While we’re in the midst of this pandemic, I received some nice responses from classmates. * Ronald Rasmussen writes, “I recently celebrated my 85th birthday with family and friends. While I’ve been paralyzed for 23 years, I enjoy life to the fullest. However, I’ll soon start radiation treatments for prostate cancer. I pray that all who remain in our class are healthy and doing well.” * Cedric Harring is hunkered down in Heber City, Utah. “We live in a 39-foot motorhome in a nice RV resort and go out for exercise and fresh food daily. We had a good season skiing until the virus shut down the ski slopes. We intend to stay here until things quiet down on the coronavirus front. Then we will fly home to Acton, Mass., and fly back next winter.” * Here’s a note from a Maine-ah, Rose Stinson Zuckerman Ebsworth, whose support for Colby inspired her to write. “Those four years at Colby were more important than I realized in 1957. I’ve traveled the world and thought I was settled in England with an English husband and English citizenship, but surprisingly, I’ve returned to Deer Isle, where I grew up, alone (my husband, Evelyn, has passed away), but with that Colby education still an influence. I FaceTime with my five children, four step-children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner recalls Professor Mariner, and it’s good reading for the COVID-19 days we live in.” * Eleanor Duckworth was excited about performing in a dance inspired by Macbeth in the Stockbridge Theater in Derry, N.H., in April, which, unfortunately, was postponed. * Tom Brackin says he stopped by a liquor store prior to an order by the New Jersey governor to close non-essential stores. “There were only three customers. We took a vote and unanimously agreed that the liquor store was an essential one.” Tom misses old friends—“so many have passed on. I also miss Colby. I made the 60th and plan to attend the 65th.” * Babs (Faltings ’56) and Warren Kinsman are staying “pretty much housebound” in their home in Beaufort, S.C. They look forward to coming back this summer to their cottage on Green Lake in Ellsworth, Maine. “We welcome anyone traveling to this area to stop by for a swim.” * John Conkling turned 85 in March. “My ski season is over as the areas have all closed,” he wrote earlier. “My wife, Nancy, gets her last chemo shot next week. Hurray! We had planned a trip to Colby in mid-May but will wait until late September. We plan to enjoy this summer again at our camp (bought in 1963) on Squam Lake.” * Ken Haruta received “a second chance at 88” when he got married last November. His wife died in 2016, leaving him devastated. “I had resigned myself to live a quiet life. But I decided to reconnect with my old friends.” He looked up former colleague but discovered he had died shortly after his wife. “Then one day, Julie, his widow, recognized me. … We started going out and doing things together. She is vibrant and intelligent, and we enjoy playing bridge, hiking, entertaining, and traveling. Now, we’re planning our honeymoon trip to Japan in October. I still enjoy playing tennis twice a week. Life is certainly good!” * On Dec. 31, 2019, Allan Van Gestel retired from JAMS (Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services) in Boston where, since February of 2008, “I have been serving as an arbitrator, mediator, and neutral evaluator in business-related legal proceedings. This was my third retirement in my 50-year legal career. At the end of September 1997, I retired as a partner at Goodwin, Procter & Hoar in Boston, where I practiced as a trial lawyer for 35 years after my graduation from Boston University School of Law. That first retirement was to accept an appointment as a justice of the Superior Court in Boston. I spent 11 years on the Superior Court, retiring in January of 2008. My lovely wife, Andrea, and I have lived in Rockport, Mass., for the past 21 years, where she is a highly regarded artist. Indeed, she just had one of her most recent paintings accepted by the American Watercolor Association to be shown as its annual international show in New York City in April.” * I appreciate this great response from classmates. Part of our family is riding out the pandemic storm as a team with six of us temporarily living together. The older ones take good care of mom and dad, while our grandson, 12, attends school via Zoom.