Rose Lincoln Photo

Day 3, and last day, of our reunion took place on the very date — June 3 — on which we graduated from BC 50 years earlier. Good timing. :)

Not quite Baldwin . . . or Margo

The schedule for Sunday was light. A “Reunion Jazz Brunch” began at 9 am in the University Conference Center, the building on the Brighton Campus that also includes the McMullen Museum of Art and had been the residence of Boston’s archbishops. Newton alumnae attended Mass in Trinity Chapel on the Newton Campus at 10, followed by a “Garden Party Brunch” on the Stuart/Barat Lawn. Classmates also could have attended an “Agape Latte Grande” at the Cadigan Alumni Center, where they would have joined Karen Kelly Kiefer ’82, associate director, Church in the 21st Century Center, in conversation over coffee about the intersection of faith and everyday life.

I, on the other hand, was on the road. My older daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters picked me up early morning to go south for a visit to my sister and her husband at their home in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Hence no video from these reunion events. 

But there are some pictures from the brunch. The original setup was outside, but I’ve been told there was light rain and many went inside. Here’s a gallery.

I don’t know about you, but overall I didn’t have enough time to spend with enough people. Maybe there would never have been “enough time” in practical terms. I saw old friends and met new ones, which was a pretty good result. I hope you had a similar experience and that those connections continue. Can this blog and the Facebook group page help do that? Please share suggestions you have in how they might.

Go Golden Eagles!

Day 2 of our reunion culminated in the 50th Anniversary Party, Saturday night, back where our reunion began, in McElroy. It was a “party.” No real structure — just people talking, eating, gamboling about, some dancing.

The video below (10:48) reflects much of the same intent as the others, i.e., show as many classmates as possible. There was particular attention paid as well to the photo booth, which had its distinctive share of color and fun.

This was the result of the photo booth visit highlighted in the video.

There were some new people at the party, classmates who may not have attended the Golden Eagle investiture and other events of the day before, or even other events earlier on Saturday. Included among them was Ed Markey, who made it to one of the world’s most exclusive groups, the 100-member United States Senate. And a couple of BC basketball players, Jim Kissane and Steve Adelman, who stand out in the video by standing taller than any of the rest of us, I’m quite sure.

Senator Markey, who unknowingly ended up sitting next to me for dinner, shared an anecdote about the hall in which we were eating that I found somewhat poignant. Soon after Ed won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, he said, then-BC President J. Donald Monan, SJ, asked him to speak to a group of prospective or newly admitted students. That event took place in the very hall in which Ed shared the anecdote. Noting back then that it was likely the first time any of those students had been in the Main Dining Hall, Ed said, he told them it was the first time for him, too.

That was an expression of something that, during the course of working on this blog, I came to appreciate more was an unfortunate aspect of our overall BC experience as students. Segments of our class — resident/commuter, male/female, A&S/CBA/Education/Nursing — went through those years in “silos,” separated in several respects. As a student, Ed Markey, a dayhop from Malden, had never been in the main dining hall, and that status was shared by many classmates. Many of us overcame aspects of that relative isolation, of which the dining hall was only an example, through extracurriculars, etc., but many did not. I expect that nearly all of our classmates, particularly women, are very happy that BC has changed so dramatically in the absence of those silos.

Here, too, is a gallery of photos from the evening. If you have some to share, please do.

Here are some photos submitted by Judith Anderson Day, our erstwhile and forever class correspondent. She was too busy having fun to go around and interview people. Send her your memories of reunion. And do it soon. She has a deadline coming up!

Tomorrow, there will be a post about Day 3. Much more subdued.

Saturday lunch tent, Bapst Lawn. Rose Lincoln Photo

The only full day of activities during our reunion was Saturday, June 2. Of course, most classmates started the day by joining other, younger reunion attendees at the “Alumni 5K Fun Run.” I don’t know the actual number of classmates who did that. I didn’t, but a shout out to at least one of our classmates who ran the run.

(This post and video cover the morning and afternoon activities of Day 2. Coming up will be the party that evening and then Sunday’s brief schedule.)

