UNH Magazine Fall 2019

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UNH The Magazine of the University of New Hampshire | Fall 2019


“So many students don’t know what college costs will mean for the future. The financial support I’ve received at UNH helps me feel in control.”

A Full Spectrum of Experiences

— sohani demian ’21 , mechanical engineering

Support from donor-funded scholarships has helped Sohani Demian ’21 take advantage of opportunities to explore a wide range of interests while taking on very little college debt. And the opportunities she’s had at UNH have changed her. A pre-orientation backpacking trip — her very first — inspired her to be an Outing Club leader. A supportive professor helped her master an independent study in Chinese alongside far more experienced speakers. A class in sustainable agriculture and food systems led her to UNH’s Slow Food Club and “home” to engineering. Last summer, during an internship at UNH’s Olson Center for Advanced Manufacturing, her coursework came to life through work on a novel technology for waterjet cutting. In the future, she’d love to combine engineering and sustainable agriculture.

Make the gift of possible today. unh.edu/give

Your support for any area of the university makes an immediate difference to students, professors and programs at UNH. The combined gifts of alumni, parents and friends like you are the key to helping UNH grow stronger this and every year.


UNH The Magazine of the University of New Hampshire | Fall 2019

Contents

Departments 4 | Letters 5 | Editor’s Desk 6 | Current Filling big shoes on the football field ◆ changing the face of IP Law ◆ charting the future of ocean research ◆ and much more

48 | Class Notes Glenn Delgado ’84 Megan Taft ’01 Elinor Purrier ’18

77 | In Memoriam

20 |

Cover Story:

James Nassikas ’52 Cathy Coakley ’72, ’75G Sam Coffey ’14

80 | Parting Shot

Finding Good Jim Foley became a household name after he was brutally murdered in Syria in 2014, but even John and Diane Foley ’70 didn’t fully grasp all the good their firstborn son, a teacher turned international war correspondent, had done until after he was gone.

32 | ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH ROSEN

READ ALL ABOUT IT? The decline of print. The rise of the internet. The emergence of the 24-hour news cycle and a culture that’s grown skeptical of a once-revered profession. UNH journalism program alumni and professors say it’s never been harder — or more important — to make a career out of reporting the news.

40 |

IN THE LINE OF DUT Y When Mark Lenzi ’97 took a job with the U.S. Foreign Service, he knew it would mean doing dangerous work in dangerous places. But when an attack in China threatened his health and that of his family, he also knew the right place to recover was back home in Barrington — and at UNH.

Reconnecting with UNH was a key piece of Mark Lenzi’s recovery following a brain injury overseas. | p. 40

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UNH

Contributors

POST-SEASON BOUND: Men’s soccer clinched its spot in the six-team America East playoff tournament early this year, with a 4-0 win over UMass-Lowell on Oct. 19. The win improved the team’s record to 10-0-2, with just four games remaining in the regular season. The Wildcats won the America East tournament for the first time in program history last year with a 5-0 victory over UMBC.

Editor-in-Chief Kristin Waterfield Duisberg Design Director Kasey Glode

Designer Valerie Lester Current Editor Jody Record ’95 Contributing and Staff Writers Benjamin Gleisser Rebecca Irelan Jennifer Oles Beth Potier Jennifer Saunders Mark Travis

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Contributing and Staff Photographers Jeremy Gasowski Jeffrey MacMillan Meghan Murphy ’20 Scott Ripley Michele Stapleton Matt Troisi ’22 Bill Truslow

◆ Editorial Office 15 Strafford Ave.,,Durham, NH 03824 alumni.editor@unh.edu www.unhmagazine.unh.edu Publication Board of Directors James W. Dean Jr. President, University of New Hampshire Debbie Dutton Vice President, Advancement Mica Stark ’96 Associate Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs Susan Entz ’08G Associate Vice President, Alumni Association Heidi Dufour Ames ’02 President, UNH Alumni Association

cover photo by Carolina Sanchez/The Columbia Chronicle back cover by Jeremy Gasowski.

◆ UNH Magazine is published three times a year by the University of New Hampshire, Office of University Communications and Public Affairs and the Office of the President. © 2019, University of New Hampshire. Readers may send address changes, letters, news items, and email address changes to: University of New Hampshire Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave., Durham, NH 03824 or email alumni.editor@unh.edu.

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1. When Barbara Walsh ’81 graduated from UNH’s journalism program, students still used typewriters, and the internet had not yet been created. As she interviewed old classmates and younger journalists for this issue’s “Disinformation Age” feature, she was fascinated by the variety of ‘new’ media jobs held by several UNH alums. But regardless of whether the journalists were young or old, created podcasts, worked for an online start-up or a small newspaper, Walsh was inspired by “the passion so many UNH grads have for telling stories that matter, and their commitment to overcoming obstacles, including the public’s growing distrust and frequent accusations of ‘fake news’.“ A Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, Walsh is the author of “August Gale: A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Storm” and “Sammy in the Sky.” She reports and writes for Pine Tree Watch and lives on a lake in Maine. She is also a proud mother of two wonderful daughters, one of whom is a current Wildcat. 2. Allen Lessels ’76 covered UNH athletics as a sportswriter for various publications for parts of five decades before signing on as a staff writer in UNH’s athletics communications department in 2014. He writes feature stories about UNH athletes and teams for www.unhwildcats.com that are regularly used by several of the state’s newspapers. Lessels, who lives in Concord, New Hampshire, first heard Mark Lenzi’s spellbinding tales of international intrigue

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3. and espionage — and learned of his deep respect for all things UNH — nearly a year ago and has been excited to have a couple of chances to write about Mark and his experiences. 3. As a writer, no matter how experienced you are, certain stories present particularly humbling challenges. For Keith Testa, having the opportunity to tell the story of the Foley family — primarily through the eyes of Diane and John Foley, as they recounted the tragic murder of their son, Jim, and the aftermath that led to the formation of the thriving James W. Foley Legacy Foundation — was most certainly one of those challenges. But there was something that helped any lingering nerves melt away quickly: the Foleys themselves. “Diane and John just have a way of setting you at ease,” Testa says. “Despite the gravity of the subject we were discussing, they were incredibly welcoming and 100 percent open, and it made the interview feel more like a friendly conversation. It was an honor to be able to tell their story.” Testa lives in Concord, New Hampshire.


MEGHAN MURPHY ’20 / UNH

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Letters

Still Acacia After All These Years

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would like to correct a “grievous error” in the 1964 alumni notes attributed to Acacia brother Dave Sweet ’64 about our group get-togethers. The people mentioned (Thompson, Myer, Kress, Irons, Sanders, Bartlett, Matteson, and Briggs) are not Theta Chis; they Spring/Summer Kudos are members of Acacia fraternity (which, I believe, no loved the new style, shape and size of UNH longer has a chapter on campus). Magazine — more students of color and internaWe Acacians do indeed gather several times a year tional origin as well as looking further into the past. in various groupings: The New Hampshire-based While attending the class of 1959’s 60th class brothers meet for lunch several times a year, choosreunion in June, I was able to hear anthropology profesing restaurants on a quasi-rotating basis to equitably sor Meghan Howey’s talk about UNH’s “lost campus” accommodate travel distances; a larger group, which and found it fascinating research. Now I look forward to also involves more distant brothers and spouses, gets learning more about the Native American history in the together for two- or three-day weekends for UNH home area going way back. and/or away football and/or hockey games, including Nice new look! overnight stays at local hotels, as well as dining at UNH Diane Howe Lenters ’59, Holland, Mich. facilities and area restaurants. These affairs have been going on for decades, beginning with biannual UNHUNH Magazine ranks with the best, including the UConn football games back in the 70s. Our groupings University of Missouri Magazine, which I also receive. have ranged in size from six or so to as many as two The spring/summer 2019 issue containing the subject dozen. And below, as just a few of the hundreds of of autism was of great interest, as my wife Shirley and I photos taken over the years illustrate, we still get around have two grandsons with that condition. — and haven’t changed a bit! During the 58 years we have been in Missouri, Shirley rose from a volunteer in mental health to a Bert Myer ’67, Via email member of the state department mental health commission, and we were exposed to many explanations for the cause of this condition. The article “Protein Pathway” was, to us, among the better ones; thanks to UNH for the research it is doing and to Robbin Ray ’82 for the article. Also noted was the size of the graduating class of 2019. At 3,100, that was the total yearly size of the entire UNH student body during the 1950s. Thanks again!

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Ralph Fearon ’57, Lees Summit, Mo.

Cover/Coverage

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just got the spring/summer issue of UNH Magazine and it reads like a women’s magazine, with an occasional glimpse of a male student thinly scattered among the pages. Has UNH become exclusively female in 2019, or are you just ignoring the accomplishments and achievements of the male student body? Statistics show that men attending college are now the new minority, but please don’t think we’re extinct yet! Andrew Price ’84, Via email

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Editor’s Current Desk

In this issue . . .

JEREMY GASOWSKI / UNH

S

ix years as editor of UNH Magazine have given me the opportunity to share a variety of stories: some fun, others inspiring, and many — I hope — thought-provoking. But I don’t think we’ve ever put out an issue that has felt quite so consequential as the one in your hands. In August 2013, when I started on my first issue of UNH Magazine, photojournalist Jim Foley had already been a prisoner of ISIS for nine months. I learned about his connection to UNH as I copyedited class notes and read in the class of 1970 column about John and Diane Foley’s efforts to free their son. When Jim was brutally murdered a year later, I struggled to imagine a way this magazine could share the Foleys’ story, but John and Diane provided the path forward when they created the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. Established shortly after Jim’s death to promote journalist safety across the globe, the organization celebrates its fifth anniversary this fall, a steady beacon of hope in a profession that has become more dangerous than most can fathom. It was the Foley Foundation’s mission, in fact, that got me thinking about the other challenges faced by the journalism profession, as well as the many UNH graduates who continue to do the important work of reporting the news all the same. The impossible task of this issue’s story about journalism in the “age of disinformation” is comprehensively representing the sheer number of alumni who work in the field, and the breadth of disciplines and outlets they cover — a testament to the excellence of our alums and the strength of the UNH journalism program. You might imagine that it was a daunting task to find a third feature that could stand up to the weight and significance of these, but only if you haven’t followed the story of Mark Lenzi ’97, who sustained a debilitating brain injury while serving as a U.S. intelligence officer in China and came home to New Hampshire — and UNH — for his recovery. From one perspective, these three stories suggest a grim theme for this magazine: Americans in perilous places, perhaps, or the dangers of the modern world. But in reading them, I hope you will see that what also joins these three stories is something even stronger, and something many at UNH share: a sense of principle and duty and the commitment to important work for a purpose greater than oneself. It’s a privilege to publish these stories now, and to share them with all of you.

Kristin Waterfield Duisberg Editor-in-chief

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JEREMY GASOWSKI / UNH

Current

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Current Sports

BATTLE READY Ricky Santos ’07 steps in to helm UNH football for an ailing Coach Mac

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n August, the football team did something it hadn’t done in the last two decades: The Wildcats practiced under the watchful eyes of a head coach other than Sean McDonnell ’78. On Aug. 26, McDonnell announced to his team that he was taking a leave of absence to deal with health issues. Ricky Santos ’07, a four-year starting quarterback and one of the greatest Wildcat players ever under McDonnell’s tutelage, took over the program on an interim basis. “I think it went well,” Santos said after his first practice. “I think the guys responded. The message beforehand was that this is all about leaving this place better than it was before and having a place Coach Mac wants to come back to. That’s everybody’s goal, his goal included, to make sure he can come back and coach and finish this thing on his terms.” Director of athletics Marty Scarano has great confidence in the ability of Santos and the rest of the coaching staff to lead the team forward. He expects McDonnell to return to coaching the team, but it’s unclear when that might be. An intense, passionate, engaging and fearless leader respected throughout the Colonial Athletic Association and all of college football, McDonnell has been the face of the program and has built it into one of the nation’s best since taking over for his own mentor and coach, Bill Bowes, for the 1999 season. Between them, Bowes and McDonnell have led the program for nearly half a century

(McDonnell was in his 21st year, Bowes coached 27). It’s not the first time Santos has been called upon to step up for the UNH football team. As a redshirt freshman in 2004, he was tapped as play caller midway through the team’s first game of the season — at defending FCS national champion Delaware. The young quarterback led the team to a win in that game, kickstarting his standout career, and led the Wildcats into the national playoffs, too, beginning a string of 14 straight appearances in the tournament. That streak ended last fall and the goal since then has been to start another. After an earlier stint as wide receivers coach at UNH, Santos returned to the team last winter as associate head coach and quarterbacks coach. He had spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Columbia University. Now, with his coach’s lessons to guide him, Santos will carry on McDonnell’s mission. “You come in and you’re young and you’re a kid and you think you know everything, and you realize you don’t know anything, and he instills all these morals and values in you,” Santos says. “Ultimately those are the same things that we’re leaning on right now to get us through this tough time. We talk about it all the time. We train for adversity so when you get to real-life situations that are hard, you’re ready for it. Because of McDonnell, we’re ready to battle through a situation like this.” ²

rankings, UNH athletics earned an NCAA Graduation Success Rate score of 96 percent — a mark matched only by Cornell among all land grant universities and significantly above the national average of 88 percent. Nine teams were ranked first in their sport, and seven — field hockey, women’s lacrosse, gymnastics, men’s skiing, women’s skiing, women’s soccer and swimming and in the most recent

top of the class

Santos carrying the ball for the Wildcats as an undergrad.

— Allen Lessels ’76

diving — earned perfect scores, with 100 percent of their student-athletes earning diplomas within six years of matriculation. “We never take for granted the fabulous effort our staff and student-athletes put into our academic mission,” says Marty Scarano, UNH director of athletics. “Academic achievement is the foundation of our success and we are tremendously proud. All due credit to our student-athletes!” Fall 2019

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malt , hops and a good dose of partnership 8

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i n o c t o b e r , u n h and Conway’s Tuckerman Brewing Company teamed up to brew a limited-edition beer — called 1866, in honor of UNH’s founding year — to support the university’s two-year-old brewing science program. The UNH Brewing Science Laboratory is both a fully

equipped professional beverage manufacturing facility and one of the most advanced analytical beer chemistry labs in the state, providing beneficial beer-testing services to the state’s booming brewing industry. “This collaboration allowed us to provide students in our brewing

science minor the opportunity for hands-on experience and is another example of our commitment to working with business and industry throughout the state,” says Marc Sedam, managing director of UNHInnovation.


“Not everything has to be practical for it to be important” R. Scott Smith, professor of classics, humanities and Italian studies, on his career path

d o n ’t b e su r p r i s e d i f

paw pat r o l

know the material, so I decided to look at my best friend’s test since he was a really good student. And then I heard her voice. “Mr. Smith? Will you please come here?” I was caught, and I was scared, approaching her with my test paper in my hands. But she said nothing about it — I just did not do well on that exam. In true teenager fashion, I got mad at her for my mistake. I decided I would prove to her that I could do it on my own without cheating. I spent whole weekends just doing Latin and went on to take five years of the subject in middle and high school. I went to graduate school at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, a typical midwestern school that had a great classics program and one of the largest classical libraries in the country. It’s an incredible subject that I want other people to love as much as I do. Not everything has to be practical for it to be important. We need intellectual curiosity and cultural understanding. If we don’t value those, we’re going to be in trouble. That mistake I made back in middle school led to a career of great joy and personal satisfaction. I have never once had a day when I dreaded going to work.” ²

your next encounter with the UNH Police includes a few head scratches and some vigorous tail wagging. In July, the department adopted a female golden lab puppy from Hero Pups, a volunteer organization in Stratham, New Hampshire, that trains service dogs for veterans and first responders. Named Charlee by children at the UNH Child Study and Development Center, the puppy

ILLUSTRATION BY RAUL ARIS

I AM AN ACCIDENTAL PROFESSOR. I come from a little place called Mechanicsville, Virginia. My mother was the only daughter of a woman who had 13 brothers and sisters. She raised me as a single mother for part of my life before she remarried. My stepfather — I just call him my father — was an accountant, and my mom worked for the phone company. My father had attended college at the University of North Carolina but had not completed his degree, and my mom never went to college; however, they were very committed to raising their kids in a way that led to college. I can remember my father suggesting I take courses in business and I think, for my parents, college meant studying something that was marketable. They did not expect I would end up a college professor. I was always interested in learning things. I loved music, art, sports, science, languages, reading. I wanted to go to Duke University because they had a great basketball program. My mom, on a whim, took me to a presentation at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and that’s where I ended up studying classics. My path to classics began in middle school, however. My Latin teacher was Mrs. T. V. Pomfrey, and she was a firebrand. We did not necessarily get along. I didn’t care much about the class, and about three weeks in, she told us we were having a test. I didn’t know it was coming, and I didn’t

— Jennifer Saunders

joins the force as a comfort dog for students and other members of the campus community. Although she’s still in training, Charlee is already making herself at home in Durham — and in demand among ‘Cats in need of a little canine therapy. “She’s going to need her own assistant at this rate,” jokes UNH Police Chief Paul Dean. Fall 2019

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Current

MAKING ROOM FOR SCIENCE Spaulding Hall gets a long-overdue upgrade

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Spaulding Hall was built in 1960. Except for a partial renovation almost 40 years later, nothing has been done to the science building since then — making the in-progress renovations and planned expansion a definite list-topper for the university, which it has been for several years now. And it’s not just an aging thing; interest in STEM education has surged across the country, creating a greater need for the university to help meet New Hampshire’s demand for highly skilled STEM graduates. The renovation and expansion will create additional biological and neuroscience teaching and research labs and instruction space to allow for increased enrollment. The project includes a 50,000-square-foot addition and a full renovation of the 83,000 square feet that make up the existing Spaulding Hall. New labs will be designed to better address contemporary teaching methods and provide greater flexibility for new research areas that in turn will provide experiential learning opportunities for students. Major building system replacements will be addressed as well. Site work for the $86 million project was done during the summer and phase 1 — the addition — is expected to be completed in June 2021. The renovation of the existing building (phase 2) is set to begin in the summer of 2021 and wrap up in January 2023. UNH and the university system have funded $51 million of the project, including $9 million in philanthropic support, with the remaining $35 million anticipated to come from the state during the next two years. ² — Jody Record ’95


Inquiry

EYES ON THE XPRIZE Alumni team behind ocean mapping breakthrough

Today, less than 10 percent of the world’s oceans have been mapped to high resolution. But efforts to map the remaining 90 percent could happen more quickly than previously expected, thanks in part to the work of a UNH alumni team that won a global competition aimed at advancing deep-sea technologies for ocean floor exploration. UNH’s GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Alumni team — alumni and industry partners and advisors based at UNH’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping — prevailed against teams from around the world to win a $4 million prize in the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE challenge. The team’s winning concept removes people — the most expensive and riskiest element

of the mapping process — and replaces them with robots, pairing an uncrewed surface vessel with an autonomous underwater vehicle system (AUV). The team’s prototype has the ability to autonomously launch and recover the AUV in depths of up to 4,500 meters. The project, based at UNH’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, includes 16 alumni of UNH’s Nippon Foundation/GEBCO program. The team’s entry into the competition was funded by The Nippon Foundation/GEBCO, which brings young scientists from around the world, primarily from developing countries, to UNH to become experts in deep-ocean mapping. ² — Beth Potier

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YEARS TO L AUNCH (E S T I M AT E D 2 0 2 6)

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MAJOR PA R T N E R S R AY T H E O N , S O U T H W E S T RESEARCH INSTITUTE, N A S A GO D D A R D S PA C E FLIGHT CENTER

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E N V I R O N M E N TA L P R O T E C T I O N A G E N C Y, N O A A , N AVA L R E S E A R C H L A B O R AT O R Y

INSTITUTIONS LISTED IN THE PROPOSAL

11 (U N H ’ S J O S E P H S A L I S B U R Y, R E S E A R C H A S S O C I AT E P R O F E S S O R O F E A R T H S C I E N C E S , I S T H E L E A D I N V E S T I G AT O R )

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AC A DE M I C INSTITUTIONS INCLUDING EIGHT IN THE U.S. AND THREE ACROSS THE GLOBE

F AC U LT Y

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UNH PERSONNEL A R E I N V O LV E D I N DE V E L O P I N G GL I M R (S O F A R)

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INFOGRAPHIC BY LOREN MARPLE ’13

EVEN AS THEY SUPPORT THE POPUL ATIONS THAT INHABIT THEM, C O A S TA L E C O S Y S T E M S A R E I N C R E A S I N GLY S U B J EC T T O T H E E F F EC T S O F L A N D - U S E AC T I V I T I E S , P O P U L AT I O N G R O W T H , E X T R E M E W E AT H E R A N D C L I M AT E C H A N GE .

GO V E R N M E N T PA R T N E R S

S TA F F S C I E N T I S T S

P O S T DOC T O R A L R E S E A R C H E R S

A DM I N I S T R AT O R

460

8 T I M E S P E R DAY GL I M R W I L L M E A S U R E OC E A N COLOR TO MONITOR PHY TOPL ANK TON

T H AT 'S MORE THAN

38 Y E A R S!

*The accepted scientific metric for expressing the amount of time principal investigators, faculty and other senior personnel devote to a project.

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P E R S O N M O N T HS * A R E P R E S E N T LY O N T H E BOO K S F O R GL I M R

OCEAN GLIMR In August, UNH received from NASA its largest-ever single research contract: $107.9 million to develop a space-based instrument to study coastal ecosystems near the Gulf of Mexico. Led by research associate professor Joseph Salisbury, the Geosynchronous Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) will observe ocean biology, chemistry and ecology. ² — Beth Potier


fa c u lt y a n d s ta f f n e w s

A LAW DEGREE FOR THE INFORMATION AGE UNH Franklin Pierce’s new hybrid program the first of its kind

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hen the 43 students enrolled in UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law’s newest JD program arrived in Concord in August, most of them didn’t spend too much time unpacking. That’s because the program — a hybrid JD in intellectual property, technology and information law — is a new kind of program, the first mostly online juris doctor in the United States focused on intellectual property and law for the information age. Following a 5-day residential session and orientation at the law school’s Concord campus, the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law Hybrid JD students’ on a field trip to visit Durham’s students in the inaugural class UNHInnovation and downtown Portsmouth returned to homes and jobs across as part of their immersion session. the country to continue their coursework online. “We’re reversing the law school/ program, which is fully accredited student relationship,” explains by the American Bar Association, Megan Carpenter, dean of UNH is designed to be year-round for a Franklin Pierce School of Law. total of 10 semesters and will take a “Rather than students moving to minimum of 3 1/2 years to complete. Concord for a top IP and technology And while the majority of the courselaw program, we’re bringing our work will be completed remotely, world-renowned faculty to our stustudents will convene in Concord dents, wherever they are.” four times per year. The hybrid JD program is aimed at “We’re making a top legal educaworking professionals with a backtion attainable to working profesground in technology or intellectual sionals who would not otherwise be property — a discipline for which able to access it,” Carpenter says. UNH Franklin Pierce is particularly “It was so exciting to welcome this well known. The school’s IP law pro- diverse class of future leaders in gram has been ranked among the intellectual property, and I believe top 10 in the country by U.S. News this program will serve as an exam& World Report for 28 consecuple of how to best deliver the future tive years and is currently ranked of legal education.” ² 5th. The curriculum for the hybrid — Jennifer Oles

In August, UNH and the university system announced that bill poirier had been named chief information officer. Previously the acting commissioner and state chief information officer of Minnesota’s IT Services Agency, Poirier assumed his office on Aug. 26. pelema morrice, who served most recently as president of Great Bay Community College, joined UNH as vice provost for enrollment management on Sept. 5. A new role aimed at more closely aligning enrollment management and academic affairs, the vice provost position oversees all aspects of student enrollment, including admissions, registrar and financial aid.

English professor and administrator lisa macfarlane has been named interim director of the UNH Honors Program. MacFarlane has served as director of the American Studies program and as provost and vice president for academic affairs and was director of the Honors Program previously, from 2004-2008. Senior vice provost for engagement and faculty development julie williams passed away Sept. 25. In her nearly two decades at UNH, she led the development of a number of faculty success programs, including The Writing Academy, Pathway to Professorship, new faculty orientation, the Research and Engagement Academy and the Postdoctoral Innovation Diversity Scholars Program. ² Fall 2019

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honoring service, philanthropy and excellence

A lifelong advocate for individuals living with disabilities and a couple committed to university athletics recently received UNH's most prestigious awards for their history of support and service to the university and the state. Jere Lundholm ’53 and Harriet Forkey ’54, ’67G were presented with the Hubbard Family Award for Service to Philanthropy. The award recognizes individuals whose philanthropic leadership and gifts have strengthened UNH and/or who have promoted philanthropy throughout the state. Lundholm and Forkey were founding members and co-chairs of the UNH sports gallery project, a photographic display located in the Field House that represents men and women’s sports teams from 1894 to the president. Donald Shumway, former president and CEO of the Crotched Mountain Foundation, was awarded the Charles Holmes Pettee Medal, given to honor the kind of devotion to service shown by the medal's namesake, the late Dean Charles Pettee, who, beginning in 1876, served the college for 62 years. In addition, Jean Mitchell, a 42-year employee of the university, received the profile of service award and Staff Sgt. Ryan Pitts ’13, recipient of the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest and most prestigious military decoration, received the outstanding recent graduate award. All four awards were presented at the university’s annual “Evening of Distinction,” held in the MUB Granite State Room on Oct. 3.

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JEREMY GASOWSKI / UNH

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Bookshelf

SHARENTHOOD Leah Plunkett, MIT Press, September 2019

The wry Facebook post about your daughter’s suspension for a school prank gone wrong. The celebratory Instagram photo of your nephew leaving the facility where he successfully completed drug treatment. In the digital age, many of us don’t just parent, we also sharent: distribute images, stories and other private information about minors in our care via digital channels — and we fail to grasp the implications of doing so. Written by the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law’s associate dean for administration and director of academic success, “Sharenthood” examines how parents, teachers and other adult caregivers in the United States make decisions to disclose digital data about children that invade traditional zones of privacy and threaten kids’ and teens’ current and future opportunities — as well as their ability to develop their sense of self. In prose that is clear and accessible, Plunkett offers a legal analysis of the sharenting problem, both identifying the ways our laws enable it and offering some ideas on how to fix it.

The Adventures of Eva and Buckskin Charlie Book 1 Eva’s Secret Name Book 2 Eva’s New Older Brother John Norton ’68g, Best Publishing Company, February and August 2019

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The Insider’s Guide to Working with Universities James W. Dean Jr. and Deborah Y. Clarke, UNC Press, September 2019

H

ow do universities differ from businesses? What makes them tick? Billed as a practical guide for board members, businesspeople, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, alumni, parents and administrators who want to invest in and enhance higher education, this new book by UNH’s ultimate insider — its 20th president — is a first-of-its-kind effort to answer those questions and more. Dean and his coauthor Clarke shed light on a range of issues that separate institutions of higher learning from other organizations. In so doing, they provide an invaluable resource for individuals and groups experiencing the reality of a university structure for the first time since their own student days.

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n 1870, 12-year-old Eva and her family leave their farm in Virginia to homestead in the Colorado Territory. Initially reluctant to leave behind the life she knows, Eva soon embraces the adventure of a new environment — and a new friend, 14-yearold Buckskin Charlie. Originally written for his then 8-year-old granddaughter, Norton’s stories about two families and two cultures learning to coexist in harmony and balance are the first in a six-book series.


