Share your UMass memento
What do you still have from your days at UMass?
Is it an object? A photograph? A piece of art? Whether you’ve rediscovered it in the depths of a drawer or it stands proudly in a special display, share it with us and with your UMass community!
You can photograph it, draw it, or create a collage . . . just place it inside our square template and send it to us. We may feature your memento in a future UMass Magazine web or print edition.
For instructions on how to participate—and a handy template—download this PDF.
Here's what members of the UMass community have contributed so far
Deb Wendell ’71: "I come from a family of UMass alums including my parents, my sister, and me. Pictured here is my father in the UMass Glee Club Orchestra in the late 1920s."
Jean Travis ’73: "UMass provided me with a lot of happy memories! I am especially grateful for these five women, my dorm mates, who became lifelong friends. 50 years later, we are still going strong. Pictured at Melville: (Top) Debbie Miller Myles ’73, me, Louise Molander Deraney ’71; (Bottom) Wendy Small Wannop ’73, Peggy Tacito Sheerin ’73, Kathryn “Kay” King ’71."
Greg Gale ’65: "This is from when I was a freshman in Wheeler House. I graduated with my BS in Psychology in 1969. Highlights from my time at UMass (1965–1969): Northeast Blackout in fall of 1965. The Red Sox win in 1967 (thousands flood the streets to downtown Amherst). And, Little Stevie Wonder, The Animals, and Johnny Carson."
Joe Cole ’80: "Found this memento of my days at UMass while cleaning out some boxes."
Bruce G. Gordon ’77: "Somehow my rugby kit managed to survive 40+ years in California. UMass rugby shirt, circa 1974–75."
Clare E. (Buckley) Rich ’74: "I have the original pale orange ticket stub for this concert. I was in my second semester junior year and living off-campus in N. Amherst with friends. I remember going to this packed show (in the Dining Common!) and there was standing-room only. Bonnie was great, of course, and she blew us all away! I've loved her ever since and seen her two more times, but this UMass Amherst experience was the most exciting and memorable."
Elizabeth Moss ’81: "My ID photo taken during freshmen orientation 1977, a lifetime ago..."
Jim David ’88: "Students in the mid-80s will recall the Cage was closed during the ’84-’85 basketball season for renovations. When it re-opened in late ’86, hundreds of students waited in line for hours to ensure they got in for the grand reopening. This is my Rage in the Cage tee from that opening night! I haven’t worn it since graduation but it’s a great keepsake from my UMass days! Go Minutemen!"
Jane Shaw Pereira ’70: "I have always liked cartoons. Now, I draw them all the time. I send them in letters, and I'm sending one to you now. We all learn about economics one way or the other."
Kristin (Graves) Hilf ’85: "I still have my UMass ID card. I also still have my high school I’d of that tells you anything!"
Joel Leonardi ’77: "This is a memento that I have saved since my undergraduate days at UMass Amherst. As I get older, I find myself thinking more often about those years and realizing just how special they were. If I could, I’d go back to those days in a heartbeat. This photo is of Senior Day, May 20, 1977, and there I am wearing my world-famous Astronomy Club T-shirt and holding my Senior Day mug! My other Class of ’77 classmates in this picture are (from left to right): Russ Lavery, Ken Castle, Pam (Robinson) Waterman, yours truly, and Gino Valeriani. What I wouldn’t give to recreate this picture now that we’ve all aged a bit. But I wouldn’t be able to wear that shirt!"
Ben Nidus ’85: "I still have an old long-sleeve T-shirt from Brett Dorm, in Central, where I spent five or six semesters. These were being sold at the dorm around ’84 or ’85. Still fits…sort of."
Marla Richmond ’75: "Here is a real Don MacGillvary senior day mug from my next-to-the-last day as a Umie. The key wasn’t mine (I wasn’t going to pay for it!) it belonged to an old boyfriend. I think he lived in Brett."
Ruth Wiezel Munroe ’61: "So, I still have my green painted juice can which was in my room freshman year in Crabtree in fall of 1957. . . I was in a two-person room on the first floor. My roommate was Elaine Dowling. Our counselors had them there as a gift for us girls when we came for the first time. I was asking my son what I had and he pointed it out right away. It normally resides behind and to the right of my computer."
