Mount Greylock's First Graduating Class Returning for 60th Reunion
A newspaper clipping provided by Caroline Martel promotes the Mount Greylock Class of 1962's class play, 'Our Town.'
"We had brunch there on Sunday in the cafeteria," Caroline George Martel recalled recently. "Some people hadn't even seen the new addition. We didn't have seventh and eighth grade there when I went there."
When Martel and members of the class of 1962 talk about the "new" addition, they mean the wing added in 1968.
Although portions of the original 1960 structure remain — notably the gymnasium and auditorium — most of Mount Greylock's original academic space was torn down during an addition/renovation project that welcomed students in the fall of 2018.
In mid-September, the school's first graduating class will gather for its 60th reunion — nearly 10 years to the day after that brunch to mark the 50th anniversary.
In 2012, the class held a banquet at the Williams Inn — another Williamstown institution that doesn't exist anymore — on Saturday night.
"This one is going to be a little more casual," Martel said of the Sept. 17 gathering. "It's going to be at the Waubeeka Golf Links with a social hour at 4 and dinner at 5. We're doing it early so people can drive home."
The school also has offered to give attendees at this year's reunion a tour of the new Mount Greylock while they are in town for the reunion, she said.
Martel served on the organizing committee for the 50th and again this summer is tracking down old classmates and inviting them to come celebrate their history and a significant moment in the histories of Lanesborugh and Williamstown.
"We don't do a Facebook page," Martel said of the organizing effort. "Quite a few of us don't have it. We have 11 members who don't do email even, so we have to send their invitations on paper.
"We didn't grow up with a computer."
Early responses were encouraging. In early August, Martel reported having heard from 13 of her classmates. "Not too bad, considering I just sent it out last week," she said.
Organizers are planning on a crowd of about 42 at Saturday's dinner, including, they expect, many out-of-towners who might be making their first trip to the Berkshires since the 50th reunion.
Martel, who lives in nearby Pownal, Vt., is one alumna who has been able to keep close ties with her alma mater.
"Our class gives a scholarship every year for a graduating senior and we show up to give it out on Class Night," she said. "We've been doing that since 2012. They try to alternate — giving it to a Lanesborough resident one year and a Williamstown resident the next. We rely on the guidance department to help with that.
"The young lady who got it this year is going to Russell Sage College. We got to meet her and her parents that night, which is nice for us."
Although milestone reunions are one way to preserve connections to the rest of the class, Martel said there also have been less formal gatherings over the years.
"We get together with people in the area whenever they're traveling and want to meet for lunch," she said. "I have someone coming from San Jose next week. She's only been to one reunion. We probably haven't seen her for 30 years. Her husband graduated from Hoosac Valley, and they're coming for his [reunion].
"We did the 55th reunion five years ago. In between, we lost 10 members. It's hard, because you lose people in between. We say this one is going to be it because it is a lot of work."
Tags: class reunion, MGRS,
