wife Ann moved back to Boothbay Harbor, where he joined the firm of J. Edward Knight. His tennis again started to shine, and he won two gold medals at the Senior Olympic Games in 2001. He competed at the 2003 National Senior Olympic Games and made it through the first round. He also devoted time to instruct high school players. At his death, Art was class president and had served previously as class agent. His long involvement with children with disabilities will culminate when the first gymnasium at Ability Tree in Siloam Springs, Ark., is named for him. Besides his wife, survivors include sons Sam Ridlon and Joe Butler, and five grandchildren. 1964 Barbara Clapp Kawliche, Jan. 9, 2010 Barbara Clapp Kawliche recognized early on that the Internet could be used to make the world better. She created a comprehensive website devoted to youth development, Youthwork.com, at a time when few other sites were available. She made the site she wished she had been able to find. Her interest in youth sprang from her degree in psychology from Bates and her M.S.W. from Boston Univ., and she worked professionally in the field before and after tending to her sons’ growing up. She also worked with AdCare, which provided recovery services for professionals in the field of substance abuse. Her belief in human rights and equality for all was enhanced by home stays in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Lithuania. Her husband, Stanley Kawliche ’48, survives her, as do sons David and Gregory Kawliche; one grandchild; stepson Boris Kawliche; and two step-grandchildren. John Robert Strassburger, Sept. 22, 2010 John Strassburger came to Bates intending to study mathematics, but history professor Ernest Muller set him on a new path. Some 20 years later, John returned the favor by becoming president of Muller’s alma mater, Ursinus College. He earned a master’s at Cambridge Univ. and Ph.D. at Princeton. He taught at Hiram College and worked for the NEA as acting director of its education programs, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award. He served as dean of the college and executive vice president at Knox College for 10 years. In 1995, he was inaugurated as president of Ursinus, retiring in June 2010. There, he instituted a first-year course called “Common Intellectual Experience,” an interdisciplinary inquiry into the beliefs and truths that underpin life, just one of many changes — in academics, student quality, endowment, and facilities — that he brought to campus to strengthen its commitment to a liberal arts education. A tribute to him noted that “we hear often of transformational leadership. John embodied it.” His early experience at Cambridge, still wrapped in class distinction and social inequality, convinced him that education could be a great equalizer, and he sought to bring that democratic ideal to Ursinus. He regretted that being the college president meant he didn’t have time to teach, but he served as chair of the board of the Council of Independent Colleges, as well as on the boards of the American Academic Leadership Institute, American Council on Education, President’s Council of Project Pericles, and the Lenfest Foundation. Survivors include wife Trudy Mackie Strassburger; daughters Sarah and Trudy; and two grandchildren. 1965 Philip James Brookes, Sept. 16, 2007 Philip Brookes spent most of his career attached to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He was the director of the graduate degree programs there, having previously served as deputy director of the program and as director of the communicative arts program. While earning a doctorate at the Univ. of Kansas, he was an instructor. At CGSC, he was twice recognized by the Army for his outstanding performance. His marriage to Lois Paynes Lindner ended in divorce.
64 Bates FALL 2011
AL MAXWELL ’75 described himself this way: “I am an earthy crunchy techno-dweeb.” Peter John Gomes, Feb. 28, 2011 Despite all the accolades, despite 39 honorary degrees, despite being named one of Time’s seven most distinguished preachers in America in 1979, despite being a best-selling author, what defined Peter Gomes to Peter Gomes was that he was a Batesie. “My ultimate epitaph,” he said to a Reunion gathering in 1998, “should be that I went to Bates.” Except for his parents, he explained, he owed “everything valuable, precious, and honorable to Bates.” A history major, he threw himself into life on campus, and was president of the Choral Society, Campus Association, and Chase Hall Dance Committee. He sang wherever he could, assisted in the music department, and reveled in what he called a “peculiar” college, one that admitted women and minorities decades ahead of others. As he did in other realms of his life, the friendships he made in his very first days at Bates he cultivated and nourished forever. He once recalled walking into the Chapel “to cry in privacy” after his parents dropped him off at Bates his freshman year. “There I saw a tall, spare, bald-headed man slowly picking up the litter in the pews. I took him to be a janitor. He noted my distress, and in a solemn but friendly voice said that I’d soon feel better about college.” That man turned out to be Dean Harry W. Rowe ’12, “with whom I would be friends for the rest of his life. At my most vulnerable moment, he was the human face of Bates.” Although his family and friends back in Plymouth, Mass., assumed he would