WPI 1978 25th Reunion
Dates:
June 5 - 8, 2003

Unofficial Web Site:
Original Version

Official Web Site:
Class of '78 25th

Reunion Roundup -- The Summer Solstice, 2003

Greetings Fellow Classmates!

We just passed our 25th WPI graduation anniversary. Now most of us have children who are facing what we did three decades ago: where to go to college/what to do with my life? Where did the time go? And when will the geneticists come up with a way to make us young again?

Here is an updated version of the slide show that was shown at the 25th Reunion reception at Bernie Brown’s residence (or “weekend at Bernie’s”, as some classmates affectionately dubbed it). I have included photos from the reunion weekend as well as some historical shots that will no doubt transport you back to the late seventies.

Here are links to the

Web Version of the Slide Show and to the

Web Version of Sandra's Quiz.

I've also included links to the original PowerPoint versions, but be careful -- if you want to download the PowerPoint version, right click and choose "Save Target As..." otherwise it will open in your web browser v e r r r r y s l o o o o w l y.

Slide Show, PowerPoint Version -- 20MB! , Quiz, PowerPoint version -- 1.5MB!

For those who made the effort to attend, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule. For others who couldn’t make the trip, I hope the enclosed offers you a way to reconnect.

Some statistics for the engineers...

  • The class roster shows approximately 380 graduates from 1978.

  • 55 attended the Reunion weekend; 33 were alumni (with their spouses/guests)

  • The largest number of attendees for a Reunion Weekend recorded was 95 (alumni and spouses/guests) for any given class.

  • 3 women attended: Cynthia Gryniuk Hofer, Patty Tracy Walton, and Sandra Wyman, about the percentage of women attending WPI during 1974-78 (10%)

  • Ray Dunn holds the fertility record, with triplet girls aged 11.5 years old.

  • John Vestri has retired early and is enjoying life in California; he found the right dot.com at the right time.

  • Rick Poole re-emerged as our class president! He and wife Barbara have two children and live in Sarasota Florida; Rick works for Tropicana and prefers “no pulp” to Barbara’s “pulp”.

  • FIJI was the only fraternity represented (so we’ll look forward to other brothers attending future reunion events!)

  • There was a large “independent” contingent represented at the reunion—those not joining fraternities and living off campus.

  • The Class of 1978 had a 42% participation rate in donations for the alumni fund in their 25th reunion year; a check in excess of $106,000 was presented to President Parrish during Reunion Weekend. If you do the math, the average donation is $500 –$600 per donor….well done! Bob Brown headed up fund prospecting.

  • Dean Bill Trask was present for the entire Reunion Weekend (even a 7:30 AM appearance at the Saturday Celebrity Squares Breakfast… talk about dedication), along with Father Scanlon and Bernie Brown.

  • Frank Leahy stepped forward and implemented the “unofficial Class of 1978 website” from his server in California; we hope to post more class info and photos on this website in the future. Check out the Alumni Café on the WPI website for further information (http://www.wpi.edu/Admin/Alumni/).

If you have ideas for the 30th, please send them along. Five years will pass quicker than you think, and it would be great to have more classmates attend our next reunion event.

Your Volunteer Class Archivist,

Sandra Wyman
sjwyman@sjwyman.com

A Couple of Notes from Frank...

I had a great time seeing everyone, I'm just sorry there wasn't more time to talk to each of you. If we can get a big showing at the 30th we'll make sure to have a couple more group activities, e.g. bbq, etc.

Maybe the best thing about the reunion was that my wife Rachel got to see a little more about my past, which has helped her understand some of my "quirks" a little better. A couple of times during the weekend she said "Oh, now I get it, it isn't just you, all of you engineers do that!". Of course I had to keep asking "Do what?"

On a more personal note, Rachel and I are moving to England in September to be near her step-mother who is battling cancer. We've been thinking of moving to Europe for quite a while nowand this was the impetus we needed to make it happen. If you're ever in England, do drop us a line via email.

Best to all,

Frank Leahy
frank@backtalk.com

Final Class Gift - $106,833 and 42% participation!

Thanks to everyone who donated to the 25th anniversary class gift. Our final total was $106,833 -- a jump of over $10,000 the last month alone!

Who Came To The Reunion?

As you can see from the photo, we had 30 classmates at Bernie Brown's house for the cocktail party! It was great fun seeing everyone, catching up with old roomates, old floormates, sports teammates, or just people we used to pass on the quad.

It's never too early to think about the next one, so let's see if we can't double or triple that number for the 30th!

Here's a larger version of the photo.

Sitting: Patty Tracy Walton, Steve Superson, Cyndy Gryniuk Hofer, Winsor Naugler, III, Sandra Wyman, Frank Leahy

Standing: Stephen Pace, Pat Nicholson, John Vestri, Jr., Paul Angelico, Russ Warnock, W. Charles McGovern, Dave Wilson, John Downes, Rick Poole, Jon Brucks, Bob Brown, Tom Medrek, Bill Walton, Rich Bielen, John Contestabile (front), Ray Dunn (back), Steve Kuczarski, Tony Fernandes, Erik Hedberg, David Hawley, Doug Thompson, Kevin Northridge, Mark Cioffi, Steven Wolfe

Attended, but not in picture: Jon Lawrence, Mike Gantick, Jeff Fraulino, John Johnson, John Salvatore

Classmate Info and Photos

If you've got pictures or info/thoughts you want to share, either of the reunion or of yourself and your family, you can either send me the link and I'll post it here, or you can send me text and jpegs via email to frank@backtalk.com.