1970s

From Spring 2025: Libby Brown Strough and husband Bob are settled in as residents of the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. That does not preclude them from visiting their digs in Jupiter, Fla., to avoid the sub-zero blasts. ✹ Mary Hepler bid farewell to her longtime, award-winning mount, Gem. It was a passage that also cleared the decks for Mary to focus on caring for her husband, Fred Gallasch. His spinal fusion surgery was successful, and the couple are back to planning retirement travel. ✹ Ben Kravitz reports a staccato schedule shuttling from Longboat Key, Fla., to Lake Sunapee, N.H., to a Whiskey Trail bike tour of Bourbon County, Ky., to an Alaskan cruise, to dinner in metro Boston with Joani Katz. ✹ Debbie Hawks Kelley is also busy in so-called retirement. She hones her language skills as a concierge in Boston. She keeps her pipes in tune singing with the Quincy Chorale. Deb also takes her gardening skills to artistic heights at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, crafting floral arrangements to complement paintings on display. ✹ Susan Doten Greenberg remains in close touch with former roommates Lori Gill Pazaris and Carol Lewis Jennings. The three amigas! Susan was directly involved with the act of moving her Unitarian Universalist congregation from a building in a flood plain to one on higher ground. Plenty of secular administrative details had to be managed. Still, isn’t seeking higher ground always a sacred concern for us all? ✹ Margaret Swanson published her latest book last year. Leaving Tristan Da Cunha is a history of, perhaps, the most remote inhabited location on earth. (So don’t feel badly if you’ve never heard of it.) Peggy has, so if your interest has been piqued, order a copy of her book! She is retired from a long career in community planning. That means she can now devote herself to her avocation from her home base in Winter Haven, Fla. ✹ Steve and Debbie Fitton Mansfield checked in from Warren, Maine. She is busy with a garden, genealogy, and advanced study of Français. He and she also face the frequent efforts needed to maintain their 200-year-old home. Thankfully, Steve reports that maintenance on their grandchildren is far less constant or taxing. That means they’ve had time to board their motorhome for a tour of Gulf coastal Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. On that trip, the couple combined birding, beaching, and the blues. They refer to the B.B. King Museum, in Indianola, Miss., as a “must-see.” ✹ Wayne Blanchard spun a tale of medical treatment run amok, which actually had a happy ending. Turns out one seemingly straightforward procedure also yielded an unforeseen diagnosis, requiring another minor surgery and antibiotics. All this delayed previously scheduled cataract surgeries. So, Wayne got even more practice at his driving skills using the Braille method. The fact is, he has adequate medical coverage, as well as access to world-class care. That meant the story was one of bureaucratic snowballing paperwork and unforecast tasks landing on his desk, rather than any real danger to life and limb. I can relate. Can you? To Wayne’s credit for having a positive attitude, one of his key concerns in telling his tale was the needling he would surely receive from former Johnson Hall roommates Ed Bogh, Greg Andrews, and Andy Hayashi. ✹

From Spring 2025: Tom and Ellen Woods Sidar are enjoying their retirement in Portland, Maine. They sold their camp of 20 years in Belgrade Lakes on Great Pond in October 2022, and in March 2024, they bought a camp on Rangeley Lake. They celebrated their first grandchild’s birth in September 2024. ✹ Henry ’73 and Dee Fitz-Gerald Sockbeson are selling their last sailboat after 50 years of sailing; it was getting to be too much work. Dee recently picked up her childhood hobby of stamp collecting and has joined two clubs. She travels to Florida several times a year to visit her son in Jacksonville and several friends and relatives who have moved there for the winter. She still lives in Connecticut but finally traveled abroad to Paris after four years of staying stateside. She is still in touch with her Colby roommate Roz Teto Johnson, who lives in California. ✹ Bill Earnshaw still lives in the Scottish hills a mile from the nearest road and gets his internet by microwave. He continues his passion running a lab studying the structure of chromosomes when cells divide. After 30 years of funding, the Wellcome Trust will terminate his funding in September this year as a result of an administrative decision. He’s trying to find other funding sources, including the European Union, for another five years. His wife of 35 years, Margarete, died last August, but he’s decided to keep working. His children, Charles and Irina, are both doctors, a dermatologist and an oncologist. Bill has a beautiful cottage on his land across a stream from the main house, and visitors are always welcome. ✹ Norma Ouellet O’Reilly wrote that after losing her husband, Tom (who thoroughly enjoyed attending Colby reunions), she has been adjusting to a new chapter in her life. She spends time with family at their lake house in New Hampshire, leads tours of art exhibitions at Boston College’s McMullen Museum, and plays pickleball. Since her children and grandchildren live at a distance, Norma has traveled a fair amount and looks forward to seeing more of the world in the years ahead.

