75		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Bruce Young classnews1975@alum.colby.edu
	Greetings to all my classmates. This year most of us will be turning 50. In fact, by the time you read this, a lot of us will have already hit the big number. So I think it's high time that we put down the jellybeans and go out and get a meaningful job. Good luck finding one. . . . Some news of a few people who seem to already have good jobs. They are excused from the final. Bob Duchesne writes that he recently was named Broadcaster of the Year by the Maine Association of Broadcasters. Along with the award came admittance to the MAB Hall of Fame. Bob also received an M.B.A. from the University of Maine. Despite all of this career success, Bob says that he is now taking it easy, living in a log cabin on Pushaw Lake north of Bangor, writing a bird guide to Maine and planning to travel more. . . . Curt Gowdy celebrated his 25th year with ABC Sports by receiving his 16th Emmy Award for Wide World of Sports 40th Anniversary Special. He reports spending time in Maine with classmates, including Peter Clark, John O'Meara, Alan MacEwan and Mike '74 and Jen Goff Currie. Curt resides in New Canaan, Conn., with his wife, Karen, and their three girls, Katie, Taylor and Grace. . . . Ed Walczak is the fund manager for Vontobel Asset Management. He was interviewed recently by Deborah Marchini on CNN's Halftime Report. Ed talked about the success he has had and provided some insight into the investment strategies that he follows. . . . Richard and Susan Staples Smith recently moved from their Bartlett ski chalet to a farm in Chocorua, N.H., to make room for their two new pet alpacas. Susan says that alpacas are smaller than llamas, easy to care for and provide great fiber for spinning. She also has been quality assurance analyst with the Echo Group in Conway for the past four years. . . . Vinnie Cassone and his wife, Lynne, recently welcomed their new son, Gabriel King, into the world. Vinnie also was appointed head of the Texas A&M biology department, which counts nearly 1,300 undergraduates and almost 100 graduate students. So now he has two more reasons not to sleep, he reports. However, he does encourage Colby grads to send him graduate applications. . . . Pat Wood checked in with an update on his last few years in Texas. He has left the academic world and opened a private practice surgical group performing liver transplants and general surgery. He also saw a lot of growth in his personal life. Pat recently remarried and added wife Sherri's three children to his family, which already included his own teenage son. --Bruce Young   previous  |   top  |   next

 

	76		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Jane Souza Dingman classnews1976@alum.colby.edu
	Lots of news this time, including word from some long-lost friends. David Wilson, who would have graduated in 1976 but heard other callings in 1974, wrote to say that he frequently writes for alumni magazines, such as those published by Duke University, Fordham University and Williams College, among others. He wrote the article on Vinnie Martucci '77, you may have noticed. . . . Another "long lost" is Craig Spencer, chair of the biology department at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. He spends summers in Montana in a cabin without electricity (and that means without running water) surrounded by his wife, three daughters and a few students doing research. . . . We also heard from Hank Osborne, communications director at Sabine, Inc., in Florida. He and his wife have two young sons. He says life is great and invites guests to visit him in Gainesville. . . . We also received word from Erik Peterson '79, senior vice president and director of studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He spoke to the students in the Colby International Studies Program several months ago and enjoyed his visit to the campus. He sends greetings to Ann Dunlap LeBourdais. . . . Barry Rabin wrote that he has completed a year-long program of leadership and networking for Greater Syracuse. On a family note, their daughter is a freshman at Cornell, so they feel lucky to have her nearby. Their son is a freshman in high school so he is nearby, too! The family enjoyed a visit with the family of Mark Fishbon '77 at Cape Cod. . . . . David '75 and Harriet Buxbaum Pinansky have one son, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with four degrees, and one daughter, who graduated from high school this spring. With all these graduations, they missed the last reunion but hope to be there next time. . . . Family news from Jack and Susan Reed Parker catches us up on the lives of their four children. Their eldest daughter graduated from Colby in 2001 and now lives and works in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Their next daughter finished up this spring at Boston University; last year she attended the Colby in London program. Their older son is a freshman Mule on the football team, and their younger son is also in football, hockey and lacrosse at Governor Dummer Academy. Jack and Susan are dealing with their "empty nest" by keeping busy. . . . Michael Boyson feels "empty nest" creeping up on him. His son is away at Northwestern, and his daughter did her junior year of high school in Argentina. His coping mechanism has been preparation for the Chicago Marathon. (I have a true appreciation of the feelings involved in sending a 16-year-old away for a year. My daughter that age was in the Czech Republic this year.) Mike sends greetings to Dave Bengtson. . . . Olen Kalkus summarized his last three years by saying that in 1999 he left the International School of Prague (Czech Republic again!) and became the founding headmaster of a private Catholic school for boys in Princeton, N.J. He and his wife have two sons and a daughter. . . . But William Silverman has beaten Olen at summarizing. He sent a one-liner: "Was elected to the Board of Governors of the American College of Gastroenterology." Wonderful, Bill! . . . Gail and Richard Oparowski are building a house in Amherst, Mass., and hope to keep in closer touch with Joe and Noël Barry Stella, who live in Westfield, Mass. Both Oparowski children attend Wake Forest in N.C. While the house is under construction, the parents will be in Delaware, which feels much closer to N.C. than did their home in Danbury, Conn. Opie is hoping to put his 21 years of financial experience and three CFO positions within Citigroup to beneficial use in Amherst classrooms. . . . Also changing jobs and in the news are Lindsay Huntington Hancock, who joined the Maine College of Art as special events coordinator, and Douglas Rooks, who left journalism to become communications director for Maine House Speaker Patrick Colwell. --Jane Souza Dingman   top  |   next

