Colby-Sawyer Magazine ~ Spring 2018

Page 1

SPRING 2018


NEWS + STORIES

IN EVERY ISSUE

FEATURES

4

22

26

6

36

10

38

The Season in Sports

Raised to an Exponential Power: Alumni Network Expands Experiential Learning

12

44

30

Experiencing Science Where’d That Come From? Winning the Lottery: Mo Jafar ’18 The Serious Students Behind the Fun New Game Room

Sense of Place Portfolio

28

45

Class Notes

From Guide School to Law School: Diana Abbott ’18 Explores the Great Outdoors

Containing Contradictions: Chelsea Carbee ’19

59

34

16

61

15

On Course: Emily Lopez ’17

Alumni News

Prepared to Serve: Joan Weed Montagne ‘67

In Memoriam In Fond Memory

18

62

21

64

Joy + Gravity in Design Open with Style: The Center for Art + Design

Epilogue Archives

24

The Power at the End of Our Forks

cover: Business major Diana Abbott ’18 of Truckee, Calif., completed her internship with Sweetwater Travel in Montana this summer. She chose Colby-Sawyer based on the rigor of the Business Administration Department and the competitiveness of the ski team. “Colby-Sawyer had the whole package I was looking for,” she said. “There are so many things I appreciate and love about it: the quiet spots for study, the friends I’ve made, being able to know my professors … and the chance to try new things.” this page: The Yellowstone River starred in the 1992 film “A River Runs Through It,” and its beauty prompted a stampede of visitors to Montana anxious to pick up a fly rod and feel the magic of time spent on the water. Photos: Michael Seamans

Family Matters

editor Kate Seamans associate editor Kellie M. Spinney assistant editor Jaclyn Goddette ’16 production manager Edward Germar senior designer Nancy Sepe assistant designer Karen Alcazar ’17 class notes editors Tracey Austin, Mike Gregory printing R.C. Brayshaw & Company, Warner, N.H.


editor’s inbox The conclusion in the fall issue’s story “Being Seen as Susan” that Theopista “Theo” Nakafero ’66 was the first black student to graduate from Colby Junior College is incorrect. Esther Christine Toms graduated with an associate degree in 1943. She went on to earn a doctorate in psychology and practiced in Washington, D.C., for many years. While at Colby Junior, she came under the guidance of “Zib” Billings, professor of psychology, and Eleanor Dodd, later dean of the college. Their friendships lasted until their deaths. Rebecca Brewster Irving ’42 MT EDITOR’S NOTE: Thank you for writing with more information about the first black student to graduate from Colby Junior College. Esther Christine Toms ’43 did indeed go on to earn a B.A. from Wellesley College, an M.A. from the Catholic University of America and, in 1955, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota. Toms, who passed away in June 2002, was a generous and consistent supporter of The Colby-Sawyer Fund as well as a member of the Heritage Society. She believed that “excellent teachers and students must have excellent resources” and endowed the Walter D. and Deella Toms Library Fund in memory of her parents and their encouragement of her reading.

I just finished reading the fall magazine and certainly enjoyed this particular issue of Colby-­Sawyer. In reading about the Center for Art + Design, however, I noticed its designer, the S/L/A/M Collaborative, is credited with having also designed the Windy Hill School. This is not so. Ingrid Moulton Nichols, managing partner for Banwell Architects in Lebanon, N.H., was actually the designer of the lab school and deserves much credit and praise for the facility and for her tireless work to bring a Silver LEED-certified building to our campus. Janet Bliss, faculty emerita and founder of Windy Hill School EDITOR’S NOTE: Thank you, Janet, and apologies to Ingrid.

Colby-­Sawyer welcomes letters to the editor and reserves the right to edit and condense them. Please send your letters to editor@colby-sawyer.edu or to: Kate Seamans, editor Colby-­Sawyer College 541 Main Street New London, NH 03257 Send address changes to alumni@colby-sawyer.edu or to: Colby-­Sawyer College Office of Alumni Relations 541 Main Street New London, NH 03257


from the president

GREETINGS FROM COLGATE HALL, Telling the Colby-Sawyer story is something I’ve focused on this year, and that has meant, in part, working with colleagues across campus to revamp our strategic plan. This college is as unique among its peers as any individual student is in a classroom, yet it is difficult to convey its distinguishing features to our multiple audiences. The emphasis on telling our story and strategic planning aims to articulate for all of them what makes Colby-Sawyer distinct, and our strategic plan now focuses on three promises: a sense of place, personalized and engaged learning, and a transformative education. Colby-Sawyer’s sense of place and community aligns with our beautiful location and campus. Robust partnerships complement the college’s strengths while our lovely small town provides a safe place to grow. Relationships matter here. And so do campus spaces: Over the past decade, the college has invested $34.5 million in facilities such as the Center for Art + Design, the Ware Dining Hall expansion, Windy Hill and the Kelsey Athletic Campus. As we plan for the next 10 years, we need to invest in reinvigorating residence halls, Sawyer Center and Reichhold as well as some of our newer buildings that also need care.

has tripled in size thanks to donors who read the article and were inspired to support the initiative. Wouldn’t it be compelling if Colby-Sawyer could guarantee every student an engaged learning grant? The Colby-Sawyer experience transforms students. This issue features students and alumni who have benefited from financial support to achieve their Colby-Sawyer degrees. This year the college awarded more than $25 million in need- and merit-­ based aid to our students, but only five percent was funded by endowed scholarships. We must expand our endowment for additional scholarship support and create additional endowed chairs to recruit and retain exceptional faculty. As president, I wear many hats. One of my favorites is that of “chief storyteller.” These are challenging times for higher education, but Colby-Sawyer is poised for a strong future thanks to our committed faculty and staff, our engaged students, our generous donors, and our compelling stories. Thank you for all you do for Colby-Sawyer. Please continue to share your stories with us and with others. Kind regards,

Engaged learning permeates the Colby-Sawyer experience. Last year, more than 50 percent of our graduating students were offered employment at their internship sites. In the fall issue, we highlighted the generous support of a pilot program that provided funds for summer internships students would not otherwise have been able to afford to accept. That program

IN GOOD COMPANY Along with Connecticut College, Wellesley College, Trinity College, Mount Holyoke College and others, Colby-­Sawyer was named a Hidden Northeast Gem by College Raptor. What does that mean? We all have fewer than 7,000 undergrads, for one thing. Perhaps also that if you know a high school student who would find Colby-­Sawyer’s experiential liberal arts education a great fit, suggest a visit to our gem of a campus! Learn more at colby-sawyer.edu/hiddengem.

2

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Susan D. Stuebner, Ed.D. President and Professor of Social Sciences and Education

U.S. News and World Report Ranks Colby-Sawyer:

#7

Among Regional Liberal Arts Colleges in the North. These are colleges that focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than half their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.

#4

In the Great Values category based on the college’s aboveaverage academic quality and the 2016-2017 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid.


Room to Run Thanks to a generous donation from Mariann Walling Morris ’61, the college now boasts a multi­purpose cross country trail that winds through Kelsey Forest and along the playing fields of the Kelsey Athletic Campus. The trail is already a favorite place for members of the college and area communities, fulfilling Morris’s wish when she chose to fund the project. The trail, whose loops can create a 5K course for women’s races and an 8K for men’s, features six wooden bridges built by five student interns (Briana Clark ’18, Theresa Edick ’18, Shari Juranovits ’19, Gabrielle Kendall ’18 and Rick Prindiville ’18) who also helped clear brush and cut roots. The men’s and women’s cross country teams are especially well acquainted with the new facility after daily practices on it this fall. Head Coach Lyndsay Ostler appreciates having a regulation trail on campus. “In the past, I’ve piled students in vans to drive them to nearby trails,” she said. “It is so nice to have one here at home.” The trail is an advantage for recruiting student athletes, too.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

The trail isn’t just for the Chargers teams, though — it made its public debut as the site of the annual 5K Dash and Stroll in October, and community members enjoy walking their dogs, taking in the foliage and snowshoeing th rough the woods. The trail concept was part of the student-­ designed Forest Management Plan submitted to the college last year, and Professor of Natural and Environmental Sciences Leon-C Malan was instrumental in the trail’s construction. Through­ out the fall, he, Ostler and foresters kept an eye on water flow, invasive tree lines and protruding roots. They’re happy with how the trail’s holding up so far. Someday, the teams will host a home meet, and Professor Malan hopes classes from every academic department will integrate the trail into their curriculi. – Lydia Schoonmaker ’19

SPRING 2018

3


Experiencing Science: NH-INBRE Yields Student Opportunities by Jaclyn Goddette ’16 At Colby-Sawyer, students are empowered to conduct their own research, and a federal grant program has allowed them to take that endeavor to the next level. Last summer, 13 Colby-Sawyer students, alumni and faculty attended the New Hampshire IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (NH-INBRE) Annual Meeting to present their findings. Supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institutes of Health, INBRE promotes the development, coordination and sharing of biomedical research resources within 24 states. NH-INBRE is a partnership among eight institutions, including Colby-Sawyer, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, the University of New Hampshire and five others.

Representing Colby-Sawyer at the NH-INBRE Annual Meeting at the Mount Washington Resort this summer were (front, L – R) Anishma Shrestha ’17, Jacob Pushee ’19, Professor Ben Steele, Marina Good ’20, Olivia McAnirlin ’17, Robert Madden ’18, Assistant Professor Jeremy Baker and Deepesh Duwadi ’17. Back, L – R: Associate Professor James Jukosky, Ben Maines ’18, Yonatan Degefu ’18, Matthew Schiller ’19 and Christopher Manwaring ’18.

Biology majors Deepesh Duwadi ’17 of Dhading, Nepal, and Ben Maines ’18 of Abbot, Maine, were among seven students selected to present to the 205 meeting attendees. Duwadi, who now works as a research assistant at the Geisel School of Medicine, presented on research conducted with Anishma Shrestha ’17 that focuses on an alternative method of treating bacterial infections. As bacteria become resistant to drugs, scientists strive to adapt peptides to kill strains resistant to antibiotics. Duwadi and Shrestha tested the efficacy of several peptide sequences on mice infected with E. coli. Maines’s presentation originated from Dartmouth’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (ISURF) program, which he completed last summer. His research focused on several genes

and their relationship with Wnt signaling, a group of signal transduction pathways linked to cancer. His work contributes to the goal of developing targeted cancer therapies. Seven more Chargers presented posters, including biology major Yonatan Degefu ’18 of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Degefu, who also completed an ISURF program, was selected by NH-INBRE judges as one of the top presenters for his project Automated Quantification of Lymphoid Aggregates in Melanoma Induced Vitiligo. The other poster presenters were nursing major Jacob Pushee ’19 of North Haverhill, N.H.; exercise science majors Olivia McAnirlin ’17 of Newport, Maine, and Christopher Manwaring ’18 of Alstead, N.H.; athletic training major Robert Madden ’18 of Malden, Mass.; and biology majors Marina Good ’20 of Princeton, Mass., and Matthew Schiller ’19 of Slingerlands, N.Y. In addition to providing funding, NH-INBRE also facilitates collaboration between schools. The annual meeting is its largest networking event, giving students the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas with colleagues from other institutions as well as access to career resources. Much of the student work has been in partnership with Dartmouth College; in addition to working with Colby-Sawyer’s Associate Professor of Natural and Environmental Sciences James Jukosky, Duwadi and Shrestha worked in the lab of Dartmouth’s Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics Steven Fiering. All the ISURF programs were conducted at the Geisel School of Medicine.

PHOTO: JON GILBERT FOX

“That’s the magic of NH-INBRE,” said Maines. “The connections I made throughout the summer and at conferences like the annual meeting have already brought opportunities my way.” Those include invitations to visit labs and support in troubleshooting experiments.

4

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Programs like NH-INBRE are essential to Colby-­ Sawyer, where the growth and synthesis of ideas are not just a byproduct of student learning but an integral component of every discipline.  ®


President Stuebner Joins CIC Board of Directors

Education in Action

President Susan D. Stuebner was one of 10 members elected to a three-year term on the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Board of Directors during its January meeting.

Sport management major Alex Danas ’18, a guard on the women’s basketball team, knows plenty of benefits accrue from playing a college sport. Not only do student athletes benefit from the regular physical activity, but they also learn time management and leadership skills. If sports are useful to students generally, they’re especially advantageous to the cadets at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Va., where Danas was an athletic administration and basketball operations intern last summer.

by Jaclyn Goddette ’16

The CIC is the only national organization that focuses solely on providing services and a broad range of initiatives directly to independent colleges and universities to help improve the quality of education and strengthen institutional resources.

Danas supported several programs at the public military college, especially the men’s basketball team. She helped the Keydets prepare for their season by making travel itineraries, which was an exercise in research and economics. Danas also created player and coach binders that included drills, practice plans, plays and the itineraries. In addition, she had an active role in the summer youth basketball camps on campus, marketing them to the local community and even coaching.

“I am honored to join the CIC board. The CIC has been a tireless advocate of the liberal arts and has provided great programs and resources for independent colleges,” said President Stuebner. “This opportunity not only aligns with my professional passion for sustaining the liberal arts and sciences, but it also allows Colby-Sawyer to be part of the critical conversations about the future of our sector.” Read more at colby-sawyer.edu/news/cic-board.

In June, Janet Bauer became director of the Windy Hill School. Bauer has 15 years’ experience at the on-campus school and has taught in the nursery, toddlers and kindergarten programs. She holds a B.A. in elementary education with teacher certification from New England College and an M.Ed. in early childhood education from Champlain College.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

A New Director for Windy Hill School

Founded in 1976, Windy Hill is a LEED-Silver Certified facility designed to be environmentally friendly while meeting young children’s needs. One of only a few lab schools in Northern New England, Windy Hill is a place where child development and psychology majors study and work alongside teachers as well as participate in research.

Danas appreciates that Colby-Sawyer’s curriculum exposes her to hands-­on work, guest speakers and case studies, and to the experiential learning opportunities that helped her complete her internship. The course Sport and Recreation Programming and Administration, taught by Assistant Professor of Exercise and Sport Sciences Stacey Watts, was especially useful — much of Danas’s work at VMI echoed assignments she completed for that class.

This year, Windy Hill is providing learning experiences to 54 children ages 13 months through pre-k. The school is employing 24 work-study students and mentoring seven interns.

“Colby-Sawyer starts you in your major from the moment you begin taking classes, which is something I really like,” said Danas. “I feel I have a truly well-rounded education. Each class has been important to how I have grown as a student and prepared me for this experience.” SPRING 2018

5


Where’d That Come From? by Karen Alcazar ´17 and Kellie M. Spinney

Colby-Sawyer’s campus is dotted with art and other features that combine to create a vibrant, interactive landscape. Each piece has its own story — here’s a look at three.

whitebird Perched between the Curtis L. Ivey Science Center and the Susan Cleveland Colgate Library/Learning Center, “Whitebird” was donated to the college by renowned author, artist and former Colby-Sawyer faculty member Tomie dePaola. In 1987, dePaola commissioned figurative sculptor Judith Brown to create the piece, which he donated to the college in celebration of its new Library/ Learning Center. Even in his elementary-school sketchbooks, dePaola was enthralled with the iconography of the Catholic Church; known across religions and mythologies as a messenger between gods and humankind, the white dove kept appearing on his pages. When dePaola listened to the 1969 song “White Bird” during the Feast of the Holy Spirit in San Francisco, the white bird solidified its role as his personal visual symbol. He went on to name his homes and corporation Whitebird. Tomie dePaola is an award-winning children’s author and illustrator with more than 250 books and nearly 25 million copies sold. In addition to “Whitebird,” dePaola has gifted the Colby-Sawyer community with his time, talents and expertise, as well as the Tomie dePaola Whitebird Paper Awards at the annual Juried Student Art Exhibition. In 1985, Colby-Sawyer awarded dePaola an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

6

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Brown, whose works were primarily made of junkyard objects, scrap and shaped steel, died of pancreatic cancer in 1992. Her sculptural legacy includes works at the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Federal Courthouse in New Jersey and, thanks to dePaola, Colby-Sawyer.


the heavens A celestial sculpture donated by Suzanne Simons Hammond ’66 is the beckoning force within the gardens that welcome visitors to the Curtis L. Ivey Science Center. Hammond donated the piece, formerly situated in her backyard, to the college in 2014 following the passing of her husband, John, and the sale of their home. “We loved sitting on our terrace looking at the sun and the stars and the moon,” Hammond said. She drove the sculpture from Connecticut to New London in a U-Haul, astonishing then-Vice President of Administration Doug Lyons and the team that unloaded the substantial sculpture. “With the help of almost the entire Facilities staff, it came to land at Ivey,” said Hammond. “It was Doug’s idea to put it there. Where could be more appropriate than in front of a science center? It makes me smile.” Suzanne Simons Hammond ’66 is a former trustee and a member of the Heritage Society, the President’s Alumni Advisory Council and the President’s Community Forum. In 2004, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award.

the peace pole The Peace and Justice Club purchased the Peace Pole in response to the September 11 attacks with the support of staff and faculty, including Tom Wilkins of the Baird Health and Counseling Center. Located behind Lethbridge Lodge, the pole and surrounding area originally served as a place to share feelings and honor those who lost their lives in the attacks, including Susan L. Blair ’88. Today, according to Wilkins, the Peace Pole remains an area available to anyone with an open heart who can respect the area as a sacred space. “I look at it as a place where people of all beliefs can find their common humanity and be open to each other’s struggles, and also be open to celebrating each other’s happiness and successes,” he said.

Is there something on campus whose origins pique your curiosity? Let us know at editor@colby-sawyer.edu and we’ll consider it for another installment of "Where’d That Come From?"

Each side of the pole reads, “May Peace Prevail On Earth” in a different language: English, Arabic, Hebrew and American Sign Language.

SPRING 2018

7


CALLED TOGETHER 276

first-year students

3,192

applicants

31% male

85%

from new england

37%

from new hampshire

3.37

average high school gpa

89%

of admitted students who visited campus twice decided to enroll

Colby-Sawyer’s Class of 2021 comprises athletes, artists, community service volunteers and more. Among the 276 first-year students are those who crochet, dance, maple-sugar, ski and obsess over Harry Potter. Colby­-Sawyer officially welcomed them and kicked off the institution’s 180th academic year at Convocation on Sept. 1. In her remarks to the class, President Susan D. Stuebner shared her hopes for the newest members of the campus community: “I hope that each of you encounters moments of challenge … keep in mind that a significant part of learning is stretching outside of your comfort zone, taking risks, looking at issues in new ways, and listening to what others’ experiences offer. Do your best to approach these moments as an opportunity to apply the strengths you already have and to discover new talents. “I hope that each of you create moments of curiosity and connection. … You will have opportunities not only to explore what your academic interests are now, but you will also be prepared with a breadth of knowledge across disciplines. … Be open to what you can learn in any course you take. “I hope that each of you will take moments to enjoy the beauty and quiet that New London offers. … I encourage you find your favorite spot on campus, take advantage of your free ski pass to Mount Sunapee, join us for Mountain Day as we climb Mount Kearsage, walk to Bucklin Beach on Little Lake Sunapee, look up at the stars at night. “I hope that each of you will immerse yourselves in this community and come to call it home. … You join more than 17,000 alumni and 700 returning students as part of our community.” Relive the fun of moving into college at colby-sawyer.edu/moveinday17.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

Fun Facts from the Beloit Mindset List for the Class of 2021

8

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

They are the last class born in the 1900s and the last of the Millennials  They are the first generation for whom a “phone” has been primarily a video game, direction finder, electronic telegraph and research library  In college, they’ll often think of themselves as consumers who’ve borrowed a lot of money to be there  Jet Blue has always been a favorite travel option but the Concorde has always been grounded  They’ve always been searching for Pokémon  Justin Timberlake has always been a solo act  Women have always scaled both sides of Everest and rowed across the Atlantic. Read the complete list at beloit.edu/mindset/2021.


Testing the Water: Partnership Powers Student Research by Jaclyn Goddette ’16 Learning is most meaningful when applied to realworld scenarios, and this year students in the annual Community-Based Research Project teamed up with stakeholders in New London to investigate concentrations of phosphorus in the town’s wastewater. The 11 students in the yearlong class collected data, compiled information, conducted a survey and developed a public outreach plan to reduce the phosphorus input.

Aquaculture for a Cause: Professor Pine Shares Expertise and Soccer Love in Senegal by Jaclyn Goddette ’16 Last summer, Associate Professor of Natural and Environmental Sciences Harvey Pine shared his expertise in aquaculture with agricultural extension agents in Senegal as part of a volunteer project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Senegal faces significant food security and economic challenges. Aquaculture has emerged as one way for Senegal to produce additional food sources and improve its undeveloped agriculture sector. During his two weeks, Professor Pine trained about 30 extension agents in aquaculture and fish farming. While they had some background in the field, he helped update their techniques and troubleshoot. They also requested instruction on specific topics, such as local feed formulation for the fish and water quality.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

“It’s fun to problem solve and find local solutions to some of the challenges,” Professor Pine said. “These service projects renew my passion for aquaculture and encourage me to pursue it here [at Colby-Sawyer].” Read more at colby-sawyer.edu/stories/aquaculture-cause.

Phosphorus is one of the major building blocks of DNA and other critical cell structures. Too much of it, however, can trigger excessive algae growth, which in turn can deplete the water’s oxygen levels and block sunlight from reaching life forms under the surface. Some algae even produce toxins harmful to other organisms. “In other words, too much phosphorus can disrupt the delicate balance of life,” explained Nicole Semeraro ’18 from North Reading, Mass. New London’s wastewater is processed at the Sunapee Wastewater Treatment Plant before being released into the Sugar River. In order to prevent nutrient pollution, the treatment center must take additional steps to remove the phosphorus. Sunapee charges New London for this service, which means taxpayers pay the price. The class, taught by Professor and Chair of Natural and Environmental Sciences Nick Baer, Associate Professor of Natural and Environmental Sciences Harvey Pine and lab manager Teriko McConnell, hopes its research can help the town save money while also protecting local water systems.

Soccer is big in Senegal, and thanks to Athletic Director Bill Foti and Head Soccer Coach Charles Metz, Professor Pine secured 11 uniforms and chose a local soccer group stationed near his training site to receive them. During a ceremony the group organized to honor the donation, Professor Pine told them he teaches at a small liberal arts college, which means intellectual pursuits are important but sports are also a significant part of campus life. His trip was, he said, especially meaningful because his dual mission to share both knowledge and athletic gear encapsulates Colby-­Sawyer’s emphasis on teaching the whole person.

Read more at colby-sawyer.edu/stories/ testing-the-water. SPRING 2018

9


WINNING the LOTTERY by Lynn J. Garrioch

photos by Michael Seamans

Early last April, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and spent my morning complaining. There was still too much snow. The photocopier jammed again. I had a too-long to-do-list, and the news headlines made me cringe. The miserable day seemed endless.

10

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Then, precisely at one o’clock, my perspective changed. That’s when psychology major Mohamed “Mo” Jafar ’18 arrived in my office to discuss class selections for his senior year, the dreaded GRE exam and graduate schools. It was a typical adviser-advisee conversation, until I heard Mo say, “… and when my sister was born in the refugee camp ...” Refugee. The word lodged in my mind as he talked. Refugee. The misbehaving photocopier and temperamental weather didn’t matter anymore. I knew Mo was a Somalian American from Vermont. I knew he was the eldest of 11 children whose no-nonsense parents expected them all to attend college. But how could I have known Mo for three years in and out of the classroom and not known that he was born and grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp?


The U.N. Human Rights Council established the Dadaab camps in Kenya in 1992 to house Somalian refugees escaping a relentless civil war just 50 miles to the east. These refugee camps are still the second largest in the world, housing more than 240,000 Somalians this year. In 1996, though, Mo’s parents were mere adolescents escaping the war. Their first two children died in the camps. Mo, their third, was the first to survive. Three more of Mo’s siblings were born in the camps; he eventually became the eldest of 11 surviving children. At long last, when Mo was seven years old, the Jafars won a visa lottery program, relocated to Vermont and became American citizens. Mo’s casual mention of his early years stayed with me, especially with the topic of refugees in the news, and I wanted to know more. When asked what it was like to grow up in the camps, he had two answers. The first was quick, honest and sobering: “It was life,” he said. “I did not know anything different.” The camp was its own world — it’s where he lived, where he played, where he went to school and where he cared for his siblings. Life may have been harsh, with never quite enough clean water, food or shelter from the heat, but it was all he knew. His second answer was more nuanced. “My family and two others were relocated to Vermont. Except for the other refugees, everyone was white. Vermont was a shock,” he said. “We lived with a host family for one month until my father got a full-time job at Gardener’s Supply. There was snow, a lot of snow. There was food that did not taste like my mother’s. I learned English quickly.” These days, Mo’s mother works in the home, and while his father continues to work at Gardener’s Supply, he also owns a cab company.

life in the refugee camp fell further into the past, he did his best to help his traditional African parents understand their children. Some mainstays of an American childhood, for example, they never quite embraced. “When I was a child, I wanted to sleep over at my friends’ places, and I wanted them to sleep over at mine,” Mo said. “My parents could not understand this.” So how does a refugee from Kenya end up at Colby-Sawyer College? Soccer, first, and then love. When the Colby-Sawyer coach was recruiting Mo’s good friend and invited him to visit, Mo tagged along. As soon as he saw the campus, Mo knew he wanted to attend this beautiful, closeknit college on a hill.

My ability to connect with just about anyone ... has helped me interact with some amazing people. Long before I learned of Mo’s beginnings in a refugee camp on the other side of the world, I realized he was an extraordinary young man, one who’s been a pleasure to teach and advise. From his perspective, he believes his personality and diverse background have contributed to the college community.

“I am accepting of life and it has made me who I am,” he said. “I believe my ability to connect with just about anyone I come into contact with has helped me interact with some amazing people, people who have proved crucial in helping me succeed in my goals and vice versa.” As American politicians debate the status of refugees from certain countries, I realize they haven’t met Mohamed Jafar — yet. This spring, though, he is an intern researching federal policies at the Northeast-­Midwest Institute in Washington, D.C. Mo will attend congressional hearings, draft and edit memos, and learn about the psychology of politics. I hope he works with politicians who don’t yet appreciate the contributions of refugees and immigrants to this country. When they meet Mo, however, they’ll be reminded of this great nation’s richness. Mo isn’t sure how he wants to apply his psychology degree after college, but one thing is clear: The Jafars and Mo may have won the lottery, but so did we.  ® Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Education Lynn J. Garrioch joined the faculty in 2001. She holds an honors B.A. in psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in applied social psychology from the University of Victoria. She has a special interest in social psychology, personality psychology and the psychology of women.

