On Nov. 1, 2006, fifty or so students, plus a few faculty, staff, and even a trustee gathered in Gates to hear and contribute to an event billed as "Looking backward, moving forward: Reflections on COA in 1980 from 2006." I was at COA this fall as a visiting scholar, on sabbatical from my home institution. Among the many events I planned to offer during my residence was an evening sparking discussion on the meaning of each of our experiences of COA, by looking at my past experiences in the light of the present. Before I left Washington State to come here this fall with my spouse and 2 young girls, I managed to scan a couple dozen of my ektachrome transparencies of COA in the 1980-81 year. Then, for fun, I went around to some of the places photographed (and two of the people - Ted Koffman and Jay McNally) and get "now" pictures of them too. 

 I started off with the proviso that there is no golden age of the college but now: it is always what we make of it in the present, and it offers exceptional chances to get in the driver's seat of our education, your school, and your life. That said, we launched onto the Allagash in 1980 with a group of students, and faculty member Dan Kane and staff member Ted Koffman, and their families. Ted, in the audience, chimed in about the trip and the impact of such expeditions for his son. Then we viewed several sites "then" and "now" re-photography style: the "main building" / Kaelber Hall; Turrets; Seafox; the shrine; the fin whale skull (1984 and 2006); even Duck Brook bridge (unaltered); the bay ice-clogged in winter, and a section of Cottage Street (a bit glitzier and more wires today). Two trees by the water flummoxed me at first: it seemed the dock and they have grown. But no, I found the 2 little trees - remarkably unchanged (same dead branches; barely an inch thicker in trunk) today. 

On to the most important part: the people: Students of yesterday (26 years ago), making bread, partying (really rather tamely), making snow creatures, dancing around the maypole, putting on theatre classes and conflict resolution lessons for local elementary kids: so many projects. And then the people; several of my most important faculty are no longer at COA or even alive: Peter Corcoran (I helped hire him, on a hiring committee with a majority of students); Rich Borden; Butch Rommel. I don't have pictures of every teacher who was significant, but there were those with the largest impact on me at the time: Don Miekeljohn, Dan Kan, Bill Drury and Dick Davis. To each of these I devoted words of praise for their qualities and influence. Dick, particularly, was perhaps my most influential undergraduate teacher, and I did my best work for him. But all the others represent divergent and very important ideals to me. That was a time of dynamism and relative unanimity of vision in the college, I think. It was a faculty many of whom came from research schools but wanted just to teach.

Not a golden age (I contend there is none: the present is always what we make it), but a vibrant formative one. Ted, Marie Stivers, Rich Borden, and others in attendance filled in vital details. Students asked about community perceptions of COA, how many people attended ACM, what were the hot issues, and changes in technology and cultural diversity. There have clearly been changes in COA over 26 years: it has weathered the worst and indeed risen like the phoenix from the ashes, in Ed Kaelber's words. Now it is ours to carry on with and continue its traditions of innovation, excellence generosity and celebration. In thinking about my return to campus I realized that alumni outlive and outlast every other constituency on campus. Eventually, the college is ours, in memory and in actual contribution. I would like to encourage any alumni who interested in sharing their oral history of COA to contact Donna Gold, dgold@coa.edu.

Olin Eugene (Gene) Myers, Jr. ('80)