Blast
from the Past
Thornton
Academy’s
Class of 1970 Newsletter
by
Mary Alice Bellevue Tripp
Fall 2005
Reunion Weekend August 5th and 6th,
2005
We started on Saturday morning with Thornton Academy hosting the first-ever combined
(’70, ’75, ’80) class reunion weekend breakfast/school tour/mini-classes. The buffet breakfast in the dining commons
also included a welcome from Ken Janson, TA Alumni Association President, and a
drawing of door prizes (of which our class won our fair share!). We then set off for a campus tour or attended
some mini-classes. My first mini-class
was a fundamentals of arts class with TA Art teacher, David Hanright, teaching
us how to sketch a self-portrait. Scary
stuff, when you’re sitting in a high school classroom and you’re looking at
some 53 year old woman in the hand mirror!
The next mini-class brought my group to a classroom with laptop PC’s at
every desk. Social Studies teacher,
Chris Indorf, demonstrated how these computers are used in the everyday life of
a TA student, especially in the classroom.
Chris was impressed to hear that the class of ’70 (who happened to be
old enough to be his parents) had their own website (a 1st at
TA). Some of us then headed to Roger
Bergeron’s house to set-up for the night event.
Those who stayed at TA got to see the Channel 3/TATV studio and how it
functioned. Darlene Dutille Janiszewski
was even interviewed by some students for a broadcast that aired this
fall.
Saturday evening found us under the stars
at Roger Bergeron’s home in Lyman. We
rocked to the beat of Exit 5 and Small Boy Pete (Tommy Ouellette ’75, Ken
Janson ’72, Mike and Bob Labelle ’73, Pete Grenier, Carrie Allen Grenier ‘83,
Al Smith ’73). We ate, danced, hung out
at the fire pit, reminisced over yearbook photo displays, gathered in Don
Grenier’s RV, hugged, paid tribute to deceased classmates with the presence of
tiki torches and candles, took photos, drank, watched Robert Wilson (Jocelyn
Canning’s partner) make incredible aluminum foil sculptures and generally had a
great night. As Sandy Blow Gaines and I
were heading back to Saco on Route 35, well
past midnight, we gazed in amazement at a shooting star. I immediately thought that was Bob
Ouellette’s way of saying “great job guys”.
This one was for you, Bob!
A mellow crowd gathered Sunday morning at
Don Grenier’s for a scrumptious brunch and activities. Unfortunately most of us were spent
(old-fart-itis) from the previous night and found ourselves just reminiscing
and not doing many of the activities.
Thank You to Reunion
Sponsors & Helpers
A special thank you to the following
classmates who helped sponsor the reunion weekend Roger Bergeron, Janet
Emerson, Joan Fink, Don Grenier, Gene Libby, Peter Mazieko, Patricia Merrill,
Dick Petersen, Don Prokey, Bob St.Onge, Leslie Tripp, Mary Alice Bellevue Tripp
and Madeleine Henri Zahares. Without
their financial help we would not have been able to offer the extras.
Thanks also to the following who
helped (organizing, mailings, set-up, clean-up, food prep, serve, MC, etc.): Patricia Martin Beaudoin ’71, Roger Bergeron,
Kathy Allen Bergeron ‘72, Jocelyn Canning, Sandy Blow Gaines (& her sister
Susan ‘71 and nieces Meghan & Mary), Don Grenier, Susan Grenier, Ken Janson
‘72, Craig Lovecky, Monica Lovecky, Dick Petersen, Leslie Tripp, Mary Alice
Bellevue Tripp (& her sister Jane ‘67), Nancy Tripp ‘67, Bob St.Onge, Ray
Whitten and Laura Angis Wolfahrt.
More Reunion
Photos
Along with the reunion photos on this
website, there are more on www.thornton.saco.org. Click on “Photos” in the lower left of
screen, then click on “Reunion Day” or “1970 Class Reunion” to view more photos
of classmates.
Log In
While you’re on the TA1970.com
website, please register under the “log in” in the upper right hand
corner. Just fill out the required
fields and you’ll now be included in our alumni section. The class of 1970 owes Dick Petersen and his
business, Helpful.com, an immense amount of gratitude for creating,
maintaining, hosting and funding this website.
Thanks!
