| Dear classmates, I hope everyone is enjoying these summer months, and so far the weather in New Jersey has been lovely! It seems I have a lot to share with you all, much of it coming as a result of a fantastic 45th reunion and the end of the term of your Class Officers. So here goes:
· At the reunion, those in attendance voted in the affirmative for the following slate of officers:
o President: Liz Lewis Gershon (thank you for your continued confidence in me, I really appreciate it)
o Vice President: Merry Galassi Hampton
o Secretary: Susan Saxe
o Scribes: Nancy Hermann Jarrett and Andi Popik Taber
o Head Class Agents: Meredith Poyton Jacob and Avice Meehan
o Treasurer: Susan Clark
o Nominating Chair: Susan Granahan Colgan
o Communications Chair: Alex Woody
o Reunion Co-Chairs: Cathy Gibson and Chris Bryce Sass
o Thank you to everyone who volunteered, and if any other classmates would like to support any of these Officers, please contact them directly, I know all of us could use all the help we can get!
o And the best way to get contact information on a classmate is to go to the Alumnae website and click the link to Alumnae Search on the left: https://directory.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/s/1660/aamhc/index.aspx?sid=1660&gid=2&pgid=6&cid=41#/Search/Simple
· And many thanks to our Officers who volunteered from 2017-2022 and have decided to pass the baton to others:
o Head Class Agents: Sue Rittenhouse Sokoloski and Susan Graves
o Treasurer: Susan Pardo Hardy
o Nominating Chair: Lisa Perreault Ireland
o Reunion Co-Chairs: Susan Granahan Colgan and Janet O’Neill Connell
o We all owe them a huge thank you for all their work for our Class
· REUNION:
o What a fantastic 45th reunion we had, with 73 alumnae and 14 guests in attendance
o And we all truly appreciated the heroic efforts of our amazing reunion chairs, Susan Granahan Colgan and Janet O’Neill Connell, and their fabulous chairs:
§ Hospitality: Deb Stone Roth and Emilykaye Lonian Mitchelson
§ Social: Lisa Perreault Ireland and Anne Foley
§ Signs: Avice Meehan and Kim Cogswell
§ Costume: Ann Reynolds
§ Name Badges: Jules Dickinson
§ Scribe: Maryann Curley O’Connell
o And we know Cathy Gibson and Chris Bryce Sass are already thinking of ways to make our 50th the best reunion yet, so if you have any ideas or would like to volunteer in any way, please email them at cjgibson7@comcast.net and cbsass@aol.com
o One idea we already have is if a classmate would like to “sponsor” an event or part of an event, such as the Friday night get-together, or activities at the welcome desk, or anything new
§ That would be fantastic, and again please contact Cathy Gibson or Chris Bryce Sass to discuss this further
o We were so fortunate that Maryann Curley O’Connell was our reunion scribe, because she developed a great summary of all our activities that weekend, and that summary is attached to this e-blast
§ When reading it, I know you will feel as if you were with us at Reunion!
§ Unfortunately, the summary included several great pictures from the reunion, but the file was too big to include in this e-blast, but the full summary, with pictures, will be on our class website, so be sure to visit it
(https://new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/1977/ )
o We had a very engaging book club discussion on the Saturday of the reunion as we discussed “The Confessions of Sylvia P”, a very interesting book about Sylvia Plath and the key people in her life. Our facilitators were Carol Jackson, Kim Cogswell and Ellen Boyle, and Susan Colgan even arranged for a Zoom call with the author, Lee Kravatz, which was fascinating. It was so successful that we all agreed we would like to continue to do this, so more about this below
o We also had a well-supported mini-reunion, the Knit-A-Long, led by Susanne Beery Duncan, that led to a big “reveal” at the reunion where everyone shared the fruits of their labor; again, this was so successful that it will be continued in the fall, more about this below
o Susan Colgan and Janet Connell, with the help of our Communications Committee, had sent out a survey before the reunion, asking everyone their opinions and thoughts about a range of topics, and Susan, Janet and Alex Woody synthesized all of our answers into a very thought-provoking summary, and that is attached to this e-blast
o In addition to interesting commentary, a long and diverse list of books, both fiction and non-fiction, came out of that survey and that list is also attached
· Dues:
o The attendees of Reunion agreed to raise our class dues to cover the next 5 years (2022-2027), especially as we plan for our 50th reunion, to $100 when paying by check, and $105 if paying through PayPal or credit card on our class website
§ To pay through our class website by credit card or PayPal (https://new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/1977/ ), you will find a link on the right side of the home page that will take you to the very easy way to pay
§ To pay by check, please send the check to Susan Hardy, PO Box 35
Meriden, NH 03770; we will update where to send your check on our class website or in a future e-blast once everything is turned over to Susan Clark
§ We know this is an increase from our dues from the last 5 years so if this is a challenge for you, please send whatever you can and we appreciate whatever is contributed
· Quarterly Book Club
o We have great news: Carol Jackson, Kim Cogswell, Susan Colgan and Ellen Boyle
have agreed to continue as our Class of 1977 Book Club facilitators
o We thought it would work as a quarterly Zoom call and you will be hearing more about this soon
o I can’t wait to learn what the first book will be!!!
· Knit-A-Long
o Susanne Duncan has agreed to help continue this Class event and will schedule a meeting sometime in September to discuss/plan two types of projects: a personal project (like the shawl they just did) and a service project.
o If you are interested in joining this group of knitters, please email Susanne at sbduncan55@gmail.com
· Bridge!
o Susanne Duncan has another idea to continue our Class Connection, creating a bridge group
o She has developed an online approach using Trickster cards where people can move between online bridge tables
o If you are interested in playing with other Class of ’77 bridge aficionados, please email Susanne at sbduncan55@gmail.com
· Share your talents
o We have so much talent throughout our class and it would be great to know that we can turn to a classmate who we trust for advice, or support a classmate’s business
o And in my effort to support Connections within our Class, we have developed a section on our class website (https://new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/1977/ ) where we can share all the amazing capabilities that many of us offer, including services/advice (counseling, financial planning, legal or medical expertise, etc.) or talents (painting, quilting, writing, etc.) or products (essential oils, MaryKaye, Avon, gifts, food/treats, etc.)
§ You can tell us the books you have written, the paintings that could be commissioned, medical advice you could offer, how to plan for retirement, essential oils that you sell, etc. etc. etc.
o To see this section, go to the website, then scroll to the link at the top “Our Voices”, then scroll down to “Supporting Our Classmates”
o If you would like to put something on this site, including your business card, please contact Alex Woody (alexandra.woody@gmail.com ); there’s not much there right now but I really hope many of you will add to this section
· Future Class Zoom Meetings
o We already have some ideas for future zoom meetings, but as always, please send me your thoughts for topics to schedule or if you would be willing to facilitate a meeting (lizgershon@att.net ); this is one of the best ways to stay Connected over the next 5 years
· Mini-reunions
o This is another great way to stay Connected, and I know the NY/NJ/CT alums are already thinking of a get-together in August
o If you would like to do this and get a list of classmates in your area, email me (lizgershon@att.net ) and I can send that to you
Well…I know I have inundated you with tons of information, but I hope you all can appreciate how hard your Class Officers are working to encourage Communication, Connections, and Community within our Class (“Class of 1977 CCC”). We really have so much to offer each other and I would love to hear from you (lizgershon@att.net ) with your thoughts and ideas to expand the Class of 1977 CCC!
Enjoy the rest of your summer, and with very fond regards,
Liz |
