7924 La Riviera Dr.
Sacramento, California

January 30, 1978

Dr. Richard Spath
President,
University of Maine at Ft. Kent
Fort Kent, Main 073

Dear Dick:

I wish somehow I could be in Fort Kent during the lOOth Anniversary celebrations in February.

I have such fond memories of Fort Kent, both personally and professionally.

One of the best decisions I ever made in my entire academic life was that fateful decision not only to preserve the Fort Kent campus as it was but to build on it, to improve it, and to make it an integral part of the entire system.
I recall nostalgically those great moments of the first hearing, the discussions before the Board in front of the carloads of people who came to Bangor to testify, and the tension of those final moments when I announced that Fort Kent would be preserved.

I remember, too, my many visits to the Valley, the speeches, and the dancing and the late-night hospitality of so many of the citizens. I recall with extreme pleasure the day I was notified that the campus had been accredited.

And finally I remember the sadness the night of January 23, 1975, when the citizens honored me t a banquet and gave me
chair which no land forever) will be in my den in my home.

Fort Kent has come a long way but it is an enuring testimony to the fact that education will be most effective that serves people close to their homes and becomes through the institution something which people can be proud of because it offers upward mobility and equal access to everyone.

I offer my very best wishes to all the friends of the
Fort Kent campus who have helped make it what it is, and I am
confident the second hundred years will see the campus keeping
its place as a vital force in the Valley and in the state.
Again wish I could be there with you.
Cordially,

Doanld R. McNeil