 

	77		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Todd Heisler Mark Lyons mlyons@wm.com classnews1977@alum.colby.edu
	Greetings, classmates. As you can see, there is no news for the Class of 1977 in this issue. That is because the Class of '77 has continued its long and glorious tradition of providing your trusted and conscientious class correspondent with absolutely no news for our alumni magazine. Please do not continue this time-honored practice. You are encouraged (and I implore you) to send me numerous e-mail messages and other forms of communication so that I can update the class on your accomplishments. Please don't make me beg. Thank you. --Mark Lyons   top  |   next

	78		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Robert S. Woodbury classnews1978@alum.colby.edu
	Greetings, classmates! We're very light on news this quarter. Everyone must be resting up for our 25th reunion celebration on June 5-8. By the time this column appears, it'll all have happened, but at this writing Sandy Buck is pulling out all the stops for an event on Mayflower Hill unmatched in the annals of Colby College. As we all know by now, the Class of 1978 will be regaled by none other than Jerry Jeff Walker (it almost seems like he was in our class and I should be bolding his name) on June 7. He will take us all back to the '70s with his hit tunes "Goodbye Easy Street," "Jaded Lover" and "Mississippi You're On My Mind," along with many others, as we dance the night away. Roebuck has many other treats in store--a ride on the Blue Goose on Thursday, golf, tennis, a chance to hear from Charlie Bassett and Sandy Maisel again, the always popular Maine lobster bake, presentations by accomplished classmates and, most important, the opportunity to rekindle friendships that were forged from 1974 to 1978 and have endured, survived and thrived ever since! The next issue will have all the details, and I'm sure our 25th will stir up a lot of news for several quarters to come. . . . Marty Reader has joined eBenX in the newly created role of senior vice president of marketing and client management. In this position based in Minneapolis, Marty will be accountable for supporting sales and new business development with product pricing strategy and marketing program development across the company. He will manage a team of professionals with the mission of ensuring continued and strong strategic client relationships. He has more than 20 years of business-to-business marketing and general management experience across a range of industries. eBenX has developed more than 200 client relationships with Global 2000 companies and is committed to being the global leader and most preferred provider in health and welfare administration. . . . Meanwhile, back in the Pine Tree state, Rick Jacques has joined Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice as director of supportive care. A licensed social worker, he previously worked as consumer services manager at Elder Independence of Maine. . . . Keep those post cards and e-mails coming! --Robert S. Woodbury   top  |   next

