Reunion Report

While dinner was being prepared, from 6 until just after 7, we took some time to visit and become reacquainted.  Actually, it felt like we had never separated.  No one had aged more than a week, and the old feelings of fellowship and camaraderie came back right away.

We continued to visit during dinner, which was followed by a slide show with slides from Troy Young, Scott Asbell and Bruce Baer.  Unsolicited commentary was provided by Sean Ziebarth, who is now a DJ in southern Utah.

A fairly pathetic (but fun) attempt to sing "Llamados a Servir", without the help of printed lyrics, was followed by "Amad Unos A Otros", both accompanied by Sister Shawcroft.  (Next time, we'll have the words printed up.)  Then Sister Shawcroft spoke to us, and reminded us to keep sending them photos and announcements, which she carefully collects in a large scrapbook that she brought and displayed.

President Shawcroft then spoke, and expressed gratitude that his missionaries have followed his counsel to pursue an education and be prepared for the future.  He concluded his remarks with the admonition, "Que Sigan Fieles, Hermanos."

After President Shawcroft had finished speaking and the applause had died down, Troy Young took a few minutes to mention this web site and the planned trip to Ecuador, and Marcos expressed appreciation to those who attended the reunion, and to his wife, Kristina.

During the course of the reunion, Troy and Karen Young recorded on video tape brief "interviews" with each of the attendees, asking their names, where they live, and what they're doing.  Shawn Stradley, whose father owns a company that duplicates video tapes, offered to have copies made.  As soon as that has been arranged, information on how to get a copy will be posted here.

We had talked about getting t-shirts made for the reunion, but ran out of time.   Bruce Baer drew up some sketches that I hope to have posted here soon, and we'll try to have shirts ready for next time.

Michael and Gena Calta also brought a copy of the novel they just had published, "Who Are These Children?"  It's available on amazon.com and at Deseret Books.  Send him a note (tiscrap@ix.netcom.com), and I'm sure he'd be glad to autograph your copy.  You can visit their website at http://www.nobleones.com/ (currently under construction).

Shawn Stradley and Lynell "Suth" Nielsen, among others, offered to host the next reunion, which will hopefully take place next year, as a follow-up to the one we just had.  As you can see from the list below, the vast majority of the attendees were from Utah.  As wonderful as it was to see everyone who made it, we really need to make a better effort to notify those who live outside of Utah next time.  More information will be posted on the "Reuniones" page on the web site, and mailed to those who don't have Internet access, as it becomes available.

The following were at the reunion (as they signed in):  Pres. & Sis. Shawcroft (Mesa, AZ), Patrick & Deanne (Wagstaff) Burch (Kent, WA), Doug & Lisa Roundy (Provo, UT), Bruce & Carolyn (Eagar) Beeston (Syracuse, UT), Troy & Karen Young (Tucson, AZ), Richard Clawson (Kearns, UT), Junius Merrill (Spanish Fork, UT), Robert Rasmussen (American Fork, UT), Sean & Alisa Ziebarth (West Jordan, UT), Elayne (Wells) Harmer (Draper, UT), Shawn Stradley (SLC, UT), Lynell (Sutherland) Nielsen (American Fork, UT), Brian & Tara Iglinski (Lehi, UT), Rob & Annette Evans (Orem, UT), Scott & Ann Asbell (Mapleton, UT), Clay & Suzanne Drake (WVC, UT), Michael & Gena Calta (Chino, CA), Collette (Maxfield) Howland (Castle Rock, CO), Craig & Mari Calhoun (American Fork, UT), Albert & Tracy Adame (Thornton, CO), Mark & Suzanne Thomas (Logan, UT), Mike Bean (Issaquah, WA), Bruce & Lori Baer (St. George, UT), Jeffrey Stay (San Marcos, CA), Natalie (Edlefsen) Larsen (Plain City, UT), Will & Constance Halterman (Provo, UT), Matt & Kristen Jarman (West Jordan, UT), Dave & Elaine Duke (Blackfoot, ID), Ron Sasine (Campinas, Brazil), David & Virginia Rutledge (Boulder, CO), Wendy (Egan) Hansen (Woodinville, WA), Kim (Patterson) Libby (SLC, UT), Lane & Andrea Walters (American Fork, UT), Brent & Nancy (Merrick) Phillippi (Madison, NJ), Rhett & Colleen (Cardon) Evans (Orem, UT), Michael & Christina Degn (Kennewick, WA), Jef & Cressent Nielsen (Nibley, UT), Tim & Kristi (almost) Corless (to be married soon--congratulations!! Roy, UT), Erik & Amy Brown (Thornton, CO), Tracy & Lori (Arnold) Millward (Twin Falls, ID), Marcos & Kristine Menendez (American Fork, UT), Erik Hughes (Boise, ID).  45 in all, by my count.

For those of you who where wondering where Kurt White was, I received the following message from him after the reunion:

Hey, hey!! How was the reunion? I heard back from Matt Jarman that it was pretty awesome. I wanted to be there at the reunion soooooo bad!!! We ran into some problems on the way there....

We left Fresno thurdsy afternoon intending to spend the night in Las Vegas and then being in the Provo area in plenty of time to make it to the reunion. Just after we crossed the state line of Nevada, we pulled off in the town (?? - more like two casinos and a gas station) of Jean to get a bit of gas to get us in to LV. Well, thats as far as we got. The car would not go when in gear (¡Ay caramba!, not the tranny!!) It was 11:30 p.m. and no services in Jean! We spent the night in the casino's hotel figuring we would make plans for operation save the White's in the morning. I knew then that I wouldn't be able to make it to the reunion :( In the morning, believe it or not, we had to rent a limo from LV to come pick us up and drop my wife and two of my kids off at Greyhound and me and the two youngest kids off at U-haul to rent a truck with a tow dolly. Me and my half of the clan made it back to Fresno at about 10:20 p.m. friday night and my wife and other half of the clan didn't arrive until just after midnight at about 12:10 a.m. Brother, I would like to tell you that that day was one of the longest I had ever endured. Needless to say, here we are one car short (it was the transmission) and feeling all shucky darned for missing the reunion. (Wanna buy a car?) It would have been great to see you there, brother.

Ouch!  I let Kurt know about this page, so that he could read about what took place.  Also, I'm sure he'll appreciate those of you who took time to talk into the camcorder and tell what you're up to.  I'll make sure he gets a copy.