ALUMNI PROFILES
Peter Doran '58
A Public Priority

Judi Garcia '63
Real People, Real Needs

Bob Duchesne '75
Egging Him On

Greg Ciottone '87
Drawn to Disaster

Harry R. Wiley '51

Charles J. Hely '68

Mike Swift '85

This year marks the 10th year that Penny Janzen Winn and Patty Valavanis Smith have co-edited the employee newsletter for the International Data Group in Boston. Patty and Mark Smith live in Andover, Mass., and are involved in sports and other activities with sons Jason, 6, and Dean, 4. Mark is the vice president of operations for Dacon, a construction management company in Natick, Mass. Patty has been a Colby overseer since 1999 and last year was involved in a review of the Athletics Department. She is active in the Colby C Club and would like more athletes from the Class of '80 on the membership list! Information on the club is at www.colby.edu/alumni/c.club. . . . Karen Caine Babbitt is a fourth grade teacher in Dartmouth, Mass. Her husband, Jib, runs Babbitt Steam Specialty Company and Standard Fastening in New Bedford, Mass. The Babbitts spend summers sailing in their Pearson or at their children's sailing regattas. Emily is a freshman in high school, and Ike is in seventh grade. Other seasons are spent on soccer fields or skiing. Karen saw Cornelia Armbrecht Brefka, her husband, Mark, and son Paul in Barrington, R.I., during the Optimist Nationals last summer. Anyone planning a sail on Buzzards Bay or Vineyard Sound this summer, please give Karen a call. . . . Leslie Mitchell writes from Darien, Conn., that she works in N.Y.C. and is involved in the New York Colby alumni club. Leslie is eagerly waiting the arrival of her new pet, a "flunk out" Labrador retriever from the Guiding Eyes program. Sonia Turcotte Fois recently visited with Leslie during a business trip. Sonia, her husband, Andy, their sons, Andrew and Tommy, and their new golden retriever live in the Washington, D.C., area. . . . Dan and Cathy Palmer Smith have moved to North Concord, N.H., where they are enjoying life in the country. Cathy works at Citizens Bank in Manchester, and Dan is working on projects locally. They recently traveled to South Carolina and Vermont visiting family and friends. . . . Jeff Hickson and his wife, Barbara, own Wild Bird Gardens, a unique business in Uxbridge, Mass., that they started four years ago for people who want to feed and help wild birds. Jeff, a physics major at Colby, has worked in a nuclear power plant; he also has been an outdoors educator and an energy conservation expert with a couple of patents to his name and has strong feelings about preserving the environment. Jeff describes their store as a "New-Age L.L.Bean" with its large variety of original items. Wild Bird Gardens also has shows on birds of prey, sells kayaks, gives lessons on the nearby Blackstone River and publishes "Wild Bird Gardens News." This quarterly newsletter not only includes information about birds and the environment; it also includes information about health and well being. Jeff sees himself as an educator about outside and inside wellness. . . Alice Domar is back at work full time since having daughter number two, Katie, in December 2000. Her sister, Sarah, is in kindergarten this year. Dr. Domar is known for her knowledge on self-nuturing for mothers and women in the workplace and for her work in infertility. She has a book on mind/body infertility due out in the fall of 2002 and hopes that her next book will be on stress-management for the working mom. She has been interviewed on the Today show and has been included in articles in People magazine and Parents magazine. Alice continues to enjoy seeing Colby alumni around her town of Sudbury, Mass. . . . Henry Kennedy recently was the incumbent running for a seat on the board of directors for the school administrative district in Cumberland, Maine. His concerns were for long-range financial planning and controlling costs in the schools. He lives in Cumberland with his wife and children, ages 14 and 12. . . . According to a May '01 news clip from a weekly paper in Plymouth, Mass., one of the candidates for town moderator was Michael Bradley. Mike is a former member of the finance committee in Plymouth, the town he grew up in. I hope that you got the job, Mike! . . . Bo Preston sent me a recent e-mail with a very entertaining report on his (fictitious) life. Since getting to know him at our last reunion, I was able to glean out of the b.s. that he is well and enjoys bringing up his daughter on the north shore of Massachusetts. . . . I also had a series of very funny e-mails from a group of Phi Delts. Scott Butterfield and Scot Lehigh had different accounts of a recent get-together at an Irish pub in Newton, Mass., with Elliott Pratt, Mark Garvin, Laurie Foster and spouses. I almost believed Scott B., then decided that Scot L. may have more credibility due to his position as a journalist at The Boston Globe. It is good to know that Butters hasn't changed! . . . As always, it is great to be able to share your news with others. When will I hear from the rest of you?