THE MYSTICAL ADVENTURES OF STAVROS PAPADAKIS Michael Lacoy ’88, Monteverdi Press, June 2019

also of note

A heart attack, a coma, trips to heaven and hell. An eventful Christmas Day leads Stavros Papadakis to the realization that, while he may be one of Boston’s most successful lawyers, he’s been a terrible family man, and he vows to make amends. There are only two problems with his plan: his son and his ex-wife want nothing to do with him, and his business partner, the country’s most celebrated trial lawyer, wants him to keep his trip to the afterlife to himself, fearing it will be bad for business. But how can Stavros keep his mouth shut when dying has shown him all that he’s missed out on in his life?

Acacia Files: Book 3, Winter Science Katie Coppens ’01, ’02g, Tilbury House Publishing, November 2019

Consuming Government Steven Borne ’86, Peter E. Randall Publisher, June 2019

Dark Data: Control, Alt, Delete Douglas J. Wood ’76jd, Plumb Bay Publishing, August 2019

Finding Treasure: A Collection of Collections Michelle Schaub ’96g, Charlesbridge Publishing, September 2019

Dear Mary: Letters Home from the 10th Mountain Division Sydney Williams ’63, Bauhan Publishing, July 2019

Hidden History of the Mississippi Sound Josh Foreman ’17g and Ryan Starrett, The History Press, June 2019

Images of America: Moxie Dennis Sasseville ’71 and Merrill Lewis ’67, Arcadia Publishing, May 2019 Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear and Laughter in the U.S. Dannagal Goldthwaite Young ’98, Oxford University Press, December 2019

THE UNSTOPPABLE GARRETT MORGAN BIG LITTLE CITY

T H E AC T UA L WOR LD

Michael Bove ’00, Moon Pie Press, October 2018

Jason Tandon ’07g, Black Lawrence Press, August 2019

The titular “big little city” of this poetry collection is Portland, Maine — the hometown of Bove, who teaches English at Southern Maine Community College. But Bove’s poems are less about the city itself than about the life and emotions that take place within it: childhood, parenthood and memory, and the experiences attached to these that are at once personal and universal.

Rocks and tonics and bathroom tiles; frogspawn, eyelashes and pots of sage — the short lyric poems of Tandon’s fourth collection create a celebratory song of the everyday. In poem after poem, this collection illustrates just how mysteriously connected unlike things can become as they are transformed from the literal to the figurative.

Joan DiCicco ’83, Lee & Low Books, October 2019

W

ith simple illustrations and straightforward prose, DiCicco shares the true story of an African-American inventor who used his formidable intellect and determination to go around, over and through the obstacles that life and society threw his way. “The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan” traces Morgan’s path from Kentucky, where his parents were sharecroppers, to Ohio, where he ultimately developed a pair of safety inventions, the modern versions of which remain in use today.

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s ta r t spreading the news…

SECOND-LANGUAGE SKILLS

u n h i s o n t h e m a p in New York City! A trio of “waterfall” billboards in the city’s famous Times Square is currently highlighting UNH’s position among the country’s Carnegie Classification R1 research universities. Located at 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, the billboards are part of a larger effort by the university to attract prospective students outside of New England. The campaign, which launched in early October, will run through New Year’s Day.

Solimar Collado ’18G was 11 years old when she learned English. She’s self-taught. After graduating from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Collado gave ESL lessons to local adults. Now she’s doing the same for a group of UNH housekeepers. And she’s doing it for free. Collado came to UNH to get her master’s degree in English literature. In 2018, soon after reaching that goal, she took a job as hall director of Adams Tower West. There, she connected with Patty Rooney, HR representative for housing. Rooney knew that there were several Spanish-speaking UNH employees who were interested in bettering their English skills. When she found out Collado was fluent in both, she approached her with an idea. “As the HR partner for several diverse employment groups, providing resources for interested staff to learn conversational English has been a goal for some time,” Rooney says. “From the feedback we’ve received, enhancing [these employees’] English-speaking ability is seen as a way to improve communication with colleagues and confidently engage with students.” For Collado it is an

opportunity to do something she loves and test out a possible career. “When I was studying for my master’s, I was thinking that I wanted to be a teacher, and this gave me the chance to interact with students in a different way,” she says. The pilot program caps the number of students at seven, but there is already a waiting list for next semester that includes dining services employees. The group meets in the Babcock Hall lounge every Thursday at 2:30 p.m. — just after the housekeepers’ workday ends. Classes are free. “I’m trying to nail down verbs like ‘to be.’ It’s one of the hardest verbs to teach. If they don’t get that, they’ll have a hard time,” Collado says. “And then there’s structure, grammar, pronunciation; I use a little drawing that shows where their tongue is supposed to be so they can hear the different sounds. Basically your mouth is your instrument, and the way you move it can make any sound.” Because she was paying as she went, it took Collado five years to get her undergraduate degree, which is also in English literature. She took several linguistic courses, which she says help when it comes to teaching English. At the end of the semester, she wants to poll the group to see if her classes have been helpful. “The students are so willing to learn; it’s really fun,” Collado says. “But I want to make sure I’m doing all I can to help them.” ² — Jody Record ’95

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JODY RECORD ’95 / UNH

Hall director helps other UNHers improve their English


Get Puzzled ACROSS

1 Muslim pilgrimage 5 Absorb

40 Klutz

70 Meets

24 Patriots' grp.

41 "I Have a Dream" monogram

71 "Ice Age" squirrel

26 Led

72 Calls upon

28 Bug-eyed

42 UNH track coach Jim

10 Guitar god Hendrix

30 Subside

DOWN

46 Cheering loudly

1 Sidelines salute

31 August 1 baby, e.g.

2 "Easy ___!" ("No sweat")

32 End of UNH's URL

3 Column style

34 Mideast inits.

4 NYC airport

35 ___-American

5 Like tears

36 Med. care provider

20 ___-Wan Kenobi

56 NYC neurologist Teena who diagnosed Lenzi’s injury

6 Sign from above

37 Suffix with schnozz

21 Yogi's language

60 Sporty Camaros

7 Isn't finalized

38 Rus. neighbor

22 Actress Zellweger

61 "Here, piggies!"

8 Open, as a jacket

43 Kittens in some memes

23 Presidential nominee whose campaign 17-Across worked on

63 Revelation response

9 Letter after chi

44 Years in Havana

64 Grp. with a launch party?

10 1956 Literature Nobelist Juan Ramon ___

45 ___ de guerre

11 "No way, Jose"

47 Rd.

12 Tangle

50 Online newsgroup system

13 Slacker

51 Soft tennis returns

67 Jersey, e.g.

21 Sword handle

52 Tehran native

68 One on the payroll

22 Queen of Thorns portrayer in "Game of Thrones"

53 Put

14 "Time ___ the essence!" 15 Words of agreement

48 Avant-garde Yoko 49 Evict

16 Frigid 17 & 18 Subject of this puzzle 19 Fox Run, e.g.

25 17-Across's role, on a track 27 Tiny annoyance

51 17-Across's job title (among others)

65 Institution studying 17-Across and other China/ Cuba diplomats 66 17-Across's student mentee Niyomugabo

29 Grow old 30 President-___ 33 Chinese city where 17-Across was working

69 Whittemore Center surface

39 Sack

Professional puzzlemaker Brendan Emmett Quigley ’96 creates custom puzzles for UNH Magazine that include clues from one or more of the issue’s feature stories. You’ll find clues related to this issue’s story about Mark Lenzi ’97 on pages 40–47.

46 Pasty-faced

54 Savory jelly 55 "___ is human... "

58 Express gratitude to 59 Tugs abruptly 62 Top-drawer 66 Grp. involved in "the Troubles"

Don’t want to wait until winter for the fall puzzle solution? You’ll find it on p. 53!

57 Talk show host Smiley

65 Sounds of hesitation

Spring 2019 Get Puzzled Solution

M O H I I D I D R E C E A T A R L R N A I N G E P O U L M D I N O I M O A P R I D A W N E L A N M A Y S

K I D D O A I R

S T E M A H B I R O T L E I S N H

W A S N O G O

E N I C O L L A N D D I E O L D

Fall 2019

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O N P E T O R A W E Y O X M E G B U R N O O T C S T T E V A P L G E

T O Y S

E R M I N H E A N H S A L T O R U N E A R M

UNH MAGAZINE

R E A D O N

M O P E D S

A L A N

M E M E

T Y S E A N

â—†

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Life After Jimmy the world knows their son because of the way he died. but john and diane foley ’70 choose to focus on the way he lived.

by k ei t h t es ta

Photography by Jeremy Gasowski

AS DIANE AND JOHN FOLEY ’70

settle into the bright and airy living room of their Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, home on a breezy, blue-skied August morning — Diane seated on the end of a semicircular couch and John in a blue-and-white striped armchair opposite her — they are flanked by an array of framed family photos, more than a dozen in all. On a built-in bookshelf in the corner of the room. On the mantel over the fireplace. On the shelves of a hutch beside sliding glass doors that open to a sunlit deck. The images throughout are of their five children at various stages of their lives, including their eldest.

That’s Jimmy.

A meandering 40-minute drive away in Rochester is the office of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, where Diane Foley’s desk is cluttered with teetering stacks of paper beneath fluorescent lights and faded ceiling tiles stained brown by old leaks. On the walls and shelves surrounding her here are more images and artifacts related to her eldest. College degrees and academic accolades, professional commendations and photos of a young man — camera in hand, sunglasses on and protective vest strapped to his chest — working as a journalist in war-torn regions around the world.

That’s Jim.

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IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE JAMES FOLEY, 40, WAS MURDERED IN THE RAQQA REGION OF SYRIA AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS HELD CAPTIVE, BEHEADED BY ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS ON AUG. 19, 2014, IN A VIDEO THAT WAS SEEN AROUND THE WORLD. In many ways, Diane and John have learned alongside the rest of the world about the full impact Jim made, through the very public lens of his tragic death. “We’ve gotten to know Jim as an adult after his death, and that’s been a journey for us,” says John. “We didn’t know all the good he was doing as a human being.” Adds Diane: “Jim was busy doing his own thing — he was always very independent. We really had no idea how many lives he’d touched. It was only after his death that we really came to understand that.” And it was his death — and that now fully revealed selfless approach to life — that stirred Diane to similarly try to touch as many people as possible in Jim’s honor. Within weeks of his passing, the

Foley was working as a freelance journalist at the time of his capture. Diane and John had always known Jimmy, the affable, kind, independent firstborn child who would habitually check in with weekly Sunday phone calls even as an adult and take his parents out for coffee whenever he returned home from his domestic and international work. But he rarely delved too deeply into the details of the work he was doing. Only over the course of the last five years have the Foleys come to fully realize a picture of Jim, the devoted, change-minded, uncompromising man who was compelled to repeatedly return to dangerous environments to tell the stories of those he felt otherwise didn’t have a voice.

D e a r F a m i l y a n d F r i e n d s ,* I remember going to the mall with Dad, a very long bike ride with Mom. I remember so ma ny g reat fa m i ly ti mes that ta ke me away from th is prison. Drea ms of fa m i ly a nd friends ta ke me away a nd happi ness f i l ls my hea r t. ¶ I know you are thinking of me and pray ing for me. And I am so thankful. I feel

[

*Jim’s final letter to his family was dictated to and memorized by a fellow prisoner in Syria, who shared it with his family upon his release.

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]


Letters. Photographs. Artwork. Donations. Within weeks of Jim’s death, Diane and John Foley began receiving tributes to their late son from around the world. Hundreds of letters came to their home and by way of their church. Much of the artwork today graces the walls of the Foley Foundation office in Rochester, New Hampshire.

family had formed the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which has since significantly influenced the way hostage rescue operations are handled by the U.S. government and seeks to advance how journalists are educated and trained to enter war zones and other dangerous situations. “We’re representing Jim’s legacy in many ways, so it’s important for us to be able to represent the things he believed in,” says Amy Coyne, director of corporate and community relations at the Foley Foundation. “We never really realized how much people thought of Jim until after he died, and for all those people, he touched their lives so dramatically just by being present in it. So it’s important for us to represent him, his family and the organization the way that he would want.” Even beyond the inescapable sorrow following Jim’s death, helping the foundation blossom hasn’t been easy for the Foleys. It’s been trying for Diane’s husband and children to operate without her for extended stretches at times as she pours herself fully into the foundation’s work — she’s jetted back and forth to Washington, D.C., seemingly countless times for meetings

and events, and has made numerous international trips, as well. “I would say in some ways I got to know my mother after Jim’s death, too. With her persistence, her vision, her leadership — when even people in the family were saying, ‘mom, just stop; just be a mom,’” says John Jr., Jim’s younger brother and the only Foley child on the foundation board. “But through her persistence and her intestinal fortitude and the necessity to value journalism and bring Americans home, the foundation was born, literally, on her back.” Diane understands the challenges her family has faced as the foundation has flourished, but she knew immediately that helping others in similar situations was the only outlet that would truly allow her to cope. “It’s been hard on my family, but I think they have come to understand more and more why this has been my path to healing — that I couldn’t really find healing by hiding,” Diane says. “I had to channel my outrage and grief into something positive for somebody else. Jim has challenged me to find some good to come out of this.”

y o u a l l e s p e c i a l l y w h e n I p r a y. I p r a y f o r y o u t o s t a y s t r o n g a n d t o b e l i e v e . I r e a l l y f e e l I c a n t o u c h y o u e v e n i n t h i s d a r k n e s s w h e n I p r a y. ¶ E i g h t e e n o f u s h av e b e e n h e ld t o ge t h e r i n on e c e l l , wh i c h h a s h e lp e d m e. We h av e h a d e a c h Fall 2019

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o t h e r t o h av e e n d l e s s l o n g c o nv e r s a t i o n s a b o u t m o v i e s , t r i v i a , s p o r t s . We h av e played ga mes made up of scraps fou nd i n ou r cel l . . . we have fou nd ways to play checkers, chess, a nd Risk . . . a nd have had tou rna ments of competition, spend i n g some d a y s pr epa r i n g st rat eg ies for t he nex t d a y’s ga me or lect u r e. The ga mes a nd teach i ng each other have helped the ti me pass. They have been

Getting to Know Jim To hear Jim Foley tell it, at least to his parents, he was a disaster as a teacher and mentor. Foley spent his childhood in Wolfeboro and graduated from Kingswood High School before attending Wisconsin’s Marquette University as an undergrad, majoring in history and minoring in Spanish. Upon graduation he applied to both the Peace Corps and Teach for America, choosing a position with the latter as it put him in innercity Phoenix, where his Spanish language skills would be put to use, rather than Africa, where the Peace Corps intended to send him. Jim worked with a population of largely Hispanic and Native American students in a challenging environment where graduating from eighth grade was a significant achievement. And from the reports Diane and John received, it … did not go well. “All we would hear was on Sunday when he’d call us and tell us what a lousy teacher he was,” Diane says. “He said they had a ‘We hate Mr. Foley’ fan club, that they’d throw their textbooks in the trash. He would tell us all about the antics the students would do.” What he didn’t tell them, they would come to learn, was that he was actually connecting with his students in a lasting and meaningful way; a way that many had not yet experienced with an adult. He got to know them as individuals. He coached basketball.

It didn’t take long after his death Years later, after his death, one for his impact to become apparent. of his former students — without Within weeks of the news, money knowing the Foley family — started began “pouring in from all over the Foley Foundation of Phoenix, the world,” John says. One letter since renamed the Phoenix Foley arrived from England mere days Alliance to avoid confusion with after news of Jim’s passing became the family’s foundation, to provide public. The family had three huge scholarships for students in innerbuckets set up at the house to colcity Phoenix. lect all the mail and donations. And Diane and Jim’s sister, Katie, this, indirectly, helped lead to the visited the area not long after the start of the foundation. Alliance was created. “We got mail and donations “We were blown away,” says from all over the world, so it was Diane. “Oh, the stories. Jim was almost like that propelled us to do there for three years, and after he something with it, do something to left he still mentored those kids remember Jim that would make a from wherever he was in the world, difference for others going through until he died.” what we went through,” Diane says. This quickly became a pattern Spurred in part by the spontafor the Foleys — discovering that neous donations from strangers the truth about Jim’s professional around the globe, the foundation adventures hardly matched the was formed within three weeks of humble history he had provided. Jim’s death, no small miracle given They were excited for him to the legal red tape necessary to move to Chicago to pursue a masmake an entity of that type official. ter’s degree from Northwestern But, truth be told, the idea was conUniversity’s prestigious Medill ceived much faster than that. School of Journalism; they didn’t “Within a half hour of Jimmy’s know he was teaching writing to death, once we first stopped crying, young felons in the Cook County Diane said, ‘He’s not going to die in Sheriff’s Boot Camp program for nearly four years while he was there. vain,’” John recalls. They certainly knew he was embedThe outpouring of support and ded as a freelance journalist in Syria determination to create something several years later; they didn’t know positive out of a devastating situahe was also working to raise money tion weren’t the only factors fueling for an ambulance for the Syrian vilthe Foleys to push for change, lage he was in at the same time. though. They were also reacting “We didn’t know most of what he to the overwhelming frustration was working on, or we’d just hear they’d encountered throughout the snippets,” Diane says. “When he process of trying to bring Jim home was home, he was just my beloved — and were determined not to let Jimmy.” other families experience the same exasperation.

At home in Wolfboro, John and Diane hold the last photo taken of Jim before he departed for the trip to Syria that led to his kidnapping and murder.

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a hu ge h e lp. We r e p e a t s t or i e s a n d l a u g h t o br e a k t h e t e n s i on . ¶ I h av e h a d w e a k a n d s t r on g d a y s . We a r e s o g r a t e f u l wh e n a ny on e i s f r e e d ; b u t of c o u r s e , y e a r n f o r o u r o w n f r e e d o m . We t r y t o e n c o u r a g e e a c h o t h e r a n d s h a r e s t r e n g t h . We a r e b e i n g f e d b e t t e r n o w a n d d a i l y. We h a v e t e a , o c c a s i o n a l c o f f e e . I h a v e r e g a i n e d m o s t o f m y w e i g h t l o s t l a s t y e a r. ¶ I t h i n k a l o t a b o u t m y b r o t h e r s

Frustration and Loss Thanksgiving Day 2012 is when everything changed. Diane and John didn’t hear from Jim — who was working as a freelance journalist in Syria at the time — that day, which Diane found “ominous” given the consistency with which he checked in on holidays, regardless of where he was in the world. The next morning the family received a call from one of Jim’s colleagues, who told them that Jim had been kidnapped a few miles from the Turkish border. The FBI reached out and encouraged the Foleys to remain quiet. They obliged. Christmas passed. So did the New Year. As the weeks mounted, the lack of communication and shared information eventually became too much.

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“There’s always that big tension between going public and not going public, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but finally the silence was so deafening we couldn’t stay quiet anymore,” John says. Diane soon quit her job as a nurse and began making monthly trips to Washington, D.C., searching for information, but there wasn’t a designated person or even department assigned to handle Jim’s case that she could lean on. Remarkably, Jim had been held captive once before: in March 2011 he and several colleagues were kidnapped in Libya by Colonel Muammar Gadaffi’s regime, in an incident that resulted in the killing of photojournalist Anton Hammerl. But that kidnapping — which would end with Jim’s release 44 days later — was witnessed by New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers, so there was knowledge regarding the prisoners’ whereabouts. There were no such witnesses in Syria.


“No one observed the kidnapping, and no one knew who the kidnappers were,” Diane says. “He just vanished.” If the FBI had more information than that, it didn’t make its way to the Foleys. Even when leads mercifully emerged, help was hard to come by and progress was slow. Nearly 11 months into Jim’s captivity, in October 2013, Diane discovered a missed Skype call from a man in Belgium claiming his

son had seen Jim. The government left it to Diane to respond, so she reached out and learned that the man’s son had been in jail with Jim and fed him and his fellow captives. Jim befriended him — “because Jim could make friends with a doorknob,” John quips — and the man promised his family would reach out to Jim’s when he got home. It was the first signal that Jim was potentially alive, though it ultimately didn’t lead to any progress in freeing him. The next critical lead came — chillingly — directly from the captors, who sent an email to Jim’s brother Michael that November. The message demanded 100 million euros — $132 million — or the release of all Muslim prisoners. The captors offered proof of life, so Michael quickly came up with three questions that only Jim could have answered, and all three came back “right on,” Diane says. Finally, the Foleys had tangible proof that Jim was alive. The FBI encouraged the Foleys to be honest about the fact that they couldn’t pay the ransom, but when that message was shared after about a month of intermittent contact, the captors cut off communication completely. What’s more, Diane and John say they were told “directly and indirectly” by the U.S. government that if they negotiated with the captors or tried to raise the ransom, they would be prosecuted, an approach Diane says she found “appalling.” Meanwhile, hostages from other nations began to be released. While the Foleys were on a family trip to Disney at the end of February 2014, several Spanish hostages were granted their freedom. French prisoners eventually followed. Then, in June 2014, one of the last remaining non-American prisoners to be set free was Daniel Rye Ottosen, a young Danish man who

a n d s i s t e r. I r e m e m b e r p l a y i n g “ w e r e w o l f ” i n t h e d a r k w i t h M i c h a e l a n d s o many other adventures. I think of chasing Mattie and T around the kitchen c o u n t e r. I t m a k e s m e h a p p y t o t h i n k o f t h e m . I f t h e r e i s a n y m o n e y l e f t i n Fall 2019

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m y b a n k a c c o u n t , I w a n t i t t o g o t o M i c h a e l a n d M a t t h e w. I a m s o p r o u d o f you, Michael, and thankful to you for happy childhood memories and to you a nd K r istie for happy adu lt ones. ¶ A nd bi g Joh n, how I enjoyed v isiti n g you a n d C r e s s i n G e r m a n y. T h a n k y o u f o r w e l c o m i n g m e . I t h i n k a l o t a b o u t R o R o a nd t r y t o i m a g i ne wh at Ja ck i s l i ke. I hope he h a s R oR o’s per son a l it y! ¶ A nd

reached out to the Foleys within 24 hours of his release because he had something to share: a letter he’d memorized after Jim had asked him to deliver it to his family. The message begins with recollections of times Jim had with his parents, contains personal messages to each of his siblings and details the ways in which Jim and 17 other prisoners had bonded in a single cell, over “endless long conversations about movies, trivia, sports” and makeshift games of checkers, chess and Risk. “I know you are thinking of me and praying for me. And I am so thankful. I feel you all especially when I pray. I pray for you to stay strong and to believe. I really feel I can touch you even in this darkness when I pray,” the letter says. “We knew it was right from Jim’s heart, because it was just ‘him,’” Diane says. That emotional lift was ultimately short-lived, however. Later that month, the Foleys received the first message from Jim’s captors in nearly a year, this time threatening to kill Jim if the U.S. government didn’t stop bombing parts of Syria. The Foleys had started trying to raise the ransom demanded by the captors early in 2014 and were near the $1 million mark when communication was cut off once again. Then, on the morning of Aug. 19, 2014, FBI agents appeared at the Foleys’ door unannounced and swabbed their mouths for DNA samples. Later that morning, Diane and her sister were in the kitchen when Diane received a phone call from a sobbing AP reporter, asking if she had been on Twitter.

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Diane went online and discovered an image of her son immediately after he’d been killed. She’s never seen the video. In search of answers, the Foleys called the FBI, but didn’t receive a response (they believe Jim had already been killed when the FBI visited them in the morning, but that suspicion has never been confirmed). It wasn’t until President Obama went on television that night and announced to the world that Jim had been murdered that the Foleys received official confirmation. Despite trying to navigate the overwhelming grief that followed, the foundation was active less than a month later and the Foleys were soon working to ensure that no other family had to endure what they did. “We were shocked and appalled at how our situation had been treated by our government that we had trusted. I felt as Americans we had to do better,” Diane says. “Jim was always a very optimistic young man — he was always looking for the silver lining, always looking to help others — and so I just felt a huge challenge to right this horrible wrong we had experienced.”

Foundation for Change Righting that wrong would require influencing a fundamental change in the way hostage negotiations were handled by the U.S. government, no small task for a fledgling organization operating out of a tiny office hundreds of miles from Washington. But that’s precisely what unfolded. In the wake of several other American captives being killed within a year of Jim, the


Foleys, through the foundation, became vocal participants in a growing chorus that ultimately prompted the National Counterterrorism Center to do an independent evaluation of how the country handled hostage negotiations. The result, through an Obama administration executive order in June 2015, was the creation of the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, an inter-agency operation housed at the FBI responsible for full-time work on hostage cases. Just as important to the Foleys, established as part of the process was a family engagement team charged with providing focused support to affected families. A special State Department envoy was also created to assist in diplomatic negotiations. Since 2014, at least 20 hostages detained around the world have been safely released. Fueled in part by that success, the foundation has continued to experience consistent growth in its first five years — in terms of impact, at least. The staff remains remarkably small, with

only Diane and Amy Coyne working full-time in New Hampshire. Margaux Ewen joined the team as executive director in March, based in Washington, D.C., where she can interact face-to-face with Congress and U.S. hostage families, as well as the White House. Ewen, an attorney, came to the foundation from Reporters without Borders because the mission aligned closely with her outlook. “I always wanted to help people. I wanted to know that what I was doing had moral clarity and we were doing good, and I 100 percent feel that is what we’re doing here,” she says. The foundation hosts two signature events each year — the James W. Foley Freedom Run (a 5K run/ walk in Rochester, New Hampshire, a 1.5 mile fun run in Washington, D.C., and a “virtual” run/walk featuring participants from all over the world) and the James W. Foley Freedom Awards dinner, held each spring in Washington, D.C., to honor individuals whose work reflects the foundation’s values and mission.

Those values and that mission are reflected in partner groups the foundation has played a critical part in conceiving and nurturing, too. In early 2015, the foundation played a key role in the formation of Hostage US (partnering with the Ford Foundation to help fund the start of the organization), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that provides individual support and guidance for U.S. hostages families and returning hostages. It also was influential in the creation of the ACOS Alliance (A Culture of Safety Alliance), a group uniting various news and freelance journalist organizations to “champion safe and responsible

M a rk . . . s o p r o u d o f y o u t o o, b r o. I t h i n k o f y o u o n t h e We s t C o a s t a n d h o p e y o u are doing some snowboarding and camping, I especially remember us going to t h e C o m e d y C l u b i n B o s t o n t o g e t h e r a n d o u r b i g h u g a f t e r. T h e s p e c i a l m o m e n t s Fall 2019

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k e e p m e h o p e f u l . ¶ K a t i e , s o v e r y p r o u d o f y o u . Yo u a r e t h e s t r o n g e s t a n d b e s t o f u s a l l !! I t h i n k o f y o u w o r k i n g s o h a r d , h e l p i n g p e o p l e a s a n u r s e . I a m s o glad we texted just before I was captured. I pray I can come to your wedding . . . . n o w I a m s o u n d i n g l i k e G r a m m y !! ¶ G r a m m y, p l e a s e t a k e y o u r m e d i c i n e , t a k e w a l k s a n d k e e p d a n c i n g . I p l a n t o t a k e y o u o u t t o M a r g a r i t a’s w h e n I g e t

Below: In Chicago, where Jim earned his master’s in journalism from Northwestern University, a mural stands as a lasting memorial. Above: Runners in Rochester line up for the fifth annual Foley Freedom Run, a 5K road race to support the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation.

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education program director and a friend of Jim’s since their freshman year at Marquette. “Journalism is changing. Young journalists can be targets, and students and instructors really need to see that their safety has to be almost a required component of early journalism education,” Durkin says. “Jim was an amazing guy, and he did great work. I feel like a lot of young people are like Jim — I see future Jims walking around Marquette. I talk to the students here, and they want something positive to come out of something that was horrible. If his name and his legacy can help provide some safety for the next generation of journalists, I’m proud of that.” Through it all, the foundation continues to look forward and seek tangible ways to measure progress. It recently undertook a qualitative

analysis of the state of hostage negotiations from the perspective of affected families, publishing an 80-plus page report — no easy quest given the size of the foundation staff — that revealed substantial improvement in interactions with the government while noting a desire for additional transparent communication moving forward. That not-there-yet mindset remains prevalent within the foundation office, as well. There’s a tangible relief each time a hostage returns home safely, but the celebration is short-lived and the focus quickly shifts back to the countless others that still remain captive. “This is just the beginning,” Diane says. “It’s important that America sends these people out into the world — we need educators and peacemakers; we need journalists who dare to go into conflict zones. And they need to feel strongly that our government has their back.”

