Marlene Hendrickson ’68, president of the St. Francis School of Nursing (SFSN) alumni board, went into the Aug. 5 SFSN virtual reunion with a high level of optimism, and the event did not disappoint.

“I thought it was every bit as good as I expected. I thought it would come off without a hitch, and it pretty much did,” said Hendrickson, also a member of the Viterbo Alumni Association board.

Considering that the youngest SFSN alumni graduated 50 years ago and that many of them had little if any experience with video conferencing, there was room for doubt. “There was a little fear, simply because of the age group, fear that they wouldn’t know what to do,” Hendrickson said. “I would certainly prefer to have had a live and in-person version, but all in all I was pleased.”

Kathy Duerwachter, Viterbo’s alumni engagement director, was a big part of the reason it went so smoothly, Hendrickson said. Duerwachter emceed the online event on the Zoom video conferencing platform, and ahead of the event she offered tutorial sessions to help alumni get more comfortable with Zoom.

For the 10^th annual SFSN reunion, 51 people took part in the Zoom session, which lasted 3.5 hours. Another 54 people watched a livestream of the virtual reunion, in which 15 members of the Viterbo community took part, including President Glena Temple, who pointed out that there was one big advantage to doing the reunion virtually.

“The silver lining of being able to do this on Zoom is to be able to have people with us who wouldn’t have been able to travel,” Temple said, noting that 2020 is a milestone year. “For me, today feels like a very important marker, as our last class of St. Francis School of Nursing celebrates its 50^th anniversary.”

Four members of the class of 1970 took part, and there were three on the Zoom session who started their training during World War II, graduating in 1946 and 1947. After some opening remarks from Viterbo leaders, a recording of a special Mass was played.

Then the fun began.

All the participants in the Zoom session took turns introducing themselves and sharing some of their favorite memories of their time in nursing school, after which alums were able to take part in smaller chat groups.

Rose Bingham ’58, who lives in Reedsburg these days, recalled getting in trouble in microbiology class at Viterbo. “I got the dickens for being friendly with the white rat that was over there. I started looking at it as a pet,” recalled Bingham, who has written two books and is working on writing a novel.

Judy Bautch ’63 shared a story about a milestone in La Crosse history: the opening of the McDonald’s restaurant on Losey Boulevard. “Some of us rented bicycles and rode down there to get a hamburger, not realizing until we got there that it was Friday and we couldn’t eat meat,” she said.

Several alums talked about the phone booth in the nursing school’s living quarters, including Peg Myer ’64. “I had the first room off the elevator, which was next to the phone booth. So I would be the first to answer the phone and I got to talk to all of the boyfriends,” she said.

In addition, Myer said, her room next to the elevator meant she served as night-time sentry, listening for the rattling of the sisters’ beads as they came off the elevator and warning her classmates with a knock on the wall to turn out their lights. “We thought we were getting away with a lot, but we realize now they could see our lights from the street,” Myer said.

Bonnie Pilot ’69 shared a story about getting in trouble from a prank she and her friend pulled in their freshman year, taking one of the dummies from a classroom and putting it in the lounge with a Coke and cigarette in its hand. “Unfortunately, we were the only ones who found that funny,” she said. “We had to come forward and confess or the whole dorm would have been locked down for the weekend.”

Most of the memories were lighthearted, but Donna Reichwein ’62 shared a darker experience that was especially timely given the recent passing of pioneering civil rights activist John Lewis. Reichwein recalled that in the spring of 1960 she and some other students got to go to a convention in Florida, where she encountered very real signs of racism, like segregated restrooms and other facilities.

“I remember my shock when I saw that for the first time when we got to the South,” Reichwein said. “I’ve definitely been thinking about that.”

SFSN alums who didn’t get to take part in the Zoom reunion (or those who want to relive it) can check out a video of the Zoom reunion livestream.

With the success of this year’s virtual reunion, Hendrickson could see future reunions having a virtual element even when they can be held in person. That way people can see their friends from school days even if they aren’t able to travel to La Crosse.

Doris Doherty-Gasper ’66, ’91, ’08, who also serves on Viterbo’s alumni board, said she really enjoyed the virtual reunion and saw it as one positive thing to come out of the pandemic. “Out of the COVID virus there’s going to be a lot of developments that will follow us for many years, making us more creative,” she said.