Reunion roundup

Reunions held in 2002: Class of 1957

30 November 2002

A summary by Jill Waynik (Lazard)

(Click on the image to see a large version.)

On the 30th November the Class of '57 held their 9th reunion. This is a unique class as they have held a reunion every 5 years since 1962 and have kept in close contact with their classmates over the years. At least 25 members of the class live in Cape Town and surrounds and all but three attended this reunion which was held at the Hildebrand Restaurant on the Waterfront. Carel van Gend and Issy Pilowski came from Australia and a first-timer was Ina Esterhuyse from Mpumalanga. There were 48 in all. The remaining 25 were the stalwarts who have attended all the reunions, together with spouses or partners.

The reunions are organised by Jill Waynik, Norma Saxe, Arderne Forder and Vincent Harrison with the help of Joan Tuff of the Alumni Office. Jill was master-of-ceremonies and, after toasting the University, Medical School and absent classmates, we settled down to an excellent dinner with speeches matching the dinner. Arderne gave a talk on the changes that are happening in our Medical School and the disappearance of the curriculum as we knew it. He, as well as all our other "reared" professors, were very relieved not to be involved with the medical school of today as they felt the students were missing out on the "heroes" of our day.

The main speaker was Ivan Nurick who gave a most interesting review of the Class of '57 and what has happened to everyone. Ivan, although speaking for about 40 minutes, did not outstay his welcome and his research into his subject was amazing. The whole talk was without a single note and I think he could have held our interest for another 40 minutes! At the end of his speech he named and told us of the career paths of all the classmates who were deceased. Again his research was amazing.

Arderne, Norma and Vincent presented Jill with a teapot for her collection to thank her for keeping the reunions going.

The evening closed at a very late hour and a good time was held by all. Our thanks to Joan Tuff for all the hard work she put into making this reunion a success.