SALINA, Kansas — Graduates of Marymount College in Salina are planning to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the school’s founding this October.
While the school closed in 1989, the graduates remained in touch and decided to gather the weekend of Oct. 7-8 to renew friendships and remember the school on its centennial.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, Kansas, founded the college in 1922 as a four-year undergraduate institution for women. Men were admitted in the 1960s.
“The centennial reunion is a once in a lifetime opportunity to come together and celebrate our shared experience as well as salute the Sisters of St. Joseph and lay faculty who were so instrumental in our lives,” John Arnold, a 1974 graduate, said in a news release.
Arnold, who lives in Florida, is a member of a group planning the reunion. He said fellow alumni were “yearning and hungry to return and celebrate.”
He said the reunion is “a moment to recapture those special memories and reengage one more time with those people who were special in our lives.”
Several events are being planned for the weekend including a gathering Friday evening Oct. 7, campus tours and a golf outing. Salina Bishop Gerald L. Vincke will celebrate Mass Oct. 8, followed by a social hour and banquet.
Members of the Sisters of St. Joseph, former faculty and friends of the college are invited to attend, reunion organizers said.
In advance of the weekend festivities, 1972 Marymount graduates Marian Labrie Salwierak and her husband Gary have been seeking out school alums and others who were once affiliated with the school.
“It is hard work. There is no alumni office like other schools depend on,” Marian Salwierak said in the release. “But it is fun reconnecting with people. I hope people will forward their emails and classmates’ emails so we don’t miss anyone.”
Information about the event and accommodations are available from Salwierak at msalwierak@gmail.com and Rich Garrigan at devq@aol.com.
