Alumni
Class of 1975 Reunion
Photo Gallery of the Reunion
Planning Group
Class of 1975 Reunion Planning group: Kevin Norberg, Judy Allison Berg, Kathy VanHooser Robertson, Susan Berglund Anderson Fred Ogimachi, David Hansen.
Hello, fellow alums. Homecoming Weekend was a blast!
From the campus workshops to the picnics, from the reunion program to the Homecoming football game (Bethel handily handed it to Hamline, 27–zip!), to the many planned events and unplanned moments through the extended weekend—Homecoming 2005 was a great time of renewal, reflection, and becoming reacquainted.
With total attendance representing more than 40 states from coast-to-coast, 77 of us from the Class of 1975 made the AMAZING RACE back to Bethel for the 2005 Reunion. That gave our class the distinction of having the largest group of alums in attendance! Cool beans, gang!
We celebrated our reunion with a fun evening together on Saturday, September 24. We kicked off with a reception at 5:45 p.m., and then joined the other classes at 7 p.m. in the gym for a delectable dinner. We returned to our room around 8:15 for the class program. Our theme: THE AMAZING RACE—celebrating the many milestones of our lives in the 30 years since graduation. The theme was a lot of fun—we decorated the room with travel posters, color balloons, luggage, yearbooks, and a mini hot-air balloon! Professor Dwaine Lind was our invited guest. While we chit-chatted, socialized, and sipped coffee and punch, a slideshow of current classmates and family photos looped on the video screen.
To complement the travel theme, our reunion committee chose a unique format for the program. Rather than the traditional—speaker, skits and songs, trivia games—we wanted the program to be all about our returning classmates. Why do we come to reunion? To talk, meet and greet, to catch up with old friends and make new ones.
So we designed a program that did just that: THE AMAZING RACE!
We shared together in five discussion groups, circles of about 15 each. In four 10-minute rounds, we took turns telling a story, a memory, or an impression from the scrapbooks of our lives: Bethel, family, lifework/career, and spiritual. The stories were about a minute long—funny and compelling, serious and sentimental. When each round was finished, everyone got up in a “mad-scramble” and moved to a new circle with new faces for a new topic with (of course) NEW STORIES. By the end of the program, we all had the opportunity to hear from just about everyone who attended, and to tell our own life stories.
There were anecdotes of legendary pranks and practical jokes, and compelling accounts of surviving cancer and divorce. We opened up, telling of personal and family triumphs, job and health disappointments, and spiritual highs and lows. We heard chronicles of overwhelming pain and grief, and tales of transcending hope. In short, each of us had the opportunity to recount our own Amazing Race in the 30 years since Bethel. It was fun, enlightening, and inspiring. Then we drew names for door prizes and gave away lots of cool Bethel “stuff!”
To conclude the evening, about 30 of us reconnected at Dee and Sande Traudt’s ANDY’S GARAGE café on University Avenue for sundaes and ice cream.
The entire reunion was a great reminder that life is full of ups and downs, pain and pleasure, happiness and tears. But sharing it with God, family, and friends makes it all worthwhile!
Please be sure to check out our online photo gallery from Reunion 2005.
Our thanks to the reunion committee (Sue Berglund Anderson, Judy Allison Berg, Kathy Van Hooser Robertson, Dave Hansen, Fred Ogimachi, and Kevin Norberg), and to Debbie Espeland and the Bethel alumni office for making the night a reverberating success!
Reunion and Homecoming remind us what Bethel University (College, for us!) is all about.
Bethel’s mission statement says: “Boldly informed and motivated by the Christian faith, Bethel University educates and energizes men and women for excellence in leadership, scholarship and service. Bethel prepares graduates to serve in strategic capacities to renew minds, live out biblical truth, transform culture and advance the gospel.”
When we were students in the 70s, many hundreds and thousands of alumni and friends of Bethel were there for us. They gave sacrificially to Bethel so that we would have the experiences and opportunities we enjoyed. Now many of us are benefiting from Bethel again: some of our own kids are attending, living the Bethel lifestyle, and making future alumni memories!
We have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the 2,900 current students on campus. Through Christ-centered programs, opportunities, and education in numerous choices of occupations, we’re reaching the world through the next Bethel generation. I’m not sure if you knew that tuition at Bethel covers only 85% of the annual expenses and that this year, $3.1 million is needed beyond tuition. Let’s continue to support Bethel University through our giving and touch hearts, shape minds, affect the culture and impact the world.
Finally, please remember to pray for the staff and students. It’s a tremendous encouragement to them to know that thousands of alums like us are sustaining the school through our giving as well as our prayers.
So, until we see each other again—Reunion 2010?—keep the faith, stay healthy, and prosper!
Everlastingly at it,
Kevin Norberg
Bethel Reunion Committee Chair
Class of 1975