ALUMNI PROFILES
Roman Dashawetz '70
Medical Mission

Deanna Cook '88
Cooking the Books

Peter Sekulow '90
Ballpark Figure

Carolyn Szum '01
Air Cleaner

Staff Sergeant J.J. Lovett '96 & Sergeant Eric Anderson '98

Thomas Curran '02

Tomas returns to the range! As you read this, our own cowboy, Tom Donahue, packed it in at Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles and moseyed off into the sunset in Dennison, Texas. Tom and Judy found a home on the Texas-Oklahoma border a few minutes from Lake Texoma. While Tom finished teaching the spring '03 semester in California, newly retired Judy was at work on the garden. A horse barn and workout pen were constructed along with an additional room for the growing descendancy. Tom's Christmas note bears repeating, since it reflects contentment and strength of character and commitment perhaps nurtured on Mayflower Hill. Says Tom, "a good number of years ago I told [my headmaster] that what I most wanted was to be remembered as a scholar and a stand-up teacher that students learned something from and remembered. Since that decision I had bent all my efforts in that direction and had lived happily ever after." . . . A member of the ancient press corps at Alfond arena with a moniker of MULE887 reports that he and Ann enjoyed their first winter in a seasonal retirement home in Nokomis, Fla. Bud Marvin assures us he watches the weather reports from N.H.--yeah, sure! He further reports attending the February meeting of the Sarasota Alumni Club, where Prez Bro Adams spoke. Bud received a prize for being the most recent graduate in attendance! And you thought we were all in geezerland. . . . Just down Rt. 41 in Fort Myers is the newly retired Dave Hatch, who writes, "After 38 years have had enough. Will probably seek part-time employment at the junior college level for a few years. Am looking forward to snowless winters, good fishing and the Red Sox spring training." Dave, they still need lots and lots and lots of training! . . . Last spring the Waterville Morning Sentinel reported that the Board of Environmental Protection approved a 4-million cubic yard expansion of Crossroads Landfill in Norridgewock by a 5-1 vote. Chairman John Tewhey and his board negotiated 16 conditions ensuring that Waste Management Inc. would live up to their commitments. The BEP is a citizen board (suspect that means no money), and John and his board spent well over a year on this. . . . Sunny Coady update. She continues to donate her time to the Massachusetts Easter Seals, now serving as governance chair and on the Boston-area fund-raising committee. She reports a 10-day winter holiday with Rick and Nancy Winslow Harwood on St. John, V.I. Last fall she visited Genoa and the west coast of Italy with Bucky and Anna Owens Smith. . . . Her mention of fund raising reminds me to remind you to respond to Harold Kowal's request to support the Colby Alumni Fund. We all benefited from the generosity of an earlier generation and now that we are that older generation, except in Sarasota, it's our turn. . . . Hail, Colby, Hail!

