Class of 1944

Class Secretary: Virginia Stockman Fisher, PO Box 7631, Portland, ME 04112-7631 diginny@aol.com

Co-Class Presidents: Edmund H. Gibson, 13 Wheeler Park, Brunswick, ME 04011-1635; Richard L. Keach, 51 Randy Ln., Wethersfield, CT 06109-3763

Next Reunion in 2004. Got news? Tap out a note to magazine@bates.edu! Harry Barba’s company, Harian Creative books, is reissuing his Choice Chosen – Selected Short Works including his “Gospel According to Everyman.” He also plans to publish a second slim volume of occasional verses and those of other poets including “How Better to Stop Old Times?” His wife, retired from teaching middle school, looks forward to her vocation, crafting old jewelry into new costume items…. Elaine Bush Prince and family celebrated Don’s 90th birthday in May. Before going to their camp on the shores of Lake Wallum for the summer they attended Elaine’s 60th high school reunion…. Laura Campbell Dwyer wrote sad news of the death of husband Albert a year ago. Married for almost 56 years, she said he was not only a most devoted husband and father but her best friend as well. “Judy” is active in church and has a very supportive group of friends. It was good to have the whole family for Christmas in Texas…. Norm and Jean Childs Black moved to a senior retirement area where they will have their own house about a mile from the ocean, five minutes from daughter and family. They are busy getting rid of “stuff” accumulated for 20 years in their old house…. Last summer Betty Corsa Weber and Lorna MacGray Tuthill worked at a Presbyterian Women’s gathering in Louisville. She spent the holidays with daughter Judy in New Jersey and Bruce and family in Rochester, N.Y. She planned to tutor again, concentrating on first graders…. Betty Cort Brooks’ travels over the past years included a drive north to New England, Thanksgiving in Arizona, and a planned cruise to Holland and Belgium…. At a mini-reunion, Carl and Bradley Dearborn Brewitt had lunch with Pat and “Tod” Gibson, Irving “Bud” ’41 and Ginny Stockman Fisher. Brad reported a call from Al Fish ’41 to say they survived the Seattle earthquake last February…. A part-time consultant, Ed Dunn says he’s “still making the world safe for democracy.” He and Claire have visited relatives in Tipperary and stay in close touch with grandchildren…. Cy Finnegan says: “Status quo remains in place. Ainsi-soit-y-il.”… Lois and Al Fish are lucky to have children living nearby. A visit from Nancy and Vince McKusick prompted Al to hope other classmates will drop by in the future. The earthquake, he reported, was a 45-second vigorous shake, along with a rolling motion in the ground. “Yes, it was scary, since many of us had not experienced this magnitude of shaking.”… Danny and Louise Gifford Gibbs spend a lot of time visiting their kids scattered across the country. Through an interesting coincidence, daughter Linda met the mother of children who were to attend the Anglo-American school in Moscow. Dan was principal of that school 25 years ago, and Louise taught there. Although the Gibbses were invited to the dedication of the new school, there wasn’t enough time to arrange the trip but they sent material for a school history…. Caroline and Phil Goodrich spend their annual summer time in Rangeley and Pine Point. A year ago they traveled to the Italian and French Rivieras and, in Illinois, had their first complete family reunion…. Along with family get-togethers, Troy and Edith Hale Ferguson had a visit with Dorothy Smith Jordan in her charming bed and breakfast in Brooklin…. Since they have retired, Teddy and Donald Harms spend the winter in Florida. The granddaughters there are doing well…. Although Lois Howland Gardner says she is slowing down and not playing much golf, she delights in increases in the family with a new great-granddaughter and new grandson-in-law…. Ted and Elizabeth Kinney Jones are “hanging out” in California, living close to a son and family. Recently they visited her brother, Bob Kinney ’39…. Ocean Parkers with their family in the summer, Dick and Gerry Walther Keach ’46 spend the winter at Hilton Head with, of course, golf…. The John Kobrocks attended an Elderhostel in New Orleans, an LST 666 reunion in Washington, D.C., and this year hosted the 666 Reunion in Boothbay Harbor. Keeping in touch with Bates, they watch the College hockey games, and in the summer enjoyed a Friday evening concert on the shore of Lake Andrews…. Twice in the past year Bonnie Laird Marsh won blue ribbons for her paintings, some at the state level. She is past president of the Lynchburg Women’s Club, has joined the Friends of Library board, and works with the local symphony. Husband John ’43 says being a club woman is not exactly her cup of tea!… Bob and Phyllis Chase Landick took their first train trip in 50 years to Phoenix. She is deeply involved in their politically active United Church of Christ and is “support partner” for two Habitat for Humanity families. Bob still gets a thrill out of sailing and took two sons and a grandson along to do the heavy work on the 34-foot sloop they sailed on Lake Superior…. Last spring, Nina Leonard Sloan took her son and family on a trip to Mexico. In June she moved to longtime care facility – brand new and quite “posh” – where she will have her own apartment and be near family. Four church friends are also moving there…. Don and Lorna MacGray Tuthill remind classmates that anyone traveling to or from Connecticut via the New London Ferry drive right by their house. They hope you’ll drop in…. Vincent McKusick has a continuing role “of counsel” to his law firm, Pierce Atwood. He had a Supreme Court assignment as special master in the original jurisdiction case of Kansas v. Nebraska and Colorado that took most of his working time. He says he couldn’t do the job without the law clerk and facilities provided by his old law firm. Recently married couple Keith ’45 and Sally Adkins McFarlane Wilbur ’46 spent a week in Bermuda with Nancy and Vince, and he says it is a “marriage made in heaven.”… To be near elder daughter, Barbara Moulton Scott moved to West Hartford. She does proofreading and editing for a local poet. She also takes a creative writing course and has been working on several projects including biographical stories of the old days in India, sermons that Bob ’43 preached, and the general topic of aging…. After Howard Jordan’s death, Bruce Park started the ball rolling to commemorate the Bates Bobcats Band in which Howie played. The result – an article by Bruce in the summer-fall issue of Bates Magazine… All is well with Bill ’43 and Ruth Parkhurst Stirling. In the snowy winter she was cross-country skiing at a nearby country club and they were planning to go to the Virgin Islands in early spring…. Twice John Scott celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination to the Episcopal Priesthood: at St. Benedict’s Parish in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., as “assistant priest-retired” and then at St. Michael’s in Auburn. He and his pug dog, Galahad, drive between Taylor Pond and Florida…. Jane Styer Campbell says they travel
some, do “errands” ad infinitum, and generally love every minute of it…. Norm Temple says three months is too long to be away from nine grandchildren, so he and Barb limited the Florida trip to two weeks. They were to celebrate his 80th birthday with a trip to Bermuda…. Bud and Fran Walker Parsons listed interesting travels for the last year or so. They attended the World War II link-up with the Russians at the Elbe River, went to a D-Day dedication in Bedford, Va. Later enroute to Copenhagen on board the Rotterdam, they enjoyed a concert in Edvard Grieg’s home in Bergen, went as far as the Arctic Circle, returning via England…. Although he claims to be computer illiterate, Meredith Williams used his daughter’s e-mail to write. Among some Bates memorabilia he found an old Bates Student with a list of names of the entire class…. Back on Great Diamond Island, class secretary Ginny Stockman Fisher and Bud enjoyed his 60th reunion last June. “Call if you are up this way and have time,” she adds.