Mo quickly became American as well, and he learned to balance that new identity with the old. He ate African meals at home and bland American meals at school. He joined the soccer team, went out for burgers with friends and worked toward the goal of attending college. As

SPRING 2018

11


The Serious Students Behind the Fun New Game Room by Jacob Feinberg ’20 et al. photos by Michael Seamans

left, l to r: Simarya Severance-Camp ’21, a history and political studies major from Enfield, N.H.; Bryce Carlson ’21, a business administration major from Hampton Falls, N.H.; and Nick Mathieu ’21, a business administration major from Topsham, Maine, enjoy a round of pool while music plays and other students study and hang out in the game room’s beanbag chairs. above: Detail from the winning mural design submitted by Kathryn Devlin ’18 and Amber Izquierdo ’19.

In a close-knit community like Colby-­ Sawyer, students are encouraged to step up and make a lasting impact. The latest example of this long tradition is how the Student Government Association (SGA) tapped into students’ creative energy last spring to breathe new life into the reestablished game room. For many years, Lethbridge Lodge housed the game room, with its ping pong, foosball and pool tables. When that space was converted into a conference room, the fun and games moved to the former Hicks Alumni Lounge in the Ware Student Center. In fall 2016, with a generous donation by Trustee Robin L. Mead ’72, the college store, The Stable, moved from Colgate’s lower level into the more accessible space the game room had occupied in Ware. Students were excited to have a beautiful new college store, but many missed the game room’s communal space.

12

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Communication studies major Nathaly Abreu ’17 of the Bronx led a group of students who worked with Senior Director of Facilities and Capital Projects Management Bob Vachon to find a new location for the game room. Last spring, it re­ opened in the store’s old Colgate spot. That was a great first step, but the new location didn’t have much personality, so students focused on making it a place where people would want to spend time. Conversation and study areas were established, and the SGA worked with volunteer staff to paint the game room an earthy, sophisticated red. When studio art majors were invited to submit designs for a mural, Kathryn Devlin ’18 of Bolton, Vt., and Amber Izquierdo ’19 of New York City presented the winning idea for artwork that will add character to a room created by and for students. The SGA listened to students, and the game room now offers them a fun,

centralized place to study or play air hockey with friends. It is a place the SGA can be proud to have made a home for all. The game room is just one example of how students influence change on campus. In 2014, students spearheaded an effort to increase the percentage of local foods offered in the dining hall. That same year, Colby-Sawyer became the first private college in New Hampshire to be certified as a fair trade college, largely because of student effort. This visionary spirit continues to thrive; last spring, a student-led initiative resulted in Kelsey Forest’s status as a certified tree farm.  ® Jacob Feinberg ’20 is a biology major from Center Barnstead, N.H. He’s a member of the Wesson Honors Program and the Campus Activities Board. Nathnael Feleke ’18, Kevin Richardson ’18, John Rojas ’18 and Pam Spear, director of Baird Health and Counseling Center, also contributed to this piece.


Your Gifts Can Change L ives I was able to attend the college of my choice thanks to a gift from my paternal grandmother, who believed education was the way to a successful future. My husband, Dale, and I focus our philanthropy so that more students can attend college. I am proud to make a positive difference in their lives so they may make a difference in the world. – JoAnn Franke Overfield ’69 My mother and I were on and off welfare for 10 years after the divorce. I remember my mom praying at the grocery store that we’d have enough money, and I remember being ridiculed on the playground because I couldn’t find namebrand clothes at thrift stores. Without scholarships, I wouldn’t be at ColbySawyer. I wouldn’t be a public health major with a double minor in biology and gender studies. I wouldn’t be on the women’s rugby team and the president of two clubs. I wouldn’t be working toward becoming an OBGYN. I am grateful to have received the JoAnn Franke Overfield ’69 Scholarship. On behalf of all students who have received scholarships, thank you to everyone who supports Colby-Sawyer.

Make a difference today. Visit colby-sawyer.edu/giving or call us at 603.526.3426

– Sage Lincoln ’19


An initiative to bring honeybees and bumblebees to campus as part of a NH-INBRE project under the guidance of Assistant Professors of Natural and Environmental Sciences Jamie Jukosky and Joshua Steffen offers a swarm of opportunities. Students have analyzed DNA to sequence pollen gathered from the bees and studied which local bee communities are more active pollinators, as well as which flowers they pollinate during different hours of the day and months of the year. The Colby-Sawyer colonies are released with the hope of increasing the dwindling bee populations worldwide.

PHOTO: KATE SEAMANS

14

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

above:

PHOTO: KAREN ALCAZAR ’17

out+ about

PHOTO: GIL TALBOT

left:

On Sept. 18, 680 students, along with 83 faculty and staff, celebrated Mountain Day with the annual hike up Mount Kearsarge. Relive the fun at colby-sawyer.edu/mtnday17vid. left: The Colby-Sawyer community celebrated Victor the Charger’s third birthday with carrot cake, oatmeal cookies, apple cider and other treats on Sept. 29. Area Coordinator Michael Brown, nursing major Brittany Buckley ’20 and child development major Alexis Morgan ’20 led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday.”

left: The U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac counts Colby­-Sawyer as one of 26 colleges and universities in the country that offer a maple syrup program. It highlighted the interdisciplinary approach in which graphic design majors create bottle labels, creative writing majors produce poems for the label, business majors conduct break-even analyses and production surveys, and science majors develop a long-term database to evaluate temporal changes in volume and sugar content. “If it can be said that we, as maple syrup producers, are trying to squeeze every ounce of sap out of our trees, then Colby-Sawyer can be said to be squeezing every ounce of educational opportunity out of their sugaring program,” writes Mike Rechlin. Read the article at colby-sawyer.edu/everyounce.


CONTAINING CONTRADICTIONS: A Nursing Student Writes Herself Out of the Box by Jaclyn Goddette ’16

G

ood writers know that compelling characters are often contradictory. Take Marvel superhero Daredevil — blind lawyer Matt Murdock by day, vigilante by night — or Jesse Pinkman, the drug dealer with a heart of gold on “Breaking Bad.” Contradictions make a story more interesting by subverting an audience’s expectations. They also express a seeming paradox of life: People are one thing, but they’re also another. “That’s life,” writes Chelsea Carbee ’19 of Chester, N.H., in her blog, where she keeps readers updated on her writing projects. She also offers this advice: “In your own life, look for the contradictions in people you care about. You’ll feel more human and so will your characters.”

Inspired by a report Carbee heard on NPR, The Warm Cold follows a research crew of scientists stuck atop Denali during a winter storm. It’s a story about survival and a testament to the human will to live. Though she initially wanted to use the idea behind The Warm Cold to complete an assignment for a creative writing class taught by Associate Professor of Humanities Ewa Chrusciel, Carbee realized she had something bigger to tackle than a short story. She decided to write a different piece for her assignment and turn The Warm Cold into a novel. Despite their supposed differences, Carbee finds that nursing and writing are both exercises in empathy and getting inside someone else’s head. One of Carbee’s favorite parts of caring for people is listening to their stories. Her latest work-in-progress explores the concept of “a good death,” certainly a topic relevant to her profession. Carbee’s experiences with older patients have made her realize the importance of end-of-life care.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

Carbee herself is a bit of a contradiction: she’s a nursing major who loves to write. This summer, she self-published her first novel.

“It can be hard for someone who hasn’t had a lot of experience and is still in school to recognize that old people were young once, too,” Carbee said. “You can translate that concept into a story and make it interesting.” Juggling clubs and a part-time job means Carbee has a packed schedule. Finding time to write is difficult, but she’s developed a routine: For every completed flashcard set or predetermined number of textbook pages read, she writes 200 words. Carbee alternates between her worlds for the whole day.  “It motivates me on both ends,” she says. “I think getting out of each frame of mind is super helpful.” Looking ahead, Carbee hopes to keep writing while working in critical care before pursuing an advanced nursing degree. She’s been exposed to patients with a variety of conditions during her clinical rotations on a medical specialties unit, a neuroscience surgical floor and a critical-care step down unit. She’s interested in oncology and palliative care but knows that life rarely goes according to plan. “There’s a longer list of things I’m interested in than not,” she said in reference to how she’s keeping her options open. It’s not a surprising statement, coming from her.  ®

SPRING 2018

15


ON COURSE: Emily Lopez ’17 Combines Passions for the Sea, Conservation and Law by Kate Seamans

Just south of Portland, Maine, Cape Elizabeth juts out into the Atlantic between Saco and Casco bays. On the southeast edge of the cape is Two Lights State Park, though the 41-acre park has no lighthouses — a constant source of confusion for visitors and something park rangers must clarify. Instead of lighthouses, the park abounds with wildlife and features a well-worn trail whose loops combine for a two-mile stroll that offers glimpses of minke whales making their way up the coast.

Environmental science major Emily Lopez ’17 learned every inch of Two Lights as a park ranger the summer after she graduated; the experience also earned her internship credit as the final piece of her Colby-Sawyer education. And soon after Lopez’s internship ended, she was sworn in as only the second active female Marine Patrol Officer (MPO) in the state of Maine. With Lopez’s interest in law enforcement and her passion for conservation, the internship as a full-time park ranger position introduced her to being an authority figure. She found that knowing how to read people and situations, how to interact with park visitors and have a consistent presence in the park are skills just as valuable as mastering Two Lights’ flora and fauna. As an MPO, Lopez patrols an assigned coastal area by land and aboard patrol vessels to protect the public, marine resources and coastal property; enforce applicable laws; and investigate complaints and incidents. To land the MPO job, she had to take an ALERT test, pass a physical fitness test, undergo an oral board interview and pass a background check, polygraph test, psychological evaluation, medical exam and swim test. Then, there was the Marine Patrol 45-day field training followed by 18 weeks of training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. A standout athlete on Colby-Sawyer’s cross country and track and field teams, Lopez finished a full two minutes ahead of the pack during the physical fitness test.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

“My athletic background has helped me not only because being physically fit is important, but because having that teamwork is important. You cheer your teammates, you support them, and you want to see them succeed and do well,” said Lopez. “Now I’m taking that sense of teamwork and applying it to law enforcement. I want to be able to go out as a marine patrol officer and know that my coworkers have my back. And I’ll have theirs.”  ®

16

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE


New Full-time Faculty Join Colby-Sawyer by Kellie M. Spinney

Assistant Professor of Humanities Sean Ahern ’09 is teaching media and communications. He graduated from Colby-­Sawyer with a degree in communication studies, received his M.A. at Bowling Green State University and is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Buffalo. The Business Administration department added two members. Assistant Professor Kimberly France has more than 25 years of expertise in senior management, human resources and public relations, and she taught at Granite State College and Springfield College. She holds a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and an M.S. in management and strategic leadership from New England College. Assistant Professor Loren Wehmeyer teaches quantitative business analysis, management science, operational research and global sustainability. He holds master’s degrees in business administration and environmental engineering, as well as a Ph.D. in geoscience with a concentration in water resources management from the University of Iowa. Biologist Chery Whipple, assistant professor in the Natural and Environmental Sciences Department, has taught at Plymouth State University, the University of New Hampshire and Crossroads Academy. She’s conducted research and mentored students at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, the University of New Hampshire, the Medical College of Ohio and the New Hampshire Academy of Science STEM Laboratory. Professor Whipple holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of New Hampshire. Assistant Professor Corri Wilson teaches in the Exercise and Sport Sciences Department. She holds a B.A. from Geneseo State University and an M.S. in sport management from Southern New Hampshire University with an emphasis on interscholastic sports and event management.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

Colby-Sawyer welcomed five faculty members this fall to four academic departments. Full-time faculty teach 90 percent of all classes in 20 undergraduate majors and 24 minors, as well as for the online R.N. to B.S. and Master of Science in Nursing degree programs.

l

– r: Chery Whipple, Sean Ahern ’09, Kimberly France, Corri Wilson.

A Partnership in, and for, Education by Lydia Schoonmaker ’19 Colby-Sawyer and the Upper Valley Educators Institute (UVEI) have entered a partnership that enables Colby-Sawyer students to earn both their bachelor’s degree and a New Hampshire teaching license in elementary or secondary education in as few as four years. During the Accelerated Pathway certification process, students will participate in a full-time, 14-week teaching experience with the mentorship of an experienced classroom teacher. “I’m excited about this partnership,” says Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Education Darcy Mitchell. “The work UVEI does is experiential and hands-on, in line with the very best of Colby-­ Sawyer College’s core beliefs. Between our strong teaching in the disciplines, coursework in the education minor and this partnership, we’ll prepare students to walk into classrooms with the confidence that they will be the best teachers they can be.” UVEI will accept Colby-Sawyer students who are currently in the education minor in addition to their planned programs of study within their majors. Read coverage of the partnership at colby-sawyer.edu/UVEI.

SPRING 2018

17


JOY + GRAVITY in Design by Hilary Dana Walrod Like many design educators, I pursue two primary activities: I design, and I teach. Along the way, I’ve come to realize that a common, fundamental purpose underlies my approach to both pursuits: I aim to move people. One of the benefits of working as a graphic de­ signer in academia is that I have the freedom to pursue not just client-based projects but also independent projects. I care deeply about the environment, the arts, community, farms, food, health and place, so I can choose to pursue and develop graphic design projects that support these interests and causes. As renowned designer Michael Bierut points out in his essay “Warning: May Contain Non-Design Content,” “the great thing about graphic design is that it is almost always about something else.” I’ve also come to realize my creative work is compelled by two forces that are at times contrasting and at times complementary: the joy of making visual things, and the gravity of issues to address in the world. I can trace this duality back to my undergraduate career, when I studied both studio art and environmental studies. These disciplines continue to inform my graphic design work, which is often situated at the intersection of environmental consciousness and visual communication.

Vegetable Know-How booklet front cover (above) and sample spread (opposite), 2013-2018

18

design for the common good My graduate thesis project, for example, centered on this question: In what ways can the design of an exhibition prompt people to change individual habits for the common good? Beginning with the admittedly broad intention to address climate change through graphic design, I focused on food, which is a largely invisible consumer of fossil fuels. My project evolved to become “A Fork in the Road: The Time and The Place for Local Foods,” a multimedia gallery installation that visualized both the staggering externalities of our conventional, industrial food system and the possibilities inherent in alternatives such as local food systems.

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

The more I’ve researched and learned about what might move people or change their minds — and the more I’ve explored how to do so via visual communication — the more I’ve come to recognize the potential inherent in incremental change. When aiming to move people to alter habits and/or perspectives (whether about food or something else), I believe it’s crucial not only to provide “what” an issue or topic entails, but also “how” one might respond — which can facilitate hope and/or action. Being both an educator and an optimist, I design projects that present nonprescriptive options for change alongside or through data. One substantial piece in “A Fork in the Road” was “East Tennessee Eats,” a calendar that visualized the seasonal availability of all local foods within a 100-mile radius of my graduate school. I produced two versions: a large-scale installation of banners for the gallery, and a small-scale wire-bound version for purchase. I’ve relocalized this seasonal calendar for each of my homes since, repeating the research and design process first for “Iowa Ingredients” and then for “New Hampshire Nosh.” At Colby-Sawyer, a large-scale version of the latter is displayed in the Ware Student Center dining hall. It’s been an interesting, long-term creative exercise to repeat this project every few years in a different locale. Each time, I encounter new com­ plexities in the research, and I can’t help but consider changes large and small to the information design system I’ve developed for visualizing this content (i.e., the colors, typefaces, structure and layout). For example, when working on “New Hampshire Nosh,” I tried changing the structure from 12 single-­month banners/pages to four threemonth banners/pages that depict each season as a whole, allowing one to identify patterns over a longer increment of time. Now that I’ve tested this version, however, it’s evident that the monthly calendar is a more usable and readable format, so this project is undergoing more revisions. Repetition — or, more specifically, iteration — is a fundamental part of the creative process in design and art. Making multiple versions of something lays the foundation for an exhaustive, in-depth approach to creative problem solving. Whether it be three versions of an album cover to present to a client or 100 hand-drawn sketches (which I require each student in my Identity System Design class to create during a logo design process), iteration necessitates moving beyond the first obvious solution. Further, iteration is one way to synthesize joy


Iteration necessitates moving beyond the first obvious solution. and gravity in my creative process. Joy and play figure into the very practice of iterating: the openended, nonjudgmental process of brainstorming, sketching and imagining possibilities. This play can then yield an informed and inspired solution with which to address an issue or cause. design for healthy eating In creative work, as in scholarship, one thing leads to another. Building on my interest in food and combining it with a deepening interest in health, I’ve embarked on two related projects: Vegetable Know-How and “First Foods.” The former is an informative booklet: a visual, recipe-free guide to cooking and storage methods for 50 vegetables. A student sparked the idea for this project when she looked at one of my seasonal food calendars and asked, “Okay, so now I know when kohlrabi is available, but how do I know what it is and what to do with it?” This user feedback was obvious yet profound, and it prompted me to consider how I might use design to teach people more about vegetables — and perhaps to move people to consume more of them. The current national dietary guidelines suggest you “make half your plate fruits and vegetables,” but many of us fall short of this goal. In a simple, color-­ coded table format, Vegetable Know-How aims to address this gap by presenting a recognizable icon for each vegetable (“what it is”) cross-indexed visually with the storage and cooking methods for which it’s suited (“what to do with it”). Each storage and cooking method is introduced with a simple icon and a general how-to description. Not

only is this project educational in content but in process as well — as Jessica Madden ’16 worked with me as a research assistant and substantially contributed to both the research and initial design processes. After I became a parent, my interests in food and health evolved to include babies and children. I began to research when infants can be introduced to various foods, and I developed “First Foods” as a visual compilation of this research. In form, it’s a cross between a timeline and a periodic table: a color-coded chart that maps recommendations for the introduction of vegetables, fruits, protein sources and grains for children between six and 12 months of age. I hope other new parents will find it a useful, consolidated resource that can hang on the refrigerator for reference during that important first year. Perhaps it will inspire them to introduce a greater variety of foods to their children — in other words, perhaps it will move them. Legendary designer Saul Bass said, “I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.” Sometimes when I’m playing in my studio, I feel much the same way. In my continual quest to combine joy and gravity, however, I might co-opt part of his statement and say this instead: I want to make beautiful things that inspire people to care.  ® Associate Professor Hilary Dana Walrod is chair of the Fine and Performing Arts Department. She joined the faculty in 2012 and received the 2016 Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Walrod holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.F.A. from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. See more of her work at hilarydana.com.

SPRING 2018

19


sp

A fun-filled page dedicated to celebrating our Lil’ Chargers

t the dots c e n con

differences 5 e h t ot

St a c ey Hom Fraser ’0 ecom 4 en Lil’ C joys ing f es th h Iain ( argers, E tivities w e 2017 2). S lean h a re or (3 ith her pics ) and y and watc our #lilc h h ou r C h a rg e r s a rg e r s gr ow !

1 2

23

22

24 5 4

3

6

7

13

8 9 10

N X

F

D

E

R

S

F

K U

J

M R

S

R

P A W A

A

E

R

V U

S

S

N

E

L

D

S

D

I

C O

R H

R

R

F

I

I

E

S

B

R

B

F

F

I

S

N A O

G

B O H N

Y G O

see solutions on page 59.

N X O

Y

R

D

T

D W O X N

E

F M G

S

L

K O B A

S

N N

O W N

Z

I

E

R

I

J

W T W U M G N

T

V

R

S

C

D

L

R

I

Z

C

E

N

T

F O B M O A

D

P

L

A

Y

R M P

I

F

A

C

C

P

L

V

B

I

R

C

D

D A

V

P

E M C

L M E

H

R

S W K N

I

W Y U A M

L

S

I

O

Y

E

O

S

T

Y

I

E

A

R

K

T

B N W E

E

L

N N

S

H

I

F

N

T

E

N G

P

S

V H V

L

X C

N

P

S

V

B

T

I

K D N

E

P

I

W R M O D B

S

U

S W N N

R

I

P Q

E M X Q M K N E

N V U

X O V

A

F

A

V

K

Z

Y M O U

S O G W

L

G N

A

F

I

I

M

N D O

E

U C

N C

I

I

W N N

E

L

L

A

B

S

A

B O

E

E

U A

T

H

L

E

T

I

C

A W A

R

D

H D W

E

E

S

E M L

I

T M S

R

E

D A

E

L

D N A

S

R

A

L O H C

S

S

H V

K

S

T

I

B

I

H X

E

T

R

A

B

Y

F

K

S

X

J

O B

D

F

N

Y

L Q M

L

A

B C

D

I

E

B

R

X

I

A M O

F

Z

F

E Q U

E

S

T

I

A

N V

L

R

15

14

12 11

21

16 17 18

20 19

Find the spring activities and events that Chargers look forward to hidden horizontally, vertically, diagonally and backwards.

WORD BANK art exhibits athletic awards baseball commencement course selection dance show equestrian faculty colloquiums final exams internships lacrosse nursing pinning scholars and leaders scholars symposium senior week spring break study abroad swimming and diving tennis track and field


OPEN WITH STYLE: The Center for Art + Design reporting by Elliott Coffman ’18 photos by Gil Talbot

I really enjoy the open concept of the building — I feel it engages students more. You can look in and see people working. – vera vaitones ’19

With a month’s worth of student creativity already logged in the Center for Art + Design, Colby-Sawyer celebrated the building’s grand opening at the beginning of Homecoming Weekend in October. Chair of the Board of Trustees Peter F. Volanakis, President Susan D. Stuebner, faculty in the Fine and Performing Arts Department and students offered remarks and thanks for the generosity of donors who made the 15,000 square-foot facility possible. Guests from near and far explored the building, viewed the inaugural exhibition “Inner Visions: Selections from the Collection of Beverly Stearns Bernson ’55,” and had the option to attend a theater performance. Situated on the southeast end of campus, the center has views of Mount Kearsarge and an outdoor sculpture garden. Inside, it boasts the John and Heidi Niblack Black Box Theater; ceramics, graphic design, painting and sculpture studios; the Bill and Sonja Davidow ’56 Fine Art Gallery; and faculty offices.

As a nursing major obsessed with the liberal arts, I have a lot of appreciation for the resources that have been put into making things like ceramics, painting and graphic design more prominent on campus. – bethany fennessey ’19

“… my thoughts are with you as you unveil this amazing facility [that] will provide an outstanding venue for students and the community to gather and share in the fine arts … I thank each of you for … all you have done to bring to fruition this center that celebrates creativity and self-expression.” – e xcerpted from a letter from U.S. Congresswoman Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02)

The environmental science majors have been doing a permaculture project around the building, so it has incorporated other majors, too, which is really cool. – nicole semeraro ’18

left: Professor Bert Yarborough; Kenneth F. Holmes, CEO of North Branch Construction; Mark N. Rhoades, chief design officer at The S/L/A/M Collaborative; former trustee and board chair Thomas C. Csatari; Arts Center Steering Committee Co-chair Robin L. Mead ’72; President Susan D. Stuebner; board chair Peter F. Volanakis; former trustee and board chair Anne Winton Black ’73, ’75; Arts Center Steering Committee Co-chair Ellie Morrison Goldthwaite ’51; Associate Professor and Chair of Fine and Performing Arts Hilary Walrod; Professor Jon Keenan at the grand opening. left top: Students show off the catalog for “Inner Visions: Selections from the Collection of Beverly Stearns Bernson ’55” designed by John Fownes ’17. above: The Bill and Sonja Davidow ’56 Fine Art Gallery enthralled visitors during the grand opening.

SPRING 2018

21


sense of place IMAGINATIONS AT WORK With natural lighting and plenty of space, the Center for Art + Design is fulfilling its role as an accessible place for students to create and collaborate. The S/L/A/M Collaborative of Glastonbury, Conn., earned the Honor Award from the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for its design. Read more about the award at colby-sawyer. edu/art-center-award. Photo: Alain Jaramillo

22

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE



T THE POWER AT THE END OF OUR FORKS: New Initiative Showcases Local Food Efforts by Jennifer White ’90

his fall, Colby-Sawyer was selected as one of two pilot institutions for FoodShift, a regionwide project designed to help higher education institutions increase their use of local food, create campus communities and join a cohort committed to local food programs in New England. Our demonstrated pledge to sustainability and local food sourcing helped seal the deal, as did our strong administrative support and readiness to take that commitment to the next level.

FoodShift is the latest initiative of Farm to Institution New England (FINE), a network of organizations from the nonprofit, public and private sectors that, as described on farmtoinstitution.org, envisions an “equitable and just food system that provides access to healthy and abundant food for all New Englanders, and [that] is defined by sustainable and productive land and ocean ecosystems.” Colby-Sawyer’s role in the program is the next step in an on-campus movement that began in 2012. Then, as a first-year student, Garrett Dunnells ’16 organized a petition requesting that 20 percent of dining hall food come from within 100 miles of campus. In two days, he gathered 734 signatures.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

Since then, Colby-Sawyer has managed to average, and in some months exceed, that benchmark. The FoodShift initiative enables the college to become a model for local and sustainable food procurement and share what we learn in that process with other institutions in the region. decisions with impact Food fuels the form and function of every aspect of our bodies, yet we rarely pause to consider how the purchase of an ingredient or product contributes to other aspects of the food system. In our search for variety, we seldom wonder if we’ve empowered local farmers to employ community members at a living wage or if we’ve instead supported a multinational corporation to take those same dollars overseas and pay workers dismal wages. As we consider our wallets, we may not wonder if the animals we’re about to eat were raised and slaughtered in humane conditions or if our diet contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, water pollution or consumption, antibiotic resistance or dead zones in the oceans. Several Colby-­ Sawyer courses, including Applied Sustainable Farming, Sustainable Food Systems and Permaculture Design, allow students to examine these relationships in detail and to practice some techniques that support greater personal, social, economic and ecological wellbeing.


PHOTO: ALAIN JARAMILLO

As individuals and institutions, we may not realize the power we have at the end of our forks to shift nearly every aspect of the food system.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

This fall, the Principles and Practices of Sustainability class worked with FINE’s staff to learn about those interconnections and the FoodShift initiative firsthand. During the first half of the semester, students investigated the scope of the Colby-Sawyer food system and created concept maps that documented the elements and functions of those complex networks. They identified internal and external stakeholders, including students, administrators, dining services staff, producers and vendors, as well as the surrounding community. Students researched best practices in areas such as on-campus farms, local food procurement, food storage, organic waste reductions and student engagement, and then organized their findings into a report and webinar presentation for FINE. Colby-Sawyer and FINE representatives used the students’ research as a launching point for the full FoodShift pilot on campus, which began in earnest in November. Ideas for the pilot included identifying additional regional vendors, exploring cost savings through creative sourcing and seasonal menus, reducing pre- and postconsumer food waste, and developing engaging student outreach programs. As individuals and institutions, we may not realize the power we have at the end of our forks to shift nearly every aspect of the food system. What we put on our plates can hinder or help our sense of place and connection to the region; it can diminish or grow a vibrant local economy; it can degrade or preserve farmland and global ecosystems, and it can worsen or sustain the wellbeing of our fellow travelers on this planet.  ® Jennifer White ’90 is Colby-Sawyer’s director of Sustainability and Innovation. She holds an A.A. from Colby-Sawyer College, a B.A. from Colorado College and an M.A. from Naropa University.

above, left:

It’s a short journey across campus from the college’s organic garden to the dining hall, which strives to source 20 percent of its food from within a 100-mile radius.

above, right: Begun in 2010 with a gift to establish a seedling nursery, the garden flourishes each summer under the care of interns who tend the fruits, vegetables and flowers. Environmental studies major Theresa Edick ’18 of Dublin, N.H., and environmental science major Briana Clark ’18 of Hampstead, N.H., helped make this year’s bounty possible.

