"I had no concept that I was walking into a huge transition time. I don't think any of us did," Bundles says.
No Picnic
Although rumors had begun to mount, virtually no one at RCAA expected the bomb that dropped in April 1998, when the Boston Globe reported that Radcliffe's Board of Trustees was in secret merger talks with Harvard.
Since then, the women have been bombarded with questions from their constituents and the press about the future of Radcliffe, its highly touted programs for students and the alumnae organization itself.
"We envisioned a very different two years," Tewksbury says wryly.
"We thought this would be a jolly old time, talking and chatting, going to programs," she adds. "It's been a job."
Without any clues from the Radcliffe brass, RCAA was hamstrung in planning for the future, let alone in dealing with frazzled alums.
Tewksbury especially felt the pressure--as a member of the Board of Trustees she was honor bound not to talk about the negotiations, even to her RCAA colleagues across Radcliffe Yard.
"The closed process was difficult for someone like me," she says. It's just hard to wear "two hats," as she likes to put it.
Although she is too diplomatic to say so out-right, Bundles, the journalist, has clearly been chafed by the lack of openness.
"Many of us felt that if we were being asked to help raise money for the school and take its good message to our members, then we deserved to have more information," she says.
And Carty, who worked day in and day out with alumnae clamoring for details, says she felt the squeeze as well.
"The process of getting here was at times frustrating and sometimes just overwhelmingly unpleasant," she says.
All three say they are excited about the outcome of the talks and looking forward to the new Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
"I think one thing we'll all be grateful for is that our time here was notable," Tewksbury says.
But being notable comes with a price.
"All that collegiality that comes from being Class of '74--we never had time," she says.