Christina Fawcett, Ann Hewitt, Cindi Bigelow and Lauren Baker (all '86)

1986

I am sorry that our class did not have an update in the last issue. My wife bought a new spam filter and had it on the highest setting: Kosher. Nothing gets through. I never received the announcement to get my update written and submitted. The school and I are working on a solution.

I want to thank everyone who participated in the class reunion. I think everyone had a good time. I know I did. I think what really came through to me over the weekend was the love and respect that our class had for each other. Some classmates keep in touch with each other every day or every week. Others only see people every five to 10 years. We all seemed to pick up right where we left off 20 years ago. My other takeaway from the event was how proud people were about the accomplishments of their family. This was a typical conversation: "Our little Suzie scored a goal in soccer. Billy is learning to play the piano. My spouse is involved in four different community projects."

"Gee, that's great."

"What about you?"

"Oh, not much. My startup just bought GE and I bought the Bahamas."

Cindi Bigelow and Todd Brachman (both '86)

Friday night was a casual pizza night at Carmen's. Sometimes it took a few minutes for classmates to recognize each other. The women had all lost weight and the men had found it. On many of the males, our hair had moved from the top of our heads to our ears. The time flew by and before you knew it, it was closing time. It was so unusual for our class to be at the bar at closing time.

On Saturday morning, a few of us attended the speech by Dean Jain. He kept saying he was lucky, but I don't think you head the world's No. 1 ranked business school for five years just through luck. He must know what he is doing. One of the interesting points he made during his talk was about the amount of money the alumni of various top ranked business schools donate on average. Kellogg alumni average donation is a little over $200 a year. Most of the other top schools average over $1,000 per year. Dean Jain would like to get us to increase our average. Business school is becoming like college football and basketball. You need to offer scholarships to the best students to get them to attend your school. Kellogg would like to be able to offer more scholarships. So, if you can, please donate a bit more.

Saturday afternoon we attended the picnic. They had decorated the tent with pictures from the face book from our first year. All of us are better looking now. Those pictures made it difficult to go back for seconds. One of our nameless classmates tried to pick up a very attractive security officer at the picnic. After the picnic, a few of us went on a tour of downtown Evanston. Wow, has it changed. This is not a sleepy little town anymore. The streets are filled with upscale shops and restaurants. For the record, Burger King and J.K. Sweets are still there. McDonald's and The Huddle are gone. Nicky Bullets no longer has a place to perform.

Saturday night, we had our class party at the Evanston Women's Club. Dean Wilson was nice enough to attend with his wife. Dean Jain attended briefly and then was off to talk to 10 other classes. Those attending the dinner had a good time. As somebody on the committee said, "You could put this class in an empty room and we would have a good time." The room had been arranged in tables of four, but once the food was served, we rearranged the tables into tables of 8 or 12 or 16. When the Women's Club closed, the party moved onto the Orrington Hotel. Unfortunately, there were not any corporate parties to attend, so we had to buy our own food and drink. Once again, we stayed until closing time and after a brief discuss about trying to catch last call on Division Street, we decided to say our almost final goodbyes.

Doug Allen, Cindi Bigelow, a daughter, Lori Samuels, Kelvin Walker, Tony Mann and Gordon Kane (all adults '86)

On Sunday morning, I represented our class on the 5k walk through campus and along the lakefront. It was a great way to spend time on a Sunday morning. Then we had the best meal of the weekend at the Allen Center. I had a full breakfast and was about to leave, when a new group of people arrived and I decided to stay for a second breakfast. It was a great weekend for all that attended one event or all of the events. I want to encourage all of you to think about coming in for the 25th Reunion.

I will close on a sad note. One of our classmates, Grace Garvin-Guthrie passed away on Nov. 24. Her husband Bruce and many other family members who are Northwestern graduates survive her. I did not know Grace well, but I remember her with a smile on her face and that she was one heck of a broomball player. She will be missed by many.