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CLASS OF 1974 • 35th Reunion
May 28 - May 31, 2009

Dear Class of 1974:

Believe it or not, the Class of 1974's 35th Class Reunion will be here next summer (29-31 May 2009)!  We, your ever faithful reunion planners, are writing to encourage you to set aside these dates on your calendar NOW, so that you won't miss this wonderful event!

We know many of you have attended reunions in the past, we have partied and reminisced together, but this one promises to be the BEST ever.  Put aside your old, fond memories of past reunions and get ready for a "new, improved" Class Reunion next summer!  There are some exciting changes to Reunion Weekend this year that we think everyone will enjoy.  We can tell you that we had a bunch of fun just going to the Reunion Weekend planning meeting at Mary Washington...we pored over our yearbooks (with much laughter and amazement!), reminisced, enjoyed some good food, visited the Gari Melchers Museum with his fabulous paintings, and just generally enjoyed being back on campus for a short period of time.

You will see how the campus has changed, and how it has stayed the same.  Yes, Seacobeck is still there, but we have a beautiful new Bell Tower that fits seamlessly into the campus.  Of course, a "must see" is our new Alumni Building - it is absolutely gorgeous and you may just want to sit in front of the fountain for the entire weekend!  But don't do that, because we have some really fun things planned for our class.  The campus, while always beautiful, is now extraordinary, the grounds are absolutely breath-taking...even better than when we cut across Ball Circle.

If you haven't been to a Mary Wash reunion yet, make this the reunion that you will attend--we promise that you will not be disappointed.  The entire agenda for the weekend has been updated and we really like the new format.  First, the weekend has an early start on Thursday, with a new, optional  “Alumni College” program, featuring interesting lectures by some of Mary Washington's distinguished professors, as well as a trip to the Stafford campus, home of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies (Can you believe we have two campuses now?  and that we are a University?!).

On Friday evening, we are having a private dinner party for the Class of 1974 at Renato's Ristorante, a wonderful Italian restaurant located in downtown Fredericksburg, several blocks from campus.  We have reserved space in one of their "party" rooms and we encourage you to join your classmates for an evening of good food and good fun!  (More on the menu and pricing will be sent to you later.)  We will have our usual class picnic on Saturday, but this year it will be under a huge tent, with areas reserved for each class and there will be fun activities on Ball Circle for the kids.  Following our class picture - always a challenge to wrangle everybody into one place! - we “elect” class representatives for the Class Notes for University of Mary Washington magazine and also representatives to serve on the 40th Class Reunion committee (OK, "40th" might be too much to take in right now, so hold that thought!).

The Saturday night banquet will be followed by "Dessert under the Stars," with coffee, wine, music, dancing, talking, and laughing.  So, take that reunion magnet you were sent a while back, put it on your refrigerator and mark your calendar now for 29-31 May 2009.  Let's make this one our biggest and best reunion ever!  We are in the process of reserving a block of rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn where we can keep on "reunioning," so look for more information on that in the future.  We are in an "unofficial" race against the Class of 1969 to have more people show up, and to contribute more money during our Class Reunion year -- they think they have the "Eagle Award" in their hands already, but we can show them that the Class of 1974 is not to be challenged -- after all, we were the class that put an end to those freshman beanies!

It is our fondest wish that you will return to the beautiful campus of Mary Washington in May 2009 and immerse yourself in the nostalgia of what it felt like to be a newly arrived freshman, and then a graduating senior.  We thought those four years went by quickly, didn't we?  How could we have guessed how fast 35 years would go by!  Let's celebrate together that we were, and still are, a part of one of the best colleges in Virginia (maybe even in the United States)! 

Sincerely,

'74 Reunion Coordinators

signature 1                                                 signature 2

Sid Baker Etherington                                       Peg Hubbard

signature 3                                          signature 4     

Suzy Passarello Quenzer                                   Patti Goodall Strawderman


More information will be posted as it becomes available. Keep checking back for more details!