and took part in the occupation of Lorimer Chapel in 1970. He said he graduated six weeks later and never discussed his political actions with Foner, though he’s sure his professor was aware.

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Ken Melvin ’74, also from Virginia, said in an email that Foner often sat with a group of African-American students at lunch at their regular table in Dana, and that students could feel his excitement about African-American history. “His main focus was making certain that African-American studies was considered a serious discipline,” Melvin wrote. “He was dedicated to that effort.”

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Brancaccio said he brought Foner back to teach a month-long class after a retirement policy in place at the time forced the African-American studies professor to leave Colby at 65.

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She said Foner’s empathy for African Americans also came through in his teaching. “It wasn’t like ‘those folks.’ That made a big difference.”

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Jacquelyn Lindsey Wynn ’75 attended black public schools in segregated Norfolk, Va., prior to coming to Colby Front, left to right, 1982 honorary degree recipients Simon Wiesenthal, George Davis Small, and found that Foner’s teaching of Katherine Porter, I.F. Stone, and Jack D. Foner are shown with, standing, Robert N. Anthony ’38, African-American history went beyond former President Julius S. Bixler, and then-President William R. Cotter. noting the accomplishments of individuals. Times?’ I’d say, ‘No, Jack. I haven’t gotten to it.’ He’d say, ‘Go “You could see the culture,” Wynn said, “the to page thirty-two. There’s an article you should clip.’” reasons things evolved the way they did.”

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Foner, Greenberg said, taught the Civil War through the lenses of economics, regional cultures, diplomacy. “We didn’t go battle by battle.” The course was so influential that she kept her notes and referred to them as her sons studied U.S. history in high school.

“I think that’s another reason, given the times at Colby that I was involved in, that I was so impressed by him,” Terrell said. “For me, this was like an activist from another era, and he was still standing.”

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STUDENTS

DESIGNING a future Silicon Valley-born Brit Biddle ’19 melds tech and art on Mayflower Hill

COLBY Spring 2018

By Mareisa Weil

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The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, pun intended. Biddle’s father, Gib Biddle, was an English major at Amherst and launched into a career in technology that included five years as vice president of product management at Netflix during the height of its growth. (Her mother, Kristen Hege, studied biochemistry at Dartmouth and is an M.D. and leading cancer researcher.) For her part, the younger Biddle is focusing on the present. She is busy as a TA in one of Maxwell’s intro-level courses, Computational Thinking: Visual Media, where she is particularly proud of mentoring underclasswomen in STEM.

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Colby ticked a lot of boxes off Biddle’s list, but it wasn’t easy at first. She struggled to fit in her first semester and had doubts about whether she had made the right decision. But by spring semester, she had hit her stride and was thriving. Two years later, her experience is exemplary. Her teammates on track and cross country have become some of her best friends, she has landed competitive internships at companies like Survey Monkey and NerdWallet, taken courses abroad in India and Denmark, and recently

they were about, and I think she fits into that mold in some ways. I think that’s where her background and her interests might naturally take her.”

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As she and her family toured NESCAC colleges, Colby was the last stop, and like many before her, she was floored by the beauty of the campus. She loved the trail network in and out of Perkins Arboretum for running and the access to winter sports at Quarry Road Trails and at nearby Sugarloaf Mountain Resort.

—Brit Biddle ’19

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“I guess I really value that college is a time to learn new things and do something different; get out of your comfort zone,” Biddle said.

THIS EDUCATION HAS TAUGHT ME HOW TO LOOK AT A PROBLEM AND REALLY THINK ABOUT IT. AND I’VE BEEN ABLE TO BALANCE THAT OUT WITH ART.”

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From a very early age she identified as an artist and started painting seriously in elementary and middle school. By the time she reached high school she was a volunteer art teacher—and had taken computer science courses, one at UC Berkeley. When it came time to apply for college, Biddle had a strong vision of what she did and didn’t want: she wanted different.

“If you open the box of an Apple product, it doesn’t say ‘Built by Apple,’” Maxwell said. “It doesn’t say ‘manufactured.’ It says, ‘Designed by Apple.’ That’s what

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Biddle grew up in Burlingame, Calif., a bustling community nestled in Silicon Valley. But despite the heavy tech culture of the Valley, Biddle, the product of two liberal arts-loving parents, was always interested in more than just technology.

“I think she’s still trying to figure out where she’s headed after Colby,” said Maxwell, but he likens her co-occurring artistic, programming, and design interests to the godfather of Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs.

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“I feel like I’m getting an entirely different education [at Colby],” said Biddle, compared to peers who are enrolled in tech-specific undergraduate programs. “This education has taught me how to look at a problem and really think about it. And I’ve been able to balance that out with art.”

Bruce Maxwell, Computer Science Department chair and Biddle’s “favorite professor ever” (“Where else can you find a department chair who is so invested in your experience, runs a successful consulting business, and has an alpaca farm?”), has been instrumental in helping Biddle navigate her undergraduate experience.

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Biddle could have looked at Cal Poly, Stanford, or UC Berkeley, but instead she set her sights on the East Coast, looking for a place where she could both thrive in her chosen fields and explore a new part of the country.

submitted paperwork to replace studio art with an independently designed major in, well, design.

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Who comes from the San Francisco Bay Area—think Burning Man, Google, Tesla—to central Maine to study computer science and studio art? For Brit Biddle ’19 it was an easy decision.

She is looking forward to a summer as an intern in New York City for fashion tech company Rent the Runway. And when she returns to Maine, her senior year awaits. Biddle already knows the curriculum though: “The biggest thing I’m learning is who I am.”

Brit Biddle ’19, turned her interest in art and computer science into an independent major in design.

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STUDENTS

silence is golden Eschewing medicine and the Marine Corps, James Ross finds a contemplative path to fulfillment

COLBY Spring 2018

By Maeve Dolan ’17

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STUDENTS His father was a doctor, and so was his grandfather, so when James Ross ’18 arrived on Mayflower Hill, it felt like his path was clear: pre med. “I hadn’t even thought about any other possibilities,” he said.

Days before his scheduled flight home, Ross composed two emails: one to his mother and one to Joseph Atkins, class dean for juniors and seniors, to let them know that he would not be returning to Maine anytime soon. Ross would remain in Nepal for almost a year, academically engaged with Buddhist studies at Kathmandu University while pushing himself to meditate for longer and longer periods. The longest retreat he completed was six weeks, alone in a monastic room in the mountains. James Ross ’18 in Nepal in May.

—James Ross ’18

Meanwhile, Ross enjoys working at one of the few monasteries in the world run primarily by young people.

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He decided to enroll in a summer program in Kathmandu, Nepal, studying Tibetan to interpret religious texts. During the final months, he completed a 25-day meditation retreat, which consisted of sitting silently in a room for 18 hours, forbidden from looking at or speaking to another person.

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When he returned to Mayflower Hill for his junior spring, Ross missed the meaning his life had in India. “I saw a future for myself there,” he said.

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He had found the purpose and community he had been seeking.

There are many translators but not many businesspeople in Buddhism, because it’s not often seen as a compatible path with a contemplative lifestyle.”

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One day he was browsing the Colby Bookstore and picked up an unfamiliar text, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, on a whim. The book resonated with him and he bought it. Reading it led him to start taking philosophy classes and attending group meditation in the Rose Chapel, a small room in Lorimer Chapel. He then signed up to spend the fall of his junior year at a Buddhist studies abroad program at a monastery in India. “It was my hardest academic semester ever, but it was also the most rewarding,” Ross said.

“There are many translators but not many businesspeople in Buddhism, because it’s not often seen as a compatible path with a contemplative lifestyle,” said Ross, who points out that Buddhist teachings encourage letting go of expectations about the future, while entrepreneurship requires being invested in a particular outcome and working to create results. “But in some ways, I’m serving a greater function by supporting my community financially than if I was just translating texts.”

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Although he completed the program the first summer, Ross had decided after the first day that he would not be returning to the PLC the next year, and would probably not join the military. “As a kid, I had probably watched too many war movies,” said Ross, who found himself suddenly unsure of what the future held.

“Buddhists typically aren’t great at making money,” said Ross. He collaborates with the lamas and monks at the monastery to choose high-quality Buddhist practice items, such as Dharma books and other instruments for meditation, and developed the monastery’s website to sell the goods to American consumers. He is also apprenticing with the executive director of the monastery and contributing to the board’s decision making about things like constructing new buildings. He will work both in California and in Kathmandu.

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While majoring in biology during his first year, Ross learned that the military would pay for medical school. He enrolled in the University of Maine ROTC program while balancing a commitment to Colby academics, track, and cross country. Soon he was accepted to the Marine Corps’ Platoon Leadership Class, a two-summer paid internship where the training includes sleep deprivation, high-stress combat scenarios, and extreme physical challenges. And, Ross noted, lots of screaming.

While he had originally planned to advance to longer meditation retreats, eventually spending more than three continuous years in silence—while working toward becoming what’s known in Nepal as a scholar-practitioner and translating ancient texts—he also saw the value in helping to create income for the monastery.

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The one-time Marine Corps ROTC cadet is a philosophy major who moved to Nepal to continue his study of Buddhism through silent mediation.

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But even if he had, his eventual choice wouldn’t even have made the list.

Returning to the United States for his senior year brought both challenges and rewards. He graduated early, learning from one of his Nepalese meditation teachers that there was an opening for a position developing the financial side of a Buddhist monastery called Rangjung Yeshe Gomde—located in Northern California.

“My boss is a 26-year-old Brown graduate,” said Ross. Working with other young liberal arts graduates with ambitious goals and the “energy and drive to really try to build something unique,” he cites nascent plans to create the first American monastic university. “I’m a happier and better person,” he said, “because I’m willing to take big risks.”

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Q&A

RICHARD BL ANCO ON BEING INAUGURAL POET, TEACHING AT COLBY, AND WHY POETRY SHOULD NOT BE SCARY For the spring 2018 semester, Richard Blanco, inaugural poet at Barack Obama’s second inauguration, is the artist in residence at Colby’s Lunder Institute for American Art. He’s teaching a one-credit course to Colby students who use works in the Colby museum to teach poetry to area children. He’s also working with scores of schoolteachers on incorporating poetry into their classes. Blanco spoke with Stephen Collins ’74 about his connections to the College, how reading poetry at the 2013 inauguration changed his life, and his crusade to connect communities with poetry. How did your role as inaugural poet change your perspective? Blanco: You are branded as the presidential inaugural poet ... and that’s a very powerful and wonderful and amazing thing. But then you are very public, so you can’t just publish a first draft of a poem. You really scrutinize yourself, because now you’re under the public spotlight. ... You have this incredible public honor and people are just waiting for you to fall flat on your face, right?

COLBY Spring 2018

But what kind of doors has that label opened for you?

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Blanco: I’ve really taken on a personal mission of thinking about poetry education or arts education. I became the first-ever education ambassador for the Academy of American Poets—serving teachers and thinking about innovative and easy and fun ways of bringing in and making poetry relevant to a classroom.


Q&A And your work here at Colby is part of that?

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When 40 million people hear a poem, stuff happens, right? We crashed three Gmail accounts, people writing from all over the country from all walks of life, people hugging me in the streets in Washington, D.C., crying in my arms. Yet I can’t tell you how many times they could not say the word “poem.”

I was awarded an honorary degree back when [President William D.] Bro Adams was here. We’ve actually stayed friends. And I felt great energy at Colby, largely because I’m a real, real fanatic of a liberal arts education. Being a poet and an engineer, and being always left-brained and right-brained since I was a little kid, I have come to understand that true knowledge is a wide spectrum; that success in any career involves knowing that all knowledge is connected and that in some ways all knowledge is useful. I love that spirit here at Colby. It’s reflected in the students I have here. Some are studio art majors with, like, economics and philosophy. We have someone who’s doing film. That varied interest is one of the keys to success in life, no matter whether you’re a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, an engineer. It’s understanding that all knowledge is connected and powerful and useful.

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Why? How did people react?

How did you get connected to Colby?

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Yes. Certainly [breaking down] social and class barriers. That’s a big part. And I love that I’m doing this with the museum because art suffers in some ways from the same thing that poetry does—a lot of misinformation, a lot of archaic notions of what art is, a lot of just, “That’s not for me, that’s only for fancy people.” Which is how I grew up. I was one of those kids that was denied arts as a working-class child of workingclass parents. So I’m breaking those barriers across all arts and connection to them. That echoes my experience as inaugural poet, where I hadn’t realized that when you do give people a chance with art, with poetry, that can be very powerful and that can be very well received.

When you open the door and present [contemporary] poets to the average Joe or Jane, you see this incredible reaction and it’s like, “Wow! I didn’t know it could be like that.” They’re still thinking poetry is some dead white guy from Britain. It is that too, but it didn’t stay there. … You can walk out of high school and you will know generally that visual arts have evolved. You will know that we don’t paint like Michelangelo anymore. … But you can walk out of high school thinking that the last [poem] that was written was by Robert Frost. … Many English teachers will be out front and say, “I don’t know how to teach poetry. I’m scared of poetry.” Nobody taught them. … So people are not made to understand, or educated to understand, that poetry is something that’s just evolved.

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Your memoir, The Prince of Los Cocuyos, and your poetry depict an outsider—the gay son of Cuban immigrants who is comfortable in Miami bodegas but not in the big, American, Winn-Dixie supermarket, much less a museum. Does work here bridge similar boundaries for Waterville children?

So there’s work to do to get people to embrace poetry?

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In terms of the Colby students, it’s working together to create lesson plans modeled after what we call Teach This Poem, which is modeled after John Dewey’s idea of art as experience. A lot of these students will go out in the world eventually and become teachers or run workshops themselves as artists. So this is a way of getting them to understand, not just how we learn art and poetry, but how we also teach it. … The kids [from the Alfond Youth Center] benefit from having an extracurricular thing here and, of course, learning and being invited to the museum. We’re doing a pageant in the museum where they’re going to read their poems, and we’re inviting their parents. It lets them know that this is a place for them to learn and be.

They would say we loved and really connected with your “speech,” your “talk.” They were so ingrained to believe that they would never get anything out of a poem or connect with a poem that it surely couldn’t be a poem.

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CLASS NOTES 1930s, 1940-1943, 1945-46 Colby College Colby Magazine Waterville, Maine 04901 classnotes@colby.edu

1944

Josephine Pitts McAlary classnews1944@colby.edu

1947

Gerry Boyle ’78 classnews1947@colby.edu

1948

COLBY Spring 2018

David Marson classnews1948@colby.edu

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Howell Clement says that he is alive and well, except his wife says he’s losing his hearing. He says that he doesn’t ski anymore because the local area slopes are too fast. One hard fall and things would break. His skiing and golfing partner passed away, and that has reduced his activities. With reference to a paucity of responses to my requests for news, Howell points out that some simply do not relate to the College today. Kalispell, Mont., received 77 inches of snow this year, and the snow wall along his driveway was about four feet high. Y Evi Helfant Malkin spent 17 days on an Elderhostel-Road Scholar trip to the Balkans last fall. “Not enough time to do justice to all the places we visited,” she wrote. She keeps busy in Cambridge, Mass., attending lectures, museums, concerts, theater, and the large local library. She also works with a fourth-grade class in Cambridge on Mondays, and at a Ronald McDonald House in Charlestown on Wednesdays, which keeps her in touch with the staff with whom she worked at Mass General for some 30 years. Like many of us, she has a big birthday coming up, and she plans to go to Ireland in August with her five “children” and their spouses for a week of walks, rides, good food, etc. She sends greetings to all. Y Carol Stoll Baker wrote that she is happily involved in wonderful activities such as attending the Boston Symphony and plays at the Huntington Theater. On Mondays she does watercolors at the New Art Center. Tuesdays, she attends a course at Regis College on Hollywood film genres. Y As I write this news, I’m still at my house in Admiral’s Cove in Jupiter, Fla., and plan to return to my new home, still in Dedham, called Newbridge on the Charles. My house in Dedham was sold last year, and I moved

40s NEWSMAKERS Lawrence Kaplan ’47 has a new book out. Harold Stassen: Eisenhower, the Cold War, and the Pursuit of Nuclear Disarmament (University of Kentucky Press, 2018) is a biography of Stassen, President Eisenhower’s special assistant for disarmament. Kaplan is emeritus director of the Lyman L. Lemnitzer Center for NATO and European Studies at Kent State University.

only about three miles and have a spacious new four-room apartment. I don’t have as many activities as I do in Florida at Admiral’s Cove, but my two daughters and my brother are nearby, and occasionally I receive invitations for dinner and also to play golf at their country clubs. For those of you who play golf, I’m so short off the tee that I can hear the ball land. I plagiarized that remark, made by Lee Trevino. Lastly, and most importantly, my granddaughter, Jessica McNulty Sargent, Colby ’07, made me a great-grandfather in September 2017 by giving birth to Charles David Pickman Sargent. I have not as yet had a talk with Charley about college, but I intend to recommend Colby. Can’t start too early.

1949

Anne Hagar Eustis classnews1949@colby.edu Time again for a little catch up on the news from us 49ers. First, from Charles Pearce, whose news arrived after my last deadline. His three children are spread around the country, with Sally, Colby ’78, in Denver, Cathy and family in Massachusetts, and Jim in Chapel Hill, N.C. Charlie is fully retired as chairman, president, and CEO of Quincy Savings Bank in Quincy, Mass. After 47 years in Massachusetts and 18 years in New Hampshire, he and Ginny have settled in Chapel Hill, N.C. Being near UNC and Duke, they keep very busy with lectures, classes, and nearby trips. They’ve traveled extensively, but their latest trip was a paddleboat cruise on the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to St. Louis. Y Haroldene Whitcomb Wolf wrote, “Having moved to a continuing care retirement community last November, I was surprised to find a fellow resident, Anne Kimsey Brakman ’58, who had been a student in my accounting class. Small world, as they say!” Y A short column this time around, but keep the news coming when you receive my requests. I do appreciate all your help.

1950

Gerry Boyle ’78 classnews1950@colby.edu

1951

Chet Harrington classnews1951@colby.edu

1952

Art White classnews1952@colby.edu Herb Nagle has celebrated his 89th birthday. He and Judy met with Lum Lebherz and his friend Brenda to mark the occasion. I believe Lum arranged the gathering, as he has done often for his Colby classmates. Y I was pleased to hear from Sandy Pearson Anderson, who writes that she is feeling much better after fighting health issues for four or five months. Sandy takes advantage of her surroundings in Middlebury, Vt., and attends “Super Senior” classes at Middlebury College for informative and stimulating lectures. Sandy has been in touch with the current student director of the Colbyettes on campus. I wonder how many remember that Sandy started that group in 1951. Y Bob Kline called to say he was back in Maine after spending a couple months in Florida last winter. I’m sure Bob and I will meet for lunch soon. Y C’mon, Class of ’52! Let me know what’s going on in your life. Your classmates would be pleased to hear from you.

1953

Barbara Easterbrooks Mailey classnews1953@colby.edu Welcome summer! As I write this column, Ann and Rick Tyler will be back in Maine. Rick said there hadn’t been a full winter of snow in Utah, but he managed some good days of skiing. Before returning to Maine, they spent the first week of March in Maui. They have a full calendar of travel: a Viking river trip in June from Moscow to St. Peters-

burg, then to Helsinki for a few days before returning home in August, only to drive to Victor, Utah, for their grandson’s wedding, then back to Maine for two weeks to close up their home. Y Always keeping in touch, Tommi Thompson Staples is still involved with cribbage matches, she says, at 6 a.m. at a local Panera, and also a trans-Atlantic cribbage cruise. That’s all her travel plans for now. Y John Lee keeps in constant touch with me. His second son and granddaughter from Connecticut visited the Washington area in May. He plans to have lunch with Art Eddy ’54 this summer. Y Sadly, Harold Cross said he lost his son to colon cancer in December. He handled it well for more than six months, having good times with family and friends through all that period. Harold mentioned a good read for all— Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Y Phyllis Whitcomb Laurin had dinner recently with Millie Thornhill Reynolds, both catching up with their lives and memories of Colby years. Y News of our Colby 65th reunion should highlight the column after this one. I may or may not be at reunion, so if you go, I would appreciate receiving news about your experiences there. Have a nice summer!

1954

Art Eddy classnews1954@colby.edu Greetings from the northwest corner of Connecticut, where it finally looks as though golf season has arrived! Y Fred Ashman and his (unnamed) roommate left Onie’s on a cold winter night after the last “Blue Beetle” had departed and had to walk back to campus in what they later learned was 30-degree-below-zero weather. It was so cold that both liquids tossed out the window turned to ice before hitting the ground. (I have to wonder if Fred and Marge were listening to a Bert & I record?) Y Diane Chamberlin Starcher is working with a trainer twice a week on her strength and balance, and she’s achieved remarkable results. She and husband George have enjoyed the excellent musical offerings in the Sarasota, Fla., area, and have continued their activities with local and regional Baha’i activities. “We are doing quite well for our age and condition.” Y Bob Cummings, who has to be the Cal Coolidge of our class, tells me, “My last read was Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, most of which I didn’t know nor need to know, but it was interesting.” Y Susan Johnson is still happily residing at Sunnyside Life Plan Community in Harrisonburg, Va. Over the past several years, in spite of some serious health issues, she has done a


1957

Gerry Boyle ’78 classnews1957@colby.edu

1958

Mary Ellen Chase Bridge classnews1958@colby.edu Our globetrotting-est classmate, Judy Brown Dickson, recently returned from her adventures on a safari in Tanzania, on the island of Zanzibar, and on a Road Scholar trip in Egypt. “A most amazing trip on all accounts! I did post photos on my Facebook account ... and I’m debating whether to close it out. Guess it’s really my best way to share my travels.” Judy expects to be in Paris on our reunion dates. Y And perhaps our longest-working member, Marty Burger, is now with Marsh & McLennan Agency as a risk management consultant. In 2009 MMA purchased a company that he had merged his agency with in 1994. “My wife still doesn’t want me home for lunch. I do not plan to retire. See you at the 60th reunion.” Y Ginny

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The Class of 1957 is in need of a new class correspondent since Guy and Eleanor Ewing Vigue have stepped down. If you’re interested in volunteering to keep your class connected through Colby Magazine, contact the Communications Office at classnews1957@colby.edu or 207-859-4356.

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Sixty-three years ago the Class of 1955 graduated from Colby on a sunny day. Remember? Y James Smith is now in SaintJean-de-Luz, France, where it was a rainy winter and spring. His antiques business is well underway. Y Dick and Diane Reynolds Wright enjoy retirement in Minneapolis. Time goes by playing bridge, biking, skiing, spending time with family, and taking Osher Lifelong Learning Institute courses. Y Carol Smith Bianchi Brown has recently moved into a facility and is selling the house that she lived in for 54 years. Y Ed Ducharme had triple bypass surgery, “something nobody approaching 85 should ever do,” he said. “It finished out my 42-year running career!” Y Carol Branch Martin, who wrote in from Plainfield, Ill., is lucky to be in good health at 84. “I’ve done a couple of 5K walks and came in first in one of them, although I was the only one in the over-80 group. Does that count as a win?” Carol talks to Molly Cutter Yans, who was her roommate in Boston after graduation. She also occasionally talks to Jean Van Curan Pugh, who was Carol’s neighbor when she lived in Colorado in the mid-70s. Carol attends the same church in Suffield as Dick Davis ’56, and they each have a grandchild who is 15. Carol’s grandchild lives two doors away and comes to rescue her when she “fails on the computer,” which is frequently, she said. “Life is good.” Y I

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Betty Harris Smith classnews1955@colby.edu

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1955

Bonnie Barron Laforme is well, now. However, while in Florida last August (on her 58th anniversary), she had some medical problems. She’s now recovered and plans to go to the family camp in Maine this summer until September. She prepares Girl Scout adult awards, sings in a small church group, and plays Mahjong. One grandson is a city planner in Ft. Lauderdale, and the other is a freshman at the University of Central Florida—their parents live in the next town. Bonnie’s daughter lives in western Massachusetts. She and her husband happily downsized four years ago. Y Barbara Davis Howard’s husband, Bob, passed away last October after almost 63 years of marriage. He had been a pastor for 50 years, so he’ll be missed by many. In April there was a third memorial service for him at the Long Island Church, where he served for 30 years. BJ lives in West Hartford, and one of her three daughters is with her. Our sympathy goes out to you, BJ. Y Janet Nordgren Meryweather plans to be at Colby for the alumnae luncheon. She’s been in Florida, where she’s continuing breast cancer treatments, but was planning to be in Maine this spring. Y Sue and Bob Adams report that they’re in good health. They’re still in Daytona Beach and still RVing, but not for long. Bob plays a lot of tennis. Sue has had many surgeries but is doing okay. They have 13 grandchildren, the oldest of whom will soon have his doctorate in anesthesiology. Bob would like to hear from some Zeta Psi brothers. Y Hope Palmer Bramhall and Kathy McConaughy Zambello were at Colby Feb. 27 for a moving presentation and poetry reading by Richard Blanco, poet for President Obama’s 2013 Inaugural and Colby’s spring semester artist in residence at the Lunder Institute. In Waterville, they saw the “ginormous” five-story dorm under construction, which will be ready for students and faculty in August. Hope, Kathy, and Rosemary Crouthamel Sortor attended Harry Wey’s funeral service March 3. Harry died instantly after falling down his cellar

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Thank so much to those who have written.

Charlene Roberts Riordan classnews1956@colby.edu

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lower Mississippi River cruise, and a Columbia and Snake River cruise in Oregon and Washington State. She continues to be involved with her Sacred Dance group. While visiting family in Tennessee, she viewed last August’s total solar eclipse. Y Ned Shenton survived another winter on Peak’s Island, Maine, where temperatures routinely reached seven below zero. Ned had dinner and a movie with Carolyn English Caci ’53 in Peabody, Mass. Now that his “book-length” memoir, Grateful Ned (really more of a autobiography), is ready for the publisher, he plans on traveling by Canadian rail from Halifax, N.S., to Vancouver, B.C., and hopes to be home in time to put his Cape Dory Typhoon in the water for some summer sailing along the Maine coast. Y But for the fact that her grandchildren are growing up so much faster than did her own children, Carol Dyer Wauters says that not much has changed since her last note. Life continues to be focused outdoors with skiing (both types), biking, hiking, and river rafting (each less vigorously but with undiminished enthusiasm). Involvement with community affairs (conservation, wildlife issues, local literacy programs, and affordable housing) continues, but travel has been curtailed with only a trip to Alaska to view the amazing wildlife. Y I have cherished my connection with John Lee ’53, with whom I have lunch when I visit my daughter in Washington, D.C. I hope to spend a few hours on the links with Bob “Whitey” Thurston this summer when I visit my daughters in Maine. I hope that life is as joyous for each of you as it is for me, and that Father Time is treating you well.

