More reunion highlights

Randy and Corky remark:

It was a great reunion, and those of us who were there know what a fabulous job Wendy and Bob did for us. As seasoned as the Frosts are about R. I. places to see and do, Blythewold was a revelation. So was the Lobster restaurant. We recommend Newport to those of you who have not been there. Make a return visit to Rhode Island! We barely hit the tip of the iceberg in September. It was a special time seeing all of you.

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Cookie made the long trip from Philadelphia, picking up Deane en route; she reports:

Wendy did herself proud at this Reunion. Providence is an interesting and very attractive city. Deane, MJ and I stayed at the Johnsona and Wales Inn. It's mostly managed by the college students from Johnson & Wales. They do all the cooking, and the food is extraordinarily good!

The Frosts took us on a wonderful tour of RISD which included a super Museum. Everyone seemed great, including the four husbands who came. Everyone got on famously. Everyone in the group is soooo well organized...with the exception of me...very ADD. With all the multiple, recent changes, it has been pretty overwhelming, and I was incredibly late in arrival time...In fact we missed the first event. Deane was riding up with me.

I'm pretty sure that Deane thinks I'm ready for the 'Funny Farm'. Actually the only thing intact is probably my sense of humor... [When Cookie wrote this, she was in the throes of having cataract surgery and trying to lose enough weight to have both knees replaced. Yea, modern medicine!]

VDS '55 Storms Providence

Of the recent 55^th reunion of the VDS Class of 1955, MJ writes:

What a good time we had! Wendy certainly gets the prize for being the hostess with the "most-est" and phenomenal tour guide. How she could drive while giving a guided tour on narrow streets while we are all yammering is amazing. AND, she can really cook, with a little help from husband Bob. They made it all seem effortless.

Randy's excellent briefing before we went to the RISD museum made the experience much more meaningful, as did her comments and observations as we roamed around the various collections. Blithewold was fascinating, as was the Herreschoff boat museum. I think we all realized that there is so much more to see in the Providence area and we have only scratched the surface.

As usual, it was as if no time had passed since our last get-together, and as usual we had such a good time that we hope to meet again in two years. We sure do hope that those who missed this one will be with us next time!

Our Sympathy to Sugar

All of us in our class of 1955 at Vail-Deane send sympathy to Sugar Mackie on the sudden death of her son Brad. He left a fine family and a loving mother behind.

The DeWitts Travel to New England

It's been a long time since there's been a posting on this VDS blog. Not because no one is doing anything; rather that there's too much going on. Wendy is in the throes of planning for the 55th reunion to take place in the Providence RI area. Because they will be in Europe at the time of the gathering, Sue and Omar took the opportunity, when they traveled in June to Quebec for a hiking holiday, to visit MJ in Maine. They did lots of good things--like visiting the new Coastal Maine Botanic Garden in Booth Bay. Worth putting on your "must visit" list. Of course, Sue and MJ nattered on about things of all sorts. On the DeWitts' last day, Sue and MJ met in the kitchen for breakfast wearing the same LL Bean shirts. The concept of the uniform dies hard.

On the way back from Quebec, Sue and Omar stopped for a few days at the Armstrongs. Eating, talking, and a really nice local walk to a pond and abandoned housestead occupied a good part of the visit. Dot and Bob are aggressively expanding their perennial beds, built along some newly built stone terraces. Really beautiful. (The picture that Sue took was not a keeper.) It was a good trip for Sue and Omar all around.

A New Decade for Us All

As 2009 wound down and I saw that I had not posted anything to the VDS 55 blog, it struck me that it was probably time to delete it from cyberspace. It obviously wasn't that nothing was happening; something is always taking place. As a group, however, we've not seen the blog as a place for communicating with each other. Perhaps it is the "age" or just our age. But, here I am posting at least one more item. And, if you are new to this blog, you might want to start at the beginning to see what some of the rest of us have been doing.

Several of us have celebrated 50th wedding anniversaries. Randy and Corky Frost sent a great photo of the whole family at their September event.

Daughter Anne, who lives in the San Francisco area, will be married this year and another celebration will take place.

Carly and Dick celebrated their Golden Anniversary at a surprise party last year. What a good-looking group!

Along with the joys of parties and holidays, there has also been sadness. Our deep sympathy goes to Carol whose husband, John, died in the late fall. Carol is involved with getting all in order and with caring for her mother who lives with her.

Linda had major colon surgery made more difficult by a a broken shoulder. Now all is well and she and Herb are back on the links. Speaking of links, MJ is patiently waiting out the snow in Maine, hoping that her local course will meet the spring in good shape. Other golfers, Dot and Bob, have decided not to put Bob's new knee to the test in the deep powder of Utah and are now thinking about going to Arizona to golf instead in February. Sue and Omar are also heading to southern Arizona in March to hike and investigate geocaching in that area.

So, what about the rest of you. I know that you are not sitting around with feet up all the time. Send some news and a picture or two. I will be happy to post them with your comments.

50 Years and Counting

Sue and Omar had a celebratory party to mark their 50 years of marriage on August 30. Then, at the end of September, they attended their 50th reunion at the University of Michigan--complete with football game preceded by a huge tailgate party. (If you haven't attended a Big Ten game, you haven't really seen football.) While they were in Ann Arbor, they stopped by to visit the Lloyd C. Douglas Memorial Chapel where they were married. Although the university has changed physically, the church still looks the same.
It was a great long weekend!

Summer with the Maine group

Those of us who celebrated our VDS 50th at MJ's will remember how beautiful her grounds looked. Well, things haven't changed. All the rain has kept grass and flowers looking spectacular. When Lane came from France for her Maine family fix, MJ's brother Bill was at the lake with his granddaughter Jocelyn and came for a reunion. Jocelyn is pictured with MJ's grandkids, Josh and Chelsea, the children of Pat and Hayden--our chefs for the shore dinner.