From Spring 2025: Anne Badmington Cass became involved in discussions among committee planning members and Colby following our reunion, as many classmates wanted to stay in touch. Anne describes “Colby ’73” as an online gathering with quarterly Zoom meetings at 7 p.m. Eastern on the THIRD Tuesday of March, June, September, and December. We have held three so far with varying numbers and classmates. They are casual ways to catch up with each other, loosely facilitated by a group member. There will be no fundraising requests in/from this group—ever. Classmates have opted in to receive email links to these meetings. If anyone wants to join, contact Anne at [email protected]. ✹ Dick and Anne Badmington Cass enjoy southern Maine and volunteer for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, where they teach and do committee work. Dick’s eighth book was published recently, the last in the Elder Darrow Jazz Mystery Series: Closing Time. ✹ Following reunion, Peter Rinaldi has been reminiscing about our years at Colby, recalling many dear friends from our class he has lost, including Chris Mattern Way and, more recently, Wendy Knickerbocker and Lucia Whittelsey. In Peter’s words, “The delightful memories persist, a reminder of the good friends I had and the excellent education I received at Colby.” He and his wife, Anna, continue to live in Bonita Springs, Fla., near their children and in Moretown, Vt., near skiing. ✹ Jonathan Glynn sent a web address to read about his work with Wings Over Haiti (wingsoverhaiti.net), an initiative he started in 2010 when he flew over that country following an earthquake. After reading a recent Washington Post opinion page article about this group (“In Haiti, Where is Hope?”) and then exploring the website, I am sharing it as there is much to learn about this amazing initiative. ✹ Allan Hill writes about the activities that make him feel he is doing something worthwhile. These include volunteering weekly with a physical therapist who works with disabled kids doing hippotherapy, which is horseback riding. Allan and his band, the Island Pickers, play monthly at a nursing home on Tybee Island. “The residents love us, and we love them. It’s a whole lot of fun.” ✹ Bob Diamond’s sixth granddaughter, Violet Diamond, arrived last fall to her family in London. He encourages anyone with granddaughters to check out his daughter’s company, Hill House (hillhousehome.com), for a nap dress. Bob continues to love being on the Colby Board of Trustees (23 years) and is especially proud of his youngest son, Charlie ’12, a member of the Board of Visitors. This gives them more time to enjoy together. ✹ Amy (Brewer ’71) and Gary Fitts spend the cold-weather months in North Port, Fla., and summers at their camp on Sibley Pond in his hometown of Pittsfield, Maine. They enjoy their many grandchildren, following their many achievements and celebrating a milestone birthday (50) for their oldest daughter. Gary and Amy planned a four-week trip to Europe this spring. They recently had dinner at the Lion’s Den Tavern in Waterville with a “rowdy bunch of Choppers” and spouses, including Joe Mattos (wife Pam), Dick Beverage (wife Pat), John Krasnavage (wife Dawn), and Mark Curtis ’74. ✹ Jon and Jan Stafford Wood remain active and have enjoyed hiking, sailing, wine touring, and traveling to the WTA Open in South Carolina. They stay home for four months, during which Jon is a ski patrol for a local mountain. Jan also wrote about her oldest daughter’s recent wedding, athletic achievements, and how much fun she is to be around. ✹

New submissions for Spring 2026: From Rob Burgess ’74: “Let’s Get It Started! We could use some class news, so here’s some of mine. Please add yours! Doing well and happily married to Terri (20th anniversary this year) living in Brunswick, Maine. I’m active as a director of three non-profits promoting community, astronomy education and fighting light pollution. Also vice-chair of my town’s Planning Board. Fun fact: I was interviewed live on BBC TV about an Annular Solar Eclipse that was to happen in the eastern US and the UK that morning. A surprise honor!

