Glover is convinced that Colby friendships are extraordinary, particularly in
the Class of '58. "Our class seemed to have a special bond when we were at
Colby, and that bond has continued and strengthened since," Glover said. She attributes that bond in part to "marvelous human beings who happened to be
in the same place at the same time" and to a special chemistry Colby seems to
engender. "I think President [Seelye] Bixler had a lot to do with the feeling
we have for the place and for each other," she said. "He sort of set the tone.
He knew every student by name and knew where you were from, and even something
about you." Almost 40 years later, Glover and others refuse to let that sense of community
die. One product of Glover's earnestness is a newsletter published for Tri Delt
sorority members, complemented by periodic mini-reunions, the first of which
was held at the Glovers' home in 1987. There have been two more reunions since,
and another is planned for next year, but that first meeting is particularly
memorable for Glover. "This was four years after Kathy died, but I still had
some unfinished business to deal with. I didn't always talk about my grief, but
at that reunion I was encouraged to talk about it. They sat and cried with me.
It was something I needed to do, and something they needed to do and something
we needed to do together."
 These Class of '58 friends shared memories began with college events like the Strawberry Breakfast (1957) |
Glover's Colby support group stepped forward again when her husband died
suddenly in 1993. "We had a memorial service for Bob in New York City. It was a
January day and the weather was just awful--a terrible ice storm practically
shut down the city. But people came. They came from all over the place. There
wasn't any question about it--they just came," she said. Likewise, McKee has been the beneficiary of a loving support network of Colby
friends. She recalls that "the phone never stopped ringing" following the death
of her husband. One old Colby friend, John Shute '57, heard about her loss
while visiting the campus and immediately drove to the McKee home in Hampden.
"He was on my doorstep within twenty-four hours of Bob's death," McKee
recalled. "I hadn't seen John for years, but there he was, coming to help
me." "I can't describe how much the support of my Colby friends meant to me after
Bob died," she said. "These were the people I wanted to be with." Robert McKee and Lynne had traveled with the Lees to Thailand, India and Nepal
in November 1987 and were planning another trip to Alaska when Robert died the
following June. Buoyed by the Lees' insistence that her husband would want her
to make the Alaska trip, Lynne called a former prep school friend, Mim Brown,
to accompany her. Since then, Brown has invited McKee and the Lees to her
cottage on Lake George, Maine, several times, further extending the "love
network." McKee jokes that these gatherings always hold new opportunities for poking fun
at one another, an important element of these friends' playful affection.
"Norman has been dubbed the official `leg lifter' because he has to help me
into the boat," McKee said. McKee has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and says it was the Lees who
persuaded her to visit the Lahey Clinic in Boston to determine why she was
experiencing pain in her legs. "Norman said, `Maybe I can get rid of this job
as leg lifter, I don't get any tips anyway,'" McKee said, laughing. The Lees surprised her recently with a gift of art they had purchased for
their home several years ago, McKee says. "How could someone who bought this
beautiful piece of art for their own home just give it away like that?" McKee
said. "It's going right over there," she said, pointing to a spot on her living
room wall. "I will think of Norman and Charlotte every time I look at it."
 A mini-reunion (1991) |
The Lees, in the midst of planning for their daughter Cynthia's wedding in
August, are moving from their longtime home in West Hartford, Conn., to
Florida, where they will spend the winters. They will return for summers--and
more "Colby Weekends"--at their Maine cottage. Glover recently moved to North Carolina. She is busy helping to plan next
year's Tri Delt reunion. McKee shares her Hampden home with her son, Rob, and dreams of more travel
adventures. "If I can get this damn right leg under control I'm going to be in
Africa again before I die," she said. She gets regular phone calls and visits
from old Colby friends, including Norman Lee, who says he hopes McKee can make
one more overseas trip with them before her illness becomes too severe. "Lynne
is one of these gutsy women who won't let her condition get in the way of doing
what she wants," he said. "She just has remarkable spirit." Lee says he worries that as members of this close group grow older distance
may become more of a barrier. "We're determined to stay together and get
crotchety together," he said. "Maybe we will buy our own facility, hire nurses
and raise all the havoc we want. We've talked about changing the cottage into a
place where we could all go and move around on ramps and pulleys." When she reflects on the length and depth of the friendships stemming from her
Colby days, McKee is reminded of an anecdote she overheard her father, A. A.
"Gus" D'Amico '28, tell a group of friends. "Dad was talking about how he
almost went to Dartmouth instead of Colby, and that made me think what the
implications of that would have been on my life," she said. "All of these
people who have been so dear to me for all these years would not have been part
of my life because I probably would not have ended up at Colby. I get emotional
just thinking about it. Life without my Colby friends? I can't imagine it."
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