Letter: Harvard-Radcliffe 40th Reunion

Dear Classmate,

The Radcliffe Class of 1960 has been invited to return to Cambridge to celebrate our 40th Reunion with our Harvard classmates on October 5-8, 2000.

We first came to Cambridge in the fall of 1956 to enjoy a Harvard education in the company of a group of talented women and men. It was with these women and men - our classmates - that we argued over interpretations of Wallace Stevens's poems, toiled in the labs, listened to William Alfred or Walter Jackson Bate, studied German Philosophy with Professor Tillich or Human Behavioral Psychology with Professor Skinner.

We were housed at Radcliffe, but most of us spent our days and evenings at Harvard. We comped for the Crimson, sang in the Lowell House Opera, wrote for the Advocate and volunteered at PBH. We were members of a wide variety of Harvard clubs and groups including: the Harvard Dramatic Club, the Gilbert and Sullivan Players, the Adams House Madrigal Group and the Harvard Flying Club as well as Radcliffe organizations.

Since our graduation, one of our female classmates, Alice Mary Maffry Talbot, has been President of the HAA and many of us have served on HAA committees. We have been chairs of Harvard/Radcliffe Schools Committees and served on the boards of Harvard Clubs.

Sharing a reunion with our Harvard classmates began with our 25th Reunion. We took part in the outing to Essex, discussion groups, and the dinner-dance. Our children were the first pre-1963 Radcliffe offspring to be invited to take part in Harvards extensive childrens program. Harvard 60s 30th Reunion was held in October and we were welcomed as guests. By the time our 35th rolled around, our co-chairs attended meetings of the Harvard 60 reunion planning committee and several Radcliffe classmates participated actively on the Harvard 60 seminar committee for the June reunion.

Now as our 40th approaches, at the invitation of our Harvard classmates, we are participating as full partners in all aspects of the reunion planned for October 5 - 8. Harvard 60 holds reunions in June in major reunion years such as the 25th and 35th when our class is invited to attend Commencement ceremonies. In other years, they often hold reunions in the fall. The 40th is not considered a major reunion. An advantage to the fall is that classes are in session and professors could be available to participate in reunion seminars. We hope you will join us for an exciting combination of intellectually stimulating seminars and discussion groups along with some purely social events. Time is being reserved for all- female discussion groups. There will be the time to talk to and reconnect with Radcliffe classmates that we remember fondly from college days and former reunions. We know that some of us will be attending the June Radcliffe Reunion that was outlined in the recent RCAA letter. We hope that those classmates will also plan to come back to Cambridge for the October Reunion.

A number of our female classmates have already agreed to join the committee that has begun planning the October Reunion and will work to insure that it will be an exciting and memorable event for both women and men. We are enclosing a tentative schedule.

Our class treasurer, Joan O'Connor, requests that you send her your class dues for this year and for any of the past four years if you have not already done so. A contribution of $10.00 per year is suggested. Dues are used to defray reunion expenses such as mailings. Please send your check made out to Radcliffe Class of 1960 to:

Joan O'Connor
84 Prince Street
Needham, Ma 02492

Finally, Harvard has invited us to participate in the Harvard reunion questionnaire. All responses will be anonymous. The tabulation of responses will be published in the Harvard reunion report. Because our Radcliffe report will go out before the results of the questionnaire are ready, we will distribute the results to you at the reunion in October and also send them to those who order reunion books. Enclosed is your copy of the questionnaire.

We look forward to working with you and seeing you at our Fortieth Reunion in October.

Sincerely,

Diana Townsend-Butterworth                   Joan Peters O'Connor
Dorothy Elia Howells                                  Jane Classen Simon

Radcliffe 60 members of the Harvard 60 Fortieth Reunion Committee

Elizabeth Raymond Bailey
Margaret Armstrong Bancroft
Martha Cohen Bial
Elaine Kotell Binder
Linda Abrams Braun
Diana Townsend-Butterworth
Maria (Heidi) Gerschenkron Dawidoff
Susan 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 Pierce
Susan Davidson Ravenscroft
Jayn Rosenfeld Seigel
Jane Classen Simon
Alice-Mary Maffry Talbot
Helen Twombly Watkins
Frances Trumbull Webb