Class Secretary: Martha Blaisdell Mabee, 94 Fifer Ln., Lexington, MA 02420-1228

Co-Class Presidents: Virginia Day Hayden, 8 Eden Ave., West Newton, MA 02465; John A. James, 559 W. Auburn Rd., Auburn, ME 04210

Next Reunion in 2002. Got news? Tap out a note to magazine@bates.edu!

We send our deepest sympathy and best wishes to the families of Patricia Miller Howarth, who died last Nov. 12, and of Irene Towle Smith who died on Dec. 26…. Richard Blanchard says their visit to son and family in Michigan was wonderful but too short. The family came to Maine for a surprise visit so grandson Evan (3) could see the ocean…. Last April Fred ’40 and Judith Chick Downing moved to an apartment at St. Barnabas Retirement Village in Gibonia, Pa. They are only 15 miles from Jani ’65 in Pittsburgh and join her for dinner and concerts every week…. Althea Comins Cliff wrote of their travels to Las Vegas, helping host the annual Shrine Clownarama and visiting old landmarks in Alaska, including Whitehorse, where they lived for four years, finding fiddlehead greens on a mountainside in Seward, and viewing the top of Mount McKinley from Denali Park…. Martha Blaisdell Mabee had a glorious summer at Blaisdell Farm Down. “It was a sight to see the little flotilla of boats out on the bay at full tide, perhaps the only time this has happened in the history of the farm. If only someone would discover a permanent bug deterrent, the country pleasures would be tripled!”… Since the death of husband Tom, Virginia Day Hayden says “We were a good team for 57 years. I have been truly blessed by a network of such caring children, grandchildren, extended family, church and college friends.”… Barbara Fish Briggs’ pleasures are her family’s activities and four grandchildren who are still within reach…. Les and Marge Lewis Forbes are content at Highland Farm in spite of a cold winter…. Bernard (Red) and Alice Turner Francis have three granddaughters getting married this year. They still play duplicate bridge at the senior center and Alice swims at a nearby motel all winter. She says, “At least once a week, when it’s sunny and not too windy, I sit on the beach and watch the gulls fly high and drop clams to crack on the rocks and watch the ferry leave Hyannis Harbor for Nantucket…. L. Dexter Green hasn’t seen classmates for many years. His family is scattered. He walks daily, works 20 hours a week, and “still don’t like being alone.” Our 2002 Reunion is your chance to see some of us so “come on up!”… Finally after 50 years in government, Patrick Harrington retired as Bristol (Mass.) County treasurer. He will continue with his law career “as long as clients keep coming through the door.” He quotes Johnny Carson who said, “You should retire when you are at the top of your game plan.”… A. Raymond Harvey plays tennis three days a week and hopes to make it to 2002 Reunion. He noted that he is the last of the Bates College Harveys since the deaths of brothers Ed ’37 and Bob ’38…. Louis Hervey sends regards to all. He says his six kids and 10 grandkids keep him going as he has traveled to see them in Texas, Virginia, Vermont, and New York…. Richard Horton stays close to Dallas during the academic year where he volunteers at a nearby grammar school. This summer he will return for his 30th visit to Italy to teach English in a small Adriatic town near the Italian heel. “I should learn more Italian, even if it is the dialect of Apulia.”… John James is fine now and enjoying life in the beautiful farmhouse on the hill in Auburn. In winter he and Barbara (Moore ’44) are cozy in an apartment within the main house…. Malcolm and Lucille Leonard Jewell are holding down the fort since grandson Andrew has decided to continue his education at USM. Last year he and partner Dean set out on an organic farming venture, guaranteeing fresh produce every week during growing season to 30 families. With husband and son, granddaughter Kim is an army major stationed in Spain. Three other grandkids still are in school for advanced degrees…. Last July Jean Keneston Fisher and two Ohio granddaughters, 14 and 10, were joined for a week with daughter Susan, her husband and two of their six children to camp and cook in Jean’s backyard. Amish friends of their daughter also came with their eight children who had never seen the ocean so the Fishers introduced them to the Atlantic and it was warm enough to swim…. Last summer Jack Kenney and son John vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard for a few days at the family cottage — and Jack did the cooking! In spite of the loss of his lovely wife, Ferne, he sounded upbeat and enthusiastic in a phone call…. Reflecting on completing eight decades of life, Raymond Kimball wrote: “We survived the Great Depression and World War II, have seen advances in technology undreamed of in 1920. We fly to far places, view the world from our parlors, communicate with the universe via computer! I reflect on men and women with whom we have shared our lives…without whom our lives would not be complete.”