Sisters of Fortune

Nancy C. Heffernan, teacher, writer, and lecturer, lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Ann Page Stecker retires from Colby-Sawyer after 40 years of steadfast dedication to both the college and its students. A prominent fixture of the college’s School of Arts & Sciences for decades, Ann Page taught courses in environmental literature, autobiography, British literature, New England history and women’s literature.

Ann Page joined the college’s faculty in 1980, and participated in an advisory committee that ultimately chose to transition Colby-Sawyer to a coeducational institution in 1990. Beloved by her students, Ann Page was known for her passion for the works of William Shakespeare and Virginia Wolfe, and often passed that passion on to those she taught. She also taught courses which supported the foundation of the Women’s and Gender Studies minors.

Ann Page received the Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1991, and was the driving force behind the creation of the Wesson Honors Program, which offers academic, cultural and social opportunities for the college’s most highly motivated and capable students. She served as the program’s coordinator since its inception in 2000. In 2002, Ann Page was honored as the first David H. Winton Endowed Teaching Chair in recognition of her excellence in teaching and leadership on campus, and was chosen as the keynote speaker at the 2008 Women Who Make a Difference Luncheon in New London, N.H.

A historian and writer, Ann Page has published three books during her time at Colby-Sawyer: Sisters of Fortune in 1993, Our Voices, Our Town: A History of New London, New Hampshire from 1950 to 2000 in 2000 and New Hampshire: Crosscurrents in its Development in 2004. Ann Page recently completed writing a yet-to-be-published fourth book, a biography of Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood.

Ann Page earned her A.B. from Randolph-Macon Women’s College, and her M.A. from the University of Virginia. She resides in New London, N.H., with her husband, Rick.