Report on ISKL 2000 - Vancouver, BC - July 14 to 16, 2000

The ISKL Silver Reunion 2000 was a great success. My condolences to those of you that missed it, but perhaps you'll attend the next one in 2005. Before I forget, here's the contact information for 2005:

Myra (Randell) Harold
Email: Mharold@austin.rr.com
Snailmail: 9403 Glenlake Drive
Austin, TX
USA 78730
Fax: (512) 346-9963
Phone: (512) 345-4889

Myra is Class of '75, attended ISKL from '72 to '75.
David Watson's friend Jim Klaiher is setting up all the pictures on a website and should be working on it as I send this. David will let you know where to find them when it's up and running. More will be added as more pictures come in. If you would like to contribute, here's David's info:

Email: 6555clg@msn.com
Snailmail: 6555 Cindy Lane
Houston, TX
USA 77008
Phone: (713) 861-4553

David is Class of '75, attended ISKL from '69 to '75.

And a couple of email changes from the address booklet:
Benzer, Warren: wbenzer@canada.com
Bishop, Laurie Ann: LABishop@firstworld.net
Halley, Scott: Scott74iskl@aol.com
Smith, Paige: pmyauger@home.com
And a new addition:
Maresca, Louis: Clr2c@aol.com
(Sorry, don't know her class year.)

Just to let you know, you won't see everyone's email address in the "To:" list of this email. My server will only allow me to send to so many addresses at one time, so I will be sending several emails to who attended.

We had gorgeous weather, not too hot, not too cold, and sunshine. Some came early, some stayed late to enjoy all the sights in and around Vancouver. Those that could only attend for a few days enjoyed as much as they could between activities.

We started with the registration desk on Thursday July 13th from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Unfortunately, as will happen even at well-planned events, our printer hadn't completed everything yet. We did get our name tags after 6:00 p.m., so some of us were trying to recognize the rest of us. Though I must say, none of us have changed much at all! Well okay, at least not in my mind, no sir, I still look 18. The Blue Horizon Hotel, where most of us stayed, let us use a section of their lounge for this, as it isn't used often. I think they saw a major increase in bar sales that weekend. Throughout the weekend this was used a meeting place to decide who wanted to do what for the day, or just sitting and chatting and laughing and looking through the yearbooks and pictures. I want to pause here and thank Joy Kenney ('71) and Betty Stickney (Parent), for helping us out there, as well as those Vancouverites (Rita
Adamovich - '77, Mike Lam - '73, John Pyper - '73, Rene Kennedy - '76,
Shoni Lee Bernard - '75), who got rooked into assisting. Is rooked the word I want? Or delegated? Oh, volunteered!

Some of us went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill, a great restaurant in a stone mansion close to the hotel. The others did their own thing, not sure what. Then some of us hit the bar next door to the hotel, and yes,
some of us closed it down at 2:00 a.m. Guess the rest were smart and got some decent sleep!

Friday July 14th, the registration desk opened again from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The printer finally decided to show up at 1:00 p.m., so we madly stuffed grab bags with id tags (some hadn't picked them up on Friday), t-shirts, address booklets, maps. I had help from Stuart Webb ('75), Stewart Pyper ('75), Stewart's wife Kai, Shoni Lee, Sandy Gray ('75). Thank goodness, I was getting run off my feet. More importantly, I needed a beer!

We all left for the cruise up Indian Arm, which started at 4:30 p.m. (well, we had to wait for a few stragglers), and docked at 7:30 p.m. A three hour cruise, huh? (Does anyone remember the theme song from Gilligan's Island?) We were fully booked at 100, but someone didn't show, or the guy counted wrong, so we were able to slip Melinda Martin ('79) on board, leaving poor Randy Martin ('77) waving Bon Voyage to us. Randy was great to do that, as Raissa Chernushenko ('79) joined us for the cruise only, so at least she had someone she knew on board. See what happens when you don't book in advance people! The line up for the bar... need I say more? My Mom and Dad attended the cruise, and Mom bought my beer. I sat down with them and Mom said "You don't have to sit with us you know." I wasn't sure if she was telling me to get lost or not! I really just needed to sit down and rest my legs. Don't think too much of the scenery was taken in, but it was a great ice breaker, not that one was needed. I also think the children enjoyed themselves, although they were mostly kept inside with life jackets securely fastened.

About 40 of us went to El Patio for dinner. Rene had booked for 10, then changed it to 20. The poor waitress, but she handled herself expertly. What a great meal, dining al fresco under a tree in the middle of the city. And a great place to eat if you're ever in town. We got back to the hotel about midnight, and some of us were going to head for a quick drink, but being Friday downtown in tourist central, it was full of young punks (yes, like we were back then). So most of us went to a well deserved bed. John Ishii ('75), Stewart Pyper, and David Watson did head to John's hotel for a couple of drinks. Apparently even that lounge was packed.

I was really happy for that early night when on the next day I carted all those grab bags and yearbooks down to the lounge for the next and final round of the registration desk on Saturday July 15th, from 9:00
a.m. to 12:00 noon. This was a really good day. A lot of people were in and out, or just sat around all day chatting.

