Class Note 1976
Issue
May-June 2026
Class Note 1976. Hello, classmates. This is our last Class Notes before our 50th and my last writing of those notes before turning the duties over to Spencer Kubo for the next five years. It’s been a treat reporting on your doings, comings, and goings. Before I get into what I promise will be a column that includes more boldfaced names than any previous one, I want to make you all aware of the great work done on your behalf since our 45th. Your class officers are extraordinary, award-winning, and dedicated to the College and our class. President Naomi Baline Kleinman, vice presidents Kipp Barker and Sharon Ali,treasurer Brewer Doran, and her predecessor for two-plus years, John Pancoast,did so much work to keep our class in good standing with the alumni office. You wouldn’t believe some of the fires they’ve put out or achievements they’ve stayed modest about. Thanks to all—and to everyone who served as a class officer since 1976: Your work is noted and appreciated.
With that, let’s turn to news of you, happily snatched from the burgeoning 50th reunion book, which I hope will have more than 500 entries by reunion. Winnipeg, Manitoba, resident and former all-star hockey player Gordy Miles retired in 2017 after 40 years in the grain industry with both private firms and the federal government. Cynthia Wolcott moved to California in 1977, went to USC Law School, and 40 years later is still practicing law though less and less. Wonderfully, daughter Molly ’11 won the class of 1976 award after playing No. 1 on the tennis team for all four years. After Covid, Coke McClure was ordained a second time as an Episcopal priest. After living and studying in Berkeley, California, Coke and his wife, Tamara, served rural parishes in Harlan, Kentucky, and western Nebraska. Barry Braverman spent a lengthy career as a cinematographer in the film and TV industry, most notably as a frequent collaborator with director Wes Anderson. Barry is now running workshops for aspiring filmmakers around the world. After 45 years as a Boston-area trial lawyer, Peter Brooks moved permanently to Warren, Vermont, seven years ago. He still works part time but doesn’t allow it to interfere with skiing or golf. Melinda Hungerford Harder retired after teaching in Bates College’s mathematics department. She married Ralph Harder in 1980 and they’ve lived in the same house in Auburn, Maine, since 1986. They have two daughters who live in the Boston area and four grandchildren. Greg Payne is head of the legal department for Disney Television Animation. When he retires next year, he will have been a Disney employee for 18 years and spent more than 40 years in the cartoon business. Diana Robeck Todd spent most of her career at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, working to translate research results on earthquake-resistant design into building codes. She retired early and studied geographic information system and digital cartography, with mapmaking becoming her joy.
And so we conclude my last Class Notes. Thank you to all who contributed, to so many people who helped guide and edit. Be good to Spencer Kubo. Please send him your news. We can’t fit it all into June 12-14 in Hanover, and those days will generate still more great stories from the fabled class of 1976. Ciao for now.
—Steve Bell, 15 Harbour Pointe, Buffalo, NY 14202; steve@stevebellcommunications.com
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With that, let’s turn to news of you, happily snatched from the burgeoning 50th reunion book, which I hope will have more than 500 entries by reunion. Winnipeg, Manitoba, resident and former all-star hockey player Gordy Miles retired in 2017 after 40 years in the grain industry with both private firms and the federal government. Cynthia Wolcott moved to California in 1977, went to USC Law School, and 40 years later is still practicing law though less and less. Wonderfully, daughter Molly ’11 won the class of 1976 award after playing No. 1 on the tennis team for all four years. After Covid, Coke McClure was ordained a second time as an Episcopal priest. After living and studying in Berkeley, California, Coke and his wife, Tamara, served rural parishes in Harlan, Kentucky, and western Nebraska. Barry Braverman spent a lengthy career as a cinematographer in the film and TV industry, most notably as a frequent collaborator with director Wes Anderson. Barry is now running workshops for aspiring filmmakers around the world. After 45 years as a Boston-area trial lawyer, Peter Brooks moved permanently to Warren, Vermont, seven years ago. He still works part time but doesn’t allow it to interfere with skiing or golf. Melinda Hungerford Harder retired after teaching in Bates College’s mathematics department. She married Ralph Harder in 1980 and they’ve lived in the same house in Auburn, Maine, since 1986. They have two daughters who live in the Boston area and four grandchildren. Greg Payne is head of the legal department for Disney Television Animation. When he retires next year, he will have been a Disney employee for 18 years and spent more than 40 years in the cartoon business. Diana Robeck Todd spent most of her career at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, working to translate research results on earthquake-resistant design into building codes. She retired early and studied geographic information system and digital cartography, with mapmaking becoming her joy.
And so we conclude my last Class Notes. Thank you to all who contributed, to so many people who helped guide and edit. Be good to Spencer Kubo. Please send him your news. We can’t fit it all into June 12-14 in Hanover, and those days will generate still more great stories from the fabled class of 1976. Ciao for now.
—Steve Bell, 15 Harbour Pointe, Buffalo, NY 14202; steve@stevebellcommunications.com