--Richard W. Bankart

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The February 6, 2003, issue of Business World magazine contains an article about Robert Sears. I learned a lot about Rob and his international background in the article and will try to relate some of it here in short form. Rob completed high school in Lugano, Switzerland, before coming to Colby. He served four years in the U.S. Air Force, including one in Vietnam, after graduating from Colby, then put his Italian to work by accepting a job with Merrill Lynch in Milano, Italy. Merrill Lynch moved him back to Lugano, then to Teheran, Iran, for three years. The next ML assignment was a short one in Rotterdam, The Hague, before Rob was needed in another Islamic country, Dubai. After three years there, Rob was assigned to Manila, where Merrill Lynch left him alone through nine volatile years in the Philippines. But Rob liked living there and endeared himself to the Philippine people, so he declined Merrill Lynch's offer to move back to New York in 1990 and instead became executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce of The Philippines, a position he still holds today. The very complimentary article ends with "Here is one guy who is doing a lot to foster real, honest-to-goodness Philippine-American relations." . . . Another international classmate is Brad Simcock, who e-mailed me from Japan, where he has been on leave from his job as a sociology professor at Miami University in Ohio. Brad makes his home in Miyazaki Prefecture with his wife, Like, whom he met and married in Japan in 1986. Like teaches at an international college there. Brad writes, "Five kids are grown and scattered from Germany to Grenada. We get back to Maine once a year to the Farmington area and stay in touch with Peter Grabosky in Australia." . . . Belated congratulations to John Carvellas, professor of economics at St. Michael's College in Vermont, who was selected by the graduating class of 2002 for a students' choice award last May. He was cited by the seniors as being a wonderful teacher, committed to student athletics (he has coached women's lacrosse and men's club football) and, as described by the class president, "a teacher, cheerleader, advisor, and friend." John has earned numerous awards in his 28 years at St. Michael's, including at least five teaching awards, has chaired the economics department for eight years, served as assistant academic dean for three years and worked closely with international students, acting as their unofficial "foster parent." Way to go, Daisy! I should add that he's too modest to have sent me this news himself. I learned it thanks to Colby's clipping service. . . . David Reeves has left the world of advertising to become the pastor of Verona United Methodist Church in New Jersey. The local Verona paper reports that this former Colby philosophy major has been married to Sara since 1966 and has three sons, Bard, Matthew and Adam, ranging in age from 26 to 19. . . . Fran Finizio, class president and chief-in-charge of our 40th reunion in June of 2006 (hey, that's not so far away), asks me to tell you that discussions about the 40th have begun among the class officers, and a reunion committee will be formed this fall. Anyone who would like to be on the committee, or anyone with thoughts or ideas about the reunion, should either e-mail Fran (afin4@aol.com) or call him at home (978-369-3626). Fran is enjoying his new job as a vice president at Fidelity, with just a 35-minute commute from his home in Carlisle, Mass., to his office in Merrimack, N.H. . . . Hmmm, all the news in this column is about men. I write what I'm sent. Come on, women, illustrious or otherwise, send me some news!

--Meg Fallon Wheeler

After New England's coldest and snowiest winter in a very long time, the weather will have changed by the time you read this, and we will be complaining about the heat. No matter what the weather, classmates from 1967 have been on the move. Jeanne Philson Sommers e-mailed that she recently purchased a new 2002 Coachman Santara 31.5-foot motor home. She's getting used to driving and looks forward to summer vacation from her job at a law firm in Radnor, Pa., when she can really try it out. Jeanne says, "I'm still trying to figure out where I want to go first!" If you see her on the open road in her RV, give her a honk. . . . Tom Saliba sends word that the last of their four kids, son Jake, was a freshman at Colby in 2002-03. Tom has enjoyed the fact that the College is only 50 minutes from his home in South Freeport, Maine, and he and his wife have been going up to watch athletic contests again and enjoy something of "campus life." Tom says, "It sure is different now, with 'normal' being many things for which we would have gotten thrown out of school! Jake lives in Piper, the old DU house, which still smells like spilled beer and other aromas on Sunday morning, but the food in the dining rooms is fabulous. Best food in Waterville." He has a daughter living in London working for Goldman Sachs, another daughter living and studying in Italy and a third daughter who graduated from college in North Carolina this May. "I just did a quick calculation," he says, "and realize that we have paid/'invested' more than $1M in tuitions so far between prep schools and colleges, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel." After many years of intense and hard work running a number of companies, he is enjoying a slower pace in the investment business. "I don't know how many more of these cold, Maine winters I can take," he adds, "and as soon as Jake finishes Colby it will be 'arrivederci.'" Tom spends a significant part of his time in Italy, where they keep a 56-foot sailboat and enjoy exploring the Mediterranean. Home port is Gaeta, Italy, which is between Rome and Napoli. He says, "We plan to winter in Malta, with Greece and the Olympics for 2004 and wherever the America's Cup ends up in the Med (I hope) for 2005 . . . if I live that long in this crazy world!" Tom looks forward to seeing Paul Cronin and other classmates who have kids at Colby on campus or at his house on their way to Waterville. . . . Now that I've retired from teaching, I've enjoyed renewing friendships with classmates I haven't seen for ages. After graduation, Kathy Denehy Lewis and I were roommates in Hartford, Conn., for a year. Kathy got married, raised her daughters in Connecticut, moved to Missouri, then moved back to New Hampshire. Although we've exchanged holiday cards for the last 34 years, we hadn't seen each other. We recently met for lunch at a restaurant midway between Boston and Manchester, N.H. Kathy brought her daughter's wedding album, and we spent three hours talking about where our lives had taken us since Colby. It was great fun and we plan to do it again soon. (She was excited that she's soon to become a grandmother!) In case some of you Alpha Delta Pi's had burning ears, we shared info on where you were and what you were doing. But we both agreed that we haven't heard much lately from Pam Wheeler Atwood, Linda Jones Blair, Nancy Wilcox Clarke, Nancy Heilmann Powers, Patty Jenks, Ginny Mc Clintock Maloney and Cindy Paquet. If you are out there reading this, get in touch! . . . Bob and I look forward to hearing from more of you so that we can keep the column fresh and interesting. We can't do it unless we hear from you, so go to your computer and e-mail us today.

