In case you haven’t heard, here is the new board:
Class officers until 2026: president, Meg Thompson Villarreal; vice president, Larry Schiner ’62G; secretary, Judy Ohr; treasurer, June Toulouse Heintz.
Representatives to the Senior Alumni Board: Andy McGarry and Etta Libby Davenport.
Board members: Kay Allen, Anne Wescott Dodd, Peter McCracken, Don Sturgeon ’64G, and Jean McNeary Woodard.
Both Anne Adams Collins and Shirlene Heath Gosline ’73G have retired from active participation on the board but are our go-to volunteers for specific projects.
By now you should have received a lengthy letter from the board with an update on class giving, a survey to obtain updated contact information, and plans for a next reunion. Please return the survey if you haven’t. Need another copy? Email mvillarreal2@earthlink.net. While we have been generous in our giving, the need is ongoing. Your yearly support to the university or in your estate planning is vital. Dee Gardner ’89 from the UMaine Foundation reported that since 2000 our class scholarship has helped 47 students and given $57,568 in aid. Since its inception, scholarship money is $83,906. Recipients this year were Anna Francis of Alton Bay, NH, granddaughter of Paul Winckler; and Nathan Curtis of Richmond, grandson of Dorothy Hutchins Curtis.
Bob Morin and wife, Judy, took a slight detour on their way up 95 from Florida and visited with Larry and Barbara Schiner in South Carolina. Bob said the Hilton Head Island pizza was fabulous. Laurie Baldwin Liscomb and Andy McGarry enjoyed the camaraderie of the alumni/ Red Sox event in Fort Myers, FL. Additionally, Andy volunteered on the fairways of the RBC Heritage PGA golf tournament in Hilton Head Island in April. What is it with South Carolina? Betsy Flynn Drake writes that she and husband, Jack, enjoyed their four months in Myrtle Beach before traveling home to Maine in the spring.
Anne Wescott Dodd and her granddaughter made memories on the trip of a lifetime to Egypt in December. Her granddaughter works for Amazon Studios in California. The pair flew to Cairo and then took a boat to Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel. She shares a few of her memorable photos on our class photo album. Etta Libby Davenport and Mike took two different trips last year — paddled on the Penobscot in a war canoe, starting at the Brewer Salmon Pool and ending at the Hampden Marina. Then in October they flew to Spain and took a boat trip around Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and Gibraltar.
Wally Hinckley is beginning his 35th year as a Subway owner in Madison. He said all the skiing traffic passes by. Wally commented that the report on Maine Cabin Masters upgrading the Sugarloaf cabin of the Maine Outing Club prompted him to remember that he pounded the first nail in the cabin in 1958!
Gingee Buckley Franco sent me a clipping that the Maine Campus newspaper is no longer produced as a hard copy; it is only a digital publication. I can assure you that Ron Drogin, Mary Irving Fantucchio, me, and many others got our start on that little newspaper. Sad day for the campus. Another bit of sad news I received was that Harry Greaver, a beloved art professor to many of us, and his wife, Hanne, both passed away in 2022 in Oregon where they had an art studio. I didn’t get a holiday card from him in December, so I feared he was either ill or gone. He gave me a lot of advice about men. Alas, I didn’t take any of it!
As we “age out,” keeping in touch and supporting each other becomes more important. Please, continue or start sending updates. At every reunion there is always the question “Where is so-and-so? What is the latest?” Help us fill that information void. And remember to check our photo album at UMaineAlumni.com, class notes, class pages, 1961. Scroll to the album. Click on a photo and read the cut line.