"LIVE" at the 60th
September 11
 
 
9/11/99, 12:58 PM:  I kinda like the animated gif above so I'm going to keep it on the page.  Sorta reminds me of the work I did not do over at Jansen's this morning.

After 3 eggs over easy, and coffee with George Taylor, Mike and Sylvia, we motored a mile down the road toward Lisle and picked up a nice XXXL from the Harley place, and an M for The Pea.  Then we rushed over to Jansen's to help with the tent.
 
 

 
 
Alas .. the tent was up and the remaining work was minutia.  Pete Wohld and I ran over to Bukema Hardware for a few odds and ends and the ladies taped up crepe paper here and there.  Joe Modaff appeared about 11:20 and unloaded a huge barrel of beer, which had to be sampled by a few of the worker bees.  Carol McKenna (S) was there and Jack Herring (S).  Cleo, who is staying with the Jansens.  George Taylor and Amigo came and went.  George told a story so long that I couldn't even remember how it started or the next ten minutes thereafter ... otherwise it was a good one.  Today George had his "worker" hat on, and after the effort he turned it around and wore it backwards.  When George said "see you guys later" I wasn't sure whether he was coming or going. At noon everything looked just right for the 3:30 PM soiree

Now for a short swim and a nap!

 
9:45 PM - Well ... I was right about the Millenium Football.  I never saw it being thrown around, but Dwayne Chenier picked it up and walked around with it for half a minute.

This afternoon the rest of the PACK, - pack found their way to Naperville and recognized the immediate slowdown on the roads.  Shirl came from Door County (WI) with Ed Perkins, who had visited for a couple of days.  Bob (Hage) and Sue (S) came over from Lemont with the dogs in the car.  Pat Schuck Hinterlong.  Gracie Herbert.
Bill Magnussen's wife.  Pete Wohld's wife Diane.  Barb abd Fred (Rhody) Sperry found their way to the shindig.  Carolyn and Abe Fakouri came in from Indiana State in Terre Haute (Carolyn delighted when I remembered Larry Bird's reigh there.

Of course Fish Herring was already there when we arrived, hanging around the potato chips and spinach dip which Helen Spinner Koth had carved out of several loaves of bread.  Fish even ate the bread.

Joe Modaff had brought in a half-barrel of beer, and there was wine and soft drinks.
Maybe the class is getting older or something ... we dedected little drinking of alcohol.  Jansen will have beer left for weeks.  Our SEE-gars were a big hit in certain circles (not many of the women) but I will be smoking what's left for another two months.

Lots of yapping continued.  All the news of everybody would take pages.  Shirl might help me with that before we close out in a few weeks.  Lots of picture-taking, including a photographer from The Naperville Sun.  Our pictures will start appearing in these pages in about 2 weeks.

Rumblings about future reunions circled.  Mary Lanter said we shouldn't call them reunions unles they're in Naperville.  What do you think?  Click here.  Cleo presented her development of a resort type setting in Sonoma County, CA, similar to our facilities in Key West.  For the 45th.  Gracie brought up an interesting option for a 3-day cruise.  The was familiar and legitimate talk about something in Naperville again as well.  What do you think of these options?  Click here.

Hage got up and read several e-mails he received from people who couldn't attend the party.  And Jansen commented on more than a few classmates who have suffered physically this year and some who lost spouses.  Our prayers are with these friends.

To finalize the announcements, the class presented a fine Howard Miller clock to Bob and Ann Jansen for their years of work in keeping this class together.  The engraving on the clock read:  "THANKS TO BOB AND ANN JANSEN FOR KEEPING US ALL TOGETHER - OVER TIME.  THE NCHS CLASS OF 1957 - September 1999."

Helen and Sarah, who also did a lot of work on this "reunion" (sorry Mary) then brought out a huge 60th Birthday cake which those with sugar intolerance avoided like the plague.  The huge coffee pot was also a big hit.

Said good-bye to some classmates who wouldn't be at tomorrow's brunch.  A few hugs scattered here and there and lots of FLASH - FLASH - flash from the cameras.

We're back at The Courtyard and will be "toes up" by 10 PM.  My God.  I wonder what hat George Taylor will wear to the brunch.  He looked pretty dapper in his black comboy job last night.  And when we left ... Fish was still wolfing down cake.

Happy Birthday, Fish.  :-)