1956

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Richard Abedon ’56 received the 2018 Nettie Finkle Award from the Town of Palm Beach United Way. Abedon, a former attorney and retired judge, has “helped thousands on probono legal cases, including accessing SNAP and Medicaid benefits,” according to the Palm Beach Daily News. ♦ Burton Angrist ’58, M.D., was presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who. Angrist is a highly regarded professor of psychiatry who taught at the NYU School of Medicine for more than 30 years. ♦ Ed Tomey ’59 and his wife, Maich Garner, received Paul Harris Fellow Awards in January. Tomey has Ed Tomey ’59 volunteered for area nonprofits for more than 35 years, including the N.H. Community Loan Fund, which established the Ed Tomey Fund in his honor in 2014.

stairs. After spending the night at Rosemary’s new condo in Sherborn (Mass.), they had a great dinner at the beautifully renovated Sherborn Inn (formerly owned by David Sortor). Kathy and Hope visited Chrissy Layer Larson and the Marshalls (John and Joan), after which Kathy left for Florida. She and Hope go to the symphony and performances at a local theater. Y Susan and Brian Stompe are taking a two-week Viking river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam in September to celebrate their 60th anniversary. In the meantime, salmon season opens June 6. Garden and garden pests are thriving. Y Retirement keeps me busy: Bible study group, French-speaking group, tap dancing (great exercise), New York Met Opera (10 performances per year), local lectures (at various libraries from music to business). I’m looking forward to watching my daughter Deborah, 50, run her third marathon in October in Washington, D.C. She ran the New York City Marathon in 2016 and the Chicago Marathon in 2017. As I watch these races, I marvel at the stamina and will of these young and notso-young runners—they give it their all!

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50s NEWSMAKERS

recently heard from John Dutton. We went to the same Sunday school, and he enclosed a picture of us around the table. Y Dino Sirakides’s daughter, Mair Sirakides Hill ’83, reached out to tell us that her father passed away March 3. His obituary is in the back pages of this magazine. Our condolences to Mair and her family.

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Angney Bushee, who sold her summer home in Vermont near the Quebec border and now has an apartment near Burlington, had an enjoyable winter cruise through the Panama Canal. She and I may team up to drive to our 60th in June. Y Other travelers Kay (German ’59) and Al Dean drove to Mobile, Ala., this year and rented a house on the Dog River. They took several side trips to Dauphine Island and Biloxi, Miss., eating at many great restaurants with fresh seafood. On a boat trip on the Everglades, they learned about the importance of the gulf to the local inhabitants. “Mobile, the 15th- largest seaport in the U.S., first developed container shipping and also claims to have founded Mardi Gras as part of Louisiana in 1703, before New Orleans.” Y Gail and Bob Hesse were looking forward to reunion. They see some alumni and their spouses fairly regularly: Kay and Warren Judd, Mary and Gard Rand ’59, Joyce and Ed Rushton, Bob and Cathy Stinneford Walther, and Joan Shaw Whitaker. They occasionally hear from Matty Gache ’60 and Marge and Richard Keddy. “Perhaps we’re all missing some of the old vitality, but we all share fond memories of Mayflower Hill and surroundings, and look forward to reunion.” Y Since you won’t read this column until after our 60th, I’ll send an update later on the activities. Class agent Leigh Bangs has written about the increasing challenges of travel to the Hill, especially for those who live far away—Indiana, for him. So this may be our last big hurrah!

1959

COLBY Spring 2018

Joanne K. Woods classnews1959@colby.edu

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Thank you to all who wrote. Y Janice Piazzi King is still in Florida playing bridge and other card games and enjoying the pool. Y Carlene Price White is still donating fully accredited service dogs to veterans and people with neurological issues like MS and Parkinson’s. Explore.org has seven cameras on her operation 24/7/365. To watch 55 Great Danes in various stages of training, watch online at servicedogproject.org. Y Bill Chapin celebrated his 80th birthday last June at the Long Cove Tennis Club in Chamberlain, Maine, with great jazz from Pete Collins. Eighty people, including Bonnie Brown Potter ’63 and Jane Melanson Dahmen ’63, and lots of kids on the rocks and water. Bill keeps up with Dave Russell, and when he wrote he was planning to have dinner the following week with Boyd Sands. Boyd is living in retirement in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and he and Fran are looking forward to their 60th anniversary. Y Daniel

van Heeckeren retired 10 years ago from an academic practice of cardiothoracic surgery in Cleveland after the first signs of Parkinson’s disease reared their ugly heads. For almost six years, Dan has been a surviving spouse since Doris, the love of his life, drowned while snorkeling off Oahu. The Parkinson’s is relentless, but with the help of his four children, all living within 10 miles, and a house that is ADA compliant on the first floor, he is satisfied that he’s optimized. Y Let’s hear from more classmates when I send out my next request.

1960

Jane Holden Huerta classnews1960@colby.edu This column has a definite theme—almost everyone mentioned turning 80 this year! Y John Vollmer has decided at 82 to hang up his downhill skis. His final trip down the slopes was at Deer Valley in Utah this spring. Memories like being ski captain at Colby afforded him fantastic moments on the white stuff. Now for a more relaxing future at their “getaway farm” in Missouri. “Best wishes to all who are still skiing.” Y Peter Henderson, approaching 80, feels lucky to still be fundraising for a small but successful local company. Pete and Jane have been traveling to keep up with their talented grandkids. He was privileged to be one of hundreds of local veterans honored March 29 at a huge Vietnam veterans’ reception. March 29 is now designated Vietnam Veterans Day. Peter’s Colby Eight reunion group has finally given up singing at reunions, which greatly saddens him, but it was inevitable. The Colby Eight influenced his life as much as anything else, and it’s tough to see that era end. Y Maren Stoll Fisher is taking a small group to Bordeaux on a “wine/river” trip. Then her kids are taking her out of the country for her 80th. She’s suspecting it may be Costa Rica because her grandsons love wild monkeys! Y David Fowler lives in New Mexico. He lost his wife, Polly Brown, more than a year ago, so life’s been different. He has 12 grandchildren to keep him positive—one is at Colby! He spends time in Montana in the summer fishing and boating on the Madison River. “I must say that I have been somewhat depressed over our political scene,” he wrote, “but was positively moved by attending the March for Our Lives in D.C.” Y “Every 10 years, your life changes,” writes Ralph Galante, whose wife, Jane, came down with Parkinson’s disease. They sold their Florida home and built a small apartment onto daughter Lau-

ren’s house in Centennial, Colo., which has “turned out terrific. We still go back to Merrymeeting Lake in New Durham, N.H., for the summer.” Y Steve Curley sees Phil Shea often and keeps up with Jock Knowles and Mike Silverberg, both of whom are working into old age! Steve and wife Bryna visited Pat and Ed Marchetti in Florida with lots of Colby talk. On the same trip, they visited coach Jack Kelley, who, at 90, is still going strong. Pete Jaffe ’62 and Steve had lunch with Emmett Cavari, who is handling his health issues with determination and toughness. Steve has weekly conversations with Ray Berberian while Ray walks the boardwalk in his beloved New Jersey. Y In April Bette and Dick Peterson took a river cruise on the Danube, exploring Prague, Venice, and Budapest. This summer, as part of a road trip, they’ll visit Colby and the art museum, ending with the Cape Cod Music Festival before returning home to Bryn Mawr, Pa. Dick still enjoys being chairman of an insurance company. Y In September Kay White “retired” as board chair of Common Ground, the crisis center where she’s volunteered for 34 years. She’ll continue answering phones—she’s spoken to more than 15,000 callers trying to move them “from crisis to hope.” She also enjoys tennis and gardening. “Life is good.” Y Frederick Moffatt is professor emeritus of art history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he taught 1969-2005. The University of Tennessee Press released his new book, Paintbrush For Hire: The Travels of James and Emma Cameron, 1840-1900. A portion of the couple’s travels included a two-year stint in Waterville in the early 1870s, where they presided over the local Unitarian (Church) Society. Y John Kellom enjoys a retired lifestyle on Hilton Head Island. He still plays tennis several times a week. A musical highlight was singing at a distinguished international chorus concert in Carnegie Hall last November. Quite a thrill! Y Art and Louise Robb Goldschmidt live at Foxdale Village, a retirement community in State College, Pa. They’ll celebrate their 80th birthdays with a joint party that will include about 120 of Art’s former Penn State students. Louise is active with Osher Lifelong Learning—taking courses and recruiting instructors. Y Bob and Liz Chamberlain Huss still happily live on Martha’s Vineyard. This year they’ll cruise across the Atlantic and visit Portugal, the Canary Islands, Tangiers, Morocco, and two stops in Spain. Liz tutors at an elementary school, and Bob is on the port council of the steamship authority. Y Ken

Nigro attended the Red Sox home opener. He’s looking forward to his annual trip to the Dominican in late July when a group of Red Sox employees help residents in a Dominican village. Y Juan and I visited Delft, Zurich, Umbria, and Tuscany in May and hope to cruise to the Canaries, Madeira, and Lisbon in December. We’re spending the Fourth of July with our sons and granddaughters. I’m looking forward to a big party in December!

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Diane Scrafton Cohen Ferreira classnews1961@colby.edu Judith Hoffman Hakola was “shocked and distressed” to learn of the death of Tom Evans. Those at our 55th will remember Tom’s generosity in providing wonderful wine and champagne that he shipped from California, as well as his and Marilyn’s willingness to participate in our class skit (“After all these years, still kicking mule”). Judy is “almost retired” (after 52 years) from teaching English at the University of Maine. She’s “down to one online summer course and taking up the slack” by teaching Senior College courses: “Very satisfying—eager, well-informed students, and no papers to grade!” Last fall one student was Scotty MacLeod Folger, “who lives not too far away—when she’s not traveling around the world!” But wait! Now Judy accepts the job of curriculum committee chair of the Bangor-area Senior College, “which is keeping me very busy.” Last summer she and Dave Wiggins ’60 visited Tom and Dorothy “Dotty” Boynton Kirkendall at their Smithfield summer camp, a short distance from Colby. They called Hank Wingate in Massachusetts and had a great time reminiscing. Y A first-time respondent, Mike Holland, and wife Lilli live in Almonte, Canada. They’ve lived in Montreal, London, Rangeley, Maine, and St. Petersburg, Fla., and experienced many trips to Austria. “Now we’re happy in Ontario, even if we can’t take advantage of the snow—we’ve both been Canadian Ski Instructors’ Alliance teachers for years. Sending the best to all!” Y John Kelly writes: “Following graduation, thanks to Professor Mavrinac’s advice, I studied law at Georgetown University. For several years, I served as legislative and administrative assistant to a California congressman. During summer ’67, I sailed in the crew of an America’s Cup contender. Then I took life more seriously, returned to Maine, and worked as an assistant attorney general for several years before going into private law practice in Portland. My life partner, Betsy, and I married in 1969 and raised


Paule French classnews1963@colby.edu

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Bill ’62 and Barbara Haines Chase visited Baja, Calif., where they saw the gray whale migration, traveling in small boats “into the 40-mile-long lagoons to see the moms and babies where they’re born.” Gray whales migrate from Alaska/Siberia to the Baja Coast to give birth or breed. “It was quite amazing … lots of desert between San Diego where we began—400 miles—to the lagoons.” Their next adventure is a camping trip to Newfoundland and Labrador. Y Jane Melanson Dahmen hosts “Talking Art In Maine, Intimate Conversations” at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta, Maine. In April she spoke with guest artist Barbara Sullivan. Y Carole and Steve Eittreim enjoy retired life in Palo Alto, but they’re sad that their children and grandchildren, now close by, will move 150 miles south to San Luis Obispo. In their spare time, they’re engaged in trying to bring our nation back to a functioning democracy. The core issue for Carole is gun control; Steve’s is climate policy. They’re in the streets often, “as we think just voting today may not be enough for our democracy to survive.” Y Karen Forslund Falb has seen several classmates recently. Jeannette Fannin Regetz is very active, healthy, and traveling to Costa Rica. She also saw Pauline Ryder Kezer, who has done a wonderful job as president of the Alden Kindred of America Society. She enjoyed seeing Pi and Ken at a program in Duxbury. Karen also sees Lucille Waugh frequently in Medford, Mass., and Lillian Waugh, who comes up often to visit her daughter, Andromeda, and Lucille. Karen has gained two granddaughters this year, Ruth and Eda, who join brother Aaron. The two “older” children will live with Karen as their

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Happy summer, Class of ’62! A wonderful story of recovery from Gary and Peggy Bone Miles. About a year ago, Gary was stricken with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which left him almost completely paralyzed. With “lots and lots of hard work,” he’s been making progress to the point that he can swim again in the Pacific every morning “without a wetsuit.” Gary writes that he’s practicing his French in preparation for a visit to their daughter and granddaughter, who live a bit north of

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dad will be starting at Harvard Business School. Y Ruth Pratley Madell is finally retiring from Humanities Kansas! After our 55th reunion, she’ll sell her condo and return to the Chicago suburbs to be near good friends, her son, daughter, and granddaughter. She attended the Chi O Eleusinian, and looks excitedly to the future! Y Connie Miller Manter wished us a great reunion. She wasn’t able to attend this one, but hopes those of us in the area can get together soon. Terrific idea, Connie! Let’s be sure to make it happen! Y After two months in Naples, Fla., Skeeter ’59 and Karen Beganny Megathlin headed to Cape Cod. They attended a Red Sox game, where they saw Booty (Ann) Bruno and P.J. Downing Curtis ’64. Karen went through her second bout with breast cancer, but she has recuperated very well and feels great. Skeeter also had cancer this fall, a neck cyst, and he also made a remarkable recovery. “We were a sorry pair for awhile, but with lots of help from family and friends, we got through it all. Pat Ey Ingraham was terrific.” Pat lost her husband, Jack, who enthusiastically supported our reunions. We’ll miss him. Y “Vertical and taking nourishment!” writes Gordon Moog. He had a great season skiing in eastern Washington, followed by a month of projects for Washington state parks. He’ll be fighting wildfires with two new fire stations, new equipment, and new personnel. Y Sam (Sandra) Moulton didn’t make her “annual trip to Paris and Spain because of aging health and a greater occupation with the arrival of a grandchild.” Sam’s son and his Italian wife and baby live in London, so traveling is mostly to London and Italy. She’s very glad she made it to our 50th and wishes everyone the best. As always, Sam offers her good guiding skills to anyone traveling through Oxford! Y Dick ’62 and Joan Dignam Schmaltz are very excited about the new house they’ve built on the lake near Oakland, Maine. Y MacKenzie Smith is trying to locate Dave Columbia—can anyone help? Y Lillian Waugh makes frequent trips to visit her sister, Lucille Waugh. Her granddaughter, music, and yoga bring her much joy.

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Nancy MacKenzie Keating Pat Farnham Russell classnews1962@colby.edu

nine grandchildren, one of whom plays lacrosse and another who has been accepted to Mt. Holyoke and will be going with her grandmother to an “accepted student” weekend. The rest, she says, are “on their own for now.” Y Michael McCabe and I (Nancy MacKenzie Keating) sold our house in Harpswell, Maine, last summer and moved into a small condo in Brunswick while we plow through the many steps of building again. Lest you exclaim, “you must be crazy,” the new house will be significantly smaller than the previous one and have many features that relate to “growing older.” Wish us luck! Have a happy and healthy summer.

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the Pyrenees. Their son, a captain in the local fire department, and his family live just 15 minutes away. Peggy continues to teach ESL and is a “voracious reader of fiction”—three books a week—while Gary holds up the nonfiction end. Y Boyd and Mary “Muff” Symonds Leavitt completed a 50-day cruise on Cunard’s Queen Victoria, which included 26 destinations around South America. Back in Boise, Idaho, they enjoy Boise’s Opera Idaho, the philharmonic, the art museum and, “of course, bridge.” Y John Chapman and wife Allison (UMO ’70), currently in St. Augustine, Fla., for the winter, relate that although January was the coldest month on record in Florida, they enjoyed the bitterness “without shoveling and potholes” and laughed at the locals in their quilted down. John’s winter project was finishing a guest room over their garage, and they enjoyed several trips—to Disney Springs with children and grandchildren and a memorable trip to New Orleans. Y Retired from full-time teaching for 17 years, Ann Tracy will teach a class in Latin next fall. She also continues writing, most recently an 1899 Aroostook novella, which reader Pam Taylor described as a “hoot,” destined to be called Leviathan Rising if published. Ann says she’ll let us know “if it sees the light.” Ann is in touch with a long list of classmates, including Jennifer Nesbit Shapp, Brenda Phillipps Gibbons, Sandy Keefe, Frank Stevenson, Debby Price, Jean Hamilton Workman, Susy Martin Bronstein, and Alice Webb.” Y In late February Cy Theobald, his wife, and friends (John McHale, Peter Leofanti, Denny Dionne, and Bob Burke ’61) had a “terrific lunch” with Jack Kelley and his wife on the waterfront in Venice, Fla. Cy says that coach Kelley had lots of stories that took them all back to the days 50-plus years ago that gave them all a chance to “embellish our stories and bring back great memories.” Y Richard Mittleman is “semi-retired” from the practice of law. He spends most of the winter in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., but returns home monthly to attend board meetings and see clients. He still enjoys riding his bike and playing golf. Y A note from Brenda Wrobleski Elwell Gottschalk tells of a “madcap” weekend in Paris with her kids and their Parisian friends. Brenda says that their bill for dinner at the Ritz was “almost as high as my annual property taxes!” She relates that she is now up to 90 countries! Trips to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole are in her future for September. Y Susan and Jim Bishop still enjoy retirement and try to keep up with

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three children. In 1979 I opened a new firm, Kelly, Remmel & Zimmerman, where, in my old age, I practice in an ‘of counsel’ status, which means, ‘on flex time sliding toward full retirement.’ For five years, I enjoyed teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Maine Law School. I still get to a number of Colby basketball games, reminding me of the great Colby group I played with in the late ’50s.” Y Sandy Nolet Quinlan wrote following three active months in Jupiter, Fla. “Our Colby connection was two delightful dinners with Frank D’Ercole, who has a lovely home on Jupiter Island, just 20 minutes from where we stay. With his daughter on Colby’s Board of Trustees, and his keen interest in Colby sports teams, Frank filled us in on Colby news. Dean and I plan to spend summer with family from France and New England, then a first-time trip to Santa Fe in the fall. Life is good!” Y Penny Dietz Sullivan still loves New Bern, N.C., in spite of the cold, snowy winter. Penny assembled a resident community directory and sold enough ads to offer it free for all residents! She’s playing lots of golf in warmer weather and preparing for elections, where she serves as a judge. She recently saw Bertha “Bebe” Clark Mutz, who was in the process of moving to Lewes, Del., near Carla Possinger Short. Y Ann Weir Ventre writes, “News? From my kitchen window I can see more than 40 daffodils in full bloom after surviving a long winter. My husband, Tom, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease five years ago and his functioning is beginning to be affected. A caregiver stays with him when I work as an adjunct faculty member at Towson University. Public speaking is a great class to teach; next week’s topics include Kurt Cobain, Ghanaian culture, the history of skeet shooting in the Olympics, Airborne Operations, and the impact of Pink Floyd. How can I ever be bored?”

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Marcia Phillips Sheldon classnews1964@colby.edu Dennis Hardy and his wife spend winters in central Florida, where they’re active members of the Florida Trails Association. Y Richard Larschan teaches at the 92 Street Y in NYC. The subject: novels

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COLBY Spring 2018

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by and about immigrants. Richard publishes reviews and other writings. He’s celebrating a daughter’s promotion to associate professor of molecular biology, a new granddaughter, and his partner’s new book being published in Australia. Y John Pomeranz looks forward to warm weather and a beautiful boating/ fishing season. He’s still working, “but not too hard,” and spends a lot of time with his three kids and their families, in NYC and in San Francisco. Y Celebrating their 50th anniversary, Jim Harris and his wife hosted a party in their hometown of Issaquah, Wash. They visit Kristi and Dick York once a month. Jim reminds us of our 55th reunion next year, and he hopes for 100-percent participation in class fundraising efforts. Y Gloria Shepherd toured southern Portugal and Andalucia, staying in pousadas and paradores. A highlight of the trip was a visit to Ronda with its beautiful gorge. Gloria also traveled to Havana, Cuba, to paint with a group organized by a publisher of several art magazines. Y Karen Eskesen lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where she paints and teaches watercolor painting. “Life couldn’t be better!” she exclaims. Y Nick Ruf writes about a personal experience: He details a horrifying, near brush-with-death story and finishes with coincidence, irony, and shrugging humor. The reader doesn’t know whether to laugh or cringe. Y In southern Maine, Larry Dyhrberg is writing a mixed-genre piece on the history of the Danish community in Falmouth for the town’s 300th anniversary celebration. Larry also reads to fiction classes at Falmouth High School, and he’s visited Allan Smith at his Canadian vacation home. Both of Larry’s daughters are now in college. Y Steve Schoeman writes that he and his wife try to live life to the fullest, always looking for new paths to explore. Y Jack Mechem visited Herm Hipson (affectionately known as “The Sandwich Man”) at his home in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., and with their wives enjoyed golf and a Red Sox spring training game. “Many riotous memories over PB&J sandwiches and beers!” Jack noted. Y Martha Farrington Mayo says conducting and particularly singing have been constants in her life. Starting in high school, she continued these interests at Colby and credits Peter Ré with great teaching and learning. Martha is involved in many community musical activities and organizations in the Bath, Maine, area. Y Enjoying the slow pace of life in Ft. Myers, Fla., John Brassem notes the lower cost of living and the wonderful weather,

except for occasional disasters such as hurricanes. John’s a high school teacher and a writer. He and his wife were visited by Robbie (Gilson ’65) and Bob Drewes and attended Red Sox spring season games with Mike Knox and his wife. Y Johanna Mangion, widow of Bob Mangion, writes that the third annual memorial poetry event in Bob’s name will be held in Kittery, Maine. Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic will speak and read his works. Y Bob Dyer has been taking a senior college class with Harlan Eastman ’51, focusing on local history. At a Colby hockey game, Bob saw Colby’s team defeat the University of New England, and he spotted Cliff Olson in the crowd. “I’ll greatly miss Ed Phillips ’62,” Bob says, since “Ed would visit for morning coffee and talk about the Red Sox.” Y Florida resident Marjorie Convery plays golf often and is traveling to Scotland to visit St. Andrews, the Highlands, and Glasgow, where her grandmother was born. Y Charlie Fallon lost his wife, Marcia, to cancer in 2017. Since then, he spends time with his children and grandchildren and stays engaged as a volunteer driver for senior citizens. He’s learned to play pickle ball, traveled in New England and North Carolina, and experienced a biking trip in Virginia. Y There’s sad news to report: Bruce Lippincott died last November. Peter Whalley passed away in February of this year, and Don Haughs’s family announced his death in March. Please look for their obituaries in the back pages of this magazine.

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Dick Bankart classnews1965@colby.edu Oh boy! We are having fun exploring the world. Perhaps you should read Pam Plumb Carey’s new book, A Survival Guide for People Who Travel Together. Just published, it consists of funny “rules” for adult travel companions accompanied by anecdotes from trips with her husband, Charley ’63. The Careys were in Cuba this spring. Pam is soliciting more stories from “anyone with travel stories to share!” (pamcharley@ yahoo.com) Y If you need a travel agent for your next adventure, contact Rod Gould (rgould@smithduggan.com)—he is a partner in a company that represents tour operators and cruise lines. Rod tries to maximize his vacation travel. He did the South Pacific last February and is “cranking up for East Africa with our kids and grandkids this June.” Y Harold Kowal and Ruth spent several weeks on Bequia island last winter and will

return next winter. This summer they’ve rented a large old farmhouse in southwest France for seven weeks of exploring. He attended a Colby gathering with some frat brothers, including John O’Connor and his wife, Gretchen (Wollam ’66), and Stan Dubitsky. At another gathering Harold saw George Burks, who lives in Houston. George was the night DJ on the Colby radio station and had the largest collection of Frank Sinatra LPs of all time. Y Also on the radio is Peter Ives in Northampton, Mass. He does a weekly radio show, “The Rev and the Rabbi.” Peter is very involved with downtown Northampton community events. He and Jenny circle around New England visiting their four daughters and six grandchildren. He completed a 400mile bike ride to Washington, D.C., for the Climate Change March and notes he “could still play with the soccer team at Colby.” Y Our Florida crowd, Dave Hatch and Dale Rottner Haas, joined Ann and Bud Marvin to watch New England sporting events. Jay Gronlund also had some Florida time and got together with Rick Davis, Eric Spitzer, Bucky Smith, Sunny Coady, and Andrew ’64 and Nancy Greer Weiland. Y Tom Donahue has been volunteer teaching at Saginaw Valley State University. “Mostly courses of my own creation dealing with American literature and the westward movement.” This has led to a lot of history travel, including to northern Montana Indian reservations, forts, and battle sites. He has “become a compulsive student of The Great Courses.” Tomas continues writing on topics that spring from his travels. Y Marty Dodge enjoyed time at his timeshare in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He also enjoyed watching his grandson perform as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz in a play put on by the Winchester, Mass., community theater. His 2018 daffodil display exceeded 15,000 blooms this April. He anticipated joining the Colby woodsmen at competitions this spring. He’s completing interior decorations for his “home at the top of the world” in Wiseman, Alaska, this summer. Y Nancy Godley Wilson plans to join her husband, John ’63, at his 55th Colby reunion. She hopes to resume playing tennis once her knee surgery heals. They live on Deer Island, Maine, and make trips to the Colby art museum annually. They enjoyed a 12-day cruise on a five-masted schooner from Lisbon to Cannes, stopping at various islands, ending with a three-week holiday in Provence visiting friends. They “college coach” at the local high school, which keeps them in touch with what’s going on. Y Sally Thompson Bryan, widow of Ken, retired from teaching in Fairfax County, Va.,

and moved to Vero Beach, Fla. She plays golf and volunteers at the local elementary school two days week. She keeps in touch with several sorority sisters but would “love to hear from others.” Y Also in Vero Beach is Joan Stressenger Chesley, who sadly reports the loss of husband Roger last October. Y Your correspondent had lunch with Harry Marshall in April. Harry is a retired German teacher. He splits his seasons between Cornwall, N.Y., and a home in Radda in Chianti (Siena), Italy, he’s had for years. We share interests in family history, travel, and “investigating stuff.” Y Peter Mudge says “Hi.” Y Hail, Colby, Hail!

