The Class Memorial Service Completes the Reunion

The Memorial Service, held on the Sunday morning of Reunion weekend, was moving and evocative, according to many of the 60-ish classmates who attended. Most everyone said this one was deeply moving, in large part due to the magnificent singing of our own Dick Williams.

Good news: we have high quality recordings and pictures of the event; check it out — see below.

The Memorial Service was first introduced by Ron Netter and me John Nelson a few reunions ago.  It is organized around a short non-denominational religious service and ends with reading of names of those who have departed during the last five years.  A bell tolls for each name read.  Anyone wishing to share a memory about our classmate may speak up at the tolling of the bell.  For this reunion, our beloved John Nelson rang the bell.  John himself passed away on February 5th, knowing at the service that his own time was growing short.  John’s devotion to us, his classmates, both living and deceased, was of the highest order.  We will miss his fierce dedication to life.

After opening the service with some Bach preludes and some poignant words from our own Rev. J. Douglas Ousley, Dick Willliams presented Panis Angelicus (“Bread of Angels”),  a eucharistic hymn from “Sacris Solemiis” by St. Thomas Acquinus.  (more, Wikipedia)

Doug Ousley and John Nelson then led the recitation of names, which you can read in the Memorial Service Program, copied here.

Thereafter, Dick sang El Malei Rachamin (Merciful God), a Jewish prayer for the soul of a person who has died, usually recited at the graveside during the burial service and at memorial services during the year. (more, from Wikipedia)

At the conclusion of the service, which also concluded our 50th Reunion, we walked out into the bright New Haven sunshine, having paid our respects both to the classmates who no longer are with us and implicitly to the institution that brought us together, first in September 1965 and then again in May 2019. No one had to say it, but we all felt we were a bit more welded to each other. The thoughtful efforts of Ron, Doug, Dick and John filled us with immense gratitude and also instilled in us a sense of peace for the future.