Andrew P. Nagelin
Greetings, Class of 1987!
I took an extra semester to graduate and didn’t walk until December 1987. Our ceremony was held in the then-new Hutchins Concert Hall. While not as large as a spring graduation, the graduates, friends, and family managed to fill all 1,435 seats.
I mention this since this is our winter edition. I’ll never forget walking across the parking lot after graduation with my shoes crunching on the fresh snow and feeling like the world was mine to conquer!
How did you feel after your graduation?
Over the summer I received a note from Sally Ann Pauls Garand and her husband, Rick Garand ’86. Sally raised her family and has had a long career in finance and banking in Maine.
Sally and Rick’s daughter, Melissa Garand ’19, graduated in three years, summa cum laude, from UMaine’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as an international affairs major with a minor in French, and magna cum laude from the Honors College.
This past summer, Melissa was the graduate international student service intern at American University in Bulgaria, located in Blagoevgrad.
Last fall, Melissa returned to UMaine to pursue her master’s in global policy with a concentration in security and foreign policy in the School of Policy and International Affairs. Sally and Rick said, “As two UMaine graduates we are really proud of Melissa for choosing UMaine!”
Carolyn Tukey Eyerman was named the Maine Association of Planners’ Professional Planner of the Year. Carolyn has devoted much of her career to the towns of Harpswell and Topsham. She assisted Topsham through the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station.
Last December Jim Boylen was appointed head coach of the Chicago Bulls! Jim has been in the NBA for more than 20 years and with Chicago since 2015. Jim was promoted to help turn around the floundering Bulls.
Jim takes a different approach to the game and does not rely on the three-pointer and an explosive offense. I would call this a “building” year for the team and Jim, as they had a 17-41 record under his leadership.
Jay Kemble ’95G is the Bangor High School Girls’ basketball head coach. Jim is also a history teacher at Bangor High and assisted former coach Joe Nelson last year. Jay has been assistant baseball coach at UMaine and head baseball coach at Old Town and Orono high schools.
While many of us may be dreaming about retirement, Sally Leighton G retired on June 30, 2019. Sally was a graduate student in our class and had a 45-year career in education.
She began teaching in 1974 at the former Gouldsboro Grammar School. After six years in Gouldsboro she spent the next 30 years at Sumner Memorial High School serving as English teacher, guidance counselor, and principal.
She left Sumner to spend five years as principal at Mount Desert Island High School and then moved to Peninsula School in Prospect Harbor, where she taught for five more years before becoming principal of that school. What a career!
Anyone who knows an educator understands the challenges of this career and the commitment that it takes to stay in it for 45 years. Congratulations on your retirement and well done, Sally!