alumni at large Poulins live in Texas, so don’t mess with them. Y Jane Hoffman is an independent educational consultant supporting students and families with the college search and application process. She was in higher education administration before taking time off for her family and says she enjoys being back on college campuses, especially without the studying part. Her daughter, Rachel, is in her second year at Smith College, and her son, Daniel, is in high school. Husband Kevin works hard in construction, and they still find the time to enjoy their three cats. Y Jeff Olmstead and his wife, Gwen, traveled to Waterville for commencement last spring to see son Todd graduate from Colby. Todd had a great Colby career, including singing in the Colby Eight and playing on the Colby Ultimate (Frisbee) team—known as The Dazzlin’ Asses. Todd’s major was English, and he had some of the same professors that Jeff had, such as Peter Harris. Jeff sends his regards to all his classmates. Y Karen Sawyer Smith says she and her husband, Ken, are now empty nesters. Both daughters being away from home, she thought things would slow down, but her participation in two book clubs, a couple of gigs a month with a rock and roll band (we know whom to book for our reunion), her tenure on her church council, and working full time keeps her busy. She and Ken recently traveled to Little Cayman, where they got their open water scuba certification. Daughter Caitlin graduated from college last spring, and they are rejoicing that they are down to one tuition payment. Y I am about to get on a plane to fly to the Old Sod to attend a family wedding—and for some Guinness. As the Irish say, “May the tap be open when it rusts.” Please write. —Mark Lyons
78 Doug and Marjorie Gonzalez
Blackwell’s oldest daughter, Laura, graduated from Emory with a degree in psychology and a minor in Italian. She will continue her studies in psychology and child development at Tufts. Courtney graduated from Loomis Chaffee and was still deciding where she will attend college. Marjorie is active in her local garden club and recently won two awards for her plant photography. Doug is still with CIGNA “wishing for more time to play golf and spend time on the beach.” Y Jane Linge McDonough lives in Boston with her husband, Jim, and their three children, Jimmy, 20, Elizabeth, 18, and Daniel, 14. Jim
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works for the City of Boston as director of legal services in the office of neighborhood development, and Jane is an assistant district clerk-magistrate in the Norfolk County Juvenile Court after serving previously as an assistant district attorney in both Plymouth and Suffolk counties. When Jane wrote, their son, Jimmy, is a junior at Colby and “a proud member of the White Mules football team.” Elizabeth graduated from Boston Latin and was headed to Fordham University in New York City. Daniel is in the tenth grade at Boston Latin. Y Betsey Judd Butler’s youngest son, Brett, is a freshman at Colgate while her daughter, Claire, is a senior at the University of Richmond. Betsey and her husband, Rich, visited New Zealand, where Claire spent her semester abroad, and walked a glacier, bungee-jumped, jetboated, and skied (in August!). She is busy volunteering at a nursery school for homeless kids and at Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. Y Gary Robinson is living in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, Deborah, and their children, Isaac and Noah. Gary is VP/innovation at Emergent Music LLC and will be launching version 1.0 of their new music recommendation product, Goombah.com. Before that, he wrote, “some mathematics I worked out for spam filtering were incorporated into a number of spam filters, several of which won best-in-class or best software of the year awards—fun but not lucrative!” Y Stuart Alex’s daughter, Kathryn, graduated from U Penn. Y Jack and Lisa Mathey Landry celebrated their 25th anniversary in May. Their son, Nate, 22, graduated from Columbia “and is pondering the next step. Graduate school or real job, stay in Brooklyn or move home. Pray for us all.” Devin, 19, is a sophomore at Skidmore after spending time in Greenough, Mont., at a dude ranch, where he has been a guest since the age of 10. Lisa is still the construction foreman as they continue working on their house. Jack is at Sea Containers and OEH. Y Tom Suddath recently joined Reed Smith LLP as a partner in the regulatory litigation group in the firm’s Philadelphia office. Y Gary Winer writes that his oldest daughter, Marci, was headed to Dartmouth in the fall. —Janet Santry Houser and Lea Jackson Morrissey
79 Anne Luedemann Hunt wrote
that her son, Colin, was to attend the University of Vermont in Burlington. While it’s a thrill to witness one’s
