Painters and gardeners swept through campus last week, beautifying fair Harvard for returning alumni.

For the University, the investment will yield a substantial return of cash donations. But for the alums themselves, the hydro-seeded grass and freshly painted walls are likely to be just the background for far more important experiences.

For all its academic prestige and extracurricular excitement, returning to Harvard for many in the class of'67 is a chance to see old friends.

Common interests and close living quarters seemed to characterize memorable relationships for most class members contacted last week.

But two classmates say their friendship has grown closer as they grew farther apart.

Twenty-five years ago, they seemed to be the classic college odd couple. William H. Vanderbilt '67 was the jock. John P. Bihldorff '67 was the mathematician. Vanderbilt was captain of several sports teams. Bihldorff was president of the Glee Club. "He couldn't sing a note," Bihldorff laughs about Vanderbilt.

But a closer look at their childhoods, their educations--even their Saturday night dates--shows that perhaps the two friends were not such complete opposites after all. The two met in the fifth grade, attended Milton Academy together and shared a suite in Wigglesworth Hall.

"I think we were very similar," says Bihldorff. "Socially, we had the same tastes in women, the same peer activities."

And both Bihldorff and Vanderbilt arrived at Harvard with a definite set of assumptions about where four years of college would lead them.

"I think I thought, and many people thought, that I would become a lawyer," says Vanderbilt.

But this was not to be.

Vanderbilt is now self-employed in Ketchum, Idaho, developing trail systems for the U.S. Forest Service. In his spare time, he says, "We do a lot of things, like running rivers or climbing mountains."

Bihldorff, too, found himself adjusting his plans at Harvard. He had meant to pursue an academic career in his strongest subject, math.

Well?

"It was a disaster," Bihldorff laughs. "I was not a directed student. All those assumptions were dashed on the rocks of reality," he says.