ALUMNI PROFILES
Hannah Laipson '46
A Need to Teach

Janet McMahon '79
Mapping the Uncharted

Jeremiah "Josh" Burns '81
Mountain Man

Chris Gieszl '93
SEAL of Approval

Roy Hirshland '85

David A. Ghertner '02

A column derived (stolen!) from vol. 55, no. 1 of The Colby Alumnus . . . David Martin and Michael Mc Mahon are on the faculty of Erskine Academy in South China. David is teaching mathematics and Michael is instructing in English. . . . Jim Morang '64 is a math teacher at the Barnstable (Mass.) Junior High School. . . . Karen Freitas is on the faculty of Kents Hill School and is teaching Latin and working with the music program. . . . Susan Brown is teaching the third grade students at the China elementary school. . . . Carol Christy is taking a special New England Telephone Company course in computer programming as part of her training as an accounting staff office assistant. . . . Bill Cottle has entered Stanford University for graduate work towards a master's degree in business administration. . . . Two graduates of the class are now training with the C.F. Hathaway Company. Dale Jewell and Bill Tychsen are in the midst of the sales training program with the famous Waterville shirt firm. . . . Susan Mc Ginley is teaching English and French at Sherman High School. . . . Patricia Charlton has been appointed a research assistant in the laboratories of Parke, Davis and Company in Ann Arbor, Mich. . . . Gordon Bowie is instructor in instrumental music for the Hampden school system, teaching in the elementary school and at Hampden Academy." So wrote Sid Farr '55 in the class notes section of the fall 1965 Colby Alumnus. In another section he notes that Nita Loomis and Donald Le Beau left for separate assignments with the Peace Corps in Turkey. He also lists 16 marriages, including three uniting classmates. In other news, R. Mark Benbow succeeds Alfred K. Chapman as chairman of the English Department. Chapman continues as the Roberts Professor of English Literature. The publications section notes that "Choosing a College," Barbara Howard's view of the advantages and drawbacks of the small college, was reprinted from Literary Cavalcade and is available from the College office of the assistant to the president. The sports section noted Colby varsity football as 2-6 with victories over Norwich and Bates. Varsity soccer was 8-3-2. . . . Since I've received no current news from the class in several months, I thought a nostalgia column might prompt those mentioned to prompt an update. Hail, Colby, Hail.

