ORONO – With many of her male classmates fighting in World War II, Esther Holden Hopkins said she decided to concentrate on her studies at the University of Maine.

“My grades improved,” said Hopkins, a member of the Class of 1944, which held its 60th reunion this weekend.

“This class is unique because we started with a typical college atmosphere but the war changed the complexion of things. One by one we saw the men leave,” said Hopkins, a Portland native who lives in California.

Saturday’s events included the dedication of the new Bear’s Den, recently rebuilt thanks to the Class of 1944, which raised $160,000 as a 60th reunion gift.

The new gathering spot is among a number of projects taken on by the class, a tight-knit group that has made a name for itself through generous contributions to the university.

Taking a break from Saturday’s festivities, class member Gerald Tabenken said the reunion was a chance to catch up with old friends and see firsthand the “progress the university is making with new buildings and programs.”

The timing of the reunion is “significant,” since the 60th anniversary of D-Day is Sunday, said Tabenken, a Bangor native who lives in Ashland, Mass.

“It’s appropriate that we’re meeting this weekend,” he said. “Some of us didn’t come back. We lost buddies.”

Of the 480 class members, 155 served in World War II. Nineteen men lost their lives.

“The Class of 1944 is no ordinary class. We were the class the war tried to tear apart. The people who left came back and graduated later, but they all felt sentimentally that they wanted to stay in the class even though they graduated in 1946 or 1947 or 1948,” said class president Al Ehrenfried who lives in Acton, Mass.

As a result of the war, “we have become closer as a group – more grateful, more caring and more tenacious than we might otherwise have been,” he said.

Recalling how the men in her class went off to war, Mildred Wooster Roberts said, “I left too.”

An Old Town native who lives in Florida, Roberts joined the Women’s Army Corps and worked as a physical therapist.

The war made little difference in her social life at UM, she said. “When you were young you could always find a date somewhere.”

Russell Bodwell of Orono said he and other classmates who left to go to war returned to UM with a new perspective.

“We were more dedicated to our studies and getting better grades,” he said.

Joy Iveney Ingalls, an Eastport native who lives in Yarmouth, said the war likely did “pull us all together.”

“But maybe it had nothing to do with it – maybe it was that we all liked each other,” said Ingalls, who experienced “culture shock” as a freshman.

The girls from southern Maine “were a lot more sophisticated,” she said. “I never realized people from Washington County were any different from those in Portland.”

“I had a lot of catching up to do,” she added.

Class members appreciate the role UM played in their lives, “all the way from letting us in, to having patience with us and teaching us not just academics but to be great people,” said Al McNeilly of Owls Head.

He’s grateful that he was admitted to UM despite his lackluster high school grades, he said.

Former dean of admissions Percy Crane, “bless his heart, took a lot of big chances with us,” said McNeilly, one of a number of successful engineers in the class.

Members have donated more than $9.7 million, “likely the largest gift of any Maine class, as an expression of our devotion to the university,” said Ehrenfried.

The Class of 1944 Hall houses the performing arts department. Bodwell Lounge in the Maine Center for the Arts and the Buchanan Alumni Hall also were supported by members of the class.

The Bear’s Den had been a hallmark of the Orono campus for almost 50 years until it was eliminated during renovations to the Memorial Union several years ago.

Touring the building a couple of years ago, McNeilly noticed something was missing.

“What happened to the Bear’s Den?” he asked. He quickly began contacting classmates to see about raising money for a new facility.

“The Class of 1944 has once again come through for us,” UM President Peter Hoff told administrators and representatives from the alumni association and facilities management who gathered in the elegantly appointed new Bear’s Den for Saturday’s dedication.

Also in the audience were representatives from WBRC Architects and Sullivan & Merritt, the Bangor firms that designed and built the Bear’s Den.

If other alumni pick up where the Class of 1944 left off, the Bear’s Den could expand and “become almost as popular as Pat’s Pizza,” said Hoff, referring to the long-standing Orono eatery.

UM student government president Cortlynn Hepler thanked the class “for all your hard work. You brought back something that was truly missed.”

The new Bear’s Den, which was partially closed for renovations much of last semester, is “growing in popularity,” said Hepler. He hopes the hours can be expanded and that in September “it will really start to take off.”

Class of 1944 members are doing their part to promote the school that meant so much to them.

Joy Ingalls said she plans to bring her grandchildren to visit the campus so perhaps at least one will decide to attend.

Al McNeilly’s grandson graduated from UM in 2001. Now an academic adviser for the university, Joe Cordero of Owls Head talks to high school students about aspirations and the importance of a college education.

Cordero credits his grandfather with inspiring him to attend UM.

“I grew up wanting to be a Black Bear,” he said.