Attendees from our class included Carol Lattmann, Helen Cohen, Kirby Date and daughter Johanna, George Frantz, Paul Pietropaolo and William Green.
If you were there, thank you for coming. If you weren’t there we missed you, we talked about and remembered all of you, and hope to meet up and do this again at another Cornell Reunion with an even better turn-out next time.
There seemed like no end of things to talk about catching up on career paths, family, friends, Cornell and LA Department memories including our class trips, projects, all-nighters and the campus grounds and sites in general. Yes the Green Dragon is still in the basement of Sibley Hall and according to George, the murals on the wall are original to the 1976-1980 era and have been restored! Same slate table tops. Yes, they are still there. Much has changed on campus, new buildings all over the quads, Alumni fields and the skyline looking towards Cornell up Libe Slope from West Hill looks very built up. The Johnson Art museum and school of Architecture are currently being built up and renovated.
Most noticeable and unfortunate as made national news this spring, a rash of suicides on campus this past year, led to the University constructing chain link fence around all of the campus gorge crossings. What a site that was and noted by all who crossed the Triphammer and Cascadilla Gorge bridges. If you received an email from Cornell Reunions take the opportunity to share your thoughts about your recent time on campus too.
Our group meandered into the Landscape Architecture Department Reception on Friday afternoon hosted by Professor Peter Trowbridge, current head of the department, and department staff. As this was the first reunion and trip back to campus for many of us, the new (to us anyway) department facilities are outstanding. Peter gave tours of the facilities and as we all gathered and met up with alumni of the department from other classes as well. Later that evening we sat on the patio of the Moosewood Restaurant downtown and shared stories as we ate a wonderful dinner there.
Some of us stayed on campus with the class of 1980, and some with local friends, but a number of us stayed way up on North Campus, with Non-reunion year housing, in a low rise where we had individual rooms, singles and doubles, in a suite of rooms, with our own mostly private bathroom and a shared kitchen and lounge area that we shared with several other, mostly empty suites. Parking was pretty lenient and none of us had any difficulty finding nearby parking. Libe Slope on West campus was unbelievably covered with parked cars, not much parking there, but no more U-Halls and all newish housing there. We purchased reunion buttons that gave us access to bus service and the Arts Quad Beer tents that was available for the over 6,000 Alumni and family who made it back to Ithaca this year.
Saturday morning Peter had our class and several other alumni over to his and wife Nina’s house to enjoy a delicious brunch of fruits and pastries and other sundry goodies, homemade of course, and tours of the amazing grounds, gardens, house and guest house. He had just started construction of his home and on the property as we were leaving campus. We took lots of photos of the house and grounds (and all weekend), so take some time and look through the blog. Ask if you would like any of the photos emailed to you if you can’t download them from the blog.
Saturday afternoon most of the group headed to Lower Buttermilk Falls and we hiked up the Gorge Trail and down the Ridge Trail. Much to our surprise, no swimming is allowed in the pools at the State Parks due to budget cuts to lifeguards. George provided an ongoing narrative while we hiked and while we did get rained on at the beginning of the hike, the weather for the weekend was mostly perfect and warm. What we found most interesting was that all three state parks in the Ithaca area, Buttermilk, Treman and Taughannock Falls are now connected by contiguous land or rights-of-way with what will eventually be developed as a hiking trail known as the Black Diamond Trail. George clued us in to this and had us park a short distance away from the park, (where we got drenched in the rain) so we could walk up the first section of the trail that has been cleared and mowed (and not have to pay to park at the Falls).
Saturday dinner was at nearby Tutelo Park in under a pavilion where we shared a self-catered dinner of sandwiches, deli platter and salad and washed down with a case of micro-brew Ithaca Brewery beer and soda samples. According to George, Tutelo Park was a significant Native American town site and is located on the lower part of West Hill at the south end of town, not far from Buttermilk Park. There are several State Champion, largest trees in the state, within the park including Black Walnuts, Pignut Hickory, and amazingly, an American Chestnut tree. Will Green called Professor Lenny Mirin, who stopped by the park and caught up with all of us there. Lenny still teaches Landscape Architecture History in the School of Architecture after 30+ years!
Later Saturday evening several of us headed to a newly renovated Bailey Hall and plaza for Cornelliana Night, where Kirby joined in the Alumni Glee Club and Choir and sang for us, all alumni songs including the Alma mater. There was a recap of all the funds raised by the reunion classes, in excess of $58 million dollars, about 600+ members of the Class of 1980 were at Reunion, making our full class the largest in attendance at reunion, Baby Boomers, go figure! There was a special tribute to Cornell Veterans and the oldest alumni there, from the Class of 1931. Do the math. He was over 90 and in a wheel chair, but made it back for reunion! Also one younger alumni rode to Ithaca by bike for reunion over 500+ miles. He was recognized as well.
Sunday morning as we ate breakfast, we said our goodbyes and all made our way back to our homes.
Again, thank you to all who came and helped to organize this little adventure.
We have most of the class emails. No pressure, no class president, maybe a newsy email newsletter occasionally. So stay in touch from time to time. Take care and be well.
Helen
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