--Richard W. Bankart

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You have read in past issues of Colby about Allen Throop's spring 2001 four-man trek across the Juneau Icefield. From the College I received a wonderful article telling of Allen's March 2002 ascent of Oregon's Mount Hood, this time in a group of 10, one of whom was Allen's wife, Janet (Meyer). This was Janet's first summit ascent of a major peak--11,239 feet. The article, written by Allen, is titled "Stairway to Heaven: Ascending Mount Hood Puts Climbers Closer to Death and Life." It appeared in the Mid-Valley Sunday newspaper in July 2002. It's a fascinating three-page account that I'd be happy to share with anyone who would like to read it. Contact me and I'll send you a copy. . . . I also received via Colby an interesting press release from the State University of New York College at Cortland telling of SUNY-Cortland's federally funded initiative to help the economically depressed community surrounding the college. A $400,000 grant from HUD funded a community outreach project directed by Distinguished Service Professor Craig Little, chair of the sociology and anthropology department. Craig's college has formed partnerships with community agencies to inject its various resources and faculty expertise into the community. Sounds like a model of good town­gown relationships. Congratulations, Craig! . . . From Winter Park, Fla., came an e-mail from David Erdmann: "Starting my 18th year as dean of admission and enrollment at Rollins College. Daughter Lindsay entered here as a freshman this fall. Spent a few days fly fishing in Montana with Larry Bailey '65 this summer and enjoyed golf and dinner with Jim Bither and his wife, Janet, down here in the fall. While many classmates seem to have retired, I keep plugging away and will probably do so for years. Kid's in college, handicap's a 9, outfished Bailey, portfolio's down 30 percent and just had brain surgery to remove a malignant tumor. With the good sometimes comes the bad. Susan and I send our best to all." And ours to you, David. . . . Colby '68 and Pat Berg Currier of Harpswell, Maine, took the ferry to Islesboro in August to visit Paula McNamara McConnell and her husband, Jack, who rent a place there every summer as a break from their photography business in Old Wethersfield, Conn. Pat and Janna Vaughan Kasarjian share a passion for genealogy, Janna visiting several small New Hampshire towns with her aunt to see where relatives live, and Pat going farther afield. She and Colby traveled to northern Sweden to fill in some of the genealogy on Pat's father's side, trying to connect the dots among nine aunts, uncles and cousins who graduated from Colby College! (How obliging of Pat to have met and married a Colby classmate named Colby!) The newest addition to the Currier family tree is Zoe, born to Pat and Colby's daughter, Kristin, in June 2002. . . . Peter Lax is in his 20th year as a pediatric dentist at the Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Ore. He has one child at home, a senior in high school. Daughter Katie graduated from Seattle U in 2002. Brendan is a student at Santa Clara U but is in Galway, Ireland, for a year, "studying," says Peter. Brendan's parents hope to visit him and do some Irish genealogy. Peter is still involved with agencies for children with disabilities and is working on caregiver retreats. He writes, "I am still trying to entice Fran Finizio out west to do some hiking, but no luck so far." Hey, Peter, if Fran won't come, why not take a little mountain hike with fellow Oregonian Allen Throop? . . . Carol Rodgers Good told me she's enjoying retirement life in Belfast, Maine, then went on to tell me about her two jobs! But she says they're very part time, one in a dentist office and one at Saturday Cove, a wonderful gallery/gift shop on Rt. 1 in Northport, Maine. She spends "a disproportionate amount of time" caring for her three dogs. When I spoke with Carol, her spry 83-year-old mother was about to leave Belfast to attend a baby shower in Alaska! . . . Another busy retiree and museum volunteer is Pam Harris Holden, who drove 8,355 miles this past summer from her home in Scottsdale, Ariz., to her summer cottage in Blue Hill, Maine, and back again. One of her many stops along the way was to see Matt '65 and Jemmie Michener Riddell in North Carolina. Pam wrote from Scottsdale, "My dedicated guest room needs company. Call 480-423-5874 or e-mail me at holdenph@aol.com for availability!" . . . Another invitation--a little farther away--comes from Robert Sears, who after more than 12 years is still executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines. Rob writes, "I invite one and all to visit this beautiful country, fantastic people and confusing democracy. Don't believe everything you see and hear on CNN, BBC and other news channels." For more information, contact Rob at rob@amchamphilippines.com. . . . A wrong turn in Lincolnville, Maine, this fall took me past a sign saying "Sleepy Hollow Rag Rugs," which I recognized as the name of Diane Roesing O'Brien's business, and there she was, standing on the doorstep of her wonderful old farmhouse! Of course I stopped and got to see the rag rugs that Diane's husband, Wally, now weaves and the chairs he canes while Diane continues to work on her book, Staying Put, a history of Lincolnville in the 20th century. She also writes a town column for the Camden Herald. . . . Stu Wantman gets the last word, and the word from Stu is "Thanks!" Recognizing that giving back is even more important in today's world, fund agent Stu congratulates the Class of '66 for contributing more than $50,000 to the Alumni Fund last year. Donations were received from 143 classmates. . . . And I say "Thanks" as well, to those of you who sent me news for this column. Of course, like Stu, I want more! How about it, those of you who haven't been heard from in a while? Fill out the form in the magazine, e-mail, call or write. It's easy!

