Surprisingly enough, the "No-frills Reunion" was a big success and even I had to admit I quite enjoyed myself. Approximately 100 people attended the Friday night party at the Elbo Room. I'd made 90 nametags - about 20 of which weren't picked up. I all of the 25 plain ones I brought with me and there were still some who didn't get one. There were quite a few people there who hadn't let me know - most of them didn't realize they were supposed to. Because there were no "snail-mailings," this was a word-of-mouth or e-mail notification system and there were probably many who never got the word.

But for those who did, it seemed to be a good weekend. Judy Palmer Rossi ('61) came all the way from Hawaii and brought her daughter Leandra; Ed Cox ('59) and wife Susan came from Pennsylvania; Joyce Noll Barrier ('59) from California and John Mondini('60), from Oregon.

The Saturday evening weenie roast turned into a full-fledged pot luck dinner with enough food to feed twice the number of people there. The weather couldn't have been better - it was sooooo beautiful. (This really was amazing considering that SoFla had 3 hurricanes surrounding the reunion!) Our only problem was that no one thought of bringing any lighting and after dark, we were -- in the dark!! It wasn't easy cleaning up all that food after dark. On Saturday morning a group went to Lester's for breakfast - we got the back room and filled it. On Sunday, a group went to the Sea Watch for lunch - another good time. There's a movement afoot to have a cruise again for the next reunion. Because there are so many who may not want to cruise, the plan is to have a big night-before gathering to include them. Among all of us with digital cameras we probably have a gazillion pictures which have been posted on Snapfish and Classmates so people can access them and get the ones they want. Also, check out Ken Millen's web page at kenmillen.com to see a lot of the pictures.

What was missing? For me, it would have to be a directory and a hospitality room. Most of those attending seemed to prefer the unstructured informal style as opposed to having all the big events. Of course, maybe it's just these people - the ones who would actually come all the way from California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Hawaii for a weenie roast - who prefer the casual type of reunion. But I have to admit, I did get to talk to a lot more people this time than at past events.

Thanks to Dixie Joyner, ('59) and Ken Millen,('60) for spearheading this gathering. Without their efforts, there would not have been a reunion this year.