Dinner-Dance

The main event of the reunion was a dinner-dance at the Belize Biltmore Plaza on Saturday at 8:00 PM.

Attending

Francisca Pook, née Sutherland; Iola Ellis, née Nicholas; Josephine Fraser, née Velásquez; Judith Bodden, née Usher; Linda McCarthy-Remkes; Manuela Scott, née Hernández; Olga Barber, née McFadzen; Ruth Garbutt-Tillett; Shirley Card, née Waller; Therese Casey, née Engelton; Victoria Codd, née Day; Vincent Neal, née Gill

Ann Wiltshire, née Alpuche; Antonieta Cardona Martínez; Carli Scott; Christine Heusner Robinson; Elena van Leer, née Mendoza, Eloisa Bradley; Ester Heusner, née Hernández; Gloria Saldano, née Atkins; Ina Retreage, née Boyd; Ivy Leslie-Blease; Jennifer Neal, née Brown; Joyce Perdomo, née Gough; Ligia Alpuche, née Gómez; Lydia Balderamos Loskot; María Scott, née Villanueva; Minerva Gordillo de Maldonado; Rita Stuart, née Young; Rosilia Ordóñez, née Vega; Ruby Vásquez; Veronica Jones, née Usher

Adrian Roe, David Alamina, Derick Gongora, Francisco Allen, Gary González, Gowayne Bradley, Gustavo Dubois, Hugo Vásquez, Israel González, José Perera, Juventino (Jay) Cruz, Louis Robateau, Marsden Skeen, Mike Tewes, Roger (Rogie) Rodríguez, Roy Young, Stan Martínez, Vicente Vernon, Wayne Espat

Our special guests were Father Dick Perl, S.J., who celebrated our reunion Mass; Linda Lewis, Derick Gongora’s sister, SCA graduate and member of California Reunion Committee; and Rafael Reyes, former SJC teacher.

Getting Underway

When we were in high school, parties (and other events) in Belize always started late. If a party was scheduled for 8:00, you were safe to assume that it would just get going by around 9:30. The leisurely pace at which the reunion Mass got underway seemed to indicate that the conventions for punctuality had remained unchanged in the last 30 years.

But our reunion dinner-dance was something special! Those who arrived at 8:30 thinking they would be early were surprised to find the party in full swing. At least half the tables were filled. Sam Hamilton’s Foreign Exchange Band was playing and many couples were already on the dance floor. The room was a swirl of activity with classmates making the rounds to visit friends at each table. A meager scattering of hors d’oeuvres remained on what appeared to have been a lavish appetizer buffet.

Souvenirs

The official reunion souvenirs were black travel bags emblazoned on the top with a field of white containing the three school logos. Reunion organizers had taken orders for the bags before the reunion. Adding to the flurry of activities at the start of the dinner-dance were a few business transactions as the organizers delivered bags to those who had ordered them and collected money in return.

A surprise to most attendees were reunion T-shirts. Each PHS, SCA, and SJC Class of ’69 graduate who attended the reunion received a T-shirt. This thoughtful and generous gift was compliments of the "California Reunion Committee." Spearheaded by members of PHS Class of ’69 who live in the Los Angeles area, the committee designed and ordered the shirts for us all and held fund-raising barbecues to pay for them. The three school logos adorn the front of the white reunion T-shirt; printing on the back reads Class of 69 Joint Reunion.

Gloria arrived at the reunion carrying a basket of lovely souvenir corsages, which she had spent the afternoon making for her SCA classmates. Each corsage consisted of a pale blue flower, leaf, and ribbon against a wave of mesh and a sash reading S.C.A H.S. Reunion 1969-1999.

Later in the evening, each attendee received a souvenir pen. The black pens with multicolored caps displayed SJC, Class of ’69—30 Year Reunion in gold lettering.

Welcome, Thanks, and Introductions

Stan was our Master of Ceremonies for the evening. When the band went on break, Stan took the microphone and welcomed us all to the reunion. He then proceeded to enumerate ways in which we deteriorate mentally and physically after reaching 40. (Those from SCA who had heard Rita’s more positive views on life after 40 the night before thought perhaps they should ask her to set Stan straight on this issue.)

Next, Stan introduced Derick, who thanked all who had helped to make the reunion a reality. The way in which he acknowledged the organizers initially caused a stir of discontentment, bordering on outrage, throughout the room. As he listed those from each school who had helped with preparations for the reunion, he omitted the name of the primary organizer from each school. As Derick continued speaking, rumblings arose:

What about Carli?

He forgot Judith!

Remember Adrian!

But Derick had not overlooked those three. When he finished with his general thanks to all who participated in planning, he gave special recognition to the main organizers and asked for a round of applause for each.

Stan then thanked the one person that Derick had not mentioned—Derick himself spent a great deal of time working with the factory that printed our souvenir bags and T-shirts. He was largely responsible for getting them printed and delivered in time for the reunion.

Stan proceeded with reflections on his time at SJC, then introduced Victoria, who talked about school days at PHS, and Carli, who reminisced about SCA. Stan asked Adrian to say a few words and Adrian took him literally–he thanked us all for coming and handed the mic back to Stan!

After Stan’s closing remarks, he passed the mic around from table to table so that all members of the Class of ’69 could introduce themselves. This was a great opportunity for us to find out who was at the dance. Most of us had missed some friend seated at a table far from our own, who had arrived while we were off chatting with someone else. Now we knew which table to visit to see that friend!

As each classmate gave his or her name, we heard muffled exclamations like:

I didn’t realize she was here!

I can’t believe I looked right at him and didn’t recognize him!

So that’s who that is!

Dinner

Next on the agenda was a buffet dinner of turkey and dressing, rice and beans, and potato salad, with lemon tarts for dessert. Standing in line for the buffet gave us more opportunity to chat with friends or make new acquaintances.

Dancing

When the band started up again, they played a special birthday dance for Adrian and his wife Karen, whose birthday was that day. The remainder of the evening was devoted to more dancing, catching up with classmates we’d missed before dinner, taking photos of each other, and generally having a great time.

Classmates from each school posed for group photos under the Class of ’69 banner. Roving photographers wandered through the room catching candid or posed shots of the party-goers.

The dance floor was packed most of the evening. The energy of the group didn’t seem to sag much as the hours rolled by. Around midnight, another snack buffet appeared for those who had worked up an appetite on the dance floor.

The Party’s Over

Lively dancing to a Punta beat was going strong until the band stopped around 2:00 AM. But the fun didn’t stop then—at least for a few hardy souls. Judith and her husband Willis, Victoria, Linda, Manuela and her sister Joan, and Derick were still in a party mood when the catering manager, Alex King, arrived. They asked whether they were in the way, and replied no, it was their reunion and they could stay as long as they wanted! With the band gone, they continued dancing to recorded music until 3:00 or 3:30 AM.

We may be well past 40, but we all came away from the dinner-dance with our spirits high and feeling young at heart.