Class President Meg Thompson Villarreal wants you to “Celebrate 61 with the Class of 1961! By the time you read this, the countdown to our delayed Reunion will have begun. All things progressing positively, we will meet on campus from September 8-10. We hope as many as possible will make the event, but if not,
please continue to send Judy Ohr an update of your life for our class column. The older we get the more we seem to care about reaching out and reconnecting, so the ball is in your court. Postage is high and mail slow. Email gets info to you wherever you are. Please use it! Many changes on campus and exciting new
developments are happening. Much to be proud of at our alma mater. Come if you can, but at least stay in touch!”
Nancy Kennedy Hostler and June Toulouse Heintz were proud grandmothers at the Nutcracker recital of their granddaughters Abby Hostler and Georgia Heintz. Nancy drove up from Pennsylvania for the performance at the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, NJ. Jane Wilson Sturgis, Marcia Sayward Blake, and Mary Irving Fantucchio had a nice “roomie” visit in Gray at the former Cole Farms, now named Trails and Ales. They met for a great breakfast and had a super visit catching up with each other. Jane is completing her term on the local school board and has decided to run again. She says it has been a joy to be proactive for public education and she is not ready to give it up. Little did the girls know at that time, but Mary was about to make her TV debut in an ad with her two sisters singing “Reny’s, a Maine Adventure!” Mary says they were on all three stations multiple times a day for about a week. “Alas, the final week we were replaced by a man named James in a kilt with a bagpipe
playing the Reny’s song!” she joked.
Had a nice long letter from Merton Lombard that gave me a chuckle as he said the class news reminded him of “riding in the back seat of a convertible with his date to and fro to a fraternity outing on the coast of Maine.” Tell us more! But alas he didn’t. Just provided news of his work as a forester in northwestern Maine,
where he ran away from a gigantic mama black bear with three cubs. After Maine, Merton took a government job in Redding, CA, with the Bureau of Land Management. He’s retired now in Gresham, OR, with his wife, Carolyn. The couple has 17 great-grandkids.
Betsy Flynn Drake and her husband returned to Myrtle Beach, SC, for the winter months. She doesn’t miss the snow but enjoys the nice moderate weather. The high COVID case count limited much of their activities. Surprised they didn’t run into Paul Daly and Frances, who spent January and part of February in Myrtle Beach too. They stayed in the same condo where they owned property 20 years go — a visit to the old haunts. Speaking of snowbirds, Joy Hayden Boothby and husband, David, wintered in Aledo, TX, before returning to Meredith, NH, in April.
Lots of news in Etta Libby Davenport’s Christmas letter. She’s addicted to Silver Sneakers Zoom classes. They prepared her for her summer 2021 hikes on the Kenduskeag Trail, Belfast Harbor Trail, Bar Harbor Shore Path, and the trail from Sand Beach to Otter Point in Acadia. She also squeezed in a trip to Montana.
In December Etta helped at the church fair by making 120 bows for wreaths and a few doggie wreaths. Now with COVID on the decrease, Gingee Buckley Franco and Regina Murphy Ruhlin are back to participating in the Bangor Retired Teachers organization as well as a book club and the Penobscot Theater.
With only two issues of the alum magazine yearly I try to keep classmates informed of news through a private email list. If you are not getting my messages, please send me your email address. I also share photos as they are sent to me. Our photo album can be accessed at UMaineAlumni.com, class notes, class pages, 1961. Scroll to the bottom and click on photo album. It is great fun. Don’t miss it.