Pat Wade Fraker
204 Beath Road
Boothbay, ME 04537-5030
Hello! My name is Pat Wade Fraker, and I’ve taken over the position of correspondent for the Class of ’57 from Liz Hibbard Smith, who for 20 years dedicated herself to collecting and sharing news of our classmates. Thank you, Liz! To summarize my 60 years since graduating from UMO: I lived abroad for 10 years in Libya, Aruba, and Greece and have resided in New Jersey, New York, California, and Maine the rest of the time, the past 19 years in Boothbay, ME. It’s good to be home! I taught everywhere we lived, and for the last 18 years have been the volunteer executive director of Criminon of Maine. Criminon is an international nonprofit organization that offers life skills courses to inmates. Our local group has about 200 students in prisons in the northeast with 29 instructors. Three-quarters of our students take our courses via correspondence; the others are in our two on-site programs at the John J. Moran Medium Facility in Cranston, RI. Anyone care to help me? For the past 16 years, I’ve been a part-time employee at our busy Boothbay Harbor YMCA front desk. My husband, Robert, and I have a blended family of five children and seven grandchildren. Oh yes, and a wonderful standard poodle.
Thank you to Lois Whitcomb, our past president, for writing up the following synopsis of our Reunion: “On September 14th and 15th, 30 members of the Class of 1957 and 15 guests met to celebrate our 60th Reunion. We enjoyed renewing old friendships, taking campus tours, seeing the ways in which the university has changed and expanded, and ways in which it still remains the same. At our class meeting we thanked retiring president, Lois Whitcomb, and secretary, Liz Hibbard Smith, for their many years of service and elected the following slate of officers: president, Connie Doe Leslie; vice president, Jiggs Cecchini ’63G; corresponding secretary, Pat Wade Fraker; recording secretary, Janet Nolan; and treasurer, Bud Nolan. Bud gave the treasurer’s report showing that in September 2017 our class balance was $3,452.25 minus estimated reunion expenses of $2,200. The Class of 1957 Scholarship Fund fair market value was $51,143.15. There were two recipients of our class scholarship: Benjamin Quimby, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering from Old Town, and Patrick Quimby, a senior majoring in kinesiology and physical education, from Orono. Both these recipients are grandsons of Jean Frellick Roberts G. We held a moment of silence in memory of the 125 classmates who have died since our last reunion, and the 334 who have died since 1957. We voted to hold our 65th Reunion in 2022. Please put it on your calendar now as we’re hoping for a big turnout! A smaller group held an ‘after reunion’ gathering at Brown’s Wharf in Boothbay Harbor, followed the next day by a tour of the beautiful Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.”
Bud and Jan Nolan went to Key Colony Beach, FL, for the month of February 2018. Marathon Key was in the eye of hurricane Irma, so they are expecting this vacation area to be very much different from past years.
The ’57 Chi Omega Pledge Class has stayed very close over the years. We had occasional mini-reunions during my years living abroad and the 18 years I lived in California when I would get back to Maine for vacations. Since moving permanently to Maine in 1999, we have had annual gatherings. Our group has expanded from the Chi O’s to any Maine women graduates who have an interest in attending. For years, we had our reunions in the summertime at various homes or camps with everyone bringing food to share for lunch. In later years we have been having our luncheons at the Muddy Rudder in Falmouth. As I write this, our next luncheon will be held there on Friday, May 18. I’ll hope to report that we had a good gathering in our next column. If you read this and haven’t been attending and would like to, please contact me, Pat Wade Fraker, to be put on the list!
It is with sadness that I report the deaths of two of our dear classmates: Frances Rich Secord and Judi Smith Davis. Frannie was planning to attend our 60th Reunion and had to cancel just a few days prior to the date. Judi was hoping to make the luncheon in Falmouth this spring. Both succumbed to pancreatic cancer within a very short time of being diagnosed.
Janet Malcolm Buck wrote that she and husband, Bob, took a Holland America Cruise to Hamilton, Bermuda, last June. She said, “The flowers and birds were lovely. The food on the cruise was great. The Ocean Piano Bar had wonderful music. We took a tour of the Ocean Museum at Bermuda. There is something for everyone to see there. We enjoyed the seashell collection from around the world. Very impressive. Thousands of scooters everywhere in Bermuda.”
Our new class president, Connie Doe Leslie, wrote that the week following our Reunion in Orono, her old high school group, which still includes seven University of Maine grads, had a two-day reunion at Point Lookout in Lincolnville, ME. The original group consisted of six couples, nine graduates of Edward Little High School in Auburn, ME. Eight of that group attended UMO. They’ve been getting together and traveling together since 1978. Following that reunion, Gil and she drove to Hallowell for his Phi Kap reunion with about 25 attending. She also got together in Searsport for lunch with July Carol Stockbridge, Jane Farwell Russell, and Sally Cosseboom Webster ’72G. These gals were all in Balentine together, and Connie said they had a “great time reminiscing about all the good old times.”
