My husband, Gordon, and I have just wrapped up 10 years of volunteering at the Chocolate Church in Bath. In March we helped produce an Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap. The murder mystery entertained audiences with six sold-out performances.
We tap a few maple trees every year — enough to get a couple gallons of syrup to give away to friends and family. The sap is in the freezer, but we won’t boil it down until we return from our second river cruise, this one on the Danube. With only about 100 passengers, stops for fascinating shore excursions every day, fabulous cuisine, and an opportunity to meet interesting people, there’s no better way to relax and enjoy the wonders of another world.
After many years (nearly 60) I heard from Alexander “Zandy” Gray G, who I met at the University of Maine my senior year. A grad student, he was introduced to me by Dick Sawyer ’68. The two grew up in the same area — Zandy in Old Town, and Dick in Bangor. Zandy’s family founded the nationally known Old Town Canoe Company in 1898 in Old Town.
“I am very proud of my family’s work to create a factory with such a long-lasting reputation,” Zandy wrote from his home in North Carolina.
“Did we ever enjoy a beer and pizza at Pat’s?” he asked. I’m sure we did, or maybe it was the 15 cent draft beers at The Bloody Bucket in Old Town.
Zandy got his B.A. at Hobart College in Geneva, NY, and decided to follow his advisor, Dr. David C. Smith ’56G, ’58G to UMaine, where he got his M.A. “Dr. Smith was a great teacher and cared about his students.” Zandy wrote. “He was an inspiration to me.”
After graduation Zandy joined the Peace Corps for four years. In Peru he worked in agriculture at 10,500 feet in the Andes Mountains. He and his wife, Lila, a native of Peru whom he met in 1970, have been married for 55 years and have two children and three grandchildren.
For 30 years Zandy and Lila lived and worked in six different countries in Latin America. After moving back to the US, they lived in Rhode Island for 10 years. Zandy worked for a non-profit and Lila taught sixth grade in Providence. Zandy retired in 2008 and Lila in 2013.
Their son lives in Durham, NC, and their daughter lives in Manassas, VA. Zandy and Lila are planning to move just down the street from their daughter after recently buying a house there.
“It is nice regaining contact with the past,” Zandy wrote. “I have not returned to Maine since COVID and will not get on a plane again unless I have to. I miss the snow, though we got three storms this winter with two-three inches each. Maybe we will get more in Virginia.”
Congratulations to Howard “Sawin” Millett, Jr. G, now the District 1 Oxford County Commissioner, following last fall’s election. He had just finished his ninth nonconsecutive term representing House District 81 and was not eligible to run again for that seat.
We were saddened to learn of John Huard’s passing in January. A two-time first team All-America honoree (1965, 1966) John was the first football student-athlete inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.
“To me, John Huard was the most powerful figure in Maine football history,” said former head football coach and quarterback, Jack Cosgrove ’78, ’84G. “He led the 1965 Tangerine Bowl as a player and coached me and my teammates to the 1974 Yankee Conference championship.”
Former teammate Walter Nelson said, “Nobody worked harder to succeed in whatever he did in life than John, whether it be school, football, business, coaching, or family. Everything he did and achieved in life he did with great humility.”