ALUMNI PROFILES
Melvin Lyon '52
Curious Behavior

Marjeanne Banks Vacco '62
Challenge Match

Karen Craft '77
No Place Like Home

Alicia M. Rodriguez-Connolly '78

Mary Schwalm '99
Down to the Wire

Kyle Garry '00

Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue

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What a great time we had! I have just returned from our 45th reunion and the consensus from all who attended was "The Best Ever." We had the most glorious, hot and clear weather that Maine can provide. Reunion started with a catered lunch at Sally and Bill Haggett's home in West Bath overlooking the tidal New Meadows River and upriver from the Sebasco Harbor Resort. Fifty-eight classmates attended, including first-time returnees Jimmy Jamieson and Denise Lyons, who came just for the lunch. Barbara Porte Niblock and Heppy Reed Powers came with Denny. How we would have loved for them all to continue on with us to Sebasco as we just didn't have enough time to catch up. But 50 of us went on to Sebasco to spend two fun-filled days on the ocean. . . . Our first dinner we joined the Colby Class of 1951, who were celebrating their 50th reunion with a pre-get-together, also at Sebasco. What fun to see this vital group who, after a three-year campaign, had 102 classmates return to Colby for their reunion. With spouses they were 185 strong on campus and the main contingent in the class parade. They were such a sight, they gave us all hope that we will still be stepping out smartly five years hence. So class, keep exercising, keep eating right, keep trying to stop smoking, if you still do, and keep smiling so we can reunite at Colby in five years. No excuses this time. No prior commitments, no big anniversary parties, no business trips. As I told the class at our private Saturday night banquet--held in the Lunder Wing at the art museum--we are all a little rounder, our hair a little thinner, our faces a little lined. But after a few minutes of conversation all drops away, and our hours together are as close as we get to that fountain of youth. . . . We said good-bye to eight when we left Sebasco but picked up enough to tally 72 on campus. Joanne Sturtevant Stinneford and Neil '57 got my vote for the couple most easily recognized. How do they do it? Send me your secret! . . . I heard from several classmates who couldn't make it. Willard Wyman is recovering from shoulder surgery. Bob Bruns had to cancel his planned visit to Sebasco at the last minute. Charles Brown remembered the 40th as great and will plan on the 50th. Charlie Morrissey still has a teaching commitment in California. . . . We have new class officers, including a triad of Larry Pugh, Peter Lunder and Bill Haggett for president. Our Alumni Council reps are Dave and Rosie Crouthamel Sortor. I will continue as class secretary/treasurer, but Susan Miller Hunt has volunteered to help me gather news. . . . We have some money left over from our generous entertainment contributions, and I will be working hard over the next five years to turn this little sum into a large kitty for 2006. . . . Thanks to most generous donations from anonymous classmates, we were treated to a wonderful boat ride down the Kennebec River from the Maine Maritime Museum, with an informative narration from Bill Haggett about the river and the Bath Iron Works and a close-up view of the huge new dry dock. John Ziegler was so taken with the weather and the ride that he contracted with the resort the next morning for a local boat ride up the New Meadows River, all the way to Bill Haggett's cove, and invited us all to go along. About 18 of us had a close-up view of the ocean, the islands, lobstering towns and wharfs that line the river. Complete with killer muffins from the Sebasco. . . . On campus we all received our blue Colby fleece vests and send our thanks to our benefactor. We had planned to wear them in our class parade but it was shorts weather the entire weekend. . . . On our way from Bath to Colby, Lou '55 and I and Jan Nordgren Merywether took a nostalgic trip to Popham Beach and visited the old Popham Fort. . . . Sheila McLaughlin Freckmann, Janet Stebbins Walsh and Susan Hunt stopped in Jefferson to visit Ruthann Simmonds Mackinnon. . . . I took notes during reunion and will report on various classmates in future columns.