Kendra (Gordon) Cooper ’70: "My husband W. Bruce Cooper and I met at a “mixer” at the Student Union in Spring 1968. I attended UMass both summers and winters, completing graduation requirements in three years. We lived in the then beautiful new Southwest Residential area and our dorm windows faced each other. We both finished UMass requirements in 1970 and, with the Vietnam War in full swing and a Draft Number of five, Bruce enlisted in the Navy, serving all over the country but ending his four-year tour of duty stationed on Old Ironsides. I taught high school English a couple years at the then brand new Triton Regional High School in Byfield MA. We married in 1973. This photo is of our “Mugbook” (annual directory of freshmen photos)—the UMass paper precursor to Facebook.
As to the date of my graduation, that’s a story in itself. Bruce took four years and graduated in 1970. I finished my requirements in spring 1970 but student taught in fall 1970 at Quabbin Regional, completing with extra credits and my diploma says February 1971. However, I sat on the field for both graduations! 1970 had graduates entering the football field to a drum roll and protests of the Vietnam War. 1971 graduation was a more traditional ceremony in music and program as students marched into the stadium. Those confusing, chaotic 1960s-1970s were in some ways different, yet, in some ways, very similar to the present."
Pamela Avella ’89: "I have four photo albums from my years at UMass Amherst, one for each year. So many photos and mementos! Attached is a photo from a Twister event held on May 2, 1987. I am on the right (Pamela Meehan, class of 89) and my friend is on the left (Debbie Desrochers, class of 89). We both graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. Good times!"
Dan Vasconcelos ’99: "This is an old flyer I made for WOCH, the student-run radio station that used to broadcast on channel 13 on the campus cable TV network. I was a DJ and also helped run the station as program director for several years. The studio was on the first floor of Grayson Hall. We hung hundreds of flyers all over campus to find potential DJs and attract new listeners. It wasn't easy explaining to people that we were a radio station you listened to on your TV. I have some great memories from my time at WOCH, and best of all I met my wife there, fellow DJ Shannon (Barry) Vasconcelos ’01."
Peter Falk ’82: "I've still got some mementos from working at the Blue Wall, circa 1977–1981. Governor Edward King changed the drinking age down to 18 and boy was the Blue Wall a rockin' joint. Wall to Wall people. Three deep waiting for drinks. They used to say that the Blue Wall served more beer than any other bar in New England… they used to say—no proof.
In this photo, I am the guy in back row with his arm over another. That is a raised stage setup in the back of the Blue Wall we are sitting on. We had live music in the Blue Wall four nights a week. The Hatch often had bands on Friday and Saturday nights. Here are a few the old crew could still remember. But there were so many more... gray cells not what they once were.
- Elvis Costello
- Rick Derringer
- Mad Guitar Murphy
- James Montgomery
- The Motels
- The Cars
- Martian Highway
- The Great Pretenders
Go UMass…"
Judy Fredman Feola ’61: “Autumn in Amherst Painting
Once upon a time…
In the fall of 1957,
I began at UMass Amherst
In the Arnold House freshman dorm
Having two majors, my future careers to form
In Fine Arts and Elementary Education, I became
This oil painting of “Autumn in Amherst” is the first subject of my beginning studio classes.
I learned to stretch a white canvas with pliers
Filled the tiers of a tackle box with tubes of color
Learning their proper pigment names
Invented at the time when the Impressionists
Could paint “en plein air” (outside) to gain fame.
Learning every size of my brand-new brushes
Linseed oil liquid gold used by the masters of old.
Best of all, my first and forever collegiate crush
Starting our early partnership of joys the same
Finishing touches of art works with basic design
The four elements of color, shape, patter, and line
With his expertise in precisely custom frames.
We still together rejoice when the glorious palette
Of brilliant colors that adorn the ever-changing
Seasons that so swiftly pass.
In the corners of my mind are picture perfect
Cherished memories of the radiant afternoons
Of Autumn in Amherst that have become
Treasured keepsakes of my freshman year
Truly a beautiful dreamer.
