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

CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Jane Holden Huerta
2955 Whitehead Street
Miami, FL 33133
305-446-5082
classnews1960@alum.colby.edu

Ralph Nelson's news, which arrived in early November, commented on the "interesting" time that I must be having with the politics in Florida and Mexico (because I live in Florida and my husband, Juan, worked on Vicente Fox's election campaign in Mexico). I admit I found the situation in Florida so disturbing that I might even become involved in politics! Ralph reports that on June 21 he and his wife were blessed with an eight pound, three ounce grandson, Daniel Ross Nelson. In October, Ralph and his wife traveled to Morocco for two weeks of touring the medieval markets and Roman ruins, camping in the desert and making many home visits. Ralph continues to be active in the Sons of the American Revolution, this year as ambassador for overseas recruitment, working with people in New Zealand, Micronesia, Canada and Ireland. . . . John Kellom recently retired and moved from New England to Hilton Head Island, S.C. He enjoys walking the beach, playing tennis and not having to set the alarm clock for an early morning commute. He worked at Raytheon Company for 34 years, primarily as a software engineer developing and testing air traffic control systems. Although employed in Massachusetts, he worked on international programs and had the opportunity for travel to Norway and Hong Kong. Now that they are settled into their new home, he is busy working on the "honey do" list before getting too involved in church and music activities. . . . June Chacran Chatterjee and her husband had a wonderful time at our very special reunion and are looking forward to our future reunions. After the weekend, they drove through New England visiting family and friends. Recently they returned from a six-week trip to India. They usually make all their own travel arrangements, but everything was done for them during one week they spent traveling through Rajasthan on the Palace on Wheels, traveling by night and seeing the sights during the daytime. Their train took them to palaces and forts in places such as Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur and the Taj Mahal. They even went to the Rathambore Reserve but didn't see any tigers, although they did ride an elephant and took a camel ride in the sand dunes. They say they had their own beautiful compartment with private bathroom, the food was fantastic, the staff took care of them like family, and they would be happy to provide more information to anyone interested. . . . It is now 10 years since Peter Shays joined the publications department at Principia, a private educational institution with two campuses–one for children pre-pre-school through high school in St. Louis and the other a liberal arts college just up the Mississippi River in Elsah, Ill. He started as editor and has been director for the past six years. He adores the work that, in addition to print publications, involves both video and Web communication. He and his wife of almost 35 years love the St. Louis area. . . . P. Anna Johnson survived the Seattle earthquake on February 28; here's a part of her description. "The jury on which I am serving in the Federal Courthouse had just been called back from a 15 minute break . . . when I felt the first tremor. . . . [T]he fellow juror seated to my right literally flew over me on his way to the open doorway on my left. . . . I too leaped, and landed crouched on my knees. . . . There must have been 12 or 15 of us huddled together on the floor, our arms around one another. ‘This looks like a football huddle' passed through my mind. Next to me on the right, a young woman . . . was terrified and I felt sorry for her. The woman said, ‘I have a two-year-old daughter. I've got to get home,' in a tone of voice that told me she didn't expect she ever would. . . . I hugged the woman tightly and said very calmly, ‘It's OK. We're going to be alright.' . . . Chunks of plaster began falling from the ceiling and I realized this was like no earthquake I had ever been in. This was indeed ‘the big one' we have all been waiting for. The whole building was being shaken apart. . . . Holding the young woman more tightly I said, ‘You're a beautiful person. You're a very beautiful person.' She was quiet. Then the building stopped rolling.". . . Nancy Shoemaker Dargle has finally retired (her words) from the U.S. Forest Service and relocated to Forest, Va., to be near part of the family–who are scattered all over since she had seven children. Current count is eight grandchildren and more expected. She spent Thanksgiving and early December with twin sister Carol Shoemaker Rasmussen at her lovely home on North Pond in Smithfield, Maine. Carol has become a grandmother of a beautiful baby girl, who lives with her parents in Pennsylvania. She reports that she and her husband have taken trips every two months to visit and find her to be a joy. They are well and are glad to have been at the reunion and to have seen so many wonderful class members. Carol has visited with Judy Sessler about once a month since our reunion. . . . Dick '58 and Susan Macomber Vogt began their latest biking adventure on March 20, this time traveling from Key West to Maine with a scheduled arrival date of sometime in May. Susan will be keeping a journal again so that family and friends can follow their trip. . . . I can add South America to the continents visited by our class since our reunion as I have just returned from a business trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I found the Brazilians to be as energetic as ever. I hope to get lots of e-mail this summer.

