Foxcroft Academy inducts latest class into Academic Hall of Fame

DOVER-FOXCROFT — On May 10 Foxcroft Academy celebrated the past with the induction of the 2024 Academic Hall of Fame class, John Hesketh ‘52, Karen Gammon Pomeroy ‘73, David Cynewski ‘79, Douglas Villone ‘92, Heidi Chambers Walker ‘92, and Ben Hamblen ‘06. Their biographies and accomplishments are impressive and they all started at Foxcroft Academy.

John graduated from Foxcroft Academy in 1952, the first class to graduate from the, at the time, “new” Academy. He went on to the University of Maine, graduating in 1955, as the class’s salutatorian. In 1969 he graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York with a master’s degree and then a PhD in 1960 in the field of agronomy. He married Susan Fahr in 1963. 

Later that year, John and Susan moved to Mesa, Arizona, then to Tucson where John did research in agricultural science and biology at the University of Arizona. They were the head residents of the boys’ dormitory. While there, Susan obtained her master’s degree. 

In 1964 John and his family moved to Canberra, Australia, where he worked for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization with the Australian government. This position lasted for two-plus years and included several published papers in the field of plant phenology. John and his family came back stateside in 1968 to be with his father Norman, who was gravely ill. 

His next assignment was with the USDA at Mississippi State University in Starkville. From there, he became a researcher at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. John once again had several studies and papers published during his time at Duke, revolutionizing photosynthesis research. In 1978 the family moved to Mahomet, Illinois, and again, John did research for the University of Illinois, Champaign, and continued to work for the USDA in Starkville until he retired as a Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois in 1998. 

In 1987, John and Sue went to Palmerston, New Zealand, for four months, where he worked for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, a part of the Ministry of Science and Technology which was announced through a presidential notification. 

In his long career, John was recognized internationally for 70 research works with 1774 citations and 3886 reads in “access plant weather and soil databases used for plant growth simulation studies.” John has a significant internet presence to this day.

In his spare time, John also did expensive genealogy research and, with Fred Hesketh, published two books in the Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society collection, both about the Hesketh family.

John sadly passed away on March 26, 2021, from complications from diabetes, but his life’s work will live on for years to come. 

With a long list of published research, papers, and works to his credit in fields such as carbon dioxide, tree growth, photosynthesis, and many more, John Hesketh, a member of the Class of 1952, proved that a young person from Dover-Foxcroft can be a beacon of light in the world around us. 

In 1973 FA’s motto was “I don’t know where I’m going, but I know I’m on my way.” Karen’s way was paved in large part by her education at Foxcroft Academy and was nurtured by some inspirational teachers like Mr. Beek, Mr. Champeon, and Mr. Steenstra. Their support of Karen’s intellectual curiosity allowed her to explore her passion for science and math to the point that in her senior year, she was the only girl to take physics. 

Karen was a proud member of the Class of 1973 — a point in the school’s history when the dress code changed from pantsuits to mini-skirts! She had a decorated history of accomplishments including being a National Honor Society member, Rose Award recipient, Girl’s State delegate, secretary of her senior class, Review and Business staff member, and co-editor of the yearbook. She was also an active participant in the school band, chorus club, and the AFS club. 

Karen attended Eastern Maine Vocational Technical Institute and earned an associate’s as a medical lab technician. She spent her early career conducting clinical training in Waterville at Thayer Hospital before joining Eastern Maine Medical Center in 1975. Wanting to further advance her career, Karen enrolled at the University of Maine and received her BA in medical technology in 1979. Karen led an illustrious 40-year career at Affiliated Laboratory Inc, where she held increasingly senior positions moving up from chemistry supervisor to vice president and chief operating officer for the last 20 years of her time there. 

Most important to Karen has always been her family, and in 1980, she married Bob Pomeroy and, after a short time in Portland, moved back to Dover-Foxcroft to engrain themselves in the community and start their family. Bob became a third-generation member of family-owned Rowell’s Garage, and a few years later, Karen and Bob welcomed their two children, Elyse and Andrew, into the world. Karen and Bob were very active members of the community and generously gave their time and resources to various causes. Karen was involved in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, teaching Sunday School and on the board of directors in SAD 68. 

Tragically in 2008 Karen and her family lost Bob to an untimely passing. In Bob’s memory, Karen’s commitment to the community only strengthened. She increased her involvement at Rowell’s Garage, and continued supporting Dover-Foxcroft and was named to the FA Board of Trustees in 2017, where she is still a member. Karen was also an Eastern Maine United Way and EMMC Credit Union board member. 

