Wow! we just celebrated our twentieth reunion with a record number of classmates and guests in attendance. In all, 282 classmates registered for the weekend and brought along 299 guests to enjoy the festivities. The class of '82 showed our spirit once again! And we were glad the rain held out and the weather turned out fine.
The weekend started out on Friday afternoon with a welcome reception on the patio of Diman House, our class headquarters. Then it was on to the Brown Bear Buffet and Campus Dance, where we reconnected with old friends. Saturday was a beautiful day for alumni field day. There were so many classmates in attendance that the photographer had a hard time fitting us all into the class picture. Many of us then moved on to a reception at the home of Mary Jo Kaplan and Scott Triedman. At our class dinner Saturday evening in the Grad Center, Chuck Davis presented our class gift to the University - a record $2.4 million.
For those classmates who stayed through Sunday, it was an amazing day! Our class seminar on "Building Community through Our Work" was one of the weekend's highlights. Our panel included Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy; Jeff Swartz, president and CEO of Timberland Company; and Mark Toney, executive director of the Center for Third World Organizing. At the end of the discussion, the John Hope Award was presented to Jeff Swartz. That night, we had drinks at Union Station Brewery, where we were honored with a visit by Barnaby Evans '75, creator of WaterFire. Our great weekend concluded Monday morning, when we were well represented by classmates in the Commencement march down College Hill; Terry Denning Sevilla, our new class treasurer, served as class marshal.
We're already looking forward to our twenty-fifth! For those who couldn't make it this year, we hope to see you in 2007. In the meantime, check out some great reunion photos on our class Web site, alumni.brown.edu/classes/1982!