… Ardith Lakin Cronin since last September has been recovering from a stroke, is unable to write, but she looked forward to hearing from everyone…. Goldy and Robert Langerman are both in relatively good health, play golf several times a week and enjoy their full-time residence in Naples, Fla…. Jack McSherry’s wife Mary Margaret recovered from hip surgery; political analyst son Kevin was appointed co-borough attorney; son Michael became executive director of the Republican Governors Assn.; grandson Sean played in his Babe Ruth League’s World Series in Jamestown and his Pop Warner team went to the Massachusetts final; his sister Megan was co-valedictorian of her eighth grade. Last September they had dinner with Alice and Red Francis on Cape Cod…. Helen Martin Aucoin celebrated her 80th birthday with five children and their families, 15 grandchildren, and a great grandson. Early this year she and her sister again spent time in Hawaii and Florida, then a Martin-Aucoin reunion at Dartmouth in June for Linda’s graduation. Helen still volunteers in the Special Care Nursery, at Cincinnati Pops and Symphony and at their museum…. Elizabeth Moore Thompson’s sense of humor comes through as she describes falling on ice in her own driveway and breaking her hip. “You remember the Wyeth painting of Christina Olson dragging herself up the hill to the house? That was me inching along to my back door. I’m mending with the long-armed sponge, yard-long shoe horn, walker, and other forms of torture. With time, three adult advisors, and two runners 10 and 14, we’ll make it. And we make fun of carrying cell phones everywhere!”… David and Connie Blaisdell Nickerson ’45 moved to Atlantic Beach, Fla., at Fleet Landing. They sold their house in 48 hours and disposed of 75 years of accumulation by July 1 with help from family and friends. They also sold their motor sailer, finding that living aboard for three weeks in fog was unappetizing as a summer palace. They will head north to a rented cottage on Georges Pond in Franklin for two summer months…. James Scott has relocated to an assisted living facility in Port Charlotte, Fla. “Very fortunate,” he says, “in having my youngest daughter and husband living nearby in Punta Gorda.”… Norm ’43 and Priscilla Simpson Boyan bit the bullet and joined the retirement home gang just two blocks down the street. “We count this move as a gift to the kids who live 400 miles north. They are very supportive — spelled relieved. We are still in a neighborhood we know and still in beautiful Santa Barbara.”… Elizabeth Stafford Sturcke says they are making plans with the Boyans for Reunion 2002. They decided to move back to Hendersonvile, N.C., this summer overlooking the fairways of the country club and mountains beyond. They will spend summer months on Martha’s Vineyard…. In Belfast, Ruth Stevens Haley had lunch with Frank ’40 and Ruth Ulrich Coffin when the Coffins went there to see family members perform in Oklahoma. Ruth’s daughter, Louise, surprised her with a huge party for her 80th birthday with frie
nds and family wall-to-wall in her little house at Penobscot Shores…. Ruth Ulrich Coffin also had a big 80th celebration given by her family and included all of her seven Bates siblings as a special surprise. She and Frank had cliffside seats to watch the Tall Ships slide by to Portland. They spent a weekend in the Berkshires when their Nancy sang with the BSO Tanglewood Chorus. The Coffins’ granddaughter, Sigrid, performed smashingly as Ado Annie in Oklahoma as did father Doug Coffin, who played her father “quite credibly” in the Belfast production…. “I did it,” says Natalie Webber Gulbrandsen, who gave up her big house after 54 years. The decision was made easier when a young neighborhood couple with three little girls wanted to buy it. She works as co-chair of the U.S. chapter of IARF, as a board member of the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Heritage Society, and on several other small boards. “The world needs so much and our planet needs care so desperately that no one should ever be bored. Keep going, doing, and loving is my creed!”… Harry ’40 and Beatrice Wilson Shepherd made the big decision to move next fall to Piper Shores Retirement Community in Scarborough. Being on a cliff overlooking the ocean is a big plus. They spent three months in Tarpon Springs, Fla., again last winter. It’s a nice surprise to learn that Jane Veazie Nelson also is moving to Piper Shores…. Paul and Claire Wilson Wright are still Florida residents, but drive each summer to their cottage on Cape Cod. “We square dance, swim, bicycle, walk or volunteer in the library. We have acquired a ‘tyrannical little monster’ that does e-mail, but there is a big wall of resistance to a computer around us.”… Albert Wise and Thelma for the first time since 1946 didn’t get to Maine. They’re driving less and flying more to Florida and family reunions…. Last summer after three birthday parties and numerous luncheons, Rose Worobel went to Spain/Turkey, traveled on the Mississippi River, and planned a 28-day cruise around Australia and New Zealand…. Ruth Wyer Haines still catalogs books for the Farnsworth Museum Library in Rockland and plays a lot of duplicate bridge. In England, celebrating her birthday, she broke her leg and spent the rest of the vacation in the Newcastle Hospital.