Three generations of Karen’s family have benefitted from the educational experience at FA: Gene (Class of ’47), Shirley (Class of ’50), Linda Gammon (Class of ’71), Elyse Cyr (Class of 2002), and Andrew Pomeroy (Class of 2005). Her contributions to FA and the community are many, and her character and unwavering commitment to continual improvement of FA’s legacy and impact are a beacon for all to follow. 

When David was in sixth grade, in his biography, he wrote that he wanted to be an electrical engineer when he grew up, following in his father’s footsteps, who was the chair of the Electronics Department at Eastern Maine Technical Institute. David went on to get a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from UMaine in 1983. He acknowledges that his very strong educational background from Foxcroft Academy, especially his calculus class, helped him excel in this challenging engineering program. 

Upon graduating he went to work helping repair nuclear submarines for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, beginning his career as a sonar engineer, testing and repairing the electronic equipment that processed the submarines’ sonar signals. After 10 years he was promoted to lead all of the testing and repair of the submarines’ combat systems equipment, which included the weapons systems, navigation, radio, and sonar systems. 

After 20 years at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, David decided he needed a new challenge and transferred to the engine room of the submarine. He went on to lead the testing of all of the engine room propulsion systems for seven years. 

During these 27 years in the submarine testing departments, David participated in 25, 7- to 10-day sea trials to test out the submarines’ systems. During the last ten sea trials, David was the sea trial coordinator, directing the ship’s officers and crew on how and when to conduct the sea trial testing. 

David then became the division head of the Electrical Engineering department. During this time, David was selected to be on the University of Maine Electrical Engineering advisory group, providing review and input on the electrical engineering curriculum and program health. 

In 2012 David was promoted to chief engineer as head of the Non-Nuclear Engineering Department, overseeing 1,000 engineers and technicians. David held this position for seven years until he retired in 2019. He was awarded the Superior Civilian Service Award for improving the Portsmouth Non-Nuclear Engineering Department and several corporate initiatives to improve submarine maintenance efforts.

David continues to support the Navy working as a contractor supporting initiatives to improve submarine maintenance efforts. His work travels take him to many interesting places, including Hawaii and Australia. 

David’s son Jason graduated from FA in 2005 and was a starter on the basketball team that made it to the Eastern Maine finals. The team last did that in David’s senior year in high school in 1979. 

David continues to be active in the Dover-Foxcroft community, staying at his twin brother Donald’s house on Sebec Lake every year during Homecoming week. He lives on Sugarloaf Mountain, where he enjoys skiing, mountain biking, and golfing. He is a very proud grandfather to his daughter’s baby Vivienne, born in December. 

Heidi grew up on Green Street in Dover-Foxcroft and is proud to call Foxcroft Academy her alma mater. She kept busy in high school with cheerleading, gymnastics, track, and tennis. She played flute in the concert band and saxophone in the jazz band. She was a member of Key Club, Latin Club, and student government. She still has her Rose Award medal from 1992. 

Heidi was the first in her family to attend college. After a brief stint at Springfield College, she transferred to the University of Maine to be closer to home and study business. During college, she was awarded membership in several academic honor societies, including Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, and Alpha Lambda Delta. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in business administration, with a concentration in accounting. 

During her senior year in college, she spent a semester working as an intern in the tax department at Baker Newman and Noyes, a public accounting firm in Portland, which she turned into her first official job offer. After passing the CPA exam, she went to work for a consulting firm valuing privately held businesses. In 2014, she seized an opportunity to lead the firm’s employee stock ownership plan practice area. It was then that Heidi was able to pair her finance skills with work she felt was meaningful. ESOPs are a form of “shared capitalism” whereby employees are beneficial owners of the stock of the company at which they work, and they share in the company’s growth via a retirement plan. 

Today, Heidi is a senior vice president at GreatBanc Trust Company, based in Chicago, which serves as an independent fiduciary for over 500 ESOPs across the country, overseeing the distribution of over $1 billion of retirement funds annually to employee-owners. Heidi has seen first-hand the transformative impact of employee ownership by giving workers a meaningful connection to their jobs and the ability to retire with dignity.

To quote Heidi, “Foxcroft Academy is the perfect combination of a small school in a small town, where students can make meaningful contributions to their sports teams, clubs, and creative pursuits while being challenged academically by gifted teachers who truly care about them, on an impeccable campus on the banks of the Piscataquis River. It is the ideal environment to foster hard work, integrity, and competence. That’s why ‘Pony Pride’ rings so true.” 

Heidi lives in Falmouth with her husband Lance (Foxcroft Academy Class of 1990 and an Academic Hall of Fame member), her two daughters, Ava and Dylan, and her rescue dogs, Izzy and Buckley. 