That same morning, I joined other classmates at the Hillside Cafe, where Golden Eagles were able to get free Starbucks coffee. Still others may have partaken of other early morning events, e.g., a spin hour, yoga hour, and AA meeting.

After coffee, I joined others on the lawn outside Burns Library (the northern end of Bapst) for the Veterans’ Reunion Reception and Ceremony. (With the myriad events during the day, I attended several, but couldn’t do them all. The video below is, therefore, of where I went. Pictures from BC and Rose Lincoln help fill out the coverage of the day, but some things, I’m sure, are missed here. If you have photos from other events that day, please share.)

The veterans’ ceremony, at 9:30, was for all veterans attending the reunion, but the large majority of attendees were members of our class. We graduated during the height of the Vietnam War and when draft deferments for graduate school had been removed. Quite a few of us had gone into the service.

Alumni veterans, most of them classmates.

Presiding at the veterans’ event were Dan Arkins ’81, a colonel in the Army Reserve, and George Harrington ’80, colonel in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, co-chairs of the BC Veterans Alumni Network. Speaker was Michael Lochhead ’93, executive vice president of BC, who had served in the Army prior to enrolling at BC and was among classmates celebrating their 25 anniversary of graduation that weekend. There is more coverage of the veterans event in the video below (7 mins.), as well as video of the midday barbecue on Bapst Lawn and the luncheon sponsored by our classmates from the School of Nursing.

Following the veteran’s ceremony, I joined about two dozen classmates for a “conversation” among ourselves and with a few members of the Class of 2017 and other “Graduates of the Last Decade” (GOLD) at the Fulton Honors Library. The idea was to allow conversation to move beyond nostalgia to something where different generations could share memories and insights about their “BC experience.” This was a first-timer, so it had some of the weaknesses of such activities, but it could also have been the first of what might become a tradition of Golden Eagles and young Eagles talking with each other.

(Often, when I passed by the reunion “help desk” in Stayer Hall, I noticed students staffing the desk were alone . . . and apparently bored. I would then stop in and start telling them about life at BC in the Sixties and things that were going on in the country and world in that era. I would sometimes start with something like, “If you think things are in tumult now . . . .” There were quite a few “OMG”s expressed.)

Joining us at the conversation were at least two members of the Class of 2017, Kristina Downey and Kristin Morrisseau, and several other younger alumni. (Kristina was one of a couple of young alumni who told me that a history course on Vietnam [HS 111: “Vietnam: America’s War at Home and Abroad”] has been one of the most popular courses at BC these days. Kristina, in fact, was so taken by the subject matter, she told me, that she will travel to Vietnam and Southeast Asia this fall.)

Newton classmates also held “conversations” that morning, and classmates attended a presentation on the restoration of the original BC Eagle (atop the pillar in front of Gasson). And at the same time as our class conversation, BC Athletic Director Martin Jarmond was telling classmates and others about what was “Inside BC Athletics.” You can tell from the photo below that this topic appealed to a certain “type.” (Of course, I would have been there were it not for the “conversation.”)

Martin Jarmond, center, and a flock of Golden Eagles.

Here are some additional photos from the barbecue and the day.

Following the barbecue and Nursing luncheon, as well as our Newton classmates’ “Tea Party” luncheon, Nursing alumni held a “Kelleher Award Ceremony” and Education alumni held a session on “How Do We Interest More Kids in Science?” There was another iteration of the campus bus tour and, at 4, the Alumni Reunion Mass wrapped up the pre-class party day.

Here’s a gallery of photos from the Mass.

Time to get ready for the party!

A toast to the newest Golden Eagles! Rose Lincoln Photo

Reunion started for us June 1 at midday. It was the first and, perhaps for many, the most significant event of the weekend — induction into the Order of the Golden Eagles. Okay, that may sound a bit pretentious. What happened was each of us got a pin presented by the president of BC, William P. Leahy, SJ. We also got a hat.

And we met a lot of old, and sometimes new, friends. Over the past several months, in working on this blog, I had made the email acquaintance of several classmates I did not know previously and it was a great pleasure to meet them personally.

