ALUMNI PROFILES
Frances Vitaglione '63
Finding a Future

Fred Valone '72
Spiritual Challenge

Ari Druker '93
Asia Major

Sarah Toland '00
A Step Ahead

Lydia Mason Ingram reports in from Baltimore, Md. She is a freelance writer, a part-time editor and a workshop student at Goucher College, where her husband, Mark, is a professor of French and anthropology. Lydia enjoys providing their children, Emmett, 12, Noble, 8, and Isabel, 5, a "rich life on a shoestring" (wood stove heat, laundry on the line, recycled bread bags for packed lunches). She is teaching her children life skills like cooking, laundry and old-house maintenance. Lydia has stayed in touch with Rachel Lavengood on the West Coast and Lisa Turner for a beach day in Maine every summer, and she recently had a wonderful reunion with Erin Ireton Elliott in Philadelphia. . . . Warren Rosenthal lives in Lake George, N.Y., with wife Lynne and sons Ben, 12, and Greg, 8. They go hiking and skiing in the Adirondacks and swimming in the lake, and they participate in the kids' football, soccer and baseball. Warren recently started his own commercial and investment business with business consulting and brokering. He has 20 years of experience in economic and industrial development. If anyone has a real estate need, contact Warren at Sunny West Lane in Lake George, N.Y. . . . Robin MacLeod Goodridge lives in Boxford, Mass., with her family, including daughters in fourth and sixth grades. She keeps busy with work and raising their children. . . . Ken Branch is a commander in the U.S. Navy. He is at the Pentagon until June with the OPNAV Ashore Readiness Division, where he determines where, when and how many tax dollars are going to be spent on Navy facilities. The engineering involved is "sound," but the "internal and external politics are incredible." Ken taught school after Colby, decided it wasn't for him and went into construction. A "cold piece of metal" convinced him to get an engineering degree at UMaine. Family patriotism convinced him to join the service in 1984. With the Navy CEC, he has had enough fun and challenge to stretch four years to 18-plus. As a SEABEE (Naval Construction Forces) he has traveled to many places by ship or aircraft, doing contingency construction and humanitarian relief support. He met his wife, Maria, in Hawaii, where she was on a nursing contract. He began his current position in July 2001. He was approaching the Pentagon on 9/11/01 and relates that as shocking as the hit on the Pentagon was, and despite having experienced daily risks in the Middle East, seeing D.C. panic and evacuate made the greatest impact on him. Coaching for the teams of his children--Makelea, 9, Wyatt, 6, and Makenzie, 3--is the highlight of his day/week/month. He says he tries to remember to have adult conversations with his wife and enjoys paddling and cycling sports since impact sports have been abandoned to save what is left of his knees. . . . Jon Greenspan, whose family includes his wife, Stacey, and twins Lauren and Jared, nearing 2, has lived for the past 10 years near Wall Street in N.Y.C.. He says he watched in disbelief when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11/01. He is the founder and president of On-Line Residential, a software and Web-based systems provider to residential brokerage firms in Manhattan. His company provides the software and backend support for data entry. They have a second product, Frontdesk.net, which offers residential buildings a communication portal via the Web. . . . Elizabeth Barrett Hubbe lives in Raleigh, N.C., with her family, which includes two teenage children, two cats and a dog. She is pursuing a master's degree in library science at U.N.C.'s School of Information and Library Science. . . . Blake Hodess is a general contractor in North Attleboro, Mass. His children, Jake, 13, and Erika, 16, attend school at Moses Brown in Providence, R.I. Erika was to get her driver's license in Jan.'03. Jake plays soccer and lacrosse. They ski and snowboard in N.H. in the winter and travel south to Florida each March for spring break. . . . Catie Fulton Teeven is a high school history teacher. She "invents" her lessons with different curriculums and at various levels for geography, global studies, contemporary history, American history, world history, economics, sociology and government. She says that the kids' success or interest makes it worthwhile. Now that she knows history, she wishes she had been a history major at Colby. . . . Sandy Lord says hello to all of her Colby classmates from Johnson, Foss-Woodman and elsewhere. She has been living in northern Vermont for 12 years. She has lived in small towns "gloriously" good for hiking, x-c skiing and biking but now lives in Burlington, better situated for job and social contacts but still only 30 minutes from beautiful mountains. Sandy has been in a relationship for four years and is helping her partner to raise his children, ages 12 and 16. She has been getting more involved with the French language and has spent extended periods of time in Quebec and France. She currently teaches middle school French in Burlington. . . . Rich "Buck" Buchanan lives with wife Susan, son Potter, 14, and daughter Fiona, 11, a hamster, a goldfish and a rabbit in Swampscott, Mass. He is a chef with Sodexho Management Services in Salem, Mass. Buck coaches baseball, does home repair and yoga (!) and listens to loud music. . . . Congrats to Patty Valavanis Smith, who was honored as the Colby C Club Woman of the Year last October. Patty held 12 school records in women's basketball at graduation in 1980. She still ranks fourth in all-time career scoring with 1,165 points. In softball, Patty had a 35-4 record and led Colby to three Maine state championships. . . . Many thanks for your news. To all others, please take the time to complete the Class of '80 questionnaire that was sent out in November. Best wishes to all.

