Report: the Rhodes '81 Reunion, California 2007

Hello everyone!

It’s hard to believe our belated 25^th anniversary reunion has come and gone already.  To put it simply and succinctly, we had a wonderful time! 

A few of us at Asilomar: Dan, Debbie, Jeff, Becky, Danielle, Bill, Ed, Michelle

The San Francisco events set the perfect tone thanks to our hosts Peter Stamos and his charming wife Soonmee.  Their garden provided a magnificent family-friendly setting for the Saturday dinner.  The brunch at the Hyatt hotel the following morning allowed us to resume our late night conversations, and to say goodbye to the few classmates who could not join us at Asilomar.

Jeff’s idea to hold our reunion in a state park was brilliant.  With the happy addition of a bunch of children from four to eighteen years old, the informal get-togethers superbly organized by Debbie proved a welcome change from the formal sessions and seminars of previous reunions.  The hike, jitter-break, and bonfire, as well as the communal meals, allowed plenty of time for catching up on everyone’s latest news and for lively discussions.

We also did a fair share of reminiscing about Oxford and the QE2, and to answer the question many of you who missed the reunion must be asking: No, we haven’t changed a bit!  (i.e. if you met any of us on a street in some strange city, you would most likely recognize us without having to stare too long.)  But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so please see the link below for a few thousand words’ worth.

The Philadelphia reunion allowed us to reconnect with a great many classmates from the East Coast.  This reunion brought the West Coast cohort back in touch.  Maybe we should plan our thirtieth reunion in Canada in four years to bring our Canadian classmates back into the fold, and hopefully our overseas classmates can join us too.  It has also been suggested that we invite the classes of ’80 and ’82.  Everyone present at Asilomar agreed that we should keep the casual format.  We need to get much more of a head start planning for this next one, so we are already open to suggestions, and mostly to volunteers!

If anyone who came to Asilomar wants to write a more detailed account, that would be great.  I’m sure our classmates would like to hear a different voice for a change!

Amitiés,

Danielle Fontaine

Pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/daniellefontaine205/Rhodes81ReunionCA2007?authkey=DoHVGBpm04U

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