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Class of ’71 55th Reunion

Our 55th Reunion will be held June 11^th – 14^th, 2026.

“Stayin’ Alive” at 75 (and Beyond)

Steve Brown writes:

Dear Classmates and Friends/Family of the Outstanding Class of ’71,

Our Class Zooms are back!! We are planning 3 or 4 zooms leading up to our 55^th reunion which is only 16 months away on June 11-14, 2026.

The first Zoom is “Stayin’ Alive” at 75 (and Beyond) featuring health tips from 3 of our many distinguished doctor-clasmates:

1. Jeff Stein – who will discuss important steps to thrive at 75 and beyond so you can keep living as well as “When I’m 64”

2. Bob Eyre – who will speak about cognitive diseases and what we can do to minimize risks so we “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow”

3. Mike Rade – who will talk about diet and exercise so we can keep “Blowin’ in the Wind”

We will also have plenty of time for questions and discussion.

Date and time: Monday, March 3 at 5:30pm (EST)

Link: Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87393425467

Zoom with Ian Fierstein from Jerusalem

Ian has generously agreed to zoom with us on Tuesday, October 8 at 12:30pm (EDT), Here is the link:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83945781595

Meeting ID: 839 4578 1595

Steve Brown writes:

We all have lots of information available to us from news outlets on military strikes and political maneuverings, but Ian can describe the continuing impact the conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah, and now Iran are having on the daily life of Israel’s citizens. Everyone who participated in Ian’s zoom last spring found it illuminating and moving. I am sure that that thoughts and prayers of all of us are with Ian and his family during this awful time of turmoil.

Ride Board

Need a ride to or from Reunion? Have some extra space? This page will allow you to share your travel details and find someone who you might be able to travel with. The page is password-protected, so your information is not publicly available.

The information will be tracked in this spreadsheet, which was most recently updated on May 4. There are a couple of sample entries to show you how this works; one is from a classmate who is renting a car and is willing to take up to 2 people, and another from someone who is looking for a ride. When people are paired up, their info will be posted in the “traveling with” columns.

Getting your information posted:

You can have your info added to the spreadsheet by making a comment in the box below or sending an email to the webmaster. Our goal is to respond within 24 hours.
You can give time ranges if you’re still planning flights, etc.
You can indicate more than one mode of transportation (e.g., car rental / Uber) if you’re flexible or haven’t decided yet.
You can travel to Reunion with one group and return home with another — there’s no need to make round-trip arrangements.
Please post a comment or send mail to the webmaster once you’ve made arrangements so we can update the spreadsheet and let other classmates know that your “open”seats have been taken.

Using the spreadsheet:

This will probably work better on a computer than on a phone.
Depending on how your browser is configured,
- you may get a “Leaving Page” warning. This is not a problem.
- the spreadsheet may be downloaded to your “Downloads” folder rather than opening directly.
You may have to click on “Enable Editing” at the top in order for the links to work or to sort.
You can sort by Date/Time and then “Where” to help find likely matches, for arriving and departing.
If you find a potential match, you can contact that person directly by clicking on his or her name, then scrolling to the bottom of the profile to get to the “Send Email” button.
- The “sender” will appear as “Williams 1971 50th Reunion”.
- You can also use the Alumni Directory to find other contact information for classmate.
Please remember to let us know when you’ve made arrangements with someone so we can update the spreadsheet — post a comment below, or send email to the webmaster.

That’s it! Send in your information, find someone to travel with, and we’ll all be together in August.

The Peregrination Arc

Would the faculty at Williams describe their offerings as a marketplace where entropy reigns supreme? How methodical can one be in shaping randomness? And is this really the mysterious alchemy of an education in a liberal arts forum, a process of infusing chance with an inexplicable chemistry that creates the likelihood of a known outcome?

How ironic the above reads, but how real this irony regarding the lives of classmates as a result of my five-year “listening tour”. I am struck when a classmate describes their experience post Williams as the peregrination arc of the randomness of events and emotions that determine our pathway, which William James referred to as “growing up zig-zag”. He was more refined when he professed that, “every man’s life is a line continuously oscillating on either side of its direction”. I envision a sine curve split evenly between peak and trough by a straight line of 45 degree angle depicting the shape one’s life takes as the tug and push of events provides an ultimate direction. In a like vein, E.B. White can be paraphrased similarly:

In the beginning,
We have nothing to spur us forward,
But our idealism.

No assets to speak of,
But our youthful health.

And, no where to go,
But all over the place.

I can speak for the Am Civ major, perhaps the road to nowhere, but in retrospect a route to all corners of every profession. This is not due to specificity, but the unharnessed freedom to “go all over the place” while riding whatever waves of chance appear.

Pre-med classmates are blind to the importance a proficiency in playing musical instruments or on a team sport is in developing their skill to dexterously complete complex surgical procedures? Or that random discussions with classmates and a Religion professor will lead to the study of Buddhism and the wisdom of koans, which then seeks expression in providing pro-bono eye surgeries in developing countries?

Try tracking the experience of English Lit, Poli Sci and History courses that funnel, not subject matter, but the flow of interconnectedness within animal husbandry, crop science and the environment.

