After a couple hours of eating and visiting we got around to the program part of the evening. We tried to make this as short as possible to maximize your talk time with each other. Still, there were a few essential items that we needed to cover, including honoring our teachers, recognizing those who traveled from far away, showing respect for our military veterans, and mentioning all the people on the 50th Reunion Committee.
Here's the actual agenda that we attempted to follow that evening. I had put it together the evening before the event.
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PRESENTATION FOR THE 50TH REUNION
Jeff: Greeting
Introduce the Star Spangled Banner
- ask others in committee to come up and help sing it
- possibly get an Ab chord from Steve
- get all started on same note
Jeff: Invocation
Jeff: Privileged to have several of our South High teachers in attendance tonight. Note where they are seated. Since this is such and honor, we will share the duty with three people on our comm.
Carol: Hal Eggleston
Larry Fanucchi
Helen Felton
Jeff: Robert Gabbitas and wife Kathleen
Clyde Klingler and wife DeeAnne
James Riley
Vickie: Ron Steinman and wife Marty
Bill Ver Huel and wife Joan
Don Ward and wife Lorraine
Jeff: Explain how the tables and line will work ahead of time - starts at 6:15
Explain if you need to
Jim: Acknowledge distances traveled to get here tonight
72 classmates from California
farthest away in CA? Jim Reynolds and Vicki May (Nevada City)
22 not from California --
9 from Oregon
Carol Baugh
Dave Bell
Charlane Davis
Susan Gresham
Sheree Hale
Sharon Haynes
Sara Hitchcock
Mike Martin
Eugene Walker
3 from Arizona
Andrea Mack
Lynna Philley
Kathy St. Louis
1 from WA
DeAnn Paslay
1 from New Mexico
Susan Flack
3 from Texas
David Frye
Marta Nave (Newby)
Mike Newby
1 from Colorado
Linda Cox
1 from Idaho
Brenda Edwards
2 from Oklahoma
Dennis Brothers
Michael Gilbert
1 from South Dakota
Jimmy Belyeu
1 from Missouri
Sam Stover
Jeff: Mention that we will have many raffles through out the evening, so be ready with your ticket (with your name badge)
Jeff: Raffle #1 -- who will come up and announce?
Jeff: Mention the military veterans board over on this side of the room. Now we'll have a musical tribute to our veterans. Veterans will stand when they hear their song. [make sure Steve Woods is in sync here]
Jeff: Raffle #2 -- rafflers - be ready!!
Jeff: Mention Steve Woods as our entertainment for the evening. Will be playing a combination of background music and music for dancing later on in the evening. Feel free to talk to Steve and ask for requests. Steve's wife, Glenda, is also a graduate of South High.
Jim: Mention Marsha Walker Zepeda and her assistant. Marsha's company is called The Photage and can be found on the internet. Point her out. She will be taking photos all evening -- so make sure you get your "portrait" done over here, either as a couple or as a single. They will be coming around to your table, as well, to take candids of you and your friends. Please take advantage of this opportunity to have your photo taken with your friends. Be creative! Get your group together and ask her to get a shot of you! Make your list now. In band? Football team? Cheer squad? Lived on the same block? Went to Frank West? Wayside? Greenfield? Jack Frost Football in 1963? All spanish students and Mr Gabbitas? Mr Eggleston's advisory class (4 years). Helen Felton and all former Rebelettes. You and your two best friends.
- all photos will be a free download for you. Details to follow.
Raffle #3 - rafflers be ready
Jim: While we are talking about photos -- we will have our Big Class Photo (2018) after we eat. We have around 100 here so will try to get in four rows on and in front of the stage. Will probably require some temporary rearrangement of chairs -- be flexible. And don't fall off the stage.
Raffle #4
Jeff: Getting off the stage for awhile and will announce when to get in line for food. Remember the rules and please fill out your cards now. First filled out cards gets served first.
=== at 6:15 Jeff: Announce that food time is now.
=== Jim: While they are eating, talk about the committee. Keep it moving.
How it started - GP and I, then JB and establish grp
First meetings -- big decision -- all or nothing
Website decision - why?
What we did for three months - search - computer v cell phone
Kept adding content - scans, etc
Kept interest up as much as possible
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Before we get to the Committee people, want to thank Steve Flores, South High 1968 and Bakersfield Californian, for his wonderful newspaper stories about youthful memories, reunions in general and our South High 50th Reunion in particular.
