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

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

Got news? Tap out a note to magazine@bates.edu! Martha Blaisdell Mabee was with friends on Sept. 11: “In a state of shock, the Nickersons and I visited Denmark, Maine, on Sept. 11, to Natalie Webber Gulbrandsen’s mini-reunion at her lovely compound on Moose Pond. Joining us were Din Hayden, Jean Fisher, and Bee Shepherd and Shep. We watched events unfold on TV, took long walks, ate well, attended the service at the National Cathedral, talked a lot, cried some, hugged and were grateful to be together at such a stark time.”… Richard Blanchard writes that Shirley ’45 and he spent a few days with son Gary and family in Michigan last summer. “Bates campus is almost unrecognizable from our college days. The biggest problem now is enough parking for students’ cars!”… Fred ’40 and Judith Chick Downing are back in Maine at Hallowell’s Granite Hill Estates, just up the street from their old home. “Four years ago, Fred was on the architectural committee whose suggestions were adopted by an appreciative management, and we are in the three-bedroom apartment Fred designed.”… Arthur Cole recounts the days preceding Reunion: “I drove alone from California to Maine, stopping in Swarthmore, Pa., where Nancy ’41 was caring for her ailing brother, David. She flew to Portland, where I met her and drove to Lewiston for Reunion. We then spent a few days at Five Islands in a cottage owned by Nancy and our two sons. She flew back to Pennsylvania, and I drove back to California alone. Several months after Nancy returned to California, David’s condition worsened, and we moved him to a facility near us where he died.”… Virginia Day Hayden writes: “Surprisingly, my first year without Tom has been a good one in which family, friends, activities, and especially memories and abundant gratitude have filled the void. Son-in-law Gordon put it in Alan Greenspan terms when he said I’ve had a ‘soft landing.’ That image seems to fit.” Summering in Dennis once more was enjoyable with idyllic weather and nearby family. “Our last family meal in October was the occasion for a call from Eran in California to announce he and Kim expect a baby in April — much applause and shouting from all!”… Lester and Marjorie Lewis Forbes love their beautiful adopted state of North Carolina as well as their “family” at Highland Farms. “Mountains, brooks, ponds, trees, spacious grassy areas, home nestled into the landscape, birds, ducks, sunrises and sunsets all blend into a lovely whole!” Late fall trip to Florida included visits with Dave and Connie (Blaisdell ’45) Nickerson and Jim Scott. “Les raises all sorts of veggies for us and to share. My first love is our ladies chorus of 12 or so with a talented director.”… Alice Turner Francis suffered a stroke last June, but has made remarkable progress at the nursing home where she and Red reside. They hope to get back to their own home. Daughter Carol and her husband are retiring to the Cape this summer and will be living just a mile away…. A. Raymond Harvey writes: “High point of 2001 was a trip to Fiji. Every year daughter Heather and her husband Andy, with several surfing friends, go to a tiny island known for great surfing. At the end of their stay I met them on the main island, Viti Levu. Andy flew home to make money and Heather stayed to play with Dad! Other trips were long weekends to Las Vegas, with two four-wheel drive vehicles we explored canyons, Lake Mead, Death Valley, etc.”… Last year, Lucille and daughter Nina Jewell Mendall ’65 ventured to Burlington, Vt., to attend the annual Joselyn Botanical Society Meeting and Field Expedition. Lucille and Malcolm attended four offerings of the summer music theater at Bowdoin, thanks to two season tickets Lucille won at a church auction, and afterwards ate dinner with Russ and Marion Ludwick Hewett. “Grandson Andy was with us all summer while working for an organic farmer in Bowdoinham. We enjoyed watching from eight to eighteen wild turkeys parading back and forth to wild oats planted as a cover crop, seeds under the feeders and the Golden Delicious apple tree, sometimes flying up to get apples off the tree!”… Eleanora Keene Dalton gave up driving last summer. “The day we donated the car to the Lung Association was the happiest day of my life! I get around all I need to with local bus service and helpful neighbors.”… Jean Keneston Fisher exercises three times a week, lunches with friends, visits museums, and attends concerts and plays where she bumps into Bates classmates often. She’s volunteered at Mercy Hospital in the substance abuse treatment center for many years. A recent hospital brochure said, “Jean has shown unswerving commitment as a volunteer one day a week for 17 years!”… Ray Kimball visited New Orleans last year for a week’s paddleboat trip on the Mississippi, followed by a visit to the National D-Day Museum in the city.” Ray’s LST (landing ship tank, a flatbed vessel used primarily during World War II to transport troops and tanks) stopped there prior to leaving for the European theater. “I returned to take an LST down the river to the Pacific theater. Before leaving New Orleans I was asked to prepare an oral history of my service for the museum,” he says…. Robert Langerman and Goldy enjoy their home in Naples, Fla. “We play golf a few days a week. I am also quite busy as president of our homeowners association.”