As we come to grips with issues such as aging parents and retirement, we are constantly reminded of our own mortality. Peggy Kelleher Oates sent the very sad news about the passing of Cathy Meader, who died on August 10 at her home in Boston. Cathy had been fighting cancer and diabetes for several years with great courage and spirit. Peggy wrote, "Coral Harris, Cathy Seligmann and I visited Cathy in Boston in July and early August. Cathy's wonderful spirit, her infectious laugh and her gift for friendship were with her right to the end. She will certainly be missed by all who knew and loved her." . . . Paul Cronin e-mailed that he was glad that Fran Richter Comstock made it to the reunion. "It made all of us who were close to Bob a bit teary-eyed, but it was the best thing for her, and I guess us, too. Oh, how Bob enjoyed the reunions. Most of us had made Bob's funeral, and all feel that we would have never forgiven ourselves if we hadn't. It was an emotional experience." He delivered his daughter, Amy, to campus on August 27. She's Cronin #3 (Paul '67, his son, Brian '96, and Amy '06.) Paul says he saw a Jake Saliba '06 in "Faces and Places," Tommy's kid. He also noted several other legacies from our era, including Jeff Lathrop's twin daughters from North Conway, N.H. . . . It's three generations for Fred Hopengarten (his mother is Doris Rose Hopengarten '40) as his daughter, Annie '06, began her experience with a COOT canoe trip to the West Outlet of Moosehead Lake. "Unlike her father, she has AP'd out of calculus and jumped right into linear algebra. I'm still trying to figure out whose daughter she may be," says Fred. . . . Jeanne Philson Sommers e-mailed that since the reunion she was given forced retirement/unemployment when IBM purchased her company in July. Then her former company, Milliman USA, contacted her, saying that they needed a replacement for the head of the life actuarial department in the Radnor, Pa., office. She was to start with them on Oct. 1. "The up side is that I will be gainfully employed again and the downside is that all the things I planned to do during months of early retirement have to be crammed into three weeks or put back on the shelf. . . . Jim Katz and his life partner, Atmo, attended the reunion. She is from Germany and was excited to see where Jim went to school. He and Atmo spent a month-long house exchange in Northern Ireland and met "lots of new friends and saw eyes full of dozens of shades of green." They took their first hot-air balloon ride this summer and recommend that as an amazing experience. At the reunion Jim had photocopies of his own contribution to the Harry Potter books, and everyone who read it was raving that it was a wonderful story, and every bit as good as the ones by J.K. Rowling. Perhaps better! Jim says, "The Harry Potter fan fiction book four and three-quarters that I wrote has made it all the way to Trinity College Library in Dublin (where I think a bit of the movie was shot). A librarian there is a rabid fan as well and wanted a copy." Anyone who wants one can e-mail Jim for the file. . . . Sandy Miller Keohane's Milton, Mass., business, Earthly Possessions, now features furniture designed by her son, Joe Lapchick, who uses vintage architectural bits such as stair railings or antique windows. His oversized doll beds are a popular item and come complete with Sandy's handmade bedding. Longevity in a creative career is rare, and Sandy considers herself blessed. She was recently at an estate auction and saw one of her "Thingee puzzles" (she designed the jigsaw puzzles in 1968 for a company that sold 100,000 units and was later bought by Hallmark). "You know you're getting old when something you designed in your 20s is now at an estate sale," she says. However, we know Sandy is still young at heart--she had a great time at the reunion. . . . The Greater Bridgeport (Conn.) interfaith action committee recently honored George Markley with a community leadership award. George is married to Chris Nahabedian '70 and is active in his synagogue, Congregation B'Nai Israel, where he is co-chair of Habitat for Humanity's "Biet Tikvah" Project. He's also a member of the community relations commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Bridgeport, a member of the board of directors and past president of the Fairfield High School Scholarship Foundation and secretary and a member of the board of directors of the Downtown Cabaret Theatre of Bridgeport. He even finds time to read to a first grade class at Roosevelt School in Bridgeport once a month. . . . Ruth Elliott Holmes regrets that she couldn't attend the reunion, but she had a conflict with her busy work schedule as a professional handwriting and document examiner who advises individual, legal and corporate clients in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. She is court qualified and frequently appears as an expert witness in federal, state and local courts. Her work was viewed on Court TV earlier this year in the trial of the murder-for-hire case. She has previously appeared in Time and been reported on in Newsweek, USA Today and the Canadian newspaper The Globe & Mail on the anthrax letters. Her daughter, Sarah '97, who just earned her master of arts in psychology from Boston University and did research on the neuropsychological investigation of validity of handwriting, joined her company in 1997. Her son, Nick, graduated from University of Michigan Law School in 2000 and now works in Boston. . . . At the reunion we collected e-mail addresses of classmates who wanted to be kept posted of news more frequently than this quarterly column. If you'd like to join the list, e-mail us and we'll keep you updated.

--Robert Gracia and Judy Gerrie Heine

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After 34 years in Connecticut, Michael and Olive Niles Shu moved to Cape Cod and Florida. They're in Wellfleet, Mass., from mid-May through mid-October and in Holiday, Fla., from mid-October through mid-May. Their son, Theo, married fellow Vassar graduate Andrea last September. Their daughter, Emily, after graduating from Swarthmore is in graduate school at RISD. They hope to see everyone at the big 35th. . . . Judith de Luce has returned to the position of chair of the department of classics at Miami University. She says it's been 10 years since she did this, and many things have changed, so she is busily relearning the job. When she's not doing administration, she's busy teaching and finding time for scholarship, which continues to focus on several areas, including aging and contemporary dramatic versions of classical mythology. She has less time to work with technology but is still creating Web sites to support her classroom instruction. . . . Judy Hymas Thomas teaches history at Suffolk County Community College. She has bred and shown pedigreed cats for the last 33 years and is a Cat Fanciers' Association judge. She has contributed to several books on cats and also has published articles in national magazines. . . . According to a story in the Bangor Daily News, Anthony Carnevale was the keynote speaker on the topic of the role of K-12 education in the new economy at the 2002 Governor's Economic Development Conference in Augusta. Anthony is vice president for education and careers at Education Testing Service. . . . One of the six individuals honored in May with Inspirational Hall of Fame awards at the 16th annual Alfond Center Awards Dinner was Joseph Jabar, who is a Maine Superior Court justice and chairman of the Alfond Youth Center Board. . . . Lee Urban is Portland's director of the new department of planning and development. He oversees three divisions that used to be separate departments: planning, economic development, and housing and neighborhood services. . . . Rick Morey, after nearly 20 years in Wisconsin, returned east with his family. He serves as director of college guidance at Dwight-Englewood School in New Jersey, right across the Hudson River from New York City. He was delighted to welcome Erik Bertelsen, Colby's associate dean of admissions, for a Colby presentation on the Dwight-Englewood campus in late October. Rick's daughter Caitlin is a happy junior majoring in psychology at Clark U.

--Nancy Dodge Bryan

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Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue.

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