Class of 1959

Co-Class Secretaries: Clifford A. Baxter, 17913; Tiara St., Encino, CA 91316, bud@baxter.org; Margaret D. Montgomery, 400 Central Park W., 9K, New York, NY 10025-5838; peggydm@rcm.com

Co-Class Presidents: Gerald M. Davis, 15 Hamlin Rd., Falmouth, ME 04105-2205, jdavis@maine.rr.com; Henry J. Keigwin, 463 Elm St., South Dartmouth, MA 02748, keigwin@hotmail.com

Next Reunion in 2004. Got news? Tap out a note to magazine@bates.edu! Mike Arenstam reports that God and life have been good to him. Four children (two Bates grads and two daughters-in-law are Bates grads) and 10 grandchildren are no small gift, and Mike and Peg celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary this spring. Most of his time now is spent dealing with the mentally ill. He runs a support group, teaches a course on mood disorders, and makes use of an old “Argumentation, Discussion, and Debate Course” as often as possible. “I can’t seem to shake the conviction that a Bates education demanded we expend ourselves in the service of others. Not simply work related (I taught for 28 years and that certainly was expending!), but what did we do over and above the narrow focus that was work? While I understand the monetary needs of the College are real and urgent, I would hope our ‘gift’ to Bates has been a life shared with the world.”… One week before Sept. 11, Bud Baxter did the Manhattan 14-mile run. Now, much of the landscape he viewed on that run is forever changed. Daughter Candi will be married this summer. Rita will make the dresses, brother Scott will give her away, Bud will tie the knot, and the bride will pay the bills. “Sounds reasonable to me,” he crows…. King Cheek has retired as executive vice president of New York Institute of Technology, but returned to assume a tenured full professorship in social sciences. He also serves as senior advisor to the board of trustees of New York College for Health Professions, has a virtual law practice and office in Mohlin, Switzerland, as president of an international group currently developing a virtual university, and in his spare time is editing his first two novels. Some of his Bates experiences are fictionalized in three chapters, and he promises to share them with anyone who guarantees a comment…. At the foothills of the Arkansas Ozarks in Horseshoe Bend, Al Comen retired from the city council after two terms so that he and Joanna (Legro) could do more traveling. In between jaunts, Al is now on the City Planning Commission and with the fire department as a fireman and first responder. He was pleased to receive the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award. Jo stays active with the library and her church…. Ron Cooke has shifted his writing focus from long reports on high tech markets to his passion for the study of cultural economics. He published CyberCarnage: Everything We Own Is Obsolete, about the computer industry and its cultural impact on enterprise information systems. Cynthia (Horton ’58) continues to work part time as a gastroenterology technician at the Palo Alto Clinic. Ron reflects on influential Bates faculty: John Hogan, Lavinia Schaeffer, and Brooks Quimby — “each channeled my energy into a rewarding career that has been (for the most part) a real blast.”… Betty (Drum) and Alan Coykendall have been to New Orleans and London; Betty’s gone twice to Paris, and Al made three trips to NYC to help with the dental identification of 9/11 victims. He recently performed his first marriage as a justice of the peace. In April, the Exchange Club of Farmington (Conn.) honored Betty with the Book of Golden Deeds Award, presented to an individual or organization with a record of outstanding service to the community…. Vicky Daniels Aberhart finds retirement since 1998 a time of deeper learnings and appreciations…. Jerry Davis is running for his third term as a member of the Maine Legislature and member of the labor committee. A fifth grandchild, Benjamin, was born in 2001…. Ross Deacon’s decision to retire has been impacted by events of the past year. “As a result,” he says, “we’ve decided to adopt the one-year-at-a-time approach and feel fortunate to be in a situation where that’s possible.” The future may hold more Nevada or a move to Florida, but definitely summers in Maine…. Jack DeGange recommends that we read Roger Rosenblatt’s Rules for Aging at least once a week…. Fred Drayton proudly announces that Frederick Arnold Drayton III joined the world last July 15 and that his book is in final edit. BOSS ROAD, A Spiritual Journey from Job One to Retirement recounts his relationships with major bosses