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

Bill Beck lives in Chappaqua, N.Y., with his wife, Jody (a Middlebury grad), twin daughters and a son. Bill is a retired banker and future schoolteacher currently at home "breaking up screeching matches or pushing semi-edible food at the children." He volunteers at schools and his church, and the kids keep him busy with their activities and homework. They spend a month each summer on the coast of Maine near Bowdoin. . . . Diana Parsons Herrmann's thirst continues for extraordinary adventure and challenge. As a diversion from her daily challenges as president of a $3.4-billion mutual fund company in New York City, Diana has traveled to Patagonia, Chile, and rafted the rapids of Rio Futaleufu, known as "the Fu" by international white-water aficionados. She traveled to China/Tibet in July '01 to raft along the upper Yangtze River, visiting remote Tibetan villages and monasteries. In May '02 Diana completed her first marathon, the Vermont City Marathon, in Burlington, Vt. While raising more than $5,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, she faced the challenge of training for a marathon after not running for more than a decade! . . . Dan Berger, president and CEO of Salesdriver.com in Maynard, Mass., sold his company and returned to California in December '01. Before he left, he got together with Mike Costello and Ron Davids '78 for dinner. Dan and Mike were elementary school buddies in Acton, Mass., as well as classmates at Colby. . . . After Lori Batcheller's fantastic experience as a freelance journalist at the Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City in March, she moved from western Massachusetts to Boulder, Colo. She recently had a speaking engagement on disabled skiing at a rehabilitation center in western Mass. Her book, Alpine Achievement, was mentioned in our last column. . . . Tina Chen Starke is taking a break after working for 12 years in environmental consulting. She does not miss worrying about budgets, deadlines and 8 a.m. meetings. Tina and Larry '81's son, Ben, a third grader, is benefiting from having someone who is not exhausted at 5 p.m. to guide him through his homework. The Starkes visited with Don and Dawna Eastman-Gallo '83 in Princeton last January. . . . Bo Preston's daughter, Lanie, recently graduated from pre-school. Bo lives in Hamilton, Mass., in a beautifully restored 1840 Greek Revival farmhouse next to conservation land. He takes brisk walks around his neighborhood while dreaming of "going to Nepal and hiking Mt. Everest." . . . Darcy MacKinnon Sledge writes from Connecticut that since leaving Credit Suisse First Boston she has joined committees at her church, teaches Sunday school, volunteers at her children's schools, does Junior League, is a spectator at her sons' baseball games and adopted a beagle named Nimbus. She also has a new career as a realtor with Prudential Connecticut Realty. Call her if you are planning to buy or sell in the Fairfield, Conn., area. . . . In August Barry '81 and Johanna Rich Tesman and their children began a year's assignment in Norwich, England. Barry, an associate professor of mathematics at Dickinson College, will be an advisor for Dickinson science majors while they attend the University of East Anglia. Johanna is on leave from her psychologist position in the department of education. Their daughters, Emma and Lucy Rose, ages 12 and 3, will attend English schools. The Tesmans would love to have company come to visit! . . . Tom Marlitt stayed with Mark Garvin and family in Andover, Mass., last April when Tom was on his annual East Coast prep school recruiting swing for Reed College in Oregon. Mark reports that they had a full recycling bin of empty bottles by the time Tom left. . . . Deb Nelson and Leslie Mitchell enjoyed getting caught up with each other in April while their dogs had a "playdate." Deb reports that Andy Huber '79 ran a very successful mites hockey league this year in Darien, Conn. She said we should ask him about his unique playoff method. . . . Peter Golden continues his success in television as senior vice president for talent and casting at CBS in Los Angeles, Calif. . . . Jim D'Isidoro and his wife, Carolyn, recently moved to Sudbury, Mass., with their two sons. They report staying in touch with Vanessa (Norton '81) and Artie Sullivan and family, who are living in Woodstock, Conn., with David Mordecai in Weston, Mass., and with Glenn Rieger, Scott Butterfield and Paul Faulkner. . . . In June Dr. Alice Domar joined the staff at Boston IVF, one of America's leading fertility providers. She will conduct a variety of programs at Boston IVF under the auspices of the Mind/Body Center for Women's Health. . . . Have you ever had the experience of running into Colby classmates after more than 20 years have gone by? During a March trip to Florida, I saw Jeff Protentis '81 at Logan Airport in Boston. He is vice president of North American sales, support and marketing for Pyrosequencing, Inc., in Westborough, Mass., and is looking happy and successful. Since we were both biology majors at Colby, he was eager to share information with me on his company's product(s). Unfortunately, we had planes to catch! He lives in Acton, Mass., with wife and family. On the same trip I ran into Steve Trimble '82 and his wife and family at Disney World--two days in a row! Other Colbyites seen include Marj Gonzalez Blackwell '78 in Sudbury. She reports that one daughter is attending college this fall while her other daughter is at prep school. Her husband, Doug '78, recently started working in Connecticut while Marj holds it all together at home. I often see Bill Moorman '82 at Nixon elementary school in Sudbury, where my son, John, is a fifth grader with Bill's daughter, Brit. During the spring Little League baseball season, I saw Doug and Kim Smith McCartney '82 several times at games where our fifth graders were playing. . . . Do you have Colby sightings to tell me about? I am waiting to hear from you!

