I thought the 1963 Stanley Kramer film "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World" seemed like the perfect theme for this reunion! Sometimes you don't need a theme. Sometimes the planning will deliver a great reunion. Sometimes the people who attend the reunion make it a success. Sometimes all you need is just a great location; San Diego was indeed a great location! Sometimes you get everything right... It does happen.

I had planned on taking a lot of video at this reunion... that was a dumb Idea! I'm too independent to seriously do that. I didn't take a lot of pictures either. I knew others would and they did. I did spend a lot of time being aware of what our reunions are this time... are they all the same? Are they different? There is no question that they are special. So today is my day to be reflective.

2009 San Diego Reunion

When you do a huge amount of detail planning for a reunion you know where the stress points are and you also know what should run smoothly. I wonder, after all of Kathy Madden's work and mine (which seemed much easier this round), if we are the right people to comment on a reunion? But then again, we are the two who can really enjoy the afterglow. My overall comment on this reunion is that it was skillfully executed displaying the knowledge and experience gained in doing past events. So my hat is off to a very special lady for making this reunion, as with others, a success... I know how hard she has worked.

THANK YOU Katherine Madden

Now in 2009 we had experienced planning and management team, first class communications and very apparent at this reunion a well traveled and experienced crew of veteran reunion classmates... even with new class members joining us this reunion virtually ran by itself as a drill. So all the months of hotel, restaurant and trolley tour planning... there we were... its Show time... We watched, we worried and we enjoyed the moments. Change the location (and all the details), hand out a cheat sheet page of information and this crew would execute the reunion themselves. Now add the missing ingredient... LOCATION... San Diego itself what a location... WOW!

Each reunion has been special. Each reunion different in some way and now we have reached this new level looking at a reunion from another perspective. What never changes is the pure joy of seeing everyone again and welcoming classmates we have not seen in years... everyone shares making these reunions special... perhaps the best experience is welcoming old friends and having them take their place among us again.

A special welcome to class mates that have joined us for the first time. Welcome Mary (Kutch) and Roger Ritter, Suzanne (Proux) and Frank Spizuco '61 , Carolyn (Oppenheim) Schwartz, Eilene (Trucks) Bugbee and Bob Davis '62. This is truly outstanding!

So Lets get on with the Reunion Slideshow... Walking The Gaslamp Quarter... The Altitudes Lounge... Anthony's Fish Grotto... The Trolley Tour... Old Town... The USS Midway Museum...The Zoo... Coronado and the Hotel Del... Donovan's... Balboa Park and The Organ Concert at the Spreckels Pavilian... and much, much more!

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Dianne (Quicker) Yee and I have been email correspondents for years and years. As some of you know I have poor hearing and it is difficult for me to participate in conversations let alone phone conversations so I focus my communications on email. Dianne and I have enjoyed a lively email correspondence and I was excited to finally see Dianne in person which just adds so much to our friendship. I had not seen her since high school.

So, Min and Dianne picked us up at our hotel and we were their guests for dinner at a favorite restaurant of theirs, a favor I will repay next year as we plan on returning for a visit to Seattle.

Both Janet and I were smitten with Portland, Oregon. So much so, that we have begun looking for a place in the Willamette Valley to rent for a month next summer. Rich has been selling me on visiting Portand for a couple of years. Although our visit was brief there is more than enough to do for a month for a man who enjoys to wander about as I do. Our hotel by chance was about a five minute drive from Rich and Harriet. We had not been in our room an hour when Rich tracked us down at the guest laundry and after we finished we were off for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

The next day we were given the full area tour of the city and the countryside including a visit to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum outside Portland which is now home to Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" and a very obscure Army reconnaissance aircraft from Vietnam which I have memories of... sitting in the right seat.