Our overall Class theme for the event is “Old Yale”, composed of three elements: 1) reacquainting with the other Oldest Runners; i.e. each other; 2) reliving elements of the Yale that we experienced 65 years ago, 3) remembering the august and storied Yale that we inherited when we got there in 1956.

We start Thursday afternoon at the Peabody Museum_[2], one of the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world, and which houses the oldest of all Yale: the dinosaurs and the celebrated and redone Age of Reptiles mural. We will have a curated guide shortly after Museum closing at 5:30, then a reception in the Great Hall (which we have reserved for the whole evening), and a dinner there themed by our classmate Dan Horowitz, historian and professor at Smith, who penned, inter alia, a history of our Class in his “On the Cusp” in 2015.

After Yale programming and lunch on Friday, we go to the famed and newly reopened Yale Center for British Art, in J.E.’s own back yard, for a special tour and discussion by the Acting Director Richard Brodhead, former Dean of Yale College and President of Duke, and our own John Wilkinson, another former Dean of Yale College, Secretary of the University, and other Yale offices.

At mid-afternoon we stroll over for a special tour for our Class of the impressively renovated Yale Library, including its Digital Lab, the Gilmore Music library, manuscripts and artifacts (Old Yale!) gathered especially for viewing by our Class, the Hanke Exhibition Gallery, and the reopened Linonia and Brothers Reading Room. We will meet Chief Librarian Barbara Rockenbach and enjoy a reception at the library.

Back at JE, our guest and dinner speaker on Friday will be David Richards (Yale BA, Law School JD), historian of almost everything Yale and author of “The History of the Yale Library” and “Skull and Keys.”

Saturday afternoon, between YAA programming and the Yale Presidential update and traditional Celebration of Singing at Woolsey Hall, we will have our Class Memorial Service at the Giamatti Bench, officiated by John Wilkinson, followed by our own reception at JE and our Class Dinner program.

More excellent news: The Class Treasurer informs us that we are likely to have enough money in the Class account to cover the costs, including drinks and meals, of this fabulous event!

Chuck Schmitz
Reunion Chairman
charles.schmitz@icloud.com