7 PM

GOOOOD EEEVNING ALAMEDA!!! Lets hear it for the class of 1963!!!

Hello and welcome to the 40^th reunion of the Alameda High School graduating class of 1963.  My name is Paul Harding, and I am not dead.  Most of you used to know me as Emmett.  He’s not dead either.  Emmett was never a name I particularly cared for, so after graduation, I began to use my middle name, Paul, and have done so for the past 40 odd years.  If any of you have trouble making that transition, go ahead and use the old name, my sister still does. However, don’t be surprised if I call you Judy in return.  I guess those of you named Judy, get a free ride on this.  When I was contacted by Steve Cornish one of the first things I heard was that there was a long standing rumor that I’d been killed in Viet Nam.  Too bad the rumor wasn’t that I was just missing in action.  I feel a little strange about total resurrection.  Although over the years, a number of people have accused me of being “brain dead”,  I am very happy to report that ……  I’m still Not Dead.  As a matter of fact, my doctor told me that I have the body of a 25 year old ….. horse.  While serving in the Air Force, I was lucky enough never to have gone to Viet Nam.  As a matter of fact, the only foreign service I had was in Mississippi and Texas, but that’s another story.

A few of you have attended all of the reunions and many were at the 20^th, but for a fair number, myself included, this is our first time back.  I’m enjoying the fact that we are all here and have the opportunity to share some of our common history.  But everyone enjoys discovering and sharing a common background.  To illustrate that:

 “A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink. "Of course," comes the reply.

The first man then asks, "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Ireland," replies the second man.

The first man responds: "You don't say, I'm from Ireland too! Let's have another round to Ireland!"

Curious, the first asks: "Where in Ireland?"

"Dublin," comes the reply.

"I can't believe it, Me too! Lets have another round of drinks to Dublin!"

The second man can't help himself so he asks, "What school did you attend?"

"Our Sisters of Perpetual Motion", replies the first man. "I graduated in '63."

“I went to the same school and graduated in the same year as you!” said the second man.

"This is becoming unbelievable!!!" They say in union.

About that time, in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar. "What's up?" he asks the bartender.

"Nothing much," replied the bartender..."The O'Malley twins are just drunk again!"

Performing from time to time, over the years I’ve learned that I can compete with a lot of things, but not with cute kids, adorable pets, or a Grand Buffet, which I believe is now being served.  So, since it’s the right thing to do, the teachers should lead the procession, followed by Jackie and me, since we’ll have to go back to work after dinner.  See you in about an hour.  Lets eat.

7:15 -7:30 PM ?

Dinner Break

8:30 PM??

Hello again.  I hope that everyone had enough to eat and is as pleased as I am.  Our complements to the chef.

Poetry

As you may recall, someone had the weird idea of having a poetry contest among the classmates, and tonight we’re going to read some of them.  I realize that some of you may not be big poetry fans, but just think, if things had gone a little differently, you might be seeing Jerry Schuster leaping across the room in a fuchsia tutu.  Yeah, I know that’s what you want to see, but it’s probably not going to happen.

Much to my surprise, when the counting was complete, there was a three-way tie among the first place favorites, mine, Steve’s, and Lukes.  Tonight, we’d like to present them in that order, not based necessarily, on merit, but rather on continuity.  “Reunion 40”, my poem, is about discovery, reflection, and commitment.  Steve’s,  “Observations from the Hallway” takes us back to an earlier time, and Luke has created a new work just for this event.    So that no one gets burned out on the poems, they’ll be presented at intervals during the evening.

So, without further ado, here’s your first dose of culture.

Reunion 40

Recognize guest teachers:

Tonight, we are honored to have among us, six of our former teachers.  As I call your name, please indicate who you are by raising your hand, and replying, “Here” or “Present”. 

