University of Maine - Class of 1950

Welcome to the Class of 1950 official webpage on the University of Maine Alumni Association website. Here you will find any special announcements or reminders the Class of 1950 needs to know.

Summer Event
The 2010 summer meeting and luncheon will be held August 5 at the Cumberland Club in Portland. Coffee at 9:30 followed by a class meeting and a noon luncheon. Please join us.

Greatest Generation Award winners Harold Gilbert (L) and Earl Packard (R) are shown receiving their awards at Reunion 2010.

Below is the longer version of the Class of 1950 Class Column. The shorter version appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of Maine Alumni Magazine.

1950
60th Reunion June 4-5, 2010

Ruth Holland Walsh
186 Jerry Browne Road
Apartment 1112
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 536-6265
rhwdvb@aol.com

We celebrated the 60th Reunion of our Class of 1950 on June 4 and 5 of this year and wondered how so many years could have sped by, when it was “just the other day” that we participated in our Class Day ceremonies out on the expansive lawn closest to the University cannons…and then participated in ceremonies as the largest graduating class in the history of the university? We were mighty proud then…and are just as proud now! Reunion festivities were streamlined this year—so that the “meat” of our gathering was on Saturday, the 4th. Those of us who were on campus on Friday afternoon were able to take a bus trip “Down Memory Lane” with UMAA president Todd Saucier as our very articulate tour director. Never did we have a more complete tour of the campus where we could see “our” campus” in addition to being introduced to new and innovative construction. Many of our classmates stayed at the University Inn (on the site of The Elms, overlooking the Stillwater River) and on Saturday morning, after a good breakfast (including some delicious chocolate donuts), our day proceeded – past the Class of 1950 Flag Plaza to the McIntire Room at the Buchanan Alumni Center where Alton “Hoppy” Hopkins emceed a very moving Memorial Service honoring classmates who had died since our reunion service last year. There were some 30 names read, including many who were veterans of World War II and Korea. Immediately following that service, we were honored to present three classmates with the Greatest Generation Award. Colonel Byron Meader, US Army retired who lives in Rexburg, ID, saw action both in the Pacific and European Theater of Operations. He participated in operations on Guadalcanal, and then fought gallantly in the Battle of the Bulge. Byron was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for continued superior service to our country. Earl S. Packard from Rochester, NH, served in the European-African-Middle East Theater of Operations as a gunner with a heavy machine gun squad. He was instrumental in clearing away numerous enemy gunners from the safety of their pillboxes, who were inflicting heavy casualties on our troops. Earl received the Bronze Star in this effort and later on he was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries received in a battle near Forbach, France. Harold B. Gilbert from Lewiston, ME, was a waist gunner attached to the Eighth Air Force flying bombing missions in the European Theater of Operations. For his courage, coolness, and skills, Harold was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and later on the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement while serving as Right Waist Gunner on some 15 heavy bombardment missions over enemy-held positions. With the selection of these three candidates, our Greatest Generation Award plaque (hanging in the Class of 1950 suite on the second floor of the Buchanan Alumni House) is now filled. The Class will be discussing various other means of honoring classmates who have distinguished themselves through the years. Our honorees were toasted with a champagne toast—and we viewed the board that now contains some 15 names from the first recipient, John Edward Gee in 2005, to the three men honored at this year’s reunion. 
We returned to the McIntire Room for a delicious luncheon, and much chatting while getting caught up on the years. President Maggie Mollison McIntosh presided at our class business meeting and it was at that meeting that I was proud and honored to have been awarded the Black Bear Award… presented “in appreciation of outstanding service to the University.” Truly, it has always been my privilege to be a member of the Class—to be an alumna of the university and to be active through the years. I thank one and all for the honor you and the university have bestowed upon me.
We did announce that our 60th Reunion class gift to the university would serve to increase the balance of our 1950 Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for descendants of our Class as they attend the Orono campus. If you haven’t made a contribution yet, we invite you to contribute to the Class of 1950 Reunion Fund which serves as a small but most important part of the work we feel is essential to ensure a healthy future to our university, to our region, and the state of Maine. They may be sent to UMAA with a notation: 1950 Reunion gift.
We all had a great time of it on our beautiful campus and plan to meet at the Cumberland Club in Portland for our annual summer gathering of the class on Thursday, the 5th of August starting at 9:30 a.m. with coffee and... Though more information will be forthcoming this summer, if you find that you can join us, you can get more information from reservations chairman Flo Maddocks Fairfield at 401-246-1065 before July and then at 207-797-5497.
I received a nice note from Ray Gross, who said that though he has written thousands of words during his career, few had been about himself! We appreciate his bringing us up to date with his activities and he spoke of his career in journalism which spanned some 40 years and included writing for a daily paper, a small town radio station, and then 33 years with the 150-year-old Courier-Gazette in Rockland, ME—the last 17 years of which he served as publisher. In addition to community activities, Ray was very active in newspaper associations and is past president and member of the Hall of Fame of the Maine Press Association, a past president and Hall of Fame member of the New England Press Association, and he represented the New England states for some seven years on the board of the National Newspaper Association. In addition, Ray was introduced to barbershop harmony many years ago and helped organize choruses in several locals in Maine. He sings tenor in the summer with the Windjammers of Camden, and in the winter with the Suncoast Statesmen of Charlotte County, FL. We looked forward to seeing Ray at Reunion. You can be in touch with him either at ray144@midcoast.com or at his home at 169 Hayden Point Road, South Thomaston, ME 04858. Was delighted to read that The Midcoast Sports Hall of Fame recently inducted Beryl Leach into its Hall of Fame at the Rockland Elks Lodge. Beryl, who currently lives in Lakeland, FL, served as a coach in basketball, baseball, and track and field and also was the athletic director at Camden and Camden-Rockport high schools. I recently saw Sue Dartnell Hadge in Manchester, CT, when alumni director Todd was on his Black Bear Road Trip 2010and spoke to a group of Connecticut alums there. Sue and I had our own special reunion as Todd spoke to us about Maine’s Past, Present, and Future. Am sure that you have seen that there are a few changes in the MAINE Alumni Magazine and our class column – both of which will be published only twice a year. When you send me news…please know that though it may be delayed a few months, it WILL be published in due time! Take good care of yourselves…and let us toast “the college of our hearts, always!”

 

The Class of 1950 gathered on August 5, 2009, at the Cumberland Club in Portland.

First row, left to right are: Richard D. Hewes, Margaret Millison McIntosh, Ruth Holland Walsh, William Bodwell, and Janet Marsten Bodwell.
Middle row, left to right are: Edith Snowe Cole, Marjorie A. Saunders, Flora Maddocks Fairfield, Floyd T. Smith, Dorothy R. Smith, and Louise Litchfield McIntire.
Back row, left to right are: Richard G. Kelson, Albert E. Mosher, Alton M. Hopkins, Henry W. Saunders, Richard T. Fairfield, Roger B. Percival, Charles R. Barr. Dorothy Lord Hopkins, and Caroline Strong.

 

William H. Drisko, John Bache-Wiig, Jr., Harold L. Chapman, and Colby G. Walker were each presented with the Class of 1950 Greatest Generation Award at Reunion 2009. Presenting the award to William is Ruth Holland Walsh.

 

Harold

 

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Class of 1950 Class Project To make a gift to our Class Reunion Fund,contact the Reunion giving department at 1-800-934-2586 or give using the online giving form.