Barbra Armaroli Butler ’78 writes: “When Janet Pipal ’78 first planted the idea that 10 women from our college days would travel to my house for a weekend, I scoffed. “It’s too far,” I said. “People are busy. They have their own lives.” But Pipal persisted. “Ole,” she said. (I am still Ole to these women, an abbreviation of my maiden name, Armaroli, and a wonderful moniker as a freshman at St. Olaf.) “Ole,” said Pipal, “they’ll come. You’ll see.”

They’ll come? We hadn’t seen each other in years. Many years. Too many. I had my doubts. But I went along with the idea. And when the email responses were a resounding “yes,” all we had to do was settle on a date. Seemed fitting that we chose the first weekend in September 2014, almost 40 years exactly to the day when we first met as fresh-persons (hey, it was the ‘70s) in the chaotic corridor of Agnes Mellby Hall, First South.

Something truly remarkable happened in that corridor in the first few days at St. Olaf. We were now suddenly in College, with a capital “C.” We had left home and embarked on the first real adventure of our lives. We were thrown together, serendipitously. We instantly became family.

It is an extraordinary thing to know someone so well that you can go for years without seeing her, but the instant you do, you pick up again right where you left off, as though time had not passed at all. You are more than friends. You are part of the other person, and she is part of you.

It is that level of friendship that these 10 women share.

Marybeth Gjellstad Hauffe ’78 traveled to Chicago from Wuppertal, Germany to be a part of this reunion. (Does that say something about the level of commitment we have to each other?) Sarah Govig ’78 came from Portland, Ore., Carolyn Akland ’78 from Nashville, Tenn., Janet from Colorado, and the rest from Minneapolis to join me at my home in suburban Chicago.

They sat at my dinner table for hours, talking and laughing and crying, sharing stories of relationships and families, of jobs and travels and new adventures and life. More than once, I stood back and watched, trying to fathom how it was that we had all traveled 40 years down many different roads to arrive at this one intersection at the same time. It was magical.

The truth is that 40 years had passed, but we had not changed. Both Nancy Stutzman ’78 and Nancy Bubalo Darbut ’78 were still the calm, level-headed, down-to-earth roommates to the rest of us. Sarah was still quietly understanding and comforting, just a great friend. Carolyn was still Carolyn, missing the chair when she sat down a little too hard and blaming the chair for being in the wrong place. Kristin Henderson ’78 brought the tunes. Ann Kinney Allison ’78 punctuated the conversation with her own inimitable understatement. Marybeth added perspective. Jane Hilleren ’78 collected gentle holdings that we may pray for one another. And Pipal thanked us all, again, for being there for her 40 years ago when she needed us.

Perhaps that is what is so extraordinary about this weekend, this reunion, this group of women. We are all still there for each other now, 40 years later, a part of each other’s hearts even if we aren’t living across the hall from one another.
We had all followed our dreams – to the opera, to graduate school, to careers in teaching and nursing and writing. We had all tasted of life’s triumphs and tragedies, some profoundly moving. And we had all survived, flourished even.
I don’t know many people who are blessed with a group of friends like this. I don’t know how I am so lucky to be a part of it. But I do know that I am grateful to St. Olaf for bringing us together. And I can’t wait for the next reunion.

We came from across the continent – and across the ocean – to gather in one place. It was the first time in 40 years that we were all together, celebrating the strong, enduring friendships that began in September 1974 in Agnes Mellby Hall.”

From left to right: (standing) Sarah Govig, Ann Kinney Allison, Marybeth Gjellstad Hauffe, Kris Henderson, Carolyn Akland, Barbra Armaroli Butler; (seated) Nancy Stutzman, Nancy Bubalo Darbut, Janet Pipal, Jane Hilleren.