Sixty-four is seventy and eighty of us celebrated our 70th birthdays in San Francisco (Sept. 6-9, 2012) together with wives and guests numbering sixty. Bill Hamm chaired the mini-reunion committee, which included Perry Butler, Bill Neukom, Alan Woodberry, George Fesus, Stafford Keegin, Frank Herringer, Steve Thompson, and Phil Schaefer. They created a fantastic reunion which continues to draw accolades from people like Fred Rothenberg, who said this was the fourth reunion he'd attended in a year and this was by far the best. How so?
San Francisco is a world-class city and we had gorgeous weather. Perry Butler's restaurant prepared an extraordinary dinner and brunch with impeccable service. Bill Neukom arranged the red carpet treatment at ATT Park - tour of the operations, meeting with Willie Mays, who is as modest and wise as he was skilled with a bat and glove and jovial when giving every classmate an autographed baseball, first class lunch at Triple's Alley and a welcome flashed on the scoreboard. You want more! A pre-reunion golf outing of eight foursomes at the Presidio where Chuck Savoca won the 'closest to the pin' competition and Peter Wall hit the longest drive. Twenty-five took the ferry to Alcatraz on a day when the sailboats were out in numbers. If it weren't federal property it would be a developer's dream with the most striking view of San Francisco's skyline. Fifty went on a wine-country tour and came back happy with everything except the return traffic. Dan Dimancescu took postcard perfect photos of that trip and after the reunion went to Florence, Italy to the first showing of his film, "Decoding Dacia: Romania's Lost Legacy," Dan's ancestral home. Sadly, Dan's son Nicholas, who was directing the film, died during the filming, so Dan completed it. Dan owns a B & B there, which looks quite attractive Dimancescu-Inn.
Email accounts were bulging with unsolicited kudos from participants. Ed Gingras wowed everyone by sending us individually a one-on-one photo he took of Willie Mays handing us an autographed baseball - and Ed sent those photos by email before the reunion concluded! Re-connecting with friends not seen for 48 years was a huge positive, but more impressive was the number of new friendships made! Now mellowed by years and under the time-limit of the event, we made new connections with ease. If enough people would stay home for the summer, there's no doubt that anyone in the group would find an open door and a comfortable bed for every night of a long road trip. It's worth a try.
Four classmates made special arrangements to include their sons at the baseball game. Scott Skinner brought his lawyer-son Justin; Ric DuPuy brought his son Paul '07; Dan Garnett included both his son David and daughter-in-law Julianne; Karl Winkler was accompanied by his son Kent. Slade Backer, on crutches until he gets his new knee, outdid the others by bringing his grandson, Slade Mahoney! You look green... is it for Dartmouth, or just jealousy. Want more, come back next issue.