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The Class of 2007 departed Bates on May 27, leaving behind in campus houses and halls lots of stuff \u2014 mostly furniture and clothes \u2014 that was later sold at the annual Clean Sweep sale, benefiting local nonprofits.<\/p>\n
A month earlier, a somewhat older Bates graduate, former Bates Magazine editor Ruth Rowe Wilson \u201936, departed her longtime home on College Street, and accompanying her departure was a dispersal of possessions too. But hers was executed on a more personal scale.<\/p>\n
She gave the Dunn Guest House a set of Bates College china by Wedgwood. The Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library received her graduation cap and gown, a handwritten copy of her senior thesis on Ocean Park, and materials that once belonged to her father, legendary dean Harry Rowe \u201912, who founded this publication.<\/p>\n
Professor of Religion Marcus Bruce \u201977 received a gift of Yale china (Ruth\u2019s late husband, Val \u201938, and Bruce both earned Yale doctorates). The theater department\u2019s costume shop received vintage clothing, including Ruth\u2019s prom dress from Lewiston High School.<\/p>\n
Then, at a Chase Hall Lounge luncheon just a few days before Ruth\u2019s move to Fairfield, Calif., near family, we said goodbyes and best wishes.<\/p>\n
Many international students attended the lunch, reflecting one of Ruth\u2019s myriad connections to Bates life. Each September, she had a picnic at her Ocean Park cottage for international students, who would be driven to the coast by longtime dean James Reese, the master of ceremonies for the informal Chase luncheon. \u201cIt was easy for me to tell them that they would love it,\u201d Reese told the gathering. \u201cBecause they always did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I loved it too,\u201d rejoined Wilson from her seat.<\/p>\n
The international students signed a guest book, which Sorina Cri\u015fan \u201907 of Arad, Romania, gave to Ruth. \u201cMy first month at Bates, you welcomed me to Ocean Park, where I signed your guest book,\u201d Cri\u015fan said. \u201cAt the end of my Bates education, it is a privilege for me to be able to say goodbye in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her remarks, Wilson shared editing pet peeves, telling how she zinged a local TV news anchor for reporting that a man \u201clay on the railroad tracks.\u201d Ruth wrote a letter: \u201cWho put him there?!\u201d Ruth also admitted to her share of magazine goofs, such as reporting the name of an alum\u2019s \u201cnew addition\u201d in the magazine\u2019s births section, only to learn the addition was a canine, not human. \u201cI had a file called \u2018Crow,\u2019 and I ate a lot of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She took jabs at wordy writing. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to say, \u2018The fact of the matter is.\u2019 Just say, \u2018The fact is, \u2019 such as, \u2018The fact is, this is a lovely party.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In her gifting, Ruth also gave something to the current magazine staff: the knowledge that whether she\u2019s on College Street or in California, this 93-year-old alumna\u2019s attitude, spirit, and perspective make her our target reader.<\/p>\n