Today's students will look back ontheir college days as among their fondest memories, as the Class of 1954 knows full well. These alumni also know firsthand that those college experiences came with some intense pressures. Papers. Exams. Grades. Career hopes. Money. Tuition. Relationships. Emotional crises -- their friends' and their own. Conflict, internal as well as interpersonal.

Those daily stresses became clearer after 9/11, just as the Class of 1954 began fund raising and searching for a gift suitable to commemorate its 50th reunion. Classmates felt that it was important to express America's "heightened appreciation of family, friends and cherished values," explains Johnnie Lou Terry ('54).

"Amid the pressures of university life," the class also realized, "there was no place set apart on campus where students could go to worship, meditate or just be quiet," she says. So the class embraced the idea of an interfaith chapel as a gift that "would reflect Madison's belief in the development of mind, body and spirit."

At their 50th class reunion in April, the Class of 1954 presented an interfaith chapel in Taylor Hall to JMU. The occasion was a dedication service conducted by members of the class and welcoming pilgrims of all faiths.

The Rev. Maria Manos Waters ('54) presented the chapel's focal point, the stained glass window behind the altar. The circular window represents unity, inclusiveness and completeness. A dove symbolizes peace and love. The colors white, red, green and blue represent faith, purity, charity, courage, hope, youth and truth. "The religious symbols represent many faiths," she explained, "and the open field represents faiths
yet unknown."

Terry summed up her classmates' sentiments. "It is with great joy that the Class of 1954, on behalf of those who have gone before us and those who continue on their pilgrimage, present, for people of all faiths, this Interfaith Chapel to JMU," she said at the dedication.

Mark Warner ('79, '81M, '85Ed.S.), senior vice president of student affairs, received the chapel on behalf of the university. Recognizing the classmates and their efforts he said, "Thank you. I'm proud to be an alumnus. This is a gift with strings attached. They're the most powerful strings there are -- they're heartstrings."

Classmates (102 of the 156) and their friends and family raised more than $55,000 in cash for the project. To transform two rooms in Taylor Hall into a chapel, classmates earmarked $50,000 for the physical remodeling and furnishings and an endowment for maintenance. Classmates designated the remaining funds to augment the Student Scholarship Fund, which the class established to commemorate its 40th reunion.

Nearly 300 more Madison College alumni joined the Class of 1954 in April to renew their greatest college treasures -- Madison friendships. Alumni from the classes of 1934, 1939, 1944, 1949, 1959 and 1964 also reminisced at class receptions and dinners, toured campus and the arboretum, and heard from JMU President Linwood H. Rose and James Madison Center Director Phil Bigler ('74, '76M). Laughter from the "lights out at 10 Bluestone era" filled the first floor of the high-tech integrated science and technology building as alums outed each other's rule breaking and shared memories at the annual Madison Confessional program. The Bluestone Society, alumni who graduated more than 50 years ago, joined class reunion participants in a dinner and inducted the Class of 1954 in a candlelight ceremony.

-- Pam Brock and Allison Mall ('04)