Class Reunion

I can’t believe how long it has been since I have sat down and written anything. I have been pretty busy and just have not had a chance to write. This morning I decided to take a few moments and write.

Last night was the start of our 40th Class reunion. It was at the East Side Athletic club and it was a fun night. For those not from Butte, the town has two high schools. The public school and a Catholic high school. For this reunion we did a combined reunion. Jennifer and I attended the Catholic High School.

Also for people from outside of Butte, The East Side Athletic club is not what you would think, it is more a bar and Casino than an athletic club. Last night I was visiting with one of the spouses of a Butte High classmate. He is from Louisiana and he was telling me when his wife was saying the event was being held at the East Side Athletic club he was envisioning tennis courts, swimming pools, gym, etc. so he was a little taken back by what the venue really was.

So he was asking me why it was called a athletic club? Now when he asked me that question, I had to laugh (and actually did out loud). I told him that was a very good question that I could not answer, because I did not know.

Let me give a brief description of the club for those that have not been there. It is a bar, which has a small meeting/dance hall attached to it. Outside there is a old weed infested softball field, with a back stop of rotten wood, a sand volleyball court with a volleyball net that has seen better days the net is barley held up with some string and duct tape and a weed infested field next to the softball field. That is it. So I can only imagine the shock and disappointment that this poor guy had when he pulled up.

However, last night was a good example of being that it is not necessarily the venue that makes a party nice, it is the people. The small group of folks that put together this event did a nice job Brian Trudgeon a Butte High Classmate put together a very nice memorial table with nice high school senior year book photos of the classmates who have passed away. Of course he had Jennifer’s Senior year high school photo in there.

I have been both looking forward to the reunion, but also dreading it. I knew going in that some people were probably unaware that Jennifer had passed and that I would have to tell them. Sometimes that is awkward for both me and them. That did happen a couple of times. Then of course there are those that know she passed, but don’t know the details, but want to know, so then I tell them. Some get the cliff note version and those that I know she liked and that I know liked her get the full story.

Butte High (the public school) has lost a lot more classmates than Butte Central (Catholic School). I believe they have lost 29 classmates. We have lost three. Of course Butte High had a much bigger class. I think they had 300+, We only had 89 kids in our class.

To start the evening a small group of us met at the Knights of Columbus bar and hall and we shared a few stories and laughs and then we headed down to the East Side for the official

Anyway it was nice evening. Butte had/has several elementary schools. Jennifer and I went to Whittier grade school and I think we were one of the best represented schools by attendees last night. It was nice seeing some of the folks that I had not seen since grade school.

One of our classmates has a couple of restaurants in town and one of her restaurants catered the food. It was a nacho bar set-up. My nephew Heath would have been in 7th Heaven. Although his idea of nachos is just chips and cheese (he is not much on the rest of the fixing’s). However they had a huge pot of nacho cheese, with either chicken or beef, guacamole, sour cream, pico, shredded cheese , jalapeños, and black olives and several different sauces. My favorite sauce, a mango-habanero was there so I was happy. They also had a keg of beer. I don’t know how long it has been since I had beer from a keg, but that brought back some memories.

They also had a bonfire in the vacant field, so it brought back a lot of old memories. Nothing like a bonfire, with keg beer and 80’s tunes to bring back memories.

All in all yesterday was a good day. We have obtained a handicap van with a wheel chair ramp to help get my folks around safer and easier. In is nothing fancy but it is functional which is the main thing. Anyway, I took it to town yesterday morning to get new tires and a new battery. Cindy and Case had come to Butte so Case could attend the Dream Big football camp. So they picked me up and we went to Breakfast at the new M&M Cafe. Then we went to the camp. Our niece Kate was there with my great nephew Teddy. So we got to watch Ted (1st grader) go through the camp drills and then the older kids went in the second group. Case was in the second group.

Then I came home changed and headed back to town for the reunion. So all in all a good day.

Well I need to get a move on. We have a reunion golf outing this morning.