Grand time at the reunion
Mary and I returned yesterday (March 11, 2002) from four days in Naples, Florida, where we attended an "all classes" reunion of my high school (Keith Academy, Lowell, MA). We had a grand time. No outside speakers nor entertainers. Classmates took care of all that, and the "entertainment" was one continuous roll of good, clean humor for almost 25 minutes. The man was in the class of '48, one year ahead of me, and he has been working his act for over 50 years, according to those who know him. For those who were hearing him for the first time he was priceless. One of the attendees was driving a car with a Massachusetts license plate "Chosin" and I told Mary "who ever he is, he's a Marine," and he fought his way out of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. "That's a big part of Marine Corps history," I told her. At dinner Mary was seated next to the man himself. She was thrilled to get to know him. He also was in the class of '48.
Naples is a fascinating community. All the beaches are "public" beaches, although there are hotels and condos up and down the beach. We watched a sunset (at 6:32 p.m., March 8, 2002, Friday evening) from the end of the pier (1000 feet out in the Gulf) and it was beautiful. The man who founded Collier magazine, Trailways, and numerous other successful ventures founded the area. It is called Collier County and is 26 square miles.
One of the places we ate on our own was Mike Ditka's. The food was delicious. We had lunch there and went back for dinner in the evening. Met and talked briefly with Mike. He was very gracious and looked like he could get into the MLB position today.
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#40