--Lynn Collins Francis

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Let's hope no news is good news, because no news is pretty much what I've received lately. I do have some of my own: I've switched jobs, and I'm now a financial analyst in the division of engineering services at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. I've also spent a good deal of time volunteering at Days End Farm, a rescue farm for abused and neglected horses in Lisbon, Md. It's hard work, but it's fun and very satisfying. Kevin '80 has also made a job change. He's now the deputy director of vaccine safety surveillance and assessment at the American Association of Health Plans in downtown D.C. . . . Beth Pniewski Wilson had her usual busy year: she celebrated 15 years with West Group, a publishing company, and she and her husband, Phil, traveled to several historic sites of Virginia, spent a week on Cape Cod, hosted a family reunion and held the ninth annual CiderFest at their Flintlock Farm in Still River, Mass. . . . Please send me a quick e-mail or letter and let me know what you're up to.

lizabeth Still Fahey

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There isn't too much "new" news. Having said that . . . I will be looking for e-mails and letters for the remainder of this year's columns, so please take a few minutes to send a note. I received a nice e-mail from Richard Robinson after the reunion. He wrote, "The 20th reunion could not have been better. We caught up with many fraternity brothers and old friends, including the Scott Many, Ron Agnes and Tony Perkins families. It was also great to see Bruce Anderson, Jeff Brown and Sarah Lickdyke Morissette along with many others. It was fun to see my family having such a great time with those of my friends. Colby did a great job!" . . . Carolyn Berry Copp sent an e-mail, too, saying, "I'm very excited to be co-class president with Carol Birch and am interested in hearing from anyone who has ideas about how the class can stay in touch--especially ideas on planning our 25th reunion!" Last summer Carolyn traveled to Transylvania (a region of Romania where many ethnic Hungarians live) on a musical pilgrimage with her church choir. The choir sang in Unitarian churches in Transylvania and Budapest and at the palace in Vienna as well. Carolyn reports that the country was beautiful, and the people were warm and generous. Closer to home, Carolyn performs with the Boston Classical Orchestra and Boston Cecilia. This year she is making room in her work and music schedule for her daughter's first grade activities. . . . I received quite a few clippings about Bill Maddox. He participated in the Coastal Senior College book series last summer in Thomaston, Maine. Bill led the discussion on John Adams, the biography by David McCullough. Clearly, Bill has put his history and government major from Colby to good use! Bill also has an M.A. degree in history from the College of William and Mary, and he earned his law degree from Washington and Lee University, both Virginia schools. Bill practices law in Rockland, Maine. . . . I also received news that Terry Smith Brobst was promoted to vice president of the commercial loan administration department at Peoples Heritage Bank in Portland, Maine. She has been in banking for 18 years and joined Peoples in 1997. Terry is loyal to Maine--raised in Damariscotta, she now lives in Freeport. . . . I look forward to hearing from many of you throughout the year.

