May I quote 1980 physics laureate James Cronin, Nobel Prize: “When I ask myself,
‘Who are the happiest people on the planet?’ my answer is, ‘Those who can’t wait to
wake up in the morning to get back to what they were doing the day before.’”
Sometimes I’m one of those happy people, especially when I’m going somewhere, but
today I will be happiest when I finish this column, which is a few days overdue.
It’s a sunny day (March 28, 26 degrees) as I write. The snow is gone, bulbs are coming
up, birds are singing, and you might even be sunning yourself at the seashore (or lake)
while reading this.
REUNION: It’s happening! In Orono. On campus. Our 69th. Thursday, Sept. 8, Reunion
Dinner, Black Bear Inn, Old Town; Friday, Sept. 9, Luncheon, Wells Conference Center,
on campus. Saturday, Sept. 10, Football Game, vs. Colgate. There’s more happening,
but this is all I know. You’ll have already gotten a notice or two, but just to refresh your
memory. I hope you can be there. And bring along family, friends – we’re in our 90s —
we might need a ride. Now on to classmates.
Helen Strong Hamilton, class president, of Exeter, NH, is still doing her two-mile walk
every day, so I count her well. But she did break her wrist last year, and now tells
herself: “Pick up your feet, no shuffling.” She’s living “five years at a time,” wants to
reach 100. Why stop there?
Jean Dolloff Kreisinger, Newtown, CT, has two trips to Maine planned this year: Aug.
7, Bar Harbor. Her daughter Karyl Evans of North Haven, is on a panel designated for
the landscaping of the Yale campus. The event celebrates the 150th anniversary of the
birth of Beatrix Farrand, Yale’s Consulting Landscape Gardener from the 1920s to the
1940s. In November, Jean will attend the wedding of her step-granddaughter,
stepdaughter of her brother Dana ’63. (Don’t forget reunion!)
Isabelle “Izzie” Stearns Foss, of Temple (next to Farmington), said “How about
renting a bus for Reunion?” I second that. Wouldn’t that be a grand idea! “Same house,
40 years, just existing,” she said. She does carry wood for her woodstove, shovels
snow, gardens, watches news, reads news, sews, and knits hats for the middle school
(has a box of them for when a student needs one, as it’s required when outside.) Mother
of six, all but one live in Maine.
George Weatherbee, Walpole, MA, broke his hip and is in rehab in Dedham, MA. “He’s
getting treated like George Bush Senior,” said his daughter Donna (who said he
watches “Gunsmoke.”). Then home he goes, back to his all-white cat, Brady, to his
assisted living abode in Walpole, where he and his wife, Rita, moved almost three years
ago. (Rita ’54 died Aug. 10, 2021.) Our condolences, George, to you, your family, and
friends.
Dave Field, of Yarmouth winters, and Shapleigh summers, was at our 68th Reunion
last August. Sorry about not listing you as there, Dave. Never got to talk to you —
different tables. So, we’ll see you at Reunion? You said you still drive. Dave also lost his
wife, Dee, in 2019. Our condolences are with you also. Born and raised in Sanford, he
has an English Cocker Spaniel, Abby, 13, 22 lbs., who eats carrots. And he keeps in
touch with Warren Moody in Anderson, SC.
So, Warren Moody, you’re next. How many of you know of, heard of, or been to
Moody’s Diner, Motel & Gifts on Route 1 in Waldoboro, ME? All I can think of are their
pies! And it’s Warren’s father and mother, Percy and Bertha, who started it all in 1927.
Now, three generations later, with Bertha’s original pie recipes still being used today by
pastry cook Susan Moody, right at the diner, what more can I say? Warren also
mentioned the book How Maine Changed The World, on sale there. He mows close to
three acres of lawn (eight acres total, woodlands). He does his own cleaning — “Good
enough for me, maybe not for others.” What food does he like? “The kind I get up north,
the way it’s prepared.” (It’s Meals on Wheels where he lives.) He spoke of Al Fernald
’54, of Camden, and his having been involved with Down East Magazine. Warren does
get to the family cottage, now owned by his daughter, on Damariscotta Lake, which
encompasses part of Nobleboro, Jefferson, and Newcastle. I realize, more and more,
how little I know Maine, although born and raised here. He said: “I think the only thing
free in life is the air we breathe.”
Dr. Charles Cushing, of Fairfield, and his wife, Alice, moved to Maine in 1960 to a
house built in 1900. They come to many of the reunions and I’m quite sure you’ll see
them in September. They “try to stay even with the day.”
Lloyd Oakes, of East Longmeadow, MA, will once again miss reunion due to the air
races in Reno, with all kinds of planes from all over the world. His joints may be aching,
but he’ll be at his daughter’s there. He said I could print his cell number (413-896-0325),
so, feel free to call. Lloyd, a 50-year member of the Lions Club (major supporter of eye
research), is very involved with its fishing derby this year for ages between 3 and 14
taking place on a pond in town, supplied with some 500 trout. What food does he
crave? “Something that’s cooked by somebody else.”
Cynthia Cowan Dunlap is now living in Bangor, as of Aug. 1, 2021. She said I could
print her new address and phone: Winterberry Heights, 932 Ohio St., Apt. 229, Bangor,
ME 04401. Tel. (207) 922-2652. Mother of three: Connie, Ellsworth; David,
Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Steve, Orchard Park, NY. And a grandson in Bar Harbor. Cindy, who also has a camp on Green Lake in Ellsworth, is looking forward to warmer weather and getting outdoors right at Winterberry.
Roman “Whitey” White, So. Portland, who goes by the name “Al” where they are now,
and Alden by the “Old-Timers,” is recuperating from Covid. He and his wife, Phyllis, both
vaccinated four times, came down with the virus. She, with a cough, he in the hospital
seven weeks, then therapy. Al, may you feel much better when you read this.
Dick Searles, Old Orchard Beach, who said his “knees are beyond repair,” has fond
memories of our reunion in Bar Harbor. (It was grand, wasn’t it?) Dick, who’s married to
Joan, used to be a stockbroker, and likes to watch the stock market. He talked of Mutual
Funds with its numerous categories, no big losses, the same with gains. He also
watches baseball games — “I like people,” he said.
Dawn Miller Woodbrey, Orono, eight years in a cottage at Dirigo Pines, met her
husband, Hank, the end of freshman year at the infirmary. She worked with Hank for
many years at his dental office in many capacities. (Hank died in 2021.) Dawn, who was
born in California and enjoys Wordle, the news, and more, spoke of her father, 1st Mate
on two of Howard Hughes’ yachts. See you in Orono!
Warren Noyes, Madison, who is living in the old family home (1820) that his mother left
him, is “Perking along.” His grandson Rollin and his wife, Amber, and their two sons,
Gabriel, 8, and Jackson,7, live with him, so he’s happy. Warren’s great-great
grandfather, a Weston, who settled there, built the house. His mother inherited it from
her uncle. (That’s what you call lineage.) Warren, who worked for the Navy Department
for 30 years, “will give it a try, to live to 100.” Yes!
Meredith Monk Dalessandro, Portland, who moved from Lewiston to a retirement
home with “beautiful grounds” more than a year ago, plays bridge twice a week, learned
to play mah jongg, belongs to a book club and some sort of a “wine girls” group once a
week, “feels fortunate to have good health.” She eats anything BUT coconut and liver.
She told of sitting at the table and telling her mother that no matter how long she sat
there, she was not going to eat that liver. So, she’d get up, with the liver, go into the living room and “stuff the liver in an overstuffed chair.”
See you in Orono!