1953
Well, here we are, April 6, with news of our classmates. Snow is here, generator humming (no power, third day), a broken arm, age 92, but all is well, it really is. Hope this finds you well, too. There are some 137 of you out there and I plan to call a dozen, maybe two dozen. Please pick up the phone.
Our 71st Reunion is coming up in September. Talk last year was of holding it in Portland at USM, but because (lately) such a small number of our class attends, and the distance for some, it was decided to hold it on the water in Kennebunkport, at the Arundel Wharf Restaurant. You’ll receive a notice, or two, as the date draws near. I notice the Annual Senior Alumni Reunion is being held Sept. 12-14 at the university in Orono, but that’s quite a drive from the south.
In the last issue, I mentioned the death of our classmate Suzanne Tasker Rich Buteyn on April 22, 2023. Since then, her son Mark Rich of Holland, MI, sent me two of Suzanne’s scrapbooks. One covers her younger years; the other, her college life (1949-1953). She roomed in East Hall her freshman year with Constance Lawley LaRue of Quincy, MA. (How did some 60+ girls fit into that Quonset hut? Sue is in the second row, second from left.) Her freshman Eagle was Jean McIntire White ’52. Sue became a Tri Delt.
Suzanne’s campus years included: Maine Christian Association; field hockey; SAE Spring House party; worked at mayoral campaign for Bruno Caliandro, sang in a group for him; saw Spike Jones and his City Slickers in Bangor; Maine Day Work Period; 1950 Military Ball; dating, gowns, corsages; waitress, head waitress; 1950 Red Sox game, Fenway Park; roomed two years with Jane Bellamy Young, No. Estabrooke; 1951 Ice Capades. And her college life goes on. Thank you so much, Mark and Suzanne.
David Butterfield, originally of Middletown Springs, VT, now of Punta Gorda, FL, a geology major and ATO guy, whose roommate was David Field (when he wasn’t at the House), was asleep when I called in April. However, Carol, his wife, insisted on waking him up. Well, this 93- or 39-year-old classmate, as he called himself, woke up, of course, and he and Carol, his “child bride,” (she 83, he 93), were a delight. “She has me and I have her,” he said. He called himself an introvert, and said: “One thing I do well is I’m a sloppy, messy eater.” (They have no animals. I must have mentioned that. I also must have asked him what he liked to eat best.) David and Carol, married 52 years, have a blended family of six children between them: Carol, two daughters, Valerie and Dawn; and David, one daughter, three sons, Traci, David, John, and Eric. David, whose father was “kind of a wordsmith,” wrote the following limerick which I believe you’ll enjoy:
There was an old sailor named Perry
Who sailed on ship, boat and ferry.
And now he’s gone “out to sea”
And left you and me
Who miss that old sailor named Perry.
David said: “Charles Perry was a “very affable person and we enjoyed his company.”
Here’s another classmate who has a gene for writing: Harriet Riley Cederstrom of Queensbury, NY. Originally of Orono, and only a year at UMaine (“got married instead”), this AOP, and home ec major, at 92, has written: The Brimstone Hill Gang (published through Amazon). “I changed all the names, the town,” she said. She told of her father, who bought a farm in Newburgh, ME, “a real country town near Bangor,” she said. “It’s a memoir of growing up in Maine, the characters, it’s humorous; I think people will enjoy reading it.” (Her son, David, also an author, compiled the stories and there you have it. Might I add that Harriet knew of many classmates, due to living in Orono at that time, and listed a number: Carolyn “Cookie” Simpson and husband, Henry McBride; Phyllis Noyes Scantlebury, and Gertrude Wyman. Note: I have to mention that Harriet has “One wonderful granddaughter, Sophie.”
John Noyes, of Madison, is “hanging in there.” He sounds bright and chipper. Here’s a classmate who seems to appear at reunions, no matter what. Remember, John, we’re having one in September. Remember the eclipse on April 8? He said he could go west 50 miles, “might drive.” I wonder if he did. (I saw it in Rangeley.)
Isabel “Izzy” Stearns Foss, of Temple (5 miles from Farmington), “is trying to stay warm.” Remember, this is April. But, up there in Maine, she had a foot and a half of snow; luckily she didn’t lose power. One of 10 children (seven girls), Izzy, a “collector,” said she’s “downsizing. A lot of junk to get rid of.” As to classmates? She had lunch with Shelley Stillings Keene last fall in Auburn. And her favorite food? “As long as it’s chocolate.”
Lloyd Oakes, of East Longmeadow, MA, was in the midst of getting ready for the Lions Club fishing derby to take place in town that weekend. He talked of measuring the fish, buying some 2,000 trout to stock the local pond, and of the various prizes to be awarded to the different age groups. You could tell he was excited. And then he’ll be off to Reno for two months, to celebrate his 93rd in September and the annual air show. As to children, he has “two of each kind”: A daughter four miles away in Wilbraham; a son five miles away in West Springham; a son in Vermont; and a daughter in Nevada. Lloyd sends “Wishes to all.”
Dave Beppler, of State College, PA, had “something boiling on the stove, wilting the kale,” he said when I called. He came back a few days ago from a birthday for a one-year-old boy from Afghanistan, whose parents (his father, a translator) came here as refugees a few years ago. Dave has also had a birthday, his 93rd. Congratulations to you both!
- I. “Tony” Bartley and his wife, Rowena, of Greenville, were working on a 500-piece puzzle of an old gas station when I called. Since the pandemic, they’ve been “puzzling,” as they put it. Tony, a TKE fraternity man, who majored in business administration, married Rowena, a Husson girl, in 1955. That’s almost 70 years! Wonderful!
Mary Gerrish Canning, Tri Delt, and a music major, originally from Augusta, now of Dexter, has been married to Gordon 30 years come July. (Gordon is originally from Farmington, a University of Florida grad, and served in the Air Force.) Mary said she remembers going to at least one college reunion, perhaps our 50th. She recalled Buchanan House, the Collins Center, and Danny Williams. Mary is mother of two daughters: Kathryn Bourgoin ’78, ’79 of Orono; and Patti (deceased), once mayor of Gardiner.
I’m quite sure that Jean Dolloff Kreizinger, of Newtown, CT, who usually appears at our reunions, will be at our 71st come fall. Her brother, Dana ‘63 attends his, and one, two, or all three of Jean’s daughters also. They drive, she rides. Diane: Works for the government in Williamsburg; Karyl: filmmaker in No. Haven, CT; and Tracy Johnson, Wallingford, CT, designer, who works with architects, on such a project, for example, as the number of operating rooms at a hospital.
*In my last column, I listed a phone number for Cynthia “Cindy” Cowan Dunlap of Orono. It was incorrect. The correct number for Cindy, who lives at Orono Commons, 117 Bennoch Rd., Apt. 129, Orono, ME 04473 is: (207) 866-2105, ext. 720. Cindy answered, after someone from the facility went to her room and told her she had a call. Cindy sounded fine; Pat’s Pizza had been on the menu just recently.
From the Times Record on January, 19, 2024 Claude Bonang, husband of classmate Ann Twombly Bonang, resident of Brunswick, ME, was “warmly welcomed to the Maine state senate chamber on Tuesday, January 16th and presented with a special legislative sentiment by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mattie Daughtry.” He was recognized for his academic, athletic, civic, professional, and service-related accomplishments. He is a local legend known for his ability to play saws, spoons, and rhythm bones. Congratulations, Claude!
This is it for another six months. Give me a call and keep me up to date on all your new adventures. Hope to see you in September at our 71st Reunion!
Take care, Nancy