By Geri Mola, April 18, 2019 — This was my 50th class reunion for Montclair University, and I was going to be honored. I was very active in college. When you leave college, unfortunately, you don’t stay as close [to] those people, as you do with your high school friends. I graduated in 1960. I felt a tie there but never went back. I got a letter from Montclair saying that they wanted to provide the 1960 graduates with a dinner to honor us, and they wanted us to lead the 2010 commencement ceremony.
I had gone the night before to the dinner. I was an officer for my senior class, so I had to make a presentation and introduce all of the attendees. It was a nice experience. I saw a lot of people that I had not seen since 1960. I found out that only 20 people were going back the next day for the ceremony. I thought about not going, but I already had saved the date and decided that I would just go. It was at the Meadowlands. There was a special room for the class of 1960, filled with food, and they had caps and gowns for each of us.
It came time for us to line up. We were right behind the students carrying the flag, so we were leading the whole line. I had no idea that it was going to be such a big deal. They made such a big fuss over the class of 1960. When we walked out into the stadium, we got so much applause. The graduation music started playing, it was so emotionally moving. Your mother kept asking me if she should come, but I kept saying no because I did not think that this was going to be such a big deal. Nobody was there, not my daughters, or my husband. It was so thrilling, and I am sorry that nobody was there to share the experience with me.