SPRING 2018

25


feature

PREPARED TO SERVE: Joan Weed Montagne ’67 by Kate Seamans photos by Michael Seamans

In the Bozeman, Mont., home of Joan Weed Montagne ’67, there’s a wooden door with a large glass panel on which a spider web spirals out to fill almost the entire space. Joan’s father, famed furniture maker Walker Weed, built the door in memory of her mother, Hazel, a talented weaver, but it could well represent Joan’s own expansive life. She inherited her parents’ trait of embracing different cultures, and since her childhood in Gilford, N.H., she’s lived a year each in Norway and Japan. For the past 20 years, she’s focused on BioRegions International, the nonprofit she founded with her husband, Cliff, and its work connecting rural Mongolia with the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. A spider’s silk, they say, is stronger than steel, and so is the independent Joan — she grew up hiking New Hampshire’s Presidential Range and skiing Tuckerman’s Ravine with her father. Though free with him to climb as high and ski as fast as she liked, she felt strapped down in New England, where, Joan still feels, too much importance is placed on where individuals attend school, what their fathers do and the clubs they belong to.

26

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Though Joan says a part of her will always miss New England, perhaps it was fate she fell in love with a Westerner. east meets west Cliff Montagne took the train from Bozeman to Dartmouth College. He wore his cowboy boots and hat on the Hanover campus, but his closet also included plenty of ski gear. He and Joan met when she saw the skis on his Volkswagen Bug and asked him about conditions at Tuckerman’s Ravine. It turned out that her father was his father’s commanding officer in the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, and both men were Dartmouth College alumni. Cliff majored in geology, the first step on his path to becoming a professor of land resources and environmental sciences at Montana State University (MSU), while Joan gravitated to sports at Colby Junior on her way to a degree in liberal arts — she was on the first U.S. Women’s Nordic Ski Team and practiced behind Sawyer Center. He was in ROTC, and she slipped daisies into rifle barrels to protest the escalating war in Vietnam. She chafed at


required church attendance and having to be in her dorm room by 10 p.m., and he told her about Montana’s wide-open spaces. “I used to spend a lot of time studying at [Professor] Hilary Cleveland’s house, but mostly I was roaring around to see Cliff,” Joan said. “I went into VISTA after I graduated and was in Upper Michigan with the Menominee Indians for six months; after we got married, I worked in the graphic design studio at Dartmouth. We moved out to Montana the minute Cliff graduated in 1969, and I very quickly became a Westerner.” Joan earned a bachelor’s degree in religion and philosophy at MSU, and the Montagnes had a daughter. Joan joined and led several boards focused on environmental, community and social justice issues, and she shared her view that there is much more to the world than what’s contained within the United States’ borders. When she walks through downtown Bozeman, people know her and where she stands — she did, after all, earn an award for most letters written to the local paper’s editor. Where Joan stands most firmly is with Cliff at the center of an intricate web devoted to raising people from the ground up. west goes far east When Cliff traveled to the new democracy of Mongolia for the first time in 1996, he realized it was in many ways just as Montana and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem had been 150 years before, with its struggles over land use and grazing rights, preserving native culture and the ramifications of mining. He and Joan also realized that the land-locked regions’ similar cultural values, economies and natural environments — and their similar challenges — provided opportunities to learn from each other.

Thus was born, in 1998, their regional development nonprofit BioRegions International (bioregions.org), with a mission of supporting community-based endeavors that are holistic and promote social and ecological integrity. Over the past two decades, BioRegions International has worked in Mongolia with students, educators, health professionals and others to build literal and figurative bridges; establish a self-­ supporting pharmacy and annual health screenings; provide environmental science and management training, as well as first-aid training; fund school renovations and improvements, including solar installations; supply about 2,000 pairs of prescription and reading glasses; fund artisan development programs and festivals showcasing traditional arts and music; and conduct water quality, nutrition and agriculture revegetation studies. The Montagnes live in Mongolia two months of each year in backpacking tents, and Joan credits two criteria with BioRegions’ success: working only at the invitation of a community and staying with that community. “We watch all these organizations pour in millions of dollars and the programs die because they don’t come from the community,” she said. “We won’t do anything unless the community really wants to do it, and while most NGOs are in a country for one or two years, we’ve been in Mongolia for 20 now and everything is bottom up rather than top down.” The approach is a change in the former Soviet nation, but the Montagnes see that Mongolians want help learning how to make creative, innovative decisions and exert initiative. “Some of the beauty is the potential for the Mongolians to learn from us, because we’re a century ahead in some ways, but then for us to learn from them, because we can still see a traditional society that has those values and a more sustainable lifestyle,” Joan said. “The potential is high for Mongolia to have an intact society and continue to respect the environment and then bring the technological benefits to move a society into a more sustainable place environmentally and socioeconomically.” The learning continues, up close and personal, for the Mongolians, the Montagnes and the students they invite to experience the nomadic, animal-based culture. “The new way of learning, I think, is hands-on instead of reading out of textbooks,” Joan said. “Get your degree and go out and serve. You’ve got to keep stoking the fire.” Half a century later and almost a continent away from her alma mater, Joan’s advice, and the life that she has spun, echoes the Latin motto that is part of Colby-Sawyer’s seal: Paratae servire — prepared to serve.  ®

SPRING 2018

27


feature

RAISED TO AN EXPONENTIAL POWER: Alumni Network Expands Experiential Learning by Jaclyn Goddette ’16

Experiential learning is a hallmark of a Colby-Sawyer education. Incoming students look forward to taking field study courses, working on research projects with faculty and peers, and gaining work experience through internships. While the power of those opportunities is often clear in the moment, after a few years those students-turnedalumni also have the perspective to reflect on the lessons they gained through direct experiences that occurred outside a traditional academic setting and how they affected their lives.

It’s not surprising, then, that many Colby-Sawyer alumni show their appreciation by hosting students as interns at their own organizations. For students, having a mentor who was once in their own shoes multiplies the power of their experiential education. For almost a decade, Nate Camp ’98, athletic director at Kearsarge Regional Middle School in Sutton, N.H., has accepted interns from the Exercise & Sport Sciences Department. They work with him to oversee practice and assist with game management, uniform inventory and meetings with other coaches, administrators and parents. “I’ve been able to see many aspects of what an athletic coordinator and coach experience daily,” said Camp’s spring 2018 intern, sport management major Natalie Ellard ’19. After a previous internship with a professional soccer team that focused on fan entertainment, Ellard wanted to concentrate on providing student-athletes with support. “I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work for and learn from than Nate,” she said. Likewise, Camp praises his Colby-Sawyer interns for their professionalism and dedication to the roles they play in the lives of his athletes. The collaboration has even helped produce a title — the Kearsarge Cougars were state champions last season.

28

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

“My internship with Nate helped me decide what career path would be a good fit,” said Gregory Barlow ’15, a sport management major who competed on the Chargers’ soccer team, served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and now works as a communications assistant for the American Athletic Conference. Nicole Taylor ’17 also found her experiential learning opportunity helpful in exploring career paths. While spending a week shadowing Ethan Casson ’96 when he was chief operating officer at the San Francisco 49ers, Taylor learned about the specializations within her sports management major and networked with professionals. Taylor now works as an account executive for the New England Revolution; Casson is the CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. “I gained an incredible mentor and source of inspiration in Ethan and can attribute much of my success with the New England Revolution to the lessons I learned through my experience with him,” Taylor said. For some, an internship in the alumni network leads to their first job after graduation. Stiles Associates, a New London-based executive search firm, has hired several interns, including Luke Aspell ’16 and Matt Nolan ’16.


“Personalization really went a long way with Collin and his success with his clients, and I try to include the same level of personalization with mine,” Nelson said.

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

In fact, many interns end up creating meaningful connections with the alumni facilitating their experiential learning opportunities. Camp regularly messages his former interns, and the Stiles enjoy visits from former interns who stop in to see them.

Middle school athletic director Nate Camp ’98 looks on as his intern, Natalie Ellard ’19, high fives their player at a game. With Camp’s guidance, Ellard honed her game management and student interaction skills.

CEO Jake Stiles finds it important to give back to the community. He and his wife, Heather Melanson Stiles ’90, remain connected to Colby-Sawyer through the internship program. The desire to pay it forward has inspired Collin Bray ’06 — vice president of sales at Century 21 Cityside, the real estate company’s Boston office — to work with an intern from his alma mater every summer since 2013. “I kept thinking I wanted to make a difference, but I had no idea how,” Bray said. “What started as an idea on how to stay connected as an alumnus has molded itself into a tradition.” For Bray, who’s in the top five percent of Boston realtors, maintaining a personal connection to his college drove his initial decision to take interns, but it also influences his time with them. Real estate is demanding, but Bray makes the effort to forge relationships with his interns outside the office. His first intern, Kyle Nelson ’15, now works at Fidelity Investments. Beyond learning how to step outside his comfort zone and develop interpersonal skills, Nelson’s biggest take-away from his internship was the way Bray modeled making connections.

Child development major Christine Hill ’18 completed her internship at Spaulding Youth Center, which provides high-quality educational programming and services for special-­needs youth. Hill later turned to her alumni mentor there, Special Education Coordinator Garrett Lavallee ’05, to discuss the possibility of conducting her Capstone on site. After their discussion, they visited the classroom in which Hill had interned. “The smiles on our students’ faces were electric,” said Lavallee. “One of the students who has a difficult time walking literally jumped out of her seat and ran over to give Christine a bear hug.” Lavallee has taken a handful of students during his 15 years at Spaulding and collaborates with each to guarantee a meaningful learning experience assisting teachers in the classroom. Lavallee completed his own internship requirement supporting students with behavioral issues in the Kearsarge Regional School District under the guidance of Patty Bechok ’87. Bechok taught Lavallee the importance of providing physical and emotional safety to kids as well as establishing relationships with them, which is exactly what he hopes to impart to the interns who walk through Spaulding’s doors. Tracing Lavallee’s story reveals several generations of alumni helping students. They’re paving the way for future careers in exchange for excellent work from interns eager to learn. It’s a long, interconnected chain — and its strength continues to multiply.  ® Jaclyn Goddette ’16 holds a B.A. in English and is a writer in College Communications. To get involved with Colby-Sawyer’s internship program, contact Jennifer Tockman, director of the Harrington Center for Experiential Learning, at jennifer.tockman@colby-sawyer.edu or 603.526.3765.

SPRING 2018

29


feature

From Guide School to Law School, Diana Abbott ’18 Explores the Great Outdoors by Kate Seamans photos by Michael Seamans

It was 3:45 a.m. when Diana Abbott ’18, a business administration major and art history minor, pulled her Pathfinder into the Livingston, Mont., hotel parking lot. She checked that I had my day permit to fish in Yellowstone National Park, and I wedged my pack in among the rods, waders and other gear. We were headed to Slough Creek, a tributary of the Lamar River, and our goal was to be there for the sunrise just before 6:30 a.m. We watched for glowing eyes in the dark, but we were awake even before the wildlife.

30

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE


fly fishing’s future According to the most recent study by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, women make up only 31 percent of the 6.5 million Americans who fly fish, one of the most male-dominated outdoor sports. Change is in the air, though: Orvis, the Vermont-based outfitter and patron saint of fly fishers, has an initiative to increase that number to 50 percent, and Outside magazine built a recent issue around the proclamation that “the future of adventure is female.” Abbott’s part of that future. “I have no clue why the gender imbalance is so significant because anyone can fish, but as a business major, an untapped market is the kind of niche you gravitate to,” Abbott said. “So the question becomes, how can you distinguish yourself in an industry that may not be touched by a lot of women yet? You don’t see a lot of female guides. That really attracted me.”

We parked with no water in sight, but a certified guide like Abbott knows where to look for fish. She rigged the fly rods and slipped a tippet spool holder from which bear spray dangled over her head. She strapped on a hip pack, grabbed the rods and a net, and we walked a rocky path through the sage to the low, slow-moving creek thick with sediment from recent storms. Along the way, we kept an eye on a bison that wandered along the trampled bank, the grass dotted with evidence of previous visits. Fog lingered in the air and on the water — no spectacular sunrise for our efforts — but our coffee had kicked in and we were ready to fish. “It’s all about technique,” Abbott said as she demonstrated a graceful cast generated by the forearm, not the wrist, between 10 and 2 on an imaginary clock face. She was patient and encouraging as I attempted my first casts. “Mend your line,” she repeated, until my fly drifted drag-free. Then she started looking for trout, poking and reading the water. You can’t catch what’s not there, though, and after a few hours, we packed up and hoped for better luck at Pebble Creek about 20 miles away. “The fish catching part of it, for me, is when you know you’re doing it right. When the presentation is perfect, you’ve found the perfect spot and you catch that fish, it’s the best,” Abbott said. “But it’s not the whole sport. It’s getting to that perfect spot. It’s setting up your lines. It’s seeing those beautiful cutthroat trout up close; they’re just amazing.”

from chasing snow to chasing fish Six years ago, Abbott, from Truckee, Calif., was already a seasoned ski racer accustomed to chasing snow year round — from the age of 10, she’d spent summers training in New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria and on Mount Hood in Oregon. She had her sights set on the U.S. Ski Team until a training accident sent her down a different trail. After a year of seeing doctors for her back injury, she started thinking about what life might look like without a professional skiing career. College and law school, which hadn’t been in the cards, became possibilities. While she healed, she picked up a fly rod, fell in love with the sport and redirected her focus from carving to casting. “What I love about fly fishing is that it keeps you learning. It’s like skiing in that way. You always have to look ahead and stay in the moment,” Abbott said. “At home in California, we have these beautiful, big yellow mayflies that hatch on the lake; fish will come up and grab them, but they’ll pattern. So you’re watching the fish move and you know where to cast and then they’ll come up and grab that. I thought there was kind of an art to it all and no one could stop me. I just took that passion and kept going.”

opposite:

As a guide for Sweetwater Travel in Livingston, Mont., last summer, Diana Abbott ’18 discovered a love for Yellowstone National Park. “I am always gathering information and reading about new places I can fish, as well as conservation issues,” she said. “I have to be ready to tell clients what’s going on with the park.” above: Abbott once underestimated the velocity of rivers, but not anymore. “Rivers are dangerous, so safety is a huge thing to keep in mind with guests,” she said. “And you have to be an expert to be able to teach someone else how to fly fish. There’s a lot that goes into guiding people, but it’s so much fun.”

SPRING 2018

31


feature

In 2016, Abbott researched the most successful fly fishing travel companies and found Sweetwater Travel Company, based in Montana but with operations in Alaska, Brazil, Mongolia and beyond. With the confidence of a ski racer, she cold-called owner Dan Vermillion, told him she wanted to learn his business and asked two questions: Could she do an internship with him, and could she complete his guide school to improve her skills? He said yes to both. “I walked into Sweetwater wanting to learn how the company runs to maybe someday take that knowledge and build my own successful company,” Abbott said. “As for fly fishing, you’ll never stop learning, and the more you can be around different people the better, so it was about learning as much as possible. It’s important to keep an open mind and try new things.” Abbott sailed through the fly tying, first-aid and other components of guide school, then learned to drive a jet boat and row a drift boat. “Rowing is a big part of it all. It’s tough work. You have to be able to row in challenging situations and be confident that you can get through a section of the river,” Abbott said. “We go down the Yellowstone River all the time, and early in the season, the water is crazy.” never stop learning In 2017, Abbott returned to Sweetwater for the summer as a full-time seasonal employee and to complete Colby-­ Sawyer’s internship requirement. If her first stint introduced her to the company, her second immersed her in the experience. Most interns have an office to figure out — she had that, plus all southwestern Montana and Yellowstone National Park. She discovered the way to get to know it all and join that mostly male guide community was to “just go for it.” “You can’t be afraid,” Abbott said. “You just immerse yourself in fly fishing, people see that you love it, and you get accepted and then gain confidence.” above, top:

If the fish aren’t biting, Abbott said, have the confidence to try new things. That’s advice she takes to heart and applies to life in general. “I learned to be confident from my parents. They always told me you can’t be a sheep, that you have to do your own thing,” she said. “You can’t follow the status quo. My con­fidence comes from just always kind of doing my own thing. And it drives some people nuts, but it’s so worth it.” above: Abbott on the Yellowstone River as it flows through Paradise Valley between Mallard’s Rest and Pine Creek. opposite: Pebble Creek holds a favorite memory for Abbott of when her dad came to visit and they hiked six miles in to fish. “Every cast we had a fish on, just beautiful cutthroat trout, which was awesome,” she said.

32

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

In the office, Abbott booked trips, hosted clients, strategized online marketing, used the QuickBooks knowledge she learned at Colby-Sawyer and helped wherever needed. Her dedication earned her a spot in the Sweetwater family, invites to barbecues and more info about the rivers around her. It wasn’t long before her Pathfinder’s dashboard was stuffed with maps and books on fishing, local waterways and conservation.


water and the law While Abbott certainly hopes to connect with a fish on her line, connecting with nature drives her, whether on the snow or on the river. She spent her free days fishing in Yellowstone, a park saturated in diverse beauty but assaulted by acts of humankind ranging from ridiculous interactions with wildlife to mining proposals. After graduating, Abbott plans to return to Montana, now her legal residency, because the area resonates with her so much. Conservation is becoming a bigger part of Abbott’s life, too, not only because of the issues her adopted state faces, but also because of a course she took at Colby-­ Sawyer: River Communities, with its field-study component in the Colorado River Basin. “I took the course because I thought, as a fly fisherman, learning more about river systems and the challenges that face them would give me a better understanding of what’s around me, and that’s so important,” Abbott said. “The fly fishing business is about a lot more than being a guide, and every aspect of my major came into play. I’ve been taught well,” Abbott said. “We do a lot of group projects in the Business Administration Department, which is great; I like figuring out how each individual works. The biggest required skill for my internship was being able to talk to people and understand what they needed and wanted. It’s about marketing, accounting and finance, but there’s the balance of making money and giving people the experience of a lifetime, too.” As a guide, Abbott was responsible for every detail of the guests’ experience, from packing lunches and arranging shuttles to knowing the water and keeping people safe as they waded in dangerous rivers. And, of course, she had to teach them how to fly fish. “I enjoyed all of it. The hardest part was sometimes you’re not catching fish, but you want to make sure everyone’s having a good time anyway,” Abbott said. “They call it fishing, not catching, and my philosophy is don’t give up. Keep switching it up. It may take time to switch rigs, but it’s so worth it because that next cast, you could have a fish.” In Pebble Creek, our second site of the day, we had better luck. Abbott stalked a trout with a business-like intensity, every cast a negotiation with the fish. A hiker stopped to watch. “This isn’t her first time out there,” he observed as Abbott cast again and again, willing the trout to rise. It did, and for a moment, it was in her hands. Then it slipped away.

The class met with lawyers specializing in water law, which, for Montana, is a vital area of interest with so much riding on its fly fishing industry — it brings in about $350 million a year. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor recreation is the largest sector of Montana’s economy and supports more than 70,000 jobs. The meeting was a confluence of Abbott’s Colby-Sawyer coursework and her passion for being on the water, and it sealed her decision to study law. “I think there’s a reason I got into fly fishing, and that’s to go to law school and make a difference,” Abbott said. “Meeting all the river’s stakeholders changed how I felt about everything — water law is what I’m going to pursue.” Before law school, though, Abbott will take what she learned in guide school and spend the summer back on the rivers of Montana. She’ll chase those fish into a new life, the one made possible by an accident and the realization that she could be successful beyond skiing. She’s on her way. And no matter what she’s driving, she’ll find her path.  ® Kate Seamans is senior director of College Communications. She holds a B.A. from Colby College and an M.F.A. from Lesley University.

SPRING 2018

33


Family Matters feature

by Kellie M. Spinney

For every student and alumni success story, there is a cast of supporting characters: the parents and families who help their children through life’s changes and stages. They play a major role in making a Colby-Sawyer education possible for those they love. From afar, and mostly behind the scenes, they’re essential to the success of Colby-Sawyer students and the future of the college. Though their stories and relationships with the school vary, they all have one thing in common: pride for their childrenturned-college students. first impressions Colby-Sawyer has 353 first-generation college students, composing 43 percent of the school’s population. Parents and families of first-generation students, like MaryEllen and Robert “Bob” Madden of Malden, Mass., experience the many “firsts” of college right along with their children. The Maddens’ son, Bobby, is a senior athletic training major and baseball team member. With their only child headed off to college, and without their own college experiences to reference, Bobby’s parents were apprehensive. “I had the usual concerns,” MaryEllen said. “Will it be a good fit? Will he be happy? Will he achieve what he wants and be challenged? And what about his wellbeing and safety?”

clockwise from above:

Bobby with his dad, Bob Madden; Paulina with her parents, Eladio and Sarah Olvera; Judith Bodwell Mulholland with her grandniece Avery Brennan (L) and granddaughter Callie Anderson (R).

MaryEllen’s fears were eased when Bobby got to Colby-Sawyer. “The moment Bobby set foot on the campus and met with his adviser to set up his classes, my concerns dissolved,” she said. “The community takes the time to know students, challenge them and help them achieve their goals.” Bobby’s dad shares MaryEllen’s enthusiasm and believes Bobby’s friendships have also contributed to his son’s success. “The camaraderie of his entire team and the coaches is outstanding,” Bob said. “They’ll be Bobby’s friends for the rest of his life.” For the Maddens, knowing their son is surrounded by caring faculty, staff and students and is benefitting from outstanding academic opportunities

34

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

makes Colby-Sawyer “a perfect fit” for their family. “Colby-Sawyer has given Bobby all the tools he will need to go forward — from research on the Appalachian Trail to following a doctor at Dartmouth-­ Hitchcock,” MaryEllen said. “The person in front of me today has grown and matured; he has a strong sense of what he wishes to do with his life.” “I couldn’t be more proud of Bobby,” Bob said. “He’s my hero.” far from home Most Colby-Sawyer students are from the Northeast. For those students and their families, peace of mind comes from knowing loved ones are just a car ride away. For others, including Paulina Olvera’s family, there is no such solace. A junior majoring in child development, Paulina is a first-generation student from Sonoma, Calif. Since she’s their youngest daughter, Eladio and Sarah found it tough to allow Paulina to pursue an education on the other side of the country. “I grew up in a very traditional family, and I raised my children the same way,“ Sarah said. “To think about my daughter at only 17 going away so far wasn’t easy.” Paulina’s acceptance to the Progressive Scholar Program, a program that provides education opportunities for first-generation students while increasing geographic, racial and ethnic diversity at the college, made the decision easier. “My head told me Paulina needed to seek a good education, but my heart was up and down thinking how far


away she would be,” said Sarah. “I wanted her to have opportunities that not everyone has, and a good education.” Though Paulina and her family regularly connect on Facebook and over FaceTime, the distance can be challenging. “It’s difficult when she doesn’t feel well and I can’t help her,” Sarah said. “We always worry when we see the weather is bad back East. And Paulina worries when she knows something has happened here.” This fall, while Paulina was settling back into campus life, her family was being evacuated due to wildfires. “It was scary and sad to see so much devastation around us and so many families in need,” Sarah said. “I wished Paulina could have been here with us, but at the same time, I was grateful she was not in danger.” Witnessing Paulina’s growth over the summer may have helped to ease the concerns that come with the distance. “I saw Paulina interact with a close family friend who has a special needs daughter,” Sarah said. “Paulina directed herself with confidence, and my friend [who is a school teacher] was amazed by Paulina’s professional way and knowledge. I was so proud.” building a legacy Students come to Colby-Sawyer in a variety of ways, and often it’s because they hear impassioned alumni speak about their experiences.

At Colby-Sawyer, offices across campus work together to provide resources to help families stay engaged with their students. The Student Development Office sends electronic newsletters, publishes a parent guidebook and maintains a Facebook page for parents and families. Families and friends are always welcomed back for Homecoming Weekend and are encouraged to attend athletic and cultural events throughout the year. For more information about family and parent resources at Colby-Sawyer, visit colby-sawyer.edu/parents.

As a true Colby-Sawyer champion, Judith, not surprisingly, has also made recruitment a priority. When the time came for her granddaughter to begin her college search, Judith encouraged her to consider Colby-Sawyer. “She was looking for a small school where she could have a close relationship with her professors,” Judith said. “She loved the campus.” Judith’s granddaughter, Callie Anderson ’19, a psychology major and legal studies minor from Amherst, N.H., has thrived at Colby-Sawyer. “I am so proud of the woman she has become,” Judith said. “Her success continues to be impressive.” Judith’s grandniece, Avery Brennan ’21, a nursing major from Belgrade, Maine, also attends Colby-­ Sawyer. “She knew of my involvement, and Callie’s, with Colby-Sawyer,” Judith said. “[The college’s] nursing program, coupled with its involvement with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, made it her first choice.”

Judith Bodwell Mulholland graduated from Colby Junior College’s medical secretarial program in 1962 before marrying, starting a family and enjoying a successful career as an executive with U.S. News & World Report and publishing giant Courier Corporation. Now retired and living in The three women have built a legacy, while Judith Naples, Fla., with husband Bob, Judith remains has further strengthened her Colby-Sawyer pride. grateful for her education on the Windy Hill. “It’s the human interaction and the closeness, “Colby Junior College did much to prepare me and which facilitate lifelong relationships, that set this helped make my success possible,” Judith said. school apart,” Judith said. “Callie and Avery are “The small-school environment, the opportunity to strong, motivated young women. I could not be try new things and show leadership early, and the prouder of them, nor of the school they chose to relationships with faculty added to my confidence.” attend. Their experiences serve to make me even prouder of the school and all that it offers.”  ® Today, Judith makes it a priority to stay connected to the college by speaking on behalf of Colby-­ Kellie M. Spinney is the communications and web content Sawyer at forums, serving on committees, coordinator in College Communications. She holds a B.A. attending reunions and supporting outreach in in English from the University of New Hampshire. her community. Together with Bob, Judith has also made Colby-Sawyer the beneficiary of a charity remainder unitrust.

