Letters to the Editor
LETTERS
What a great weekend in June 2012 it was for the tenth class ­ 1952 ­ of Maine Maritime Academy! That weekend we
celebrated our 60th class reunion spearheaded by the Bangor trio of Joe Carr, Larry Blethen, and Dick Castner
assisted by Paul Mercer '73 and his spirited assistant, Alyssa Lacroix Allen. Did I say 60th?! We were a small class of
45, divided into 14 mates and 31 engineers.
Friday evening, "Senior" middies mustered on the Seaward Porch of the new alumni house, received our info packets,
got our bunk assignments, and headed for Leavitt Hall (aka Richardson Hall) where we stowed our gear and took
our significant others to the Wyman Alumni House, named for Maine Senator Hollis Wyman, blueberry baron of
Washington County, ME. We reminisced about the upperclassmen who sent us MUGS carrying rags and brass polish
onto the Richardson Hall porch roof and proclaimed we were "lettermen" assigned to polish the letters. Unlike today, we
had a full year of square corners, hitting a brace, Queen Anne's Chair, and the game of torpedoes.
Saturday morning, we walked to Wyman House for breakfast before our bus ride to Searsport to board the TS STATE OF
MAINE. At the foot of the gangway to greet us was MMA President, Dr. William J. Brennan. From Searsport, we viewed
the wind towers being erected on Bull Hill before heading down Penobscot Bay for the fire and boat drills evocative of
our own shipping days. The calm described by local fishermen as "glassyarse calm" made the huge BBQ on the fantail
very enjoyable as we swung to port and headed up around Vinalhaven to Castine. Paul presented the Class of 1952 with
caps embellished with the STATE OF MAINE, ports of call, and "scrambled eggs."
After tying up in Castine, Paul maneuvered us off the ship into waiting vans, which took us back to Leavitt Hall for a
quick wash down, fore and aft, and a short walk to Alfond Student Center for a lobster/clam feed. We met up with
"Niffie" Smallidge, our class emcee and all-around good guy who remembered all our nicknames such as: "Tilt,"
"The Tall One," "Bleet," "Dunker," "Banks," "Jungle Bunny," "The Horse," and "Biff." Our Saturday night conversations
descended to the innermost parts of a middie's life at MMA. Bob Malaney, John Hodge, and George Paisley held
up their end of "Remembering
When," along with Ted
Manduca and John
Fairbanks. Dick Castner, was
the lone mate so we bestowed
the honor, after a few signals,
of "Engineer for the Day" on
Dick.
The Class of 1952 has lost
about half our classmates
whose lives were remembered
at the Eight Bells ceremony
on the pier Friday evening.
However, sad as it was, it was
also joyous to know so many
of us enjoyed success thanks
to the MMA experience. Sixty
years later, I can only ask, "Did
it really happen?" Who's a
middie? I'm a middie!"
Bruce Carter `52
6 MARINER 2013 - Issue 2

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