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by Margaret S. Hamilton
When the reminder magnet for my upcoming
Connecticut College reunion arrived in the mail, I slapped it on the
refrigerator and considered attending. Between soccer tournaments, high school
and college graduations and the weddings of two of our children, I hadn’t had
time to attend a reunion in many years.
I didn’t have close college friends who
planned to attend, but I had a writer friend I’d never met face to face, Shari
Randall, a fellow CC graduate and New London resident. Shari and I “met” when I
joined the Writers Who Kill blog in 2016. We agreed it was time and started
coordinating plans.
“It will be fun,” I assured my husband. “We’ll
meet people.” The fifty English majors in my graduating class all knew each
other from our Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Elizabethan poetry classes. “We’ll
stay in the dorms and walk everywhere.”
Once at the college, we spent hours hiking in
the college arboretum and visiting the botanical garden. We took a tour of
historic New London, including a ride in a water taxi on the Thames (rhymes
with James) River, where I had rowed on the crew team. The submarines on the
nearby base were still as large and terrifying as they were when we rowed next
to them.
We stayed in a dorm with updated bathrooms,
the original cinderblock walls covered with sheetrock. Tall trees outside our
dorm window were filled with birds that tuned in at five a.m. (the sun rises an
hour earlier on the east coast).
When it was time for our class photo, we were asked
to leave the dining room and assemble on the library steps. We all headed out
the back door of Palmer Library and turned toward the front of the building.
Wrong building! The college has a new library constructed behind the old one,
though we agreed that “our” library would always be Palmer, where we were
assigned our carrels senior year.
During our time at the college, the English
Department was housed in Thames Hall, a ramshackle shingled building with a
huge fieldstone fireplace, the original refectory from the college’s 1911
founding. It was freezing in winter, with a jumble of classrooms added on to
the original structure. Faculty offices were at the top of a creaky set of
stairs. It was demolished in 1990 and replaced by a similar building used for
administrative offices. My fellow English majors were devastated to discover
its demise. We had left our metaphorical blood, sweat, and tears in our exam
bluebooks and term papers.
On Saturday, Shari scooped us up from campus
and we headed to one of her favorite places, Harkness Memorial Park. The
Harkness estate in Waterford, now owned by the State of Connecticut, has a
mansion, sweeping lawns, and formal gardens overlooking Long Island Sound. What
do two former CC English majors and current crime fiction writers talk about?
Anything and everything, from our undergraduate classes and professors to
agents and contracts. Our kids, travels, and gardens.
We dropped by the original New London cemetery
to search for my ancestor Jonas Hamilton’s grave (d. 1738) and that of his
wife, Elizabeth Wickwire, who was from a New London family. Their son,
Jonathan, emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1759 with the New England Planters. The
Hamilton family stayed in Nova Scotia until my great-grandfather’s move to New
Haven, CT in the 1870s.
I was recruited by the Connecticut College
dean of admissions during a field hockey game at my small Cincinnati high
school. I had my interview wearing shin guards and team tunic, clutching my
hockey stick. Nineteen hundred students on a beautiful Connecticut campus
sounded just right. And it was.
Readers and writers, have you attended a
college reunion?
I am delighted you had a good time. I have not attended reunions at any of the three colleges/universities I attended. Since I have kept in touch with none of my classmates, I don't see any reason that I would. I have revisited campuses when I happen to be in the area and am always startled by the changes.
ReplyDeleteThe basic layout of the college hasn't changed, but the names of some of the buildings have. Very confusing.
DeleteSounds like a wonderful trip down memory lane and a chance to reconnect with old classmates.
ReplyDeleteMy college years were a mad scramble to juggle a job, a cheating husband, a baby, and a fierce determination to prepare myself for a probable future as a self-supporting single mother. I did it.
I have no desire to revisit those years.
Kathleen, you succeeded and then built a second career as a crime writer.
DeleteWhat a lovely campus! I confess, I have never attended a reunion, high school, or college. The 50th anniversary of my college graduation was two months ago. The University of Miami groups reunions by some algorithm known only to them, and maybe Amazon who has equally obtuse ones. I would love to return to campus, but I fear I'd be lost, most of the buildings, already dated when I attended, have been replaced. My old dorm is there, though. Now THAT would be fun to see.
ReplyDeleteSleeping in co-ed dorms was different, though I appreciated the updated bathrooms.
DeleteWhat fun, Margaret! I went to large colleges and high schools and probably wouldn't know/remember anyone — except the people I already stay in touch with. As a functioning introvert, even the thought of going fills me with anxiety. I'm glad you had such a good time, though!!!
ReplyDeleteLori, I remembered my fellow English majors and everyone was friendly. We survived 2020 and talked about what we're doing now.
DeleteThis gives me hope. I haven't been able to brave a college or high school reunion yet, but maybe some day!
ReplyDeleteEveryone was friendly, especially during meals. We just sat down at the tables labeled for our class and introduced ourselves.
DeleteWhat fun you had revisiting memories and making new ones with Shari. I'm never eager to go to a reunion, but I've always enjoyed the ones I've attended.
ReplyDelete