Junior Reunion
Holyoke Junior College Reunion set for Wed., June 5
Holyoke Community College is putting out a call to all alumni who graduated from Holyoke Junior College between 1947 and 1964 to attend a special reunion celebration later this spring at the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute.
The first-ever reunion event for graduates of Holyoke Junior College, the forerunner of HCC, will be held Wednesday, June 5, from 3-6 p.m., at the culinary arts institute on Race Street.
Founded in 1946 as Holyoke Graduate School, the name was changed to Holyoke Junior College in April 1947. After HJC joined the state's community college system in 1964, the name was changed yet again to Holyoke Community College, which was then located downtown on Sergeant Street and Pine Street in the former Holyoke High School building, which burned down in 1968.
"This is a time for our oldest alumni to meet our new leader, President George Timmons, catch up with classmates, and reminisce about the good old days," said Julie Phillips, HCC director of development.
"I'm getting older, and there are people I miss because they live far away," said Angela Wright, a graduate of Holyoke Junior College from the Class of 1954 and a member of the reunion planning committee. "You don't often have a chance to catch up with classmates from your school. I don't know how many of us are left. I'd be thrilled to see them and just chat."
Also on the reunion planning committee are alumni Maurice Ferriter '52, Barbara Meckel '54, Francis Kane '56, Carl Eger '56, Pat Bresnahan '57, Peg Wendlandt '58, Jim Izatt '59, and Michael "Richie" Sobon '64.
"Holyoke Junior College was very good to me," Kane said recently at a reunion planning meeting. "I was young. Coming out of high school, I didn't know where I was going to go. I went to Holyoke Junior College, which set me on my pace. I came back to the college in the early '70s to serve on the Board of Trustees under President David Bartley, and I've been there ever since. It's been wonderful to me. I've made a lot of friends, and I'd like to see who's left from my class."
For more information about the event or to secure your spot for the reunion, please contact John Sieracki at jsieracki@hcc.edu / 413-687-0322.
PHOTOS: Holyoke Junior College alumni Francis Kane '56, left, and Angela Wright '54 enjoy their desserts after a recent reunion planning committee meeting at the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Insitute.