From Rob Burgess ’74 for Spring 2025: Dear classmates. I write this as a placeholder for future news about each of us in this 51st year since our graduation. As your new class president, an honor I did not seek nor do I think I deserve, it’s been a slow start getting things organized. I apologize for that delay, but other life commitments intervened. I can’t say my new regime will promise “bread and circuses,” but I do plan to hold at least semi-annual Zoom cocktail gatherings, which were so successful and so much fun leading up to our 50th, and find other ways to stay in touch as we inch our way to Golden Mules status at 55 years. (Funny, I never aspired to such a title…) ✹ About reunion, we are deeply beholden to all our classmates who made that such an extraordinary event, from breaking attendance records to creating a new Class of ’74 Scholarship endowment (with over $200k in contributions and pledges) to organizing pre-reunion events, to creating a fabulous yearbook, to giving talks and leading walks, to wine and spirit tastings, to a lovely and moving memorial service for our lost classmates. We were able to enjoy a reception and dinner at the new Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts as well as our official class dinner the following night, when we recognized a number of our classmates for their extraordinary contributions to the College and to the world. There was a wonderful recounting and acknowledgement of the roles played by our classmates in a June 27, 2024, email, after the reunion, by the one person who did not get mentioned—Deb Wathen Finn. Deb is the one person who stands out above all others as our indomitable, energizing, ultimate organizer and College booster! There is no doubt in my mind that we would have had much less of a reunion if Deb were not silently and behind the scenes working to present ideas and keep us on task as we approached reunion. I think all of us can join in a resounding “thank you” to Deb for all she has done for the College and our class! ✹ As we head into 2025, I would like to invite anyone with a hankering to help out to let me know. Before doing so, I want to thank Dennis Delehanty for his exceptional work as class correspondent these last five years. Dennis also offered many creative ideas to spark interest in our reunion. We need others to help with fundraising, and still others to make our ad hoc Zoom gatherings work. Please let me know if you are interested and we’ll get to work on these things together ([email protected]). In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy, and I look forward to seeing you soon!

From Spring 2025: Celeste Keefe Wesner knows she’s been out of touch for many years, despite the efforts of her dear friend Susan Staples Smith to draw her closer to the Colby family. Sue is a tireless “historian” and recently surprised Celeste when she uploaded some precious old photos, bringing back memories of when they were exchange students in Spain during our junior year. The chance of seeing former classmates at our 50th Reunion is very alluring, but with the reality of being a very busy grandmother and “nanny” for her two grandchildren, ages 3 and 5, while both parents work full time, Celeste realizes that she has lots to juggle to make it happen. ✹ Andrea Ward Antone is feeling wonderful, content in her retirement years and very grateful for her good health. Andie lives near her older daughter and four grandkids, so she is involved in their everyday lives, which include lots of sports. She also volunteers at an assisted living facility. Since retiring, she has traveled a lot with her younger daughter as well as on her own. Andie’s son is currently stationed in England, so she visits him and her other three grandkids annually. Andie looks forward to seeing classmates who are able to attend our 50th Reunion in June! ✹ When Alan Berry retired from teaching math in 2023, he and his wife moved to their home on Schroon Lake in Upstate NY’s Adirondack Park, which they find very quiet and isolated after the summer folks head south. They spent last fall in Northumberland, England, volunteering at a Christian retreat house. Alan still enjoys skiing, though his arthritic knees make it more difficult, and they walk regularly on the lake ice. Grandparenting is a major focus! ✹ Michael Lynes sent news about him and his wife, Kristine Bowen Lynes. After retiring several years ago from a nonprofit educational agency, where she managed a large grant portfolio, Kris now regularly visits their two kids, spouses, and five grandkids, who live in opposite directions, equidistant from their Connecticut home. Kris continues exploring her artistic creativity with painting classes and her interest in the textile arts. Michael is still a faculty member at UConn, where his research keeps him busy working on a therapeutic antibody for chronic inflammatory diseases, as well as finishing up some studies on Covid biomarkers in children. Recently, Mike published a scientific paper and patent with son, Matthew Lynes ’05, and another paper with Matt and his wife, Maureen Sherry Lynes ’05. The four Lyneses will be at Reunion Weekend, at the 50th and the 20th. ✹ Jeffrey Frankel and his wife both still work as a lawyer and M.D., respectively. However, they enjoy more travel time as they near the end of their careers. Last year their big trip was to Egypt, and this year it is to India, the Philippines, and Morocco (with Cancun thrown in for recovery!). 2025 is busy with their daughter’s wedding in April, followed by a cruise, time in Cabo, Mexico, with extended family, ending up back in Waterville in June for Jeff to revisit all his old dreams and memories. ✹ Ted Snyder is very happy to be married to Jenny, mother of three adult children; he has three adult children as well. These days, Ted enjoys being a “regular faculty member” at Yale School of Management, teaching (high-tech industries) and conducting research (anti-trust). He’s proud of how Colby has developed and sends his best wishes as he’s unable to attend our 50th. ✹ In my final column as class correspondent, I, Susie Gearhart Wuest, would like to thank all of you who have responded to my requests over the years. I really enjoyed connecting with so many of you—the frequent, the occasional, and first-time-ever responders.

