From Wanda

Intro by Frank Breen

In early 2002, it looked pretty bleak for Shaker72. All the members of the committee that had done such a good job with the 20th year reunion had sort of melted away. Nobody was inspired enough to put out the time, energy, and money necessary to get our thirtieth year reunion off the ground. Then came Wanda Lubinski, and as one of our classmates so well put it, "She took the bison by the horns." The rest is history.

October, 2002 - Wanda's Post Reunion Comments

There are not enough words to express my thanks to all who made the reunion such a huge success. I hope I don't forget anyone, or offend if I do (blame it on senioritis)... Sue Lynch - thanks for your efforts and the basket. It was a very nice surprise - but PLEASE, don't do it again. There's no way I can take credit for the event with all the help I had! Richard Dixson - thanks for stepping in as barkeep for the suite and sticking around thru clean-up. You made Saturday night so much easier for me to sit and put my poor, aching feet up! Mary Chris - the name tags were beautifully done, and exactly what we all needed- names with faces!!! I would not have identified many without them! PeeWee - you're never going to live down that nickname now that I know it! Thanks for the video services and for your spirit of cooperation, unselfish giving and for being a team player. That's what makes events like this so much fun to work on!

Jack Wands - you did an incredible job with the CD and slide show of the website. Thanks so much. Frank - Patty's right - you are much better looking in person! And none of us can thank you enough for all the time, energy and talent you shared in creating and maintaining the website. I have had more positive comments about that than anything else! Gosh, who else, there must be dozens who helped find people - Robin, Cheryl, Barbara, Sue, Jack, and many others. Thanks to those who made donations towards the event: Rosenthal, Dashiell, Corbett, Chutz, Demarest, Goetz and anonymous. It would have been much less nice if I'd had to pinch pennies - but your contributions made it possible to have the extras and to have several people attend that could not have been there otherwise. They were very grateful for that opportunity. I'll have a final accounting of expenses after I take care of the yearbook later this week, and get film developed for the website. I have three rolls that will be on CD so Frank can add them to the website. I had more planned but thought some might find my sense of humor tough to swallow so I decided against some of the more colorful humor... consensus is that we should do a 35th and not wait for a 40th... and I'm happy to oblige!

I would prefer something less formal though - how about it, gang? My personal thanks, and a huge thanks from all of us to the reunion committees of past - without their legwork the task would have been MUCH more difficult, and thank God for the internet, which made searching so much easier for us than it had to be for them. I can't imagine how many more hours it took them to locate people.

I still have a list of over 100 that were never located, so if you're interested in helping find them, let me know. A three-day affair gave us more time to get re-acquainted and seems much more enjoyable for everyone. If we all start saving now maybe we can do a weekend cruise to St Thomas for the next one??? Not that any of you are anxious to see my fat behind in a bathing suit! I have to share that at least one of our classmates admitted to having the 'sex with a nun' fantasy, but for the life of me (and he should thank his lucky stars) I can't remember who it was!!! Why he didn't believe me when I said I was really still a virgin I'll never know. LOL Just some 'off the top of my head' figures - the hotel was just over $10,000 for the banquet, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and breakfast.... not bad really. T-shirts were $1400. Yearbooks will be an additional $3 each to include the bios and directory and I'm covering that. I only spent $50 on deocrations! $200 on the suite bar. and if you're interested I can figure up what I spent on postcards, postage, etc, etc.

I truly enjoy doing this sort of thing so it's no sweat for me. Glad to hear that the only problem was the sound system at the hotel. That was pretty bad! Let me know what else needs improving for the next one. Five years is not so far away! Sister Mary Discipline thanks you for your good behavior, and the Un-Cheerladers share a big thanks from the chubby chicks! Thanks Eldeen and JoAnne for joining me in that little skit! It was a riot. Can't wait to see it on tape! Had we done the cartwheels we'd have set off the Richter scales given that our center of gravity ain't where it used to be, but JoAnne insists she can still do splits so we're going to challenge her at the next one to prove it! Be sure to report changes in addresses to me or the school so we can find you for the next one!

Breakfast was a nice closing for the weekend, an un-wind time for me. We took the balloons with names of the deceased out to the parking lot and gave Sue Sconyers' sister the honor of releasing them. Damned tree got a hold of them though! We figured that was their way of telling us the party is not over until THEY say so!!!

As for the virus - it's a Klez worm that infects an address book and takes on a life of its own. I have successfully cleaned my PC - hope you are all able to do the same. Keep deleting anything from any address you don't recognize and clean ASAP.

Oh, and Mr. Boswell, you left your shirt in my suite (no, he wasn't undressing, just left his reunion t-shirt behind). I'll get it to you! Yes, Patty I can send another 20th book - though it's the last one. and for those who ordered dinners and never paid - SHAME ON YOU!!!! Good luck getting into the next one. I still have my whip and I'll borrow a baseball bat! Frank and I have been declared Prom King and Queen for Life - an honor we humbly accept! We'll have to wear crowns to the next one, Frank! Glad those of you who attended enjoyed yourselves so much. It was a thrill for me, too!