ALUMNI PROFILES
Frances Vitaglione '63
Finding a Future

Fred Valone '72
Spiritual Challenge

Ari Druker '93
Asia Major

Sarah Toland '00
A Step Ahead

Judi Holtz Levow has settled in Lake Worth, Fla., and is eager to put together a Southern Florida alumni group. She has a grandson who lives in Port St. Lucie, and her son and wife are residents of Delray Beach, where it is reported that they are golf pros. I'm going to have to hook up with them; my game has gone to pot! . . . Sometimes we have the tendency to forget how ingenious and talented some of our class is! In spending some time on the Florida gulf coast last November, I came upon some interesting and highly skilled works of sand sculpture. The craftsman--Jack Johnston. Ask him about this artisanship the next time you see or talk to him. . . . Sad to say folks, but that's all the news I've received. How about some help out there! The Alumni Office is more than happy to forward any news they receive. . . . By the time you read this it will be spring--such a great time of the year at Colby--and just a little more than two years away from our 50th reunion. Think of that, almost 50 years from that June in 1955 when we graduated. Anyone remember who our commencement speaker was? It's not too early to be making preliminary plans to attend. If you have never attended a reunion before, this will be the time. It can be one of the highlights of your life. Don't miss it! . . . Also, the efforts of the elite committee chaired by George Haskell to put together a memorable class gift have begun, and every one of us should think seriously about the extent of our participation. The goal is attainable if we all help out. I know--I didn't indicate what the goal is--but George will at the appropriate time. I wouldn't want him to be deprived of the pleasure of making the committee's efforts known to all.

--Ken Van Praag

previous  |  top  |  next

Our reunion is three-plus years away, but I am already getting inquiries about it. I think that all the 50th high school reunions have inspired thoughts of 2006. The College makes a big deal of the 50th. We are guests of the College and are urged to arrive on a Thursday evening, when we have our own pre-reunion dinner. If we go to Sebasco earlier in the week--say Tuesday and Wednesday nights--this makes a really nice block of time to revisit Maine and reconnect with classmates. At a Homecoming luncheon, I sat next to Peter Merrill '57, who sang with the Colby Eight. A group of former Eights have formed the After Eight and return to campus during Reunion Weekend to sing. One of the group is Class of '61 so for sure will be singing our weekend. I have asked Pete to keep our class in mind, and we will try to have our own performance or a campus-wide one. Should be a lot of nostalgic fun. . . . Phil '57 and Nancy Carroll Luce visited Ed and Lois Latimer Pan in Poughkeepsie in the fall. And Lois sent a wonderful picture of an October mini reunion in D.C. attended by Carol Kiger Allen, Joanna McCurdy Brunso, Vonnie Noble Davies, Barbara Preston Hayes and Lois. I recognized everyone. Lois, who runs a wonderful business from her home (see www.quiltedbibs.com), reports that life hasn't changed that much from the days in the dorm--lots of talk and coffee. The group has ideas for a session at reunion devoted to the contribution the Colby education made in their professional lives. Vonnie and Kathy Vogt could discuss women in academic positions and Joanna could talk on women in traditional men's fields. Joanna was a planner at the New York State Department of Transportation, and Kathy was head of the English department at Wheaton College before retiring recently to the Cape. I missed Vonnie's talk at an earlier reunion and people still rave about it. We need another chance! They also wondered if we could enlist some women authors from Colby to speak. . . . Vashti Boddie Roberts e-mailed me from Menifee, Calif. After retirement she has found a special niche teaching grad students who are starting their master's theses at National University, San Bernardino. She loves grandparenting to her three-plus grandkids. Joanna McCurdy Brunso recently visited her from Arizona, and she would love to have other classmates get in touch if they are visiting California. Let me know and I'll send you her e-mail or address. . . . Mary Ann Papalia Laccabue attended her 50th Watertown reunion, where she caught up with Jean Farmer White and urged her to come to reunion. . . . John and Joan Williams Marshall had back-to-back reunions the same weekend and sent lots of news about John's Newton High reunion. Janet Stebbins Walsh, who was on the Newton reunion committee, is still working at The Brown School in Millis, Mass. Julie Brush Wheeler, who came from Portland, Ore., also continues to teach. Pete Lunder drove down to visit with Don Kupersmith while he was in town for the get-together. And Russ Nahigian is now retired after a career with the Air Force and in the government and private sectors as a communications specialist. Others attending the reunion were Don Dunbar, Louise Allen Freedman and Joan Arcese.