encountered along life’s way, including The Big Guy in the Sky…. Living in Bryant Pond, Maine, Peter and Mary-Ellen (Crook ’60) Gartner continue to slide downhill — as ski instructors at nearby Sunday River. In the off-season Mary-Ellen rows a single shell, and during all seasons she works for the Democratic Party as a local caucus delegate to state conventions. Peter continues “second career” part time as a private, contracted school psychologist…. Gary Girard and wife Anita were blessed with their first two grandchildren last year…. Last fall David Hall and his wife took a train trip through England, Scotland, and Wales. This winter he’s been volunteering on long-term care legislative issues for AARP and criminal justice and Indian issues for the Friends Committee on Maine Public Policy. He’s also on the Corrections Committee of Sagadahoc County, which is planning to build a new jail jointly with Lincoln County…. “Life goes on after 9/11,” says Burt Harris, “but it is clearly a different world.” With five grandchildren, two granddogs, and three grandcats, he still spends most of his time trying to make furniture and keeping his fingers attached to his hands. “I also spend a great deal of time at Bates or traveling around for Bates. A new campus center is being planned and hopefully will be a reality in a few years.”… Tom Hawkins totes up 38 years with Penny, two sons, five grandchildren, working in labs for two years, Fisher Scientific in sales for seven, IBM for 25 (half sales/half staff), many other companies since then, a cottage in Ogunquit, a residence in Trumbull, Conn., heavy involvement in Episcopal Church administration and service, and now in import/export duty drawback business. “Retirement? What’s that?”… Dwight Haynes and Maryellen celebrated his 65th birthday, their 40th wedding anniversary, the countdown to his retirement (“not an easy decision”), and their move into our own home in the outskirts of Concord in July. “In the meantime, I’m still pedaling: another 1,313 miles in 2001. And still ever, ever grateful for my lifelong pastoral vocation, my friends, and my family. Some months after 9/11, our grandson Joshua (7) asked his mother if Osama bin Laden has a heart. Linda responded, ‘Yes, but his heart is two sizes too small.'”… Last September, after weeks of hard training for something she’d never done before, Carol Heldman Flynn raised $5,200 to help in the research for an HIV vaccine by joining 1,800-plus bikers in a five-day, 400-mile journey from Montreal to Portland. “It was a magical week of caring,” she says. “We rode into Portland on Sept. 9 tired but euphoric, believing we had made a difference and vowing to be more open-minded, less judgmental, more respectful of others. Then the horror of September 11 came crashing down. Since that terrible event, I cherish the support of friends and family even more.”… Mary Ann Houston Hermance reports that Don has improved physically and mentally from his eye troubles, and Sue has responded well to a new medication for Parkinson’s. “We wish the researchers well in their search for a cure, particularly for those in her age group who suffer from early onset. Michael J. Fox has been a great influence in raising awareness.”… Clif Jacobs serves on boards for the Mount Carroll (Ill.) library, Chamber
of Commerce, and the Good Samaritan Nursing Home board. He is the organist and choir director at the First Baptist Church and has finally discovered the benefits of regular exercise. He’s lost weight and never felt better…. Beverly and Jack Keigwin continue to transition into semi-retirement, though it’s not an easy adjustment. Daughter Jennifer, with a master’s from MIT, has assumed the CEO role of their development and real estate interests, while son Scott ’86 and his wife Jane (Miniutti ’86) expand their medical practices and manage their new medical office center. After 17 years, Jack retired from Bryant College and plans to teach in the Florida State system…. After 40 years in educational administration, Don Lowry works part time in the local boat yard, pursues his woodworking and antique car hobbies, and this year is president of the local Rotary Club…. Marilyn Macomber Ives spent some late wintertime on a Volunteer-in-Mission trip to South Carolina with the Westfield, Mass., team and was ready to depart for Alaska in early May for her individual VIM…. John “Mac” Makowsky began 2001 thinking retirement. By August, his boss (the CEO) was promoted and asked him to delay retirement for five years — and be his successor. Now Mac is the head of the San Francisco office of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., running