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George Cain classnews1966@colby.edu Greetings classmates! Here you go. What name do you hope to see? Is your name here? Nope? Can’t blame me. Time to see who did their homework. Y Gayle Jobson Poinsette seems to enjoy warm-weather, chicken farming in Vermont as a “tick control” pastime. Who knew about that trick? When winter comes and she heads for warmer climes, she keeps her flock safe from foxes, raccoons, etc. by storing them in her freezer. Y While on the subject of freezing, Fran Finizio stays warm by spending four months in Naples, Fla., where he played golf with Dag Williamson. Later they joined Dick Dunnel and Rick Lund as guests at a Red Sox spring training game. Y Stu Wantman spent a Jan Plan interning at the Waterville Sentinel. I believe his delivery route was Main Street and Mayflower Hill. This experience was so interesting that he started reading the paper back then, and he continues to do so today. Recently, he saw a Sentinel article about the death of a homeless man (near where the Bob-In was located). Thinking about “There for the grace of God, go I” (being so close to the Bob-In), Stu raised the funds needed for a burial from Bob Adams, Rick Lund, Gary Knight, Ann Ruggles Gere, and yours truly. Y Meg Fallon Wheeler is still laughing out loud that she doesn’t have to type out all this “stuff.” Aside from having a grandchild who actually sang at Carnegie Hall, she and Whizzer enjoyed following a very successful Colby men’s ice hockey team. * Y Talk about success… Peter and Diane Fioto Lardieri have reemerged after 52 years in hibernation. Sal Manforte, Jim Bither, and Rick Lund met the Lardieris in Sarasota, Fla., for dinner. Y Laurance Angelo, after 30-plus years in New York, returned home to Philadelphia, where he’s working on a book about neglected artists to be titled


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Rick Sadowski is up to his ears in cardboard

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Bob Gracia classnews1967@colby.edu

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can go to his island cottage on the Great Lakes. Y Bill and Mary Gourley Mastin survived a serious driveway mishap and will soon head to North Pole, Alaska, to visit their son, and then to Montana to visit their daughter. Y Peter Grabosky is working on a book, Sympathy for the Devil, about how governments use organized criminals. Contact him if you’re interested in a draft: peter.grabosky@anu.edu.au. Y Joanne Richmond Shideler writes from Colorado, where she’s helping her son’s e-commerce business, which markets sports gear. She visits family in Boise and enjoys trips to the Jersey Shore. Y Linda Hall Lord broke her ankle one day before she was scheduled to leave for three weeks in Spain. As a consolation prize, she was recently elected chair of her town’s planning board. Y Brian Shacter got pretty “high” climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to the 16,000foot level, then altitude sickness set in… and just like his last marathon, losing his lunch was again on the menu. Y There were lots of new names in this column. I appreciate your response to my pleas for your participation in this effort to keep our very classy class up to date on the aging process we now share. Who wudda thought we’d be in our 70s and still smilin’? As one classmate indicated, life is good!

Ken Young and his wife, Anne, traveled to Germany in late November to attend daughter Sarah’s wedding in Rostock. They had a super time. They were the only Americans and the oldest people attending. Sarah and her husband, Rene, moved to Berlin, where Sarah started working with a firm that does conflict transformation and peace-building work in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Y Art Brennan enjoyed following Colby’s hockey team over the winter. The Mules had two wins over Bowdoin, a NESCAC championship, and two NCAA tournament wins before a tough 4-3 loss in the national semifinals to eventual champ, St. Norbert College. Just like the old days, when Ken Mukai, Ted Allison, Bill Henrich, Bob Waldinger, Pete Frizzell, and Mike Self ’70 were skating for the Mules and competing for ECAC titles. Nothing like the atmosphere of a Colby versus Bowdoin game at Alfond Ice Arena! Y Hope Jahn sings with a women’s barbershop chorus, Sounds of the Seacoast, from Portsmouth, N.H. They recently competed in an area competition and look forward to competing in an international competition in November. They’re available to sing for functions! Y John Leopold and his wife, Terry, took their annual culture blitz trip to New York in February. They went to the Metropolitan Opera, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Carnegie Hall, and they saw Bernadette Peters in an excellent production of Hello Dolly. They were in New Orleans in April for the annual Academy of Court Appointed Masters conference. The 2017 iteration in San Diego featured a presentation by none other than Robert Mueller (a couple of months before he left private law practice to return to government service). This year’s program didn’t have quite that level of superstar, but it was rewarding. New Orleans also had its annual French Quarter Festival going—lots of local fun. Y John Birkinbine and his wife, Sarah, are in the midst of getting their house of 43 years in shape to sell. They’re moving to Venice, Fla., to escape the Midwest winters and to join friends who have done the same. Their summers will be divided primarily between Maine (Orr’s Island) and Wisconsin (Ephraim), where they have long-established summer cottages (and not the oppressive heat of Florida in August). They hope their plan works out as well as it sounds. John’s looking forward to our reunion. He’s gotten together in recent years

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The Art You Missed. Y Peter Anderson, rather than just voulunteering for charity runs, as he has been for 35-plus years, decided to actually run a 10K race—his first competitive event since an inter-fraternity race back in the day. He won a bronze medal in the 70-plus category! A couple of days later when reading about the race, he learned that the 70-plus category had three entrants. The lesson: “It’s not as important to out run your competition as it is to out live them.” Y Sue Mahoney Michael enjoyed a terrific trip to the Azores, then hopped onto Facebook and caught up with lots of Colby pals. She’s off to the Canary Islands this summer. Y Gary Knight (our own Mr. Colby) is still undergoing daily dialysis, but he made it to Lake Placid’s National Ski Championships to see his granddaughter compete for the U.S. Air Force Academy. Y Britt Carlson Anderson takes the cake with her report about waiting for a new hot water heater to be installed so she can take a long, hot shower. Y William Donahue will be Tom Cox’s guest when Tom receives Boston University Law School’s “Silver Shingles Award” in June. Y Karen Riendeau-Pacheco met an old friend at a high school reunion 10 years ago and re-married. Note to classmates: See the importance of attending reunions! Y Peter Lax spent a week in Maui and learned how to snorkel. He then tried his hand at fishing and found out he’s better at snorkeling. Y Geoff Quadland lives in southern Ontario and volunteers in a 1860s print shop. He looks forward to warmer weather, when he

Lynne Oakes Camp classnews1968@colby.edu

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University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Professor Anne Ruggles Gere ’66 was named a Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year in April. Gere, a professor since 1987, was honored “in recognition of her innovative approaches to pedagogy and the numerous programs she has initiated to strengthen undergraduate education,” according to a U-M press release. ♦ Lee Urban ’68, sporting a Hawaiian shirt, was featured in a Portland (Maine) Press Herald story about sharing his love of the ukulele with students at Riverton Elementary School. Urban, a former city planning director, offers a ukulele camp, organized a ukulele festival, and started the Lee Urban ’68 nonprofit Ukuleles Heal the World. “It’s a very social, smile-inducing instrument,” he told the Press Herald. ♦ Reflections by Thom Rippon ’68 were included in a yearlong review of 1968 by The Daily Item in Sunbury, Pa. Rippon recalled his 1966 Jan Plan in East Harlem, where he made friends that he was visiting two years later on the night Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

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60s NEWSMAKERS

and paper-wrapping things to ship to his new home in Osprey, Fla. After spending all of his adult life in New England, other than five years in the military, he’s starting another chapter in a new venue and looking forward to it. His new address is 17 Landlubber Lane, Osprey, FL 34229. He admits that the Landlubber description fits him to a tee! But, he and Gail like being on the water and on the beach. Rick hasn’t been a regular at the gym, but after three surgeries and PT, he finds that it’s part of his life. Rick’s eldest grandchild graduates from Duxbury High School this June and will be off to college (not Colby, unfortunately). Two more will finish high school in two years, and the youngest is about to enter high school. Y Nick Hadgis has welcomed his fourth grandchild, a boy, born this past year, adding to the joy of family gatherings. In his retirement from academia, he’s consulting for a resort called Ladera on the island of St. Lucia. It’s a remarkable place that alumni would enjoy visiting. Anna and Nick headed to Crete and Cyprus this spring to enjoy archaeological sites as well as the great people and beautiful environment. Nick enjoyed seeing everyone at Colby during our 50th Reunion and hopes we all stay in touch. Y Laura Page Mills and Barbara Webster Black had their annual dinner on the Big Island of Hawaii. Laura and her husband, Jim, travel to Hawaii every year for a couple of weeks, and Barbara and her husband, Peter, live on the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island. Barbara and Peter grow fruit, raise chickens, and make pots. Laura and Jim live in Phoenix and at Lake Madawaska in northern Maine. They’re all enjoying retirement and traveling constantly. They have Colby memories of Woodman Hall and Onie’s bar. Y Linda (Mitchell ’66) and Lee Potter took a 15-day trip to the British Isles this spring. They visited London for two days then on to Guernsey, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Invergordon, Edinburgh, and Paris, ending in Southampton. Lee was particularly interested in Colby’s spectacular men’s ice hockey performance in the NESCAC and D-III playoffs. Too bad Lee used up all his eligibility. Oh for one more season! Y In April Harry Graff, Dave Aronson, and Eric Rosen caught up at lunch in Brookline, Mass. They’re all doing well. Sadly, Eric’s well-loved dog passed away. He and his wife, Barbara, have not been without a dog for the last 34 years. Y Dave Johnson lives in South Carolina’s Low Country on Callawassie Island with his wife, Debby. Dave sells real estate part time to stay busy and connected to folks, and he plays some golf, enjoying life in the warm and sunny South.

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with ’68ers Gary Weaver, Alex Palmer, Rick Mansfield, Rick Sabbag, Rich Beddoe, and Richard Colby. He’s also touched base via email with Greg Nelson and Steve Ward. Everyone seems to be doing well, if we include such things as knee replacements in the “well” category! Y Peter Roy reported being trapped at Sugarloaf with nothing to do but ski. He’s found some spare time over the past 50 years to do a bit of biking and sailing with Ted Allison. He’s looking forward to the next 50! Y Jolan Force Ippolito, Judy Mosedale, Judy Dionne Scoville, Betty Savicki Carvellas, and Margie Reed McLaughlin had a ball putting together the yearbook for our 50th reunion. They were amazed at the things that happened during our college years, both on and off campus. They didn’t even remember some of the events! Others, you could never forget. All of them reconnected with classmates and laughed over old memories. It was a wonderful experience.

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COLBY Spring 2018

Ray Gerbi classnews1969@colby.edu

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Hi everyone! In 2017 Doug Kant retired from a 28-plus-year career in the legal department of Fidelity Investments when the firm made an attractive offer to a large group of longtime older (ouch) employees, and he decided this was a good time to stop. This decision is reinforced when he doesn’t have to get up at 6 a.m. for work! He still finds the employee-benefits field interesting and expects to continue with some part-time involvement. Doug and Joy were in Paris last November to attend an annual photography show and hope to return. Their daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter live in Burbank, Calif.; their son and his wife live nearby in Jamaica Plain; and their favorite place to go is a vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard. “At least the California contingent loves to vacation there!” Y Eddie Woodin was prominently featured in the May issue of Maine magazine for his ongoing campaign to promote the use of organic products rather than commercially produced pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic chemicals. Eddie successfully convinced his hometown of Scarborough to adopt this approach, and he continues to work closely with organizations such as Friends of Casco Bay to promote the use of such non-toxic products. Y Five years ago, Eric Siegeltuch switched from Metlife to Cetera, an independent broker/dealer, where he maintains a financial planning practice. Involved in the art business for 47 years, many of his clients are artists,

galleries, and collectors for whom he does estate and business planning. He tells colleagues who have inquired about buying his business that he only wants to retire on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but isn’t sure how much longer he’ll keep working. Eric has been married for 47 years to Eunice, whom he met junior year abroad at Oxford, and who has a very successful classical singing career in New York. They live in Yonkers with two dogs and two cats, and they spend time every summer on Cape Cod, where Eric sees friends Jim Sandler ’68 and Sol Hartman ’67 and his wife, Carol (Bennison ’68). He also stays in touch with Barry Atwood and in the past would see Moses Silverman. Y Jeff Coady has been retired for almost four years. After 12 years teaching high school math and two years as a software engineer, he spent more than 30 years at Brown University as IT director for the Department of Computer Science, where he “met and worked with some amazing teachers, researchers, and students.” One of his many highlights was eating sushi with Steve Jobs as he tried to convince Brown to buy NEXT computers. Jeff and his wife have two children, both high school teachers, and three grandchildren. “We don’t travel too much, but we do get around New England occasionally. I have a few ‘hobbies’ but nothing too serious.” Y Peter Shearston continues to enjoy his application program management position at the Missile Defense Agency in Colorado Springs and feels blessed to work with great people, great teams, and interesting IT and business modernization initiatives. He suspects he’ll be cutting the cord on his third career soon and is just waiting for the right signs. His previous careers included the Air Force, operating installation services, and working with MCI, developing and negotiating corporate license and consulting agreements. His grandson graduated from high school in May 2017 with plans to join the Marines, and his “granddaughter, about to turn 16, is a science whiz and hopes to become an architect.” Peter looks forward to reuniting with friends at our 50th and invites anyone in the area to please stop by. Y Gary Austin’s son Aaron remarried March 29 in Dallas, so Gary and Judy now have a new daughter-in-law and three new grandsons, 8, 4, and 2, giving them six grandsons and three granddaughters all together! Aaron, who works for Pratt and Whitney, and his youngest daughter live in Seoul. New family members will be joining him in August. Y Have a great summer, and please make plans to support Colby and come to our reunion about a year from now!

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Libby Brown Strough classnews1970@colby.edu In January Earle Shettleworth returned to Colby to teach a Jan Plan class on Maine in World War I. The course taught students the history of World War I from the perspective of Colby, Waterville, and Maine a century ago. From the start, he was impressed with the quality of the 20 students. Y Todd Smith, Dan Timmons, and Skip Wood had another terrific December weekend in Waterville, cheering on Colby to back-to-back men’s hockey wins over Bowdoin. Unfortunately, Andy Hayashi missed it this year. Y Chris Crandall and husband Christopher Harris happily downsized four years ago to a downtown Seattle condo. In between their views of stadiums, ferries, and Mt. Rainier, they have the endless Seattle construction cranes. Chris is busy with travel, music, and work at a huge annual Seattle free clinic, some activism, and lots of friends. Christopher continues showing his photo-based art at several galleries in and out of state. Their son, Sam Harris, graduated with a theater degree—he acts and works at a well-known family-run tile business. Y Barbara Fitzgerald has another grandson, Kai, now 10 months old and living with his parents in New York City. Barb’s husband works for Sands Corp of Las Vegas, and she’s busy coaching skating in the Cleveland area. They basically travel back and forth between homes in Las Vegas and Cleveland. She has several students who are regional competitors hoping to make it to sectionals and perhaps nationals someday. Their children are all over the country: son in Spokane (AF helicopter pilot); son in Philadelphia (mechanical engineer at Boeing); son in Dublin, Ohio (owns an industrial lighting business); son in NYC (visual-effects artist); son in Kent, Ohio (insurance industry); and a daughter with a law degree who’s raising two boys, 5 and 7. Y Judy McClean Smith Lucarelli retired in 2012 as a school superintendent in the Rockland, Maine, area. Since retiring she’s worked for the child welfare departments of the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point; worked as a superintendent of small rural schools that needed a superintendent just 1-2 days a week; worked with towns that had withdrawn from a district as they transitioned to operating independently; and worked as an adjunct graduate faculty in educational leadership at UMaine and Thomas College. Last summer she retired for real. She and

her husband now live in Tarpon Springs, Fla., eight months a year and spend four in Maine. Y Debbie Anderson is retired and very engaged with her community through a nonprofit she started more than nine years ago. It’s a small neighborhood organization called NEST—North East Seattle Together. It’s part of the national village movement that supports older people to live and thrive in their homes as they age. She’s been traveling with new friends to Bhutan and Portugal and doing some great hikes with her husband and friends in Switzerland and Italy. Their older daughter, Holly, lives in Seattle, and younger daughter Kim is married and lives in San Francisco. Mike’s still working and enjoying his job as a software engineer. Y Art and Pamela Dyer Turton are also enjoying retirement. They spend five months in Colorado skiing and working at Copper Mountain in mountain safety patrol. The other months, they’re in Williamstown, Mass., where they’ve lived for 40 years! Son Brian lives near Williamstown and has four kids. Son Jeff ’95 lives about an hour from their place in Colorado and has two kids. They’re avid golfers, tennis players, gardeners, and travelers. Y Barrett Hurwitz is actively practicing law but trying to wind down. He recently bought his 18th guitar and plays one or more of his collection daily. He stays in touch with Clark Smith, whose daughter, Mariah, just gave birth to Clark’s first grandchild, Paige. Y Finally, Bob and I had a great vacation week in Cabo San Lucas in mid-winter.

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Ann E. Miller classnews1971@colby.edu The seasons are a-changing once again, and after a long cold winter, soon it will be hot and humid. And the world spins on. Y Janet Beals and Dave Nelson are enjoying their fourth year as snowbirds, dividing their time between Vail and Peoria, Ariz. Janet’s horse, at 27 years, makes the trek, too. When they’re not hiking, biking, horseback riding, or doing yoga, they keep busy with music, dance festivals, and building houses with Habitat for Humanity. Y Soon to be volunteering for the Make-a-Wish Foundation as an “ambassador,” Rich Abramson is also consulting for Day One education programs in Maine as well as working on the USM Promise Scholarships. In his spare time he enjoys his twin granddaughters, who live nearby. Y Bill Hladky will have a busy summer traveling: Shenandoah, the White Mountains, Crater Lake, Glacier National


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Alex Wilson, amazing spokesperson for the Lambda Chi “Choppers,” reports that for the first time in decades the group will not have a spring confab, but they hope to gather at our Colby reunion. I’m hoping to report for the next column that I saw many of them and share details about their planned, late summer beach day in southern Maine. Y Martha Wetmore Scott has been retired from teaching art at Fisher College (Boston) for a few years, but she continues to make art and design all her own greeting cards. She and husband Howard have beehives in their yard, and he’s sold close to 40,000 copies of his book Bee Lessons through independent bookstores and honey stores. They spend winters in the Bahamas. Daughter Hallie recently earned her Ph.D. in art history and is a museum educator for teen programs at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Y Ingrid Svensson Crook enjoys retiree time traveling. This year she’s been to Bath and Stonehenge in the UK, and this summer she’ll return to Sweden with her family. She divides her time now between homes in Suwanee, Ga., and Southport, N.C., where she keeps busy gardening and jogging. Y James ’71 and Lisa Kehler Bubar traveled to Portugal this year. James began the trip with his brother, John Bubar ’68, and was joined by John’s son, Josh Bubar ’93. Lisa and John’s wife, Kathy, arrived later and joined them in Lisbon; all had a wonderful time. Y I recently had the pleasure of visiting Phil Ricci and his wife, Liz; they’re both well and still live in Providence. I had the additional pleasure of meeting Finley, the beautiful granddaughter of Duncan Leith and his wife, Jennifer. Finley is the daughter of their daughter, Kendra. Y By now, our 45th reunion is a fine memory. I’m already anticipating the fun of our 50th in 2023!

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and Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago, a restorative segue before he begins a clinical internship as a grief counselor. Y I heard from Bill Simons at the end of 2017 with news of his grandchildren, his plans to visit the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, and, of course, his anticipation about the success of various Boston sports teams. Y Fred Osborn III recounts his years at Colby as memorable and formative. He’d spent two years at Princeton and two years in the U.S. Army, one year of which was in Vietnam. He arrived at Colby but was unable to graduate with our class due to Colby’s not accepting some of his Princeton credits. He finally got his degree in 1994 (yes, 1994), the year Bob Dole was the commencement speaker, and is officially a member of our class. He’s spent 27 years managing his family’s mansion, “Cat Rock,” in Garrison, N.Y. He has 10 grandchildren, and now he and his wife are planning to embark on an around-the-world sailing trip this summer on their boat! Y Having just returned from Italy, Leslie Anderson writes about her preparations for a major show of her paintings in Yarmouth, Maine. One series of paintings features three of her Colby women friends in oil on linen (Kathy

Carol Chalker classnews1973@colby.edu

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Park, and Seattle, spending time with his son. Y Just after celebrating her 20-year anniversary with JPMorgan Chase, Elaine Weeks Trueblood decided to retire and start playing more golf, traveling, and learning to play the French horn. She’ll also join the ranks of adjunct professors. Y Beth Marker made the move to Oregon and bought a condo in Portland with views of Mt. Hood and the Willamette. While waiting to sell her NYC condo, she took a cruise to New Zealand and Australia. She’s singing in a choir and does the annual Columbia River Cross Channel Swim—except that the fires put an end to this year’s effort. She intends to start crab fishing, too. Y State representative for Attleboro, Mass., Jim “Hawk” Hawkins spent the cold and dreary winter days knocking on doors talking about why he was the best choice for the job. He won the special election in April and is now working toward winning the election in the fall for the full term. Of course, he’s still running, biking, swimming, and planning his next Ironman Competition strategy. Y Nushafarin Safinya wrote to tell me there would be more to come… Y Having finished a Ph.D. in psychology this year, Cliff “Trip” Stevens is planning a trip to Paris

Tom and Ellen Woods Sidar are retired and living in Portland, Maine. They now split their time between Portland, Belgrade Lakes, and Boca Grande, Fla. Tom’s retirement hobbies include squash, fly-fishing, and watercolors. Y Marilyn McDougal Meyerhans and her husband are still growing apples and vegetables on their farm in Fairfield, Maine. They have three grandbabies in Montana and Seattle, so travel is important. They also spent time last year in Panama and Honduras, and they plan to visit with Colby Class of ’71 friends in Colorado this summer. Y Sandy Manoogian Pearce is now an Arizona snowbird! She and her husband, Tom, purchased a second home in Green Valley, Ariz., last May. Obviously, the weather in Arizona beats the winter weather in Fargo, where they had lived for 30 years! Sandy had taught across the river at the university in Moorhead, Minn. Sandy adds that her two former roommates, Betsy Ann Rogers McComiskey and BJ Weldon Morin, are both well and loving retirement too. Y Paul Young hopes that everyone in our class is managing senior living with enjoyment. He had a nice visit with friends at our 45th reunion at Bill Alfond’s Sunday brunch. Paul and his wife, Paula, still live in Maine, enjoying retirement and traveling to visit grandchildren in Singapore and Oregon. They’ve recently seen Don Borman and his wife, Terry. Paul plans on improving his golf game this summer. Y Mike and Anne O’Hanian Szostak are still based in Rhode Island. Anne has been out of the banking world since 2004, when she retired from Bank of America after 31 years. She continues to serve on corporate boards, maintains a boutique executive-coaching practice, and is involved with Colby’s trustee emeriti group. In 2013 Mike took a buyout and left the Providence Journal after 36 years as a sports writer and columnist. He had begun his 41-year newspaper career in Woonsocket, R.I., the day after graduating from Colby. Wanting to keep his hand in the writing game, Mike launched a blog, “On Sports,” for Rhode Island Public Radio about

1973

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VISIT COLBY.EDU/GIVE, OR CONTACT 1-800-311-3678 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Nancy Round Haley classnews1972@colby.edu

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MAKE A GIFT TO THE COLBY FUND BEFORE JUNE 30.

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EVERY GIFT TO THE COLBY FUND HELPS ACCELERATE THE PACE OF PROGRESS.

a year after leaving the Journal. Y Michelle and Bill Tracy are opening their fifth exhibition since Bill’s retirement. It’s titled In Their Footsteps: A Century of Aboriginal Footwear in the Canadian West. The show will run from Aug. 21 to Oct. 31 at the Musée Héritage Museum and will feature more than 100 pairs of moccasins and mukluks, primarily drawn from their collection. Their winter was brutal, but they escaped some of it by spending three months in Santa Fe and Mesa, Ariz. Y Thanks for all the news.

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O’Dell ’72, Sue Feinberg Adams ’73, and Lois Leonard Stock ’73). She had just visited with Mary Jukes Howard, Debbie Messer Zlatin, Pat Trow Parent, Jan Blatchford Gordon, and Karen Hoerner Neel. Leslie has taken up playing the bass and plays in two ensembles; she’s also volunteering as an ESOL classroom aide. Y We’re beginning plans for our 50th Reunion! Are you coming? That’s it for now!

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70s NEWSMAKERS The Berkshire Edge profiled Ron Majdalany ’73 upon his retirement from a 37-year career as a community veterinarian in Great Barrington, Mass. “A beloved figure in the South County, he has treated countless pets and livestock and has saved many animal lives” at his practice, Seekonk Veterinary Hospital, the Edge reports. ♦ Fritz Martin ’78 is the winner of the 2018 Vermont Writers’ Prize for his short story “Maybe Lake Carmi.” The prize is awarded annually by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Magazine, which Fritz Martin ’78 published the story in its March/April issue. ♦ Doug Taron ’79 was profiled in the Chicago Sun Times about the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, which he started running in 1989. Taron is chief curator for the Chicago Academy of Sciences/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

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COLBY Spring 2018

Nancy Spangler Tiernan classnews1974@colby.edu

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And the winner of my Name Those Songs contest is Judy Bradeen, who has lived in Oak Park, Ill., since 1978. She has provided operational and financial management there for local nonprofit organizations. Her daughter, Karina, is an IT specialist in New Hampshire and is married to a dairy farmer, while son Mark is executive director of Feather River Camp in Northern California. Although she loves the Midwest, Judy hopes to retire in New England and she continues to see Gay Peterson when she gets to Maine. Y The other music ace, Brett Bayley, and Deborah Wilson ’73 left San Diego after 30 years and now reside in Fresno, Calif. They live just around the corner from their grandson and are enjoying life in the San Joaquin Valley, just a short distance from the beauty of Yosemite, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and the San Francisco Bay area. Y Karen Heck celebrated her 65th year of living by taking a vacation a month, “while I still have the stamina.” She celebrated Colby with lots of other alumni at Tree Spirits Winery and Distillery last August. “Funny how with a few drinks and no eyeglasses we all look just the same as we did way back then.” Y Hoping to sail to Maine this summer, Neal Conolly used semi-retirement as an excuse to sail with his wife, brother, son, son-in-law, and a friend in the St. Petersburg to Havana race in February/March of this year. See a photo of the crew in the class notes section at colby.edu/mag. Y Joining the Locals Races for the second year at Sugarloaf, Mark Curtis races for the Shipyard. He admits having a little trouble

keeping up with his two granddaughters, who race for Maranacook Community High School in Manchester, Maine. He moved to a condo on the golf course in Manchester last summer and had a visit then with Jan and Rocky Goodhope. Y Rodger Silverstein is happily married: “Took three tries, but I think I finally got it right. I’m a practicing ophthalmologist in New Jersey—still love what I do.” Y After attending Colby Alumni Council and trustee meetings on campus, S. Ann Earon notes much is beginning to happen in downtown Waterville, thanks to our alma mater’s revitalizing efforts. She took her daughter on a 28-day aroundthe-world tour last winter, visiting Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the Czech Republic, and Iceland. Ann plans to continue working until her daughter finishes her M.B.A. program “and can keep Ann and her husband in the manner to which her daughter is accustomed!” Y Musing about her Colby days brought Jan Hampshire Cummins images of “the crunch of fresh snow under my boots on a clear moonlit night, hanging out with friends for late-night chats, tray sledding by Lorimer Chapel, first meeting that special person in the library, and the first rays of truly warm sunshine in the spring so appreciated after the long winter.” Y Clif Brittain also remembers traying by the chapel, where a good run would carry you across the road (still used by cars then). He also recalled Charlie Bassett paraphrasing Gertrude Stein: “I am not some black beetle on your chocolate pudding. I am an American!” Clif takes ukulele and singing lessons and is part of a uke jam circle. He’s also building a kayak for his wife and trying to figure out how to train his recently acquired standard poodle puppy, Kirby, how to play

the ukulele. Y Spending more time with her children and grandchildren is one benefit Jane Dutton finds in semi-retirement. She now teaches at the University of Michigan only three months of the year, and she looks forward to reconnecting with old friends and planning new adventures. Y Robin Sweeney Peabody sent a reminder that Linda Krohn Lund’s daughter, Lindsay Vonn, won another Olympic medal in PyeongChang, South Korea, this year.

