During the Annual Gathering of the Alumni Association on June 6 at Reunion, three alumnae received association awards for their contributions to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and to the wider world:

• Dr. Patricia Sullivan Doyle ’79, a longtime rural Maine physician and advocate for health-care reform, was awarded the association’s Alumni Community Service Award for “distinguished leadership and commitment to serving the community in which they live or work.”
• Rachel “Rae” Harper Garcelon ’62, who has served ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ alumni as a valued employee and an effective volunteer, received the association’s Helen A. Papaioanou ’49 Distinguished Alumni Service Award for “truly distinguished service — both in quantity and quality.â€�
• Emily Buchanan ’89, a painter whose work has been part of a Department of State global visual arts program and featured in the 2014 White House holiday card, was awarded the association’s Sesquicentennial Prize, which honors an alumnus or alumna for “a single academic, artistic, or scientific achievement.â€�

Rachel “Rae” Harper Garcelon ’62, recipient of the Alumni Association’s distinguished service award, congratulates David Longdon ’14, a member of the Board of Trustees who received a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ Best award at Reunion 2019. (Rene Roy for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Also during Reunion, the college presented ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ Best awards to seven alumni to honor their Reunion volunteer work:  Dwight Harvie ’54, Jonas Klein ’54, Jack DeGange ’59, Michael Nolan ’69, Alicia Hunter Warner ’94, John Harvey ’09, and David Longdon ’14.

And on Friday evening of Reunion, Professor Emeritus of Psychology John Kelsey received the College Key’s Distinguished Service Award during the organization’s annual meeting.

Here are the three Alumni Association awards:

Dr. Patricia Sullivan Doyle ’79: Alumni Community Service Award

The citation for Doyle’s award reads, in part:

How fortuitous for the small community of Moose River Valley that doctor Pat Doyle landed there 30 years ago and never left…. Here, she cares for a community of roughly 1,000 people with limited staff and resources. Where others would have left after their five-year stint, Pat put down roots and rolled up her sleeves to serve a community in need.

Patricia Sullivan Doyle ’79 received the Alumni Community Service Award at Reunion 2019. (Rene Roy for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Rachel Harper Garcelon ’62: Helen A. Papaioanou ’49 Distinguished Alumni Service Award

The citation for Garcelon’s award reads, in part:

In addition to her contributions as an employee of the college, Rae has volunteered repeatedly and tirelessly as a class officer…. Her devotion and commitment to the college is reflected in the enthusiasm and high attendance of class members at Reunion gatherings. Friends recount how ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is her love and how she has always been present and engaged with the college, both as a student and alumna: As one former classmate puts it, “She is not just a person of our class, but the highlight of our class.”

Rachel “Rae” Harper Garcelon ’62 receives the Helen A. Papaioanou ’49 Distinguished Alumni Service Award. (Rene Roy for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Emily S. Buchanan ’89: Sesquicentennial Prize

The citation for Buchanan’s award reads, in part:

Complementing [her]t training has been her willingness to work hard, which she attributes to her ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education. In an interview for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, she remarked: “My greatest asset as a painter is that I’ve worked hard and consistently at it over the years. If I hadn’t had the experience at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, I’m not sure that I would have had the maturity to pursue my art as I have.”

For many years, Emily has been involved with a U.S. Department of State initiative called Art in Embassies, which places artwork in embassies around the world. It was through this connection that she was commissioned to paint the White House annual Christmas card in 2014.

Emily Buchanan ’89 (left) receives the Sesquicentennial Prize from Jen Crawford ’01, vice president of the Alumni Association. (Rene Roy for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The painting featured on the 2014 White House holiday card shows the Entrance Hall of the presidential residence and, in the foreground, the Obama family dogs, Bo and Sunny.

From a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ perspective, an intriguing part of the image is at lower right. No, not the dogs. The artist’s signature: Buchanan. That’s Emily Buchanan ’89.

The White House holiday card for 2014 features a painting by Emily Buchanan ’89 of the White House Entrance Hall with Obama family dogs in the foreground.

who works mostly in New England, Buchanan has some high-profile clients, but that didn’t land her the White House commission.

Recently interviewed by fellow artist Brandon Kralik, who , Buchanan says that her involvement with a U.S. Department of State program that places artwork in U.S. embassies around the world led to the White House job. Over the years, her work has been shown in .

A psychology major at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Buchanan studied at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, the National Academy School and the Art Students League. She credits for her classical training in drawing and painting.

Complementing that training has been the willingness to work hard, which she credits to her ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education.

“I developed personally more than artistically at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, but in many ways they go hand in hand,” she says. “My greatest asset as a painter has been that I’ve worked hard and consistently at it over the years. If I hadn’t had the experiences at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, I’m not sure that I would have had the maturity to pursue my art as I have.”

She told Kralik that “finding out what worked and what didn’t just took years and years of repetition. The surprising thing is why I continued when I wasn’t that good.”

Obama isn’t the only president who has taken a liking to Buchanan’s work.

Along with original works by Joel Babb, Grace Knowlton and others, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ president Clayton Spencer has one of Buchanan’s paintings in her Lane Hall office, a landscape that she painted in Costa Rica.

This landscape by Emily Buchanan ’89 hangs in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Clayton Spencer’s office in Lane Hall.

The work was purchased by the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Museum of Art through the endowed Olivia and Ellwood Straub Art Acquisition Fund, given by Carl Benton Straub, professor emeritus of religion and the Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies, specifically to purchase landscapes by 20th-century artists or by young contemporary artists.

“I was touched when I heard that my painting hangs in the President’s Office at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½,” Buchanan says. “It is very meaningful knowing that people see my paintings in day-to-day settings.”

Buchanan’s client list includes James Taylor, Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. “The greatest compliment, however, that I’ve ever received was hearing that a collector asked that a painting of mine be brought into his hospice room because it made him feel connected to a place that was so important to him.

“If my painting can make someone feel joy or peace, what could be better than that?”