--Kathy McConaughy Zambello

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Well, the big plans are underway--plans for our 45th reunion (to be held in '02, if your math is a bit rusty)! You will be hearing more details as the months go by. . . . Peter Merrill and his wife, Carol, have moved back to Maine from the Chicago area into a lovely home in South Portland. They are situated right on the rocks, facing Cushings and Peaks Island, a breath-taking view of the Casco Bay inner islands. Anyone for relay swimming races from Peter's beach across to Cushings Island as part of our reunion activities? . . . It was great to see Sue Fairchild Bean, and as always her enthusiasm for the College and our upcoming reunion can't be beat. Sue and her husband, Bob, will soon be arriving in Kennebunkport, Maine, where they purchased a home in the downtown area a few years ago. Their three grown children and four grandkids live in California--a good reason for trips to the West Coast! . . . Bev and Brian "Bo" Olsen sold their home in Acton, Mass., and are now living in Exeter, N.H. I imagine that they both enjoy the ease of condominium living and the ambiance of that lovely old New England town. . . . Don Tracy writes that life for him often seems to be in the "fast lane." In January, his accounting business had expanded to the extent that he has taken one of his daughters into a formal partnership. After a hectic schedule until April 15, he and his wife, Linda, headed off to visit friends in Bratislava and Prague, where Don had the first-time experience of witnessing a robbery . . . his own! Next they drove through Italy and France, visiting friends along the way and enjoying the "good life of local foods, cheeses and wines." Then they headed home to coastal Maine, where Don can shed those European pounds and lower his cholesterol to healthier levels! (His comments, not mine.) . . . In March, we enjoyed a wonderful evening with Patsy and Dave O'Brien '58 at their new home on Bray's Island, near historic Beaufort, S.C.; also on hand were Naomi and Hugh "Andy" Anderson '56 and Babs (Faltings '56) and Warren Kinsman. The Kinsmans are in the process of selling their home in Hampton Falls, N.H. They will be enjoying the best of both worlds--Dataw Island, S.C., in the winter and their cottage on Green Lake, Maine, in the summer. Needless to say, we all laughed the night away . . . a great time was had by one and all. . . . Be thinking ahead to June '02 and our 45th reunion--some exciting ideas are beginning to unfold. Please urge your friends and classmates to attend so we can have the best reunion ever. We'll accept no excuses and will look forward to seeing many people that we have not seen in years.

--Guy and Eleanor Ewing Vigue

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Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue

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Professor Jim McIntosh has been named chairman of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lehigh University. Jim has been at Lehigh since 1966, having earned a master's degree from the New School for Social Research and a doctorate from Syracuse University. He plans to provide more opportunities for students to participate in independent research and to increase published works by students. Congrats, Jim! . . . Susan Osborn Havice enjoys gardening (peonies are her specialty) and active games with her grandsons. Hope you're still pursuing your wonderful artistic talents, Sue! . . . Money manager Peter Bedell and his financial partner have had their share of ups and downs in the investment business, but their perseverance paid off, big time, when their company was acquired in a friendly takeover by Phoenix Investment Partners. Another success story! . . . Brownie, a Great Dane owned by Carlene Price White's Animal Episodes, her 150-critter business, has become a service dog for a patient with Parkinson's disease. Over the years Carlene has made a practice of donating animals to worthy causes. . . . Trish and Mike Farren are both still working; Mike is helping Manchester, N.H., airport to grow, with many travelers coming up from Massachusetts to avoid the congestion. They have nine grandchildren and enjoy becoming "re-citified" via an occasional weekend in Boston. Trish gave me the sad news that Marilyn Greer, wife of Bob Greer '61, who started out in our class, had passed away. . . . Liz Hay Henderson teaches computer skills classes for an adult ed program in Maine. Liz has regained some of her old agility, after a complete hip replacement last summer, and is actively participating in landscaping her home. . . . Sheila and Lloyd Cohen and family cruised the Mexican Riviera and visited Zion National Park in Utah. Lloyd had a knee replacement last winter and now has to re-think his plans to officiate at football and basketball games; umpiring fast-pitch softball is still in the picture, however. Lloyd would like to hear from "old roomies" John Brooks and Bob Kopchains. . . . Lydia Katz Pease will celebrate her retirement, after 27 years of teaching in Pennsylvania, with a month of kayaking and hiking in Alaska. Impressive, Lydia! . . . As usual, I'm heartened by hearing from so many of you, especially that you're all still actively pursuing your "favorite things." Please keep writing to me.

--Ann Segrave Lieber

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