ALUMNI PROFILES
Gardner Gray '64
One Last Landing

James Simon '64

David Rea '71

David Melpignano '72
Taking Stock

Maura Shaughnessy '83

Jennifer Massengill '88
Cell mate

Mala Rafik '93
Cause and effect

50 I received a lovely letter from Margaret (Peg) Rodgers Jones with some great news. On February 17, 2001, she married her bridge partner, Irving (Nick) Nichols, which, she comments, "says a lot about his generous and forgiving nature." (As a bridge player, I also appreciate those qualities!) Fred '49 and Grace Rutherford Hammond were a part of the celebration as well as Deb Smith Meigs '51 and Bess and Jack Keough '51. . . . I was surprised and sorry to learn from Jack Alex not long ago that we lost Richard Armknecht. Jack wrote, "When Richard Armknecht recently passed away our class lost a very valuable member. We had an extremely successful 50th class reunion mainly due to the hard work of Dick. The class book was the largest there had ever been. Dick was well known at the College for his loyalty and hard work and will be greatly missed."

--Alice Jennings Castelli

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51 Henry Fales writes that he is 75. He holds a part-time job ringing a cash register at Staples, teaches introductory computer usage to seniors at the local COA, and the second week in March he began teaching amateur radio and fourth grade science to a group of youngsters at the Orleans, Mass. Elementary School. He adds that he's going to be paid for the elementary school activities. How about that! . . . Shirley Raynor Ingraham was one of three ladies who represented their chapter of Florida Life Care Residents Association on the legislative tour of the capitol in February. Shirley took photos as 150 seniors visited 78 legislators and left each with a copy of the points assembled by Lt. Gov. Brogan's task force on issues affecting the elderly. Shirley says that liability insurance premiums for Florida's long-term care providers are eight times the national average. Florida law is used unfairly to sue nursing homes and assisted living facilities for huge amounts, she says, and tort reform is necessary. Shirley visited Rep. Kim Berfield and had a special visit with Sen. Jack Latvala. She also led Clearwater residents to mail 400 letters to Tallahassee. Legislators started hearings on March 6.

--Nancy Nilson Archibald

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52 Priscilla Leach, Framingham, Mass., reports that she practices tai chi each morning, power walks three miles three days a week and between breaths is a volunteer at a senior center and the police station! She is working on her family genealogy, having traced her father's line back to 1227. On her way for a two-week visit to Star Island last summer, Pris chanced to meet and visit with Betsey Smart Merriam on the dock of the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company in Portsmouth, N.H. . . . Helen Torr Exton, Washington, D.C., along with her husband, is now retired from the diplomatic service. Their five children live all over the world, from Hong Kong to London. Helen is teaching part time at a school that focuses on learning disabilities. . . . Janet Hewins, Ph.D., San Francisco, a semi-retired clinical psychologist, is taking the summer off to do some traveling, London in particular. . . . Bob Ryley, who had a bit of surgery last fall, claims to be healthy once again. To prove it, he's back on his two-miles-a-day walk regimen. . . . Not meaning to turn this column into a who's on/who's off the sick list bulletin, I nevertheless will tell you that Bob Hooper claims not to feel 70 in spite of a quadruple by-pass in March 2000 and angioplasty and a stent installation in January 2001. . . . Carl and Muffie Morgan Leaf, Judy and Herb Nagle, Jean and Bob Lee '51 and Sheila and Don Hailer have periodic dinners out together. They are joined by Charlotte and Lum Lebherz when the latter are not practicing snow avoidance in Florida. . . . Ellen Lewis Huff, Old Town, Maine, besides playing the viola in the University of Maine orchestra and working in a food pantry, is active in Literacy Volunteers of America. She is currently tutoring a mid-50s person who has reading problems. . . . I asked our president, Norma Bergquist Garnett, to contribute a closing paragraph: "Greetings. Here we are! Less than one year to go until our Class of 1952 will be gathering on Mayflower Hill in recognition of our graduation from Colby only 50 years ago! Several class members and the Alumni Office staff have been planning special events and items to provide us with an outstanding 50th reunion in 2002. A pleasant and relaxing two-day pre-reunion event in Boothbay Harbor. A full and informative reunion publication, which everyone will help write through a compilation of personal photos and messages. A Thursday evening dinner party put on by Colby just for us. Activity schedules for Friday and Saturday that include something for everybody, especially the traditional Saturday alumni parade at noon and our banquet and program that evening. More details will be mailed in the fall. Remember the charm of Johnson Pond on Mayflower Hill? Let's plan on gathering again by its gentle banks and re-experience in 2002 Colby's natural beauty, academic vigor and the great traditional spirit of its alumni!" Ciao, Norma.

