ALUMNI PROFILES
Dorothy Cleaver '48

Janet Grout Williams '60
A Bird in Hand

Kathy McKechnie '79
A Lifesaving Career

Julia McDonald '99
A Desert Discovery

Beth Johnson Searing '99

Todd Miner '01
Opening the Door

Geoff Ward '02

Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue.

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What a wonderful 11-day trip to Italy with the Alumni College in Tuscany. We were a group of 46 from Colby, Bates and Bowdoin. This trip was so popular with Colby alums and friends (24 of us) that a second group of 18 arrived on the day we left. Colby's Associate Professor of History Larissa Taylor accompanied us as did Professor Rebecca Corrie from Bates. We had their expertise on Renaissance history and art at our disposal. This large group of diverse ages and addresses, with its small-college Maine experience, had an instant rapport. We spent seven nights at a small hotel in the hill town of Pienza and had several informal lectures, daily tour guides and trips to surrounding hill towns and a continuing abundance of wonderful Tuscan food. We all received "graduation" diplomas before heading back to Rome. Some of us stayed on for three more days, sampling the wonderful noise, confusion and magnificence of the city. The nerve-shattering rides in a Rome taxi and walking the streets during World Cup soccer were unforgettable. Every store had a TV going and people shouting and cheering. We are now addicted to watching the soccer outcome. With us were Jan Nordgren Meryweather, Mary Ann Papalia Laccabue and her husband, Ron, and John '55 and Jane Daib Reisman '58. . . . I have heard from no classmates recently. But I did get a very old and yellowed post card from a cousin in Florida, who found it in her hospital thrift shop. It showed Johnson Pond with very young willow trees, probably just around the time we all disembarked at Colby. Send news.

--Kathy McConaughy Zambello

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Correspondents did not submit any notes for this issue.

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I waited as long as I could for input from the class, but only one class member sent me news--a very pleasant note from John Baxter along with a nicely completed questionnaire. John said he hoped his news would make the "slim pickins" a little fatter. Thank you, John, for your contribution; it's very much appreciated. Although John is retired from teaching, his wife, Diane, is still at work as a reading teacher in the East Providence schools. John and Diane live in Rumford, R.I. They became grandparents for the first time on March 11, 2001, so little John Cameron Baxter is now over a year old. For the past three years or so, John has been serving as a commissioner of the East Providence Housing Authority. This position has enabled him to travel to various parts of the country to study and observe how other urban and suburban housing authorities function. Currently John is working on the political campaign of one of his former students who is running for congressman in Rhode Island's First Congressional District. This involves attending meetings and fund raisers and doing all that he can to get his candidate in front of the voters. . . . Next year is our 45th reunion, and my term will be up. At that point I will have been doing this column for 10 years. I am asking you to think about volunteering to take over the job. Perhaps in the coming year someone will decide to take me up on my offer. Please think about it.

-Margaret Smith Henry

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With children in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland, etc., Phil "Doc" Suchecki and his wife do lots of traveling to visit their 10 grandchildren. A recent vacation trip took them to Panama, where they found the canal most impressive. In winter, Phil wonders why he chose to retire in Michigan! . . . Retired after 40 years of public school teaching, Lee Oberparleiter is--you guessed it--teaching. This time it's a graduate course, The Brain and Learning. Lee has written and published five books on the brain and teaches in a program called "The Brain and Learning Series." He visits Maine with his daughter every year, loves movies and still has season tickets to the Phillies with his dad. . . . Edo Foresman Donaldson and her husband are still enjoying life on the road after two years. They've camped in 37 states and have crossed the country twice. Edo would love to meet up with any other class members who are out on the road. How about it? Anyone else fancy-free and ready to roll? . . . John Brooks volunteers full time at a food pantry and is in his 29th year as a volunteer fireman. He is also a runner's guide for disabled athletes who run marathons. He must be very fit to keep up that level of activity. Thanks for all you do, John! . . . Sheila and Lloyd Cohen have taken some marvelous cruises, both with and without grandchildren: Mexican Riviera, Fort Lauderdale-Panama Canal-Louisiana, Alaska, etc. Deep-sea fishing in the presence of whales, Lloyd says, was an otherworldly experience. In between cruises he still finds time for high school softball umpiring. . . . Eileen and Al Wilbur plan to retire (kinda) in Palm Springs, Calif., in 2003. . . . Sadly, I must inform you of the death of our friend and classmate Mike Riordan. Mike succumbed to cancer in the spring. He had hoped for a final trip to St. Maartens and, with good humor, acknowledged using frequent flier miles to upgrade to first class. He never made the trip. Many thanks to Bob Keltie for regularly keeping me informed on Mike's condition. . . . Stay in touch, folks; life is unpredictable. Regards to you all.