The Winding Road: Class of 1974 Newsletter

March 2024

Welcome to the Fifth Issue of Our Class of ’74 Reunion Newsletter!

It’s March already, and it’s starting to feel a bit like spring – at least in some parts of the country.  Early bulbs are blooming; the daylight is staying around a little longer, and there’s that feeling of anticipation in the air.  It’s time to start spending more time outside, time to make plans for the warmer days ahead, and IT’S TIME TO REGISTER FOR OUR 50^TH REUNION!  Information about Registration and Reunion can be accessed at the Class of 1974 website or via the links below, but here are the basics. (Click the link below to read more.)

Navigating the Road to Reunion

Reunion Event Details:

When: June 13-16, 2024
Where:  Carleton College Campus in Northfield, Minnesota
Accommodations: Class of ’74 Participants will be housed in Watson Hall (with elevators!)
Cost to Attend: $50 per adult for 50th Reunion alumni and spouse/guest for the full weekend
How to Register:  Click here or go to the Registration tab on the Class of ’74 website
See Who is Coming: Click here to see your classmates who have already registered to come

Don’t let the cost of travel to and from Northfield keep you from attending our 50th Reunion!  Thanks to several generous classmates, we are able to subsidize air or train fare within the U.S. to those who need it.  If you would not otherwise be able to attend, you can request confidential help at this link on our class website. Please contact staff no later than May 1, 2024.

Our Program Committee has been hard at work developing a broad range of activities to help engage classmates and make our reunion event both interesting and enjoyable.  Follow the link below to read all about it.

Our gift committee has been communicating a lot lately about the Heywood Society and our goal of reaching 74 members by June. Why are we so enthusiastic? As John McCracken said recently, “I used to think it seemed really complicated, but I’ve realized that it can be very easy to become a member.”

Joining the Heywood Society can be a straightforward and flexible way to make a meaningful 50th commitment, and there is no gift minimum. Knowledgeable staff are available to help you explore options that might be right for you, including gifts that cost you nothing now, gifts that pay you income, and gifts that allow you to decide what happens when.

In case you missed it, a video recording of Student Health and Counseling Director Marit Lysne’s Zoom with our class is now available on our website. Marit chatted with us about Carleton’s holistic approach to student health and wellness and how 1974’s commitment to supporting the college’s new health center will impact student health on campus.

Share Your Favorite Carleton Songs

We all know that music has the power to transport us back in time and help us to recall people and places that were special in our lives. While we were on campus, we did not have all of the digital devices that we have today, but we had great fun filling our dorm rooms and public spaces with our collections of vinyl LPs and cassette tapes.

An Interview with Classmate Sharon Hutchinson
by Mercy Russell

Sharon Hutchinson arrived at Carleton from Mamaroneck, New York, delighting in the freedom to read, study and explore.  After working with professor Paul Reisman on an independent study of the Zulu during a year in South Africa, she fell in love with anthropology. In graduate school for African studies, her training in Arabic took her on a path that led to South Sudan. There she undertook an immersion in the culture and language of the Nuer and Dinka which have become the centerpiece of her career as an academic and human rights activist. She has woven the disruptions of two civil wars since then into her conceptualization of how cultures adapt in a changing world. In retirement from the University of Wisconsin, she has begun publishing books to share the Nuer language and Dinka stories with the South Sudanese natives and diaspora. In this interview, Sharon shares the adventures, discoveries, and challenges of navigating her academic career, fieldwork in Africa and a family. 

Classical Music on Campus
By Dick Marchessault

Many of you probably remember the seemingly endless delays in the construction of the Music and Drama Center. Completion was promised early in our freshman year, but it was not until 1971 before the buildings were ready for performances. The new theater-in-the round design of the Drama Center caught our attention, but many people also remember the large new Concert Hall with an impressive pipe organ and ample space for a variety of musical performances. We would soon discover that this new performance space opened up opportunities for us to enjoy the amazing musical talents of our classmates and faculty members. There were dozens of classical recitals and concerts offered in the Concert Hall every year, and for many of us, these musical experiences provided some of the most memorable parts of our Carleton experience.

Is it too late to get your story into the Reunion Bio Book?
By Richard Armstrong

Is it too late to get your life story into the Carleton 50th Reunion Bio Book?

Well, yes and no.  

Yes it is, in fact, too late to get into the printed version of the book.  The deadline for the printed book was February 15th.  That’s the bad news.

The good news is the digital version remains open to accept new bios and it will stay open up to—and beyond—the reunion in June.

One Classmate’s Thoughts on Friendship and Remembrance
By Jeff Slocum

My niece, Jane Caffrey ’08, was editor of the Carletonian her Senior year.  That spring, she and I had spoken about an idea she had for a series about the people behind the names adorning the buildings on campus.  She had called me because she knew I had worked for the Development Office in my youth, and part of my job was to know something about Carleton’s history and major supporters over the years.  I liked her idea, but thought she should broaden the topic to include smaller memorial markings around campus, and specifically mentioned the bench in front of Sayles-Hill that a number of friends had placed in memory of my old roommate, Pat Kinney.  Jane asked me to write a letter to her about Pat, which I promised to do.  What started as a simple idea became for me something more emotional and cathartic, and Jane kindly published it.  Carleton’s academic stature rightly is the focus of attention when insiders and outsiders consider the College, but there is also a powerful student experience that occurs beyond the classroom, and I hope my account of my relationship with Pat serves as a reminder to our classmates of their own exceptional experiences and relationships that have materially shaped their lives.

Click here to read Jeff’s letter as published in the May 30, 2008 Carletonian.