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Kris Miranda '09
As an Army brat with foreign-born parents, I have no proper hometown. When I arrived at Colby, rootlessness was as essential to my identity as being from SoCal or Just Outside Chicago or Twenty Minutes Outside of Boston - or being a Mainer Born and Raised - was to my new friends. At first I didn't "get" having pride in a hometown, an accident of birth. But as years passed and I found community in East Quad and in the philosophy department and at the Echo, I began to understand how Place can shape a person. It's weird, but I think of Colby as my hometown, the place where my life really began.
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Rachel Bonenfant '09
Being the first person in my family to put a great value on education, and the first to complete a 4-year degree, being accepted to Colby and choosing to go was a point of contention in a working-class family that saw no need for me to pursue any such education, particularly away from home. Colby gave me a place to start new education traditions for my family and a place to break away and find myself. Being in such a rich academic atmosphere with like-minded people was a dream come true for me.
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Peter Loverso '03
The people I engaged with during my four years at Colby made me into the person I am today. My professors challenged me in ways I never thought possible. I learned not only about the subject matter, but how to think critically, creatively, and with purpose. My classmates gave me a community of support and many became friends that I will have for the rest of my life. And then there is the staff, who supported me and all of the students through our four years, they were our surrogate parents. The "Colby Experience' has left an indelible mark on my life, which I will always cherish.
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Sarah Eustis '96
My mom's father (Harold Joseph, class of '44) tells this story of an interaction with my dad's father (Galen Eustis). Hal was back from WW II and attending Colby. One semester, he could not pay the $75 tuition so he went to the treasurer, Galen Eustis. Galen allowed Hal to attend for the semester and gave him a grounds crew job to pay off the debt. One day, Hal was at work digging a ditch and decided to take a nap on the job--right in the ditch. Galen, walking across campus came upon Harold and called out, "Fire that man." Less than 25 years later, their children would be married.
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Zach Shapiro '92
Sledding down Mayflower on dining hall trays.
Almost hitting a Moose when driving.
Stopping at Wall Drug, SD, on the recommendation of Charlie Bassett.
Frisbee golf.
BMR
Chorale with Dr. Machlin
Colby in Salamca
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Scott Lainer '87
During my 25th Reunion, I walked the campus I had grown to love during my four all-too-short years. A familiar confidence swelled within me, as if this was where I still belonged. The time literally washed away. Later, some fellow alums and I were about to tour the new art museum when I heard the rich voices of original Colby 8 members practicing for their own reunion. I popped in and joined them mid-verse. We were all just students again, joined by one inexorable love: Colby.
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David Epstein '86
Colby provided the tools I need for an amazing life. There is little I do I can't trace to Colby. I learned about compromise with a roommate. Studying three courses simultaneously sharpened my ability to multitask. Listening to those with whom I disagreed, helped me think critically. That D in calculus taught me about disappointment and that effort doesn't mean you get an A. My job in the science library honed work ethic, sense of responsibility and forced me to develop and follow a budget. Finally, I met a community of students, staff and faculty who continue to be a integral part of me.
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Peter Reif '83
REMEMBERING COLBY, 1979-83
Red brick, green grounds, copper roofs, prominent steeple, Big clock, blue light, Mayflower Hill, wonderful people. Autumn leaves, crisp air, plummeting temps, deep snows, "Go Mules", "Beat Bowdoin", beer pong, highs and lows. Senior year, ac-pro, study hard, rise above, Emerald eyes, flaxen hair, sweet smile, first love. Critical thinking, extensive writing, Jan Plans, producing knowledge, Academic excellence, liberal arts, "Small Ivy" -- Colby College.
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Gerry Boyle '78
Sitting in Lovejoy 100 early in my Colby career, listening to a lecture by a young professor named Peter Harris (we arrived on campus the same year). Professor Harris was talking about The Sun Also Rises, which I thought I knew. He was focusing on a particular passage, which he read aloud. Slowly, almost solemnly. And suddenly I felt this internal seismic shift, a true epiphany. At that moment I realized, really for the first time, that literature, writing, the power of words--it was serious business. I left the class almost stunned and literally had to walk around campus while it all sunk in.
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Stephen Scullen '77
I don't think I truly realized the value of my experiences at Colby until many years after I had graduated. I had grown academically of course but I had also grown up. Colby offered a very intellectual nurturing environment of course, but it also tolerated my maturing as a person. True guidance was subtly given by the environment, great faculty, as well as fellow students and staff. I am particularly indebted to Professor Walter Zukowski who was very supportive and confident in my future at a time when others were less so. I am very fortunate to have been part of such an excellent experience which prepared me for future challenges in ways I never could have imagined.
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S. Ann Earon '74
My mother was shocked when I chose Colby as soon as we drove onto campus. I knew immediately Colby was the school for me. What I didn't know at the time was how compassionate Colby personnel could be. Shortly after arriving at school my freshman year, my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Everyone at Colby rallied around me for two years until my mother passed away the end of my sophomore year. Professor Charles Hickox & family, Dean Doris Downing, Professor Gustave Todrank, and President Strider were there for me every step of the way and afterwards. Colby cares.