Reminders Everywhere Five years have passed since Jim’s death, and even beyond the family photos that decorate their living space and the mementos displayed throughout Diane’s office, reminders of him remain everywhere for the Foleys. Sometimes, those can stir conflicting emotions. One of Jim’s childhood friends, Brian Oakes, directed a documentary, “Jim: The James Foley Story,” that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016 and won the festival’s Audience Award for U.S. Documentary, as well as the Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.

CAROLINA SANCHEZ / THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE

journalistic practices” for freelancers and other journalists. The ACOS Alliance helps facilitate things like insurance and critical safety training for freelancers who might otherwise not have access to such support. That focus on journalist safety has become an important pillar of the foundation over the years. It has partnered with the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern — where Jim earned his graduate degree — to develop a graduate curriculum on the subject, and in partnership with Marquette this fall is rolling out the pilot of a module-based curriculum for undergraduates, which outlines ways for journalism professors to incorporate information about journalism safety and preparation into existing lesson plans. The program is being overseen by Tom Durkin, the foundation’s


MAT T TROISI ’22 / UNH

The film, which features interviews with colleagues and fellow hostages held in captivity with Jim, along with friends and family, wasn’t greeted with initial enthusiasm from Diane and John. Still shocked by his death, the Foleys were worried the film might “reclaim the horror of the image ISIS left” of their son. But Oakes instead focused on who Jim was as a person and the positive impact he had on people, even through horrific circumstances, and the Foleys have come to see the documentary as a “gift.” There is also internal conflict as the Foleys recall Jim’s decision to return to Syria in 2012 after having been kidnapped previously. They had watched their son search in vain for a career he could fully throw his considerable passion into, and they knew he’d finally found it as a journalist. And yet they couldn’t turn off their protective parental instincts. Diane admitted that Jim seemed “sobered” when returning home from Syria for his birthday in October 2012, but he was steadfast in his commitment to return.

“I think he felt if he didn’t go back, he would be letting the Syrian people down,” John says. But the Foleys admit they occasionally wish they had done more to encourage Jim to reconsider. “I told him, ‘Jim, you have two master’s degrees, you’re a talented teacher and writer, you can do anything, you don’t have to go back to Syria.’ But he said, ‘Mom, I found my vocation. I found my thing,’” Diane says. “As a parent, what do you do when your kid has been struggling to find his thing? Jim was a very passionate young man, and he so wanted something he could really put his whole heart and soul into and feel like maybe he could really make a difference, and he’d found it.” The Foleys remain fully committed to making sure he continues to make a difference. Beyond the day-to-day foundation work, Diane makes frequent appearances on television and consistently grants requests for media interviews, using Jim’s story to keep moving the needle on issues of hostage and journalist safety.

“Diane keeps Jim’s memory alive, not just with the organization but with all the interviews she does and all the advocating,” Coyne says. “It’s to make sure that nobody forgets.” John admits there are plenty of times he’s not sure how his wife summons the strength — physically and emotionally — to continuously travel around the world and share the family’s difficult story. But it’s never been a consideration for Diane. Though it would be impossible to ever feel completely whole again after such a shocking personal tragedy, she knows this is the only way to reclaim as much of herself as possible. And when she does feel worn down or low on energy, she knows precisely what to lean on. Jimmy. Jim. James. The preferred moniker doesn’t much matter at this point; it’s the power of his energy — along with “a deep faith in a loving and merciful God” — that continues to drive her. “It was like his spirit had a life of its own,” Diane says. “It’s his spirit that has propelled everything.” ²

home. Stay strong because I a m going to need your help to recla im my life. Jim Fall 2019

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THE s i ⅴ D

INFORMATION AGE By Barbara Walsh ’81 Newspapers are failing. Public confidence is faltering. What keeps UNH journalism alums coming back for more?

DAVE GRANLUND / CAGLE CARTOONS

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he pipe bomb arrived at CNN’s New York City office on an October morning in 2018. The improvised device, delivered by courier, was one of 13 sent to targets across the country — all Democratic politicians, high-end donors and outspoken critics of President Trump. Michael D’Antonio ’77 wasn’t in the building when the package was discovered, but the CNN contributor and writer, who provides regular critical analysis of the president and his policies, was likely among those the bomber hoped to reach. And while none of the bombs, including the one sent to CNN, were detonated, it wouldn’t be the last time D’Antonio would face threats for his political commentary. In the past few years, D’Antonio, author of “Never Enough,” a 2015 biography on Trump, has received several menacing phone calls and emails. He’s also been the subject of the president’s tweets. “It’s a very strange thing to get emails that say, ‘I’m going to come rip off your skin and dismember you, and your family isn’t safe either,’ ” says D’Antonio.

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ZITS © 2007 ZITS PARTNERSHIP, DIST. BY KING FEATURES, INC.

A journalist for 40 years, D’Antonio is accus- and editors admit competing against free internet news and social media is daunting. tomed to criticism and name-calling, but But as digital news sites grow more popular, so, too, do opportunities, never before has he witnessed such vitriol. says UNH Journalism Program Director Tom Haines. “It’s upsetting to have people express such “This generation is creating a new kind of journalism,” says Haines, who hatred and creative violent imagery about began teaching at UNH in 2011 after working in newsrooms for 16 years. you,” says D’Anotonio. “They may not be headed to a brick-and-mortar style newsroom, but they With the president’s near-daily tweets are incredibly optimistic about creating journalism out of the technology about fake news and referring to the media as that is available.” the “enemy of the people,” public confidence And regardless of whether they are working at a newspaper or an online in journalists has eroded to record lows. Amid start-up, veteran and novice journalists alike believe their role in informing the media mistrust, the Columbia Journalism the public has never been more crucial. Review reports that the news business faced its worst job losses in a decade, with more than 3,000 people laid off or offered buyouts in the first five months of 2019. Newspapers, A New Urgency according to 24/7 Wall St., have been the Kevin Sullivan ’81, a Pulitzer Prize-winning senior correspondent who hardest hit, with more than 2,000 closing covers national and international news for the Washington Post, says the since 2004. current presidential administration has created an urgency about the news. “Carving out a life in journalism is more diffi“People are involved in public life in a way they never have been before, cult than it ever has been in my lifetime,” says motivated by their love or hate of [the president],” Sullivan says. “The D’Antonio. media has been caught in the middle of it, and it’s kind of fascinating. What With shrinking newsrooms, uncertain we do has never felt more important or urgent.” futures and a profession under siege by the With a relentless stream of national news — including historic coverage president and his supporters, what motivates of impeachment inquiries — large papers like the Post, New York Times journalists to continue working in the field? and Wall Street Journal are flourishing, with increased subscriptions and How do they navigate the ever-changing healthy newsroom staffs. Yet smaller local papers continue to struggle, media landscape in an era of fake news and losing circulation, ad revenue and reporters. fewer opportunities? According to the Pew Research Center, the number of newspaper The answers are as varied as the jobs that employees dropped by 47 percent between 2008 and 2018, from about scores of UNH journalism graduates hold 71,000 workers to 38,000. across the country. From CNN to online start“The true crisis is at the local level, with papers shutting down,” says Nick ups and newspapers big and small, reporters Stoico ’15, who began working at New Hampshire’s Concord Monitor soon after he graduated. “Without newspapers, there’s a lack of accountability, and we need to find a way to continue to tell the local stories about the planning board and town council. It’s an important part of civic life.” During his four years at the Monitor, Stoico saw the newsroom staff dwindle. Though he improved his reporting, writing and editing skills at the PulitzerPrize winning newspaper, Stoico had concerns about his future. This summer, he left the Monitor to pursue a master’s in journalism at Northeastern University to learn more about new media and digital reporting. “I felt like I needed to add a little more to my toolbox,” says Stoico. “I plan to have my full career in this business, and to make that happen I need to know more than just reporting and writing at a small newspaper.” Like Stoico, Breanna Edelstein ’14 considers herself fortunate to


GATIS SLUKA / CARTOON MOVEMENT

have landed a job at a medium-sized daily newspaper not long after graduating. Edelstein was hired at The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Massachusetts, where she has worked for the past 4½ years. During that time, there have been no layoffs in the Pulitzer-Prize winning paper’s editorial department. The Eagle-Tribune, Edelstein says, also encourages its reporters to pursue investigative stories and gives them the time and resources to report on the longer narratives. This spring, Edelstein broke a story about a North Andover High School policy that required a sexual assault victim to sign a contract limiting her movement in the same building as the classmate who had been arrested and placed on probation for attacking her. Edelstein also learned the girl was not alone. Three other victims said they were assaulted by the same student. And it was discovered that more cases of sexual assault were handled with contracts. Due to Edelstein’s reporting, the school changed its policy, which had threatened to discipline sexual assault victims if they did not avoid contact with their assailants. “It felt great to make a difference, to change this school’s policy, to know these contracts aren’t used anymore,” Edelstein says. “It may sound cliché, but that’s why we do this job.” Despite the foreboding forecasts about daily newspapers, Edelstein hopes to continue telling stories that matter. “I’m a print girl and I’d love to stay right here in this field,” she says. “The internet is so big; stories can get lost there. I think there is still value in the front page of a newspaper.” Still, Edelstein knows several friends who have left print journalism for more lucrative and stable careers. One colleague recently sent her a story that indicated that for every journalist who stays in the business, there are

six who shift gears and head for careers in public relations. “I’ve been tempted to go into P.R., but I decided I just couldn’t do it,” she says.

Culture Shift A journalist for nearly 50 years, John Christie ’70 has witnessed everything from the 1980s newspaper boom to the industry’s downward spiral following the creation of the internet and the rise of social media. “I was grateful to work in this business during its heyday when newspapers were financially successful, and for the most part, people believed what we wrote,” he says. Christie, who began his career as a reporter for The Beverly Times in Beverly, Massachusetts, has worked for newspapers in Florida and Maine, where he has held multiple editing jobs and also served as publisher. “I feel bad for reporters today because there isn’t much they can do in newspapers to advance their careers,” he says. “There are very few layers of editors left, so there aren’t a lot of ways to move up and earn decent money.”

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Chad Graff ’12. Graff began working at the company in January 2018, covering the Minnesota Vikings. “They’ve been very competitive with salaries and very aggressive in hiring people,” Graff says. “It’s been a culture shift working for a company that is constantly welcoming people every single month.” Graff’s outlook on sports journalism wasn’t always so optimistic. In high school and while he studied journalism at UNH, Graff covered local sports at the Union Leader in Manchester, New Hampshire. “From 2008 to 2013, I saw the unfortunate reality of the business,” Graff recalls. “I saw the newsroom shrink. I saw wages cut. I saw furloughs.” The paper’s veteran reporters often asked Graff, “You sure this is what you want to do?” As Graff and a UNH classmate sought sportswriting internships, they grew accustomed to receiving rejection letters. “We sent out 30 applications,” Graff says. “And every time we’d get a no, we’d hang it on the wall of The New Hampshire newsroom, competing to see how many we each could get.” By the end of the competition, 50 rejection letters covered the wall. Luckily, Graff ended up with an internship at the Philadelphia Inquirer, which helped him get a job at the St. Paul Pioneer Press covering professional hockey. “It was a great job and they sent me all over the country, but over my five years there, I saw the same thing I’d seen at the Union Leader: downsizing, buyouts, budget constraints.” Created in 2016, The Athletic covers professional and college sports, offering longer, more in-depth stories “that go beyond the box scores.” The company now has 300 employees and more than a half-million subscribers. Yet, the viability of online subscription news sites remains uncertain. The Athletic, which has relied on private investments, has yet to make a profit. Still, Graff is hopeful that the company will continue to grow. “After so many years of seeing newspaper circulation down and hearing that no one will pay for stories online, it’s been rewarding to see our subscriptions grow and that more than 600,000 people will pay for quality content,” Graff says. “So, that leaves me encouraged.”

CARLOS DAVID FUENTES / CARTOON MOVEMENT

Frustrated with newsroom cuts and declining circulation, in 2009 Christie and journalist Naomi Schalit founded the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. The center’s nonprofit online news service, Pine Tree Watch, focuses on in-depth and investigative journalism. Like National Public Radio, it relies on donations and foundation money. “When newspapers cut staff, reporters who do long-term work are the first to go,” Christie says. “In-depth stories that take effort and time to research and write don’t get done. Democracy depends on those types of stories, and that’s why we founded Pine Tree Watch.” Now a consulting editor for Pine Tree Watch and a contributor to WBUR public radio, Christie isn’t optimistic about the future of newspapers. With Google and Facebook gobbling up 60 percent of U.S. online ads, there is little left for local papers trying to earn dollars digitally. In the next five to 10 years, Christie predicts hundreds more newspapers will go out of business. Some may become online-only outlets; others will die completely. Hoping to prolong their careers, several other UNH journalists have turned to nontraditional sites that publish solely online. At The Athletic, an ad-free, subscription-based sports news site, the culture is “drastically different from newspapers,” says


and who they’re buying it from. Everything I am writing about involves life or death.”

Blue Skies and Sunshine Ahead? Like other UNH alumni, the Washington Post’s Sullivan has weathered turbulent times. In the years leading up to and following the 2008 recession, the Post, one of the most respected news organizations in the country, was not immune to layoffs, buyouts and financial woes. When Sullivan returned from working in the Post’s London bureau in 2009, dismal morale and uncertainty plagued the storied paper, which had won scores of Pulitzer Prizes and had broken stories on the Watergate scandal and the Pentagon papers. “It was a tough time to be here,” recalls Sullivan, a 28-year veteran at the Post. “Every single day, we had these ‘cakings,’ ceremonies for someone else who was leaving. It was just the reality of the business, and it was getting worse and worse.” The Graham family, who had owned

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Marcus Weisgerber’s journalism career took a different trajectory when he left daily newspapers for a trade magazine called Inside the Air Force in 2006. Since then, Weisgerber ’04 has reported on military and national security issues. He’s currently the global business editor for Defense One, an online news site covering national security and defense. “They’ve done a masterful job of figuring out how to make money as a media company and not just on traditional advertising,” explains Weisgerber. “They also make a lot of money on editorial-driven events.” As part of his job, Weisgerber is responsible for inviting and interviewing high-level military and national security leaders to speak at public venues. He creates podcasts, provides radio and television commentary and revels in covering historic military milestones. “I always tell people I have a front seat at history being made,” says Weisgerber. “I’ve driven across Kabul with the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense and the Secretary of Defense. It’s a rush wearing body armor and being in an armed car racing through the streets in a motorcade.” Like many of his colleagues who rely on national government sources, Weisgerber’s job has gotten tougher during the Trump presidency. Military and Pentagon employees are reluctant to speak, fearing a reprisal from the White House. “Everyone is afraid to talk on the record right now,” Weisgerber says. In this turbulent climate, Weisgerber believes reporting on military and Pentagon funding has never been more vital. “I cover budget and acquisition issues and procurement of equipment,” he explains. “People’s lives are literally at stake, depending on where the Pentagon spends the money and the type of equipment they’re buying

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JOHN DARKOW / CAGLE CARTOONS

Washington’s leading newspaper for four generations, struggled to support the paper’s financial losses. In 2013, the family sold the Post to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos. “The Washington Post was in the Grahams’ blood and to arrange the sale with Bezos was

a selfless thing,” says Sullivan. “It was to give the paper a chance.” Since Bezos bought the paper, 250 people have been hired in the newsroom and circulation and online subscriptions “are through the roof,” Sullivan says. “It’s not all blue skies and sunshine, but it’s pretty close. Journalism has never been better here.” The Post, often a target of Trump’s tweets, has been frequently accused by the president of fabricating lies and printing fake news. During his

T R A I N I N G J O U R N A L I S T S F O R T H E D I G I TA L W O R L D There is an old adage in journalism: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” One of the basic elements of reporting is to verify facts, even if the news comes from a trusted source. And accuracy has never been more important in the era of “fake news” and public distrust of the media. But how do you verify information in the ever-expanding digital world of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube posts? “It’s all about sourcing,” says former UNH journalism

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program director Lisa Miller ’80. “I tell students to look carefully at the source of information they find online. If they can’t tell where it is coming from, that’s a red flag.” In the late 1970s and early 1980s — when UNH journalism students still relied on typewriters — classes focused on interviewing skills, investigating tips and authenticating paper documents. But since the creation of the internet and social media, courses have evolved to

include verifying or debunking phony online posts, photographs and videos. When they first begin taking journalism courses, students tend to rely on one source, often a social media post for stories, explains Tom Haines, director of UNH’s journalism program. “In general, it’s not part of our digital culture to look for the source of things,” says Haines. “These students have grown up for years with social media, and they are bombarded with information all the time. It’s hard to keep

up with it all and say, ‘Wait a minute, how do I know if this is true?’ ” The Verification Handbook is one of the popular texts used in classes. The book offers techniques and guidelines for how to assess and authenticate user-generated content. Haines and his students recently reviewed a case study involving a woman who ran in the 2013 Boston Marathon and crossed the finish line just moments after the second bomb detonated. “She recorded the joyous


PAUL ZANETTI / CAGLE CARTOONS

election campaign, the president revoked the paper’s press credentials at his rallies. But the president’s animosity toward the Post has done little to change the way its reporters and editors do their jobs, says Sullivan. “He said he wouldn’t talk to us because we were fake news,” says Sullivan, “but journalists are trained to overcome obstacles. In this business, not every interview is easy to get, but you just keep working at it until you get what you need.” Despite the denigration of the media, bleak headlines and predictions about the news industry, there is reason for optimism. UNH, like other colleges across the country, is seeing an increased enrollment in its journalism program. “Our numbers are up,” says Lisa Miller ’80, who directed UNH’s journalism program for 12 years. “These students realize that now more than ever there is a need for good journalists. And that is very heartening to me.” While the basics of good reporting — accuracy, fairness and finding reliable sources and data — are still taught at UNH, the journalism program has also adapted to the demands and tools needed in jobs that require audio, video and social media skills. “The definition of what a journalist is has broadened,” says Miller, who reported and edited at newspapers for nearly eight years before she began teaching journalism at UNH in 1989. “A lot of students coming through the journalism program want some kind of job that involves reporting and writing. They want to make a difference in the world, but they don’t necessarily want to sit in a newsroom to do it.” Uncertain about pursuing a career in the media, students at UNH and other colleges often ask the Post’s Sullivan, “Is this a good time for me to get into journalism?”

moment, 26 miles and then boom,” says Haines. “The video went viral and the organization Storyfold looked at how do we know this is legit?” A news agency headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Storyfold used several tools to verify the video, which was posted on YouTube with the username NekoAngel3Wolf. Storyfold searched Twitter and found a similar username, which provided other digital footprints on Pinterest and Facebook that led to the marathon runner’s daughter. “Basically, they did what

journalists have always done: get to the source and confirm the story,” Haines says. When students report on their own stories for class or The New Hampshire, they are taught to cite their sources and how they got their information. “It’s become more important than ever that our students go out and do journalism that people trust,” says Miller. Along with learning verification techniques and tools, there are still a few relevant tips taught decades ago in Journalism 101. Students are encouraged to use good-old

And he answers with an emphatic: “Yes. Jump in with both feet.” Despite the turmoil and uncertainty — perhaps because of it — Sullivan is among those who believe there has never been a more exciting time to start a career in the field. “It’s just taking different forms,” Sullivan says. “There may not be a local paper in 20 years, but I believe young people are going to find new ways to tell local and regional stories. I don’t know what it is going to look like, but I’m absolutely sure someone is going to figure it out.” ²

fashioned shoe leather: hit the streets and talk to sources. “This is a different culture,” Haines says. “These students are used to talking through texts, but if you’re going to understand the story, you have to talk to people on the phone or in person, and Facebook messages don’t count.” As visual storytelling and podcasts grow more popular, journalism will continue to evolve. In her classes, Miller has discussed virtual reality news with her students. Using techniques like Facebook live or virtual

reality googles, viewers can be placed on the scene of a story. With a generation that has grown up with smartphones and the ability to post photographs and video around the world within seconds, verifying online and social media news will become increasingly important. “The digital world for better or worse has become an extension of our world,” says Haines. “But what’s cool is that the journalist’s role is the same as it ever was: the authenticator, the verifier, making sense of this sea of information.” 

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HOME TO HEAL More than the pounding headaches and light sensitivity, the nausea and the trouble sleeping, it was the short-term memory loss that concerned Mark Lenzi ’97.

ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH ROSEN

LENZI’S grandfather had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at about 45 years old — an age that Lenzi was fast approaching. That, and the fact that he was struggling to come up with the names of tools he worked with on a daily basis — so noticeably that colleagues had mentioned his forgetfulness— scared him. But Lenzi’s wife, Kristina, was suffering from headaches and lightheadedness, too, and the couple reasoned it was because of the persistent smog in Guangzhou, China, where they were living with their two young children. It was late 2017 and the family had been in Guangzhou for a little over a year at the U.S. Consulate General, where Lenzi was working as a security engineering officer. As the calendar turned to 2018, however, the headaches intensified, and Lenzi found himself struggling to remember 5-digit number codes that were essential to his job. Even more ominous, a number of his co-workers and neighbors were reporting similar symptoms, and his children — ages 3 and 7 — were having frequent bloody noses at night. And then there were the bizarre noises seemingly on the ceiling of his apartment: something that sounded like ball bearings dropped on glass, then rolling into a funnel at an accelerating speed. As the evidence mounted and his closest American neighbor was

By Allen Lessels ’76 Photography by Bill Truslow

medically evacuated by the State Department, Lenzi came to a grim conclusion: he, his family and others working at the consulate were experiencing the effects of a standoff technical attack — damaging pulsed microwave radio frequency energy being used as a weapon by agents of a foreign government. In late May 2018, Lenzi experienced several episodes of headaches so severe he feared he might not survive them, and he and his wife both failed brain injury tests administered by State Department doctors. On June 6, he and his family were evacuated from Guangzhou, through Los Angeles International Airport and on to Philadelphia, where he was evaluated at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Brain Injury and Repair. What followed were weeks of neuropsychological testing, multiple MRIs — and, as Lenzi’s headaches continued, a consultation in New York City with Teena Shetty, M.D., one of the leading neurologists in the U.S. After hours of concussion testing, Shetty made a definitive diagnosis: despite the fact that he had never taken a blow to the head, Lenzi was suffering from the effects of a mild traumatic brain injury. In July, UPenn added him to a closely guarded study of more than 40 U.S. diplomats with “acquired brain injury.” Placed on medical leave by the State Department, Lenzi turned to home to heal. That meant Barrington, Fall 2019

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New Hampshire, where his family roots run deep. That also meant UNH. “Twice I thought I was going to die from these headaches,” he says. “Nothing focuses the mind like if you think you’re going to die, right? It was kind of going through the back of my mind, things that were familiar to me and things I needed to get back to. I needed to get back to Barrington and see my family. I needed to get back to UNH. Get back here on the track.” FACING THREATS On a Friday morning late in August, Lenzi sits in a quiet conference room in the Watkins Center for StudentAthlete Excellence at the UNH Field House and describes in a matter-of-fact manner the way a foreign government could execute an attack on his apartment and that of his closest American neighbor. He then shares an MRI imaging report that describes a precise match between his cognitive symptoms and the regions of his brain that showed damage, and that are responsible for those same cognitive functions. Tellingly, the symptoms he and others in Guangzhou experienced closely mirror those of some 25 U.S. Embassy staffers in Havana, Cuba, who sustained similar brain injuries in 2016 and 2017 under similar circumstances. Those diplomats, along with Lenzi and 14 of his colleagues from China, are part of the UPenn study, which will monitor them for long-term damage and outcomes for at least four more years. “It’s been said we’re the only known people in human history to receive a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury without a blow to the head,” he says. Although Shetty, the New York neurologist, quickly succeeded in getting his headaches under control, months after leaving China, Lenzi continued to experience significant cognitive and vestibular deficits. Specialists at UPenn and in New York determined that his recovery would require physical, speech, eye convergence and vestibular therapy. Following through on the thoughts of home he’d clung to at the end of his time in Guangzhou, he arranged to do the bulk of his cognitive rehabilitation at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, where he was born. To rebuild his strength and balance, he turned to UNH head track coach Jim Boulanger ’75 and the familiar lanes of the Field House’s Paul Sweet Oval. A standout sprinter at St. Mary’s Academy in Dover, Lenzi had enrolled at UNH intending to juggle Division 1 track with an engineering major, but soon realized he was having trouble managing both. Following a strong performance at a meet against Maine his freshman year, Lenzi decided he should drop engineering and focus on track. He turned to Boulanger to bless his 42

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decision — but the coach was having none of that. “My message was, this is what you have to do: You’ve got to step away,” Boulanger recalls. “The program has always been about academics first and then athletics. That’s the key. Get your degree.” Reluctantly, Lenzi left the team and went on to get his degree in civil engineering with minors in political science, hydrology and water resource management. He also climbed from struggling academically to earning a Fulbright scholarship. After UNH, he spent a couple of


 years in the Peace Corps as an environmental engineer in Poland, worked as a deputy spokesman on Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008, and then worked for the Republican National Committee as spokesman for the New Hampshire Republican Party. Since 2011, he has been with the U.S. Foreign Service as a security engineering officer for the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. Fluent in Polish, Russian and Ukrainian, he has been to more than 70 countries and worked in all 15 former Soviet Republics.

Lenzi at UNH’s Paul Sweet Oval with “Coaches B and C” — Tim Churchard ’67 (left) and Jim Boulanger ’75 (right).

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He worked on the ground for the International Republican Institute during two revolutions — in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and in Ukraine — that brought two pro-American leaders to power. Lenzi’s is a world most of us know only from television or the movies, one of combating espionage and terrorism in State Department facilities around the globe. The primary mission is technical counterintelligence — trying to prevent and neutralize electronic threats against America’s embassies and consulates abroad. The assignments and the locations can be dangerous. Lenzi believes that the attacks he and his colleagues in China and Cuba experienced were not the work of those governments but rather a diferent, hostile government with which he “has a long history” that wanted to foment discord in the United States’ relations with China and Cuba. In the case of China, Lenzi says that the medical evacuees included a disproportionate 44

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number of foreign commercial service officers, who speak Mandarin and whose role was to connect U.S. and Chinese businesses. The Chinese government values and appreciates these officers more than any other U.S. diplomats and would not want anything to happen to them, Lenzi says. A quarter of a century after going to see Boulanger about his collegiate sprinting career and hearing not what he wanted but words and wisdom that he ultimately came to appreciate, Lenzi again sought out his coach, this time looking for permission to use the indoor track — and perhaps a sympathetic ear. Boulanger’s late older brother, John, had been in charge of State Department security during his career and was assigned to some of the same danger-filled places Lenzi had been, and Lenzi figured Boulanger might be someone he could talk to about the things he’d experienced. Ironically, however, he found himself once again on the


receiving end of unwelcome advice from his coach. Doctors at UPenn had told Lenzi that many of the other diplomats in the Cuba/China cohort had success meeting with psychologists to talk about the attacks and how to deal emotionally with the vestibular, physical and cognitive therapies required for their recovery. Lenzi resisted the idea. He was working out. His cognitive therapy was working. He was getting better. Why start opening up about his feelings to a stranger now? He broached the subject with Boulanger, expecting and hoping his former coach would agree that their conversations would suffice. Instead, Boulanger suggested that if others were having success moving on from the attacks and their injuries in part by talking about their emotions, why should Lenzi not add that to his regimen, as well? He pointed Lenzi to Tim Churchard ’67, a sports performance coach just down the hall in the Field House and a two-sport athlete in football and hockey during his own student days. “I can’t tell you how much I did not want to be there the first time I met with him,” Lenzi says with a laugh. “Especially when I walked into his office and saw two guitars and some papers with handwritten poetry scattered on his desk. It looked like something straight out of ‘Good Will Hunting’.” What he soon discovered, however, was that Churchard was someone he could talk to who would understand his issues and not judge him. Churchard listened when Lenzi described unsavory assignments and counterterrorism tasks he had taken on. Churchard listened as Lenzi talked about using his sprinting ability in tight spots overseas, like the time he ran away from a South Ossetian border guard with a Kalishnikov who was trying to detain him not long before the RussianGeorgian war in 2008. Churchard listened when Lenzi said the toughest part for both him and his wife was

knowing what they had put their children through. “When I think about both of my kids having bloody noses a lot there at night, which ceased as soon as we evacuated our apartment, I still wrestle with the fact that I should have gotten us all out of that apartment earlier than I did,” Lenzi says. “That is still hard for me to deal with emotionally, especially when I speak with my affected colleagues from Cuba and China whose children also had frequent bloody noses that stopped when they were medevac’d.” Now Lenzi swears by his sessions with Churchard, who he regards as a mentor and says he would trust with his life. Just as he swears by Boulanger and UNH director of athletics Marty Scarano, who helped get him reconnected to the university in the first place and bolstered his spirits with sideline passes to UNH football games at Villanova and Colorado.