become a minister, he wasn’t certain until he spent the year after graduation at Harvard Divinity School, a challenge proposed to him by a Bates professor. He received the S.T.B. degree there in 1968 and was ordained in his hometown. He taught history at the Tuskegee Institute for two years and served as choirmaster and organist. He returned to Harvard in 1970 as an assistant minister and two years later became its acting minister. In 1974, he was appointed Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Minister in the Memorial Church, the university’s leading religious officer. In 1991, as much to his surprise as anyone else’s, he announced that he was gay during a Harvard rally in Tercentenary Theater. This, he said a few months later, gave him an unambiguous vocation: to address the religious causes and roots of homophobia. “I will devote the rest of my life to addressing the ‘religious case’ against gays,” he told The Washington Post. Gomes authored many books, including the best-sellers The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart and Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living, as well as numerous articles and papers. He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bates in 1996, the college’s Benjamin E. Mays Award in 1998, and had been a Bates trustee. Survivors include several cousins, as well as his numerous sermons and books. 1967 Douglas Michele Camarco, Dec. 9, 2010 In addition to his B.S. in math from the College, Doug Camarco held an M.B.A. from Rutgers. He was a CPA and worked for ITT for 19 years. He then moved to the Maine State Retirement System, and ended his career at Boston Univ. Survivors include companion Cheryl Kerrick; children Michele James and Jeffrey Camarco; and three grandchildren. William Sanford Rafter Jr., Nov. 26, 2010 Successful as a businessman and mayor, Bill Rafter found a way to combine the two to turn around
the financial status of Gloucester, Mass., and save its residents money in the process. His first career was in trash and recycling, which grew out of his grandfather’s landscaping business. He developed cutting-edge recycling systems that gained national renown. His business became so profitable it drew the attention of the rubbish giant BFI, which bought him out. He worked in the mortgage industry for a few years before running for city council in Gloucester, and then for mayor. He proclaimed that he would never be a skilled politician, but that the real issue in town was managerial. “I believe in government by consensus,” he said during his first mayoral campaign in 1991. He inherited $1 million in debt when he took office; a year later, he submitted a budget that showed an operating surplus of $200,000 and cut long-term debt in half. Survivors include wife Christina Foley Rafter; children Robert Foley, Caitlin Sumner, and W. Sanford Rafter III; and six grandchildren. 1968 James Edward Day, Jan. 28, 2011 Jim Day attended Bates for part of his undergraduate education, and earned a degree in business from the Univ. of Maine. He was a registered Maine CPA and had his own firm in Biddeford. He served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, retiring as reserve captain. Survivors include a number of nieces and nephews. 1970 Judith Schultz Botwick, Oct. 3, 2010 Judith Botwick left Bates after two years to marry William Botwick. She later completed her degree at Oakland Univ. She was a healthcare executive in Tucson. Survivors include her partner, Bob Rossi, and son Jason Botwick. 1971 David Walter Carlson, Sept. 26, 2010 David Carlson studied city planning at Pratt Institute after receiving a degree in psychology from Bates. He then joined Planners Diversified in New Jersey, and later established the firm’s Cooperstown (N.Y.) branch. In 1991, he and his wife, Linda Pierce Carlson ’70, started their own firm as consultants in city planning in central New York. The firm obtained over $200 million for its client communities. Along with his wife, survivors include children Steven and Lauren. 1975 Kenneth Joseph Gallant, Jan. 16, 2011 Ken Gallant, a biology major, worked briefly as a research assistant at the Univ. of Chicago medical school and then taught for several years before starting osteopathic training at the Kansas School of Osteopathic Medicine. He once told the College that there is “an unlimited reward for being able to help people through medicine.” He worked in emergency medicine in Sanford and Lewiston before establishing his solo family practice in Arundel. As an alumnus, Ken sponsored several interns over the years. He also enjoyed a sideline as a Maine humorist. Survivors include children Aaron and Chloe and stepdaughter Alexandra. His great-uncle was George Nash, Class of 1901. Donna Gregory Lubow, Sept. 7, 2010 Donna Gregory Lubow moved from job to job until she found her calling in teaching. She worked at the Board of Cooperative Educational Services and, in 1996, joined the staff of Lindenhurst (N.Y.) High School, where she soon became a favorite English teacher. “The news of her passing brought dismay to every person it reached,” wrote the school newspaper in an article recounting anecdotes and lessons learned from her. The school plans to start a scholarship fund in her name. In addition to her English degree from Bates, she held a master’s from SUNY. Survivors include partner Lars Hjelmquist; son Akil Lubow; and mother Pearl Gregory.