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Susie Gearhart Wuest classnews1975@colby.edu This past winter Ed Walczak skied at both Meribel (French Alps) and Whistler (Canada). His motto now is “live to ski another day”—no more double black diamonds for him! Y After 33 years as a financial advisor, Malcolm Foster has retired! It took a 5,000-mile solo road trip through a wintry Midwest “to get my arms around it—but I’ve got it now!” They hope to spend most of their time in Damariscotta, where they bought a home four years ago, and are feeling very blessed with a new grandson and three corgi grand puppies! They also attended several Colby hockey games last winter, which was “a magical season!” Y Despite the fact that his mailbox now includes regular solicitations to sign up for Medicare, Kevin Cooman is still working full time in his law practice and intends to do so until eyesight or health fails. Kevin does general civil litigation, with a wide range of cases from estate disputes to contract and commercial disputes, plus general counseling and risk management for skilled nursing facilities. One indulgence is a few more weeks of vacation each year! They spent 12 days in Phoenix in February (where there was record cold!) but had a great evening of catch-up over dinner with Jeffrey Frankel, who also still practices law, and his wife, Lydia, a psychiatrist at a Phoenix hospital. The most joyful highlight of the year was the arrival of their third granddaughter in December. All three live in the greater Rochester, N.Y., area, which gives them plenty of opportunity to be “grammie and grampie!” Y There were lots of milestones this year for John Loker, who retired in April. Three days later, their house in Indianapolis was up for sale. In June they moved back to Maine after 30 years in Indiana. A most important event happened in October when he and Wendy became grandparents, necessitating trips back and forth to California at every possible chance for “baby hugs” from their grandson, Cash Vaughn Loker. Y

Laurie Fitts Loosigian writes with the sad news that “my mom died in my arms last December.” Last year there were visits at her orchard, Apple Annie, from Sue Fox Digilio and Barb Miller Deutschle and her husband. “What a treat to meet up with old Dana Hall friends.” There was also an evening with Mugsie Nelson Sarson in Venice, Fla., and another treat—a trip to Guadeloupe with eight others. “What a blast! Beaches, hiking, and food!” Laurie was recently interviewed for a Colby Special Collections’ project that gathered stories from women in Colby athletics. It made her “feel like a relic, but it was fun to remember the early days of Colby women’s ice hockey!” Y David and Suzie Benson Turnbull enjoy life on Boston’s North Shore and spend lots of time traveling, enjoying recreational activities, and being with friends and family (including four grandchildren, who all live in the Boston area). Suzie continues to work, while Dave, after selling the company he ran, is in the process of “re-wiring.” (That’s defined as doing some advisory work, spending a lot of time working out at the pool, taking up the piano, and working on various house and cottage projects.) They’re really looking forward to the wedding of their youngest daughter, Caroline ’10, this September.

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Robert Weinstein classnews1976@colby.edu Jumping right in this time! Doug Rooks, whose biography of George Mitchell came out in 2016, is back this year with Rise, Decline and Renewal: The Democratic Party in Maine, published by Hamilton Books. It’s available on Rowman & Littlefeld’s website, via Amazon (e-book), and directly from Doug. The book grew out of his research for the Mitchell biography. Doug had an extensive set of readings throughout Maine this spring promoting the new book. Doug says he’s been inspired to join a political campaign for the first time, and he encourages everyone to participate in the process this year. Y Lin Wallach Schroeder loves being a grandma to grandson Kai, born earlier this year. Unfortunately, Kai lives in Idaho. Lin thinks there should be a law that grandchildren cannot live more than a sixhour drive away. She was heading out this spring to visit. Meanwhile, Lin continues teaching science to adult ed students. Y Suki Whilton Agusti is heading into her 40th year of marriage and finds herself the grandmother of five. She’s been using that as a great excuse to go to the circus, the beach, and the ski slopes, to


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classnews1977@colby.edu

1978

Nancy Piccin classnews1978@colby.edu

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1980

Kevin Fahey classnews1980@colby.edu Barry ’81 and Johanna Rich Tesman’s oldest daughter, Emma, is getting married in October, and their youngest, Lucy, is a freshman at Lehigh University studying computer science. Barry’s at work on a new math textbook. Johanna sees Ellen Mercer Papera and Lauren Dustin frequently and looks forward to a mini reunion Ellen’s organizing at the Jersey shore this summer. Y Lynn Collins Francis wishes a very happy birthday to classmates reaching milestone number 60 this year. Y A colleague of Glen Coral’s recently toured the CBB campuses with his daughter and couldn’t help but note the great things happening at Colby and in Waterville. Glen and his wife, Amy, have been traveling and celebrating milestones with their children. In January they visited daughter Stacey, who re-

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Let’s get started! In April Elizabeth Armstrong visited Colby for the first time since graduation and met with President Greene. Next year she’ll be resident director of the Kyoto Program Abroad in Japan and will miss reunion. Y Kristin West Sant resides in Venice, Calif., and vacations in MidCoast Maine. Best of all, her daughter, Ingrid Sant, is a member of Colby’s Class of 2021! Y Yoichi Hosoi writes from Tokyo, where he works for Genesys as president of the Japanese entity. His daughter, Erika, married,

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Cheri Bailey Powers classnews1979@colby.edu

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1979

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Ciao, classmates! This will be a short update—all of you must be so busy planning your wardrobes for our 40th reunion you just didn’t have time to write. Said reunion will have happened already by the time you read this so I hope you had a great time! FORTY? Really? Well, I hear 60 is the new 45, so maybe 40 is the new 30, which means it’s really only 2008 … if my daughter was editing, this is where she would fix me with her steely glare and just say, “MOM.” Can you tell I have a little spring fever? Y Cynthia Burns Martin continues to teach at New England College in Henniker, N.H., where she is a full-time tenured business administration professor. Her most recent publications are visual histories under Arcadia’s Images of America and Campus History series. Y Susan (Raymond ’79) and John Geismar send news from lovely Minot, Maine, where they’re happy to be able to participate in the “Have I Shown You Pictures of My Adorable Grandchild?” event. They finished with college tuitions last fall with youngest son Brad’s graduation from Dartmouth, were excited to attend daughter Anna’s graduation from Vermont Law School in May, and anticipating a fun family trip to Italy this summer—suggestions for “can’t miss” places to see in Tuscany are welcome. Y Okay folks, sharpen those pencils, charge up those keyboards, and get ready to send me a flood of news next time!

Park in Ferrisburgh, Vt., again this summer, so stop by if you’re in the area. Robin lives in Charlotte, Vt., and has been married to dairy farmer Robert Mack for 26 years. Their son, Peter, works the harvest seasons in Texas and Kansas, driving a “chopper.” Y Nick Mencher and his wife are proud grandparents of Levi, born in March, to his daughter Catherine and her husband, Erich. Nick has been in touch with Gerrit White, who teaches in Bulgaria. They’ve exchanged music from Colby days—Riverside Drive— featuring Gerrit and Jon Swenson trading guitar solos. Nick tried to remember the bar where they played—any suggestions? Y Joseph Meyer and wife Minako are now empty nesters in Tokyo as their youngest, Jocelyn, completed her first year at Colby. He welcomes Colby students Alex Beach ’18 and Jansen Aoyama ’19 this summer to work at his company’s offices. Y Margaret “Meg” Matheson’s retirement is filled with theater (Aqua City Actors Theatre in Waterville) and a recently completed stint as chair of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices (eight years!). Y Our class is well represented on Colby’s Board of Trustees: Richard Uchida, vice president, secretary of the college, general counsel; Eric Rosengren, board chair; Sara Burns, Steven Earle, and Randy Papadellis. Thank you for your service and commitment to Colby! Y My news—Collins Sarah Thornton arrived Dec. 21, 2017, full term and a healthy little girl. I love being Gigi and can’t wait to swap photos of everyone’s grandbabies at our 40th reunion, June 6-9, 2019. Put it on your calendar!

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The Class of 1977 is in need of a new class correspondent. If you’re interested in volunteering to keep your class connected through Colby Magazine, reach out to the Communications Office at classnews1977@colby.edu or 207-859-4356.

moved to Nashville, and in April welcomed a grandson. Plans for a trip are in works! Y Amy Davidoff starts retirement in June after 21 years teaching at the University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine. Plans are to sail with her partner, Mary Schwanke, Down East this summer in their 38-foot Cape George cutter. Y Living in Falmouth, Maine, Geoff Emanuel has reconnected with several Mules: Fred Madeira ’80, Bob Kellogg, Betsy Williams Stivers ’78, Sarah Stiles Bright ’80, and others. He sailed a regatta last summer with Charlie ’78 and Jacie Cordes Hurd in Rhode Island. Y Kyle Harrow’s daughter, Ella, heads to McGill in the fall, joining her brother, Sam, who’s at the University of Toronto. Kyle and hubby have an empty nest trip planned in September to Austria and Italy to hike and bike the Dolomites. Y Catherine Courtenaye is back from an exhilarating art and architecture trip to Madrid and Andalusia, as well as three days in Tangier, where she graduated from the American School of Tangier in 1975. Last December Catherine received a Montana Arts Council Artist Innovation Award, and her work has been selected for the upcoming Montana Triennial at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings. Y Living in northern Wisconsin, Melinda Edgerley Pearce enjoys the wildlife, lakes, and rivers for kayaking and fishing, as well as ice fishing, snowshoeing, and skiing. Melinda works at Clearwater Camp, and it’s so much fun it doesn’t feel like a job. She’ll head to Alaska this fall to visit her son, a manager of a remote fish hatchery. They’ve benefitted greatly from the shrimp, yellow eye, lingcod, halibut, and salmon sent regularly. Y Sarah Russell MacColl is lucky enough to have garnered a reservation at the Lost Kitchen in Freedom, Maine, this summer. More than 18,000 reservation postcards were processed! Sarah is busy as a personal trainer and European hiking guide, having snorkeled in Belize earlier this year. She sings with Women in Harmony, a Portland-area chorus that’s celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Patty Valavanis Smith ’80 has come to hear the chorus, and Sarah has gone to hear Patty sing with the Merrimack Valley Chorus. Y A mini-reunion was held in Boston over St. Patrick’s Day Weekend with Joe and Stacey Cox Slowinski, Jim and Betsy Bucklin Reddy, Nick and Kim Rossi Nichols, Emily Grout Sprague, and David Linsky. A great time was had with lots of laughs and festive beverages. Y Louise F. “Robin” Reid played music gigs this spring at Palmer’s Sugarhouse in the Champlain Valley. She’ll work at Kingsland Bay State

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drink more hot chocolate, and to generally indulge herself. She hopes everyone is enjoying this time of life as well! Y Cort and Sherry DeLuca Delany traveled with their 15-year-old twin boys to Aruba for spring break. They all took kite-surfing lessons. As Sherry writes, “The boys got the hang of it pretty easily. Cort and I… not so much.” But they were motivated to not give up. Now she just needs about a month alone on a warm, windy island! Y Elizabeth (Barrett ’80) and Martin Hubbe are still in Raleigh, N.C., where Marty is a professor teaching papermaking technology at NC State University. He is cofounder and editor of the peer-reviewed journal bioresources.com, now in its 13th year of publication. He notes, “We are by far the largest journal, in terms of published concept, in the field of materials science: wood and paper.” He’s obviously not fallen far from the roots developed in Maine and at Colby. Marty’s son, Allen, and daughter Gerilyn are also in North Carolina; Allen and his wife, Miriam, have a daughter, Amanda, 5. Y Dale Marie Crooks Golden MacDonald is thrilled to announce that her daughter, Drew Marie, gave birth to Samuel Chance Assael in March. Chance, as he’ll be known, is Dale Marie’s first grandson—and she’s feeling so fortunate! Dale Marie was nominated for the second year in a row as “Best Person in Oakland,” an annual competition held by Oakland Magazine. She was one of six people who received the most reader votes in the first round of competition. Even though 3,000 miles separate Dale Marie from Waterville, she stays connected. In early March she attended the Bay Area Colby Women Networking event in San Francisco, and later in the month she met with Colby staff and other alumni to discuss the DavisConnects program regarding internships. Y I had a chance recently to see Jack and Wendy Broadbooks Pickett for lunch as they were passing through my neck of the woods. Wendy B retired last year and lives in Delaware. But it’s hard to keep up with Wendy B and Jack, who are often off to square dancing conventions, camping, family visits, and, most recently, a Caribbean cruise. Wendy B’s daughter, Lisa, is a music teacher in the Bay Area, and her son, Brian, works as a research assistant in Washington, D.C. As I wrap up this column, don’t forget to make your donation to the Colby Fund. Contact a classmate who’s been on your mind! And circle your long-term calendar for our next reunion, June 4-6, 2021—it only seems far away!

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ceived her B.S.N./R.N. from Drexel and is now a nurse in Scottsdale, Ariz. They hiked in the Scottsdale hill country and in Sedona. At the end of April, they celebrated son Jon’s wedding to his bride, Taylor. Their oldest son, Jason, completed his dissertation and received his Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Clemson; he moved to Bloomington, Ind., in May. Glen said they were “basking in the glow of both an Eagles Super Bowl and Villanova Wildcats NCAA Basketball Championship here in Philly.” Y In January Brian Heneghan became a partner in Kates & Barlow, P.C, a boutique family law firm in Boston. He married Miriam Varian June 4, 2017, at Granite Links in Quincy. Brian and Dave “Garo” Allaire ’81 traveled to Portland, Ore., to visit Dave “M.L.” Carr ’82 over Easter weekend. Y Sean and Lisa McDonough O’Neill live in Palm City, Fla., at Harbour Ridge, which is a lovely golf course community. Lisa’s parents had been there since 1996, and they’ve been visiting since 1998. They ended up buying her parents house, which they’re very happy to keep in the family. Lisa’s mother lives 10 minutes away in a beautiful assisted living residence, so they see her a lot, which is great. Sean still works full time; Lisa is learning to play golf—badly, but enjoying it! Their son, Richard, is a senior compliance officer for the Hedge Fund Administration Division of U.S. Bank and is doing well. He lives in Westwood, N.J., and visits them often. Lisa adds, “If anyone is down this way, please look us up!” Y Bruce Martel and his wife, Karen, enjoy life on the Maine coast in Saco in a 19th-century house. Last fall they traveled to Québec City, a destination they always enjoy, for their 10th anniversary. Bruce’s in his 17th year as an aerospace quality control specialist at Praxair Surface Technologies in Biddeford. At our 2015 reunion, he discovered that the associate pastor at his church is also an alumnus, Bob Morse ’65, who’s now retired but still a member of the congregation. Y Some news of my own, I’ve been enjoying what has been referred to as my “sabbatical” since January. After more than 15 years at America’s Health Insurance Plans, I have moved on. We’re still in D.C., and I’m currently consulting for a community-based organization in New York City and exploring some new directions related to health care and research. Stay tuned for future updates. I’ve already heard from several classmates about their career switches and welcome offline conversations with any of you with similar experiences.

1981

Ginny Bulford Vesnaver classnotes1981@colby.edu Hey ’81—Happy 60th birthday in 2018 for many of us! I’m starting right off with a theme shared by Kimberly Hokanson and the “Small Hall Group.” They’ve suggested planning mini-reunion get-togethers for the “Class of 1981 turns 60.” Great idea! Y Living in Auburn, Maine, Kate Rogers downsized in 2016 from her 46-acre farm, where she’d lived for 15 years with her horses, to a smaller property. She coerced Lauren Hampton Rice, Lynn McLaren, and Nancy Welsh Isbell into some snowshoeing during their recent visit. Kate works as an Oracle/SQL server DBA for a small company in Westbrook, Maine. She also works part time at her favorite quilt and yarn store. Y Karen Baumstark Porter’s daughter, Mary, graduated in July from the University of Nebraska-Kearney with a B.S. in parks and recreation. Karen and her two daughters, Mary and Anna, traveled to Europe in May. Y Mark Bloom reports that he’s “alive and living in Asheville, N.C.” Y John Andrews has been in Salt Lake City since starting law school there in 1982. After 24 years, he recently left his job as general counsel of Utah’s state land management agency to return to private practice. He’ll continue to focus on public lands, mineral, and Native American issues. He shared that Ken Sharples is “doing cool biotech startup things” in Santa Fe, N.M. John and his wife, Katy, have two daughters: Emily, 25, works in LA for Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, while Mimi, 23, is heading to Jackson, Wyo., this summer to assistant teach at the Teton Science School.Y Mark and Barbra Cooper Comunale have been married 32 years. They have a ranch in Temecula, Calif., where they grow organic Ruby Star grapefruit to sell and lots of other fruit and nuts for their own use. Their son Mark and his fiancé, Corin, will be married this summer with son John as best man. Y Ginny (McCourt ’82) and Bob McCurdy live in Newburgh, N.Y., and have four children who have scattered across the globe; oldest daughter Kate lives in Berlin working for Babbel; oldest son Rob lives in LA working in the music business; son Ryan teaches English in Paju, South Korea; and daughter Annie is sticking close to home to live and work in Newburgh. Bob and Ginny enjoyed watching the progress of their niece Emma Marjollet ’16 in the 2018 Boston Marathon. Y Glenn Currier is now a senior professor at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa. He’s “grad-

ually hobbling along toward retirement on someplace like Anna Maria Island.” The youngest of his four children will finish high school this year; his oldest son serves in the U.S. Army, field artillery. Glen asks all Colby friends to remember and honor our service members. Y Natalie and Joel Harris welcomed their first grandchild, Walter Harris, in February. Y Lynne D’Angelo Many is overjoyed to share that her middle son, Ben ’09, welcomed her second grandchild, Kaya Joy, in October. Ben never left Maine and lives in Cape Elizabeth. Lynne also has a four-year-old grandson, Liam River, in Colorado. She hopes the grandchildren will be Colby alumni one day! Y Joel Castleman was inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame Western Mass Chapter. His oldest daughter, Hali, played field hockey for the Mules and graduated in 2011. Y In other legacy news, our son VJ and daughter-in-law Petie, both Colby Class of 2011, traveled to India in January to attend the wedding of Steve and Jean Siddall Bensson’s daughter Mara Bensson ’11 and Athul Ravunniarath ’11. Who knew that when Jean and I shared a room in Butler sophomore year that we’d have Colby offspring close enough to attend each other’s weddings! (Athul represented the couple last summer for the Vesnaver-Booth nuptials). Happy 60th everyone!

1982

Sarah Lickdyke Morissette classnews1982@colby.edu Jim Haddow is editing an employment law handbook for which he wrote the chapter on privacy in employment. Jim’s son Max earned his M.S. in marine biology from the University of Maine in July 2017 and works as lead scientist for Nonesuch Oysters in Scarborough. Son Hamish graduates from Tufts Medical School in May, marries, and then begins his residency in psychiatry at Maine Medical Center. Wife Michelle continues to design and garden. Y Melvin Dickerson and his wife moved from Alaska back to Maine in June 2016. Melvin practices architecture in Bethel, Maine. Many of Melvin’s projects are lake or mountain vacation homes, as well as commercial projects. His two grown sons still live in their house in Anchorage. Previously, Melvin owned a business in North Carolina. Y Dorothy Distelhorst’s daughter Cynthia graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Veterinary Medicine in May, then headed to the Army, starting in Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs, just three hours from her parents in Vail. Daughter Ellen, a 2017 Stonehill College grad with a degree in biology, now studies naturopathic medicine

at Bastyr University in Seattle. Dorothy’s 88-year-old dad climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro last summer, making Dad Distelhorst the oldest person ever to summit! Dorothy and family did the 50K Birkie skate ski event in Hayward, Wis., in February. She keeps in touch with Jenny Batson Wilson and gets together with Rob Eber ’83 and his family in Vail. Y Dan Crocker’s life is above average in every way! He’s been teaching middle school math for almost 20 years. Wife Christy (Glehill ’84) is executive director of the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council, and Christy’s 99-year-old mom has lived with them for more than 10 years. Daughter Abby ’13 is enrolled in a master’s program in folklore at Memorial University in Newfoundland; son Ben ’16, a middle school ed tech and the Bucksport High junior varsity baseball coach, is pursuing his master’s in school counseling at Husson University; and Nat, a junior at Salve Regina University, is living the life abroad in Nice, France. Y Seth Medalie and wife Leslie have lived in Needham, Mass., since 1992. They each founded companies in the early 90s—Leslie’s in public relations (Leary and Co.) and Seth’s in financial services (The Bulfinch Group), which still keeps them busy. They managed to sneak away for much of the winter to their home near Tucson, which they discovered while daughter Caitlin attended University of Arizona. Caitlin works in PR in NYC, and son Ryan works in social services in the Boston area. Their husky, Maya, prowls the backyard when not relaxing on the sofa. Y It was nice to hear from fellow English major Jed Santoro, who is currently VP of sales for Merriam-Webster, where he’s been for nine years. Jed has been happily cohabitating with Delisa Laterzo ’83 in Littleton, Mass., since 2014. They get together regularly with Colby friends and their families, including Doug and Kim Smith McCartney, Marc Gordon, and Paul McCrorey. Y Life has been an adventure for Jeff Brown and wife Jessica since Jeff’s job was eliminated at the end of 2017. They just returned from two-plus fantastic weeks touring Australia—14 planes and no delays! They have also traveled the southern U.S. visiting family and seeking sunshine, but now Jeff will focus on finding his next work adventure. Y Susan Robertson Kuzia has enjoyed her duties as class co-president with roommate Tracy Don MacDonald, and they plan to continue until our 40th reunion. Susan stays in touch with classmates through snail mail and our FB page, Colby College Class of 1982, 35th Reunion. Susan’s been busy hosting wedding showers galore. Son Will graduated from Georgia Institute of


I had hoped to write a more interesting column with “mistakes and misadventures.” But, no one sent any stories. Really, no mistakes or misadventures? Maybe next time?? Y Beth Schwartz sent me a nice email. Her time as a Colby student shaped her career in significant ways. After 24 years as a psychology professor, she moved into administration. She’s currently the vice president for academic affairs and provost at Heidelberg University. In her role, she uses her Colby experiences to develop opportunities to best serve students. Y Phil and Lisa Woods Guarino have become empty nesters with two daughters in college—Paige is at Middlebury and Natalie

Tom Colt classnews1985@colby.edu Kathy Hughes Sullivan lives in Ipswich, Mass., and still runs WorkingGoods, a manufacturer’s rep business. Her son Slater graduated this spring from Colby and will move to the West Coast to work for Ridley Scott Film. Younger son Tamer finished his freshman year at Amherst, where he plays on the lacrosse team. Kathy sees Cory Humphreys Serrano quite a bit. Kathy and her husband traveled to Prague recently with Lalyn Ottley Kenyon ’86 and Gage Foster Woodard ’87. She also visited Catherine

Susan Maxwell Reisert classnews1986@colby.edu

instagram.com/colbycollege

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I’m really enjoying hearing from everyone and having so many folks contribute to our column. We’re growing our participation, and that’s fantastic! Y After 27 years practicing law, Dana Hanley has sold his practice. He’s committed, however, to staying with the firm as a special counsel for five years. He spent most of the winter in Texas and did not miss the snow in Maine. Y Sarah Woodhouse Murdock finished her 14th year working for the Nature Conservancy, where, as director of U.S. climate resilience and water policy, she’s worked to advance U.S. climate change policy. She lives with her husband, Bob, and son, Robbie, 15, in Scituate, Mass. She’s in touch with Karen Malkus, Letty Roberts Downs, Julie Schell Collias, Kimberly Fitch, and Tammy Jones Howe. Y Sarah Jordan Gould is an administrator at Cornell University. She did her graduate work in marine biology

twitter.com/colbycollege

Marian Leerburger classnews1984@colby.edu

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1984

facebook.com/colbycollege

Hey gang! I was hoping to see John Northrop here on the East Coast in the hoary days of March, but I took college kids to Puerto Rico instead for spring break. John did let drop that he and his FamSquad may be darkening the Northeast corridors for good in the near future. Stay tuned for news. Y John Munsey wrote that he has become grandfather to Alana Rose, daughter of John’s son Johnny and Johnny’s wife, Eileen. Expect to see John more frequently in Lebanon, N.H. Y As for me, I’m looking forward to our reunion, having scheduled some couch surfing with Barb Leonard and Dan Marra over that weekend. Bonus email from Sal Lovegren Merchant, who wrote to make sure that we would see each other in June.

at Colby. Lisa and Phil have been together since sophomore year (34 years!) and married for 30 years. Congratulations! Y Dan Shiffman wrote to share news of his new book, College Bound: The Pursuit of Education in Jewish American Literature, 1896-1944. Y Jane Powers, my favorite Colby trustee, says that she got a real kick out of reading the story in the last Colby Magazine about the painting of Elsie the cow, one of the hidden Colby traditions. Jane also remembered the Foss Falls (can you believe that Colby students don’t do that anymore??!!) and is still grateful to have escaped physical harm from having thrown herself down the stairs during skits during finals. Jane is excited about the Dare Northward campaign. She encourages everyone to check out the videos online to see what Colby is up to these days and why we all should be supporting it. Y Jen Imhoff Foley’s son Jameson got married to Ann Ware, his college girlfriend, in January 2018. Jen’s proud to report that there was not a “shotgun in sight.” Jen and her husband, Brad, are excited and appreciative that this next generation is so much more practical than their parents. Jen remembers her own wedding in October 1989 in Baltimore where bridesmaids (Kristin Giblin Lindquist and Sue Whitney) had to wear peach taffeta moire dresses with dyed-to-match pumps. Maybe there’s hope for the future after all. [This next generation may be more practical, but they may find themselves bereft of fun stories later in life. Time will tell.] Y I also heard from Meg Frymoyer Stebbins. Her daughter Emily graduated from Stanford and now works in San Francisco. Daughter Sarah is a junior at Stanford and will intern at Morgan Stanley this summer. Meg and husband Peter love city life in Boston and are glad that they downsized and moved from the suburbs. Meg keeps herself busy renovating and flipping houses. Y Like many of you, my husband and I are about to become empty nesters. We have a daughter at Vassar College and our son graduates in June from Waterville High School. After a summer at Birch Rock Camp with Rich Deering, he’ll head to Bard College in New York. Sadly, we couldn’t convince either child to consider attending Colby. Both children seem to want a little more distance. If you haven’t been to Waterville in awhile, I highly recommend a visit. A new dorm is being built on the Waterville concourse, changing the shape and character of downtown. The building across the street has been renovated with Portland Pie coming in as a tenant (yum!). The new athletic facility is underway on campus. And, lots of other things are going

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Jennifer Thayer Naylor classnews1983@colby.edu

Blagden and her family out West in the fall. Y Tom Claytor is in Myanmar with his daughter, Htet Htet, 4. He’s organizing the first polo tournament (burmapolo.com) to be held there in 80 years! A team from Myanmar will take on a team from Thailand. Y Eddie Maggiacomo and his wife, Krissy, still enjoy living in Warwick, R.I. They have four children—three in college and one in high school. Ed and Kristin split their time between work, the yoga studio, various tennis courts (both playing and watching their kids compete), and socializing with Colby friends. In February they joined Rob Boone and partner Darlene, Peter ’86 and Linda Flight Lull, and Harry Raphael ’84 for a laugh-filled evening in Worcester, Mass. In July Eddie and Krissy are joining Rick and Katherine Clarke Anderson and some other Colby-connected folks in Italy to celebrate various anniversaries. Y Gretchen Bean Bergill and her family are moving back to Kennebec County! She’ll be taking over as director of college counseling at Kents Hill School in Readfield, about 30 minutes from Waterville. Congratulations to Gretchen, who spent the last several years working in the college counseling office at Phillips Exeter.Y Congratulations to Andrew Myers, who is celebrating 20 years as a partner at Davis Malm. More importantly, Andrew spent a lot of time skiing last winter with his seven-year-old daughter at Stowe and Pat’s Peak. Y Megan and I are completing our first year as expats in China, where I work at the Shanghai American School as a college counselor. In addition to traveling around some parts of China, we’ve visited Indonesia (Bali/Lombok), Thailand (Phuket), South Korea (for the Olympics), Hong Kong, and Mongolia. I would love to connect with any Colby alums traveling through Shanghai.

