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REUNION REFLECTIONS
Alumnae/i share their recollections of Wheaton through the years as they prepare to come back to campus for Reunion Weekend on May 19-21, 2000. Here are excerpts from their stories...Deborah Smith Paul
Class of 1935
65th Reunion
What did Wheaton mean to each of you? For me, a fifth sibling always in the shadow of my elders, it was a leap into independence. I plunged into the heady experience of new friendships and inspired scholarship. Our professors made huge demands on us. In the lecture halls we took notes passionately; in smaller classrooms we had greater intimacy with our teachers, while tutorials transformed them into friends. It wasn't what we specifically learned that was important; it was that we learned to use our knowledge and to use our brains!
We have memories of our time - cookies and milk during exam week - the dash to the Wheaton Inn when we couldn't face another SAB meal on welsh rarebit. (Yet don't forget how proud we are of the SAB now.) Remember the thrill of a day in Boston, and the quieter thrill of coming back to Hebe, the Dimple, and serene Mary Lyon. I want this letter to flood you with memories so that you will come to Reunion Weekend - maybe with a son, a daughter, a grandchild. Let them see and enjoy Wheaton's special splendor.
Ginny Ely Agnew
Class of 1940
60th Reunion
At this stage of my life, when I can hardly remember what I had for breakfast, I find it amazing that my memories of Wheaton College in the 1930s come through loud and clear. How well I remember ice skating on Peacock Pond on frosty winter evenings with the stars bright in the skies above us. And does anyone else remember walking over to The House in the Pines to watch our Wheaton Riding Team? Do you remember Theater Guild plays in Boston Saturday afternoons freshman year? The likes of Alfred Lunt, Lynne Fontanne and the young Katherine Hepburn. And, do you remember trying to "cradle the ball" as we huffed and puffed up the athletic field learning to play lacrosse? And the magic of the Chapel service the night before we left for Christmas holidays with the Christmas tree at the Chapel door twinkling with lights?I could go on and on.
I'm sure all of you have similar memories to share. Let's do it at Reunion on the weekend of May 19-21, 2000!
Ruth E. Ault
Class of 1950
50th Reunion
Here at my desk at half-past February, looking out upon yet another whirlwind mid-winter snowstorm, I find myself eagerly looking forward to eventual spring when we will gather together once again. Now septuagenarians, we may not at first recognize one another, but nametags will give a nudge to any uncertainty and, before long, we'll all feel young again, easily bridging the many years' elapse, chatting blithely about the happenings of our college days, readily picking up where we left off.
In addition to yearbooks, photos, scrapbooks and letters, I have diaries- almost daily confided in- kept diligently from 1946-1950. I thought whimsically to present to you here a kaleidoscopic view of our four years together, but time and space necessitate constraint. It is difficult to encapsulate successfully such a significant time in our lives. We were all so diverse in personality, in talent, in achievement!
Although we will never again be together as a cohesive group, in such a concentrated time frame, in such an eclectic community, we have the opportunity to gather at Wheaton as a class, once again, in May- this time to reminisce and regale, to just enjoy each other's company. If a hundred years pass like a dream, as the Wheaton Hymn reminds us, how does one depict the passage of fifty years? As a fleeting reverie? A transitory musing? A temporary lapse? Or a "senior moment???" The past fifty years now gone by have brought us all too quickly, it now seems, to the year we never imagined would come to be- 2000. We are soon to gather on the campus, at the college we said goodbye to in June 1950, at a place which has, most naturally, seen many changes since we were there as students. I hope you will all be pleased with what you find there today. It will be so good to see each of you very special women, once again. Our 50th Reunion is going to be a most memorable event!
Vi Ryder Nicholson
Class of 1955
45th Reunion
My first memories of Wheaton are dreary indeed. I had no Bermuda shorts! I didn't own a camel hair coat! I had never seen knee socks! (At home, in Colorado, we wore jeans and saddle shoes!) Even worse, I had no friends, no experience and no brain! I spent my first month's allowance on a pair of "Berms," my mother popped for the coat, and I acquired a Yale scarf on my own. To my joy and surprise, the friends came easily and I began to feel quite experienced- especially after the Yale scarf and all. And the brain! Well, it began to develop during my semester in Academic Probation! Wheaton made me learn. Wheaton made me like to learn. I still like to learn! And that is what has made my life so wonderful. Thanks, Wheaton!
Gail Dickson Martin
Class of 1975
25th Reunion
These friends of mine, we've shared some good times together
Days of sunshine -- Days of rain
Many jobs and many towns we've worked and never cared if
We saw the same towns again.
But one day we weren't as young as before.
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
But by all the roads my friends we've traveled down
I'm a better woman for the just the know'n' of you.
