alumni at large married Damon Frutos in June 2006, and she had a son in June 2008. Y Chad and Emma Spenner Norman welcomed their second son, Luke Thomas Norman, March 5, 2009. Luke’s brother, Parker, is smitten with the new addition. Emma recently obtained her Ph.D. in environmental geography at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she conducted research on trans-boundary water governance issues. She teaches environmental studies courses at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Wash., and works on water security issues with the program on water governance at UBC. Y Michele Elliot and Brian Carovillano moved to Atlanta last June, where Brian accepted a new position with the Associated Press as a regional editor for the South. They’re expecting their second child this summer and were in California recently visiting Liz Keith. Y On Sept. 4, 2008, Julie and Dennis Nations became parents to twins! Zack Joseph Nations and Samantha Suzanne Nations. They join their older brother, Jake, 2. “Life is a bit nuts right now—the sleep deprivation has been pretty brutal,” writes Dennis, but the growing family is doing well. Dennis works at Babson College as the director of graduate admissions. Y T.J. Maines is the head coach of the men’s basketball team at Thomas College in Waterville. This past season he led the team to an 11-3 record and clinched first place in the North Atlantic Conference. This was the first time Thomas College achieved 10 wins in a season since 1986; T.J. was named the NAC Coach of the Year for his efforts. Y Caleb Mason will begin teaching this fall at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. A former assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of California, Caleb will initially teach Constitutional Criminal Procedure and Evidence and may later present courses in areas such as constitutional law, criminal law theory, jurisprudence, and law and religious institutions.
1996
Brad Smith classnews1996@alum.colby.edu This column is hereby dedicated to Alison Werner Barton, who died in a car accident March 1, 2009. Her memorial service was held March 6 at the Winchester Unitarian Church in Winchester, Mass. Two busloads of her colleagues at State Street Bank, countless Colby alumni, and friends, family, and mourners gathered to remember Alison, celebrate her life, and grieve together. Rachel Moritz O’Connell is compiling a letter that will reside on the Colby Class of 1996 Web site as a virtual class tribute to Alison’s life. A special thanks to all of you who wrote in, many with notes of remembrance about Alison, and I’m thankful for those who reconnected as a result
48 Colby / Summer 2009
World Vision | Graham Macmillan ’97 Some 400 million people worldwide, most in rural areas of developing countries, do not have access to simple reading glasses. Graham Macmillan ’97 and his partners at the nonprofit VisionSpring have developed an innovative way to address this problem—but they’re not giving it away. VisionSpring’s business model is rooted in theories of microfinance: They train low-income people in India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Guatemala, and El Salvador, among other countries, to start microfranchises to sell reading glasses. And the benefits go beyond the individual seller. “Using reading glasses for the first time, aging farmers can again work fields efficiently and career textile workers can sew faster and more accurately,” Macmillan said. Indeed, the incentive of greater efficiency and career longevity has led to sales of 240,000 pairs of reading glasses worldwide in the past six years by VisionSpring’s 900 entrepreneurs. To start off, VisionSpring sets up each entrepreneur with, quite literally, a business in a bag. It is filled with about 25 pairs of reading glasses, 15 pairs of sunglasses, a uniform, and cleaning cloths. The entrepreneurs are then trained how to screen for presbyopia, or up-close blurry vision, and other related eye problems, and they learn how to successfully run a sustainable business. The vision entrepreneur then travels door to door, some village to village, screening for presbyopia. Those who show symptoms of presbyopia then have the option to buy glasses for between four and nine dollars, which in some communities is a substantial percentage of the buyer’s of this incomprehensible tragedy. It was great, albeit bittersweet, to hear from all of you. Y After eight years of marriage, Tatum Calder Sinclair has two boys, Cole, 4, and Reese, 2. Her brother, Adrian, continues to fly F-18s for the Navy in Afghanistan, whooping up on the Taliban. Tatum frequently sees Caroline Bird McGowan, who has two children, Patrick, 2, and Madeline, 4 months, and Rachel Simson D’Antonio, who lives in CT with children Luke, 5, and Ben, 3. Y Sandler Passman is getting married in June to Shana Levy of Richmond, Va. This is arguably Sandler’s finest moment since canning a sweet spot-up jay to seal a Load Team victory in iPlay hoops in 1996. Y Aaron Schlechter married Alexa Goodson in Fairfield, Conn., on Valentine’s Day 2009. In attendance were Nolan Yamashiro, Brian Stenger, Chris Dawkins, and James Howley. Aaron works for Amy Greene Environmental Consultants, Inc., on storm water and ecological restoration projects in NYC. Aaron is a credentialed CPESC (certified professional in erosion and sediment control), which
income. “The price hurts enough where it makes a difference,” Macmillan said, “but it also enables the customer to say, ‘I don’t have to buy this, you aren’t giving this to me.’ It’s the dignity of choice.” The innovation yet overall simplicity of the model has led to accolades. The Economist, NBC Nightly News, National Public Radio, and the International Herald Tribune have profiled the foundation, while former President Bill Clinton called the foundation his “favorite commitment” from his Clinton Global Initiative meeting in 2007. Despite the media attention, VisionSpring, like Macmillan, keeps its focus on the service provided. “There is so much power in this simple product, because the benefit is instantaneous,” Macmillan said. “You put on a pair of glasses and you can immediately see the difference.” —Brendan Sullivan ’06
totally KA. Y Ed Bourque expects to receive his Ph.D. in geography from King’s College London this summer. His Ph.D. is a case study in access to water in Tanzania, and he wants hear from other alumni working in water and sanitation/international development: edbourque@hotmail.com. Y Erica Casano Spater has fun in Portsmouth, N.H., with husband Kitter and daughter Georgia, 2. Y Peter Bennett writes from northern California that he’s working for the U.S. Geological Survey. In his free time he’s out whitewater kayaking and chasing rainbows. Y Chris and Kylie (Jessica) Taphorn Thoma welcomed Griffin Christopher Thoma in February 2009. In August Kylie returns to her job as in-house counsel for the California Department of Corrections in Sacramento. She hears from Nozomi Kishimoto Reichow, her first-year roommate, who lives in Tokyo with her husband and daughter, Noa. Nozomi works for Royal Bank of Scotland. Kylie also keeps in touch with Linnea Basu, who is in Boston and works for Northeastern University, and
Whitney Glockner, who lives in the Bay Area and is getting married in August 2009. (Congrats, Whitney!) Y And, finally, on April 26, Gregg LeBlanc, Ryan Sullivan, Jeff Sklarz, I, and seemingly countless others ate donuts. This is not usually newsworthy, but trust me: it is. Y Well, that’s the notes for now. They’re hard to write, so please keep them coming. And on behalf all those who knew you, we will miss you dearly, Tex Mex. Our sympathies remain with the Werner and Barton families to this very day.
1997
Leah Tortola Walton classnews1997@alum.colby.edu Katherine Lawn married Prashant Chouta in August 2007 in Pennsylvania and in December 2007 in Mumbai. In attendance at the U.S. wedding were Tricia and Steve DiLella, Hyun Jung, Vaj Muas, Kate and Christian Winkley, Lisa Woo, Maylene (Cummings ’96)