SAN DIEGO WEST COAST REUNION - May 14 to 17, 2006

By David Carruth

The San Diego reunion was great. Betty and I traveled with Craig Olson on Jet Blue and will recommend that air line. We were joined on the trip by Tom and Alice O’Connor, and John and Glenys Dyer. We arrived in San Diego around 9pm and reached the hotel around 10pm after we picked up the car we had reserved. Our planned use of the car didn’t happen, but it wasn’t needed for the reunion anyway since all transportation had been arranged by the reunion committee and where extra was needed the hotel jumped in and got us where we needed to go.

The Sunday night reception was exceptional because everyone had a chance to circulate and the food was superb. One highlight was Tom Woods and his mid’n hat. When he threw his hat up on graduation he had written a message on it and lo and behold the hat finally came back just before the reunion. Take a look at the reunion pictures here on the home page.

Monday was a full day with the MIDWAY and the harbor cruise. About 25 of us decided not to visit the MIDWAY, my reason for not going was because, while I recognize the importance of such museums, these ships, particularly the aircraft carriers, make me very sad because they are not “alive” the way I remember them. The folks who went were very positive in their comments and San Diego seems to be doing a fine job of maintenance. The hotel got the rest of us to the embarkation point for the harbor cruise which was comfortable, entertaining and tasty. All hands seemed to enjoy themselves.

The reception that evening at the University Club provided a wonderful view of the city since it seems to be the high point, we were on the top floor and windows were huge. This is a good point to comment on the one thing which Betty and I were disappointed in. From 1947 until 1953 we lived several times on Coronado for a total of about four years. During most of that time I was flying seaplanes off the bay. We remember almost every day of beautiful sunshine. If there was fog it always burned off by 1000. Weekends on the beach were almost mandatory. On this visit we saw the sun for a total of about two hours and the ceilings were under 2000 feet most of the time. Oh well, times and the weather change. Back to the reception, once again we had excellent food and company.

The City Tour brought back a lot of memories, particularly Coronado and Balboa Park so much so that we would really have liked to stay over a couple of days to spend time in both places. We spent a lot of time in the park when Betty was carrying Steve and he was born in the Coronado Hospital. Let’s face it, there is never sufficient time to properly revisit a place that figures so much in your life.

The reception and dinner dance met our expectations. The band played “our music” and from observation those who wished to get on the dance floor were having a good time. Anyone who says people in their 80s move slowly should have been there to watch. These groups of classmates defy the tag of “old”. Aren’t we lucky!!?

While each member of the reunion committee gave all the credit to Rhona we all recognize that the execution of an evolution of this complexity takes a strong, organized leader but also requires a group of motivated helpers to make it a go. To the whole committee, WELL DONE!!!!!!!!!!