10 | FOREVER Keele
‘ How terribly strange to be seventy ’
A REUNION OF GOLDEN GRADUATES IN VICTORIA , BRITISH COLUMBIA , CANADA
Written by Shaukat Husain , History & Economics & Politics ( 1973 )
We were in our Foundation Year in 1969 and listening to Simon and Garfunkel ’ s LP record “ Bookends ” on Demetrios ’ stereo system in Hawthorns C Block . On the song “ Old Friends ” was the line “ How terribly strange to be seventy .” I said to Demetrios , George , and Stephen Benn ( who could not be at the reunion ) at the time that we should all get together when we became 70 .
It was a flippant remark because it seemed so far away in time . However , that thought never went away as I listened to that song over the years .
The friendships formed in Keele were strong and formative for all of us as we went on with our lives and we managed to stay in touch . The reunion became a possibility because Demetrios and I ended up in Victoria BC Canada in 1977 and 1981 respectively , because we married two sisters from the area . I married Gill Ellis who graduated from Keele in 1975 . We invited Keele friends to visit us over the years and they did . Then Parvin Bokhary and her husband who had connections with Victoria BC , bought an apartment in 2011 which served as their holiday home , and we all thought it was a good idea to celebrate our 50th year of graduation and invited mutual friends . So , Marie Natanson who lives in Toronto , Ontario , George Bennett who lives in Warwick , Massachusetts , and Paul Liebenson from Chicago , Illinois , an exchange student who spent a year at Keele studying International Relations in our year , all joined us for the reunion , and we spent a week together . We had a celebratory lunch at a lovely restaurant situated at the Victoria Harbour called Boom and Batten .
Since Demetrios , Gill and I were able to host our visitors at our homes , we spent time talking and sightseeing and enjoying each other ’ s company . A memorable trip we shared was the visit to the world famous Butchart Garden which is also on Vancouver Island . Only a little of our time was spent reminiscing about old times at Keele and more about what we were doing now and the challenges of life on this planet .
This reunion convinced us all to meet as often as we can . How fortunate we all feel that we were at Keele when the Foundation Year was the beginning of our undergraduate experience and how it opened our eyes to the world .