For All the Good Things
I am writing to thank you for all the good things in the Spring 2024 edition of The Connection.
The description of the new HCC president was properly of some length. The article on David Bartley went from his days at Holyoke Junior College through his days in the Massachusetts legislature to his presidency of the school and beyond.
But the part of The Connection that I like best are the short profiles on pages 4, 5, 6 (Campus Roundup), and 27, 28, and 29 (Alumni Out & About).
Anyone can write long. But it takes discipline and extra effort to get a person’s worth, credentials, and achievements within several paragraphs.
Congratulations to you and your staff for doing so.
Keep it up.
Austin Kenefick
Retired editor and journalist
Chicopee, Mass.
P.S. In my long life I have been married to two special women, now sadly both deceased: Barbara J. (Levy) Kenefick, HCC ’82, and earlier, Mary Flanagan Kenefick, HCC ’83.
In His Own Milieu
This is a quick note of praise about an article in the Spring 2024 edition of The Connection.
I enjoyed your profile of President Bartley (“A Force in the Right Place”). Because I had the honor of being the co-operative education student working in the Office of the President, I got to see Dr. Bartley close up in his own milieu.
I think you did a fine job of capturing his essence as a strong leader of HCC and one who had a deep feeling of connection to students who were working and raising families as they attended college. He was ahead of his time in some ways.
Well done! I look forward to more articles in a similar vein.
Melissa Latour ’01
Retired HCC staff
Westfield, Mass.
Forever Indebted
The Spring 2023 issue’s “In Memoriam” describes Kathryn H. Holmes as “retired staff.” She was, more specifically, a professor of English and the person at Holyoke Community College who most changed my life.
Three months after graduating from high school, I arrived on campus for an 8 a.m. section of English 101; it was my first class at HCC. Right on time, Kathy Holmes walked in, leaned against the front table, and effortlessly launched a discussion.
From the start, I was awed by Kathy’s keen intelligence. She also was unapologetically straightforward and extremely funny. I learned fast that her classroom was no place for laziness. She expected us to think. And keep thinking.
By the fourth class, I knew I’d register for her English 102 class. That experience turned out to be equally remarkable, and Kathy patiently oversaw my honors option project on the precursors of the Arthurian grail legends.
The next fall, Kathy walked by one morning when I was sitting on the floor in a hallway before a class. She stopped and — with no preliminaries — asked where I was applying for transfer. I told her I was thinking of UMass.
“Apply to Mount Holyoke and Smith,” she said, then walked on.
There’s no way to adequately explain the impact of those six words. Mount Holyoke and Smith weren’t on my radar, even as long shots. That October morning, Kathy offered me possibilities I never would have given myself.
I attended Smith, stayed on for a graduate degree, and then earned an M.F.A. at Indiana University. So many doors opened to me because Professor Kathy Holmes chose to teach at HCC. I am forever indebted.
Michelle Ducharme ’87
Freelance writer
West Springfield, Mass.
Editor’s Note: A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Holmes served on the HCC English faculty for more than 25 years until her retirement in 2012. In 1999, she was the recipient of the Elaine Marieb Faculty Chair for Teaching Excellence.