From Cheri Bailey Powers ’79 for Spring 2025: Let’s jump in with all the news! Lots of classmates writing in for the first time or after a long time. ✹ Cari and Carl Lovejoy welcomed their sixth granddaughter, Charlotte Baker Lovejoy, last spring. Carl is still having too much fun to retire, but Cari is enjoying retirement and kicking Carl’s butt on the golf course. ✹ Laurie Borden welcomed her third grandchild last year and continues to Alpine ski in the Rockies (Montana) and soak in hot springs. While in retirement mode, she continues to facilitate grief groups by Zoom. ✹ After “retiring” in May 2024, Bob Kinney and his lovely wife, Kay, have spent much of their time going to music events, among others, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and the Foo Fighters. He also continues his tenure as a borough council member in Doylestown, Pa. ✹ Last fall Melinda Edgerley Pearce moved to oceanfront property on Douglas Island (across the bridge from downtown Juneau, Alaska). She lives remotely and loves it! Her two grandkids, ages 9 months and 3 1/2, bring their grandparents so much joy! ✹ After graduating from Colby, Constance Breese attended Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine. She was retiring last year. ✹ Debra Wallace had a very eventful 2024. January was a fantastic trip to Patagonia with her son and daughter-in-law. She spent her summer on Chebeague Island, Maine, where they have a cottage and a base for the concert season. Her husband is the founder and artistic director of the Assabet Valley Mastersingers, which just finished its 46th season. November brought cancer news for Debra—a malignant form of brain cancer. She is enrolled in a Dana-Farber clinical trial, hoping for a positive outcome. Lastly, she welcomed a fifth grandchild. ✹ John Crispin (first timer) retired two years ago after a 35-year career as an anesthesiologist. He has lived in mid-coast Maine on Westport Island these last 15 years. John and his wife, Ann, have four children and four grandchildren living all around the country. When John wrote, they were on their sailboat for the winter, in Key West, and headed to the Bahamas for three months before heading home for the summer. ✹ In November David Linsky was re-elected to a 14th consecutive term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He also serves on the national board of directors of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. ✹ On Dec. 7, 2024, Richard Uchida, Phil Redo ’78, and Kirk Paul hosted a three-hour radio show on Colby’s WMHB to celebrate its 75th anniversary. They featured music from the ’70s and had great fun with the listening audience and current WMHB staff. Both Richard and Phil were station managers while students. ✹ Gerrit White is hanging out in Tuscany, writing and recording music, playing in a band, reading, mountain biking, porch-sitting, and gardening. He went to Madrid in December to see McCartney in concert and indulge in flamenco. ✹ Robert Mack resides in Vermont’s Champlain Valley and gigs intermittently around the state. Teaching completes his time, as well as involvement with the Charlotte Recreation Commission. He recently travelled to the Dolomites in Italy. ✹ In December, to celebrate the holidays, 10 Colby grads got together in Hong Kong over dinner, including Joseph Meyer, Chih Chien Hsu ’80 (in from Taipei), and Keith Yuen ’81. ✹ Last year, 2024, brought two more grandkids for Gayle Amato, six in all. Thanksgiving was held in Alabama, where the newest grandbaby lives, and three are local, so Gayle can spend quality time. She continues to sing with the Hartford Chorale, and she and her husband are avid birders. ✹ In June 2024 Sarah Russell MacColl’s daughter Katy had a baby boy, who Sarah sees often, living 10 minutes from Katy in South Portland. Sarah was in St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands with Nancy Chapin ’80 this March. She plays cards monthly with Patty Valavanis Smith ’80, Nancy Chapin ’80, Jan Barker, Robin Kessler ’77, and Sal Reynolds ’77. ✹ Kathy Bleakney Pawley’s 2024 highlights were our 45th Reunion, her son’s joyful and beautiful marriage to his wonderful Mar, taking a Spanish class, and lots of travel, including seeing Cheri Bailey Powers and her family in Colorado and Monique Fecteau in Paris. She hopes that everyone will put June 2029, our 50th Reunion, on their calendar. Want to help in any capacity? Send an email to [email protected]. ✹ Thanks everyone for writing in and helping us keep this magazine going!

• Michael R. McKinney ’70,  March 13, 2025, in Tucson, Ariz., at 76.
• Anne C. Pomroy ’70, April 13, 2026.
• Mark S. Zaccaria ’70, Oct. 13, 2025, in Danbury, N.H., at 76.
• Janet K. Beals ’71, Oct. 15, 2024, in Edwards, Colo., at 75. After Colby, she moved to Boston, and then Vail, Colo., initially just to ski, but she ended up making it her home. There, she combined her love of skiing with her talent for waiting tables—begun on Cape Cod the summer after Colby—and worked as a waitress at several nice restaurants at the Vail ski resort. She took classical ballet lessons for 15 years, and in the 1990s she turned to teaching piano after a 27-year hiatus from piano instruction as a teenager. An accomplished pianist, she taught anyone who wanted to learn, young and old. She also collected coins, enjoyed horseback riding, and volunteered every year at the Vail summer music festival Bravo. An active Colby alumna, she served as a class agent and helped organize reunions. She died suddenly from an illness after returning from a trip to the United Kingdom, on the same day as the death of her husband, David E. Nelson ’71. Survivors include two younger siblings.
