Part of getting any reunion organized is the planning phase. Here are some
of the planning steps that made this reunion the success that it was.

There were no actual assignments to particular parts of the planning because there were people on the committee who had done this before. As it turned out everyon just fort of fell into place in the jobs that they were best at accomplishing.

The first order of business was to establish contact with as many of our classmates as possible. Doug Cowan had an Eixcel listing of class members from the 96 Reunion. Pat Jones took that list and made contact with each and every person on it by phone or email or thru the postal service. In some cases a search on the internet was used to locate some of our misplaced members. At the end of this effort a new database was built, one with pictures from the annual and another with just the data as listed in the back of the Memories Book. In actuality we know where some of these people are but they don't want anything to do with any of these functions so they are listed as missing on purpose.

Joan McKernan is our treasurer and she also partnered with Cheryl Bernhardi in the local arrangements in Ridgecrest. All funds collected for the Reunion and the Memories book wnet to her for accounting purposes. She also arranged all the materials for the attendees in packets so ther were easier to disseminate. Finally she took part in the preparation of El Charro and the Elks Lodge with decorations.

Doug cowan checked out all the electronics and availability of equipment for use on the evening of the reunion. He produced a slide show and provided the equipment to make it all work. He did a fine job and the folks I saw watching the show were rapt with attention. Thing about a slide show is the most commonplace and recognizable things become interesting just because of the way they are presented. Doug is very good at this.

Although Ridgecrest is a wonderful little town, locations for large group entertainment are few. Our first call had no room available, the second call had no adult beverage service, the third had almost everything we required.
A visit with Lois, the manager of El Charro Avitia, was such a relief when she asked "How many and what do you want?"

She moved furniture, ordered special linens to fit our BHS theme, and turned the entire restaurant over to us. Only two problems couldn't e solved. The room could only seat 80, there were 93 of us and there was no microphone. We adjusted, and set up additional tables in the lounge. Doug Cowan's slide show was accomodated on the T.V. in the bar snd we were generously encouraged to decorate as we wished. Lois had already worked a long shift but after a quick trip home, to freshen up, she returned to make sure everything was going well. The buffet included several "extra" items and we paid no room rent. ~ CB