Ithaca College Quarterly -- 2000 No. 3

You just can’t beat a spring weekend with old friends in Ithaca.

Click on the pictures at the right for a better look.

Reunion 2000 started with a bang — thunderclaps and a brief downpour on Thursday afternoon as many alumni and friends were arriving on South Hill. But the rest of the weekend was gorgeous, and 500-plus alumni and their guests spent the weekend sharing some of their thousands of stories, eating, socializing, golfing, learning about investing and e-commerce, eating, socializing, sharing stories, working out in the new Fitness Center, picnicking, sampling Finger Lakes wines and Ithaca beer, eating, socializing, sharing stories, touring the College’s facilities, visiting the lake, eating, socializing, sharing stories, dancing, touring downtown Ithaca and Ithaca Festival, playing volleyball, eating, socializing, and sharing stories.

Here are just a few of the stories we heard:

Three generations of an IC family — Ernestine Thornton ’30, her daughter Janet Thornton Neiburg ’64, M.S. ’72, and her grand-daughter Ann Slechta Fitzgerald ’93, M.M. ’97 — attended Reunion 2000. Thornton held the honorary unofficial title of "elder" all by herself at this year’s event; Craig McHenry ’30, Mus.B. ’39, M.S. ’46, didn’t make it because of illness, although he has attended many Reunions in the past. "I beat him anyway," said Thornton. "I’m two weeks older than he is." While students at Ithaca, McHenry was president of the student body, and Thornton was president of the Women’s Student Government Association.

The class of 1990 had a fine turnout for its 10th reunion: 138 alumni, not counting guests. From all accounts, they had a blast. The picnic on the quad Saturday afternoon featured a "Space Walk," which was a big hit with the under-12 crowd this year. And a magician entertained kids and adults.

Philip D’Agostino ’50, a retired high school principal now in chemotherapy treatment, took a break from his medical routine and drove up with his wife, Julia (they’re at right), from their home in Connecticut. They enjoyed driving around town looking for places he knew in IC’s downtown days. They also met 36 of his classmates, "most of whom I didn’t know before." Making new friends, 50 years after graduating together, is pretty impressive.

Class of 1975 alumnae Barbara Klein Batt, Randy Teitzman Birnbach, Joanne Cordell Disken, Lynn Salpeter, Meryl Feldman Schwartz, and Susan Sussman have remained close friends since their College days. At their 25th reunion, they agreed to have their bricks in the "pathway to the future" placed together. As Salpeter said, "This way we can all ‘be there’ for my daughter, Nicole, who starts at IC this fall."