Reconnect and Connect* - Our 50th Reunion a Grand Success!

Le Foyer group singing Edith Piaf songs

What a terrific 50th reunion. Surely this was one of the best 50th reunions ever, anywhere.

 A touching, fairly new tradition involved presenting scarves to the seniors, our "granddaughters," who wore them in the parade as they carried the laurel chain to Mary Lyon's grave.

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FROM CAMPUS TO NATION TO WORLD

Objects to be Claimed:

Hello dear classmates,

The following is a list of items I have in my MHC closet, brought home from South Hadley.  Karen and I were the very last to leave, so we made a clean sweep of the history room.  Sadly I don’t have your yearbook, Alice, or Mary’s photos of the Mead group.

 Mount Holyoke – Everybody’s College, by Phyllis Merrill, 1948 (no name)

Seminary Militant by Louise Porter Thomas, 1937 (no name)

Framed 5”x7” photo of five of us in what might be Junior Show, including Lanie Langen and Betsy Knorr, I can’t id the other three – signed on back “Elaine Langen” (I will write her)

Small program from Fathers’ Weekend 1962

Folder with copies of music for the Alma Mater

Gym suit – bloomers only

“Age of Radiance” recording, Junior Show 1960  (no name)

General Examination – Department of English – May 1963 (a dreaded Comp!) – (no name)

Thick white plastic binder full of snapshots – 40th reunion + miscellaneous – (no name)

Thin white plastic binder – more snapshots and slides – possibly our 25th reunion – (no name) – Libby Short would like photos of herself from this reunion if anyone has any (she left a note in this binder)

Art 110 course (History of Architecture) – box of prints

Green folder – “MHC Dinner” – includes photos of fall table decorations – no photos – (no name)

(4) copies of the Mount Holyoke News from the fall of ‘59

Plastic bag holding miscellaneous slides, photos, 1 unlabelled CD – only recognizable classmate is Lucy Carlborg

“63 Turns 65” – songbook – cover photo of Mary Misch Newmann kissing Joan Gagnebin Wicks 

I will continue to hold these treasures in my MHC closet pending identification of ownership and disposition.  Mary Ann, do you think you could post this list on our website and ask the owners to contact me if they wish to have these items returned?

Many thanks!

Xx susie

POST-FIFTIETH REUNION CLASS LETTER from Susie, Karen and Swifty:

June 2013

Dear Classmates,

We ALL did it! A team of at least sixty of us produced a wonderful fiftieth reunion—memorable in every way including the perfect weather—under the inspired leadership of our gifted reunion chairs, Karen and Swifty, in addition to all sorts of talented help. The fact that 152 of us came and actually stayed in the hot sun in the amphitheatre for the entire Alumnae Association Annual Meeting on Saturday morning attested to our pride in our class, as we made a clean sweep of all the prizes. That evening an array of silver loving cups filled with flowers decorated Buckland’s foyer.

We had the most classmates of any class ever in attendance, 152.

We proudly honored five classmates that morning and two the evening before for outstanding service performed and professional accomplishments. They are as follows (you can read more about their accomplishments at www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/awardees or in the upcoming Quarterly) (or click on "Alumnae Awards" on the left column of this website):

Sally Sears Donner – Alumnae Medal of Honor

Cynthia Rapp Curry-Nilson – Alumnae Achievement Award

Muriel Trask Davisson-Fahey – Alumnae Achievement Award

Marjorie Muecke – Alumnae Achievement Award

Rita Rothenberg Calvo – Elizabeth T. Kennan Award

Karen Kayser Benson – Loyalty Award

Tracy Philbrick Truman – Loyalty Award

With gifts from 85 percent of our members, the class of 1963 contributed $1,304,501 to the Mount Holyoke Fund, surpassing the longstanding Fiftieth Reunion Gift record set by the class of 1958 by more than $70,000. The class’s five-year comprehensive total of all gifts to all College funds, including documented bequest intentions, totaled $7,679,330. The Fiftieth Reunion Gift Committee, headed ably by Sally Donner, thanks everyone for the generosity that made this magnificent gift possible.

The weekend began with a scarfing ceremony on Thursday afternoon for the senior class. Each senior was presented by a rotating group of our classmates with a green silk scarf, signifying her brand new membership in the Alumnae Association. After the scarves were given out everyone gathered on the green outside Chapin where we had a chance to greet our pre-arranged “granddaughters.” This new tradition, now in its third year, has become an increasingly important part of the graduation/reunion weekend. About one hundred of us were present to meet the class of 2013 and start to create relationships that will hopefully continue over the years ahead. We all spent about an hour together comparing notes, exchanging contact information, and generally enjoying the chance to connect with the current life of the campus.

Along with our fifty or so guests, we had a wonderful time visiting, going to lectures and talks, and enjoying meals around the campus, including the President’s house. We happily hung out in our charming hospitality tent outside Abbey, which was decorated with Christmas tree lights and offered refreshments all day and evening. The atmosphere in the tent was reminiscent of our beloved Glessie’s where we could and did sit for hours talking over a cup of coffee and/or reading Norman Mailer. Drop-in visitors to our tent included staff members from the College offices next door.