-Jane Holden Huerta

As I write my last column as your class correspondent, we are awaiting a predicted mid-March snow and sleet storm, but as you read it it's likely to be summer (if you are in the Northern Hemisphere, that is). Our 40th reunion by now has become a memory for those who attended. If you didn't make it this time, you have only five years to get ready to attend the next one! . . . Speaking of memories, I was delighted recently to find in my e-mail box a long, nostalgia-inspiring message from Diane Sadler Martin. This was prompted by a phone call from "a fresh young voice from the Colby campus," as Diane described it, asking for a contribution to the Alumni Fund in honor of our reunion year. Although Diane left us after two years and graduated from the University of Virginia, she contributed some money to the fund. And some memories to this column: a mind-expanding course called Problems in Creative Thinking; Colin MacKay's advanced freshman English course; roles in Powder and Wig productions of Under Milkwood, for which she learned to play the recorder, and A Midsummer's Night Dream, in which she played Puck. Perhaps most memorable for Diane, a southerner, was snow! To the consternation of roommates and staff, she insisted on walking in it, playing in it and even jumping into it in a bathing suit. . . . From Hawaii comes word that Diane Scrafton Cohen Ferreira has received the University of Hawaii's Board of Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching, which recognizes the importance that students, the faculty and the administration place on quality teaching. This award pays tribute to faculty members for their extraordinary level of subject mastery and scholarship, teaching effectiveness and creativity and personal values beneficial to students. Diane is a professor of English at Hawai'i Community College, where, according to the press release about the award, she is a brilliant and masterful teacher who inspires her students to perform beyond their expectations. She is known for her passion for teaching and helping students succeed, her dedication to her profession and her leadership. Congratulations from all of us, Di! . . . A note from Regina ("Reggie") Foley Haviland mentions that she and Carole Pope have been friends since junior high school, majored in French at Colby, roomed together one year in Woodman Hall and upon graduation taught French (once in adjoining classrooms!). They decided to celebrate their 60th birthdays and Regina's retirement from teaching this past June. They spent two weeks in France traveling from Paris through Lyon and Provence and ending up in Nice. Most of the time was spent being shown the sights by friends in each of these locales, who took them to places they would never have seen on their own. They were even challenged to a match of petanque or boules in the village square, but the French couple had the advantage. A re-match is scheduled this year at Kennebunk Beach, Maine, where Reggie and her husband, Gerry, spend their summers. (Carole and Regina are practicing.) Reggie is enjoying having time to spend with her three grandchildren, who live nearby. . . . At this point I don't know who will replace me as class correspondent, but you can always e-mail your news to classnews1961@alum.colby.edu and it will automatically be forwarded to whoever the class correspondent is. Or send paper mail to the Office of Alumni Relations, 4310 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME 04901. . . . Although dragging news out of you in time to meet publication deadlines has sometimes been frustrating, overall I have really enjoyed my term as your class correspondent. Many thanks to those of you who shared news about yourselves, your families and Colby classmates. Please call or stop by if you are in the Orono/greater Bangor areawe can write a note about it to the new class correspondent!

