40th Reunion: Letter to the Class

April 18, 2000
Dear Alumni and Alumnae Classmates:
We are writing to you at this time to bring you up to date with our planning efforts and to appraise you of the events in June and July that classify for us as �pre-reunion� events based on our October 5-8, 2000 reunion date.
On Commencement Day, June 8, our 1960 Radcliffe classmates are hosting Harvard 60 for lunch at Noon in the Radcliffe Yard before the Annual Meeting of the HAA. Therefore we are not planning a room in the Yard as we have in past reunions. Radcliffe Day is on Friday, June 9 to which we have also been invited. Hopefully, many can attend that also. If you are interested in those events please complete the enclosed flyer or contact Jennifer Flynn at 617-496-6095 or [email protected] for further information.
In July, Harvard is considering the rental of one or more charter boats to view the tall ships in Boston Harbor. The available times are summarized below.
The afternoon charter* includes food and open bar. Afternoon Charter July 12, 13, 14, 4:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. ca. $82 incl. tax/service Regular Tour July 12, 13, 14, 9:00, 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. $20 - $25 July 15 - 9:00, 11:00 a.m., 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. - $20 - $25 Attached to this mailing is a sheet that we hope you will return expressing your interest in several events, including the tall ships event. Please contact Josh Dieterich, Asst. Director HAA, directly with any questions. He is at 617-495-5301 or [email protected] .
The tentative schedule for the reunion is also listed below. The events are well formed at this point, but there may be some adjustment in starting time and location
For those classmates who do not believe they will be able to attend the entire reunion, the committee has split the reunion into three packages: 1) the entire reunion - Thursday evening through Sunday brunch; 2) the first half - Thursday evening through Friday evening; and 3) the second half - Friday evening through Sunday Brunch. The Friday evening dinner at the downtown Harvard Club is the overlap point so that everyone will have the opportunity to see all the classmates. Once we have a better understanding of how many classmates will be attending the whole event, how many will split the event and how many spouses and companions will attend we can establish the pricing for the event. (Our postcard solicitation with the last mailing that did not include Radcliffe classmates listed 138 classmates, with 108 spouses/companions planning to attend and 93 classmates hopeful of attending. We estimate 50 to 75 Radcliffe classmates will also join the reunion, many with spouses/companions as well.) Attached is a list of the 138 classmates expressing interest in coming plus the 24 Radcliffe classmates who are working with the Reunion committee. They willall be there.
Diana Townsend-Butterworth and Bob Bray have headed a committee of classmates trying to make the seminars the best ever. They plan seminars for Friday morning, Saturday morning and a special set of seminars for women on Saturday afternoon concerning women�s issues. These will be open to Harvard wives that would like to participate in these discussions rather than attend the football game. Also attached with this letter is a listing of the currently planned seminars. For the committee�s planning purposes, they have asked for your expression of interest in the subject matter. Please check off the seminars you would be interest in.
The Memorial Service is currently scheduled for 11:30 on Friday. We have scheduled classmates to preach and to play the organ. We need a choir! If you sang in any musical organization at Harvard/Radcliffe or if you currently sing in any choir and would like to participate in the reunion choir, please check off that block on the attached return sheet. Spouses and companions may also participate in the choir. We will sing one anthem during the service and lead in the hymn singing. We are seeking a musical director as choir master. There will be one rehearsal needed before the service. It will be during the last seminar on Friday morning.
Friday afternoon will have a number of potential offerings. We plan to transport as many people as want to go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for a lunch in their fine dining room and a guided tour of the American Collection. (The cost of the lunch will be on your credit card.) We also believe some may want to tour the Harvard art museums, and we will organize that. Many people expressed interest in special interest groupings, such as taking out a shell and rowing or joining a group of classmates with other special interests. Those wanting special interest grouping should start contacting their classmates and arrange the sessions. Please let us know what contacts the Reunion Committee needs to make on your behalf within Harvard to help you set up your personal event. For many who may wish to return to their house dining halls we are arranging with Harvard to permit this for Friday lunch. The 4:00 p.m. tea with the Harvard deans will be a joint session with the Class of 1955 that is also having its reunion that weekend. No location for that has been arranged yet.
Friday evening, we will have buses from several locations to take you to the downtown Harvard Club and return you at the close of the evening. Festivities will begin at 6:30. We want everyone to come to this event whether you come alone to the reunion or with a companion. This is the only event that will have everyone available. The club will be set up for dinner and discussion in the main dining room. Music will be available in a separate room for those who wish to dance, but the music will not interfere with the conversation.
Saturday, we will all lunch together and then you may go either to the football game or the women�s issues seminars if you wish. Some may even wish to take a Duck Tour of Boston Harbor. That evening we will meet at the Faculty Club for an informal get together. We hope to have the results of the questionnaire discussed and analyzed by at least one of our class raconteurs. There may be some highly interesting differences between the alumnae and the alumni! We also hope to encourage some music around the fireplace in the reading room. Guitars and other instruments are welcomed as is any original music that glorifies our 40 years.
Sunday�s brunch will be in the Cronkhite Center, and we have signed up the "Radcliffe Pitches" the world famous octet to provide entertainment. The food will be excellent and the setting sunny and open. We have ordered a warm sunny day so we can open the doors to the garden as we did ten years ago.

