MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College will celebrate its homecoming Saturday, Oct. 20, by honoring those with lengthy ties to the campus — four alumni, an art professor who retired after 36 years and a women’s social group that formed 100 years ago.
Cornell’s homecoming celebrates the reunion classes of 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991 and 1996. Events begin Friday, Oct. 19, and include a pep rally and fireworks in Ash Park, starting at 9 p.m.
Four alumni and a former coach and administrator will be honored at a convocation in King Chapel at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20. Robert Replogle, a nationally recognized cardiac surgeon from Chicago and a 1956 graduate, will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award. Alumni Leadership and Service Awards will be presented to Douglas Kirkpatrick, a 1965 graduate, and Joan Landquist Kirkpatrick, a 1966 graduate, both of Englewood, Colo.; and Phil Gibbs of Moorestown, N.J., a 1966 graduate. Special recognition will be given to Barron Bremner, recently retired athletics director at Coe College whose previous Cornell positions have included wrestling and football coach, athletics director and vice president for institutional advancement.
Also Saturday is a dedication ceremony at 11:15 a.m. for the new Meyer Strength Training Facility in the Richard and Norma Small Multi-Sports Center. At 1 p.m. Cornell takes on Upper Iowa at Ash Park. Kick off is at 1 p.m. Preceding the game will be a carnival open to the Mount Vernon-Lisbon community from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside the Small Multi-Sports Center, featuring games and booths sponsored by campus organizations.
Arts events during homecoming include a reception Saturday for art professor emeritus Hugh Lifson, from 3-5 p.m. in Armstrong Gallery. The largest art show ever presented at Cornell, “Hugh Lifson: The Cornell Years,” features nearly 300 of his works at Armstrong through Dec. 9 and at other galleries around campus through Nov. 19. The exhibition includes portraits, computer graphics and computer collages, nudes, watercolors and wrapped acrylics.
On the stage, the Cornell production of “Story Theatre” is at 8 p.m. Oct. 19-20 in Armstrong Theatre. “Story Theatre,” adapted from tales by the Brothers Grimm and Aesop’s Fables, is a play for adults and children written by Paul Sills, founder of the famous Chicago improvisational theater Second City. For ticket information, call the Armstrong Box Office, 895-4293.
The Arrows, a women’s social group that originated as the Aonian Literary Society, will celebrate its 100th birthday at two dinners and an annual tea during halftime of the football game. The tea will be held in the first-floor lounge at newly renovated Merner Residence Hall, since 1978 the location of the group’s weekly meetings.
Homecoming schedule