| |
|
|
Enjoying a meal in their
old dining hall are, from left, Carol
Ostrander LaFever '75,
Ellen Feigen-Kiefer
'75, Jeannine
Morgan Grossman '76
and Anita Wheeler
Jebbett '76. |
Four friends who lived together on the sixth floor of
Hart Hall — Ellen Feigen-Kiefer
'75, Jeannine Morgan
Grossman '76, Carol Ostrander
LaFever '75 and Anita
Wheeler Jebbett '76 — had not seen each
other in 30 years when they had a reunion on campus
this July.
While the other three live in New York (New Hartford,
Dundee, and Cortland respectively) Feigen-Kiefer has
moved around the country and overseas, residing in California
since 1987. The friends lost touch shortly after graduation
and it was not until January when Feigen-Kiefer registered
on OswegoGoConnect that anyone was able to find her.
“Once we reconnected, it was only a matter of
weeks before I had booked a flight to head to New York
for the first time since leaving in 1976,” writes
Feigen-Kiefer.
“As far as reunions go, on a scale of 1 to 10,
this one rapidly soared off the charts. Time magically
spun backwards to 1973 when 6th Floor Hart was the place
to be,” she writes.
“Like giggling freshmen we ran (OK, so we walked)
up the steps to Cooper for lunch and noted the changes
(the food is excellent) and the familiar (the steps
and the tiled floor are the same.)
“So much has changed. Yet so much remains the
same. We walked virtually every inch of campus, commenting
on who had classes in which building and the challenges
of 8 o'clock classes during one of Oswego's infamous
lake effect storms. Who sat at what dining hall table?
Who lived where and when? Who dated whom? You know...
the important stuff.”
During their senior year, Feigen-Kiefer and LaFever
lived with Grossman at 178 1/2 W. 8th St. and were surprised
to find the house still standing, still divided into
four apartments, and despite a fresh coat of paint and
some new aluminum siding outerwear, looking identical
to 31 years ago.
“Changes....Buckland's and Broadwell's are now
a gas station and a McDonald's,” notes Feigen-Kiefer.
“The Howard Johnson's famous for Double Bubble
is closed. The Ferris Wheel is now a see and be seen
night spot. Sereno’s is no longer. Nunzi's is
also gone. The grocery store we shopped is now a drug
store. The store on the corner of West Eighth and Bridge
streets is still a sub shop but is no longer Jreck's
but instead Oswego Sub Shop....a subtle change in the
realm of change,” Feigen-Kiefer writes.
“There are always more memories....a return dinner
at Canale's and an abbreviated Bridge Street ‘run.’”
Visiting Hart Hall brought back memories. “No
longer were we mothers and wives and professionals.
No longer were we alumni of the classes of '75 and '76.
We were the Hart Hall girls,” Feigen-Kiefer writes.
“Time peeled away like the layers of an onion.
Sitting in our dorm rooms, we laughed until we cried
and we remembered the past and toasted the future.
“You CAN go home again. Perhaps the neighborhood
has changed. Perhaps the neighbors have changed. Perhaps
you have changed. But with the right traveling companions,
you can always go back and visit.” |
| Back
To September 2006 E-Newsletter |
|
|
|
|
|
|
