Anne Wightman
When Colin Kidnapped Me
Colin was submitting the first draft of his doctoral dissertation, so I think it was 1989, and he asked me to save the day for a lunch date. At the appointed time (because Colin was always prompt), he picked me up at my office. He had run into Tom Sgouros somehow, so Tom joined us for a delightful Indian meal in Cambridge. After lunch, Colin was driving me back to my office, when he missed a turn. I pointed this out, and he said no he hadn't. "Yes," I said, "we were supposed to turn back there!" No, he informed me, we weren't going back to my office. I had great difficulty coping with this. Colin had taken care of everything - he'd consulted with the Editor I worked for and our assistant (in fact everyone in the office knew except me), and he'd packed an overnight bag for me. But I just couldn't leave without going back to the office to make sure a particularly important package got shipped out and to retrieve my sweater. No cell phones back in the dark ages, so he took me back, and THEN whisked me off to New Hampshire for a relaxing weekend at a bed and breakfast. He learned that I need time to adjust to surprises before I can enjoy them.
Carl Metzger
As a brother-in-law, Colin was always kind, supportive and engaging. I never felt judged or unfairly treated by him -- ever. To the contrary, he seemed always happy to talk, to listen and to be supportive. I felt that he would always be there for me, with wise and thoughtful advice when needed. I loved Colin's engagement with the world and his enthusiasm for new discoveries. He loved knowing how everything worked, and to me it seemed like he could fix anything, whereas I was hopeless at such tasks. What an accomplished, caring, fun and carefree guy he could be -- he was good for me in all of those ways, and I will miss him and his spirit for the rest of my life.
Ellen Metzger
So many memories. I remember Colin taking me rock-climbing, Colin and Anne taking me and my friend Nina winter camping in the snow, Colin relaxing on the couch eating roasted peanuts and drinking Pepsi. I have so many images of him in my mind, many of them outdoors, many of them with Hawaiian shirts. He was quite an adventurer, and he inspired me to do some of my own adventuring. I've also always admired that, when Evelyn was little, he sewed an adorable dress for her that she wore non-stop for some long period of time. This picture was from a time when our families rented a little cabin together on a lake in northern Minnesota where we cooked together, took walks, and rode in a little motorboat. Colin is here with our son Jesse -- looks like they were almost the same height with Jesse on the counter.
David Cohan
We had more memorable stories than I can count in our months cruising together from Beaufort to the Bahamas to Nova Scotia, but I'll limit myself to just two, one humorous, one simultaneously fun and thoughtful. At one of many cocktail hour gatherings, we produced a box of Kashi "Tasty Little Crackers." In his inimitably comedic voice, Colin consumed one, then commented, "these really are tasty little crackers!" OK, so maybe you had to have been there. The other story is illustrated by the photo, taken while we were anchored off Matt Lowe's Cay in the Abacos. Colin went to the effort to turn Symphony around bow-for-stern at anchor, then hoisted your spinnaker and spent a couple of hours giving all four kids (two from each family) multiple spinnaker sailing rides. Great fun, greatly appreciated, great memories, great love.
Anna Rain
Colin, Anne, Evelyn, and Leslie spent a few days with our family some years ago (date?) when they were on their year-of-sailing adventure. I loved the culture of the Wightman group: the easy closeness; the humor; the caring. Having them with us was lovely.
Anne Wightman
I would like this to be a place where people who knew and loved Colin could share stories and photos to help us all remember him and celebrate his life. My first thought was to just use a notebook, but then I decided I wanted to include people who are more spread out, so I found an online forum. Please take a moment to share.