Mount Holyoke College
Class of 1963
55th Reunion Recap
55TH REUNION – MT. HOLYOKE COLLEGE CLASS OF 1963 – May 25-27, 2018
Notes mostly from one of our scribes, Susie Fickel Kroeger; Pictures mostly from Ken Briers (Mr. Donner)
(Nawrie Meigs-Brown, Sally Donner and Mary Raine in front of Mead, our reunion dorm)
Many arrived on Thursday to set up and enjoy dinner in Food 101. Cheers to all the volunteers who brought the weekend together while enjoying the process throughout. Thanks to everyone-- it was fun!
(Bunny Gramlich, Paula Kaplan and Karel Koenig)
(Alice Andrus, class president, toasts volunteers at Food 101 in South Hadley center)
Most classmates arrived Friday and were welcomed with goodies including hand crafted mugs featuring sphinxes with swishing hair.
(Paula Bruice, Lois Siegel, Lucy Rosborough, Grace "Bouge" Jones and Karen Benson)
On Friday the Alumnae Association and college offered many opportunities to visit "classes" and lectures, experience a Japanese tea ceremony, have a tour of the renovated Blanchard Hall, visit the art museum, and hear a State of the College talk by President-elect Sonya Stephens.
Late Friday afternoon we, 72 returning classmates and about 20 guests, gathered after a day of activities at our headquarters, Mead Hall, for wine and conversation before a festive dinner in Blanchard. A few helpful alumnae were posted there to help us navigate the new dining system – many stations and choices to be made followed by open seating.
(Marianne Adey, Sally Wittenberg, Mary Doyle, Barbara Pruess, Joan Wicks and Lucy Rosborough)
After dinner we returned to Mead living room for a panel about astronomy, including our own classmate astronomer who has been teaching at the University of Waterloo in Ontario for many years, Gretchen Luft Harris, who was most illuminating on the subject of astrophysics. Two other speakers joined her – the head of the Astronomy department, Darby Dyer, and Jason Young, a visiting professor.
Saturday morning we lined up for the parade in our whites, wearing long yellow gloves courtesy of Suzy Adams and Mary Raine for a touch of color, along with our class scarves from the 50th reunion worn by those who remembered to bring them. There were even a few fascinators in evidence.
Following the parade the Alumnae Meeting for all reunion classes met in Mary Wooley Hall (better than the hot and very sunny amphitheater).
Our classmate Eleanor Rogan was given an Achievement Award for her lifetime of contributions to the University of Nebraska’s Medical Center, where she was the founding chair of the Department of Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health.
It also was announced that Alice Godfrey Andrus was to receive the Loyalty Award (presented at dinner) for her many years of volunteer effort on behalf of our class, including class president for the past five years. We were honored to receive as a class the Pegasus Award for having raised the most total dollars for immediate use through the Mt. Holyoke Fund in this fiscal year, and also the Lion Award for the highest total giving to all funds for this past five year cycle. Alice, along with head class agent Ann Kotting Sadowsky (who sadly couldn’t be with us due to poor health) deserve recognition for mobilizing these gifts. During the very popular reading of class histories section of the meeting, Alice gave a delightful reminiscence of our years on campus, and included our “connection class” of 2013 (they graduated when we had our 50th reunion) represented by Keesha and Jessie, honorary granddaughters.
After the meeting we all adjourned to lunch with the class of 2013, mingling informally, sharing experiences over the passage of 50 years. Susie Fickel Kroeger said a few words of welcome to that class in hopes that over the years ahead we can continue our joint dialogue.
Following lunch and our class picture on the steps of Skinner,
(Ken Briers(Donner), Don Thomas, Ralph Kohl; Ed Irving; Jack Carlock; Fred Kramer; (behind Bill?), Bill Harris, Mike Friedman, Leigh Smith; Peter Boer)
We moved to our class tree for a memorial service for departed classmates, beautifully led by Nawrie Meigs-Brown. Since our last reunion we have lost 18 classmates. For each one, friends who knew her well stepped forward to say a word or two, and then a yellow rose was placed under the tree and a message tied on the tree. Nawrie's moving remarks are shown at the end of this Recap.
Then president-elect Sonya Stephens met us in Mead to give our class a special welcome and short talk followed by a Q and A. Although there have been many changes in 55 years, many of our favorite traditions are intact, along with the College’s basic mission of educating women for leadership in the world as well as their communities and families.
A celebration dinner followed at the Eric Carle Museum of illustration of children’s books on the Hampshire campus. First there was a talk by Marianne Banning Adey, who has spent her career promoting fine children’s literature in the UK where she lives. At dinner there was a short class meeting where the president of the Alumnae Association, Nancy Perez presented the Loyalty Award to Alice Andrus, new class officers were approved and thanks extended to those many classmates who had worked to make it a fun successful reunion.
Sunday morning after a leisurely buffet breakfast in Blanchard Karel Mortenson Koenig organized canoeing on Upper Lake. As the day was a bit gray and cool, only four of us participated – Karel, Nancy Selinka White, Swifty Newell Backus and Judy Williams Irving. No pics, but they enjoyed it. Everyone else was busy visiting and getting in last minute walks around the campus. After that it was time to pack up and return to our every day worlds, tired but very happy to have been together.
