Law Commons^™

Interview With George Mitchell (5) By Andrea L’Hommedieu, George J. Mitchell

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
George J. Mitchell was born on August 20, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, to Mary Saad, a factory worker, and George Mitchell, a laborer. Senator Mitchell spent his youth in Waterville. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. Mitchell worked for Senator Edmund S. Muskie as executive assistant and as deputy campaign manager during Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He later became U.S. senator (D-Maine) 1980-1995, Senate majority leader 1989-1995, and, upon his retirement …

Interview With Jane O’Connor By Brien Williams, Jane F. O'Connor

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Jane Frances O’Connor was born on March 13, 1960, in Augusta, Maine. She was one of twelve children born to Barbara Louise (Murray) and Dr. Francis J. O’Connor, both from Dorchester, Massachusetts. Her father was head of radiology at Augusta General Hospital; her mother was an artist and musician who stayed at home while her children were young. After growing up in Augusta in a nonpolitical family, Jane attended the University of Southern Maine and, later, Trinity College in Washington, DC. In the summer of 1980, she became an intern for Beverly Bustin-Hatheway, accompanying her around the state …

Interview With Beverly Sherman By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Beverly M. Sherman

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Beverly (Marshall) Sherman was born in 1937 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, to Ruth and Norris Marshall. She attended the University of Michigan and the University of Southern Maine. She had slight involvement in Mitchell’s 1982 U.S. Senate campaign and was more deeply involved with events and fund-raising for his 1988 Senate reelection campaign. She also worked with Mitchell’s staff to organize several events, including visits from President Clinton and New York Governor Cuomo, as well as the “thank you” event in Maine upon Senator Mitchell’s retirement announcement.

Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Old …

Interview With Lyn Ballou By Mike Hastings, Ellyn 'Lyn' C. Ballou

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Ellyn “Lyn” Clemmer Ballou was born in Patterson, New Jersey, on December 8, 1944, to Hazel Hendrickson and John Gerhard Clemmer, Jr. Her father worked for the Philadelphia Electric Company and her mother was a homemaker. Lyn attended Middlebury College, studying languages. She and her husband moved to Maine so he could go to the University of Maine School of Law. She worked at the law firm Pierce Atwood while he attended school, and she worked for Joe Brennan in the District Attorney’s Office, where she met George Mitchell. She later earned her law degree, clerked for Sidney …

Interview With Dan Wathen By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Daniel 'Dan' E. Wathen

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Daniel E. "Dan" Wathen was born November 4, 1939, in Easton, Maine, to Wilda (Persis) and Joseph Jackson Wathen. He was graduated from Easton High School and Ricker College in Houlton, Maine (1962), the University of Maine School of Law (1965), and the University of Virginia School of Law (1988). He was appointed to the Maine Superior Court by Governor James B. Longley and served there for four years. He was then appointed justice to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court by Governor John McKernan. He served as justice for ten years, then chief justice for ten more years. …

Interview With Najeeb Lotfey By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Najeeb 'Naj' S. Lotfey

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Najeeb S. Lotfey was born in July, 1942, in Portland, Maine, to Elias and Lillian Lotfey, both from Lebanon. He attended the Northeastern School of Accounting in Portland, Maine, served in the Army for two years, and later joined MacDonald Page where he became a managing partner and stayed for more than thirty years. He has served many of Senator Mitchell’s financial management needs over the years. Former Governor Joe Brennan appointed him to the Finance Authority of Maine.

Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Portland, Maine community; the Depression era; career with MacDonald Page …

Interview With Barbara Keefe By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Barbara Keefe

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Barbara Keefe was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1940, and grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. She was graduated from Seton Hall University. She received a fellowship to study deaf education and worked at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, Mackworth Island, Maine. She joined the League of Women Voters and became involved in the National Women’s Political Caucus. She was treasurer for Senator Mitchell’s reelection campaigns in 1982 and 1988, and she has served on the Mitchell Institute Board since 1994.

Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Keefe’s introduction to politics through her father’s involvement; …

Interview With Marjorie Bride By Mike Hastings, Marjorie M. Bride

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Marjorie McHenry Bride was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 17, 1939. Her parents, both from longtime Baltimore families, were James McHenry and Marjorie Ober McHenry. Her father was a gentleman farmer and so she lived in the countryside outside of town until she went to a boarding school, Dobbs Ferry, in New York. She earned her degree in economics from Bryn Mawr and worked for the Export-Import Bank in Washington, D.C. from 1961-1965, where she met her husband. She moved to Maine when her husband managed the Old Orchard Beach pier and later to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where …

Interview With Jeff And Mary Porter By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Jeffrey 'Jeff' W. Porter, Mary A. Porter

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Mary Adele (Federle) Porter was born in Bronxville, New York, on July 23, 1966. Mary’s father, Victor Federle, was trained as a lawyer but worked in the shoe industry in Maine for Scoa Industries; her mother, Antoinette Federle, was a homemaker. Mary was the eighth of nine children and grew up in Waterville, Maine, where she was family friends with the Mitchells. Mary attended Colby College and took an internship in Senator Mitchell’s Washington, D.C. office during her junior year.

Jeffrey Wade “Jeff” Porter was born in January, 1966, in Portland, Maine. His parents, Yvonne (Cupo) Porter and …

Interview With Tim Agnew By Mike Hastings, Timothy Agnew

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Timothy Agnew was born May 18, 1954, in Stamford, Connecticut. His parents were Jane Gillespie Agnew and Chares Dutiel Agnew, who owned a small plastics manufacturing business. He grew up in Stamford, attended Vassar College majoring in political science, and received his law degree from University of Virginia in 1980. He joined the law firm of Thompson, Ashley and Bull in Portland, Maine. After leaving the law firm in 1984, he began working at the Finance Authority of Maine, where Governor McKernan appointed him CEO in 1988; he served as CEO of FAME until 1999. In 2000-2001 he …

Interview With Scott And Carrie Logan By Mike Hastings, Carrie M. Logan, J. Scott Logan

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Scott Logan was born on February 17, 1977, in Exeter, New Hampshire. His father, Terence Logan, held a Ph.D. from Harvard University and taught English at the University of New Hampshire. Scott’s mother was from rural southern Maryland, and they met at Newton College of the Sacred Heart, in Newton, Massachusetts, where Terence was a professor and Scott’s mother was a student. Scott grew up in Kennebunk, Maine, and was interested in collecting and selling antiques, and in local history. For this business, he received a scholarship from the National Association of the Self-Employed. He was also one …

Interview With Christine Williams By Brien Williams, Christine G. Williams

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Christine G. Williams was born January 20, 1952, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Adelaide and Donald Williams, a Methodist minister. She earned a degree in history from Boston University. As a VISTA volunteer she taught on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota before returning to New England to teach at Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Maine, for the 1975-1976 school year. Subsequently, after teaching in New Hampshire for four years, she was hired by George Mitchell’s U.S. Senate office in 1982 and worked there until 1994, focusing on health care issues in the latter years. She later went to …

Interview With Sonny Miller By Mike Hastings, Sanford 'Sonny' Miller

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Sanford “Sonny” Miller was born in Bangor, Maine, on January 18, 1927, to Myer and Rena Miller. He grew up in Bangor and completed a commercial course of study at Bangor High School, graduating in 1944. He enlisted in the Navy V-6 program at the age of seventeen and served in the Pacific theater of World War II, working as a storekeeper in the Philippines. He was discharged in 1946 and spent a year studying at Bentley University in Boston, and he was a bookkeeper for Hammond Motors for two years. He worked in the jukebox and pinball …

Interview With Mary And Harold Friedman By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Mary Mitchell Friedman, Harold J. Friedman

