The first planned event was Mass at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Antonia Noguera; Carli Scott; Daphne Mena, née Hoy; Egzine McFoy; Eloisa Bradley; Grace Pate, née Balderamos; Joyce Perdomo, née Gough; Joy Tatum-Haylock; Ligia Alpuche, née Gómez; Lydia Balderamos Loskot; María Scott, née Villanueva; Marta Woods, née Ordóñez; Ruby Gillett, née Vásquez.
All attendees were informed that the Mass would be celebrated in Fordyce Memorial Chapel at St. Johns College. The location was changed at the last minute when Father Hunter realized that the Chapel had been closed for the summer (and had not been cleaned since it was closed). A small room on the second floor of the building across from the Chapel was set up for our Mass. Joy T’s husband, Lou, was kind enough to wait at the foot of the stairs to direct us all to the right place as we arrived.
The reunion really started on the upstairs verandah, where we gathered before the Mass. The short time during which people arrived afforded us the opportunity to greet friends we hadn’t seen in years, to catch up on old times, to renew acquaintance with our classmates, and to meet each other’s husbands, children, other family members, and close friends.
The room where Mass was held was beautifully decorated with lovely floral arrangements that Marta had donated. It was the perfect size for our small group. In retrospect, the Chapel itself would have been relatively empty; a Mass there would have lacked the warmth and the close community feeling we enjoyed in the smaller room.
As the Mass got under way, Father Hunter asked who would to do the first reading. Classmates who had attended a planning meeting that Thursday had decided that we would not have volunteers for readings, but would let Father do it all. Either this was not communicated to Father, or he thought that we should participate, regardless of the earlier decision. When it was clear that no one had prepared for the reading, Antonia quickly volunteered. Joyce followed suit to read the responsorial psalm. She walked to the lectern, scanned the Prayer Book, and said under her breath, “Antonia, show me where to read.” Antonia didn’t hear Joyce’s call for help, so Joyce decided to follow the convention she was used to in her missal and read the first boldface passage. When she reached the end of that passage, she realized that the conventions were reversed in this Prayer Book; she calmly said, “I’m sorry, I read the wrong part.” She corrected her mistake and everything proceeded smoothly. Ruby volunteered for the final reading and had no mishap … unless you count the fact that, despite the large print, she has to take a step backward before she could focus on the text. Yes, the years have taken their (minor) toll on all of us.
Everyone enjoyed the Mass. Father Hunter focused his sermon on the importance of community and of people coming together, as we were doing in our reunion.