The Class of 1970 returned to campus in October to belatedly celebrate its 50th reunion, a year and a half after OPC Weekend went virtual in May 2020 amid the covid-19 pandemic. That delay ultimately created an exciting opportunity for the reuniting alumni to dedicate the Class of 1970 Entrance Pavilion inside the brand new Graham Athletics & Wellness Center.
Director of Stewardship Stephen A. Bonnie OPC ’66 worked with class agent Rob Reeves OPC ’70 and members of the Class of 1970 to plan the reunion, which was nearly three years in the making. In spite of the delay, Reeves was determined to bring as many of his classmates together as possible—and to bring them back to School House Lane, in particular.
“From the beginning I thought it would be most memorable to come to campus,” Reeves said. “A lot of guys haven’t been back in over 50 years, so that was important to me.”
The festivities began Thursday, Oct. 7 with a round of golf at Huntingdon Valley Country Club and picked up again Friday at Penn Charter, where OPCs and their spouses gathered for lunch under a tent outside Timmons House. Head of School Darryl J. Ford Hon. 1689 welcomed the group and provided updates on the state of Old Penn Charter and the How Far? campaign. Senior Development Officer Chris Rahill OPC ’99 then led the OPCs on a tour of the Graham that ended at the building’s southwest entrance, a spacious pavilion encased in floor-to-ceiling windows that face Penn Charter’s iconic tower.
There, the group paused to reminisce about influential teachers like Reid Bush, Ted Shakespeare and Bert Linton before getting down to the big reveal: a large wall-mounted marker for the Class of 1970 Entrance Pavilion, adorned with a PC logo and an inscription reading Dedicated to our teachers and classmates.
The ceremony didn’t end there, and the group ventured across campus to the Kurtz Center for the Performing Arts, where Reeves, CEO of Reeves Construction Company, was honored for his work on that building, now Penn Charter’s second-newest, completed in 2010.
“The plaque was a total surprise and very moving,” Reeves said of the words of appreciation his classmates arranged to have added to the building’s lobby. He looks back on the Kurtz Center project as a uniquely significant addition to his construction portfolio. “Most of my career I spent working for nonprofits, including a lot of independent schools, and it was especially nice to work at Penn Charter.”
Dinner at Timmons House capped off Friday’s campus visit, and the alumni returned to Huntingdon Valley for more quality time Saturday evening. A comment from one of his former classmates stuck with Reeves and reaffirmed his sense of satisfaction with the long-delayed reunion. “On Saturday someone said, ‘I’ve missed you guys these past 50 years. It’s been very meaningful to be here with you.’”