PAGE 4 CONTENTS
This page describes the weekend's main reunion events; read it all for updated info; photos that may be added here later.
Links to the items on this page are below.
-
AUG 3: FRI MORNING - BHS-57 Golf Tournament
[Winners listed 09-13-07]
- AUG 3: FRI MORNING - Social-Paced Bike Ride
- AUG 3: FRIDAY - Drop-in Visiting at the Club
- AUG 4: SAT AFTERNOON & EVENING - REUNION's MAIN EVENT
(Decorations, Wall of Photos Display, Memorial Display, Mingling and Visiting,
Group Photo, Food, Music, Emcee Program Entertainment, "Green Door Game"
prize awarded [Winner listed 09-13-07]; other announcements)
- AUG 5: SUNDAY - Alumni Picnic Hosted by Class of 1956
- AUG 5: SUNDAY - Tour of Bellingham High School
- INFO - 50th Reunion Memory Book
- INFO - Lodging Facilities in or Near Belliingham
- AUG 3: FRI MORNING - Social-Paced Bike Ride
See Page 1 for a brief overview of the 50th Reunion, what mini-reunions come next, and to see who had attended the reunion. (Pictures to be added later.)
See Page 2 for a map to BG&CC and pictures (taken by Ray Denson) of the Bellingham Golf & Country Club (BG&CC), which was our reunion location.
See Page 3 for pictures of the 50th Reunion Planning Committee Chairmen.
Our reunion's golf tournament was open to our BHS-57 men and women classmates and their spouses or significant others. The persons eligible to play in the BHS-57 Reunion Tournament included anyone who had attended Bellingham schools with us as part of the "BHS Class of 1957" - whether or not they actually graduated from BHS in 1957 with us (some moved away before 1957, joined the service, etc.).
DATE:
TIME:
PLACE:
DRESS:
FEE:
Friday, August 3, 2007
Check-in at 9 AM; First tee-off at 10 AM.
Bellingham Golf & Country Club
Soft spikes only. No jeans or shirts without collars.
$40 per person (covers green fees, prize money)
Golf Tournament Co-Chairmen: Bernie Caufman and Mike Sofie
Signed up to play: Garey Vodopich, Kay Ludtke, Dan O'Malley, Bud Phillips, Bill Stark, Merwyn Murk, Ralph Dickinson, Jack Corning, Hugh Carr, Denny Sparks, Russ Ensign, Ed Bowden, Ray Denson, George Inama, Jerry Wilson, Gary Woods, Charles Standen, Ellen Standen, Dave Blair, John Gregor, John Tiscornia, George Sefrit, Denny Berry, Gary Dickerson, Kent Cronkhite, Jim Smith, Jonelyn Smith, Betty Soderquist Marks, Karen Smith, and Bernie Caufman.
Winners: The First Place winning team consisted of Ray Denson, Lynn Seelye, John Tiscornia, and Denny Sparks (Shirley Schiebal's husband). The Second Place wining team consisted of Garey Vodopich, Hugh Carr, Denny Berry, and Ed Bowden.
After the tournament, the players hung out in the BG&CC banquet room for visiting with other BHS-57 classmates, and the money prizes were awarded. Following that, those present were all invited to Lynn Seeley's for visiting and food.
Golfer Pictures: Anyone take pictures of the golfers? If so, contact the webmaster. Space permitting, some golfers pics may be added here later. To see pictures of former BHS Reunion Golf Tournaments, visit the Golfers Gallery section of this web site.
DATE:
TIME:
ROUTE:
DRESS:
COST:
Friday, August 3, 2007
Leave BG&CC parking lot at 9 AM. (Or, join bikers along the way.)
(See below.)
Casual comfy
(Bike rental, if needed; own snacks)
Bike rentals were available at:
Fairhaven Bike & Mountain Sports, 1108 11th st., 360-733-4433
Jacks Bicycle Center, 1907 Iowa St., 360-733-1955 (off-street parking there)
DATE:
TIME:
PLACE:
DRESS:
COST:
Friday, August 3, 2007
(all day; "drop in" anytime to see who's there)
At our reunion meeting room in BG&CC
As per the BG&CC DRESS CODE; no jeans (see below)
Nothing (unless you ordered drinks, lunch or dinner there)
Women: wear dresses (or skirts or slacks with nice tops or sweaters).
Men: wear slacks (or something like dockers) and a shirt with a collar or sweater. Just nice casual dress - not a suit and tie or anything like that, although "those who want to put on the dogs and dress to the nines are welcome to."
