Bowdoin Says Goodbye to Barry Mills After Fourteen Super Years. the Coles: All the Way from Los Alamitos, California to Highland Green
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SPRING/SummeR 2015 Vol. 86 No. 3 M a g a z i n e Bowdoin says goodbye to Barry Mills after fourteen super years. The Coles: all the way from Los Alamitos, California to Highland Green New Friends from 28 States and Counting... Maine’s premier 55+ Active Adult Community features a vast 635-acre campus, an unprecedented incorporation of a 230-acre Nature Preserve, lower-maintenance living in custom homes, and dynamic activities, all just three miles from Bowdoin College. “There are Retirement Communities and then there is Highland Green, a genuine Active Adult Community where we found a more carefree lifestyle around vibrant people in a wide age range from Maine and all over the country.” f Cathance River Nature Preserve at Highland Green for those 55 or better 7 Evergreen Circle, Topsham, Maine | 1-866-854-1200 / 1-207-725-4549 HighlandGreenLifestyle.com BowdoinM a g a z i n e From the Editor Volume 86, Number 3 Spring/Summer 2015 Magazine Staff Editor Matthew J. O’Donnell Saying Goodbye Managing Editor Scott C. Schaiberger ’95 Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending. Executive Editor —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Class of 1825 Alison M. Bennie Design Last month, David Letterman said a final good night to the television world after thirty- Charles Pollock three years as host of his late night show. Bidding adieu at the same time was Late Show Mike Lamare head writer Matt Roberts ’93, who worked for Letterman for twenty-two years (Hari PL Design – Portland, Maine Kondabolu ’04 interviews Matt in this issue). Three days later, the Class of 2015 marched its collective farewell to campus in the last Commencement exercises presided over by Contributors James Caton Barry Mills, who will retire from Bowdoin in July after fourteen years as president of the Douglas Cook College. It is a time of goodbyes. John R. Cross ’76 In her Baccalaureate address Margaret Lindeman ’15 reminded us about the collegial Leanne Dech The Coles: all the way from Los Alamitos, California to Highland Green spirit of the Bowdoin Hello, saying that after four years “we’ve mastered it, in one form or Rebecca Goldfine Scott W. Hood another.” But the Bowdoin Hello, she observed, must eventually, inevitably, become the Megan Morouse Bowdoin Goodbye. And, she said, “nobody has yet told us what it means to say goodbye.” Melissa Wells Of one thing I’m certain: goodbye is rarely easy. This issue marks the College’s Photographs by: goodbye to Barry and Karen Mills, and putting it together has been a challenge. How New Friends from 28 States and Counting... Brian Beard, Fred Field, Bud Glick, Dennis to encapsulate, how to do justice to, their extraordinary contributions in merely a few Griggs, Bob Handelman, Kay Hinton, James pages? How to exhibit the necessary solemnity of the occasion, while at the same Maine’s premier 55+ Active Adult Community features a vast 635-acre campus, an Marshall, Jeffrey R. Staab, Michele Stapleton, time capturing the down-to-earth personal atmosphere they’ve fostered here? We Brandon Sullivan, Warren Toda, Brian Wedge will miss Barry and Karen, but this is not a melancholy goodbye, either for them or for ’97, and Bowdoin College Archives. unprecedented incorporation of a 230-acre Nature Preserve, lower-maintenance living Bowdoin. It is celebratory, unabashedly fond, and occasionally playful. We felt that the in custom homes, and dynamic activities, all just three miles from Bowdoin College. On the covers: Our front cover features the most appropriate way to honor Barry and Karen in this last issue of Barry’s presidency SuperBarry emblem explained on page 3; an would be to ask members of the Bowdoin community, whose Bowdoin experiences “extra” tribute cover we considered appears Barry and Karen have so greatly affected, to tell us in their own words what Barry’s time “There are Retirement Communities and then there is Highland Green, a genuine on the inside back cover, under the manifesto. as president has meant to them. Students, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, and friends Photo by Fred Field. of the College jumped at the chance to say thank you in this way, and we hope we did Active Adult Community where we found a more carefree lifestyle around vibrant BOWDOIN MAGAZINE (ISSN, 0895-2604) their thoughtful reflections justice here, even if we did run of out space to do so (see people in a wide age range from Maine and all over the country.” is published three times a year by Bowdoin bowdoin.edu/magazine for the essays in their entirety). College, 4104 