--Judy Hoffman Hakola

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'Tis Easter and we Mainers are still locked into snow and ice. Maple syrup season is ending following a successful harvest; rivers and streams are opening up to kayaks and canoes; birds are singing and tulips are pushing their way above ground. Spring is coming, to be followed quickly by summer. Unfortunately, neither my e-mail box nor regular P.O. box are filled with mail from Colby classmates. I love to write but not always about myself. My thanks to you who have sent in your tidbits. Our 40th reunion committee is already at work planning a great Reunion Weekend for June 2002. You should be hearing from Rich Simkins with more details. . . . Elmer Bartels of Bedford, Mass., is commissioner of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. Elmer, a real-life role model for everyone with a disability, was recently honored by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination for his significant contributions, which have had an impact on the human and civil rights of countless individuals. Elmer, who suffered a broken neck playing hockey at Colby, persevered and returned to Colby to graduate with our class. We are proud to claim him. . . . Samuel Cohen of Waldoboro, Maine, has been elected to the board of Union Trust Co. A former director of the Waldoboro Bank, which was recently purchased by Union Trust, Sam has been very active in community affairs in Waldoboro and has had a law practice in that town for 31 years. His son Philip, who joined him as a partner in 1995, has a son, Matthew, in the Colby Class of 2001. . . . Bruce Kingdon is one of the first 10 to be inducted into the Maine Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Bruce coached boy's baseball and served as the school's athletic director at Mt. Ararat High School. . . . Alice Webb lives in Reading, Mass., with husband Bill. Their son Michael is to be married in October. Alice worked on the recent election campaign of a local candidate, which she says proved to be a lot of fun. Bill is about to retire from home health aid work. . . . Judy Hoagland Bristol should be returned from a three-week trip to Thailand. She and Harry enjoy being retired and doing their own thing. They just bought a new toya jet boata "last fling" to use at their lake house. Judy reminisces about going to the Spa between classes to drink coffee and play bridge and about catching rides to and from the campus from the church downtown. How times have changednow all the students have cars! . . . Paul Hickey of New York City has once again been nominated for the Annual Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding achievement in set design for the drama series As the World Turns. Paul has been a set designer for CBS for the past 25 years, and this is his 10th nomination. He won the coveted award in 1984, 1985 and 1990. The 28th annual awards were to be presented at Radio City Music Hall on May 18. We will all be anxious to hear the results, Paul. . . . I heard from a few old friends at Christmastime. Colleen "Jo" Littlefield Jones, who lives in Skowhegan, Maine, continues as a special ed teacher. Her son, Aaron, is a body builder and model. . . . Kathy Hertzberg of Contoocook, N.H., plans to retire from teaching next year. She has taken up kayaking and white-water rafting while keeping up with her chorus group. . . . Lynn Kimball has retired full time to New Harbor, Maine, where she is active in area chorus groups. . . . We Russells are enjoying living in Hampden, Maine, where we can be close to our grandchildren and are awaiting the arrival of number three as I write. Our family continues to be active skiers, snowshoers, bikers, hikers and maple syrup makers. We spend summers in the shadow of Mount Katahdin at the lake and enjoy returning to our Millinocket home frequently. We have a number of '62 ladies now retiring to and living in Maine. It would be fun to have a luncheon some fall Saturdaymaybe in conjunction with Homecoming? Let me know if you might be interested. . . . For those of you who send Christmas letters, put me on your mailing list. I can only write what I receive.

