Ed Perkins, Cleo and I spent the remainder of Sunday
afternoon (September 12) after the brunch touring Naperville (in the
rain) visiting Cleo's house which took us some time to find.  Cleo got
out of the car briefly to take a picture of it and someone came to the
front door and asked her what she was doing (in not a very friendly tone
of voice).  She explained she used to live here and was just taking a
picture, then jumped back in my car quickly and we got out of their.
Unfortunately the place looked a bit run down compared to when the
Bender's owned it but all the same buildings remained on the property
that were there when Cleo lived there including the barn where we had our
famous annual signing party at the end of our senior year.  We also drove
by the beach and were so impressed with how very lovely it looked.  The
parking lot was particularly impressive.  Then we tried to find Spike
Flanders old house on Mill Street and upon finding it discovered it was
the home of one of the Naper family and displayed a plaque indicating it
was one of Naperville's historic buildings.  Cleo wrote down the exact
wording on the plaque.  Also went by Naper School so Cleo could get a
photo of it and she was pleased that it looked very much like it did when
she went to school their.  Ed and I didn't go to elementary school in
Naperville so we had no recollection of what the grade schools looked
like then.  We also spent quite a bit of time touring the YMCA where we
spent most of our Friday nights at Youth Center dances after football
and basketball games.  It has had an addition added on to on the North
side of the building that includes a large swimming pool, weight room,
indoor track, offices and a childrens nursery/playroom.  The addition is
super but the old original structure is still great too.  The gym where
the dances were held is in super condition with a floor that glistens
with many coats of varnish.  The old basement swimming pool is still
there too and it seems even smaller than it did when we used to take
swimming lessons there.  The bathroom located just outside and around the
corner of the gym still exists.  I can remember spending much time in
their during our Youth Center dances combing my hair etc, etc.  It was a
wonderful trip back into time and one we all thoroughly enjoyed.
   
Before we toured the YMCA we walked up behind it to check out Central
Park and the, new to us, bandstand and delightful gazebo that is now
situated there.  Two teenage boys were using the stage of the bandstand
as a skate board arena or were they on Line skates, I'm not certain
which.

We also went by Boyd Berry's old house and Jared Dornberg's and checked
out the main part of the North Central Campus where "Old Main" sits, very
much dwarfed by much newer constructed academic buildings.  It had always
been such an imposing structure when I had attended college there right
after high school and it seemed a shame that the building that was done
there in the years after I had left there couldn't have been done without
taking away from the grand old structure that Old Main had always been.
But at least they hadn't torn it down, thank goodness.

We noted that Dorothy Alexander's house as well as mine have been torn
down.  Sad to realize our old homesteads are gone forever more.

I dropped Ed and Cleo off at Ed's rental car that was parked in Judd's
old house's restaurant parking lot around 4:00 P.M. as I had promised my
niece (Jo Ann's daughter) that I would come and see her new townhouse in
Woodridge that she had moved into the end of July.  We would be meeting
up again along with Curt Shimp around 6:30 P.M. for dinner at the
restaurant.

So off I went to Woodridge to visit my niece while Ed and Cleo continued
to tour around Naperville.  We had all wanted to spend some time on the
River Walk but the rain made that an undesirable option so I believe they
decided to tour the new library instead.  I had seen it some years ago
when I was back for a previous reunion so didn't feel I'd needed to see
it again.  You'll have to ask Cleo and Ed what else they saw after I left
them.
  

My trip over to Woodridge was a disaster as I got dreadfully lost and
ended up in Aurora before I finally made my way over to Woodridge.  A 15
minute trip took me more than an hour to make.  My mistake was thinking
that I could find my way by going on the street that runs south of the
high school and along the old football field past the cemetery to
Washington Street. I would take Washington St. to 75th and 75th to Rt.
53, turn right on Rt. 53 to 83d St. Heather's townhouse was located at
Rt. 53 and 83rd St.  Well what a mistake it was to think that old street
that ran behind the high school was still the same street.  I never did
find Washington St. or 75th St. and as I said finally ended up in Aurora.
 I don't have a compass in my car and there was no sun out to help me
figure out just what direction I was going in so winding this way and
that I really got confused as to where I was and what direction I was
going in.  I will never, ever try to find my way around Naperville again
unless I'm on Washington St., Chicago Ave or Ogden Ave.  They seem to be
the only streets left in town with any familiarity left to them for me.

Our dinner together at Judd's old place was splendid.  It's a "Tapas"
restaurant which is a Spanish style form of dining.  You take turns
ordering different items from the menu which you share with each other.
It was sort of like eating marvelous appetizers all night long.  Of
course one could get an individual salad or soup too as well as a more
complete dinner if you desired.  We dined for several hours and so
enjoyed reminiscing about our past experiences in this very special home
from our past.  We ate in the dining room that once served as sort of an
informal living room located just to the left after you walked in the
front door.

Curt recalled attending birthday parties at Judd's home when he was in
grade school.  Cleo, Ed and I could only recall parties we had attended
there during our high school years.  All in all it was the perfect ending
of a most incredibly delightful weekend spent with our classmates from
the class of '57 celebrating our joint 60th birthdays.  It certainly made
turning 60 a lot more enjoyable and was just what I needed to help me
realize once again that we certainly have a most remarkable class of
amazingly talented and wonderfully caring people.