This Gathering was a multi-faceted event.  The list of attendees included several classmates who had not returned to campus for traditional reunions and then, there was Sally Foster Wallace who came despite her grief…she said,”…to gather strength from her sisters in order to endure the Memorials for her son.”  During a brief memorial conducted by JJ, Sally told several funny stories about her son encouraging laughter. We adjourned for a Reception and Dinner. Being a minimalist speaker (admittedly, NOT a minimalist writer), I proposed a toast to Paul Newman as the first man many of us were in love with.  I heard a collective sigh and we moved on to dinner and a charismatic talk by Professor Vincent Ferraro.  His dynamic analysis of the political forces at play in today’s world gave us a taste of what his students encounter in the classroom.  Professor Ferraro is also one of the highly sought- after professors involved with the NY Times on line courses available to MHC alumnae this fall.  He left us feeling a bit more optimistic and with hope for the future.

Mountain Day, having been held the prior week, was not a threat to a day filled with attending classes, tours of the campus and meetings.  Several classmates had attended classes the day before and enthusiasm for this main activity was running high.  Thirty class lists were presented and although no one took attendance, few  cut class and many subject discussions were heard. Attending classes and walking on a Campus filled with young women hurrying purposefully from one intellectual activity to the next gave one a real feeling about the Campus in Action.  The numbers of international students indicate that this is, indeed, a student body representing many parts of the world.  I think that Elaine Ward Loomis went to twelve classes and she was riding high.  She wrote, “What a great time I had.  Seeing classmates who were interested in attending classes was refreshing and invigorating. The classes I attended were informal and they gave me a chance to see how the professors used pertinent questions to make the women think, respond and discuss the topics at hand.  The students felt free to think out loud even as they talked themselves in and out of contradictions. Many of the questions were the same ones we asked in 1960.  Except for advances in technology students haven’t changed that much!” Barb Kuhn Olton and Jan McGowin Kenison and Nancy Nash Johnson  had a private tour of the science facilities.  Sandy G. Pritz went to class with her 2010 granddaughter and Leone Guthrie Reeder went with her real granddaughter.  Folk visited the Art Museum, the Botanical Gardens, the New Dorm, Kendade, the Odyssey, Blanchard and climbed Mount Holyoke . The group descended on my house for a Social Hour attended also by President Creighton.  Vans spirited us to several dorms for dinner and these were hostessed by members of the Class of 2010.  We ended the evening in the Willits living room at a Dessert Reception for our “granddaughter” class of 2010.  It ROCKED. Although this had been well publicized via many media, one never knows what could come up for these young women. They streamed in all the entrances and they “worked the room” introducing themselves and plying us with questions. Many of our classmates met their ‘granddaughters” for the first time and several others agreed to participate in this project having seen the interest and enthusiasm in action.  As Nancy said, “The kids were lining up and demanding grandmothers!”  We all agreed that we do not care what they call us as long as they call us and ask us questions.  They are interested in “the way it was” and we are interested in the current culture.  When I left at 10PM , folk were still talking.

I wondered if the final day would prove to be an afterthought but classmates were attending classes that morning too.  We all lingered with hugs and an agreement to do this kind of thing again.  It was nothing short of wonderful.

On to some regional mini-reunions and then the Big 50^th! ( May 21-23, 2010 )

Carey Downs Gibson and Hannah Doherty

Sandy Germond Pritz , Jiajie Tang, Tenaya Vallery

Curtis Smith, Sandhya Banskota, Dana, Nikki Ogwuda, Carey, Hannah Doherty

Joan Cocoran Steiger and Carycruz Bueno

Jo Amanti Piltz and Theresa Antonellis

Nan Jones Clarke and Sarah Lince

Nancy Larkin Price and Nisha Mehra

Judy Saylor Olmer and Christine Bazzinotti