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Susan Doten Greenberg '70
The suggested packing list for Sept 1966 included, for women, "a simple navy or black dress, white gloves, and hat with a veil" for tea with the President and Faculty. We instead had a welcoming bbq on the lawn with the Striders. I did wear the dress and gloves (not the hat) once, to tea with President Emeritus Bixler. By graduation day we were wearing mini skirts and pant suits. Times of Change in attire - and Times of Change on campus and in our world.
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Sara Shaw Rhoades '64
I came to Colby from a strong Republican family. Here's what I wrote home on Election Eve, 1960:
"The air is very tense and excited here. There is a TV in the living room which I will watch as the evening goes on, but I'm so thankful for my radio! I plan to stay up till the bitter end. Our room is plastered with Kennedy signs from a rally in Lewiston that my roommate attended!"
At 1:15 I wrote:
"Things look very, very dark at this moment. I'm afraid it's lost. Tomorrow I shall wear black with the other Republicans. If it were just tomorrow we have to worry about, but four whole years!"
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Betsy O'Connell '61
Buildings and Grounds gave Powder and Wig the use of a long shed near the old tennis grounds. Dr. Suss saw it as a theatre in the half, three-quarter, or full round. For Chekov's Three Sisters, we used three-quarter. One end of the shed faced the main campus, field house side, and the other, the woods with Waterville below. Part of the set was a gazebo at the campus end of the shed. It was winter. Characters had to exit stage left to the back side of the gazebo, run down the side of the shed on the ice, and re-enter on the same side, other end. Harriet Lunt Duer and I did make-up under Dr. Suss's tutelage, but we all worked as stage crew as needed. For Three Sisters, we changed sets in the dark. I was on my hands and knees putting down grass mats around the gazebo, when a nervous assistant stage manager mistakenly gave the light cue. As the lights started to come up, I rolled under the gazebo dressed only in pants and a cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up. I remained under there amidst some serious dust balls while characters opened and shut the door letting in gusts of Maine winter. Finally, Dr. Suss lowered the lights so a curtain could be fixed and I escaped out the door, down the ice, and back in.
Scenes from Three Sisters figured prominently in our Class of 1961 Yearbook featuring Penelope (Penny) Dean Robb as Masha, one of the Three Sisters and Diane Scrafton Ferreira (myself) as Natasha, the despised sister-in-law. I still have Professor Colin MacKay's review in The Waterville Sentinel, entitled "Colby Cast Lauded For Fine Performance," in which he stated, "Penelope Dean, as Masha, sustained throughout the play a feeling of intensity and inner turmoil...and, as Natasha, Miss Scrafton was splendidly vulgar and conniving in a role which required instantaneous changes of mood."
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Mary Ellen Chase Bridge '58
A few memories from 1954-1958: Wearing blue and grey freshman beanies. Hurrying back to the dorm to make curfew. "Sitting on bells," my work study job. Going to lectures with our knitting, hoping we wouldn't drop an aluminum needle. Taking part in "gracious living," when women dressed up and acted especially polite and proper at dinner. Hearing three bells ring in the women's dorm to announce "man on the floor." Having Pres. Bixler greet us by clapping his hands and booming, "Men and women of Colby!" Making new friends who have lasted for a lifetime.
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David Marson '48
My first view of Colby was when I arrived by bus in January of 1944. There were less than a dozen very old buildings. On College Avenue there was a dormitory and gymnasium for women. The President's house and a few fraternities were on the other side of the street. Mayflower Hill had only a few functional buildings. The physical sciences were taught on the old campus, the other classes were on the hill. What I learned from Colby, as an undergraduate and a trustee, is that both vision and commitment are necessary for success. Great leadership guided Colby to where it is today.
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Arline Kiessling Wills '47
Colby During the War
Class of 1947 the first to start on Mayflower Hill. Barren and windswept
Only finished buildings - Mary Low and Louise Coburn dorms. Women's Union
Shells - Library and Chapel. Foundations - fraternity houses
Classes mostly downtown in old campus, some in Union on hill
Blue Beetle bus shuttle with patient Rowena driver
Long cold walk up the hill when bus was missed
Mainly an all girls school, a few young boys. Air Force cadets downtown,
dances
Dean Ninetta Runnels: "If you brought two dresses to Colby, wear the other
one to dinner."
Air raid blackouts. Lights out in rooms, wait in halls for all clear.
Man in dorm rule: Open door, feet on the floor
Six week break in winter to save fuel
Harvest potatoes in convent next door
Sunbathe on Union roof until cadets caught on and flew over, low
Plant trees on Arbor Day
Open House at Pres. Bixler's. Music, good talk
Onie's Saturday night. Elmwood Hotel when parents came
Mrs. Bridges - housemother at Mary Low
Skirts and dresses worn. Ski pants and parkas in winter
My work in Union library annex - $.25/hr. Type papers - $.10/page
Mail call in Union, hopefully from servicemen
Rationed cigarettes sold Friday nights. Mad scramble to get in line
