Glenn Strachan

As the “significant other” of a graduate from your class I did not know what to truly expect by attending this event. I did have concerns that I might be greeted by blank stares as people tried to remember me, in vain, until I freed them of that burden by explaining that I am with Holley Stewart. The reality of the event, for me anyway, was that it will serve as a lifelong memory. Aside from meeting so many nice people, it provided me with a window into the life of Holley which I was not part of 25-29 years ago. More than one of Holley’s classmates told me about her beautiful long fiery red mane bouncing on her back as she walked through campus. I had an opportunity to visit the Loeb Theatre and see where Holley devoted many hours as she entered her first career as an actress. It is unlikely that I will ever have the pleasure that many of you had so many years ago – seeing Holley act. The entire time for me was a combination of a marathon and a string of joyous interactions until the final moment when we climbed into a car and were driven to the Charles Hotel. As an “outsider” to this event I didn’t have to concern myself with whether I had met the expectations that one must feel as a graduate of Harvard. What I did notice from reading the entire Red Book is that many of you came to Harvard with exceedingly high expectations of yourself and over the past 25 years learned what was truly important in life – family, health and happiness. The web based survey seemed to indicate that some of you were able to learn the important lessons of life and still make a whole lot of money. But what I learned most during this event is that the 25th anniversary is much less about “impressing” people than it is about the renewal of long lost friendships and trying to reconnect with those people who were most important to you not only on the day you left school, but the years leading up to graduation. You were the “best and brightest” when you all descended upon the Harvard campus during the last days of summer in 1979. You are still the “best and brightest” in 2008. Thank you to those who made this event such a good time for me. I want to especially thank the members of Semisonic for singing “Closing Time” since I will always connect that song with this reunion event.