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

I heard more from our class when I missed a column than I have in the last two years! Not that anyone sent updates to share--but enough grief to get me back on track again. It's always a pleasure to hear from you, Andrew Davis. How about a tidbit of news for the next column? . . . Gary Ruping of Burlington, Mass., was named Massachusetts Home Builder of the Year. In July 2002 he was awarded the prestigious Donald Van Greenby Builder of the Year Award for both state and local leadership in the industry. Since founding Ruping Builders Inc., in Billerica after graduation, he has completed more than 260 homes and is working on nine developments on the North Shore. Gary, who has chaired the Governor's Special Commission on Barriers to Housing Development, is a life-long resident of Burlington, where he lives with his wife, Karen, and their three children. . . . Mike Swift was honored by the New England Society of Newspaper Editors with its 2001 Master Reporter Award. The award, given annually by the newspaper organization, honors the best in reporting in the New England region over a period of 10 years. Several years ago, Mike, a reporter for The Hartford Courant, and his wife, Deborah Petersen Swift, a staff writer at the Courant, cycled cross-country to San Diego filing a series of articles along the way. Congratulations to both Gary and Mike! . . . As for my family, June recorded our second broken bone of the year when Lou landed on his shoulder in a mountain bike accident. August found us in the emergency room again for Christopher's broken collarbone due to a misplaced jump off the bed, and at the end of September we moved across town to Saddle Ridge Road. Despite the injuries, we are having a great time! Lou and I recently joined Chris and Cici Bevin Gordon, Rob and Katie Hollander-Adams and Glen and Carrie Rymer Elliott for a significant bash in Bean Town--a Happy Birthday to Cici, Rob and Carrie. . . . Please send an e-mail to classnews1986@alum.Colby.edu or fill out the class news card in the back of this magazine. I would love to include your news--any news!

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Some say a picture is worth a thousand words. Leslie Greenslet Perry e-mailed a photo op with Senator George Mitchell taken at the American Academy of Achievement's International Summit in Dublin, Ireland, in June. She writes, "I organize the speaking schedules of the participants at this summit. Senator Mitchell was a new inductee, and it was my pleasure to work with him and reminisce about Waterville and Colby. Other attendees included President Clinton, Chairman Hamid Karzai, Henry Kissinger, Bono, Sam Donaldson and Jeremy Irons." Leslie reconnected with Lori Boyd Duffy, who writes, "Wow--I've managed to stay under the radar screen for this long! All in good fun, though, and it would be wonderful to know who else from our class is here in San Francisco," where she has been living for the last 11 years. She manages attorney recruiting programs for Morrison & Foerster LLP. She says, "I feel very fortunate to be employed at this time after riding the dot-com boom and cashing out for a two-year hiatus where I lived the life of a pro triathlete and competed in Ironman distance triathlons (IM Australia '01, IM Canada '01 and '02.) It was an incredible experience and I highly recommend it! Dream big--you never know where it will take you!" . . . After graduation, Ben Allen worked as an environmental government lawyer and legal reform specialist, living successively in Indiana, California, Oregon, Moldova, Armenia and Hungary. He then worked as senior rule of law advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development in Kosovo. By now Ben will have started a new job with the United Nations Development Program in Slovakia. He is married to Lilia Gheorghiu. . . . Congratulations are in order for Sally J. Curley, who was elected an officer of the award-winning Boston Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) for the 2002-2003 term. NIRI is a professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, the financial community and the investing public. Sally joined Genzyme Corporation in February 1999 as director of investor relations. She is responsible for strategic global investor relations for the corporation's three tracking stocks. . . . Congratulations to Robin Chalmers Mason and her husband, Jerod, who announced the March 2002 arrival of their daughter, Kayleigh Elizabeth Mason. . . . Baby congrats also go out to Karen Jodoin, who writes, "my partner, Debbie, and I have a beautiful 18-month-old boy who has really enriched our lives. We both teach and coach at Thayer Academy. This will be my 11th year at Thayer and still going strong!" . . . Eve Lynne Ermer writes, "I am now teaching math at Hanover High School in Hanover, N.H. Still living in Vermont with husband Scott Russell '83 and kids, Erik and Andrea, who are both now in high school and whose after-school sports schedules are crazy. Can't wait until Erik gets his driver's license." . . . "It was a summer of change!" writes Tom Oxholm. Tom and his wife, Victoria (Briggs '87), welcomed their second child, Chloe Katherine Oxholm, who joins her older sister. Tom began work in October as the director of development of the Keewaydin Foundation in Salisbury, Vt. The Keewaydin Foundation oversees three summer camps and an environmental education program. . . . Jill Myerow Blinderman writes, "After reading all the news from other graduates I feel rather boring . . . although busy." Jill resides in Fairfield, Conn., where she's been since 1989. She is "selling drugs (the legal kind) and is raising two children, Ryan and Tyler, as a single parent." She travels a bit for her job, likes being her own boss and picks the best spots to go--otherwise her clients come to her! She foresaw no major adventures on the horizon "other than Disney in October with the kids!" . . . That's all, folks!

