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The Class of 1957 just may be the most excited group of alumni getting ready for Reunion this June. The class selected the theme “We’re Still Rockin’” to celebrate its 50th Reunion milestone.
“We left campus as a disparate group of alumni and have become a very close-knit class as a result of the camaraderie and esprit built through great reunions and social contacts over the years,” says biology graduate Glenn Grube ’57, reunion co-chair and class correspondent. “My classmates really like each other. This class already is planning to return in full regalia for our 55th and 60th reunions, not only as members of the Fifty-Plus Club, but as the unique class that has earned the special distinction as one of the best, if not the most outstanding, classes to ever graduate from the College. We are proud to be the example for most of the classes from Lafayette College.”
The class reunion committee has planned a weeklong series of events called “The Shawnee Experience” to expand the time attendees can spend with one another. It is looking forward to a mid-reunion cruise or soiree in 2010 and an expanded 55th reunion in 2012.
Grube is optimistic about this year’s attendance, predicting that his classmates will not want to miss out on the special celebration.
“We expect the largest group of alumni that we have ever had return to campus,” he says. “I look forward to seeing classmates who have remained in contact through letters, phone calls, emails, and pictures over the years, but who have seldom or even never returned to campus for a Reunion or Homecoming event. Our 2005 mid-reunion cruise brought a dozen classmates back into the fold, as each had never been back to campus for a Reunion. Each of these ‘recruits’ plans to be with us this June.”
History graduate Gary Evans ’57, a member of the reunion committee and executive assistant to President Dan Weiss, reports that the class has raised more than $500,000 in honor of its 50th celebration.
“Part of that went to the new football building, part will be used to endow internships for students, and some will go toward the annual fund,” he says. “We’re proud of our gift, and we’re glad to know that the College and the students will benefit because of it.”
Evans is excited to reminisce about old times with friends he hasn’t seen since he was an undergraduate.
“Alums who return for Reunion get reconnected to the College which shaped their lives and to friends who influenced them in their formative years,” he says. “It’s nice, and for some it’s important, to take time to revisit our roots. [I’m looking forward to] swapping stories that exaggerate what we thought, said, and did 50 years ago.”
Electrical engineering graduate Irv Kunzman Jr. ’57, a member of the reunion committee, remembers the time several of his Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers “borrowed” a deer from a local hunter.
“I can recall coming down one Saturday morning at my frat house to find a dead deer on the kitchen table with a note on the point of one of the antlers saying ‘How about some venison steaks, John [the house’s cook],’ he says. “Two of the brothers were down drinking the night before at the PD and returning late in the night had found a deer on the car of a resident and had acquired it.
“That afternoon, John set to work butchering the deer while the acquirers were busy at work dressing the skin and outer parts. Much of the meat found its way into the freezers of the married brothers.
“That night, the Easton Express carried a pathos-laced article about the victim, who had been 15 years trying to kill a deer. He had left the deer he had finally bagged lashed to his car to go up to his apartment to tell his wife what had happened. By the time he had gotten back downstairs, his long-anticipated deer was gone. His boss posted a $25 reward for any information leading to the deer’s return.
“The next day, Sunday night, at an emergency meeting of the entire fraternity, it was pointed out that several tradesmen had made deliveries and had not only seen the deer but had heard a number of comments about ‘where did the deer come from?’ When word got to the administration, that could easily mean social probation and being expelled from the frat house.
“Since the phone number of the victim was in the Express article, we called to offer to return the deer, no questions asked. Around 3 a.m. the packaged deer – antlers, head, and all – was stacked outside the victim’s apartment, the door bell rung, and the returners seen running for all they were worth back to their car.
“Monday night, the Easton Express reported how delighted the owner of the deer was at finding it all processed there at his apartment door. His boss was quite impressed with the butchering job, and the two offered to take the thieves hunting so they could have a deer for themselves.
“A week later, a humorist for the Philadelphia Inquirer did a column on the story. Ollie Crawford – writing in ‘Headline Hopping’ – quipped, ‘If you want your deer butchered for free, just call your neighborhood thief.’”
Kunzman’s recollection is guaranteed to be only the beginning of the colorful memories of the Class of ’57, which is why Grube has enjoyed being reunion co-chair for the past 35 years. He shares those duties with liberal arts graduate Bob Mueller ’57.
“The camaraderie of Reunion allows us to share the memories that have been developed since 1953,” says Grube. “The heartaches and problems disappear as the emphasis is on the positives that happened to each of us as undergraduates and over the past 50 years as alumni. We share our recent successes. It is truly a wonderful reunion.”