Here is a video from the event, as well as the evening dinner on the Campus Green. It is just over 16 minutes long. I edited it not so much for brevity but to include as many classmates as possible. I do not identify anyone in the video. I could have, but only for a minority, so I felt it was better to let you recognize yourselves. If you have a question about a particular person, contact me and maybe we can figure it out. (If you click on “BC50 Day1” at upper left, the video will open in YouTube.) There are also galleries of photos from the events of Day 1 further down.

I and my BC bowtie became a Twitter micro-sensation when the social media manager for BC’s Advancement Communications and Marketing sent out this tweet from the investiture ceremony.

I also had the unexpected and very enjoyable opportunity to reconnect two classmates who met each other after graduation while both were in the Navy, but who had not been in contact with each other since 1969-70.

Maureen Burke. Rose Lincoln Photo

Early on at the investiture, when people were milling abut, I overheard someone mention that a classmate, Maureen Burke, lived in Northern California. As a Southern Californian, I decided to say hello to a fellow resident of the Golden State. After introducing ourselves, Maureen said she had lived in Sunnyvale, Cal., for 45 years. And then she added, “After BC, I was a Navy nurse. Stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, 1969.” I replied, “I was in Norfolk in 1969.” “What ship?,” she asked. “USS Biddle,” I answered. She seemed a little startled at that. “I knew someone on the Biddle,” she said. “His name was Steve.” “Curran?,” I asked. “I think so,” she said. Then I said, “He’s here!”

Steve Curran

(Steve and I had not known each other at BC. But we ended up on the same Navy ship less than a year after graduation. We would be friends now anyway because we had been shipmates, but the BC connection has added to the bond.)

I quickly found Steve and told him that Maureen Burke . . . Norfolk 1969 . . . was at the reunion. And I then hustled him over to see her. They had met each other in Norfolk, likely, as Maureen remembers, at the Officers Club.

“It was a wonderful highlight of my reunion that I got to see and talk to Steve,” Maureen said in a recent email. “It was a difficult time in those years and it was wonderful and comforting to have someone whom you could depend on to be a good friend.” In a similar email, Steve said, “Maureen went ‘above and beyond the call of duty.’ She was kind enough to introduce me to a Navy physical therapist she worked with at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. I proceeded to date that lovely PT while I was stationed in Norfolk. So Maureen played the role of ‘match-maker’ for a lonely Naval Officer in Norfolk. What more could I expect from a fellow Eagle?”

I’m sure there were several such serendipitous “reunions” at the reunion. If you were connected to any, please share.

Here is a gallery of photos from the investiture. It’s an automatic slideshow, advancing each 10 seconds, or you can click on it to move ahead.

Following the investiture luncheon, people split up to attend several afternoon activities. Newton alumnae went for a tour of the McMullen Museum of Art, which is located in the Brighton Campus building that formerly served as the residence of the Archbishop of Boston.

A lot of classmates climbed onto BC shuttle buses for a tour of the Chestnut Hill and Brighton campuses. This bus carried an exhortation with which all of us would agree.

Following the bus tour, many classmates attended a session on BC history — “10 Things You Didn’t Know about Boston College” — offered by James O’Toole ’72, PhD’87, Professor and Charles I. Clough Millennium Chair in History. There are photos from that event in the video.

Classmates from the Woods College of Advancing Studies (the Evening College when we were students) attended a reception on the lawn at St. Mary’s late in the afternoon. And all classes attended the Alumni Welcome Dinner — “A Taste of New England” — on the Campus Green (the “dustbowl”). There are scenes from the dinner in the video and here is a gallery of additional photos from the dinner.

Okay, how many of you attended “Late Night,” 11 pm-2 am, held in Corcoran Commons? Send pictures! 

Next installment will be about Day 2 — a full and active day. 

Today, the Class of 2018 graduated from Boston College. Degrees were presented to 4,287 undergraduates and graduate students.

Academic calendars being quite different in our day, along with most other things, commencement for us was just short of two weeks after May 21. “Senior Week” festivities didn’t even start until May 30. We’ll have much more detail on our Senior Week next week, but suffice it to say our commencement was significantly smaller in scale and it was not streamed live as today’s was.