Mary’s Walk
The 2006 Mary’s Walk 2.5 mile walk/Kerrymen Pub 5K road race will be
held on Sunday, March 12. Mark your
calendar and plan to spend a fun day while paying tribute to our classmate Mary
Kerry Libby. For more information, check
out www.maryswalk.org.
Alumni
Garden
I’m working on a spring of 2006 project with the Thornton Academy
Alumni Association. We’re looking to
create an Alumni Garden in a triangular shaped plot next
to the Alumni/Development/Finance Building (white house next to the
Headmaster’s house –formerly an apartment house for faculty). We are in the design stage and plan to do the
installation in May of 2006. If you’re
interesting in helping, look for more information in Postscripts or call me at (207)283-1965.
Class
Notes
Here
are some classmate updates, garnered from our 35th Reunion
Questionnaire or
from
people I have heard from over the last year.
After many moves and living in 7 different
states, Darlene Dutille Janiszewski has settled down in St. Petersburg, Florida
where she is a sales coordinator and office manager for a Viacom owned
television station. Even though she
loves the Florida climate, she would still
love to own a second home in Maine. Darlene relaxes by hanging out with her dog
and spending time on the water.
John Carnevale wasn’t able to
make it to the reunion, because of a busy work schedule, but e-mailed to say he
had been in Maine
in May visiting Roger Wentworth. John
also mentioned he still had his first 9’6” RonJon, even though he doesn’t have
much use for it in Maryland. John is the President of Carnevale Associates
LLC in Darnestown, Maryland.
His website bio states “An internationally recognized expert in the
field of drug policy, Dr. John Carnevale has served three administrations and
four “Drug Czars” within the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. Previously he worked as a researcher at the
Office and Management and Budget and in the U.S. Department of the Treasury in
the Office of State and Local Affairs.”
It looks like John’s leadership as TA’s student council president set
him on a career path to government service.
Every year the Maine Sunday
Telegram does a poll on “The Best in Maine”. The most recent poll selected the Bob
Charest Band as the “Best Maine Band”.
The newspaper added “this is the first time a wedding/event band has
won, but hey, wedding music can really rock, right? And very few local bands dress as nicely as
the Bob Charest Band does.”
Della Jeffery Knezienski came all the
way from Vacaville, California to attend the reunion
weekend. Della was tired of only coming
to Maine for
funerals, so she got Patricia Merrill and Dianne Abbott
Foster to join her for most of the events. Della has worked for the past 25 years as a
jet mechanic.
Jocelyn Canning attended her
first reunion with her significant other, Robert Wilson. Robert kept the crowd entertained on Saturday
night with his aluminum foil sculptures!
Jocelyn’s love for music is evident with her list of rock concerts she
has attended: The Doors, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Ozzy Osbourne, Bob
Marley, The Who, Paul McCartney & Wings, Grateful Dead, Elton John, Pink
Floyd, Bob Dylan & the list goes on.
Don Grenier
and his wife
Susan have bought land in the Turks and Caicos and plan to build their
retirement villa in Providenciales. If
anyone is in the market for a nice home in West Kennebunk,
give Don a call.
I heard through the grapevine that Bill Donald and many
of his family members have moved to Florida.
While Kathleen O’Neil was in Maine
in April, as a visiting professor lecturing at Maine Medical
Center, she got to visit
with Leslie Tripp and Joani Fink. Kathleen is a physician specializing in
Pediatric Rheumatology and works for the University of Oklahoma School of
Medicine. Kathleen writes “my children
(through some miracle) turned out to be athletes”. Her oldest 2 are now in college and her
youngest just started high school.
Kathleen also writes “Soon I will reach the stage of life that most of
my classmates have already attained – when I can get time to do what I want,
instead of trying to keep up with the agenda of my family: games, competition,
music lessons, laundry… and then, I’ll have to decide what I want to do with MY
spare time.”
Rachel Bouffard Dinsmore traveled from Rixeyville, Virginia
to attend the weekend. She also was in Maine to help her family
celebrate her mother’s 80th birthday.
Rachel works full time in a very busy doctor’s office, along with
working part time as an alcohol/drug/defensive driving instructor for the
Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program. If
she gets any spare time, Rachel enjoys gardening, riding her motorcycle, and
volleyball.