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Mary (Mitchell) Friedman was born on September 30, 1957, in Waterville, Maine, one of seven siblings and niece to George Mitchell. Her father, Robert “Robbie” Mitchell, worked for the FDIC, and her mother, Janet (Fraser) Mitchell, was an elementary school teacher. Mary grew up in Waterville, attending St. Joseph’s school, Waterville Junior High School, Waterville High School, and then she continued on to Colby College. She earned her law degree from the University of Maine School of Law and practiced law for approximately fifteen years. She spent three years in Washington, D.C. as a trial lawyer for the …

Round Table Interview With Mike Hastings, Anita Jensen, Estelle Lavoie, And Mary Mcaleney By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Michael 'Mike' M. Hastings, Anita Jensen, Estelle Lavoie, Mary E. Mcaleney

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Michael M. Hastings, a native of Morrill, Maine, graduated from Tilton School (NH) in 1968 and Bowdoin College in 1972. Following a year of graduate study in Public & International Affairs at George Washington University, he worked for seven years as a foreign and defense policy aide to Senator William S. Cohen (1973-1980) and for four years for Senator George J. Mitchell (1980-1984). In October, 1984, he joined the international staff of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and moved to Africa. Over a span of eight years, he worked as a CRS development administrator in Kenya, Tanzania, Togo and …

Interview With Estelle Lavoie By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Estelle A. Lavoie

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Estelle Lavoie was born in Lewiston, Maine, on November 23, 1949, and grew up there, the youngest of three children. Her father worked as a building contractor until his death in 1964, after which her mother worked part-time as a bank teller. Estelle attended Lewiston public schools and was graduated from Bates College (class of 1971), spending her junior year studying in Switzerland. At the end of 1972, she went to work for Governor Ken Curtis. By September of 1973, she had been hired as part of Senator Ed Muskie’s staff, working first as a caseworker and eventually …

Interview With Barbara Trafton By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Barbara M. Trafton

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Barbara (McKnight) Trafton was born May 22, 1949, in Rumford, Maine. She was graduated from Wellesley College with the class of 1971, then attended the University of Southern Maine and earned an M.Ed., and later went to Northeastern for an M.B.A. She has served in the Maine state House and state Senate for two terms and has been a member of the following committees: Joint Committee, Energy Health and Institutional Services in the House; Joint Committees in the Senate: Judiciary and Public Utilities. She served as the Maine Democratic National Committeewoman, was spokesperson for Maine Turnpike widening in …

Interview With Mary Mcaleney By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Mary E. Mcaleney

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Mary Elizabeth McAleney was born on March 18, 1945, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her mother, Helen Irene (Twombly) McAleney, was a Works Progress Administration worker, and her father, William McAleney, was a U.S. Customs officer. Mary came from a strongly Democratic Maine family and was politically active from a young age. She was sent from her home near Vanceboro, Maine, to St. Joseph’s boarding school in South Portland, and from there she went to Merrimac College. After her graduation, she taught high school in Maine, first at St. Joseph’s and then at Catherine McAuley High School. After eight years …

Interview With Bill Hiss By Andrea L’Hommedieu, William 'Bill' C. Hiss

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
William Charles “Bill” Hiss was born on August 4, 1944, in Orange, New Jersey, and grew up in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, with his mother, a kindergarten teacher, and his father, a businessman. He was graduated from Bates College, class of 1966, and attended Harvard Divinity School. Before graduating, he lived in a parish in East Harlem and taught at a public middle school in Morrisania in the Bronx. He undertook graduate studies at Tufts University and returned to Bates in 1978 as acting dean of admissions for a year, later becoming dean of admissions; he now serves …

Interview With Colleen Quint By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Colleen Quint

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Colleen Quint was born on September 22, 1963. She grew up in Portland, Maine, attended Deering High School, and Bates College, graduating in 1985. She first met Senator Mitchell in the fall of 1985 while working as an intern in his Washington, D.C. office. She worked at the Christian Science Monitor for three years as editor for Western Europe and Great Britain, then returned to Maine for law school and practiced law for ten years. She is married to Bill Hiss, who was involved in the founding of the Mitchell Institute. At the time of this interview she …