February ’74 Reunion Report:
The February ’74 class held their 50th anniversary reunion in Vancouver, September 16 to 18, 2024. Twenty-six classmates attended all or some of the activities. Reunion central was the Sylvia Hotel where out of towners stayed and happy hours were held. Thanks to Brenda Heatherington, Pam Rorie and Sue Fisher who organized the events and kept us – as organized as possible. While some classmates have attended many reunions there were others who were seeing classmates for the first time in 50 years! It was so good to see everyone and catch up with careers, family life, travels and all the many life events over the years. Sadly, there were several who could not attend due to health issues or family member health issues however we knew they were there in spirit and we missed seeing them. We got together for dinner on the first evening, a very nice specially catered meal at the Sylvia Hotel. We talked and visited until the staff made it clear they wanted to go home! Tuesday was a free day and some went to Granville Island while others checked out shopping areas or explored a Vancouver very different from our training days. Tuesday evening was dinner at the Robba de Matti in English Bay. The laughter and stories went on all evening. We never seemed to run out of things to talk about. It was as if we picked up where we left off on graduation day. Wednesday morning was a highlight of the reunion – a very special tour of the Alumnae archive/office, Heather Pavilion, Centennial Pavilion (now called something different) and even a walk through the tunnels. Sadly, the tunnel to the student nurses’ residence was closed. Many memories were shared of our time in these places. Many thanks to Kathleen Murphy, Naomi Constant, Barbara Kissers and Sue Goguen for making our tour so wonderful. They had a hard job keeping us moving as there were so many interesting things to see. There have been many changes to VGH since we donned our white uniforms but it was so nice to see that so much is still familiar. The tour was followed by a catered lunch in the Arbutus Room in CP which was the last event of our reunion. It was hard to say goodbye but plans are underway for the next reunion which will most likely be in the fall of 2026.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathie (Gibbs) Thompson