• Philip J. Byers ’71, May 30, 2024, in North Andover, Mass., at 75. He earned a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in 1974 and practiced law, especially family law, for 48 years, with offices in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover. In 1990 he was named a fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and made contributions to the Amicus Curiae Committee. He coauthored several briefs before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the AAML, notably arguing in support of grandparent visitation and same-sex marriage. He belonged to Temple Emanuel in Andover and taught Hebrew school there for many years. He’s remembered for his deep, boisterous laughter, brilliant intellect, kindness, and voracious reading. He loved the ocean and traveled to Virginia’s Sandbridge Beach every summer. He leaves his wife, Linda, three children, two stepchildren, and five grandchildren.
• David E. Nelson ’71, Oct. 15, 2024, in Edwards, Colo., at 75. He lived in his hometown of Portland, Maine, for a few years after Colby. In 1975 he moved to Vail, Colo., to ski for a winter and ended up staying for five decades. He worked in hospitality and property management while taking advantage of living in “an outrageously beautiful setting” by hiking, bike riding, and skiing as much as possible. He also enjoyed working out and practicing yoga. He volunteered for Habitat for Humanity in Colorado and once traveled to Vietnam to help build houses. While snowbirding in Arizona during the winters, he was active in the local hiking club. As an alumnus, he was a class agent and helped to organize reunions. He died suddenly from an illness after returning from a trip to the United Kingdom, on the same day as the death of his wife, Janet K. Beals ’71. Survivors are a brother and sister-in-law. A celebration of life will be held from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. June 28 at Zino Ristorante in Edwards, Colo. RSVP to [email protected].
• William B. Williamson II ’71, June 3, 2024, in Portland, Maine, at 74. He worked as an English teacher and school administrator at Fryeburg Academy in Maine and Vermont Academy before entering the world of commercial banking. He went on to a 40-year career partnering with clients and community organizations to realize their goals, retiring in 2023 as state president for Bank of America. He served on many area nonprofits and took pride in his community involvement. He leaves three daughters, five grandchildren, and a brother.
• Deborah Messer Zlatin ’71, May 8, 2025, in Falmouth, Maine.
• Vernon L. Brown III ’72, April 17, 2024, in Truro, Mass., at 73. He enjoyed a long career as an interior designer, which developed into house redesign and restoration, fusing his interests in design and architecture. He worked for a series of small companies with partners, but mostly independently in various Boston neighborhoods. He relocated to Cape Cod in the 1990s and fell in love with the Outer Cape life: boating, driving his Scout on the dunes and his Porsche on back roads, fishing, walking on the beach, and catching his own lobster. In Provincetown, he redesigned and restored houses large and small. He got into real estate, buying houses, restoring them, and reselling them, eventually working for Thomas D. Brown Real Estate in Truro. He loved the arts and collecting things of beauty, traveling to Paris annually to explore the city’s flea markets. He also frequented antique markets in Brimfield. Predeceased by his wife, Amy Sosland Brown ’72, he leaves a son, two granddaughters, two sisters, and his canine companion, Boo.
• Russell G. Condon ’72, April 19, 2024, in Old Bridge, N.J., at 73. He studied microbiology at Rutgers University and enjoyed a 42-year career at Schering-Plough Pharmaceutical Corporation (now Merck) as a research scientist. He worked on several antibiotics, an alpha interferon product, various interleukins, and gene therapy. His main hobby and passion was electronics, including robotics and computers. He could fix any radio, TV, clock, or electronic, and he happily did so for family and friends. He also enjoyed walking and jogging and participated in a number of 5Ks. He was an active member of the United Methodist Church at New Brunswick, where for 40 years he ran its sound system. He leaves his wife of 50 years, Cynthia Lindgren Condon ’72, two children, and three granddaughters.
• Edith “Edie” R. Febiger ’72, Oct. 20, 2024, in Hopkinton, Mass., at 74. Her main calling in life was an artist, and she painted with watercolors and oils, sketched with pencil, and made pottery. She exhibited her work in Essex and Tiverton Four Corners, R.I., near where she was raised and lived for many years in the Essex “cottage” on her family’s homestead, helping her parents and working the grounds. She also worked in antique restoration, greenhouse operations, caring for cattle, and waitressing. Later, she moved to Montville, Maine, where she continued with her art, walked the fields and woods with her dog and neighbor, raised chickens, and oversaw the design and construction of a handsome barn. She loved animals and kept many dogs and cats over the years. She leaves three siblings and four nieces.