College Station, Brunswick, Maine, 04011. Printed by J.S. McCarthy, Barry and Karen have ended their official time at Bowdoin artfully, with all of the Augusta, Maine. Sent free of charge to all mindfulness, grace, humility, humor, and clear affection for the College that has made Bowdoin alumni, parents of current and recent their many years in Brunswick so successful. Goodbyes, of course, also lead to new undergraduates, faculty and staff, and members hellos, and we’ll be helping to introduce the Roses soon. For now, though, we say of the Association of Bowdoin Friends. goodbye to President Mills and Mrs. Mills, but we also say hello to them as alumni, Barry ’72 and Karen H’15. Opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors. Happy summer, Please send address changes, ideas, or letters to the editor to the address above or by email f to [email protected]. Send class news to [email protected] or to the Matt O’Donnell address above. Advertising inquiries? Email [email protected] Cathance River Nature Preserve at Highland Green for those 55 or better [email protected]. 207.725.3133 7 Evergreen Circle, Topsham, Maine | 1-866-854-1200 / 1-207-725-4549 HighlandGreenLifestyle.com [email protected] 1 contents spring/summer 32 features 12 12 Bowdoin Says Goodbye to Barry Mills OpeninG phOtO By Fred Field 28 Academic institutions are built very much on ceremonies, but there isn’t really a ceremony for sending off the president who is stepping down. So we asked members of the Bowdoin community to write a short essay for us about Barry and the achievements of the past fourteen years. What we got back is inspiring and heartwarming and funny. 28 Sacred Spaces By liSa WeSel • phOtOGraphS By JaMeS MarShall 40 Professor Carrie Scanga uses the slow process of printmaking “to pin down the fleeting,” and the end result is beautiful. 32 leaving the Late Show phOtOGraphS By JeFFrey r. StaaB and Bud Glick Emmy Award-winning writer Matt Roberts ’93 has an unbelievably short résumé, which he’s currently shopping. Fellow comedian Hari Kondabolu Departments ’04 met Roberts at the famed Ed Sullivan Theater to talk about Bowdoin, comedy, and his long run with David Letterman. 4 Mailbox 66 Weddings 40 Walk-ins Welcome 6 Almanac 70 Deaths By david treadWell ’64 • phOtOGraphS By Fred Field 42 Alumnotes 72 Whispering Pines Local barber Leo Desjardins has a unique perspective on the College, 43 Class News and he just may know Bowdoin better than anyone. 2 BOWDOIN | SPRING/SUMMER 2015 Bowdoin Seen The emblem featured on the cover of this issue originated at a trustee dinner in May honoring Barry Mills and his “14 Super Years” as Bowdoin’s president. Trustee Bob White ’77, shown here with the emblem on the screen behind him, served as host of the event. Photograph by Michele Stapleton [email protected] 3 Bowdoin Mailbox as the Poet Said… early education On that “historic” February 18, 1952 [Editor’s Column, I was recently reading through my Bowdoin Magazine Winter 2015], I was living at the ATO house, two-thirds of and came across the profile for Conor Williams ’05, with a long block down Federal Street just on the other side of discussion about his work in the area of early childhood the railroad tracks. I had a 9:00 a.m. class, so I strapped on education. I am an early childhood Montessori teacher and my skis and headed up Federal Street. When I got to Casey was so interested in the work Conor is doing. (I so love seeing Sills’s house, I saw that a pathway through the snow (thirty- young graduates doing such commendable work!) Early six-inches wide and reaching to bare stairs, sidewalk, and childhood education is something that I am very passionate pavement) had been shoveled from his house to the corner about and have come to it as a second career after being a across Federal Street, across [Bath Road], right to the College, full-time mother for many years and working in sales and and (I assume) directly to the entrance to his classroom. He marketing prior to having children. With each passing year of had just come out, on the way to his class, and we spoke. In my relatively new career, I am grounded in the reality that the his beautiful rotund public voice he said, “As the poet said, ‘If early years of education are by far some of the most valuable. Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?’” (The answer [this We as a culture need to continually be doing all that we can to year] here in Maine is, “Yes. Far, far behind.”) Not a one of better the opportunities for all families/children in this regard. my professors cut class on that day. Suzi Huebschmann ’86 Dick Ahrens ’53 Spring indeed felt “far behind” after this February storm dumped enough snow to nearly obscure the steps of the Walker Art Building.