SPRING 2018

35


portfolio portfolio

publications, exhibitions and awards

Professor of Humanities Pat Anderson, Ph.D., offered his “Movie Mavericks” lecture at the Waterville Valley Historical Association and “Understanding Movies: The Art of Film” at the Quail Hollow Community Center in Lebanon. The New Hampshire Humanities Council sponsored both events. In August, Professor and Chair of Natural and Environmental Sciences Nick Baer, Ph.D., and biology majors Morganne Murphy-Meyers ’17 and Victoria Delaney ’17 presented their research at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Portland, Ore. Murphy-­ Meyers’s and Delaney’s work demonstrated that West Nile Virus is present in migratory birds of prey. Current students continued their research this fall as part of Capstone projects in biology and environmental studies. Wally D. Borgen, Ed.D., an adjunct faculty member in Humanities, wrote and directed the musical “The Songs and Tales of World War I” in conjunction with the Sunapee-Kearsarge Intercommunity Theater (SKIT) at the request of the Warner Historical Society in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the war. The show was performed in October at the Warner Town Hall.

In her sixth book, Of Annunciations, Associate Professor of Humanities Ewa Chrusciel, Ph.D., maps the Biblical event of annunciation onto current migration crises and asks what it means to say “yes” to a stranger. She gives voice to the voiceless, finding healing amidst ostensibly insurmountable dislocation. Publishers Weekly says “the effectiveness of Chrusciel’s poetics of witness is impossible to deny.” The poem “Exilium” from the collection was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Professor Chrusciel has read from Of Annunciations in New England, New York and San Francisco as well as in Jerusalem and Egypt. Her previous collection, Contraband of Hoopoe, is in curricula including at Harvard University. Listen to an interview with Professor Chrusciel on New Hampshire Public Radio at colby-sawyer.edu/ chruscielnhpr. 36

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Joyce Juskalian Kolligian ’55 Distinguished Professor of Fine and Performing Arts and Sonja Carlson Davidow ’56 Endowed Chair of Fine and Performing Arts Jon Keenan, M.F.A., will exhibit recent work in a solo exhibition at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in Ojai, Calif., from March 10 to April 22. He will also hold a workshop, “Fire and Clay.” Learn more at beatricewood.com.

The Education Testing Service asked Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Education Todd Coy, Ph.D., to serve as chair of the exam item review/selection committee for the national College Level Examination Program test for psychology. Associate Director of International and Transfer Admissions Christy Fry was announced as the new N.H. state representative of the NAFSA Region XI Association of International Educators at its conference in November. She was also invited to speak at her alma mater, the School for International Training, as part of its Veteran’s Day commemoration. Jaclyn Goddette ’16 reviewed A Zero-Sum Game by Eduardo Rabasa for The Collagist’s December 2017 issue. Goddette is a writer in Colby-Sawyer’s Office of College Communications, and Associate Professor of Humanities Mike Jauchen is the book review editor for the online literary magazine.


The N.H. Department of Education invited Professor of Natural and Environmental Sciences Semra Kılıç-Bahi, Ph.D., to serve on the Professional Standards Board Math Subcommittee. Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Education Kraig Larkin, Ph.D., received a grant from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., to use the museum’s library, archive and photo archive to aid in constructing assignments and courses. The grant follows Professor Larkin’s participation in “After the Holocaust,” the 2016 Jack and Anita Hess Faculty Seminar that focused on the historical consequences and legacies of the Holocaust and was presented at the museum. The American University of Armenia (AUA) invited Lisa Purvis, M.B.A., M.P.H., assistant professor in the School of Nursing and Health Professions, to teach a threeweek intensive course in its Master of Public Health program. AUA has close ties with the Armenian community in America and with the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. A graduate of Johns Hopkins, Professor Purvis has served as a reviewer of studentsʼ final master theses in the program. She’s also a visiting professor at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she works on Dartmouth-based projects funded through the National Institutes of Health and a program through the White House. The annual Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research Conference accepted for presentation an abstract for one of the health ethics projects.

The movie “Out of the Wild,” released in December, features an instrumental score composed by Audio/Visual Specialist Jimmy Sferes. Jimmy and his partner Jennifer White ’90, director of Sustainability and Innovation, also co-wrote a song for the film “The Man You See in Me.” Since 2002, Sferes & White have performed as an acoustic duo, recorded several CDs and been featured on the Hallmark Channel and “A Prairie Home Companion.” Learn more at sferesandwhite.com.

Director of Career Development Jennifer Tockman completed National Career Development Association Career Development Facilitator training and received credentials for Global Career Development Facilitator with the Center for Credentialing and Education. Assistant Professor of Business Administration Loren Wehmeyer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Business Administration Bill Spear, D.B.A., and environmental studies major Jesse Murch ’18 of Auburn, Maine, were awarded a grant to administer the Vermont Green Business Program (VGBP) for one year. The VGBP is a no-cost, voluntary recognition program that provides resources to Vermont businesses on how to go above and beyond compliance with existing environmental regulations, using pollution prevention strategies and implementation of best management practices. The student-faculty team will develop strategic marketing materials for the program, help small businesses identify practices that improve their triple bottom line (economic, social and environmental) and audit applicants seeking membership in the program. “This is a great example of how Colby-Sawyer involves students in hands-on research,” Professor Wehmeyer said. “We hope to continue to capitalize on Colby-Sawyer’s image as a regional leader in pragmatic sustainability.” Through May 5, Colby-Sawyer is celebrating works by faculty members in the Fine and Performing Arts Department at the annual Faculty Art Exhibition in the Center for Art + Design’s Davidow Fine Art Gallery. The exhibition showcases work by Professor Loretta Barnett, M.F.A., Professor Jon Keenan, M.F.A, Assistant Professor and Technical Director Mike Lovell, M.F.A, and Associate Professor and Chair of Fine and Performing Arts Hilary Walrod, M.F.A, as well as adjunct faculty members Farah Rizvi Doyle ’05, M.F.A, Nick Gaffney, M.F.A, Rachel Gross, M.F.A, and Nancy Sepe, M.F.A. The featured artist is Sonja Carlson Davidow ’56 Endowed Chair for the Fine and Performing Arts Professor Bert Yarborough, M.F.A., who is leaving academia at the end of the spring semester to return to his studio practice. His retrospective, “Mini-­Retro: Court No Horning,” spans his career and features small works, sketchbooks and studio ephemera. See more at colby-sawyer.edu/faculty-exhibit-18.

SPRING 2018

37


THE SEASON IN SPORTS FALL 2017

PHOTO: JOHN QUACKENBOS

sports

by Ryan Emerson

MEN’S SOCCER (11-7, 8-1 NAC) The team reached the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship match for the 2nd time in 7 years with the league. Colby-Sawyer went 8-1 in the NAC regular season for the 2nd time in the past 3 seasons to earn the conference’s 2nd seed. After a thrilling 4-3 home victory over Maine Maritime in the NAC semifinals in which the Chargers came back from multiple deficits, Colby-Sawyer traveled to top-seed Castleton for the title match. The Spartans scored the game’s lone goal in the final seconds of the 1st half to end the Chargers’ season at 11-7. Senior Jake Sykes (Laconia, N.H.), junior Shane Sacks (Huntington Station, N.Y.), and first-year student Ryan Player (Fort Fairfield, Maine) earned NAC All-Tournament honors. The team reached double-digit wins for the 4th consecutive season and finished its membership in the NAC with a 40-18-5 record [Colby-Sawyer will compete in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) starting in the 2018-19 academic year]. Colby-Sawyer was the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) statistical champion after leading Division III with 8.83 corner kicks per game. The team also ranked highly in scoring offense (41st, 2.44), points per game (44th, 6.67) and total goals (65th, 44). Senior Denali Sexton (Barrington, R.I.) concluded his career as the most prolific scorer in the program’s history. He is the alltime leader in career points (145), goals (56) and assists (33), and he added numerous awards to his long list of accomplishments. Sexton earned his 2nd consecutive NAC Player of the Year Award and is the 1st Charger to be named a conference Player of the Year more than once; he was also named to the All-NAC First Team for the 4th time. Sexton garnered All-New England Region First Team accolades from United Soccer Coaches (previously known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America) and is the 1st Charger to earn 3 awards from the association. Sexton added a nod to the New England Soccer Journal Best XIs Third Team. A 7-time NAC Player of the Week, Sexton led the Chargers in 2017 with 33 points on 11 goals and 11 assists. 38

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Denali Sexton, the 2017 NAC Player of the Year, is the all-time leader in career points (145), goals (56) and assists (33).

Five of his goals were game winners, the 26th most in the nation. Sexton finished the season among the national leaders in points per game (29th, 1.94), assists (22nd, 11) and assists per game (15th, .65). Joining Sexton on the All-NAC First Team were senior Eddie Garcia (Damascus, Md.) and junior Noah Camelo (Marblehead, Mass.). Sykes and junior Anthony Romeo (Albany, N.Y.) were named to the All-NAC Second Team. Romeo also represented the Chargers on the All-NAC Sportsmanship Team. Camelo earned his 1st nod to the All-NAC First Team. He was 3rd on the team with 13 points on 6 goals and 1 assist. He scored 4 of his goals in conference games, which ranked 7th in the league. In addition to his offensive contributions, Camelo helped patrol the backline and thwarted chances by opposing forwards, leading to 5 clean sheets. Garcia garnered First Team honors after registering 5 points on a pair of goals and an assist. He started in all 18 season games. The midfielder scored at least twice in each of his 4 seasons and was a major contributor at both ends of the field. Sykes was named to the All-NAC Second Team for the 1st time in his career. He posted single-season highs with 20 points, 6 goals and 8 assists to rank 2nd on the team. Among NAC players in all games, Sykes ranked 7th in points and 4th in assists. He finished his career ranked tied for 7th in career assists with 15. Romeo earned his 2nd straight nod to the All-NAC Second Team. He played and started in 14 games and recorded 1 assist. He was an instrumental reason for the team’s backline success. He and his Chargers allowed the 2nd fewest goals in conference play with 7.


Sacks earned a pair of NAC Defensive Player of the Week Awards. He played in 12 matches in goal for the Chargers and went 9-3. He ranked 2nd among all NAC goalies in wins, goals against (12) and goals against average (1.11). After 3 seasons, Sacks ranks 6th all-time in wins (18), 5th in goals against average (1.30) and 10th in saves (104). First-year student Ahamad Raji (Lagos, Nigeria) picked up an NAC Rookie of the Week Award early in the season. He finished 4th on the team with 12 points on 5 goals and 2 assists. FIELD HOCKEY (9-8, 1-4 NAC EAST) The team reached the NAC East semifinals for the 3rd straight season. The Chargers finished 9-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Colby-Sawyer earned the 4th seed in the NAC tournament and traveled to top-seed Husson for the semifinals for the 3rd straight season. The Chargers fell to the eventual NAC champion 3-1, ending the team’s 2nd consecutive winning season. Seniors Jenna Donahue (Walpole, Mass.) and Jesse Murch (Poland, Maine) were named to the NAC All-Tournament Team. The Chargers outscored their opponents 41-5 in the 9 wins, which included 5 shutouts. Six of the team’s 8 losses were by 2 goals or fewer. Colby-Sawyer led the NAC and ranked 44th in the nation in goals against average (1.51). The team set a single-game record with 9 goals in a win at Bay Path.

PHOTO: JOHN QUACKENBOS

Murch was named to the NAC All-Conference Team, while senior Ashley Mikkila (North Oxford, Mass.) represented the Chargers on the Sportsmanship Team.

of 5 shutouts throughout the season and helped the Chargers to allow just 26 goals, the fewest among all NAC teams. Mikkila appeared in 11 games and sent an aerial that snuck under the crossbar to help the team to a 5-0 win over Rivier. First-year student Abby Ladd (Colchester, Vt.) logged all the team’s 1,203 minutes as the goalie. She posted the best goals against average (1.51) among NAC goalies and ranked 42nd in the nation in that category. She also led the conference with 5 shutouts, a Colby-Sawyer single-season record. Ladd earned a pair of NAC Rookie of the Week Awards. Senior Paige Viens (Middlebury, Vt.) concluded her career by leading the Chargers with 23 points on 11 goals and an assist. Three of her goals were game winners to tie the all-time lead with 6. Viens finished as the program’s all-time leader in points with 62 and goals with 27. She was named an NAC Player of the Week. Junior Jordan Teixeira (Exeter, N.H.) led the team with 6 assists that added to her all-time lead of 17 and tied a single-season record with her total from 2015. She added 4 goals in 2017, including 2 game winners. Teixeira ranks 3rd in career points with 55. Sophomore Alie Jones (Cape Neddick, Maine) also earned an NAC Player of the Week nod. She was 2nd on the team with 20 points on 8 goals and 4 assists. She ranks 2nd all-time with 56 points and 24 goals. First-year student Bella Robinson (Daniel Island, S.C.) earned an NAC Rookie of the Week Award. She played in all 17 games and finished with 9 points on 3 goals and 3 assists.

Murch, who earned her 3rd nod to the All-NAC Team, played and started in 16 games and collected one of the team’s 3 defensive saves. As a starting defender, she was an integral part

WOMEN’S TENNIS (12-1, 7-0 NAC – FALL 2017)

Jesse Murch earned her 3rd nod to the All-NAC Team.

The team won its 6th straight NAC title with a 5-0 win over Husson for the 2nd year in a row. Picked as the preseason favorite once again, the Chargers went undefeated through conference play for the 6th straight year. The team went 12-1 overall and was 7-0 in conference action. The Chargers end their 7 years in the NAC with an impressive 48-1 record. The team will resume play in March with a few matches prior to competing in the program’s 6th straight, 7th overall, NCAA Tournament in May. The Chargers picked up wins against 2 other conference champions, and their lone loss came against Division II Southern New Hampshire (6-3). Colby-Sawyer defeated the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) champion, Nichols, 5-4 to hand the Bison their 2nd loss of the year. The Chargers also beat future GNAC foe Johnson & Wales 8-1 to serve the Wildcats their only loss of the fall.

SPRING 2018

39


PHOTO: COURTESY OF NAC

sports

Assumption. They also defeated duos from GNAC champion Johnson & Wales, MIT and Wheaton. Woodside moved into 2nd place on Colby-Sawyer’s all-time wins list with 113. She also ranks 5th in singles wins (51) and 3rd in doubles wins (62).

The Chargers womens’ tennis team won a 6th-straight NAC title and will play in the NCAA Tournament in May.

Colby-Sawyer was the NAC Tournament’s top seed and defeated Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 9-0 in the semifinals, then cruised to the title with a victory over Husson. Senior Evelyn Miller (Smithfield, R.I.) was named Tournament MVP after winning her 4 matches. Senior Ashley Woodside (Hampden, Maine) and first-year student Yashu Yang (Kunming City, China) also earned All-Tournament honors. The Chargers collected additional All-NAC accolades. Woodside earned her 2nd straight NAC Player of the Year honor, while Yang was named Rookie of the Year. Miller was honored as the Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year and named to the Sportsmanship Team. In addition, all 3 student-athletes landed on the All-NAC Singles First Team. Woodside and Yang garnered All-NAC Doubles First Team honors, while Miller collected All-NAC Doubles Second Team recognition. Senior Lauren Blanchard (Agawam, Mass.) and junior Aislinn O’Connor (New Fairfield, Conn.) were honored on the All-NAC Singles Second Team. O’Connor also earned All-NAC Second Team Doubles accolades. Woodside joined Elizabeth Lincoln ’14 (now the team’s assistant coach) and Ashlyn Ramsay ’16 as 2-time NAC Player of the Year Award winners. The senior standout was a 3-time NAC Player of the Week during the season. Woodside, the 2014 Rookie of the Year, has been a First Team Singles and First Team Doubles honoree all 4 seasons of her collegiate career. She went 10-4 in singles matches this fall and completed her 4th straight perfect conference slate with 6-0. Woodside concludes conference play with a 20-0 career record. On the doubles side, she went 14-3 with a 10-1 record in dual matches, 5-0 in conference matches with a 4-2 record in tournament play. Woodside and doubles partner Yang picked up signature wins against Division I Holy Cross and CCC champion Nichols to reach the finals of the Grass Court Doubles Tournament at the International Tennis Hall of Fame before falling to Division II

40

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Yang turned in an impressive 1st semester with the Chargers and earned all 6 NAC Rookie of the Week honors. She went 11-3 overall in singles action with a 10-1 mark at the 2nd flight. She won all 5 of her conference matches and added a pair of victories in the NAC Tournament. She recorded the match-clinching point in 3 sets against Nichols and the NAC title-clinching point against Husson. Yang’s other 10 wins came in straight sets, including victories over Johnson & Wales and Wheaton. Yang played at the top doubles flight all season with Woodside to combine for a 13-3 record overall and a 4-0 conference record. Miller, a biology major and member of the Wesson Honors Program, was acknowledged for her commitment to tennis and her studies. She’s conducted research for NH-INBRE and with the Huang Laboratory at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for her Capstone. At the end of last season, she earned NAC AllAcademic and ITA Scholar-Athlete honors and was named USTA Rhode Island’s 2017 College Female Player of the Year. This fall, Miller went 10-2 overall with a perfect 10-0 record in dual matches. She compiled an 8-0 mark at No. 3, 1-0 at No. 2 and 1-0 at No. 1. The senior had signature wins over players from Nichols, Johnson & Wales and Division II Southern New Hampshire. Miller also compiled a 12-4 doubles record and went 10-1 in dual matches and 2-3 in tournaments. Miller posted a 5-0 record in the NAC with O’Connor. The duo reached the Flight B Finals at the Grass Court Doubles Tournament with wins over Salve Regina and Division I Holy Cross before falling to Division II Assumption. The pair also collected signature wins over the No. 2 teams from Johnson & Wales and Southern New Hampshire. Miller climbed the all-time ranks in just 3 years with the Chargers to rank 8th in career wins with 91 and 9th in career doubles wins with 50. O’Connor, a 2-time Second Team Singles honoree and a 1-time First Team selection, went 9-2 overall and 4-0 against conference opponents. She is 15-0 in NAC matches through 3 years. The junior went 3-0 at No. 5, 3-1 at No. 4, and 1-0 at No. 2 and No. 3. She had a pair of great wins against Nichols and Johnson & Wales to help the Chargers to a pair of victories. O’Connor also added her 2nd All-NAC Second Team Doubles Award to go along with last season’s First Team honor. She and Miller have been a force ever since they teamed up in 2015. The duo is perfect in conference matches at 16-0 and are 50-16 in all matches. O’Connor ranks 7th in career doubles wins with 52 and 9th in total wins with 89. Blanchard earned her 2nd straight All-NAC Second Team Singles selection. She went 11-2 overall and 6-0 against conference opponents. The senior finished her NAC career with a perfect


20-0 singles record and a 20-0 doubles record after posting a 4-0 doubles mark this season. Blanchard had a great 6-1, 6-3 win over Johnson & Wales’s No. 6 player to help the Chargers serve the Wildcats their only season loss. She also picked up 1 of the team’s 3 points against Division II Southern New Hampshire with an impressive 6-1, 6-0 win. Blanchard climbed the all-time ranks in program history this season. She placed 3rd in career wins (108), tied for 3rd in singles wins (52) and was 5th in doubles victories (56). The Chargers wrapped up the fall portion of the 2017-18 schedule at the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT). Highlighting the tournament for the Chargers was the team of junior Hilary Boucher (Presque Isle, Maine) and sophomore Alexa Conlin (Westborough, Mass.). They won Flight D to become the 1st Chargers to take home a NEWITTT title. They won all 3 of their doubles matches against Wheaton, Springfield and Smith. Boucher won 3 singles matches, while Conlin earned a pair of victories. The duo swept Wheaton 3-0 to advance to the semifinals against Springfield, which they also beat 3-0. In the finals, Boucher and Conlin earned an 8-5 doubles win to take a 1-0 lead. Boucher then won her singles match 6-1, 7-6 (3) to get the required 2 points to win the flight. Senior Christine Hill (Wallingford, Conn.), junior Maddy Gemerek (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) and junior Michelle Lopes (West Hartford, Conn.) also contributed to the Chargers’ success throughout the season. Hill went 4-0 in singles matches against conference opponents. She also had a 5-0 doubles record with 3 NAC victories. Hill finished her career with a 14-0 NAC singles and 15-0 NAC doubles records. Lopes went an impressive 8-1 in doubles action and recorded a team best 7 wins in the conference. She also picked up a win in 3 tries in singles action. Gemerek was 4-4 in singles and 3-0 against the NAC. She added a 7-4 mark in doubles, including a 4-0 record against conference opponents.

earned All-NAC First Team honors for finishing in the top 8 at the championship. Sophomore Justin Whittaker (Bridgewater Corners, Vt.) and first-year student Kyle Hajj (Methuen, Mass.) garnered All-NAC Second Team accolades for finishing 9th-15th. Smith also represented Colby-Sawyer on the All-NAC Sportsmanship Team. Bakker, last year’s NAC Rookie of the Year, led the team with a 3rd place finish at the NAC Championship. The 2-time All-NAC First Team honoree finished with 26:55. Jones was the 2nd Charger to finish the race and placed 6th in 27:22.9 to earn his 2nd straight nod to the All-NAC First Team. Smith, an All-NAC Second Team honoree last season, earned First Team honors this year after placing 7th with 27:56.1. Hajj was named to the All-NAC Second Team after posting a 9th place finish with 28:25.9. Whittaker rounded out the Chargers’ top 5 with a 12th place finish. He came away with a time of 28:48.6 to collect All-NAC Second Team honors. Senior Lauren Oligny (Plaistow, N.H.) and junior Martha Aschale (Cambridge, Mass.) earned All-NAC First Team accolades. Oligny represented the Chargers on the Sportsmanship Team. Sophomores Alison Fairbairn (Dover, N.H.) and Megan Spainhower (Northwood, N.H.), along with first-year student Amanda Boyd (Dedham, Maine), garnered All-NAC Second Team honors. Oligny led the Chargers at the NAC Championship with a 3rd place finish. She clocked in at 20:27.8 to collect her 3rd All-NAC First Team Award.

CROSS COUNTRY Both teams won the NAC championship in 2017 — the women claimed their 4th straight title, while the men won their 2nd in a row.

The womens’ cross country team claimed its 4th straight conference title, while the men won their second in a row.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF LYNDSAY OSTLER

New to the conference this season was a prechampionship poll that allowed coaches to predict the outcome after evaluating each team’s success throughout the regular season. The women’s team was picked as the favorite and didn’t disappoint, winning the title with 43 points and 5 runners in the top 13. The men’s team was also chosen as the favorite and won their crown after placing 5 runners in the top 12 to finish with 37 points. Lyndsay Ostler was named NAC Men’s Coach of the Year and Women’s Co-Coach of the Year. Junior Bruin Smith (Cohoes, N.Y.), along with sophomores Peter Bakker (Barkhamsted, Conn.) and Ben Jones (Enfield, N.H.),

SPRING 2018

41


Fairbairn earned All-NAC Second Team honors for the 2nd consecutive season. She placed 11th with a time of 21:59.1. Spainhower rounded out the Chargers’ top-5 finishers, helping the team secure the title. She came away with an All-NAC Second Team Award for finishing 13th in 22:03.9. At the NCAA Regional, the men finished 23rd out of 55 with 663 points, while the women placed 36th out of 56 with 1,057 points. The men were the top finishers out of 8 competing NAC teams, while the women finished ahead of 6 other NAC squads. WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL (14-19, 5-2 NAC) Under the direction of first-year head coach Josh Anderson, the team reached its 7th straight NAC title match. Anderson led the young Colby-Sawyer squad to a 14-19 overall record and a 5-2 mark in conference play. The team featured a senior, 2 juniors, 4 sophomores and 4 first years. Colby-Sawyer was the NAC Tournament’s 3rd seed after posting a 5-2 record during the regular season. After a 3-0 sweep of Green Mountain in the quarterfinals, the Chargers defeated 2nd seed Husson (3-0) for the 4th straight time in the semifinals. The season ended with a 3-1 loss to top-seed Maine Maritime. During its 7 years with the NAC, the team appeared in the title match every season and won 5 championships. Colby-Sawyer was 43-3 in regular-season NAC matches and won 131 out of 145 sets played. The team also won 41 of 47 sets in the NAC Tournament. Sophomores Naarah Cox (Boston, Mass.) and Rebecca Straubel (Altamont, N.Y.) earned NAC All-Tournament honors after leading the team in the postseason. Cox posted team bests of 32 kills and 6 blocks in the 3 tournament matches. Straubel collected 29 digs, 15 kills and 4 aces. Cox and senior Alli Lahiff (Haverhill, Mass.) earned All-NAC First Team honors. Junior Courtney Murray (Quincy, Mass.) was named to the All-NAC Second Team, while Straubel represented Colby-Sawyer on the Sportsmanship Team. Cox earned her 2nd consecutive nod to the All-NAC First Team after leading the Chargers with 306 kills, 2.91 kills per set, hitting percentage (.308) and 66 blocks. After 2 seasons, Cox is the program’s career leader in hitting percentage (.300) and was named NAC Player of the Week 3 times and Defensive Player of the Week once. In NAC matches, Cox led all players in kills per set (3.06),

42

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Courtney Murray was named to the All-NAC Second Team.

block solos (10), block assists (6), total blocks (16), blocks per set (1.0) and points per set (3.9). She also led all conference players in overall games in kills, kills per set, block solos (33), total blocks and blocks per set (.63). Cox played in 30 matches this season and recorded double-digit kills 18 times. Lahiff garnered All-NAC First Team accolades for the 1st time. The 2-time NAC Player of the Week was 3rd on the team with 205 kills and 2nd with 43 blocks and recorded at least 1 block in 26 out of her 33 matches. In conference matches, Lahiff ranked 3rd in kills (53), 5th in kills per set (2.30), 2nd in hitting percentage (.413), 5th in points (65) and 8th in points per set (2.8). In all matches, she remained near the top in several categories including kills (7th), hitting percentage (4th, .225), block assists (2nd, 33), blocks (4th) and points (6th, 254.5). Lahiff posted a season-high 15 kills in a 3-2 win at Norwich. Murray earned her 1st All-NAC Second Team honor of her career. She ranked 2nd on the team in kills with 291 and kills per set with 2.53. Murray added the 4th most digs on the team with 237 and 5th most blocks with 20. She recorded 7 double-doubles, highlighted by an 18-kill, 12-dig performance in a 3-1 win over Framingham State. Murray was near the top of the conference (in all matches) in several categories including kills (3rd), kills per set (3rd), digs (6th) and points (4th, 329.5). In conference matches only, she ranked 1st in kills (68), 2nd in kills per set (2.96), 1st in points (80) and 3rd in points per set (3.5). Straubel ranked 4th on the team with 132 kills and 3rd with 276 digs. Her best match of the season came against New England College when she posted 16 kills and 17 digs in the Chargers’ 3-1 victory. In all matches, Straubel ranked 5th in digs and 5th in digs per set (2.88) among conference players. Sophomore setter Olivia Goodrich (Epping, N.H.) reached 1,000 career assists in the team’s 3-2 win over Norwich. She now ranks 8th in career assists with 1,413 and is 4th in assists per set (7.36).

