Members of the first graduating class from Chattanooga State met with officials to plan a reunion. Shown, from left to right, are Patsy Weaver Stickel, Chattanooga State President Dr. Jim Catanzaro, Sue Reynolds Ainscough, Gary Ainscough, Judy McDonald Liner and Chattanooga State Associate Vice President Nancy Patterson.
The first graduating class from Chattanooga State Community College consisted of 94 people who enrolled as freshman at what was initially known as Chattanooga State Technical Institute during opening year in 1965. They graduated two years later in the spring of 1967 ready to enter the regional workforce.
With a sense of school pride and awareness of their historic accomplishment, members of the Class of 1967 Reunion Planning Committee recently gathered at Chattanooga State to meet with college officials about their upcoming 46th reunion and to look ahead toward the institution’s 50th anniversary.
In 2015 Chattanooga State will celebrate a half-century of putting career success first for its students while the Class of 1967 prepares to become the inaugural members of the “Golden Grads” in 2017-- a distinction that will make them first once again.
“Chattanooga State launched our careers, and we were adequately prepared for work locally at places like IBM, American Nation Bank, TVA, Provident (now UNUM Group) and even Oak Ridge National Laboratory –places that our classmates went to work after graduating from Chattanooga State in 1967.” – C. Gary Ainscough, President of the Chattanooga State Class of 1967.
“Most of us were in ‘work-study’ programs that made attending school more affordable,” said Sue Reynolds Ainscough, fellow classmate who married her college sweetheart.
“Professors came to Chattanooga State as professionals in their respective fields. They gave up impressive careers, like Dr. W. Wayne Scott who worked with NASA and Oak Ridge before coming to Chattanooga State. Dr. Scott is making plans to attend the upcoming reunion,” said alumna Patsy Weaver Stickel.
The Chattanooga State Class of 1967 Reunion will be held on campus in the CBIH Building on Saturday, Nov. 2 with an optional campus tour at 3 p.m. and the reunion festivities starting at 5 p.m.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact Gary Ainscough, 6765 Hickory Brook Road, Chattanooga, Tn. 37421, 423 468-3414.