’62 Classmate Madeleine Pinsof Plonsker is the organizer of an upcoming cultural tour of Cuban contemporary artists, photographers, printmakers and lithographers in their studios in the greater Havana area.  This is a legal people to people cultural exchange with Cuba departing Miami 5/26 and returning 6/1. Participants will experience the music and dance of Havana along with the efforts to restore its old architecture. Included also is a visit to Hemingway’s home in an old fishing village outside of Havana. For more information you can contact Madeline at madeleine232@comcast.net .  She is also working on a book on Cuban photographers that will be coming out next year.

Ann Macauley Davis informs us of a five-day Mini Reunion held last summer, hosted by Frederica Matera Cushman in Lexington, MA, followed by a wonderful stay at Karen Steffensen Sturges‘ summer home in Harpswell Maine. Others attending were Carolyn Dorrance from Santa Barbara,California, Ann Macauley Davis from Boynton Beach, Florida, Martha Buresh Morse from Warwick, MA , Judith Newberg Bracken from Boston, MA and Anne Horrocks Crider from Williamstown, MA.

Another message from Sandra Short McKenzie mentions that she seems to be the only member of the class of 1962 planning to attend the Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Symposium in Warsaw, Poland, September 20-22, 2013, while the classes of 1965-70 get a lot of alums attending. She wants to be certain that any ’62ers who live in Europe or fancy a trip to Warsaw know about this upcoming event. Information about the symposium is posted on Facebook on the Mount Holyoke European Alumnae page under MH Warsaw.

Dear Class of ’62

Post-reunion greetings on behalf of your new class officers.

For the 115 members of our class who gathered “from east and from west” our 50th reunion was a momentous celebration. To everyone who made it possible, a resounding “thank you” – especially reunion co-chairs Elaine Elliot and Judith Lonnquist, and our outgoing class officers, led by President Peggy Daus Schwartz. To have raised $1,036,000 during the Great Recession attests to the tremendous work of Hannah MacLaren, Head Class Agent; Bev Greenberg, Reunion Gift Chair; everyone who worked with them; and above all, to your generosity. Looking ahead, our class has given $2012 from our 50th reunion gift as a graduation present to our granddaughter class of 2012 seeding their 50th reunion gift in 2062. To carry forward our relationship, Peggy suggests we invite them for drinks at our 55th.

Thanks to Joyce Johnson Diwan for posting your photos on the class website (select 50th Reunion in the menu above) and for chronicling the great time we had.

We celebrated by parading and dancing at the Alumnae Association meeting in the amphitheatre. We applauded Alumnae Association Achievement Award winner Ellen Bachman Mendelson for her work in breast cancer radiology, Elizabeth T. Kennan Award winner Pat Gifford Henderson for her work in school guidance and counseling, and Alumnae Association Medal of Honor winner Elaine Kasparian Elliot for her service to Mount Holyoke and our class in various capacities since graduation. Bev Parks Greenberg, Cathy Zastrow Onyemelukwe, and Susan Higinbotham Holcombe did us proud by winning Loyalty Awards for their dedication to the College.

Highlights included presenting Mount Holyoke scarves to a jubilant crowd of the graduating seniors in Chapin Auditorium; being led by Carolyn Lewis Richmond in discussion of our common read, Half the Sky; listening to panelists Judy Osborne, Honey Lewellen and Susan Holcombe trade observations about the College with the seniors in Hooker Auditorium; and non-stop conversations in the living room of Abbey/Buckland. A group picnicked Friday at the new boathouse on the Connecticut as the guests of crew coach Jeanne Friedman. Saturday afternoon we went off in all directions to explore the campus, some to meet faculty at department receptions, visit the library, buy plants at the greenhouse, admire the art museum or just sit quietly on a bench in the sunshine. The campus gleamed in the sunshine, approaching an “age of radiance” befitting its approaching 175th birthday.

Class gatherings, such as President Lynn Pasquerella’s dinner in our honor Friday; our class dinner Saturday, at which we celebrated Emeritus Professor Marjorie Kaufman’s 90th birthday; and the memorial service Sunday morning brought us back together after the lapse of years. On arrival, we needed to look at nametags to reconnect; by the middle of the weekend, the years had slipped away, and we were back together in the present for a brief moment in time. Affirming the title of our treasured reunion book, Forever is Composed of Nows, produced by Virginia Foster, Julie Denny Clark, Connie Dilley, and Sara Smith Hill, we grabbed hold of our weekend as a precious “now” in our “forever.”

Driving home Sunday, I began to process the experience, trying to think what I might say in this letter by way of goal setting for our next five years as an alumnae class. Permit me a metaphor:

During Reunion, a few of us took falls while walking on the campus and in the dorm shower; many of us shared stories of recent falls at home and elsewhere. We agreed that it’s time to learn to hold on to support at this stage of life. You can see where I’m going with this. Just as we may need to take hold of a railing these days, the support of friendship is an ever more precious asset as we grow older. The years ahead will, for sure, be full of challenges. Extending a hand to each other, and carrying on with the unique joy we share seems the order of the day. And, we will need to continue supporting Mount Holyoke as the oldest women’s college in the world during its challenges ahead.

As part of our agenda, I’m interested in learning where faculty members see the College headed. Professor of Politics Joan Cocks said a few words in this direction during her fascinating interview with Judith Lonnquist at Reunion. As alumnae we have much to contribute to such discussion. As we have observed talking to members of our granddaughter class, there is keen interest among current students in the College’s history that each of us is a part of. We are all invited to participate in its 175th anniversary celebration, which will be launched by a major campus event on November 8. The Alumnae Association website alumnae.mtholyoke.edu and the Alumnae Quarterly will tell you more.

Your incoming officers have begun to gather ideas for the years ahead. Staying in touch has never been easier. The class directory beginning on page 225 of our reunion book is a good starting point; please keep your contact information up to date by reporting changes to Alumnae Information Services: ais@mtholyoke.edu.

Here’s what you can do now:

• email Joyce Diwan at (diwanj@rpi.edu) and keep sending her photos to post on our website at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/~classof1962/

• access our class facebook page at facebook.com/groups/129737087085636/

• reach out to scribe Carol Kent (clrk2knt@aol.com) with news for the Quarterly

• think about setting up a special interest email group

• plan a small and informal get together in your area

And, Elaine Elliot hopes that all of you who were unable to attend Reunion have received your reunion books in the mail. If you have not received your book or would like to order a copy, contact her at elliotek@verizon.net or 781-237-9629.

As we come down from our post-Reunion highs, as we read and re-read Forever Is Composed of Nows, my “take away” is the wish for friendship within the class and mutual support, and that we continue and deepen involvement with the College.

Our new class vice presidents and reunion chairs, Kimmie Halligan McCann and Marion Fitch Connell, are already thinking about mini-reunions in the not too distant future and would love to hear from you about great venues, near to home or farther afield. They are eager to explore electronic means of being in touch.

With thanks to our outgoing class officers for their coaching as your new team picks up the reins, please let us hear from you so that we can be guided by your thoughts.

Fondly,

Beatrice Beach Szekely, Class of 1962 Class President