Special talks were given by Margot Solleveld Moomaw (“Greening our World”), Ellen Strauss Boer (“The Grand Tourist,” about her world travels), Eleanor Groeniger Rogan (update from the world of cancer research), an impromptu panel of professionals in the field of genetics (Cyndy Rapp Curry-Nilson, Libby Meehan Short, Judy Mitton Miles and Judy Dolger Widmann) and a stimulating book discussion of Gail Collins’ When Everything Changed, ably led by Sally Calder Wittenberg and Joan Gagnebin Wicks, during which our husbands got to add their thoughts about “women’s issues.” We also enjoyed two curator-led tours of the Art Museum, two private tours of Creighton (the “green” dorm), and a “memorabilia room” in Buckland full of things like a gym suit, Junior Show recordings, yearbooks, and many nostalgic items, as well as an impressive collection of books and artwork by classmates. 

Nawrie Meigs-Brown led us in a poignant memorial service at our new tiny white oak tree planted on the green outside Rooke. People who wanted to say a word about our departed classmates (currently forty) were invited to do so and to lay a flower, a pebble, or a shell under the tree. Later Nawrie, Anne Eastman Yeomans, and Genya Currens Hopkins took all the flowers, pebbles and stones to Lower Lake and watched the flowers drift with the breeze. It was a simple service and very beautiful. As a special note please go to our website’s “In Memoriam” section (see below to access website) for a very lovely note from Caren Teitelbaum, daughter of Eve Sternberg Teitelbaum, who died in 1970 when Caren was only four. In an amazing coincidence Caren happened to learn of our reunion only a few weeks beforehand. Sally Nunneley invited her to come, and she did, resulting in a very moving visit for Caren and for Eve’s many friends.

A few updates and special mentions:

We’d especially like to thank the underwriters here, as they didn’t have vocal recognition over the course of the weekend, and their financial help with the planning and props for reunion made a big difference:

Mary Ann Searles Weiss – website set-up fee for our second, more user-friendly website

Judy Dolger Widmann – tote bags

Diane Demont Rapp and Susie Fickel Kroeger – yellow towels (Diane also washed and monogrammed them!)

Karen Kayser Benson – yellow lemon soaps

Alice Godfrey Andrus – Thursday “Italian Night” dinner decorations, champagne corkage for set-up crew (plus a case of champagne from Enid Lasko Kay), various posters and signs

“Anonymous” – very generous financial contribution to our treasury early on – seed money so we didn’t have to ask for class dues – a huge help.

The yellow scarves designed by Rayna Rosenberg Gillman were a big success. There is a groundswell of opinion that we should keep them and wear them again next time, as it would be hard to improve upon them, plus recycling is a good thing. Rayna hand screened fifty for us to sell for $75 apiece, $25 of which goes to the class treasury. Karen still has thirty-five left to sell, so kindly contact her at kkbcoach@comcast.net if you’d like to buy one. The machine-duplicated ones we all wore are very good copies – please save yours pending further notice.

We want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone in the class who gave so very generously of your time, your money, your bequest intentions, your loyalty, your enthusiasm, your ideas and creativity, and your friendship for each other, which was so evident in the happiness we all felt over the whole weekend. Watching Susie Eberson Adams and Karen and others dancing up on the stage on Saturday morning in the amphitheatre as we were being seated was symbolic of the joy we all obviously felt at being in each other’s company again.

So with thanks and great affection we turn this fabulous class over to the next team of friends who we hope will enjoy it as much as we have. 

Officers:

Alice Godfrey Andrus – President 

Bunny Brown Gramlich – Vice President 

Ann Kotting Sadowsky – Head Class Agent 

Regional Outreach Representatives:

Washington DC – Bunny Brown Gramlich, Sally Donner , Roddy Pratt Mack

Charlottesville VA – Sally Nunneley 

S.Vermont/New Hampshire – Ann Kotting Sadowsky/Mary Baisler Doyle )/Judy Reeve 

Maine and Northern New England – Jane Backus Bragg

Southern California – Libby Meehan Short

Northern California – Sandy Perrott Drew

Chicago – Maddie Muecke

Florida – Karen Kayser Benson

New York City – Paula Freshman Kaplan

Westchester/Greenwich – Susie Fickel Kroeger , Nancy Selinka White

New Jersey – Elaine Cox Jacoby

Boston – Lucy Carlborg Rosborough /Sally Calder Wittenberg

Scribes – Phyllis Rutter Ellickson /Marcia Gruhn Kohl /Connie Woodruff Atwell 

Co-Treasurers – Elizabeth Burton /Stephanie Smith

Nom Com – Ellen Strauss Boer /Caroline Keith /Tracy Philbrick Truman 

You will be hearing shortly from your new officers, who are pleased to announce already that there is a mini-reunion planned for July 15 in New Hampshire. Those in the area will be contacted directly. If you know you’re going to be traveling in the area that day, by all means contact Ann Kotting Sadowsky (ann.sadowsky@gmail.com) for the details.

Please don’t forget to visit our websites on a regular basis. Currently you will find there a large number of great photos of reunion that should entice you to log on. You can access both websites at sites.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/wp/1963/ or mountholyokecollege1963.org

Please stay in touch!

Susie Fickel Kroeger 

Karen Kayser Benson

Swifty Newell Backus

Below is the final list of alumnae who registered for reunion. About 151 classmates and 50 guests came. What a grand slumber party, as Karen called it. 

   ??(posted 11-May-2013)postedPostPoste                 List Posted 11-May-2013 by Stephanie Smith

Letter Posted 19-June-2013 by Mary Ann Weiss