Hello, members of the Class of 1969!
I wanted to give all of you an update on the plans for our 50th Reunion in 2019. This should be a special time, and our Reunion Co-Chairs Sally Gisel Green and Ginna Holmes Moore, along with their committee chairs, are hard at work to make certain that it is! Please do plan to come, even (especially!) if you have never returned for a reunion before.
The committee chairs met at the College last October, organized beautifully by Sally and Ginna. Executive summary: All is proceeding extraordinarily well! In the interests of brevity, I’m only providing highlights, but they will be happy to provide additional details. Attached to this letter is a list of the co-chairs’ emails, along with those of all committee chairs. I’m certain they will welcome all inquiries, suggestions, and offers of help. So please do volunteer!
Also, please pay your class dues of $40 for this five-year cycle. A bargain! Check with our treasurer, Kitty Howell Cannon, to see if you have paid and to remit if you haven’t. Our class treasury thanks you! (And, the class is a 501c(3) organization, so dues and contributions to the class treasury are tax-deductible.)
Want to pay dues? Send a check payable to MHC Class of ’69 to: Kitty Cannon, 2920 Bay Shore Circle, Sarasota, FL 34234.
As we build up the excitement toward May 2019, many of us have planned or are planning mini-reunions. As Linda Giannasi O’Connell explains:
The Class of ’69 is so awesome: We are “rebranding” our mini-reunion experiences as Café ’69! The idea is that we host fun, informal gatherings of ’69ers in cities and regions across the county to help us dig into our 50th reunion theme—Connect, Reflect, Inspire. Several Café ’69s have already taken place, and classmates have raised their hands to reach out to organize others. To make this Café ’69 franchise a crushing success, we need even more hosts! The Reunion Participation Committee has ideas for Café ’69 activities—but, really, a Café ’69 get-together can be anything its patrons want it to be. To volunteer to host a Café ’69 in your area and/or share ideas, please contact Linda Giannasi O’Connell.
Another activity already underway is building multiple relationships with our Connection Class, the Class of 2019, who will graduate during our reunion weekend. Many members of the class have expressed eagerness to have a pen pal from our class, but so far, not as many of our class have responded. Please contact Beth Johnson McGregor or Rona Heimoff Gregory to sign up! I can tell you that having pen pals from the Class of 2019 is so much fun; I’m learning so much about current life at the College, the new traditions and other changes. Of course, additional ideas to build connections between our classes are welcome!
Rings and Roses is an upcoming event at Chapin Auditorium. All sophomores (Class of 2019) in attendance receive a rose, and those who have ordered rings receive them at this event, the evening of April 6, 2017. Please plan to come by if you are in the area!
As we did for our 25th and our 40th reunions, we plan a Reunion Book, available to all members of our class. The chair of this effort, Judy Oliver, sends an urgent plea for all who would be willing to help in this effort! I have loved the previous books and I know others have as well. Please volunteer to help!
And again: I ask that each of you check to see that your name, address, email, and information are all correct in the Alumnae Directory. You already have a page, with the information the College has on file for you. This is your chance to update and correct it. Please be sure we have an email address. Further, on this site you can also control how much of your information can be viewed by other alumnae. So please do this now, while you are thinking about it! The address is alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/directory.
The page you get explains what to do to log in or to create a log-in password. (Note that it is a secure site.) Why do this? Using email saves our class treasury money! Emailing this letter is free to the class. Sending it first class to those who don’t have an email on file is a charge to the treasury.
Finally, this reunion is, of course, a major fundraising effort for the College. We as a class are doing reasonably well, but there are many of us who do not give, and/or who have not yet pledged for this five-year cycle. Please respond to your reunion gift caller! Any amount, large or small, is welcome, to help today’s young women receive the chances and benefits made possible by our Mount Holyoke education! Want further information about types of gifts? Please contact one of our reunion gift chairs, Marcia Lepri Coleman and Julie Van Camp, who will be delighted to help!
And again, please make plans to attend!
Warmly,
Marilyn
President, Class of 1969