Alumni Weekend 2019

Campus played host to over 1100 people from 41 states—and countries as far away as India, Kenya, England, and Sweden—for dinners, panel discussions, readings, parties, and reunions with old friends.

Forget the holiday season, the most wonderful time of the year on campus might be Alumni Weekend, when Haverford welcomes back hundreds of Fords for three spring days of reminiscing about the past and making new memories. Last weekend, campus hosted over 1100 people from 41 states—and countries as far away as India, Kenya, England, and Sweden—for dinners, panel discussions, readings, parties, and general good times with old friends.

Though the schedule of events included the traditional class dinners and parties and the annual Family Fun Fair (for the littlest Fords), unique events at this year’s reunion included two book readings and signings with Rich Lederer ’59 (The Joy of Names) and Dave Barry ’69 (Lessons From Lucy), a tree dedication in honor of longtime employee (and founder of the Haverford Women*s Center) the late Marilou Allen, and a discussion on “Haverford Values in the
Real World” led by President Kim Benston (who was presiding over his last Alumni Weekend as College president).

Alumni Awards recipients received their honors Saturday morning in Stokes Auditorium. Bill Harris ’49 received the Kannerstein Award, Robert Riordan ’64 the Haverford Award, Ed Helme ’69 P’10 and Rick DeJesus-Rueff ’75 the Distinguished Achievement Award, Adem Bunkeddeko ’09 and Jake Weisenthal ’13 the Young Alumni Award, Tal Alter ’98 the Forman Award, Rashidah Andrews ’02 the Kaye Award, Adam Care ’09 the Perry Award, Frank Lyman ’59 the Sheppard Award, Pat Welch, 3rd ’74 the MacIntosh Award, and Sandra Johnson the Friend of Haverford College Award.

The new tradition of the All-Alumni Music and Food Truck Festival continued on Saturday afternoon on Founders green as Dingo (featuring James Pabarue ’72, Robert Sandhaus ’71, Robert Schnaars, Michael Stehney ’71, and David Yager ’71–72) , the Shameless Impersonators (featuring Ken Edgar ’69, Jim Bower ’69, Chris Lane ’69, Jim Keen ’68, and David Yager ’71–72), and the Barrel Fires (featuring Jay Carlis ’99, Josh Meyer ’98, Michael Kay ’00, and David Rodbart) provided a soundtrack to enjoy eats from several food local food trucks.

It’s never too early to mark your calendars for next year’s festivities. Alumni Weekend 2020 will celebrate classes ending in 0s and 5s from May 29-31. See you there?

 

Watch Dave Barry’s talk in its entirety:

 

Photos by Dex Coen Gilbert ’21, Ruiming Li ’22, and Cole Sansom ’19.