OUR 25TH WEEKEND RECAPTURED
To express our heartfelt thanks to all of those that made this special
weekend possible could never be enough. The efforts of several very special
people made this weekend come to be. Terri Hoppas Johnson was tireless and so
giving of herself and her resources. The support she received from Phillip
Gerhart, Mindy Mahaffey, Mary Belton Blackburn, Jim Finegan, Robert Benson,
Dale Renz, Bridget Holmes Tissue, Dan DiDonato, Diane Graff Gillum, and
Terri’s sister, Jennifer Hoppas, made this a reunion to remember. Thanks so
much to each and every one of you for what you did to make this all come
together so perfectly.
The icebreaker Friday night was held at Mindy Mahaffey’s very own "Mulligan’s".
The setting was perfect. There was plenty of room for everyone and more. The
drinks were flowing and the food was great. There were pool tables and a
driving range and the live entertainment was exceptional. For those of you
that might remember following the band "The Outcast" from Tin Hall to Camwood
Country Club and the VFW Hall , it was a walk down memory lane. They have
changed their name to "Resident Tourist" but the quality lives on. There was a
great turnout for the first evening and as you can imagine the first sight of
so many in what had been ten years for me was very special. It was great to
see everyone welcoming everyone that showed up whether they remembered them or
not. I met several that I had not known before but it was still like we were
old friends. It ran from 7:00 to almost 2:00 in the morning. The picnic would
be the next event.
Mary Belton Blackburn agreed to make the arrangements for the picnic in
Conroe. It was a nice quiet park with a lot to offer for the children. The
Barbeque was great with beef and links, potato salad, iced tea, red beans and
a pavillion that was tremendously welcomed. It was cloudy for the first couple
of hours but when the sun came out it was pretty hot. The humidity was
oppressive but that’s Houston. There were several picnic tables and the
playground equipment for the kids was right there close by. Robert Benson made
all the arrangements (from El Paso, no less) for soccer. This was a great
location and the weather was good to us for the entire weekends events. As
expected there were new faces at the picnic that had not made it to Mulligan’s
on Friday. This just made the good times better leading up to the dinner. The
check in would be at 6:30 later that evening at the hotel.
The Hotel Sofitel was conveniently located right off the Beltway on
Imperial Valley Drive. I was one of those that stayed there with my wife and
the accommodations were very nice. When we walked down around 6:40 the entry
room was already filled with people. Just like before there were several
classmates that had not made either of the first two events and it was so good
to see such a great turnout. Everyone wore nametags so for those that did not
remember everyone’s name it was nice to be able to save face and pretend like
you knew all along. There were cheese and fruit platters in the entry room and
the cash bar was busy as you can imagine.
When the buffet was ready the line just came together and as everyone got
their dinner they filed into the next banquet room. There were lots of tables
and it seemed as though most of them were full. The music was supplied by the
same people that do karaoke at Mulligan’s on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After
dinner most of the people slowly drifted back out to the entry room and just
took time to catch up with old friends. After another hour or so the DJs
announced that it was time for some of the door prizes and awards to be given
out. Everyone came back in and Pat Kelly and Phillip Gerhart were our Masters
of Ceremony. There were prizes donated by several classmates and it was fun to
watch it unfold. Some of the awards were for who had the least hair, which guy
dated the most girls, the most grandchildren, who changed the most, who
changed the least, who had the oldest child and who traveled the farthest.
Michelle Everingham LaVigne stole that one. She came all the way from Siberia
in Russia. One of these awards was quite a surprise but you had to be there.
All of the winners were richly deserving in every category. After another hour
or so midnight rolled around and the karaoke started. A lot of the people
started to slowly come back in the banquet room and the dance floor got to be
pretty crowded. Different classmates sang for about an hour or so and then it
went back to dance music for the last 30 to 45 minutes. I can still see the
girls kicking up their legs in a line and then doing the YMCA when the chorus
rolled around. For those of you that were unable to come to this one, I’m
sorry you missed out. It couldn’t have been a better weekend. If any of you
happen through Atlanta please look us up.
Brad and Linda Minor