• Mitchell E. Fox ’72, 2024.
• Donald “Nipper” M. Harding ’72, Dec. 11, 2024, in Brunswick, Maine, at 75. He worked for software companies in Maine, including FMG Systems and DH Software Alliance. Hockey was one of his greatest passions: he loved playing, watching, and talking about it. He also loved gardening, playing in the yard with his grandchildren and neighborhood children, sailing, spending time on Vinalhaven, and singing. He found great joy in helping other recovering alcoholics on their journey. He died in a tragic car accident. Survivors include his wife, Mettie Whipple, two sons, two stepchildren, three grandchildren, and two sisters.
• Catherine “Cathie” R. Joslyn ’72, July 21, 2024, in Gulfport, Fla., at 74. She earned an M.F.A. in textiles at Indiana University in 1977. A professor emerita at Clarion University of Pennsylvania who began her teaching career at the Kansas City Art Institute, she exhibited internationally and produced commissioned work. Her works also hang in numerous public and private collections. She has published in Oxford’s Art Online. She won a Fulbright Teaching and Research Grant to Peru in 2001-02, and much of her imagery has been informed by studies of Andean, African, Central American, and other cultures. She was an adventurous spirit and a lifelong learner who enjoyed travel, art, music, yoga, and bicycling. Survivors include three siblings and their children.
• Judith Berringer Van Zon ’72, April 18, 2024, in Chur, Switzerland, at 73. Her Colby junior year abroad at the University of Caen in Normandy fueled her lifelong love and fascination with all things French—culture, couture, collectibles, and cuisine. She moved to Montreal after Colby and worked as a customer service representative for Air France and continued with the company when she moved back to Boston. With her first husband, Robert Henriquez, she lived in Brooklyn Heights in New York and immersed herself in the artists and social circles of the mid-1970s. She joined the international Tzell Travel Group and eventually owned and operated her own travel agency within Tzell. The agency, with her office in New York’s Garment District, handled top fashion accounts. One of her clients was her future husband, Adrian Van Zon. She eased away from full-time work and devoted her time to her marriage. They had homes in the Berkshires, Florida, and Switzerland, and as an accomplished cook, she relished entertaining. Avid tennis players, she and her husband were constant spectators at professional matches, including the U.S. and French Opens. She was also an amateur genealogist, tracing her Nova Scotia heritage back hundreds of years. She had no children but doted on her four niblings. She leaves her husband, a sister, and extended family.
• Gregory M. Page ’73, March 18, 2025, in Bath, Maine, at 74. He worked for several years at Page Monument Company, but his true calling was in the kitchen. He became a certified executive chef and worked in many restaurants. In semi-retirement, he sold culinary spices. He was a member of the Bath Elks Lodge, served on the Bath City Council, and was a member of the Bath YMCA. He loved golfing and was a member of the Brunswick (Maine) Golf Club, starting in 1997. He also enjoyed the Boston Bruins, his Porsche, golden retrievers, and traveling to the Caribbean. Survivors include his wife, Anne, and extended family.
• Martha Karlak ’74, Feb. 23, 2026.
• Michael Sherrill ’74, April 18, 2025.
• Richard A. Vann ’74, Sept. 7, 2024, in Methuen, Mass., at 71. His talent for picking up languages began in high school and continued at Colby. After college, he earned a master’s in teaching English as a second language (ESL) from St. Michael’s College in Vermont, where he met his future wife and set out to learn her native language, Armenian. He taught foreign students ESL at George Washington University, American University, and Catholic University in Washington, D.C., for several years before switching to corporate consulting with Booz Allen & Hamilton. In 1992 he moved to Saudi Arabia, where he taught ESL to Royal Saudi Navy personnel and traveled the globe. He returned to the U.S. in 1998, settled in Fairfax, Va., and eventually retired from Booz Allen in 2012. In retirement, he continued to teach and explore community theater until receiving a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2019. A lifelong advocate for the Armenian culture, he was an active member in Armenian churches and the Knights of Vartan, becoming the first non-Armenian member to be initiated. Described as a true humanitarian, he revered art, music, theater, language, and history. He leaves his wife, Araxie, two daughters, two grandsons, and a brother.