Rooms will be of interest to all concerned. We have saved 110 rooms at the following hotels at the specified pricing. We know we can increase the number of rooms if interest in the event requires it. Please make your own reservations directly with the hotels.
Commander Hotel 30 rooms $280 Contact Lisa Ballo 617-234-1350
Inn At Harvard 10 rooms $289 Contact Kathy Walker 617-520-3732
Harvard Sq. Hotel 10 rooms $209 Contact Kathy Walker 617-520-3732 (same)
Harvard Faculty Club 3 Singles $199, 7 doubles $218. Contact desk 617-495-5758
Irving House at Harvard (B&B;) 3 blocks from Memorial Hall 7 Singles $159, 18 doubles $179. Contact Kerri McCarthy 617-547-4600
Suisse Chalet (at Alewife Circle 10 minutes walk to Red line direct to H. Sq.) 20 rooms $106.70 (max.) Call 617-661-7800
Red Roof Inn (Framingham/Natick exit Mass Pike 30 minutes West of H. Sq.) 20 rooms $91.99 Call 800-733-7663

In order to encourage more participation, we are organizing local classmates to host classmates from distances too far to commute. For our Boston and vicinity based classmates, please contact Hale Sturges if you have a spare room for a classmate. Better still, call your room mates from college and offer them the room. Please also contact Hale at [email protected]. Joan O�Connor is the Radcliffe alumna contact who joins Hale on this committee to coordinate housing for her classmates. She can be reached at [email protected].
Please spend a few minutes giving us guidance on what events appeal to you andreturn the form as soon as you can to help us plan for event room size to handle total attendance.
All Reunion material is being posted on the class website, http://www.harvard60.org, or on the class Radcliffe site, http://www.harvard60.org/r60.html. Please bookmark and visit these sites often in the coming months.
Best Regards,
Rod Hardy Tare Newbury Tom Oleson Diana Townsend-Butterworth

Attachments: Seminar topics and Tentative Schedule of Events Class list of attendees (Harvard 138 Radcliffe committee members 24) Check-off list for planning (self Mailer to Josh) Schedule of Events for Harvard 40th Reunion, October 5 8, 2000
Thursday Oct. 5, 6:30-10:30 Meet and Greet Classmates Ropes and Gray Room, Law School.

Friday Oct 6, 9:00 11:30 Seminars To be determined in September
11:45 12:30 Memorial Service
1:00 3:45 Museum of Fine Arts (lunch at MFA)
1:00 2:00 Lunch in Houses
2:00 3:45 Tour of Harvard Museums
2:00 3:45 Group meetings of personal interest
4:00 5:00 Tea with Harvard Administration and Deans (With Class of 1955)
6:30 11:00 Dinner (with music and dancing available) Downtown Harvard Club Bus transportation both ways

Saturday Oct. 7 9:00 11:30 Seminars
12:00 1:00 Lunch together Briggs Cage
1:30 4:00 Football Game
1:30 4:00 Women�s Seminars B-School
1:30 4:00 Duck Tour of Boston
4:00 - 4:30 After game warm up Briggs Cage
6:60 11:00 Informal evening Faculty Club

Sunday Oct. 8 9:30 11:30 Brunch Cronkhite Center

Reunion Seminars
Seminars are planned for Friday and Saturday mornings from 9-11:30. The format will vary: some will be panels composed of classmates; others will be more open ended discussions led by classmates acting as facilitators. All seminars will encourage audience participation. On Saturday afternoon from 1:30 4:00 there will be five separate discussion groups for women. The following preliminary list of seminars is subject to change depending on class interest and the availability of panelists. Please express your interest on the check boxes below.
Friday Morning
1) The Internet Revolution: How it is changing our lives.
2) Election 2000: Referendum on the past or vision of the future
3) Reflections on being 60 something: Looking back/ looking forward
4) What kind of world will our children & grandchildren inherit? Plans for saving our cities & protecting our environment.