The Club's banquet room was provided to us on Friday so any BHS-57 classmate (registered for the reunion and/or picnic) could meet others who might stop by anytime Friday for casual visiting. Some came by, now and then, during the day and and a few dropped by later in the evening during the "Wall of Photos" display setup time; they quickly got put to work. The majority came in mid-afternoon to hobnob with the BHS-57 golfers after their tourney ended; that visiting was from around 2:30 PM on, until in the early evening when everyone present was invited to Lynn Seelye's for food and more visiting.
From mid-morning on, a "message notebook" was available on a table so messages could be left for classmates. Example "message" info: contact info (hotel, cell phone), time you were there; when you'd be back there, whom you'd like to visit with to make arrangements for breakfast, lunch, or dinner visits that Friday, to car pool between hotels and reunion events, etc.
DATE:
TIME:
PLACE:
DRESS:
FEE:
BOOK:
OTHER:
Saturday, August 4, 2007
1 PM until late evening
Bellingham Golf and Country Club; (see map on Page 2)
As per the BG&CC DRESS CODE (see Item 3 above)
$75 each covered hors d'oeuvres, dinner, decor, displays
(Optional) 50th Reunion Memory Book is $15.
(Optional) Donations were accepted for BHS-57 T-shirts and ceramic autos.
Parking Lot: The BG&CC parking lot was crowded. Some attendees car-pooled with others from their hotel. Starting about 1PM, a golf cart and driver transported people from the "boondocks" parking lot to the Club's door.
Decorations: Mary Margaret Montag designed a beautiful peach/cream color scheme with roses and shells aranged in tall glasses on the round dining tables for 8. Huge vases held artfully arranged branches with small white lights.
"Wall of Photos" Display: The foamboard "Wall of Photos" display (almost the full length of the hall outside the banquet rooms) showed pics of many classmates and other items of interest. The display was created by Marilyn Moir Coughran with Wanda Fullner's help. At the set-up/take-down time, Marilyn's impromptu helpers included Wayne Richter, Fred Bame, and John Tisconia.
The "Wall of Photos" was re-displayed at Sunday's 2007 Alumni picnic; many people there asked that it be saved and re-displayed at the 2008 Alumni picnic for others to see. So, at the final (2009) Alumni picnic which the BHS-57 class is part of, the photos will be "up for grabs" then.
"Memorial" Display: This foamboard "Memorial" display of our deceased classmates' photos was created by Wayne Richter, this was re-displayed at Sunday's 2007 Alumni picnic. It was also saved for re-display at our 2008 & 2009 Alumni picnics.
Mingling and Visiting People visited with as many classmates as they could. Old friendships were renewed. Decorations and displays were enjoyed.
Photographs: Hundreds of candid photos were taken by David Crook, Ed Andrews (Gail Smith Andrews' husband), and others. Interviews were professionally video-taped for DVD/VHS purchases. About 5:30 PM, a formal BHS Class Group photo of all present BHS-57 classmates was taken outside; that colored 8x10 photo can be purchased.
Note: An Order Form for the BHS-57 Group Photo will soon be in the PDF section of this web site. The DVD/Video Tape Order Form is there now. David Crook has mailed a CD of almost 300 photos he took to each classmate, as his gift; the CD's photos are 72 dpi, viewable on PC and Mac computers.
Food: Hors d'oeurvres were served about 3PM, dinner about 6PM; ice, mixer/soda, and coffee were provided. There was a no-host bar where non-alcoholic beer, soft drinks, and water were on hand. (BYOB is NOT allowed at BG&CC at any time.)
Hors d'oeuvres Buffet: Domestic cheese with cracker and baguette; fresh fruit with fruit yogurt; assorted cold cuts, sausages and pates with cumberland salad.
Dinner Salad: Organic field greens; white cheddar; candied walnuts; dried fruits with a cranberry vinaigrette dressing; fresh baked breads and butter.
Dinner Entree: Petite Coulette steak with house steak butter and herb-roasted Alaskan halibut; roasted garlic and chive whipped potato; seasonal vegetable.
Dinner Dessert: Creme Brulee.
Music Entertainment: Barry Chamberlain performed on the piano at 4PM in the restaurant/bar area. A BHS singing group and BHS cheerleaders entertained us in our banquet room. At other times, background "fifties" music (piped in via satellite) softly played to allow concurrent visiting. (Music Entertainment Co-Chairmen were Dave Haan and Jim Bloch.)
Emcee Program Entertainment: After dinner, Emcee Gary Woods was very entertaining, as always. He provided several funny and interesting tidbits about life at BHS in the mid-1950s. (In some cases, names were named . . .) Two of our teachers present at our reunion dinner were introduced; one had a funny prepared bit he presented.
