The 30 year reunion is in the history books and, by all accounts, was a rousing success.

I want to personally thank everyone that had a hand in this thing (in no particular order): Pami, for trying to keep us together over the years and all her hard work on this one; Fred and Amy for opening the doors to their lovely home to the Class of 79, we'll never forget this one; Janeen, Paul, Dona, Fred, Pami, and Irene for their undying support, unwavering commitment, and tireless efforts; Dona and Janeen additionally for their efforts to make the mass and picnic a perfect cap to the weekend; Paul for his wonderful statistic work and keeping me on task; and Irene for all your "secretarial" efforts.  You guys keep giving me the credit but it falls back on each of you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks to Dave Laudenback for opening your home to us twice during the planning stages and grilling that awesome tri-tip. Looking forward to our new friendship growing. 

Special gratitude to the spouses and significant others of everyone on the committee. Loaning us your loved ones to assist in the planning is greatly appreciated. Thanks. You can have them back now. Until I need them again. 

To the boys of Flashpoint, thanks for providing the awesome soundtrack for our party and the great emcee/dj services. You guys rock. I understand they'll be playing this Saturday night at the Orange International Street Fair from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm and also from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  It's at the traffic circle in Orange at Chapman and Glassell.  They'll be playing on the All-American stage immediately East of the traffic circle. Anybody want to continue this party next weekend? Leave a comment.

Thanks to Father Joe Droessler, who officiated at our mass. For those of you that weren't there, Fr. Joe was a classmate of ours Freshman year, after which his family moved away, but he remembers his time at Mater Dei fondly and he did a wonderful job with our mass. I couldn't be prouder of him, even if he wasn't my younger (a month and a half or so) cousin.  Fr. Joe is a parish priest at Blessed Sacrament if anyone wants to stop by and say hi.

Thanks also to Pat Powers who, even though he couldn't attend Saturday night, was willing to take the lead on putting the mass together and share his wonderful voice and guitar playing with us. Thanks also again to Pami More and Mary Erhard Palmer for sharing their angelic voices with us during mass.

A very special thank you to Christi Devarian of Elite OC Productions. She went WAY above and beyond the call of duty to make this event a success and I thank her, too, from the bottom of my heart. We could not have done it without you. If any of you ever need a party planner, I recommend Christi as highly as I possibly can. She's a gem and a tireless worker. Thanks Christi, I'm going to miss talking to you every day!

I know I've forgotten someone. Please consider yourself thanked. Chalk it up to an old, tired mind, and accept my apologies.

Please bookmark and continue to check this page. It probably won't be updated as often, but it will be updated. There will certainly be updates through the next few days, at least, while we figure out the logistics of sharing all the photos that were taken and other details.

This page will continue as long as people want to use it. Over the next few weeks, there will be some changes to make it more interactive and it is my hope that the class of 79 will use it to keep in touch a little better than we have in the past. I can't put it as eloquently as Janeen did at the reunion, but we all share a common thread and common memories. No matter what we currently practice, or don't practice, we have in common 4 years of life (some of of you more than that) and a common faith at our core. We may not have been close in high school, or really even ever knew each other, but none of that matters now. We're all alumni of the class of 79, and no one can take that away from us.

Blessings to you and yours. I miss you all already.

With thanks and love,

Steve