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An Oswego Reunion is all about connections
— with friends from years ago, with favorite faculty
members and with new acquaintances made during the weekend.
Among the many connections made at Reunion 2006 June
9 to 11: |
Jim Goldstine 56,
receives his 1956 Sigma Tau mug from Barbara St.
Michel, who found it in a storeroom in Hewitt
Union. |
A Cup of Kindness
When Barbara St. Michel, associate director of Campus
Life, cleaned out a storeroom in Hewitt Union several
years ago, she found a fraternity mug inscribed only
with a first name — Jim — and a date —
1956. She kept it in her office for years until on Thursday
of Reunion this year, when she was inspired to seek
its owner.
“I held onto it for so many
years. I’m a packrat,” laughed St. Michel.
“But something told me to bring it” to the
Class of 1956 reception.
There she reunited the mug with its owner, Jim
Goldstine ’56, in a moving moment that
was pure Oswego.
“Two ladies walked
up and said, ‘Are you Jim?’” said
Goldstine. “It was a bit scary to have something
show up after that long, completely unknown to me.”
Goldstine recalls that the mug was kept behind the bar
at the old Sigma Tau house on Fifth Street. When the
fraternity moved, somehow the mugs got carried to Hewitt
Union. Goldstine’s mug was the only one that ended
up in that storeroom, however, to be found by St. Michel
and returned to its original owner — 50 years
later. |
Nancy Johnson Allen
56 and Elaine
Jacobsen Hartley 56
sport their purple AD blazers at Reunion 2006. |
Ladies in Purple
Fashions come and go, but one staple has remained in
the closets of two loyal alumnae for half a century.
Nancy Johnson Allen ’56
and Elaine Jacobsen Hartley
’56 brought their purple AD blazers to
Reunion and sported them throughout the weekend.
The two were roommates at Oswego, were in each other’s
weddings and kept in contact throughout the years, returning
to campus for official reunions one year and 10 years
post graduation.
Allen lives near Princeton University, where Hartley
would get together with her while bringing her children
from their home in Maine to the university. Over the
years the women kept in touch with other friends, including
Marilou Breh Fraser ’56,
as well as the late Frank ’56
and Justine Renner Sailer
’56 and Gladys
Pavlovic Bonadonna ’56, who were remembered
at the Golden Anniversary Class memorial service at
Shady Shore Saturday of Reunion weekend. |
Friends from the Class
of 1966 who lived together at King Hall visited
their former home, which now houses the Oswego
Alumni Association. |
Queens of King
For 11 women who graduated from Oswego in 1966, Reunion
was a homecoming — literally. They lived in King
Alumni Hall as students, when there was not enough room
in their sorority house to fit them all.
The women reminisced about sunbathing on the roof at
the back of King Hall and the shower that would “always
run out of water.” The girls staying in the former
home’s living room at the front of the building
always had to be dressed in case someone came to the
door. And, they exhibited true Oswego pluck when an
unexpected visitor arrived. When a man broke into King
hall, Ruth Mackinder Babikian
’66 grabbed her tennis racket, complete
with wooden stretcher frame, and Ann
Williamson Lachenauer ’66 flew down from
the third floor to help, and the two chased the intruder
out of the house. They never did find out if it was
a burglar or a prank from a fraternity, but they can
still laugh about it, 40 years later. |
Four members of the Class
of 1981, who get together yearly with their families,
are, front row from left, Jan
Johnson Salter 81
and Betsy Laird
Ruff 81; back row
from left, Hollie
Elleman Calderon 81
and Karyn McCormack
Zanetti 81. Absent
from the photo is Mary
Walsh Snyder 81. |
Forever Friends
For a group of alumnae from the Class of 1981, Oswego
has become a real “family affair.” The women
reunite every year, bringing their children, who have
formed a bond as well. The 16 kids, ranging in age from
7 to 20, enjoy hanging out together as their moms catch
up on current events and share Oswego memories.
“Lifetime buddies” Hollie
Elleman Calderon ’81, Betsy
Laird Ruff ’81, Jan
Johnson Salter ’81 and Karyn
McCormack Zanetti ’81 drive from areas
throughout the state to get together at the home of
Mary Walsh Snyder ’81
in Albany at least once a year.
The women all met when they were freshmen together in
Johnson Hall. When they came to register for Reunion
2006, they found that Jan and Mary were both assigned
the very rooms they had occupied nearly 30 years ago.
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Ruth Ann Williams
Silliman66, Gerald
Klafter ’56,
Phyllis Bank
Klafter 58 and
Carol Hilfiker
Claps 68 shared
memories at Reunion 2006. |
School Days Remembered
A chance encounter at the Come Back BBQ reunited some
folks who hadn’t seen each other for more than
15 years. Gerald Klafter ’56
was principal in Smithtown back in 1990, when Ruth
Ann Williams Silliman ’66 was a teacher
there and Carol Hilfiker Claps
’68 was a parent, active in the PTA. They
paused during the festivities for a group photo with
Jerry’s wife, Phyllis
Bank Klafter ’58. Despite not having seen
each other for a decade and a half, they all readily
recognized each other when they met at the barbecue.
“Except that I had hair the last time you saw
me,” Klafter joked to Silliman and Claps. |
| Back
To July 2006 E-Newsletter |
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