The last of the 2010 Reunion

With my friend, Colleen Pointer, from South Lake, TX. Colleen and I have known each other for about 47 years starting when Bob & her hubby Terry shared an office cubicle in 1961 and then when they began dating & married. Now we are both grandma's. Colleen says we just pick up talking like we had been together yesterday. I have no idea who took this picture as I can see Bob in the background!

Time for gift giving on Friday morning. The men on the committee received a 100th anniversary BSA cap along with a cap hanger with Western motif.

And the women on the committee received colorful bracelets from the Kwahadi gift shop.

And the co-chairs received a bronze sculpture called " Scout Pride " from the commitee. It has found a good place in our den to remind us of this special event in our lives.

In addition to the gift giving the attendees also completed evaluations which have been tallied and shared with the committee this week. We recieved many positive comments and thank goodness, it went well! We had one injury and Bob took Charles to the ER but no serious harm.

This is out of place, from the Thursday evening closing dinner, since I was unable to post the video clip. The speaker was Alf Tuggle, Asst. Chief Scout Executive, who brought us up to date on the changes happening in Scouting. Bob will attend the 2010 National Annual Meeting at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas next week as a board member of our Council.

We wanted to share some of what went on last week with you but also wanted to blog this as a journal for ourselves to keep our memories of a very special event which took much time and effort for over a year. It was a lot of work but it was also a lot of fun!

Thursday evening closing dinner

Thursday May 13, 2010 chairman of the day: Bill Lucas

Again a busy, busy day! Part of Thursday's activities included a hobby fair and this is a glimpse

of Bob's table of wood carvings which included Scouting items in front of him. You will notice that he is a great man of uniforms--Scout, STARS choir, & now his wood carving vest and shirt with all his awards! Part of each reunion includes a memorial service for the Scout professionals who have died since the previous reunion. Candles are lite for each person and it is a beautiful service. This year the candle lighters included persons attending their first reunion and this group who held the longest attendance at reunions.

Lisa Young, Director of Compensations and Benefits, was our morning speaker and gave us an up-date concerning retirement benefits. Our medical supplement to Medicare which includes benefits for prescriptions, vision exams & glasses and dental care is in jeopardy with the new health care and there may be severe changes in the future as the new law is enacted. Not what we wanted to hear but what we suspected. This is a real reason to go to the reunions and gives us information from the National Scouting office.

One of the afternoon tours was to Palo Duro Canyon and the second tour was to the Panhandle Plains museum in Canyon, TX. We went on the tour to the Canyon itself and Bob did some naration as we drove along in the bus.

Fifty members of the group were on the bus and the lady to the left is the park ranger who traveled with us as pointed out the features as we passed. This is on one of our stops, the other was at the gift shop and museum. It was a great afternoon!

Wed evening entertainment

The Kwahadi Indian Dancers--our entertainment for Wed evening.

This shows the back of one of the Indian costumes to give you an idea of the intricate mass of feathers which we understand are done by hand and are authentic to the tribe represented. We were transported from the Ashmore to the Kwahadi Museum of the American Indian and had time for a tour of the museum & gift shop prior to a catered Mexican dinner with the dancing to complete the evening. We have seen them dance before--the first time with a small group in our living room at Christmas time the first year we were here!--but it seemed even better than we remembered and we truly enjoyed it! The group felt it was one of the high lights of the reunion.

This is Charles Richie who is the head of the group and does an amazing narrative which includes a great deal of Scouting information as this is a Boy and Girl Scout group of performers. They toured England/Wales/Ireland last summer and took along neckerchief slides which Bob had carved to give to their hosts. The "Indian Maiden" is the daughter of Judy Dahl who I worked with at the hospital and have known her since before she was born, so to speak. She was a delightful dancer and did several solos.

This shows a bit more of the group and their costumes with the flag ceremony.

Wed, May 12, Chairman of the Day: Carl Cummins

Our wonderful STARS Honor choir--Senior Times are Really Special--sang as the morning entertainment. This picture was taken while I was doing the introductions and neither of us had joined with the choir but we did and we sang several numbers. We got as many compliments as the Barbershoppers did the night before...maybe more!

The ladies enjoyed lunch at the Amarillo Bontanical Gardens. We honored Betty Kennedy who began the Red Hat lunches several years ago at a reunion in AK. She had completed making the little pots of flowers for the tables prior to her death in March and we dedicated the lunch to her memory. She was a very special Christian lady and much missed. Linda Robinson made the bookmarks on the table, one for each lady, and I wrapped pots of geraniums in purple celephane and red & purple ribbons for the center of each table. Debbie Hannah Skinner was our speaker and gave a wonderful talk on "Cultivating Contentment".

The ladies enjoyed a tour of the conversvatory in the background as well as the outdoor gardens. Our speaker, Debbie Hannah Skinner, is on the back right in teal. It was a perfect sunny warm day!

This is our group photo of the 75 of us who attended the reunion. Hopefully we will have another view which you can actually see our faces at some future time as we had two offical photographers snapping away.

Una Jo Teeter tends the book exchange following the dinner and has customers already browsing. It is an even exchange for books you contributed or 3 books for $1.

Bill and Bevie Lucas, our wonderful vice-chairs!

The hosts at the opening dinner.

The Golden Spread Barbershop chorus, the active Scouters wore their uniforms. Bob in the back on the right.

Opening Day of the Reunion

Bob served as Chairman of the Day on Tuesday May 11. We had 75 attendees from 8 states. The opening ceremony was conducted by Troop 86 of St Paul United Methodist Church and dinner was catered by The Golden Apple Catering. Only complaints about the meal was that the servings were too large but all were in agreement that the food was excellent. Brick Huffman, Golden Spread Council Exec, gave the welcome and invocation. In addition he showed a DVD of the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts. The Golden Spread Chorus, Barbershop Harmony Society, sang a selection of numbers with 3 quartets also participating in their 30 minute presentation. Following this the Texas Heritage Foundation spoke about the play TEXAS and held a drawing for 4 tickets to the play and 4 meals from the Big Texan prior to the play. The evening closed with a hospitality time including a Cracker Barrel & Book exchange as traditional.

Southwest BSA Retiree Reunion

We were the co-chairs for the 2010 SW BSA Retirees Reunion on the 100th year of Scouting in the USA held here in Amarillo, TX. Our committee came in on Monday May 10 and assisted with the final preparations. We had been working on the reunion for over a year having presented the over-all plan at the 2009 reunion in April '09 at Philmont Scout Ranch. We had also met with the committee here at the Ashmore Inn in Oct '09 to do much of the planning for meals, events, entertainment, etc.

The committee had dinner together Monday evening at the Cracker Barrel which is directly in front of the Ashmore Inn where the reunion took place. After dinner we met together to go over the agenda and to further refine plans. Following that meeting, the "Committee of Five"--the past chairmen--met in our suite to discuss who they would ask to chair the 2012 & 2013 reunions to follow Bill & Bevie in 2011.

This is a view of the lobby at the Ashmore Inn on Tuesday as attendees were checking in for the reunion. We had Scouts there to assist with taking luggage from their cars to their rooms.

The Opening Dinner with Bob in the background at the podium with the Scout sign up seeking quiet in the room. At the table is Brick Huffman, current Scout Exec in Amarillo, who welcomed the retirees to Amarillo.