Saturday Evening
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Entering the DYC chapel was to enter a time-warp, in which my sore knees remembered the kneelers, my nose remembered the smells (what was the "odor of sanctity" anyway?) Looking at the program, I remarked that I had tears in my eyes already as I took in the hymns to be sung for the occasion- We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing, and Let There Be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.... The chapel hasn't changed. Did the altar face the people then? It does now. The priest made every effort to welcome us home. I remember going to this chapel often- Imagine having such a fitting place for a moment of meditation. I think the availability of such a place fostered a spirit of calm and contemplation in my life. So it was good to be there. The homily was centered on God's steadfastness- I will offer counterpoint to the homily by offering this, from Hebrews, 13:5: the Lord says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."
From the chapel, we moved on to the cocktail party at the new dorm building, a large high-ceilinged ballroom sized room with a bar set up at one end. We enjoyed wine and small trays of appetizers under the banner announcing "No one laughs longer or sings louder than the class of '65." Thanks to Diane Hafner Redding's daughter for making the cheerful red and white banner. There were many who joined us here at the cocktail party for the first time this weekend, so again we heard and saw often the shrieks of recognition and the bear hugs that followed from newly found old friends. A photographer herded us all into the splendiferous gym for a class photo. (Later, someone took a photo of the eleven Mt. Mercy grads from our class- three of whom- Nancy Marschner, Cheryl Furlong and me- went to elementary school together too.) Leaving the gym, there was lots of discussion about memories of the low-ceilinged basement room where we learned dance, or more properly, stretch exercises in the 1960s. We returned to the cocktail hour impressed with the expanded options that newer D'Youvillians have available to them. For me, a personal gracenote was walking with Sr. Denise from cocktail party to dinner, while we discussed a mutual concern about an eccesial question we first shared after the New England luncheon she hosted in June. Sr. Denise is an honest, personable and charming woman- a bright light, a woman of whom D'Youville is rightly proud.
Dinner was set up in tables of eight in the very large hall. Master of Ceremonies was our own Donna Wilson Seymour, who disclosed to us later that the podium had no lights, so her task was scarily hard, as she introduced people without benefit of readable notes. No mind, she and others created a program that was informative, but light and crisply carried out. Patti Marino Smyton is rightly valued as a hardworking and dedicated Alum Director. We were proud that she too, is a shining member of our '65 class. And again, the class of '65 appeared, claiming the farthest traveling attendee in Lynn McGowan Gay, who traveled to join us all from Morgan Hills, California. A startling fact arose when Lynn discovered that classmate Diane Palmieri lives a mile away from her in Morgan Hills, and that they have both lived there for more than twenty years! The dinner was delivered hot and delicious- beautifully tender filet mignon and all the fixings, petit fours and hot coffee at the end. A grand finale was planned by our class, as we donned white gloves and sang Bye Bye Blackbird- with lyrics printed out on small cards- Pat thought of everything. This "entertainment" was fun indeed. And then of course, we shared many more minutes of talk, talk, talk among us all, even continuing on to the walk to the parking lot with sore feet, those of us unused to wearing dress shoes, some of us limping from knee replacements, some not seeing well in the evening shadows. Yes, we are growing older, but the laughter and chatter were sounds of a young group indeed.
---MJB