• Janet L. Bedula ’75, July 20, 2024, in Cresskill, N.J., at 70. A Spanish major at Colby who spent a semester in Madrid, she became a Spanish and ESL teacher. After Colby, she earned a master’s in teaching and ESL from William Paterson College. She began teaching at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts and resumed her career in New Jersey, teaching in Cresskill, Bogota, and for many years at Cliffside Park High School, where she retired as head of the Language Department. She loved being by the ocean, especially on Cape Cod and Sanibel Island, Fla., where she enjoyed boating, fishing, pulling up lobster traps, and finding seashell treasures. She was an excellent cook and reader, did needlepoint, was a whiz at crossword puzzles, and adored cats. She leaves her younger brother, Richard.
• Thomas W. Huebner ’75, March 26, 2025, in Rutland, Vt., at 70. He earned an M.B.A. in health administration from Boston University in 1977 and began his career in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as deputy assistant commissioner of public health. He held positions of increasing responsibility at other institutions before eventually becoming president and CEO of Rutland Regional Medical Center. For 28 years, he guided the organization with a steady hand and a compassionate heart until he retired in 2018. He was also an active board member, lending his expertise and support to organizations focused on health and wellness services across Vermont, including the BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont, Community Health, the Federally Qualified Health Center in Rutland, the Brattleboro Retreat, VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region, the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, and the American Hospitals Association. At the time of his passing, he continued to serve on five boards. He was especially appreciated for and excelled in his role as chief maintenance officer at Rutland’s own Phoenix Books. A beloved family man and friend, he savored traveling, spending time outdoors, and cooking. He especially reveled in the opportunity to relax and enjoy the beauty of Lake Champlain and Lake Wesauking. Predeceased by his first wife, Jean Crowley Huebner ’75, the mother of his two surviving children. He also leaves his second wife, Tricia Huebner, three brothers, and his father.
• Carolyn “Carrie” E. Johns ’75, Dec. 4, 2024, in Canton, N.Y., at 70. She earned her Ph.D. in botany from the University of Montana in 1984. After post-doctoral research as an environmental scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in California, and a brief stint teaching at Deep Springs College, she joined the environmental studies department at St. Lawrence University in 1988. At SLU, she taught a wide variety of courses, chaired the department for a number of years, and was named the Grace J. Fippinger Professor of Sciences. She greatly enjoyed her research, which focused on heavy metals in mussels of the St. Lawrence River. She published academic articles and traveled broadly to present her findings. She retired as professor emeritus in 2018. She lived in Waddington, N.Y., where she found pleasure in gardening, raising sheep, and renovating her historic stone house built in the early 1800s. She often traveled to Silver Bay on Lake George, her parents’ retirement home and a place of joyful childhood memories. She loved science fiction, mysteries, and making yarn from the sheep she raised. She was hard working, quiet, kind, and generous. Survivors include a brother, a niece and nephew, and a dear friend.
• David A. Bengtson ’76, Feb. 8, 2025, in Middletown, Conn., at 71. He spent 35 years working as a sales manager at Johnson Gage, retiring in 2018. He was also a longtime president of the Bay Point Club in East Hampton. He leaves his wife, Liz, three children, including John D. Bengtson ’15, and a granddaughter.
• Janet McManama Linehan ’76, Aug. 25, 2024, in Cotuit, Mass., at 70. She established an early career in financial services at the First National Bank of Boston, rising to the vice president level. She married and had her first child before relocating to Asia for her husband’s job. They spent nine delightful years abroad, returning in 1993 and settling in Dover, Mass. She focused on her children and community, volunteering at her church and organizing annual town tennis tournaments. A standout tennis player in high school and at Colby—winning the Maine State Championship in 1975—in retirement, she strived for three forms of exercise a day: pickleball, biking, paddle boarding, walking, or golfing. She leaves her husband, Mark, three children, a grandson, and six siblings.
• Carrie Getty Scheid ’76, Oct. 21, 2025, at 71.
• George Capone ’77, June 18, 2010.
• Douglas V. Gathany ’77, Nov. 25, 2024, in Raymond, Maine, at 68. Raised in Lake Forest, Ill., he returned to the area after Colby and earned an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago. His career in finance began at Montgomery Ward as an inventory analyst, and he eventually rose to treasurer of the company. In 2001 he joined SIRVA as senior vice president-treasurer. Family was most important to him as he and his wife raised their daughters in Riverwoods, Ill., where they created beautiful family memories. His hobbies included woodworking, landscaping, and home improvement projects. He was a devoted Chicago White Sox fan, loved football, and enthusiastically shared his classic rock music catalog at his legendary Christmas parties. He learned to sail as a teenager on Lake Michigan, and in 1979 joined his father, uncle, and cousin in crossing the Atlantic Ocean on his uncle’s 41-foot sailboat. It was the trip of a lifetime. In 2016 he retired to a lakefront home in Maine, where he hosted countless friends and family. He especially cherished summer gatherings with his children and their families. Survivors include his wife, Andrea Linnell Gathany ’77, three daughters, seven grandchildren, his father, and two sisters, including Robin Gathany Shea ’80.