--Kathy McConaughy Zambello

top  |  next

Technology is great (for the most part) until it double-crossed us on June 15, when the reunion column that we e-mailed to the College either ended up in Timbuktu or was spit out into the great beyond! A class letter has been sent out instead about our very successful 45th reunion, but we had hoped that the other classes on either side of us would be entertained by our many activities. I am sure they realize that we are not a group of withering wallflowers! . . . On a serious note, we want everyone to know that Allan van Gestel received the 2002 Distinguished Alumnus Award at the Alumni Awards Banquet. Allan was so honored for his distinguished law career in Massachusetts both as a trial lawyer and as a Superior Court judge, including the last two years as the presiding justice of the newly created Massachusetts Business Litigation Court. . . . Fred Hammond wrote to say that he enjoyed our reunion and urges everyone to attend our 50th. He is still teaching adult classes and volunteering for the Beverly, Mass., Historical Society. . . . Mary Jane and Steve Dougherty have sold their home on Higgins Beach in Scarborough and have moved to a wonderful condominium a few miles inland--they send their best to everyone. . . . Marilyn Perkins Canton and her husband, Dick, are back in Naples, Fla., after a great summer in Bridgton, Maine, and a cruise in the Baltic Sea. Perk writes, "We saw Guy and Eleanor Ewing Vigue for a few good (well, memorable) golf outings! We were pulling for Guy to win his state senate campaign, but that was not to happen in Maine, circa 2002, now continuing its Democratic trend. Perk and Dick had planned to attend the reunion, but they were both felled by a "wicked flu bug attack." . . . Bobbi Santora Hindert e-mailed that in July 2002 she had a wonderful visit with Beth Reynolds Morris and her husband, John, in Helensburg, Scotland; highlights of her trip were sailing on the bay and an evening at the beautiful faculty club on Loch Lomond. . . . Hope and Bob Pettegrew lead busy lives in Peterborough, N.H. Bob currently holds two positions--VP of marketing for Helmers Publishing in Peterborough and VP of marketing for Apogee Analytics in Manville, N.J. He also teaches jazz piano (not surprising) and runs "Piano Scape," a summer piano camp in Dublin, N.H. He and Hope have two daughters and three grandsons. . . . Don Dinwoodie writes from Colorado Springs, Colo., that he and his wife, Elaine, have completed (after three years of work) their Earthship house, "resplendent with passive and active solar, a stream and two water walls and gardens on the inside." Don does real estate consulting and works with an international M.B.A. program with a business school in Barcelona, Spain. He also has a personal coaching business and manages their properties in Mexico. They have four sons and four grandchildren, two living close by and two in Barcelona. . . . Our happiest news comes last! Marietta Roberts and Peter French '55 were married on July 6 in Kennebunkport with a three-day celebration! She writes, "to my delight, among our guests were my roommates Nancy Roseen Leavitt and Betsey Morgan Salisbury as well as Kathy Sferes Eraklis, Sue Fairchild Bean, Ellie Shorey Harris, Nancy and John Conkling, Carol Ann Cobb Christ and Hank and Isobel Rafuse Capuano."

