As our reunion biographies show, we've made up our lives as we've gone along, living several distinct episodes since 1946 rather than following one linear narrative. Only the most determined classmate stayed on her professional course.
By our 25th reunion we had begun to be accredited to do for better pay what we had done as mere B.A.'s, or as volunteers, for years.
In 1971, 63 of us already had advanced degrees, and 27 more were studying, or thinking of graduate studies; many are still studying: one classmate's Ph.D. was earned in 1990.
In the half-century (good grief!) since we graduated, more than 90 percent of us have been married--11 to Harvard classmates, and others to Harvard graduates from different years. We have collectively achieved more than 400 children and an increasing number of grand-children. At least three of the class have become great-grandmothers.
Almost all of us have been dedicated volunteers. Some time back the media named ours "The Sandwich Generation," caring both for family elders and for grandchildren.
We have also contributed time to grass-roots politics, the League of Women Voters, museums, hospitals, schools, prisons, the ecology, charities, churches and religious programs. Classmates have assisted Radcliffe as trustees, interviewers, fund raisers, local club officers, directors of the HRAA and have served as Harvard overseers.
Many of us have also been lawyers, architects, scientists, academics, directors of Fortune 500 companies, professional fund raisers, doctors, nurses, State Department employees, psychotherapists, teachers, bookstore owners, artists, musicians, editors, teachers, a minister, a literary agent, poets (one Pulitzer Prize winner), essayists, fiction writers, biographers and authors of scientific and medical articles. One classmate is an investment adviser; another advises in alternative dispute resolution; a third is an adviser on urban development. This list by no means includes all our jobs over the years.
In 1971, the new "Women's Lib" made some of us profoundly nervous, as in: "Good God, what have I done?" By 1996, according to the 50th reunion questionnaire, most of us approve of it, although a few still find feminism "too militant for me."
One-third of us have experienced gender discrimination in the workplace, five as volunteers and 10 about the house. As far as age discrimination goes, only seven have felt its lash at work.
Of those who answered the anonymous questionnaire, 45 were Democrats, 10 Republicans, 11 Independents. On the whole we are pro-choice, for gun control, divided about the death penalty, two-to-one in favor of affirmative action.
Classmates expressed concern about decadent sexual mores, the Republican right, the poor quality of education and racial prejudice. We also worried about overpopulation, unemployment, health care, the discrepancy between rich and poor, the environment, poverty, greed and selfishness, balancing the budget, crime, single-issue voters and immigration.
Multiculturalism evoked derisive remarks but more classmates were in favor of it than against. However, political correctness drove some of us right up the wall.