a very successful insurance brokerage office of 88 people, specializing in construction…. Willard Martin’s first grandchild, Coleman Alexander Martin-Gross, was born Sept. 19, 2001. Bud continues to practice law and work part time in district court, where he’s been involved in restorative justice and drug court programs. He was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Fellowship (along with 21 others), during which he’ll train on issues of community justice…. Becky McDonald Cupit ushers at the McCarter Theater in Princeton and the War Memorial Theatre in Trenton and plays in two bell choirs. Bill ’58 helps with a soup kitchen in Trenton, runs a monthly dinner for the men of his church, and just finished writing a course of study for a small group program. A house in the Poconos, golf, bridge, two grandchildren, and travel fill in the rest of their time…. After six years of the cruising life up and down the East Coast and the Bahamas, M.J. Mears and Bob MacFarlane sold Highland Light, their Endeavour 42 sailboat, and moved ashore. They recently bought a home in Hendersonville, N.C., and will live on land until they get used to it, then to travel to see their kids and the rest of the world…. Betty (Cook) and Chris Miller renovated their house, joined the growing ranks of women’s basketball fans, and recently returned from San Antonio for the Final Four. Betty continues as treasurer of their church and with her caregiving and outreach. Chris had a total knee replacement and is involved with the Danbury Westerners of the New England Collegiate Baseball League…. After 41 years of local and state education and government work in Maine, Sawin “Bear” Millett retired from state service in 2000 and immediately started a new career in federal service as state office representative for Susan Collins (R), Maine’s junior U.S. senator, with an office on the corner of Lisbon and Main in beautiful downtown Lewiston. Running for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives this fall, he hopes to join Jerry Davis as a member of that institution. He and Barb live in Waterford (the town of his birth) and operate a small (140 acres and 15 head of cattle — mostly beef) farm there. Their five children have blessed them with seven grandchildren…. In April, Peggy Montgomery chaired the Intergenerational Spring Seminar of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office. The seminar addressed “Commit to a Just and Sustainable World,” focusing on the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable development and “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The topic is also the focus of the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August…. Art “Oscar” Mullaney is convinced he’s made for retirement, but he’s also very involved with College Impressions and the College Impressions Newsletter, subscribed to by 247 New England secondary schools, 18 Northeast colleges, and a dozen families throughout the country. He and his wife are building a house right on the water (Kingston/Duxbury harbor)…. Pete Onksen tried his hand in local (Deerfield, N.H.) politics, but was too much of a newcomer until, that is, his recent activities at school district and town meetings. Most winters he and Phyllis travel to the Caribbean. “I missed my annual Navy Squadron Reunion,” he writes, “due to the flight cancellations after 9/11. What a sad day for America.”… Delight (Harmon ’61) and Don Reese sold their wooden clothes dryer business a year ago. Delight has had several photography exhibits, won some ribbons at the Deerfield Fair, and made a plant stand as her masterwork in her welding/blacksmithing training. Don’s gyrocopter is for sale and the balloon training is on hold for paragliding. “Fanny the Wonder Dog and I spent most of last year building the Gyro at a little airport in Wauchula, Fla., with side trips to Indiana and the Smokies. Delight and I climbed Katahdin, circumambulated Great Wass Island, and did day hikes in the White Mountains.”… Betty Reid Rickey came East from Michigan for the Christmas holidays in New England with family and spent a long, sweet afternoon in Sturbridge with her freshman year Wilson House gang: M.J. Mears MacFarlane (and Bob), Joan Williams Lepper, Berta Richards Gibson (and Jef and his mom), and Peggy Montgomery…. Roberta Richards and Jef Gibson spent almost two months in their Fort Myers condo and were joined by family, co-workers, and dear friends, including Helene Marcoux Quint…. Jeannette Rose is living in the Boston area…. Ginny Schultz Humphrey’s job with the trade association for Connecticut home care agencies/VNAs and hospices has become political. “One of our Congressional delegates is Nancy Johnson, chair of the Ways & Means House Subcommittee on Health, influential for Medicare issues. This has thrust me into the national scene whenever our national association calls on me to approach Nancy for each need. I work well with her, but she is unable to win them all, and then I feel I’ve failed our industry. No pressure, you understand. So, time to smell the roses will be wonderful come November when I retire.”