Your executive board was quite bummed that Reunion was postponed until 2022 but we were understanding about the COVID concern. Please make plans for next September.
In lieu of our class election that had been scheduled for the canceled September Reunion, the executive board selected officers in a Zoom meeting. Meg Thompson Villarreal is president; Larry Schiner, vice president; Judy Ohr, secretary; and Jean McNeary Woodard, treasurer.
Betsy Flynn Drake writes that the highlight of the summer was her and Jack’s 50th wedding anniversary. They did not want a big gathering so the four kids took turns coming to visit them in Bar Harbor. They returned to Myrtle Beach for winter.
Jane Wilson Sturgis ’97G took a little tumble in the summer but physical therapy made her an almost new woman! After therapy she joined a gym. Janie is still active on the school board. Her daughter bought her old farmhouse, which had become way too big for one. Janie purchased a three-bedroom modular and shares it with an old dog and a young cat. Janie’s youngest granddaughter just started her freshman year at Orono and has already fallen in love with “the college of our hearts always.” Don’t forget our class scholarship is set up for descendants of our class.
Heard from Marica Sayward Blake that most of the summer she spent recouping from minor back surgery, all the time wanting to get back on the golf course. Marcia and her daughter’s family spent the first two weeks of August vacationing in the Blue Hill area, where they visited with Peter Haynes at his summer cottage.
Residing in South Carolina, Wally Hinckley did a stretch with his granddaughter in Maine this summer. Being age 16, she had decided to be a rock hound so Wally took her to some mines.
Joy Hayden Boothby and husband, David, are spending the winter in Fort Worth, TX, watching their grandsons Thomas (16) and Jonathan (14) play basketball.
Heard from Etta Libby Davenport that the pandemic cut into her vacation schedule so she only took four short and easy hikes this summer — Shore Path in Bar Harbor; Kenduskeag Stream Trail in Bangor; Ocean Trail in Acadia; and the Belfast Harbor Walk.
Kay Allen writes that she doesn’t have much to report because she and her roommate have avoided events and activities where there were crowds, since Texans are stubbornly independent and don’t like being told what to do and not do (masks and shots). I’m sure Kay has stayed busy with her senior dog rescue.
Heard from Paul Daly and Frances that the highlight of their summer was a visit to Presquile National Wildlife Refuge, an island in the James River, where they lived 50 years ago. At that time the island was accessed by a cable ferry boat and Paul was the refuge manager. The Dalys live in Denton, MD.
In February Pete and Gail McLain Berry bought a new home in their Alabama neighborhood. Gail writes that she loves the home but moving four doors down, much of it by themselves and their grandson’s truck, is not an activity she endorses for people in their 80s. After the move, Peter left on a golf trip. When he returned, he could barely walk. But that didn’t prevent their trip to Maine. By mid-June it was apparent Peter was not mending, and further tests showed bone on bone in the hip. They left Meddybemps Lake in August and returned to Alabama, where Peter had a successful hip replacement in September.
That reminded me that I laughed to myself the other day at the gym seeing all of the young people with tattoos; they are recognized by their ink and we are recognized by our replacement scars!
Remember to email me photos for our class online photo album. Check it out at UMaineAlumni — Class Notes — Class Pages — 1961. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the photo album. And if you are not getting my routine emails, contact me with your email address.