Doug, a Katahdin & Monson Trustee Scholar, enjoyed history and political science. He was part of Mr. Willette’s AP History class representing the State of Maine. In his senior year, he was a finalist in the We the People Team Competition for the National Bicentennial on the Constitution and Bill of Rights in Washington, D.C. Doug enjoyed Latin Club and Certamen, several intramurals, and football games. 

After leaving FA, he attended the University of Maine-Farmington, where he studied history and political science. He was active at UMF and was elected president of the Student Senate in his sophomore year. Doug served on various boards and committees. He wrote for the student newspaper, was a DJ at the campus radio station, and was treasurer for the campus residence council. He served on UMF’s student rights and affairs committee, library board, President’s Roundtable, and the search committee for the dean and president. While at UMF, he received the Buzz Warren History Scholarship and Outstanding Underclassman Leadership Award. In his senior year, he interned for Janet and Peter Mills. This provided him with both law office and state senate experience. 

After graduating with a BA in history and political science, Doug went to work at MBNA America Bank in Camden and Belfast. He started in customer service and, over 10 years, worked in various roles in operations, marketing, and business development – in Maine, Delaware, and England. When he left MBNA, he rose to vice president and oversaw some of its most extensive credit card programs. Doug joined HSBC Card and Retail Service in Minneapolis, where he managed their program with Best Buy, helping the retailer build their first-ever co-brand credit card program nationally. After a couple of years, he was hired by Barclays US Consumer Bank in Wilmington, Delaware to lead their retail card business. While at Barclays for 10 years, Doug held various roles as head of customer experience, head of customer service, chief of staff to the CEO, head of operations, and then managing director and CEO. He was a bank executive committee member and oversaw 4,000-plus employees globally. Doug worked closely with their largest clients, such as L.L.Bean, Apple, American Airlines, and JetBlue. 

In 2018, he had the opportunity to join Goldman Sachs as a managing director and head of global operations for the Consumer Bank. He was also a member of the global operations leadership team. While at Goldman Sachs, he was part of the team that built the Apple Card, which went on to win three JD Power Awards for highest credit card customer satisfaction. He also led the development of their global digital bank, which included personal loans, investments, and savings. Doug built the consumer bank’s global operations from about 300 employees to over 5,000 in the US, UK, India, and other sites worldwide in three years. In 2023 Doug had the opportunity to rejoin Barclays US as head of their credit card business. In this role, he oversees a portfolio of over 20 million customers, $35 billion in loans, and more than 20 partnerships with America’s best-known brands. 

Doug credits much of his success to his teachers, guidance counselors, and the superior education he received from Foxcroft Academy. He was fortunate to have many amazing teachers like Mr. Dean and Mr. Willette, who made learning interesting and fun. His teachers challenged him and encouraged him to dream bigger. Doug was the first in his family ever to attend college, and he feels that his teachers saw potential in him that he didn’t know existed. He is forever thankful for helping that shy kid realize his dreams. Doug lives in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, with his wife Erin and four children. 

Ben’s time at FA are some of his life’s best and most memorable years. It was a period that ranks up there regarding personal growth and maturity. This memorable time is directly credited to the Academy’s faculty, curriculum, and classmates. Among everyone else, Ben would like to thank Wayne Strout, his Algebra II teacher and golf coach, and Dawn McPherson-Allen, his English teacher freshman year and AP instructor his senior year, as well as theater/musical director. Both of them were huge role models during Ben’s high school tenure. 

Since graduating and being proud to receive a Rose Award at that time, Ben’s college years took him through the University of Maine, studying accounting and ultimately transferring to Suffolk University in Boston with a major in finance. An internship in college became a full-time position in Boston as a financial planning analyst. After four years with MetLife in that role in Boston, Ben took a position as an agency supervisory officer and registered principal with MassMutual and spent nearly two years in Portland, Oregon. It was a rewarding time when he developed significantly as a person and professional, and he also earned my FINRA Series 7, 66, and 24 licenses during that time. In the fall of 2014, Ben transferred back to Boston with MassMutual and spent nine years with the firm as a compliance officer, training director, and director of firm development. In the summer of 2023, Ben joined PennMutual in Boston as firm director. 

Looking back on his life and career thus far, Ben’s biggest hope is to keep working to set an example for his kids, Hunter and Hayden, who are 6 and 2 respectively. To quote Ben, “I remember the years growing up, some of which were spent at FA. At the time, those years just seemed to be passing by, but ultimately, I look back at them and know they were key years in my life. I enjoyed and very much appreciated the people around me, as well as the town itself and all of its hard-working residents. I also want to thank my entire family, specifically my parents, for all they have done to help and support me throughout the years. I’m proud to call myself an FA grad, and certainly always will be.”