Vassar Quarterly - Summer 2018 - 50

Vassar's class of 1970 celebrating 50 years of friendship in Chatham, NY. Clockwise from left: Mimi Wesson,
Barbara Gerson, Karen Ward, Dorothy Muller, Katie Martin Sheppard, Mel Lockhart, Sudi Cleaver, Susie Frelich
Appleton, and Barbara rovin.

Nine Pals from Jewett
In September 1966, having bid goodbye to our parents, a group of fresh-faced and nervous Vassar
freshmen donned our pajamas and gathered in the living room of Jewett House. There, we were
welcomed and given the lay of the land-and the many house rules-by Jewett's House President.
Four years later, wearing white armbands and peace symbols on our graduation caps, we would
listen to the words of Gloria Steinem as we accepted our diplomas.
The years 1966 through 1970 would be transformational for this group as well as for Vassar and
the larger world. In the early years, we had "dinner attire" and demitasse, and modeled outfits to
wear to Yale for the weekend. And in the later years-there was the March on Washington to protest
"the war," the dreaded draft lottery, black power, awakening feminism, Kent State, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. From the Beatles to Woodstock; from so many
rules to-it seemed-almost no rules; from entering an all-women's college to graduating on the very
eve of its coeducation; from getting engaged to be married to being engaged in the world-it was an
amazing time for a young woman to come of age at Vassar!
Some of the freshmen entering in 1966 would be the first to live all four years in Jewett House.
Main Building (where most seniors were housed) had become overcrowded, so we were given the
option of remaining in Jewett. The nine of us stayed: Barbara Gerson, Barbara Rovin, Mimi Wesson,
Mel Lockhart, Katie Martin Sheppard, Dorothy Muller, Sudi Cleaver, Susie Frelich Appleton, and me.
After graduation in 1970, we dispersed, embarking on our separate lives. But we managed to stay in
touch through a loose pattern of communication, visits, weddings, and individual get-togethers. The
pattern became a plan shortly after we reconnected at Vassar during our 25th reunion in 1995. The
plan was to gather each year for a weekend or longer, someplace where we could connect, reflect on
our lives, and drink some wine.
50

SuMMEr 2018

And so we have for nearly 25 years!
We have usually met at one of our
homes, bringing us together in
Atlanta and Statesboro, GA; St. Louis;
Michigan City, IN; Boulder; Chicago;
Boston; Arlington, VA; and Dobbs
Ferry and Irvington, NY. A few times
we have ventured to other places to
rent a house (New Orleans, Nashville,
and St. Mary's, GA) or to take over a
B&B in Marble Head and on Maryland's Eastern Shore. One year we
gathered at Alumnae House. Sharing
time together in each other's homes
and communities, we have been able
to enter the spaces and places of each
other's lives as we moved from early
middle age to (gulp!) senior status.
Wherever we have gathered, we
have shared our stories: of career
triumphs and disappointments;
financial successes and distresses;
marriages, divorces, re-marriages;
the joys, challenges, and sometimes
heartbreak of raising children; and
the delight of grandchildren. We have
talked and talked and talked-about
our causes and values, about work
and new adventures and relationships, about life-threatening
illnesses, about loss, moves, retirement, aging, and, always, politics!
In September of 2016, we gathered
at Ten Broeck, Dorothy's Chatham,
NY, home, where we celebrated the
50-year anniversary of our meeting
in September 1966. It was a glorious
tribute to five decades of friendship!
Last year, Sudi hosted us in her
beloved Little Compton, RI. As always,
there was laughter, tears, and wine-
perhaps a little more of the latter as
we processed the election of 2016!
As we reach the age of 70, we are,
the lot of us, what many call "strong
women." But not always, and not all at
once. In those moments when we
have not been strong, each of us has
had a chain of support and love from
eight other women. Those women are
the girls we met at Jewett House on a
Sunday evening in 1966 on our very
first day of college. -Karen Ward '70

Courtesy of Karen Ward

THE VASSAR DIASPORA



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vassar Quarterly - Summer 2018

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