GETTING THERE

Friday..and finally we're off ... late...later...latest. Ana and Cesar were due to land at Newark Airport at 3:45 p.m.; I'd wanted to be at GCU about when they arrived but the heavens opened, traffic became worse and worse and I knew if I drove any faster we'd hydroplane, so.... Then we hit Newark and it was dead stop. Both the SIUs and ELLEN MULLANE GALLAGHER (1964) and her husband, who flew in from Minneapolis, reported that it took over an hour to get from the airport entrance to the Parkway!

Finally, LAKEWOOD through the fog. The Seventh St. Gate is no longer open. We entered near the CASINO and ARTS AND SCIENCE BUILDING and a lighted sign proclaimed

WELCOME HOME!

Seeing that, I felt wonderful! Kath and I quickly unloaded our stuff in the newest dorm ... St. Catherine's Hall where we each had a single room separated by a bathroom. How luxe! Little gifts awaited us here and there: Tee shirts, beach towels with the GCU logo, framed pictures of the Apollo fountain.... all the lovely Mercy touches!
We set out for the Casino and the opening cocktail buffet. In true Sisters of Mercy fashion, the lily was gilded! The silver was polished, china out, Mansion looks better than ever. Sister Rosemary, our President, greeted us and said that ANA and CESAR had arrived only minutes before - so their one or two hour trip from Newark had turned into four+ hours! They hadn't even checked into the rooms!

It's probably as good a time as any to give CESAR SIU thunderous applause for the majority of pictures in this BLOG. Some are mine but I had the worst attack of fibromyalgia in at least a year so missed ALL the campus tours which you'll see later through Cesar's lens. He's magnificent. Ana chose well!

Back to Friday night... the buffet was elegant... food more than anyone could even sample and the desserts beyond description! Chocolate macaroons, with white chocolate "skirts" remain in my memory as one of the real highlights of the weekend ... if not of my life. I'm still seeking a recipe on GOOGLE! But we four were tired from our journeys and I had work to do in the morning with my little picture display so off to the dorm we took ourselves at a very reasonable hour.

Fve years does make a difference in age. The Class of 1964 hooted and hollered long into the night. It's only by their admission that I say that; the dorm is totally soundproof and we didn't hear a thing!

A continental breakfast in the lounge made it easy to have a relaxing morning. Kathy, Ana and Cesar took off for a tour of the campus ... it was a glorious day- Saturday, June 6, the very date on which we, the Class of 1959 had graduated on another cloudless Saturday!

In the lower left picture you might see Kath looking fondly at the St Joe's balcony where we quite possibly had a cigarette or two... but then again we might not have, being obedient. We were known to slip down and peek to see if ARLENE SCHICKER'S "chuck wagon", brought every Sunday night from home, looked bursting! Arlene never gained a pound ... probably why her parents loaded up the ottoman... but we all did! The "freshman 15" and more, I daresay!


The REUNION LUNCHEON for classes ending in "4" and "9" was the main event ... held in the impressive new WELLNESS CENTER complex . What a remarkable building and environment this is ... "green" inside and out and designed to carry Georgian Court's mission of educating the whole person into the 21st century and beyond. The link below from publicity at its opening in Autumn 20098 describes the WELLNESS CENTER far better than I could.

http://www.georgian.edu/news_releases/080807_wellness_center_opening.htm

It was here that Kathy, Ana, Cesar and I joined with all our classmates who attended our 50th REUNION: MARY ELLIN PRICE BOLLINGER, MARY COSTA, PAT STEINER HUNT, DOTTIE D'ANNUNZIO MONGELLI , ROSEMARIE GALLINA, PEGGY BLANK MURPHY, LYNN AAGARD SCHELL, ANN O'NEILL BACON, ARLENE SCHICKER,

and TRUDY SZILAGY DI FRANCESCO.

It could only have been happier if more of us had been there but we raised our glasses to everyones' health and well-being! The luncheon was formal... classes sitting together ... we older folks were toward the front of the massive gymnasium ... I suppose partially pride of age and place ... maybe consideration of possible hearing difficulties, eh???


I had the great honor of introducing the anniversary classes... there was one member of the Class of 1939, a couple from 1940 and 1941 ... looking great...beautiful, spry, happy.. I might add! I need Mary Teresa for the math but I think it will be our year in 2029. Shall we shoot for that? Let's! I think Cesar got a picture of that group pf Courtiers! Stay tuned!

THE LUNCH BUNCH

At the luncheon Cynthia announced that our class tied for first place in donations to GCU to honor the Reunion. The tie occurred because a faithful alumna, from an earlier class, had died and left a considerable sum of money to the university. So THREE CHEERS FOR US!

At one of the 1959 tables we were honored to have GCU's Provost, Dr. Joseph Gower, join us. Rosemarie Gallina had met with him and they are attempting to establish an exchange program with a university in Italy where Rosemarie has contacts. Following lunch, Dr.Gower invited us to join him on a tour of the WELLNESS CENTER. During a rest stop in one of the comfortably appointed classrooms, he spoke of the many areas into which GCU is expanding. ...truly exciting, innovative and practical!