Good evening and welcome.  My name is Eliah Seton, and I’m the President of the Board.

Before the night yields to singing, I wanted to say a few words.

First, I want to thank Bryan Simmons and Lynn Weigel.  As you can see, there’s a lot that goes into a weekend like this, but there’s more that you can’t see.  So thank you to Bryan and Lynn who served as an Executive Committee of sorts for this reunion.  Thanks also to Jeff Korn for his beautiful design for the invitation and the sign-poster, to Steve Dostart for pretty much everything, to Jon Finn-Gamino for the extraordinary silk-screen poster that will commemorate this reunion, to Fred Heller for hosting the welcoming event on Thursday night at the Signet.  Of course, we are also so honored to be celebrating this anniversary with our friends from afar—the Midon family, the Sayn-Wittgensteins, Lina Kumamaru, David Selikowitz, and Zeke Solomon.

Many hands make light work—thank you all.

This reunion gave us the opportunity to celebrate the Krok repertoire of the past and invest in the Krok repertoire of the future.  Thank you to Glen Howard and Peter Mansfield and Stu Malina and Matt Guard and Jeff Fowler for leading the alumni groups.  And to Todd Fletcher, Peter Mansfield, Stu Malina, David Liang, AJ Leiman, Cole Dutcher, Ben Nelson, and Jesse Wong for creating new music for the Krok repertoire.

I had the opportunity to speak with the Kroks of 2011 at the end of their sound check yesterday before the concert.  I said something to them privately that I’d like to say to this room publicly.

Last night was a special experience for all of us.

I had the privilege of being copies on emails from Glen Howard and Rick Pepin as they were organizing the group from the 1960’s.  Virtually overnight, they turned a tentative plan to sing with a handful of guys into a 20-person strong group, and listening to Mark Woodbury’s Stormy Weather float into the rafters made you realize why you made the trip.

Not to be outdone, the semi-professional Kroks of the 1970’s took the stage.  Their music speaks for itself, and all we can say, is thank you for giving us Peter Mansfield.  Anyone in the world who is familiar with the songs of the Kroks is familiar with the Kroks of the 70’s and Peter Mansfield.

Then of course the Kroks of 80’s, the Dinosaurs.  As I told Stu Malina, one of the truly legendary music directors and arrangers of the Kroks’ history, if I could come back any other way, it would be to sing with the 80’s guys.  I have to imagine there will come a time when singing Cloudburst will actually result in Paul Sagawa’s bursting.

Then Matt Guard and Jeff Fowler led the 90’s group.  The hardest thing in the Kroks is to sing in the arc when Jed Cohen is singing Danny Boy or Jordan Cooper is singing Loch Lomond.  The notes didn’t come as quickly as the tears did.

And then there were the Kroks of 2011.

Everyone always says that the essence of the Kroks is to bring happiness to people through music.  That tends to happen with varying levels of success every year.  To get it quite right, you need two things: you need to make beautiful music, and you need to have fun while you’re doing it.  Each is as important as the other.

What we learned last night is that the Kroks of 2011 are so gifted with both.  You make beautiful music and you have fun while you are doing it.  But you have something else, even above and beyond that.

The 12 of you shared with the 150 of us your spotlight.  You did it with grace and charm and an eagerness to meet and sing with other groups.  You shared the gift of your experience with us this weekend, and we are grateful for that.

You are 12 gentlemen, and when you depart on your Summer Tour and go to far-flung places around the globe, we are so proud that the 12 of you will be representing this organization.  You are brilliant musicians and really nice people.  I’m thrilled to celebrate many future reunions with you as alums.

So allow me to raise the first glass of the night, and the 101^st of the weekend, to the Harvard Krokodiloes of 2011.

Eliah Seton,
President of the Board

65th Anniversary – The Harvard Crimson