Has anyone else noticed how fast six months go by? Terrifying!
Dottie Richards Marshall wrote that she had a fun summer with a trip with family members to Maine and a later visit to Holderness, NH, on Little Squam Lake at The Boulders Motel where she and husband, Scott, vacationed for years. She said in front of The Boulders Motel on a large boulder there is a plaque saying, “In memory of our honored guest E. Scott Marshall.”
Dottie heard from Sylvia MacKenzie Emery that she and Phil are fine in Westminster, MD, near one of their daughters.
Dru Nesbit Pedro is well and is still bowling and playing golf. She laughingly said she wouldn’t give her golf handicap.
Louis Leavitt wrote that he made a 459-mile round trip from his home in Caribou to visit with his college roommate, David Webb, in Sedgwick, ME. Lou and Dave roomed together in 1956 in the Old North Dorms under the two-year Ag Program. They hadn’t seen each other for 65 years!
There was an inspiring article about Charles A. Scontras in the Portland Press Herald. Charles followed in his father’s footsteps as a shoe repairman before pursuing a lifelong career in education. He became a professor at the University of Maine in 1961 and remained there for 36 years, retiring in 1977. He wrote more than a dozen books and many pamphlets about Maine labor history. In 1997 the Maine Department of Labor consulted with him on a mural that highlighted Maine’s labor history.
Our deepest condolences to Elva Brackett Alden-Petring, whose husband passed away in July. Elva and Marshall had been married 12 years. In September Elva and her daughter Susan returned to Maine for a 10-day trip with a first destination being Boothbay Harbor. My husband, Robert, and I were spending a few days on nearby Capitol Island at the time, and it was a treat to see Elva and share “my” special island with them. The morning they were to come for lunch, the fog was so thick it was impossible to see the water in front of the cottage, but by noon, the fog lifted and we were able to eat our lobster rolls overlooking the beautiful bay. Elva and I had a delightful time reminiscing about our years at UMO.
In this edition, I’m featuring a classmate who has remained a dear friend through the years, Dr. Jane Barker. We were junior residents together in East Chadbourne and then roommates in North Estabrooke our senior year. Jane graduated from Foxcroft Academy and earned a degree in medical technology at UMaine. She then attended Wellesley College, where she was a laboratory assistant while working towards her master’s degree. She went on to obtain a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin before earning a post-doctorate fellowship at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor. Her next career moves were as staff scientist at the Institute for Cancer Research at Putnam Memorial Hospital in Bennington, VT, and then as senior staff fellow and later senior investigator at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, MD. During her postdoctoral work, Jane studied programmed changes in red blood cell development, work she continued at the NHLBI. Jane established her own research lab following her appointment to the faculty at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX). She served as director of research at JAX during a time when funding was difficult to obtain. She advised other scientists there in grant writing and by the time she left that position, all the scientists who submitted grants were funded. Jane’s many students have worked in multiple institutions including the National Institutes of Health, The Jackson Laboratory, and Washington University in St. Louis. Some of them have also served as reviewers to award grants for research, as editors of scientific journals, and as mentors for the next generation of scientists. Jane has been listed as a noteworthy research biologist by Marquis Who’s Who. Jane also received the Dr. Mary Chandler Lowell Award from Foxcroft Academy and was inducted into their academic hall of fame in 2015. It’s my pleasure to highlight Jane and her illustrious career. Jane lives in Bar Harbor with her companion of many years.
Dear classmates, when you finish reading this edition of the alumni news, how about picking up the phone or turning on your computer and giving me your news for the next edition! Thank you! Pat