Grey skies and a little bit of rain (okay, a legitimate nor’easter on Saturday night) did not deter Williston Northampton alumni in the classes of 1952 – 2012 from having fun under the big tent. From the special Friday night dinners honoring the Williston Academy and Northampton School for Girls reunion classes from 1952 – 1967, to an all-classes dinner and dance party Saturday night, the weekend offered something for everyone to enjoy.
At a luncheon celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Elm Tree Society, alumni gathered under 
the tent on the head of school’s lawn to listen to guest speaker Jai Chanda ’88, Managing Director of State Street Global Advisors and Head of the firm’s Charitable Asset Management & Fiduciary Advisory Services Divisions. Speaking about ways to plan for long-term financial security while leaving a philathropic legacy, Jai inspired listeners to think about new ways of giving back to those causes and institutions that they most value.
The induction of the 2017 Class of the Williston Northampton Athletic Hall of Fame. The class of ’62 turned out in force to celebrate their classmate David Felsen ’62. Legendary cross-country coach Alan Shaler was honored, along with Colleen Hession Thom ’02, Abigail Ouimet Katuska ’99, Stephen White ’77, and the undefeated 1981 varsity football team, who proudly received their award with Coach Rick Francis.
Friday Night saw the Williston Academy and NSFG classes from 1952 – 1967 celebrate their 50th (and beyond) Reunions with special dinners. Later that night, returning alumni from all classes gathered at Tandem Bagel for a “welcome back” reception.
Saturday morning, bright and early, a few hearty souls showed up to inaugurate the new cross-country course. Paced by Jay Grant, students, faculty and alumni started their day off with a run through the woods and fields. From there it was off to a full day of activities, including seminars, student presentations, singing, biking, and sitting for caricatures. Later that afternoon, alumni had a chance to unleash their inner artists (and bartenders) at the popular “Sip & Paint” and Mixology events.
By Saturday night, the rain that had held off all day moved in (with a vengeance.) But a little nor’easter was no match for the energy under the big tent as we celebrated alumni award winners (read more here) and shouted out to some special alumni and classes whose efforts and enthusiasm for reunion made this weekend such a pleasure for all of us who work to plan it:
Traveled farthest: Richard Brown ’72 who traveled to campus all the way from Tanzania. We presented Richard with a novel by our recent alumni award winner Jennifer duBois, to read on his long trip back to Africa.
Most exotic home base: A close contender for farthest travel, but most definitely an alumnus with exotic home base – Jonathan Leidich ‘92 who lives (and works) on the Patagonia Ice fields in Chile. Since his business is adventure travel, we suspect he travels light, but we gifted him with a Williston luggage tag to use if he ever does check his bags!
Class with most registered attendees: The groundbreaking class of 1972 – the first co-ed class to graduate from the newly merged Williston Northampton School who registered 20 attendees for their 45th reunion (although we suspect even more than that showed up for Saturday’s dinner!) Building that much enthusiasm can make a class thirsty; Williston pub glasses were presented all around to take care of that problem!
First person to register: Dale Neuberger ‘67 who registered on February 10th! While he couldn’t stay for dinner on Saturday, Dale made sure he made it to several reunion events before catching a plane to Bangkok.
Williston Northampton Fund record breakers: Finally, we recognized the great class of 1952 who set new giving and participation records for a 65th Reunion class with 67% participation and nearly $44,000. We presented them with Williston keychains, since they are “key” to the ongoing success of their alma mater.
Catch up on all the fun from Reunion weekend by viewing our Flickr galleries. You can view albums with class photos, the Athletic Hall of Fame awards, the Tandem Bagel gathering, candids, NSFG, and general reunion revelry!
Classes of 1943 – 2013…Get ready!
Planning starts this fall for an even bigger, better celebration on the weekend of May 11 – 13, 2018. If you are interested in being part of your class reunion committee, please email Jill Stern, Director of Alumni Engagement at jstern@williston.com or call 413-527-3965.
(We know the class of 1968 is already planning for an epic 50th!)