--Guy and Elenor Ewing Vigue

top  |  next

It's winter as I write, but when you read this you will be thinking about grass growing, flowers blooming and possibly attending our 45th reunion. Don't forget--it's the weekend of June 6-8. If you haven't been back in a while, or never, it might be a good idea to set aside this weekend for renewing old friendships. . . . Bruce Blanchard and his wife, Coleen, moved about a year ago to an adult community called Oronoque Village in Stratford, Conn. They love it there. There are many activities, and Bruce has even performed in a '50s review called "The Oronoque Follies." Their daughter and family, who live about 20 minutes away, and their two sons and their families, who live in Vermont, total six grandchildren ranging in age from 18 months to 15. Bruce has visited David and Lois Munson Morrill in Cape Elizabeth as well as Charlotte (Clifton '61) and Norman Lee at their summer home in Maine. From January through March the Blanchards are in Flagler Beach, Fla. Last fall, Bruce played golf with John Edes, who also had invited Bruce to participate with him in the Phoenix Insurance Company's annual Special Olympics golf tournament in July. John thinks Bruce stills plays pretty well, although he says age is creeping in! John is still a registered representative for Phoenix and continues to work because he enjoys it. He is also active in the Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce in Providence, R.I., and he, too, spends some time in Florida (West Palm Beach). He recently became engaged to Robin L. Moone, and they will be married in time for the reunion. . . . Jane Gibbons retired in December 2001. Then she and her husband, Patrick Wood, took a four-month van trip across the country, visiting national parks, climbing state high points, visiting relatives and exploring historic homes and battle sites. They arrived in Maine around May 13, and, of course, it snowed! Since then they have been busy renovating their 1828 farmhouse in Sweden, Maine. . . . Helen Payson Seager had moved to Alexandria, Va., to care for her daughter, who had been diagnosed with advanced stage Hodgkin's disease. Happily, her daughter survived. Helen also has been caring for her husband, who has had numerous surgeries and other less invasive procedures. While seeing her daughter through chemo, Helen joined a local church to sing in the choir, and she continues to sing as much as possible. Back on Nantucket, Helen has been helping to prepare a preservation plan for the black cemetery and to promote scholarship about Nantucket's black heritage. She is looking forward to the reunion and encourages everyone who has never been back to make this your year to attend. . . . A new voice heard from is Sally Howes Hansen. After working in human resources at MIT for more than 30 years, Sally retired several years ago. Her husband, Ted, has also retired as a professor of management at Salem State College. Now they are involved with a variety of volunteer activities in the Cambridge area as well as helping Ted's son care for their two grandchildren, who live in Brewster on the Cape. Among her many activities, Sally enjoys assisting in a nursery school in Arlington, serving on the steering committee for the Association of MIT Retirees and doing office projects for the American Friends Service Committee. Other Colby people Sally keeps in touch with are Carol Conway Denney, Carol Hathaway de Lemos and Susan Sherman White. . . . Another retiree is George Stetson, who spent 38 years teaching and coaching. Since the spring of 2000 George and his wife have been able to spend some time at their home in Nova Scotia doing renovation work. Their main home is in Delaware, where they do some volunteer work and the inevitable renovations. Their children and grandchildren live in Maine, Washington, D.C., and Oregon. . . . Carol Hall Hui writes from California that she still enjoys teaching needle arts in the adult education program of Mountain View-Los Altos and recently began helping her sister-in-law, who is the U.S. distributor of a line of cards from France. Carol's husband, David, was a victim of the high-tech debacle and is retraining to pursue his real estate license so he can do mortgage brokering. He also teaches graduate and undergraduate business courses at the San Jose campus of the University of Phoenix. . . . Harry and Joan Shaw Whitaker are, as you know, back in the East, in Plymouth, Mass. Early in 2002 they met several of Harry's Sigma Theta fraternity mates. A couple of months later they attended an even larger reunion of sorts and saw Colby friends they had not seen in more than 40 years. . . . My next column will be my last, so I do hope to hear from you. And remember the date: June 6-8, 2003; the place is Mayflower Hill, Waterville, Maine.

-Margaret Smith Henry

top  |  next

Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue.

top  |  next