… Vince and Sabra Scoville Vacca continue to “commute” between Nantucket and D.C. as the spirit moves them. Sabe submitted a manuscript to the first annual Nantucket 10-Minute Play Festival and hers was one of four selected to be performed. “It was great fun writing, casting, and directing it,” she says. “Hell, I can sustain anything for a mere 10 minutes!”… Ronnie Scudder and Ray Harrold visited Rod and Sue Stolicker Goulding in Florida and spent a day in Charleston, S.C., with Coker and Nancy Moss Stogner. They’ve also become grandparents, so Ronnie’s relishing her new role caring for little Lily two days a week…. Dave Sheets reports that Emily has graduated from UVM and Andy’s a freshman at Champlain College. Dave continues to work at the same firm, now named Morgan Stanley. “Over the years, I’ve switched firms five times without moving my desk once.” He’s involved helping to manage not-for-profit organizations, w
oodworking, playing tennis, getting together with his children, and spending time on Cape Cod with his 96-year old mother…. Barbara Smith McIntosh was in Switzerland, traveling from Lucerne to Lake Geneva, on Sept. 11. “Europeans were extremely sympathetic — church bells rang, black flags draped city buildings, drawings and flowers were in the city squares, and waitresses told us how sorry they were for what happened in our country.”… Jan Spiers Forsman and siblings lost their mom at nearly 93 last November. They miss her greatly and find the final responsibility of settling her estate unsettling. Jan’s now back to her exercise classes, volunteering at the hospital, representing her church on the Interfaith Hospitality Committee… Susan and Dave Stewart served on a mission to Cyprus with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dave has built another home, this time in Snow Low, Ariz., closer to their children and grandchildren in the Phoenix area…. Rod and Sue Stolicker Goulding have established roots in Bradenton, Fla., and are still getting adjusted to a lifestyle where they don’t move every few weeks. Summer travel to New England in their coach will get them away from the heat…. Linda Tanner Winham announced her retirement to coincide with her 65th birthday at the end of July. Without any grandchildren to spend time with, she expects to develop storytelling programs for the schools as well as working with the Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada in promoting storytelling as an art form. Gil has been in Washington, D.C., on a Woodrow Wilson fellowship, researching the impact of GMO foods on international trade agreements. They enjoyed a student “daughter” from Slovakia for 14 weeks last summer. Barbara was the 8-year-old daughter of a family Linda knew when she taught English there a decade ago. “What fun to see her again as a teenager,” Linda says, “and help with her English studies.”… Carl Tobie attended the wedding of Tobi Tanzer, Lois and Jay’s daughter…. Nancy (Tyler) and Ken Harris ’58 will be focusing on Ken’s activities as mayor of Slippery Rock. “It’s amazing how many people would like you to join them in their endeavors,” says Nancy. Both children expect babies, and in May Ken’s mother, 92, will be living with them until next winter. “Experiencing the beginnings of life and hoping to comfort the final years certainly makes us very aware of the precious short time we are here.”… David “Knobby” Walsh reports: “Grandson No. 7 born in January. No girls. Still working as a janitor for a car dealership. Blood pressure down, weight down, enthusiasm for life still up. Was selected to the Massachusetts Football Coaches Hall of Fame in April. Still coaching football, umping high school baseball, writing poetry, losing at the racetrack. Collected my first Social Security check in January. Am I supposed to be old?”… “A debate has broken out in the American Dialect Society,” Clark Whelton announces, “over the origin and rules of a car game known as padiddle. If any Bates folk remember this game and how it was played in your neck of the woods, please e-mail me at whel@berk.com.”