PHOTO: JOHN QUACKENBOS

sports

Aschale, the 2015 NAC Rookie of the Year, finished in 6th. She posted 21:11.9 for her 2nd All-NAC First Team honor. In her 1st NAC Championship appearance, Boyd was the 3rd Charger to cross the finish line. She placed 10th in 21:47 to be named to the All-NAC Second Team.


WOMEN’S SOCCER (12-3-1, 9-0 NAC) The team reached the NAC semifinals for the 7th consecutive year. Colby-Sawyer completed the conference regular season with its 3rd perfect record (9-0) in the past 5 years to claim the top seed in the NAC tournament. After a lengthy layoff between the regular season finale and the NAC semifinals, the Chargers fell to 4th seed Husson 1-0 in double overtime. Senior Corrie Hoyt (Lebanon, Conn.) and junior Abbie Sansoucy (Douglas, Mass.) were named to the All-Tournament Team. Colby-Sawyer finished its NAC membership with a 56-4-3 record in regular season conference matches. The team won titles from 2013 to 2016. In addition to All-Tournament honors, Hoyt was named NAC Player and Defensive Player of the Year. Hoyt also was named to the All-NAC First Team, along with sophomores Molly MacLure (Westford, Mass.) and Sam Mitchell (Chester, N.H.). Junior Hannah Fields (Shapleigh, Maine) earned All-NAC Second Team honors. Junior Amanda Martin (Amesbury, Mass.) was named to the Sportsmanship Team. Colby-Sawyer head coach Meghan Medbery was named NAC Coach of the Year for the 4th time in her career. Hoyt, the 2014 NAC Rookie of the Year, became only the 2nd NAC women’s soccer player to earn both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. She’s the Chargers’ 1st NAC Player of the Year and 2nd NAC Defensive Player of the Year. Hoyt served as a co-captain and a leader on the back line for a Chargers defense that allowed a league-low 14 overall goals (0.85 gaa) and only 6 goals (0.66 gaa) in conference play. A 4-time All-NAC First Team honoree, she was an instrumental part of the Chargers’ 6 shutouts during the season. Offensively, Hoyt recorded 3 goals and 1 assist; 2 of her goals were game winners. She and her teammates allowed just 4 or Corrie Hoyt was named 2017 NAC Player and Defensive Player of the Year.

fewer shots-on-goal in 6 of Colby-Sawyer’s 9 conference games, including 2 where they allowed only 1 shot-on-goal and 1 game with no shots allowed. Hoyt started in all 16 games and played 75 total games, starting in 73, and tallied 6 goals and 5 assists in her career. MacLure posted the 3rd most points on the team with 17 on 6 goals and 5 assists. Three of her goals were game winners, which all came against NAC opponents. In addition to providing the Chargers with offense, MacLure aided the backline with impressive midfield play, halting the opponents’ forwards from making deep runs. Mitchell earned 4 NAC Defensive Player of the Week Awards throughout the season. She had a 7-2-1 overall record in goals and a 5-0 mark in NAC games. Two of her starts resulted in solo shutouts, while another was a shared shutout. Mitchell posted a league-best .82 goals against in all games and a .70 against in NAC games. She also had a NAC best .862 save percentage in all games and was 2nd with a .833 save percentage against conference opponents. One of her best games came against regionally ranked and NCAA Tournament participant Middlebury (12-4-2) when she allowed only 1 goal and made a season-high 10 saves. Fields, a junior transfer, led the team with 30 points, 11 goals and 8 assists in her 1st season with the team. She tallied 3 game-winning goals and a pair of NAC Player of the Week Awards. The 30 points ranked as 4th most in a single season in program history, while the 8 assists tied for 5th most. In conference games, Fields ranked 3rd with 8 goals, 3rd with 20 points and 9th with 4 assists. Martin was 2nd on the Chargers with 19 points on 7 goals and 5 assists. One of her goals was the game winner against Thomas on the final weekend of the regular season. In NAC games only, Martin ranked in the top 5 in goals (7, 5th), points (19, 4th) and assists (5, 3rd). Coach Medbery led the Chargers to their 3rd perfect NAC regular season in the past 5 seasons. She guided her team to double-digit wins for the 6th straight season under her direction. With the squad’s 9 conference wins in 2017, Colby-Sawyer was 49-3-2 in conference matches. In NAC action, the Chargers were No. 1 in corner kicks (69), tied for 1st in goals against (6) and goals against average (0.66); they were No. 2 in assists (25), points (96) and saves (27).  ®

PHOTO: JOHN QUACKENBOS

Ryan Emerson is Colby-Sawyer’s Sports Information Director. He holds a B.S. from Western New England University and an M.B.A. from Providence College.

SPRING 2018

43


alumni news

news from alumni relations COLBY-SAWYER HOMECOMING OCTOBER 12 – 14, 2018 Spend a fun fall weekend in New London for Colby-Sawyer’s annual Homecoming festivities. Enjoy time on the hill, tour campus, reconnect with favorite faculty, and socialize with old and new friends. Milestone Reunion celebrations will take place for the following classes during Homecoming: 1943, 1948, 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013. For more information, contact alumni@colby-sawyer.edu or 603.526.3886, or visit colby-sawyer.edu/homecoming.

Annual Alumni Awards Presented at Homecoming During Homecoming festivities in October, the college honored three alumni for their accomplishments, service and commitment to Colby-Sawyer. Beverly Stearns Bernson ’55, a loyal supporter of Colby-Sawyer and a member of the President’s Alumni Advisory Council who loaned pieces from her private collection for the inaugural exhibition in the Center for Art + Design this fall, received the Distinguished Alumni Award. Former trustee and dedicated college supporter Joan Campbell Eliot ’67 received the Alumni Service Award. Andrew Pillsbury ’07, a sport management major who served as a Winton-Black Trustee from 2011 to 2014 and is director of sales at Prevent Biometrics in Minnesota, received the Young Alumni Achievement Award. Read more about the award recipients at colby-sawyer.edu/alumni-awards.

Connect with the Alumni Office: alumni@colby-sawyer.edu 603.526.3722 800.266.8253

facebook.com/colbysawyeralumni twitter.com/CSC_alumni linkedin.com/groups?gid=143715 instagram.com/csc_alumni

44

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Colby-Sawyer honored five new members of its Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony during Homecoming (L – R): Basketball and volleyball player Amy Callahan ’02, Candice Corcoran Raines ’71, soccer player Matt Solazzo ’04, tennis player Kirsten Girard Soroko ’92 and basketball player Brian Wilder ’99. Read more about these outstanding athletes at colbysawyer.edu/2017-hof.

Ciarlante Represents Colby-Sawyer In November, Nick Ciarlante ’14 represented President Susan D. Stuebner and Colby-­ Sawyer as an official delegate at an inaugural ceremony at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Ciarlante, a business administration major, earned his M.P.S. at the university and is a chief clerk in the U.S. House of Representatives.


class notes 1943

Joan Creesy Eriksson MT writes, “I’m still muddling along, though it doesn’t seem possible. Finland is celebrating being 100, and I realized I’m only 6 yrs younger! My big joy is that my granddaughter has a scholarship to study archeology at UC Berkeley. She’s over the moon to be … with super professors! So cheer up, America, it must get better! Love to you all.”

1945

RUTH ANDERSON PADGETT ruthlajolla@aol.com It was mid-Oct. when I learned it was note time and I thought... Oh, let’s go climb a mountain! Remember Mountain Day? But it was 95° on my patio! Shirley Glidden Splaine and I each have 2 great-grandsons. Hers are 3 and 4, mine are 1 and 2; we have a great time comparing notes. Nancy Dean Maynard and I have birthdays one day apart, so we keep in touch (she’s older!) The 3 of us share all the problems of 92-year-olds, but we’re still vertical. Barbara Macaulay Watkins: We’re looking for a proper e-mail for you. Sad to hear that Jean Morley Lovett has Alzheimer’s, but she’s living in a nice facility. A lovely note from Doris Peakes Kendall, who says she can’t believe she’s 91. Huh, how come the rest of us are 92? Joy Waldau Hostage has sad news that her husband of 65 years passed, but she’s pressing on and looking forward to a granddaughter’s wedding in London next spring. Happy she can still travel. Suzi Curtis Smythe’s daughter-inlaw wrote a lovely note for her, saying she was in good health and had her 1st great-granddaughter. She and Mary June Troup

Kingsbury keep in touch. Would like to hear from more of you. Even just a hello to tell us you’re still here. Until next time, Ruthie.

1947

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Marcia Jacobs Adam MT is 91 and in Smithfield, VA. She writes, “I’ll never be a Southerner – too many years in New England!” For the past 11 years, Marion Nickerson Paulson has lived in the Village at Duxbury, an independent-living retirement home in MA. She reports, “I’m so fortunate that my family lives nearby. Last Sept, a small group of us went to Rockport, MA, where we spent an enjoyable week boating, including a day on a schooner, a trip down the Essex River, a day to Salem Harbor, a whale watching excursion and a trip on a lobster boat. Appreciated being active enough to participate in all of it at the great old age of 90.”

1948

PHYLLIS “LES” HARTY WELLS lesmase17@gmail.com Cornelia “Nini” Hawthorne Maytag had a whirlwind tour of the East when she went to a meeting in Fredericksburg, VA, then hopped over to Jacksonville, FL, to hear author Elizabeth Gilbert speak. She’d hoped to fly into DC to see Carol Shoemaker Marck and Chuck and on to Gainesville for a visit with Mase and me but realized it wasn’t a hop, skip and jump between each stop so had to give up the plan. She had fun thinking about it! Nini and I haven’t seen each other since the ’95 Women’s Open (Golf) at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. In May, Frances “Fran” Wannerstrom

Clark enjoyed a “super” trip to the Czech Republic and Austria with her daughter and son-in-law. It was a beautiful time to visit with spring flowers, great weather and few tourists. Fran and Cathy spent hours choosing their hotels for convenience and “Old World charm.” Their rooms in Prague overlooked Old Town Square with its ancient astronomical clock. A few of the many don’t-miss sights were the changing of the guard at the castle, St. Vitus’s Cathedral, the museums and Charles Bridge. They also saw the John Lennon wall where anyone is allowed to spray paint a message. Food was a priority, and they tried a medley of restaurants! From Prague they went to Cesky Krumlov, then on to Salzburg. They almost skipped the Sound of Music tour but changed their minds and had a lovely grad student as their guide. She had a beautiful voice, and when they reached the Lake District with its green hills sprinkled with chalets and snow-capped mountains, she sang “The Sound of Music.” The last night, they attended a Mozart concert in the fortress overlooking the city. It was pretty special! Fran’s ready to move to a “real” retirement home (just kidding) as life has been nonstop since her European trip. Lots of bus tours are available from her Covenant Village home in Cromwell, CT. One was to the Pepisco Sculpture Garden in Purchase, NY. Another was a bus trip to the Bronx Botanical Garden to see Dale Chihuly’s amazing exhibition of 20 glass displays among the diverse assortment of flowers. Fran also visited her youngest daughter, Margie, and family in Beaver Creek, CO. She got to see 2 grandkids who work in Denver and a 4th of July parade in Vail. She was still recuperating from a major case of “Rocky Mountain High” fever. Jane Maynard Gibson and Jack are finding assisted living at Vicar’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, too quiet and miss being able to have a good long conversation with friends. We have similar problems at our CCRC, Oak Hammock at the U of FL. People tend to stay in their own rooms, but our new nursing director plans to offer more activities and chat sessions after meals. We have a lot of

volunteer members who visit with those who are in AL or temporarily in skilled nursing. I try to send Jane some of the better emails that come my way so she can enjoy a good laugh or interesting article. Jane picks up the phone now and then but her breathing is poor so she can’t talk for too long. Hubby Jack has trouble walking. How about some of you classmates send Jane a message now and then? I’m sure she’d love to hear from you at me1235@att.net. Had a nice note from Jan West Williams thanking me for staying on as your “hotline.” She always enjoys news of our classmates. Her hubby, Harry, has been recovering from seizures that have changed their lives. They managed to attend their annual biyearly West Family Reunion at Twin Lake Villa in New London. Jan said they drove around the beautiful CSC campus and marveled at the lovely setting. What a pleasant surprise to get a long email from Anne “Smitty” Smith Jeffus, who wanted me to know she appreciated all my years of “hanging in there” as class correspondent! When she reads the ’48 columns, she feels in touch and in tune with everyone in the class. Her life muddles on with all the indignities of being 88, but she’s blessed with a son and 2 daughters. They’ve gifted her 9 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Anne has lived in her cottage in the Presbyterian Manor RC in Wichita Falls, TX, for almost 22 years. She started working there (her 1st job!) in 1980 and was the contract manager and exec bookkeeper until retirement in ’04. Anne moved into the Manor 8 years before she retired. It was easy to wake up, shower, dress and walk across the street to her office. She’s enjoying rekindling our friendship through email. She’s had degenerative bone and joint disease since she broke her left leg skiing at 35. She says, “Like that old song, I don’t get around much anymore!” her life revolves around family, faith, the wonderful place where she lives and her toys. Anne revels in her family’s presence and their activities. Her son and one of her daughters live nearby while the rest of them are elsewhere in TX. She SPRING 2018

45


class notes

spends most of her time surrounded by music. She has a large PC with a 27” monitor and a laptop hooked up to her flat-screen TV in her office/bedroom. Her kids tease her about being a real “dyed in the wool” 88-year-old techie. Anne wouldn’t know what to do without her Apple TV! She gets her jollies and exercise from chair dancing to her jazz playlist. She’s downloaded more than 5,000 pieces of music. Hugs and “hi” to all from your former classmate, Smitty! One of our (Mase and Les Wells) 2 granddaughters was married in June. Our son, Peter, and his wife, Lynne, gave their daughter, Lindsay, a spectacular wedding weekend in Palm Beach. They worked on the plans for more than a year. The wedding party, relations, and most all the guests were bedded down at the famous Breakers Hotel. It was very close to the Royal Poinciana Chapel and Whitehall, the Henry Flagler Museum, where the fabulous reception was held. The weather was beautiful, and the lush vegetation of south FL was in full bloom. I wish we could move Gainesville further south! That area has Hawaiilike weather for most of the year! North FL’s autumn was full of hurricanes, but Gainesville always seems to “bite the bullet.” Lots of downed foliage with short power outages but no major damage. We’re enjoying the rest of the fall and had fun at the Oktoberfest and Halloween

Nancy Shumway Adams ’52 next to the plaque of her direct ancestor, Samuel Wardwell, the last person to be hung for witchcraft in Salem.

celebrations at Oak Hammock. By the way, Smitty reminded me that Oct. will mark our 70th Reunion! Anyone interested in going?

1949

ELIZABETH REYNOLDS MATTHEW elimtth@aol.com Ann Wray Upchurch writes, “I have had a good life. I’ve been on every continent in the world. Old age is for the birds!”

1950

KATHLEEN VALLIERE-DENIS OUILETTE nanapa@beeline-online.net Maxine Morrison Hunter is 87 and in good health. Barbara Fetzer Herbert MT moved to AZ in June and has been busy renovating her new home. She enjoys the view overlooking 3 mountain ranges. She’s living in a 50+ community at Dove Mt. in Marana and writes, “It’s the best neighborhood I’ve ever lived in.” Despite all the work renovating, including being her own general contractor, she finds time to play tennis and attend a book club, 2 singles groups, a gourmet dinner group, the Red Hats, and volunteer at the Clubhouse. She writes, “The restaurant is great, the entertainment brought in is exceptional, and the wine dinners are perfect. Getting used to the heat is another story, with 130 days of l00+ degrees; it was still shorts weather in Nov – a big change after 36 years in New London!” She feels lucky to have her daughter close. She enjoyed a visit to Yellowstone National Park where her son is in charge of all audio/visual communications.

1951

ROBERTA GREEN DAVIS 107 Columbia Avenue Swarthmore, PA 19081 Mary Jane Critchett Lane lives in Rockport, MA. After receiving degrees in elementary education and a master’s in reading and language, Mary taught 1st grade in Princess Anne County, VA, before retiring. Her husband grows vegetable and flower gardens as a hobby, and she paints them. She’s passionate about fine art and has been successful enough to

46

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

hang a number of her paintings in art associations in her area. Their 6 children are happy, healthy, and working hard. One of them is also an alumna, Kathryn Lane ’76. Mary writes, “Our greatest wealth in life has been the good fortune to see these children grow up and become successful. All together, they’ve given Charlie and me 11 beautiful grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. I remember vividly many of my Colby friends, graduation day, Dr. Sawyer, Miss Cawley, Miss London and so many of our faculty who helped us finish our growing years. To all my classmates and all those who guided me so many years ago, I send my love and gratitude.” Lynn Healy Nichols writes, “Life is good. I play golf 3 times a week.” Her winter getaway on Manasota Key in FL survived Hurricane Irma, for which she’s grateful. She was able to get together several times with her good friend Sheila Francis Dow during the winter. Her 1st great-grandchild arrived in June; she hasn’t yet seen him in person. Her other son and youngest daughter live near her in Waverly and keep close tabs on her. Her oldest daughter, Katie Broadbent Wesley ’74, lives in Virginia Beach. Three grandchildren are employed in TN, and two granddaughters are working in Portland, ME. She’s retired after 44 years as a tax collector. Marguerite Cline Almy writes, “Hello, fellow 1951 graduates! Hope you’re all doing well.” She spends half the year in MA and half in GA. Her husband, Charlie, uses a walker, which doesn’t stop him from doing activities such as golf, breakfast club and a poker group. When in MA, Marguerite kayaks every day. In GA, she takes adult ed classes. She’s looking forward to the next reunion and misses NH in the fall. Nancy MacCalla Bazemore downsized to a house with a prairie-style garden that’s just enough to keep her busy. Her daughter, Kim, lives nearby, and her son, Whit, lives in Bend, OR, where she hopes to visit soon. She writes, “My bridge has improved since the sessions in the “Butt” and I play often— now one must follow real rules! If any of my

classmates are near Traverse City, MI, please come by or get in touch with me at nmb5300@charter.net.” After 14 fulfilling years of retirement in New London, Eleanor Morrison Goldthwait MT has moved to a retirement community in Nashua close to her daughter and grandsons, and to her son and his family in MA. While it was an adjustment, it was the right move. Fortunately, she got to witness the completion of the Center for Art + Design before she left. She writes, “I didn’t leave Colby-Sawyer behind – it was fun to discover that Mary “Pat” Mitchell Hadley is also here!”

1952

MARILYN “WOODSIE” WOODS ENTWISTLE mainewoodsie1@roadrunner.com Greetings all: This is all about our 65th Reunion. Betty Carlson Salomon met me in Reading, MA, at my son’s house, where I put a sign on my car (“Old Bird” as she’s called) so Betty wouldn’t miss the house. A young teenager walked by. He was puzzled by the sign, so I told him, “If you’re wondering about ‘Old Bird,’ she’s sitting in the front seat.” He walked on giggling politely. Then we headed north to my cousin-in-law Claire’s house in Elkins where Nancy “Shum” Shumway Adams, Betty and I stayed for the weekend, arriving in plenty of time for our class dinner arranged by M.J. “Fritzie” Fritzinger Moeller and daughter Jeanne. We had lots of laughs with Polly Heath Kidder, Noel Henriques Brakenhoff, Sae Bond Gilson MT, Shum, Carol Moffitt Kline, Betty, Claire (known as Auntie Claire), Fritzie and Jeanne. We shared old pictures and emails from alums who couldn’t make it. Although it didn’t work out for Janet Holmes Thompson to attend, she did report that she leads a happy life with her large family living close by. Sally “Itchie” Hueston Day’s exciting excuse was that her children

CLASS OF 1953

come back for your 65th reunion oct. 12–14!


were taking her to HI to fulfill her lifelong dream of visiting all 50 states, and I just got her postcard with very large printing: “I DID IT!” Joanne “Judy” Fowle Hinds had reservations to return to her island home in the Bahamas that Hurricane Irma had very nicely missed. Nat Clarke Jones was sorry not to be able to see everyone but sent her greetings and Jane “M.J.” Montgomery emailed to say she, too, was sorry to miss everyone. As usual, Fritzie and Jeanne put together a printed report about our classmates who are no longer with us and then took over the planning for our class reunion weekend. We had a total of 8 alums, a jolly group of spry, spirited 85-year-olds! On Saturday, a lovely fall morning, we went to hear Dick Hesse, UNH Emeritus Prof of Law, discuss contemporary politics. We listened to interesting information about how politics and law are intertwined and heard we should never expect a representative or senator to keep campaign promises. When asked what he thought the outcome would be for the gerrymandering case before the court, Prof Hesse wasn’t optimistic, as the last time the case was presented, it was “to no avail,” with such things as a state counting trees as people. The next stop was coffee with President Stuebner, who was friendly and welcoming while telling us her plans for the school and then asking for questions and answering the most memorable one: “Are you happy?” “YES!” she said. “I felt like I’d won the lottery when I got this job!” It was on to lunch and then over to see the new art center. A beautiful spot, with spectacular views through the grand windows. What fun it must be to work there! We did a lot of walking around campus, and soon it was time for the president’s cocktail reception across the street. It was a nice, cheerful gathering with a continuous flow of delicious hors d’oeuvres, and soon we were on the move again across the street to have our class pictures taken and then on to our Homecoming dinner. Because several alums who always come to reunions were part of the Buzzin’ Dozen and because every year they

insisted we make an entrance singing “Colby, We Salute You,”even though this year the only singers were Sae and Noel, they insisted on keeping the tradition alive. So, as we were waiting for everyone to be seated, several students came over and asked if they could interview us…. They were amazed we had curfews and had no idea what “campused” meant and thought it odd we had to smoke in butt rooms only, wear skirts to class and dress up for Sunday dinner. They left very glad they were at CSC now. After we made our singing entrance, we ate a nice dinner, and then Noel and Sae started to sing “Colby Forever” and our whole table joined in. When we finished, the entire room applauded. A nice end to our Reunion!

1953

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Nancy Bijur Wallace is living happily in Naples, FL. Gordon McAllen Baker has been a loyal alumna for the past 65 years, attending many reunions. She’s lived in both upstate and downstate New York; Portland, OR; Goshen, NH; and now in a Kendal retirement home in a small cottage in Lexington, VA, which she loves and where she has made wonderful friends. She moved from NH to be closer to her only granddaughter, Ellie. Her husband, Gus, died in 1982 in Portland. She has two daughters; one in Silver Spring, one in Wheeling, WV, and a son, in Milwaukie, OR. She writes, “We Easterners went out to Milwaukie in late Aug for the wedding of Josh’s stepson, Casey, which was a wonderful event. We managed to see old friends and places. It is a great place to live! We still try to visit my beloved Adirondacks most summers, which often allows a quick visit to NH, hopefully having lunch with Sarah “Sae” Bond Gilson ’52 MT, while there. I’m trying to persuade Nancy “Shum” Shumway Adams ’52, from CT, to join us next summer. I played tennis until a couple of years ago when a terrible back made it no longer possible. Happily, the back is now under control. So I use my time reading, volunteering, playing bridge and discussing politics.

I think it’s a shame so few classmates of 1953 write class notes, myself included. Life does get in the way sometimes, I know. But come on, all you great ladies, let’s give it a try for our ‘golden’ years!”

1954

JO-ANNE GREENE COBBAN jjcobban@ne.rr.com It’s always a pleasure to receive notes from classmates and look back to graduation when we were wondering what was ahead of us, where we’d be and what we’d be doing. Our class notes kept us together, cheering each other on and sharing what we’ve experienced over the past 64 years. We look forward to another reunion relatively soon. Barbara Dennett Howard in Charlton, MA, writes, “My husband, Bob, and I spent a few days with my roommate Nancy Brown Cummings and her husband, Dick, at their summer home on Newfound Lake in Bristol, NH. Their daughter, Eleanor Cummings Bowe ’74, and her husband, Jerry, also have a home there. They adopted a Great Pyrenees as a rescue dog, and Eleanor named her Colby.” Louise “Weezie” Moser Stoops has lived 47 years in the same house in New Canaan, CT. She writes, “3 of our kids live close by and Bill and I enjoy playing golf and holding fun dinners. Bill and I drove to Chicago in the fall to visit my sister and attend my 60th New Trier reunion. Our son and daughter-in-law have a vacation home in Stowe, VT. We love to visit, and I always think of New London as we drive by on the highway.” Shirley Wright Cantara settled back on the ME coast after she lost husband Bill. She writes, “It was a beautiful summer at the condo, where I can walk my Jack Russell terrier on Old Orchard Beach.” Her grandson, Brandon, is stationed at Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach, and his brother, Jordan, is in the Coast Guard and stationed at Burlington, VT. The youngest, Cameron, is attending Rowan U in NJ. Shirley writes, “I keep in touch with Percilla Horridge Savacool, who’s in Ann’s Choice Assisted Living Community in Warminster, PA. Her daughters, Cindy, Debbie and Donna, live

nearby.” I (Jo-Anne) and Shirley both attended high school in Goffstown, NH, and were surprised when we found each other attending CJC. Barbara Rogers Berndt has had 2 additions to her family: “A grandson named Garrett, who was born to my youngest son, Matthew, and his wife, Monica, and a great-grandson, named Andrew, to my granddaughter, Jennifer Scalia, and husband Mark. I’m still on my own in an apartment in Bridgeport, CT, near my son in Trumbull.” She’s been enjoying family visits from MA, NY and GA. Glenice Hobbs Harmon sold her house in NH and became a permanent resident in Austin, TX, with her daughter and family. She finds time to phone friends and family in NH and is looking forward to a trip to visit other family members. Helen Johnson Sargent continues to divide her time between Kennebunk, ME, in June through Aug, and Lake Wylie, SC, Sept through May. Travel takes up much of her time, and she was planning to go to Israel last Oct, Miami in Nov for her grandson’s wedding and AZ for Thanksgiving. This spring, she’ll take a river cruise in the Ukraine. She writes, “Dick and I are grateful for good health, keeping busy and staying in touch with friends.” Margot Thompson

CONNECT GET THE LATEST ALUMNI NEWS /colbysawyeralumni FOLLOW US /CSC_alumni

COLBY-­SAWYER Alumni Group

GET THE PICTURE /csc_alumni

SPRING 2018

47


class notes

had a wonderful trip to Nova Scotia and the Canadian Maritimes in Sept. She writes, “Nice to be in the Northeast with lots of salt water, boats and fish. It’s been a good year for me. I’m still in touch with several classmates.” Arline Soderberg Ely has hiked in 14 national parks with 1 of her friends over the past 8 years. They spent a year exploring Iceland. They’re both in good health and spend weekends biking on the MA rail trails. They visited Paula Biaga Migliaccio, Arline’s roommate in college for 2 years, in Tiverton, RI. Arline’s daughter Laura is a realtor in Minneapolis, and her son Thom is a world-class biker who has biked in Siberia, Russia and Mongolia. He’s now on a bike trip from CT to FL and is the owner of Alaska Bicycle Tours out of Haines and Skagway. Jane Doherty Johnson writes, “My biggest accomplishment is that I am still alive, walking and talking! This is just an anecdote, as my news is not earth-shattering. Yesterday, a friend and I went to the dollar store on our weekly outing. She was looking for prune juice for her husband who is in a nursing facility. They were out of it in 6-packs, so we decided to head to Aldi’s. She was ecstatic over brioche rolls; I was ecstatic over English muffins. Then we went to lunch and I said, “Sue, can you imagine when we were 25 thinking about an actual OUTING – now it’s the Dollar Tree, finding prune juice in 6-packs and English muffins at $.99.” We laughed ourselves crazy. Goals in life change!” Sachiko Mizoguchi Taneda writes, “Hello from Japan! Thank you for sending me Colby-Sawyer Magazine all the way here, which I enjoy reading and looking at the photos. The Olympics will be held in Tokyo in 2020, and they’re busy preparing for it – digging an underground highway under my house! They’re also collecting used smartphones and mobile phones to use the rare metal in them to make the medals. Please enjoy a nice winter and happy holidays!” I, Jo-Anne Greene Cobban, am involved in a number of organizations, volunteer often and continue working with my family’s genealogy and assisting others in doing the same with theirs. The

48

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

history that comes along with it adds to the interest of work involved. I’ve been at this address in Keene for 55 years and look forward to receiving your mail for the next issue.

