All School reunion a huge success

HOT ONE--Holy cow, we finally had Summer show up with a real vengeance this past weekend and wouldn't you know, the hottest day just happened to be on Saturday when our all-school reunion took place, whew, it was hot! Rarely do we have a day that hot, let alone one with no wind to boot, so while those on the water were sailing along on a river that looked like a sheet of glass, the lack of a breeze just about cooked the rest of us. Sunday was much better with lower temps and a good breeze, so while it was still plenty sunny, it wasn't nearly as toasty as the day before. Seems terrible to complain about the sun after a so-so summer, but we old folks don't handle that kind of heat real well, especially in a crowded gym! As this work week has begun, the last couple of mornings have begun with cloudy conditions with the sun coming out a little later, and that's been much more enjoyable for sure.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from August 9-15 are Marsha Helms, Treasure Collupy, Jeremy Bennett, Rick Bryan, Tim Schmitz, Kathleen Morgain, Judy Smith, Mike Backman, Bob Hendrickson, Jim Almer, Butch Free, Tenneal Harris, Samantha Christensen, Jeff Tracy, Eileen Free, Kassy Burdick, Barbara Blix, Penny Pethoud, Jeff Nichol, Sally Palmer and Paydn Pedersen.

Celebrating their anniversaries this week are Mackenzie and Kristen Allen, Gene and Karen Healy, Kyle and Deb Gribskov, Brandon and Tracie Souvenir and Mr. and Mrs. George Hanigan. May all of you have memorable celebrations as you enjoy your birthdays and anniversaries.

STILL NEED HELP--As I write this, I still have four spots to fill for gate admission ticket takers at our Wahkiakum County Fair which is coming up next Thursday! Desperately need someone from 8 a.m. to noon on Thursday, then two people from noon to 4 p.m. on Friday and one person from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday. Call me right away if you can help out!

While the three day event takes place on August 16, 17 and 18, the days for entering things begins in just a few days, so please check out the Fair Book or Becky Ledtke's fair column on this page and find out what day and what time you need to be there. There's lots to see at the fair, lots of entertainment and we hope you'll help support all those that have taken the time to set up their booths and be apart of our wonderful, down home, county fair. Hope to see you next week!

SKAMOKAWA GRANGE--The Skamokawa Grange will have a booth at the fair and we will be selling tickets for a huge Christmas basket, like we had last year, worth three hundred dollars, which includes a full holiday dinner, a gift certificate so you can buy your fresh turkey or ham, a gas card so you can travel a little more during the holidays, a hand-blown glass item by Collupy Glass, a nice bottle of wine and goblets to top off your dinner, gifts for the kids, mom and dad and ornaments for your tree, as well as many other holiday items, so we hope you'll stop by and enter to win it. It will be given away at our holiday dinner on December 8 and you do not need to be present to win. We are also selling tickets to win a one of a kind maple footstool made for us by John Gustafson. Stop by our booth at the T-building and check it out!

MEETING--A potluck meeting will be held at the Skamokawa Grange Hall this coming Monday night at 6:30 p.m. We hope all grangers will be able to attend as we catch up on our latest happenings, like the Vendor's Market, and plan for our time at the fair and for other activities that are coming up.

DANCE--Once again, the Teen Dance will be held at the Skamokawa Grange Hall on Friday night of the fair, August 17, from 9 p.m. to midnight. We hope all of you teenagers who plan on attending will spread the word and invite all your friends.

LAST WEEKEND--If you want to see the latest exhibit up at the Redmen Hall, this is your last chance to see it as it's coming to an end this Sunday. Don't forget that there are a lot of great books up at the hall, many by local authors, and gifts made my local artisans as well, so check out the hall from Thursday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

REUNION RUN DOWN--Well, in spite of the heat, hundreds of alumni showed up at the elementary and middle schools for the first ever Mule Train All-School Reunion this past Saturday, so that was great.

Well, when it came to a crowd, it was the 1960s that made the biggest showing, with the 1950s coming in second. We are still compiling numbers so I'm waiting for the total count but it was impressive. Many of those who showed up had not pre-registered, so those numbers were a little higher than expected, but we were sure happy to see them. Until the final count comes in, we won't know for sure which individual class had the most in attendance but it looks to be one in the 1960s for sure.

While I don't know about all the other classes, I do know there were 13 members of the Class of 1967 in attendance, and our biggest surprise came when Sharon McKie and her mom Donna showed up from Florida! Being as this was our 45th reunion as well, I opted to have a little drawing to make it more special, so I purchased a couple of Ruth Doumit's Mule mugs and handed those out to the lucky winners. David West got the bigger "guys mug" and Judy Lindwall Bergman was given the smaller one, and as it was also Judy's birthday, it made her special day even a little better! I got quite a chuckle out of our guys when it came time to sing the Alma Mater, as all the words seemed to have been forgotten over the years, so they used the back of my newly purchased Mule T-shirt with the Alma Mater on the back as their song sheet! That was pretty funny!

A huge hit among those that attended were all the picture boards that were on the walls around the gym. These were made by Sue Anderson Sullivan and they were just terrific! It was great fun to see how we used to look way back when and who changed the most or the least and who had those crazy hairstyles! Sue had left a package of star stickers at the beginning of the row of posters so that anyone who knew of someone who was no longer with us, could put a star by that persons' picture. She had done many of them already but it's about impossible to know them all, so thanks to those who took the time to mark them with a memorial star.

Later in the evening, Wayne Gross brought back a lot of fun memories for many us by hosting music and karaoke at the Norse Hall. Back in the day, there seemed to be a dance either there, the Puget Island Grange or the Elochoman Grange, every week or two, as back then, there were a ton of garage bands and they were more than happy to come and show off their new band for a reasonable rate. As teenagers, we were all happy to gather together and show off our latest dance moves. Boy, those were the days! Needless to say, I didn't see any of those moves last Saturday night, but I did enjoy the country swing moves of Kari Good Claussen and Todd Gunn, as well as their singing! When the duo teamed up with Mark Pedersen, they made for a terrific trio. I think they should start up their own band! Laurie Miller, who sang our National Anthem, also entertained us some more with her lovely voice, as well as many other alumni, like Mike Rose and Kerry Brown to name just a couple.

Most people understood how much work went into putting on an event of this size, so we thank you for all your kind words and support.

Several things happened at the last minute that were out of our control, so we're hoping that none of that will happen the next time, which is looking like 2016, so start spreading the word!

Why then you may ask? Well, in 1966, you will see that the usual red or black annual "Lamele" was replaced with one of a different color. This was because it was announced by Julia Butler Hansen at that time, to have been the 50th anniversary of the school's graduating classes, so the annual was made gold to celebrate that special event. So, following that lead, it would make 2016 the 100th anniversary celebration of the school and so therefore, another big reunion is being planned.

A big thank-you goes out to Susan McClain Kuhn for spearheading this massive undertaking, which meant hundreds upon hundreds of volunteer hours on her part, and to those who took the time to attend meetings so they would know exactly what was going on, and to the handful of people who actually did all the grunt work when it came time to set this all up, do the cooking and kitchen work and put everything away and clean it all up afterwards. Here's to WA-KI-HI, and the next reunion!