WELCOME TO THE CLASS OF '53 WEBSITE
Reunion 2008 provided a rare combination of now and then for the scores of '53 classmates who came from all over for the landmark weekend.
Old friends who liked Ike and others who preferred Adlai celebrated 55 years of alumhood on the vintage 2008 campus. Alma Mater provided opportunities to gaze into the future (expansion plans for the campus). Lecturer Claire Shipman of ABC and faculty members previewed the long-awaited presidential election. (That was the week when Sen. Hillary Clinton gave in.)
There was gracious dining in buildings that have arisen relatively recently where open fields or maybe a temporary dorm or two formerly stood. There were events in buildings that have been fixed up in this decade. They mostly included air conditioning.
The Arts Quad tents flourished again. So did Gerry Grady's traditional milk punch. Cayuga's Waiters of the Fifties, organized by Jack Brophy and including Jim Galusha, John Nixon and Al Packer, sang again. The Savage Club and the Glee Club maintained noteworthy attractions. Fifty-three visited its Container Gardens at the Plantations and Vinnie Giarrusso covered first base with amazing grace in the annual Alumni Baseball Game.
Phil and Roz Zalutsky Baron earned prominent mention in the Cornell Chronicle with their arts-and-craft show that included portraits of classmates in oils that they had created,
In the evenings, Tom Foulkes '52 (piano), Louis Pradt (clarinet) and Bruce Johnson (washboard) performed at the dorm and classmates joined in with joyous song of the Good Old Days on the Hill, like "Davy," "The Ship Titanic" and "Far Above." Ann Gleason Sequerth reprised dazzling solos of superstandards like "Bill," and "Over the Rainbow."
We even picked up a new member, honoring the request of President David Skorton, who told the class, gathered for Friday dinner, that he'd like to be an honorary member of '53 (approved, by acclamation). He also accepted a make-believe check for $22-something million real bucks, the '53 reunion gift. (It was about quadruple any other Cornell class gift for 2007-08 at that time.) Skorton and his wife, Robin Davisson, ended the evening as part of a quartet singing the Alma Mater. (His idea.).
President emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes and wife, Rosa, mixed with a friendly mob of fans at a Friday evening '53 reception.
It was announced that a classmate had made possible the renaming of Johnson Museum's Gallery Number Five for the Class of 1953.
At a Saturday lunch, the Class thanked Judy Resnik Chabon for an outstanding tenure as class treasurer. She's succeeded by Bill Bellamy. Otherwise, the electorate chose to stay with the administration chosen at the 50th reunion.
Let us now hail veteran co-chairfolk Mort Bunis and Claire Moran Ford for another unforgettable reunion. They did it with imagination, lots of thought and for the love of '53.
Coming soon: Homecoming -- football vs. Yale and dinner with members of other Fifties classes, Sept. 26-27. (Stay tuned) And the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) Mid-Winter meeting in Philadelphia, Feb. 6-7, 2009.
Jim Hanchett
Class President