--Lynn Collins Francis

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Harvey Coco e-mailed: "My wife, Deborah, my three daughters, Olivia, Sophie and Hannah, and I have moved from our home in Old Bennington, Vt., to a 60-acre horse farm in Pawlet, Vt. I have returned to playing hockey in an adult league after not playing since my freshman year at Colby. My brother-in-law, Stewart Stokes, is the head crew coach at Colby, and his wife, Bess, is teaching English." . . . Mike Cronan has been promoted to vice president of sales at Northland Steel in Reading, Mass. . . . Emily Lindemann Stuart is teaching seventh grade science at Falmouth (Maine) Middle School. . . . Charles Gordy II, the director of planned giving at Yale University, has been elected to the board of directors of the National Committee on Planned Giving. . . . Joel Cutler was profiled in a Boston Herald article in November after he was honored for his work for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Boston. . . . Bob Ruzzo has been named deputy director of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency (MassHousing), which he joined in September 2000 as general counsel. . . . Beth Pniewski Wilson e-mailed news of her two-week trip to Australia in November, which included stops in Cairns, Ayers Rock, Alice Springs and Sydney and travel to Tasmania. Beth is now serving on the Alumni Council, on the admissions sub-committee. . . . Jonathan Light e-mailed that he's currently U.S. treasurer for BNP Paribas and recently received his second-degree black belt in shotakan karate, which he's been studying for about eight years. He says he was unhappy to miss his classmates at the latest reunion, but his 14-year-old twin boys had sporting events that weekend. He said the same happened to Peter Cocciardi, with whom he keeps in regular contact. Jonathan wrote, "as with many this age, it seems that the parents' schedules revolve around the kids' schedule." . . . Greg Pomeroy, an orthopedic surgeon, lent his professional expertise to the "Body Wise" column in the Portland Press Herald for an article on foot and ankle injuries in joggers. . . . Josh Burns purchased the Mt. Abram Ski Resort in Lock Mills, Maine, last November. . . . As for me, Kevin Fahey '80 and I are still living in Washington, D.C. I'm working as the accountant for the design and construction group at Washington Hospital Center, which is, like all hospitals, undergoing constant construction and renovation. We see Jamie and Laura Littlefield Bourne regularly--Jamie's at EPA (and our new class president), and Laura's a lobbyist for the Food Marketing Institute. Jamie, Laura, Kelsey and Jonathan live in McLean, Va. . . . Please write--or better yet, e-mail any news. I'd like to hear from everyone at least once during my tenure (if only so that I can confirm the news bits I get from the clipping service).

