BERKELEY - Homecoming & Parents Weekend ’02 was a family reunion that spanned nearly a century of Cal history. The 6,000 participants ranged from Walter Freudenthal ’27, who arrived as a freshman a few weeks before the devastating Berkeley fire of 1923, to three-month-old Liliana Trevino, future class of ’24, who attended her first Homecoming wearing a bib she got on a trip to the Lair of the Bear back when she was 10 days old.

For many of the alumni who attended reunions, the return to campus was an opportunity to recall romance. Liliana’s parents, Lori ’90 and Mike Trevino ’89, met at Cal and were married in Faculty Glade. Betsy Olenick Dougherty ’72 (M. Arch. ’75) took her 16-year-old-daughter Megan on the tour of Wurster Hall to see Room 501A, where her parents met as undergraduates. And Evie (Goodnight) Emmrich ’52 and Don Emmrich ’52 from Walnut Creek came to their reunion, 50 years after taking "Marriage and Family" together – a course they both must have passed, since their two daughters are also Cal grads!

Some new Cal parents, on campus for the first time, got an immersion course in life at UC Berkeley, with 25 lectures in two days; museums, libraries, gardens and other facilities to explore; and events from the Cal Parents reception to the Homecoming Rally to attend. In between, they tried to catch up with their children and get acquainted with fellow parents.

For Sally Stewart of Boise, Idaho, the weekend was truly a homecoming. Stewart grew up in Berkeley and on the campus. Her father was geography professor James Parsons, and her son Alec ’05 is a fifth-generation Cal student. His great-great-grandfather was David Prescott Barrows, for whom Barrows Hall is named.

Although Homecoming participants avidly discussed lecture topics from California state politics and world terrorism to toxic waste and brain research, the overall mood was light and the atmosphere as festive as the blue and gold balloons arching across the sky. All weekend the loyal fans gathered on campus were predicting that Cal would beat UCLA this year, and team must have heard them. Cal’s 5th win of the season – a 17-12 victory over the Bruins – made 2002 not only the biggest Homecoming ever but one that we won't forget.