1955

GRETCHEN DAVIS HAMMER gdh777@earthlink.net Thanks to each of you who sent notes. I love hearing your news and being able to share it with classmates. Deadlines for the notes are April and Oct. (the earlier in the month the better). Sad news from Marcia Symmes Harmon, who let me know Nancy Petke Silverstein succumbed to breast and lung cancer in July at Brigham-Women’s Hospital in Boston. She had been battling cancer for more than 20 years. Nancy was a “Burpeeite” who always had a listening ear for anyone who needed one! Our deep and sincere sympathy to her family and friends. Stephanie Brown Reininger recently led a 4-week watercolor class for Osher@Dartmouth, followed by an early Feb weekend class at Lebanon’s AVA Gallery. Speaking of art and classes, Beverly Stearns Bernson loaned some of her art collection to Colby-­ Sawyer’s new art gallery for the grand opening in October. From all reports, the Center for Art + Design was extremely well received by all who attended. In her note, she stated that the students are so lucky to have such a beautiful building and environment in which to produce the finest art, whatever the medium. Beverly added that Professors Bert Yarborough and Jon Keenan, as well as many students, helped to make it all possible, and that the student-designed catalog is wonderful. Bev closed her note with a wonderful comment that should be one of the many slogans for CSC: “For me, Colby-Sawyer is the gift that keeps on giving!” Nancy Mudge Sycamore and her husband, Hugh, are loving Heritage Heights, a retirement community in Concord, NH, where they’ve been for 3 years. They spent several weeks last spring visiting children and grandchildren and then had the pleasure of having a grandson spend the summer at a camp

Nancy Brown Cummings ’54; Eleanor Cummings Bowe ’74 and her dog, Colby; and Barbara Dennett Howard ’54.

nearby. They’d love to have visitors! Patti Cook Cohen has the pleasure of working in a retail shop at Mt. Sunapee during the ski season, as well as taking AIL classes at CSC! While she has two Jack Russells to keep her busy, she still loves the theater and heads to White River Junction to enjoy performances at Northern Stage. Patti was delighted to run into Anne Dwyer Milne ’54, whom she hadn’t seen for years. Cynthia Ward Peters in Tampa, FL, keeps busy playing golf and painting folk art commissions. She also shared the sad news that her husband passed away after a 17-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Our deepest sympathy to you and your family, Cynthia. Rosie Carhart Keenan keeps me posted on all the newest jokes floating around – and I love it! She’s in New York, has family close by, and maintains her fun-loving personality even during those tough winters. I always know when I see an email coming in from her that I’m in for some big laughs – she’s a wonderful day-brightener! Thanks, Rosie. I’m still in touch with my wonderful roomie Eloise Hamel Becker. She’s retired officially from the world of professional skating, having coached and mentored several world-renowned skaters. She continues to help skaters all the time, though, and often sends me a video to watch. Ellie hasn’t lost her generosity, her caring, or her delightful laugh! Please keep your emails coming – I love to hear from you, and hopefully, I’ve responded to all messages. If not, let me know!

1956

NANCY HOYT LANGBEIN enlangbein@gmail.com Ed and I were in New London for Homecoming. The weather was glorious, the foliage not so much – too dry this summer. Friday was the long-awaited dedication of the Center for Art + Design. Let me quote Augusta “Gussie” Crocker Stewart who said, “This new building will provide state-of-the-art studios and gallery space. The art professors and students are thrilled to have such a new space in which to work. The views of Mt. Kearsarge are spectacular.” We were impressed with the Bill and Sonja Carlson Davidow Art Gallery, the pottery room funded by Dick and Gussie, and the gardens funded by Pat Thornton. We send our thoughts and prayers to Bill and Sonja, who couldn’t attend the opening because they were home making sure their house stayed safe from the fires in Woodside, CA. Pat Thornton, Dick and Gussie, and myself and my husband, Ed, were in New London for the luncheon and dedication. Also present were Barbara Beals Beal, Nancy Morris Adams and Carol Molander Linsley. More classmates than for our 60th! Julie Abrams Dunbar remembers riding to and from the train with Gussie, whom she said was a good artist. Julie and husband Bill have 14 grandchildren who are, in her words, “smart, talented and all doing well.” Julie has recently seen the college and mentioned all the positive changes.


She hopes to see the Center for Art + Design soon. Nice to have Betty Boyson Tacy in ME now. She’s able to join the annual Colby-Sawyer alumni luncheon in June when Beth Bryant Camp ’92 comes up. The numbers keep growing. Arlene Annan DeMoss and husband Rich have a small RV and travel often to see other RV friends or just get away for a weekend. Children and grandchildren are all doing well. Arlene’s daughter-in-law Amy Sherman has written a cookbook. At the scholarship luncheon, I sat next to Sarah Rudy Terhune’s sister, who lives in New London. Sarah comes to “God’s Country” about twice a year. Thanks to Barbara Bradway Stone MT for sorting through her treasures and sending me pictures of CJC from 1953 to 1956. So much fun looking at them, and the archives were thrilled to have them. Thank you, Barbara, for putting names to faces. Barbara is busy with church, family and friends. She writes, “Wasn’t it amazing how a 17-year-old in 1953 on freshman’s day could wear everything inside out and go out in public...what a classy look!” Barbara and Sibyl Sutton Strickland MT were med techs and roommates in Colby their 3rd year. Marcia Copenhaver Barrere writes, “Hurricane Irma came with a vengeance to our part of FL, and, fortunately, we’re in a beautiful condo overlooking the Indian River Lagoon – no damage, but without electricity for 2 days (5 flights of stairs with the elevators out!), but our daughter was with us, which was a big comfort. Our condo marina was badly damaged, but our son’s sailboat survived. Will take months to rebuild.” Nancy Morris Adams will be moving to New London soon. I (Nancy Hoyt Langbein) have enjoyed having her close by. Till later, Nancy.

1957

JILL BOOTH MACDONELL jillphotoart@yahoo.com Carol Dornemann Sellman writes, “Dartmouth has been a good part of my life with 2 Dartmouth husbands and a Dartmouth daughter, Sarah Otis Humphrey. I’m a snowbird, dividing my time between Basking Ridge, NJ and Naples, FL. Mine has been a happy life. Colby certainly got me off to a good start.” Suzanne Vander Veer is excited for a family trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for Christmas with her CA, VA and CO families. The entire Vander Veer clan has gone rafting in CO as well. This summer, she’s planning a trip to Chautauqua with her siblings. She writes, “It’s a wonderful place to enjoy the arts and fabulous lectures with dynamic speakers!” Sylvia Hamlin Bishak will celebrate her 80th on Jan 21. She and husband Ted operate a travel agency, Train Travel Consulting, and are semiretired. They’re also travel journalists and write for Passenger Train Journal magazine and highonadventure.com. Enjoying life in rural OR, and occasional rail vacations, they can be reached at 541-885-7333 or sylvia@traintravelconsulting.com. Barbara Koontz Adams feels fortunate to have both her children and their families nearby in Portsmouth, NH. In 2001, she retired from her social work practice and has been painting full-time since. She was a Pastel Society of NH founder and is a member of the NH Art Association. She’s had 2 solo shows at their gallery and this summer exhibited at the League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair at Mt. Sunapee. She was unable to attend reunion but hopes to connect with classmates in the next few years. Elizabeth “Bettie” Lucie Perreault writes, “Hasn’t life been a rollercoaster since we graduated 60 years ago?! Many good memories,

SEE MORE ALUMNI PICS ON colby-sawyer.edu/classnotesphotos

special friends over the years (Hello, Polly!). This past summer I finally said goodbye to corporate life and semiretired. I’ve been blessed to have had these years to be part of the community, civic groups and businesses, and to have 3 children and 6 grands. I still serve on a number of boards and civic groups and am hopefully keeping my brain sharp doing bookkeeping, taxes and other clerical stuff for groups. Would be delighted to hear from classmates if they are in the lower CT River Valley area.” A 60th mini reunion was held in York, PA, this summer with Kim Yaksha Whiteley, Diane Shugrue Gallagher, Janice Eaton Atkins, Suzanne Vander Veer, Elizabeth “Bibby” Grayson Deal and Emily Barry Lovering, which included a tour of the Amish Country and Hershey’s Chocolate World. I, Jill Booth Macdonell, visited Janice Eaton Atkins in San Antonio twice and toured Haven for Hope, a self-empowering homeless center. I was so impressed with their model that I told a writer friend in Sacramento about it. After touring the facility, he wrote about it for a local newspaper. We’re on a mission now to implement that model in Sacramento. How would you know a visit to Jan in San Antonio could start a whole movement in Sacramento?

1959

MARSHA JOHNSON marnamhj@gmail.com How nice to hear from classmates who haven’t been in touch for a while. Barbara Brodrick Parish and Ben have been retired for 20 years and moved to a townhouse condo in MA and spend summers in ME. Their son, Dan, was recently appointed VP of College Advancement at CSC. Now maybe we’ll see more of Barbara around campus. Gail Goff Even, widowed for several years, recently moved from CT to VA to be near her 2 daughters, discover new territory and make new friends. Judy Weisfeld Block is one busy lady. For 25 years, she’s been breeding and showing English cocker spaniels. She’s still involved in a linen business, which means traveling to see clients and “dressing” their beautiful beds and tables. Asked

about retiring, she replied, “Retire? I’m on fire.” What a great attitude. Keep it up. Marybeth Lutz Dawson was surprised to see a photo in CSC’s fall magazine of CJC girls in shorts on the snow during a maple syrup shoot, as it is one of her fondest memories. She recalled we were on TV’s “Today” show and her mom called to let her know their whole neighborhood was excited about it. Living in southeast AZ, Marybeth says she goes to Walmart for maple sugar these days. Sadly, we lost our classmate Judy Anderson Anderson in Aug. Judy and her husband, Jack, spent their time between Barrington, RI; their cottage, Thistle Dew, on Pleasant Lake in New London; and Juno Beach, FL. Judy was devoted to her family and alma mater. She will be missed! Bruce and I enjoy life in New London. This year we traveled to the Dalmatian coast, Italy and Finland (Finland to visit an AFS exchange student we had 30 years ago). Please consider a visit to CSC – it’s a magical place and many good things are happening here.

1960

PATTY CANBY COLHOUN pccolhoun@gmail.com Linda Read Stewart writes, “After 40 years at our farm in Fenwick, Ayrshire, where we raised Aberdeen Angus cattle, we’ve moved to a smaller property, still in Ayrshire, called the Beeches, West Langton, by Dunlop, Ayrshire, KA3 4BL, and we still have our house in ME at 47 Penny Lane, Hope, ME. This was Scotland’s wettest summer in living memory (so they say) and the fields are still muddy and wet.” Haydi Caldwell Sowerwine’s husband, David, had knee replacement last May with great success. Their summer coding camp for Looma was their most successful ever! Very amazed at what high school students do these days. They spent part of their summer in MT’s Flathead Valley area, where they climbed a mountain with their grandsons from Seattle. Also went to David’s 60th HS reunion, where there was a lot of smoke from the forest fires. Haydi and David returned from 3 weeks in Europe, where they met up with an old work friend of David’s in Amsterdam. SPRING 2018

49


class notes

Then on to Berlin and to Prague for the Stanford River tour. Their boat went on the Danube, the Main and the Rhine, and they even went parasailing. They met their AFS student and family in Zurich, who’d been with them in 1985, which was a special reunion. Barbara “Bobbi” Taeffner Kulp wrote that she and husband Tom spent 3 wonderful days in NYC with Charlene Wolcott Gray and Dick, and Sharley Janes Bryce and Graham this past Oct. This was the 3rd time in a few years, and Bobbi said renewing old friendships couldn’t get better!

1961

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Susan Kershaw Brostoff has retired to Cape Cod and loves it. She lived in Atlanta for 29 years, and her children and grandchildren still live there. She visits them at Christmas and for 6 weeks in the winter. It is sad to report that she lost husband Stuart in 2006, after which she returned to New England. Susan writes, “Love being near the ocean and beaches. Play golf, do all my yard work, etc. Am still in touch with several of my classmates. Life is good!” Sue Romer Ladouceur and husband Peter are enjoying retirement in Carlsbad, CA. Sue worked for 30 years as a silversmith, and then another 19 as an elementary librarian. Peter was a chemist. Now they travel often to see their 2 daughters and families, 1 in Houston, the other in New Haven, CT. Sue paints and sculpts in her free time, and Peter sails and golfs. She writes, “We have a bucket list of places yet to experience! We’re also

involved in our city and trying to keep it a small town. Small beach towns have their allure, but they also attract tourists. Life is good with friends and family. I wish all my Colby-Sawyer friends happy lives with good health and adventures to come. And peace throughout the world.” Prudence Jensen Heard and Mary-Anna Fox met up in Portland. Mary-Anna is still living on MDI with her trusty dog to take care of her – and she’s still sailing! They had lunch at the Portland Museum of Art and visited the exhibits. Nancy Gay Hill is living in Santa Rosa, CA, and is saddened by the devastation caused by the recent fires. She writes, “Today was Halloween and things here in Santa Rosa were very different than last year. Instead of going trick-or-treating, the family and I spent the holiday baking cookies with their 5- and 9-year-old boys and decorating them. They took them to the firehouse and the police station to thank them for their efforts in saving what they could of our town. People are shell-shocked. No one can concentrate. So many are homeless, and those who were lucky to return from evacuation to find their homes intact find it hard to figure out how to help their friends and families get back on their feet. The devastation all around reminds everyone of what was lost but also of how resilient human beings are. The thousands of 1st responders, fire fighters, police, National Guard and medical personnel came to the aid of a large community and saved all but 46 lives out of 175,155. These fires

Your gifts help make a Colby-Sawyer education possible for our smart, motivated students. colby-sawyer.edu/giving

50

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

Susan Patricelli-Regan ’64 and Foxfield F.A.R.M. (For A Recovery Mission), her equine therapy foundation for veterans with PTSD.

broke out in the dark of night and raged for almost 20 days. Tomorrow, after 23 days, they expect all 5 separate massive firestorms will be contained. It will be years before Santa Rosa, in the heart of Sonoma Wine Country, is back to any kind of normal.”

1962

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Grace Fischbeck Riker was happy to spend time with Gwenyth Harris Ruppert and her husband, David, in DC in July. They celebrated with friends and family who couldn’t attend Grace’s daughter, Annie’s, wedding at Mt. Rainier State Park a year earlier.

1964

KATHRINE CONATHAN REARDON kathyr1230@aol.com Susan Patricelli-Regan writes, “All’s well with our 3 sons in NY, Miami and our youngest, Craig, in TX. He may be returning to CT to pursue a job with a 2018 gubernatorial candidate. Our 501C3 foundation for equine therapy for veterans with PTSD is going extremely well, with our new barn completed this past summer. A major solar company is donating a 15-panel installation to reduce costs for the new barn and indoor ring, which will help immensely. You can see all the TV programs I host at ctvalleyviews. com, where we’re busy with CT’s gubernatorial candidate interviews, among many other high-profile topics and guests.”

1965

SUSAN WOODRUFF MACAULAY susanmaca@gmail.com Thanks to our 1965 classmates, we have some great news. For others, please let us know your news! It’s such fun to get caught up. Molly Jaeger-Begent has retired from running a successful commercial construction company in San Diego with her husband and has opened a nonprofit art gallery in Ramona, CA, called 2Create Gallery. She writes, “Running a construction company was interesting, but owning an art gallery is a lot more fun! My 2 boys are now married, and we have 3 grands (1 boy and 2 girls, all 3 and under). My husband and I travel a lot, love making art and playing with the grandkids.” On a spectacular New England morning, old and new friends gathered at The Bay Club in Mattapoisett, MA, to play golf, enjoy lunch and share Colby-Sawyer stories. Georgie Sawyer Hutton, Jane Hardy Roiter, Tina Biggs Ferraro and Barbara Morse Balegno ’73 all had a fabulous time and vowed to make it a yearly event. Suzi Sincerbeaux Brian moved from VT to Anthem, AZ, 4 years ago and was so surprised to meet Judy Lorenz Thompson ’58. It was quite fun to reminisce about great times at Colby…small world. Ann Hodgkinson Low returned to CSC

CLASS OF 1963

come back for your 55th reunion oct. 12–14!


Susan Woodruff Macaulay ’65, left, with Carolyn “Carrie” Eilers White ’65, right.

for the fall meeting of the President’s Alumni Advisory Council and was encouraged to write some notes for our class. The meeting was a perfect reason to return to our beautiful school. With Mt. Kearsarge in view, the new Center for Art + Design is a great addition to the arts, with galleries, studios and a black-box theater just perfect for smaller audiences. Ann and her husband lived in Weston, VT, for 23 years and decided to relocate to Charleston, SC. They’ll live at Bishop Gadsden, a continuing care retirement community. Ann writes, “We’ll miss our friends, skiing, kayaking, fall foliage and crisp snowy days. Unfortunately, I’ve had a rough year. I was diagnosed with Stage III Ovarian Cancer about a year ago, but am happily now in full remission. We sold our house in spring 2017 and are in our condo now awaiting our move to SC the end of Nov. Our sons and their families are great: 1 family in Napa, CA (survived the horrific fires), and our other son, Curtis Low ’97 and his family are in Charlotte, NC. I keep busy with golf, watercolor painting and reading, all of which will go with me to SC.” Jane Baird MT is enjoying retirement but writes, “Sometimes it seems I’m too busy. I continue to travel, see friends and volunteer at my church. I had a nice visit with Joyce Starratt Galliher and Ron Galliher right after Labor Day 2017.” Carolyn “Carrie”

Eilers White and husband Roy have been married for 44 years and are blessed with 2 sons, 1 daughter and 1 granddaughter. She writes, “We have resided in the DC area since the early ’70s and are retired. Traveling is now one of our passions.” Carrie also wrote, “What a true joy to see Susan Woodruff Macaulay after 52 years! Thanks to our Facebook friendship, we were reunited at her Dallas home. Along with our husbands, we had such a delightful visit and lunch. Susan even had her Colby yearbook so we were able to catch up on classmates.” Dorothy “Darcy” Holland reports that while life continues to be good, she’s been hit with a few speed bumps this year, including a hip replacement and a few touchups to counter other aging symptoms. These have slowed her travels, but she was able to go by the California Zephyr from Chicago to Reno to help a friend recovering from a stroke, then visited a Wesleyan classmate in Davis, CA. She writes, “All good stuff.” John and I (Susan Woodruff Macaulay) finally decided, after Carrie and Roy’s visit, to downsize to half the square footage we had. The decision to move locally in Dallas and the move itself happened in a 5-week time slot. We are happy in an 800-unit Independent Living complex with 5 care levels. We already knew a number of residents, so it’s been an easy transition. In May 2017, we took a Baltic cruise, which was just wonderful. We spent 3 weeks in CO during the summer and 3 in New England in the fall. My new cell phone is 972644-4141 should you want to call or text.

1966

AK, with their children, Elias (13) and Olivia (7). Susan writes, “We try to see the kids in AK twice a year. We head to FL for 2 months in the winter and have been renting the same house in New Smyrna Beach, FL, for 15 years. No hurricane damage, so we feel lucky.” Jan Sargent Simblist MT writes, “A year since reconnecting with the class at the 50th reunion. So fun to find only ‘6º of separation’ with most of the folks who were there. I had some reference with each person I came across. Today I’m thinking of those who went to Puerto Rico on the trip led by Mr. Denny for spring break 1965. We stayed in the rainforest and built a house. The devastation of the rainforest and the rest of the island from hurricane Maria is heartbreaking. Colby was the beginning of my world travels. Does anyone remember that trip?” Susan Stierwald LaRosa sends greetings from New Hope, PA. She retired in Feb and writes, “I have not regretted the decision one bit.” She worked in various fields during her career, most recently at the Law School Admission Council in Newton, PA, where she worked with candidates applying to the LLM programs. She practices aerobics and yoga to maintain her physical health and comments that genetics have helped as well; her mother just celebrated her 102nd birthday. She keeps active through her church and DAR chapter and serves on the board of a local chamber orchestra. Their son, Christopher, 26, is studying at the U of MN; their other son, Gregory, 21, works for a company that does restoration after

water damage. He spent 2 weeks in FL after the recent hurricane. She writes, “Dennis and I went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the spring – it was a transforming experience to visit the holy sites and to celebrate Palm Sunday in Jerusalem. We also visited Bethlehem and Nazareth and renewed our baptismal vows in the River Jordan.”

1967

SIS HAGEN KINNEY kinivan06@gmail.com I heard from Jane French Rieck way back in July, when I was trying to get former dorm mates to go to our 50th Reunion. She said she wouldn’t be able to attend but mentioned that in early May 1967, we, along with a few other dorm mates, accompanied Leslie Williams MacFarlane to her family’s farm in Deerfield, MA, and Jane said seeing the cows “up close” was very different from what she knew about them. She also indicated we’d had a “delicious steak dinner” at Potter’s Place Inn for a whopping $1.85! Hard to believe! I then heard from Linde Keleher McNamara who wrote that she and hubby John are “great” and still in Hanover owning, running and loving LindeMac Real Estate. Linde completed her 10th triathlon this past summer, which gives her a goal every night when she’s trying to decide whether or not to go to the gym. In addition to their business, Linde and John keep busy with their grands: Emma, 17; Lily, 15; Grace, 13; and Chloe, 4. They had a big family reunion this summer. Their daughter, Diana, and her husband, Neil,

Susan Stierwald LaRosa ’66 and husband Dennis LaRosa in Jerusalem.

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Susan Heath Everett has been happily married to Jol Everett for 51 years and retired to the Cape in 1999. They spent 31 years at the Taft School in Watertown, CT, where Jol taught history and coached lacrosse and hockey, and Susan worked in the Development and Admissions Offices. They have 2 children: Andrew and his wife, Elise, live in Shelburne, VT, and have 2 children, Tess (12) and Chance (6). Christy and husband Nick live in Seward, SPRING 2018

51


class notes

came from Scotland; and their son, Kyle, and his wife, Michelle, came to NH from NC with the 4 granddaughters. They all kept busy “playing” and taking trips to Bar Harbor and so forth. Linde’s still using her master’s in marine biology and goes to Gloucester, MA, once a week to raise money and do research for Ocean Alliance, a “fabulous organization” that studies large sea mammals and how ocean pollution affects them. She had a wonderful trip last spring to San Ignacio, Mexico, with several marine biologists to study gray whales (and swim!). On the home front, Linde said they garden and hike and enjoy “all the things this beautiful area provides.” Francie King is officially retired from BU after many years. This allows her to pursue full-time her small business, History Keep, which is devoted to personal and family histories and biographies. Francie felt like this was all a major step toward “real freedom” as this allows her to work in her “jammies” sometimes rather than “slogging down to Boston at 5:30 a.m.” Her work with History Keep is primarily with businesses and elders who want to leave their stories and memories to descendants. This involves audiotaping conversations with them and then creating “professionally designed legacy books.” Her B&B (ChestnutSweet.com) will be closed for a few winter months for “a refresh” and will open in April; it’s a half-block from the ocean and was pretty full all summer. She said, “Visitors are welcome and Col­bySawyer guests would be especially

welcome.” It can be booked on TripAdvisor. Martie Siegfried Fritz said it was “lovely” to be back on campus for the 50th reunion and that it was a good thing name tags were provided! She said the highlight was attending the award ceremony when Joan Campbell Eliot was honored. Our classmates had a great time reconnecting at the class dinner hosted by Joan and Anne Baynes Hall at Anne’s house. As for me, Sis Hagen Kinney, I wanted to attend our 50th reunion, but it became an impossibility due to several major events going on – including the listing and sale of our house in Fuquay-Varina, NC, and a 1st-ever family reunion, held in Deerfield, MA. The months of June through Oct are a big blur because of everything going on; plus it’s a long haul from western NC to New London! I was saddened when I had to bow out of the reunion, but it is what it is, and we’re now fulltime residents in the small summer home we inherited from my father in Linville Land Harbor, NC. Yeah, we became full-time residents here back in Aug 2013, but we bought that other house in Feb 2015 and began the twice-yearly sojourn from one place to the other. We decided we’d be better off in 1 place and chose the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Our plans are to build a slightly larger, more modernized house with better heating and plumbing. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy living in this beautiful part of our country! I’m sorry I didn’t hear from more classmates. Remember that I will need to get any news you care to share twice a year – in early

Deborah ‘Debi’ Adams Johnston ’69 and her grandchildren.

52

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

April and in early Nov – but you can send me your news anytime and I’ll save it for the next time. Also, please remember to give me your maiden name so I can identify you in the column! I enjoy hearing from all of you!

