It was a great day for nostalgia.
 
Alumni from the Classes of the 50s and 60s gathered for Coffee and Conversation on a Zoom call for nearly two hours, though it could have gone on for days. The call was filled with camaraderie, memories, questions and answers, stories, and plenty of laughter. 

Head of School Jonathan Brougham spoke to participating alumni about Hun and engaged in conversations about academics, community, COVID-19, athletics, Hun values, and visions for the future. Former Head of School James M. Byer ’62 and Former Faculty member Sandy Bing shared memories and spoke about the importance of relationships, and planning for the future of the school. 

Dr. Byer also commended Jon on his leadership, stating, “For those of you who haven’t been close to the school in the past few years, Jon has, I think, kept that great balance of academics, athletics, and arts that most, if not all of us, experienced. Also, if you haven’t been back on campus, the facilities are remarkably accommodating. There has always been the philosophy that you build buildings and you create facilities that are a backdrop for the education of the students and for the welfare of the students and I think that’s terrific. You don’t build buildings to just look good; you build buildings to facilitate the education.”

Former Trustee Tom Horwich ’59 shared this fond memory: “Eddie Bamman, former faculty member, had an apartment on the second floor of Russell. After dinner, he would play classical music so we could go in his room and listen to classical music for about fifteen minutes before study hall. So, I didn’t know from beans about classical music, but we needed something to do, so I would go in his room and listen to this classical music, and I guess he figured I was interested.”

“He, Gerry Donaldson, and Charlie Caddock eventually invited me to go to a concert that was given by the Philadelphia Orchestra in Princeton. I didn’t know what this was all about—all these guys were jammed together on the stage.  And I can tell you that I fell in love with classical music and to this day, since I’m married, my wife and I have had symphony tickets to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and we go to the Ravinia's Festival, which is right near where we live, which is one of the great summer festivals in the United States. So, that was a real blessing from The Hun School that I learned to love classical music.”

Truck Worthington ’65 had a memory for Sandy Bing, “Do you remember when I set the biology lab on fire? One of the things they had when I was there was called the histological techniques club. I was a member of that. We were making slides of various plants and things and part of the process at the end was to take a blow torch to sear the surface of the paraffin block. I got a little excited with that and set the paraffin block on top of the fire, grabbed the towel, and smacked it and of course that sent the fire everywhere in the lab. And it went downhill from there.”

Director of Advancement, Alexis Brock jumped in and shared with the group that Hun has since renovated that lab. “The School is in the midst of a really impressive renovation of the science labs with four new labs and dedicated collaboration space ready in January/February 2021, with a renovated theater/center for performing arts that will be ready in April/May 2021.”

All told, the conversations proved how much Hun means to alumni and how the relationships formed at Hun remain lifelong. 

They even asked to do it all again!