Because I work here, I don’t always get those nostalgic feelings like other alumni when driving onto campus through the October leaves. But this weekend, walking on our campus bricks alongside the people I knew in class and those whom I still call dear friends, memories came flooding back. I bumped into familiar faces perusing Deacon Shop merchandise, socializing on Friday night and strolling through the football stadium concourse.
For the first time, my 2020 classmates and I celebrated a milestone reunion. Five years have passed since we finished our senior year remotely after COVID-19 hit. A record number of fifth-reunion grads came to campus this weekend — one of every five members of our class, in fact. Thousands of other alumni attended, traveling an estimated 1.6 million miles roundtrip from destinations as far away as China and New Zealand.
At Party So Dear, where alumni of all ages gather the Friday night of Homecoming to catch up and listen to live music on the Mag Quad, I met Ginny Holshouser Mills (’85, MAEd ’96) and Marilyn Hayes (’85), who were celebrating their 40th reunion. Mills says they were “roommates for four years and (have been) best friends for 44!” They were making new friends at the party: Mena Lowe Mozon (’75) and Ollis Mozon (’75), a married couple and newly anointed Golden Deacs, meaning they were celebrating their 50th reunion. As students, the Mozons helped start the University Gospel Choir. “I would have never imagined what it would turn into,” Ollis Mozon says.
On Saturday, the Mozons were among hundreds of people at the official dedication of Beth Norbrey and Lawrence D. Hopkins Hall. South Hall officially has been renamed for Beth Norbrey Hopkins (’73, P ’12) and her husband, the late Dr. Larry Hopkins (’72, MD ’77, P ’12), who were both Wake Forest professors and trailblazing students who became devoted alumni and trustees.
Beth Hopkins was honored at the noon football game, along with the 1970 ACC Championship-winning football team. During the game, the crowd never lost hope. In the fourth quarter, a gathering of students whipped off their shirts, inspired by the “shirtless dudes” craze that has been sweeping college football. The crowd roared during the winning last-second 50-yard field goal by kicker Connor Calvert, now known to many fans as “Cardiac Cal.”
My dad, brother and I, all alumni, linked arms to sing “Mother, So Dear.” (In my heavily Wake Forested family, everyone knows at least some of the words.) It brought me back to childhood Homecoming memories, when we would come back with my dad for his reunions.
And the cherry on top: rolling the Quad! Deacons of all ages gathered underneath the toilet paper-laden trees. A group of alumni who belonged to Lynks, one of the societies replaced in the 1990s by national sororities, were taking in the scene while “wall-sitting” in front of Davis Residence Hall, their old dorm. “We spent many, many, many hours sitting on this wall,” Sue Edison Church (’90) says. Of the 26 Lynks in their class, an estimated 17 came back for their 35th reunion.
Kids wrapped themselves (or their siblings) in as much stray TP as they could grab. The rolling coincided with Festival on the Quad, when alumni stroll the Quad to see friends and play games. Young and old flocked to tables for face-painting, Wake Forest swag and the Department of Physics’ science experiments. As if the scene weren’t joyous enough, the bells began to peal from Wait Chapel.
There’s only one thing left to say, of course: Go Deacs!
