What a fantastic weekend for the reunion!  Friday nights weather couldn't have been better and the location was perfect.  Under the trees, mild breeze, lots of BBQ, great music (Major Day and Flipside were excellent), cold beer and snacks.....and lots of fellowship with people I haven't seen literally in years!

Saturday was a lot of fun....although it got a little toasty that day with temps in the mid 90's and heat index well over 100...the air conditioning of the Legion felt great!   It all started with social time along with some wonderful appetizers from Smokin G's and wine/beer.  Following that, Shannon put together a great video with perfect music reminiscing our high school days....brought back so many fond memories.  After the video, Mitch gave grace/blessing on the meal and we had a great BBQ dinner provided by Smokin G's.  If anyone around the Marshalltown area is needing a caterer for any event, whether reunion, wedding, graduation party...you need to give them a call.  They were fabulous!

After dinner was the highlight of the night for me.  We had the auction of various donations and contributions from area businesses to help raise money for the mascot.   What a great time that was!  Jenny, you played an excellent Vana....and Dave, I think you need to take up a side project as auctioneer!  What fun!  It was exciting to hear the bidding wars and watch the prices go up!  The best part...Jim Spence donated his track sweatshirt that he held on to for these 30 years....brought $100! (Autographed of course)  Thank you to all those who attended the reunion and donated money, bid on various items..and to all those who have donated on the website.  Congratulations to Allison Grier Provin on winning the Swedish woven afghan donated by Mitch Fricke's mother.  Enjoy it on a cold winter night here in Iowa!  We are within $1000 of making the Bobcat Mascot a reality and I think with continued donations from classmates and hopefully large local businesses and other Classes of MHS (Class of 1968 has donated $100) we can make it happen!

After the auction, the music and dancing began and it didn't stop until within minutes of us having to be out of the building.  Dave's cousin Brad (?) (I hope I'm right on that) provided the music and it was an excellent mix of all the tunes we enjoyed during high school.  I must say, even though we are pushing 50 years old....a lot of you can still bust a move!!  

All in all....it was a fun weekend!  To my fellow reunion committee members, it was a privledge working with you on this.  I hadn't before and thought I needed to give back in some way and was glad that I could help.  I got a little panicky and stressed the final week as I was in charge of the meal and was nervous on our final count but with the extra food that we had leftover, it was donated to the house of compassion (Homeless Shelter in M'town for those not still living in area)....a very good thing to do.    It was a lot of fun arranging the auction...became almost a challenge to myself to see what I could get area businesses to donate and contribute.  Also, a shout out to the UPS Store here in M'town for producing our poster showcasing the mascot and printing our winning bid letters/envelopes for the auction and donating their expense to our cause....a beautiful job!  Still waiting to hear from some on monetary donations, and with continued donations from classmates, I feel that we are "this close" on making  Bobby the Bobcat Mascot a reality for the Marshalltown School District and the community. 

Looking forward to the next one in 2015...I may have a few more "sparkles" in my hair and a few more wrinkles but all in all....I think we all still look pretty darn good! 

Thank you to the reunion committee for putting on a great reunion. Saturday night was the best. The auction was really a fun addition, and the dancing was a riot.  The best part was seeing people I hadn't seen in a LONG time and finding out how much we actually have in common no matter what we've been up to the last 30 years.  

In my opinon there is nothing better than putting a bunch of people in a room who are the same age, who grew up in the same town, and finding out that, no matter how much time has past, we can have a really good time just being together. 

Another major highlight for me was the drive with Chrissy from Texas to Iowa.   On the way it took us 26 hours from Dallas (29 for Chris from Houston) because we decided to stop and see everything we never get to see on a "normal drive."  Our "one hour and just twenty bucks"  at the Winstar casino in Oklahoma turned into four hours, but we came out a couple hundred bucks richer -- woo hoo -- which meant we ate better and could justify all those STARBUCKS stops!  Our decision to stop at the OKC Bombing Memorial at dusk led to an incredibly moving experience.  (It's worth the stop.)  Plus there was the IHOP in Edmund where we tried (but failed) to bribe the t-shirt off the back of our waiter (he did fill Chrissy's purse with mints). The lightinng show we got in central Oklahoma was phenomenal (and a little scary), as was trying to find an open gas station in Emporia at 1 a.m. and our desperate attempt to find somewhere safe to pee in Kansas City at 3 a.m. -- oh my.  We had  morning coffee and photos with Ronald McDonald in Bethany, MO, avoided hitting the deer on the move, and then stopped in Osceola for more early a.m. coffee at Shannon Cassiday's new house  Then in pure tourist fashion we hit the Bridges of Madison County and John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset and FINALLY made it it to M'town around 1 p.m. hyped up on WAY TOO MUCH CAFFEINE and a whole lot of laughs.  Our drive home was less eventful and took about half the time, but it was still a ton of fun.

In five years, you're all invited to fly down to Texas and do the drive with us.  There's lots we didn't see and that we left for the "next time!"  Take care everyone!

It was just awesome to have conversations with people that you used to know, or was in your Spanish class and you kinda knew them.  Catch up and see what's up in their lives, what path did they choose.  I talked with every classmate that came Saturday night, we were just an intimate group and it was a great venue for our size group.  I missed some people Friday night and that bummed me out.  It got dark, or I didn't see them come in, or I thought I'd talk to them Saturday night and they didn't come.  It was just such a great weekend!  Thanks to all that I visited with, danced with, laughed and played with, SO much fun!  It was a GREAT time.  That auction was just hilarious, that had to be my highlight of the reunion.  Sorry to all of you that were unable to make it!

