alumni journey from far and near to alma mater

Javier Carrizo ’78 may get the prize for traveling the farthest to Alumni Weekend ’03. He made the trek from Panama.

But, he wasn’t alone in his journey to alma mater. The class of 1978 alone had participants from Washington, California, Idaho, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Maryland, North Carolina in addition to the Midwest’s Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa.

It was a weekend of renewing friendships, honoring fellow alumni, remembering the “good ole days,” and, as one alumnus put it, wondering why so many people had changed when “I look the same!”

The hotels and motels of Ripon, Green Lake and beyond were full of Ripon alumni, to say nothing of the college’s residence halls where more than 150 took up occupancy for a day or two.

Wherever you went — whether it was the city’s Jazz Fest on Watson Street or Lawsonia Golf Course along Green Lake or the shops of nearby Princeton — there were Ripon alumni gathered.

The annual “That Was Then” session where alumni spill all their secrets of days on campus found references to Siberia, Lyle Hall, borrowing jewelry, studying poetry, being a waiter, dining in Great Hall, the barracks and sleeping on a screened porch at Alpha.

The memories also recalled Ver Adest, Wa Mu at Northwestern, walking instead of driving because cars were forbidden, Dawes Cottage, playing cards, bottle rockets in the dormitories, jumping off Scott Hall into the snow, traying and family-style meals.

Alumni Weekend also welcomed David C. Joyce and his wife, Lynne, to campus and the presidency. Joyce, who had been in Ripon for four days, told the more than 200 at the awards dinner that among the reasons he was attracted to Ripon was “its reputation that far exceeds expectations. There is the reputation of the faculty and the reputation of the alumni. I am pleased to be a part an unbelievable tradition.”

Joyce also told the gathering that their relationship with the college continues to be important. “You as alumni are shareholders of the College. Alma mater means ‘foster mother.’ Ripon College has nurtured you. Now it is time for you to nurture alma mater.”

The Sunday conclusion to Alumni Weekend offered a service of remembrance for those who had died since the last class reunion as well as those who have been killed in war.

The final “celebration breakfast” recalled the fund-raising success of the last year and presentation of the reunion year class gifts which ranged from $5,136 from the class of 1998 to $176,000 from 77 percent of the class of 1953 to $615,548 from the class of 1967.

In all, it was a weekend to remember and truly everything led to Ripon. r