Reunion Recap: It’s done. We did it. And we somehow survived the ordeal by drawing on the experiences of gutting out four years of seemingly endless marching in place by focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not talking about the reunion, I’m talking about getting out of the stadium parking lot after the football game. I’m pretty sure many of our classmates’ hip replacement surgeries took less time than it took to move a quarter of a mile in the parking lot. Naturally, it’s Jeff Hackett’s fault. The rules of chairing a reunion clearly state that any successes are credited to the event leaders, and any less-than-successful occurrences fall squarely in the lap of the reunion chairman. It goes without saying, he’ll have to keep chairing the reunions until he gets it right.
Kudos go to the emcees, the event leaders, and the entertainers. Jim Burling and Duke Buhyoff deserve a special shoutout for playing and singing during the evening events. Duke normally plays in more intimate settings, such as hotel lobbies, officer clubs, and cruises, so playing in a large banquet hall with more than 700 people was a new experience. I thought he handled it with ease. As an ex-bugler and current bungler, I’m amazed that anyone can look at multiple notes at one time, play those notes with fingers on both hands simultaneously, and sing to the music to boot!
Jeff wanted everyone to know that, due to gracious donations by many classmates, our reunion finished modestly in the black. Jeff also casually mentioned he was on the winning team in the reunion golf tournament and said his shoulders were sore from carrying Dave Commons, Tom Popp, and Kent Traylor pretty much the entire way. Anyone who has seen Jeff on a golf course knows the only thing he actually carried in the tournament were the tees in his pocket.
Emcee Rich Chanick reported: a) none of the food thrown at him made it to the stage (an indictment of our age); b) the fact that Jeff didn’t fire him midway through the evening brought Jeff’s sobriety into question; and c) the stories and accomplishments he used throughout the event came from classmates, and in every case the stories were not self-aggrandizing but highlighted other classmates. Rich sends his thanks to all the stars in the audience who helped make it a memorable event.
The memorable parts of the golf tournament were the cold start, the great buffet lunch afterwards, and that the reunion chair and golf tournament committee chair were on the winning team. However, it’s worth pointing out that all of the members on the winning team were from CS-09, which is a totally legitimate reason to put four better-than-average players together, so we can probably cut Jeff and Trayls a little slack…this time. Anyone who has played in scramble tournaments knows it’s inevitable a few teams will turn in unrealistic, eyebrow-raising low scores. The winning score of 13 under par at our tournament was, in fact, very realistic. Who knew integrity at a golf tournament played only for bragging rights could be so refreshing?
Some inputs didn’t make it into this column. For other classmates’ info and more reunion photos, go HERE.
MIA: Some attendees might have noticed that Mike McClendon wasn’t at the reunion. Unfortunately, in late October a heart catheterization revealed he had 100% blockage in one vessel, 95% blockage in the “widow maker” vessel, and 85% blockage in another vessel. The good news is that, after undergoing triple-bypass surgery on October 24, he’s rehabbing well. Perhaps we should give him a pass on this reunion and reserve a seat for him at the next one. (More Below in Plus)
A lot of squadrons had get-togethers during the reunion weekend, so to do justice to all of them none are going to be singled out in this column. It was apparent from the inputs that several squadrons’ members have maintained contact with each other throughout the years, and other squadrons that perhaps haven’t kept close ties greatly appreciated getting together with squadronmates and rekindling old friendships.
Non-Reunion News: Dave and Sally Young recently attended a gala ball in Washington D.C. which honored their son, Mark, for his work in GOODProjects, an organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of generational poverty. The Youngs altruism also extends to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s. Dave lost his dad to Alzheimer’s nine years ago, so when a friend invited him to join a 3-day, 265-mile bike ride to raise money to find a cure for the disease, Dave and his family went all in. This summer will be his fifth time riding for the cause. His two sons and a daughter-in-law ride with him, and Sally and a crew of grandchildren man the support and gear stops. In terms of family outings, it’s hard to get any better or more worthwhile than that. To learn more about the Youngs’ fight against Alzheimer’s, go HERE.
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GBNF: Chuck DeMoisy, CS-32, lost his fight with esophageal cancer on December 26th. Bob Farr, CS-33, passed on January 10th following two years of advanced Parkinson’s disease. More information on Chuck and Bob can be found at via links, right.