1968

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Christine Ade Carvalho is retired in ME. She and her husband have a small farm that keeps them busy. Christine swims as often as she can in the lake across the street and loves cooking, baking and reading. She’s working on a room-size braided rug. She has 5 grands and a beautiful coonhound-mix rescue puppy. Christine writes, “Would love to hear from Colby friends, especially Priscilla Kimball Luke, Gail Borden and others in Abbey with me. Have great memories of Colby and the beautiful area of New London.” Doreen Forney writes, “After graduating from Colby Junior, I got my BA from the U of VT, and an MEd from Columbia U in counseling psychology. I’ve lived mainly in VT but also in CT, NYC and MA. I now live in VT and Scotland and enjoy splitting my time between these 2 lovely places.” Anne Wadsworth Markle is retired and having more fun than ever. Her son, Brinton, is engaged. Her husband, Cappy, lectures about the history of Vietnam with great success while Anne pursues her interest in music. She’s involved in a number of musical groups and activities. Anne joined the Academy Chorale and Orchestra (ACCA) out of Fort Washington, PA, and is in her 4th year of voice lessons with Michael Kemp and was accepted into his select singing group. Her third group is the Larks, under the umbrella of the Junior League of Philadelphia. Under the direction of Lyndsey Holmes, the group of 15 perform at retirement homes, veteran hospitals and children’s venues. She is in her 2nd year playing classical piano for professional pianist Linda Clark from Berwyn, PA. She still does work related to her former career, graphic design, and is often asked to volunteer her services in this field for ACCA and NSCDA/PA (Dames). Anne writes,

Meredith Dodd Taylor ’69 MT collects edible mushrooms and plants.

“One can improve at any age when associating with amazingly talented people! Really doing a huge contribution for someone my age! A little bit of luck came my way and an old passion took over!” Dorothy “DeeDee” Waldinger Bentley writes, “50 years! Where did they go? Too fast.” She had a short stint at the U of CO before returning to Boston, where she worked in banking and lived with classmate Diane “Di” Polk Morgan in Cambridge. DeeDee married husband John in 1971 and they moved to Dartmouth, MA, after he completed law school and his master’s degree. They have 3 kids: Jeb, Eliza and Peter. DeeDee worked as a secretary and den mother in the cardiac cath lab at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford for 20+ years. John took up laser sailboat racing in ’87, and she returned to playing golf. Laser racing took them for vacations all over the world. DeeDee is sad to report her husband died in 2012, but she’s still hanging in there and enjoying sunsets. Occasionally, she’s able to see Debby Coolidge, Lee Cushman Lee, Louise Macy Sylvester, Judy Hubbard Bowen ’69, Carol Way Wood, and Di Polk Morgan. DeeDee has also caught

CLASS OF 1968

come back for your 50th reunion oct. 12–14!


up with Merritt “Merf ” McWilliams Andruss once or twice. Merf is happily retired and still splits wood, plays golf, sews, knits and quilts. She visits her kids and grands in LA, Milwaukee and Austin, TX. She was looking forward to a family reunion after Christmas in Beaver Creek, CO. Mary “Bunny” Paternotte Sully lives in Baltimore with her husband of 47 years. They have 2 daughters who also live in MD. She’s retired and enjoys walking, traveling, taking classes, watercolor painting and drawing. She also volunteers at a hospice facility and Hopewell Cancer Support, a nonprofit that provides programs and support groups for cancer patients and their families. She writes, “Retirement is a very happy, insanely busy time!”

1969

DEBORAH ADAMS JOHNSTON navypub@aol.com By the time y’all read this, I’ll have finished rehab and be ready for action. I have just finished my 6th joint replacement! I received these messages just as the deadline was approaching, along with my surgery date (back in Nov). I’m thrilled to hear from Linda Cutts Bowen that, as a result of reading this column years ago, she and Marion “Yahee” Fernandes-Baxter rekindled their friendship before Yahee’s passing in March 2017. They roomed together for 2 years but lost touch. About 5 years ago, they discovered they were in proximity. Linda is in MI and Yahee was across the Detroit River in Ontario. Linda had the pleasure of seeing Yahee perform in “Chicago” and met up with her later. Linda says she was as exuberant and crazy as the old days. Linda taught elementary music and 3rd grade for 37 years. She has 2 sons, a daughter and 5 grands. She’s enjoyed retirement for 9 years! Jan MacLean Weir is so happy to be back in God’s country; she retired to the Mt. Washington Valley! She had a sentimental journey visit to campus last fall and writes, “It looked wonderful! I parked in front of Colby and called my roommates! Reached Maddy Franklin Hadley while there and caught up with Connie Shields Hayman a couple of weeks later.

Sorry to hear about the loss of Yahee; she’d be so pleased with the new art center! Now to track down Linda Cutts! 48 years fell away in an instant; good thing I didn’t look in the mirror!” Fortunately for Jan, Linda had written to me about Yahee. I told her Jan was looking for her. I’m pleased to report they’ve reconnected. Pam Hershey MT writes: “Just published a children’s book based on island living called Zeb & Fred that joins my ‘Takedown’ series of murder mysteries at amazon.com. Will do a book signing at The Cockeyed Gull later this fall where I’ll have all my books available for purchase. I’d love to see my Colby friends (or meet new ones) if you’re in the area. I can be contacted at prhersey@juno.com. Still in touch with my dear roommate from CJC, Pamela Herd MacKellar MT, and Reverend Marion “Molly” Cate MT, Barbara Crockett Collins ’67, Louise Cutting Dorian, Pamela Prescott King ’68 and Randi Van Dusen Thekan ’67 – not often enough, but all communication is precious and I will try to do better in between books.” Cynthia Cole Heslam lives in Braintree, MA, where she started teaching HS English at 50. She’s now enjoying time with her family, including 4 spirited grands under 6; walking her yellow lab, Sophie, wherever there are no-leash laws (she weighs 80 lbs); and taking life 1 day at a time. She’s getting used to and loving this new slower paced life. JoAnn Franke Overfield MT writes, “I had a great time getting together with Holly Lippman Trevisan and her husband, Nello. They came over from Orleans on the Cape for the opening of the wonderful Center for Art + Design. We also met up with Martha “Martie” Siegfried Fritz ’67 who was celebrating a 50th reunion with her class. CSC was in its splendor with beautiful weather, and the view of Mt. Kearsarge from the new arts building was impressive. Anyone who can should visit the college and see this wonderful facility. A friendly reminder from your ’69 class agent, me: Please make a gift to the Colby-Sawyer Fund. It funds a multitude of important things, including financial aid (much

Marion “Yahee” Fernades-Baxter ’69 and Linda Cutts Bowen ’69 meeting up after Yahee performed in a production of “Chicago.”

needed by more students every year).” Meredith Dodd Taylor MT writes, “It’s been a beautiful autumn here in WY. In fact, it’s been a wonderful year in general. Retirement agrees well with Tory and me.” Meredith has made trips to Portland, OR, for a family reunion and to NM to give an ethnobotany presentation about wild edible and medicinal plants at the Rocky Mountain Seed Summit. She teaches ethnobotany classes at the local college. She’s taken many trips on horseback through the WY wilderness and hunted elk and deer during Oct. Her next trip is to Peru this winter, where she’ll stay on a horse ranch, explore Incan archaeology at Machu Picchu and study plants. Let’s try to get more of us together before we get too old to care. Send me news so your CJC friends can find you!

1970

GAIL REMICK HOAGE gail@michaelsschool.com Good representation on campus during Homecoming in Oct with our class and those on either side of us. Arriving for the President’s Alumni Advisory Committee meetings were Heidi Rice Lauridsen, Val Turtle, Ann Lozier Rohrborn MT ’71, Ellie Goodwin Cochran ’71, Sue Rich Daylor ’71, and Sally Heald Winship ’69. Beth Constantinides Meurlin was also there completing her 1st year on the Board of Trustees. Sunday, Candi Corcoran Raines ’71 was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame; she was nominated by Val Turtle, who

was inducted in 2014. If anyone knows of deserving classmates who, as early women athletes, made an impact on campus or later in their athletic lives, please consider nominating them for the Athletic Hall of Fame. Homecoming attendees were treated to a tour of the Center for Art + Design with spectacular views of Mt. Kearsarge. The campus has many new buildings as well as expanded educational opportunities for the diverse student body. It’s exciting to see, so put New London on your travel bucket list! Please send me some news – your classmates would love to know what you’re up to. Have a great year.

CONNECT GET THE LATEST ALUMNI NEWS /colbysawyeralumni FOLLOW US /CSC_alumni

COLBY-­SAWYER Alumni Group

GET THE PICTURE /csc_alumni

SPRING 2018

53


class notes

SEE MORE ALUMNI PICS ON colby-sawyer.edu/ classnotesphotos

1971

ELLIE GOODWIN COCHRAN elliegc@myfairpoint.net Greetings! I had a wonderful visit to the college for the fall PAAC meeting and enjoyed seeing the new arts facility with its spectacular view of Mt. Kearsarge. It will provide state-of-the-art facilities for the students while keeping the campus’s character. Susan Moe-Raposo reports that she and husband Jef are enjoying retirement and have moved from Westport, MA, to Marion, MA, on the coast, to a home designed by an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. In the winter, they’re in FL. Sue is continuing with her art and now quilting. Jan Baynes Benzie and husband Rod, along with daughter Laura and her boyfriend, James, went on a members-only Disney cruise to the Caribbean. Jan returned from the UK to New London for the summer and volunteered at the Playhouse. She’s become friends

shop.colby-sawyer.edu

54

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

with many of the actors, and they’re welcome at her home when they cross the pond. Candice Corcoran Raines attended the 2016 CSC reunion with husband Thayer. They enjoyed hiking Mt. Kearsage for the first time in 45 years. There were many on-campus activities such as soccer games, lectures and celebrations of honored guests. Candi was inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame (HOF) during Homecoming. What an unexpected honor for her. The ceremony was wonderful. She enjoyed speaking to the audience and especially to current student athletes. Her HOF plaque was unveiled at the Hogan Athletic Center. She’s grateful to her nominator, Val Turtle ’70, and the whole CSC family. Camp and sports are still going well. Candi traveled to 12 states last year for archery competitions. In July, Nancy Gardner hosted a mini-Colby Junior reunion in Chicago. Joining Nancy for 4 days of sightseeing, food, wine and lots of laughs and memories were Sally Leyland Barlow (Weston, MA), Carol Beever Connelly (Southwest, MI) and Nancy Bokron Lavigne (Orange County, CA). Also in attendance were friends and family. Mary Stewart lives in Asheville, NC, in a downtown loft. She loves living amid the art galleries, bookstores, coffee shops, cafes and music venues. She still has her business, Stewart Builders Inc., which has been running for 25 years. Mary is an accredited master builder as well as a LEED professional. She writes, “We’re building lean and green in the mountains. My son, Anthony, is my project supervisor and we’re grateful to be building this business together and have a wonderful working relationship. On the personal side, I’m writing poetry again and attending workshops. I do ballroom and belly dancing in addition to working out at the gym. I’m working on the side as a model for fun and travel. It will soon be 50 years since I was 1 of Glamour magazine’s top-10 college girls. Sending out a message of joy and goodwill to all my Colby sisters!”

1972

LINDA KELLY GRAVES dikeroka@aol.com 610-506-1786 Friends, by the time you read this, winter will be almost over! Many of you may be in warmer climates! Lucky you! Some of you are just enjoying the cold of winter, brave you! Lindsey R. Stewart mastered the art of leaving town a few years ago. She spends winters in Belize and the other months in Chicago. Elizabeth “Libby” Doonan Hampton emailed that she didn’t have much to share – well, I don’t take that for an answer. Libby lives in Sudbury, MA, where she’s been for the past 30 years. She’s working part-time with 2 other CSC orthoptists and a recent alum, who recently left the practice to try new adventures. Libby keeps active with sea kayaking, biking and lots of walking (sounds like Nancy Bianchi Miller and Deborah Ross Chambliss). She spends a lot of time in ME and has 2 grandsons to help keep her young. Brooke de Lench recently became a grandmother for the 1st time when one of her triplet sons, Hunter, and his wife had a little girl. Brooke is over the moon. Welcome to the grandmother club, Brooke! Lucy Main travels between Malone, NY, and St. Petersburg, FL, to oversee the building and decorating of her new winter hideaway. Luckily, her building didn’t suffer major damage during the hurricanes. I hope the same was true for all our classmates with ties there. Scary stuff. Was in New London recently for Homecoming. I saw Robin Mead from afar, who was there for the Board of Trustees meeting, and I saw that Patsy Lannon was on the list to attend our 45th reunion. I was not able to stay for the full time, but I do know it was a gorgeous weekend, and I hope everyone had fun. Speaking of reunions, we are now on the official countdown to our 50th. Please think about returning for that big occasion. Email your class friends, and the ones before and after with whom you were close, and try to get them all to come for a real party weekend! You can still go to bed at 9:30 p.m.! If you need email contacts, let me know; I’ll do my best to help you.

1974

SUSAN BROWN WARNER warners@optonline.net Kathryn Roberts McMullen and husband Frank have been “working snowbirds” for the past 32 years, but it’s come to a halt. Splitting their year between Cape Cod and Naples, FL, was paradise but the logistics became tiresome, so they decided to leave the Cape and continue to work just the season in Naples (Kathryn planning meetings and events at The Ritz-Carlton and Frank as a chef at The Club Pelican Bay) and spend the summers traveling. Their son Miles graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Dec and wants to live near them in Naples to begin his career with The Ritz-Carlton. As Kathryn says, “He’s making Momma proud.” Kathryn would love to connect with other Southwest FL Colby-Sawyer grads! Lisa Burke Hennessy is pursuing her love of all things equine. She’s owner/manager of a commercial horse boarding business, Stony Creek Horse Farm, in North Salem, NY, and joined the board of the Washington International Horse Show, based in DC. Her sons are freshmen in college. She and her husband continue to spend more time at their home in Harwich Port, MA, enjoying family and friends.

Annual mini reunion at Carol Blondell Tuttle’s vacation house in York Harbor, ME. From left to right: Jacqi Loewy ’76, Pamela Brett Carpenter ’75, Laurie Coughlan Sanders ’75, Carol Blondell Tuttle ’75 MT, Lynn Hollis Dewey ’75, Lynn Nelson Hjelmstad ’75 and Betsy Pitman Savage ’75.


1975

Cindy Finnigan Klewicki ’77, Kim Spence Honig ’79 and Margery Hudson Dumaine ’77 ready for an afternoon cruise on Lake Sunapee during Homecoming.

For Ann Woodd-Cahusac Neary it’s all about education. She looks forward to receiving her 2nd master’s in Teacher Leadership from Mount Holyoke this May (same day as son Mack’s graduation from Colgate); she has a fellowship at Yale with their Emotional Intelligence Department, and she’s a candidate for national board certification (1 of only 45 teachers in CT with this designation) – all while teaching high school English in Westport. While most of us are beginning to coast a bit, Ann just continues to ramp up! Speaking of coasting, as for me (Sue Brown Warner), big changes are ahead. I’ll retire from Terex Corp. at the end of Dec after 10 years as director of global communications. My husband, Mike, and I will spend the first 3 months of the year in Naples, FL, renting a place 2 blocks from the beach and decompressing. In June, we downsized to a small in-town condo in Greenwich within walking distance of everything, and we’re loving the simpler lifestyle. We’re also really enjoying spending lots of quality time with our 3-year-old granddaughter, who lives in Manhattan. Next up: painting, freelance writing and throwing out the alarm clock. Life is good! Till next time …

JILL MCLAUGHLIN GODFREY Jillgodfrey25@gmail.com Paulette Guay Stelmach works in pathology diagnostic sales and notes it’s been a year of transition, as her company Dako was bought by Agilent Technologies. She welcomed grandson William Robert Kemple IV, on Oct 5. Paulette’s daughter and her family live close by, and they enjoy seeing him frequently. Her son and his wife reside in Chicago and are expecting their 1st child in March. She writes, “This has been a busy year for me and the family! We’re so blessed to have 4 generations here to enjoy life with!” Pamela Brett Carpenter has been living in Worthington, MA, for 25 years and recently retired from her job at the Hilltown Community Health Center. Her daughter has a 1-year-old, Louie, and lives in South Boston. Her son, Sam, lives in San Francisco. She writes, “I would love to have him move back East. Recently, Laurie and I walked the CSC campus – so beautiful and so much bigger!”

1976

JANET SPURR spurr1@msn.com Richard “Dick” Baynes reports a year of ups and downs. On Mother’s Day weekend, 1 of his sons passed away. He writes, “On a much more positive note, Barry Lewis ’07 is at Rochester Institute of Technology doing his internship for his doctorate. We’re very proud of him and his accomplishments. At the end of Oct, I have my 50th reunion at the Wooster School in Danbury, CT, and then Susan and I head to Australia for 3 weeks. I’ve not been back in more than 40 years – I did my senior internship there in 1976. We will be with my Australian family for the entire trip. My best to all my classmates!” Lesley Shanahan Odland revisited CSC last summer on her way to the Burlington Cheese Festival, after 41 years away. She writes, “Beautiful and exciting to see such great change. I…visited with my daughter, and we both wear all our CSC gear in Seattle and TX! I’m retired from trade shows and events, so travel is what I do best!” Ellen Moorman Helms and

husband Dale are enjoying their semiretired life in Annapolis, MD. They volunteer for various organizations. He works part-time as a USNA tour guide, and she continues choral singing in the USNA Chapel Chorale and the Queen Anne’s Chorale in Centreville, MD. When possible, they visit their children: Rebekah and her family in CA, Emily in London and Michael in WA. She writes, “Christmas ’16 was a joy [having] all 3 home! It’s fun seeing my friends/classmates on Facebook. Hope all is well with you!”

1977

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Margery Hudson Dumaine, Cindy Finnigan Klewicki and Kim Spence Honig ’79 attended Homecoming in Oct. It was the 1st time all 3 had been together since Margery and Cindy’s graduation. They had a wonderful time and hope to get together again next fall. Margery retired in June after 27 years as a school librarian in RI. She has a new part-time job working with Lifetouch School Photography. Cindy divides her time between the US and Australia due to her husband’s position as a professor in both countries. Kim continues with her career in NYC working at HBO. Emily Wagner is in Bellevue, KY. Her daughter, Liza, lives in Philadelphia and just earned her master’s from Penn in executive public administration. Her son, Philip, graduated from U of Cincinnati and headed to the US Air Force in Nov. Emily is looking

forward to retiring as a vendor for the past 3 years at the Florence Antique Mall, specializing in vintage and antique furniture that needs repurposing. She’s working part-time for Derringer Food Service in business dining.

1978

JODY HAMBLEY COOPER-RUBIN jcoooper323@aol.com Greetings from Main Street, New London, where I reside with husband Tom. I lost my 91-year-old father in Jan 2017. Lucky for me, my parents retired here in New London back in 1990, allowing me to spend a lot of time with them over the years. Assisting my mom as a caregiver and being with my dad in his last month while he was in at-home hospice was an amazing learning experience and one I’ll cherish forever. Susanna Webster Ries writes from Milford, NH, where she’s been working for 3 years as a florist. She says the work is stressful at times, but she loves the everyday challenges. Susanna feels the transition has been easy because of her CSC art background. She attended the opening of the “amazing” Center for Art + Design. She writes, “Not only is it a green building, but the gallery space and the painting and ceramics studios have beautiful natural light with the large windows facing out into an orchard with Mt. Kearsarge in the distance.” Her daughter, Heather, is a senior at Trinity High School in

Paulette Guay Stelmach ’75 with new grandson William Robert Kemple IV.

SPRING 2018

55


class notes

Manchester, NH. Rebecca Reeves MT is “LOVING” retirement and would love to hear from any of the Austin gang! Amy McCarthy Hutchings has been living in Tulsa, OK, and working as a certified orthoptist for a pediatric ophthalmologist since 1982. She became a tester/observer for the Alliance of Therapy Dogs group in her “spare” time and is the proud owner of Twister, a 7-year-old Saint Bernard who recently received an award from Grace Hospice for his service as a therapy dog. In 2015 and 2016, Twister was given a certificate of honor from the AKC Humane Fund for his service to mankind and, after completing 400 documented therapy dog visits, received his AKC Distinguished Therapy Dog title! Congrats to Twister and to his proud mom! Speaking of proud, Susie Horrigan Campbell and husband Ron welcomed their 1st grand, Corbin Campbell Parent, into the world on 3/19/17 at 6 lbs, 9 oz. and 20˝ long. Congrats to the Campbell clan! Congrats also goes out to Kimberly Cameron Cooper, who retired from her job at the US Dept of Justice Attorney’s Office for the District of NH on April 30, 2017, after 30 years. Kimberly and her husband, Jim, live in New Hampton, NH, and summer at their cottage on Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick, Canada. They have 4 children: Adrien (Durham, NC);

Kathy Whalen ’88, seated, models her new line of hats.

Isaac, and his wife, Beth (Raleigh, NC), and their children, Gabriel and Amelia; Arianne and husband Denis (Manchester, NH) and children, Katelyn, Jake and Anna; and their daughter, Carmen, 19, whom they adopted from Romania 18 years ago and who still lives with them at home. “Life is good!”

1980

NATALIE HARTWELL THRASHER LifeGrd121@aol.com Thankful greetings to our 1980 classmates. It was a bumpy summer season. Hope you’ve made it through these storms in life. I did hear from Dana Peters Frizzell. She’s working on 2 more books! Along with traveling to Ireland and planning a trip to Australia, she’s doing well. We chatted about missing CSC and being amazed at the growth and changes. In May, my hubby and friends of ours chartered a sailboat around the British Virgin Islands. Beautiful scenery, great diving and, to my surprise, I met up with another CSC alumni, Janet Lochhead Sullivan ’75, on a beach at the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke. So sorry it was hit by Hurricane Irma. Just a reminder that we should always take time to be grateful to those around us. Please take a minute and send me an update to share. God bless.

1983

GAIL SMART SCIBELLI 1 Seal Harbor Rd. Apt. 815 Winthrop, MA 02152-1026 Kate Pepka Wagner is in Johns Creek, GA. She is self-employed as the owner of the business Retrain the Brain and is president of Blomberg RMT-USA. She works in training healthcare professionals, educators, parents and others in neuro-developmental movements and primitive reflex integration. She travels around the country, and last year opened up markets in Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil. She’s been married for 23 years and has 2 children in college, one at Vanderbilt U and one at the College of Engineering at the U of IL.

Krista Owens Soverino ’03, Justin Svirsky ’03 and Sarah Valero Hollis ’03 with their children in Nantucket this summer.

1988

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Kathy Whalen just launched a line of one-of-a-kind hats for women. She writes, “They are vintage ski patches sewn onto minky soft fleece, topped with a repurposed fur pompom. See www.rippinkittenhats.com.”

1990

JANETTE HARRINGTON janetteharrington13@gmail.com Nancy Ellen Moniz Richardson’s family continues to move forward as best they can after the death of her son. His death in a train accident has prompted her to work closely with Amtrak regarding train safety. Nancy and her 11-year-old daughter recently spoke at a national press conference in DC on the topic. Additionally, she’s returned to her doctoral studies in addiction psychology and received topic approval for her dissertation research. Her plan is to have completed all Ph.D. work by early 2020. She’s grateful for the solid education she received at CSC, which gave her a sturdy foundation on which to build her master’s and doctoral educational experiences.

Her 17-year-old son is looking at colleges and she’s pleased he’s considering CSC. Nancy’s other children are also doing well. Her oldest daughter and her husband welcomed a 2nd child, Nancy’s 1st grandson, almost 2 years ago; 1 daughter settled in Chicago; 1 daughter is a victims’ advocate in VT; 1 son is in college; her youngest boy and girl are active in community events and she still homeschools them. Nancy works for Central VT Hospital in Family Psychiatry as a psychotherapist, her dream job.

1997

AMIE PARISEAU pariseau75@comcast.net DONNA M. STUDLEY donna.studley@gmail.com Laura Powell lives in Ardmore, PA, where she works at the Junior League Thrift Shop and trains for her 12th marathon. Donna Studley and I had a great time at Homecoming. We enjoyed our favorite subs from Pizza Chef with Alan “Big Al” Handlir and Beth Chartier Tower. At Kelsey Fields, we caught up with Jill Firstbrook ’91, Anthony

SEE MORE ALUMNI PICS ON colby-sawyer.edu/classnotesphotos

56

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE


“Tony” Librot ’94, Sarah Rawson, and others. The fun continued as Kim-Laura Boyle ’98 hosted us, Alan, Lauren Smyrl Koron, Liz Cronin Melin, Molly Michaels, and Jolene Thompson Stratton at her home. Liz brought old photo albums. There were many moments of “What am I wearing?!” As Big Al said, “We’re kind of a big deal.” We want to see more alumni in 2022! Please let us know how we can make it the most amazing reunion ever. We have 5 years to work on it!

1999

CORRESPONDENT NEEDED Gregory Hooven writes, “Life has been pretty stable for me the past few years. My wife and I live in Merrimack with our 2 children. We run from work to soccer to cheerleading to Scouts. I am at MarketReach in Nashua where I was promoted last year to VP and became a partial owner in the company where I’ve spent the past 12 years. We grew quickly 5 years ago, going from a team of 12 to 40 employees. We’re expanding our client base, which includes companies like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, VMware, Microsoft and EMC/ Dell.” Devin Healy lives in Tampa, FL, with wife Joline and his 4 sons, 2 daughters and 3 dogs. He’s earning a master of science in nursing and is the clinical nurse educator at Tampa Community Hospital. Jayson Thyng lives in Fremont, NH, with wife Tricia and kids, Kaylee, 7, and Jared, 5. They’ve resided there for 9 years. He’s a deli manager with Market Basket.

area! As for work, I split my schedule between HR consulting and teaching AP HR management at Merrimack. I attended Kerry Fleming’s wedding, and I saw Holly Filasky Rule, Jackie Woyda Worobel and Danielle Sullivan. Fantastic wedding – Kerry looked beautiful!” Not much new here for me, Tara Campanella, just glad to make it through a rough fire season up here by Yosemite. I just started my new position as chief business officer of Bass Lake School District in July, and I’m enjoying the challenge. I hope everyone’s well; stay in touch!

2002

NICOLE MARTIN nicole.martin3@gmail.com CHERYL LECESSE RICHARDSON cheryllecesse@gmail.com Jennifer Buck Carney and Brendan Carney have moved to Rye, NH. Jennifer was promoted to creative director and her days are filled with project management and design with a focus on direct marketing. Brendan has his NH acupuncture license and is transitioning his practice to the Portsmouth/Rye area. He shares, “I went to Italy to study the Stecco Method of fascial manipulation. They’re the world experts on fascial dysfunctions, both internal disorders and musculoskeletal problems. Incorporating this knowledge into acupuncture treatments

has been career changing! We love our home and are so happy!” Neill Ewing-Wegmann is enjoying the busy life! He’s making art, raising 2 kids and was promoted to artistic director at TrueLine Publishing, which publishes business journals and does PR work. Lisa Farina Post lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and 2 kids. She writes, “I’m a full-time realtor with Smothers Realty Group in LaGrange, IL. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to reach out to me with real estate questions or referrals. I can help put them in touch with a quality local professional or just answer questions about…buying or selling real estate: lisapost@smothersrealty.com.”

