Reunion Summary

Ellen Greenspan and Julie Priest held a memorial service for deceased classmates at the Saturday dinner during Reunion. Included in the service was a reading titled “Birth is a Beginning” that several classmates asked be put on the website for anyone interested. Ellen very kindly sent on the reading – just click on the following link (it is in pdf format so you’ll need Adobe on your computer to read it): Birth is a Beginning_rotated[2]

I just added a whole group of photos from Reunion to our Flickr account – click on the small pictures to the right of this page and it will take you to the Flickr photostream. If you click on “sets” you can look at just the photos from Reunion. I will add more as I get them from other folks. Enjoy!

From Liz:
I had a wonderful time working with Marianne, Caren, Jackie & Eda (and all the other classmates that were involved) in planning our 30th Reunion. Thanks go to everyone who was involved. There were many, many folks involved in planning various parts of the weekend and it all came together beautifully.

Our goal was to have a Reunion that would give our class an opportunity to connect – with each other, with Smith and probably most importantly – with our own selves. I saw tears and laughter and talking and thinking and listening all happen over the course of the weekend so I’m hopeful our goal was achieved. Once again I am reminded of how these strong, intelligent, caring women have added so much to my life!

Friday night dinner kicked off the weekend with the class having cocktails outside at the new Ford Hall, followed by dinner inside in the building’s atrium. Then we headed back up to Northrop & Gillett houses to hear fellow classmates lead small discussion groups around myriad topics. The talks were well attended and provided a wonderful opportunity to share thoughts, ideas and feelings with classmates.

Saturday morning started with the Alumnae Parade, followed by a box lunch. Jill Ker Conway spoke to our class on Saturday afternoon. She talked about what she has been doing over the past five years and (as usual) it was fascinating. Mrs. Conway’s talk was followed by a book group led by Katrina Kenison (see below for Katrina’s writing about the weekend).

Katrina Kenison did an absolutely lovely piece about the reunion and the spirit of connection that seemed to be so strong at the event. You can read it at: http://www.katrinakenison.com/ordinary-day-journal/2010/5/26/thirtieth-reunion.html#comments We were so lucky to have Katrina talk about her writing and book at the Reunion – many thanks go out to her for her participation.

At dinner we had the presentation of thank-you’s to everyone who worked on the Reunion as well as the “world premiere” of our class slideshow – “Smith Class of 1980”.

Click on the link below to see the slideshow. When a message comes up and asks you if you want to “Play” or “Save”, you’ll need to say “Save” to your computer. You’ll also need PowerPoint on your computer to view the show and a music program like iTunes or Windows media player to hear the music – disco lives on! Enjoy….

smith-class-of-1980

I’ve put snapshots on the “Photos” page of pictures taken by Marianne Acito Campolongo (with a few of mine also). You can see the larger versions on Marianne’s Facebook page. I will get more of mine loaded on to our Flickr account.

I’m in the process of uploading the surveys from our classmates. I will get out an email to everyone with the password for that page.

Our new class officers for our 35th Reunion in 2015 will be:
Sarah Purdy – Class President
Gwen Hanlon Howard & Janet Schulte – co-Vice Presidents & co-Reunion chairs
Sally Foster Erickson – Treasurer
Eda Martin Joyce – Secretary
We wish them a wonderful time putting together our next Reunion!

Dinner on Friday night in Ford Hall