The Colby Echo

Issue date: 9/16/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: courtesy of deb fanton '83

Each fall, freshmen flock to the Hill with a range of expectations and interests: rigorous academics, devoted athletes, diverse extra curricular interests and fast, lasting friendships. Not everyone has time for love.

For some lucky students, however, love and career are not only both possible but sometimes combined-and all of it can begin while still in college. The fairy tale ending of Rick Manley '83 and Deb Fanton's '83 love story can attest to this, as can their twenty-five years of marriage. They have successful careers, a beautiful family, and it all started with their four eventful years at Colby College.

Manley, a Massachusetts native, and Fanton, hailing from Connecticut, met in the spring of their junior year at the College. Fanton worked for the Echo, which she describes as "having a feminist bent" in 1982. As a remedy to this, the staff was avidly seeking to recruit male section editors. Manley, a government major, seemed to be an unlikely candidate as a fraternity member. No match for Fanton's feminine powers of persuasion, however, he was soon brought on board as News Editor for the paper. "Rick initially said absolutely not…he did not want to be involved with that 'rag.' Then I offered him three academic credits [for being a section editor]-which we could do then-and he finally changed his mind," Fanton says.

With all the time they spent in the Echo office, Manley and Fanton became friends quickly-just friends. In fact, at the time, each of them was in a long-distance relationship with students at other colleges. By the fall of their senior year, Fanton, an English major, had earned the position of Editor-in-Chief at the newspaper and worked with Manley on all editorials. Each of their romantic relationships had fizzled, and with nothing in the way, their romance developed naturally. "We were very good friends and I think we just realized that the respective people we were with were not going to be long-lasting, relationship-wise," says Fanton.

Together, their dedication to the paper instigated their romance, and they gathered some priceless memories and experiences along the way. Manley, who became Editor-in-Chief of the paper during his final semester on campus, penned a witty editorial suggesting that the College change its mascot from the Colby Mule to the Colby Moose, which was picked up by the Boston Globe.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools