As I mentioned in an earlier email, I will be temporarily sending out the Milne Alumni Newsletter until Mary Welch is able to again pursue her special interest in publishing the newsletter and to work on other aspects of the Milne Alumni Project. This edition may contain more than you ever wanted to know , but it's my first opportunity to share with you what's on my mind regarding Milne Alumni projects.

Dear Milne Alumni and Supporters,

While Mary has been concentrating on her many interests, I have been working primarily to (a) build an accurate database of all living Milne alumni and (b) to maintain the Milne Alumni website, including the updating of the class lists. There are currently over 1,700 names in my Milne Alumni database, and if Class Contacts and other alumni notify me of "snail mail" and email address changes, you will help ensure successful communication among Milne alumni. Thank you to those of you who regularly send me updates.

If anyone needs assistance in locating classmates, I would be happy to assist with the "detective work." What makes finding women especially difficult is the fact that many have married and we don't have their married names. Take a look at the class lists at http://www.albany.edu/~milne/MilneClassList.html and let me know if you can help with name updates for those alumni that you know.

A relatively new project I have undertaken is to add email links to as many alumni directory Web listings as possible with the permission of each alumna or alumnus. I would like to congratulate John Garman and Howard Werner, Class of 1958, for having done a super job of finding classmates, updating contact information, and suggesting that each classmate agree to have his or her name become an email link. When you have a chance, go to Class List and check out the listing for the Class of '58. I wish I were as successful with my class!

If you are a Class Contact, you might want to think about having a co-contact person. As the old saying goes, "Two heads are better than one." This is something that's on my to-do list for my class.

If you haven't had an opportunity to check out Memories, please do so. Many of you have sent me wonderful stories about your days at Milne, and I would love to be able to post them on the Memories page of our website. I can certainly "change the names to protect the innocent" if necessary.

Also, if you would like me to post reunion information on our website, send it to me at jmadnick@alumni.albany.edu. In addition, when your reunion is over, I can add a link to your pictures. If you don't have a site to which you can upload photos, contact me and I'd be happy to help.

Finally, until Mary is able to resume her position as publisher of the newsletter, if you have any news (sad or glad), please share it with me so that I am able to include it in future newsletter(s). I do hope, however, that Mary is feeling better quickly, as I know she misses her Milne Alumni activities.

Update: I received an email this morning from Ms. Mager's granddaughter that Ms. Naomi Mager, supervisor in the English Department, passed away in 1995. I receive emails of a similar nature on a fairly regular basis, so you may want to check the Milne Alumni website routinely if you are wondering about the status of any of your former classmates or faculty members.

Thanks to all of you for your interest in Milne Alumni activities.