Thirty members of our class, as Golden Eagles, formed the majority of alumni in the “honor guard” that accompanied this year’s graduates. Tom O’Neill served as the “Jubilarian” for the ceremonies. Below is a gallery of images from this morning. We’ll update with identifications as soon as possible.

Classmates serving on the honor guard were: William Barrett, Education; Sharon Silva Bartley, Nursing; Barbara Beckerlegge, Evening; Anne Wilayto Bishop, Nursing; Bob Brennan, Education; Leo Burke, A&S; Sheila Degnan Burke, Education; Richard Burns, CBA; Geraldine Driscoll Cameron, Education; Peter Cooper, A&S; Steve Curran, A&S; Jim Galiano, Education; Alyce Boissonneau Galiano, Education; Gene Greene, CBA; David Griffith, CBA; Doug Hajjar, CBA; Maureen Kelley Janik, Education; Richard Kearney, A&S; Robert Kelley, CBA; Paul Kelsch, A&S; Larry Kenah, A&S; Mike Mastronardi, A&S; Diane Corley Menzies, Education; Richard Murray, CBA; Mary McNulty Niles, Education; Tom O’Neill, Education; Harry Petrucci, A&S; Lawrene Cormier Rafferty, Nursing; Kathleen Swerczek, Education; and, Peter Waystack, CBA.

Thanks to Tricia Woodward, BC director of alumni engagement, for most of the photos above.

In Gasson Hall following the ceremonies, L-R: Robert Kelley ’68, Larry Kenah ’68, Frank Vidmar ’68 (obscured), Ray Brassard ’68, Anne Wilayto Bishop ’68, Richard Kearney ’68(?) or Richard Martin ’67(?), Joanne Calore Turco ’68, Marie Dervan Martin ’68, Kathleen Horton ’68, Maryalice Ryan ’68, Ken Hamberg ’68, Alyce Boissonneau Galiano ’68, Jim Galiano ’68, Rita Brazell, Bob Brennan ’68, Frank Brazell ’68, Nancy Burns, Richard Burns ’68, Thomas Sullivan ’68 (?). Photo by Debbie Hamberg. I apologize for not having everyone’s identification, and welcome any corrections.

In a tradition established in recent years, members of the classes of 2018 and 1968 gathered on Bapst Lawn Thursday to exchange toasts. The focus was principally on the current seniors, as they were semi-officially (graduation is Monday) inducted into the Alumni Association.

About 20 members of our class and spouses attended the event.

Awaiting the beginning of the ceremonies. Photo by Anne Wilayto Bishop.

L-R: Marie Dervan Martin, Joanne Calore Turco, Anne Wilayto Bishop, and Sharon Silva Bartley, all Nursing. Photo by Larry Kenah.

Classmates Ken Hamberg (l) and Larry Kenah in the front row. Behind them are classmates Sharon Silva Bartley, Anne Wilayto Bishop, and John Reardon. Photo by Debbie Hamberg.

L-R: Ray Brassard, Frank Vidmar, and Bob Brennan.

Here’s to the Classes of 2018 and 1968!

BC photo by Lee Pellegrini.

Acknowledging a class toast. Tricia Woodward photo.

Last week, I joined five classmates for a BC winter sports weekend. One or two times a year, there is a weekend when the men’s and women’s basketball teams and men’s and women’s hockey teams all play at home. I had been a regular attendee on these weekends when I lived in New England, but this was the first such weekend for me since moving to California in 2012.

I flew in the night of Wednesday, February 7. I came in late enough to miss the snow, but not the cold rain. The next day was bitterly cold, and it helped me realize that it had been six years since I had last experienced below-freezing temperatures.

I stayed at the home of Larry Kenah and Marcy (McPhee) Kenah in Acton. Tom Sugrue drove up from Virginia, arriving in Acton late Thursday afternoon. Friday, we joined the rest of the crew: Ken Hamberg and Ed Hattauer, who live in the Boston area, and Dan Downey, who drove up from New Jersey.

