75		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bruce Young 20 Applewood Avenue Billerica, MA 01821 978-667-4670 classnews1975@alum.colby.edu
	Hello to all my classmates. I am writing this in the midst of the Christmas season, when S. Claus and Manny Ramirez are comin' to town. In fact, the first snowstorm of the year rages outside even now. But you will not read it until sometime around opening day of the baseball season. So all the news in here will be hopelessly outdated by then. My suggestion is to send me the news of what you plan to do in the coming months. Here's an example. Suppose that one of you is running for president. You might be inclined to write that you are currently taking your case to the Supreme Court, blah, blah, blah. But by the time the issue comes out, you've already been home for three months collecting stamps or something. So instead, you ought to write that after giving a courageous concession speech, you are going to buy a bee farm and learn to play the bassoon. See how much better that sounds, nice and fresh? Anyway, I hope this clears up any misconceptions, and remember, class participation is 20 percent of your grade. . . . On to the news. Sarah Vetault, who is in charge of the class Web site, reports that she has forgotten her password and the secret handshake. So if anyone knows it, please call her immediately. Or better yet, if you want to take over the responsibility of maintaining the Web site, let her know. Drop her a line (svetault@theriver.com). On a more positive note, Sarah earned her private pilot certificate in November and will try to fly herself to the next reunion. She regrets not having the time to make the 25th. . . . Vincent Cassone got married this past June to Lynne Chittenden. He claims that is why he didn't make it to the reunion. Seriously, it sounds like it was a great wedding. Vinnie's children, Ariel, 20, and Michael, 12, both get along well with Lynne, and both also participated in the ceremony. The local constabulary decided to crash the party, apparently to deliver a commendation to Vinnie for his good judgment. Lynne is a veterinarian, and a serious horse person, according to Vinnie. As for Vinnie himself, he is currently associate head of the department of biology at Texas A&M, which he likens to being vice principal of a junior high without a paddle. His research group in the department was awarded a program project grant to study the genes associated with biological clock function. He was also recently selected as a member of the first class of university faculty fellows at A&M, a nice honor with a five-year cash award for scientific projects. You can reach him at vmc@mail.bio.tamu.edu or write to him the old-fashioned way at the Department of Biology, Texas A&M, College Station, TX 77843. . . . Dan Alexander is currently taking a sabbatical from Drake University in Des Moines. If he weren't on sabbatical, the former English major would be teaching mathematics and helping colleagues develop Web courses. He reports that the great joy in his life now is his family, including his wife, Rebecca (Bowdoin 1980 no less!), and daughters, Elise, 4, a budding stand-up comic, and Caroline, 8, whose love of music, math and the outdoors she shares with her dad. Despite the family duties, Dan and Rebecca do get out now and then to hear live music. He says that while life in Iowa is pleasant enough, he does occasionally escape to Chicago and usually gets to Maine every summer. He promises a quick response to any e-mail correspondence (daniel.alex -ander-@-drake.edu). . . . After spending years in corporate America, Steve Tait has said goodbye to his job and house in San Francisco and moved to Provincetown, Mass., to become an innkeeper with his partner, Dave Cook. They just finished their first summer season and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This winter they are planning renovations and a new name for the inn, Aerie House & Beach Club. I'm sure he would welcome any Mules spending vacation time on the Cape. Steve also reports the happy addition of a couple of Lab pups to the household. . . . That's it for now, but keep those cards and letters coming. I promise to read each and every one. -Bruce Young previous  |   top  |   next

 

	76		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Valerie Jones Roy 38 Hunts Point Road Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107 207-767-0663 classnews1976@alum.colby.edu