You provide the guests, we provide the rest.

2000

TARA SCHIRM CAMPANELLA taracampbell@gmail.com JEN PRUDDEN MONTGOMERY jenpmontgomery1978@gmail.com Hayley Cozens Buonopane writes: “Joe, Lucy and I bought a house in Swampscott and we are loving the

CLASS OF 2003

join your classmates oct. 12–14 for your 15th reunion on the windy hill!

colby-sawyer.edu/event-services  · 603.526.3720 SPRING 2018

57


class notes

2003

LISA NOYES HARDENBROOK Litha81@hotmail.com This summer, Justin Svirsky, wife Jessica; Krista Owens Soverino, husband Jason; and families went to Nantucket to visit Sarah Valero Hollis. All 6 kids had a great time playing together!

2007

ASHLEY RODKEY rodkeyah@yahoo.com STEPHANIE GUZZO stephanie.guzzo@gmail.com Katie Corliss Johnson married Taylor Johnson on May 27 at Jay Peak Resort in VT. They reside in DC, where Katie works as an academic coordinator for a charter school and Taylor attends law school.

2008

SARAH HEANEY PELLETIER sh.heaney@gmail.com Krystle Martin Murphy became the Children’s Center director at Kendal in Hanover. Sarah Heaney Pelletier and Adrian Pelletier ’07 welcomed their 2nd daughter, Hailey Amherst, in Aug.

2009

ELIZABETH CRESSMAN ecressman1986@gmail.com NICOLE POELART COSTANZO npoelart@yahoo.com Aubrey Thomas bought her 1st home in Shirley, MA. Stephanie Stephanie Manyak Gendron ’09 with her husband, Nicholas, and daughter, Piper June.

Manyak Gendron lives in Savannah, GA, with husband Nicholas, and daughter Piper June. Stephanie is the director of trauma outreach at a level 1 trauma center. Kathryn Mirick married Kevin Knight on May 12 in Richmond, VA. Joining in the celebration was Aubree Lynde Bucci with her husband. Nicole Costanzo Poelaert and her family moved to her husband’s 4-generation family-run farm in Pembroke, MA, The Christmas Tree Farm. Elizabeth Cressman continues working with young children and families in at-risk populations. She also volunteers with Horizons for Homeless Children, spends time with her family, and rides horseback.

2010

BRITTANY MAILMAN bjmailman@gmail.com Liz Bryan Dyer married Christopher Dyer on Aug. 26, 2017. She received her MBA from Plymouth State U and is now a marketing manager. Rachel Bourne is a project manager at Radius Bank, a digital bank based in Boston. Victoria “Tori” Ashley Hotton was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Colleen Curley Reece ’11, who married Steven Reece on Aug. 26, 2017, at Holy Family Parish in Duxbury, MA. Colleen and Steven moved to London, England, in Oct.

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

CSC. On Sept. 3, 2017, they welcomed their 1st child, Cordelia Scarlett Clark. Ryan has worked as a full-time frontline bookseller at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, NH, since 2012, and she received the New England Independent Booksellers Association Rusty Drugan Scholarship for Excellence in Bookselling in 2015.

2013

JOHN MCCARTHY johnmccar.11@gmail.com Julie Madden married Chris Patrick Cox ’10 on Sept. 9, 2017, at Newfound Lake in NH. Alex Frisch is living in Park City, UT, but now with 3 bulldogs and a new home! She’s working for Barclay Butera as a junior designer and writing for a local magazine. She couldn’t be happier and tons of CSC friends have visited over the years! Evan Leary made partner at his firm in Lebanon, NH, this year.

MARIA CIMPEAN mcimpean1@gmail.com Congratulations to Clare Darling Mack and Jonathan Mack! They met on their 1st day at CSC and were married on June 17, 2017. The happy couple resides in Hudson, MA. Clare works as an HR specialist for the New England Center for Children, a nonprofit school for autistic children, while Jonathan works for Zoom Information as a business development representative. John Clarke is in his 3rd and final year of pursuing his JD at the UNH School of Law and hopes to take the bar exam this summer.

2012

2014

2011

KASSANDRA LOUISE PIKE kassandra.pike@gmail.com COURTNEY PIKE courtney.e.pike@dartmouth.edu Ryan Foley Clark married CSC Enrollment Marketing Manager Michael Clark on June 6, 2015, at

58

Devin Rowe Oot ’14 and Matthew Oot ’14 at their wedding on Sept. 16, 2017. back row, l–r: Andrew Clothier ’17, Ryan and Kyle Duball, Matt Oot ’14, Kara Loiselle ’14, Elizabeth Sullivan ’14, Lucas Edwards ’15, Taylor Baran ’15. middle row, l–r: Sarah Reynolds ’15, Jordan Fallon ’14, Devin Rowe Oot ’14, Emily Luce ’14. front row, l–r: Helena Williams ’16, Jordan Springmann ’15, Hannah Lynch ’15, Caila Walker Edwards ’15.

STACY HANNINGS stacyhannings@gmail.com Devin Rowe Oot and Matthew Oot were married on Sept. 16, 2017. Brandon Chase is finishing his final year of law school and will receive his JD in May. He recently received

the New England Scholar award for being in the top 10% of his class for the entirety of his 2nd year. He’s working at an insurance defense firm. Kate Morris Bonnett married Alex Bonnett on Aug. 12, 2017.

2015

MOLLY PAONE mollypaone1109@gmail.com Congratulations to Rebecca Strout and Jacob Letourneau who said their wedding vows in front of family and friends in Casco, ME, 9/16. The 2 met as students at CSC in 2011. Embracing her passion for literature, Laura Donahue lives and works in Quincy, MA, where she’s teen dept. librarian for Avon Public Library. Connor Delaney is in his 2nd year as program manager for the Student Activities & Orientation office at CSC and has started a master’s degree program in the higher education administration program at New England College. Maisy Cyr is also balancing work and grad school, taking classes toward a master’s in social work through the U of ME while working in South Paris, ME, with the U of ME Cooperative Extension as a 4-H youth development professional. Most of her work focuses on facilitating STEM-based, hands-on activities in schools and at various sites throughout the community. Maisy lives in Leeds,


ME, with one-eyed cat Max and enjoys cooking, painting, and binge-watching Netflix series in what little spare time she has.

2017

MORGAN WILSON mwilson@colby-sawyer.edu Olivia McAnirlin is in graduate school at Miami U in Oxford, OH, working toward her master’s degree in kinesiology. She writes, “It has been a huge change, but I’m excited to see what’s in store for me here!” Patrick O’Brien writes, “Soon after Commencement, I was given the

opportunity to become a fitness manager of two fitness clubs at the age of 22. Although I have plans to dive into my master’s degree in a couple years, in either exercise physiology, nutrition or strength and conditioning, I’m ecstatic to have become a part of Become Fitness. Work hard, dream bigger, and opportunities will fall into place.” Sharthak Neupane has returned to Nepal, where he has launched his own business distributing medical equipment for radiotherapy and radiology. ®

SEE YOUR CLASS NOTES PHOTOS ONLINE Did you submit a photo for the Class Notes section of Colby-Sawyer but don’t see it here? We receive so many that we can’t include every photo in the magazine, but they can all be viewed at colby-sawyer.edu/classnotesphotos. Take a look and continue to send us your interesting, high-resolution photos with captions.

F

D

R

S

F

R

K U

J

M R

S

R

P

A W A

A

N X E

R

V U

E

S

S

N

I

D

S

T

D W O X

N

E

F M G

S

L

K O B A

S

N N

O W N

Z

I

E

R

F

C

P

I

E

L

I

C O

R

H

J

W T W U M G N

T

R

R

F

I

I

E

S

B

R

R

S

C

D

L

A

R

I

F

F

I

S

N A O

Z

C

E

N

T

F

O B M O A

D

G

B O H N Y

G O

P

L

A

Y

R M P

E M C

C V

L B

I R

C

V

D

D A

V

P

L M E

H

I

W Y

U A M

L

S

I

O Y

E

O

S

T

Y

I

E

A

R

K

T

B N W E

E

L

N N

S

H

I

F

N

T

E

N G

P

S

V H V

L

X

C

N

P

S

V

B

T

I

K

D N

X O V

E

A

P

I

W R M O D B

S W N N I

N V U

R

S

U

I M

N C

I

I

W N N

E

L

L

A

B

S

A

B O

E

E

U A

T

H

E

T

I

C

A W A

R

D

S

H D W

S

E M L

I

T M S

R

E

D A

E

R

A

L

O H C

S

H V

K

S

T

I

B

I

H X

E

T

R

A

B

Y

F

K

S

J

O B

D

F

N Y

L

Q M

L

A

B C

D

I

E

B

R

I

A M O

F

Z

E Q U

E

S

T

I

A

N V

L

F

D N A

G N

X X

L

E

Z

I

E M X Q M K N E

S O G W L

K

F

P Q U C

L

V

A

E

E

A

S W K N

N D O

Y M O U

F

R

R

Faculty Emerita Nancy Jane Draper Nancy Jane Draper, 87, faculty emerita of Colby-Sawyer, died Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 at Woodlawn Health Center in Newport, N.H. She was a longtime resident of New London and a talented pianist. Nancy was born in Staunton, Va., in 1930. She received her B.A. in music from Mary Baldwin College in 1949 and her Master in Music at Eastman School of Music. Nancy came to Colby-Sawyer in 1952 as a piano instructor and lived in Shepard Hall for her first two years with the college. She was later promoted to professor and served as chair of the Department of Music for many years. She retired in 1987. During her sabbatical in 1963, Nancy studied in Germany with renowned concert pianist Karl Engel and received a Solisten Diploma from the Staatliche Hochschule for Music and Theater. “She was a brilliant concert pianist and each year gave a recital in Sawyer,” recalled her close friend and fellow faculty emerita Rebecca Brewster Irving ’42 MT of Sunapee, N.H. The two traveled to many countries and undertook four cross-country road trips together. Following her retirement, Nancy kept in touch with her former students and the college. She attended the 2014 Faculty Emeriti Luncheon on campus.

B

N X O Y

D

D

in memoriam

S

“Nancy’s long tenure at Colby-Sawyer is remembered fondly by hundreds of alumni,” said President Susan D. Stuebner. “I am appreciative of her passions for education and music, and that she chose to share her talents with our students.” Outside of the college, Nancy adjudicated piano concerts in New Hampshire and helped fund the education of at least one local pianist through a scholarship in her name. She leaves her cousins, Ruth Fraser of Mattaponi, Va., and Ann Wolfe of Clear Brook, Va., as well as numerous other distant cousins; Rebecca B. Irving and other members of the faculty emeriti of Colby-Sawyer. Interment will be in New London’s West Part Cemetery. –Jaclyn Goddette ’16

SPRING 2018

59


in memoriam

in memoriam Former Trustee and Legend William S. “Bill” Wesson Former Trustee and Legends Society member William S. “Bill” Wesson, 88, a resident of Palencia, Fla., died Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. He loved his family, animals (especially cats Anderson and Cinnamon), classical music, good food and wine. Bill was born in Seattle, Wash., in 1929; the family soon moved to Massachusetts to be closer to his father’s family. Bill earned a B.A. and an M.B.A., both from Cornell University. He served in the Army from 1951 to 1953 and was a first lieutenant, 11th Airborne Division, when discharged. In 1954, he married Barbara Werner; they had three children. Bill spent his 33-year career with Scott Paper Company and retired in 1987 as president of Scott Paper International. He served on the boards of several Scott Paper affiliates. Bill was assigned to manage Bowater Scott in London and met his wife, Jan, there. They enjoyed 36 years together and divided their time between homes in Springfield, N.H., and Barbados. In 2014, they built their home in Palencia. For decades, Colby-Sawyer has been the beneficiary of Jan’s and Bill’s generous support. They are members of the Legends Society, which honors those whose philanthropy equals $1 million or more, as well as the Heritage Society, which recognizes those who provide for Colby-Sawyer’s future through a bequest or deferred gift. “I had the opportunity to spend an evening with Bill and Jan this spring,” President Susan D. Stuebner said. “Bill asked many questions about the college and … remained very interested in our success. He and Jan have already had a tremendous impact … that will continue to affect students in the honors program for years to come. We’ll miss Bill and are very grateful for his and Jan’s support.”

In 1995, Bill was elected to the college’s Board of Trustees. He began his first of three three-year terms as a member of the Finance and Enrollment Management (chair 1997–1999) committees. He served on the Advancement, Board Organization (chair 1999–2004) and Executive committees as well as on the Audit and Investment subcommittees. Together, Bill and Jan established the Wesson Honors Program, which offers intensive academic, cultural and social opportunities for the most motivated and capable students who combine a solid work ethic and natural ability with intellectual curiosity. “I have had the privilege of working with students, faculty and staff in the Wesson Honors Program to help realize Bill and Jan Wesson’s dream of supporting academic excellence,” said Ann Page Stecker, program coordinator and professor of Humanities. “At a Board of Trustees luncheon this spring, I mentioned I wouldn’t be there to describe our work without the constant support, challenges and imagination Bill and Jan provided. Then three students spoke about experiences the program had provided them: a variety of interdisciplinary courses, IDEA Fund grants to pursue research projects, travel abroad and committed faculty. I’ll cherish the memory of Bill’s and Jan’s engagement and participation always.” Bill is survived by his wife, Jan; children Edward, Anne and Lee; grandchildren Christopher, Jessica, Kyle and Kevin; and sister Margo Gorham of Cheshire, Conn. He was predeceased by his sister Carol. – Kate Seamans


in fond memory 1935 Elizabeth Wetherall Cosindas June 19, 2007 1936 Zoe Rollins Kraus October 18, 2016 1937 Frances Brackett Quackenbush August 2, 2016 Meredith Waterman Christie September 28, 2017 1938 Olympia Frangedakis Conant August 22, 2016 1939 Barbara Armstrong Musser March 7, 2017 Beverly Gray Bachelder May 12, 2017 Anne-Shirley Orent Hudler October 29, 2017 1940 Shirley Barton Anderson December 12, 1994 Jeanette Goodwin York November 7, 2017 1941 Marjory Griswold Heath May 11, 2015 Arlena Strong Cort February 1, 2017 Mercie Franke Dunfee June 9, 2017 Deborah “Debby” Burton Adler July 4, 2017 Elizabeth “Libby” Whited Anderson August 22, 2017

PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

1942 Constance “Connie” Ainley Mayo November 18, 2017

1943 Janis Dow Taylor December 4, 2010 Gwendolyn Compton November 12, 2013 Virginia Koch Kinghan May 1, 2016 Ruth Bernstein Epstein March 8, 2017 Jean Hower Taber July 21, 2017 Shirley Webster Sheldon October 7, 2017 Ruth White Taylor October 16, 2017 1944 Eleanor “Chickie” Sanborn Poor July 21, 2009 Lois Jackson Ray August 25, 2016 Martha Miller Hyatt July 30, 2017 Mary Root Mollica September 4, 2017 1946 Shirley Rimbach Rohan September 23, 2017 Marion Remer Crouthamel October 27, 2017 1947 Eleanor Murray Wiggins August 6, 2017 Ellen Elder Robbins August 26, 2017 1948 Mary Lou Osthoff Campbell May 8, 2006 Joyce Hubschman Kohn January 30, 2014 Cynthia Wendover Hartnett February 17, 2017 1949 Joan Trainer Kirsten March 2, 2016 Sally Nicolosi Rattray December 19, 2016 Nancy Nespor Wilbur March 7, 2017 Barbara Vail Mueller August 17, 2017 Barbara Cocks Eastman October 21, 2017 Sally Harlow Terry October 21, 2017 Barbara Chernin Feldman October 30, 2017

1950 Ruth Hanson Tuck July 7, 2016 1951 Jane Lewis Kendall September 12, 2017 1952 Jean Asquith Gamble November 1, 2016 Helen Kimker White November 20, 2016 Dorothy Foley Janek June 25, 2017 Nancy Keefe Hirschberg September 11, 2017 1953 Suzanne Ringer Bell January 4, 2017 Vallette Fisk Benham August 28, 2017 Nancy Ober Batchelder December 4, 2017 1954 Jane Willey Ward August 29, 2016 Coralyn Whiting Samson May 26, 2017 Ruth Davis Nies October 7, 2017 1955 Constance Riley Strom December 6, 2011 Sally Seinwerth Dean October 29, 2014 Nancy Petke Silverstein July 29, 2017 1956 Bette Walsh Guckin June 23, 2017 1957 Nancy Tyrrell Klein October 12, 2016 Myra Coon Gove May 10, 2017 Catherine Farrell Wilson May 25, 2017 Katrina Barhydt Duff July 21, 2017 Nancy Simpson Beisaw August 27, 2017

1958 Sandra “Sandy” Powell Durling July 18, 2017 Donna Watkins Zorge December 1, 2017 1959 Judith Anderson Anderson August 3, 2017 Patricia “Pat” Bowker Lach October 10, 2017 Frances Hamilton Streeter November 10, 2017 1960 Elizabeth Abel Lane April 11, 2017 Elizabeth “Tibbie” Smithers Klose June 30, 2017 1961 Carolyn Hanford Saum September 14, 2017 Sally Reynolds Carlin October 4, 2017 1963 Sharon Prescott Barrett November 21, 2017 1966 Sandra “Sandy” Scott Fullerton November 1, 2017 Janis Green Barnes November 2, 2017 1968 Barbara “Bobbi” Carnright Tyng August 31, 2017 1969 Faith Griffin January 16, 2017 1973 Susan McBean Hamilton April 22, 2009 Akiki Saburi Mundy November 4, 2014 1976 Jane E. Baxter September 3, 2017

SPRING 2018

61

in fond memory

1934 Katharine “Kay” Woods Willard July 7, 2017


epilogue

HOW ART & SCIENCE SHAPE A LIFE by William A. Thomas For more than a quarter of a century, Carrie and I were a part of the Colby-Sawyer community as college librarian and biology professor, respectively. We were attuned to the dynamic pulse of its daily life. Since our retirements, we live on an island off the coast of Maine, where life unfolds according to different rhythms. It was with some surprise, then, that I encountered a correspondence between these physically distant and seemingly disparate worlds. We were attending an art show at the island’s historical society, and I found myself studying a print by a local artist. It was a tree, devoid of leaves but wonderfully detailed in the elaborate twisting of its interlaced branches. The image seemed to emerge from, and yet be very much a part of, the texture of the paper on which it was printed. The total effect was marvelous, and for me, captivating — all the more so because this print stood out from the body of the artist’s work on display. I sought the artist to express my admiration and learn more about the piece. The laudatory overture led to a conversation about the method behind the art. The print had begun as a photo that, through digital manipulation, was eroded to a skeletal form that served as the mask for the etching that yielded the finished print. Details of kernel configuration for image processing, acids and masking compounds for etching plates, inks and application techniques swirled as we explored the stages of the process. The paper was a wonder in itself: handmade from the bark of an indigenous tree, its variegations in muted purple on soft white, complemented by its delicate fibrosity, provided the unique surface that imbued the image with a life-like vibrancy. The artist said the subtle play of color across the print emerged from the pigment in the bark, and the unusual fiber length was critical to the tear resistance of so thin a sheet, its unique luster, as well as the correct

62

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE


surface adsorption of the ink. Talk of solvent-based pigment extraction and chromatographic effects, hydrogen-bonding patterns in cellulose helices, similarities between felting and papermaking, and the effect of fiber length on matrix flexibility and tensile strength filled the air, to the probable dismay of onlookers. It turned out the artist was an art and biology double major summering on the island with her family. A bit later, I had cause to reflect on several aspects of that evening’s experience. First, I realized that, although the hall was packed, I had spent the night talking with one of the few individuals there under the age of 60. That is a probable legacy of having spent my professional life surrounded by and interacting with young people. Simplistically, I could say the college environment is my comfort zone; I’m not yet ready for the retirement set. There might be a more interesting twist, however. I have been a scientist for as long as I have been a teacher, and science is simply the process of discovery. Experience brings some wisdom, but the driving force to the process is raw curiosity — the compelling need to know, to understand. It is the constant tide of youth, with its energy and challenge to norms, that propels our voyages of discovery, and I have been buoyed and carried by that tide all my life. Teaching and research, discovering and imparting, have been interwoven throughout my career, each supporting and stimulating the other. The link between teaching and science led me to another duality that was demonstrated in my evening’s experience — the deep, inescapable rapport between art and science. We

underscore the connection in shaping the grand themes of human cultural evolution; we appreciate its manifestation in Renaissance masters like Da Vinci; we extol it and teach it as a way of thought to shape a life. Even so, I am amazed every time I see its effect for real in my own little sphere. Here it was, unexpected, in the life and work of a young artist. Her tree, so lovely and subtle, seemed the ephemeral inspiration of a muse but in fact could not have existed without the premeditated and methodical application of science and technology at every stage in its creation. In the turmoil of the world, it seemed quietly comforting to know the liberal arts are alive and well on a little island off the coast of Maine. That evening held one more insight. I had felt that in coming to this island, I was severing ties with the world I had known, losing contact with the people who populated it, giving up on the life of the mind that had been a source of stimulation and pleasure. The evening gave me a “kick in the pants.” That world has no physical limits. It can be found anywhere, any time. Open your eyes, your mind and your heart, and you will see that it is all around you. That, too, was comforting to a recent, and reluctant, retiree. P.S. By the time I realized I would like to own it, someone else had purchased that print. There were no other copies, nor would there ever be. It was truly one of a kind. Carpe diem.  ® Former Professor of Natural Sciences William A. Thomas is a cellular and developmental biologist whose interests lie in developmental neurobiology. He joined the faculty at Colby-Sawyer in 1991 and retired in 2017. He holds a B.A. from Hamilton College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University. Professor Thomas received the 2012 Nancy Beyer Opler ’56 Award for Excellence in Advising and the 2013 Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching. Carrie Thomas celebrated 20 years of service at Colby-Sawyer in 2017 before retiring from her post as college librarian.

SPRING 2018

63


180 YEARS of Welcoming Students by Brantley Palmer

archives

T

his year, the educational institution now known as Colby-­Sawyer College will celebrate the 180th anniversary of welcoming its first students. While founded as New London Academy and officially established through a charter from the state of New Hampshire on July 4, 1837, the first class of 26 girls and a 10-year-old boy didn’t matriculate until May 1838. In the 1830s, families interested in continuing their children’s educations past elementary school would send them to private academies; the New Hampton Institution, founded in 1825, was the closest and a popular choice for New London students. A movement grew to establish an all-girls academy in New London and in 1837, New Hampshire granted the charter to eleven incorporators: Anthony and Joseph Colby, Captain Perley Burpee, Jonathan Greeley, John Brown, Captain Jonathan Herrick, Deacon David Everett, Captain Samuel Carr, Walter P. Flanders, Jonathan R. Addison and Captain Marshall Trayne. Joseph Colby, Burpee, Brown and Flanders purchased land along Main Street from Seamans Road to the Four Corners for $3,000. With funds raised from New London citizens, they built a simple, two-story wood building adorned with a belfry. In 1840, the landowners turned over five acres of the land to the academy in perpetuity in exchange for $1,400 to accommodate its expected growth. Susan F. Colby, Anthony Colby’s 20-year-old daughter, who was educated at the New Hampton Institution, became the first principal; Martha E. Greenwood, also 20, was her assistant. Despite the intent to admit only female students, Nahum T. Greenwood, Martha’s younger brother, was allowed to attend. He went on to serve as Colby Academy’s treasurer for 32 years.

The plan for women’s-only education seems to have been scrapped after the first term; in its second year, the school was organized into the Male Department, which enrolled 54 students, and the Female Department, which signed up 65, dramatically increasing the academy’s student body. The academy structured its first-year curriculum so as not to overwhelm the local schoolchildren. Students primarily studied English grammar, arithmetic, drawing and U.S. history but were also introduced to Wayland’s Elements of Moral Science, natural philosophy and Isaac Watts’s The Improvement of the Mind. In the following years, the curriculum included algebra, ancient history, chemistry,

64

COLBY-SAWYER MAGAZINE

The Academy Building, shown here circa 1870, was constructed in 1838 with funds donated by the founders of the New London Academy and community members. It is the only remaining building of the Old Campus located on what is now the Ausbon Sargent Town Common but once anchored a row of buildings that included the Heidelberg, the girls’ dormitory built in 1853; Colby Hall, the boys’ dormitory built in 1854; and the gymnasium built in 1895. Colby-Sawyer College donated the Academy Building to the town of New London in 1999 and it now serves as the town offices.

astronomy, botany, rhetoric, Latin, French and more — all introduced by just the two teachers. The earliest students emerged into the world as teachers and ministers, physicians and businessmen. In The First Century of Colby, Henry K. Rowe writes: The opening of the academy at New London was an event second to none in the history of the town. It provided better education for the boys and girls of the community. It brought to them a new appreciation of what people thought about who were interested in something besides their daily occupations. It linked the town up with the movement in education which was creating academies, normal schools, and the colleges both East and West. It gave a tone to the community which it has not lost, and a reputation among the towns of the state. Those words, published in 1937, are still true today.  ® Brantley Palmer is the college archivist. He holds a B.A. from Keene State College and an M.L.I.S. from Simmons College.


ACCESS TO EDUCATION is one of the most important factors in predicting future income. today at colby-sawyer

43% 33% 96% $28,000

of first-year students are the first in their family to attend college

of our students come from families with household incomes below $50,000

B EC

E US

was the average institutional aid amount for the 2017–18 academic year

Opportunities exist for these students because of your support — today. By giving to the Colby-Sawyer Fund, you open doors for our students to employment with some of the best organizations in the nation.

OF YOU …

A

of our full-time undergraduate students enrolled for fall 2017 received institutional aid

98%

of our recent graduates were employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation.

Support Colby-Sawyer today by visiting colby-sawyer.edu/giving. Help us provide transformational educational experiences to those who need them most. SPRING 2018

65


NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

MANCHESTER, NH PERMIT 724

Office of Advancement 541 Main Street New London, NH 03257 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT

PHOTOS: GIL TALBOT

The hugs and the smiles say it all — it’s good to be home again. Catch up with faculty, friends, roommates and teammates at Homecoming, Oct. 12-14, 2018. For more information, contact alumni@colby-sawyer.edu or 603.526.3886, or visit colby-sawyer.edu/homecoming.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.