A toast to the newest Golden Eagles! Rose Lincoln Photo

Reunion started for us June 1 at midday. It was the first and, perhaps for many, the most significant event of the weekend — induction into the Order of the Golden Eagles. Okay, that may sound a bit pretentious. What happened was each of us got a pin presented by the president of BC, William P. Leahy, SJ. We also got a hat.

And we met a lot of old, and sometimes new, friends. Over the past several months, in working on this blog, I had made the email acquaintance of several classmates I did not know previously and it was a great pleasure to meet them personally.

Here is a video from the event, as well as the evening dinner on the Campus Green. It is just over 16 minutes long. I edited it not so much for brevity but to include as many classmates as possible. I do not identify anyone in the video. I could have, but only for a minority, so I felt it was better to let you recognize yourselves. If you have a question about a particular person, contact me and maybe we can figure it out. (If you click on “BC50 Day1” at upper left, the video will open in YouTube.) There are also galleries of photos from the events of Day 1 further down.

I and my BC bowtie became a Twitter micro-sensation when the social media manager for BC’s Advancement Communications and Marketing sent out this tweet from the investiture ceremony.

I also had the unexpected and very enjoyable opportunity to reconnect two classmates who met each other after graduation while both were in the Navy, but who had not been in contact with each other since 1969-70.

Maureen Burke. Rose Lincoln Photo

Early on at the investiture, when people were milling about, I overheard someone mention that a classmate, Maureen Burke, lived in Northern California. As a Southern Californian, I decided to say hello to a fellow resident of the Golden State. After introducing ourselves, Maureen said she had lived in Sunnyvale, Cal., for 45 years. And then she added, “After BC, I was a Navy nurse. Stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, 1969.” I replied, “I was in Norfolk in 1969.” “What ship?,” she asked. “USS Biddle,” I answered. She seemed a little startled at that. “I knew someone on the Biddle,” she said. “His name was Steve.” “Curran?,” I asked. “I think so,” she said. Then I said, “He’s here!”

Steve Curran

(Steve and I had not known each other at BC. But we ended up on the same Navy ship less than a year after graduation. We would be friends now anyway because we had been shipmates, but the BC connection has added to the bond.)

I quickly found Steve and told him that Maureen Burke . . . Norfolk 1969 . . . was at the reunion. And I then hustled him over to see her. They had met each other in Norfolk, likely, as Maureen remembers, at the Officers Club.

“It was a wonderful highlight of my reunion that I got to see and talk to Steve,” Maureen said in a recent email. “It was a difficult time in those years and it was wonderful and comforting to have someone whom you could depend on to be a good friend.” In a similar email, Steve said, “Maureen went ‘above and beyond the call of duty.’ She was kind enough to introduce me to a Navy physical therapist she worked with at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. I proceeded to date that lovely PT while I was stationed in Norfolk. So Maureen played the role of ‘match-maker’ for a lonely Naval Officer in Norfolk. What more could I expect from a fellow Eagle?”

I’m sure there were several such serendipitous “reunions” at the reunion. If you were connected to any, please share.

Here is a gallery of photos from the investiture. It’s an automatic slideshow, advancing each 10 seconds, or you can click on it to move ahead.

Following the investiture luncheon, people split up to attend several afternoon activities. Newton alumnae went for a tour of the McMullen Museum of Art, which is located in the Brighton Campus building that formerly served as the residence of the Archbishop of Boston.

A lot of classmates climbed onto BC shuttle buses for a tour of the Chestnut Hill and Brighton campuses. This bus carried an exhortation with which all of us would agree.

Following the bus tour, many classmates attended a session on BC history — “10 Things You Didn’t Know about Boston College” — offered by James O’Toole ’72, PhD’87, Professor and Charles I. Clough Millennium Chair in History. There are photos from that event in the video.

Classmates from the Woods College of Advancing Studies (the Evening College when we were students) attended a reception on the lawn at St. Mary’s late in the afternoon. And all classes attended the Alumni Welcome Dinner — “A Taste of New England” — on the Campus Green (the “dustbowl”). There are scenes from the dinner in the video and here is a gallery of additional photos from the dinner.

Okay, how many of you attended “Late Night,” 11 pm-2 am, held in Corcoran Commons? Send pictures! 

Next installment will be about Day 2 — a full and active day.