	Greetings from cold and snowy Maine. Ken Curtis e-mailed about a wonderful reunion with old roommates Tom Silverman (and Donna) and Garth Everett (and Sue), who met in New York City in November, their first get-together since Garth's wedding many years ago. Ken reported that he is living in Tokyo with his wife, Ikuko, and two boys. Last year he established Compass Partners with colleagues in Tokyo to invest in Japanese companies, and he works with several Colby alumni in the process. . . . Bill Silverman reports that he is "still in Iowa" working as associate professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology, University of Iowa, and was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology this year. Congratulations! He has been married to Margarida Magalhaes for 13 years and has two daughters, Joanna, 7, and Pombie, 5-and three dogs but no goldfish or gefilte fish. He really wants to hear from Michael North, Will Parrish, Steve Parks and Bob McAuliffe. . . . Jayne Sutton confessed that she hasn't exactly been in constant touch over the past 25 years but went on to say that she is in the Washington, D.C., area, doing publications management and consulting for EEI Communications in Alexandria. She spends a lot of time with three Pembroke Welsh corgis, including a retired best-in-show champion, a retired matron and a current championship contender. So far she has bred two litters under the kennel prefix "Banner" and has produced a couple of champions. In the past year or two she has found herself drawn back into singing and acting again-strictly part time and amateur at the moment, but who knows? She would love to hear from anyone who might be suffering an attack of nostalgia; her e-mail address is jayneosutton@ix.netcom. -com. . . . Steve Shafarman also confessed to not staying in touch recently, but he's been busy publishing his most recent book, Healing Politics: Citizen Policies and the Pursuit of Happiness (check it out on the publisher's Web site, www.Xlibris.com/Healing -Politics.html). The book examines how pollution, racism, homelessness, crime, war and other problems are interrelated and argues that solutions depend on empowering ordinary citizens politically and economically. The book is getting enthusiastic responses from liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans, Libertarians, Greens and many people who describe themselves as apolitical or antipolitical. Specific proposals update an idea presented by Tom Paine, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Nixon, George McGovern, Milton Friedman, John Kenneth Galbraith and many others. A direct quote from Steve: "It seems I never outgrew the protest politics from our time at Colby." Steve is living in Washington, D.C., and is active with the Green Party. When not writing, he teaches and practices the Feldenkrais Method, which is the subject of an earlier book, Awareness Heals: The Feldenkrais Method for Dynamic Health. . . . Saw a press release that announced Rob Petersen's newest position as EVP, account management director at Doner, the largest independently owned advertising agency in North America. Prior to joining Doner, Rob spent 10 years at Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG in N.Y. as group account director on the MCI-Worldcom, Dunkin' Donuts and Schering Plough brand accounts. In 1999 he was honored by the American Marketing Association with an Edison Award. Congratulations, Rob! . . . Writing from the Seattle area, Dan Dittmann said his blues band, Stickshift Annie and the Overdrive, were to be recording their first original music CD in January and February and to start CD release gigs in May at the Washington Blues Society monthly meeting. When not working at his company, Dittman---­Design, which designs brochures, logos and packaging, he works as a volunteer team leader at the Experience the Music Project at the new Seattle rock-and-roll museum designed by Frank Gehry and paid for by Paul Allen. He invites Colby visitors to Seattle to come to a gig or stop by the museum on Sundays to say hello. Be sure to check out his Web site (www.nwlink.com/~dittdsgn) for the gig schedule and a bit of info about the band. . . . That's it for now. Keep those e-mails coming! –Valerie Jones Roy   top  |   next

 

	77		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Ellen D. O'Brien 96 Soaring Hawk Lane Charlotte, VT 05445 classnews1977@alum.colby.edu
