Class of 1972

Why Colby?

Want to share your own story or feedback? Email us at: Classof1972@colby.edu

Why Colby? Perhaps it was the campus overall, but specifically, I was looking for a college that had a hockey rink with a roof (my HS hockey practices had been mostly at outdoor rinks). The Bowdoin campus looked old and Williams had purple and gold for their school colors; both were big negatives. I also had 2 Canton High School classmates (Shelby Coady Blunt and Laureen Ramonas) determined to go to Colby, and I thought my chances would be severely limited based on their academic horsepower. My only campus visit included a chance meeting with then hockey coach Charlie Holt (who left for UNH before we even arrived freshman year) and that sealed the deal for me. Apparently, the Admissions staff must have missed by HS academic records and saw a slew of extra curricula, and I was admitted.

CHRISTOPHER PINKHAM
Canton,MA., 1968
South Freeport, ME, 2020

Why Colby? As a child on family vacations through the mid-Atlantic and New England, we always had stops to visit colleges. Colby made the list in the summer of 8th grade, leaving a lasting image of a beautiful campus — especially Johnson Pond and its willow trees. In the fall of 1967 and college application season I had decided that I would wait a year to apply to college. I had already been the new kid in school 8 times because of my father’s work-related transfers, and as the oldest child still at home and my parents in the midst of a divorce, I was the go-to child for stability for my younger siblings, and sometimes my parents. So, a year to regroup seemed like a good idea - but to my mother, not so much. Her reaction was swift and clear. If I didn’t apply to college myself - and quickly - she would do it for me - to the University of Delaware, which is where most of my 500+ high school class would be going. To avoid that fate I made my list of options of which Colby came to the top: beautiful campus and willow trees, small school, as far north as I could go and a strong Russian department. It was the best illogically-based decision I ever made. My four years at Colby were the longest span of time at any one school in my life. They gave me a place and friends connection I had never had before. Even with logic, I could not have chosen a better place to expand my understanding of the world, to live through the cultural changes of 1968-72, and to develop the confidence and ability to be myself.

DONNA POWER STOWE
Wilmington, DE., 1968
Great Falls, VA, 2020

Why Colby? That’s easy. Money. As the oldest of eight children in a working-class family, I knew I would have to pay my way through college. I applied to four, knowing I would attend the school that gave me the most financial aid. Boston College and Villanova offered nothing. Bates came through with $1,500, about half the total cost. I was about to mail the deposit when Colby’s offer arrived. It was $1,550. So, my deposit went to Waterville instead of Lewiston, and I became a Colby White Mule instead of a Benjamin Bates Scholar. The rest is history. Anne O’Hanian, whom I saw for the first time in Prof. Ed Witham’s freshman orientation discussion of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, met for the first time in Omar Knox’s Elementary Functions class, dated for the first time at a Tau Delt party on Dec. 7, 1968, and married three months after graduating. Also three years of baseball, Tau Delta Phi, the Spa, Whipper’s, Silent Woman, the Jeff, all-nighters, “beach” parties in the TDP basement, epic IFL championship football against Lambda Chi, two years on air at WTVL Radio, Gordon Linen Service, Summer of ’71 on the Cape with Chris Pinkham at his grandmother’s Dennis Port cottage, senior Jan Plan at the Waterville Sentinel, a degree, and a 41-year newspaper career. What a difference that $50 made.

MICHAEL SZOSTAK
Methuen, MA., 1968
Bristol, R.I., 2020

Why Colby? My father would have liked me to go to his alma mater, Springfield, but the jock future didn't attract me. My mother would have liked me to go to her alma mater, Skidmore, but it was a women's college at the time. I'd like to say that I chose Colby for grown-up reasons like esteemed faculty, but the truth is I chose it for 2 reasons. First, because I visited 3 schools suggested by my guidance counselor: Middlebury, Bates (where my grand-uncle had gone and played hockey) and Colby. As with Goldilocks, Colby with its campus on the hill and a friendly guide felt "just right.” Second, because it offered a major in spoken Spanish, which went away my freshman year, ending my vague dream of a career in the State Department. I ended up an English major (informal econ minor) which definitely created a foundation for the careers I established over the following 48 (!) years.

