Alumni Trustees: Jack Keigwin ’59 and Gretchen Shorter Davis ’61 are the nominees from the Alumni Ballot to serve a five-year term on the Board of Overseers. Also appointed to the Board of Overseers are David Foster ’77 and Michael Bonney ’80.

Club Awards: Like millions of other New Yorkers, the many Bates alumni who gathered for a Bates Club event Oct. 3 in midtown Manhattan were trying to recapture a sense of community after Sept. 11. “In crisis, we turn to places that offer comfort and connection, to be with people we care about,” said Geri FitzGerald ’75, one of the organizers of that Bates Club event. “Bates represents that kind of place for so many of us.” For the work and care put into a gathering quickly and universally dubbed “The Big Hug” the New York Bates Club won the Club of the Year Award. The Club Attendance Award went to the Boston Bates Club.

Trips Through Time and Space: The Trophy Cup (highest Reunion attendance from a class with between 60 and 100 living members) went to the 1947 with 43 members. The College Key Award (100 and 250 living members) went to 1952 with 133 members — a record for a 50th Reunion class. The Alumni Association Cup (more than 250 members) went to 1997 with a veritable horde of 142 classmates, though it was pointed out that 1982, having taken seriously the biblical admonition to “go forth, be fruitful and multiply,” won the overall headcount with 90 adults and 64 children. The senior graduate attending Reunion was Kenton Bagley ’30, age 93. Alumni came from at least four continents, and Whitney MacDonald ’97 traveled the farthest: 10,500 miles from Australia. She got to wear the ceremonial Reunion kente stole that honors the College’s worldwide outlook in recruiting students, in its faculty and student research, and in its outreach with alumni. Other impressive travelers were Kinmochi Eguchi ’97 from Japan, Carol Hollingsworth Collins ’52 from Brazil, and Lisa Fox Riley ’92 from the Czech Republic.

Parade of Stars: The Class of 1957 struck a patriotic theme to win the Alumni Parade Costume contest, while 1962 was a hit with its fun facts (e.g., 575 years of collective matrimonial bliss and 23 children attending Bates for $2,338,500 in Bates tuition). The Class of 1971 — returning on their 31st Reunion year, the last vestige of the baffling Robinson Reunion plan — was lauded for its mind-blowing tie-dyed banners.
New Faces on the Council: Newly nominated members of the Alumni Council are Grant Reynolds ’57 of Potomac, Md., Dana Peterson Moore ’79 of Baltimore, Md., Katie Segal Frekko ’95 of Bethesda, Md., and Allison Slaughter ’00 of Norwalk, Conn. New student members are Alake Pilgrim ’03 of Trinidad and Graham Veysey ’04 of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

A Spotlight on Service: The Distinguished Young Alumni Service Award went to Paula M. Colahan ’87 of Beverly, Mass. Norman E. Brackett ’52 of Scarborough, Maine, received the Alumni Community Service Award, and the Helen A. Papaioanou ’49 Distinguished Service Award went to David O. Boone ’62 and Carol Huntington Boone ’63. The Benjamin Elijah Mays Award went to the Rev. Arthur Higgins ’43, and the College Key Distinguished Service Award went to Gene Taylor ’56. Full text of all award citations are at www.bates.edu.

Throwing Down the Gauntlet: The Class of 1992 raised the tantalizing specter of CBB competition in Reunion giving, not just announcing a record $82,909 class gift but telling everyone that the gift humbles 10th Reunion records at Colby and Bowdoin. The Class of 1982, inspired by a $40,000 challenge from three classmates, raised $106,570, while the Class of 1952, led by Nate ’52 and Harriet Boone ’52, raised $318,928, seven times its usual gift.