--Pat Farnham Russell

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We have a reunion approaching in 2003 (our 40th!). I had such a good time at the last one that I, for one, am really looking forward to the next. Ann Bruno Hocking is going to head up this reunion, and she would like all those interested in planning it to meet with her this coming February in the Boston area. Please contact her at annhocking@calcagni.com or 860-349-8132. Ann is still busy with volunteering as president of the Wallingford, Conn., Kiwanis Club and with her real estate business and is far from retiring. Her son Ross is graduating from Suffolk Law School, and her son Ben married a Colby graduate. . . . From a January 2001 issue of the Beaufort Gazette in South Carolina we have news of Fred Sears, who has lived on Hilton Head Island with his wife, Mary Hugh, since 1992. A retired IBM senior engineering manager, Fred spends three months a year as a volunteer consultant overseas with Agriculture Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, a private, nonprofit group dedicated to international agribusiness partnerships. His reward "is giving other countries management advice on how to organize, prepare and support their information systems." Fred has worked on both improving farming in Ethiopia and in building public parks in Bolivia. . . . William Witherell e-mails that since 1977 he has been living and working in Paris, where he is the director for financial, fiscal and enterprise affairs at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is made up of some 30 advanced industrial country members. Bill manages a large international secretariat team of economists, lawyers and statisticians responsible for carrying out the OECD's policy analysis and research, including mandates such as countering bribery in international commerce, money laundering and tax evasion and strengthening corporate governance world-wide. He enjoys the international travel involved and is lucky to have his wife, Edie, now retired from teaching, free to accompany him. They look forward to their retirement yearsthey hope back in New England and closer to their five grown-up children and four grandchildren. . . . Marsha Palmer Reynolds continues commuting from Stamford, Conn., to New York City, where she teaches middle school science at The Chapin School. As the Class 6 supervisor, she meets with all the parents of the grade and oversees the general well-being of the 55 girls in Class 6. Her husband, John, is a teacher at the Trinity School in N.Y.C. They had a wonderful visit this past fall at their summer home in Biddeford, Maine, with Cile Tougas Nix, her new husband, Ken, and their two dogs. They are also still close with Myriam Montrat '94, who spent her Jan Plan with them, and enjoyed a memorable visit to Myriam's family in Ivory Coast a few years ago. . . . A note from James McConchie says that "I am spending less time at the office and more time with my family. My main pursuit continues to be development of the Susan B. Anthony birthplace museum in North Adams, Mass., where we hope to start some of the historical renovations next spring." . . . Coral Crosman expects to be through her "day job" and on to another related to her own writing/publishing business, Porphyrion Press, which produced her Remembering the Future; Poems of Four Decades, 1957-97 in 2000. She hoped to go to Mexico this spring to visit her son and new daughter-in-law, who is doing a Fulbright in arts-related research there. In her free time she enjoys her two grandchildren and has been reading an excellent biography of Herman Melville, the subject of her '63 Jan Planwhich gives her this "full circle" feeling. . . . Pauline Ryder Kezer wrote at Christmas that it had been a healthy yearno more cancer! And she loves the flexibility of her own consulting business. She was all set to teach in Jordan and Israel for three weeks this past fall but cancelled when the violence broke out in Ramallah, where she was to be teaching! She is still singing in the church choir and is busy with all the children and grandchildren. Her husband, Ken, is contemplating retirement from teaching in June. . . . In a call to Karen Beganny Bryan, I learned that she has enjoyed her position as class representative to the Alumni Council. And through her Colby connections she renewed her acquaintance with Don "Skeeter" Megathlin '59, and they are engaged to be married and will live in Cotuit, Mass. She had news of Dee Dee Wilson Perry, who has been recovering from both broken shoulders and a broken leg from a fall last November. Dee Dee spent three months in the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston and is fortunate at this point to be back at work. Karen also has seen Bev '61 and Liz Rowe Lapham, who live in Meredith, N.H., where Liz makes the "most beautiful baskets." . . . The Falb news is that we are buying a house in Cumberland, Maine. I am also busy keeping up with school activities. A wonderful Christmas gift came in the form of an early college acceptance for our older daughter. . . . Barb Haines Chase looked forward to an Elderhostel trip to Costa Rica this spring. This winter she and Bill skied at Okemo for free as he is a volunteer in their first aid station. She and her roommates Sally Morse Preston and Mary Michelmore Hayes, who is in the process of a slow recovery from pneumonia, planned a reunion this spring. Barb had a fun time being one of Al Carville's aides for fund raising, as did Thomas Thomas, who called me. Both, and I'm sure Al, too, say thanks to all who contributed and especially thanks for the time spent chatting.

