Reunion 2018 brought scores of Ephs and their friends and family back to campus. With nearly 1,900 alumni, close to 500 children, and over 3,100 total people descending on the Purple Valley, the college hosted a weekend of sun, fun and purple! The campus was bedecked with 8 tents, 55 tangerine-shirted Reunion Rangers, 3000 bagged lunches in cow-clad reusable totes, and purple as far as the eye could see. The sun shone brightly all weekend long, a rarity for a Williams Reunion, with 33% of the Ephs in classes in the 3s and 8s returning to campus.
View, download and share Reunion 2018 photos.
Watch alumni presentations from the Reunion 2018 seminars.
Review the weekend line-up in the full Reunion 2018 program.
The following awards and announcements were presented at the 196th annual meeting of The Society of Alumni on Saturday, June 9, 2018:
Oldest alumnus in attendance was Wayne Wilkins from the class of 1941 celebrating his 77th Reunion!
Major Awards
Paul Neely ’68 and Robert G. Scott ’68 received the Rogerson Cup, the college’s highest award for alumni service. Anthony T. Kronman ’68 won the Kellogg Award for lifetime career achievement. The Thurston Bowl, for exceptional service as class secretary, was presented to Beatrice Fuller ’83. The Joseph’s Coat, in recognition of a highly esteemed member of a post-50th Reunion class, went to classmates Fred Clifford ’58, Chet Lasell ’58, and Carl “Tex” Vogt ’58.
New Members of the Executive Committee of the Society of Alumni
Thomas D. Gardner ’79 (President), Bedford, NY; Kate Boyle Ramsdell ’97 (Vice-President), Dedham, MA; George H. Welles, Jr. ’57, Myrtle Beach, SC; Nadra C. Franklin ’86, Washington, DC; Heidi Sandreuter ’92, New York, NY; Anri Wheeler Brenninkmeyer ’03, Cambridge, MA; Cortney King Tunis ’04, Boston, MA; Qadir Forbes ’15, New York, NY; and Sumant Bhat ’03 and Elizabeth Russell-Mina ’79 both ex officio as Alumni Fund Co-Chairs.
Class Attendance Awards
The Reunion Trophy, awarded to the class with the highest percentage of registered and present classmates, went to the Class of 1968 with 54.8% in attendance. The Reunion Bowl, for the class with the greatest number of members registered and present, went to the Class of 1993, with 250 members attending.
Philanthropy
50th Reunion Fund Co-Chair John Oppenheimer ’68 presented the Class of 1968’s 50th Reunion gift. The total gift came to $41,001,968, of which $16.48M was raised to support its two class gift purposes – the ’68 Center for Career Exploration and the Class of 1968 Scholarship. Another $2.93M was raised in Alumni Fund gifts and pledges. Roughly 85% of the class made a gift that counted toward the overall total.
Pictured from L to R: Mark Robertson ’02, Director, 50th Reunion Program, Kent Van Allen ’68, Tad Piper ’68, Bob Scott ’68, John Oppenheimer ’68, Don Kjelleren, Director, ’68 Center for Career Exploration, Ned Perry ’68
25th Reunion Fund Co-Chairs Jonathan Coleman ’93 and Mika Frechette ’93 presented the college with the ‘93 25th Reunion gift of $7.5 million, with $2 million supporting their class gift purpose, the Class of ’93 Fund for Integrative Wellbeing. The class also supported the Alumni Fund with an additional $1.2 million in gifts and pledges. Just over 65% of the class contributed gifts towards these efforts.