MAKE A GIFT
Sharing Our Stories: Alumnae Stories from the Pandemic
Meryl Stoller Orlando’75 served as a house chair at Corwin dorms in her junior year. She currently serves as vice president of her class, has helped plan milestone reunions and has attended nearly every five-year reunion for the Class of 1975. In addition to other AADC events, she has participated in workshops hosted by the AADC along with her friend, Beverly Greenhouse Perry ’76, who is included in her story. Here is her story, shared on July 23, 2020.
Beverly Greenhouse Perry ’76 and I met in the spring of 1973 (she is pictured with me, far left). She was a freshman and I was a sophomore who was going to be a house chairwoman in Corwin J that next year. She and her roommate chose my house, as her roommate knew me through her boyfriend. One of our fondest memories that year was Bev returning from breakfast at Cooper Dining Hall and me “running down Nichol Avenue,” hoping to get to class on time with the paper that I had stayed up all night typing. This picture was repeated more than once and has since become a standing joke about that special year.
Bev and I became fast friends and have remained the best of friends ever since. We are now part of each other’s chosen family. Over the years, we’ve maintained communication through phone calls, visits to each other’s homes, outings and shared family events. It was like that for the last 47 years and then….
One month into the quarantine, it was Bev’s birthday. As we couldn’t do our normal birthday outing, and as we both were walking to keep fit, I asked her if she wanted to meet me for a walk on the Douglass campus, which is halfway between our homes. I baked a small birthday treat, met her in front of Cooper Dining Hall and our walk began. We, of course, HAD to walk (not run) down Nichol Avenue to begin our trek. We had a great time catching up and walking the campus — six feet apart.
We decided to do that again so recently, we met again in front of Cooper and walked and talked our way across campus — three miles’ worth of exercise and catching up. As always, we had a great time and plan to do it again in the very near future.
Douglass and its beautiful campus have always been a special part of both of our lives. We are both so grateful for our Douglass experience. Douglass gave us so much back then and we are proud to be Douglass alumnae sisters now. We have so many memories to share.