	Hey '77s! I'm short on news, but nevertheless I do have a few things for the column. I heard from Charles Frankel (cfrankel@earthlink.net) last September. He has been married to Denise for 15 years and has two children, Elisa, 11, and Angela, 8. They live in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y. Charles is a partner in a law firm in New Windsor, handling real estate, estates and trusts. He reports that he is still passionate about skiing and so is his family-they spend their winter weekends at Ski Windham in the Catskills. They also love to play tennis, in-line skate and bike. He laments (is this our class lament?) that there just doesn't seem to be enough time for "all the demands, requirements, meetings, activities, hobbies and sports that now fill the calendar." He is really looking forward to our 25th class reunion in June 2002. So, all '77s, follow Charles's lead, mark your calendars, get away from all those requirements and demands and come to the 25th. It will be great! . . . Alexandra Levintow Howell (alex andra.l.howell@dartmouth.edu) writes that she is still working in HIV/AIDS research at the VA Hospital in White River Junction, Vt., and teaching part time at Dartmouth Medical School, where she is an associate professor in the department of microbiology and medicine. She and her husband, Scott, are staying very busy with two teenage sons, Cameron, 17, and Nate, 15, and a daughter, Caroline, 5. They spend most of their off-work hours renovating their Lyme, N.H., home and driving the boys to hockey games everywhere. Alexandra writes that "if anyone is in the area, please stop by and visit." . . . Joanne Karlin Giudicelli (joane @itp-inc.com) lives in California. Her two oldest boys (twins) started their freshman year in college this past fall, Michael at the U of Colorado and Christopher at San Diego State. Third son, Brian, 11, is in the sixth grade and happy to still be living at home. Joanne writes, "of course we are all too young to really have kids in college, right?" Right! To keep her mind off her nearly empty nest, she manages her own business, Information Technology Partners, a high-tech executive search firm in Forest City, Calif. (www. itp.com). Along with son Brian she is planning to add an additional four-legged member to the family (they already have two dogs and two cats), a puppy that they will train and socialize for their newest endeavor, Guide Dogs for the Blind. Joanne would love to hear what Kathleen Keegan is up to. . . . Deb Cohen (deborah.-cohen@rockmail. sru.edu) is an associate professor of Spanish and Italian at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pa. Last October she translated a Mexican play, Tu Voz, and directed it under the title Only You. The play was a great success, and she was able to get funding to bring the playwright, Felipe Galvan, to campus for the world premiere in English. In addition to traveling frequently to Mexico, she has also visited Italy and Spain recently and will be going to Argentina and Brazil this summer for the first time. –Ellen D. O'Brien top  |   next

	78		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Robert S. Woodbury 484 Bridge Street Hamilton, MA 01982 978-468-3805 617-951-9919 classnews1978@alum.colby.edu
	Be careful what you wish for, it may come true! After my many pitiful solicitations, you guys have responded wonderfully! You have buried me in news. I may not be able to get it all in this time, but I will eventually. Thanks! . . . Dennis "Decibel Dennis" MacDonald writes that he is the general manager of Looney Tunes Records in Boston and Cambridge. He is married to Victoria Keirnan (Bowdoin '80), who is a vice president at Houghton Mifflin. They have two Cairn terriers, Bertie, 12, and Jake, 7, and one West Highland terrier, Rollie, 2. Dennis and his former Boston roommate, Peter T. Graves, were recently interviewed on videotape for an online documentary on the Boston "Punk Rock/New Wave Scene" circa 1978-1986. Peter manages Newbury Comics on Newbury Street. Dennis says he was interested in the feature article in the summer 2000 issue of Colby about Sav Zembillas '79. From Colby days on radio WMHB Sav and Dennis shared a common interest in the emerging punk rock culture. Dennis has one question: the article mentioned Sav singing with the punk/art band La Peste. Dennis wants to know when that was, having seen La Peste perform at least 50 times and never having seen Sav. Anyone know? . . . Abi Rome is an independent consultant in conservation and ecotourism. She bought a house in Silver Spring, Md., but apparently has not put down roots as she says she is traveling more than ever. She's been to Brazil, Ecuador, Suriname, Central America and Australia. She also does an annual trip to the coast of Maine, and of course, Colby. Abi invites anyone with an interest to an Abi-ecotour! . . . Tim Hussey is fairly settled in Kennebunk, Maine, raising three kids with his wife, Marcia, and running the family business, Hussey Seating Company. He was joined in Kennebunk last year by Bob Johnston and his family and says he sees plenty of Colbyites during the winter (Chris Bradley and Fred Madeira '80) at Sugarloaf and during the summer (Bob Kellog and Geoff Emanuel '79) around the boating scene. His three-year Colby roommate, Les Morgan, visited last summer on his way to taking his oldest daughter, Laura, to Colby as a freshman. Les, his