Richard Conant is continuing a post-retirement project to ski all the alpine ski areas in New England. “Heck, someone has to do it!” he notes. Dick is also pursuing a second career as a science teacher. He completed all the coursework and teacher exams and was looking forward to five weeks of student teaching at a middle school in March. * On Feb. 8 Jeff Stafford wrote to celebrate the upcoming birth of his and his wife (of 32 years) Ellen’s first grandchild: their oldest daughter Liz’s baby boy, due in April. Jeff said, “Miracle I’ve lived this long” and noted how happy he was to have seen his youngest daughter, Courtney, graduate from Franklin & Marshall. Talking about living with a serious disease, Jeff said, “The trick is to keep presenting new targets” to yourself, new objectives. Jeff accomplished this successfully for 12 years, surviving multiple myeloma well beyond what doctors initially thought possible. On Feb. 25 Jeff passed away peacefully at his home in West Hartford, Conn., in the company of his beloved family. Jeff Olmstead, who was friends with Jeff long before Colby, spoke at the memorial service. Also in attendance were Mark Lauritano, Jeff’s Colby roommate Dick Conant, and fellow Colby lacrosse teammates Bill Gruber and Woody Peirce. At Colby Jeff won three varsity letters in lacrosse, and he graduated majoring in both chemistry and business. A few years later, Jeff was best man at Dick Conant’s wedding. From my conversations with Jeff over the years, it was clear that, despite the illness, he was determined to continue living life the way he wanted to live it, the way he’d always planned. He displayed a feisty zest for life (we discussed illness, me having had a heart attack in 2010). Jeff never stopped his work as national sales manager at Redington Counters. He told me how proud he was of his children for creating the Wamp Swim-a-Thon, an effort that raised more than $150,000 seeking a cure. Jeff himself was a fundraiser and advocate for the International Myeloma Foundation. But beyond that, he devoted significant time to helping others suffering from cancer, through words of encouragement, his own courage, and his humor. About this, Jeff Olmstead (who saw all of it close up) says, “Jeff was a hero to many, all that knew him well, and many that did not.” Ken Colton remembers “Jeff’s upbeat way of rolling with things in life and his easygoing manner, his good humor, his funny puns. Jeff lived a life lesson for us all.” Dick Conant recalls Jeff’s “terrible puns, his overall sense of humor, and his outgoing, easy manner with people. He just seemed to go with the flow in life.” Dick’s description of the puns as “terrible” probably means “terribly funny” since Jeff Olmstead states: “Jeff was a master pun-meister. He was so quick with a quip. He had a wonderful sense of humor.” He adds: “I will never forget Jeff’s courageous fight against his terrible cancer. His strength, his optimism, his commitment to go on will always be an inspiration to me.” OK, Jeff Stafford, you wanted it said, so I’ll say it: you loved that funky green-and-white International Scout you had at Colby and, surely even more, the mint-condition 1968 replica Ellen bought for you for your 50th birthday. There. It’s said. Drive on, friend!