“I hate to write. I love to have written.” This thought, often attributed to American writer Dorothy Parker, may actually be traced back to the turn of the century and repeated several times by others. I am a great fan of this thought. Back in my newspaper days I wrote stupid, ridiculous, sarcastic stuff for my reporters to read to get myself in the mood for writing something serious.
Knowing the deadline for this column was coming up a couple weeks ago, I’ve since engaged myself in all sorts of activities to avoid sitting down at my desk to write. I washed my husband’s Ford F-150 truck and his Harley motorcycle. I arranged empty boxes by size in the attic. I went to Reny’s and bought new dish towels for my summer cottage. I ordered chocolate covered strawberries for my granddaughter’s birthday. None of these delaying tactics – except, of course, sending the strawberries to my granddaughter, were essential tasks.
I’m happy to report I recently caught up with three classmates whose love for learning continued long after leaving the Orono campus.
Hollie Ingraham and I have lived within 20 minutes of one another for years but only recently connected through another classmate, Carleen Williams Cook. Hollie spent 37 years in higher education, at Anna Maria College in Massachusetts, the University of Southern Maine, and the UNH Community College in Manchester, NH.
Hollie grew up in Houlton, joined AOPi sorority while at Maine, and after retiring, settled in Brunswick where she could be near family. She enjoys a good game of pickle ball at the recreation center on the grounds of the former Naval Air Station and occasionally samples the goodies at Wild Oats bakery nearby.
On Saturday mornings, and other times when she’s needed, she volunteers at Twice Told Tales, a used book and media store on Maine (spelling is correct) Street in Brunswick, which supports the Curtis Library. She also loves traveling by train to Boston on Amtrak’s Downeaster which begins its journey southward in Brunswick.
Another classmate who has loved the field of education, Clover Willett Jordan, grew up in Portland, graduating from Deering High School in 1963. After attending what we humorously called UMPY, (the University of Maine in Portland) for two years, she went to Orono for her junior and senior years, graduating with a degree in math.
Her math teaching career took her to Lincoln Junior, later Lincoln Middle School, Westbrook High School, then back to Deering from 1985 to 2004. Later she taught part time at the University of Southern Maine toughing it out during the Covid crisis with mandated remote learning.
Clover traveled to Hawaii for the first time last year to visit one of her two sons who now lives in Oahu. Except for the 11 cramped hours she spent on the plane from JFK to Honolulu, she loved the trip—and hopes to do it again this year.
Her other son, who lives near Atlanta, is married with two high school age kids, a girl who was born in Shanghai, China, and a boy who was born in the U.S. One of the great joys of her life was being present for the birth of her granddaughter in China. Both her sons are UMaine graduates.
Meriby Sweet, who grew up in Castine, graduated from Abbot Academy (later merged with Phillips Andover) then earned a degree in English and theater at UMO. Also an AOPi, she enrolled in SUNY (State University of New York) in New Paltz, N.Y. after leaving Orono, where she earned a master’s degree in English with a focus on Linguistics and Language Acquisition. In addition to her academic studies, she learned how to rock climb from one of her roommates, a hobby she enjoyed for years – even adding ice climbing on frozen waterfalls in Pinkham Notch, NH.
After graduate school she lived in Germany for two years. She not only learned to speak German, but she also became certified as a translator by the U.S. Embassy and was asked to be a reader of graduating students’ final exam, called Abitur, for university-bound students.
Back in the U.S., Meriby began teaching in non-traditional boarding schools. As she watched her students becoming totally engaged using first generation Apple computers, she decided this was something she wanted to pursue. This experience drew her to California where she began a 21- year career working in computer technology for 11 different start-up companies.
“When things got silly in tech, I started looking back to Maine, feeling I needed to be closer to family,” she says. She happened to be back home in Castine on 9-11. “That sealed it,” she said. “I’ve never regretted it.”
But her traveling days aren’t over. Having a cousin who lives in Italy offered her an opportunity to explore another culture and country. Once again, she’s enjoying learning a language and now returns every year for a visit. Her soul mate for the last 37 years lives in California, which involves long visits to the West Coast and phone calls every weekend.
Moving on from rock climbing, her outdoor activity now is golf, admittedly a very frustrating game, but, as she says, “You feel so great when you make a really good shot.”
Now a bit of business news. Congratulations to Carl W. “Rick” Smith, Jr.who is celebrating 30 years as a John Deere dealer, along with his two sons, Tyler and Mitchel Smith ’94 who operate Greenway Equipment, an outdoor power equipment company with locations in Bangor and Ellsworth.
Along with their signature yellow equipment from John Deere, they now offer complimentary lines from Stihl, Honda, Ariens and more. Mobile service trucks operate out of Ellsworth and Bangor to service customers in Hancock and Penobscot counties and beyond.
“The customer base that we have built in both locations has been tremendous,” says Tyler. “We attribute our success to both the loyalty of our long-term customers and employees, and we thank them all.”