The reunion was just amazing! Safe to say it was everything the reunion planners had hoped it would be. We only wish more of you could have been there!
It took a small village to raise this reunion, so before sharing what happened and who was there, here's a round of applause for all who contributed to its success.
The Redlands Elks Lodge was a great venue for us. Our thanks go to current employee (and Elks Lodge officer, along with his wife Hilary) John Fulton for allowing us all to sign in as his guest for the afternoon, and for helping with set up and clean up. We had food tables, display tables, comfy booths to sit in, a bar, a patio, a slide show of old AIS photos on the big-screen TV, music, a disco ball - what more could you ask for?
Hilary and John Fulton
Debbie Johnson and Gretchen Charlton deserve many thanks for rounding up the refreshments, prizes, and gift for Eric and Toshie. The food was plentiful and tasty, the prizes were nice reminders of Redlands, and the gift took a lot of thought and talent to put together. Both gals also provided old photos for the slide show from their personal collections. Additionally, Debbie hosted a couple of planning meetings at her house.
Gretchen Stangl Charlton serving cake
from left: Gary and Victoria Green; Debbie and Ben Johnson
Debbie and Ben Johnson collaborated on setting up the "guess the number of polygons on the map" contest, and in creating the "In Memory of" displays for Walter Nunes and Celeste (Simon) Richard.
Ed Reyes spent many hours putting together the slide show, the AIS timeline display boards (prompting memories of projects, social events, and technological changes over the years), and the artifacts of mapping tools from days gone by.
Ed Reyes; Marlene and Malcolm Meyers
Janet Reyes helped Ed with the display boards, headed up the outreach to former employees, and generally prodded the reunion planning process along.
Lisa McCready and Janet Reyes
Theresa Congdon helped out by supplying some old photos, purchasing a few items for the reunion, and making sure all attendees checked in and got name tags.
Theresa Hernandez Congdon at the sign-in table
Craig Congdon and Camille Limon-Johnson served as our event photographers, each getting some great photos of friends reconnecting for the first time in years/decades.
Craig and Theresa Congdon with Paul Kielhold
Camille Limon-Johnson, with her Dad in the background
Our thanks to Paul Kielhold for being the emcee - not always an easy task with this crowd of independent thinkers (especially when rounding up employees for the group photo)! He also helped with planning, set up, and clean up.
And Ingrid Johnson made our wonderful cake! Not only was it large enough to feed 50+ people, it won many rave reviews that day.
Gretchen, Marlene, Annie Brierty, Ben, Ingrid Johnson
The next post will share more about the day's events and people; for now, raise a glass for your humble team of reunion helpers. They ensured that the AIS reunion was a fun and memorable event for all!