50th Reunion

Those of us in attendance thoroughly enjoyed our 50th Reunion. A total of 115 members of the class of 1962 participated. Many came from great distances, including from England, France, Cyprus and Honduras.

Photos: Below are a couple of photos from the parade. For additional reunion pictures, click here. Please email your photographs to us so we can add more to the Photos page. You can also click here to navigate to an Alumnae Association website that includes a video of us marching in the parade, and additional photos.

Judith Lonnquist, Peggy Daus Schwartz, Hanna Maclaren, & Elaine Kasparian Elliot carry the banner heading our parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reunion Chairs Judith Lonquist & Elaine Kasparian Elliot did an excellent job coordinating planning for our 50th Reunion. For a list of the many volunteers who assisted them, you can view still our pre-reunion Class Letter by clicking here.

50th Reunion Book front cover.

50th Reunion Book: Our wonderful 50th Reunion book was edited by Virginia Foster, Julie Denny Clark, Sara Smith Hill, and Connie Dilley. The book was distributed at reunion to those who placed orders for it, and was mailed to those who ordered the book but could not attend reunion.

Historical Photos: Our 50th Reunion book included many photos from our time at Mount Holyoke. We have started also a page with historical photos. To see these click here, and please send us any photos that you would like to share.

Ann Harwood served as Reunion Catering Coordinator. Anne Wadsworth Pardo & Carolyn Lewis Richmond guided our discussion of a “common read“. Bea Beach Szekely set up activities for early arrivals on Thursday. Entertainment after our class dinner was provided by Honey Turner Lewellen & Peg Moyes vanBergen. A skit by several classmates was enjoyed by all.

Bev Greenberg again selected our parade costume, which included snazzy red hats adorned with fake diamonds, red beads & red net gloves. Some of us were creative in meeting the request for wearing of red shoes, as demonstrated by Ellen Fisher Tully.

Rising Alumnae Ceremony: The Alumnae Association hosted a welcome event the Thursday before graduation that included placing of blue scarves on members of the class of 2012 by members of their “grandmother” class of 1962. Our grandaughters later wore these scarves while parading with the laurel chain. Click here to read remarks by our then Class President Peggy Daus Schwartz at the scarf placing ceremony.

Judy Osborne, Susan Higinbotham Holcome, & Honey Turner Lewellen in the Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion: On Friday of reunion weekend there was an excellent panel discussion entitled Women Then and Now: The Altered Lives of Women. This event, involving representatives of the classes of 1962 and 2012, was organized by Connie Dilley and Cathy Zastrow Onyemelukwe. Participants from our class included Susan Higinbotham Holcome, Honey Turner Lewellen, and Judy Osborne. If you were unable to attend this lively interchange, you can follow highlighted links to the Panel Program as well as notes summarizing the event taken by Barbara Turner Diamond. You can also click here to see an excellent video prepared by Constance Dilley and Sarah Wentworth ’11 that includes extensive dialog from the panel discussion.

Joint Class History: The post-parade Alumnae Association meeting included a Joint Class History. Click here to read the text of this dialog between Peggy Daus Schwartz, President of the class of 1962 and Kaley Ahlman, President of the Class of 2012.

Memorial Service: Virginia Bunzl Nadel and Judith Lonnquist organized and led a memorial service on the final day of reunion in which names were read of those who had passed away since the last reunion. Members of the class of 1962 then spoke individually of departed classmates. We hope that classmates will share such remembrances further by sending their comments to us to be added to the In Memoriam section of this website (click here or select in the menu bar above).

Additional events during reunion weekend have been summarized by Bette Adlum Mapes. Click here to read her notes, including descriptions of the Thursday reception in our assigned dorm, the Class Discussion on the Common Read: Half the Sky, the presentation of the Wendy Chronicles (relating to the life of Wendy Wasserstein), and the Canoe Sing.

Poem: Stephanie Hersey Kolman has written a poem entitled It’s In the Air (Thoughts of a 50th Reunion). Click here to read this poem.

Class Survey: Thank you to Caroline Isber Reuter for organizing our Class Survey, the results of which were distributed at reunion. To view Survey responses click here. More than 40% of the class of ’62 participated.

Bea Beach Szekely (center) our newly
elected Class President, with Elaine
Kasparian Elliot & Judith Lonquist, 50th Reunion Co-Chairs, at a reunion planning workshop.

Many minireunions and reunion planning meetings were held as we prepared for our 50th reunion. A photo from one of the planning meetings is at right. To see more such photos click here to navigate to a page entitled Pre-Reunion photos. You may also select the page On-Campus Mini-Reunion from the index above left.

At our class meeting, new class officers were elected to see us through the next five years. For a list, select Officers from the menu bar above. Given the excellent time had by all at our 50th, we can expect a good turnout for our next reunion.