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1983

at Northeastern University, where Eric van Gestel was her roommate. Sarah and her husband are working on their second fixer upper.Y Heather Nicol Rutherford still loves living in Cotswolds, England, with her three teenagers, Alex, 18, Sylvia, 16, and Lizzie, 14, and their Labrador, Alfie. Following many years in finance and working with a number of charities, she’s now a parenting coach and facilitator, having set up The Parenting Partnership (theparentingpartnership.com). Y Cathy Altrocchi Waidyatilleka spent time with her roommate Becca Cunningham Weiss (and husband Adam Weiss ’83) for the first time in about 30 years as she traveled the East Coast during her sabbatical. She got a tour of Colby from Anthea Weiss ’18. Y Andrew Christy lives in North Dallas and owns a successful bagel shop (bennysbagels.com) in McKinney, Texas. He’s been married for 27 years, has a daughter who graduated from the University of Missouri this spring, and has a son who’s a sophomore at Oregon State University. Y Lisa Kuzia Krueger started an Airbnb last year, and she also traveled to Dubai to visit her oldest daughter. She’s going to the Grand Canyon in June to hike with her son. Y Steven Barbour works in Boston as a science operations manager for a medical institution. Y Kathryn Soderberg spent time this winter visiting Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and still works hard managing her insurance agency. Y As for me, I’m still working full time managing continuity and readiness for the U.S. government and taking my Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) dog, Remy, to many hospitals and in-care facilities to visit those who need to talk with a collie. My son is about to complete his master’s in clinical rehabilitation and counseling, and my daughter is completing her junior year at the University of Maine in Orono. She’s going to Ghana this summer to teach English in an orphanage.

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Technology in May with a B.S. in computational media; daughter Virginia received her M.Ed. from the University of Arizona last May and continues her job as a behavioral interventionist. Y Beth Ellis Tautkus wrote to say “hi” and that she has no new updates. Hi Beth! Y Becca Badger Fisher left United Healthgroup/Optum Technology after 21 years and is formulating her next step. She’s exploring staying in IT project management but potentially changing industries. Becca finds this both exciting and scary, and that not having all those work deadlines is a life-changing experience!

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80s NEWSMAKERS

Beth Staples ’86

Joel Castleman ’81 was inducted into the Western Massachusetts Chapter of the United States Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The former head coach at Western New England College, he is credited with starting a winning tradition at the school, which inducted him to its Downes Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. ♦ Former coach Beth Staples ’86 received the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches Media Award in March. The former basketball and softball star at Colby was a high school basketball coach before transitioning to become a writer, editor, and sports broadcaster. Staples is currently at the University of Maine as a news writer and editor.

on. It’s an exciting place to be. That’s it for now. I hope all is well with the Class of 1986!

1987

COLBY Spring 2018

Scott Lainer classnews1987@colby.edu

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By a show of hands, who wants news? Okay, good, because I have lots. Y Brad Fay writes to say Hillary Clinton cited him and his company, Engagement Labs, in her bestselling book What Happened, as a key source of intelligence. Conversations about Trump and Clinton dramatically shifted in the last 10 days of the presidential campaign after FBI Director Jim Comey’s Oct. 28 letter about reopening the email investigation. Clinton quotes Brad saying, “the change in wordof-mouth favorability was stunning” after the Comey letter, supporting her contention it was the single most important factor leading to Donald Trump becoming president. (Sorry, Brad. I’ve never heard of these people.) Y Barbara Barch Sgro says, “I retired after 30 years of working in the children’s mental health field. The last 28 were with the Positive Education Program in Cleveland. I taught life skills to children dually diagnosed with mental illness and cognitive delays. Husband Frank and I moved to Lakewood Ranch, Fla. Beyond the great weather, our grandchildren, Selkie, 5, and Uhtred, 4, live in the area, along with our daughter, Amy, and her husband, Travis.” (Way to go, Barbara!) Y Chris Van Horne announces, “I’m going to be a ‘VanPa.’ Oldest daughter Tori is having a baby after she graduates in May from the University of Alabama! She and her boyfriend will settle in Texas after graduation. My daughter Kelsey is a sophomore at Virginia Tech, and daughter Ashley is a

sophomore in high school. We also have a Toller named Colby!” (No way. I have a Colby named Toller!) Y Peter Marshall’s middle son, Will, attends our alma mater this fall. “Scarily, it’s 35 years after we did the same thing. Our youngest, Andrew, is a high school junior. A few weeks ago, my wife and I met Alan Adams and Ron Caporale for dinner in Newport Beach. They’re loving California. I frequently get down to Washington, D.C., and meet up with Chris Van Horne.” (You mean VanPa?) Y Andrew Rudman proclaims “the upcoming college graduations of our twin sons from William and Mary and Davidson. Both have exceeded anything I accomplished at Colby so I suppose I forgive them for choosing other schools.” (I’m sure they forgive you for plenty, Andrew.) Y Chris Vickers writes, “we’ve moved back to Brunswick, Maine, so I could become CEO of STARC Systems, an early-stage company manufacturing temporary modular walls used to contain dust and debris during renovations. One additional benefit is that I’m working closely with Scott Bates, partner at Erland Construction, on different products and services. Hard to believe only 33 years ago, we were showering together in Averill.” (No comment necessary here, Chris. This stuff writes itself.) Chris’s youngest son, Carter, is a first-year at Colby, “playing lacrosse and having a great time. Carter is taking macroeconomics from Dave Findlay, whom I helped hire as a student rep in 1987!” (I smell an A, Carter!) Y Tristram Korten “spent the last year writing a book—Into The Storm—published by Ballantine/Random House in April 2018. It's based on a story I did for GQ in 2016 about a hurricane that sank two cargo ships, the ensuing rescue efforts, and climate change. (Fake news.) Family

seems to have gotten along fine without me. I have two middle schoolers. Oldest is in the creative writing program of an arts charter school here in Miami and published a poem in an anthology. My wife, Rosario Montalvo, just finished her master's degree in nursing education.” Y Ken Vopni reunited with “one of the best guys I had the pleasure to know, teammate and friend Rod McGillis ’85. I met he and his wife, Lynne, at the Big Smoke in Toronto to reminisce over java, and realized it’s been too long. Make sure you take advantage of how incredible the relationships you fostered at Colby helped shape your lives, and hopefully how you shaped theirs. Big Love.” Y Big love to you, Ken. And classmates.

1988

Nancy Donahue Cyker classnews1988@colby.edu John Davie and his wife, Kristin (Hock ‘90), have a daughter in Colby’s Class of 2021. John caught up with Harold Rider in Colorado and Canada for some skiing last winter and then finagled his way back to Canada for more skiing with Bill Bullock ’89, Paul Beach ’89, and Bill Carr ’89. Y Jeff and Karen Linde Packman’s daughter Hannah also is Class of 2021 at Colby. All reports say she had a fantastic first year! Y Leslie Migliaccio-Mitchell says that all is good on her home front. She and David will celebrate their 30th anniversary this fall. While life provided lots of changes over the years, they were all on schedule and they’re grateful for the fun ride thus far. David and Leslie’s youngest daughter, Samie, will be a junior at the Isenberg School of Management at UMASS Amherst. Their eldest, Eliza, is a computer engineer for a financial corporation in Boston. Isabel is a graphics designer for an engineering firm in East Longmeadow, Mass. The empty nesters miss having the girls around to entertain them, but they have grown to enjoy the freedom. Since October, they’ve split their time between the Berkshires and Westerly, R.I., and are contemplating a move back to Rhode Island. David’s still with Bank of America, entering his 29th year, where he’s a senior business control specialist. David has become a master home brewer and also enjoys golfing and skiing. Leslie has returned to teaching and substitutes PreK-12 in several school districts. Y Heidi Irving Naughton’s son, Liam, graduated from Middlebury. Heidi and Kevin enjoyed a special end to his athletic career as the Midd team made it to the

Elite Eight during 2016-17 and hosted the NCAA playoffs for the first two rounds. Exciting for Heidi, a former player herself, to watch. During his senior year, one of Liam’s teammates was the son of her Colby coach Gene DeLorenzo. The Colby world can sometimes be very small! The Naughton girls finished their junior year at Bates while studying abroad in Scotland. They appreciated the opportunity to visit with both girls before a work trip to Berlin. Heidi and Kevin continue to enjoy life in Darien, Conn., and take frequent trips to their homes in Cornwall, Vt., and Spruce Head, Maine. Heidi enjoyed a fun dinner last fall with Lisa Collett Hook, Nancy Pare Burton, Carol Anne Beach, Susan Whittum Obar ’87, and Deb Adams Murray ’90. It was a great chance to catch up and share some laughs! Y Geoff and Deedra Beal Dapice, living in Brewer, Maine, are doing well. Deedra just finished her third Boston marathon in the worst-recorded race-day weather in 30 years (rain, 25 mph headwind, and sub-50-degree temperatures). Supported by Geoff and their kids, she still managed to run fast enough to qualify for Boston next year if she chooses (yet to be determined). Deedra continues to work as a science teacher at Brewer High School and is one of two class advisors for the junior class. Geoff has also caught the running bug, though he’s not nearly as fast as Deedra (his words). Last year he completed three half-marathons. Geoff works as a manager for a small computer firm based out of the Bangor area. Their children, Coralie, Shannon, and Ethan, are busy. Coralie is married and a graphic artist for the Bangor Daily News. Shannon is a nurse at Wentworth Douglas Hospital in Dover, N.H., and Ethan starts his senior year this fall in the chemical engineering program. After attending their 30th Colby reunion in June, Deedra and Geoff have another milestone to celebrate—their 30th wedding anniversary in August! Y Thanks, as always, to all who contributed. Not sure if you noticed the thread running through the entire column…all of the families featured are couples who first came together on the Colby campus. Hail, Colby, Hail!

1989

Anita Terry classnews1989@colby.edu After the “spring” many of us have experienced, some news that has nothing to do with an impending snowstorm is welcome! Y Brad ’90 and Shelly Horton Olson have a son at Dartmouth, a daughter just


sending news, and can someone tell me how to apply for the Class of 1989 discount?

1990

Kristin Hock Davie classnews1990@colby.edu

twitter.com/colbycollege | instagram.com/colbycollege

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Greetings classmates! Here’s the latest and greatest news. Y Candace Green Blust got married Feb. 16 in Las Vegas. She and husband Kane thoroughly enjoyed a honeymoon in London to see the sites and catch Hamilton on the West End. What a show! Also new is her position as co-owner of Tyme2Shyne Artistic Studios based in San Diego (t2sartisticstudios.com). Be on the lookout for an upcoming project called ENTRENCHED, which concerns PTSD and its effects. Y Jeff LaCourse had a surprise visit with one of our classmates. His son was playing in a hockey tournament at Notre Dame and he ran into Sean Lucey, whose

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David Shumway classnews1991@colby.edu

Aloha from Jessica MacLachlan Gauthier! “I’m CEO and 2018 convention chair for HawaiiCon, a nonprofit I helped found in 2013. We benefit STEAM education for Big Island keiki (children). Each September we host a science fiction convention for about 1,500 island residents and visitors. Throughout the year we host social events to raise awareness of environmental and astronomical science happening in the observatories on Mauna Kea, our tallest mountain peak. We hope to inspire kids growing up in Hawaii to strive for careers in the sciences and arts.” Y John Klick is a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist and critical care physician. “I’m now the division chief for cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesiology at the Penn State Medical Center in Hershey, where I’m also an associate professor with the medical school.” Y In March Warren Claytor went on a “daddy-daughter” ski trip to Jackson Hole with his two daughters and many nieces. “We took the Colby ‘Dare Northward’ spirit to heart as many of us hiked the headwall in a snowstorm in search of fresh powder!” Y Also in March Wylie Dufresne, chef and owner of Du’s Donuts in Brooklyn, N.Y., caught up with Bill ’93 and Anne Maddocks Michels in South Pasadena, Calif. In April the Michelses attended a wedding in Denver and had more shenanigans with Thorn Luth and Josh Steinberger Cummings. Y Fellow Seattleites Lisa Black and Lisa McMahon Myhran reconnected at a high school alumni event. Lisa (Black) is busy running the two yoga studios that she founded 18 years ago. “In addition to teaching daily yoga classes and leading teacher-training courses, I enjoy getting up in the mountains to ski and hike. My kids are 8 and 10; I raise them on my own, so life is full and lively.” Y Kelly Wenger Miller writes, “After us both living in Portland, Ore., for many years and discovering we had friends in common, Jon Ostrom ’94 and I finally connected, and I got to hear his band play. It was great to catch up, and it made me nostalgic for concerts in the Spa!” Y Chris Petron has opened a bike-fitting studio and boutique bike shop in Avon, Conn. “It’s a unique business model and speaks a little to the uniqueness and creativity that Colby grads seems to have as part of their fabric.” Y Last year Sarah Poriss published Got Debt?: Dispatches From the Front Lines of America’s Financial Crisis, a book about what it’s like to be a consumer protection attorney. “My law firm is the

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1991

Molly Beale Constable classnews1992@colby.edu

colby.edu

Best wishes to Scott Sullivan, who recently proposed to his girlfriend (now fiancée) on Gooch’s Beach in Kennebunk. This is a wonderful blessing for Scott and his children after losing his first wife to colon cancer four years ago. Y Glenn Powell has spent the last 20 years as a professor and attorney. He’s excited that his daughter will join Colby’s Class of 2022 this fall. Y After 21 years at Christie’s, Beth Poole Parker left to become a private carpet and textile consultant. The big upside of that change is she’s able spend more time with her kids and pursue volunteer interests. Y Scott Kessel wrote from Maine, where he and his family have lived for 20 years. He keeps busy running half marathons, playing the saxophone, and managing the 18-piece big band Mondaynite Jazz Orchestra that he plays in. Y Matt Ovios sent greetings from Baghdad. After three years in Japan, he’s now on a one-year assignment at the U.S. Embassy advising the head of the Iraqi navy. In between assignments, he spent some time in Maine, including a trip to Colby to see the Marsden Hartley exhibit at the art museum. Y Dan Spurgin just missed qualifying for the Ironman Triathlon in Kona this fall. Better luck next year, Dan! Y While looking at Colby with his son this spring, John Hayworth met up with Steve Coan and Bob Lian. In addition to checking out campus and catching a lacrosse game, they, of course, fit in a huge lunch at Big G’s. John recently left law practice and is in search of a new career.

daughter was on a visit with the lacrosse program. Since Jeff lives in Ohio and Sean is in New York, the encounter was definitely out of the blue! Y Fred Stewart reports that his oldest child (son Ian) started college last fall at Whitman in Walla Walla, Wash., where he’s majoring in computer science. It’s even smaller than Colby with only 1,500 students! And his youngest (daughter Natalie) will start high school this fall. The family is adjusting to one less household member ... it goes by quickly. Y Audrey Wittemann Wennink has been director of transportation planning and policy at the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago for a year. She’s loving working in an advocacy role after more than a decade of transportation consulting, working on research, including studying the benefits of transit to businesses, and increasing equity in Chicago transportation. The job includes lots of media work, which is fun (she worked in PR for the first nine years after college, and that knowledge is coming in handy). Audrey was also very proud to dig up her Spanish skills, 27 years after living in Salamanca on the Colby program, and do an interview in Spanish on Univision Chicago recently. Working for a nonprofit offers a great vacation policy. Over the holidays her husband, Herbert, and daughter Claire, 14, took the trip of a lifetime to New Zealand’s South Island for two weeks and to Sydney, Australia for a week. Highly recommended! Y Alan Yuodsnukis writes, “Alas, not much exciting news to share. Plenty to be happy about, though: still at the same great job supporting at-risk students at Gardiner (Maine) Area High School; still living in the same happy town of Brunswick, Maine; still married to my lovely bride of almost 26 years. I’m on the verge of making the final tuition payment for the last of my kids (Emily, Clarkson University Class of ‘19). I guess that could count as exciting. Best wishes to all!” Y As for your class correspondent, there have been quite a few changes: losing my apartment of 18 years and relocating to Rhode Island, leaving one job because of the move and then losing the other job when the bosses decided to sell their boats and close the dive shop… so what do I do with my spare time? Travel, of course! March brought my annual Brothers Weekend, this year in Tombstone, Ariz., and in April I made my first trip to Ireland, which was just as green as it has been described. I even saw an authentic Irish rainbow, but was regretfully unable to find the pot of gold at the end of it. Y Thanks for the news, and keep it coming!

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starting the college touring process, and a seventh grader. They’re celebrating their 25th anniversary in June, which will be good preparation for celebrating our 30th reunion a year from June! Y Susan Fanburg Hanlon lives in New Hampshire, where she’s a pediatrician. She and husband Steve have three kids, two dogs, and probably aren’t busy at all. Y Bill Auerswald is the CFO/ COO at Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut. He has a fourth grader and a second grader, and is also not at all busy with kids’ activities. (Notice the theme?) Y Dawna Zajac Perez may be less busy because two of her four kids are in college, but probably not. She just started a new job at UNH, where she’s executive director of academic success (which is, I think, what we used to call dean of students). Dawna’s looking forward to summer, following a bad February in which she totaled her car and caught pneumonia and the flu. Y Tripp and Heidi Lombard Johnson are, in Heidi’s words, “still doing a jig” because their youngest, William, was accepted to Colby. That’s three for three for the Johnsons. Heidi had the great pleasure of meeting my husband and daughter on the Hill; my husband said only, “Heidi says you have to come to reunion next year.” Don’t worry, Heidi. I’ll be there! Even better than the Colby acceptance was the news that William, who has spinal muscular atrophy, was cleared for a relatively new treatment for the disease. We’re all crossing our fingers for William. Y My freshman roomie Jill Rothenberg lives in Colorado Springs and is a crazy distance runner (my interpretation, not hers). She is also an amazing writer, and if you haven’t read her stuff, get thee to the Internet to find some. Y Laura Johnson is medical director of the pediatric hospitalist program at Clear Lake Medical Center in Texas. Her daughter just graduated from Kings College London, son is at Trinity, another daughter will be at American University in the fall, and the youngest is a high school sophomore. Laura celebrated her 50th birthday with a trip to South Africa. Lucky! Y Christin Haight Barnett lives in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., with her husband and two girls. She recently started working with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; she’s excited about a conference in Maine this fall. Y And as you may have guessed, my kid also got in to Colby, and despite my connection, she decided she wants to go there! I loved all your comments on my FB post about it, and I even got to talk (on the phone!) with my freshman neighbor John Beaulieu because of the post. (John has never written in that I can remember. Maybe I should make stuff up about him??) Thanks to everyone for

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largest foreclosure defense firm in Connecticut—maybe even the largest in the country since few lawyers are attracted to working with the struggling middle class. I’ve made a career of only representing consumers, and the last 10 years since the economy crashed sure have been interesting!” Y Bruce Reed has lived in the Bay Area for about 20 years. “My wife, Terri, and I have two kids (Jackson, 16, and Lindsay, 11). I run Compass Education Group, a company I cofounded 15 years ago. We are an in-home and online tutoring company, working with students both in person in California and online all over the world. My East Coast roots have remained intact; for the last 10 summers we ‘move’ to our tiny beach house in Chatham, Mass. It’s a good chance to run into Colby folks, and I hope to reconnect with more this summer.” Y Steve Earp lives in Allen, Texas. “My son, Thomas, earned his fourth varsity letter in high school tennis and has committed to attend Trinity University (the alma mater of my wife, Patti) in San Antonio, accepting a vocal music scholarship. Serena (sophomore) and Amanda (seventh grade) both play club volleyball and compete at a high level. Work, school, volleyball, and our two rescue dogs keep us all busy.” Y Greg ’91 and Dakota Glenn Smith celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter, Chloe, at Temple Akiba in Culver City, Calif., where Zach Shapiro is rabbi. Matthew Meyer ’91 was in attendance to hear Greg and Dakota’s beautiful speeches. Zach wore his Colby College kippah (thanks to Rabbi Rachel Isaacs from Colby Hillel). Y If you haven’t read “The Elsie Mysteries” article in the winter issue of the magazine, grab your copy or go online. It’s fascinating! Did you know that for half a century, from 1945 until 1997, a painting of a cow was a secret honor for Colby women? Laura Longsworth and Jennifer Alfond Seeman were both recipients. Y Be well, everyone. Please stay in touch. Cheers to a great summer!

1993 COLBY Spring 2018

Jill Moran Baxter classnotes1993@colby.edu

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Bree Jeppson was honored to have her term renewed on the Colby College Museum of Art’s Board of Governors. She’s proud of the CMA’s accomplishments and the work of an incredible staff. She says, “Please become a Friend of the Museum to support its efforts and to be in better touch!” It’s a terrific way for her to stay actively involved with Colby, in Waterville

90s NEWSMAKERS Chris White ’90 was named special coordinator for the University of Connecticut’s football team in January. White had previously worked as special teams coordinator at the University of Iowa and as assistant special teams coach for the Minnesota Vikings. ♦ Graphic Design USA magazine profiled Meghan Myers Labot ’96 for its “People to Watch in 2018” series. Labot, a managing director at Spring Design Partners in New York who also started a new brand strategy consultancy, MR LABOT, has “focused on fostering connections Meghan Myers Labot ’96 between brands and their consumers through an astute understanding of the cultural context that influences relationships,” GDUSA said. ♦ Arches National Park hired consultant Chip Paterson ’96 to evaluate the economic impact a proposed reservation system for the park would have on the local area, the Moab Times reports. “Paterson’s work focuses on the economics of natural resource management, including changes in the quality and availability of recreational opportunities,” a park service press release said. and New York, where she lives, and beyond. Bree works for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, an international philanthropy she designed and helped found in 2002. Now in its 16th year, the program seeks out gifted young artists from all over the world in the areas of dance, film, literature, music, theater, visual arts, and architecture and brings them together with artistic masters for a period of creative collaboration in a one-to-one mentoring relationship. Y David Crittenden, wife Laurie, and kids Jeffrey, 15, and Bethany, 13, relocated to Philadelphia about three years ago when Dave had an opportunity to become an in-house company lawyer. Nowadays, Dave is in Old City Philadelphia working as chief legal officer and general counsel of Abra Auto Body Repair of America. He enjoys working for a growing company with locations in 26 states throughout the U.S. Dave didn’t make our reunion this year but, he says, “Maybe we’ll make a visit to Mayflower Hill soon if my son decides he’s interested in applying to Colby in a couple of years.” Y Suzie Girard planned a swim vacation in the British Virgin Islands, with Heather Perry Weafer as her guide. Suzie’s been swimming consistently since Colby, but says, “I have some anxiety over open water. Heather has assured me she will help me work through my anxieties and that I will come back better. Worset case, I will be on a boat for a week in BVI...” Y Doug Morrione continues to live with his family as expats in Dubai, where he’s working away at parenting Valentina, 4, and Chiara, 16 months. He says, “They’re both handfuls,

to say the least. Life as expats has its challenges ... but I can’t say we’re envious of life in the USA right now, which seems more frightening by the day. My movie, Everything in the Song is True, finally got worldwide distribution and is now available on Amazon, too, which is a relief. It’s kid friendly, btw, so if you haven’t seen it, get online!” In addition to staying at home with his girls, Doug’s working on a new film about “happiness” and expat life in Dubai. Y Scott Reed was recently visiting Los Angeles for work and had a chance to catch up with Marshall Dostal and Ed Ramirez ’94 over drinks. He also connected with Tyler Merritt in northern Vermont. Y Speaking of connecting with classmates, watch this space for our 25th reunion roundup in the next issue!

