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As we remember
it, however, none of us were very flush with money
in those days -- perhaps a few of us were -- but our
5th Year Reunion costumes certainly
reflected the fact that we were just starting out
in life.
To stand
out from the rest of the motley crowd, we wore cheap
"Made in Japan" equally motley red plastic
firemen's hats (In those days, Japan was just recovering
from WWII and was into making all of the real cheap
"Made in China" stuff we see today) .. Augmenting
our sartorial efforts, we also sported about collectively
in plain white Tee Shirts and that was it! . . Our
"costume" in 1954 dollars cost us a big
$1.75! Hat and Tee Shirt! No one was asked to do so,
but you can already see the "synergism"
that has sparked '44 through the years ...
A goodly
number of us went whole hog on their own and went
out and bought and then wore fireman RED
SUSPENDERS throughout the weekend!
. . Weren't we something else?
Looking
at the group photo at our first "turnout"
it's also easy to detect the extreme youth of all
of us. After all, we were every bit of 25 years old
... and a few of us were even as old as 27! ... The
important thing: we all survived World War II.
Check me
if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember that they sacked
us in the nearby Men's dormitories – Mennen
and the like . . Just a bit downhill . . If I'm wrong,
tell Art about it so that he can make a correction
here. . . Having to walk up and down that steep slope
didn't faze any of us at the time . . Today, it would
be another matter.. . .
There were
few, if any, complaints from anyone, particularly
since we did most of our socializing in our small
tent that was pitched right on the same Library slope.
We were into quarter kegs in those days and we had
a tapped one in our tent at all times; the University
might have given us some souvenir mugs at the time
So, bed and beer were quite close together and for
some, that was a good thing.
Don't ask
me about the 1949 Reunion Program
or what Cornell did for us in the way of morning and
afternoon "entertainment." Art will research
this with Alumni Affairs and if that office can come
up with some '49 Reunion details you'll see them here.
Lastly,
if you can share several of your black & white
5th Reunion snapshots with the rest
of us please send them along to Art at 1 Crestwood
Road, Westport, CT 06880 . . Caption them on the back
or attack the caption on a stick on note . . Art will
scan them and return them to you promptly.
I'm writing
this with our repeat 60th! –
Reunion just ahead of us . . It's hard to believe
54 years have flown by in the interim.
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