Keene State Reconnects During Reunion '16
Keene State alumni are always amazed of the changes on campus since they left. “It’s amazing to come back to the campus. It’s just so different now,” said Kate Fuller ‘96, who works as a librarian at UConn.
A young staff member asked Charlie Mitchell ’52 what dorm he lived in when he was on campus. Mitchell replied, “There were no men’s dorms at the time. I lived in a house on the corner of Main and Winchester with a music professor.”
While Arthur Mitchell ’56 noted that the library is located where his Kappa Delta Phi fraternity house once stood, Nancy Kidder Howe ’61, spoke about living in the Sullivan House behind Huntress Hall. No one has seen more changes on campus than Caroline Nichols Pregent ’43. “Wherever I look there’s new buildings,” said Pregent, who recalls her first job working in a one-room, six-grade schoolhouse in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
Catching up with Old Friends
Reunion is the perfect time to catch up with roommates and friends. Minot Parker ’56 and Al Niemela ’55 said they hadn’t seen each other in 60 years. “I didn’t recognize him at first and I don’t think he recognized me,” said Niemela.
Roommates in college, Mary Marcotte Gline ’56 and Jane Worth Lancaster ’56 as well as Michelle (Gilbeault) Taub ’96 and Fuller got reacquainted while Leslie (Knowlton) Slattery ’90 and Kelly (Salter) Braverman ’90 reminisced about their days as sorority sisters.
Many Greek Life members used the reunion to get together. An advisor for Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, Seneca Eldredge ’13 said they would like to establish a new tradition of getting alumni involved with Reunion. “We thought it was the perfect time to have our alumni association and chapter council meetings and tie them into alumni events,” he said.
“The nostalgia is tremendous. It’s great to see people I haven’t seen in 50 years and to meet some of the new faculty and staff,” said Tim Brown ‘66, who attended with his wife Carol (Holbrook) Brown ‘66. Tim, who played three sports at Keene State and received nine letters from Coach Sumner Joyce, went on to coach and serve as athletic director at Skidmore College for 26 years. “Keene State laid the groundwork for a tremendous career.”
Were you at Reunion? Check out our photo gallery on the Keene State Facebook page.
