Judy’s summary of the weekend.
Hey, everyone. It has been a while since I have written anything about our annual get together so I thought I would do so for our Fernandina Beach gathering a couple of weeks ago.
The location may have been further away, but the facility was much better than the Comfort Inn at Jacksonville Beach. Plus the Amelia Inn and Hotel gave us a little bit of a price break. Everyone who attended had nothing but good words for the facility.
Also, the hotel let us bring in cooked food, so on Friday night we had a pot-luck meal. Thanks to Linda Mills, Betty Dyal-Boone, Claire Motes-Smith, Mary Ann Wilson-Ray and Ann Weeks-Martin for the delicious food. (For everyone’s information, I just want to let you know that Buddy Sweat said that he would bring chili for the pot-luck—needless to say we didn’t have any chili.)
We had some first-timers which make for a good, fun-filled weekend. Manuel and Barbara Travassos were with us for the whole weekend. Manuel played golf with the guys on Friday and Saturday. He got a little ribbing from the guys about playing golf in the shade, but he was a good sport about it and everyone else got a laugh out of the story.
Johnnie Gibson was another first-timer for our get together. I recalled that Johnnie attended our 25th reunion and he was kind enough to loan us his pickup truck – he drove Rob Bentley’s vehicle home – so that we would have a way to return the dance floor that we had borrowed from a dance club. Johnnie was surprised that I remembered his act of kindness. Johnnie, I hope you had as much fun as the rest of us and will join us in the future.
I can’t leave out Lodis Higgins; this was the very first thing he has attended for our class. He laughed and recalled some stories so hopefully he had a good time also.
Pat Burns-Hodges had joined us once before at Jacksonville Beach several years ago. For some reason she never made it back to join us until this year. Pat seemed to really, really enjoy herself this year and I am sure that she will be joining us again. Pat and I have been friends since we were very little in Sunday school and Church. Then we were lucky to be in the same class when we began school at Biltmore. We have a long history to being best friends and I hope we will continue to be for years to come.
Eddie Whitted and his wife, Brenda, attended. It was a surprise to see them since no one had heard from them in over a year. We like surprises like this.
Another surprise was seeing Jerry and Barbara Summerford, Jerry and Karen Ward, and Richard and Linda Overstreet on Friday night. They for years have joined us on Friday nights, but for some reason I didn’t expect them to travel to Fernandina Beach on a Friday night. I heard the story about one of the ladies being left at the restaurant before coming to the hotel. So funny, and with you three ladies telling the story made it even better. Thank you for taking the time to join us in Fernandina Beach.
Now, on the golf games – we are never sure of what happens on the golf course. All the stories were different other than Manuel playing in the shade. The guys are always complaining about who ends up on which team and which team always wins. So on Friday night it was decided that Eddied Whitted would select the cards for the team members – in other words so the teams would not be stacked with the best players. Well, the golfers came back on Saturday with another story about how Eddie stacked the teams again. I just don’t understand how they even know what is going on when they pick teams much less how many strokes they take. There are always accusations of the ball being kicked or picked up and placed in a better location. But they do all this in the name of fellowship and good time.
At least when the golfing is over we get to enjoy ALL the stories. And believe me there are many, many stories. We just don’t know which ones are true (if any)!
On Friday morning, Jeanne and Jerry Driver and Fred and I went on a boat tour out of Fernandina Beach along the coast of Fernandina and then across the channel to the coast of Cumberland Island. The history of the area was awesome. We enjoyed it so much that we told others about it on Friday night, so several of the ladies (Ann, Mary Ann, Linda and Sandy) took the tour on Saturday morning. They came back raving about the tour. I recommend this boat tour if you ever go to Fernandina Beach, especially if you like learning about the history of the area.
We always have a good time at our gatherings and wish more of you would join in on the stories and laughing. Next summer Buddy Sweat and Richard Alford are planning a Multi-year reunion at the National Guard Armory on Normandy Boulevard. Mark the date – June 30, 2012. Buddy and Richard will have more details at the beginning of 2012.
LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING ALL OF OUR FRIENDS/CLASSMATES ON JUNE 30, 2012.
GO EAGLES.