Class of 1950

Class Secretary: Lois Keniston Penney, 75 Hickory Hill Rd., Kensington, CT 06037-1209, hulopenney@aol.com

Class President: Weston L. Bonney, 11 Wildwood Circle, Portland, ME 04103

Next Reunion in 2005. Got news? Tap a note to magazine@bates.edu!

Bob and Irma Reed Andrews have moved to a condo in Portland…. In Mexico, Elaine and Weston Bonney, with other trustees of the Maine chapter of The Nature Conservancy, worked with the board of Los Amigos de Sian Kaan, a conservation group in Cancun. The group manages an incredible preserve of 1.6 million acres with the second largest barrier reef in the world, a large mangrove estuary, traditional savannah, and tropical forest. It is an area where at least 80 species of Maine songbirds winter. Wes has served the College’s Goals 2005 planning committee. “It has been a great experience working with Don Harward, his staff, faculty and students. We are so lucky to have the kind of people we have at our alma mater.”… Dick and Carolyn Coburn Boothby are grateful to be in Florida and enjoy being out in the warm sun. In the summer they get sunshine in Yarmouth, Maine…. Avon Cheel Oakes reports that son Eric and family have moved to Florida. Son Anders was to be married soon and the grandkid total is increasing…. Last summer, Frances Curry Kerr and her old roommate, Avon Cheel Oakes, went with them on a trip to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. The Kerrs later drove around the Southwest…. Living in New Bedford, Mass., Phil and Phyllis Day Danforth got in a great deal of canoeing and a little swimming last summer and now are hiking in a new area recently opened to the public with lots of carriage roads and bridle paths…. Retired since 1984, the Fred Dickermans wore out two motor homes and with their third had toured all the lower 48 states and Alaska. Fred still rides his motorcycle “even if I’m pushing 76.”… Bob and Gladys Bovino Dunn ’51 were hosted in England by former exchange teachers who were at the school where Bob was principal. In June at Reunion, the Dunns enjoyed the dedication of the new Dunn Guest House on Mountain Avenue at Bates, made possible through their generosity to the College…. Barbara Galloupe Gagnon has done over her house in Edgecomb on a dead-end country road. “Total cost about the same as a year in a nice assisted-living setup, and I get to keep my gardens and pets as well as eat what I like. No maid service.” Since cousin Doris Gallop Philbrick ’24 died last year, Barbara is the matriarch of two clans…. George and Ginny Hastings Gamble report that their son’s wedding was a great success. George did a fine job as best man…. Happily retired and happily married with a 50th anniversary coming up, the David Greens have four children and eight grandchildren. Hobbies are golf and duplicate bridge. As for Bates news, he had lunch with his old roommate Fen Winslow ’49, and mentions that their dentist, Howard Cotton ’52 and wife Peggy (Fox ’53) who works with him, “had the audacity to retire. Great for him. Bad for us.”… Lorraine and Ozzie Hammond served as volunteers at the Democratic Convention in LA. They contacted Karl Koss ’51, there in connection with GE and the McLaughlin Group, and were invited to a taping of the show on Friday “that gave us new insight on the panel.” With the Bonneys, they attended a great performance of the play, Manny’s War at Bates, met Julie Hammond ’03, a member of the cast and also granddaughter of brother George ’43…. Walker and Sylvia Stuber Heap participated in a centennial celebration of the signing the deed (by Sylvia’s great-grandfather John P. Henderson) to purchase a point of land on Southport Island, Maine. Fifty-four extended family members joined for fun, fellowship and fabulous food. For the 25th year, Sylvia led the United National International Sunday Service in their church…. Donna and Milton Henderson had a wonderful time meeting old friends at Reunion. Mil has taken a course in welding and last semester they took a course on European culture in the Latin Middle Ages…. Robert Hobbs agreed to do a special project with PFLAG churches and other organizations called “Reparative Therapy: Hoax or Cure?” He already has done some presentations and plans to use the research for his next book, Reparative Therapy, on the so-called cure for homosexuality, discredited for decades but “finding new life lately because of being pushed by Dr. Laura and the so-called gay ministries. Since the 1960s, I knew about 10 men whose lives were forever damaged by this fake cure, two of them were suicides. I bring strong personal feeling to the work.”… On a fall day Irene Illing Fariss and Marjie Dwelley Reid drove to visit Irene’s oldest daughter and husband on their 40 acres in Readsboro, Vt…. Franz and Phoebe Jones Samelson have attended Elderhostels in northern Spain and on San Salvador Island. These trips provided a change of environment from their “lovely prairie” in Manhattan, Kansas…. Last August, Leonard ’48 and Ella Loud Wilmot moved to the Crosslands retirement center in Kennett Square, Pa. In September they joined an Elderhostel in Scotland. “Life is fun and easy” in their new environs… As with others, Hugh and Lois Keniston Penney celebrated their 50th anniversary soon after Reunion. The Penneys continue their work with the United Church of Christ in Hartford, an art museum, a philanthropic financial foundation, public school tutoring. A superior Elderhostel in Toronto made them aware that it is the third largest city in the world for theatre…. Agnes Perkins Shera in November took 10 members from her church in Towson, Md., to work at Cook College in Tempe, Arizona, a school for Native Americans only. Its mission is to educate and develop the students’ leadership skills so that they can return to their reservations and empower their own people to improve their lives…. Last October, Shirley and Charles Radcliffe spent a week in London with daughter Suzanne and husband Jeff. Charlie turned 75 in November and Shirley gave him a computer-driven celestial telescope. He has spent the last 30 years reading the popular literature on astronomy and cosmology; now he’ll be able to see the things he has studied in print. “Very exciting.”… Navarre Scott Them says hunting season in McCall, Idaho, has been different, but so much fun. She loves working her dog and son-in-law is the gunner…. Richard Sterne worried that the legacy of the 2000 election would be “corrosive” to our lives. “To think we fought three major wars, innumerable police actions, and ‘peace-keeping’ ventures.” … On their return to Texas from a 26-day trip to India and Nepal, Susan and David Turell say that “third-world countries are very disturbing, making one realize how fortunate we are to live in the USA, where the entrepreneurial spirit of early generations…created the rich success of our country.” They did not see that spirit in India/Nepal and didn’t see how it could be developed. David’s second book, Sciences vs. Religion, the 500-Year War:Finding God in the Heat of the Battle, is being readied for publication…. Reflecting on the 2000 election, David and Diane Wolgast Parker say “it certainly has been a good civics lesson. Maybe it will wake up the other half of the electorate that chose not to vote.” Diane remains active in a local Coalition for a National Health Care Plan for the U.S…. Our sympathy is extended to the families and loved ones of members deceased in 2000: Donald C. Chalmers on March 21, Allan R. Ross on May 1, and William B. Kurtz, on Aug. 1.