That splendid first semester at UMass
The best and brightest only begun
Officially calling myself sharing the pride
Of being the spectacular Class of ’61.”
Richard Rubant ’60: “What do I still have from UMass? I am a graduate of the Stockbridge School at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1960. I had majored in Dairy Technologies and our class of eight was one of the last in that fading industry. A good part of this program was learning how to use the equipment and preparing assorted products in Flint Laboratory. In addition, we learned how to test milk for fat and bacterial content. Emory Grayson was the professor who found companies who were willing to have us spend six months of placement training in preparation for full time work in the dairy industry. I have held this milk bottle cap for 60 years with other memorabilia in my bureau drawer.”
Justin Petraitis ’14: "This isn't my memento, but it is one from my grandfather who also went to UMass. It's his student handbook from 1957–1958 that he's kept in a box for all these years. He (John Petraitis) majored in Turf Management at Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and graduated in 1958."
Sarah Platanitis ’02: "Recently, I was organizing my basement and came across a keepsake box with this UMass hockey puck. It's from an 01-02 season game. A bunch of us were sitting a few rows up from the glass, and a friend sitting a couple seats to my right asked me a question. It was really loud, so I leaned waaay over, nearly out of my seat, to talk to them. A minute later, the crowd gasped and something landed on the empty part of my seat with a thud. I looked over and it's this puck! Needless to say, I kept it as a reminder of why it's important to listen when someone is talking to you."
Pam (Robinson) Waterman ’77: "When I was in high school and college, a class ring was a big thing. However, when I was graduating in 1977, a ring was not in my budget. So, I found this charm in a jewelry store in downtown Amherst, had them engrave the year on the back and wore it on a chain. Your request for mementos sent me digging into the box of mementos I've hauled around the country as I've moved over the years. I wonder if anyone else will send a photo of this same charm?"
Eric Boulter ’75: "Here you see the top of campus ID card and a student ID used during my great times at UMass. The 1975 Index I still have today is full of life pictures and wonderful experiences. I was in Dwight dorm residence hall in the Northeast early on, and then moved to Rolling Green apartments my senior year. My wife Sandra Marchetto Boulter ’75 ended up attending UMass with me our senior year, and many years later we still have fond memories of our time there. I was a Hotel, Restaurant & Travel Management (HRTA) grad and a major part of my career was global travel management at PepsiCo in corporate America. The drum stick tips were from the stage at spring concert ’72, where I worked security with my roommate to get close to the action. Now several years later my Loyalty Circle pin reminds me of giving back to UMass."
Terri Beardsley ’87: "My freshman year I lived on the 15th floor of Washington Tower. I still have the glass that was given to each floor member after we won the tower scavenger hunt. The only thing I remember as being on the list was a ticket from the Mass Pike toll which a floor member rode his bike down and back to Palmer to get one. We had THE BEST floor ever. So lucky to still be friends with several floor members to this day."
Fran Pijar ’73: "What is more fitting for Valentine's Day than sharing our UMass Memento: Our marriage! Lynn Babineau '76 '79G and I became engaged at the Top of the Campus on Nov. 14, 1970. We were married on Sept. 3, 1971. We will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary this September on St. John USVI."
Judith vanBever-Green ’78: "I purchased the pendant with the orange beads from an Israeli woman who used to sell her work at a table right outside of the bookstore in the Campus Center. Originally the pendant hung from an orange silk string, now long gone. I wear it on a wire, and remember the old days. I made the silver pendant at the craft shop in the Student Union . . . we didn't use the term LGBTQ in those days, but it was at UMass that I discovered myself and went to the craft shop to create a symbol. The class ring . . . well, my parents were far from affluent, and they told me they would pay half of the cost of the ring if I could save the other half. Not easy—I needed $30! I managed to save $15 and then I got desperate. I decided to take my chance at a Bingo game at one of the churches in Amherst, and miraculously I won the other $15 and was able to get my ring."
