Cheers to 50 Years

MCC CLASS OF 1972

Cheers to 50 Years

by pat fulford shankle ‘72

for most of mcc’s class

of 1972, the idea that 50 years had passed was almost unthinkable. Getting back together on September 9th, MCC’s Homecoming Weekend was a walk down memory lane. About a dozen of us met up in the gym annex/ multipurpose room, a space that did not even exist in 1972. We marveled how students now have a temperature controlled, spacious facility for assembly, gatherings or to eat lunch right outside of the gymnasium. What a blessing that must be on a hot rainy Florida day! Excited to be here and eager to take in the school tour, we greeted our host, President Nick Regina and got ready to see the MCC of today. As we were walking the same halls as we did back in 1972, we noticed many changes. “Oh, look, the lockers are no longer here,” Cindy Silvestre pointed out as we passed the gym and entered the Building 2 corridor. We were told each student has their own Chromebook and all assignments are digital. A new chapel, the Sullivan Campus Ministry greeted us, a place for worship and reflection that, back in our day, was just a grass area near the (then) school office. In Building 1, the room where we took Typing 1 & 2 now houses a Fine Arts Center. A new “Aquinas Hall” has an amazing science lab and video conference center. Clearly MCC has moved full force into the 21st century.

When we decided to form a reunion committee, we had to look no further than the Lucerna, our 1972 yearbook. Many of our contemporaries are now retired but a surprising number are still (or back) living in the area. Approximately 60% of 1972 graduates currently reside somewhere in the state of Florida. Margaret Davis (voted Most School Spirited) returned to Melbourne over 20 years ago. Now retired, she worked in hospice for the majority of her adult life. She was an obvious choice to ask to be a reunion team member. Other alumni living close by and rounding out the team included, Rose McCarthy Lansdon, Sue Rauch, Mary Armstrong Maxwell, and me. When responses to our outreach efforts started returning, we had a few surprises. Fr. Sean (Brett) Duggan, OSB ‘72 was one of the first to respond. He wanted to know if he should invite Sister Margaret Mary Kimmins OSF, former school guidance counselor at MCC. Naturally, the answer was yes, and she came as our honored guest.

As more classmates started returning reservations, everybody wanted to know “who’s, who” to be in attendance. Of course, we used this as an opportunity to let our former classmates know who had not yet returned their reservation and asked them to reach out by phone, social media, or email to encourage them to RSVP. In the end, we had 35 in attendance for our alumni dinner (class size was 72 in ‘72) which was held at Hilton Melbourne Beach Oceanfront. Old acquaintances were renewed, stories were told. We caught up on each other’s families, careers, retirement plans, losses, and blessings. The evening was capped off by filing onto the beach to view a picture-perfect launch from Kennedy Space Center at 9:22 pm. That launch brought us back to memories of a time when as children we used to regularly file out of our classrooms to watch the NASA launches. Those were the days that brought America into the space age and made Brevard County an unforgettable place to live.