Class of 1981 Summer 2019 Class Note

Barb Brown Dalton

How about that Maine football team?! How about those Red Sox? How about the Patriots? And how about the Maine Women’s basketball team?! We love our sports here in eastern Maine and northern New England and it’s been a darn good past year! Hope you’ve enjoyed it from wherever you are, too!

In keeping with the sports theme, John Tortorella was given a two-year contract extension with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, signing him through the 2020-2021 season. John has enjoyed quite a career in the NHL, coaching the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, and Tampa Bay Lightning before going to Columbus in October 2015.

Kupa Law Associates in North Kingstown, RI, is celebrating their 20th anniversary. Congrats to Deb Kupa and her brother and law partner, Jim Kupa, on the milestone! Deb enjoys visiting the family camp in Rockwood, ME, each summer and stays in touch with UMaine friends via Facebook. (Hint: You, too, can connect with classmates in the University of Maine Class of 1981 Facebook group!)

More and more retirements are popping up in our news! Gail Clough Rice wrote that she has retired after more than 22 years in corporate communications at Central Maine Power and Avangrid. She’s planning to spend more time on the slopes at Sugarloaf and sailing Casco and Penobscot Bays with her husband, Randy. Peter Blaze Corcoran G, ’85 Ed.D. is retired from an impressive career in education. He is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Environmental Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. He was a faculty member at College of the Atlantic, Swarthmore College, and Bates College, and held appointments as a visiting professor at several universities abroad. In his retirement, he continues to consult in sustainability in higher education and makes South Freeport his home.

Mimi Gough published a memoir titled From Fledgling to Flyer from letters her late father left behind from his WWII years. Mimi lost her father when she was only 14. This journey through time with him during the war helped her to better understand the young man he was and the father he became to her, and to realize how much he has influenced her life. You can find the book on Amazon and at many Maine bookstores. Wonderful job, Mimi!

Some sad news from Nancy Baker Miller ’82, as she wrote to let us know that her husband, Ken Miller, passed away in September 2017. Ken was a mechanical engineering major and a Beta Theta Pi brother. He received his MBA at USM in 1991 and had a successful career in sales and marketing in the automotive and aeronautics fields. Ken and Nancy married in 1983 and raised their three children in Yarmouth. He loved coaching youth sports, boating, fishing, skiing, and traveling. He was loyal to his Beta brothers, the UMaine Engineering Department, and always a proud Black Bear. I know you all join me in sending our heartfelt sympathy to his family.

Kim Stanfill-McMillan, former Chadbourne Hall resident and wood technology major, sent along a note after reading about Jim Minner in a recent issue. It seems they had both dorm and forestry connections and that sparked her to report on her career and life. Since she switched majors, she actually graduated in ’82 and earned another degree in ’86, so skip to the next column to read more — this is just your teaser!

A friendly reminder as we wind down another fiscal year at UMaine — please support your alma mater so that it can continue the mission of providing world-class education and research for generations to come! The Class of ’81 Scholarship Fund needs your support! Your donation is just a click away at our.umaine.edu/1981! Thanks!