Took me a couple of days to recover from the late nights...oh heck, I'm still not back to normal!  I had a ball! I've already said my thank yous several times so will write something else.  I was sad I didn't get to talk to all Friday night-that means you Peri!  But I had a nice time catching up with Martha and Pam and Vickie Nicholson (she's a hoot!) and many others.  Each night I ended up talking with Doug about whether we should order another keg.  I think we chose correctly each night. Except Dean Fogerty pointed out that class of 79 outdrank us-which I'm not sure that's a good thing :)

As others have said the auction was big fun!  It's very interesting what people bid on.  And Rusty snuck his $50 KFJB wine glasses out before we could toast with them with box o wine!  I also made some new old friends while working on the committee which was an added bonus.

It was an excellent time but I'm also excited to have reconnected with people on this website.  We plan to keep it up hopfully for the next 5 years.  Maybe by 2015 we will have most people connected on here!

Hope everyone stays healthy, happy and safe!

Shannon

Shoot!  You know what I just thought of?  We should have taken pictures of who bought what during the auction!  I did take a picture of Bozz and her decorative glass brick, but how fun it would have been to have a picture of Jim Spence autographing that stolen sweathshirt for Peggy.  Rusty and his wine glasses and t-shirts, Julie Burt trying on her sweatshirt, I never did see her with the PJ pants on!  And who bought the t-shirt from the Maid-Rite?  I'm pretty sure it sold for like $50, Todd Metge?  I know someone took a picture of Patti Nalvanko and her red Bobcat lawn ornament, so hopefully that will show up one day in the pictures.

We should have taken a picture with Allison and the blanket Mitch Fricke's Mom made and donated to the cause.  Allison, if no one did will you and put it in the reunion pictures?  Then people will know about what that was all about.

As you can tell, I keep thinking about that auction!  That was WAY too fun and for a good cause!  Let's get that mascot bought!

Hey, about that mascot - 2 things!

-- I got an email from Dave Eubanks, with one portion I found pretty comical! "It'd be ironic that the class that shut down the school in protest over some athletes receiving preferential treatment, would donate the mascot that will appear at all future sporting events. If the money is raised by the end of the reunion, they should be able to get the thing for the start of the fall semester, or certainly in time for basketball season. That would be appropriate."  Dave has donated $400 towards the new mascot, care to join him?

-- Secondly, Jim Spence walks into the Legion Saturday night with this grocery bag and says he'd like to donated this to the auction.  What it is but his high school track sweatshirt that he had stolen 30 years ago.  Saying, he knew it would come in handy some day! Ironically using it to help raise money to buy MHS a new mascot outfit!  The sweatshirt, Peggy Hutcheson Cryar bought for $100!

Still Smiling!  Deb

Hey Deb! It was me that bought the Maid Rite T-shirt for $50 bucks and it was well worth it,  money went to a good cause.  I remember one time I donned the BOBCAT mascot and thought I was gonna die...either from the stench or from suffocating to death.  I agree that the auction was great FUN FUN FUN.

Sorry Rhonda!  Todd bought quite a few things, I remember, so I thought that was maybe in his pile!  I do know that he bought the pork loin that Smokin' G's donated, that we didn't get.  Again, wasn't that food awesome?  Rhonda, I hope you're enjoying that t-shirt, wear it proudly since you don't live in Mtown any longer!

I was back and forth in the kitchen so many times with the Smokin G's...I missed out bidding on the cutting board that I really wanted but Dave Heddens was so generous that he let me purchase it from him.  You should see it all oiled...the wood grain just glows!  I also got the really neat plant stand and it is sitting in my living room right now....every time I look at it I think of the auction and what a good time we all had, so much laughter.......and there were some outstanding bids coming in...like Rusty's $50 KFJB wine glasses and $50 Kix101 t-shirts!  Who ended up with the Iowa Speedway tickets and the Iowa Cubs tickets?  Julie Mills got Peri's Whimsical Hearts....that was so neat!  And the metal Bobcat stakes from Central Iowa Machine Inc....I think Patty got one and Doug Beals got the other? Julie Burt got the sweatshirt and flannel pants, Rhonda...didn't you get the Bobcat t-shirt and plaid shorts?  I should have brought my camcorder and recorded it....was just a hoot!! 

I know.....at the next reunion, we'll have to have the Bobcat Mascot make a special appearance so everyone from out so town/state can see what we got for the school district!  He is going to be so cool!!  I'm excited!

I have to admit I felt awkward at first.  But after awhile I really enjoyed getting to know people I hadn't known before and wished I had been more involved back in the day.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect Friday night and my fear of the mosquitos was calmed when I didn't get bit at all.  Oh and I need to add that I love the whole free beer thing!!!!  I laughed alot at the auction.  I hope to be there in 5 years and get to know more of you a little better.  It seems I spent a lot of time and energy trying to get out of M-town and now everyone is not so scary as i am older.  I have to agree with Mitch in that it's nice to see the walls crumble not so much in others but in myself.  Thank you to the committee for all they're hard work and hope to see you all soon!