TRANSPORTED BACK IN TIME

Golden Scots Celebration allows alumni to reconnect with classmates, campus

The concept of a time machine was a recurring theme at Monmouth College during this year’s Golden Scots Celebration, which June 1-4 welcomed back to campus groups of alumni who graduated 45, 50, 55 and 60 years ago.

“Seeing this place makes me want to start over again as a teenager,” said Linda Cohen Olds ’78 of Diamondhead, Miss., who was one of more than 100 alumni and spouses to return for the event.

Ross Hart ’73 of Salem, Va., agreed. “Knowing what I know now as an 18-year-old? I’d be hell on wheels,” he said.

Laura Feinberg ’78 of Teaneck, N.J., picked up on Hart’s sentiment, noting the changes that had occurred with herself and her peers over the span of five decades.

“I was amazed at how much nicer it is to be on campus without all that angst of a 20-yearold,” she said. “We’re all comfortable with ourselves now. When I was a student, I studied all the time. I was also an RA, so there were a lot of people I knew, but only peripherally.”

She said the Golden Scots Celebration provided the time to properly connect.

“I really loved it even more than Homecoming. It was really intimate with a lot of time to spend with classmates. And it was a great time to renew old friendships.”

It was also a great time to learn about new subjects, said Louise Pacholik ’73 of Palmyra, Wisconsin.

“I enjoyed so many of the programs, like the ‘Out of This World’ one (on the Vera C. Rubin Telescope with physics professor Michael Solontoi) and the one on wildfires (presented by Chuck Bushey ’73 of Billings, Montana),” she said. “And it was wonderful to tour the garden and farm.”

During his talk, Solontoi, who is part of the Chile-based telescope project, discussed how the 30-meter telescope, and others like it, serve as a time machine, of sorts, by enabling astronomers to see the universe as it was millions and billions of years ago.

Classics professor Bob Simmons also addressed the time traveler theme in his talk on the “immersive” experience he tries to create for Monmouth classics students through such things as the foods and materials of the time.

“When we recreate those experiences, that’s as close as we can come to what things were like in ancient Greece and Rome without a time machine,” he said.

Hart was also in a fraternity — Zeta Beta

Tau – while at Monmouth, and he said those Greek life memories were present for him during the weekend.

“This is my fourth or fifth time back, but my first time in 20 years,” he said Saturday afternoon. “I tell you what — yesterday, sitting in the lounge of the Manor House, which used

Golden Scots

to be our chapter house, I felt at home.

“Coming back to campus like this is one of the best things you can do in retirement,” he continued. “It’s really been remarkable to connect with classmates that I didn’t hang around with when I was a student.”

Although part of the College’s charm is that it hasn’t changed a great deal since he was a student, Hart was pleased that the progress that has been made was done intentionally.

“The growth of the campus is impressive,” he said. “The effort to keep new buildings aesthetically in keeping with the older ones. There’s no aluminum-glass monstrosity in the middle of campus.”

Pacholik was asked what she’d say to alumni considering coming back for the 2024 event.

“I decided to attend because I knew some of my friends were coming back, like Ann (Boley Parker ’73 of Colorado Springs, Colo., who led a program on playing bridge),” she said. “I haven’t been back in 10 years. Oh, my goodness, the size of it now and the new buildings. But hearing from the students (which she did at a presentation by Doc Kieft research participants), they still have that same spirit. It’s a great experience. The College does a great job.”

To read more about Golden Scots Celebration, see more than 2,000 photos and watch videos from the weekend’s events, go to monmouthcollege.edu/GoldenScots

’73, Gregory Parker ’73, Chuck Bushey ’73, Brian Kimmel ’76, Chuck Peter ’74, Ralph Whiteman ’52.

Left, middle, a campus tour pauses at the “Scots Spirit” statue. From left: Zenobia (Pugh) Jefferson ’73, David Bates ’63, Ross Hart ’73, Mike McGrath ’71, Nick Tucker ’73, Thomas Colclasure ’73, Judith (Guy) Casey ’78, College Historian Jeff Rankin and Linda Siebrandt ’80.

Bottom, far left, Cookie Wilkison and Terry Wilkison ’63 peruse editions of the Ravelings yearbook.

Bottom, middle, Kathleen (Clark) Kimmel ’78 and Brian Kimmel ’76 sample a wine during “Sippin’ with the Scots.”

Bottom, right, Janet (Link) Leonard ’63 and Robert Leonard dance during “Boogie Fever.”

On this page, class members from 1963, 1968, 1973 and 1978 take class photos for the Golden Scots Celebration.