Touring Greece

Grinnellians gathered in Greece in June on the first alumni trip in several years. Gerald Lalonde, professor emeritus of classics, and Monessa Cummins, associate professor of classics, shared their love of Greece’s ancient history, architecture, art, and literature with 20 Grinnell alumni, spouses, and family members. Eleni Zachariou, a licensed professional guide and Greek native with whom Lalonde has worked before, made all the arrangements in Greece and offered her own perspective on the modern nation. Jayn Bailey Chaney ’05, director of alumni relations, organized the trip and served as the concierge, as the group affectionately called her.

Trustee Craig Henderson ’63, was a first-time alumni tour participant but had visited Greece before, including the tour destinations of Athens, Olympia, and Delphi. He decided to go this year for two reasons: 1) Lalonde was on the tour faculty, and 2) people he liked and knew well from the classes of 1963 and 1964 were also going.

“I’ve never taken a course from Lalonde,” Henderson says, “but I knew from personal contact that he’s a lovely human being, so his leadership on this tour caught my attention.”

“Jerry’s got a sense of humor that’s magnificent,” Henderson says. “I wondered as I listened if I would have appreciated his humor and his erudite qualities of mind when I was a student. You really can appreciate all that a professor like Jerry has to offer more when you’ve lived a few years than you can when you’re 18.”

Lalonde has been teaching and doing research for about 55 years, working in Greece fairly regularly since 1966. “I have had a long love affair with the country, its people, its history, and its art,” he says. “The pleasure of teaching and lecturing is sharing this experience and passion with bright, educated, interested, and interesting people.”

Cummins agrees. “Lecturing to accomplished professionals with significant life experience really stretched my teaching abilities in new directions,” she says. “I learned to talk in short, meaningful sound bites.”

“Monessa clearly had thought carefully about what things to highlight, what points to make, relevant to us alums. With these faculty, it was as if this were my first trip,” Henderson says.

Amy Henderson ’94, a trained art historian and Craig’s daughter, says, “Nothing compares in my mind to going with two professors who know the culture and history inside and out. They bring a level of depth and richness to conversations and to descriptions that you wouldn’t be able to find in many other contexts.”

One of the special events of the tour was Zachariou’s generous hosting of all the tour participants for lunch at her home on the island of Aegina. Everyone appreciated the opportunity to visit a native Greek person’s home.

In addition to the tour guides and facilitators, the tour participants themselves contributed to the success of the trip. The group ranged from class of 1958 to the class of 1994.

“I found I could meet with Grinnellians of any era and there’s some sort of connection,” says Craig Henderson.

Amy Henderson adds, “It made the whole trip comfortable and exciting and interesting.”