country regrouped for 50-Year Reunion festivities May 15-17.
Alumni Association officials welcoming them back to campus
included Terri Moses ’80/90, incoming president, and Brad
Beets ’87, director.
Nineteen hundred fifty-three was the year that President Truman announced the development of the hydrogen bomb, the year Arthur Miller’s critique of McCarthyism, The Crucible, captivated audiences, the year that baseball legend and war hero Ted Williams escaped uninjured when his plane was shot down in Korea — and the year members of the University of Wichita’s senior class earned their college degrees.
Some of these former Shocker classmates regrouped May 15-17 for 50-Year Reunion festivities.
Reunion highlights included a welcome reception at the university’s Ulrich Museum of Art, joining Class of 2003 members in commencement ceremonies held at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex and relaxing — and reminiscing — during a class brunch at the Woodman Alumni Center.
during the 50-Year Club Lunch-
eon at the Rhatigan Student
Center. Addressing the crowd
on behalf of the class was
Duane Smith ’53.
One especially noteworthy event was the 50-Year Club Luncheon at the Rhatigan Student Center, where participating members of the Class of 1953 were inducted into the university’s 50-Year Club and presented commemorative medallions by WSU President Don Beggs and WSU Alumni Association Executive Director Brad Beets ’87.
Duane Smith spoke on behalf of the class and gave special recognition to several of his former WU classmates: Don Maurer of Branson, Mo., was recognized for having the most grandchildren (16), while Dick Hoover of Wichita was noted for having the most great-grandchildren (four).
Bill Thomson, on piano, and Tom Fowler, on saxophone, both WSU School of Music professors, provided music for the occasion. And at the close of the luncheon, WSU First Lady Shirley Beggs led honored guests and other attendees in singing the Shocker alma mater.
Attending the reunion were Shockers from California, Ohio, Colorado and Kansas, among other locales.
Those returning to campus included Don Hofmann of Monterey, Calif., Evelyn (Brown) Howard of Colorado Springs, Colo., Robert Jardine of Bartlesville, Okla., Joe Rochford of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dan Carney, Virginia (Whitaker) Burdge, Charles Stansifer and Duane and Pat (Wilkinson) Smith, all of Wichita.
