My husband and I didn’t take any big trips last summer, but we had some enjoyable extended stays in the Berkshires; Martha’s Vineyard; Danforth, ME; and the New Bedford/Fairhaven/Mattapoisett, MA, area. And — thanks to a generous neighbor who works for a company that co-owns a box at Fenway Park, we went to a Red Sox game in style! We are forever spoiled!
Every now and then, shortly after this column is published, I get a long, newsy email from a classmate. I love it when this happens! This time I heard from Dana Slipp, who wrote: “I gave up living in Maine in 2018 having grown tired of shoveling, snow blowing, roof raking, and making a path for the oil burner man so he could fill the oil tank! I vowed never to be cold again, so after taking early retirement, then driving special needs children for five years, I sold my home and retired to [Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda] Florida, where it is summer every day. My blood has thinned and I am now one of those people who visit Maine and have to wear a sweater when it gets to 72 degrees.
“I attended the spring training Alumni Red Sox Day in Fort Myers this year and mingled with all sorts of UMaine alumni and will now make it an annual spring training ritual. It’s not like going to Mecca (Fenway Park — the oldest Major League ballpark where I went with my two sons every year) but it is dressed up to look just like Fenway the same way that Hadlock Field is in Portland, ME (the Red Sox Double A baseball affiliate). The game was a sellout, and I found out it is the most-attended UMaine Alumni event of the year [outside of Maine].”
Dana also had news of my sophomore roommate: “Jo-Ellyn Sanford is living 23 miles north of Bangor in Greenbush with her husband, Jay. They live totally off the grid using solar. Jo-Ellyn and I were married for 15 years and had two great sons with whom I went to Italy this past April. What a trip! We spent seven days along the Amalfi Coast and another three days in Rome. My oldest son is a master sommelier and lives on Mount Weather (Google it) in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia while his brother lives in Portland, ME, just up the street from Hadlock Field. We hope to go to Denmark this April and meet relatives that we never knew we had.”
To follow up on the last column, Rick and Rebecca Skehan Vigue ’80G of Hampden closed their downtown Bangor gift shop, Rebecca’s, and sold the building to a real estate company. The building has “endless potential” being in a prime location in the heart of downtown Bangor.
Joline Dudley Godfrey has been appointed to the board of directors for the Herring Gut Coastal Science Center in Port Clyde. She is a consultant and founder of a financial readiness program for families with young children.
During the summer, I had two occasions to see classmates. In July, my husband and I were on a weekend outing to the Berkshires and Anne Covell happened to be at one of the events. Anne lives in New York City and Lenox, MA. Then in August, I met Jan Lilley Additon and Cheryl Lavway Herland for lunch at Frisbee’s Wharf in Kittery Point. We figured it had been 14 years since we’d seen each other. Jan lives in Florida now, and Cheryl and her husband, Bill Herland, live in North Carolina and spend part of the summer in Maine.
For a longer version of this column, visit our class page at shorturl.at/FkBdP.
If you scroll down to the bottom of the class page you can see the photo album.
We welcome photos for the class album, so please send them and we’ll share them there.
That’s all from me for now! Have a good winter!