Mr. Bradley, Mr. Osborn, Mr. Barton, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Campbell & Mr. Muler

Now, you probably think that you’ve been invited to our reunion so that we former students may bask in the reflected glory of your accumulated wisdom.  Yeah, right.  You’re here, so that we can finally do some of the things we were kept from doing while you held absolute power and authority over us as poor defenseless students.  Now you’ll just have to put up with us while we talk in class, chew gum, make rude noises, throw spit wads, and there’s just not a darned thing you can do about it.  Now, we have the power!  Ha, ha, ha, ha. Go ahead, just try something ….. like telling Steve Cornish to go stand in the hallway, and see what happens.  (I’m going to talk to at least one of the teachers beforehand, (probably Barton or Campbell,) and make sure that he loudly demands that Steve go stand in the hallway.  I’ll also make sure that Steve stands and starts to leave.)

Cornish!  Sit down! You’re 58 years old.  Get over it.

Geeze!  These teachers never change.

On a more serious note, we would be remiss not to pay tribute to our former teachers, both those present and those present in spirit, and the great contribution and impact they had upon our lives. For most, if not all of us, our formative teen years were a time of growth, adventure, excitement, and experimentation.  But there were also times of uncertainty, fear, sadness and pain.  I am reminded of a scene from The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, where Merlyn speaks in his role as a mentor to a young Arthur.

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow,  "is to learn something.  That is the only thing that never fails.  You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love,. . you may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds.  There is only one thing for it then--to learn.  Learn why the world wags and what wags it.  That is the only thing, which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.  Learning is the thing for you."

In the larger scheme of things, it didn’t matter so much that you, our teachers, taught us Biology, mathematics, English, music, or drama.  What mattered most was that because of your mission and dedication, you taught us the life long, value of learning and the effects it can have on our own, as well as others lives.  And for that, we sincerely thank and honor you.

(Applause, I hope.)

Hey, it’s time for another poem.

 “Observations from the Hallway”

Steve’s poem, “Observations from the hallway”, has a wonderful way of taking us back in time.  You can almost see the corridor and the lockers, and the closed classroom doors.  40 years have vanished and you’re there.  Steve, take us back.

Observations from the hallway

Short Break  Thanks Steve.  Nobody could be  better at taking us back in time than you.  Good work.  Good job.

Lets take a short break here, say 10 minutes or so.   When we come back, among other things, we have a number of classmate stories to share and some prizes to give away too.

Recognize and thank people on committee:

Reunion Staff

Having been duped into becoming this evening’s MC, since I’m not capable of accomplishing any of the real work, has made me aware that an event such as this does not occur by magic.  Behind the scenes, a great deal of work has been done by a very giving and enthusiastic group of people, who certainly deserve to be recognized.  And so, we will now recognize them.

They are:

Barbara Flowers - Made all of the name tags and handled the registration desk.

Jackie Fielding (Keating) – Provided invaluable support for your MC, solicited classmate memories, contributed to “ice breaker” events, and is participating in tonight’s program.  Jackie is also writing the message to future reunions that will be stored with our two bottles of (good stuff?).

Sherrie Auman (Deem) -  Despite her very busy schedule, volunteered to be the reunion treasurer and handled all incoming and outgoing cash payments and accounting.  She is helping to transcribe written BIOs so that they can be put into our Pirates Reunion Log.

Ray Gherardini –Coordinated the facilities at the country club and contacted Fox Hollow Golf Course.

Gary Winkel – Contacted all the golfers and coordinated that event.

Tom Lay – Took charge of finding music from the 50’s and 60’s, producing CD’s, and making arrangements to have it played at the reunion dinner.

Rick Block , assisted by Sandy and Paul Chamberlin – In charge of taking all photo’s of guests as they register.  These and other pictures will be saved to CD’s and will be part of the Reunion history.  Rick will work with Steve to produce the history book.

Jerry Schuster:  Set up software to capture photo’s from the reunion for the CD.  He is also taking bio information from the electronic format and linking it to pictures to make a CD presentation from it.

Dick Niemeyer – Among other things, Dick maintained contact list.  Contacted and coordinated invitations to teachers. Coordinated Airport rides for those who needed them.  Made arrangements for the Sunday picnic assisted by Linda Housley (Harmon), and he paid for the park as a gift to the class.  Dick also created the memorial board for those who have passed on.  In addition, he arranged for the school tour and created the “In memorandum” display for deceased classmates.  If something needed doing, Dick was there to do it.

