Page 28 - The Bell Tower - Summer/Fall 2015

Alumnus Ron Beckwith (‘81)
Two UMFK Alumni Celebrate 25 Years Together
Since 2010, Ron Beckwith (’81) has been the superintendent and executive secretary of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park (RCIP), a park that surrounds Franklin D. Roosevelt’s summer home on a Canadian island, located a short distance from Lubec, Maine. Under a treaty between the two countries, the RCIP is the world’s only true international park.
Ron is originally from Connecticut, but the Canadian/United States border called him north, first as a high school exchange student in Manitoba, and then as a college student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Ron graduated from the University of Maine at Fort Kent with a degree in envi- ronmental studies in 1981. After graduation, he became an educator in Lubec until 1985.
Almost 30 years ago, Ron joined RCIP as a clerk and computer technician, and rose through several other positions to eventu- ally become the superintendent of the park.
During his tenure at the park, he introduced the first desktop computers; collaborated with a financial accounting software firm
to develop the park’s computerized payroll and accounting system; developed new items for sale at the gift shop; contributed to the procurement of the park emergency radio system; and worked on park promo- tion and regional tourism initiatives.
In addition to his park responsibilities, Ron serves on several regional boards including the University of Maine at Machias Board of Visitors, the Charlotte Coastal Region Tourism Association, the Washington County Community College Advisory Committee, and the Downeast and Acadia Regional Tourism Association.
In their spare time Ron and his wife Pauline spend time with family at their Marion Township camp on Gardner’s Lake, and tend to two dogs, a cat and a few chick- ens and ducks. They are looking to add a second beehive near the garden this spring.
Matt Grandy (’81) and Debbie Eustis- Grandy (’83) will celebrate their 25th wed- ding anniversary this June. They married at Daicey Pond in Baxter State Park during an outdoor ceremony that a small group of family and friends attended, along with three moose.
After graduating from UMFK, Matt spent two years at SUNY- Syracuse com- pleting his master’s degree in environmen- tal science. He then worked a year building and maintaining windmills in Millbury, Massachusetts. He also spent several years working for a land surveying company in Southbridge, Massachusetts.
Deb was UMFK’s first Fulbright Scholar and spent her Fulbright year studying
in Finland before coming back to finish her Ph.D. in ecology at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
After marrying, Matt and Deb lived
in a log cabin in Sutton, New Hampshire while Deb taught at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire, for about five years. A new magnet school forming in Limestone, Maine, invited her to teach.
The school became the world famous Maine School of Science and Mathematics. They moved to another
log cabin, this time in Mapleton, Maine. After a couple of years, they moved to New Sweden, where they currently live in a circa 1895 farm house.
Deb is still teach-
ing at Maine School
of Science and
Mathematics, although
she spent the 2014-2015
academic year on sab-
batical working at The
Jackson Laboratory in
Bar Harbor, Maine, helping with research on kidney function in various animals.
She has recently picked up the Scottish Highland bagpipes, and is a member of the Southern Victoria Pipe Band in Perth, New Brunswick.
Matt works for Bridgham Engineering and Land Surveying in Presque Isle, and as a hobby uses his collection of 19th Century woodworking tools on various woodwork- ing projects. He also demonstrates wood- working and blacksmithing for the New Sweden Historical Society.
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