Alumni Success Stories
Hundreds Gather on Campus for Reunion Weekend 2007
View all photos from Reunion Weekend 2007
Nearly 800 alumni, relatives and friends returned home to Saint Mary's from July 20-22 for the 2007 Alumni Reunion Weekend.
Whether it was swapping school stories with old classmates, meeting Gaels from other class years, enjoying the lunchtime barbecue on a sunny day or dancing at night, the crowds enjoyed the camaraderie and school spirit.
A highlight came when Athletic Director Mark Orr unveiled the new SMC sports logo – meant to symbolize family, unity, brotherhood and pride – in front of a packed crowd in the Delphine Lounge. Along with enthusiastic applause, there were calls of "very nice" and "God is a Gael!"
This year's reunion included the classes of '56, '57, '62, '67, '72, '76, '77, '78, '82, '87, '92, '97, '02. Events began on Friday with a golf tournament at the Moraga Country Club. On Saturday, the barbecue, a reunion Mass, a dinner and a dance were held on campus, and on Sunday morning breakfast was served in Oliver Hall.
Alumni were able to take tours of the campus, visit the Hearst Art Gallery and bookstore and share a drink at the reopened (for the day) pub. A bounce castle was available for kids, and some alums brought footballs for some impromptu passing games on the lawn outside Galileo Hall.
Most alumni spent hours catching up, and reminiscing. At a table where members of the Class of '67 gathered, tales were told of pranks and outings. They laughed as they recalled using kegs to spell out perhaps inappropriate words on a beach to be seen by people on planes passing overhead. Then there was the time that Ken Dothee took matters into his own hands during a parking-lot traffic jam after a Giants-Dodgers game at Candlestick Park.
"Remember, we had John Maloney's Cadillac. There was a huge traffic jam. Somebody – " Timothy Coleman said, looking accusingly at Dothee, "jumped out of the car and started directing traffic."
As the table laughed, Coleman acted out the scene – Dothee using hand signals to let a car go from one lane, another from the second lane, and three from the lane the Saint Mary's group was in, allowing the Cadillac reach the exit far faster than it would have otherwise.
"It was much more efficient," Dothee, who spent his career as a public defender, said in his own defense.
"We were back here (to Moraga), before midnight," Coleman said in agreement.
At another table, members of the classes of '56 and '57 remembered how many of them arrived at Saint Mary's College after graduating from Saint Mary's College High School in Berkeley or other Christian Brothers schools. They already knew some of the Brothers on campus, which eased the transition to College life.
"Some of the Brothers were really fine people," said Bob Ulses '67. "They loved the College, and it was infectious."
Some of them also kept the young men in line, remarked Frank Brady '56. Several alumni recalled Brother Ralph, the head prefect, who was regarded a stern taskmaster who made sure strict rules were followed in the residence halls.
Students enjoyed the traditions of the College and the fact that it was Catholic, said Brady, who was a diocesan priest in San Francisco before leaving the priesthood and marrying in 1972.
"It had a good reputation as far as getting a degree and meeting a lot of lifelong friends," Brady said. He's one of many Saint Mary's alums whose children enrolled at the College; his daughter, Monica Gookins '97 also went to the reunion. She met her husband, Eric, at SMC.
"I was very proud of her," Brady said. "She had a good education and got a job as a teacher in Alamo. She felt the same way I did as far as having a lot of good friends at the College."
Ulses, who retired as a colonel in 1989 after 31 years in the Marine Corps, said he was pleased to return to Saint Mary's from his home in Virginia and see the campus and his old friends.
"All the people I went to school with were close friends then, and it's good to be able to see them," he said.
Joe Ikemi '57 traveled even farther away for the reunion, coming from his home in Tokyo. He's been to every reunion since his 25th in 1982.
"The friendships I developed here are invaluable," Ikemi said.
Erin Hallissy
Office of College Communications