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First of all, the committee members helped out in many ways, not just with a couple specific tasks. Whatever needed to be done, our people would get involved and get the work done. Some of the work was not particularly fun at first. Like searching. And I found out fairly quickly that not everybody is exactly a computer whiz in our class and our committee. But they are all good with the cell phone and texting!
Start with Gary Plotner - first contact, offered to help organize data, put together the golf day.
Jeff Burns: Got things organized in Bako, got all the right people to our first meetings -- and they stayed with it for the next few months. He also controls the bank account and writes all the checks. He and Jack Fisher opened the bank account together. Jack also helped us identify and find classmates.
Linda Brownlee (Valenti): Been involved with every SHS reunion. Great expereince in all aspects. Tremendous resource for our team and a tireless worker and organizer.
Was the keeper of all reunion "stuff". Crest and Eagles coord. Sanded and painted the door! 8 dozen flying saucer cookies!!
Janet Ward (Endsley): Decorations, memory table (check it out), search, many areas
Peggy Pilling (Limi): Decorations, name badges, BCP, goodie bags, veteran's organization, search
Linda Penner (Haenelt): Tried to keep the minutes in a very fluid situation, general assistance in many areas, search, 4 doz cookies!
Jerry Mason, Dick Anthes, Ron Hudson: Came to most meetings and contributed, helped with setup, contributed great content to site, initialzed comm with teachers, golf, and search (Hudson)
Diane Garcia (Davis): Also involved in many past reunions, assisted in many areas, always present at our meetings.
Vickie Burke (Shallock): Memorabilia tables and collages and binders, obit searches, FB outreach, veterans info, more
Greg Barraza: Liasson with the Eagles, detailed spreadsheets for our budget re: the Reunion, cost estimation, helped with setup.
Cheryl Tidmore (McLemore): Attended and contributed to almost every meeting; decorations, Crest, music contact, photo door, search, baked flying soucer cookies
Carole Morse (Martin): Composed the US Mail invitation, some budget items, gift cards, search, 5 dozen cookies, more
Pam Hunt (Powell): Though dealing with health issues, worked very hard at search when we needed it the most.
Vicki May (Reynolds): Put up with me for many months, went to most meetings, scanned hundreds of photos so we could post on the web, edited most of the messages, announcements, and other writings that I have done. She had to listen to them first!
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A few facts:
Over 13,000 vists to the home page since beginning
More than 1,250 private messages between classmates
Almost 2,000 photos and documents scanned
Of available classmates, 173 joined the site, 145 did not
About 100 classmates at the reunion; 9 teachers
191 total here tonight
Thanks
Gifts:
20 gift cards
20 boxes of candy
14 bottles of wine
12 jars of honey
2 framed pictures
== 68 gifts
******************************************** End of Presentation Information ********************************************
About the only thing that I forgot was to mention Steve Flores and all the great articles he wrote in the Bakersfield Californian.
We covered everything else, though probably not in the order given.
Here's the Group IV photos. Some of them are a bit out of sequence, but you will figure it out.
#716 Pam Hunt and Brenda Edwards, Ron W, Gary Plotner, Don Allen, Lynn Siegrist, Bobbie Deschwanden. A few others.
#717 Brenda and Pam, Jane K, Dennis Brothers, GB, Johnny Carls. Probably Rick Short on the left side.
#731 JB, Vickie Burke, CM. Getting ready to name teachers, perhaps.
#732 JR, JB, Vickie, CM. Steve in bg.
#733 Vickie B and CM. Not sure what is going on here.
#734 Group shot. Bobbie, Kenneth Weldin (with hat), Jim Watson, Don Ward, Bill Ver Huel (with spouses), at least 6 others that you should know by now, including Ruben, Helen, Melinda Moore, "Shack", Ron W, LP, Jeff Leong, Michael Chinn, and Bill Hackney.
#735 JR, trying to talk over the party next door. Mic was also a bit under powered for this venue and this particular crowd.
#746 JB. He was the class president our senior year, but we had three other class presidents during our high school years, including: Sam Stover (freshman), Shelley Shell (sophomore), and Mike Martin (junior).
Here's Mike Martin when he was class president during our junior year. How does a 12 year old kid become president of a high school class?
#738 Several people from the 50th Committee at this table.
