The
music you are listening to now is
"A
Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.
Remarks by Class of 1958 President John R. Cannell
At the 45th Reunion Memorial Service
My message, and note the punctuation, is: Get to Know Your Classmates-Again- (Before It's Too Late).
Do you remember when we arrived on campus in the fall of 1954? We were given a book - I think it was called the Freshman Herald- which had the pictures and names and bios of our classmates, and we were told by someone- I don't remember who- that it was our job to study the book and learn to match the names with the faces so that we could greet our classmates by name on the way to class or in class or in commons, etc. And we actually did this . That was the first occasion on which we got to know our classmates.
Of course the real friendships we made and that endured were a function of those we got to know as roommates, clubmates, teammates and through other activities. These were the guys we naturally tended to hang around with.
And after we graduated, we barely had the time to stay in contact with that close circle of friends, much less expand the circle. We were concentrating on careers and family. If we did manage to get back for Reunions, to be frank it was to catch up with our old pals.
But as we have gotten older and have had more time, we have been able to get to more class events and to attend mini-Reunions, class dinners and the like and in the process we have gotten to "re-know" our classmates beyond the initial close circle. And- surprise- it turns out they are good to be with, smart (of course they're smart, they went to Princeton!), have had interesting careers and have a lot to offer.
My father used to say, when he got on in years, that he felt that he was on an island and every time one of his friends died it seemed as though the island got a little smaller. Of course, he didn't have a resource like the friendships of a great class like 1958. In fact, he didn't even go to college.
The point is that we have an opportunity to expand our circle of friends by getting to know our classmates better by attending mini-Reunions, class functions and the like if we will just make the effort. And in five years when we are attending a similar service at our 50th Reunion those of us who are still around and who have made the effort may actually be able to feel that that island my father spoke of has gotten bigger, rather than smaller, and that would be good. Thank you.