Reunion 2009: October 10-12 (Friday evening through Sunday morning)
Neither pictures nor words can capture the spirit of this wonderful reunion, but we hope that, whether you attended the reunion or not, you will enjoy looking at the pictures on this website and reading the summaries that Ann Jay Berry and Beverly Voss have kindly provided below.
[From Ann, October 12:]
Hello Everyone,
Cathi Schnell Thomas requested a report on the reunion for those not in attendance, so here it goes. I hope others will add anything I have left out.
Last Friday night, 46 of your classmates and 31 spouses gathered in the Student Center (our old pit) of SHS for a buffet dinner, followed by a tour of the Performing Arts Center, new and old gymnasiums, viewed the bench we purchased after the last reunion for the high school and then most everyone went to the new stadium for the homecoming football game against Ponca City—which we won.
I will interject here that Bob Leigh put a new permanent plaque on the bench last week for us since the original plastic one was turning yellow and cracking. The current one will last forever. In case you don't remember, the plaque says: Donated by the Class of 1964 in honor of Coach Jim Harris.
People gathered at my house from 7:00 p.m. on. We just had fun visiting and catching up. 
Saturday morning was busy with a car show downtown featuring 2 of Bruce Ricks’s cars. There were many people there. At noon we had 66 people eating pizza and talking at the Hideaway. We were there for 2 hours with Scrib taking pictures of us all—with our mouths open talking.
Then the fun really started. Beverly Voss has been working for a long time on her “No-talent Talent Show” and her hard work paid off. When I arrived about 5:05 at the Community Center, our old 9th- 
grade school, the kazoo band was there practicing with Dr. Gayla Foster in charge. It was serious business, so I kept my distance. Actually, they practiced on the stage behind the curtain. Hazel Carmichael, Judy Thomason, Sally Ground, and many others started decorating the tables with the cloths I had brought and the flowers Betty had brought. Two funny mental pictures for you are Judy Faber's husband, Charlie, sitting at a table polishing silver which bossy Betty Burtschi had him doing and Janice Pennington's husband, Larry Wilsey, blowing up balloons from a helium tank that bossy Ann Jay had him doing. As I was showing Larry how to put the opening of the balloon on the head of the helium tank, I told him it was about like putting on a condom and he said, “Yes, and about the same size.” The evening had just begun!
Helt's took our pictures and there were 65 of us in the photo. Actually there were 64 and then Rusty 
Shaw arrived late from a wedding and he stood by himself where all 64 of us had stood, Ken Helt took his picture and said he would Photo Shop him in the picture. Of course we all gave Rusty the business.
There were over 100 people at this event when you added the spouses and also Mrs. Clark. Would you believe Jim Clark's mother came from Austin for the whole reunion!!! She was so sweet and loved seeing all of us. Of course sweet Bob Sanderson and Carann brought her and cared for her.
I started this email too late at night. I have to go to sleep. This will be continued tomorrow. It gets better.
Love to all.
Ann
[From Ann on October 27, with a long description from Beverly]
I'm finally back to finish this project. I may not do it justice now, but I will try.
Our Saturday night event was at our 9th grade Jr. High School in a large room on the ground floor across from where the office used to be and also Mr. Woodruff's science class. I think it used to be a gym, but there is also a stage on the north end. This was a great place to gather, very nostalgic with lots of ambiance and using the stage was great. After dinner, the fun began with Raymond Burrus and his 1million jokes acting as MC. (Bob Walton had a dog emergency and didn't make it. We missed him and his sanity.) Back to Raymond. I've never heard one person tell so many jokes in my life and he didn't read a one of them, plus they were actually funny. He entertained us in between acts. Since Beverly Voss put this no-talent show together, I asked her to report on it. So here is what she says:
For those of you who couldn't be with us, we had, indeed, a no-talent/ limited-talent/ some-talent/lots of talent show. Maybe no one fit the “no-talent” bill. Not true. I failed kazoo harmony totally. I realized later that I enjoyed the planning and rehearsing as much as (OK, more than) the actual performing. So next time, maybe we'll just rehearse.
Here was the line-up:
Raymond: Did the “Bob Walton” sound alike act. Thanked everyone he could think of--especially Ann and her amazing crew who made it all happen. We met in the old 9th-grade gym (?) which actually looked quite beautiful and had wonderful food.
Raymond and Bev: Went through the Garrison Keillor fund of 3rd-grade jokes. Bev didn’t understand the one about the elephant. “What do you do with an elephant with 3 balls?” “Walk him and pitch to the rhino.” (right?) She got the 6th-grade giggles—the kind your parents send you away from the table for—and nearly had to sit down.