The dinner/dance was held at the Vancouver Rowing Club, which is just inside the entrance to world famous Stanley Park (ever heard of it? Okay then, maybe not so world famous.). We had an indoor room, but also an outdoor deck that overlooked the water and the city. Rene and Shoni Lee did the decorating of the hall, as some people forgot to show, or got locked out of their house but still managed to show up with some decorations (I won't name you here Rita.)! David Watson was our Emcee, even though his voice was just starting to come back. Mine was on it's way out. Cocktails and appetizers started at 6:30 p.m., dinner started about 7:30 p.m. We had an east meets west flavour, as the only really really good Malaysian restaurant here, the Banana Leaf, doesn't cater. Did I mention it's only about 3 blocks from me? We did try some other restaurants, but they weren't up to our standards. There wasn't a lot of
dancing done, as most were out on the deck. The full moon (less a day) rose over the city, with the reflection of the city in the water. Beautiful! There was about 99 all together. It was also a great place
for those that brought their children, although I'm sure not many of them appreciated the romantic view!

Stuart Helble ('75) and his wife Karen have a pewter business in Virginia. They were kind enough to give everyone a pewter trinket. At the 1995 reunion, which they couldn't attend, they sent pewter key
chains to us all.

Now, this is where it started to feel like my own wedding (no, I'm long divorced and very happily single, thank you). The thank yous and the gifts and the smiling for the cameras! But hey, people were trying to
let us know what a great job we did. John Pyper and Akiko Hirota ('75) had something to do with the huge boquets of flowers that were presented to Rene, Shoni Lee, Pat Kavanagh ('74), and myself . David Obern handed me a baseball cap that says "Canadian Girls Kick Ass", which I promptly wore for the rest of the night. Stuart Helble presented me with a pewter bowl with the pineapple handle (testing your memories now, anyone out there remember what that represents?). This among other gifts I had already received from Stuart Helble, Akiko Hirota, Sandy Gray, and Sue Ritter ('76).

Stuart Helble also had a bit of fun with pewter trinkets. Who came the furthest? I think it was a tie with two from Sweden (Eva Estberger - '73 and Bengt Estberger - '76) and one from Malaysia (John Ishii). Who was the oldest parent attending that night (sorry, can't remember who won that one). Oldest class year, youngest class year. You can see below who won those. I was hoping for a "who came the least distance", because even of those of us that live in Vancouver, I think I still would have won that one!

David's emceeing included calling on all the classes, year by year, so Jim could take the pictures for the web site. Jim had a digital camera with him, so they'll look great. I believe he is also calling on Sandy
and Myra to send their digital pictures to him. And he will take all and any you want to send so he can scan them in. Please don't expect them to be returned, it will be a cost out of your pocket.

So we shut the place down at 1:00 a.m. Sandy Gray invited us to her room after, and there was about 10 of us there till about 4:30 a.m. We did call Brian Boutte ('73), Sandy's husband, in Egypt, to slur a few hellos and why aren't you here's.

Rene and I were regretting the late morning on Sunday July 16th. Brunch was at 11:00 a.m., just around the corner at the Kirin Mandarin. Between packing up the left over ISKL trinkets, packing our clothes, taking aspirin (or was that just me?), and loading up the car, we managed to get there just after 11:00. There was another large turnout, about 70. It's the best dim sum in Vancouver, and reasonably priced.

So it took about an hour for everyone to start drifting out after brunch, saying good byes. I had to keep reminding myself, "You'll see them all again in five years" to keep the tears from starting.

I'm still busy with emails (like this one!), and cleaning up a few loose ends, especially the money "stuff". I have about 15 address booklets left if anyone wants one. Let me know via email, it'll cost you $5.00 US, which you can then snailmail. But don't leave it too late, as I'd like to clean up the finances soon.

I'm cutting and pasting a list of those who attended. You can see the diverse range of class years we had there. Joy Kenney and Gary Chapman, both Class of '71 as the oldest class represented, and Ramona Helble, Class of '83, as the youngest (what a sassy little girl she is! Just kidding Ramona, I love your sense of humour!). And Rick Reinecke, Class of '80, discovered the reunion information a couple of months ago. He lives in Vancouver, so decided to brave the dinner/dance, and he and his wife enjoyed themselves tremendously. We also had John and Stewart Pyper's youngest siblings attend the cruise, they weren't even attending school back then! And parents, the dear parents that most of us never knew or paid attention to when we were teenagers.

Unfortunately, there were a few who had to bow out at the last minute. But they were quickly replaced by Ruth Marr ('75) and Karin Knapp ('76).

I would like to give a big thanks to all those that helped out. I may live in Vancouver, but directions? Walking distances? So, when someone asked a question it was "John?" or "Stewart?" or "Mike?" or "Rene?" or "Pat?" or "Karen?" or "Shoni?". You get the picture I think. But a special big THANK YOU goes to Rene Kennedy who did a lot of the leg work. Booking the cruise, the Vancouver Rowing Club, the DJ, getting quotes for menus, arranging for the camera ready printing, arranging the t-shirts and address booklets and grab bags and id tags. I'm sure I've missed something Rene, but thanks for making this such a memorable reunion.

My last set of thanks goes to all of you for attending. It wouldn't have been so memorable if I hadn't seen your faces.

As I said, I will email again with the web site address so you can see what we looked like last weekend. Everyone start saving your pennies for 2005!

LeeAnn Letourneau
Class of '74
ISKL from '69 to '74

List of attendees:
Name/Class Year (P = Parents)/Years Attended ISKL