wife, Cindy, and three kids have spent the last 10 years living an amazing mission. They have been directors of a medical mission sponsored by the Presbyterian Church in Bangladesh and are making a difference in the state of health care in that part of the world. They were in the States on sabbatical but are probably back in Bangladesh now. Tim says Les would love some Colby visitors. . . . Old pal Pat Sweeney (who I've since gotten together with along with Ben Thorndike '78 and Dwight Allison '79) sent the news that he and Joan (Vicario) dropped their daughter, Katie, off at Colby to join the Class of 2004! Sweens and Joan had lunch with Janice (Seitzinger) Kassman (some things never change) and said that by the time they left Katie she was actually admitting that she was the product of a "Colby couple." He claims she had more stuff (TV, computer, fridge, etc.) than he and Joan had for their first apartment. Sweens is now at Contact East in North Andover, Mass., as CFO and operations manager. He's big into marathons (sub 3 1/2 hours-I've had cars that couldn't do that), and they all do a bunch of skiing from their home in Waterville Valley, N.H. . . . It was terrific to hear from Clarke Moody. Clarke had a great "memory bowl" last summer as he and his wife, Betsy, and three daughters-Brett, 15, Brookie, 13, and Kelsey, 11-went cruising from their summer place in Narragansett Bay to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The high point was stopping to see Mike Faraca, his wife, Susanne, and their 4-year-old son, Lee, in their hideaway in West Tisbury. For someone who's been "swimming with the financial sharks on and off Wall Street for 20 years" it was great for Clarke's soul to see someone so at peace with himself and the world as Mike, who's been on the Vineyard for nearly 20 years. Clarke also had news of Luke Alessandroni, who toughed it out with our class for 2 1/2 years before disappearing to the jungles of Colombia to teach English at a Catholic girl's high school by day and play conga in a jazz band in Cali by night for his junior year abroad. Luke apparently had some interesting health issues in Colombia in the early '80s, which Clarke would be happy to explain to anyone with an interest. He recently joined a friend's firm as a partner, and they do international equity money management for a nice list of big name foundation and endowment clients and high net-worth types. Clarke's been all over the map (the islands, N.Y.C., Puerto Rico, Houston) but has now settled back in N.J. . . . I have a lot more late arriving news, which I'll save for next time so Colby doesn't edit anything out. I hope you all had wonderful holidays and a terrific start on 2001! –Robert S. Woodbury   top  |   next

	79		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Cheri Bailey Powers 6027 Scout Drive 719-532-9285 719-380-6806 classnews1979@alum.colby.edu
	As I write, it's that time of the year again when we scurry around, trying to find the best Christmas gift to give. If I could just get my Christmas cards out. For now, I will get this column out to you. . . . Kathy Quimby Johnson wrote to say that she has been published. Kathy responded some years ago to a call for brief memoirs about interesting grandmothers. That led to her being one of 68 women included in At Grandmother's Table: Women Write about Foods, Life and the Enduring Bond between Grandmothers and Granddaughters. The book features memoirs, photographs and recipes. Kathy said that it has been fun promoting the book. Congrats! . . . Gayle Amato passed along highlights of her year. Gayle, husband Jerry and the kids, Tucker, 8, Jacob, 10, and Amanda, 12, moved to Glastonbury, Conn., on July 31. They turned right around and left town for a two-month cross-country trip, covering more than 14,000 miles, hitting most of the national parks and lots of other interesting places. She said it took some adjusting to new schools when they got back October 15. Gayle is still at Bayer Pharmaceutical in West Haven as a clinical systems analyst, working on systems in the clinical trials area. Her duties have been expanded to include a role on an international team addressing global clinical systems standardization and management. Jerry works from home as a computer consultant and helps keep track of the kids' activities-soccer, music lessons, school. . . . Keenan and Kathy Bleakney Pawley have finally put down roots in Bedford, N.H., where they purchased a home in October. Kathy is enjoying being back in New England. Sean, 8, and Melissa, 3, have settled into new schools and have actually enjoyed a snow day or two since moving north from Roanoke, Va. We hope to visit them this summer and check out the new house. –Cheri Bailey Powers   top  |   next