Saturday Morning
1) The Arts: Following your muse, finding an audience for your art.
2) New Dimensions in Our Lives: Pursuing our passions, uncovering our spirituality, giving back to society.
3) Will I live to 120? And do I want to ? Medical Advances/ Ethical Dilemmas.

Saturday AfternoonWomen�s Discussion Groups
1) How we were affected by the women�s movement.
2) Trajectories of our lives and careers: a woman�s perspective.
3) What values did we receive from our parents? What values are we passing on to the next generation?
4) Changing relationships with families and friends/ new ways to communicate.
5) The implications of the Radcliffe/ Harvard merger

Names of Those from Radcliffe Planning to Attend the 40th Reunion
Cards requesting the intention to return to the October Reunion have just been sent to Radcliffe in early April. Therefore, we expect a larger number of names than appear below. These members of the Radcliffe Class of 1960 have joined the Harvard 40th Reunion Committee and are working on making the reunion as meaningful for 1960 alumnae as for 1960 alumni.
Radcliffe Committee Members for October Reunion
Elizabeth Raymond Bailey, Margaret Armstrong Bancroft, Martha Cohen Bial,
Linda Abrams Braun, Diana Townsend-Butterworth, Heidi Gerschenkron Dawidoff,
Susan J. Diamond, Alice Hendrickson Eagly,Angela Brown Fischer,
Janet Tarachow Handelman, Dorothy Elia Howells, Jill Kneerim, Patricia Gillingham Lewis
Pauline Rubbelke Maier, Judith Cabot Marriner, Joan Peters O�Connor, Enid Bok Okun
Suzanne Schell Pearce, Susan Davidson Ravenscroft, Jayn Rosenfeld Seigel
Jane Classen Simon, Alice Mary Maffry Talbot, Helen Twombly Watkins, Frances Trumbell Webb

Guidance to the 40th Reunion Committee; PLEASE email Tom Oleson with your preferences.
Pre-Reunion Events:
( ) I am interested in lunch with our Radcliffe classmates June 8
( ) I am interested in the Tall Ships Cruise

(Indicate day and the time below) Afternoon Charter July 12, 13, 14, 4:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m.
Regular Tour July 12, 13, 14, 9:00, 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m.
July 15 - 9:00, 11:00 a.m., 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.
Reunion Events in October (Check both boxes if 2 will attend or are interested)I/we plan to attend: The whole reunion Thursday/Friday Friday/Sunday
I am interested in the following seminars:
Friday Morning
( ) 1) The Internet Revolution: How it is changing our lives.
( ) 2) Election 2000: Referendum on the past or vision of the future
( ) 3) Reflections on being 60 something: Looking back/ looking forward
( ) 4) What kind of world will our children & grandchildren inherit? Plans for saving our cities & protecting our environment.

Saturday Morning
( ) 1) The Arts: Following your muse, finding an audience for your art.
( ) 2) New Dimensions in Our Lives: Pursuing our passions, uncovering our spirituality, giving back to society.
( ) 3) Will I live to 120? And do I want to ? Medical Advances/ Ethical Dilemmas.

Saturday Afternoon Women�s Discussion Groups
( ) 1) How we were affected by the women�s movement.
( ) 2) Trajectories of our lives and careers: a woman�s perspective.
( ) 3) What values did we receive from our parents? What values are we passing on to the next generation?
( ) 4) Changing relationships with families and friends/ new ways to communicate .
( ) 5) The implications of the Radcliffe/Harvard merger.

( ) I/we are interested in singing with the Memorial Service Choir I/we would like to have lunch at my old house on Friday.
( ) I/we would like to visit the MFA on a guided tour and have lunch there at my own expense.
( ) I/we would like to tour the Harvard museums.
( ) I/we would like to take a Duck tour of Boston.
( ) I would like to have a separate table for reunion attendees without spouses at Friday evening's dinner.
( ) I/we would like to explore the possibility of staying with classmates.