“It was kind of going through the back of my mind, things that were familiar to me and things I needed to get back to. I needed to get back to Barrington and see my family. I needed to get back to UNH. Get back here on the track.” Fall 2019

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Lenzi says his relationships with “Coaches B and C” are helpful for his kids to see and learn from as well. “They see and hear stories of me overseas ordering around U.S. Marine security guards and Navy Seabees, but back at UNH they see that I would walk over hot coals if either coach told me to do so, and they understand the utmost respect I have for both men,” Lenzi says. “I was listening to my 4-year-old son talk to himself playing Legos in another room recently and had to laugh when I heard a ‘Coach B’ curtly bossing me around at a fire station.” For his part, Churchard says he has gained as much from his relationship with Lenzi as he has given. “Mark has some real gifts in terms of connecting with people,” he says. “That’s something he’s really good at. His experiences are incredible, if you think about the things he’s accomplished.” A GREATER PURPOSE A year and a half after leaving Guangzhou, Lenzi continues with his vestibular, cognitive, eye convergence and physical therapies and works for the State Department out of the National Passport Center at Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth. In September, he regained his medical clearance to work abroad and began laying the groundwork for returning overseas to the security engineering work he loves, hopefully as soon as next summer. While those pieces fall into place, he continues to deepen and expand his connections at UNH. Much as he was steered to Churchard by Boulanger, Lenzi was steered to Ivan Niyomugabo ’19, a fifth-year senior on the UNH football team, by Churchard. Lenzi loves the leadership, athletic and academic qualities he sees in Niyomugabo, a native of Rwanda, and relishes the idea of helping the young athlete pursue a Fulbright scholarship — and perhaps a career in government or a service-related field — down the road. In that same vein, he is helping Jeanne Sokolowski, director of the UNH office of national fellowships, in interviewing applicants for Fulbright scholar positions. He’s also volunteering his time and his medical case to psychology professor Robert Ross, who runs UNH’s laboratory of brain science and cognition. He has designs on giving back in other lasting ways, as well. One of the many things Lenzi has come to appreciate from his relationship with Churchard is the value of a liberal arts education. When he was in school, he says, he was something of an engineering snob. He resented the fact that he had to leave the track team because of the demands of his major and that it took five years to complete his degree requirements. Churchard has helped broaden his thinking, he says. “Liberal arts majors have this worldliness and often this hunger to learn about a bunch of different things that I think a lot of times is lacking in engineering,” he says. “I see a lot of liberal arts majors who are a lot more 46

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well-rounded, let’s say, than engineering majors.” What he would like to do, with the assistance of his contacts in the political and governmental worlds, is develop a UNH scholarship for engineering students who pursue a dual degree with a liberal arts discipline such as political science or a language. “I think it would be great not only for UNH, but for national security structures and the U.S. government writ large to have these types of people,” Lenzi says. “In these Fulbright interviews I have seen the outstanding quality of UNH students and know that some would really benefit from a scholarship for dual majors. In turn, this could give tremendous benefit to the U.S. government should these students eventually go into government service.” For now, Lenzi works out on the track at UNH. He runs routes and catches passes from Niyomugabo on the


quote read, “A greater-than-self purpose not only makes the world a better place, it makes you a better you.” “That note sums up perfectly why I joined the John McCain campaign,” Lenzi says. “McCain always said to me and others that the best thing in life that you can do is serve a cause greater than yourself. That’s what I’ve tried to live my life by.” He’s proud of the ability and experience he brings to the work he does and the role he plays in keeping embassies and representatives of the U.S. government safe. That’s not to say there aren’t still moments he feels irritable or quick to anger in the wake of his injury and what he and his family have been through. “I understand that. I recognize that,” he says. “But I’m at a point where I find myself, not only through prayer, but just in general, being thankful for the people I have in my life. And thankful for UNH being in my life.” ²

football field while discussing Fulbright possibilities and the future that awaits the young quarterback. During the summer, he made long daily swims to an island with a huge split rock on Swain’s Lake in Barrington that has been in his family for generations, and he’ll skate and cross-country ski out there this winter. He looks forward to his workout sessions on the UNH track and his weekly get-togethers with Churchard. He’s excited about the chance to be involved with psychology professor Ross and with the Fulbright program. And as for those who might wonder why he’s eager to return to overseas counterintelligence work, a job that put both him and his family in such harm’s way not even two years ago, he points to a quote that’s posted on Boulanger’s door — one that convinced him he was right where he needed to be when he turned to his alma mater for help last summer. The closing words of the

Much as he was steered to Tim Churchard by Jim Boulanger, Lenzi was steered to Ivan Niyomugabo ’19, a fifth-year senior on the UNH football team, by Churchard. The pair meets regularly to talk football and Niyomugabo’s future.

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were conducted. Loud talking, laughter, smoking and carousing made sleeping and studying impossible. After two weeks of this, at one o’clock in the morning, I drove the card players out with threats of bodily harm. Now the dean wanted to see me. I thought I was in trouble. Dean Medsey caught me by surprise when he asked

1941 |

Bowl, 1940s. Gift to UNH Special Collections from Ed and Mary Scheier. This bowl is a classic example of the collaborative studio work of Ed and Mary Scheier, who taught at UNH from 1941–60.

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‘Are you the fella that broke up that card game in the Veteran’s Dormitory?’ When I told him [I was], he waved his hand to stop my explanation. ‘Mr. Kelly, you've accomplished a feat that no other person has been able to do. I wonder if you would consider taking a position as a proctor? Mrs. Hyde, the house mother at Fairchild

Nancy Bryant on behalf of Lonnie (Eleanor) Gould Bryant, 9 Rickey Drive, Maynard, MA 01754; bryantnab@yahoo.com; (978) 501-0334

I am sorry to report that Evelyn Handly Pozniak passed away on March 1 in Windsor, Vermont, just a couple months shy of her 100th birthday. Evelyn and the love of her life, Victor, were married for 51 years. They raised eight children, mostly in Saratoga Calif., and they had 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. For 10 years, Evelyn ran a Montessori-based daycare facility out of their home. Later, in their retirement, she and Victor fulfilled their dream of living in a log cabin in the woods of Vermont, where they spent 10 years before Victor passed away in 1991. While in her eighties, Evelyn acquired her first-ever passport and lived abroad in Singapore and Germany. She spent her final years with her family in Vermont. Evelyn’s obituary notes she was “one of the most maternal people you could ever meet”

Hall, needs help with some unruly students. If you could handle a group of World War II veterans as you did, you can handle a bunch of hard cider drinking country kids in Fairchild Hall.’ I became Mrs. Hyde’s “special situation” proctor in Fairchild Hall with my own private room far away from the lounge.” — James P. Kelly ’52

and her “legacy is no doubt the children she helped find their way in this world.” We extend our heartfelt sympathies to Evelyn’s family. I was pleased to receive two letters from Robert O. Kimball, although he had very sad news. On March 9, his wife Nina passed away in her sleep by his side. Nina had been valiantly fighting cancer for five or six years when she was stricken with dementia, which affected her living patterns, behavior and memory. Bob writes that Nina’s passing “probably was a mixed blessing, but forever I will miss her dearly.” Over the summer, in an effort to adjust to living on his own, Bob moved to a senior living community that provides personalized care and interesting activities. His new address is Grand Living at Citrus Hills, Room #320, 850 West Norvell Bryant Highway, Hernando, FL 34442. We send our heartfelt sympathies to Bob and best wishes in his new home. To classmates, their families and friends, please send me your news or stories of times past to my new address. I hope to hear from you! ◆

ABOVE: UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

"A note on my dormitory door instructed me to report to the Dean of Men. This caused me great concern because of an altercation two nights before in the dormitory lounge. I had a single room, which was located in the dormitory occupied by veterans of World War II, directly across from the lounge where all night and day card games

LEFT: RALPH MORANG ’72

Class Notes

If your class is not represented here, please send news to your class secretary (see page74) or submit directly to Class Notes Editor, UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave., Durham, NH 03824. The deadline for the next issue is Dec. 1.


Alumni Events

Volunteer Spotlight

Jenn Higgins Pitre ’95 ’05G

Interested in sponsoring an alumni event in your area? alumni@unh.edu | (603) 862-2040

For more than 25 years — since my undergraduate days — I have been a cheerleader for UNH in every sense of the word. This institution, with its natural beauty, talented faculty and staff, amazing students and inspiring alumni, has provided me with an excellent education and also given me lifelong friends and wonderful business colleagues. These are some of the reasons I’m serving on the 25th reunion committee. (Class of 1995, be sure to save the date and plan to be in Durham June 5 – 7, 2020!) Equally important, UNH has taught me about the power of philanthropy and the positive impact it can have in the world. I have seen scholarships transform lives, and I truly believe that investing in education is one of the most profound and beneficial things any of us can do. That is why I choose to volunteer some of my time serving as a champion for The (603) Challenge, encouraging others to get involved and give back to UNH during this annual and impactful online fundraising campaign. I hope you will consider joining me.” 

Become a Champion for The (603) Challenge Every year since its inception, The (603) Challenge has grown, increasing support for all areas of the university and philanthropic participation overall. The (603) Challenge Champions are a big part of this success! UNH provides the tools you need so that your voice and UNH story can inspire others. If you’d like to make a difference to UNH, consider joining this group of loyal and generous alumni by emailing us at alumni@unh.edu.

Nov

1 5 | Florida Southwest Coast Alumni Network Cruise, Punta Gorda, FL 19, 26 | Wildcat Wisdom Online Women in Leadership Webinar 2 1| Boston Alumni Network Bruins Game 29–30 | Friendship Four Hockey Tournament, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Dec

3 | Washington D.C. Alumni Network Holiday Party 10| Boston Alumni Network Holiday Party 1 0 | Wildcat Wisdom Online: The International Professional 11| NYC Alumni Network Holiday Party 12 | Seacoast Alumni Network Holiday Party, Rye, NH

13| Denver Alumni Network Holiday Party 29 | East Coast Florida Alumni Network Patriots Watch Party, Stuart, FL

Jan

1 1 | Atlanta Alumni Network Hockey Watch 2 5 | Family Hockey Day Durham

Feb

5 | Wildcat Wisdom Online Managing the Project 5 | Alumni and Students No Stress Networking Night, Durham

Mar

1 0 | Wildcat Wisdom Online Prepare and Protect: How to Help Your Student Stay Safe on Campus 1 4 | Florida Southwest Coast Alumni Network St. Patrick’s Day Trolley, Naples, FL

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Class Notes

We received word that David Gordon Chase passed away on Jan. 24. While at UNH, he met his wife Constance Estes Chase and was a member of Theta Chi and the Outing Club. After receiving his degree in mechanical engineering, he went on to work for Wright Aeronautical and NACA, the forerunner of NASA. His family members him as someone whose “enthusiasm and positivity in life was obvious.” Survivors include his four children, nine grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Robert A. Neal passed away on Feb. 14. His daughter Louise Neal Sisley writes that he played football during his time at UNH and began a career at Westinghouse Electric after graduation, remaining with the company until retirement. He was loving husband of the late Mae D. Neal, and survivors include his daughter Louise, son Robert Neal Jr., grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Our condolences to the family and friends of these classmates. ◆

1944 |

UNH plate, 1932. Gift of Gladys McCrone Smith ’45.

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Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

We received news of the passing of four classmates. Barbara Helen Marshall passed away on Jan. 21. Before graduating as a physical education major, she met her husband, William H. Marshall ’42. The two married in 1946, and his passing in 1985 is remembered as her greatest loss. Her family credits her positive outlook on life and her physical fitness with contributing to her longevity. Survivors include her son, two grandsons, 13 great-grandchildren and one greatgreat-grandson. Olive S. Westerberg passed away on Feb. 14. At UNH, she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa before going on to receive her master’s degree at UConn and work as a school psychologist and at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft during World War II. Survivors include her two daughters, “honorary daughter” and two grandsons. Alfred P. Maurice passed away on Feb. 25. After serving as an illustrator-draftsman in the Army during World War II, he went on to teach at the college level and become chair of the art department and an associate dean at the University of Illinois. He is remembered as striving “to assist people to inform themselves about art as more than a pleasant diversion” and made an endowed gift to UNH to continue his legacy of inspiring undergraduates. He was predeceased by his wife and siblings, and his survivors include his sister-in-law, nieces, nephews and “a vast adopted family.” Doris Cooper Clarke McClintock passed away on May 20. After graduating from UNH, she went on to teach physical education and coach basketball. She cycled with the Concord YMCA Bike Club until her 90th birthday and was an avid cross-country skier and hiker. She was also a dedicated volunteer. Predeceased by her husband and daughter, her many nieces and nephews remember her for her generosity. Our condolences to the family and friends of these members of the Class of 1944. ◆

1945 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

The alumni office has received the sad news of the passing of the following classmates. James C. Williams Sr. passed away on Feb. 27. He attended UNH for two years prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps and met his wife Agnes Fitch Williams while at UNH. His children remember him for “being a constant and steadfast presence in their lives … for welcoming neighborhood kids to share in his enthusiasm for farming and for the smile that lit up his face every time one of his nine grandchildren or 16 great-grandchildren entered the room.” Paul D. Ohrman passed away on March 9. He served in WWII and went on to work for U.S. Steel, National Materials Corp. and Tang Industries. He was very active in his communities as an Eagle Scout and through his church. Survivors include his two children, four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Elizabeth “Bette” D. Dunkling passed away on April 5 following the death of her beloved husband Gerald L. Smith seven days earlier. “Bette and Gerald’s love story began when they were 14 years old,” the Smith family writes. “They were separated by World War II, going on to happily marry others and raise families, but after each was widowed, rekindled their relationship and deep devotion.” Virginia W. Hulbert passed away on March 24 at home. After graduation, she worked as a dietitian and a restaurant manager. Condolences to her five daughters, six grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. ◆

1946 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

Sarah “Sally” B. Chadwick passed away on Dec. 31, 2018. While at UNH, Sally made some lifelong friends before heading to Yale New Haven Hospital to work in a research lab. There, she met her future husband, and the two were married for 62 years. Survivors include her two daughters, one son, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Edward “Robbie” H. Robinson passed away on March 17. After UNH, he went on to medical school and met his future wife on a blind date before serving in the Korean War. “Robbie and Jackie lived life to the fullest, traveling snow-skiing and waterskiing into their 80s,” their family writes. In addition to his wife, survivors include three sons, one daughter, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Doris C. Cooper passed away in May. She received her physical education degree with our class, played basketball and was known as Wildcat Cooper. She taught for more than 30 years in Concord, N.H. Our thoughts are with the families of these classmates. ◆

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

1943 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu


Class Notes

1947 |

Jean Spiller McCulloughPerkins

PO Box 2656, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, Jeanperkins25@gmail.com

Received the sad news of the passing of Ella Hunter Gilland on March 20 in Atlanta, Ga. Ella put herself through college at UNH and graduated with a degree in English. She met the love of her life, James W. Gallant, at the Winthrop Yacht Club, and after getting married in Winthrop, Mass., they moved to Japan, Hawaii, Virginia, Illinois and Georgia. Her son James was born on an Air Force base in Japan. Ella is preceded in death by her husband and sister June Johnston. She is survived by her son, daughter-in-law Kris, two grandchildren, several nieces and nephews and even more grand-nieces and nephews. ◆

1948 |

Elizabeth M. Shea

11 Boulder Brook Drive, Unit #4 Exeter, NH 03833

Congratulations to all Fabulous ’50s UNH Reunioners of 2019. Honoring the 50th for the Class of 1969 on May 31 at the Classes of ’40s table for the annual Wildcat Luncheon sat Leonard Sawyer ’47, his son — a GenXgrad — and me. Welcome remarks delivered, delectable shrimp salad savored and “New Hampshire, Alma Mater” resounded. President James Dean dropped by our table for a chat. How fortunate are we to have such an engaging new president.Sadly, three more of our class heroes have died. Gerald L. Smith died peacefully at home in Durham on March 29, surrounded by his loving family. The day fell one month short of the 74th anniversary of his liberation from a POW camp in Moosburg, Germany. He served in the Army Air Corps as co-pilot of a Martin B-26 Marauder from 1942–1947. Earning a B.S. in agricultural education at UNH and a master’s at Penn State, he became professor of animal science at UNH and in charge of livestock barns and a livestock specialist for UNH Cooperative Extension from 1948–1980. For 64 years, he was happily married to Dorothy K. Smith, who died in 2011. He later reconnected with his high school sweetheart, Bette Dunkling ’45, whom he married in 2013. Sadly, Bette died unexpectedly less than one week following Gerry’s death. Survivors include his five children, Carol S. Tuveson ’70, Valerie J. Cook, Gordon L. Smith ’78, Jeffrey G. Smith ’79 and Jeremy C. Smith ’78, 16 grandchildren, sister and many nieces, nephews, cousins and great-grands. Donations in Gerry’s memory may be made to the Gerald L. Smith and Dorothy K. Smith ROTC Scholarship Endowment or to the Dorothy K. and Gerald L. Smith Nursing Scholarship through the UNH Foundation. Earle Ellsworth Leavitt, 97, passed away in Portland, Maine. A World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor, he enlisted in the Army Air Corp a year before the declaration of war. Attending UNH and BU Law School, he practiced corporate law in Boston, New York City and Portland, where he retired. FOur heartfelt sympathy goes to the families of these departure classmates. ◆

1949 |

Joan Boodey Lamson

51 Lamson Lane New London, NH 03257 unhjblamson@gmail.com

Back in 1949 when Bill Batchelder was at UNH, he — like many WWII veterans — had an old car, which he called The Green Hornet. It was similar vintage to the ’38 gray Ford coupe Don Lamson ’48 called Termite. We didn’t swallow goldfish, but we did pile into low-speed old cars. In 1944, while a senior at Plymouth High, Bill completed two semesters in early enrollment at UNH before enlisting in the Navy that following October. He then returned to UNH in the fall of ’45. After graduation, Bill attended Boston University Law School. Bill became a lawyer with a private practice in his hometown of Plymouth, where he fell in love with Betty Hayworth, who was a student at Plymouth State Teachers College. They brought up their six children on their Undercliff Farm in Plymouth. Bill was appointed a N.H. Superior Court Justice in 1970 by Gov. Walter Peterson. After 11 years on the trial bench, Gov. Hugh Galen appointed him to the N.H. Supreme Court, where he served until his retirement in 1995. Bill died in May. He was predeceased by his oldest son, Stephen, who died in 1989 in a Naval plane crash while on duty in the Mediterranean. Bill and Betty have 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandkids. Bill will be missed, but, as his obituary states, “the seeds of his wisdom leave all whom he touched with hope and love to lift people up and do good.” Frederick Warren White, who was a “fun guy” and an excellent student at UNH, died last April in Exeter, where he and his wife had lived since retiring. He was a member of UNH’s sailing team and Theta Chi fraternity, as well as Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Gamma Mu honor societies. Earning an MBA in 1950 from the University of Michigan, he was elected to the Beta Gamma Sigma Honorary Society and married Susan Thorne. After becoming a widower, he marred Virginia “Ginger” Coddington, living in Dover, Mass., with combined families and spending summers in their Norway, Maine, cottage. Fred is survived by his wife, four children and their spouses and many grands and greats. His UNHers are his children Nina White Grimm ’76 and Bradford White ’78 and grandchildren Bradford White Jr. ’08, Emily White Abdolmohammadi ’10, Ashley Coddington ’11 and James Coddington ’15. Marilyn Waris Pike ’52 wrote to the magazine to share news of her husband Ron Pike. Ron received both his B.S. and M.S. from UNH and then his doctorate from MIT, all in organic chemistry. He worked for several years at the Union Carbide office in Buffalo, N.Y., and then became a chemistry professor at Lowell Technical Institute and department chairman at Merrimack College. He also taught as a visiting professor at Bowdoin College and West Point. "Ron’s twin, Roscoe Pike, died several years ago, but his wife, Mary Clayton Pike ’50, lives in Granby, Conn,” Marilyn writes. Ron died in February 2019 in Mapleton, Utah, leaving his wife, two children, seven grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Lewis Janetos died in Sept. 2018 in Rollinsford, N.H. After working as an electrical engineer for General Electric, Lewis and his two brothers, using their

Gerald L. Smith passed away at his home in Durham on March 29, one month short of the 74th anniversary of his liberation from a POW camp in Moosburg, Germany. He was a longtime UNH professor of animal science and a livestock specialist for UNH Cooperative Extension.

— 1948

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Class Notes

During his long legal career, Bill Batchelder served on both the New Hampshire Superior and Supreme Courts, appointed to the latter by Gov. Hugh Gallen. He passed away in May, but “the seeds of his wisdom leave all whom he touched with hope and love to lift people up to do good.” — 1949

Vincent Luti ’52, “one of the most knowledgeable people in the world regarding the history of tombstone carvers in New England,” has written a book about a

previously overlooked area of gravestone art in the Taunton River Basin in Massachusetts.

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inherited “Yankee ingenuity” genes, started a manufacturing company named Janco. Janco Electronics and J-PAC were recognized in the plastic fabrication industry for creating innovative design solutions in protective athletic equipment, medical packaging and printed circuit boards. Lewis retired as president and chairman of the board. He was married for 66 years to Eleanore Stolpe, whom he met while attending officer candidate school in Kansas. Lewis proudly served four years in the Army Signal Corps. His brothers, sisters and son, sadly, preceded him in death. Remember, names of ’49ers who have recently died are on the back pages of magazine. Sending me a letter helps me tell their story. Dick Dart is traveling daily all over the world and seeing the most fascinating and unusual things, via his computer, emailing the best ones to his many friends. We ’49ers are happy that our Endowed Fund has in 2018-2019 helped Jahmilha Crook of Lee, whose major is wildlife and conservation biology. ◆

1950 |

Richard “Dick” Brouillard

c/o Class Notes Editor 15 Strafford Ave, Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

Dear Class of ’50ers: Hopefully you all read the very interesting tribute to our deceased classmate Stuart Shaines in the last edition of this magazine. The description of Stuart’s efforts to start his men’s clothing business, which eventually included eight stores, brought to mind the fact that this was the period in which many of us began various careers in business, industry, education and other fields in which, in most cases after “blood and sweat,” we succeeded and from which we and our families benefited and also of which we are all justly proud. Phyllis Killam-Abell Wilits advises that she is devoting a lot of time, which she thoroughly enjoys, as a member of the Environment Suitability Committee at RiverWoods in Exeter. Our literary personage Barbara Newhall’s historical biography of David Thomson, the first settler in New Hampshire in 1603, and also of Odiorne Point, will soon be available in print. Barbara has been involved with Odiorne in several capacities since it was turned over to the state of New Hampshire. Our sympathy is extended to the families of the following classmates who died on the dates indicated, and note is made of their successful careers: Gordon Blakemey of Concord, N.H., on May 21, former president of Thompson & Hoague Co. sporting goods retailers; Gerald Gardner of Atlanta City, N.J., on March 21, chef and restaurant owner; Carter Gibbs of Ogdon, Utah, on May 2, longtime service in U.S. Forestry Service; Roland Lesieur of Nashua, N.H., on Feb. 13, executive in tire and automotive industry in Nashua and brother of Leo Lesieur, also deceased; Joyce McCue of Boston, Mass., on Feb. 20, mathematics teacher and dedicated volunteer in her church and community; Seymour L. Sharpe of Laramie, Wy., on Feb. 13, mining engineer and participant in many oil and gas discoveries. Please share current information about yourselves and families with your former classmates by sending me “tidbits,” such as your attaining such milestones as great-great grandparenthood. Possibly

we could discover who among our former classmates is the most prolific! ◆

1951 |

Anne Schultz Cotter

PO Box 33, Intervale, NH 03854 anne.cotter.nh@gmail.com

Stephen Clark wrote to let us know his father, Alvin L. Clark, who was born in 1931 on the family farm in Langdon, N.H., passed away there on May 21 at the age of 87. His loving wife Nancy predeceased him. His survivors include his three sons, daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Alvin worked as a dairy farmer and forester for many years before retiring in 1991, when he turned the farming operation over to his son David. Our condolences to Alvin’s family and friends. ◆

1952 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

Marilyn Waris Pike writes to share news of the passing of her husband Ron Pike ’49 in February in Mapleton, Utah. (See Class of 1949 notes.) “We have two children, Dana Pike and Gretchen Pike Mourtgos, seven grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. I graduated as an OTR, was married the following week and loved having studied that!” While raising their son and daughter, Marilyn writes she did not work and later was employed in the Pelham and Windham, N.H., schools. “I worked three days a week and thus had time to do family history and many other interesting things. Not one day in my life do I not use training or information from way back to UNH days! So lucky!” she writes. “I still correspond with two gals who were at UNH with me, and until we moved to Utah, I did enjoy attending reunions.” Great hearing from you, Marilyn! Sadly, we received the news of the passing of several classmates. Alden “Slim” Edward Cousins passed away on March 30. After graduating from the Thompson School, he served in the Korean War, achieving the rank of sergeant and receiving a battle star. He worked for the commonwealth of Massachusetts for 33 years. Predeceased by his wife Eleanor, he is survived by a son, daughter and two grandsons. Douglas Peter Blake passed away on April 21 after a short battle with cancer. At UNH he lettered in lacrosse and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the Air Force ROTC before graduating with his degree in business administration. He and his wife Nancy Moore Blake were married for 58 years until her passing. He served two tours in the Air Force and was the youngest full disbursement officer in the country at the time. Survivors include his wife Mary Fullam, sons and stepchildren and he is remembered as “a tireless worker, a gourmet cook, loyal husband, father and friend who was always happy and willing to help others in need.” Lois Aileen Greaves Bannan passed away on May 4 from complications related to her battle with cancer. She was predeceased by her husband of 60 years, Michael W. Bannan Jr. At UNH she received her degree in French and Spanish and was later granted a Fulbright Scholarships to teach and conduct research but instead entered the workforce


Class Notes

at CIGNA as a translator. After raising her family, she taught language arts and computer science and worked with at-risk students. After retirement, she volunteered with the Newfound Lake Region Association and New Hampshire Parks and Recreation. Survivors include her children, grandchildren, brother and several nieces and nephews. Our condolences to the friends and family of these classmates. ◆

1953 |

“Not one day in my life do I not use training or information from way back to UNH days! So lucky! I still correspond with two gals who were at UNH with me . . . .”