children heading off on their own paths in life, Anne says it makes her think—at nearly 50—about new ventures for her own career, although her love of children’s books makes it hard to leave the book industry too far behind. Daughter Gillian will start high school next year, and husband Tim ’80 continues to work for the American Forest and Paper Association in D.C. Anne gets to visit with Colby roomie Elizabeth Armstrong Lofgren and her family every once in a while in Pennsylvania, where she and her husband teach at Bucknell University. Y “Two exciting things” is how Kathy Quimby Johnson starts her news. She stepped out of her job as administrative assistant to become a full-time freelance writer and editor. She’s been published in Vermont Magazine, Vermont Life, Vermont Quarterly (UVM’s alumni magazine), and the Rutland Herald in addition to local work. Add to that work on a documentary video and a young adult novel. Daughter Lydia spent most of last semester in the Indian Himalayas with a small Vermont-based environmental and cultural program, giving Kathy and Greg ’78 a chance to test the waters as empty nesters. Y Richard Uchida completed his one-year term as president of the New Hampshire Bar Association. Rich worked on many different initiatives, including the Future of the Legal Profession, helping the Supreme Court create a commission, Access to Justice, to fund, advocate for, and coordinate more affordable legal services for the poor and middle class and reinvigorating the bar to make it more attractive to newer members. He said it was one of the best years of his life—ranking with the years at Colby. Unfortunately, his duties prevented him from attending our 25th, but Rich stays in touch with the College through the Overseers program. On his last visit he chaired the committee to review the AfricanAmerican Studies Program. Y A large e-mail file sent to me by William O’Donnell included a great photo of a meld of DKE and DU pals (’78 -’80) at Sugarloaf last April. I sent it on to the Alumni Office to add to our Web page for all to enjoy. See if you can figure out who is who: Bill O’Donnell, Gary McCarthy, Sandy Buck ’78, Peter Schmidt-Fellner ’78, Andy Huber, Henry Kennedy ’80, Joel Harris ’81, Chris Morrissey ’78, John Geismar ’78, and Mike Slavin ’78. Bill resides in Darien, Conn., and is head of U.S. Interest Rate Strategy
& Research at UBS. He’s been married to his wonderful wife for 22 years and has five girls (one deceased). The girls range from 6 to 18 so every day is like Christmas at his home. Y We have survived freshman year at college with our daughter Kayleigh. We won’t be empty nesters for a while as our youngest is an eight grader this year, but we can enjoy the “only child” status while big sister is away at college. Please write and tell me how your child did away at college, or how graduation went, or where your summer travels took you. —Cheri Bailey Powers
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Congratulations to Geoff Becker and Nora Sturges (Bowdoin ’90), who had a baby boy born May 23, 2006. And apologies to Dan Salimone for the misspelling of his daughter’s name in a previous column—her name is Arianna, not Arianne. Y It was great to hear from fellow Oregonians Chris and Kelley Osgood Platt. The Platts moved to Lake Oswego in ’85. Kelley is the treasurer for Freightliner, and Chris is a sales and marketing manager for FEI (electron beam microscopes). Their oldest son, Andrew, spent his junior year at Oxford while their second son, Colin, was a junior at Oregon Episcopal School. When not juggling busy travel schedules and school activities, the Platts like to scuba dive, ski, and backpack, among other outdoor pursuits the Northwest is famous for. Y Speaking of children, Carolyn and Jim D’Isidoro are proud to report that son Jack is a member of the Colby Class of 2010! And speaking of Jack D’Isidoro, Lynn Collins Francis wrote, “One has to wonder how lives can run parallel sometimes, then meet again after more than 20 years. On June 1, 2006, in Sudbury, Mass., Jack D’Isidoro and Beth Francis, my daughter, were in the graduating class at Lincoln-Sudbury High School.” Congratulations to both Lynn and Jim. Y Dan Berger recently joined Aspen Networks in Santa Clara, Calif., as its new president and CEO. Dan was about to embark on a 10-day trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand, for a reunion with friends from his days in Singapore (’84-’90). Dan’s two boys are both in high school now. Y Lisa McDonough O’Neill got together with Kitty Weyl Dove and Suze Connolly Levere and their families in Newport in August 2005, and the O’Neills planned to spend last Memorial Day on the Cape with Lynn Collins Francis and her family. Lisa and her husband, Sean, performed