Lafayette welcomes back alumni and their families for the 2003 Alumni Reunion Friday-Sunday, June 6-8. “Legacy of Freedom” is the theme of this year’s reunion, which will include the traditional alumni parade, tours of Easton, concerts, and a host of other events. Classes graduating in 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, and 1998 are returning for class receptions.
The nation’s heritage of freedom will be celebrated and the College’s “Greatest Generation” saluted in Reunion College, Reunion Forums, and a special service on the anniversary of D-Day honoring Lafayette veterans.
Reunion College kicks off 9 a.m. Friday, June 6, with a discussion of events leading to the Second World War by Robert Weiner, Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Professor of History. Donald L. Miller, John Henry MacCracken Professor of History and author of The Story of World War II, will speak on World War II. There will also be a panel discussion on the home front during World War II and a talk on the Korean Conflict.
Reunion Forums beginning at 8:30 a.m. Saturday will include interactive discussions on Vietnam, led by retired U.S. Army Colonel Robert H. Nourse, Lafayette’s director of estate planned giving, and on Desert Storm and the war on terror, led by Ilan Peleg, Charles A. Dana Professor of Government and Law. At 5:30 p.m. that day the annual reception and dinner of the 50-Plus Club will feature a talk by General Alfred M. Gray ’50, retired Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.
A service scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at Alumni Memorial Plaza, Oechsle Hall, will include a memorial to alumni who died in the line of duty and recognition of those who served during World War II.
At 11:30 a.m. Saturday the alumni parade will bring together alumni and their families, marching bands, classic cars, and antique trolleys downtown around Center Square on Saturday morning. It will be followed by a picnic on the Quad, with games and pony rides for children, marching and bagpipe bands, and a clown and magician. There will also be tours of Easton’s popular attractions, including The Crayola Factory and Two Rivers Landing and the Weyerbacher Brewing Company, Inc.
The Graduates will perform from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Williams Center for the Arts.
For a full schedule of events, see Lafayette’s Alumni web page or call Alumni Affairs at (610) 330-5041.