Raymond kept up the patter and jokes between every act. However he didn’t perform the two limericks he knows by heart. Be sure and ask him about them.
Act 1: Bob Williams on harmonica and vocals, Brady Coleman (my bf) on guitar, BV on tambourine. Betty, Ann, and Janice Pennington as the Bobbetts. Dedicated to the smooth moves of Georgina Chessmore, last reunion. Much undulating, more smooth moves and hip gyrations provided by the Bobbetts. Bob's lyrics traced our class from its youth to its dotage (i.e., now).
Act 2: Margo Gee told the story (not the song) of the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Water spouts were evoked nonetheless. I could imagine enthralled 5-year-olds circled around her.
Act 3: Claudette (there's only one!) decked out in fringe and Santa Fe turquoise to lip-sync “I am Woman” Dedicated to women who have been abused, survived. Much heart in this one.
Act 4: Beverly read a snippet from the Austin paper about a woman who tied a box to a van with a coathanger and put her 13-year-old daughter in the box to hold it down. Then took off down the Interstate. This happened in Alabama—not OK or TX. A feel-good piece.
Act 5: Raymond regaled us with a story about retrieving a stolen book in an airport while the thief was relieving himself in the airport. I'm still curious about what the book was—must have been a good one!
Act 6: Beverly read a poem of her own called “Stealing Flowers” so as not to give all thieves a bad name. Based on life experience.
Act 7: Dianne Ross Jeffries: Diane played 3 tunes on the beautiful mountain dulcimer: “Black Mountain Rag,” “Your Land is My Land” (everyone sang) and “Oh What a Friend We Have in Jesus”—complete with history of the song. It sounded like church with half the people humming along.
Act 8: Sandra Dutreau Williams, writer extraordinaire, penned a ditty of doggerel called “When the Whores Left Town.” Performed with her usual aplomb and panache.
Act 9: Stillwater H.S. “Collage”—Well... This one took nerve. It was an improvisational act based on InterPlay. People who have never done weird stuff on stage stepped up (or were pulled in) for this one. Scrib, Kate Moore and her husband Bob (who didn't even go to our h.s. but STILL was willing!), Bart Foster, Sherry Rossander, Judy Faber, Judy Thomason and I walked, ran and stood still on stage, moving randomly. One person would go to the mike while the rest of us froze—they'd tell a brief memory of h.s. and then the moving would start again. The name of Ken Bailey was evoked several times—it's the risk you run for not being present.
Did I leave someone out of this line-up? I have a feeling I did. Brady played improv on guitar.
Act 10: How many of you had “Childcraft” books when you were little? Who remembers “The Little Muffin Man”? It involves tinkles and winkles and ding dong dings. Muffins and cruffins and rubber boots are involved. It's a little creepy. Claudette and Cary Hill were cajoled into giving the adult reading of this little verse. Cary apologized for sneezing saying he wasn't used to the grass in Stillwater. A wit (Ralph Renfro) at one table yelled, “What kind of grass are you used to?” There was much applause and levity so apparently some people got the joke.
Act 11: OK—this is where my memory totally fails me. This was the big finale with kazoos Gayla put “Heart and Soul” into 3-part harmony plus a melody. Little did she know the challenge this would present... Melody was Connie Glover and Wiley and Linda Smith and Dianne Ross. Guy harmony was Scrib and Kate's Bob and Brady and Bart. Good girl harmony was Nancy Irwin and Jan Durham and two other people. Bad girl harmony was Kate and Sherry R. and Judy Faber W. and moi. (Cary Hill, Judy Thomason, Sandra Dutreau, and Anne Olmstead were in there somewhere.)
The bad girls were off-beat the whole time and Gayla was surely remembering why she only does this every five years!
If I've left out whole acts, don't write in. I don't want to know. Thanks to one and all and especially the audience—we couldn't have done it without you!
Beverly
As you can see, we had a terrific program and Beverly did a fantastic job putting it together.
On Sunday morning, 65 of us gathered for breakfast prepared by Chefs John Gwin, Wiley Cook, and Rusty Shaw at my house. The food was fantastic and everyone had a wonderful time visiting and laughing.
I am so proud to be a part of this class. We enjoy being together and truly care about each other. I have gotten to know so many of our classmates much better through our reunions and I value that.
We missed each and every one of you who didn't make it to the reunion and hope you will make a special effort to be there next time. Since this is a “big” one, we will try and get the date out very early.
Keep in touch with me with any changes of information and PLEASE KEEP THE BIOS COMING. Let's continue that until we get one from everyone.
Ann
©2009 Stillwater High School Class of 1964