When Esther Wood '26 arrived four years ago at the annual conference of the Maine Federation of Business and Professional Women, she was 88 years old, an accomplished writer and educator who that night would be inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame. The women assembled knew that the retired teacher whom they were honoring was passionate about education. Just how passionate they soon learned when Wood passed out a quiz on U.S. presidents and asked them to send the answers to her home.      "I fell in love with teaching the first year I taught at Stonington [in 1926] and I never fell out of it," said Wood, now 92 and still going strong. For nearly 50 years she influenced students as a teacher; her recent gift of $300,000 for endowed scholarships at Colby will help future generations as well.     Born in 1905 in the same Blue Hill, Maine, neighborhood where she still lives, Wood says she was determined from age 4 to go to Colby. "Long before I even knew what a college was, I was telling adults that I was going to Colby when I got big," she said. At 17, she left for Waterville with a trunk from her father, dresses from her mother and a $10 gift from her Aunt Fan, whose admonition to work hard fell on deaf ears, says Wood. "I was more interested in enjoying myself than doing my school work," she said.     It wasn't until her sophomore year that she began to take her studies seriously, says Wood, sparked by Colby professors Herbert Libby '02, Julian Taylor, Class of 1868, and Edward Perkins. Perkins, a geology professor for whom the Perkins Arboretum is named, was so enthusiastic, Wood recalls, that he would sprint to the outdoor classroom, leaving his students behind. "People with short legs were late for his lectures," she said, laughing.     After graduation, Wood was hired to teach Latin at the Stonington Public School for the "extraordinary" salary of $1,100, she says. Two years later, she enrolled at Radcliffe, where she earned a master's degree. Following a short stint at a Pittsfield preparatory school, she began her 42-year teaching tenure at the Gorham State Teachers College, now known as the University of Southern Maine, where she also served for a time as dean.     The author of three books, including the acclaimed Deep Roots: A Maine Legacy about her childhood on the coast of Maine, Wood also wrote extensively for newspapers and magazines following her retirement. Her articles have appeared in Down East, Woman's Day, Maine Life and The Christian Science Monitor, and for more than 20 years her column, "The Native," ran in the Ellsworth American.     Wood's interest in education and a desire to honor her family combined to produce the $300,000 gift, says SueConant Cook '75, associate director of planned giving. In addition to the scholarship money, Cook says, the College will receive Wood's decades-long collection of daily journals. President Bill Cotter thanked Wood for her "extraordinary generosity."     "The association between Colby and Esther Wood has spanned virtually the entire twentieth century, and the scholarships she has established will continue that association through the twenty-first century and beyond," Cotter said.     "When I came to Colby I lacked self-confidence and wasn't sure I would measure up," Wood said. "By the time I graduated I knew I would be a success." She says she hopes her gift will similarly empower future Colby students.     "One of the greatest days of my life was the day Colby granted me an honorary degree [in 1971]," she said. "I just love that college."