For those of you who couldn’t attend, we missed you and hope to see you at our 60threunion. It was a truly wonderful reunion, a tribute to its organizers.
Below is a list of the 55th reunion committee heads.
Mary Ann Weiss - Reunion Chair
Karen Kayser Benson - Co-Chair and Connections Space
Karel Mortenson Koenig and Paula Freshman Kaplan- Hospitality
Mary Baisler Doyle and Sally Calder Wittenberg - Friday Refreshments
Gretchen Luft Harris and Nancy Welker- Friday Science Panel and Survey
Suzy Eberson Adams and Mary Jenness Raine - Parade
Nawrie Meigs-Brown, Lucy Carlborg Rosborough, Sally Nunneley - Memorial Service
Alice Godfrey Andrus, Ruth Brown Gramlich and Sally Donner - Saturday Dinner
Mary Ann Banning Adey - Saturday Children's Literature Program
Susie Fickel Kroeger-- Lunch with Connections class
Ann Sadowsky, Sally Donner and Alice Andrus - Class Gift
Steph Smith - Treasurer
Alice Godfry Andrus - Class President
Who attended our 55th?
Suzy Eberson Adams
Marianne Banning Adey
Mary "Kam" Kamerling Allyn
Alice Godfrey Andrus and Colby
Ann "Swifty" Newell Backus
Karen Kayser Benson
Ellen Strauss Boer and Peter
Jane Backus Bragg
Paula Yurkanis Bruice
Bev Brown Bryant
Betty Burton
Judy Mills Courter
Cindy Rapp Curry
Jane "GeeGee" Engstrom Darby and Jack Carlock
Emily Miller d'Aulaire
Suzanne Emerson DiSabato
Jennifer Macdonald DeWolf
Sally Donner and Ken Briers
Mary Alice Baisler Doyle
Sandra Perrott Drew
Edith "Edie" Dulles
Sara Panks Garretson
Ruth "Bunny" Brown Gramlich
Eugenia Norris Gregory
Gretchen Luft Harris and Bill
Robin Hauter
Judy Williams Irving and Ed
Elaine Cox Jacoby and Gordon
Midge Hulnick and Mark Calabro
Anne Sutton Kahn and Greg
Paula Freshman Kaplan
Lil Kemp
Elaine Langen Kessler
Karel Mortenson Koenig
Marcia Gruhn Kohl and Ralph
Coralie Horne Kramer and Fred
Susie Fickel Kroeger and Keith
Carol Bodenheimer Loeb
Cynthia Curtis Longstaff
Nawrie Meigs-Brown
Margot Solleveld Moomaw and Bill
Mary Ellen "Melon" Carey Moroney
Marjorie "Margy" Muecke
Mirja Perkko Muncy
Sally Nunneley
Barbara Sanders Patrick
Barbara Randall Preuss
Mary Jenness Raine
Diane Demont Rapp
Judy Reeve
Eleanor Groeniger Rogan
Lucy Carlborg Rosborough
Linda Pearce Rosensweig
(Ann Sadowsky)
Libby Meehan Short and Mike Friedman
Lois Wolfe Siegel
Doris Mortenson Sisley
Rebecca Poor Smith and Leigh
Stephanie Smith
Betty Jean Spitze and Jim
Marge Plante Steinberg
Pat Matson Thomas and Don
Tracy Philbrick Truman
Pat Pickett Wecker and Rich
Helen Weinland
Mary Ann Searles Weiss and Ted
Nancy Welker
Nancy Selinka White
Joan Gagnebin Wicks
Judy Dolger Widmann
Sally Calder Wittenberg and Steve
Anne Eastman Yeomans and Thomas
Nawrie provided the following copy of her remarks at the Memoial Ceremony:
Memorial Gathering
MHC 55th Reunion
Greeting
I welcome each of you to this gathering to honor, celebrate and give thanksgiving for the lives of our deceased classmates, each one of whom had her own unique qualities and gifts. During this time together those of you who have chosen to do so will have an opportunity to say a few words about each of our friends. Why was she special to you? What do you remember most about her? What is her legacy? As I look around me today I see reflected in your faces not only the love you have for the friends whom you have lost but also the love they gave to you and the love we feel for one another –here and now. If you watched the royal wedding a week ago, you heard Michael Curry speak with passion about the power of love to change the world. Each of the women whose memory we are honoring today had an impact on her world and changed it because of those things that she loved and which were her passion. We are grateful for the lives of all of these remarkable women.
Epitaph by Merrit Malloy
When I die
Give what’s left of me away
To children
And those that wait to die.
And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.
I want to leave you something
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.
Look for me
In the people I’ve known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on in your eyes
And not in your mind.
You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.
Love doesn’t die,
People do.
So,
When all that’s left of me
Is love,
Give me away.
Moment of Silence
Remembrances
Closing
I close with these words from Frederick Buechner:
When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.
And now:
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.
Thank you.