SUSAN COLANTUONO
Sudbury, MA., 1968
Wakefield, R.I. 2020

Why Colby? How did we research college options pre-internet? Lovejoy's College Guide and publications in libraries and bookstores, catalogs in high school guidance offices, glossy promotional material direct from colleges, etc. I had been looking into Boston College and Holy Cross. Then my guidance counselor pitched me on a small college in Maine - Colby. I was attracted to Colby by its small student body, good academic reputation, that it was away from home (but not too far), and the likelihood I could play varsity sports, particularly baseball. After being accepted at BC and HC, I waited what seemed to be an interminable amount of time before hearing from Colby, which by that time was my number one choice. I quickly accepted for the reasons above in addition to generous financial assistance.

MICHAEL McGLYNN
South Weymouth, MA., 1968
South Weymouth, MA., 2020

Why Colby? I picked Colby for its great academic reputation, gorgeous campus, small size, & because my older brother, Mike, was there! I visited Colby quite a few times when he was applying & just fell in love with the college. And of course, being a true Rhode Islander, I did not want to stay in R.I. to attend school!

NANCY ROUND HALEY
Warwick, RI, 1968
West Kingston, RI, 2020

Why Colby? I graduated from a military academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. As you can imagine it was all boys at that time. When I was looking at colleges, I really wanted to go to a co-ed school and I wanted to play hockey. Colby was one of the schools which admitted women in 1968. Hooray, I thought. They had a good hockey team as well. So, my friend, Joe Benson, and I applied and got accepted. We never visited the school. We ended up flying to Boston and then taking an Executive Air puddle jumper to Colby. I can vividly recall leaving the Boston area and seeing nothing but darkness all the way to Waterville. Joe looked over at me and said, “Holy cow! Where are we?” We got off the plane and made it to campus. And what did we see? GIRLS!! Hooray, we thought. And some of best years of our lives followed.

DOUG MCMILLAN
St. Paul, MN, 1968
Woodville, WI, 2020

Why Colby? John “Paddy” Davan, that’s why. John Davan was my high school history teacher at Westbrook (Maine) High School and a star athlete at Colby in the early 1930’s, as this October 1931 edition of the Colby Echo attests (https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/colbyecho/1211). I can still remember his standing in front of me one day after class (a contemporary history class where we were debating the pros and cons of the Vietnam War) and telling me that I should go to Colby. At the time, I think the only decision I had made about college was that I didn’t want to go to the University of Maine where the vast majority of my high school classmates would go. I wanted something different. I decided it couldn’t hurt to apply to Colby, so I did. I was offered admission and accepted – without ever having seen the campus. John Davan was a very persuasive person – and a wise person, too! That after-class chat that led me to Colby resulted in experiences and friendships that endure to this day and for which I will always be grateful.

CAROL BEAUMIER
Westbrook, ME, 1968
New York, NY, 2020

Why Colby? As a high school senior I was deciding between the University of Massachusetts and Colby College. Both my parents and grandparents had attended Colby and it seemed too familiar to me. I wanted a new and different experience. I was a waitress at Bergson Ice Cream Restaurant and was talking to a customer about my college choices. He asked me why I would want to be lost at a large impersonal college when I could be a large part of Colby. My decision was made that day.

ELLEN WOODS SIDAR
Scituate, MA, 1968
Portland, ME, 2020

Why Colby? I applied to Colby after doing lots of studying about colleges (art and liberal arts) all over the country. I liked Colby largely because of Jan Plan. The idea of studying one topic in depth for an entire month struck me as brilliant. The student-to-faculty ratio was attractive, and the small student body size interested me after graduating from a large high school. I was impressed by the materials the College sent to explain what made it unique, that showed a well-thought-out philosophy and a sense of working together for some common goals. I liked the clear focus on being a teaching-oriented school where faculty also had incentives to pursue their own academic work. It had a special relationship with experimental educational work being done at Fordham, as I remember, showing that it aspired to be more than just a place to be for four years. I thought Maine sounded romantic, and I imagined that campus life might be pretty good being stuck up there snowed in on Mayflower Hill (notice the subtle irony there). Though at times it was a little too removed from the "world", still the idea of being cloistered away for a period of time to study and develop as young adults did have its plusses. I loved learning to use snowshoes and trying to learn to ski--which I never got any good at until many years later! I loved having such interesting and smart friends and mentors to hang out with for four years. What a treat that was: so many fascinating conversations and experiences! I found lifetime friendships and felt welcomed though so far from home.

CATHERINE JOSLYN
Kansas City, MO, 1968
Lakewood, OH, 2020

Why Colby? I chose Colby because I was looking for a good college on either coast, as far from Cleveland, Ohio as I could get. My parents vetoed UC Berkeley because of the Viet Nam war protests and social unrest there at the time. Colby had a beautiful campus, the type of programs I wanted and was about as far in the other direction as I could get.

ANDRINE SMITH
Cleveland, Ohio - 1968
Oakland, CA - 2020

Why Colby? My father wouldn't let me even apply to Barnard. Columbia was crazy then and I wanted to be part of the world (I grew up in the Berkshires). He told me once it was the only argument he ever won with me. So, I applied to Pembroke (Brown) to study Chinese. I wanted to be the first American Photojournalist in China, and Brown had a great Asian Studies program. I either didn't get in or got on the Waiting List. Can't remember. I applied to Colby because my parents went to Colby, and they had a blast. Their best friends were Ginnie Thayer '48 and Ralph (Bunny) Field '50. They lived in Fairfield, and we visited Maine a lot to see them. I remember going to their 20th Reunion, being on the campus, and then meeting all of my parents' Colby friends. What parties! What funny stories! When it came down to it, I always knew I would go to Colby even though my father confessed he didn't think I was smart enough. I wanted to have fun and be around people who read books. Unfortunately, the classes of 1970-72 got stuck with the job of saving the world, so we were pretty serious, although we did get some great parties in. I think I went to Colby because my parents made friends there whom they stayed close to all their lives. I knew it would be a home. And I was right.

SARAH LUCY
Lee, MA, 1968
Portland, ME, 2020

Why Colby? As Facebook has proven, "We like to be liked". Perhaps more than that, "We like to be wanted". Colby showed me that "love" back in the Fall of 1967. Dick (Max) McGee had just completed his first season as Head Coach of Colby Football and was looking for some home state products to add to his roster for 1968. My HS team (Biddeford) had just won the State of Maine Championship vs. Bangor – three of whose star players were Don Snyder, Charlie Hull, and Dave Cheever. Not sure how the recruitment/application process went for Don, Charlie and Dave (as they did all get into Colby and played some football), but for me (third-oldest of 10 children with two already in college), I was thinking bigger -- Ivy League perhaps -- yet I wasn't hearing from Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby came calling, each sitting down with my Dad and me, providing us with the merits of attending their respective schools. Max was the sharpest. He told my Dad he would get us the best financial aid package possible, told me I could probably start my Freshman year (football), and mentioned with a shrug and a smile that, unlike Bowdoin, Colby had girls! Asked me to think about that over the weekend, and if I was interested, I should apply for Early Decision. I applied that Monday. A few days later, I received a phone call from Colby notifying me I had been accepted. So, adding to Doug McMillan's college decisioning logic, Girls + Early Decision = Easy Decision!

MICHAEL MINIUTTI
Biddeford, ME, 1968
Minnetonka, MN, 2020

Why Colby? As everyone knows, to a greater or lesser degree and if they really think about it for a moment, people make decisions and often momentous ones, for a convergence of reasons, and the literature in neuroscience attests to this rather obvious, but often overlooked, fact. My situation, in why I decided on Colby College, is certainly no exception to that long-standing behavioral dictum, but it comes with a far more complex cadre of reasons than would ordinarily be the case. First and foremost, I knew that I would be going on to a large university for graduate school of some type, so I wanted a small liberal arts college that was co-ed and located the New England and Middle Atlantic region, of which, at that time, there were precious few, to be sure. Coincidentally, my water-ski instructor went to Colby, and he was high on the school, which was important to me since I subsequently joined a water-ski team and taught the sport until very recently, compiling too many years in this athletic venue than I would care to publicly admit, of course. In addition, many years before I applied, my very distant cousins met at Colby, married, and when I applied were living in Swampscott, Massachusetts. As a result, just by a divining-rod methodology of sorts, I had familial ties, however, ephemeral, and some sports-related direction which neatly came together as a kind of package deal, as it were. However, there is more to this story, as you might have guessed. I visited the school and was taken with it, partly because of the tour given to me by an engaging senior, Michael Caulfield. I was reading The Catcher in the Rye, at the time, and this whole excursion was reminiscent of J.D. Salinger’s signature novel whose main protagonist was Holden Caulfield. Hey, was this too good to be true? The final nail in my decision convergence coffer was that Colby had this Jan Plan going, and I thought that I could make some great hay out of that opportunity which stretched for all four years. The result: I applied early decision to Colby, got in, and went. Now, if we fast forward 30 years, I was working at Prudential Securities when Michael Caulfield became President, in multiple related roles, of the Prudential Insurance Company and its Investment Management arm. We had a delightful reunion, and I was able to thank him, albeit 25 years too late, for giving me my Colby College tour. Then, just a couple of years ago, I met a long lost relative who informed me that my maternal great-great-uncle attended Colby in the 1930’s. So, after all of that, I was a legacy, or would have been for application purposes. In retrospect, the Jan Plans were spectacular, I learned how to study like crazy, I went on to Columbia, a large university for graduate school, and the rest, as they aphoristically say, is history.