Ann Merrow Burghardt

411 Wentworth Hill Road Center Sandwich, NH 03227 alces1@myfairpoint.net

You were missed! Missed by those at the Fabulous ’50s Reunion who returned to a literally blooming campus amid sun and perfect temps. The organizing committee, chaired by Jere Lundholm and wife Harriet Forkey ’54, did a superb job, assisted by alumni house support staff who were smilingly everywhere to answer questions. We ate too well, heard excellent faculty talks, toured the campus and colleges, attended ROTC, athletic and Greek letter mixers, had a sing-along, caught up on news with friends since those blue beanie days and listened and laughed. And we poignantly remembered classmates who are now names on a too-long list. Who came for a part of, or the whole, weekend? Jere, Diane Cohen Caplan, Jean Stockwell Strong, Norman and Ellie Rumery Campbell, Joan McLeod Tierney, Joan Comolli Barnes, Bill Borden, Dick Dewing, Sally Jobes Sutherland, Robert Parsons, Elisabeth “Ginger” Lloyd Thompson and yours truly. Diane brought the sad news that Gerald “Jerry” R. Caplan, her husband of over 65 years, died March 21. After graduating, Jerry earned an M.S. in civil engineering from Thayer at Dartmouth. His creativity and attention to detail were evident in the design and construction of family houses at York Beach, Maine, as well as his lifelong hobby of designing and building furniture. Dick and Joan Hutcheon Kingsbury of Yarmouth Port, Mass., wrote that as much as they wanted to attend reunion, they couldn’t due to health concerns, but sent a strong “Go Wildcats!” Cleo Bisbas Neary hoped to come if a trip to Greece didn’t pan out. Home is in Delray Beach, Fla., and she keeps a ski place in Vermont. Joan Shaw Waldren of Portsmouth was sorry to miss the reunion but was recovering from a fall down stairs resulting in broken bones and a concussion. “Coming to UNH has completely changed my life, and without you, it would have been very difficult if not impossible for me to go to school here.” So writes Julia Sommer ’22 of Farmington, N.H., in a letter of appreciation to the class for receiving our scholarship. Julia, an acting and directing major, wants to tread the boards. Your dollars at work. We learned that Paul Sidney Knowles, a two-year agricultural student with a major in general farming, died Aug. 17, 2016, in Boynton Beach, Fla. His early career was devoted to agriculture and animal husbandry, and he had a lifelong interest in wildlife and nature. Knowles Park in Delray stands as a family landmark. Carol Lyman Batchelder died June 4 at her home in Silver Lake, N.H. At UNH she was an English literature major and president of Theta U, among other

— Marilyn Waris Pike — 1952

things. Carol led Great Books discussions for 57 years and taught high school English. She leaves three daughters and their families. Shirley Aaltonen Ablondi, who was part of the Class of ’53 through her junior year when she left UNH to marry her high school sweetheart, Ray Ablondi, passed away on April 14 at her home in Princevillie, Kauai. Shirley moved to London with Ray to help him attain his doctorate, and they later raised their family in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She is remembered as “devoted to any and all of her children’s activities and pursuits.” Harold R. Van Siclen died Sept. 4; his wife Phyllis died a year ago. He was a hotel administration major, a member of ATO, Mike and Dial and Senior Skulls, among many other organizations, plus Advanced ROTC. ◆

1954 |

Ruth Nash Clark

149 East Side Drive #294 Concord, NH 03301 clark603@yahoo.com (603) 715-2493 or (603) 828-6885 [cell]

The Fabulous ’50s Reunion was great fun and certainly worth all the effort that Harriet Forkey, Jere Lundholm ’53 and the great people in the alumni office put into making it such a huge success! The members our Class of ’54 who were able to attend will certainly attest to that! Here is a list of the ’54 classmates who I saw. Margie Kenyon Salathe went over it with me, and hopefully we didn’t omit anyone: Deb Atherton Atwood. Connie Miltimore Best, Pat Gonyer Chaisson, Lois Dalton Chase, Val Wilcox England, Harriet Forkey, Pat Nutter Leighton, Bob Sampson, Roger Saunders, Bob Schroeder and Lee Perkins. Let me know by email or phone if you attended and were not mentioned! Those of us who did go had a really great time, and weather could not have been better! The luncheon in the Hamel Rec Center was great, and it was interesting to hear from UNH’s new president. As always, the narration by the campus architect was most informative, as was the bus tour that followed. The lobster bake on T-Hall lawn under a big tent was awesome, and we had fun with a sing-along at

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43rd Annual

Alumni and Friends Wildcat Classic Golf Tournament Thank you to our sponsors, celebrity players and all who participated in the tournament this year.

Save the date for next year’s tournament at Wentworth by the Sea on Tuesday, June 16, 2020. To sponsor, please email jacey.darrah@unh.edu.

PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE J. GREGG SANBORN ENRICHMENT FUND IN SUPPORT OF STUDENT RESEARCH INITIATIVES. title sponsor

gold sponsors

official be ver age sponsor

golf c art sponsor

Exeter Hospital

Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England pl ayer merch andise sponsor

EcoLab Central Paper

Fidelity Investments

silver sponsor

The Harbor Group Inc. hole fl ag sponsor

Prime Buchholz LLC

Tuscan Brands

refreshment c art sponsors

D.F. Richard Energy Premium Vending

bronze sponsors

Conway Office Solutions Barnes & Noble College Booksellers e vent supporters

AdvancED Measured Progress Inc.

Chinburg Properties Dover Honda Piscataqua Savings Bank Stoneface Brewing Co. honor ary celebrit y co - ch airs

Natalie Jacobson ’65 Rico Petrocelli

the close of the meal. We do understand that it would not have been easy for some to attend. Our thoughts were with those of you who were unable to join us at this great reunion! On a sad note, I received word from Val that Joe Regis died on March 13. Val remembers Joe as so many of us did, regarding his prominence as co-captain of the football team. He was a natural athlete who later played hockey for the Army while stationed in Alaska during the 1950s. In following years, he was an active tennis player in Hampton. Many of us have great memories of Joe at UNH, where he was a member of Theta Kappa Phi, Newman Club, Varsity Club and played football all four years. I hope you are all enjoying summer, now that it is finally here and hope some of you can return to campus this fall, perhaps to enjoy a football game in our wonderful new stadium! Please take a few minutes to send me your news and note my change of address and phone numbers above. ◆

1955 |

Marge and Bill Johnston

May – Nov.: 40502 Lenox Park Dr. Novi, MI 48377, (248) 859-4084 Dec. – Apr.: 4940 Westchester Court #3703, Naples, Florida 34105 (239) 213-0140; margej34@gmail.com

Hi Everyone! We are still smiling and reminiscing about the Fabulous ’50s Reunion. It was truly a weekend to remember spent with dear friends we will never forget. Other class members and family present included Penny and Len Willey, Kent Keith and Meredith, Jim

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fe atured celebrit y pl ayers & coaches

Robin Balducci ’85 Luke Bonner Jim Boulanger ’75 John Bunker Mike Ferrara Tom Giles Gail Goodspeed Bob Gorrell

Marc Hubbard ’06G Wayne Jones Jason King Skip Lockwood Chantel McCabe ’11 David O’Brien Mike Souza ’00 Bob Stanley Glenn Stewart ’94 Josh Willman

and Paula Shira, Tom and Marilyn Tracy, Norris Browne, John and Leda Everson, Billy and Toni Pappas, Bill Lacey and Ruth, Bob Hicks and SueAnn, Doug Brown and Darlene, Pat and Tom Volpe and Jack Weeks. We had a lobster bake with all the trimmings under a big white tent on the lawn at T-Hall with live music and a songfest. We had our class lunch at the Hamel Rec Center. While walking on our class walk from the library to lunch, we were photographed by camera drones overhead. There were bus tours all around campus and a class breakfast at the Varsity Club in the new stadium. There were numerous stops at the Dairy Bar/train station. There was a wonderful opening ceremony at Dimond Library put on by the Fabulous ’50s Committee, complete with a slideshow presentation and speeches. While at the library, we had a chance to see the new topographical world globe purchased by the library and our Class of 1955. The globe has a memorial plaque dedicated to Lorna Duncanson Kimball. We met Tracey Lauder, assistant dean of library administration, and professor Hannah Hamalainen, keeper of the globe. Our accommodations were at Woodside, married housing residences. Being all together in one area made socializing very easy and fun! Our weather was terrific. Getting around campus was convenient with transportation readily available. Many kudos to Harriet Forkey and her Fab ’50 Reunion Team for all their hard work. It truly was a wonderful event. We remember our classmates who have passed away. On Feb. 19 in Conway, N.H., William C. Stuart,


Class Notes

89. Born and raised in Portland, Maine, he graduated from UNH’s school of forestry, served in the Navy for two years, worked for Lucy Lumber in Conway and Bailey Manufacturing in Fryeburg. He married Sheila Ryan in 1969 and moved to Conway, where they lived for 45 years. On Feb. 25 in Concord, N.H., Luther Sweet, 87. Luther attended UNH, Wesleyan University and Champlain College, He lived in Goffstown and Bradford, where he coached baseball at Kearsarge Regional High School. He moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., with his wife Mimi. They were married 64 years, and she passed away 19 days before him. They are survived by a son, daughter, nine grandchildren and 14 great-grands. On May 12 in Boca Raton, Fla., Louis Georgopoulos. Born in Manchester, he graduated from Manchester Central in 1951 and received his business degree from UNH. Louis ran his father’s clothing store, Jim’s Oxford Shop, for 40 years. Louis also served on Manchester’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen from Ward 1 and as Governor’s Counselor from the Fourth District. He was a trustee of University System of N.H. from 1987-2001. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Aphrodite, one daughter, two sons, five grandchildren, cousins, nieces, nephews in the U.S. and Australia. Until next time. We look forward to hearing from you. ◆

1956 |

Joan Holroyd

5 Timber Lane, Unit 213 Exeter, NH 03833 joanholroyd@gmail.com

I attended many of the events over Reunion Weekend; unfortunately, very few ’56ers turned up. Several cancelled due to health issues, their own or those of spouses. The clam and lobster bake under tents on the T-Hall lawn was great. We could dress casually and wore bibs to be safe! I even turned up for the Saturday breakfast farewell at the Victory Club, in the new Wildcat Stadium near the athletic practice fields There I met up with Ann Chase from Boston, who was unable to attend earlier events. The weather was nearly perfect for the entire weekend. Anne Seidler Russell, who served on the Reunion Planning Committee, took part in all major programs. She joins me in high praise for the smooth flow of events and the always-available campus transportation. Now turning to a less pleasant subject, the obituaries. On Feb. 1 we lost Paul Belair of Louisa, Va. Paul taught history in Arlington, Va., for 30 years. During that time, he earned an M.A. from American University. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and seven grandchildren. In September 2018, Charles Pieroni passed away in Rochester, N.H. He earned an M.S. in electrical engineering. Upon retirement, he bought a printing business, which he ran for many years. Lastly, the death of Daniel Murphy of Ashland, N.H., was reported. After receiving a B.S. in forestry, he served in the Army for several years. The family includes his wife, a daughter, three sons, 10 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Life goes on here at RiverWoods. Almost four months ago, Don moved to the assisted living section, sadly requiring nursing care. The good thing is that he’s just down a long hall from the independent apartments, and we

can choose any one of the three dining rooms for lunch or dinner together. We’re in dire need of your news: Please help make the class letter interesting! ◆

1957 |

Nancy Jillson Glowacki

117 Woodbridge Drive Hendersonville, NC 28739 (828) 606-5201 jonaglowacki@morrisbb.net

Jim and Carly Rushmore Hellen and I had just flown in from a fabulous 10-day music tour of Northern Island with Evans and Doherty of Halifax, Nova Scotia, when Carly and Jim jumped into the Fabulous ’50s Reunion. (I flew to North Carolina before my return to New England for three weeks in July.) “It was a fun weekend!” they note. From the Class of 1957 were Jim and Carly, Paul Aliapoulios, leader of Fab ’50s Glee Club that sang pop and college songs at the lobster dinner and New Hampshire Alma Mater at the Friday luncheon, Jim Yakovakis, Ann Garside Perkins, Michael Gordon, Carol Nickerson Burleigh and Jay Marden. Carly facilitated the Memorial Committee and Service for combined classes of the ’50s. Other news: Paul and Meg Goyette proudly attended the graduation of their grandson from West Point! Saying goodbye to classmates is an ongoing, poignant process. Richard C. Kaupin, 83, of Enfield, Conn., and Wellfleet , Mass., died March 10. A native of Lawrence and husband of the late Mary Hastings Kaupin of 57 years, Richard received a B.S. in science and was a member of Kappa Sigma, later serving in the Army. David Trowbridge Gowans of Hudson, Ohio, died April 20. He worked in civil engineering for 41 years at Goodyear all over the world. Paul Chase Leavitt, 83, of Waterville Valley, died May 6. After graduation, Paul graduated from the FBI National Academy, served in the Army and worked for the Hampton Police Department and as chief in 1964. He and Marcia Lothrop Leavitt were married 65 years. From Gratefulness.org, Kristi Nelson writes, “Life is not about or; it is about and. It is magical and messy. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking. It is delight and discouragement. Grace and grief. Exquisite and excruciating, often at the same time.” Embrace every moment. Send news! ◆

1958 |

“We are still smiling and reminiscing about the Fabulous ’50s Reunion. It was truly a weekend to remember spent with dear friends we will never forget.” — Marge and Bill Johnston — 1955

Peggy Ann Shea

100 Tennyson Ave. Nashua, NH 03062 peggy.shea@alumni.unh.edu

Charlyn Stevens Brown and her husband have moved from their home in Hampton Falls to Holliston, Mass., to be closer to family members. I received a note that Dick Elliott of Burlington, Mass., passed away in March. Dick received a master’s degree and taught and was vice principal in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He was proud of the fact that two of his children went to UNH. Robert M. Gagne of Cape Coral, Florida, passed away in April. Bob held a master’s degree in chemical engineering and had a professional engineer license. His career brought him and his family across the country and around the globe, where he managed a wafer manufacturing plant. A resident of Boxborough, Mass., Patrick J. Greene passed away

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Class Notes

in May. After graduating with an electrical engineering degree from UNH, he completed a master’s degree from MIT while working fulltime at Bell Labs in North Andover, Mass. Shortly thereafter, he joined Digital Equipment Corporation. Later, he followed an opportunity at Data General Corporation, eventually moving on to numerous small companies, including 20 years with Triad Design. Edward L. Mossman of South Berwick, Maine, passed away in May. A graduate of Maine Maritime, Edward sailed as an engineering officer in the Merchant Marine travelling to Northern Europe and South America. He served in the Navy during the Korean War. After his Navy service, Edward enrolled at UNH, receiving a degree in mechanical engineering. He started his professional engineering career at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard after graduation and worked there until his retirement in 1983. On a personal note, I presented a scientific paper at the International Cosmic Ray Conference in Madison, Wisc., in July. On our return road trip, we stopped to investigate the Duck Creek Aqueduct in Metamora, Ind. Also known as the Whitewater Canal Aqueduct. It is the only aqueduct of its kind in the U.S., and while the canal is no longer in active use, you can “boat” through the covered bridge over the aqueduct. An interesting piece of Americana. ◆

1959 |

UNH piggy bank circa 1960s, UNH Museum Collection, gift of Judy Ballestar.

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Diane “Dini” Woods

Riverwoods, 7 Riverwoods Drive #F114, Exeter, NH 03833 dianewoods21@comcast.net

We are saddened to learn of our class treasurer Bob Silvia’s recent passing. Jack Sanders, class president, writes, “We attended Boston College Law School together, were Moot Court partners and kept in close touch, referring and working together on cases.” Also from Jerry Sullivan, a former class officer, “Bob was a great man who worked behind the scenes. He was trustworthy, a man of his word; he had integrity … he also was the only class officer elected by his classmates. The rest of us were appointed.” I do not usually refer to recent deaths of classmates in this column because there is another section in this publication that contains death notices, but because Bob was a longtime class officer, we made an exception. 260 of our classmates have died over the 60 years that have passed. Naturally, that number continues to accelerate. That brings us to our recent 60th Reunion, alongside a well-organized Fabulous ’50s gathering with most of the 1950s classes represented. One of the highlights was a Memorial and Memories program held on Friday in the library. While remembering with large, detailed placards the many deceased classmates, we also remembered aloud some of the joys and delights and silliness of being a UNH student in the 1950s. Diane “Dee Dee” Howe Lenters was there with her husband, having traveled all the way from Michigan, visiting friends and relatives on the way and on the return. Diane wrote me, “Although the turnout was light, it was good to see you, Dini, Mary Jo and Jack Sanders and Einar Dohlen. The campus looked great, and the new campus dorm and café was very interesting, built on the hill. Also enjoyed the tour of the UNH Archives … had a great visit with Mary Lunt Ross ’58 in Ogunquit,

Maine, before we headed back to Michigan. I really missed seeing my old roommate, Marcia Birkenwald Stone at reunion.” Thank you so much, Diane, for your comments. Another returnee was Bill Nickerson, who also traveled by car with a friend, vacationing along the way. Einar Dohlen from Iceland came as usual. You can count on Einar. He is our most faithful ’59 reunion alum! I must say the two meals that I had at reunion were absolutely fabulous and elegantly served, and the camaraderie was exquisite. Thank you to all of the many UNH staff people that made reunion work so well for us. It was evident that a great deal of care went in to the preparation and execution of the 2019 UNH Reunion and for the “Fabulous Fifties” in particular. ◆

1960 |

Estelle “Stella” Belanger Landry 315 Chickory Trail

Mullica Hill, NJ 08062 stella.landry@alumni.unh.edu

³ 60TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³ We are happy to announce that the classes of 1960 and 1961 have agreed to a joint 60th reunion in 2020. A meeting with members of both classes was held on Thursday, October 3, 2019. In attendance were 1960 class president Sam Paul, class secretary Stella Landry (by conference call), Doug Blampied, Dale Hardy, Henry Roy and Ted Sobozensk as well as 1961 class president Carol Pandini Trombly and class members Nancy Blampied and Joe McGonagle. On hand to guide us was Corena Garnas from the Elliott Alumni Center. Corena distributed the 2020 Reunion Weekend Program which you can find at unh.edu/ reunions. Members of both classes will be hearing directly by mail regarding final reunion plans. Please consider setting aside June 5 - 7 to "reunite." In November 2018, I received an email from Parker Finnery and wife Cecelia of Lakeland, Fla. They had recently sold their home in Stroudsburg, PA where they owned and ran Finney’s Tree Service until 2004. In the process of downsizing, they offered to donate a framed print of Thompson Hall, measuring roughly 24-by-28 inches, which they had purchased some years ago when the university celebrated its centennial. They owned number 183 of the 200 prints that were made. They suggested that perhaps we could have a silent auction at our reunion dinner and apply the proceeds to the Class of 1960 Scholarship Fund. I discussed this donation at the meeting in July. In a phone conversation, our class president Sam told me he would start the bidding at $100… sight unseen! Gina Damiano, director of donor relations, forwarded a letter to me from a recipient of this year’s Class of 1960 Scholarship. Anupreet Saini ’21 thanked our class for “supporting her in her UNH journey.” She is studying accounting and finance with a minor in information technology. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends in New Hampshire and Maine in mid-July. The annual mini Nashua High reunion was held in Portsmouth. UNHers in attendance included Roland Lajoie ’58 and Paul Bellavance. It was wonderful seeing Ann Govoni Frigard ’61 who joined us. I received notice from the University that Frank Zahm Culver of Nahant, Mass., died on March 9 after a brief illness. He was the


Class Notes

husband of the late Priscilla Gillespie Culver ’58. Frank, a Marine Corps veteran, served in the Korean War. Upon completion of his tour of duty, he entered UNH where he was an All-American football player. ◆

1961 |

Pat Gagne Coolidge

P.O. Box 736 Rollinsford, NH 03869 pat.coolidge@alumni.unh.edu

³ 60TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³ Hi Classmates! We are happy to announce that the classes of 1960 and 1961 have agreed to a joint 60th reunion in 2020. A meeting with members of both classes was held on Thursday, October 3, 2019. In attendance were 1961 class president Carol Pandini Trombly and class members Nancy Blampied and Joe McGonagle, as well as 1960 class president Sam Paul, class secretary Stella Landry (by conference call), Doug Blampied, Dale Hardy, Henry Roy and Ted Sobozenski. On hand to guide us was Corena Garnas from the Elliott Alumni Center. Corena distributed the 2020 Reunion Weekend Program which you can find at unh.edu/reunions. Members of both classes will be hearing directly by mail regarding final reunion plans. Please consider setting aside June 5 - 7 to "reunite." In other news, Bill Tighe organized a ’61 get-together at The Common Man in Concord at noon on Aug. 7. We enjoyed visiting, and here is our news. Bill still lives in New London, is still retired and is still keeping busy. Art Monty writes, “Am living in Gilmanton for about half a year in a house I built 14 years ago, and winter in Antibes, France, where I’m an avid cyclist. I got remarried three years ago to a lovely Canadian who is tolerant of my behavior.” Lou D’Allesandro writes, “All is okay: In the Senate for the last 22 years — teach at New England College — Pat is okay — nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren — live in Manchester.” Lois Stickney Magenau writes, “Seeing roommate Penny Hallward Gage for great times! Nice visit with Judy Holbrook Thompson recently. Doing well and looking forward to seeing more of my dear UNH friends soon. Feel so lucky to have met them way back when!” Carol Pandini Trombly writes she is currently living in an independent cottage in The Taylor Community with her little havapoo Elvis. She goes to Florida for four months in the winter. “Life is good.” Joe McGonagle writes, “Living in Laconia — staying busy and out of jail!” ! Like Bill, I’m still in Rollinsford, still enjoying life with friends and family and still staying busy with pool, puzzles and pets. ◆

1962 |

Judy Dawkins Kennedy

34 Timber Ridge Rd. Alton Bay, NH 03810 nfkjak@ttlc.net, (603) 875-5979

Tom Callahan married Lynn T. Davis after graduation and headed to Fort Benning for two years. He spent 11 years with Corning, four of them in Taiwan, and earned his MBA From Syracuse while working for Corning. He and Lynn separated in 1976. He left Corning and went to RJ Reynolds for 10 years, four of those in Hong Kong. He moved around to a few other companies, ending up as senior VP and CFO with Welch Foods in Concord,

Parker Finnery and his wife Cecelia generously donated a limited-edition print of Thompson Hall, commissioned for UNH’s centennial, to raise funds for the Class of 1960 scholarship fund. Plans are in the works to offer the print for auction during the class’ 60th reunion next June.

— 1960

Mass. He and his wife Ellie live in Harvard, Mass., and will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. He is still close to Lynn and says, “She is a special person and doing very well living in Denver, Colo." In his spare time, he served on the board of trustees of Tilton School, five of those as chairman. He is enjoying his five children, eight grandchildren, skiing in Vail and sailing around Marblehead. To keep in shape, he plays tennis and rides his road bike. As he turns 80, he thinks about his time at UNH and in ATO. The fact that he received a four-year athletic scholarship made him grateful, and he is thankful he has been able to pay back with time and contributions to UNH. Please remember the Class of 1962 Student Enrichment Fund when making contributions to UNH, and please send news. ◆

1963 |

Alice Miller Batchelor

110 Dillingham Ave., #301 Falmouth, MA 02540, (508) 548-2221 a.m.batchelor@alumni.unh.edu

The bad news first: With great sadness I report that Richard, my beloved husband of 53 years, died of a stroke on April 28. I tell people I am “fragile, but coping” — so fragile that a day before my 80th birthday I tripped and broke my ankle; ugh. Other deaths of which I have received word: Milton Argeriou on Nov. 27, 2017, and this year, Richard F. Fisher on April 12 and Doris Cooper Clarke McClintock on May 20. The alumni office also received the sad news that Robert E. Weeks passed away on March 17. Robert was the co-captain of the undefeated football team of 1962 and is in the UNH Hall of Fame .May they all rest in peace. Except for a few “unreachables,” I’m reporting from calls to our “K” names. Former Class President Nelson F. Kennedy — our current president is George Roberts — of Alton Bay, N.H., is on the board of Maine’s Boothbay Railway Village and also

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Frank Brown, his wife Donna and his son Peter caught up with Wild E. Cat — among others — at the Class of 1964’s 55th reunion in June. goes weekly to Meredith, N.H., with others to run model trains as if on real routes. With the sale of their sailboat, he and wife Judy Dawkins Kennedy ’62, secretary of her class, bought annual passes they use frequently to enjoy being aboard The Mount Washington on Lake Winnipesaukee. Nelson was a hospitality major; ironically, my next call was to another hospitality major, Barry Kaplan of Scottsdale, Ariz. Barry got his master’s in restaurant management at Michigan State and worked in the industry in California and Arizona. He also taught at UNH’s Whittemore School for a couple of years and created and ran the dining part of the New England Center. He greatly enjoyed mentoring students about the industry. He can be reached at bkaplan@ arizonabest.com. Claire Wright Keyworth of Fountain Hills, Ariz., is retired from nursing. She travels and has become a pickleball enthusiast. Her email is ckeyworth@cox.net. Since 1971, Linda B. Kaufman has lived in Horseheads, N.Y., a town with Revolutionary War history. Linda was an occupational therapy classmate of ours, and after some time in the field, she got her master’s in health science at the University of Florida. She later became a school-based therapist working in early intervention. She can be reached at lbk8830@yahoo.com. Roger Keech of Naperville, Ill., retired after 38 years with F.M. Global, a large engineering property insurance firm. Now he travels, volunteers a half day weekly in the local emergency room as well as with the St. Vincent DePaul ministry, plays golf and has four “kids” and nine grands. ◆

1964 |

Polly Ashton Daniels

3190 N. State Route 89A Sedona, AZ 86336 polly.daniels@alumni.unh.edu

And the prize goes to… Richard B. Clark! Maybe there’s a little ESP going on here! Just when my deadline loomed and I realized with trembling heart that I had absolutely nothing to write, along came his note,

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expressing his guilt over never having written a word throughout all these years. You are hereby absolved of all such guilt, Dick! Dick and his wife Callie celebrated their 50th last February. They have two sons and two grandsons. For some 40 years now they have been living in Houston, Texas, after UVA in Charlottesville, where he received his doctorate in biochemistry (thanks to the chemistry department at UNH). Denver followed for two years of post-doc (and skiing!), UMass Medical School faculty for seven years and, finally, UT Medical School in Houston. He is still teaching med students and loves doing that. Retirement, however, may arrive next fall. At that point, they really aren’t clear as to what they will do or where they will go … possibly moving to be closer to the grandchildren. Options are lovely! Dick states that he would really love to hear from old UNH friends … especially track team members under Paul Sweet. Should you wish to be put through to Dick, send me a note, and I’ll pass it along. You could then add how you spent your anniversary or birthday or what you did on your summer vacation, the types of activities you enjoy and how you keep “forever young.” Kindly allow me to publicly ’fess up and admit a major faux pas in my last class column: Misidentifying Acacia fraternity brothers as members of Theta Chi. Had the correct names; just put them in incorrect houses! SO sorry, fellas! (Please see the letters page of this issue, where Bert Myer '67 sets the record straight.) Frank Brown sent along these photos from our 55th Reunion that included his wife Donna and son Peter ’84 along with Bill Sirois and wife Ellen, Peter Boughton and Marc Dion. ◆

