Message from the Class President
Greetings, Smith ’72! Your class leaders are into action as we count down to May 12 – 15, 2022, and our reunion on the Smith campus. This newsletter has information about how to
- Submit your essay for the Smith ’72 Reunion Book by November 1.
- Give us your ideas for Reunion weekend programming.
- Reconnect with your housemates – success stories from Morrow House.
- Submit your news for our Class Notes in the Smith Alumnae Quarterly.
- Make a gift to Smith College.
Your suggestions and ideas are welcome, please find our names and contact information at the end of this newsletter. Here’s to us and the best 50th Reunion ever!
Melissa Hield
Smith ’72 Reunion Book
The pace is picking up as classmates go to our Reunion Book web portal at www.smith72.org in advance of the November 1 deadline. This deadline is to allow for the laying out of the classmate submissions of personal information, photos of multiple types, an essay written by you about you, and the In Memoriam section on our deceased classmates. We also expect to include several features on popular topics related to our college experience such as the Junior Year Abroad program, exchanges to other colleges, the Glee Club, and the evolving role of technology between 1968 and 2021. Many of you generously agreed to contribute to these sections and the results are both amusing and very informative. Who knew these things???
Here’s an update as of this writing:
- 248 of you have responded to the call to SIGN UP and LOG IN, with most of you doing some updating of your profile, many adding current photos, and some doing more.
- 74 have added current photos
- 48 have added “additional” current photos which we will use if we have room
- About 50 have added “scrapbook” photos of memorable times on campus or long after
- 38 have posted essays, but many more are “in the works”!
- 26 have added photos which capture a range of creative endeavors, all defined as such by the artist herself
Please add your voice to the chorus of classmates represented above. Our Reunion Book will not be complete without you.
Ellen Maloff Case
Editor, Smith Class of 1972 Reunion Book
Reunion Update
Who knows where the time goes? After more than a year of wondering “Can we be on campus for Reunion?” we were thrilled to learn that the answer is “YES!” Now the real planning begins.
Our goal – a Reunion that’s lively and memorable:
We’ll have ’72 programs, College programming, cocktails with President McCartney, and time to visit favorite haunts as well as Maya Lin’s inspired redesign of Neilson.
What’s being planned?
Our Reunion Team will organize a first-ever RIDE BOARD to help classmates coordinate rides to & from Northampton. They’ll also produce pithy placards, food and swag, our Headquarters at Cutter-Ziskind, a dance-to-our-music Gala, and all-important snacks to fuel evening schmoozing & re-connecting in the Cutter-Ziskind living room. Great thanks to Mary Burton and the House Connectors (sounds like a good band name) who’ve given many of us a head start on re-connecting – and actually seeing each other! – through Zoom. Thanks to the indefatigable Ellen Maloff Case, our 50th Reunion Book will be the star of the show.
It’s Your Reunion – What would you like to see?
Tell us in October when we send a short questionnaire. We want your feedback on program topics for ‘72 sessions and a sense of what you’re thinking about being at Smith next May. If health and safety are all looking up, we really hope you’ll be on campus.
’72 Reunion Team
Class President: Melissa Hield
Reunion Co-Chairs: Nancy Roth Remington & Cathy Roberts
Food/Final Evening Gala: Lisa Barlow
Headquarters/Welcome: Jane Wierdsma Forbes & Kristy Heintz Barclay
House Connectors: Mary Burton & Ann Chipley Playe
In Memoriam Service: Kate Sonderegger
Parade/Signs: Maggie MacDonald
Program: Nancy RR, Cathy & Melissa
Reunion Book: Editor, Ellen Maloff Case
Ride Board/Campus Access: Debby Markewich Lazarus
Swag: Kay Balun
Web/Facebook: Beth Taylor Sobiloff & Maggie MacDonald
Have ideas, want to help?