Greg Searle is the golf course superintendent at Deep
Brook Golf Course in Saco, a new nine hole
course on Route 5. Greg lives in
Kennebunk where he’s the Chair of the Parks & Recreation Commission and is
also on the Board of Directors of the Maine Golf Course Superintendents
Association. For hobbies, Greg enjoys
“golf, photography and showing my grandson (age 4) how to throw a
curveball!” When asked on the
questionnaire what he would do differently if he were a student at TA today,
Greg writes “Have my sister do my homework more often!!”
Donna Sprague
Bilodeau writes that
she has been married for 35 years, has 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren. After retiring from being a Girl Scout leader
and 12 year member of the Goodwin’s Mills Rescue; she has kept busy with her
church, making crafts, gardening, camping, traveling with her grandchildren and
being involved with their activities.
Bob St.Onge left Central Maine Power in 1990 to farm
full time. Now he and his wife, Judy,
and their 2 children run a very prosperous Winterwood Farm in Lyman. Their main product is organic shellfish
compost sold throughout the Northeast.
Gardening guru, Paul Tukey from People,
Places and Plants (magazine and HGTV show), recently admitted the best
thing he does yearly for his gardens is to purchase 30-45 yards of Winterwood
Farm compost. If that isn’t an
endorsement – I don’t know what is! Bob
enjoys classic Corvettes (he drove one to the reunion) and raising and showing
Belted Galloway cattle.
Madeleine Henri
Zahares loves
traveling to the South, especially to Hilton Head, SC and Savannah, GA. She also enjoys the beach, eating out with
friends and family, dancing, reading, collecting musical Santas, doing the
puzzles in the newspaper, watching the Golden Girls (“they’re my therapy and
make me laugh”), and going to off Broadway shows. After crunching numbers for 23 years,
Madeleine decided it was time for a career change and went back to school at
SMTC. She presently lives in Portland and works for
NorDx, the lab for MMC, as a phlebotomist.
Madeleine remembers how the Notre Dame de Lourdes nuns hated that she
went to Sodality at Most Holy Trinity and how the nuns wouldn’t allow them to
talk to those “Protestant” kids on the other side of the fence at Burns School!
Because he enjoys web/HTML programming and anything computer related, Chris Allen proclaims – “I’m a
geek!” He also admits to enjoying the
never ending remodeling of his Saco home. Chris has 3 sons who have all graduated from Thornton.
After graduating from Thornton,
Harry Louis became an
aircraft mechanic. He then became a builder
of post and beam homes for 20 years and for the last 12 years has been a
massage therapist. He recently came out
of retirement in the building trade to teach his son Charles the fine points of
renovation and construction. Harry’s
best memories at TA were of a circle of friends which included: Bob Ouellette,
Charlie & Chris Hadiaris, Saul Green, David Zaitlin, Bruce Boutet, John
Choroszy and Mike Simanonok.
Les (Leslie Tripp)
and I (Mary Alice Bellevue Tripp)
recently went to Boston
to see Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays. What an incredible show – I think it’s the
hardest I have ever laughed and the hardest I have ever cried at a
performance. This is a must see, so get
tickets if it comes to a location near you.
After reading the book A Trip to
the Beach by Melinda and Bob Blanchard, Les and I have fallen in love with
the island of Anguilla
in the Caribbean and are planning our third
trip for March of 2006. I recently
finished a Master Gardener course through the York County Cooperative Extension
and will receive my certification in the spring of 2006. Volunteering is one of the components of the
curriculum and I chose to be a Garden Angel, where you help someone who can’t
physically maintain their garden at the level they’re accustom. I fortunately was matched with Sylvia Searle,
Greg’s mom. It’s been an enriching
experience and I plan to work with her again next summer. I’ve recently started a new job working for
Sue Hadiaris, Leon’s
wife, in the Community Relations & Development office at Southern Maine
Medical Center. This is temporary while
SMMC is conducting a $23 million capital campaign for the Dorothy Walker Bush
Pavilion, the main feature being a new emergency department. Kevin
Savage, Joan Fink and Les are all SMMC Board of Directors, so they are
also involved in this capital campaign.
It’s nice to see the TA Class of 1970 leaving their mark on the local
community.
Most
common response for:
“If
you were a student at TA today, what would you do differently?”
Answer:
Participate in more activities.