1965 |

Jacqueline Flynn Thompson

PO Box 302, 197 Cross Hill Road Wilmot, NH 03287 thompson2004@tds.net

³ 55TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³ As you hopefully noticed in the last issue of the alumni magazine, our class will be celebrating our 55th (Can you believe it?) Reunion this June 5-7, 2020. Please consider offering to help plan this event, and even more important, put the dates on your calendar and plan to attend this fun weekend to reunite with classmates. We are sad to have to offer our Phi Mu sorority sister, Debbie Mitchell Schall ’66, sincere condolences on the death of her husband Dr. David Schall in Brunswick, Maine, on July 26. Dave and Debbie enjoyed years of traveling around the world and enjoying Dave’s hobby of flying airplanes whenever possible. Condolences also to the family of Barbara Franz Beaule, who passed away last February in North Hampton. She loved crafting, outdoor sports and gardening, among other hobbies. She worked at Elliot Hospital as assistant director of medical records for 19 years and at the Hitchcock Clinic for six years. Also deceased is John Shoucair who died in Southborough, Mass., on March 5. He earned a bachelor’s in design engineering at UNH, followed by spending most of his career at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, including working on the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. Please feel free to share happy news to pass along to your classmates and friends. ◆

COURTESY PHOTO

Class Notes


Class Notes

1967 |

Diane Deering

921 Deerwander Rd. Hollis Center, ME 04042 dndeering@yahoo.com

Congratulations to classmate artist Nancy Whitcher, who was selected to show at the Nor’easter exhibition in New Britain, Conn. Visit NCWhitcher.net to view her works. Florida snowbirds: put Nov 15 on your calendar for the fall cruise out of Punta Gorda. The annual fall event is sponsored by the SW Florida alumni chapter. On a very sad note, class president Jim Jelmberg has notified us of the passing of Bob Devantry in Newfields on May 15. Jim, Dick Knight and Bob were roommates at ATO. Bob will be remembered for his creativity, popularity, hilarious mayoralty performance and friendship. Bob majored in mechanical engineering, received his master’s in education and taught math and physics at Winnacunnet High School for 25 years, where his family has established a scholarship in his name. Our sympathies to his wife Nina and extended family. Another UNH grad, Bill Davies, died in Little Rock, Arkansas, in April at the age of 85. Bill received his degree in civil engineering while on active duty in the Air Force. He flew B-52s in Vietnam, received several meritorious military awards and retired after 21 years. Our sympathies to his wife Barbara Anne and family. We also received the news that Earl Hanson passed away on Aug. 2 in Virginia. Earl previously lived in Alfred, Maine, where he served as selectman. Earl was an Eagle Scout, a Boy Scout master, a Mason and a member of Alfred Fire and Rescue and Arrowhead Gun Club. At UNH, he was a member of Alpha Chi Sigma and Phi Kappa Alpha. Survivors include his wife Becky, son Eric, daughter Kathy, grandchildren and great-grandchild. And sadly, Lynda "Missy" Parker Etheridge Shupe was struck and killed instantly by a distracted driver while working in her front yard on June 1. In addition to UNH, she studied at the American School in Paris and met her husband Kenneth on a European cruise in 1973. Missy was an active member of Christ Church Episcopal Parish in Redding, Conn., and was employed as a bookkeeper, office manager and special projects manager before the family moved to Maine where she owned and operated Board Silly Puzzles & Games in Old Orchard Beach before retiring. Her survivors include her husband, children, stepdaughters, step-grandchildren and one step-greatgrandchild. Our condolences the family and friends of these classmates. ◆

1968 |

Angela M Piper

Weston Place DeBary, FL 32713 angelapiper28@gmail.com

Hello from sunny Florida! We have narrowly escaped hurricane Dorian. However, as we watched it climb up the east coast of Florida, there were travel changes for many of us. I spent the weekend in NYC with my older son and we went to the U.S. Open, seeing many exciting and entertaining tennis matches. I had to change travel plans twice to get back home trying to second guess mother nature. Since our reunion I have heard very little news from any of you. I did speak with

Wildcat Voices

Our UNH experiences shape our lives and also unite us — across decades, distances and disciplines — as a community of Wildcats. Come share your journey, exchange UNH stories and connect with fellow alumni, faculty and friends. We can’t wait for you to add your voice to the conversation!

E V E N T S Boston Executive Forum September 26 Natixis Investment Managers, L.P. Washington D.C. Executive Forum October 29 Honeywell Atlanta Reception November 14 Ray’s on the River, Sandy Springs Portland, Maine Reception November 19 Shipyard Brewing Co. Florida SW Coast Reception & Annual Meeting February 7, 2020 Plantation Golf & Country Club, Venice East Coast FL Reception February 9, 2020 Kimpton’s Vero Beach Hotel Houston Reception March 3, 2020 Space Center Houston

L I S T Arizona Reception March 5, 2020 Mountain Shadows Resort, Scottsdale Philadelphia Reception March 31, 2020 Location coming soon Washington D.C. Reception April 2, 2020 National Association of Manufacturers Concord, New Hampshire Executive Forum April 9, 2020 UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law New York Reception April 29, 2020 The Explorers Club Boston Reception April 30, 2020 Boston Public Library

To register for an event near you or to view photos from past events, please visit unhconnect.unh.edu/alumni-receptions

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UNH Reunion Weekend June 5 – 7, 2020 CELEBRATING THE CLASSES OF 1960 & 1961, 1965, 1970, 1980, 1995, 2010 and 2015 AND UNH AFFINITY GROUP GATHERINGS FOR The Mini Dorms and Student Senate

Come home to UNH to see old friends and make new memories. Weekend highlights include the annual Wildcat Luncheon, lobster bake, Mini Dorms Mini Fest, Brews & Bites Family Picnic, class dinners and an after-party on T-Hall lawn. Join classmates for a weekend to remember with friends you’ll never forget!

®

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT UNH.EDU/REUNIONS ONLINE REGISTRATION OPENS MARCH 1

David GaNun ’76, Steve Hurd ’76, Edith Debolt Tatulis ’75 and Meryl Adelson Dannenberg ’76 are seen at the most recent of the mini-reunions, David, Edith and Meryl have been having for many summers in New Hampshire. Thanks to the mention of Steve in a previous edition of the magazine, they were able to track him down and invite him to join them. The four had not all been together since 1976 and spent the day catching up. UNH bonds certainly do last through the years!

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Hope Cinquegrana. She and Rick are enjoying their retirement in Vermont, where they spend time with their daughter and grandchildren. Richard Feren and his wife Nancy-Ann ’75G have visited 418 national parks. The only one they have missed is in Hawaii because it is not yet open to the public, pending more archaeological work. Their 40 years of travel are documented in a book, “Not Your Average Travelers: 40 Years of Adventures in all the U.S. National Parks.” The website for this book is http://ferentravels.com. Wayne Thompson and his wife Wendy recently returned from a mission trip to Nicaragua and visited with Richard and Nancy-Ann. “Wayne also talked about his visiting Parker Dawkins in early August,” Richard writes. It looks like retirement has taken several of us on various trips and adventures. Write soon and tell us about your excursions around the country and the world. Congratulations to John W. Norton, who received his graduate degree with this class and wrote to the alumni office about the release of the first book in his “The Adventures of Eva and Buckskin Charlie” series. The book, entitled “Eva’s Secret Name,” is set in the 1870s in Colorado Territory. On another note, I am sad to report the passing of some of our classmates: Louise Watman, a teacher of physiology and biology at Somersworth High School for 29 years, and George Lawrence Gray, who worked as a counselor for the Division of Continuing Education at UNH before moving to California. ◆

1969 |

Steve Capistran

stevecapistran@gmail.com

Hope everyone enjoyed the 50th Reunion. Unfortunately, I was out of state. I had a déjà vu moment with the picture in the spring/summer edition of the shipping box used for laundry on page 55. I thought I was the only student to have one of those. A big thanks to James “Skip” Welsh, Tom Hogan’74 and Jack Young ’74 for their work on compiling a database of Phi Mu Delta brothers. The database contains 130 brothers from classes ’68 to ’76. It has been great for renewing old friendships. As of this writing, we will be having a golf outing Sept. 19 at Concord Country Club. I am sorry to report the passing of the following classmates: Leslie Hammond of Dunbarton, N.H., on Feb. 15. He was most passionate about his beloved hometown of and its residents and served the town in a multitude of capacities. Daniel Hussein of Rochester, N.H., on March 3. As a UNH senior, he served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, the youngest member ever during that time. After serving as an Army intelligence officer, he devoted his life to politics and volunteerism in Strafford County. John E. Bethel of Los Angeles, Calif., on March 10. John was a talented professional musician. He taught music in Bermuda and Exeter, N.H. Jane E. Perkins of Haverhill, N.H. on March 21. She worked as a medical technician for 30 years at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.


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Edward Phelps of Tamworth, N.H., on April 11. Ed and his wife Mary had a passion for restoring historical properties. They recently completed work at The Preserve at Chocorua, a pastoral property that will ensure a lasting family stewardship. Our condolences to all family and friends. Please contact me with news at the above email or through the alumni office. ◆

1970 |

Jan Harayda

82 Plantation Pointe #280 Fairhope, AL 36532 haraydajan@alumni.unh.edu

³ 50TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³ Up for a lobster bake? Dancing on the T-Hall lawn? A talk by a dynamic professor? You can enjoy all of those and more — including a great Class of ’70 dinner — at our 50th Reunion. It’s almost here! Our class will gather on campus June 5-7, 2020, for what promises to be our best get-together yet. Watch your mail and email for details of this exciting chance to reconnect with old friends and make new ones as we enjoy a fun-filled weekend in Durham. Visit unh.edu/reunions and join the “UNH Class of 1970” Facebook page to learn more. Does UNH have your correct mail or email address? If not, email alumni@unh.edu so you won’t miss a reunion mailing. Or contact me or another member of the reunion committee: David Abbey, Craig Abbott, Edrina Kilbashian Barsamian, Jane Spurway Brandt, Ryan Brandt, Brad Cook, Jeff Crane, Steve de Graaf, Jim Fiore, Carmen Frattaroli, Bill Gardner,

David Gottesman, Eric Halvorson, Maryevelyn Monte, Susan Pratt Mooney, Lynda Corriveau Lubelczyk, Joan Slavin Rice, Jane Simon Stricker and Nan Winterbottom. Nan is coordinating a memorial service that will honor classmates who have died, and other committee members are working on a Golden Granite “yearbook” for our reunion; be sure to fill out the questionnaire you’ll get about it so we can include your “big picture” view of your life after UNH. Now is also a good time contribute to the Class of 1970 gift to UNH that we’ll present to the university at the reunion. To donate online, go to unhconnect.unh.edu and choose “Class Gift.” Your contribution will count to toward the class gift if you give to any university fund. If you’d like to talk about other options for giving or funds that might need your help, email Katie Oslin at Katie.Oslin@unh. edu. Did you attend UNH with the Class of 1970 but left before graduation or ended up a few credits short and graduated with ’71? You can self-designate as Class of ’70 and get reunion mailings if you tell the alumni office you’d like them. Our newest self-designated member is Sharyn Hale Mann. After leaving UNH, Sharyn was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maine in Augusta and Farmington, teaching speech-language pathology while maintaining a private practice in stuttering therapy. A former resident of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Sharyn lives in Diamondhead, Mississippi, and has a daughter and two stepsons. We are so sorry to have lost three classmates: Jeff Brummer of Boston, Donald P. Cole III of Portland, Maine, and Bruce

UNH dining hall salad bowl, 1960s, gift of Becky Marden ’69.

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Class Notes

Parliman of Greenville, South Carolina. Please search online for their obituaries to read about their many accomplishments. Many of us knew Jeff not just as a classmate but as a founding member of the Clamshell Alliance, which helped to a launch a national anti-nuclear-power movement. ◆

1971 |

Debbi Martin Fuller

276 River St. Langdon, NH 03602 (603) 835-6753 debbifuller3@gmail.com

Briand T. Wade, who earned both undergraduate and JD degrees from UNH, was selected as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester’s new associate general counsel and began in his new role July 1. Bishop Peter Libasci writes that Wade “brings a wealth of experience,” and is “the right person for this position."

No one has reached out this time with news, so I will tell you that if you want a fantastic vacation, you should consider going to Scotland and taking the Royal Scotsman train! I did this with two of my Pan Am friends and a work colleague. We made it a “girl trip,” and it exceeded all of my expectations. Three of us are huge “Outlander” fans, so seeing the Fraser memorial at Culloden was so cool, and we even stayed for three nights at Culloden House near the battlefield and Inverness. The train trip was four nights. It is owned by the same people who own the Orient Express, and it was just as elegant. We all had our own rooms with bath! We were never far from the next exotic drink or a trip to a distillery, and they fed us like royalty. Every time we left the train for an excursion to a castle or a lake or to go clay pigeon shooting, the chef left as well and shopped for local fish and veggies! It was amazing. The Scots are very welcoming and a lot of fun. They appreciated that I bothered to learn some songs and also to recite the first two parts of “Tam O’Shanter,” which I was able to do after a few “wee drams”! I flew home on Iceland Air so I could make a two-night stop in Reykjavik, which I had never seen. Amazing place! On a sad note, Keith Swartz of Guilford. Conn., passed away. He was a forester, the owner of an architectural millwork business and in recent years a supporter of SARAH programs for persons with intellectual and other disabilities. He was a loving husband and father. In addition to UNH, he also attended Paul Smith College and received his MBA from Boston College. Please send me your news! ◆

— 1978

1973 |

Joyce Dube Stephens

33 Spruce Lane Dover, NH 03820 joycedube@comcast.net

Sadly, I only have obituaries to report for this issue. All of the following alumni passed away during this past winter. Genevieve R. Radzukinas Haseltine of Haverhill, Mass., 92, received her master’s in education from UNH and taught in the Haverhill system until her retirement. Linda F. Ingraham of Pittsburgh, Pa., 70, worked with Aetna Life and Casualty, and later became a substitute teacher for the public schools in Pittsburgh. Wayne W. Justham of Saco, Maine, 80, first worked as student activities director at UNH and Juanita College in Pennsylvania. He later worked at the Smithfield Corrections Institution in that state and the Department of Human Services in Maine. For the last 17 years, Wayne worked his "retirement job" at the South Portland Home Depot in the plumbing and hardware departments. Robert S. McCarthy of Ontario, Canada, 67, had a passion for sports that led

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him to training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs and a professional career in lacrosse. This experience inspired him to develop athletes for 30 years as a volunteer coach in minor hockey and lacrosse. Robert later worked for Norampac in a variety of positions. Mary Sysyn of Manchester, 89, was a former alderman and restauranteur at Mr. Steak in Manchester. She was also a self-employed Avon salesperson for many years. Please send me updated news on your lives and experiences! ◆

1974 |

Jean Marston-Dockstader

51 Londonderry Rd. Windham, NH 03087 UNH1974@alumni.unh.edu

The alumni office received the sad news that Raymond G. Gauthier, who went on to earn both a M.S. in mechanical engineering in 1977 and a doctorate in systems engineering and management operations in 1979 from UNH, passed away on Aug. 12 after a brief illness. Ray worked as a research professor at UNH from 1979 to 1986. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in instrumentation and laboratory measurements, control systems and computer modeling of nonlinear dynamic systems. Ray was awarded four patents in the area of motion control. Ray and Linda, his wife of 42 years, moved back to New Hampshire 16 years ago, settling in Greenland, where his hobbies and interests included music, restoring McIntosh amplifiers and vintage stereo equipment, attending church and spending time with his family and friends. In addition to Linda, survivors include his mother Yvonne, son Jamie and his wife Maria, as well as his grandchildren, brothers, nieces and nephews. Our condolences to Ray’s family and friends ◆

1976 |

Susan Ackles Alimi

48 Fairview Drive Fryeburg, ME 04037 suealimi@gmail.com

Glenn Coppelman writes, “Following a 23-year career in private industry and a shift to the public sector in community planning and economic development, I retired from full-time work in 2014. I continue to do consulting work in town and regional planning, plus a bit of grant writing on the side. I remain active on town boards in Kingston, N.H., as well as operating Evergreen Farm where I have grown choose-and-cut Christmas trees for 35 years — a practical application of my natural resources degree from UNH.” Harland Harold Reid II passed away Nov. 23, 2017. He earned a law degree from the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. Harland served as assistant general counsel at the Nissan Corporation. He was a history lover and fishing, boating and cooking enthusiast. ◆

1977 |

Lois Kelly

35 Newell Dr. Cumberland, RI 02864 lkelly@foghound.com

Nancy Waldman Taft and her husband Kirk Taft ’76 left what they thought would be their “forever” retirement home in Centennial, Wy, in 2015 to try


Class Notes

1978 |

Carol Scagnelli Edmonds

75 Wire Rd. Merrimack, NH 03054 c.edmonds@alumni.unh.edu

The alumni office received word that Briand T. Wade, who graduated with our class and went on to receive his law degree from the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law in 1982, was selected to serve as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester’s new associate general counsel and began work at the diocese on July 1. Briand previously practiced law in the Seacoast for 30-plus years as a partner at Loughlin & Wade and founding member of Wade Law Firm. He has been actively involved in the New Hampshire Bar Association. A father of three daughters, Briand is also a youth and high school girls’ lacrosse coach, founder of a web-based publishing company and an eighthgrade faith-formation teacher at Saint Theresa Parish in Rye. Professor Kenneth Steuer, 61, died March 2019 in Mattawan, Mich. He attended UNH, earning a B.A. in history and later earned an M.A. in political science and a doctorate in history from the University of Minnesota. Ken taught history and international studies at various universities throughout his career. Mostly, he loved being with his family. He was a faithful member of Immanuel Lutheran Church and is survived by his wife Susan, mother Dot, daughters and grandchildren. William Stuart, 88, of Conway, N.H., died peacefully in February after a long illness. Bill graduated from the UNH School of Forestry and then served in the Navy

A Shared Experience

F

or many alumni, what connects them most closely to UNH isn’t necessarily their graduating class — it’s a shared experience in a residence hall, student group, major, athletics or fraternity and sorority life. At this year’s reunion in June, almost 40 alumni who were residents of Smith Hall in the 1990s and early 2000s gathered in the place they had lived as students to reconnect and reminisce. Today an administrative building and the home of UNH admissions, Smith was once UNH’s international dorm, housing students from all over the world. During reunion weekend, international flags that formerly adorned Smith were again hung in honor of the hall’s former occupants. “I always thought we had something very special at Smith Hall,” says Nikos Livadas ’92, one of the “Smithies” who returned to Durham for the event. “This past reunion reconfirmed that conviction. It was great meeting everyone all over again as adults.” Livadas’ fellow Smithie Erica Luongo ’91 concurs. “Words can’t possibly describe how much the four days meant to me,” she says. “Who knew seeing all my Smithie friends was exactly what I needed?” Since 2017, UNH has hosted affinity gatherings during reunion weekend to bring together Wildcats across class years and even decades who have shared a common experience. Past affinity groups have included ROTC members, alums who served as residence hall assistants in the 1990s, McGregor EMS volunteers and a number of fraternities and sororities. Affinity gatherings for next year’s reunion — June 5–7, 2020 — will include mini-dorms and student senate. As for the Smithies? The 2019 gathering was so successful that organizer Brittany Williams ’94, ’99G says some attendees are planning yearly reunions in other locations, leading up to the next Smith Hall Reunion on campus in 2024. “What an absolute blast to spend the weekend with dear friends 25 years later,” she says. “It felt like we never left.” 

JEREMY GASOWSKI / UNH

something new for Retirement 2.0. They landed in Gig Harbor, Wash., on the west side of Puget Sound. They continue to travel as much as possible, while it’s still possible, and Nancy makes sure to take along a UNH baseball cap wherever they go. On most trips, that cap leads to at least one encounter with fellow alumni, no matter where they are in the world. Their new home base also brought them closer to fellow UNH alumni Linda Doherty Fels and her husband Jim Fels ’75, as well as Kirk’s UNH roommate Dan Stanton ’76 and his brother Fred Taft ’80, all of whom live in Washington and Oregon. I had such a wonderful time catching up with Wayne D. King on one of his podcasts earlier this year. Wayne lost his wife and best friend Alice last year, and as he struggled to find meaning, he turned to his artistic, activist and political roots. Wayne launched two podcasts, “The Radical Centrist” and “N.H. Secrets, Legends and Lore,” published an eco-thriller novel, “Sacred Trust,” and was honored by the New England Newspaper and Press Association for his political column, “The View from Rattlesnake Ridge.” Wayne’s generous spirit, creativity and insatiable curiosity is ageless. Former journalist and civil rights and environmental activist Nora Machado Tuthill recently died in Exeter, N.H., at the age of 90. Nora, born in Toronto, moved to Exeter in 1953 to raise four sons with her husband John Tuthill and graduated in 1977 at the age of 48. She then became a respected journalist, community leader and mentor to many who aspired to be like her, full of humor, wisdom, strength and kindness. Be sure to check out the UNH Class of 1977 Facebook group, and do send along your news! Until next time. ◆

Learn how we can support your affinity group reunion by emailing reunion.weekend@unh.edu, or find out more at unh.edu/reunion.

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Class Notes

for classmates to help with the planning of the event. A Facebook group, UNH1980, has been set up. If interested, drop her an email at corena.garnas@unh. edu. This will be my last column as class secretary. I have enjoyed over 20 years of hearing everyone’s news. UNH Magazine will be looking for someone to take over this duty, so please email classnotes.editor@unh.edu or call the alumni office if interested. ◆

1981 | Four UNH alums, all members of Team LUNGSTRONG, completed the two-day, 163mile bike ride from Wellesley to Provincetown, Mass., in the 2019 Pan-Mass Challenge in August. Pictured are Careyanne DiNisco Davis ’93, Jess Johnson Catino ’93, Don Catino ’94 and Robin Peters Schell ’84. Team LUNGSTRONG, led by 14-year lung cancer survivor Diane Legg, is 81 riders strong and raised $500,000 for lung cancer research in this year’s ride. For more information, visit www. lungstrong.org.

for two years. He and his wife Sheila married in 1969. They moved to Conway where they lived for 45 years. Bill had a great interest in the railroad, and he loved old trains and steam trains. He also loved the Boston Red Sox and nature and all its beauty. He was a communicant of Our Lady of the Mountains Church and loved to be part of the church community. He was predeceased by his wife Sheila. ◆

1980 |

Anne M. Getchell

P.O. Box 2211 Conway, NH 03818 agetch88@gmail.com

³ 40TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³ I heard from Rick Groleau, who is looking forward to the upcoming 40th reunion for the Class of 1980. It is hard to believe that 40 years have gone by. He has been working in higher education in New Hampshire, Arizona and now Rhode Island — a little closer to home and to UNH for the reunion next summer. Bill Gardocki gave an update. His wife Gail ’81, son Tom ’09 and daughter Laura ’14 all graduated from UNH as well. Since I live in Conway, N.H., he noted that after graduation he was the first agriculture teacher in the new vocational wing at Kennett High. He then went on to teach at Alvrine in Hudson. He left teaching for his current job of doing landscape construction in Londonderry.For the last six years he has been lucky enough to teach landscape construction classes at the Thompson School. He says it has been great to get back to the campus and see all the new and exciting building going on. Our 40th Reunion is June 5 – 7, 2020. Corena Garnas, associate director of alumni engagement, reunions, is looking

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Caroline McKee Anderson

P.O. Box 3082 Bourne, MA 02532 c.anderson@alumni.unh.edu

Today, I’m going to encourage you to reconnect with UNH. In April, I was invited by the communication department to serve as a guest judge for the Undergraduate Research Conference. Wow! Do these students have it all together. I was greatly impressed by the quality of their research and their poise in presenting it to faculty members and peers. It was also wonderful to meet the stellar faculty who are leading this department. And, it gave me a chance to reconnect with one of my favorite — and best — professors, Joshua Meyrowitz. And, it was great to see the beautiful campus. In meeting with staff from the alumni office, I learned they’re always looking for volunteers. You can offer career advice to students, join a regional chapter group or volunteer for the reunion committee. I was reminded (ugh!) that we will be celebrating our 40th Reunion in 2021. Where has the time gone? The 1979-80 Dijon, France, alumni group is doing a practice run for the 40th. Five of us — Bob Dunigan, Tracy Patton Longo ’82, Marianne DiMascio, Laura Hartop Kalnajs and I will meet in Paris in October. We’ll begin our trip by recreating our train trip to Dijon: This time we all plan to disembark (deux minutes arrêtes). We’re still hoping that a couple more might join us. We extend our condolences to the family and friends of Francis “Skip” Quinn, who passed away on Feb. 7. After graduation, he and his wife owned a restaurant, Skip and Mary’s, in Derry. They and partner Dave Dearborn then took over the Quinn family business, Protocol Communications. After selling Protocol, he continued as an entrepreneur, investing in businesses and starting a landscaping and snowplow business in Leominster, Mass. He was a member of Oak Hill Country Club and a passionate golfer, enjoying thousands of rounds in the U.S. and UK. Above all, he was devoted to his family and loved the laughter and camaraderie of large family celebrations at home and in Scotland. He is survived by his daughter Maire T. Whitney, son Michael F. Quinn and grandsons Aidan Whitney and Samuel Morales. He was predeceased by his wife Mary K. McLoughlin Quinn. ◆

1984 |

Robin Peters Schell

5 Ashley Drive, Amesbury, MA 01913 rschell@jjwpr.com text: 603-770-3607

The Big ’80s Reunion is one that will go down in the record books — literally — drawing almost 500 people from the Classes of 1984, ’85 and ’86, with some UNH alums from the shoulder classes also represented. Highlights included watching old friends embrace at


Alumni Profile By Benjamin Gleisser

T

he night sky has special meaning for Glenn Delgado ’84, associate administrator in the Office of Small Business Programs at NASA. When he gazes up and knows the International Space Station may be passing overhead, he’s filled with pride because he helped contribute to the creation of that feat of aerospace technology. He feels the same pride — and a lot of awe — when he sees photographs of Martian landscapes beamed back to Earth on his computer. The images are generated by Curiosity, NASA’s robotic Mars rover. “Lots of those pictures make me go “Whoa!’” Delgado says. “So many small businesses have contributed to the Space Station, and many pieces of Curiosity were built by small businesses. I take a lot of pride in that because, in a sense, I helped build them by arranging contracts that went into their creation.” He’s also pleased that UNH will help develop the Geosynchronous Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) for NASA. Though Delgado wasn’t directly involved in the GLIMR project, which will study coastal ecosystems on Earth, he says NASA is dedicated to protecting our natural resources. “Humanity won’t be around long if we don’t take care of the planet,” he says. Delgado believes it’s important that NASA’s mission directors ensure that a good portion of their service and manufacturing contracts go to small businesses. “Small business is the heart of our economy,” he says. “Small businesses hold four times more patents than large businesses do. Walk down the main street of any town — every storefront lining that street is a small business. If we don’t help small businesses, our nation’s economy will die.” When Delgado joined NASA in 2006, he began implementing new procedures that made it easier for small businesses to qualify for contracts. In 2014, those companies received $4.8 billion in contracts; by 2018, that number had swelled to $5.8 billion, a 22 percent growth. His good work didn’t go unnoticed. In 2009, the Small Business Association recognized his new policies with a Federal Government Best Practices citation. In 2010, he received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. In addition, the Congressional Black Caucus honored him with the Small Business Champion Living Legends Award. The awards are gratifying, but Delgado credits his success to the people who work in the office with him, and his parents for instilling within him a strong work ethic.

