60TH REUNION
When the class of 1924 holds a 60th reunion, it does it right. Forty-two classmates, 32 wives, and 12 widows will vouch for this. Dick Moran and his committee had provided a great program, and not a detail which could have contributed to our comfort and enjoyment had been overlooked. The Hayward Lounge was an ideal location for our class headquarters. Monday evening started with a reunion in the Hovey Grill, where, to our great delight, the covering of the murals had been removed. This was followed by an alumni dinner for all classes on the same reunion schedule at Thayer Hall. After this, in turn, was the visit to the president's house, where we were greeted by President and Mrs. McLaughlin in their garden. Since it was a fine evening and the garden was in full bloom, this seemed even more delightful than on previous reunions. For those with both the requisite energy and the foresight to have reserved tickets, this was followed by a Glee Club concert;
Tuesday started with breakfast at Thayer Hall, after which we turned out for the 131st annual meeting of the Association of Alumni at Spaulding Auditorium. After brief preliminary speeches, President McLaughlin was introduced. He, in turn, talked very briefly and then took questions from the floor. The questions were the hard ones with no holds barred. They were the questions that all were eager to have answered. There were no evasions in the answers, which were concise, pithy, and responsive. I doubt if anyone left the meeting without a conviction that the College was in good hands.
Our class meeting followed. Since Robin Robinson is printing the minutes of the meeting in the "24 Hour Notice," no further comment is necessary except to say it was neither dull nor stereotyped. Chinee Allen was elected president, with the other officers continuing in office, including the three interim appointments. since our 55th: Ed Winsor as secretary, Rollie Taylor as class agent, and Robin Robinson as newsletter editor. New members of the executive committee are Charlie Amelung, Fred Briscoe, and Larry Marshall.
Our last reception and our class dinner were at the DOC House on Tuesday evening. The big news was our success in topping all previous 60-year classes in the amount of our reunion gift to the Alumni Fund. We not only topped the record set by 1923 the year before, but we smashed this record to smithereens. Rollie Taylor, with the help of his assistant class agents and all of you, presented a facsimile check some six feet long to Professor Noel Perrin, who represented the College, in the amount of $170,000. Two interesting talks by professors followed.
After all of this it seemed as if Wednesday would be an anticlimax. For most of us it was quite the opposite. If anybody in the group was missing from the memorial service in the White Church, I could not spot them. A more touching 20 minutes would be hard to imagine. An appropriate climax for many of us was a concert of an original duet and a sonata written by Robin Robinson and performed on the violoncello by his grandson, Andrew Walkling '86.
President McLaughlin joined us in our farewell luncheon in Thayer Hall. Although we realize that part of his job is to say nice things to any class, we thought his remarks were pretty special and, of course, we were convinced that we deserved them.
The most important thing has been left out The reason the reunion was such a great event was not the program, but the informal visiting, talking, and reminiscing with old friends in a beautiful setting, dear to all of us.
Larry Hewes '24 and his wife Martha pause in the Hayward Lounge of the Hanover Inn to review the busy schedule of events in honor of 1924's 60th reunion.
The DOC House and a balmy summer formed the backdrop for relaxation and for renewal of longstanding friendships by the class of '24 and their guests.
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