--Andrea V. Sarris

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Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue.

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Correspondent did not submit any notes for this issue.

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Usually, these columns are full of happy news, but some times real life intervenes with some sad news. Jeff Hall wrote me to report a little of both. He and his wife, Valerie Sweeney, had a little girl named Laina in June 2001. Unfortunately, while Valerie was pregnant she was diagnosed with lymphoma, and she lost her 14-month battle with that disease on Aug. 11. Please keep Jeff and Laina in your thoughts. . . . I have tried to contact Laurie Raveis because some of her friends from JYA in Reading are trying to organize a reunion. Laurie, if you didn't get my e-mail, give me a call. . . . Congratulations to Dave and Karen Currey Wehr, who had a girl, Callan, in May. . . . Terri Edmunds wrote from Chicago, where she is chasing after her 2-year-old, Emily. Terri finished her master's in 1998 and works for Lucent Technologies. She would love to see her East Coast Colby friends: Christina Theokas, Melita Marks, Robyn Torrisi Gavin, Sue Banta Gallagher and Michelle Horton Olson. . . . Brendan Cahill and his wife, Christina, had a girl, Helen, in April. Brendan is the administrative director of the Center for International Health and Cooperation, which is a NGO at the UN. He will finish his master's at Fordham in April 2003. . . . Julie Abele Wetzell and husband Kurt had a son, Ben, in October 2001. The family moved to Burlington, Vt., from N.Y.C. last summer. Julie is a graphic designer and Kurt trades stocks. Julie got together with Michelle Leinbach and Michelle Delea Houlihan in Portland in August. . . . Meg Christie and Will Cheever '85 will have their hands full with twins, who are due to arrive in December. . . . Bill and Anne Webster Stauffer wrote that they traveled to China in April and returned with a baby girl, Sarah Qiaotang Stauffer. Bill and Anne want to move back to Maine and bought a summer home on Little Diamond Island in Casco Bay. (Is anyone interested in buying their place in Portland, Ore.?) They also reported that Greg Russell got another promotion with Staples and is moving to Louisiana, that Susan Penza-Clyve and her husband have a new little boy and that Patty Carlson Ruprecht and her husband, Cliff, keep busy on their 30 acres in Pownall, Maine, with their kids, Anna and Jack. The message ends with a cryptic, "I hear Kelly Doyle might be in love and Kate Roosevelt is finally getting official." Sounds like news for the next column. . . . Kate and Andy Ayers had a boy, Michael Finn, in March. Andy is finishing up his chief resident year in orthopaedic surgery at Georgetown and will be doing a one-year fellowship in sports medicine at The Hughston Clinic in Columbus, Ga., next year. . . . John and Gretchen Kreahling McKay recently brought home a beagle puppy named Evie. After teaching art history for four years at Savannah College of Art & Design, Gretchen's now in a tenure-track position at McDaniel College in Westminster, Md. . . . Dana Boston left Colorado in December 2000 and returned to Boston to work as a child welfare program specialist with the Boston regional office of the Federal Administration for Children & Families. She recently left ACF and has started a Ph.D. program at the Heller School of Social Policy at Brandeis. She and her two dogs live in West Medford, Mass. . . . Sandy Thayer also returned to the East Coast. He bought a 1903 cottage in Northport, Maine, and keeps busy working on the house and as an art broker. He sees lots of Colby folks, including Jay Stabile, Doug Hall '90, Chris Haddad '90, Paul Davis '90 and Carolina Kroon. Sandy gets up to Colby to the art museum and says it's "great to see some of my old profs still alive and kickin'!" . . . Speaking of Colby professors, Dave and Cindy Cohen Fernandez report that Rob and Hilary Barnes Hoopes bought a house on the Belgrade Lakes so Rob can rub elbows with the likes of Prof. Tony Corrado during vacations. Dave and Cindy have moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., where Dave is managing Michigan and Wisconsin operations for Progressive Insurance. . . . Larry Scoville and his wife, Lynne, live in Grosse Pointe, Mich., with their 14-month-old daughter, Louise, and are excited to have Colby friends nearby. . . . Chris Tompkins is busy being director of admissions and financial aid at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. His daughter, Hannah, has started kindergarten, and Chris's book, The Croton Dams and Aqueduct, is selling well. He just finished a documentary for cable TV, so be on the lookout. And, as he notes, it's just about time to start planning our 15th reunion! . . . Thanks to everyone for writing. Keep the news coming, please!

--Anita L. Terry

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