The Winding Road: Class of 1974 Newsletter

October 2023

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

The start of Fall always brings with it several emotions. There’s a new energy and a sense of renewal, along with just a touch of undefined nostalgia. In some ways, these same feelings have been a part of our reunion planning process as well, and our newsletter this time offers articles that may tap into both sides of that emotional coin.

We invite you to read about the early days of women’s sports at Carleton. Take a few minutes to relax and let some of your favorite music classics transport you back to our Carleton days.  And don’t miss the sage advice from Richard Armstrong’s mother — a smart woman who knows a few things about life, energy, and reunions.

We hope this latest issue will speak to your autumnal nostalgia, while also energizing you — to share your own stories through the newly-opened reunion bio book, and to start making plans to join all of us in Northfield next spring. Meanwhile, enjoy these fleeting and beautiful months of Fall!

Reunion Outreach Committee Co-Chairs: Kristine Larson Brown, Chris Helm, Mary Sanders Jones

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:  50th Reunion alumni (and their spouses/partners) pay a fee of only $50 per adult for the full weekend (including all meals, events, and housing).
How to Register:  Registration will open on the Class of ’74 website in March 2024
Tell Your Classmates You’re Coming:  Let others know you’re planning to attend!

As we build toward our 50th Reunion in June, we’re also building our Class of 1974 Gift, joining together in celebration of our shared experiences and looking to Carleton’s future.…

It was an amazing day! Carleton Homecoming Football Game Day started with more than 20 former players attending the current teams’ pre-game breakfast to commemorate our victory over St. Olaf 50 years ago. After each of us introduced ourselves to the team, John McCracken said a few words to encourage the team to play their best. He said he looked forward to this team getting together 50 years from today to celebrate today’s victory.  A pre-game tailgate was held at the Fairfield Inn with more than 40 classmates attending and a short talk from President Byerly. We all walked over to the stadium and witnessed an incredibly exciting game. St. Olaf had a 1 point lead with about 2 minutes remaining. If they converted a fourth and 1 from midfield, then they could have run out the clock…

Share your story in the Reunion “Bio Book!”

Is there life after Carleton? There sure is! They didn’t call our graduation ceremony “Commencement” for nothing. But as each of us walks down the long and winding road of our life after college, we tend to lose touch with many of the people who meant so much to us in our college years.

That’s why the reunion committee is pleased to announce that our “50th Reunion Bio Book” is now open for entries. And we urge you to tell us what you’ve been doing since graduation. 

That may seem like a tall order. But it’s easier than you think. Just imagine you’ve run into someone you haven’t seen for the past … well, half century or so. Tell them about your career, your family, your hobbies, your passions, your plans for the future. Tell them, in other words, all the things you’d like to know about them! 

Women’s Sports at Carleton

When I went to Carleton in the fall of 1970, I had no expectation that sports would be a part of my experience. Academics consumed me, and spending time with new friends filled the remaining hours of the day. I recall occasionally playing intramural basketball in the Cowling gym and participating in some folk dancing groups. By contrast, in 2004 when our daughter entered Carleton, she contacted the swim coach and met the team. While she had no idea about academic majors, she had been swimming since she was young and intended to continue in college. The arrival and impact of Title IX on women’s sports during that intervening period cannot be overestimated. I volunteered to research this topic for the newsletter fearing that I would struggle to find information on the institutional change at Carleton. Instead, I found excellent information and will share it with you in this and upcoming newsletters. In this first article, I will discuss Carleton before the Title IX legislation was passed. In future articles, I will talk about the changes when Title IX became the law in 1972 and the status of women’s athletics at Carleton today.  

Our Class Playlist

In our first newsletter, we invited you to help us to build a class playlist with the titles of songs that you remember most from our Carleton years. The list has already started to take shape, and if you click on the “Class Playlist” button on our home page, you will see a list of songs that classmates have already suggested. Now that the project is underway, we continue to invite you to add to the playlist with the songs that help to define your Carleton experience.

Since music has the unique ability to transport us back to times and places in our past, we have added a new component to the playlist—a page with links to the lyrics of our suggested songs as well as performances of those songs posted on YouTube. If it has been a while since you have heard some of these songs, just sit back and let the music transport you to the 70s when these tunes filled our dorm rooms and all of the public spaces around campus. To add your own favorites to the collection, just click on “Class Playlist” on our class website.

View lyrics and performances for our playlist songs

Why 50th Reunions Are the Best (According to My Mom)

Four years ago I had the honor and privilege of escorting my mother to her 70th reunion at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. At the age of 91 she was one of only three graduates who were still spry enough to attend the reunion in person. So they received the V.I.P. treatment and I enjoyed my role as a “plus one.”

The trip from Washington, DC to Saratoga is long so we had plenty of time to talk. Not surprisingly, our conversation eventually turned to college reunions. I said, “Between you and Dad, you must’ve gone to plenty of reunions over the years. [My Dad was Carleton class of 1948.] What do you remember about them?”

We couldn’t think of a better way to close this issue than with those wise words from Richard’s mom, so that’s it from us for now. Don’t forget to share your own story of life along the winding road in the reunion bio book. And remember, if Mrs. Armstrong is right — and we’re pretty sure she is — you won’t want to miss our 50th reunion in Northfield next June. It’s going to be awesome!

Send us your questions, comments and ideas for future issues, and the reunion itself, at 50threunion@carleton.edu.