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

An interesting opportunity exists to use my column to promote classmates (which perhaps will encourage some of you to write more often). One Web site to check out is that of the Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H., at www.kua.org. Mike Schafer has been promoted to headmaster at KUA, a grade nine through 12 boarding school located about 12 miles from Hanover, N.H., where, he says, Dartmouth provides KUA some opportunities close by. Mike, who had been assistant head of school for student life at Middlesex School in Concord, Mass., said he and Gayle and the kids (Hannah, Joanna and Jonathan) looked forward to life in the country. . . . Wendy Wittels Renz plays competitive tennis on a 4.5 USTA women's tennis team in Connecticut. On Wendy's team last year was one of her Colby teammates, Sandy Winship Eddy '84. Wendy and her family made a jaunt to Big Greenwood Pond in Maine last summer. They enjoyed relaxing, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming and plenty of s'mores around their campfires. Wendy also saw Maura Shaughnessy last year while in Stowe, Vt. Maura was expecting her second child then and was still working as hard as ever. . . . Nancy Simm '84 has lived in Connecticut for more than 13 years. She is the director of long-term care insurance sales for an insurance broker in Avon, Conn. When she wrote, Nancy was training to run the half marathon in Hartford last fall. . . . In July, Steve Rowse became the newest member of the Harvard Conservation Commission in his town of Harvard, Mass. . . . Becky Crook Rogers and her family live in Upper Arlington, Ohio, a small suburb of Columbus. Becky has been working both for the local YMCA and as a representative for Excel, and her husband, Jesse, works for Specialized Bicycle components. Becky says she may work with the central Ohio metro office of the YMCA, tracking the government grants received by that organization. Anyone wishing to check out the Excel job opportunity should go to www.excelmovie.com. . . . The Rev. Judith Farrell and John Northrop were married this past October in Burlington, Vt. Attending the ceremony were Joyce (Hartwig '84) and Jamie O'Neil (Joyce and Jamie own a camp Colby previously owned on the Belgrade Lakes in Maine), Nancy Pratt Hurley and Phin Gay and his new wife, Mindy. Judy, an ordained UCC minister (and gardener), had married Phin and Mindy only two weeks earlier. The Northrops held their reception on Grand Isle (in near gale conditions, John says) and honeymooned in Tuscany. Mindy and Phin joined them in Italy, and they all had a wonderful time making day trips from their villa and visiting several of the hilltop cities in southern Tuscany as well as Rome and Florence. John is business developer for Logical Managed Services, and the newlyweds live in St. Albans, Vt. John says he often runs into Dave Berno when Dave is chauffeuring one or more family members to the hockey rink. . . . Bill Lloyd's day job is vice president and senior financial consultant at Merrill Lynch in Rochester, N.Y. Married to Meg for 16 years, Bill says he also acts as morning school bus driver for their four children, who range in age from 9 to 14. Bill is currently serving as the president of the board of the Genesee Valley Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust serving western New York since 1990. With more than 7,200 acres under conservation easement, it is among the top 10 percent of land trusts nationally in terms of acreage protected. . . . I am currently the senior warden for my churches, St. Mary's and St. Jude's of Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor, Maine, and have been on the vestry for five years. One of our most recent and favorite rectors, Rev. Paul Gilbert, is now the rector of St. John's of Lattingtown in Locust Valley, N.Y. I heard from Jennifer Thayer Naylor this past November that the Naylors attend church with Rev. Gilbert--Jen's husband, Duncan, sings in the choir, and Jen also is very active. Jennifer and Duncan's two little ones are Duncan and Persephone, ages 7 and 5. . . . Allan and Diane Therrien Lamper purchased the Lake Shore Motel and Cottages in Center Harbor, N.H., on Lake Winnipesaukee. Allan moved his architectural/residential design office there. The motel and cottages consist of year-round operations of five cottages, six motel units and three motel suites, and 2002, their first summer, sounds as if it went really well. Their daughter Andrea is a senior in high school and heading to college soon. Son Jonathan is 12, and Natalie is 5. . . . Barbara Leonard and Dan Marra live in Waterville, Maine. Dan, who graduated in May 2002 from the University of Maine School of Law, passed the Maine bar exam and has been working as a judicial clerk for Maine's District Court for almost three years. Barb is the director of the division of community health in the Bureau of Health for Maine's Department of Human Services. She oversees programs that address chronic diseases and their risk factors as well as programs that focus on community-level interventions (cardiovascular disease, cancer, tobacco and oral health, for instance). Barb's organization is currently intensifying efforts to address obesity in Maine, especially among children. . . . Wayne and I and our boys, Jordan and Jake, headed in December to North Woodstock, N.H., to the Alpine Village Resort, owned by Jay '81 and Maureen Hagerty Polimeno '84 and their daughters, Katy and Aimee. Check out the Alpine Village Resort opportunity at www.alpinevillageresort.com. . . . Stay tuned for reunion news and results. Plenty to be excited about.

--Sally Lovegren Merchant

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I've already been recruited to help with our 20th reunion in 2004! I hope everyone is giving consideration to showing up for this one. . . . Sue Palmer Stone writes that she is doing a Bionic Woman imitation--she got a hip replacement. She's living in Connecticut with her husband and their two children, Roger, 10, and Abby, 8. She is still singing. . . . Greg Walsh wrote from Montezuma, N.M. He spent several years overseas but recently has been director of admissions and university advising at the United World College, one of 10 international high schools dedicated to intercultural understanding through service, activities and rigorous academics. Greg reports that due to the generosity of Andrew Davis '85 and his family, six of Greg's students are now studying at Colby. . . . Sharon Kehoe Miller is living right on the east edge of Yellowstone Park, mountain biking and rock climbing in the warm months and skiing in the winter. Anyone dropping by the area and looking for local knowledge should find her. . . . Lisa and Bill Sheehan, John and Debby Pazary Ayer and Karen and Dave Rosenberg had a mini Colby reunion. Bill reports that he has two children and is living in Sudbury, Mass. He's a partner at Ironside Ventures and VC firm. John and Deb live in Sudbury, too; he is working as a partner at Ropes and Grey, and Deb recently retired from JP Morgan/Chase. They have one daughter. Dave and Karen live in Marblehead, Mass., and recently had their fourth child (their first boy). . . . Craig and Diane Perlowski Alie and their two children also live in Sudbury. Craig is a "technology guru" at Iron Mountain. . . . Cindy Gillis and Warren Burroughs and their two daughters recently relocated from Hong Kong to Weston, Mass. Warren works for Deutsche Bank. . . . Janet Kelley '86 and Nils Gjesteby live in Winchester and have three children. Nils is president of Clausen Gjesteby. . . . Keep the e-mails coming!