It was wonderful to hear from Elaine Swasey Criswell, who graduated with a degree in chemistry. She was looking at the summer 2023 MAINE Alumni Magazine recently and noticed an award that was given to one of our classmates, Alan Butterfield ’68, ’02 D.Sc. (Hon). She sent him a note and found out that he has been teaching and conducting research since graduation. Elaine and Alan were two out of 14 chemistry majors who graduated in our Class of 1,400. Elaine was glad to make contact with someone from over 50 years ago. Elaine worked as an analytical chemist for Eastman Kodak following graduation. She is now retired and enjoys spending time as a quilter. Many of the quilts she makes are for charities such as the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester and Quilts of Valor.
Martha Berglind Burnham wanted to catch us up on her recent experiences. Her daughter and family visited from Colorado in July, and they spent a few days in Acadia. A highlight of their trip was when they stopped at the university on their way home. It was July 4th and the campus was empty! However, she was glad to see her dorms, Hart and Hancock, still standing, and, in spite of new buildings, the campus was as she remembered it. Martha ordered a sweatshirt and hockey shirt online because the bookstore was closed. She is happy to say that her grandchildren wear them proudly.
Congratulations to H. Roy Kaplan, who earned a masters in sociology in 1968, for his recently published book, Asian Americans at the Margins: A History of Stereotyping, Discrimination and Achievement. The book was published by McFarland and Company in February 2025. For more information, contact Roy: hrkaplan@live.com.
Dick Sawyer sent his news: “I retired from the financial services business 11 years ago and just went off the Northern Light Health Foundation Board after nine years. I am the current president of the Portland Camera Club with over 130 members. We celebrated 126 years last year as one of the oldest camera clubs in America. My wife, Betty, and I celebrated 55 years of marriage last year. Our sons and their families are doing well, and both have worked with UNUM — our oldest a sales rep for over 30 years and his brother for over 25 years and now a VP in the home office.
“We are fortunate that we are all in good health, relatively speaking!”
From Cheryl “Sherry” Conley Smyth, who currently lives in Vancouver, WA, with her husband, Bill, I learned she is enjoying retirement, involved in book clubs, writing groups, and gardening. She taught English as a Second Language for two years in Turkey, five years on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, and in Portland, OR, after the fall of Saigon. Sherry and Bill recently celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. They spent the first years of their marriage sailing the waters of Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, and the Columbia River. They have a son and a daughter, both international adoptees, who also reside in the Pacific Northwest. She enjoys hearing news about classmates in the MAINE Alumni Magazine and wishes to encourage more people to send in a note or two about themselves. Awards and recognition are always good but so are everyday life experiences.
Thanks, Sherry, for encouraging our classmates to share their experiences and achievements. I am proud of an award I recently received from Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT), an “Achievement and 1K Milestone Award” for more than 100 educational resources used by educators from the United States, Canada, China, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. See shorturl.at/DVaWa for more information.
We are looking forward to hearing from you.