Dear Classmate,
It is time to register for reunion! We used to hear that time moves more quickly the older we get. These days, time seems to move quickly for old and young alike, hustled along by the demands of over-busy lives in the digital age. However, come summer, it’ll be time to slow down for a few days, to sit around and talk with old friends, to saunter around for no particular reason than the pleasure of spending a little frivolous time in a beautiful place where we all have memories—some poignant, some hilarious.
Not that there’ll be nothing to do at our 40th! As usual, Middlebury’s official reunion planners will set out a wonderful array of meals and activities, and we, as your informal planners, will contribute a few more. You’ll definitely have the opportunity to display the prioritizing and time-management skills you’ve honed for so long in the real world, waiting for this moment. So register immediately online or send back your registration materials later today!
Here’s the plan:
Friday, June 6 Registration opens at 3:00 p.m. at our class headquarters in Brackett Lounge, with snacks and soda on the side. Brackett is one of the Ridgeline Woods Social Houses, located west of the Proctor tennis courts and the cemetery. The houses are great and have quite a bit of social space, as well as large decks. Parking will be in the Ridgeline Lot: from downtown Middlebury, bear right onto Route 125W, go past the blinking light, continue down the hill (past the end of campus as we knew it), turn left onto Ridgeline Road to the lot. The houses are just a short walk up the path. (For handicapped parking take Adirondack Road and turn right at the end.)
There will be various events scheduled throughout the afternoon, including an environmental tour of campus buildings. Singles from our class and the Classes ’63 and ’58 are invited to start their evening by dropping by the second annual Reunion Singles Meet-up. Our class reception and dinner will be in Kenyon Lobby.
We would like to have a class discussion on “Meaning and Responsibility in the Second Half of Life” at some point in the weekend, either late Friday afternoon or if rain washes out another planned activity.
Saturday, June 7 The morning begins with breakfast and a 5K run. With your mind thus cleared, you can round out the morning with Alumni Achievement Award lectures by Paul Rudenberg ’78, Barbara Bang Knowles ’58, and our own Dan Curry (at 10:45). There is also an all-reunion golf scramble this morning.
Saturday afternoon, we are organizing a hike on the new (to us) Trail Around Middlebury (town), and then everyone will look forward to your showing up for our class photo. You can then involve yourself in a little pageantry by parading up to the chapel for Alumni Convocation at 5 p.m. In the evening, you won’t want to miss the all-reunion dinner behind the Mahaney Center for the Arts, followed by Grammy winner François Clemmons performing in the Concert Hall. Our evening concludes with a great alumni band in Pepin Gymnasium.
Sunday, June 8 Again this year, Sunday chapel will include an alumni choir, so you may want to lend your voice. We’ll all end the weekend with a lavish Middlebury brunch and a resolve not to wait so long before we get in touch again!
You can make this our best reunion ever by coming back to Middlebury for a few days this June. Call your friends and get organized! If you have questions or need help, please contact either one of us, and Heather Cahill, in the Alumni Office, is a wonderful resource.
As our lives rush onward, we can all do with a little change of pace, a little time for reflection, in a place where we once looked forward eagerly to the amazing (and completely unforeseen) place we are today.
See you soon,
Barbara Ensminger Stoebenau and Bentley Gregg
P.S. Have you made your reunion gift yet? If not, please consider doing so. Make a gift online.