	79		CLASS CORRESPONDENT Cheri Bailey Powers classnews1979@alum.colby.edu
	Barry Horwitz e-mailed to say that despite being responsible for gathering and editing alumni news for his business school, he has been lax in keeping his Colby classmates up to date. In the past year, Barry and Liz (Yanagihara '80) have traveled to Iceland with their children, Michael, 18, and Ali, 14, as part of a music exchange that the kids participated in. Just before the February blizzard they managed to duck out of Boston on their way to Cancun for a week's vacation. Michael was in the waiting part of the college application process, and Ali was enjoying freshman year in high school. Barry says that Liz remains active in a flute group called Willow Flute Ensemble, a flute choir. The rest of her time is spent making jewelry for an artist's studio, doing volunteer work with the local middle school's music department and shuttling the kids. Barry and Liz remain in Newton, Mass., where they have lived for the past eight years or so. . . . Joe Meyer, Rob Stevenson '78, Ken Curtis '76 and their families got together last fall at the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club. Since Colby, the three of them have logged 55 years living and working in northeast Asia. Joe is currently CFO in Tokyo for a cable industry multiple system operator, Mediatti Communications. Rob is the managing director of BEA Systems Japan. Ken is a private equity professional with Eastpoint Capital Management. . . . Sam Koch is still coaching soccer at the University of Massachusetts and has been happily married to Suzanne Brydie Patterson for almost 10 years now. He met Suzanne on a job interview; didn't take the job but found a wife! Sam and Suzanne have four children: Christopher, 8, loves to play baseball (what, no soccer!), Jeffrey, 5, loves to draw, Ben, 4, loves balls and trucks of any kind, and the princess, Katie, loves to play in the mud. Sam talks often to Dave Laliberty, who is still coaching out in Wisconsin. Once in a while he sees Doug Lewing, who is involved with the Delaware Olympic Development Program (soccer). He also hears a lot from Elliott Pratt '81, the #1 UMass soccer fan. Other Colby alumni who support the UMass Minutemen are Dr. Chip Childs '78, Dick Muther '81, Pat Fortin '82 (new father of twins) and Councilor Doug Giron '78. Sam says it's a small world--he bumped into Bruce Henderson and his family on the Tokyo subway. Sam, in answer to your question, I still type papers; my fee is higher, but the drink is still the same--White Russians. . . . Elizabeth Armstrong dropped a line to say that she has finally come back to the States after years of roaming the planet and living in Japan. She has been married for 14 years to Erik Lofgren, who is also involved in Japanese studies. They are both now on the faculty of Bucknell University, where she teaches three levels of Japanese language and Erik teaches Japanese literature and language. They have two daughters, 7 and 4, who keep them happy and engaged when they're not at work. Elizabeth and her daughters are working on their equestrian skills in her "spare" time. She is occasionally in touch with Tim '80 and Anne Luedemann Hunt and says she hopes more will contribute to my column--it's her way of keeping in touch with classmates. . . . John Crispin, M.D., is an anesthesiologist with the Central Maine Medical Center's surgical services department. John did his residency at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Va., and a fellowship in thoracic and vascular anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. . . . Capt. Kevin Frank, U.S.N., was awarded the Bronze Star medal on January 2, 2003, by Admiral James O. Ellis Jr., commander, U.S. Strategic Command. The citation stated that Capt. Frank distinguished himself by meritorious achievement as the Combined Forces Air Component Command deputy director of intelligence and director of intelligence while engaged in ground combat against an enemy of the United States from 13 October 2001 to 21 January 2002. During this period, Capt. Frank's leadership and keen analysis were critical to the success of the combat air campaign against the international terrorist group Al Qaida and the Taliban government of Afghanistan. While supporting more than 20,000 sorties and strikes on more than 5,600 aim points, he directed the intelligence support to combat operations and the time-sensitive targeting process. Kevin, if you are back in the Gulf supporting our troops, God bless you and thank you for your duty to our country. As the spouse of a retired U.S. Air Force Gulf War veteran, I end with thanks to all the soldiers, sailors and airmen who are bravely defending our country as I write this column. I know that the sacrifice of their families is great. God speed your safe return. . . . Please take a few minutes to e-mail me at Colby (or at cpowers@entfedera.com) or use the traditional mail. --Cheri Bailey Powers   top  |   next