STEPHEN RAPPAPORT
Valley Stream, Long Island, NY, 1968
New York, NY, 2020

Why Colby? Finding Colby was serendipitous. My father grew up in New London, New Hampshire where my grandfather taught chemistry at Colby Junior College. For as long as I can remember, our family vacations were spent at my grandparents’ house situated across the street from the back of the college. I usually got to stay for a week or two more by myself. Colby Junior (now 4-year Colby-Sawyer) is a lovely campus with white-trimmed red brick buildings and, at the time, a large grassy field and hill perfect for us kids to play on. When it came time for me to start looking at colleges, I mentioned to my grandmother that I loved Colby Jr. and wished it was a 4-year co-ed school. She informed me that not only was there a 4-year Colby College in Maine but also that my grandfather had graduated from there in 1922! My grandmother had been a kindergarten teacher in Waterville and met my grandfather when he was waiting tables at a coffee shop to help put himself through school. When I researched Colby it had the location, the look, the size, the curriculum, and the reputation I was hoping to find. It was my first choice from then on. My grandfather’s 50th reunion would have been the year we graduated. Though my grandfather was long gone, my grandmother was able to attend my graduation.

JUDY MORELAND SPITZ
East Lyme, CT, 1968
Waterford, CT, 2020

Why Colby? As was the case for other classmates who shared their stories, my parents influenced my decisions about college. My parents, who grew up in New York City, had both achieved their degrees by " day hopping" and they wanted me to have a different experience, a campus experience. My Dad started bringing me to visit colleges starting in my sophomore year. One memorable college visit was to Skidmore, where the interviewer performed what I now know to be a "stress interview," asking me challenging and somewhat confrontational questions, designed to bring out my fighting spirit, but which managed only to reduce me to tears! The next August, on our way back from a family vacation in Canada, we stopped at Colby for a tour and interview. The family made themselves scarce while I met with Frank Stephenson, only in his twenties himself and a great ambassador for Colby. He suggested that we walk over to the Spa and have the interview there. His welcoming, interested style, so different from that encounter at Skidmore, sold me on Colby as my first choice!

CHRISTINE HANLEY PIKE
Hillsdale, NJ, 1968
Haverhill, MA, 2020

Why Colby? My brother Bob was 13 months older than Kristie and I- “the twins;” consequently, when we traveled to look at colleges, all of us were intent on the quest. We all thought my brother’s first choice was URI, but he ended up choosing Colby, which had always been my first choice. My sister’s first choice was Middlebury. Kristie and I both applied early decision to our preferred schools, and amazingly, I got into Colby. Unfortunately, Kristie did not get into Middlebury and decided to also go to Colby. Growing up a twin isn’t always fun; I felt as if I weren’t an individual but half of a pair, and I was looking forward to being on my own. Since I was committed to Colby, I begged my sister to let me take her name. She could go to Colby, and I could go to one of the other schools that she’d been accepted to, but she said she’d let the schools know I was a fraud. As a result, all three Capers kids ended up at Colby. My parents were thrilled with only one parents’ weekend to attend and one college to deliver everyone to, but they weren’t so pleased with three bills from Colby.

NANCY CAPERS MELLEN
Medfield, MA, 1968
Hingham, MA, 2020

Why Colby? We had a dozen classmates looking at Colby and Bowdoin, and we split equally. Colby was my choice for three reasons. I was going to be an English major and that was a Colby strength at the time. Two, it seemed really weird that Bowdoin did not accept women. And three, Colby lent itself to a sense of a singular community where the option of engaging with the outside world would be on our time and inclination.

DAVID CHEEVER

Bangor, Maine, 1968
Augusta, Maine, 2021