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By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
Hundreds of UGA alumni, whose graduation dates range from a half century ago to a decade ago, will return to campus in April to renew friendships and relive college memories during the annual Spring Reunion Weekend.
Class reunions, awards presentations, tours and open houses, and a host of recreational and social activities are scheduled during the April 14-16 event sponsored by UGA’s National Alumni Association.
The weekend will spotlight the Class of 1950, celebrating its 50th reunion, and all Loyalty Classes--those who graduated more than 50 years ago. Other classes holding reunions are those of 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985 and 1990.
Susan Bond, NAA coordinator of reunion events, says new activities have been added to make this year’s event enjoyable for alumni of all ages, as well as their children and grandchildren.
“As our graduating classes have gotten larger, our reunion program has also grown and expanded, and this year we have the biggest and best weekend UGA has ever seen,” says Bond. “We’re making sure that every person who attends rekindles old college friendships, makes new friends and enjoys remembering those things that made it so great to be a student at UGA.”
Among the weekend highlights are a tour of a private collection of Lamar Dodd art work; programs of musical memories ranging from “big band” swing to ’90s rock; a breakfast at which alumni will present trivia, skits and nostalgia from bygone years; a scavenger hunt; and a dinner-dance with a silent auction and a grand-prize drawing.
Most of the university’s schools and colleges will hold open houses, reunions or awards functions during the weekend. The National Alumni Association will hold its annual meeting April 15 at noon at the Athens Country Club.
During the annual meeting, the NAA will present Faculty Service Awards to S. Eugene Younts, who was UGA’s vice president for public service and outreach for 28 years, and J. Thomas Russell, who will retire June 30 after 17 years as dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The association also will present Alumni Merit Awards to Dudley Moore and Clarence (Jim) Nalley III of Atlanta and Shell Hardman Knox of Augusta.
The weekend begins April 14 with a tour of the home of Athens businessman C.L. Morehead, who owns the largest private collection of art works by the late Lamar Dodd, former head of the UGA art department. At 2:30 p.m., former UGA tennis coach Dan Magill will lead a tour of the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.
The School of Social Work will hold activities throughout the day at the Classic Center as part of its 35th anniversary, titled “Social Work in the New Millennium--Connecting the Past, Present and Future.” The Red & Black student newspaper will offer a tour of its offices during the day and will hold its annual student recognition and alumni banquet in the evening.
Alumni can see how the campus has changed since their student days by taking a campus “fun walk” that includes humorous skits and surprise appearances by UGA figures from the past. From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the NAA will hold a welcoming reception for reunion classes and NAA members in the Presidents Club Garden on North Campus.
A program titled “Music Memories” will be held in the Georgia Center for Continuing Education from 8 to 10:30 p.m. One part of the program will feature Rhett Turnipseed, who was a disc jockey on Athens radio station WRFC in the 1940s, reminiscing about bands and singers from the big-band era and playing popular hits.
Another part of the program will have a DJ playing dance music from the 1950s through the 1990s. Both events will include coffee, desserts and a cash bar.
The reunion classes will gather in the continuing education center April 15 at 8 a.m. for special breakfast programs. Former Georgia Gov. Ernest Vandiver, who received a bachelor’s degree from UGA in 1940 and a law degree in 1942, will be among those attending the Loyalty Class gathering, which will include slides and stories.
A new Reunion Weekend tradition will begin when the 45th year class (the class of 1955) holds a special “rite of passage” program to pay tribute to the 50th year class (the class of 1950). Members of the classes of 1960-1990 will compete in a “best-class challenge” that will include trivia and skits.
That evening, the Laigh Langley Band will play for the Reunion Weekend dance from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Classic Center. The dance will be preceded by a gourmet dinner, and will include a drawing for a summer trip for two to Washington, D.C. A silent auction, for such items as trips, sports packages and art objects, will benefit the reunion program.
On April 16, a Palm Sunday memorial service to honor deceased alumni will be held at the State Botanical Garden at 9 a.m. It will be followed by a continental breakfast and garden tour. Alumni can also take advantage of a number of other activities on campus during the weekend.
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