Hey, classmates! Can you believe May marked 43 years since our graduation? Where has that time gone? If you’re thinking of a trip to Maine this summer or coming back for Homecoming in the fall — do it! We’re not getting any younger and there’s so much to see now on campus, especially if you haven’t been back in a few years! Orono has changed with many more restaurants and micro-breweries where you can fill your steins! Check out Bangor’s Waterfront Concerts this summer — we get some big acts these days! And we even have a casino just down the street from the concert venue! Round up some of your old dorm buddies, sorority sisters, band pals, fraternity brothers, or teammates, and come back. The years will fade away fast and it will seem just like the old days! “Celebrate good times, come on!” (From that top 10 hit in 1981!)
Some of us are still on the job, so here are a few career updates! Scott Kibler, PE joined Haley Ward in their Saco office as a senior project engineer in the building design service line. Haley Ward is an employee-owned professional engineering, environmental, and surveying consulting firm with offices in New England and Florida. Tim Walker, of Scarborough, has taken on a new job after 30 years in education as a counselor and administrator. He is the transportation coordinator at OceanView at Falmouth, an active, maintenance-free retirement community located on a beautifully wooded and landscaped 80-acre campus, minutes from downtown Portland. Tim sees his transition from education to ensuring that residents get to activities and appointments as a great continuation of his service to the community.
A tireless advocate for the deaf and hearing impaired, O.J. Logue G currently serves as the president of the Percival P. Baxter Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. Started by Maine’s 53rd governor in 1957, the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf in Falmouth expanded to later incorporate a statewide foundation to support families with deaf and hard-of-hearing children. The most important service provided by the foundation is financial aid for medical visits to Boston, where deaf children can receive care not available in Maine. As someone who grew up deaf in an era when few resources were available in Maine, O.J. has made it his mission to work on this cause and hopes to create an endowment for the foundation. His goal is to raise $25,000 each year. His position is strictly volunteer, along with all others associated with the foundation. O.J. teaches and coaches track and field at MDI High School in Bar Harbor.
More retirement notices keep popping up now that we’ve reached the magic Medicare age! Joe and Stacey Smith Guerin have passed along the family business to the next generation, selling R.M. Flagg in Veazie to their son and daughter-in-law, Caleb and Gabby Guerin. However, Joe and Stacey just couldn’t totally retire! They have started a new business, Maine Commercial Kitchen Design, in which they help commercial kitchens craft their culinary spaces. Stacey is also hoping to secure a fourth term in the Maine Senate. In their spare time (ha!), they keep busy chasing their six grandchildren around!
David and Jayne Gregoire Leach, of Farmingdale, have both retired from their jobs of many years. Jayne retired from Central Maine Power after 30 years of service. David was with the State of Maine’s Department of Professional and Financial Regulation for 32 years. He also served as an adjunct professor with the University of Maine at Augusta, University of Maine, and St. Joseph’s College in Standish. After his state retirement, he became a full-time professor at UMA for three years coordinating their public administration, financial services, and business administration programs. He also serves on the UMaine System’s Tourism, Hospitality, and Outdoor Recreation Executive Committee, developing courses across the seven campuses. They have two grown children and were thrilled to be selected in 2023 by the Magnolia Network to have their family camp renovated by the Maine Cabin Masters! Perhaps you saw the episode, titled “Overhaul on the Upper Narrows” (Google Episode 909), which debuted this past winter and also featured daughter, Amy, and two grandchildren. How cool is that?!
To close, a reminder that “giving back” to your alma mater is a wonderful way to say thanks for all that UMaine has done for YOU over the course of your career. Our class scholarship could really use a boost! Our market value at the end of 2023 was just a little more than $17,000. We had about 1,700 classmates at graduation. In simple math, that would mean only $10 per classmate has been donated over 43 years. Sure, we’ve awarded scholarships, so it’s not quite that simple, but those scholarships currently only amount to about $500/year. A drop in the pot, if you’ve put kids through college! Won’t you step up and show your Black Bear pride with a gift to the fund this year? Thanks! And hope to see YOU at Homecoming 2024!