1994

Kimberly Valentine Walsh classnews1994@colby.edu Jennifer Stokes was excited to run into Chris West ’93 at a land trust conference in Denver, where she lives with her family. She also proudly hosted a Colby senior for Jan Plan at Rocky Mountain Institute, where she’s a managing director working toward a low-carbon energy future. Y Sara Ferry hosted a gathering of Colby friends for a weekend at her home in Montclair, N.J., with Carolyn Hart, Heather Lounsbury, Marile Haylon Borden, and Bekah Freeman Schulze. Their weekend highlights included seeing the Broadway show Waitress with Sara Bareilles in the lead, and, of course, the required vat of Utz cheese balls. They’re

looking forward to an October road trip to Québec City to celebrate the 50th birthday of Kim Morrison Lysaght ’90. Y John Utley also writes from New Jersey and says Colby friends are always welcome to come for a “lake hang” on Greenwood Lake, where he lives. His daughter Lana is at Lawrenceville and loving it, and his younger daughter, Maliah, is a nationally ranked figure skater trying to take it all the way. I know we’ll all look forward to hearing about her progress. Y Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the weekend of June 7-9, 2019, for our 25th reunion—less than a year away! Follow our Facebook 25th reunion page to connect prior to our gathering on Mayflower Hill.

1995

Yuhgo Yamaguchi classnews1995@colby.edu Karen Rose recently obtained her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. She’s worked for 15 years at L.L.Bean, where she’s currently a project manager for the customer insights and analytics division. She gets together with Elizabeth Franco, Jaye Gennaco, and Michelle Friedland Gagnon every few months. She’s also busy raising her daughter, 11, and son, 7. Y Matt Martel lives on the north shore of Massachusetts with his wife, Anna. They have a daughter, 3, and a son, 1. “I expect my oldest to join the Colby Class of 2033. Wow, typing that made me feel old!” Y Noah Learner and his family love living in Louisville, Colo. Last year he started Bike Shop SEO to help bike shops across North America with search-engine optimization and digital marketing. In his free time, Noah skis a lot, is “obsessed” with Tenkara fishing (Japanese fly fishing), and enjoys car-camping trips. Last fall he visited New England for two weeks and visited Scott Koles, Greg Belanger ’93, and Brian Gressler, who is the father of new twins. Y Emily Fantasia Hayes, Katey Ford DeTraglia ’92, and Julie Cyr Gibowicz ’94 are co-chairs of the Curtis Parent Organization. They enjoy working together to support middle school guardians and students of Sudbury, Mass. Y Dan Polk recently visited Chris Shore and his family in New York, and he’s also in touch with Adam Cote and Ben Bartlett, who are running for governor of Maine and California state assembly, district 15, respectively. Y Kristen Hanssen Goodell will become the associate dean for admissions at the Boston University School of Medicine in July. She’ll continue to see patients at the family medicine clinic at


1999

Lindsay Hayes Hurty classnews1999@colby.edu

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After spending the past year living and working in Tennessee (coming home to NY most weekends) rebuilding and relaunching the brand, e-commerce platform, and marketing for Hardwick Clothes, Chris Fleming has returned home to New York to take over marketing for Brooklyn-based design outfit Roll & Hill. He was just in time to greet his first, Miss Kennedy Rahe Fleming, who made them a family Feb. 18, clocking in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and 20 inches long. Baby Nedy is healthy and happy and adjusting seamlessly to the New York City lifestyle: up all night, sleep all day. Despite the lack of sleep and the associated mayhem of first-time parenthood, mom (Lauren Cooke ’00) and Chris love it all. Y After six years living abroad, Laura Houston is embarking on a sabbatical. She spent the last three years living in Cyprus, working as an administrative coordinator and IB economics teacher. A highlight of last year included a trip to Dubai to visit Dan and Nicole Bedell Rogers. Plans include a few months backpacking around Southeast Asia, spending time with family in Chicago, and reflecting on the next step in her career. Y Renee Lajeunesse moved abroad to São Paulo, Brazil, in June 2017 with her husband and two daughters, Eleanor, 8, and Maeve, 5. Her husband’s work with law firm Jones Day brought him to Brazil frequently, so they decided it would be an interesting family adventure and educational experience for their girls to move there full time. Despite São Paulo being a huge city with lots of crime and traffic, they love meeting interesting people, learning to speak Portuguese,

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Cyrus Stahlberg and his wife, Katie, recently welcomed their second son, Henry. Along with son Jack, 2, they live in Washington, D.C., and look forward to visiting Maine this summer. Y Mark and Susanna Montezemolo are doing well readjusting to sleepless life, having welcomed a second daughter, Maddalena “Maddie,” just before Thanksgiving. Sus is now back to work at AARP after “five glorious months” of maternity leave. Older daughter Regina “Reggie” will enter first grade this fall. Y Rebecca Durham finished her M.F.A. in creative writing in poetry in December at the University of Montana. This summer she’s looking forward to her annual trip back East

I received no news for this column, so there’s nothing to report. Come on, 1998! Send me news about your life and your reunion experience for the next column.

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Tom DeCoff classnews1997@colby.edu

Brian M. Gill classnews1998@colby.edu

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1997

1998

facebook.com/colbycollege

This installment of class notes starts with some senior-year trivia. Question 1: What team beat the Bison to win the 1996 I-Play open league softball championship? Question 2: In the fall of 1995, the Colby woodsmen’s team posted a large plywood sign atop their woodpile. What did that sign read? Question 2a: This same sign boasted a different message for about 24 hours in November 1995. What did the new sign read? See how you did at the end of this column. OK, onto the notes! Y Tina Garand Branson has been busy working as a PA focused on women’s health. Her kids, Luke, 12, and Emma, 17, sound pretty great—in fact, Emma is graduating high school a year early to pursue a B.F.A. in dance, which makes Emma impressive but makes me feel older than distressed Busch Light. Y In other impressive news, Dori Desautel Broudy moved from Philly to Haverford, where she started an art and photography firm (doridesautelbroudy.com) this spring. Dori’s work aims to honor the beauty of nature and the joys of childhood, all through the purity of play. Oh, and a portion of the net proceeds from every sale will be directed to charitable or philanthropic causes, which is pretty cool. Dori and husband Josh love life with their three kids, Penn, 5, London, 7, and Charlie, 9. Y Cate Kneese Wnek wrote to say that she’s an aspiring fine art photographer—our class’s answer to Ansel Adams. Cate’s husband, Chris,

sion to Cochabamba, Bolivia, in October to implant cardiac pacemakers in indigenous people afflicted with Chagas disease. Y And just in time for our column: congrats to newly elected State Representative Javier Fernández (Dem.), who won Florida’s special election for House District 114 May 1. Y As your correspondent, I’m happy to share all your news and accomplishments. Please keep it coming! I look forward to catching up in person if you’re in Boston.

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Brad Smith classnews1996@colby.edu

to see Suzanne Higley and Morgan von Prelle Pecelli. Last year they had a blast paddleboarding and spending time on the lake. Y Paul Reizen is married and living in San Diego with his fourth child on the way. He’s a deputy district attorney (13 years and counting), and in his spare time he started WestBean Coffee Roasters in 2009, which now includes three cafés and a roastery. He says life is great, and he’d love to catch up with classmates! Y Carter Davis reports that he quit his job and that he and his wife, Ashley, daughter Maisie, 10, and son Gibbs, 7, sold their house in Maryland and are taking a little break from life. They recently embarked on a three- or four-month trip around the world with stops in Switzerland and New Zealand and plan to visit Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali, and other parts of Asia. Upon returning to the States, likely in June, they plan to move to Denver. Y Speaking of Colorado, Amalie Gosine Howard has been living and writing there for the past four years and says the quality of life “is awesome.” Her 14th novel, Dark Goddess, a young adult fantasy based on Hindu mythology, was published this spring, and Sweet Home Highlander, a historical romance novel, was to be released in May. Her books have received national awards and have been number-one bestsellers. Y While on a Hawaiian vacation visiting family in January, Tom Moffitt met up with Matt McGuiness ’96 for a hike of the Sleeping Giant and for beers at the Kauai Brewing Company. Y Congratulations are in order for several classmates. Denise and Steve Papagiotas welcomed daughter Kara Renee in February. In April Mika Hadani Melamed earned the Chairman Award for top recruiter of the Creative Group Division of Robert Half International at a ceremony in Las Vegas (her fifth time qualifying). She also reports that last November she met up with Welling and Heather Derby LaGrone, Cherie Galyean, Kate White, and Kristina Denzel and their families in upstate New York for a fun long weekend of fishing, hiking, sculpture-garden visiting, and plenty of eating. Y Anthony Moulton completed his 11th Boston Marathon for Children’s Hospital Boston, raising more than $150,000 for the Miles for Miracles Team since 2007. Last July he left St. Jude Medical/Abbott after 15 years and moved to Washington, D.C. After eight months of “funemployment,” which included around-the-world travels to eight countries, Anthony joined Mölnlycke Health Care as territory sales manager for the northern Virginia area. He continues to serve as director of logistics on the board of directors for Project Pacer International and is planning his 10th mis-

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1996

owns a thriving dental practice in Freeport, and when he’s not working, he plays with his rambunctious boys, 9 and 12. Y Eric Gordon (Connecticut) and Keith Albert (Maine) have been living vicariously through their kids’ hockey teams. In 2016 their 10-year-olds met in the New England sectional championship tournament in North Conway, N.H., with Connecticut earning the title. This year, as 12-yearolds, both teams met again in Waterbury, Vt., but this time the Maine state champions knocked out Connecticut in the semi-finals then went on to win the crown. Looks like a rubber match is due in 2020. Y Jodi Schwartz Belson said that her husband, Matthew Belson ’94J, opened a brewery called Devil’s Purse Brewing in South Dennis, Mass. Devil’s Purse was on campus for a “tap takeover” at the Colby Spa May 5, which is just plain awesome. Y As for me, my wife, Peg, recently became a partner at the Portland law firm of Pierce Atwood LLP while I anxiously awaited the start of spring and the delivery of four maiden apple trees for my fledgling heirloom apple orchard. In addition, my family and I went on a Canadian roadie during February school vacation week and met up with former Nudd Street resident Jean Michel Picher. We took our instant-BFF daughters—Picher’s daughter, Claire, 6, and my girls, Ellie, 8, and Evie, 7—to their first Maple Leafs’ game, had a family pond-hockey throwdown in High Park, and delightfully—yet responsibly—enjoyed some of the finest beer in the Great White North. Zut alors, that was fun. Y Trivia answers: 1: “The Tecmo Balls.” 2: “This wood is for sale. This wood is not free.” 2a: “Honk if you love free wood.” Y Send more notes, please.

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Boston Medical Center. In April Kristin and Ned Goodell ’92 hosted Erika and Ben Damon, Ken ’94 and Julia Rentz Dupuis, Adam Zois ’94, and all of their kids. “It was extremely lively, and an extremely large amount of tapas was consumed,” reports Kristen. Y Julia Rentz Dupuis is the area manager of optical systems technologies at Physical Sciences, Inc. Y Brett Hudson took a paragliding course in Northern California during his summer break. He also plans to go to the Rugby World Cup in San Francisco and participate in a weeklong fiction writing course in Squaw Valley, Calif. Y Marc Herbst just obtained a Ph.D. in cultural studies at Goldsmiths University in London. He’s living between Berlin, Leipzig, and London, and he’s currently a fellow at the Humboldt Area Peoples Archive in Berlin. Marc has also published a series of books through partnerships with his small press, the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest.

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COLBY Spring 2018

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and traveling extensively throughout South America. Y Courtney Smith Eisenberg is a certified birth doula and runs her own doula practice, coaching women through childbirth. She finds the work rewarding and hopes to expand her practice to offer lactation counseling and post-partum doula services. She lives in Boxford, Mass., with her husband of 10 years and their three children. Y Dave Fasteson and his wife are celebrating their 10-year anniversary. Y Sara Brown Worsham and her family (husband and three kids) moved to London this summer for her husband’s job. Sara has a book coming out Sept. 5: Namasté the Hard Way: A Daughter’s Search to Find Her Mother on the Yoga Mat, a memoir about becoming a yoga teacher after losing her mother (also a yoga teacher) at a young age. She wrote quite a bit of it in Mackenzie Dawson’s guest room, so “big thanks to her!” Y After years of agency work, Kim Nagy loves the freedom of having her own private mental health counseling practice based in an historic building in downtown Portland (Maine). Y Karena Bullock Bailey just celebrated 10 years of B*CURED, the nonprofit brain cancer organization she runs in Greenwich, Conn. (She lost her mom to the disease in 2006.) Alex Leach has produced all of B*CURED’s video and media last few years, helping share the message to #endbraincancer across platforms. The organization was awarded 28 research grants across the globe. Y Ron Russo and his wife, Gina, opened their first Bar Method studio in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. They’re working toward a plan to open three locations over the coming years in and around Philly. Ron spends his days focused on venture investing through 5Lion Ventures, where he’s a partner. It’s a lot to juggle as they have two boys, Luca, 8, and Jude, 6. Y Ryan Aldrich finished his first year as head of school at Sugar Bowl Academy in Tahoe, Calif. He and his family enjoy the amazing outdoor adventures Tahoe offers, and they survived last winter’s 800 inches of snow. Colden, 4, and Avery, 7, had great first years on the ski team and aren’t pushing their parents to ski faster. Y After seven years in Flagstaff, including living in an off-grid, tiny, passive-solar home and completing a master’s in sustainable communities, Katherine Golfinopoulos relocated to Northern California, where she manages an educational organic farm for a community food-security project. She’s thrilled to be living in magnificent West Sonoma County under redwood trees alongside a salmon river and close to a wild and rugged coast. Katherine invites conversation with other Colby grads who

are cultivating and stewarding life at the intersection of the human and natural worlds and are working to blur those distinctions. Y Derek Kensinger will embark on his first role in school administration as vice principal of American School in Tegucigalpa this fall. This marks the fourth country in which Derek has lived and worked as an international educator. Y Our 20th reunion is NEXT SUMMER— June 2019! Can’t wait to reconnect then!

2000

Ben Mackay classnews2000@colby.edu

2001

Dana Fowler Charette classnews2001@colby.edu This one gets the lead since she was my college roommate: I’m excited to report that Laura Montgomery and her fiancé, Tom Malone, are getting married June 2 in Little Compton, R.I. It promises to be an exciting weekend full of Colby friends, and I’m really looking forward to the celebration. I had another Colby reunion of sorts this winter—through a mutual friend’s invitation, Chad Creelman and I, with our families, skied for a weekend at Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts. Last time Chad and I skied/snowboarded together was at Sugarloaf, and that did not end well for Chad’s collarbone. This time was much more successful, and we loved watching our kids rip it up together. Y Ben Schreiner and his wife, Amanda, welcomed their second daughter, Mary Ann Schreiner, Feb. 2, with much excitement! Y Kate Isley has worked as an assistant attorney general for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in the trial division since February 2017. Most recently, on March 29, she had her second daughter, Winifred Jane. Big sister Oona Mae is thrilled. Y Kate Meyerhans Hammonds has lived all over the country, but now she and her husband are finally settled in Bozeman, Mont. They also had a baby girl, who they’re excited to raise in the mountains and sunshine of Big Sky Country. Of course, this means lots of trips to Maine to see the grandparents, including Marilyn McDougal Meyerhans ’72. Y Frank and Abbie Parker Petz welcomed their fourth baby, Elizabeth, who joins her older siblings, Frank Jr., Susan, and Thomas. Y Dave ’00 and Grace Price Sherwood, along with their two kids, Lily, 4, and Andrew, 10 months, recently moved to Santiago, Chile. Dave is working as a correspondent for Reuters News, and Grace is taking some

time off from work to be with the kids. Y Dan Martin has lived in Los Angeles for 12 years and spent 11.5 of those years producing Dancing With the Stars while also doing some other projects, such as producing/directing The X Factor. This year he moved over to produce the new season of American Idol. He’s connected with a few Colby alumni, including Nick Bizier over Christmas. Y Stacie Galiger Williams and her three girls (11, 8, and 5) still live in the D.C. area, where she teaches. They recently added an adorable rescue pup to the family, and Baxter (named after Baxter State Park!) keeps them busy and laughing. They go to Maine for almost the entire summer, and last year Stacie started working at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport. Y Scott Friemann and his wife, Sarah, had their first child, Helena, Jan. 29. Mom and baby are both healthy and happy. Scott took advantage of four weeks of paternity leave this April and really enjoyed the experience. They still live in Chicago, and Scott continues to work at Willis Towers Watson as a large-and-complex-casualty broker. Y Stu Luth’s son, Auren, will be two in July. Best parenting advice they received and followed: sign language! He had more than 150 signs before he started speaking, so they were able to communicate well and meaningfully much earlier than they otherwise would have. It helps with everything from tantrums to symbolic thought to learning multiple languages ... and gives an incredible window into a child’s development. Stu continues to work as an actor, primarily in voiceover (a PBS spot he did won a 2017 Emmy) and also in film and television. He recently enhanced his communication coaching work by signing on as a new coach with Own The Room (owntheroom.com), an innovative and experiential training company with offices and clients all over the world.

husband, Reed, and their three children, Lina, 7, Adam, 5, and Sophia, 5. Meredith has been practicing as a pediatrician and is a lactation specialist as well. She’s enjoyed seeing classmates when they’ve brought their children to her practice over the years. Y Per and Catherine Benson Wahlen live near Philadelphia with their two children, Emma, 4, and Alex, 2. She works on a project that helps USAID better integrate biodiversity across its development sectors. When in D.C. for work, she tries to see and stay with Colby friends, including Emily and Eric Laurits and Carolyn Lindley, and she has plans to see Katy Bondy, Melanie Ouellette Karlins, Mary Zito Smith, and others. Y Alexandra Suchman is also in D.C. She started her own consulting and coaching business, AIS Collaborations, specifically for small nonprofits and small businesses in the social enterprise space. Her goal is to help them develop a proactive, deliberate, and streamlined approach to internal operations and infrastructure so they can accomplish more with less chaos, clutter, and stress. Y Nicki Shoemaker McNair lives in Chicago and is already looking forward to seeing classmates at our 20th reunion in 2022. Mark your calendars! Y If you’re planning on visiting Yellowstone, Glacier, or any of the other spectacular wild places in Montana this summer or beyond, Erin Clark would love see you. She’s based in Missoula and operates wildlife courses for high school students in Yellowstone National Park (Maui too, but from afar most of the time). Y JJ ’01 and Piper Elliott Abodeely live in Sonoma with their three kids and love having Colby visitors! Y Kristy Malm and her husband, David Fernandez, welcomed Oskar William Feb. 11. Everyone adores him, and he’s such a good baby. Shortly after he was born, Tammie Sebelius flew out to Hawaii to meet him and help out momma. The Malm-Fernandez crew will be making their first trip to Maine in July!

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Classmates sent in updates from all over the country for this column, perhaps serving as inspiration for a road trip vacation. Sarah Mockler works at Northeastern University in Boston as a cooperative education coordinator for engineering, where she recently connected with Linnea Basu ’96, fellow cooperative education coordinator for economics. Y Ed Jastrem was elected to the board of bank corporators of Dedham Savings in Dedham, Mass. Y Meredith Renda lives in Ridgefied, Conn., with her

Before turning to our class updates, a big thank you to Lauren Tiberio Puglisi for 15 amazing years of keeping us connected through this column. I have big shoes to fill, but I’m happy to be the next correspondent for our class. Now, onto our news! Y Kevin ’98 and Brooke McNally Thurston welcomed a baby girl, Norah, in October. She joins big sister Hannah, 2, in their home in Boston. Y Dan and Christine O’Donnell Hagan welcomed their son Conor in January. He’s adored by older siblings Parker, 5, and Liza,

Bridget Zakielarz Duffy classnews2002@colby.edu

Rich Riedel classnews2003@colby.edu


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Accepting the baton from Katie Gagne Callow, I’ve really enjoyed hearing from many of you. If you’re in the Boston area, please reach out as Andrew, Ainsley, and I would love to catch up! I often meet up with Karina Johnson, who bumps into Katie on several occasions. Y Maggie Johnson, currently in Florida, finished her Ph.D. in

Cathy White Sethi and her husband, Ajay, welcomed Penelope Alba Sethi Feb. 25— possibly a future Mule in the making! Y Bram Gellar is excited to be moving back to Portland, Maine, this summer. He’s accepted a critical care cardiology position at Maine Medical Center as assistant director of the cardiac intensive care unit. He’ll also practice cardiology there. Y Nate Dick and his wife, Katie (Holy Cross ’06), live in Medford, Mass., with their two daughters, Juniper and Tatum, and a dog, Clover. Nate works as a consultant in energy efficiency programs for a large electric and natural gas provider in New England. Katie is national director for fundraising at Jumpstart. Nate spends time with friends from Colby and cross-

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Kate Slemp Douglas classnews2005@colby.edu

Lindsey Boyle McKee classnews2006@colby.edu

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Annika Svore Wicklund is excited that the remodel of her 1926 Seattle home that started nine months ago is nearly finished. It’s required her family to move six times! She and her husband are expecting baby #3 the end of June to add to their family of Lillian, 5, and Averie, 3. Life is busy and full of fun. Y Trevor MacKesey accepted a full-time lecture position in Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Leadership Education. He’s childless and unmarried, but he has ranked a number of his ’04 classmates’ children based on weekend visits. His dogface Killah celebrated his 14th birthday in May. Y Justin Juskewitch completed his anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., this spring. He’ll stay at Mayo Clinic to complete a two-year combined fellowship in clinical informatics and transfusion medicine, living with his wife, Katie, and children Adelyn, 5, Oliver, 4, and Amelia, 21 months. Y Kim Strader O’Leary was accepted to the University of Vermont’s Doctorate of Nursing Practice program, starting this fall. In four years, she’ll be a DNP providing primary care to adult and geriatric patients. Y Laura Snow and her husband, Justin, had their first child, Quinn William Robinson, in New Haven. On his due date in September, she received the President’s Leadership Award at Jewish Senior Services in Bridgeport, Conn., for starting a new adult family living and foster home program after studying the model for a few years and receiving a state grant. Since the award ceremony was

November. Jameson, named for his father, grandfather, and Wendy’s mentor/AAU basketball coach, adores his big sisters, Riley and Emery. Wendy works as a program director for a small tutoring company. Y Adelin Cai recently left her head of policy role at Pinterest to take time off to goof around with her husband, who’s also on an indefinite work sabbatical. She plans to travel and learn who she is without work to define her. Y In December Melissa Plante DuBois welcomed daughter Nora Rose, who joined siblings Penn and Maren. Melissa completed her M.B.A at Cornell in May and moved to Minneapolis this summer. Former roommates of 16 Winter Street (Sarah Burlingham, Laura Cimini, Ann MacDonald, Marisa Giller, Meggie Finn, Elizabeth Johnson, Rachel Ritchie) have reconvened from all corners of the country for the past two years and plan a third reunion in Oregon this July. Y Corrie Shattenkirk works as a nurse-midwife at a community health center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., after receiving her degrees from Columbia University. Y Shawn Chakrabarti lives in D.C. and is set to open The Family Place PCS (one of the only adult charter schools nationally that concurrently serves immigrant parents and children through ESL classes, workforce development, and early childhood education) as a founding board member this fall. Y In February Jonathan and Mallory Young Michaeles had their second child, Emerson Lincoln, who joins older sister Amelia. Y Emily (Greene ’06) and Josh Kahn welcomed daughter Evelyn Iris March 5. Emily’s on maternity leave from her position as chief of staff at an education and workforce nonprofit, and Josh is a creative director at Arnold Worldwide.

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Kate Weiler classnews2004@colby.edu

marine biology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2016. She’s currently wrapping up a three-year postdoc fellowship with the Smithsonian. Y Suzanne and Sheldon Stevenson, who practices emergency medicine at Central Maine Medical Center, live with their children, Finn and Charlie, on Casco Bay, down the street from Chris and Erin Rockney Van Wagenen. Sheldon attended Jon Gilboy’s wedding in December in a gorilla costume. Mac Lynch, Lauren (Uhlmann ’06) and Aaron Blazar, Brad Kasnet, Adventure Dave (honorary ’05), and Matt and Maureen Sherry Lynes were there too. Matt and Maureen, along with Nathaniel Hulme, Andrew Raser, Steph Pierce Sheline, Nicole Wessen Cushman, Katie Lynch, and Blake Grosch ’03 have met Henry Robert Ryder, mini Mule of Jon ’02 and Carreau Mueller Ryder, born in February. Carreau joined David Acker, Jeff Lederman, Kevin Yardi, Alana McGee, Joanne O’Donnell, Tara Studley, Carrie Fredland, Jon Eisenberg, Cat Pappas Marks, Katie Markowski Dru, Kaitlin McCafferty ’04, Steph Pierce Sheline, and Abbey McGuire in the streets of Boston in April to cheer on Jackie Dao Dinneen, who ran the marathon after welcoming Baby James Ryan last year. Y Brianna (Tufts ’07) and Mike Walsh welcomed their second child, Connor James, in January. Y Torrey Kulow moved to Portland, Ore., with her husband and daughter. Y Hillary Klug married her longtime boyfriend, Jon Stuart, in Aspen in March. In attendance were Josh German ’04, Mike Shea ’04, Caitlin Krauss (two years at Colby), Melissa Landau, Jake Moe ’06, cousin Madeline Ratoza Ragan ’08, and sister-in-law Hilary Peterson Klug ’97. Hillary returned from Afghanistan last June and continues to serve in the Army as a JAG attorney. Y Warner Nickerson, on the board of the U.S. Ski Team, moved to Stockholm, Sweden, to live with his girlfriend. He started a YouTube Channel (Warner Nickerson) in February and posts videos 3-7 days a week with (mostly) daily blogs. Y Emily (Tull ’06) and John Pollakowski, with daughter Lyanna and dog Dakota, moved from Manhattan to Bronxville (the ’burbs!). Y Patrick Harner works as a personal trainer in Lebanon, Ohio, where he lives with wife Leah and daughters Brielle Mae and Tahlia Grace. He recently earned his EMT and Firefighter II certifications and will compete in the Spartan Trifecta this summer. Y After six years as director at Matthew Marks Gallery, Helen Brown Babst left to start her own gallery, The Babst Project, set to open in January 2019. In September she had a girl, Audria. Y Ryan and Wendy Bonner Spicer welcomed Jameson Michael last

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on her due date, they surprised her earlier with the announcement, but he was 10 days late so she got to attend. Y In May Kaitlin McCafferty walked in Babson’s commencement, where she received a graduation award. She’s a class officer and will complete her M.B.A. program (social innovation intensity track) in August. She’s living in Boston and working at Citizens Bank, where she loves seeing Grace Becker Lochhead all the time—just like back in the day! Y Grace Becker Lochhead was promoted to SVP at Citizens Bank last winter. She and Ryan are expecting their third child in August. Ryan is pursuing a degree in advanced management at Babson part time. Grace and Ryan hosted their second annual spring celebration, “Glewhead,” at their home in Norfolk, Mass. Attendees included Evan and Kim Betz Kearns, Nick and Jen Barrett Crocker, Benson Hyde, Caroline and Tim Glew, Josh and Jackie Smith Zweig, Ashley (Mihos ’05) and Mike Kennedy, Jessie Zerendow and Bill Younker, Emily and Kearney Shanahan, and their collective 15 children. Y Tim Glew and his wife, Caroline, are expecting their third child in August. Y Marisa MacNaughton Meloski is the proud owner of Stilista, a personal styling company based in Boston that she purchased in January. She and her husband, Mike Meloski ’02, live in Jamaica Plain, Mass. Y Tom and Allison Dwyer Webb recently relocated to Park City, Utah, for Tom’s new job at U.S. Ski and Snowboarding. They’re enjoying the snow and mountains after their time in Bermuda. Y Jared and Maura Myers Bisogni and their family are excited for some warm weather after a long winter in Maine. Maura realized her lifelong dream of becoming a Girl Scout leader when her daughter, Eliza, became a Daisy this year. (She tapped into the Colby cookie market with video calls and is already a successful entrepreneur!) Y Hey crew—I need someone to take over as correspondent. I’m super busy running my business and need to step back. Any volunteers? It’s a great gig. Drop me an email at classnews2004@ colby.edu if you want more info. Thanks!