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Kurt Binder has become partner of the Boston-based law firm Morrison, Mahoney, & Miller LLP. Kurt practices in the Worcester office, concentrating in employment law, commercial litigation and general business practice. . . . David Znamierowski is president of Hartford Investment Management, a subsidiary of The Hartford Financial Services Group. David had been senior vice president and CIO. With his new responsibilities, he oversees all of The Hartford's world-wide investment operations. David previously worked for Aetna Life and Casualty Co. and for Salomon Brothers Inc. . . . Jonathan Salem Baskin lives in Glencoe, Ill., and works at a consulting firm specializing in demand-chain management solutions using the Internet. His wife is getting her master's in education, and his daughter just completed first grade. . . . Failing health is taking its toll on David Strage, but he is still planning on making it to the reunion. . . . In the past year, Scott Sophos has appeared in the critically acclaimed Cherry Red Productions play, 7 Deadly Dwarves, in D.C., has done a national commercial for the Council of Independent Bankers and did his seventh year with the Maryland Renaissance Festival as court poet John Skelton. Scott also traveled to California, spending time in L.A. and Palm Springs and hiking in the San Jacinto wilderness. He also met with Peter Golden '80, who is now a casting director with CBS. Scott is in his third year of teaching high school English and drama at Parkdale High School in Prince George's County, Md. . . . Carolyn Berry Copp has shifted her marketing consulting practice from the corporate world of conference companies and publishers to the nonprofit arts world. Carolyn is executive director for Boston Cecilia, one of the oldest choral groups in Boston, and is the director of marketing for Boston Classical Orchestra, which performs regularly at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Both of these clients allow Carolyn to pursue her love of music, nurtured at Colby in the Glee Club and the chapel choir. She would love to arrange for a Colby group to come to a concert with either organization. . . . Cindi Moor Young is currently living in the S.F. Bay area. Cindi is an attorney but is working as a paralegal for Chevron Texaco, which allows her to also be a mommy to her three sons (5, 2 and six months). Colleen Glovins Casey moved to the Bay area about two years ago, and their husbands and children--Colleen and Joe have two, 5 and 2-- have become good friends. Cindi is also in contact with good friends Beth Feldman and Susan Prendergast Basilesco and also has heard news recently of Steve Brown, Eddie Ludwig, Dan Ferguson and Mike Fraser '83. They all had a lot of fun together during the Colby years, and she wishes them all the best. . . . Karen Varnum Matt has worked for the past eight years as a freelance graphic designer and part time for a local printer. Last summer she became associate director of development at the Devereux Center in Rutland, Mass., a residential treatment facility for children and adolescents with special behavior and emotional needs. Her responsibilities include fund-raising, public/community relations and marketing as well as designing the newsletter and other publications for the organization. She keeps in touch with Jay Polimeno '81 and Lynn (D'Angelo '81) and Scott Many and sees Bob Reynolds '81 weekly at church. Karen is a youth group advisor at her church, and one of the kids from the group started at Colby this year and loves it. Karen says it's nice to know that Colby is still the great school it was when we were there. Karen and her family visit Maine every summer, and she says her boys, Sean, 13, and Stephen, 10, are really looking forward to the 20th class reunion this June--they had so much fun at the 15th! . . . Diane Zavotsky lives in northern New Hampshire, practicing family medicine full time as well as enjoying family life with her husband, Daniel McClenahan, and daughters Hayley, 10, and Tess, 7. Recently she incorporated the practice, assumed the role of medical director of a family planning clinic serving the community and helped staff a school-based clinic in Pittsburgh, N.H., the northernmost town in the state. In January '01 Diane joined a medical volunteer team that worked for 11 days in the rural highlands of Guatemala providing care for the local Uspanteco and Quiche people. She had a return trip planned for February 2002. . . . Ellen Heubsch Anderson left her job in development at Connecticut College for the position of director of annual giving at Wheaton College. It's a bit of a commute from her home, she says, but she's excited about helping the program to grow. And she's looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion in June. . . . I hope that those of you who are waiting until the last minute decide to come to the reunion, and those who haven't really thought about it decide to come, too. The more people, the more fun! I hope to see many of you there! Thank you for sending in news!

-Mimi H. Rasmussen

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

These columns are written in advance, so while I'm writing the holidays are in full swing in December. Folks are trying to keep it all together. Kids are clamoring for hints, and snow falls just enough to make you wonder if everything on your cramped schedule can stay in its place or have to be rescheduled. Our economy has shifted, although our priorities remain the same and have become even more pronounced. Many of us, as you often hear me say, are over 40 and have made lifestyle changes of our own, all the while evaluating the quality time with loved ones near and far. This is a time to encourage each of our classmates to reach out to family and friends. . . . So many of you receive letters from the College asking you to give back to Colby--letters from Val Spencer Poulos and from me as your head class agent and calls from our associate class agents, Barbara Leonard, Abby King Diggins, Diane Peterec Reynolds, Mike Schafer, Jake Filoon and Duncan Gibson. Thanks to all of you who do give in countless ways and to those of you who will take the time to answer our calls or to stop long enough to listen. We are beginning the plans for our 20th reunion, and meetings have already begun as we put in place ideas and teams of classmates willing to be a part of the success of our 20th. Please watch for updates or invitations. If you are interested, contact me to see what's happening. We want everyone to plan to attend in June 2003! Make it one of your priorities. . . . I have little news to share right now and will hold it for my next column. Please consider getting in touch with me soon. Enjoy your lifestyle and remember to share it with us as we remain close as Colby alumni through the years. Best to all.

--Sally Lovegren Merchant

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Hi, everyone! This column will be short and sweet. . . . Heather Nicol wrote to say that she and her husband, Jim, had a second child, Sylvia Jane, born on August 29, 2001. Her brother, Alexander, is about 2 and adores her. Heather and her family are still living and working in London. . . . Kit Williams wrote that she and her husband, Jeff Koechling, had a beautiful baby boy, Philip Taber Koechling, on November 7, 2001. Philip weighted in at 11 lbs.! Kit is taking a four-month leave from her job at an environmental consulting firm, ENSR, to spend time with Philip and his sister. . . . I hope everyone is doing well. Please drop me a line so I can share your news with the class. All the best.

--Cynthia M. Mulliken-Lazzara

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