--Lynn Collins Francis

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Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue.

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Hello, Class of '82. I am honored to take on the role of class correspondent for the next five years. I know you will all join me in thanking Mimi Rasmussen for the effort she put into this job for the last 10 years. Mimi and I drove up together from Boston to our 20th reunion and had a lot of laughs comparing stories from our four years as students. Thank you, Mimi! . . . What a thrill it was to be back on campus. I immediately felt 20 years younger . . . until I saw the new and recently renovated dorms (i.e., Dana) and the senior apartments. Then I felt old as I thought, "These kids are spoiled!" The campus looked absolutely beautiful (perfect weather was a bonus). We had a strong turnout from our class--more than 70 people--but I can't help thinking of all the people that I didn't see. You know who you are! If you couldn't make it this time, please block out early June of 2007 now. We want to see an even bigger turnout in five years! . . . Many thanks to Ellen Huebsch Anderson and Claire Brovender Liliedahl for their hard work as co-presidents to make this weekend a reality for our class. And congratulations to Seth Medalie, our head class agent, and his team for leading our class to set a new 20th-reunion record for class participation in the Alumni Fund: 54 percent. Ellen, Claire and Seth all made it a family weekend, with spouses and at least one child alongside! (I can tell right now that I don't have enough room to cover all of the stories I have from the weekend, so I will split the reunion recap up between this issue and the next.) The weekend started off on Friday night with a lively welcome reception in Treworgy (the dorm formerly known as Lambda Chi). This was our "home base." I didn't arrive until 11 p.m. and the place was jumping. . . . Bob Benjamin rode his motorcycle up from Connecticut and let his wife drive in the van with the kids! I had fun catching up with Ross Brennan, who traveled from D.C. with Scott Sophos. Ross works for the EPA and lives in "the district" with his wife and two children. Scott is pursuing an acting career (send me more details, Scott). . . . Gary Westerman looked great, as did his wife, Anne (Edwards '83). He was happily reunited with his buddies Bob Hoffman (all the way from California with his wife) and Glenn McGrath and his wife. Some of the other smiling faces were Bill Moorman, John Najarian, Tony Perkins, Richard Robinson, Ron Agnes, Scott Many, Bruce Anderson, Rebecca Badger Fisher, James and Elaine Johnson Peterson, Roger Valliere, Patty O'Loughlin, Andrea Brantner and Ann Renner Stillwater. . . . Saturday gave us many options . . . listening to Colby's "new" president, Bro Adams, define his vision of where Colby is going (it's good news!), touring the campus, visiting the award-winning Colby Museum of Art. Of course the lobster lunch/feast was a big hit, and what would a visit to Colby be without shopping in the Colby bookstore? Many people were spotted chatting there. Our reception and dinner were held in Roberts and included a fun serenade by After Eight, the quite talented alum version of the Colby Eight. Retired professor Charlie Bassett dined with us and shared stories of his pre-Maine life in South Dakota. . . . Many more classmates arrived on Saturday, including Sarah Fox Whalen, Cathy Smith Badmington and Julanne Cully Wright, all with families in tow! Sue Meehan, Alice Kirkpatrick, Donna Fabiani, Ron Miolla, Steve Trimble, Warren Krueger and Marty Eisenberg also joined us. Matt Donahue made his first trip to Colby in 20 years. Seemed like he was having fun even though he signed up late and had to sleep in the "overflow" section (a.k.a. The New Dorms). Next time he will sign up early and bring his wife and four (?) sons! . . . Most of you probably know by now that David Strage lost his battle with cancer this past winter. He had already made the plans for his whole family--his wife, Laura Agostini, and three daughters--to make the trip with him from England to this reunion. Many of us had the pleasure of meeting Dave's family at the 15th reunion. Sadly, he didn't make it this time, but the rest of his family did, including his parents and in-laws. On Sunday morning, his close friends and family put together a touching tribute. Helen Dooley Jursek, Matt Figel and Jeff Brown each took a turn recalling their friendship with Dave. Then Dave and Laura's 8-year-old daughter read a poem for her dad with great confidence and poise. . . . The baton has been passed for the next five years to Carolyn Berry Copp and Carol Birch, co-presidents, and to Mary Beth Whitaker McIntyre, vP/Alumni Council rep. All three were in Waterville in June, MB with her husband, Jon, and children, Kelly, 9, and Sean, 6 that weekend! Carol had a lot to say about her room in the basement of Treworgy. The bright point was that her neighbors down there were Tim Dean and his family. I think the basement brought back "interesting" memories for Tim! . . . That's it for now. I have a great list of names of people that I saw in June, but please tell me what you want people to know about you.

CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Sally Lovegren Merchant
24 Easy Street
Mt. Desert , ME 04660
207-244-0441
fax: 207-244-9445
classnews1983@alum.colby.edu

Dear classmates, you have been so kind to continue to trust me with writing this column four times yearly for 17 years, and I cannot thank you enough for the unique opportunity to serve you and to serve our alma mater. While I have agonized many times as to the content and format for each column, I have always been challenged, and that is a positive by-product of the process. This particular column comes to you devoid of news from our class family and friends but not because I had no format or ideas of what to say--only because you have not written. There is no question in my mind about what you all may be doing in general: you're all busy living (some are even facing dying). You're all working or playing; you're all feeling fulfilled or so far from it you do not want to talk about that. You are camping out. You are camping in. You are paper or plastic one day and a little of both the next. You are waiting and hesitating, and you are acting and choosing. Every day you generate trash and you breathe the sometimes clean air. You love and you hate. People respect you and some people are jealous of you at the same time. You forget some of the details. You remember to buy postage. You found a parking space. You gave another person room to grow. You are interested in how to create a better community just in your own home. You just quit your job. You vaguely remember 1979. Your parents made you go to Colby. You do not connect with your Colby classmates. Or do you? My dear classmates, I hope you'll try to connect since we have so much in common when we least expect it. As always, my sincere wishes to all of you.

--Sally Lovegren Merchant

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Hello to all. I apologize for missing last quarter's column, but I had just had a baby and things fell to the wayside. Anthony and I welcomed Hudson Samuel to the family in March. He joins Forrest, our 2-year-old son. We also moved again. Our bubble burst out in San Francisco about the same time the dot-com bubble started to deflate. We are back in Darien, Conn. . . . A few news articles mentioning a number of classmates have made it my way. Keith Wilson was appointed vice president of technology for a drug discovery firm called Syrrx Inc. He is managing the company's structural biology groups. . . . Gail Hutchinson Conley is a senior vice president at KeyBank's private banking and investing division and is responsible for management of the private banking team of financial advisers for central, coastal, western and southern Maine as well as Portland. Gail is living in Winthrop with her family. She has served on the boards of the Children's Center and Consumer Credit Counseling of Maine. She is also active in the United Way and has coached the Winthrop YMCA soccer league. . . . News of Dr. Elias John Nawfel's engagement made a number of local papers, and according to the papers he and his fiancée, Elena Maria Lampros, were planning a May wedding--hope all went well! He is a dentist. . . . Bob Brooks was named executive vice president at Seniorlink, a Boston-based company that provides nationwide care management services to families supporting an aging parent. . . . In case you missed the item in last winter's Colby magazine, Don McMillan's short story, "A Hymn for Hannah Marie," placed second in Worcester Magazine's annual short story contest. Don is the chair of the English department at Bancroft School in Worcester, Mass. He is married and has two boys. . . . Susan Hahn Rieck wrote me a letter to say she's busy working, chauffeuring her two boys and occasionally playing tennis. . . . I spoke with Lauren Mogensen, who has given up life in the law firm for life at the bank. She is working for Fleet Bank as the head of corporate development. . . . I hope to hear from more of you.