“I come from the projects in New York City, and my parents worked hard to send me to a Catholic school,” he says. “My father, John, was a supply clerk at Sears, and he told us, ‘No matter what you want to be, whether it’s president of the United States or a janitor cleaning toilets, you do the best job you can do.’” After graduating high school, Delgado joined the Air Force to help cover the cost of college, then applied to UNH because “it was ranked the second-best school in health studies in the nation,” he says. “I attended classes from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., then worked at a hospital from 4 to midnight.” He graduated with a degree in health administration and strategic planning, with the aim of going into hospital administration, then received an MBA from Marymount University. Instead, he joined the Department of the Navy’s Office of Small Business Programs and later served as the director of small business for the Naval Air Systems Command before going to NASA, where he continues to watch the skies. “Space exploration is a good thing,” he says. “We need to see what’s out there. It’s pretty small-minded to think that we’re the only life in the universe. But I’m not the guy to do it,” he adds with a laugh. “I’m too claustrophobic to sit in a space capsule.” ²

JEFFREY MACMILL AN / PHOTO ILLUSTRATION WITH BACKGROUND COMPLIMENTS OF NASA

Watcher of the Skies


Alana Campbell ’06 and Matthew Hunt ’04 were married on Aug. 18, 2018. Matt double-majored in history and outdoor education, and Alana studied nursing. “We did not meet while at UNH but years later, discovering we have many mutual UNH friends,” Alana writes. “It was so fun to have all of our UNH crew, new and old, at our wedding.” ▼

Emily Checkoway Ellis ’10 and Drew Ellis ’09 were married on June 29 in Harvard, Mass. UNH alumni who attended included Michael McCann ’08, Michael Peretto ’08, Kevin Guillette ’08, Chris Ellis ’81, Michael Checkoway ’14, Katie Ellis ’16, Donna Ellis ’83, Jamie Rauscher ’09, Julie Langevin Kakley ’10, Alexandria Scott ’10, Kelly Hamilton ’10, Danielle Chow Brannelly ’10, Amanda Copeland ’10 and Tim Brannelly ’10, pictured above. Dave Ellis ’78, Kim Blank ’18G and Troy Ellis ’14 also attended.

▼ Nicole Boole Yerganian Woeste ’08 and Matt Woeste were married on June 9, 2018, in Mashpee, Mass. Nicole earned her degree in business administration and is a senior manager for integrated marketing at Disney/ABC Television. UNH alumni in attendance included Donna Boole Yerganian ’80, Lauren Murphy Hummel ’08, Jill Schneider Hubbell ’08, Hayley Colleran ’08, Maeve Connell Lawler ’08, Kathryn Violick Boole ’78, Karen McCormick ’79, Kathy Donnelly Smith ’80, Philip Boole ’77, Kevin Smith ’79, John Vreeland ’79, Sue LaCroix Vreeland ’79 and Chad Hummel ’08. Nicole, Matt and their daughter Ella live in Darien, Conn. ▼ ▼

Kayla Santello ’15 and Eric Hadley ’11 were married on June 21 in Boston, Mass., and became #HadleyEverAfter, photographed here by Sacred Harbor Photography. Most of the wedding party featured UNH grads. ▼

Sarah Maskwa Gurney ’13 and Charles Gurney ’13 were married recently with many UNH alumni in attendance, including Paul Maskwa ’70, Dr. James Frangos ’72, Dr. Argeris Karabelas ’74, Paula Frangos Maskwa ’74, Eloise Meader Karabelas ’76, Michael Maskwa ’76, Donna Erickson Maskwa ’77, Dennis Frangos ’85, Nick Mitropoulos ’87, Erin Turcotte Maskwa ’06, James Maskwa ’07, Carissa Perkins Maskwa ’07, Dr. Andrew Frangos ’09, Katherine Maskwa ’10, Lilly Frangos ’10, Jillian Garcia Miner ’10, Jon Miner ’10, Daniel Maskwa ’10, Jenn Alex ’11, Anna Miner Richie ’11, Ben Briggs ’13, Jori Arzoumanian Briggs ’13, Stephanie Garcia ’13, Caitlin Christo Farnham ’13, Gina Guadagnoli ’13, Julia Pelczarski Gurney ’13, Justin Lalumiere ’14, Kyle Merrill ’14, Rebecca Maskwa ’16, Colin MacNamee ’16 and photographer Alanna Hogan ’16.


Kylerose Delaney ’14 and Jeffrey Herman ’14 were married in Darien, Conn., on New Year’s Eve 2019. “We met at a NYE party 2014,” the bride writes. More than 30 UNH alumni — ranging from the classes of 1982 to 2016 — attended the wedding.

Brittany Weaver Matthews ’10, ’15G married Christopher Matthews on Aug. 17 at Brittany’s family homestead, the Governor Prescott House, in Epping, N.H. Many Wildcats were in attendance. Pictured are Mark Weaver ’84, Maggie Weaver, Amy McPhee ’94, Danielle Minutelli Lisowski ’08, Lauren Arcidi Varney ’10, Kerry McHugh Holmes ’11, Jenna Riley, Julie Dietrich, Christian Seasholtz ’15. ’24G, Christine Snively ’09G, Vanessa Bennett ’10, Erin Thesing ’10, David Jacobsen ’11, Kaitlyn Dowling ’11, former N.H. Sen. Mandy Merrill ’74 and Ken Fuld, former COLA dean. Brittany and Chris reside in the Washington, D.C., metro area, where Brittany works for Sen. Maggie Hassan as senior policy advisor for education and workforce and also serves as co-president of the UNH regional alumni network.

▼ Amanda Raye Adams Leger ’11 and Samuel T. Leger ’12 were married on April 27 in Tilton, N.H., and had a special guest appearance at their wedding. They also had many Wildcat alumni on hand to celebrate. Fun fact: Amanda and Sam met playing broomball!

Ashley Ahl-Gendron ’09 and Eric Gendron ’09 were married in September 2018 at Moody Mountain Farm in Wolfeboro, N.H., with many UNH alumni present. They met via mutual friends during their junior year in 2008 and now live in Lee, N.H., with their dog Riley. Eric and Ashley both recently celebrated their 10-year employment anniversaries with their companies, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Liberty Mutual Insurance. ▼

▼ Vicky Linares ’09 ’10G and Jeffrey Lopardo ’09 ’10G were married on May 10 in Cape Cod. UNH alumni in attendance, all from the Class of 2009, included Ryan Tebbetts, Heather Tebbetts, Marc Bamberger, Joe Super, Jonny Lemoine, Ben Bancroft, Steph Bamberger, Alex Koulet, Cris Hawk Farrin, Adrienne Koulet, Derek Smith, Patrick Paul, Tim Rooney, Lydia Smith, Evan Gray and Alicia Rooney.


Class Notes

®

BECOME A CHAMPION FOR UNH VOLUNTEER Your time, passion and expertise can make a world of difference to UNH, from recruiting new Wildcats to mentoring current students to helping build strong UNH communities around the country. We’d be delighted to match your interests and availability with a meaningful alumni volunteer role.

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Cindy Leigh JuppJones passed away in August after a two-year illness. Her adventurous nature, incredible work ethic and visual aesthetic led her to an awardwinning television career.

— 1985

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unhconnect.unh.edu/alumnivolunteer

the Hilton Garden Inn welcome reception; the kickoff reception at Jumpin’ Jays Fish Café — shout-out to Jay McSharry ’90 for laying out an incredible seafood feast for 200; dancing ’til the wee hours at RiRa Irish Pub in Portsmouth; the presentation of the class gift checks on Saturday afternoon and evening, followed by beer tasting and the music of the Soggy Po’ Boys; the Greek Life mixer; the Big ’80s dinner at the Hamel Rec Center and the live drawing for the orange Shock-Top beach bicycle, won by Carol Waisgerber Seidel; the dance party under the tent on the T-hall lawn and Sunday’s farewell brunch. If you missed it, visit the Classes of 84-85-86 Facebook page for photos. Thanks to the generosity of our ’84 classmates, we were able to establish the Class of ’84 Scholarship in honor of our 35th year as UNH alums. So far, we have raised $15,000; we hope to create an endowed scholarship by raising at least $50,000 in the next two years. To donate, visit unh.edu/ give and click on the orange “give” button; then choose other, fill in The Class of 1984 Scholarship Fund and indicate the amount you wish to donate. Gifts of any amount are welcome! Lisa Gagne Martin was unable to attend our class reunion, but she and I had a long overdue visit this spring when she volunteered to help us raise some scholarship funds at one of our phone-athons. I knew she had been participating in triathlons for the past 10 years, but until her husband Paul told us she competed in the IM Canada and IM Canada 70.3 in July

and finished sixth, just two minutes shy of a 2019 IM 70.3 World Championship slot, I had no idea what a true competitor she was. Well done Lisa! Anita Brown also missed Reunion Weekend, but she wrote to let us know she was awarded a 2019 New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Composer Commission grant for her three-movement piece entitled “Hart Island Suite.” The piece honors the one-million souls who rest on Hart Island, NYC’s Potters Field, by revealing a poignant family story. We received the sad news that Allyson Powlus of Burlington, Vermont, passed away on Dec. 10, 2018. She is survived by her husband Lee of 32 years, and three children, Caitlin, Ryan and Ian. Mary McCarthy of Nashua died suddenly on Jan. 10. She is survived by her husband and three sons. Our condolences to both families. Please send me your news. ◆

1985 |

Julie Colligan Spak

116 Longfields Way Downingtown, PA 19335-4486 juliecspak@gmail.com

The Big ’80s Reunion was a huge success with 500 of our UNH classmates in attendance. The alumni office received the sad news that Cindy Leigh Jupp-Jones, 60, of Lee, passed away in the early hours of Aug. 31, surrounded by her family. Cindy graduated from Milford Area High School in1977 and worked for several years to pay her way through UNH, where she pursued her


Class Notes

DE AR BIG '80s CLA SSM

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Reunion, we wanted to say been closed on our Big ’80s e hav ks boo the and e don highest e been smates exceeded even our Now that all the reviews hav out of 500 of our UNH clas turn A e. Jun in us ed join you who 24 states and the District of thanks once again to all of from out- of-state — we had those of you who traveled to ks than cial Spe s! tion expecta tsmouth and Durham. attend the festivities in Por Columbia represented — to

lic. Our Flickr Album led a Flickr album at https://f • Freeze Frame: Check Out ebook page updates, assemb Fac c asti fant our ase ind Ple beh d. ind took throughout the weeken Elaine Walczak, the masterm s the UNH photographers ure pict y man the from ts ligh kr/s/aHsmFzkbZp with high friends and classmates. y and forward it on to other mar sum to pho 60this enjoy mittee Rocks! nt hours on email, Facebook, • Our Big 80’s Reunion Com Reunion Committee who spe ’80s Big the of s ber mem 30 out. A shout-out to our top Many thanks to the more than and produce our record turn couphone to recruit classmates old d goo the , yes , rie Holbrook. These three and Lau Twitter a Powlowsky and Mark and bar Bar and d har Ric , riss Bar recruiters: Jay and Debbie attendees. 100 than e mor d uite recr ples ls and Sponsors e ambitious fundraising goa • Thank You to Our Donors , our committee also set som nds frie ege coll with r d thei ken wee s of ’85 and ’86 increased In addition to hosting a fun ed the challenge. The Classe wer ans tes sma d clas buil to our and w alumni, we were able for our class scholarships, generosity of friends and fello the h oug Thr ! time h 4 eac 198 it ed In addition, the Class of goal three times and exceed nce of more than $10 4,00 0! an Scholarship Fund to a bala d owe End 6 5/8 198 of working on building that to ss be will the Cla ,00 0 in new donations and $15 r ove just with fund ship later this year. was able to star t a scholar more news on that project ,00 0 by 2021. Stay tuned for $50 of l leve ship olar sch d endowe tune of corporate sponsors to the H alums who stepped up as UN and tes sma clas w a comk our fello te who owned or managed We want to especially than When asked, every classma nts. eve d ken wee ir our The for t. t suppor provided critical suppor some $25,00 0 in gifts and efforts stepped forward and nion reu our for ded nee we ducts pany whose ser vices or pro have a first-class weekend. to us wed allo y trul sity genero of e who made leadership gifts ship funds, especially thos olar sch s clas our to en’t uted hav contrib the good news: If you Thank you to everyone who s scholarship funds. Here’s “give” nion programs and our clas reu our t por sup to e e/ and click on the orange mor or /giv $1,0 00 visit https://w ww.unh.edu ate, don To ! time still ate. is e don yet, ther the amount you wish to had a chance to contribute wish to donate to and indicate you fund ship olar sch the fill in but ton, then choose “other,” e! com wel are unt amo any Gifts of in. We , Phebe Moore and Katie Osl e par tners Corena Garnas offic ni alum H UN our in to ut them ut-o ortunity to debrief with Last but not least, a huge sho out their help. We had an opp with nt eve ry e dina aor hug a extr this ass reunion concept was couldn’t have pulled together ryone agreed that the multi-cl Eve s. nion reu re er futu eith for in d g be use on our nex t gatherin June, offering feedback to se stay tuned for information eat it going forward. So, plea rep to try uld sho nion and the reconnections we Reu and s succes e, memories of our Big ’80s ntim mea the In . nion Reu h our 40t 2024 or 2025 to celebrate will live on forever! ago long from nds with frie k you again to everyone, Signing off for now, and than Peters Schell ’84 John Davis ’85 and Robin Big ’80s Reunion Co- Chairs

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Class Notes

love of photography and storytelling and earned her bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in art in 1985. “Cindy’s adventurous nature, incredible work ethic and visual aesthetic helped her begin and sustain an award-winning career in television that opened doors to the world,” her obituary states. Early in her career, she met her life-partner Scott Jones ’87, and with their children Addison and Tyler, they traveled, hiked, sailed and skied every opportunity they had. Her family writes, “Cindy will always be remembered for her engaging smile, devotion to her children, desire and enthusiasm to share and a gift to make every moment special. She had a remarkable ability to make friends easily and maintain those close bonds over time and distance. Even during her last two years of living with illness, her smile was a blessed and reassuring gift to is all. " In addition to Scott and their children, survivors include her brother Tim Jupp and his wife Chris, brother Tyler Jupp and his wife Heidi, nieces, nephews, aunt, uncle and many other beloved relatives across the country. The family has asked that those who wish to remember Cindy consider a gift to a scholarship they have set up in her name at UNH. Donations may be sent to UNH Foundation c/o The Cindy Jupp-Jones Memorial Fund for the UNH Department of Communication, 9 Edgewood Road, Durham, NH 03824 or online at www.unh.edu/give with a reference to The Cindy Jupp-Jones Memorial Fund. Our sincere condolences to Cindy’s family and friends. ◆

Barry Zimmerman earned The Bulfinch Group’s “Five Star Wealth Manager” award for the sixth straight year. The award is given annually to financial managers identified by peers and firms for their exceptional work. — 1986

1986 |

Now that all the reviews have been done and the books have been closed, the Big ’80s Reunion Committee wants to say thanks to all of you who were part of the very memorable UNH Reunion Weekend. The alumni office received the news that Barry D. Zimmerman of The Bulfinch Group earned the Five Star Wealth Manager award earlier this year. The award is given annually to financial managers who are identified through research conducted with peers and firms. Barry has received the award each year for the past six years. Congratulations! ◆

1987 |

Tina Napolitano Savoia

5 Samuel Path Natick, MA 01760 savoia@comcast.net

Greetings, everyone! I have received a few notes from our classmates. Paul Ratcliffe and his wife Lisa live in Farmington, Conn. Paul works in sales and service with Suburban Sports and is a USPTA tennis pro with Big Sky Fitness and Tennis Club in Farmington. Paul and the New England USTA ’18 men’s tennis team finished in the top four of 68 teams. The team also again won the GHTL ’18 summer clay court title this year. Linda Deveau Nutter is a school nurse at Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett, Mass. Linda lives in Mattapoisett with her husband Matt and three children. Michael Hale is the general manager for SELCO, town of Shrewsbury. Mike lives in Shrewsbury with his wife Vanessa. Craig Dikeman is the manager of materials procurement at Eversource in the Boston area. Craig lives in Pepperell, Mass., with his wife Kim. I am sad to write that Alvin Clark passed away recently. He was a dairy farmer and forester for many years and was the owner of Clark’s Sugar House and Valley View Bison LLC. Philip O’Leary also passed away recently, having lived in the Portsmouth area most of his life. Please continue to send along your news! ◆

1988 |

Wally Jenkins reminds us what 30-plus years of friendship look like, sharing photos of himself with fellow 1988 alums and Lambda Chi Alpha brothers Marc Mitchell, Chris Ploss, Phil Vogel and Scott Ouellette at graduation (top) and at a Lambda alumni weekend in April.

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Stephanie Creane King

93 Channing Rd. Belmont, MA 02478 s.king@alumni.unh.edu

Beth D. Simpson-Robie

P.O. Box 434 Kennebunk, ME 04043 bgsrobie@alumni.unh.edu

Greetings all! Thank you, and congratulations to the following who have shared their news via social media. For those of you not connected to our class page on Facebook, please come on board: Visit UNH Class of 1988 and request to join! Have a new job or career change? New family members? Moved to a new location? Please share an update; we all truly love to hear what is happening in our Wildcat class. Christopher Leavy writes that he is entering his 13th year as resident music director for the Winter Park Playhouse in Orlando, Fla. Sounds like a great place for classmates to visit on vacation! He is also still entertaining part-time at Walt Disney World. Jenna Klein Moore is the new operations manager at Purgatory Beer Company, a craft brewery in Whitinsville, Mass. She pointed out that it would be the perfect sport for a gathering of southern


Class Notes

New England alums. Karl Leinsing has developed another new medical device that helps save lives. It is a trachea alarm that alerts caregivers when the trachea tube comes out of the trachea. Check out more information at www.atechdesigns.com. Karl is also happy to share that he has finally found his forever girl, Amy McMath. Wally Jenkins shared a great “before and after” picture of himself, Marc Mitchell, Chris Ploss, Phil Vogel and Scott Ouellette at UNH Graduation in 1988 and at the Lambda Chi Alpha Alumni Weekend in April. The alumni office sends word of the passing of Elizabeth Johnson Pare DeCourcey in April at the age of 82. She was a longtime and well-respected teacher in the Oyster River and York, Maine, school districts for over 40 years and earned her master’s in education from UNH in 1988 while working full-time and helping her four children through college. ◆

1989 |

David L. Gray

131 Holmes Ave. Darien, CT 06820 david.gray@alumni.unh.edu

Brad Roberts, who has decades of experience in all aspects of geotechnical and environmental engineering efforts across projects in New England, has been named to the board of directors at GZA. The company writes, “His professional insight and industry knowledge is expected to help further advise and grow the company across GZA’s offices in New England, the Great Lakes region and beyond.” Congratulations to Brad. ◆

1991 |

Christina Ayers Quinlan

406 S. Columbia St. Naperville, IL 60540 chris.a.quinlan@gmail.com

Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, a member of the UNH Athletic Hall of Fame for women’s hockey, soccer and lacrosse and went on to receive her graduate degree in physical education from UNH in 1994, is featured in a June article from The Washington Post on her son Jack Hughes, who was a potential top pick in the NHL draft. “Ellen Hughes played with the U.S. women’s national hockey team in the early 1990s, and she played soccer against some of the members of the 1999 World Cup champions,” the report states. “Jack’s success is as much of a tribute to his mother as to anyone in the men’s game.” Susan G. Reeves, who received her Master of Science degree with our class, was recently granted faculty emeriti status from the Colby-Sawyer Board of Trustees. Congratulations! ◆

1995 |

Tammy Ross

22 St. Ann’s Ave Peabody, MA 01960 tross8573@yahoo.com

³ 25TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³ Fellow '95ers, it's hard to believe it's been almost 25 years since we graduated from UNH, but it's not too early to start thinking about our 25th Reunion, which will take place next June 5-7. Please mark your calendars now and plan to join your classmates for a weekend of

An intrepid group of ’95ers — Kevin Ratigan, Adam Butler, Mike Benoit, Jeff Noseworthy, Brian Baldizar, Ty Gould and Khris Scott — gathered in Revelstoke, British Columbia, last winter. —1995

food and fun in Durham! In other news, Exeter resident and retired Stratham Police Chief John Scippa has been named director of the Northern Essex Community College/Methuen Police Academy. John, who has spent more than 20 years in law enforcement, began his new role in February. Carrie Dyer has been named executive director of Reliance Health, a nonprofit agency in Norwich, Conn., that serves people with mental illness. Carrie lives in Ashford, Conn., with her husband and two sons. Congratulations to John and Carrie on their new positions! Please send your news. ◆

1999 |

Jaimie Russo Zahoruiko

6 Atlanta St. Haverhill, MA 01832 j.a.russo@alumni.unh.edu

Brad Roberts ’89 has been named to the board of directors of the geoenvironmental consulting firm GZA.

Maria Noel Groves recently published her second book on herbal medicine, “Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies” with Storey Publishing. Her first book was “Body into Balance: An Herbal Guide to Holistic Self Care.” She writes, “My first book is now a bestseller used as a core textbook in herbal medicine programs and college courses across the country.” Maria was an English/journalism major at UNH, and information is available at http://wintergreenbotanicals.com/book/. ◆

2000 |

—1989

Rebecca Roman Hardie

3715 N 4th Stt Harrisburg, PA 17110 becky.roman@alumni.unh.edu

A hearty congratulations to Mike Bove, whose first book, "Big Little City," was published last October by Moon Pie Press. A book of poems in four parts, "Big Little City" reflects Mike's experience of living and writing in Portland — Maine's biggest little city. Check out the short review on the "Bookshelf" page of this issue and join me in congratulating Mike, who is a professor of English at Southern Maine Community College. ◆

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Class Notes

2006 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave., Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors-Massachusetts (NAIFA MA) recognized Ian Frederick of Commonwealth Financial Group as one of four top Young Advisors in Massachusetts under the age of 40 at a meeting to be held at the Charles River Country Club in August. NAIFA MA notes Ian “was selected for his success and achievement as a financial advisor.” Ian lives in New Hampshire and serves clients in the Granite State and Massachusetts. ◆

2008 | John Kowalski, who recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan, found a couple opportunities to show some Wildcat pride and reconnected with a fellow alum: Grant Broom ’11. John and Grant are pictured in front of the Apache helicopter Grant flew, providing air support for several of John’s missions.

— 2010.

2002 |

Abby Severance Gillis

19 Chase Street Woburn MA 01801 agillis716@alumni.unh.edu

2019 has been an auspicious year for several of our classmates. Sara Yost was promoted to CEO of BostonSight, a nonprofit eye healthcare organization, in March. Sara’s focus is on expanding the company’s mission internationally. Leesa Taft has been named director of clinical operations in primary care at Vermont’s Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center. Leesa’s credentials are impressive, including family nurse practitioner certification, advanced registered nurse practitioner certification and a doctorate in nursing practice. Best of luck in your new roles. ◆

2004 | Ian Frederick was recognized by The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors-Managers as one of four top advisors under the age of 40. —2006

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Victoria Reed

vemacgowan@yahoo.com

Gina Ricciardelli writes she recently moved to Dover, N.H., and bought her second home after selling her first in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley: “Still skiing, hiking and mountain biking with my yellow Lab and working as a clinical trial monitor in cancer research for AstraZeneca.” ◆

Alexandra Covucci

apo2@alumni.unh.edu

Hey Class of 2008! I hope you’re all doing well. I hope you’re soaking in the kinds of moments you wish to soak in, and I hope you’re working toward something that lights you up. I don’t have much in the way of announcements for this edition, which means one thing only: I need you to send in your updates! I know, I know, it seems like it’ll be a little bit of an inconvenience, but it’s also a way to reflect on how far you’ve come and to celebrate where you’re headed. Here are some of my updates so you can get to know me a little bit better: I’m currently somewhat of a digital nomad, spending lots of time in San Diego, Boston and potentially heading down to live in Tulum, Mexico, for a short while. My coaching business is thriving, and I’m excited about what the future holds. There’s been a lot of transition in my life as of late as I shifted out of a seven-year relationship in a really healthy, loving way. There’s a lot to be learned from our moments of stress and change, if we simply open up to them. I’d love to hear more about what you’re up to: What jobs are you working? What’s been new and exciting? If you read this and think “nothing,” perhaps it’s time to reflect on what it is you actually want. I believe in you; I’m rooting for you, and I can’t wait to hear from you. ◆

2009 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

Alicia Armstrong is the current president of the New Hampshire Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Alicia works as the diabetes and nutrition program coordinator at Northern Counties Health Care, Inc. Over the summer, Ashley Malloy studied coral reefs, manatees, howler monkeys, jaguars and other wildlife while learning the methods communities are using to sustain them in Belize. Ashley, an education specialist at New England Aquarium, lives in Derry, N.H., and is a graduate student in Miami University’s Global Field Program. ◆


Alumni Profile By Mark Travis

egan Taft ’01 came to UNH from suburban Connecticut knowing what she didn’t want: a career in a cubicle. She immediately joined an outdoor education class for a week of backpacking in the White Mountains — even though she had never hiked a mountain before. The stretching set in motion her first week at UNH hasn’t stopped since. Four years ago, Taft and her partner, Sara Cawthon, founded the nonprofit Twin Villages Foodbank Farm in the Midcoast Maine community of Damariscotta. This year they expect their 2 acres of no-till fields to yield 50,000 pounds of organic vegetables — carrots and beets, winter cabbage and onions, zucchini and lettuce — all of it distributed to the hungry through seven food pantries and five youth programs. Six hundred farm members cover half the operating expenses by buying farm shares. Each year, 500 student and adult volunteers help Cawthon, the farm manager, and her assistant, Kaitlyn Gardner, work the fields. Taft handles community outreach and fundraising; she holds a full-time job with the statewide Good Shepherd Food Bank, too. “It’s hard work,” Taft says. “But it’s work we do from our hearts, so we just kind of put ourselves into it — full heart, full body. … When I drive over that hill some mornings and I see Sara and Kaitlyn out here with a volunteer crew — it just elicits such a visceral response of this is what it was meant to be. It was meant to be a place where people can come together.” Taft graduated from UNH with a degree in outdoor education. Her interest in food and social justice began to take root on a trip to Guatemala her senior year, where she and classmates lived in a rural village for about 10 days. Following graduation Taft took a job working with middle school students at a nonprofit in Maine. Cawthon worked there too. Now married, they have a 5-year-old child, Adley. They first

ran a farm together in Wisconsin, where they had moved to be closer to Cawthon’s family. Maine and its “really tight sense of people in relationship” called them back. Their Twin Villages farm encompasses a barn and six fields on what was for many years a dairy farm, now owned by the Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust. The land rolls and dips toward the Great Salt Bay; thick stands of trees rise along ridges and cover the hills. The trust is an essential partner, making land available at no cost, serving as their fiscal agent and helping with marketing and fundraising. Foundation support covers the bills that individual donors can’t while also supporting infrastructure improvements — most notably “The Hub.” There, in the renovated barn basement of another Coastal Rivers Trust property, Twin Villages stores produce in a large walk-in cooler that Gardner built. The space also provides storage and a distribution center for area food pantries. In time, Taft and Cawthon hope to produce 100,000 pounds of vegetables on 3 acres. Already they’re fielding questions from others interested in creating farms like Twin Villages in their communities. Maine is the hungriest state in New England, the ninth hungriest in the country. Addressing that will require systemic change, Taft says, which she hopes to help bring about in part by working with those experiencing food insecurity to share their stories with people in power. Her motivation rises from being a parent herself, one who has been privileged to meet her child’s needs. That makes the thought of parents having to put their children to bed without a meal difficult to accept. “Nobody should have to do that,” she says, with a catch in her throat. “Right?” ²

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2010 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

Next Stop, Tokyo? l a s t y e a r ,she was the best in the country. This year, she’s among the best in the world. In October, Elle Purrier ’18 finished out her rookie year as a professional runner with a trip to the world championships in Doha, Qatar, where she competed in the finals of the women’s 5-kilometer race — an event she qualified for after competing in the distance only three times as a professional. “Heading into the meet I still felt a little inexperienced in my new distance, but racing through the first round and making the final put two more under my belt where I learned to feel more comfortable and confident,” she says. Her championship race time of 14:58

was good enough for 11th place in a field packed with Olympians and elite professional athletes. Purrier, who brought home UNH’s first-ever individual NCAA title, winning the indoor mile championship in March 2018, spent her first full year of professional running crushing her collegiate bests. Running for New Balance, she set personal records in four different races this season: the 800-meter, the 1,500-meter, the mile and the 5K. And chances are Doha won't be the last time we’ll see the former Wildcat representing the United States on the sport’s largest stage; her 4:02 time in the 1,500-meter and her 5K both qualify her for the 2020 Olympic trials. 

