CHS Class of 1980 Celebrates 30th Anniversary!
June 25-26, 2010
Legends Sports Grill
Clinton, Iowa
Another half decade has passed and the partying class of `80 did it again… pulled off another activities packed, fun-filled, walk down memory lane!
Attendance was up over the last reunion. This may be attributable to any of several factors:
- (1) the casual approach and subsequent low-low price,
- (2) the desire for some to reconnect with old friends, or
- (3) maybe people have just gotten so OLD that they have finally forgotten why they haven’t attended in the past and just came!
We don’t care what your reason was, we’re just glad you did!
Activities kicked off on Friday night with attendees gathering at Triple Play in Fulton for bowling, a trivia contest (a very heated contest, which had to go into O.T. and finally sudden death to determine the winner!) At the conclusion of these organized events, classmates mixed and mingled (and drank) until the wee-hours. Sources indicate that the carousing even went “off-site” and ended during a thunderstorm when an undisclosed classmate was observed trying to unlock his rental car in the pouring rain, drenched, only to be standing at the wrong car. All the time his “friends” stood by laughing seeing that the lights of the car next to him were flashing with each attempt to unlock… what are friends for, huh!
Saturday morning arrived (too soon for some) and the first event of the day was a tour of CHS. The twenty or so attendees were quite impressed with the faculty guide and his accompanying 10-12 student letter-winner representatives. They provided info on what had changed at CHS in the past 30 years, as well as informing our “tour-ers” of the pending major changes coming to Clinton High. (Sounds like we may have to have tour next time to see those completed changes… new swimming pool and major Yourd Gym renovations.) The tour lasted over an hour and half! But it was over in time for people to hightail it to Eagle Point for the B.Y.O. Picnic.
The picnic, held in the outdoor shelter adjacent to the Lodge (formerly the “Monkey cage” foundation… strangely appropriate, huh?) was sparsely attended, but those who were there said it was actually quite nice, they had ample time to chat and otherwise visit with fellow classmates, not as easily done at the major events Friday & Saturday nights. Maybe next time we should all grab a Jimmy John’s sandwich and attend for our own face-time with others. And a very special THANK YOU to Debbie (Selser) Deackman and her husband, John, for becoming the de facto “hosts” and providing grilling equipment and assuring everyone there had what they needed to enjoy the event. Thanks Deb & john!
A small cadre of golfers under the guidance of classmate Joel Kazcinski, were ushered into the hallowed halls of the Fulton Country Club in the afternoon for a quick round of golf. And before anyone starts carping about things happening in Fulton we need to point out that the Valley Oaks/Clinton Country Club’s course was booked for a separate event and was unavailable. Approximately 12 duffers challenged the heat of Saturday afternoon to shoot a round before retiring to the cooling comfort of homes and hotel rooms to prepare for the evenings BIG Event.
With an “official” kick-off time of 7pm, people were of course knocking down the door by 6:30 to get in! This was indeed a good sign of things to come. With 107 classmates and 77 spouses pre-registered and an additional 12-15 people paying at the door there was certainly more than 200 bodies in the room. And yes, we know it got loud (and warm), but that was YOUR fault! All that “hot air” coming out of people raised the din to a roar and heated up the room. HA! I wished we had a “problem” like that every time! There were people in attendance for the first time ever since graduation, as well as many, many faithful returnees, and the general consensus was this was one of, if not the best, reunions ever for the Class of 1980! A round of applause to your reunion committee for having the nerve to ditch a formal sit down event and have all-you-can-eat “finger-foods” and a facilitating a casual mingling atmosphere.
Post event we executed a survey to solicit your feedback and to beg for more ideas on how to make the next reunion even better. Those results have been tabulated (as-is, we didn’t even correct your spelling errors… where did you all graduate from? Camanche?!) Anyway, CLICK HERE to see those survey results.
We also continue to prod you to send us any pictures taken at any of the events which you can share with everyone, send them to the “Webmaster @ CHSClassOF1980.com”… DIGITAL, please! You may click here to see what we already have accumulated.
In closing we want to again thank everyone who attended and encourage those of you did NOT attend to really think about the next one. Stay in touch, keep us updated on your life, your contact info, and what you want to do at the… 35th Year Reunion of CHS Class of 1980! Coming in 2015!