Cliff ’60 and Jane Petherbridge Ives moved into The Park Danforth Senior Independent Living in 2020. They are located in Portland across the street from the University of New England campus, enjoying the friendly, caring community. Jane recovered from hip replacement surgery while Cliff is well, having had a knee replacement several years ago. They did travel last April to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Charlotte, NC. As a retired United Methodist Bishop, Cliff still participates in the Council of Bishops, more often by Zoom now, as travel becomes more strenuous for them. Cliff and Jane have given their summer place in Winthrop, ME, to their children and enjoy watching them work together to make decisions and plans. Their oldest child, Bonnie, and her husband, Lee Marden, living in Massachusetts, became grandparents last May, making them great-grandparents! Their son, Stephen ’86, and his wife, Lisa, live in Houston, TX, where he serves as CEO of the Greater Houston YMCA, a thriving organization. Younger son, Jonathan, working in IT, and his wife, Amy, live in Hallowell. Their twin daughters are in their second year of college, one at Maine Maritime Academy and the other in engineering at the University of Maine.
After 18 years in Freeport, Marcia Sayward Blake, along with her daughter and son-in-law, moved to South Windham to a gated 55 or older community. The condo has two master bedrooms and bath with common kitchen and living room. Marcia will still play golf with her older grandson and enjoy the lake they are on.
Betsy Flynn Drake and Jack spent a terrific four months last winter in Myrtle Beach, SC, and then a month in Williamsburg! Their summer home in Bar Harbor was busy as usual. Betsy writes that finding a place to park is a high priority! And also, it’s necessary to make a reservation if you want to go to one of the high-demand restaurants! And it goes without saying that Bar Harbor’s wonderful restaurants have increased! Stop teasing us, Betsy!
Etta Libby Davenport and her partner, Mike, went to Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and the Chilian fjords last fall. Etta writes that she had her first wheelchair rides as she can walk, but not far or fast, and they had tight airport schedules. They flew to Easter Island to see the Moai, which was interesting. Saw many glaciers in Chile and Argentina. It was windy, but they were able to keep on schedule. They spent four days on a boat to get to Cape Horn, where they climbed to the top of the lighthouse at the horn. Saw a fox and penguins on this trip.
Bill and Jane Libby Littlefield ’60 were honored by the Korean Consulate of Boston and the state of Maine in July 2024 for their work in South Korea. Korean Peacekeeper medals were presented, and the state gave Bill challenge coins for his service in Korea and Vietnam. A fine program was presented at the State House, and an excellent Korean lunch was provided. In February, their Korean daughter, Kym Su, visited them in Topsham en route to a new nurse practitioner position in Qatar.
Carol Wescott Peters attended the wedding of her grandson, Jack Peters, in Jacksonville, FL, in September. Additionally, her great-granddaughter, Emerson Hopkins, turned one year old in June. Carol was happy to travel to Tampa to the birthday celebration.
Laurie Baldwin Liscomb and Andy McGarry cruised the Caribbean in late January – early February. Shortly thereafter, they attended the UMaine Alumni Road Trip event in Fort Myers, enjoying the 250+ alums and guests and watching the Red Sox during a spring training game.
In April they attended the Lobster-Maine-ia picnic with UMaine Alumni of the Lowcountry in Summerville, SC. After a Land-Sea travel event to Alaska, they were off to Maine for the rest of the summer.
Larry ’62G and Barbara Schiner H drove to Baton Rouge, LA, to visit their granddaughter at LSU. Had a great time watching the women’s basketball team play Tennessee and seeing Mike the tiger. On the way back they stopped in New Orleans, post-Super Bowl, and enjoyed a lovely lunch at Antoine’s in the French Quarter.
They drove through Panama City Beach and saw the beautiful beaches there. Then of course a stop at Buc-ees, before home!
Later, in March, they visited with some Florida alums at a meet-up in Palm Coast, FL.