Bob Traill ’43 is in remarkably good shape for the age of 96. The retired oil exec, college recruiter, and small business owner works out at the gym in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, three times a week for three hours at a time and still volunteers helping area kids learn to read. But the widower didn’t feel comfortable about driving all the way to Providence and back for his 75th reunion alone, as he did for his 70th. “That’s just too big a risk at my age,” he said. So he called the Brown alumni office to ask if there was anyone driving down from Maine. Et voilà! They found Judy Andrews Green ’68, a retired adult education administrator from North Waterford, Maine, who now writes short mysteries and said she was driving down for her 50th reunion with her husband, Roger. The couple was on a holiday barge in Holland, in fact, when they got an email from the alumni office asking if they could pick up Traill. “He’s 25 years older than me,” jokes Green, “so I guess he’s earned a chauffeur. We’re happy to do it. He said this might be his last chance to march down College Hill.” And, says Traill, to his knowledge, he was the only member of the class of ’43 to do so. “It’s the thrill of still being able to,” he says. “It was very gracious of Judy to offer to take me.” (He bought thank-you chocolates from Haven’s, a famous emporium in his town.) Says Andrews Green: “Bob was a real kick. Interesting, pleasant company, witty, sharp as the proverbial tack—a good person to be stuck in traffic with.”
Ever True
Road Trip
A Class of ’43 grad gets a lift to reunion from a fellow Mainer, Class of ’68
By Tim Murphy ’91 / July/August 2018
July 15th, 2018