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Kotlas - Waterville Area Sister City Connection P.O. Box 1747 Waterville, ME 04903-1747 Write to Us |
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It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our co-chair, Ken Green. Ken passed away on June 23rd at home surrounded by his wife Eva and sons Anders, Henrik, and Max. Ken returned from Russia at the end of February complaining of numbness in his right arm. Tests eventually showed a malignant brain tumor to be the cause. He underwent treatment, but it was ineffective. Ken suffered a stroke on the 21st and died two nights later. He was 75. Ken became involved with the Kotlas Connection in 2006. That was the year the Connection conceived the idea of bringing a group of medical professionals from Kotlas to visit Waterville-area hospitals. Ken had taught conversational English in the public schools of Izhevsk, Russia for a month in each of the preceding three years. Because of his interest in Russia, and his position of a local retired doctor, Ken was asked to help raise funds and plan a program for the visiting doctors. He accepted his challenge with enthusiasm. Ken, and his wife Eva, hosted Dr. Alexandre Menshakov of the Kotlas Diagnostic Clinic, and the two, became good friends despite the challenge of conversing in their common language, German. When the delegation left, he continued his involvement in the Connection, and eventually joined the executive committee. He returned to Russia three more times to teach, but always to the Archangel Oblast. Ken felt deeply that one of the goals of the Kotlas Connection should be to foster an exchange of college students between Waterville and Kotlas/Archangel. In 2008 he approached Thomas College with that idea, and the next year the first post-graduate student from Kotlas came to Thomas to study for a year. She was followed by two teachers who each spent a semester teaching and studying here. In July of 2012, as a result of an initiative begun by Neale Duffett and the Archangel Committee in Portland, five leaders from the International Institute of Management (IIM), a business school in Archangel, had visited Portland and Portsmouth, NH seeking some kind of relationship with a US college. On his most recent trip to Archangel, Ken had a meeting with Viktoria Podolskaya, a representative of the IIM. Naturally, Ken, in his role as unofficial ambassador made a strong case for Thomas College. In April of this year, IIM and Thomas had a SKYPE session, and this coming November, 2013, Viktoria will visit Maine. Long-range plans include a projected visit to Archangel next year by Thomas College Provost Tom Edwards to further promote this relationship. We feel Ken would be very pleased to know that his meeting in Archangel could eventually lead to an exchange that he long dreamed about. The following is a testimonial to Ken by Bob Moore, Vice President of Advancement at Thomas College:
Dr. Kenneth Green was a huge supporter of Thomas College and its students.
Because of his passion for Waterville's sister city Kotlas, Russia in 2008
he inaugurated a scholarship fund to allow students and teachers from Kotlas
to attend Thomas College for a full semester. His goal was to increase
diversity of the Educational programs at Thomas. In 2011, Dr. Green's
association with the College further expanded through the inception of the
Thomas College Longfellow Scholarship for International Students. Dr. Green
was recently awarded an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, at the
College's 119th Commencement Ceremony in May. His support, and the opportunities
he provided for Thomas students, is immeasurable.
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