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3, in Burlington, Vt. Y After 18 months of product testing and sampling, Erika Togashi launched her surf and swimwear brand SEPTEMBER, which is made from 100-percent Italian recycled nylon. She’s splitting her time between New York City and Bali, Indonesia. Y Aliya Al-Aufy, her husband, and two kids recently moved to Houston after living in Prague, Czech Republic, and Muscat, Oman, for most of the years since graduation. Aliya works as a global HR consultant for a specialty petrochemical company. Y After living in Jakarta, Indonesia, for a few years, my wife, Sarah Schleck Riedel ’06, and I moved back to Washington, D.C., and welcomed our first, Otto. Working for Wellist, a Boston-based startup, it’s been fun to see David and Allegra Roundy Sandak and their two kids and Peter Loverso when in town. Y If you have news, large or small, we’d love to hear from you! Please send it to classnews2003@ colby.edu any time during the year.

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Annie Mears classnews2007@colby.edu

00s NEWSMAKERS

COLBY Spring 2018

Reagan Carey ’01 was inducted to the 2018 Maine Sports Hall of Fame. Carey is general manager of USA Hockey and manages the U.S. Women’s National Team, which won the gold medal at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. ♦ Sea Machines Robotics named Christopher Sotzing ’04 director of engineering, where he’ll be responsible for the development and deployment of the company’s Sea Machines 300 technology system. Sotzing previously worked at SeeByte as an engineering manager for unmanned vehicle technology. ♦ Emily Judem ’06 was awarded a 2018 Regional Murrow Award Emily Judem ’06 for her piece “What it means to be DACA-mented” in the category of Large Market Radio Station–Best Use of Video. Judem is currently a digital producer for WGBH News in Boston, where she develops digital and multimedia strategy and creates content for the site. ♦ Kate Emery McCarthy ’06 was named executive director of the World Affairs Council of Maine. She has 11 years nonprofit experience, most recently with Limitless Child International.

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es paths with alumni in unlikely settings. He was at Colby for the annual basketball alumni game, and he looks forward to the new developments in Waterville. Y Michael ’07 and Emily Boyle Westbrooks are moving back to Dublin in July. They love visitors—especially Colby friends! Y Barbara Hough and Dominic Kallas got engaged on Christmas night 2017 and plan to get married in June 2019. Y Sara Booth Petrosillo is moving to Evansville, Ind., this summer with her husband, Vincenzo, and their two daughters to begin a new job as assistant professor of medieval and early modern literature at the University of Evansville. Sara finished her Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis in 2016 and has been a visiting assistant professor at Franklin & Marshall College since 2017. She looks forward to this permanent position and to being closer to friends in the Midwest, like her first-year roommate, Emilia Tjernstrom. Y Lindsay Masters works as an environmental regulator for the State of Colorado, helping clean up groundwater pollution and steward a nuclear legacy Superfund site. In February she had beers with Tim Monahan and Michael Feldman ’05 in Boston. Y Jennifer Radcliffe opened her own real estate brokerage this March. She’s owner/principal broker of a team of five operating out of a new office at the golf course in Creswell, Ore. Y Becky Greslick Vance looked forward to a spring of home improvement projects—painting the house, re-lining the pool, fixing rotting door frames, and lots of flower and vegetable

gardening with her kids. Y Rob Jacobs and his wife, Terry, welcomed a daughter, Morgan, in November. Older brother Tyler, 4, is very excited by the new arrival. They’re in a time of transition—when Rob finishes his orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Vermont, they’ll relocate to Seattle in July for a one-year fellowship in orthopedic trauma surgery at Harborview Medical Center. Y Nate Stone writes that Stephen Planas recently tried his hand at home brewing in D.C., creating a tasty birthday stout and inviting other Mules over for samples. Melissa McNulty, Eli Lehrhaupt, Cait Miller, and Lauren Wagoner were at the event, and the stout was very well received overall! Y Josh ’05 and Emily Greene Kahn welcomed their daughter, Evelyn Iris Kahn, March 5. Baby is doing great and has already seen four Boston blizzards in her brief time on earth. Mom was on maternity leave from her position as chief of staff at an education and workforce nonprofit, and dad is a creative director at Arnold Worldwide, an advertising agency. Y Erin Parry and her husband, Adam Hart, welcomed a son, William Lawrence Hart, Dec. 19. Y To round out the baby news, my husband, John McKee, and I welcomed a daughter, Teagan Grace McKee, March 22. She’s happy, healthy, and well loved, especially by her big sister, Quinn.

2007

Adam ’08 and Lindsay Snyder Salamon welcomed Audrey Kay Salamon in March. Y Meghan Church Rennard and her husband welcomed Miles Daniel, also in March. Their eldest, Max William, born May 2016, is learning the ins and outs of how to be a big brother from Spencer Bovill (son of Megan Bovill and Steve Plocher). Megh now works for Teach For America-Baltimore. Y Ian London moved to Steamboat Springs, Colo., to continue his law practice. He enjoys everything the mountains have to offer, and he recently hosted Elise and Bryan Gattis Wulff for a ski trip. Y Jui Shrestha welcomed Dhruv Chadha and Ivica Petrikova and their family to Kathmandu, which ushered in an early spring. * McKenzie Wessen married Dan Chebot Dec. 9 in Freedom, N.H., with her sister, Nicole Wessen Cushman ’05, as maid of honor. Also tearing up the dance floor were Jared Cushman ’05, Meg Smith ’08, Brett Wagenheim ’08, John Goss ’06, Meredith (Lawler ’09) and Bryce Cheney, Anne Cuttler Hicks, and Laura Keeler Pierce.

2008

Palmer McAuliff classnews2008@colby.edu As usual, thanks for sending along your updates! Erica Ciszek accepted a tenure-track position at the University of Texas (Austin) Moody College of Communication, where she’ll be an assistant professor of public relations. She and Christina will move to Austin this summer after the birth of baby #2. Y On March 10 Skylar Sutton and Ronnie Wise were married. Emily Goodnow and Jack Davidson officiated the ceremony. Dustin Hilt, Bailey Woodhull, Michelle Easton, and Sam Boss stood by their sides. Also in attendance were Patrick Sanders, Meaghan Jerrett, Jake Obstfeld ’09, Kat (Brzozowski ’09) and Wes Miller, Courtney Johnson, Jamie O’Connell, and Lijah Barasz ’06. While in California for Skylar and Ronnie’s wedding, Patrick Sanders and his husband, David, enjoyed brunch with Lijah and her husband, Wes. Later in March, Patrick attended a CASE conference in Boston where he heard Gerry Boyle ’78 and Milton Guillén ’15 present. Also in March, he had a nice lunch with Caroline Voyles, who was in D.C. to present at a major public health conference. In February Patrick was promoted to executive director of development and alumni relations at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. He was also named co-chair of the 2019 CASE District II Annual

Conference, one of the largest professional development conferences nationwide for school fundraisers and alumni relations professionals. Y With his family, James Tang has opened two restaurants in New York City: casual-dining restaurant Shorty Tang’s and fine-dining spot Hwa Yuan Szechuan. Both restaurants have received attention from the media, including spots from New York Magazine, the New York Post, the Travel Channel, NBC World News, Fox News Channel, and the New York Times. Hwa Yuan recently received two stars and a strong review from New York Times head food critic Peter Wells. James also remains at Alliance Global Partners, where he works as vice president of investment banking, focusing on advising and raising capital for companies in the health care sector. Y In May Jessica Osborne celebrated one year since she moved to Tennessee for her job at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and bought her first house. She works alongside researchers and engineers and uses x-rays, ultrasound, and other methods to test the newest experimental metals and other materials, nuclear products, and other technologies being developed. Y Kate Yedinak Payson shared that Sarah Switchenko married Ishan Singh last summer in Harwich Port, Mass. Kate, Alex Pietroforte, Dan Heinrich ’09, and Aman Singh Dang were all in the wedding party, and there were many Colby grads in attendance. Dan and Kate were excited to join Switch and Ishan for part two of their wedding last November—this time in India! She reports that the newlyweds are doing fabulously, still living in NYC. As for Kate, she’s excited to have a new job as the assistant head of the Expressive Language Program at Landmark School in Beverly, Mass. Y In October Alex Pietroforte married Alexis Poirier. Many alumni were in attendance, including Kate Yedinak Payson, John Kester, Jenn Li ’10, Dan Heinrich ’09, Sarah Switchenko Singh, and Ishan Singh, who led the ceremony.

2009

Olivia Sterling classnews2009@colby.edu Daniel Zawitoski got married last year, and he was named chief of staff to Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52). Y Sam Hoff married Elisabeth Russell (Bates ’10) in Boston June 2. His groomsmen included Dylan Perry, Logan King, and Alexander Richards. Joshua Sadownik officiated the ceremony, and many more Colby friends were in attendance. Y Catherine Coffman married Bob Hammill March 17 in Healdsburg. Christina Mok (who attends all Colby weddings), Jess


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Angelica D’Aiello graduated from the Stony Brook School of Medicine this May and will start an internal medicine residency in July. Y After catching up with many classmates at reunion last summer, Trip Smith left his job and spent 10 days in Ecuador with a tour group doing extreme sports (whitewater rafting, canyoning, zip lining, trekking, and mountain biking). Upon his return to the U.S., Trip started a full-time M.B.A. program at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Last

Thank you to everyone who wrote in with updates in advance of our fifth-year reunion. Y Matt LaPine and Emily Unger have been living together in Asheville the better part of three years. “When we’re not out enjoying one of the 30-plus breweries in town, you can find us hitting the trails by bike and foot, along with our four-legged, stick-chasing, dock-jumping trail master black lab, Baxter. Can you guess where his name came from?!” Y James Hootsmans writes, “It’s been a topsy-turvy few months for me in the Los Angeles area, but I finally have a new place in Surf City and a new job. Alas, I won’t make reunion unless I magically build up some paid time off. But, Class of 2013, stay strong, and remember we are the bicentennial class!” Y Alexandre Caillot is well on his way to earning his Ph.D. in history at Temple University, where he specializes in American military history. He just passed his comprehensive exams with distinction, which he says is a rarely bestowed designation. Alexandre is now preparing his prospectus for a dissertation on the Civil War. Y Laura Crowley reports

Kyle Wehner finished a master’s degree in politics at Oxford University and returned to his hometown of Albany, N.Y., to pursue an internship at the New York State Senate. He’ll attend Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., this fall. Y After a year teaching abroad in various places, Jeff Lamson settled in Connecticut and has taught history and coached football and wrestling at the Taft School for the past three years. This fall he’ll head to Colorado Springs for a new gig teaching at Fountain Valley School. He still spends every summer in Maine working at Camp Winona, and he plans to continue doing so forever-ish. Y Camille Gross got married in March in Raleigh, N.C., to Max Inman. Mules in attendance included Margaux LeBlanc ’15, Jack Walpuck ’16, Jill Riendeau ’15, George Humphrey ’15, Shannon Kooser, and Kelsey Park. Camille and Max live in Raleigh, where Max is a computer engineer with Verizon, and Camille works as the assistant to a child psychologist. Y Trevor Shorb has been in Cambridge, Mass., since returning from service in the Peace Corps in El Salvador. He’s worked for two years now at an international education company called Education First, where he manages development programs in Latin America. Since graduating, he’s surfed in San Diego with Tom Nagler, completed a triathlon on Long Island with John Madeira, summited 14ers in Denver with

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Sarah Janes classnews2012@colby.edu

Sarah Lyon classnews2013@colby.edu

Anders Peterson classnews2014@colby.edu

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After completing his executive M.B.A. at the Owen Graduate School of Business at Vanderbilt this spring, Zander Koallick is working for a fin-tech company and looking forward to what’s next. Y This spring Emily Hilton completed the coursework for her master’s degree at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She’s traveling to Colombia this summer to do the research for her dissertation. Y Charlotte Wilder lives in Brooklyn, where she watches a lot of cake decorating videos on Instagram and thinks about getting some houseplants. Y Tory Gray Fenton and her husband are expecting a baby boy this summer, due July 18. Future Colby grad in the making! Y Last July Annie Wardwell and Noah Atlas were married in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Around 30 Colby grads were in attendance to celebrate. Y Adan Hussain works at the University of Michigan and recently returned from traveling in Japan. Y Nikki Busmanis gave birth to a baby girl, Andra “Andi” Marie. Both mom and baby are doing well and looking forward to summer in Maine. Y In August Catherine Mullin will begin a dual degree program at the University of Michigan, pursuing her M.B.A. at Ross School of Business and her M.S. in natural resources and environment sustainable systems from the School for Environment and Sustainability.

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In August Erica “Jeb” Block will move from Brooklyn to Phoenix to pursue a graduate degree in sports journalism and broadcasting at Arizona State. Before leaving New York she’ll go with Sara Hutchins ’09 and Cosme Del Rosario-Bell ’12 to a bunch of games at Yankee Stadium, and she’ll spend some quality time with Colby’s woodsmen alumni community at the 72nd Annual Spring Meet, where Marty Dodge ’65 and Kate Braemer ’07 are favored to win the doubles canoeing event. Y Kelsey Gibbs and Matt Silverman ’12 just bought a farm in MidCoast Maine. They have plans to convert it into Wanderwood, a sustainable lodging and events venue, over the next few years. Y Casey Sullivan, currently a senior editorial director at Bloomberg Law, will spend next year at Columbia University as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow, an honor awarded to 10 business and economics journalists from across the globe. Y Leigh Bullion and Ross Nehrt survived the long Maine winter and are excited to welcome new

Rian Ervin classnews2011@colby.edu

that she’s been “working furiously in the lab every day.” In addition, she has advanced to Ph.D. candidacy, presented her work at several conferences on developmental biology and prostate cancer, and she became the principal bassist of the Columbia University Medical Center Symphony. Lastly, a paper she coauthored with several other current and former Colby students—from her time in the lab of Assistant Professor of Biology Dave Angelini—was accepted to Nature Communications. Y Alex Rasmussen was busy last year doing research and teaching undergraduates at Yale. He went to several international math conferences and had a paper published. Y In December 2017 Priscilla McCelvey finished up her master’s at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. There, she focused on human security and international conflict resolution. She adds, “Peggy Meyer and Ryan and Kendall Hatch Winter were in attendance at my graduation! I’m working now in D.C. at Chemonics International.”

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Caity Murphy classnews2010@colby.edu

2011

spring he traveled to India with a student consulting team to work onsite with a client. Y Michael Brophy has gone full Virginian. He’s working toward his M.B.A. at the University of Virginia and marrying a fellow Wahoo. They plan to stay in Charlottesville long term. Last year he founded Identify, a company that helps families with paperwork when a loved one passes away. Y Annalyse Tamashiro left her job at Harvard to become a user-experience designer. She’s completing a UX design immersive course at General Assembly in Boston. Y Hannah DeAngelis and Aleah Starr ’11, Tim Corkum ’11, Jill Howell, and Sarah Wright ’11 were last seen at Bubba’s Sulky Lounge in Portland, Maine. Y Caitlin Burchill works as a news reporter in Salt Lake City. She’s been spending time with fellow Mules out West. She visited Colby women’s volleyball teammate Maggie Taylor ’13 in Montana, ran into a spunky crew in Oahu, Hawaii—Laura Burns, Sandy Johnson, and Eliza Larson ’13—and stayed with Pollee Hruby Brookings ‘09 and her husband in a yurt outside Bryce Canyon National Park. She also hosted a Colby alumni party in SLC with Sara LoTemplio ’16. Amidst all of her socializing Caitlin found time to train for and run the Boston Marathon! Y Great to hear from so many of you this time around! Thanks, as always, for your notes.

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Portland resident Sarajane Blair. They were thankfully only invited to one Colby wedding this summer, so please don’t invite them to any more. Y Emily Marzulli married Peter Rummel ’11 at a wedding well attended by 37 Colby alumni. Check out a photo of everyone (except a few missing: Tim Brettingen, Amy Hernandez ’11, and Jeanne Loftus ’11) at colby.edu/mag.

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Stern, Stephanie Grocke, and Catherine Fanning were there to help celebrate under an actual double rainbow. Y In April Scott Zeller and Danny Wasserman ran the Ragnar Relay SoCal in sunny San Diego with Allison Stewart, Patrick Roche, and Sameera Anwar ’10. Separately, Scotty finally broke the three-hour barrier in his ninth marathon! Y Dan Heinrich trained for the Raleigh 70.3 Half Ironman for June and was excited to see friends Scott Zeller, Sameera Anwar ’10, Anuja Kapur (’10 but transferred), and Scott Carberry while there. Y Devon Anderson graduated with his M.D. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Oregon Health & Science University in June. He matched into orthopaedic surgery at the University of Rochester. Meanwhile, Abigail Sussman Anderson continues to shape future Colbians as a college counselor with College Coach. They’re excited for this next adventure but so sad to leave Christina Mok, Andy McEvoy, Liz Mortati ’08, Austin Ross ’08, Pollee Hruby, Lucas Bennett, John Perkins ’11, and other Colbians in Portland. They hope to get as many Colby visitors in Rochester as they’ve had in Portland, but they’re a little suspect of that happening! Y Brooke Barron and her husband, Sam, welcomed their son, Owen, into the world March 18. He’s adorable, and they’re loving life as a family of three in Berkeley, Calif. * That’s all we’ve got for now—great to hear from everyone!

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Russ Wilson, cycled Chicago with Jack Bryant, and will surely get weird with Matt Carroll when they meet up in Berlin this summer. Y Dan and Christine Kashian Sunderland are expecting their first child in September. Dan and Christine married in 2016, and their wedding party included Max Cushner, Maddy Renzetti, Becky Forgrave, Bertrand Teirlinck, Terrence Tan, and Catherine Sharp ’15. Y Ian Boldt is entering his second year as the head boys’ lacrosse coach at Cushing Academy. Coach Boldt is excited to lead the Purple Penguins to new heights. Y Josephine Liang has been working as a campaigner in food sustainability, especially food waste. Her latest personal campaign is called Free Tasting, which is a foodie Instagram with a twist—everything featured is saved from the landfill. It was featured in the Mirror, the Sun, HK01, Business Insider, and more. Josephine currently runs her own company in London called DayOld, a food surplus social enterprise that fights food poverty and food waste, with treats saved for tomorrow. They collect surplus bread and baked goods from artisan bakeries and sell them in office pop-ups, catering, and treat boxes, donating their profits to provide unrestricted monetary support for charities fighting child hunger. Y William Hochman is in New York City, still working as an actor. His next job is a two-person play at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. It’s a new piece by Adam Rapp called The Sound Inside. He’ll be acting opposite Mary-Louise Parker. Break a leg, Will! Y Marianne Ferguson graduated from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in 2016 with a master’s of environmental management in coastal environmental management. For the past year and a half, she’s worked as a National Environmental Policy Act analyst for the National Marine Fisheries Service at their regional office in Gloucester, Mass. She lives on the North Shore, hikes a lot in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and would love to catch up with Colby classmates in Boston. Y I continue to be the only person in the greater Los Angeles area who wears clothes from L.L.Bean. I’m still working as the vice president of sales at a small company that supplies technology related to visual effects in the media and entertainment industry. One of my recent job highlights was being involved with Alejandro Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning VR experience “Carne y Arena,” which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and now has locations in Los Angeles, Milan, Mexico City, and Washington, D.C.

10s NEWSMAKERS The New York Times profiled Emma Brown ’16 about young women who are running campaigns this year. Brown was working for Virginia’s Lindsey Davis Stover, who told the Times, “I wanted Emma because she’s intelligent, she’s compassionate, she’s driven. I wanted someone with grit to walk through the fire.” ♦ “Crossover Artist” is the title of a Q&A with Abukar Adan ’17 in DownEast magazine. Adan was Maine Public’s Jim Dowe Public Media Intern and produced a number of pieces on Muslims in Maine. ♦ Muheb Esmat ’17 held a Q&A with JDEED magazine about being an artist and Abukar Adan ’17 about two of his projects: 08.25.17 and a project on graffiti in Kabul, Afghanistan. Esmat’s work is “autobiographical. It’s deeply influenced by my own past,” he told JDEED.

2015

Molly Nash classnews2015@colby.edu Katrina Belle works as a carpentry lead for Teton Habitat for Humanity, where she’s building 24 category-one homes in Jackson, Wyo. Y Joe DeAngelo is enrolling in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s MSTP program, working toward an M.D./Ph.D. degree. Y Anna Doyle was accepted to Indiana University for a master’s of fine arts in acting. She’s headed there this August for their three-year program. Y Molly Hodgkins graduated from the University of Maine in May with a master’s in higher education. She was recognized with the Higher Education Excellence Award and as the Graduate Student Employee of the Year. She’s job searching for a position at an institution that promotes access for traditionally marginalized and underserved student populations. Recently, she met up with Ellie Quinby, Victoria Falcon, Karen Chen, and Matt D’Orazio for some good ol’ honky-tonkin’ in the wild city of Nashville. Y Catherine Minahan lives in Boston, where she works in corporate relations and patient programming at Boston Health Care for the homeless program. She takes classes after work toward eventually going to nursing school. Catherine loves having Colby alumni volunteer with patients—if you’re in the area, don’t hesitate to reach out! Y Haley Oleynik lives in Seattle and works for the National Marine Fisheries Service as a fisheries observer. She goes up to Alaska (the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea) for two months at a time to live on commercial Pollock-fishing vessels and collect biological data of their catch. Haley has applied to graduate schools for fisheries science and is awaiting decisions.

Y Kayla Turner received her J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law May 19. She graduated as a Daniel Webster Scholar and therefore doesn’t have to sit for a bar exam. She was sworn into the New Hampshire Bar and the Federal Bar for the District of New Hampshire May 18, 2018. Y Molly Wylie worked for two years as a research coordinator at Boston Children’s Hospital on a grant-funded study of women’s health and disability. She now works as a geriatric care advisor at Springwell in Waltham, Mass., and will begin the gerontology Ph.D. program at UMass Boston this fall.

2016

Holly Bogo classnews2016@colby.edu Hello, hello, Class of 2016! I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying warmer weather. Y This July Mike Loginoff will graduate with a master’s from the University of Oxford and move to London to work on the investment banking team with Citi. Y Sam Reed recently started at Digiday Media in New York as the business development coordinator. Y Emily Berry is in her second year of Teach for America on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She’s teaching middle school science and coaching the cross country team. Y Martin Turrin, Jesse Juntura, and Jacob Kandel videoconference monthly to catch up on business and life and to plan a grade-A bro trip to the Philippines to surf, dine, and connect with Jesse’s extended family. Y Hannah Schafer is finishing up her Teach for America commitment in Lawrence, Mass. Along with teaching third grade full time, she graduated this spring from BU with a master’s of education. Y Casey Ballin switched his home over to energy-efficient

LED light bulbs and has successfully shown his Colby friends how easy it is to be green. Y Pat Stewart is in his first year as a math teacher, basketball/tennis coach, and dorm parent at Millbrook School in New York. Y Gillian Katz lives in New York City and runs brand and content strategy at Real World Playbook, an early-stage startup aimed at helping 20-somethings acclimate to the real world. Y Holly Bogo spent a phenomenal weekend In May with a number of Mules on Cape Cod and appreciated the wonderful hospitality of Stephen O’Grady and Elizabeth Sull. Y Thomas Gregston graduated with his M.Ed. from UPenn and now works as an associate dean of students at St. Paul’s School. He’s also stoked about Kel Mitchel coming to visit the East Coast!

2017

Brian Martinez classnews2017@colby.edu


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2018 Commencement

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May 26-27, 2018

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OBITUARIES Richard A. Field ’43, April 17, 2018, in Miami, Fla., at 97. He served during World War II with the U.S. Army, spending time in Guam and the Philippines. He became an educator in Miami after earning his master’s in 1948 from Columbia University. In addition to teaching, he was a curriculum coordinator and directed a reading-study skills lab. He raised Doberman Pinschers and orchids, played golf, and loved nature. His son, Roger, a granddaughter, and a sister survive him.

COLBY Spring 2018

Harold Joseph ’44, May 15, 2018, in Portland, Maine, at 95. He left Colby in 1943 to serve with the U.S. Army in World War II in the South Pacific Theater, where he earned a Bronze Star. He married Najla “Naj” Nawfel in 1946, and together they ran Joseph’s Clothing and Sporting Goods in Fairfield, Maine, for nearly 70 years with help from their daughter and son-in-law. His love of athletics was passed on to many people, mostly through the Fairfield Police Athletic League, which he helped found. He loved baseball, and he was a competitive golfer who was fortunate enough to play a hole with legendary golfer Sam Snead. Survivors include three children, including Paula Joseph Eustis ’69 and her husband, Jon Eustis ’69, five grandchildren, including Sarah Eustis ’96 and her husband, Andrew Meeks ’96, and two great-granddaughters.

