BY AMANDA DOWNES ’06

Alumni came out in droves this year for a Hol­ly­wood Home­com­ing cel­e­bra­tion on cam­pus Octo­ber 2 –4. Beau­ti­ful fall weather cre­ated the per­fect back­drop for an action-packed, box-office hit of a weekend.

Alumni home­com­ing events kicked off the morn­ing of Fri­day, Octo­ber 2 with the 14th Annual Wolver­ine Fall Golf Clas­sic at Jonathan’s Land­ing. The alumni, friends and local busi­ness lead­ers who par­tic­i­pated had a great time on the greens while sup­porting the College’s student-athletes, as all pro­ceeds ben­e­fited the W Club. Later that after­noon, the cam­pus was trans­formed into Sun­set Boule­vard for the Celebrity Car­ni­val spon­sored by Wesley’s Stu­dent Gov­ern­ment Asso­ci­a­tion. That evening, the Wes­ley Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion hosted an ele­gant evening affair at the Schwartz Cen­ter for the Arts to induct the newest mem­bers of the Ath­letic Hall of Fame. Mean­while, the field hockey team was demon­strat­ing Wesley’s win­ning tra­di­tion by clinch­ing a 3–0 vic­tory over Hood College.

Jar­rhin Thomas and Francesca Levantis

Alumni and friends arriv­ing on Sat­ur­day morn­ing were wel­comed back to cam­pus with a con­ti­nen­tal break­fast and check-in at the home of Dr. and Mrs. John­ston. Atten­dees enjoyed meet­ing the pres­i­dent and his wife and vis­it­ing the his­toric Annie Jump Can­non House.

The Home­com­ing Parade livened up the streets of down­town Dover and drew a ter­rific crowd. The parade fea­tured stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions, alumni hon­orees and Col­lege admin­is­tra­tors as well as var­i­ous com­mu­nity groups and march­ing bands. To reflect the Hol­ly­wood theme, stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions had the oppor­tu­nity to per­form a movie skit, dance or rou­tine at the judges’ grand­stand set up on State Street in front of DuPont Col­lege Cen­ter. Sigma Phi Sigma soror­ity swept most of the cat­e­gories, win­ning best float and best ban­ner and tying the Dance Team for best parade performance.

Many more alumni arrived later in the day, fill­ing the tent for the Tail­gate Party where they enjoyed free food and live music. Atten­dance for this year’s bash was the largest yet, draw­ing in a spread of alumni classes span­ning more than fifty years. In addi­tion, a moon bounce and kids activ­ity sta­tion were also pro­vided to keep the youngest guests of alumni enter­tained through­out the afternoon.

At Scott D. Miller Sta­dium, a standing-room only crowd cheered on the Wolver­ine foot­ball team. The 44–9 trounce over Frost­burg kept the Home­com­ing spirit high. The half­time show included an excit­ing guest per­for­mance by the Brook­lyn High School for Music & The­atre Sol­dier March­ing Unit, the intro­duc­tion of the 2009 Ath­letic Hall of Fame inductees, and the crown­ing of the Home­com­ing King and Queen — Jar­rhin Thomas and Francesca Levantis.

The glitz and glam­our of the week­end events con­tin­ued Sat­ur­day evening at the Sher­a­ton Dover Hotel with the All Class Reunion Din­ner, decked out to look like a Hol­ly­wood awards party. The Col­lege lit­er­ally rolled out the red car­pet for more than 100 alumni and guests for an evening of din­ner and danc­ing. Pres­i­dent John­ston deliv­ered remarks and asked reunion alumni to briefly intro­duce them­selves and share some high­lights of their Wes­ley expe­ri­ences. Vivid rec­ol­lec­tions and heart­warm­ing com­ments filled the room, highlight­ing the com­mon bonds of Wes­ley Col­lege among indi­vid­u­als from a mix of eras.

After pos­ing for class pho­tos, grad­u­ates cel­e­brat­ing their 35th, 40th, 45th and 50th reunions as well as one alumna cele­brating a very spe­cial 65th class anniver­sary were rec­og­nized and given memen­tos from the Col­lege. Reunion vol­un­teers that were instru­men­tal in con­tact­ing class­mates and assist­ing with reunion efforts also were rec­og­nized and pre­sented with small tokens of appreciation.

Top row, from left: Richard Gal­lagher ’59, Frank Cul­hane ’59, Paul Lun­dri­gan ’59, Bruce Balder­son ’59. Bot­tom row, from left: Jan­ice (Yaglen­ski) Page ’59, Val (Megee) Hyde ’59, Sally (Kendrick) Cavanagh ’59, Edie (Whit­tle) Rogers ’59, Jean (Har­ris) Basore ’59

Mean­while, more reunit­ing and rev­elry was tak­ing place at the His­tory Depart­ment Alumni Sup­per, and at the Young Alumni Party held in two dif­fer­ent loca­tions this year – The Loock­er­man Exchange (LEX) and W.T. Smithers. The LEX fea­tured live enter­tain­ment by Dover-based band “Pray for Mojo” fol­lowed by a DJ. Many grad­u­ates moved between the two down­town bars, catch­ing up with Wes­ley friends and enjoy­ing drink spe­cials and free appetizers.

Sunday’s activ­i­ties began with a Home­com­ing Wor­ship Ser­vice at Wes­ley Chapel, hosted jointly by Hope United Methodist Church. Mem­bers of the golden anniver­sary class of 1959 were rec­og­nized dur­ing the ser­vice and hon­ored at a spe­cial Golden Grads brunch at the president’s home imme­di­ately fol­lowing. The reunion group joined guests from other classes that grad­u­ated more than 50 years ago and enjoyed a deli­cious meal hosted by Dr.and Mrs. John­ston. Alumni received lapel pins sig­ni­fy­ing their mem­ber­ship in the Golden Grads cir­cle as well as a brief update on their alma mater. The same day, Wesley’s vol­ley­ball team picked up a pair of wins over Penn State-Abington and Delaware Val­ley in the Wolver­ine Clas­sic Invi­ta­tional Tour­na­ment that took place in Went­worth Gym.

Chelsea Moore and San­tina Beckwith

As the week­end con­cluded, alumni reluc­tantly said their good­byes to their class­mates. Brim­ming with Wes­ley pride and joy after a fun-filled week­end of recon­nect­ing and rem­i­nisc­ing with old friends, many alumni made plans to meet up for the fes­tiv­i­ties again next year. Home­com­ing 2009 was one of the largest turnouts ever of alumni on cam­pus and the Col­lege hopes to build on the momen­tum. Whether or not you attended this year’s activ­i­ties or even if you have never attended Home­com­ing, please take a moment to com­plete a brief sur­vey at and share your com­ments and sug­ges­tions. The Wes­ley Col­lege com­mu­nity looks for­ward to wel­com­ing even more par­tic­i­pants for Home­com­ing 2010 — Octo­ber 15–17. Mark your cal­en­dars now!

For more Home­com­ing pho­tos, visit click here.