Philip Gonyar Chosen as Volunteer of the Year
 Carl Daiker and Phil Gonyar (right) listen as Master of Ceremonies Eric Rolfson (not shown) reads Gonyar's award citation. |
The Kotlas Connection honored Philip Gonyar as its volunteer of the year in a public ceremony at the Waterville Opera House. The ceremony was held November 5.
Gonyar has been involved with the Waterville-Kotlas sister city exchange since 1990 when he was asked by Waterville Mayor Judy Kany to chair an ad hoc committee preparing the arrival of the first official delegation from Kotlas that June. During that visit, Judy Kany's successor, David Bernier, and Kotlas Mayor Victor Zverev signed a proclamation formalizing our sister city ties and the Kotlas mayor invited his Waterville counterpart to lead a delegation to Kotlas. Gonyar was a member of that delegation, in June 1991.
Since then he has visited Kotlas four more times, including this past summer as a part of this year's official delegation lead by Mayor Paul LePage. These visits have led to many lasting friendships.
Gonyar is a past co-chairman of the Kotlas Connection and continues to serve on its executive committee. He has been involved in most of its activities including the Russian Sampler and the Voices of the Kennebec Festival.
Retired since 1991, Gonyar taught history for 33 years, including thirteen years (1978-1991) at Waterville High School. He previously taught at Bangor and Bucksport High Schools. Among his former students is Maine's current governor, John Baldacci. A native of Orono, Gonyar has degrees from the University of Maine. He moved to Waterville in 1978.
Besides the Kotlas Connection, Gonyar is active in various educational, historical, and civic organizations. He has served as president of both the Maine Education Association and the Maine Retired Teachers Association. He is currently president of the Kennebec Retired Teachers Association, and for seven years, was a member of the Waterville Board of Education. He is also a past president of the Joshua L. Chamberlain Civil War Round Table and a former member of the boards of directors of the Fort Western Museum in Augusta and the Mid-Maine Global Forum in Waterville.
On learning of Gonyar's honor, Timothy Dial, a fellow former history teacher at Waterville High School and member of that 1991 delegation, wrote, " Phil is the perfect diplomat. If he were in charge of foreign policy, we would be at peace. He truly deserves this honor."
The Kotlas Connection was one of twelve area nonprofit organizations honoring volunteers at this year's REM Community Awards Ceremony. This annual ceremony allows nonprofit organizations that have partnered with REM to recognize publicly individuals from within their ranks for outstanding service. REM is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in Central Maine. For more information about the REM Awards and a list of previous Kotlas Connection honorees, please follow this link.
Kotlas Connection Holds Annual Meeting
The Kotlas Connection held its annual meeting on Wednesday, November 9, at the Center on Main Street in Waterville. Twenty-seven people attended.
The meeting opened with a review of the Kotlas Connection's major accomplishments of the previous year. These included our thirteenth annual Russian Sampler in March, our food and crafts table at Voices of the Kennebec in June, the official delegation to Kotlas in August, and our first ever "Russian Day" for adults in September.
The main business of the meeting, however, was the election of officers and the executive committee for 2006. Carl Daiker was elevated to co-chairman, replacing Jack Mayhew. Daiker was first elected to the executive committee last year. Cindy Rowe was re-elected as treasurer for two more years. Herb Foster and Ellen Corey were halfway through their biennial terms as co-chairman and secretary, respectively.
Re-elected to one-year terms on the executive committee were Mary Coombs, John Engle, Mark Fisher, Phil Gonyar, Jack Mayhew, Pauline Mayhew, Sheila McCarthy, Martha Patterson, Gregor Smith, and Julie Stowe.
 Ron Turcotte |
The committee welcomed two new members, Ron Turcotte and Mike Waters. An organizational development specialist at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, Ron Turcotte, 52, was a member of last summer's delegation to Kotlas. He had not previously visited Russia, but had studied Russian for two years in the mid-1970's at the acclaimed Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, and then spent two more years in West Berlin transcribing intercepted Soviet military communications. He had not used his Russian much since, but relished rediscovering his lost language during last summer's trip. Turcotte is also active in Waterville Area Bridges For Peace And Justice and is a board member of and volunteer for Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area.
Our other new board member will be familiar to longtime members of the Kotlas Connection. A physics teacher at Messalonskee High School, Mike Waters, 53, was the lead teacher for the Kotlas Connection's Rivers Project during the 1998-99 school year. His accompanying the Rivers students to Russia in the summer of 1999 was his only time in that country, but he hopes to return someday. In the mean time, he is teaching himself Russian, reading one page of Anna Karenina in Russian each day. He has traveled extensively within the United States, especially to the southwestern states. He also enjoys hiking, mountain climbing, and bird watching.
The evening concluded with the viewing of a 16-minute DVD retrospective of the August delegation's time in Kotlas. The report originally aired during a half-hour news program on the Kotlas television station on the evening of the delegation's departure for St. Petersburg from our sister city.
A "Russian Day" for Adults
Around 40 people attended the Kotlas Connection's first annual "Russian Day", a one-day introduction to Russian language, arts and crafts, history, and food. The program was held at the Pugh Center, Colby College, on Saturday, September 24, 2005, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Russian Day was based on Russian Sampler, the Kotlas Connection's long-running springtime program for middle school students, but was targeted at teenagers and adults. The adult program was cosponsored by Colby's Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement and the Colby College Russian Program.
During the morning, participants each attended two one-hour classes. During the first session, they were able to learn basic Russian, decorate Russian Easter eggs, study Russian history through stamps, or learn about World War II submariners. In second hour, the participants could paint clay animals, study Russian icons, or view a slide presentation on last summer's trip to Kotlas. The attendees were then treated to a Russian repast of borscht, black bread, salads, and beverages.
The day concluded with a one-hour panel discussion on life in Russia today. On the panel were Adil D'Sousa, a Colby senior studying Russian and Chinese Literature; Natasha Kudriavtseva, Colby's Russian language assistant for the 2005-2006 academic year; and Peter Garrett, a cofounder of the Kotlas Connection and a member of last summer's delegation to Kotlas. D'Sousa spoke about interpersonal relationships in Russia; Kudriavtseva talked about Russians' opinions of Presidents Putin and Bush; and Garrett described some of startling changes in Kotlas since his first visit there in 1989.
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