1970s

Coming Soon—submit your own Class Note!

New submissions for Spring 2026: Gary Petzold recently completed a 4.5-month firefighter one/hazmat course leading to certification as a firefighter. Gary is in the Noank, Conn., fire department, as is his wife Susan. He is also a trustee at the Ram Island Yacht Club in Noank where he is in charge of the facility. Gary and Sue are active members of the Noank Historical Society. For fun they sail their Devon Yawl or power around in their Ellis 28 downeast-style boat. They are proud grandparents of a one-year-old, Mac.

Coming Soon—submit your own Class Note!

New submissions for Spring 2026: From Rob Burgess: “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!”

Coming Soon—submit your own Class Note!

New submissions for Spring 2026: Richard Conant sends his regards from Mystic, CT as an epic winter winds down. He hopes to indulge in some spring skiing and plans to do Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington come April. Richard enjoyed at trip with his ski club and eldest son, Richard III to the French Alps in January. He’s looking forward to seeing fellow classmates at his 50th reunion next year! ✹ After coaching the North Platte 80s of the independent baseball Pecos League in 2025, Evan Katz declared himself “The Least Qualified Coach in Professional Baseball.” He began motivational speaking about his late-life baseball career as a professional player and coach, despite never playing high school or college baseball. Read this article about his journey!

New submissions for Fall 2025: Peter Cohn‘s married son lives in L.A. and his daughter is at home and commutes to NYC. His wife is a substitute teacher in Huntington and Syosset, and he works for an agency for home school kids and goes to their house. For two years he marched every Sunday morning in Plainview for the release of the Israeli hostages until they got out. On Wednesdays he volunteers at a food bank and has harmonica band at night. Tuesday night is swing dance. Friday morning is yoga and political discussion in the library in the p.m. ✹ Alix (Levintow) Howell is relocating from Brunswick, Maine, to White River Jct, Vt., to continue working in research at the VA Medical Center in White River Jct. She moved to Brunswick in 2020 to retire, but that same year she received a grant from the VA which she oversaw remotely from Maine. In 2025, she received another grant from the VA. Unfortunately, her husband, Peter Tenney, passed away in September, and she decided to move back to Vermont to work, and to be closer to her children and grandchildren.

Coming Soon—submit your own Class Note!

• 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.