--Robert Gracia and Judy Gerrie Heine

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For the last six years Steve Ford has been senior vice president and general counsel at Coty Inc., a global supplier of fragrances and cosmetics. Coty's headquarters are in New York City. Before that, and since graduating from Villanova Law School, he held various positions with Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia. He and his wife, Mary, now live in north Jersey, and he commutes to Manhattan. The oldest (twin daughters) of their five children graduated from Brown University last May after having majored in biomedical engineering; one planned to go to law school and one planned on a doctorate. Their older son, now a junior at Colby, majors in French and international studies. Their younger son and youngest daughter are in high school. Steve writes, "Having a Colby student has allowed us to see Colby friends at Homecoming or other events. Among others, we have seen Bill and Nancy Meyer Tsiaras, Gary Weaver, Art Brennan, Bob Hughes and Ken Young." The Fords, who planned to attend reunion in June and hope to see many others there, also have seen Ed '67 and Cherie Anderson Scherer '70, Lou Champagne '67, Fred Hopengarten and Jeff Lathrop. Jeff wrote that he has "enjoyed re-acquainting with Colby this year, as I have twin daughters, Abbi and Jenny, who are freshmen at Colby. Attended Family Homecoming Weekend and was delighted to bump into Bill and Nancy Meyer Tsiaras, Peter and Ann Wilson Hobart, Jay Sandak, Steve Ford, Debbie Stephenson Wysor and Arthur Brennan, among others, all with children at various stages at Colby. My wife, Susie, and I live in North Conway, N.H., where I have been active in the life, health and long-term care insurance business for the last 10 years." . . . Peter Jost writes, "I am happy to advise that I am still alive and practicing law in Clinton, N.J., with no actual fatal diseases that I know of yet. I presently represent three townships, two boroughs, one board of adjustment and numerous ungrateful private clients, so I guess I have finally become a workaholic in my old age (certainly wasn't one in college). I live with my 16-year-old son and sail with a bunch of over-the-hill sunfish sailors in the summer on Barnegat Bay for comic relief. Would be glad to hear (peterjostattny@earthlink.net) from any Colby alum persons in the area." . . . Nancy Short Hall is still the technology specialist at Colchester, Vt., Middle School. Now that both of her children have master's degrees, she is considering retiring and doing some traveling. She and her husband, Wayne, spent a week in Arizona last winter, getting away from the ice and snow. They also tried white-water rafting for the first time last summer. She describes it as "a blast" and definitely wants to do it again. They also went on their annual canoe trip with friends and spent a week on the St. Croix River (the border between Maine and N.B., Canada). They had lots of fast water and rapids and very few portages and had such a good time that they are planning to combine part of that trip with the Moose River Bow trip (Jackman, Maine) in July. Their winter passion is square dancing in Vermont, but they try to get away to larger festivals several times a year. . . . Ric Rawson wrote, "Last February, at age 55, I retired from the U.S. Postal Service, where I had worked on their computers. I've found retirement to be absolutely delightful. Since retirement I have taken up water aerobics (think of seniors bouncing in the water to the tune of "Jailhouse Rock"), volunteering at the Smithsonian American History Museum once a week, watching those 10-to-11 p.m. TV shows and napping from 2 to 4 p.m. daily." . . . Also heard from Jann Semonian Czarnetzki, who wrote that teaching, after 29 years, is still fun for her, although she is now looking forward to retiring in a couple of years. She also said, "Life is very stressful and anxious with responsibilities for my mother, who is recovering in a nursing home from a stroke. She is very unhappy and wants to go home. Now I need to look into hiring home health care aids for her. Anyone have any experience? I could sure use some help." If you have suggestions for Jann, e-mail her at czarnetz@massed.net. She goes on to say that Cathie Smith Keenan invited her to a gathering of her writers' group to celebrate the publication of a member's book, A Singular Hostage, a wonderful novel by Thalassa Ali about life in India. Cathie and Clarke and Jann and her husband, Gerry, were planning to ski together in Park City, Utah, in February, and this summer the four of them hope to make an Italian journey. Any tips anyone has for them would be greatly appreciated. Jann is also in constant touch via phone with Jane Morrison, who is busy with her beautiful grandson, Duncan, and whose parents, Josh and Beth, are both Colby '93 grads. Jann also stays in touch with Otto Wielan '69, who is staying active in N.Y. . . . David and I plan to attend our 35th reunion. By the time you read this, reunion will be behind us; how could such a cool bunch of people be this old?

