ALUMNI PROFILES
Curtis Johnson '75
Knowing the Drill

Jean Minkel '80
Outside the Box

T.J. Tavares '99
Real Politik

Andrea Pomerance '02
Culture Crossing

Again this year Doris Rose Hopengarten and Alleen Thompson led our class contingent (this year, only me) in the parade of classes during Reunion Weekend. In spite of the death of her husband earlier this year, Doris was her usual cheerful self-always a pleasure to talk with. Jonathan Taylor '83, son of Mary (Robinson '41) and Bill Taylor, shared reminiscences with us during the lobster luncheon-especially about Gerry (Stefko '41) and Gordon Jones and their six children on the backyard hockey rink in Needham, Mass. . . . Joanna (McMurty '41) and Lin Workman have changed their winter headquarters from Ft. Myers, Fla., to Thomasville, Ga., but their summers are still spent in New Harbor, Maine. Jo recently had successful surgery for colon cancer, but she couldn't come to Maine until mid-June, so they missed our Reunion Weekend for the first time in many years. . . . Marjorie Gould Shuman '37 told us that Roger and Ruth Gould Stebbins are doing well in Sequim, Wash., although Roger has had some vision problems that have interfered with his avocation of painting pictures. . . . Frank Farnham's two-pronged career as farmer and writer was written up in the Augusta, Maine, Capital Weekly. He recalls meeting Colby's $200 tuition with a half scholarship and by selling root vegetables and trading vegetables for meals at Ma Frost's Eatery. An English major with aspirations for a career as a reporter, he ended up publishing short stories in several national magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post and The Ladies' Home Journal. Although Frank has made his mark as a writer, most local folk know him as the proprietor of Farnham's Market, the popular roadside stand in Belgrade, Maine, that Frank has operated for decades. He still hoes, plants and tends crops on a three-acre plot, he said, "just enough to keep me out of trouble." . . . Mike Berry wrote a great, newsy letter a while back. He lives in Copper Harbor in the summer and Houghton in the winter. As I'm sure you all know, both communities are on Michigan's Upper Peninsula jutting out into Lake Superior. Mike has 10 grandchildren-five male and five female-symmetrical, as he says. He has some balance problems but still walks up and down stairs and around town with his two toy poodles. We'd like to see Mike, Ruth, Roger and all the rest of you at our 65th reunion in 2005. Start planning now!

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Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue.

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Jack Stevens and his wife, Lucille, are enjoying life in San Diego, "America's Finest City." They planned to visit friends in San Antonio in September. . . . Robert Rice writes, "We must all be in our 80s, with a few wishing we were in our 20s during the post-War '40s! We're grizzled, grunting and groaning. The great-grandchildren are helping us send/receive e-mail, and the jokes are duplicates of our '20th-century humor,' only updated to sound current. Colby's still great. Enjoy your sunsets!" . . . Beniah Harding was honored for his 20-year service as the chairman of Thomaston Academy Trustees. When Thomaston Academy was founded in 1983, Ben was the guiding force behind bringing the University College to Thomaston and to renovating the building that houses the institution.

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The Reverend Hubert Beckwith received the James Floyd Pillar of Faith Award at Howard University School of Divinity. The award honors his commitment to religious leadership and to civil rights and human relations. In 1955 Reverend Beckwith founded the Congregational Christian Church of Fairfax County, Virginia, later renamed the Little River United Church of Christ. Although official racial restrictions in Virginia were in effect at that time, the church remained open to all races-and in the vanguard of civil and human relations, leading to the formation of the Fairfax County Council on Human Relations. Reverend Beckwith's achievements listed in the award citation include "serving as the first president of the Fairfax County Council on Human Relations, second president of the Virginia Council on Human Relations and member of the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta, Ga. He was a moderator of the Middle Atlantic Conference of Congregational Christian Churches and chair of the Potomac Association Church and Ministry Committee, Central Atlantic Conference, United Church of Christ." Reverend Beckwith and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Springfield, Va. They have two sons and four grandchildren.

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The Lawrence High School Alumni Association in Fairfield, Maine, presented Harold Joseph with its 2003 Bulldog Award. Harold, a 1940 Lawrence graduate, is president of Joseph's Clothing and Sporting Goods in Fairfield. . . . I would like to remind you all that next June will be our 60th class reunion. Save the date: June 4-6, 2004. So many of you made the tremendous effort to return to the campus in 1994, and I hope we will have a great turnout for this next one. The campus is beautiful and growing steadily. . . . Reunion Weekend this June was fun. Among those who returned were Kay Howes Brooks and her daughter, Wendy, Efthim (Tim) Economu, Bob St. Pierre, who came with his daughter, Dick Mountfort and his sister, Harris Graf and wife Merrie, Gabe Hikel and wife Zanie, Naj and Harold Joseph, Fred McAlary '43 (who was back for his 60th) and I. Others were listed as coming, but I did not see them. Pete Bliss had called early in June to say that he couldn't make this reunion but plans to return for next year's celebration. The fact is that we are all 80 years old or more, and many of our classmates are not in good health. It is very clear that old age is not for sissies.

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