Drawing for the "Green Door Game" Prize: Like was done at the 45trh Reunion, a drawing for a CD prize was given by our BHS-57 Webmaster, Marilyn Moir Coughran, who had created the Green Door game for viewers of our BHS-57 web site. (This game allowed many classmates to realize high school "ambitions" they had listed in the 1957 Shuksan.)
Dave Haan won the drawing for the main prize - a CD of several old fifties songs. (Click the "gift" link below for the CD title and list of songs). Others who had completed the game and who were present were surprised to also receive a special CD of (only) the "Green Door" song.
As before, the rules (posted on the BHS-57 web site) for the drawing follow:
For prize info,
click the gift.
The prize was given to the BHS-57 classmate who:
-
had completed the BHS-57 web site's
Green Door game and emailed required "completion" information (given at the end part of the game) to the Webmaster by the July 15, 2007 deadline, and
- was present at 50th Reunion's Main Event at the time of the drawing on Saturday night, and whose name was drawn.
Note: You can still enjoy the game. Check out the Green Door section of the BHS-57 web site. If you do all the parts and sub-parts, it will take about an hour and half to get through the whole game (Parts 1 through 6), but you don't have to do it all in one sitting. It's EASY and FUN to do. You'll need to have paper and pencil handy to note a few clues (needed later) as you find them.
This fantasy game allows you to search for classmates' names to see who realized their high school ambitions. (Do YOU remember what you wrote as YOUR ambition in the 1957 Shuksan? If it was "To find out what's behind the Green Door," than maybe YOU inspired Marilyn to create the game.)
click the door.
So, for a fun time, check it out! To start the game right now, click on the green door at the left. Or, you can start the game later by clicking the "GREEN DOOR" graphic link located at the bottom of the left column of "section" links on the BHS-57 web site's Home page. Note: I still need to update the game to remove references to rules, prize, deadline, players, winner, etc. Will try to do that soon. Ignore PART 6-2 for now. Marilyn
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On Sunday, there was an "Alumni picnic" held at the high school in our honor to celebrate our 50th reunion. It was hosted (organized) for us by the Class of 1956.
The 2007 Alumni picnic was held indoors at BHS Commons from 11AM - 2PM. It cost $13.00 per person (payable by attendees in advance), and was catered by "Our House Deli." The picnic food included a variety of sandwiches and desserts. The attendees enjoyed visiting with people there - and our displayed BHS-57 "Wall of Photos" and "Memorial" foamboards were a big hit.
These Alumni picnics (usually held for three BHS classes) have been going on for many years, but this may be the first you've heard about it, because it's the first time that OUR Class of 1957 has been involved. For more info, see the Alumni Reunion Picnics section of this web site
A Sunday tour of the Bellingham High School building (which was remodeled since we attended classes there) followed the "BHS Alumni" picnic's eating/visiting time.
The questionnaire that Darla Mesford O'Malley mailed to everyone in early February 2007 allowed you to provide details you'd like to share about what you've been doing lately as well as provide your current contact info (postal address, phone number, email address, web site address).
This info will be printed in the 50th Reunion Memory Book that Darla and Dan O'Malley will create for your enjoyment and future "contact info" use.
Be sure to send in your info, (if you haven't already), so it can be included in this LAST Memory Book - whether or not you attended the 50th reunion, and whether or not you ordered/purchased a copy of the Memory Book (reasonably priced at $15).
Making a Memory Book for a large class like ours is a very time-consuming job. Info is now being organized and typed from hundreds of returned, hand-written questionnaires. PLEASE help Darla and Dan avoid any "last minute" rush by returning your questionnaire TODAY - if you have not already done so. Don't be "TOO LATE" to be included in this LAST Memory Book.
The Memory Books will be typed, published, bound, and mailed to those who ordered them sometime near the end of 2007.)
8. LODGING FACILITIES IN OR NEAR BELLINGHAM
(For PDf file,
click the hotel.)
The list of lodging facilities used for out-of-towners attending the 50th Reunion was provided in early 2007 as a printable PDF file. It is still there now (in 2008), but has not been updated. NOTE: No one has arranged for a group rate at any hotel for our 2008 Alumni Picnic. Use this 2007 list knowing that prices may have gone up and we have NO "designated hotel" for 2008.
Send email to Marilyn if you know of other lodging that should be added to the list or shared via email to all BHS-57 classmates.
Click the "hotel" icon to download and print the PDF file for your offline reference. (MEMO: It has NOT been updated since 09-13-07)
If you plan to stay in a Bellingham-area hotel for the next Alumni picnic (or during ANY summer), be SURE to reserve your room very early in the year - like February or March. (You may have to inquire with many hotels before you find available lodging.)
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