Class of 1936

Class Secretary: Ruth Rowe Wilson, 374 College St., Lewiston, ME 04240

Class President: Donald C. Gautier, 136 Pride Rd., Auburn, ME 04210

Got news? Tap out a note to magazine@bates.edu!  Members of the class continue to lead interesting, alert lives, less physically active perhaps but commensurate with our chronology we are here to be counted. It is November now so the news gathered since April represents vignettes only. Ellen Bailey Fryling says classical musicians are scarce now so she has plenty of opportunities to play the organ, cello, or piano…. Tonie Bates Brown speaks of her three girls, 11 grandchildren, and four greats…. Ruth Coan Fulton lives near her daughter and two sons. She is active in the life of her retirement home and does some writing…. Isaphene Dolloff Soule still studies the Civil War and couldn’t “wait to get her hands in the dirt of her garden.”…. Ed Foote is a cluster chairman in his condo, plays bridge, goes golfing, and enjoys eating out…. Don Gautier, our Beloved Leader, represented the class at the impressive Muskie Memorial Dedication in Rumford last August…. Mary Ham Wood discovered a grocery bill from a Thorncrag cabin party that included hot dogs, rolls, doughnuts, coffee, milk, sugar, butter, and cream – for $3.37. “Honest,” she says…. Polly Hanson Hansen says she begins her day by wondering “what good thing will happen to me today. Think positive.”… Our loyal class agent Edith Jordan Anderson still is involved with Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs and a teaching program to encourage lifelong learning…. June Lovelace Griffin is one of four local artists who donated a painting to St. Mary’s Hospital Christmas Fair. In April, sketch pad in hand, she took a cable car almost to the top of Mount Blanc…. Carleton Mabee not only has published his latest book, Bridging the Hudson, but is also Gardiner (N.Y.) town historian and tour guide for historic old stone houses in the New Paltz area….. Martha Mann sends a Christmas letter to cover for being a ’36er “by wedding ring” and reports on family, especially son Don and family moving back to Camden…. Yvon Marcotte pleased us all with his October picture in the local paper raking leaves at his home – “good healthy exercise.”… Highlight for the Damon Stetsons was grandson’s graduation from Bates last June…. Charlotte Stiles Kuhn sent a greeting from Summit, N.J…. Dot Wheeler Holbrook was guest of honor at a dinner in Oberlin held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the religion department, which her late husband, Clyde ’34, headed. We visited briefly in Ocean Park…. Jerry Wilson Niedringhaus continues to play mahjong and bridge and has a golf cart: “fun to drive”…. Bob and Betty Winston Scott have moved into Piper Shores Retirement Community, a brand new facility in Scarborough…. A quick glance at the Class Notes section of the magazine is evidence enough of what your class secretary has been up to along with gardening, family, and the Ocean Park cottage. The sad news here is the loss of dear friends and classmates whose obituaries are in this issue: Lewis Davis, Marjorie Fairbanks Durland, Robert A. Johnson, Georgia McKinney Frothingham, Dorothy Martin Mason, Horace Perry, and Paul B. Tubbs.