--Paul M. Aldrich

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53 Larry Taber reports by e-mail that he has retired to his rootsand he could not have landed any closer. He says he resides four houses from where he grew up in Madison, N.J. Larry moved there from New York City after working 30 years for Union Carbide as a computer consultant. He has volunteered for the Madison Shade Tree Authority, which was responsible for planting 11,000 trees. Now he serves as commissioner of the Madison Housing Authority and also serves on the finance committee for the Episcopal Diocese of Newark and as treasurer for the AIDS Resources Center. When he is not busy with all this volunteer work, he can be found either in his greenhouse or garden. . . . An impressive committee has already started work on the 50th reunion gift: Barbara Best Berg, Frank King, Paul Wescott and Nick Sarris, all under the leadership of Chase and Nan Murray Lasbury. . . . Ed Fraktman has already had some fun conversations with such classmates as Roger Olson, Buddy Reed, Dick Skelley, Paul "Rocky" Appelbaum, Robert "Bato" Gordon, Dick Hawes, Gordon Marquis and the late Phil Hussey, who I am sad to report passed away last March 15. Ed and his wife, Marilyn, became grandparents for the first time this past year. They have two grandsons: Aiden (born in April '00)Ed aspires to see him a star goalie for the Irish Roversand Alexander (born last July 4), a star quarterback-in-training. Ed says he and his "lovely" Marilyn celebrate their 40th anniversary this June. Congratulations! . . . Marcia Curtis took advantage of the tear-out section in the magazine to send some comments. She has been retired for 10 years and has been enjoying time with her family of nieces and nephews as well as traveling and keeping up with old high school and college friends. Marcia still lives in Charleston, S.C., but comes back to New England to spend summers in Waterville Valley, N.H. She has taken up watercolor painting and belongs to the life-long learning center of the College of Charleston. Marcia remembers some high points of her college days: the football games (sometimes in the snow), singing in the Glee Club, especially performing "The Messiah," and planting a small pine tree on Arbor Day in 1953, which is now 40 feet high. What great memories we all share. . . . Ray Ducharme will become professor emeritus at Smith College on June 30, 2001. . . . I heard from Barbara "Bobbi" Studley Barnette in January. She said she was weary of traveling by air across the U.S. visiting her family and glad to be on the Cape again, and she and I made plans to spend some time together after the snow melts. I always look forward to having some personal time from my conservatorship duties. . . . Keep the news coming. If anyone wants my e-mail address, just let me know and I'll answer.

--Barbara Easterbrooks Mailey

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54 I was saddened to learn that Barbara Fisher Dorfman has died. She was a fellow English major, and I remember her at Colby as full of energy and fun. . . . Abbott Rice, who lives in Hudson, N.H., has been busy with his local church and the town's code of ethics committee since his retirement from Northern Essex Community College four years ago. He and his wife, Annie, also are active in the Wattanick Grange in Hudson. . . . Nancy Moyer Conover has been traveling to some unusual destinations! She went to Midway Atoll to observe gooney birds and helped in a study of spinner dolphins after participating in the Amazon Pink Dolphin Service a couple of years ago. Contacts made through Elderhostel led her to dolphin studies. In addition, she has been biking around southern Bohemia and spotting chanterelle mushrooms in Sweden. Like others of us, she also flies around the U.S. visiting her children and grandchildren, with two new ones having arrived just last year. . . . Winnie Robertson Miller wrote at Christmas that she and Nate '55 were planning a trip to Prague and Budapest. Last December was a special month for them with the birth of their fourth grandchild. . . . Art Eddy and his wife, Anne, have sold their house on Cape Cod and are moving to Lakeville, Conn., to be closer to family. . . . Joyce Witham Spencer and Chuck '53 live in Colorado. They enjoy skiing right there in Colorado, too, but have been traveling around the country visiting friends and family. Their children and grandchildren live in Las Vegas and Houston. This year the Spencers plan to visit Colby friends in Florida, then travel to Costa Rica and cruise through the Panama Canal. What a travel log our classmates could concoct together! Please send your news.

--Helen Cross Stabler

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