Hello, everyone. I hope that your summer is going well and that you have news to share with your classmates: adventures, travels, family reunions, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, etc.
I do have some special news from our 60th. As you know, we exceeded our scholarship goal. Our account principal is now over $100,000. What we did not know at Reunion time was that your generosity has allowed us to double the number of scholarship recipients from two to four annually. Bravo, folks! On behalf of the class executive committee, thank you all so much. Let’s keep the momentum going. Check that scholarship box when you send in your annual gift to the university.
In December, 15 ladies of ‘62 gathered once again for our annual Christmas lunch at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport. If you have not already become a friend on our class Facebook page, I suggest you do so. There is a great photo on that site of all the ladies who attended the holiday event. Photos with so many people are difficult to reproduce in our magazine. However, I have included another wonderful photo from December with this column. Check out the lovely sweater that Mary Hilton Shorey is sporting. Mary was the high bidder at our Reunion auction to win this beauty knit by our very talented classmate, Pegs Boothbay Lyon.
Don Harnum emailed me from his home in Pinehurst, NC, with news that he and wife, Jane, are actively pursuing their passion for art. Both had paintings exhibited in the Southern Pines Art Show this winter. Their work is lovely! I know this first hand as I was fortunate to place the winning bid for a beautiful seascape print on canvas donated by Don for our 60th. It hangs proudly in our summer home on MDI. Don also told me that he called Skip Chapelle recently to congratulate him on the fact that a room in the new athletic building on campus is to be named in honor of Skip. Well deserved, Skip!
Ed and Pat Smith Ranzoni have been very busy this year, even though they have been staying close to home. One exception was that Ed won the drawing for a permit in the 2022 Maine moose lottery. He went hunting with the couple’s sons near the Canadian border. Ed bagged an impressive bull. Along with a buck from their property, the veggies from his garden, and the wood he cuts for the wood stove, Pat says “he really takes care of us.” For her part, along with cooking and weekly bread making, Pat finds the time to co-chair the committee to establish the Bucksport Paper Mill Museum, and is still serving as Bucksport’s poet laureate. She recently had three poems published in literary journals in Maine and Italy. Pat is also active in the Wabanaki Alliance for legislative recognition of the sovereignty of Maine’s indigenous tribes. Dale and Alice McKiel Hyerstay’s Christmas letter had a lovely photo they took while aboard the race committee boat of the Lake Champlain Yacht Club during last summer’s Mid-Lake Race. Sailing Lake Champlain has long been a passion for Alice and Dale.
Sue Merrill Blaisdell writes from Punta Gorda, FL. She is happy to report that she “survived” hurricane Ian. Sue and her husband evacuated to their home in Danbury, CT, for a week during the storm to wait until both water and electricity were restored. Despite some damage, Sue has a “handy husband” and she says they now feel lucky to be back playing golf and enjoying the Florida warm winter weather. Sue had planned to join us in Schoodic for our pre-Reunion events last fall, but unfortunately, she had to cancel plans as she was in close contact with friends that came down with COVID the week before Reunion. Sue plans to be back in Maine this summer both at Lakewood and Downeast and would love to get together with classmates. Jim Ochsner also sent news from Florida. Jim lives in Fort Myers and wrote that he once again attended the Black Bear Road Trip. This is an annual alumni party held at a Red Sox spring training game. For all you snowbirds this event is a great way to catch up with classmates.
One of the wonderful things about Reunion is the laughs we share over memories of our days on campus. If you have a memory to share, send it along with your news.
Be well, stay safe, and please write!