25 Years Later: The Class of 1971 Book Club

What started as class reunion planning turned into one of the most remarkable friendships that the Class of 1971 members could have imagined. A bond rooted in faith and sustained by the enduring connection of being Grace Eagles.

In 2001, members from Grace High School’s Class of 1971 got together to do what most alumni groups do. The plan was simple: organize a celebration, catch up, and return to their busy lives. But when the night ended, no one really wanted to leave. The conversations had that unfinished quality that good ones always do. The reconnection felt genuine in a way that surprised them. Something had been rediscovered, even if no one could quite name it.

The timing made everything feel more significant than any of them expected. Their reunion fell on Sept. 14, 2001, just a few days after the world had changed in ways that were still sinking in. The heaviness of 9/11 was impossible to ignore, and in some ways it clarified things that might otherwise have gone unsaid. It felt necessary. 

They needed a reason to keep meeting. So they created one.

That fall, they started a book club. They picked the second Wednesday of every month, shook hands on it in the way old friends do, and got to work. For 25 years, they have kept that commitment. Not most months. Not when it’s convenient. Every month. A quarter of a century. That kind of consistency is rare in any friendship, let alone one that was quietly rebuilt at a reunion that could have easily been a one-time thing. 

What makes this even more remarkable is that these women were not especially close in high school. They knew each other, moved through the same hallways, sat in the same classrooms, and shared the same formative years. They ran in different circles and followed different paths. Some were athletes. Some found their confidence on a stage. Some spoke up first in class discussions, others sat back and said exactly the right thing when it finally mattered. A few had children around the same time and stayed loosely connected, but many had simply drifted into their own separate lives.

So why did it feel so natural to come back together?

They will tell you it comes back to Grace. As members of only the second graduating class, they were part of a school still figuring itself out. The building was new. The traditions were being invented in real time. Joyce (Tiller) Leitner ‘71, who joined the group after moving back to the Cities, remembers the atmosphere vividly: “It never felt cliquey. We came from many different grade schools, and we had a small-student population in the early years. We were taught by brothers, sisters, and young lay teachers full of enthusiasm and ideals. Uniforms were the great equalizer in status. It didn’t matter if your navy or gray knee highs came from Dayton’s or Target!”

But more than the shared experience, it was the foundation underneath all of it. Jen Kelly ‘71 describes it this way: “The foundation of our education and the similarities of our upbringings allows us to often know how we all feel about many issues. While we all have taken our Catholic upbringing to varying levels in adulthood, we still have that common ground upon which to fall back, sharing a deep connection in our morals and ethics, which I believe we acquired from our time at Grace.” That kind of connection is not something time takes away. It does not disappear just because years pass.

Life has brought them through a great deal since that first Wednesday meeting. They have navigated retirements and the restructuring that comes with them. They have celebrated grandchildren arriving and, in Joyce’s case, even great-grandchildren. They have cared for aging parents. Some have lost spouses. Pat leaned on the group during one of the most frightening chapters of her life, when her granddaughter faced a serious medical crisis. Catherine Allen ‘71 echoes the sentiment: “We have supported each other as we have experienced serious health issues and grieved the loss of Spouses.”

And the friendship does not pause between the second Wednesdays. Their group chat stays active in the days and weeks between meetings, filled with encouragement, updates, and the kind of compassion that only comes from people who are truly paying attention. Milestones get celebrated with genuine enthusiasm. Hard news gets met with care. As Catherine puts it: “It has been a lifesaver for all of us to be able to lean into each other for anything and everything going on in our lives.”

The books, of course, are still very much part of it. Favorites vary by member: The Language of Flowers, Educated, Water for Elephants, Cutting for Stone — the novel that first drew Joyce back into the fold — and Molokai, which Mary Zaloker ‘71 still holds close. “You would never find half of the books on your own that we have read,” Mary says. “That’s the joy of book club.”

This is not a story about friendships that never faded. It is a story about women who found their way back to each other, rooted in the same faith and values Grace gave them all those years ago, and chose to keep showing up, month after month, for 25 years. Jen says it plainly: “I can’t imagine not having the deeply close friendships I have gained from my time with this group.” Catherine calls it “a sisterhood that is very special to me.”

It was chosen once at a reunion that could have been enough. Twenty-five years later, it is still being chosen every single month. Grace High School gave them the values and connections that made finding their way back to each other feel inevitable. The second Wednesday is still circled on the calendar, and they are still showing up.