1971

Reunion Class Notes continued: "Wow!" emailed Nels Armstrong. "Now that's what I call a reunion! It was great to see so many faces that I had not seen too often (or not at all) over the past 25 years. To all of the guys who made it back, 'Thanks for coming home!' To the rest of you guys, you missed a good one! We really had a great time. We laughed as we remembered the good old days, shared tales of what's happened with our lives since we left with degrees in hand, marveled at how good we look still (who says 40-something is old anyway?), and began to think about 2001, when we will all get together again. We truly are the 'class' of 1971."

Jeff Ashworth "counted eight returning '71 Phi Psi's, a good turnout for a small house. Dave Paradise and family must qualify for some type of recognition. They arrived Sunday at 10:20 a.m. after driving straight through (21 hours) from Chicago on their way to beginning a week-long vacation in the Northeast. We all enjoyed the Reunion and the weather couldn't have been much better." And from Bill Phillips: "There's nothing like seeing what exercise can do for aging children of the sixties to get us back on our Nordic Tracks. That was inspirational."

John Eaton wrote: "Quite a showing for the Bones Gate class of '71. Of the original 31-plus members I count at least 19 who made it back, including Rod Morgan, BillHolm, David Krakoff, Bob Cushman, AlLarson, Steve Besse, Scotty Mitchell,Jim Smith, Doane Arnold, ThornJenness, Al Gabbard, Dick Wooster,Craig Sullivan, Rick Mather, BobCordy, Mitch Wallerstein, JeffMcElnea, and Doug Urban. All of these fraternity brothers have held up much better than the fraternity itself. Both Jack Foley and Doug Watson from the class of '69 showed up as well. In addition, the fabulous 25th Reunion yearbook included interesting notes from Ben Upper, HankRickleffs, Jim Finch (a lawyer in Hanoi, Vietnam, no less), Carl Layton, DonEberly, and Chris Bean. On a sad note, the yearbook also contains Charlie Aalto's obituary, which I wrote back in 1986. A hearty hand clasp and a box of 'Forever Yours' to anyone who can spot the slight career inaccuracy contained therein. He would have wanted it that way."

Finally, a closing comment from my wife, Sally, without whom the registration lines would have faced gridlock: "As I drove home from Hanover, I felt a number of different emotions—exhaustion (I am so glad this is over); elation (I met some really great people—including our wonderful student workers, three of whom, Steve and Sara Zrike and Kelly Hannigan were "class legacies"); sadness (I did not get a chance to meet more people). As we had hoped when we planned the Reunion logistics, the 'mechanics' ran smoothly enough that everyone could spend their time doing what is important—seeing friends. There were times when I wished I could capture the looks on faces, the hugs, and sometimes even the tears. So many of you wrote in the yearbook how quickly time has passed (where does it go?) and I was touched anew by the underlying theme of the strong friendships formed more than 25 years ago. You go through life meeting a lot of acquaintances and touching many, but you'll bare your soul to just a few; for us, many of those 'few' are in the class of '71."

And, as Rob Sprinkle put it: "The Magic Kingdom seemed never so beguiling. Or so hard to leave."

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