Help Wanted!

WANTED: Classmates to help celebrate our 50th reunion by creating our reunion book: a milestone, keepsake, and reference resource.

If you have experience in editing, publishing, or design or if you are a taskmaster with some extra time and energy, please volunteer to be a Team Member or Project Manager. We need your talent, creativity, and expertise! General book guidelines: soft bound; photo and copy submitted by classmates (half page each); Directory; and Memoriam.

Send me an email by March 16: classof73mhc@gmail.com

Cheryl Ryan Maloney
Class President

Class of 1973, Summer/Fall Newsletter 2018

Dear Classmates,

Seventy one members of our class gathered on the Mount Holyoke campus over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate our 45th reunion. As you might imagine, this small but spirited group of women have lived very different lives since leaving South Hadley, but we found ourselves in complete agreement on at least two things. First, our class is amazingly laid back, friendly and supportive of one another as was evident to all during reunion. Secondly, we would love all of you to attend the 50th so that your voices are added to the laughter, story-telling, and general camaraderie. Mount Holyoke imprinted upon us skills, knowledge and values in those four short years. Whether you have attended many, a few or none of our past reunions, you will feel at home with your sisters on that stunningly beautiful campus. Some attendees brought spouses. Some came with classmates and others came on their own. Some stayed for a day and others extended their visit in Western Massachusetts. We ate Atkins’ doughnuts with morning coffee in our dorm, took advantage of the myriad activities on campus (or not), had a cocktail party at the Odyssey Book store, spontaneously broke into song with assistance from Glee Club member Beth Chernikowski and an undergrad who was waitressing our class dinner in the new central dining facility, had our Class of ’73 Jeopardy game Friday night and, of course, looked very smart and stunning in the traditional parade.

 We also had the privilege of cheering for two special classmates:  Maria Mossaides, the new President of the Alumnae Association, and Shirley Wilcher, recipient of a MHC honorary degree during graduation the previous weekend. It was very exciting and inspiring to hear Maria speak to all reunion classes in Chapin Hall. Later that day at our class meeting, and after much encouragement, Shirley agreed to read the amazing speech she delivered to the Class of 2018, faculty members and guests at graduation. I encourage you to read it on the Mount Holyoke website. Sadly, our class president, Sue Doherty, was unable to attend due to health issues and we sent her a video of collective well wishes, posted on our class website. Sue was so disappointed to miss leading us at the reunion, given all her hard work planing and preparing in the previous five years. I am honored to follow in her footsteps as the next Class of 1973 President. The rest of the executive board consists of Vice President Joan Reagan, Treasurer Lois White, Secretary Kris Aulenbach, Web Manager Susan Anderson, Scribe Nancy Friedman Ross, Nominating Chair Sylvia Van Sinderen, Head Class Agents Nancy Drake and Maria Mossaides, and Reunion Co-chairs Marjie Marcotte and Kimberly Fletcher. 

As you know, communication is key to any successful group. We want to hear your thoughts and ideas as we plan the 50th reunion.  You can always reach me and any of the officers at Classof73MHC@gmail.com.  Please be sure we have your latest mailing address and email. We also urge you to reach out to classmates who may have lost touch with the college to update their records. Over the next few years we will identify and communicate 50 reasons why all of us should attend reunion, surpassing the 18 wonderful ones listed in the most recent Quarterly. These will appear on our class page on the college website, our own closed group Facebook page, in email blasts and as part of my annual letters.

I will close with another reason why you should plan on attending reunion in 2023 by paraphrasing Emily Dickinson: “That it will never come again is what makes [the 50th reunion] so sweet.”

All my best,

Cheryl