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Frank Strup Jr. ’44, May 4, 2018, in Lawrenceville, N.J., at 96. Service in the U.S. Navy during World War II interrupted his studies at Colby, taking him first to Bates College for the Navy V-12 program, then to mid-shipman school at Northwestern University, and finally to the Pacific Theater. Following the war, he built a financial career through U.S. Steel, R.J. Nabisco, and Johnson & Johnson, where he retired after 30 years as director of finance. He enjoyed golf, tennis, fishing, watching the NBA, and playing poker. Survivors include two children, three grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and a brother, Joseph Strup ’45.

Ruth Parsons Van Hoek ’44, Jan. 9, 2018, in Carlisle, Mass., at 95. After two years of study at Colby, she transferred to Simmons College, where she earned a B.S. in 1944. She was a minister’s wife and homemaker, and then later worked at Tufts University and at a bank in Conway, N.H., while tending to her farmhouse, orchard, and garden in Stow, Maine. She played the piano and organ and sang in community and church choirs, including at the Needham Congregation Church until age 92. Two daughters, including Deborah Van Hoek Abraham ’69, and a grandson survive her. Edwin S. Gibson ’45, Aug. 11, 2017, in South Paris, Maine, at 93. He left Colby to serve with the Army in World War II, continuing his education while in the service and receiving a degree in dentistry from Tufts. He established a dental practice in South Paris, which he left for a period during the Korean War, serving as a dentist in the Air Force until 1953. He received a degree in orthodontics in 1963 from Boston University and practiced in Maine until retirement. He enjoyed music and art; he became an accomplished basket maker; he loved to cook and grow his own vegetables—in his late 70s he became a master gardener; he was a lifelong Mason and a deacon emeritus and trustee of his church. His wife of 67 years, Jane, five children, including James Gibson ’75, nine grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and two siblings survive him. Cloyd G. Aarseth ’46, May 8, 2018, in Falls Church, Va., at 91. Drafted but classified as 1-AL (limited service) due to a childhood eye injury, he was one of the few men on campus during the war. His career began as a newspaper reporter for the New York Telegraph & Sun, and then he wrote, directed, and produced a current events film series for New York City-area school children and a documentary television series Perspective on Greatness. He traveled extensively to produce documentary films for the United States Informa-

tion Agency under Edward R. Murrow. After retiring he worked for the Sudan Interior Mission U.S.A. communications department, producing “Mission Minute” for radio stations across the country. Predeceased by his wife, Joan, and his brother Marvin Aarseth ’51, he is survived by three children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Shirley M. Bessey ’48, Feb. 1, 2018, in Waterville, Maine, at 92. A love of farms and of education united in her life’s work advocating for and teaching agricultural practices in Maine, Kansas, and Saskatchewan, Canada. She earned an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin in 1957 and an Ed.D. from Boston University in 1975. She returned to Thor-Nox Farms in Waldo County, Maine, where she was born and raised, in 1985 and worked alongside her brother, Roy, to ensure the farm was protected from development, which they achieved in 2003 with an easement to the Maine Farmland Trust. Survivors include cousins Chip and Bette Jane Bessey, supportive friend Joe Mattos ’73, and neighbors in Waldo County. Mary Patricia Conway ’48, Jan. 28, 2018, in Ellicott City, Md., at 90. A longtime resident of Baltimore, she worked various jobs near her home in the neighborhood of Ten Hills. Along with her father, she hosted family dinners and put on Easter egg hunts that became a beloved tradition. For many years, she raised and trained yellow Labradors. Her brother, a niece, and two nephews survive her. Charles Cousins ’48, Dec. 24, 2017, in Duxbury, Mass., at 92. His Colby education was interrupted after his first year by service with the U.S. Navy during World War II. He returned and completed his education and then worked as a salesman for various companies. He volunteered with his town’s Little League, Boy Scouts, and church; he served as president and treasurer of the Standish Shore Improvement

Association; and he was a Masonic 32nd degree member. Tennis, bridge, skiing, and gardening occupied his free time. His wife of 68 years, Elizabeth “Libby” Hall Cousins ’49, four sons, including Neal Cousins ’84, 10 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter survive him. Edward E. Kaplan ’48, Dec. 19, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio, at 91. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, completed his Colby degree, and then earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. He worked in merchandising, becoming vice president for Gimbels before retiring in 1999. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Shirley, two sons, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a brother, Lawrence S. Kaplan ’47. Carleton E. Porter ’49, March 3, 2018, at 92. He was an aviation cadet with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He worked for 35 years at General Electric, mostly in data processing and computer programming in their jet engine and component test department, until he retired in 1986. Along with his wife, he established a knitting hobby and small business, complete with four machines. They also traveled extensively in Europe. He and his wife, Dorothy, raised four children. June White Rosenberg ’49, Dec. 29, 2017, in Brookline, Mass., at 89. She received a master’s in chemistry from Boston University in 1952 and then worked as a technician in a research lab at MIT until becoming a mother. She later joined her husband working the family business, Atlas Liquor, where she became president. She served as treasurer of WAABI, a statewide organization of the alcoholic beverage industry, and in 1993 received the Israel Unity Award from the Food and Beverage Industry Division of State of Israel Bonds. She was active in the League of Women Voters and volunteered with the school library and local Girl Scouts Council.


Survivors include three children, six grandchildren, and three siblings, including Robert White ’51.

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Arnold Van Hoven Bernhard ’57, March 7, 2018, in Westport, Conn., at 83. An entrepreneur, ecologist, artist, and philanthropist, he began his life after Colby in the U.S. Air Force, rising from lieutenant

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Margaret Grant Ludwig ’55, Dec. 2, 2017, in Houlton, Maine, at 84. Born in India to missionary parents, she was raised in Houlton and returned there to raise her own family. Committed to community work, she

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Richard Q. Clough ’55, Sept. 2, 2017, in North Fort Myers, Fla., at 83. Following graduation, he served two years in the U.S. Army, after which he established a career in management with the Campbell Soup Company. Retiring in Florida, he stayed active with a men’s golf association, a men’s choir, a town bowling league, and volunteer work with the emergency defibrillator program. Predeceased by his sister Suzanne Clough Kerns ’52, he is survived by his companion, Lois Gallo, two daughters, three stepchildren, and seven grandchildren.

Henry F.G. Wey III ’56, Feb. 22, 2018, in Hingham, Mass., at 84. He served as a captain with the U.S. Air Force after graduation and then went on to a career in insurance. He worked first at Chubb and Son followed by a long stint at Alexander and Alexander, becoming senior vice president. He also served as president of the National Association of Insurance Brokers. His church, where he was senior warden; the Hingham Harbor Development Committee, where he was instrumental in developing Whitney Wharf; and his local pension board, yacht club, and golf club benefited from his involvement. He loved skiing, tennis, golfing, and sailing. Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Marilyn Brooks Wey ’56, three daughters, seven grandchildren, and a brother.

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Barnet “Bunny” Fain ’53, May 4, 2018, in Rhode Island at 86. After college, he served in the U.S. Army running a YMCA and children’s theater group in Germany after the Korean War. He returned to his home state of Rhode Island and joined the family business, Fain Floorcovering, and ran it with his cousin and son for 38 years while the business grew. In 1983 he was on the cover of Flooring Magazine for his merchandising achievements. He served his community extensively: as founding president of Barrington Jewish Center, which became Temple Habonim; establishing an art gallery at the synagogue, named in his honor; as founder of the Rhode Island Arts Festival; as first chair of the Rhode

K. Dino Sirakides ’55, March 3, 2018, in Glenview, Ill., at 84. After turning down the opportunity to become a professional golfer, he developed an engineering career with increasing responsibility with companies such as Litton Industries, Rockwell Industries, and Victor Comptometer. He played a key role in transitioning business desktop calculators from mechanical to electronic systems. An avid golfer, he maintained a single-digit handicap most of his life. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Helen, two children, including Mair Sirakides Hill ’83, and six grandchildren.

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Henry B. Hummel ’52, April 8, 2018, in Fostoria, Ohio, at 87. A Korean War veteran, he served four years with the U.S. Navy, earning an M.B.A. from Babson Institute in 1954. He later earned a J.D. from the University of Baltimore and then worked in banking, staying at the job until he was 75. He was a member of the Harvest Baptist Temple, Clyde, and he supported a local mission and animal shelter. He was an avid Red Sox fan and enjoyed sailing, surfing, and water sports with his family. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Gertrude Jefferson Hummel ’54, four children, eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a sister.

Lorraine Arcese Wales ’54, Feb. 3, 2017, in Granville, Ohio, at 85. A pianist and a performer, she accompanied choirs and gave lessons while raising her children. In 1971 she began working at Denison University, first as a musician for the dance department and then as founding director of the Vail Series for the Performing Arts, a position she held for 34 years. She was credited with building a visiting arts program that was central to the university experience and brought world-class musicians to campus. Lorraine enjoyed cooking and entertaining as well. Predeceased by her husband of 66 years, George Wales ’51, she is survived by her three children and three grandchildren.

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George S. Deeb ’51, May 1, 2018, in Syracuse, N.Y., at 91. He served as a medic for the U.S. Navy during World War II, earned his G.E.D., came to Colby, and then returned to service during the Korean War. In 1956 he received a master’s in biochemistry from Georgetown University and then worked as a biochemist for more than 30 years developing chemotherapy drugs; he also coauthored numerous research articles. He was active with his church, including singing in the

John A. Beatson ’52, Oct. 27, 2016, at 88.

championed for fluoridated water and raised funds for the local hospital; she served in the PTA, garden club, and AAUW; she was a trustee of Ricker College and chair of her local school board; and she served four terms as a Maine state senator. She earned her American citizenship in 1960 following a 10-year process. Predeceased by her mother, Dorothy Grant Mitchell ’21, and an aunt Helen Mitchell ’27, she is survived by three children, five grandchildren, and a sister.

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Ann Jennings Taussig ’49, Feb. 6, 2018, in Wolfeboro, N.H., at 90. A dedicated mother and homemaker, she also volunteered in her community: as a Cub Scouts den mother and as a member of numerous boards, including the local hospital volunteer program, her Presbyterian church, and a nursery school. She was also active with garden clubs. She and her late husband of 56 years, John Taussig Jr., raised four children and had many grandchildren. Among her survivors are twin sisters Alice Jennings Castelli ’50 and Elisabeth “Dudie” Jennings Maley ’50 and nephews William Maley ’81 and Andrew Maley ’86.

Marie Donovan Kent ’51, March 9, 2018, in Canton, Mass., at 88. She became an R.N. in 1955 and later, in 1986, earned her B.S.N. from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She worked at Norwood Hospital both as a nurse and as an administrator. Gardening and involvement with her church filled her free time. Three sons, three grandchildren, and extended family, including cousins Ernest Perry III ’87 and Grace Perry Shepley ’97, survive her.

Island Council of the Arts; and as board chair of numerous museums, including the Colby Museum of Art and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, which awarded him its President’s Medal. Later in life, he committed himself to health care and education, helping to establish lifelong learning programs. He also became an artist—drawing and printmaking—and had his work shown in numerous galleries. He taught drawing classes until the end of his life and hosted an annual plein air event. Predeceased by his wife, Jean, he is survived by two children, three grandchildren, and a sister.

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Anne Bither Shire ’49, Jan. 15, 2018, in Scarborough, Maine, at 89. An advocate for troubled youth and the developmentally disabled, she volunteered with the Valley Youth House in Allentown, Pa., serving as president for six years. She helped establish a fund for youth and children in Allentown to fill in service gaps; she counseled developmentally disabled women; she was a volunteer counselor and board member with Planned Parenthood of Leigh Valley; and she held numerous roles locally and nationally with the Episcopal Church. She was a competitive duplicate bridge player, a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, and a 20-year participant in the Nurses’ Health Study. Predeceased by her father, Roy Bither ’26, she is survived by her husband of 64 years, Donald, three children, including Andrew Shire ’79, six grandchildren, and a brother.

choir, and he enjoyed golfing. Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Jean, two children, four grandchildren, and a sister.

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to captain. He went to work for his father’s company, Value Line Investment Survey, and was a vanguard in computerizing the company. He later started Printing Services, Inc., which computerized mailing lists, and Hummingbird Farms, a hydroponic tomato farm. He was also partner in three other businesses. He donated generously to Quinnipiac University, Tufts University, and Colby, where he endowed the Arnold Bernhard Professorship in Arts and Humanities, named after his father, who received an honorary degree from Colby in 1984. A staunch patron of the arts, he became a pastel artist and won first prize in a juried show in 2006. He maintained a tropical ecology field station on Hummingbird Cay in the Bahamas for research and experiments for Tufts, and he coauthored scientific papers on island ecology. Survivors include his wife, Dianne, and their three children; daughters Edith Bernhard Van Breems ’87 and Ingrid Bernhard Gordon ’93 from a previous marriage; eight grandchildren and a great-grandson; and his twin sister. Charles R. Fraser ’57, April 4, 2018, in Massachusetts at 87. He joined the U.S. Army after two years at Colby, serving as a second lieutenant. He went to work in his family’s business, Fraser Nursing Homes of Cape Cod, which expanded to several locations. He is survived by his wife, Joyce Frazier Fraser ’56.

COLBY Spring 2018

David Olsen ’57, Jan. 18, 2018, in Exeter, N.H., at 83. Following his service with the U.S. Marine Corps, he established a career as a CPCU in the insurance industry. He also held leadership roles in civic organizations and with his church, and he cofounded an inter-town soccer program in Somers, Conn. Survivors include his children, William Olsen ’85 and Elizabeth Stevens, four grandchildren, and a brother.

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Doris Turcotte Thomas ’57, Jan. 31, 2018, in Littleton, Colo., at 82. A mathematics major at Colby, she became a pioneering software engineer, starting with General Electric in 1957. After taking time off to raise her children, she returned to work and developed software for defense

contractors. A devout Catholic and active churchgoer, she was also a football fan dedicated to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Two daughters and three grandsons survive her. Sheila McAllister Laverty ’58, Jan. 5, 2018, in Cromwell, Conn., at 80. Her family and home were the main focus of her life, but she also worked, first with Aetna and then at Choice magazine, where she worked until 2016. She belonged to a knitting club and was active with her church. Three children, four grandchildren, and a sister survive her. Gerald Wolper ’58, Jan. 11, 2018, in Beverly, Mass., at 81. He earned a law degree from Boston University in 1961 and then served in the Army Reserve. He practiced law for 35 years with the National Labor Relations Board and then started a second career as a substitute middle school teacher in Beverly. Survivors include his wife, Susan, two children, and two grandsons. John Reed Thompson ’59, Jan. 11, 2018, in Solana Beach, Calif., at 82. Graduating from the Navy’s Officers Candidate School, he spent four years as an air intelligence officer and navigator in a P2V Neptune patrol squadron. In 1965 he earned a master’s in international relations from Vanderbilt University, and he worked as an international banker for two years before establishing a 50-year career in securities, research, and sales on Wall Street. He loved California, horse races at Del Mar, traveling, reading, and engaging with his grandchildren. His wife of 50 years, Solange, two children, three grandchildren, and a brother survive him. David M. Tierney ’60, June 6, 2016, in Newburyport, N.H., at 78. A lieutenant with the U.S. Navy, he was on the first crew of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He became a realtor, co-owning and operating Harbor Realty in Newburyport, where he was named realtor of the year in 1990 and 2010. He served on boards in his community—the zoning board, the historical society, an association of realtors—played bridge weekly, and engaged in political

discussions with a “news and views” group. He spent summers with his family on Little Diamond Island in Maine. Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Jill Tierney, three children, two grandsons, two siblings, and extended family, including cousin Frederick O’Connell ’59. J. Alden Wentworth ’60, April 8, 2018, in Brewster, Mass., at 79. He was a vice president and funeral director at Freedom Wentworth and Sons in Waltham, Mass. Active in his community, he belonged to the Masonic Lodge and the Rotary Club. He and his wife, Helen, raised four children. Susan Schaeff Pineo ’63, April 11, 2018, in Beaufort, S.C., at 76. A homemaker, she earned an M.F.A. in printmaking from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1983. Predeceased by her sister, Gayle Schaeff Fox ’58, she is survived by her husband of 54 years, Paul Pineo ’63— with whom she raised a son, Paul— and extended family, including her niece, Sarah Fox Whalen ’82. Adele Ackley Pluta ’63, September 2017, in Virginia at 77. She earned a certificate in data processing from Providence College and worked at Sperry-Univac, first as a systems analyst then as director of network solutions. Predeceased by her father, Carl Ackley ’33, and an aunt, Doris Ackley Smith ’24, she’s survived by her husband, Joseph, with whom she raised two sons. J. Stephen Weeks ’63, Dec. 18, 2017, in St. Paul, Minn., at 75. He served as ensign in the U.S. Navy and was ship navigator on the USS Comstock in the Pacific Ocean. In 1973 he earned a B.Arch. from the University of Minnesota and went on to teach there for 31 years while also serving as director of graduate and undergraduate studies and department co-head at the School of Architecture. He also served as board member and treasurer for the American Institute of Architects. His love of the outdoors was expressed through biking and camping trips and as a master gardener. His wife, Karen, two children, two grandchildren, and three brothers survive him.

Donald B. Haughs ’64, March 31, 2018, in Greenwich, Conn., at 75. After earning his M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1967, he established a career in banking. He was a loyal family man who took his family on frequent trips, supported their athletic endeavors, and shared his love of fishing with them. An avid sportsman, he belonged to the Greenwich Country Club and the Mianus River Boat and Yacht Club. Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Joan, five children, including Lorin Haughs Pratley ’88, and 19 grandchildren. Bruce L. Lippincott ’64, November 2017, in Illinois at 75. He earned a master’s in 1972 in biology and a doctorate in aquatic biology in 1975, both from Lehigh University, and then became an environmental consultant for Lawler, Matusky & Skelly Engineers, first in New York and then in Illinois. He served on the board of the Illinois Environmental Council and as president of the Illinois chapter of the American Fisheries Society. Bruce and his wife, Robin, raised two sons and a daughter. Peter J. Whalley ’64, Feb. 12, 2018, in Plymouth, Mass., at 75. He earned an M.B.A. from Boston University and worked for various corporations, including General Electric and Digital Equipment Corp. He played golf, enjoyed swimming, and loved his home on the water “down the Cape.” He and his late wife, Louise, raised a daughter, Karen Whalley ’98. Lois Rudolph Szostak ’66, Nov. 26, 2017, in Melville, N.Y., at 72. She was a systems engineer for IBM before becoming a mother and a homemaker. Survivors include her husband, Richard, two daughters, and two grandchildren. John M. O’Shea ’67, Jan. 3, 2018, in Brentwood, Tenn., at 72. He earned a master’s in hospital administration from Trinity University and an M.B.A. from Babson College, applying both to his career as a hospital administrator in Boston, Chicago, and at Brentwood Hospital in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Alice, six children, and 17 grandchildren.


James M. Gaylord Jr. ’76, Jan. 19, 2018, in San Francisco, Calif., at 63.

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J. Fenn Duncan ’83, Nov. 29, 2015, in Kittery Point, Maine, at 54. She earned a master’s from Simmons College and worked at an investment management company. She found pleasure in the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle, comfort at the Unitarian Universalist South Church, and purpose in adopting rescue animals. Her wife, Laurie Bilby, her parents, and a sister survive her.

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Richard G. MacKay ’72, April 9, 2018, in West Hartford, Conn., at 67. He earned a graduate degree at Brown University and then went on to teach in Watertown public schools. He also worked for Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection. Summer vacations were

Stephen C. Jasinski ’73, Jan. 8, 2018, in Rochester, N.H., at 67. A star athlete in high school, he was drafted as a pitcher by the New York Mets but chose to come to Colby instead. He earned an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Administration at Dartmouth College, worked as a C.P.A. at the corporate level, and then started his own consulting business. He enjoyed sailing, hiking, golfing, and watching the Red Sox. Survivors include his wife, Barbara Plummer Jasinski ’76, three children, including Sarah Jasinski ’04, and two brothers.

Gary D. Socquet ’91, April 10, 2018, in Waterville, Maine, at 49. Described as a polymath, a dedicated reader and writer, a connoisseur of music, and a barroom philosopher, he died at a bar. He worked in publishing and finance, most recently at Nicholson, Michaud & Company in Waterville. A friend to many, he loved his daughter, Braden Lily, who survives him along with her mother. His father, four siblings, and his companion, Katie Witham, also survive him.

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Robert E. Parry ’71, Jan. 27, 2018, in Arlington, Va., at 68. An investigative journalist, he began working for the Associated Press in 1974 and covered such stories as the Iran-Contra scandal and the CIA’s production of an assassination manual for Nicaraguan rebels, for which he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1985. He

Paul C. Ford ’72, March 7, 2018, in Atlanta, Ga., at 67. Following graduation, he traveled in Europe, Morocco, and Tokyo, supporting himself by acting, translating, and making pottery. He settled in Atlanta, earning a law degree from Emory University, where he was editor of the Emory University Law Review. He earned an excellent reputation working in law firms in Atlanta before founding his own firm. Described as an optimist and a storyteller, he loved traveling, thrifting with his daughters, dancing disco, and spending summers on Cape Cod. Survivors include his wife, Wendy Newstetter ’71, two daughters, and a sister.

spent on Great Pond in Maine, where he welcomed his 1972 classmates for an annual reunion of friends. He was also a cat lover. His brother, William MacKay, survives him.

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Daniel P. Todzia ’69, April 23, 2018, in Stuart, Fla., at 70. He served in the U.S. Army for two years and then went to the University of Nevada-Reno, where he earned his M.B.A. in 1973. He was a financial planner for 40 years and opened his own company, Southeast Financial Planning and Consulting, in 1985. He gave back to his community through involvement with the United Way of Martin County, a redevelopment advisory board, and the airport authority. A reader, fisherman, and home gourmet chef, he enjoyed old black-and-white movies, red Corvettes, and good jokes. His wife, Laura, a daughter, and two grandchildren survive him.

worked for Newsweek and for the PBS series Frontline before he founded the Consortium for Independent Journalism. He authored six books, and he received the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence in 2015 and the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2017. His wife, Diane Duston, three children, and six grandchildren survive him.

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Bernard L. Gray ’68, May 29, 2017, in Coral Springs, Fla., at 71. He worked in retail, holding positions of assistant manager and general manager at stores in Ohio and Florida. Survivors include his wife, Judy Matthews-Gray, and a sister, Linda Gray Martin ’69.

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ESSAY Just to clarify, I’m not much of a sports fan. Following the

Washington Senators as a kid cured me of that. I’m with Robin in Annie Hall, when she asks Woody Allen, “Alvy, what is so fascinating about a group of pituitary cases trying to stuff the ball through a hoop?” But then there’s Colby ice hockey, which I’ve followed off and on for 48 years, men’s teams and women’s, through thick and quite a lot of thin. Since the fall of 1970, from blue line seats in Colby’s Alfond Rink, I’ve relished speed possible only on ice combined with the athletic grace of a perfect pass just a millisecond before a jarring check. The energy and excitement of the opening minutes of any Colby-Bowdoin hockey game are hard to top. In the early 1970s, there wasn’t even plexiglass to protect refs from rabid Mules fans. “WHAT!” my freshmanyear roommate screamed directly into an official’s ear through the old chicken wire. “YOUR SEEING-EYE DOG DOESN’T SKATE?!”

THE MIRACLE

COLBY Spring 2018

MULES

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In Lake Placid, the Mules proved they deserved the national spotlight and made their College and alumni proud. By Stephen Collins ’74

In the late-’90s, when Colby had its last big tournament bid and lost its series at Middlebury, coach Jim Tortorella invited my youth-hockey-player son (a big fan of Todd McGovern ’97) onto the bus for a teachable moment with his players. So when Colby’s men’s team made it to the Frozen Four national D-III championships in March, I barely hesitated before deciding to make the 300-plus mile drive from central Maine to Lake Placid. After the long and winding ride through the Adirondack Mountains, I wasn’t prepared for Lake Placid’s combination of reverence and hype for hockey, particularly in the Olympic rink At left, J.P. Schuhlen ’20.

now named for the coach of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” U.S. Olympic team. One current player called Herb Brooks Arena “the cathedral” of American hockey. When I saw a sign for stop number seven on some audio tour of the premises I thought, “Huh. Stations of the Cross?” I also wasn’t prepared for the size and speed of players from perennial powerhouse Wisconsin schools in the final four. All 10 first-years on St. Norbert (Colby’s semifinal opponent) had played junior hockey, and none of these freshmen was younger than 21. Every single Wisconsin-Stevens Point player had played junior hockey before enrolling. As a man who has long considered hair to be overrated, I found it nice—in some ways—to see BMOCs with receding hairlines. I was also surprised by the number of Colby hats and familiar faces in the parking lots, restaurants, and stands. Colby fans won the spirit competition hands down. And the game? Well, the taller, heavier, faster, older St. Norbert Green Knights had their hands full with our Mules. After some understandable jitters that put them in a two-goal hole after the first three minutes, Colby skaters proved they deserved the national spotlight and made their College and alumni proud. They could have buckled, but in the ensuing 57 minutes, at least, the Mules outscored the now five-time national champions, three goals to two, despite facing three first-team All Americans. They made it well worth the trip.

Stephen Collins ’74 is the former college editor at Colby and a longtime fan of Mules hockey. Recently retired, he is looking forward to having more time in the stands at Alfond Rink.


FIRSTPERSON

Douma, Syria | February 2018 “In February 2018 the Syrian government, backed by Russian air power, led an atrocious military operation in civilian neighborhoods in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. I tried to cover this attack in Douma city, where I took this picture. I was with friends when there was an airstrike targeting four buildings very close to my family’s home. I went and checked my family, then went to the building, the remnants of which are in the photo. Many people were missing under rubble, and their relatives tried helplessly to rescue them with help of the civilian rescuers, the White Helmets. I saw this man who was waiting for the rescue of his relatives from the rubble and, at that moment I took this photo, he was jumping over his uncle’s car. The man’s son and his uncle survived the

bombing, but his wife and the other children were found dead after hours of searching. Over the years of the Syrian Uprising I moved between Damascus and Douma until 2013, when I could not travel because of security checkpoints around the city. I want this picture to show how badly the airstrikes damaged the building and the street, that there were people jumping over their own damaged belongings looking for anything to lead them to the location where their families were buried.” —Bassam Khabieh Editor’s note: Photographer Bassam Khabieh is the 2018 Oak Human Rights Fellow at Colby. He is now in Turkey and expected to come to Colby in the fall.

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