RIC Alumni Reunite for Golden Years Luncheon

The past and present converged on June 11 when more than 100 RIC graduates from the Classes of 1933-1961 gathered for the second annual Golden Years Reunion Luncheon sponsored by the RIC Alumni Association. 

Greetings were given by Director of Alumni Affairs Suzy Alba and by RIC Interim President Clark Greene. Also in attendance was RIC President Emeritus John Nazarian ’54. Current students acted as hosts and servers, and musical theatre students provided entertainment.

Besides sharing a meal and conversation, alumni shared memories of their “golden years” at RIC. The oldest alumna at the event, 97-year-old Rosalyn Smith McCoy, Class of 1940, described her class as “the great middle class.” “Everyone’s morals were good,” she said. “They reflected that time in our history. They reflected the way people were brought up. And for that reason I never wanted to lose touch with my classmates.”

Maynard Shusman, 94, who shared a table with McCoy, recalled how men were a rarity in RICE’s early history. A member of the Class of 1943, Shusman said, “There were only 10 or 12 men in my class. We formed a men’s-only club, where we’d smoke and talk about weighty subjects.”

“We all volunteered to enlist during World War II,” he added. “We were shipped out three months before graduation and we earned our degrees without being on campus.” After the war, Shusman earned a second degree in dentistry, opening a private practice in Bristol. 

“Right before the men left for the war, I performed with some of them in a stage play called ‘The Admirable Crichton,’ by J.M. Barrie [1902],” said McCoy. “I played the love interest of two of the characters. When we were on stage, we didn’t have any idea that we were going to lose all those men. One fellow was killed and two others became priests.”

Yet women had their own unique challenges during that era, said Janice Polke Johnson, Class of 1955. Her mother graduated from RICE in 1917 and her grandmother graduated in the 1800s when RIC was still called the Rhode Island Normal School.

“Back then there were not many career choices for women,” said Polke Johnson. “If you were a woman you were either a teacher, a secretary or a nurse. But if you wanted to be a teacher, there was no better education than an education at RICE. Once we were out in the work world, female teachers who got married or pregnant were no longer allowed to teach. When I was three months pregnant, they told me I had to stop teaching. That was in the 60s. I guess they didn’t want schoolchildren to see their teacher pregnant. You can see, now, how women have come a long way.”

Upon the conclusion of the luncheon, Alba remarked on the rich history held in the memories of RIC alumni. “They are the visible link between the past and the present,” she said. “They reflect RIC’s early beginnings, rooted in education. Many became teachers and administrators, making a difference in the lives of thousands of Rhode Islanders. That is quite a legacy.”

Click here for more photos from the Golden Years Reunion Luncheon.