It was just wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
You had to be there!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
The ladies of 65 had their way with me the whole weekend, didn't get a bit of rest till I returned home.  Ron Buddy, I think it was the oysters I ate before arriving!!!!!!!!!!!! 

AHH! the pool table, my lips are sealed .  yeah right!!! 

Lusty Dusty "65" 

Orlando 2000
Jeff '63,Caleb '00, and I arrived about 12:30 Fri., just in case any early falcons showed up and were lonely.  I had to pick up the banner on the other side of Kissimmee and got to see at least one of every fast food  establishment in the world plus hundreds of kitsch shops on this tourist strip (US 192).  We settled in at the hotel snack bar for lunch and soon Caleb attracted the attention of Debbie Best Lowe getting lunch.  Thanks Caleb.  I'm wearing my Wagner tee shirt and she comes over to see the baby.  Susan Di Bartolo and sister Salli cruise in and Salli puts a move on Caleb and it's love at first sight.  Partners in crime Terry and Danny show up and we're off.  The banner gets hung (what a production), the poolside bar gets opened (finally) and more than enough hugs get passed out. (Yes Jerry, I did give Barbara a hug for you, and often others just in case she forgot.)  Party time.  Falcons start popping in one after another, some I've seen before and others for the first time.  Howard Baugh '61 from Ft Lauderdale left the PI just before I got there but we knew a lot of the same people, was at his first reunion, and now will become a regular.  Barbara Honeywell Chaple '63,  who does the FL panhandle thing was there with her lovely daughter Kris.  Donna and Gaye show up and most of the guys offer to share their room with  Gaye, but she already has a roomie.  Wife shows up to rescue Caleb, who is getting tired of being used as chick bait all afternoon, and they leave.  Dinner with the fifties group at the hotel and back outside to see whom else has arrived.  A bunch of Lambs who I haven't seen in 38 years drift in to say they will be back with the rest of the family Sat. night.  The six class of  '63 and the eight class of '65 seem to be at the center of the party.   Yearbooks, pictures, tall tales, memories abound and soon the hotel is getting complaints of the good-old-noise from Danny's boom box.  11:30, time to close down for the night.  We drift off in smaller groups.

Sat.  Get back about noon.  The golfers are still out, the '65er girls are out with Dusty "shopping" and a few others are hanging around the poolside bar.  The buffet area and inside dinning area get decorated.  Terry and Danny have it covered.  Salli and Susan open the registration table and we see Falcons with buttons with their high school pictures on them.  (Thanks Terry).  Ray Lamb '62, who I haven't seen since graduation '62, shows with his sister Regina '63 and brothers Randall  '66, Ron '67, Ross '76, and his lovely daughter Lisa.  Regina, a reunion vet (2) has managed to gather up the whole clan.  Memory rewind all over again.  Dinner is served.  Thanks to Danny and the hotel chef, we have pork sticks, lumpia, chicken adobo, and rice plus roast beef, salad, and veggies for those who didn't get into the PI cuisine habit.  The rocking oldies DJ shows up and Gaye wears out everyone there with her continuous dancing.  She even gets me out there when the old neurons remember the cha-cha.  Tininkeling (sp), Ellie gets the fork and spoon raffled to raise money for the memorial plaque, the reading of the  names of 'lost falcons' and VJ telling of the days leading up to the eruption of Pinatubo.

I was in the first grade when Ron Buckman '49 graduated, and Phil Beckelheimer '82 and DeAnna Best Helbig '82 would have to wait 3 years to be born when I graduated in 1962.  But all of us along with Tom Godbold -faculty, and wife Kathy, had a wonderful reunion in Orlando.  Pictures to follow.

Doug Kucklick '62

I wrote a great post - and my computer died.  Don't ya just love it when that happens?

Thanks so much to Danny, Doug, Phil and Terry.  They went out of their way to show us a great time.  The food, the food, the
food, the music, and the company was wonderful~!