… Marion Ludwick Hewett reports that Martha is senior research analyst for the Center for Energy and Environment in Minneapolis, and Chuck is CEO of the Neptune Project, a sub-sea electric transmission network designed to connect power-short urban load centers to low-cost sources of power generation…. Helen Martin Aucoin went to Rome with her church group, returning to celebrate the birth of new grandson, John Spencer. “I still volunteer in the special care nursery, at Cincinnati Pops and Symphony, and in our local museum.”… David and Connie Blaisdell Nickerson ’45 are settling in their new home in Atlantic Beach, Fla. They escaped last May for a month’s stay in London with youngest daughter Becky and her family, then returned to Franklin, Maine, for a two-month summer sojourn at a rustic cottage on Georges Pond. Stays before and after were at Blaisdell Farm, where Dave planted a late, bumper crop of tomatoes. Christmas was in Idaho Falls, Idaho, with daughter Betsey and her family…. Priscilla Simpson Boyan and Norman ’43 finished a happy first year at their continuing care retirement community. “We made the right move at the right time.” Lots of activities, and Priscilla is involved in the thrift shop and gamboled with grace and skill as a hula dancer at a Polynesian party put on for the residents. Norm swims every day at the pool…. Barbara Stanhope tackled poetic monologues last summer. “As the original book I read suggested, pretend that you are a person no longer living — a Siamese twin whose twin had died, or Amelia Earhart. First, I was the voice of an unhatched dinosaur egg in a rock shop — it moved along as if it were true!”… Ruth Stevens Haley reports: “A new resident here at Penobscot Shores is a very good friend of Connie Blaisdell Nickerson ’45.” She asks if any ’42ers have discovered senior college. “Belfast has the second largest in Maine; a variety of courses are offered once a week for 12 weeks, spring and fall semesters. We’re supposed to st
imulate the brain in our advanced years, so if you have one in your area, try it.”… Muriel Swicker Haggerty lives in a comfortable apartment in a retirement complex in Auburn, Maine. Her son, Alfred, who lives nearby, checks on her frequently. She entertains the families from the West at her lakeside cottage in Maine. She recently lunched with Frank ’40 and Ruth Ulrich Coffin when they were in town…. Speaking of Ruth and Frank, he was one of two federal judges to receive the 2001 Devitt Award for Distinguished Service to Justice. The presentation was made in Washington, D.C., by Justice Ginsberg at the elegant Cosmos Club. “Family and friends were on hand to hear all the nice things said about him,” reports Ruth. “We were riding high. The next day, Sept. 11, we sank to the depths of horror and fear as we evacuated the National Airport terminal where we were awaiting our flight home, saw the Pentagon spewing black smoke, and heard planes overhead. Luckily we were with a good friend who managed to hail passing limousine and driver, who not only took us to a hotel, but also promised to drive us to Maine the next morning. A sad event for us was the death of our 1967-68 AFS daughter, Maya, after a long bout with cancer. Living in Bangalore, she was a devoted wife, caring mother of two gifted children, and had become one of India’s most incisive political cartoonists.”… Jane Veazie Nelson sold her residence of 44 years (the past nine as a widow) and moved to Piper Shores in Scarborough, Maine. “Most of my family — two children, five grandchildren, and two great-grands — live in Maine so I see them on occasion.” A Gorham Times article notes that Jane is widely known as a tour guide at the Baxter House Museum, also portraying Hettie, second Mrs. James Baxter, in costumed visits to nursing homes and schools…. Vera Vivian Peci and Herbert signed up for a retirement home in Delray Beach, Fla. “Last summer was spent showing the condo, swimming (for me), and gardening (for Herbert). We saw Rose Worobel and Althea Cliff Comins and talked to Jack McSherry, and learned the sad news that Alice and Red Francis were in a nursing home…. Bea Wilson Shepherd and Harry ’40 also moved to Piper Shores in Scarborough. “We miss our West Bath home, but know it is a wise move and we will adjust. Jane Veazie Nelson and I are on the library committee, a great way to get acquainted but also one of the reasons I’m not completely settled. It is fun to be close to Portland, with shuttle service to events you want to attend. I ran into Jean Keneston Fisher at a concert.”… Rose Worobel and a friend flew west to New Zealand, boarded a ship and toured New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, ending in Singapore. “In July I had another fall that laid me up all summer with broken ribs.” She’s getting better with exercises and wearing low, laced shoes.”… Ruth Wyer Haines says that David ’44 is not well, so the whole family came to Maine for Christmas.