More than 60 years later, the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing Class of April 1961 is still meeting on a regular basis; every six months, these nurses, get together over Zoom for reunions coordinated by classmates and Pitt’s Philanthropic & Alumni Engagement office.
Ruth Ann McChesney (BSN ‘61) has been a central figure in organizing reunions for her nursing class for decades. What started as in-person reunions every five years or so has evolved into more frequent virtual reunions – something unique to the Class of April ‘61.
McChesney and her peers may have earned their degrees 64 years ago, but their memories of their times spent at Pitt are strong.
“We had a wonderful education,” McChesney said.
This class, having graduated in April 1961, was the last class Pitt graduated in the two-semester program before transitioning to trimesters.
That semester, 27 students graduated from the School of Nursing. To this day, nine of these graduates – a third of the original class – have frequently attended the semi-annual reunions, with the most recent in April 2025. Next year in April, they will celebrate their 65th class reunion.
McChesney is no stranger to taking on leadership roles. A former president of the Basic Student Nurses Association, she got her start in leading class reunions by collecting letters from fellow former classmates and distributing them via a group mailing.
Ellen Urie McGrew sends out the email notices to the class mailing list and helps coordinate the reunions.
“We’ve always made an effort to meet together quite often,” McChesney said.
Since 1986 for their 25th reunion, at least half of the Class has been able to reunite in-person. In 1991 for their 30th reunion, McChesney and her peers visited their former anatomy professor at the Sherwood Oaks retirement village.
For their 50th reunion, they visited Pitt’s main campus to enjoy alumni day celebrations and tour the new nursing labs. Most members of the Class were 73 years old at the time, but 16 – more than half of their class attended in-person to celebrate.
“That’s another example of the closeness that we had,” McChesney said.
Their last in-person reunion was in 2016 for their 55th anniversary.
A few years later, McChesney realized something positive about life during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Her group could still meet without having to endure the difficulties of national travel.
Their first reunion hosted over Zoom was held on October 16, 2021, for their 60th anniversary. Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob, PhD, RN, FAAN, then dean of the Pitt School of Nursing, joined to commemorate the occasion.
Ever since this first virtual reunion, the Class has continued to meet every six months. Their next reunion is scheduled for October 22, 2025.
By that time, most of the participants, McChesney included, will be 87 years old.
Taylor Andrekanic, assistant director of alumni relations for Pitt Nursing, has organized and joined the virtual sessions. She shared the Class of April ‘61 is special in the fact that no other class from that decade meets this frequently and with this many members present.
McChesney estimated that among the 27 total graduates, 14 are still alive. Some are still working or have just recently retired. One fellow alumna and counselor, Paula Berkey, still sees clients to this day.
Sandra S. Bowles, RN, EdD, CNE, is an Emeritus Professor of Nursing and the Emeritus Dean for the Bradford Division of Health Science at the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia.
“I am still working as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission doing reaccreditation site visits for that agency [as] one of the regional accreditors,” Bowles said. “In fact, I just did a visit to a university in northwest Ohio this [May].”
McChesney herself split her life post-graduation between raising a family and progressing her career in nursing. She worked as a public health nurse and director of nursing. She even became a part-time teacher to pass on her expertise.
McChesney grew up with fellow alumna Judy Cyphert. After attending grades 1 – 12 together, the pair went on to earn their degrees at Pitt Nursing and continue their 80-year-long friendship to this day.
“We were really a close-knit class and remained that way,” McChesney said.
As part of their trip down memory lane during the most recent reunion on April 23, McChesney shared a poem she wrote the evening before their April 1961 commencement.
She and her classmates still fondly remember “‘Twas the Night Before Pinning” and all the experiences that came both before and after their graduation 64 years ago.