Susan Smith (Ebert) – Coordinated the acquisition and distribution of mementos and door prizes and did quite a bit of gift wrapping.

Barbara Williamson -  ordered and customized many of our door prizes, shirts, etc (bounce this off of Susan Ebert for clarification).

Linda Housely arranged for the headquarters hotel, set up hospitality rooms, blocking rooms for out of town classmates.  She also worked with Dick Niemeyer on the picnic - arranging facilities, researching caterers - etc. She and Dick attended the 62 reuinion to do some fact finding and helped research the school tour.

Judi Rigli -  With whom, I share a cook’s heart, has become the class “Den Mother”. She assisted Steve in many ways including suggestions on how to organize the reunion and in contacting many former classmates.  Steve has often said he couldn’t have done this without her.

Steve Cornish – Chief organizer, contact person, and coordinator of the reunion, it’s committee, and its events, fisher of former students, and “Good old boy par excellence!  We all owe him a lot!

Prize Donors:

And finally, a special thanks to all of those who provided prizes for the event.

Barbara Brown Williamson

J. Schuster

Pat and Harry Sebern

Sharron Auman

Lorna Glass Kissinger

Larry Marrs

Dick Neimyer  (He's done alot for the picnic money and time wise)

Susan Ebert Smith

Stories and Prizes

Next on the agenda are a few stories from some of the classmates that we’d like to tell.  Anyone in the audience who can guess who wrote the story, (one or more people), will get a prize.  We also have a prize for the story writer.

Here’s tonight’s first story, and it’s a real “hum-dinger”, as my Grandpa might have said, or as I just did.  Luke, could you talk to me later about the generational confusion I’m having?

Story #1 – Steve Cornish

The first story is called: Bushwhacking.

Now, that was a great story!  The question is, who was the adrenalin filled kid who wrote it?  First right answer wins a prize.

(Award prize. Interact with audience.)

No reminiscence would be complete without the inclusion of the criminal element among us.  Yes, it’s true!  A dastardly and illegal deed took place among the innocence’s.  The following has been submitted directly from the witness protection program.  Jackie will read from the culprit’s notes.  Jackie?

Story #2 – Linda Parsons & Roy Lewallen

Question for you is, who done it?

(More interaction.)

Next, we have a story about some people who seemed to have an unnatural fascination with laundry.  At least, I think that’s what this is about.  We’ll have to check later to see if this had any effect on their future career choices.

Story #3  Rick Block & Clint Nelson & Dick Neimeyer

So who were these guys, future dry cleaners, ad exec’s, lingerie salesmen?

(Prizes, etc.)

Finally, here’s the real poop on the mostdramatic and effective way to contribute to Homecoming festivities.  Once again, Jackie will do the honors.

 Story #4 – Susan Ebert

And who was behind this historic deed??

(Prize etc. and thanks to all contributors.)

9:30 PM - Dance and mingle.

It’s time to give everyone a real breather.  So, you’re on your own for a while, to dance, schmooze, carouse, whatever.  We’ll be back about 11 PM for the closing events, and you don’t want to miss that!  Have fun!

11 PM - Closing

Announcements 

1.     This is just a reminder that the high school will be open and available to tour between 9 AM and 11 AM on Sunday.

2.     The picnic will begin at 11 AM.  We have a liquor license, but if you plan to consume, you must bring your own booze.  There are a couple of restrictions.  One is that hard liquor can only be consumed between 11 AM and 2 PM.  Beer may be consumed the entire time.  Lets see, if you drank a keg between 11 AM and 11 PM would you be considered a danger to society?  Glass bottles containing anything is forbidden!  Could anyone sell me a carton of Chateau Neuf de Pape?  I don’t know if “Old red eye” comes in cans, but plan accordingly.  Water, tea, and lemonade will be available.

3.     Be sure to check your handouts for further information regarding pictures, history, etc.

Luke’s poem:

And now, the final poem.

Luke’s poem, “A Pilgrim” got a lot of well deserved, attention for demonstrating just how good, good poetry can be.  However, he decided that rather than read his original entry, he’d like to present a new poem more relevant to our event.  Luke?