Where within the syllabuses do we locate the methods to home schooling? And how surprisingly well such an endeavor translates into teaching African villagers the manufacture of bio-sand water filters, an effort marshaling patience with the ability to explain.

Do educators rise from their pursuit to command a body of intellectual material or because of an inherent need more codified as a contribution to society? Where and how do they gain a skill in adapting methods able to reach different channels of association and non-linear brains?

What “under the radar” experiences impact the artist, the writer and the musician to formulate their creativity in what I describe as an idiosyncratic crucible; a mix of entanglement outside the bounds of faculty structure.

The list is long, the examples myriad and the lives a series of stories both unpredictable and inspiring. Corralling the Williams experience as to impact is no straight line chronicle. What of the arc of life and the association with the College? This is complex, sometimes knowable, but often lost in the indeterminate points of connection as we cannot account for them. I am less inclined to believe the trope that Williams teaches us “how to think”, but more comfortable with the idea it provides a subconscious layering of “how to remain open to possibility”.

— Rob Farnham, February 28, 2021

Momentum

I tipped the jar to 45
and waited for the force,
scrutinizing its slow slumber
in contrast to my readiness.

The plans were made.
Five years in total.
The recipe a combination
of tradition and creation.

Grudgingly a mass built,
began its descent,
slow moving though,
despite efforts with the tilt.

And now to 60,
with viscosity overcome,
friction no longer an issue,
at last momentum.

Impediments seemed few,
the flow gained credence,
and as the volume increased
enthusiasm grew.

The mass poised on the lip,
almost over the edge,
its chance for all to mix
now thwarted and nixed.

Postponement jolted emotions
back upright and quiescent.
A sobering dimension
to the spirits unleashed.

Flow now dismantled.
Reconvening another year out.
What will happen to the mix
and how to find the perfect fix?

We are challenged with the issue,
but without deep despair
for our reservoir of nectar
stands waiting in reserve.

Resting 50 years full.
Many stories to be shared,
many laughs to be heard,
will await the proper tilt.

I know the angle to the jar
is 71 when we get there,
where flow begins to cascade
and our momentum again remade.

— Rob Farnham, February 12, 2021

Reunion Status

This page will make available the most up-to-date information available about our 50th Reunion, now scheduled for AUGUST 7 – 10, 2022.

The most current version of the Reunion Schedule is available here.

Reunion Launch: June 10 and 11, 2021:

Thursday, June 10, noon EST: All-college Q&A with President Maud S. Mandel

Friday, June 11:

Noon EDT: Society of Alumni Annual Meeting, featuring announcement of our Class Gift.

5:00 PM EDT: Class of ’71 Reunion Launch Zoom

The program:

First, Geo Estes and Kennedy Richardson report on our Class Gift. After that,
Williams College Campus Then and Now: 4:11
Remarks from President Maud S. Mandel: 12:23
A look at some of the results from our survey: 23:50
Gordon Clapp’s musing on aging: 30:32
Excerpts from Paul Lieberman’s video on coeducation: 39:04
Creating our Reunion Commemorative Bowl: 56:04
Greetings from overseas classmates: 1:03:55
In Memoriam — classmates we’ve lost since our 45th: 1:15:59
Closing remarks: 1:17:03
And, as is our custom in our mountain land, two verses of The Mountains: 1:23:12

We’re glad so many of us were able to get together as we kicked off our Reunion Celebration!

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January 21, 2021: The College announced that Reunions will not be held on campus in the summer of 2021, given the “continuing challenges posed by Covid-19”. The text of the announcement is available here.

Steve Brown sent the following email from the class leadership, explaining what this means to us:

Dear Classmates and Friends/Family of ’71,

It is now official – our June, 2021 reunion has been postponed with a date to be determined later. We have attached the College’s announcement just in case you have not seen it – https://alumni.williams.edu/reunion/

What’s this mean for us?

1. We will definitely have a reunion where we can all get together – most likely in summer of 2022!! We will update you as soon as we hear more from the College.

2. We will have a virtual reunion via Zoom on the second weekend of this coming June. It will be short, fun and provide a preview of what our in-person reunion will look like — think of it as teaser for our big bash in Williamstown in 2022. More details to come.

3. Geo Estes, Ken Richardson, and Dave Olson will end their very hard work raising money for the Class Gift on June, 2021.

4. Class Book – John Chambers is happy that the postponement will allow more classmates to submit personal statements, adding to the 122 already in hand.

We will be in touch in the next couple of weeks with more information/ questions, but wanted to make sure you knew the status as soon as the College announced it.

Stay safe!!

Rob, John C, John A, Geo, Ken, Dave, and Steve

Why We Come Back

There are a lot of reasons to come back to Williamstown. Here are videos of 22 classmates making their pitches to the rest of ’71 for attendance at our 50th Reunion, August 7 – 10, 2022. They were recorded – quite spontaneously, as you can see – at an event called the “Presidential Forum” in Williamstown on September 14, 2019, when classmates not present were much on the minds of all in attendance. Feel free to add one of your own — send it to [email protected] and we’ll add it to the collection.