-Karen Forslund Falb

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I tried my first all-e-mail survey this month. I mailed to 92 addresses and received 16 answers. That's an unheard of 17 percent. I have space to reproduce only a part of the answers (complete answers are on the Colby Web version of the magazine). . . .From your favorite sayings: "Intelligence is like a four-wheel drive; it enables you to get lost in more remote places." "You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star." "It's not the hours you put in that count, what counts is what you put into the hours." . . . Some edited answers to how we can reduce teenage violence. "Make the parents/guardians responsible for damage and injuries as well as the perp (police jargon!)." "There are two main areas for preventionget rid of the guns and increase parental contact, especially fathers. There is almost a linear relationship between gang membership and no father in the home. In communities where fatherhood is valued and encouraged and big brother/big sister programs are plentiful, gang membership and violence are reduced for both boys and girls." " . . . we have to train all in the school community to recognize and report incidents or comments, which may signal upcoming violence. . . . Educators have to be far more sensitive to the fact that ‘in crowd' rejection of certain people and groups is unacceptable. Diversity is more than race or genderit is the acceptance of others regardless of how they dress, what music they listen to, body pierces, hairstyles, economic status, etc." . . . Some news came along with the survey. Marilyn and Ben Beaver's son John '92 was married last summer, and after a few years in the financial services business has returned to school for an M.B.A at Babson. Their younger son, David, is working in the Boston area. Ben says his business, Executive Search, "still seems strong in spite of the cries regarding the economic slowdown." Ben has been asked to take over the class agent role from Karen Knudsen Day, and he says he "will no doubt be pestering you from time to time to support the College." . . . Jack Mechem is enjoying a second career in executive search and consulting to the community and regional banking industry in the Northeast. Son John '93 is press secretary to U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and living in Alexandria, Va; daughter Chapin graduated from Boston College Carroll School of Business with an M.B.A. in May. The Mechems enjoy seeing Paul '68 and Adele Facini Martin '68, Frank Parker and Jon Choate. Jack wrote: "Doris, this will be the year we bury the ‘curse of the Bambino!'" . . . Jim Simon has a patent for a medical device, #6,189,533, which can be seen on www.uspto.gov (the U.S. patent office Web site: click on search and search for existing patents, then input #). Basically it is an improvement for ER docs, paramedics and EMTs and for military usefor intubation with built-in suction and light. Jim's 17-year-old son, who contributed the idea of chemical luminescence (such as Halloween light sticks-type technology), shares the patent. Jim says, "hope I can find a manufacturer. Having a patent is like being a half-wit; you are only half way there." . . . Madie and Jim Harris spent New Year's weekend in Long Beach, Wash., near the mouth of the Columbia River. They stayed at a world class bed-and-breakfast, the Shelburne Inn, which features the Shoalwater, a world-class restaurant. Jim was there because his company is distributing a cookbook titled Best of The Ark & More produced by the owners of The Arkyet another world-class restaurant in nearby Nahcotta. "If it sounds like we ate well," Jim writes, "we did! There are several other terrific eating places in the area that border on world class at which we did not eat because of time constraints only." . . . Betsy Crockett Tyson-Smith's new project, the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, Inc., an educational nonprofit offering psychosocial support and complementary therapies for women with breast cancer, opened in mid-April. She added, "I hope it becomes a dancing star for many others with breast cancer." . . . Martha and George Shur purchased a condo in Sarasota, Fla., and hope to spend an increasing amount of time there. Their son, Aaron, is working in cancer research at the University of Washington and will be applying to med school. Becky is a junior at Miami of Ohio, majoring in graphic design. George is still general counsel at Northern Illinois University and says he has been fortunate to be able to travel around the country presenting papers at professional meetings. . . . Joan Phillips Thompson's sons are working in Boston so the clan is united geographically for the first time in more than a dozen years. She and Stephen are having fun now that he's retired. They made a trip to Australia/New Zealand last year and a Kenya safari this May. "‘Cultivating our garden,' as it were," she writes. "My writing is sporadic; as age encroaches I find the short story becomes very appealing." . . . Dick Friary responded to the "favorite saying" question with a couple of H.L. Mencken's bon mots: "For every problem, there is a solutionsimple, neat and wrong" and "Adultery is time-consuming, expensive and likely to be humiliating." Dick writes, "I must have expended 5,000 words on failed efforts to work this latter quote into my last book, for the tasks of drug discovery, development and registration share the same features as adultery. But I had to give up before finding any formulation suitable for young ears, since the sentiment expressed was negative. After all, I was telling them that the pharmaceutical industry was a source of decent jobs for entry-level chemists."

-Sara Shaw Rhoades

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