1952 - 60th (May 31-June 3, 2012)

February 2012

To The Great Yale Class of 1952, Spouses, Partners, Significant Others & Widows,

“The seasons come, the seasons go” but the
earth is mostly no longer “white with snow”

So the time has come to stop thinking about our 60th Reunion and do something about it. Enclosed is all the information you need to reach the conclusion that this will be an occasion not to be missed and the answers to most of your questions as to when, where, what and how. Importantly, you will find the form to formally register for the reunion and a pre-addressed envelope for your convenience as well as instructions as to how to sign up using the internet if you prefer to go paperless at www.aya.yale.edu/reunions (click on 1952).

A brief summary of what is planned for your pleasure:

Thursday, May 31st

The registration desk in Berkeley College will open at 1:00 pm. If you choose to stay in the college there will be bright, strong, undergraduates to help you to your room and answer your questions. Jack Colleran has reserved several tee times to play the Yale Golf Course designed by the great Seth Raynor. Contact Jack if you are interested at jcolleran@pppclaw.com. At 4:30 pm there will be several interest group meetings to choose from to get conversation started. We will meet under the tent for cocktails at 6:30 pm with a delicious buffet dinner to follow at 7:30 pm. Our own piano man, Don Leavenworth, will entertain us with the music we know and love of the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. He has over 400 such songs in his handsome head so he is bound to play some of your favorites.

Friday, June 1st

Starting at 7:30 am enjoy a continental breakfast buffet in the Berkeley dining room and then it is off to hear lectures by some of Yale’s most outstanding professors on a wide variety of subjects. These lectures alone are worth the price of admission. We will meet for lunch under the tent at Noon. Following lunch we will have a variety of Interest Group sessions to choose from before we all meet at the Yale Art Gallery for a presentation to our class by Jock Reynolds, Director, and Larry Kanter, Chief Curator, on the restored and expanded Gallery and Yale’s amazing collections, the envy of every other university. There will be docents in many areas of the Gallery to assist you following the formal presentations as you walk the Gallery. Then at 6:30 pm we meet again for cocktails under the tent followed by the seated Class Dinner, a high point of the reunion. Good music, interesting and brief speeches and maybe if we are lucky a song or two from our beloved Whiffs before we sing “Bright College Years”. At that point, “Let’s Dance” to the music of a DJ who
understands the music we like to dance to and later in the evening Leavenworth will be back at the piano for “after glow” with our glasses raised on high.

Saturday, June 2nd

Breakfast at the same time and place at Berkeley and then all reunion classes will be offered a rich menu of opportunities to hear more faculty lectures, attend seminars, take tours, make gallery visits, see special exhibits and much more! An excellent luncheon buffet, quite different from the Friday buffet, will be served starting at noon. At 1:45 pm we will have the remaining interest group sessions for our class, each moderated by a classmate. At 3:00 pm we will have a Memorial Service in the St Thomas More Chapel where we will remember all our classmates who have died but especially those who have died since our last reunion. At 4:30 pm in Woolsey Hall all classes will be addressed by President Levin, a brilliant speaker, and then all will be serenaded in A Celebration of Yale Singing by various Yale alumni singing groups. Saturday dinner under the tent will be a gala with no formal program. It will be just for fun and to enjoy each other’s company. When the dance band stops, our piano man, Don Leavenworth will take the bench, perhaps for an informal sing-along around the piano for those who want to stay up a little later.

Sunday, June 3rd

A nostalgic and elaborate breakfast buffet in Commons will end our 60th Reunion and we will then go our various ways.
We want everyone to come to this reunion and especially the widows of our classmates who will be our guests and who will not be charged the reunion or on-campus housing fees for those who choose to stay in Berkeley. Any classmate who would like to come but simply cannot afford it, please call Stacey O’Donnell (203) 432-1955 or via email at stacey.odonnell@yale.edu in the AYA office, for a private discussion of your needs.

Check our class website www.yale52.com to see who else is coming. On the opening page click on “60th reunion attendees” in the first line of text on that page and an alphabetical list will appear. If you are not on the list go to the bottom of the list and click on the link to register your intention to attend. When you officially send in your registration your name will be added to the list with an * to indicate that you have registered. If good friends are not on the list give them a call and urge them to come.

Do not miss this important opportunity to be together one more time. Come on Class of 1952, let’s have a ball.

With warm regards,

Abram Claude, Jr.
Reunion Chairman
Aclaude52@gmail.com
(914) 669 - 5273