Karen Kober Denniston ’63: "This is how my granddaughter, Catherine Simonds ’22, told me of her acceptance to UMass. “Following in your footsteps “ was her text to me wearing my 1960s sweatshirt (I hadn’t seen it in years). Warmed my heart!"
Alisa Rosen ’85: "I am very excited and proud to share my piece of UMASS history with you: The one, the only, the original COSMIC WIMPOUT! Made 1979 in South Hadley, MA. Who would have thought 36 years and 3,000 miles later I’d still have the game, let alone play it? It is a classic!"
Jonathan Olly ’02: "I lived in the same dorm room, 224 Webster on Orchard Hill, from September 1998 to May 2002. Each September, there was always a few days of downtime between moving in and the start of classes. I subscribed to National Geographic and went through past issues to cut out interesting images and added a few photos that I took. This wall is from 2000-2001, with the photo taken by my friend Pip, an exchange student from England. I still have a 1" thick folder of Nat Geo cutouts from the various wall iterations. In laying these out tonight to take a photo, I also found a key that I had drawn at the end of the spring semester, should I choose to recycle parts of it the following year."
Jodi Green Kaplan ’86: "The kick a** UMass coozie is a 80’s UMass memento that I still have. I sold these in P-Lot at football games and at all of the outdoor concerts. This product got me my first job and paid for the first/last/security deposit of my first apartment in Boston! Come on….who still has their coozie????"
Nick Triano ’83: "Aside from my Pub Mug, this poster has followed me everywhere since I left Amherst. I rescued this from a pillar in Hampden DC after seeing The Kinks' first appearance at the FAC in 1979, for the princely sum of $7.50 (I saw them there in 1980 too, where they recorded their live album.) This precious artwork lived on my dorm walls after that, before it went into storage for several years, at which time it needed to be framed and returned to my 'permanent collection.'
No cans, bottles, or demon alcohol!'"
Don Green ’80: "Here is a photo of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity house at 14 Elm Street. Elm Street was a small street that connected Lincoln Avenue with Sunset Avenue, about a quarter mile beyond Southwest. The chapter closed shortly after we graduated in 1980, and after a brief revival in the mid-1990’s, the chapter is long gone. The beautiful, but quite rundown, Victorian house we had is now a private home to some lucky family who probably has no idea what went on there so many years ago. My wife, Mary Cosindas ’80, who I met a UMass, took the photo in the spring of 1979, at the end of our junior year. You can see the clothes line on the roof, and if you look closely, right in front of the chimney, that’s my roommate’s girlfriend, Helene, with the chapter’s mascot, a delightful and friendly mutt named Chief. We have this photo framed upstairs in our home in Needham."
Tom Pietraszek ’66: "This is my desk calendar from my years at UMass. I recently found in my basement ”stuff”. I call your attention to the football and basketball schedules and the opponents. Quite a change compared to current games."
Dave Stebbins ’00: "I bought this T-shirt the day of my graduation! It was all I could afford as I scrambled around the student gift shop. I was in a hurry that day in the spring of 2000, as I had to report to my new career with the US Fish & Wildlife Service as an inspector that same week! As a natural resource major, I was hired about a week before graduation and had to annoy my professors on what my grade was. How well I did depended on my pay!! Good times!"
Timothy S. Nugent ’88: "I still have photos of when I was in the UMass Minuteman Marching Band during the 1984 and 1985 football seasons. In this one, I am marching with my clarinet, and I have a good rolling step going with my feet, which I am proud of. Great memories of my time in the UMMB. Go! Fight! Win!"
Chris James ’73: "My picture shows mementos from two generations of UMass grads. The mug and ring on the left belonged to my dad, John Manlich ’50, ’51MS. The other ring is mine ‘73. I was born while my parents lived on campus—the building was still there when I was a student. My dad was on the GI bill after serving in WWII, Battle of the Bulge. His degrees were in public health and he worked for the March of Dimes most of his life. My major was home economics education, archaic now, but it lead me to three different and rewarding careers. I am still in contact with my Emerson House friends and wonderful house parents, Ron and Jean Collins. I wear my ring every day and it’s been a conversation starter and icebreaker in many situations. I have a mug somewhere but it was not as fancy as my dad’s!"