2010 grads, it's probably hard to believe you've been out of college for almost a decade, but it's not too early to start thinking about your 10th Reunion, which will take place next June 5-7. Please mark your calendars now and plan to join your classmates for a weekend of food and fun in Durham! Since graduating from UNH, Tiffany Snow Narbonne has started her own business, T. Jazelle. “We are now a nationally carried brand available in over 600 retailers, and this past summer I opened my own store on Cape Cod, Mass.,” she writes. “I couldn’t have been where I am today without what I took from UNH and the people who helped shape me into what I am today.” Kevin Kalhori is a professional model, lupus survivor and the founder of The Jam Bands, simple fastening clips that secure over-the-ear headphones while doing any form of vigorous activity. Kevin writes he is in the process of raising money to support a first production run of The Jam Bands and inspire younger lupus survivors to achieve their dreams. To learn more, visit thejambands.com. Captain John Kowalski, who earned his B.S.in civil engineering and was commissioned through the UNH Army ROTC program, recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan serving as a detachment commander. He shared this photo, noting he “found a couple opportunities to show some Wildcat pride and reconnected with a fellow alum” — Captain Grant Broom ’11 — while in Afghanistan. John and Grant are pictured in front of the Apache helicopter Grant flew, providing air support for several of John’s missions. In May, Philip V. Apruzzese, who received his law degree from the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law with our class, was appointed director of the Combatting Upstate Financial Fraud Schemes or “CUFFS” Initiative. Philip is an assistant attorney general (AAG) in the Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General. As an AAG, he investigates and prosecutes large-scale financial crimes, including but not limited to

Send us your news! 1966 | Lynda Brearey

791 Harrington Lake Dr. N Venice, FL 34293 lbrearey8@gmail.com 1972 | Paul Bergeron

15 Stanstead Pl. Nashua, NH 03063 bergeronpaulr@gmail.com

1982 | Julie Lake Butterfield

j.butterfield@alumni.unh.edu

1983 | Ilene Segal, DVM

245 Warren Dr. Norfolk, MA 02056 ihsdvm@aol.com

1990| Amy French

1975 | Kim Lampson Reiff

2709 44th Ave. SW Seattle, WA 98116 amy.french@alumni.unh.edu

1979 | Chris Engel

77 Johns Rd. Blue Bell, PA 19422 m.l.langbein@alumni.unh.edu

7540 SE 71st St. Mercer Island, WA 98040 drkimlampson@gmail.com 268 Washington Ave. Chatham, NJ 07928 cengle@aol.com

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26 Rockwood Heights Rd. Manchester, MA 01944 m.opal@alumni.unh.edu

1996 | Michael Walsh

607 Atwood Dr. Downington, PA 19533 michael.walsh@alumni.unh.edu

1998 | Emily Rines

1992 | Missy Langbein

23 Tarratine Dr. Brunswick, ME 04011 emily.rines@alumni.unh.edu

1993 | Caryn Crotty Eldridge

2082 Pequawket Trail Hiram, ME 04041 esanborn@alumni.unh.edu

slickcke7@gmail.com

1994 | Michael Opal

2001 | Elizabeth Merrill Sanborn

2003 | Ryan Walls

ryanjameswalls@gmail.com 2005 | Megan Stevener

mstevener@gmail.com 2007 | Michael Antosh

michael.antosh@gmail.com All Other Classes Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine 15 Strafford Ave. Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

KEVIN MORRIS / @KEVMOFOTO

³ 10TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³


STAND OUT WITH AN MBA Online Part-time evenings in Durham & Manchester Full-time

Learn more at mba.unh.edu

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securities fraud, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud and money laundering. In Philip’s new role as director, he will also provide training, outreach and assistance to district attorneys in the detection and prosecution of complex financial crime cases and when an investigation uncovers money laundering. ◆

2012 |

Bria Oneglia

bwf9@wildcats.unh.edu

Congratulations to Brandon Amico, who was awarded a creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for his poetry earlier this year. The alumni office received the sad news that Daniel P. Chloros, 54, who graduated from UNH Manchester with our class and went on to receive his MBA in 2015, passed away on from cardiac arrest on Dec. 21, 2018. He was an entrepreneur and co-owned and operated two businesses in the information technology and communications fields. “He had a heartfelt desire to motivate and encourage the potential in each of the people with whom he worked,” his obituary states, noting he was “an incredibly loving husband and father.” Survivors include his wife Crystal and children Sadie and Danny, his parents, siblings, aunt and cousins. Our condolences to his family and friends. ◆

2014 |

Hillary Flanagan

1001 Islington St Apt 65 Portsmouth NH 03801 hillaryflan@gmail.com

Nicolette Pocius studied desert and marine landscapes through ecological and social field methods in Baja during this past summer. Nicolette, a science teacher at Boston Public Schools Twilight School and John D. O’Bryant High School, lives in Roxbury, Mass., and is a graduate student in Miami University’s Global Field Program. ◆

2015 |

Class Notes Editor

UNH Magazine, 15 Strafford Ave Durham, NH 03824 classnotes.editor@unh.edu

³ 5TH REUNION ◆ JUNE 5 – 7, 2020 ³ Class of 2015, it's not too early to start planning for your 5th reunion! Please mark your calendars and join your classmates in Durham June 5-7, 2020. During the summer, Emma Carey studied Borneo’s primate denizens, including the orangutan, and developed new ways to engage communities worldwide in primate conservation in Borneo. Emma, a lead naturalist at Seacoast Science Center, lives in Rye, N.H., and is a graduate student in Miami University's Global Field Program. ◆

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In Memoriam

Bright shall thy mem’ry be James Nassikas ’52 He held up the ideals of service and hospitality.

J

ames Nassikas ’52 built his career as a hotelier on a meticulous attention to detail and passion for high-end customer experiences and luxury service. Jim’s son Bill says the onetime Independent Hotelier of the World’s legacy is his commitment to service and ability to ingrain the same in 300 or 400 staff members. “There was always a consistent high-level product each and every day in my father’s work,” he says. Jim attended UNH as a member of the class of 1951, but when a premed course of study didn’t hold his attention, he found himself drawn to the school of hotel administration. He graduated in 1952, and that same year married Helen M. Horner. The young couple soon set sail for Switzerland, where Jim earned cuisine and service certificates from the world-renowned Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. They returned to America four years later, after having their first of two children, and Jim’s career flourished, with roles in Manhattan’s Plaza hotel, D.C.’s Mayflower and both Royal Orleans and Royal Sonesta hotels in New Orleans. In San Francisco, he developed Stanford Court — a property widely considered the precursor to the modern boutique hotel movement that marked Jim as an inspired innovator. In Utah, he helped to develop the exclusive luxury Deer Valley ski resort. For his children, family life may have included frequent moves and new schools, but it also meant dinner with celebrities and a life built around the ideal of treating people right — from customers to cleaning staff and every person in between — and passionately pursuing professional success. Lessons about hard work and always striving for work-life balance are among those that Bill, president and COO of Westroc Hospitality, carried forward into his own successful hotel career. “My dad never pressured me to go into the family business, but I think through interactions with him I learned so much about the profession,” he says. Daughter Christine ’83 remembers growing up in both New Orleans and California, and hosting celebrities and famous chefs like James Beard and Craig Claiborne. Christine also spent many years

in the hotel business, and describes her father as a very driven man who never gave her or her brother special treatment. “He wanted us to go out and work hard and make our own way,” she remembers. “He influenced me by his presence and knowing how successful he was, and that was enough to inspire me.” Jim’s tenure in New Orleans saw him serve as president of the New Orleans Jazz Club and co-founder of the Krewe of Bacchus — a group of business leaders who wanted to improve and extend the impact of the annual Mardi Gras celebration for both residents and tourists. In California, he helped to launch the idea of “California cuisine,” bringing together culinary elite and hospitality luxury and laying the foundation for the “foodie” movement in the U.S. He also is credited with raising the profile of the Napa Valley wine industry by featuring local wines in his high-end properties. Ray Goodman Jr., professor emeritus of hospitality at UNH’s Paul College and former hospitality department chair, counted Jim among his friends. “He was considered the No. 1 hotelier,” Goodman says. “There were the Hiltons and the Marriotts, certainly, but he was a single person who was holding up the ideals of service and hospitality.” In addition to the hospitality industry, Jim’s legacy lives on also at UNH, where the James and Helen Nassikas Endowed Scholarship is awarded each year to students from New Hampshire who are hardworking and motivated, but who also have a positive influence on those around them. At the time he established the fund, Jim shared his belief that his work ethic was something he inherited from his mother, Christine Cotsibos, who came to America as a Greek immigrant in 1909, and who, widowed at a young age, worked tirelessly to support Jim and his brother Lewis. Jim died on March 31, 2019, at the age of 91. ² — Michelle Morrissey ’97

Cathy Coakley ’72, ’75G Coach and mentor, she championed student athletics throughout her life.

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orn-out uniforms. Minimal publicity. Half-court hoops played before mostly empty bleachers. These were the facts of life for many female basketball players prior to the enactment of Title IX legislation. Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded programs and activities, the 1972 law helped bring women’s basketball and other sports into equal status with men’s. Cathy Coakley arrived to teach and coach at Oyster River High School just as Title IX went into effect. Feisty and determined,

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James C. Williams ’45 Feb. 27, 2019

James A. Nassikas ’52 March 31, 2019

Merle R. Patenaude Jr. ’55 April 19, 2019

Nancy K. Fitch Fox ’59 April 6, 2019

Shirley Aaltonen Ablondi ’53 April 14, 2019

William C. Stuart ’55 Feb. 19, 2019

Robert L. Rajaniemi ’59 April 12, 2019

John E. Bennett ’50 Oct. 22, 2018

Gerald R. Caplan ’53 March 21, 2019

Luther E. Sweet ’55 Feb. 25, 2019

Sally L. Barker Chadwick ’47 Dec. 31, 2018

Gerald C. Gardner ’50 March 2, 2019

Elizabeth Drake Galt ’53 Jan. 23, 2019

Harriette Hartwell Willoughby ’55 Feb. 28, 2019

Claire Hunter Gilland ’47 March 20, 2019

Carter B. Gibbs ’50, ’56G May 2, 2019

Thomas B. McAveeney ’53 Feb. 2, 2019

Paul L. Belair ’56 Feb. 1, 2019

Jere K. Allen ’61, ’69G Jan. 28, 2019

Evelyn Handly Pozniak ’41 March 1, 2019

Edmond F. Gauron Jr. ’48 Feb. 1, 2019

Roland M. Lesieur ’50 Feb. 13, 2019

Arla Whittemore Todd ’53 Feb. 21, 2019

Philip H. Decelle ’56 Jan. 27, 2019

Dwight C. Baker ’61 April 16, 2019

David G. Chase ’43 Jan. 24, 2019

Earle E. Leavitt ’48 March 21, 2019

M. Joyce McCue ’50 Feb. 20, 2018

Phyllis Johnson VanSiclen ’53 May 29, 2018

Daniel Murphy ’56 March 25, 2019

Lucien P. Baron ’61 April 5, 2019

Laurent E. Morin ’43, ’48 Nov. 12, 2018

Gerry L. Smith ’48 March 29, 2019

Seymour L. Sharps ’50 Feb. 13, 2019

John Boehle Jr. ’54 April 14, 2019

Charles A. Pieroni ’56 Feb. 25, 2019

Paul A. Bates ’61, ’70G April 19, 2019

Robert A. Neal ’43 Feb. 14, 2019

Shirley Brown Carter ’49 Feb. 7, 2019

John W. Terkow ’50 Feb. 6, 2019

Roger H. Knightly ’54 Jan. 23, 2019

William J. Walker ’56 Jan. 14, 2019

D. Ann Bruce ’61 Jan. 31, 2019

Forest L. Parsons ’43 Nov. 9, 2018

Richard L. Dobson ’49 Feb. 19, 2019

Joseph V. Regis Jr. ’54 March 14, 2019

Perley E. Armitage Jr. ’57 March 25, 2019

Raymond G. Cote ’61 Feb. 15, 2019

Barbara H. Derby Marshall ’44 Jan. 21, 2019

Henry W. Hogue ’49, ’50G Feb. 16, 2019

Lydia Thorne Lucy ’51 Feb. 13, 2019

Barbara A. Mosher Smith ’54 April 8, 2019

David T. Gowans ’57 April 20, 2019

John V. Kjellman ’61 April 18, 2019

Alfred P. Maurice ’44 Feb. 25, 2019

Dorian J. Lemieux Jr. ’49 Feb. 3, 2019

Lois Greaves Bannan ’52 May 4, 2019

Nicholas H. Wadleigh ’54, ’77G April 5, 2019

Richard C. Kaupin ’57 March 10, 2019

David M. Agrodnia ’62 April 12, 2019

Olive Sonnichsen Westerberg ’44 Feb. 14, 2019

Joan Prince McNamara ’49 March 15, 2019

Douglas P. Blake ’52 April 21, 2019

David A. Wentworth ’54 March 11, 2019

Cynthia Varrell Coher ’58 Dec. 31, 2018

Samuel A. Dibbins Jr. ’62 Jan. 29, 2019

Elizabeth Dimick DunklingSmith ’45 April 5, 2019

Milton R. Novak ’49 April 17, 2019

Alden E. Cousins ’52 March 30, 2019

Alfred A. Zullo ’54 March 16, 2019

Robert M. Gagne ’58 April 27, 2019

Jonathan Piper ’62 March 16, 2019

Ronald M. Pike ’49, ’50G Feb. 26, 2019

Ovide A. Lamontagne ’52 Jan. 7, 2019

Louis J. Georgopoulos ’55 May 13, 2019

Edward L. Mossman ’58 May 7, 2019

Douglas S. Tremblay ’62 May 11, 2019

Robert P. Price ’49 March 30, 2019

Arthur D. Leach Jr. ’52 March 12, 2019

Paul C. Leavitt ’55 May 6, 2019

Donald E. Church ’59 March 1, 2019

Mary Soule Davidson ’63 Feb. 19, 2019

Faculty and Staff Frederick P. Murray professor emeritus, speech-language pathology Jan. 24, 2019 Gerald L. Smith professor emeritus, animal science March 29, 2019

1940s

Virginia Whitney Hulbert ’45 March 24, 2019 Paul D. Ohrman ’45 March 9, 2019

Gertrude H. Parkhurst ’46 Feb. 22, 2019 Edward H. Robinson ’46 March 17, 2019

Frederick W. White ’49 April 16, 2019

1950s

_Margaret Willard Armitage ’51 April 6, 2019

she took full advantage of the opportunity to develop women’s basketball from an afterthought to a well-respected sport. In 1977 her unbeaten Bobcats won the Class A title game and ended their opponent’s 64-game winning streak. The team continued its winning ways in 1978, losing only one game, after which Cathy came to UNH to serve as assistant women’s basketball coach. Her career continued with coaching positions at Fordham, Northeastern and James Madison. In 2009 she returned to UNH as coordinator of student-athlete development. Close friend Cindy Imbro says that wherever Cathy worked, she had a positive impact on people’s lives. In her role as coordinator of student-athlete development, Cathy fostered a sense of responsibility and teamwork among the athletes by insisting that they arrive on time and work diligently at practices, succeed scholastically, become involved in community service and comport themselves appropriately in public. She threw herself heart and soul into seeing student-athletes succeed, says Cindy. “Athletics was a vocation for Cathy. It was never just a job.” One of the many students whose lives she influenced was Madison Lightfoot ’16, a UNH volleyball player for four years. “Cathy brought integrity and passion to everything she did,” Madison says. “She was my friend, my role model, my biggest cheerleader and my mentor. As I prepared for my first job interview, she reminded me to ‘be confident, be on time and be sure to press your clothes!’ Cathy carried herself with class and conviction, and walking into that interview, I hoped to make her proud.”

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1960s Frank Z. Culver Jr. ’60 March 9, 2019

On or off the court or playing field, Cathy had a reputation as someone who could always be counted on. “She was the kind of person you could call at 3 a.m. with a problem and her response would be, ‘Where are you? I’m coming,’ ” says Cindy, who realized the extent of her friend’s compassion one winter night while returning from Hawaii. With her flight delayed by a raging New Hampshire ice storm, she called Cathy to tell her not to risk driving through the storm to pick her up. But her friend insisted she could make it. “When the plane finally landed, there was Cathy, waiting by the baggage claim,” says Cindy. “She was there. She was always there.” Devout Catholics, the two women often attended Mass together and afterward enjoyed wide-ranging conversations about the morning’s homily or spirituality in general. At Christmas, they shared a special ritual: Mass on Christmas Eve was followed by dinner and a nightcap at Cathy’s home. The next day, the duo would gather at Cindy’s house with several other friends. Although the lively Christmas Day gathering was fun, it was the quiet Christmas Eves they most looked forward to. “It was a tradition I will really miss,” says Cindy. Cathy left no family when she died on March 3 after a long battle with cancer. Despite the challenges of her illness and ongoing medical treatments, she was unwilling to let her athletes and colleagues down and continued to work almost to the end of her life. She passed away peacefully at her Dover home, with devoted friends at her side. ² — Karen Hammond '64

Sam Coffey ’14 He was a larger-than-life personality and a UNH All-American skiier.

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ention Sam Coffey ’14 to just about anyone who knew him, and chances are you’ll hear one of two things, seemingly contradictory at first blush, but ultimately in absolute agreement: Sam


In Memoriam Richard F. Fisher ’63 April 12, 2019

Leslie G. Hammond ’69, ’71G Feb. 5, 2019

Janet Atherton Snow ’72G April 20, 2019

Thomas N. Tracy ’75 April 3, 2019

Brian A. Aldrich ’82 March 6, 2019

Robert E. Weeks Jr. ’63 March 17, 2019

Daniel J. Hussey ’69, ’76G March 3, 2019

Valerie A. Woods ’75, ’77G March 26, 2019

Patten Jackson ’82 Jan. 23, 2019

Paul B. Leavitt ’64 April 19, 2019

Jane E. Perkins ’69 March 21, 2019

Genevieve Radzukinas Haseltine ’73G Feb. 16, 2019

Jean McIntyre Arris ’77 Jan. 31, 2019

Erik J. Hindley ’83 April 6, 2019

Dale F. Rogers ’64 Feb. 5, 2019

Edward J. Phelps ’69 April 11, 2019

Nora Machado Tuthill ’77 April 4, 2019

Leila G. Connor ’84JD March 29, 2019

Barbara Franz Beaule ’65 Feb. 22, 2019

Constance Rockwell Ward ’69 Jan. 13, 2019

John A. Shoucair ’65 March 5, 2019 David C. Fullam ’66G April 4, 2019 William J. Davies Ret. ’67 April 28, 2019 Peter A. Day ’67 Jan. 25, 2019 John B. Kotheimer ’67G Jan. 17, 2016 G. Lawrence Gray ’68, ’72G April 29, 2019 Edward L. Nickoloff ’68G March 11, 2019 Luise C. Friese Watman ’68, ’71G March 13, 2019 John E. Bethel ’69G March 10, 2019 James E. DesRochers ’69 April 29, 2019

Linda F. Ingraham ’73 Feb. 6, 2019 Wayne W. Justham ’73G Feb. 21, 2019 Robert S. McCarthy ’73 Feb. 26, 2019

Michael A. Markaverich ’78G Feb. 11, 2019

2010s Elizabeth B. O’Leary Abelson ’11 Feb. 9, 2019

Janice S. Realy ’73 Feb. 20, 2019

John D. Morris ’78 March 12, 2019

Kenneth A. Brown ’70G May 7, 2019

Mary A. Bolos Sysyn ’73 March 20, 2019

Kenneth A. Steuer ’78 March 14, 2019

James B. Hobbs ’84JD Feb. 6, 2018

Donald P. Cole III ’70 March 15, 2019

David T. Bernstein ’74G March 26, 2019

Robert A. Vaughan ’78 Feb. 1, 2019

Bradbury M. Reardon ’70 Jan. 14, 2019

Darryl Conte ’74 April 12, 2019

Roy A. Duddy ’79JD May 6, 2018

Carole M. Angelis Mastendino ’84 March 18, 2019

Danford J. Wensley ’70 Feb. 4, 2019 Keith N. Swartz ’71 March 3, 2019 Diane L. Crocker Brunkhorst ’72 May 10, 2019

Paula E. Porter Greenglass ’74, ’96G Jan. 31, 2019 James M. Mullaney ’74 April 18, 2019 Joseph H. Vaughan ’74 March 22, 2019

Cathleen H. Coakley ’72, ’75G Josephine Ray Waller ’74G April 1, 2018 March 3, 2019 Dana A. Fisher ’72 March 31, 2019

Gary A. Jones ’75G March 21, 2019

Rosemarie C. Russo ’72G May 3, 2019

Deborah L. Nelson ’75 Jan. 14, 2019

Raymond S. Perry, Jr. ’79JD Oct. 27, 2018

1980s

Allyson Fletcher Powlus ’84 Dec. 10, 2018 Jeanne R. Attwood Rae ’84 March 15, 2019

Denis R. Baker ’80 March 31, 2019

Karen A. Sveinbjornsson Chyung ’86 Feb. 18, 2019

Lorraine Martin ’80 Feb. 24, 2019

Mary R. Mayhew ’86, ’15G March 1, 2019

John P. McLean ’80 Feb. 8, 2019

Julia A. MacVane ’87 April 12, 2019

Francis L. Quinn ’81 Feb. 7, 2019

Elizabeth Johnson DeCourcey ’88G April 19, 2019

had a way of making everyone feel like they were his best friend. Sam didn’t have any friends — because everyone who met him immediately became family. “He brought out the best in me and others,” says his sister JoAnna (JoJo). “He always took care of me and my mom and really took over after our dad passed away.” Born in Aspen, Colorado, to Cathy and the late Joe Coffey, who was the longtime and much-loved housing director for the ski-town of Snowmass, Sam was destined for a life on skis. In high school, he skied as a member of the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club’s alpine racing program and co-founded a local ski gang known as The Freaks with close friends Baker Boyd and Wiley Maple. The trio, who referred to themselves as “The Stallions,” were known as standout skiers and good-natured troublemakers who lived for their days on the mountain. Sam came to UNH after a year at the University of Denver, and raced slalom and giant slalom events under alpine coach Brian Blank ’95, earning NCAA All-American honors in 2011 and 2013. Blank recalls Sam as a powerful, graceful skier and a top student but says the thing that leaves the most profound impression is the type of teammate he was. “He was a great guy and the type of person that just everybody loved to be around,” Blank says. “Whenever he was around, the world was better.”

Brendon S. Browne ’05, ’09JD Theodore E. Comstock ’90JD April 12, 2019 Jan. 6, 2019 Patricia A. McGowan Wald ’06 Patrick W. Turner ’90 Jan. 12, 2019 April 4, 2019

1990s

Barbara A. Devanna ’84, ’97G Dale G. Ober Jr. ’92 April 23, 2019 April 4, 2019 Sandra M. O’Connell Gallant ’84 Jan. 9, 2019

1970s

Andrew T. Savage ’04 March 12, 2019

Vincent J. Froio Jr. ’89 Feb. 6, 2019

Christopher H. Glidden ’93 Feb. 9, 2019 Jennifer A. Demaree ’94JD April 28, 2019 Stratton C. French ’94G April 24, 2019

Samuel R. Coffey ’14 May 20, 2019 Sean P. Sullivan ’15 Feb. 21, 2019

Robert M. Pugh ’94G Feb. 3, 2019

Briana L. McLaughlin ’17G May 6, 2019 Kelly A. Johnson Sanders ’94 Andrew H. Lee ’18 Feb. 10, 2019. April 21, 2019

2000s

Jaime Smith Gault ’00, ’08G May 26, 2019 Barton L. Bainbridge ’01JD Feb. 12, 2019 Jill M. Kornhauser Agro ’04JD April 12, 2019

Bradford S. Herrick ’19 March 4, 2019

2020s Henry Wong ’20 April 5, 2019 Rachel H. Hunger ’21 May 8, 2019

Thomas N. Brister ’04 March 30, 2019

After graduating from UNH, Sam made his way back to the Rocky Mountains, where he did PR for several outdoor apparel companies, worked in the summer as a river guide and skied every chance he got, nearly making the U.S. Ski Team. Last winter, he worked as a ski technician on the World Cup circuit for his childhood friend Maple, a 2018 Olympian. Maple says that World Cup stop Wengen, Switzerland, was just one of the places where Sam’s larger-than-life personality asserted itself. “Walking down the streets to the bars, he knew everybody in the whole town,” Maple recalls. “They’re like, ‘Oh, Sam from Aspen! Come in here!’ I’ve been going to this race for 10 years and I know like five people and he’s met the whole town within the first week.” Boyd’s take on the impact Sam had on others is similar. “It’s kind of hard not to smile and laugh thinking about spending time with him,” he says, “because he was seriously the best guy. Literally every moment I spent with that guy was the time of my life.” Boyd was with Sam in Mexico on a May surfing trip when he woke up with a headache and subsequently suffered a series of strokes. Despite two surgeries he passed away Monday, May 20, at the age of 29. At Sam’s May 27, memorial service at Aspen, Maple joked with the nearly 1,000 friends, family and UNH ski team alumni who had gathered that he hadn’t counted on delivering a eulogy speech for his fellow Stallion until he’d made “at least a couple of best man speeches” for him. “It’s fitting that Sam went first,” he added, echoing what Boyd had said to him upon calling with the news of Sam’s death, “because he always went first. We followed in his wake.” After the service Sam’s family of friends, UNH teammates and more celebrated his life the most fitting way possible, skiing together on Aspen’s still-plentiful snowpack.² — Kristin Waterfield Duisberg

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Parting Shot

Underwater sounds look like the rings inside a tree trunk, wi-fi icons, fat tubes of ziti loosely arranged on a plate. At least they do in the work of artist Lindsay Olson, who collaborated with Jennifer Miksis-Olds, director of the UNH Center for Acoustics Research and Education, to visualize the underwater soundscape of sea life in the Atlantic Ocean. Last year, the duo joined forces on an ocean-based acoustics research cruise, after which Olson turned the sounds they captured using special underwater microphones — the daily migration of zooplankton, phytoplankton

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and the dramatic vocalization of whales and other marine life — into images embroidered onto panels of silk. Olson, who is based in Chicago, was on campus for four days in October to showcase her work at the Paul Creative Art Center, Morse Hall and Chase Ocean Engineering Laboratory. “The combination of art and science speaks to the humanity and creativity in all of us,” Miksis-Olds says. “Lindsay has transformed the complex technical dynamics of ocean sound into a thing of beauty.” — Rebecca Irelan

JEREMY GASOWSKI / UNH

Making Waves


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HOME TURF: Under interim head coach Ricky Santos ’07, the UNH football team delivered a 26-10 win over Elon University on Homecoming Weekend. p. 7

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