Please contact a Reunion Co-chair:
Nancy Roth Remington (Cambridge, MA) * 404-432-8402, Nancy.Remington@gmail.com
Cathy Roberts (Nevada City, CA) * 801-597-4263, crobe0850@aol.com
Class Spotlight – The House Connectors
When Morrow House Connector Tiffany Baker Mullican didn’t get a response to letters and calls to the contact information she had for Cheryl Groeneveld, she asked her freshman year housemates, “Who was close to Cheryl?”. Joan Howarth remembered Cheryl well: “Cheryl was from Potsdam, NY, up near the Canadian border. She got suspended in high school for publishing an underground newspaper with a drawing on the cover of the principal naked on a crucifix, which would also be a worthy piece of high school memorabilia.” Tiffany implored her to do what she could. Joan replied, “I lost touch with Cheryl about 30 years ago, but we were close before she married Bob and left Smith.” Then Joan reported, “Since writing you I searched and found Cheryl’s mother’s obituary from two years ago that had Cheryl married to Daniel Pascone and living in Etowah. Zillow says that address last sold in 2015 so she’s probably there.” And then the great news: “Her email is…and she was very happy to be reconnected. I caught her up….” Molly Merrell Madsen did the same to reconnect Christine Jones to Morrow. “Chris was my roommate for 2 years…I have not had contact with her since 1972 but will try to find her….” And then: “I spoke with Chris Jones and we had a fun time catching up. Her email is…”
Thank you to the House Connectors for all of your efforts to reconnect us. Our 50th Reunion Book, and our Reunion, will be the richer for it.
Mary Burton Ann Chipley Playe
Class Connector Assistant to the Class Connector
maryburton@earthlink.net ann.playe@gmail.com
Call for Class Notes
We love reading your news! Send your class notes for the SAQ to our class secretary
Stefanie Solnick Cargill at rhpt70@cox.net. You can also use the Smith Alumnae Quarterly Class
Notes form. Online submissions go directly to class secretaries.
Fundraising Update
The 50th Reunion is traditionally a time to reflect on the role Smith has played in our lives, to celebrate and pay it forward! In keeping with our reunion themes:
Looking Back – Celebrate Your Smith Education with a Gift to Smith!
Moving Ahead – Support Education for Women with a Gift to Smith!
Our 50th Reunion goal is that at least 72% of the members of the Class of 1972 become part of our 50th Reunion Gift to Smith College. Visit https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/giving/ways-to-give for information on the many ways to make a gift.
Please become part of this milestone!
Planned Giving Update
Would you like to give as much as possible to Smith, but can’t get past the uncertainty about whether you can afford to be so generous now? Including Smith in our estate plans allows each of us to take advantage of a variety of ways to ensure the future of Smith. Some have no cost to you now but count as part of our 50th reunion gift! We offer webinars that explain these present and future giving opportunities and how they contribute to our 50th reunion total. Look for information about how you can join hour-long information sessions on these dates:
- Giving from Retirement Assets, October 13, 2021, at 1:00 pm eastern
- Leave a Legacy for Smith which Counts for Your Reunion (reunion bequest intention), January 18, 2022 at 1:00 pm eastern
- A Gift to Smith, Income to You! Charitable Gift Annuities, March 22, 2022, at 1:00 pm eastern.
You can view past webinars on these topics on our class web site at https://www.smithcollege72.org/giving/.
Class Officers and Leadership Team
Melissa Hield President melissa.hield@prodigy.net
Nancy Roth Remington Reunion Co-Chair nancy.remington@gmail.com
Cathy Roberts Reunion Co-Chair crobe0850@aol.com
Stefanie Solnick Cargill Secretary rhpt70@cox.net
Pat Younger Smith Treasurer pysmith@alumnae.smith.edu
Jackie Anthony Millan ’72 Fund Team Co-Chair jackiemillan14@gmail.com
Nancy Ammon Jianakoplos ’72 Fund Team Co-Chair nancy.jianakoplos@colostate.edu
Kate Mulhern Johnson Planned Giving Chair kate@j-web.org
Christine Bancheri Memorial Chair cebancheri@comcast.net
Beth Taylor Sobiloff Web Chair bsobiloff@comcast.net
Marguerite MacDonald Classmate at Large margueritemacdonald@gmail.com
Mary Burton Class Connector maryburton@earthlink.net
Ann Chipley Playe Assistant to the ann.playe@gmail.com
Class Connector