Dottie Richards Marshall wrote that one of the highlights of 2017 was a trip out west in May with her daughter Kristin, her partner, Sharon, and her mother, Judy. The first stop was Las Vegas, where they enjoyed touring the strip, where Sharon on a brief stop at a casino won a little extra cash! From Vegas they went to Kanab, UT — stopping to view the Hoover Dam on the way. In Kanab they stayed for three days in a villa called Casa de Coral Cliffs, which was completely furnished with all the necessities and had a beautiful view of those cliffs. Using that as home base, they toured Zion National Park with its tall dark red rocks, Bryce Canyon National Park with its fascinating hoodoos (tall thin rocks that do resemble people), and the Grand Canyon (beautiful)! From there they spent three days in Sedona, AZ, visiting one of her favorite spots, the Chapel of the Holy Cross — a cross enclosed in glass in the cliffs. Dottie said it’s a spiritual, peaceful place. Inside the chapel Kristin was able to light one of the red candles in memory of Scott. While still in Sedona, Kristin, Sharon, and Judy had a helicopter ride with Kristin sitting up front as co-pilot. “Chicken me” [said Dottie] waited on the ground in the nice comfortable lounge. On their final morning in Phoenix as they were sitting in the living room at the motel, they could see two quail outside pecking between the pebbles. To Dottie it was a perfect ending to their trip — a truly western desert scene! On a later trip in the summer Dottie with other family members visited The Boulders at Squam Lake, NH, which is still one of their favorite spots. She always loves to see the plaque they have put on their big boulder for “Our Treasured Guest – E. Scott Marshall.” He was there with us in spirit. Following the 60th Reunion at UMO, Dottie met all her children and grandchildren plus Scott’s sister Janet, his cousin Bonnie, and cousins, Sharon, Kim, and Leni in Rockport, where they held a special ceremony at the cemetery and placed Scott’s ashes in the ground. (She had the ashes in her car trunk at the Reunion so jokingly said Scott got to attend his 60th, too!) Dottie’s next trip is to Tuscany, Italy, in May 2018. She’s studying Italian in preparation for the trip!
Robert Hutchinson and his wife, Carol Blake, were among the 12 who made our post-Reunion in Boothbay Harbor. Bob and Carol of Westport Island, ME, were married in August 2017 with Bob’s brother Bill ’59 as his best man again. Bob and Carol have bought a trawler and plan to do some cruising close to home, then to Nova Scotia, and possibly to the Bahamas in the fall.
Margaret MacKinnon McGrath wrote: “I’ve been wondering what I could possibly contribute to our class news, e.g., I’m getting very old, but not gray because my hairdresser is wonderful; however, she can’t do much about the years in the Maine sun and all the wrinkles. And then I thought that I could report that I AM still alive and mostly ambulatory, although my tennis days are over. I don’t think you’ll want to communicate that news. Then I thought of something you might publish if you are still desperate. I am spending a week over Martin Luther King holiday with my daughter Madeleine ’85 in Sugarloaf. When I go to Sugarloaf now, I really miss Al and Sally Cosseboom Webster, who used to live there in the winter, but who decided they like the Florida sun better than skiing. With the weather we’ve been having, I might too! My grandtwins, Maggie and Andy Blake, have just toured the Maine campus and are prospective candidates for the Class of — I guess 2024 — does that ever sound strange!”
Nancy McGouldrick Green wrote that after a divorce and then death of her second husband of 20 years, she has been happily married to Ralph for 18 years. Nancy’s three children, many stepchildren, and grandchildren fill their lives. Ralph has many hobbies such as building ships from the Blue Jacket in Searsport. After substitute teaching on Long Island, Nancy found her career in real estate in Pennsylvania. Her hobbies are duplicate bridge and cooking. The Greens have a family camp at Cathance Lake, ME. It was built in 1904 by her great-grandfather Foster. Now their children, the cousins, are buying camps there. They call it their Touch Stone.
Our new Class of ’57 vice president, Jiggs Cecchini, wrote: “Dear Pat, I’ve been thinking about your asking for news and trying to think what to say. First, I want to thank you for planning the Boothbay Harbor dinner and Botanical Gardens trip for those who could attend. I hadn’t been to Boothbay in over 50 years. It was a nice side trip that Bev and I really enjoyed and it was fun. I have enjoyed every single reunion that I have attended and believe I have hit every one since graduation. Having the opportunity to see and visit with classmates from many years ago is always enjoyable and hearing about the wonderful things they have achieved in their lives and what they are doing now.
“I still keep in touch with Peter and Joann Hanson Kostacopoulos, both in Maine and Connecticut but not as often as I would like. I am still in touch with Aram Garabedian, who is a huge New England Patriots booster. He attends all home games and as many away games as possible. Aram has attended every Super Bowl they are involved in. [Pat’s note: We missed you at our 60th, Aram!]
“Bev and I went to Indianapolis in January for my yearly conference with State Associations for Coaches. It is always held over Martin Luther King weekend, and we have attended these for close to 25 years, traveling to all parts of our country for conferences. After that, we headed to Florida for three weeks of fun and relaxation and warmer weather. Then, back to CT where I am the boys’ basketball tournament director for the high schools in Connecticut. I’ve been on the boys’ basketball committee for the Principals Association since 1982 and this will be my 23rd year as the tournament director.” Jiggs ended, “Always a friend to the Class of ‘57.” You certainly are, Jiggs!
Please send news to me at any time during the year!