65th Reunion Weekend

All things considered the 65th Reunion was a blast. From the moment
three of us met almost simultaneously in the Comfort Suites parking lot through the next four days great camaraderie ensued. A baker’s dozen 61 alums and 4 supporting spouses enjoyed three evenings of Lehigh celebrations wrapped around two days of Lehigh culture offerings that included our own Class of 61 Symposium.

Reunion opened with the Brown and White Awards Dinner in Iacocca Hall on Thursday evening. At this event a member from each reunion class is recognized for what they have done. Ken Weaver was recognized as 61’s recipient and received the Alumni award for serving as our perpetual photographer over 65 years as well as taking on the big shoes of Bob Paternoster as our class correspondent.

On Friday we went separate ways- some to department presentations, Ken & Jessica to the Clayton Center then to Packard Lab to hear a panel discussion led by Provost Urban on how Lehigh is “Helping Make a Better AI Future”. Meanwhile, Paul and Roy took in nature near Alecs Mill armed with clubs and joined by Toms for a bit.

Friday evening most of our group had arrived in time for Reunion Fest- a gathering of all classes under a tent with open beer and wine bar, buffet dinner and live music. It provided an opportunity to mingle within the class as well as friends in the Lehigh family. After Reunion Fest Paul and Ed went bar hopping with our friends from the 2011 class at Molly’s Pub.

The feature event Saturday morning was President Helble’s report on the State of the University attended by most of us. It was an hour well spent learning Lehigh academics, activities and status among peer schools. Lehigh is doing a lot right for sure.

A buffet lunch followed at the same reunion tent on the STEPs lawn energizing us for the big event of the day, the Parade of Classes. We didn’t win the best class prize, but we got the award for best turnout of the 50+ classes.

Conveniently our Class of 1961 Symposium took place close to the parade area in the STEPS building

Our Class Dinner with 1971, 1966, and 1956 heard about traveling in space and living to teach about it from Dinner Speaker Terry Hart, Lehigh Professor & Former NASA Astronaut. Each class had a representative talk about their Lehigh experience. 

Tom Landmaack of Best Worlds Entertainment provided dinner and dancing music into the night which ended at 9:30. Remember when….

As a group, we bonded, hugged one another, and recognized the work Ken, Paul, and Toby put into making the event happen. In truth, everyone who attended helped make it a very special occasion. Hats off to Lehigh—they were the star of the evening shining all weekend long.

The Brown & White Dinner on the Mountaintop featured a 61 Class table attended by Paul Smith, Mikell Groover, Toby James, Roy and Wanda Cravzow, Jessica Weaver and, of course, Ken in his dress blue sneakers.

On Friday we went separate ways- some to department presentations, Ken & Jessica to the Clayton Center then to Packard Lab to hear a panel discussion led by Provost Urban on how Lehigh is “Helping Make a Better AI Future”. Meanwhile, Paul and Roy took in nature near Alecs Mill armed with clubs and joined by Toms for a bit.

Friday evening, we gathered in the tent on the STEPS Lawn for Reunion Fest.