May 1975
The then Wheatones were college seniors standing in the Everett Slype singing this song over and over -- wishing it would never end -- not wanting the last note of the last word to fade away. Graduation was days away. What could we have been thinking as we sang this song and you all listened? We had certainly had the good times together, some rain, but jobs? We had no jobs. We'd traveled some roads but not the major highways. But we were certainly
already better for having known each other.
January 2000
These friends of mine we've shared some good times together....
Yes, I'd say so. Twenty-five years worth. The then and now Wheatones are standing in my living room (with lyric sheets and eyeglasses) singing this song again -- cherishing its every syllable -- searching for the right key -- understanding the song's every nuance -- caring as intensely for each other as we did in 1975. Someone said in disbelief, " We sang this song when we were 20?"
The Wheatones are practicing a few songs and promise to sing them for you at our Reunion Weekend. You must come! May 19-21, 2000. A committed group of our classmates is working hard to organize and execute an excellent weekend for us. We'd love to see you there.
Kelly Steeves Giambrone
Class of 1990
10th Reunion
I can't believe that our 10 year Reunion is coming up! I don't think I like the idea that it has actually been that long since I graduated from college.
As I look back on the good 'ol days of Wheaton life, I now realize how much I took for granted such as having three meals a day cooked for me as well as having the dishes washed! I'd give anything for that to happen during the workweek! Also, after going through the closing on my second home, the anxiety around room lotteries and whether I got a single on old campus seems like nothing.
I have been back to campus several times since graduation and have seen the amazing changes in the campus, but I have also found that all of the same good feelings come back. I would like to let you all know that Peacock Pond is still slimy, the Dimple is as big as ever and the Loft still has the best mozzarella sticks. These, of course, are just a few of the many memories I have of Wheaton and I am looking forward to reminiscing more with everyone in May.
Jake Endres
Class of 1995
5th Reunion
Once they got me back on campus, I was putty in their hands. I was overwhelmed with fond memories of the campus in fall, barbecues on Duck*!*! Field and the Dimple, the community of Wheaton, free beer in the Atrium and even a couple things I may have learned while there. I thought of my own experiences at Wheaton. There were more than a few bad experiences that came along with the good, but regardless they were learning experiences. I heard stories of other Wheaton experiences and lectures on the increasing value of my education. I saw the administration and faculty's dedication to making Wheaton a better place. Above all, I had a good time and going back reminded me of the good time I had when I went to school there.
I hope by now you've seen a theme that occasionally I have blamed outside factors for my less-positive Wheaton experiences. While I now realize I learned a lot at Wheaton and took away tremendous experiences that I am very fortunate to have had, the most important lesson I learned is from the mistakes I made. Take responsibility for yourself and make things happen. I've always known that Wheaton is a pretty good place but what's more, it can become a lot better if you're a part of it.
I'm looking forward to seeing you all at Reunion in May.
Nancy Cavanagh
CE Graduate
I always knew I would go to college, but there were those interventions--marriage, four years of work to help finance a home, and then children. It was not until I returned to work full time in a local school system that "knowing" became "needing." I had always been involved in something musical--none of it with any formal instruction. Singing, playing the trombone, and teaching myself the guitar were all woven into my life as peripheral, never recognized as something central to my being.
"To eveything there is a season," so the song goes. I am profoundly grateful that the season of my college experience was at Wheaton. It was a season of discovery, not just about academic things, but about myself, my peers, and bright young women. The delight of going to college when one has sifted through the detritus of "what do I want to be when I grow up?" made the experience something totally different from the instant passage after high school.
I remember likening my years at Wheaton to being at the world's best smorgasbord. I could fill my plate with things I knew I loved, like music, but I could also taste so many other things I might never have considered palatable! And all the chefs were world-class professionals especially eager to share their knowledge, skills, and some funny moments with those of us who were often close in age. There was the math class in Probability Theory where the professor looked out at a sea of blank young faces when she proposed that we figure out the probability of drawing to an inside straight. It turned out that only she and I had been initiated into the mysteries of poker!
Even requirements brought rewards. Biology 101 begot Ecology and then Marine Ecology where we went on field trips to various shores. At Plymouth Beach, I slid off an ice-covered jetty, landing on a small rock. Being too proud (stubborn?) to let all the young women in my class know how badly my leg hurt, I limped across marshes and beaches with my leg swelling all the while inside my boot. When I hobbled into class the following week on crutches, John Kricher told us that he had neglected to inform us that this was the only class that awarded Purple Hearts! My badly-sprained ankle healed, but the environmental knowledge I gained in that class allowed me to speak with clarity against a National Park Service proposal that would have negatively affected the ecology of a small Maine island. It also made beach trips with my grandchildren infinitely more fun and informative.
My stories could go on and on, but enough about me. How about YOU? As we enter a new future in this year 2000, come back to Wheaton for the CE Reunion. Share your memories and enlarge this new present by your participation, for it was--and IS--our season!
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