Thanks to Donna and Roger for just being Donna and Roger.  Besides, if it were not for them, I wouldn't have been there.  The
two showed me sights Saturday afternoon that I have never seen before - this couple knows all the great places.  No joke!

Thanks to Susan and Salli for sharing floor space.  Bed space was offered, but the floor was great!  Other offers were made for roomies - pictures to follow.  I don't think so.  :)

Thanks to VJ and Doug for having the foresight to have cane cut down for tinikling.  I haven't tinikled since my PI days.  What a hoot!  A few of us gave it a shot...VJ, Liz Cain, Debbie Best, and Dee Best, but the one person that really enjoyed tinikling was Ron Bucknam from the great class of 1948!!  He and his wife had a blast all night long.  What an example to me!

To see Jean, Gene, all those awesome gals from the class of 65 (and surrounding years) and guys attached to those gals, VJ
and da boys, Deb, Dee, and countless others, it was like being home again.  But as always, there are those that had their first
experience of a gathering.  I saw that excitement in Danny's, Phil's, and Howard's faces.  Howard Baugh'61 was such a delight, and if he hadn't said he graduated in 61 - I would have never have believed him!  He said he will be in SD.  Can we say dance?  He is definitely a dancer.  I mean.  And I'm with KJ - maybe we can get a discount in airfare!  :)  Phil read a written piece authored by Danny which touched all of us.  Danny said he posted it - but somehow I missed it.  Please Danny, post it again. It was great, and well worth a reposting.  And Phil came up with a great idea for gathering us for the Nashville 2001 re. I'll let him share the details later, but it's great!!  I mean, are we marking our calendars, or what?

I do have one story that no one has mentioned yet.  A priceless reunion.  Tom and Kathy Godbold arrived in the early evening
Friday.  In conversation, we find out that we are only about a half an hour away from each other.  Several hours passes, and
Liz Cain '66 shows up.  We hug right away, and start catching up.  I tell her that there is a faculty member here with his wife and they live close to us.  I point to Kathy, and Liz and I walk up to her.  Liz isn't even looking at a face, but instead at the name tag which is partially covered with a purse strap.  Liz moves the purse strap to one side, and at that time both of the women make direct eye contact.  Both are in a frozen state for about five seconds, jaws dropped, and then the screaming and bear hugging embraces begin.  Liz Cain was the bridesmaid in Tom and Kathy's wedding back in the 60's in the PI.  They haven't seen each other since that time, but there Liz was with wedding pictures she happened to bring with her in an album.  A priceless moment. 

We missed our loved ones that couldn't be with us, but you were all in our hearts.  I'm pumped up and ready for the next big
gathering in October.  (Like I won't be seeing some of you beforehand!  Please!  lol)  For all those in Calif getting together - hugeach other for me and have the best time!  Gaye74 

Bruce, partly my fault, she asked me and I thought she said Jerry Worth.  She did have long blond hair and bangs and I was more interested in keeping up the conversation than understanding her.  Plus it was loud and Gaye was dancing.
Distractions,
DougK '62

Forgot to thank Donna Smith '61 for all her work at the Orlando Minnie - she had the Sari Sari store and the computer link to WHOA for the drawing.  She is also scanning some stuff from me for webbie.  Can't let her go unrecognized for all she does at every reunion.

Also, forgot to thank the DiBartolo sisters, Salli '77 and Susan '73, who were wonderful hostesses at the registration desk.  It was great seeing them again and hearing that their mother is "chemo free."

We welcomed someone from my era to his first reunion - Howard Baugh '61.  We hadn't seen each other in 40 years - and man, does he look good - not to mention how good he can dance!  He "found" us through the TLC "Reunion" show.   Said when he saw it, he jumped up and was standing on the bed shouting, "Those are my people!"  He plans to be in San Diego and also hopes to make the trip to Clark with us if he can manage the time off from his job as a United Air Lines pilot - captain on the airbus.  He said he hopes to attend all of our reunions - is it possible he will rival Gaye?  Welcome home, Howard! 

Jean Whitman Brown '59 (57-60)