#739 Many could be named here, but you should notice Sheryl Shaw walking along the far right side. Sheryl was a friend of Vicki's way back in the summer of 1967 and lived just around the corner. We used to enjoy Hawaiian Punch in Vicki's backyard, sitting on the porch swing. I think that we were also listening to Jefferson Airplane about that time. Sheryl was the person that caught me in the hall one day, early in the school year (our senior year) and told me that "May is wondering what happened to you. You haven't been around lately". That was enough to get me over to Vicki's house again to check things out. The rest is history.
#740 Something amusing happened, apparently.
#741 Ok, I'll give it a shot: Irma Contreras, Ron Newton, Bobbie D, Bobbie D's guest, Gary McCain, Sara, CM, Rita, Rose, Jim W, Brenda, Kenneth Weldin (with hat), Michael Chinn, others.
#742 A different view, including Hal Eggleston, Ray Okida, John Apperson, Joe Mallard, Gilbert Lizalde's hat, Williw Stubblefield, Jack Fisher, Cloete Daniels, Ray Hernandez, Sam and Rebecca Stover, others.
#743 The banner.
#745 The handoff.
#779 Looks like part of the veterans recognition. Standing: Freddy C, Ray, Joe, Gilbert, Hank Weldin, Bill Hackney, Wes Clements, Dale Rosen, Dennis Brothers, Jeff L, Jerry Mason, and "Shack" enjoying a beer. Thanks, guys!
#746 JB
#747 Wide crowd shot. Appears to be Air Force vets: Is that Jim Riley? Ray H and Rick Short.
#748 JB talking about the raffle prizes, I believe.
#749 Crowd -- could you name 20 of these people? No problem. Hint: Dave Frye is way in the back.
#752 Steve doing the military part.
#753 Steve Woods.
#754 Early dancers. There was a real rush to move the stage out of the way and get the dancing started. I would have preferred doing many more group photos before tearing down the stage. That did not happen, for some reason or another.
#755 Steve, again.
#756 Our one-man-band in action. Steve has a pretty versatile act going and gets a lot of work both in Kern County and over on the coast around Santa Barbara.
#757
#758 The view from the band. I see Kenneth Weldin's hat -- possibly Gilbert's as well. More musicians are going to the iPad for a sheet music display device. It's pretty handy.
#759 Bill and Brenda getting out on the dance floor early.
#760 Similar.
#761 Crowd shot. Let's pick out about 10 of the faces: Paula Willis, Andrea Mack (b), Roanna Massoni, Melinda Moore, LP, CT, Roxanne Holmes, LBV, Vickie Burke, Jim Watson, Don Ward, Bob Gabbitas, Ron W, Carol Wilson, Sam and Rebecca Stover, GB, Sara, Ron Newton, Linda Newton, Hank Weldin, Kenneth Weldin's hat, Joe Mallard, Susan Flack, Dale Rosen, Gary Plotner, Jenny Chadburn, Alan Shackelford, Jimmy Belyeu, Wes Clements. Well, that's 30, plus a hat.
#762 Here we can also make out Nancy Clements, Ron Williams, Robin Stone, Alan, Michael, Jerry, Gary McCain and others. By the way, did you know what the most popular name was at the 50th Reunion? I didn't think so.
The answer is "Gary". Limi, Barnes, Wanagitis, McCain, and Plotner. "Ron" was popular, as well: Hudson, Wilson, Newton, Williams.
#763 Note Art Montanio way over on the left side.
#765 Bill Ver Huel and others standing.
#766 JB and CM, dancing.
#767 This couple, again, Bill and Brenda. They drove a long way to get here. May as well dance to a few numbers.
#768 More military recognition for the class of '68. This was an important part of the festivities.
#769 I wonder how many reunions the teachers have gone to over the years. It appeared that they were ready for this portion of the program.
#770 Similar. Can you find Gary Barnes in this photo? How about Steve Flores?
#771 Similar, with Dale clapping on the right. Can you find Willie Stubblefield? How about Marta Nave? Clyde Klingler?
#772 Dick and Sheri Anthes sitting among the teachers. The teachers don't look that much older than us!
#774 Sam Louie, Mike Chinn and Jeff L. I spy a hat in the bg. I think that is Mike Martin talking to Willie in the bg.
#776 This could be "The US Army".
#777 Similar. Helen just noticed that she may be in the photo.
#778 Similar. Notice that Dominic! is also in the shot. He's just getting warmed up.