As the classes begin to gather at Alfred for the 2009 Reunion weekend there is a group of alumna nurses that preceded this date for their very own special 51^st  reunion. The 13 members of the AU nursing class of 1957 gathered at the home of David (58) and Claire Wilcox (57) in Sun Lakes, Arizona for four days in late April. It was a dedicated group that arrived from 10 different states and landed all within a few hours of each other in the Phoenix airport.

The activities included a visit to the Botanical Gardens and a Chihuly Glass Exhibit, a lunch in Tortilla Flats along the Apache Trail (known for prickly pear ice cream) , a steamboat ride on the resevoiur, a dinner at a country club and lots of time for talking, renewing, planning and picture taking.

   This class is especially close and has tried to gather every 2-3 years for the past 30 years so this was an outstanding event to have all of the surviving 1957 nursing class together.  The dinner was the culmination of our weekend. There were 18 who graduated and the five who are missing were remembered many times and officially at our dinner with special words by Sandra Lydahl. We sang many times together as student nurses and relived this custom by singing a special blessing led by Pastor Ted Gault (Carol’s husband) and had the benediction by Bruce Boulton (‘58).

 Those attending were: Lois Ann Judson Beckwith, Ann Hopkins Boulton, Carol Heidtman Gault, Carol Miller Lasher, Sandra Ballman Lydahl, Ruth Purple Miller, Sue Olsen Mittelstaedt, Lucyanne Ellsworth Nolan, Niki Matsui Takata, Grace Hotaling Talada, Claire Forbes Wilcox (Tinker), and Pat Kirk Wolverton.

  Those remembered: Nancy Jackson Wade; Carla Whetmore Miller, Elizabeth Brower Kish, Shirley Wilson Krinsky, Marilyn Butts Bardsley

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