Friday - Sunday Jun 2-4, 2023 - Mt Hermon Reunion

I’m glad we did the recon yesterday and now knew what buildings had appeared and disappeared and changed names since I was here last 30 years ago. The campus is groomed immaculately. I probably did not appreciate it back when I went to school here.

My brother Dick didn't get to see our van because we didn't drive it to my brother Reed's a couple of days ago, so we drove up to Westminster and showed it off.

We needed an oil change, tires rotated, and a multipoint check on the van, so I had an appointment in Greenfield, MA for 2 pm. We got there a few minutes early and they said it would take 1.5 hours. Two hours went by and we sensed something was wrong. Turns out the mechanic had cross

threaded a lug bolt (always start them by hand and finish with the air tool, mechanics 101) so they were calling all over town to get a tap to fix it. Originally they were giving us a loaner and coming in Saturday to fix it, but they did find a “super tech”, whatever that is, fixed the problem, and around 5 pm we drove away. We arrived at Mt Hermon too late for a couple of events, but we registered and two recent graduates gave us a golfcart ride to the boathouse (something new). We grilled the two grads about their future plans. Fun to see the world through the eyes of 18 year olds with everything ahead of them.

So the routine all weekend was running into someone, not recognizing them, reading their name tag, and finally figuring out who they were. Since it was the 50th reunion we had about 80 people return out of a class of 380 or so, pretty good turn out.

After an abbreviated boathouse visit we got a ride up to the main campus from Jane and Peter (my freshman year roommate). We had dinner in West Hall (now called Alumni Hall) and more catching up at the 1973 tables. West Hall looks the same but there were no knives stuck in the ceiling. I was told they had a dropped ceiling when I was there, hence the knives.

After dinner everyone went over to Shea Cottage (a new building) and caught up more over drinks. We were there until late and then drove the 8 miles to my brother's house and crashed. Most everyone stayed in the dorms but it was nice to have a real bed and our own bathroom.

Saturday morning we returned to campus and had breakfast and more catching up. We went to a couple of workshops (art and service), then over to the art show where fellow alums from my class could show off their art. Then lunch, then Deb went for a walk and I went after signatures from fellow alums. I'd bought an NMH hat for my old best friend Rob, who couldn’t make it, but who we were going to see on Sunday night. Another chance to catch up with people. The temperature dropped a lot over the weekend and we had some rain Friday and Saturday, but it cleared off by Saturday night.

Dinner Saturday night was in a big tent where the science building used to be and more catching up over dinner.

The highlight of the weekend was a bunch of our classmates who've been musicians all their lives got together and put on a show. They had actually gathered to practice, so it was top quality. There was another paid band on campus (inferior in my opinion) and I think we had more people wandering into our dance than the paid group. The whole place danced until after 11:00 when we left, back to my brothers and slept. Ibuprofen the next morning since my knee and hip were beat up. Fantastic weekend reconnecting.