--Nancy Dodge Bryan

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As I write this column after a long and cold Massachusetts winter that was reminiscent of our wonderful days at Colby, I wonder if any of you remember our first blizzard in Waterville during the early days of our freshman year? It was either Homecoming Weekend or Winter Carnival. Many cars were stuck on Mayflower Hill Drive, and many of us, and our dates, hiked back to campus after our dinners at the Jeff or The Majestic. . . . We hear that Bill Burges is the president of Burges and Burges, a Democratic consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio. A newsclip reports that Bill "has been navigating Ohio's vicious undertow for schools, higher education and other community institutions for 25 years." He is happily married and has one grown son. . . . Mary L. Cupp exhibited some of her artwork, a collection of paintings and prints titled "Farms Folk & Flowers," at the Denmark, Maine, Arts Center last summer. A number of the exhibits in the show focused on the colorful flowers and vegetables, vendors and other activities at the farmers markets in Congress Square and Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. . . . Ray Gerbi completed 20 years of hospital administration at the Concord Hospital in Concord, N.H., where he was overseeing the planning and construction of a large and comprehensive cancer center. He and his wife have joined the ever-expanding numbers of our classmates who have become proud and thrilled grandparents. . . . Roger Hopkins lives in Palm Springs, Calif., and devotes his energies to his sculpture and stone import business. Eight years ago Roger met "a wonderful Egyptian ballerina" and has been happily married since. Living in the desert, he doesn't seem to miss the New England weather. Roger was involved in some TV documentaries, and his work was featured on The Sopranos. . . . Bruce McLean has lived in Boston for the past 20 years and works in real estate on Beacon Hill. Since 1980 he has been a member of the Trinity choir at Trinity Church, and he toured England and did several recordings with the choir. Bruce also is involved with the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y., where he recently purchased an old farmhouse nearby. . . . Bill Lyons was elected regent to the American College of Tax Counsel. He and his wife, Karen Knapp '70, are building a vacation/retirement home in Castine, Maine. . . . Plans are already underway for our 35th reunion next year, so get ready. In the meantime keep your exciting news coming.

Sari Abul-Jubein

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