Before the women’s hockey game Friday afternoon, we had another appointment in Conte Forum. Tom had read that relatively new Athletic Director Martin Jarmond liked meeting BC alumni from different eras. He sent Jarmond an email, asking if he was interested in getting together with a bunch of Golden Eagles-to-be, and the response was “Yeah!” We met briefly with Jarmond prior to the game, sharing some of our hopes for and concerns about BC athletics.

I was wearing a vintage BC jacket. After we had had a group photo taken at the end of our meeting, Jarmond noticed the back of the jacket and had a picture taken of it. Within less than an hour, he tweeted about our meeting, including the group photo and the photo of the jacket. (I wish I could say the jacket was mine from the sixties, but I had found it in the early 2000s on a rack at a vintage clothing store in Cambridge. $30.)

Here’s a bigger version of the group photo.

L-R: Bill McDonald, Tom Sugrue, Ken Hamberg, Martin Jarmond, Larry Kenah, Ed Hattauer, and Dan Downey.

Going into the weekend, we figured the most likely win was women’s hockey. The Eagles were ranked 3rd in the country at the time and had beaten their opponent that day, UNH, by an aggregate score of 11-1 in two previous meetings this year. It seemed almost a sure win, while the other teams faced significant challenges. UNH beat BC, 2-1. Of course.

The other teams, though, ran counter to form as well . . . but they won. Men’s hockey scored late in regulation to send the game to overtime, and then scored the game-winner with less than 7 seconds remaining in the overtime period to beat UMass Lowell, 3-2. Men’s basketball held #25 Miami scoreless over the last six-plus minutes of the game and won, 72-70. Women’s basketball secured only their second ACC win of the season, winning handily over Pitt, 72-61. Pitt and BC are both 2-10 in the conference. (Men’s and women’s basketball scored the same number of points that weekend.)

Here’s a brief (5:30) video of scenes from the basketball games and men’s hockey game. (Women’s hockey, despite its vaunted status nationally, does not attract fans. It seemed almost disrespectful to show the nearly empty stands and absence of cheering. Building fan support for one of the best examples of athletic excellence at BC is one of the issues we brought before Martin Jarmond, who recognized its importance.)

Replacement for the ‘Plex”

New Athletics Field House

If you have not been to campus lately, there is significant construction going on. (I wonder if there is any class since the fifties that has not seen “significant construction” going on at BC.) The new Connell Family Recreation Center is taking shape, where Edmond’s Hall once stood. On what was Shea Field, the new Athletics Field House, which will provide an indoor practice facility for football and other teams, is also showing its external form.

A new tradition at BC is “First Flight.” This is when the freshman class gathers on Linden Lane and marches together to Conte Forum where they attend First Year Convocation. At convocation, they hear an address by the author of the book the class had been instructed to read over the summer.

First Flight is also when the Golden Eagles of that year first officially “take wing.” Earlier this month, September 7, a small but enthusiastic group of Golden Eagles, members of our class, gathered on Linden Lane, too. It was their pleasant task to lead the First Flight procession.

With Jim Galiano (hidden) holding the Alumni Association banner, Golden Eagles begin the First Flight procession. Peter Cooper, at left, holds the flame that represents the Ignatian exhortation “Go, set the world aflame!” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini, University Communications)

Setting up for the procession. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini, University Communications)

The theme of the event are the words Ignatius Loyola said to Francis Xavier who was carrying the message of the Gospel to Asia: “Ite, inflammate omnia!” “Go, set the world aflame!” At First Flight, faculty members and administrators charge new students to receive heartily the gift of education and bring it throughout the world.

The book assigned this year was A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka. The author is Lev Golinkin ’04, an immigrant from Ukraine whose family came to the United State to escape the threat of pogroms because of their Jewish faith. The book is a memoir of his refugee experience and its effects on him, his family, and his faith.

Golden Eagles (and some spouses) at First Flight 2017 (L-R): Anne Wilayto Bishop ’68, Ken Hamberg ’68, Richard Burns ’68, Nancy Needham Burns, James Galiano ’68, Peter Cooper ’68, Sharon Silva Bartley ’68, Geraldine Driscoll Cameron ’68, Bob Cameron MBA’94. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini, University Communications)