• P. L. Stuart ’77, Dec. 13, 2024.
• Pierce Archer ’78, Dec. 29, 2024, in Villanova, Pa., at 68. For more than 40 years, he had a successful career in the financial services industry, becoming a trusted investment advisor and building relationships with his clients that spanned decades and generations. Hailed as a “Renaissance man,” he held wide-ranging interests, talents, and knowledge spanning the natural world, craftsmanship, pyrotechnics, history, and more. He was known for his quick wit, wry sense of humor, big heart, and unique perspective on life. Family was everything to him, and nothing made him happier or prouder. He leaves his wife, Cynthia Hill Archer, two children, two grandchildren, and two siblings.
• Christopher V. Hughes ’78, Feb. 25, 2025, in Little River, S.C., at 68. He received his D.M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 1982. After a general practice residency and a pediatric dental residency, he was selected for a clinical staff fellowship in the Patient Care and Clinical Investigations Branch of the National Institute of Dental Research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. While there, he was awarded a National Research Service Award to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, earning his Ph.D. in microbiology from Georgetown University in 1991. His teaching career included jobs as an assistant professor of pediatric dentistry and oral microbiology at the Indiana University School of Dentistry, 1990-93; chair of pediatric dentistry and associate professor and professor of pediatric dentistry at the Boston University’s Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine and attending staff member at Boston Medical Center, as well as Franciscan Children’s Hospital, 1993-2013; professor and chair of pediatric dentistry at Rutgers University School of Dental Medicine, 2013-17; and professor and chair of pediatric dentistry at the School of Dentistry, University of Mississippi Medical Center, from 2017 until his retirement in 2021. He was certified by the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Dentistry of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. He authored numerous publications and presented nationally and internationally on various dental and scientific topics. He was a founding board member of Global Smile Foundation, participating as a team member on at least 12 missions to serve children in Central America, South America, and Africa. He had a love of travel, all genres of music, reading, and crossword puzzles. Cats and dogs, martinis on the piazza, and a good one-liner also brought him joy. He leaves his wife, Dorothy S. Hughes, two children, and two brothers, including his twin.
• John T. Bennett III ’79, Feb. 29, 2024, in Colrain, Mass., at 68. A dedicated civil servant, he worked as the town planner for Montague, Mass., and for 20 years at the Windham Regional Commission. In 1990 he earned his master’s from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in regional planning. He dedicated nearly 40 years of volunteer work to the Franklin County Conservation District, a testament to his unmatched affinity for nature. He was a diehard New England Patriots fan and flannel connoisseur who drove with the windows down year-round. Hobbies included hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, fishing, map reading, and cooking outdoors. He leaves his wife, Katherine Montague-Bennett, two children, a granddaughter, and two siblings.
• Mark A. McAuliffe ’79, Oct. 21, 2023, in Scarborough, Maine, at 66. He earned a master’s in management from the Sloan School of Business at MIT in 1981. He started working for Bath Iron Works the same year and rose to vice president of planning and materials until 1994, when he became managing partner at Orthopedic Associates. He transferred in 2006 to Martin’s Point Healthcare, where for two years he was chief clinical operations officer. In 2008 he opened Apothecary by Design Pharmacy with four other partners in Portland, Maine. He belonged to the Portland Community Chamber of Commerce, serving as president 2002-2009, and he was a trustee of the Tilton School and on the board of the Maine Health Management Coalition. He was an avid hiker, bicyclist, and outdoorsman who, since 2005, volunteered with the Maine Appalachian Trail Club’s Maine Trail Crew. In his final days of life, he made a gift in excess of $1 million to the MAMC for its capital campaign; in his honor, a new facility in Skowhegan will be called “The Maine Trail Center: Honoring the Memory of Mark McAuliffe, a Devoted Member and Volunteer of MATC.” Predeceased by his parents, Robert ’54 and Helen Connolly McAuliffe ’53, he leaves three siblings, including Robert McAuliffe Jr. ’76, and niblings, including Meghan Moynihan ’09.
• Sidney Karl Mohel Sr. ’79, July 20, 2024, in Berkeley Twp., N.J., at 67. He earned a J.D. degree from the University of Bridgeport (now Quinnipiac University) School of Law in 1983. He worked in the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office before practicing as an attorney at his practice, the Law Offices of S. Karl Mohel, PC in Toms River. He was a parishioner of the St. Joseph RC Church, certified scuba diver, hypnotist, and world traveler. He leaves his wife, Lisa, four children, four grandchildren, and two brothers.