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One
of the immutable facts of life is that just as people join
organizations, they also leave them.
Over the past two years, my thoughts have occasionally turned to the
people who have come and gone in the Fresno Commodore User Group
during my 18 years as a member. This led me to suggest to the club
that we have a “reunion lunch,” inviting all former and current
members to join us and renew old acquaintances.
We set August 26 as the tentative date, and in early June I began
calling former members, using an old membership list dating from the
mid 1990s. I also found some names and phone numbers of people who
had left the club even earlier by looking in back issues of the club
newsletter, The Interface. A couple of our current or former
members, Doug Cunningham and Keith Sohm, put me in touch with people
for whom I had no contact information.
I was surprised and pleased to be able to reach a large percentage
of the people I called, and without exception they were glad to hear
the club was still active, and were interested in the lunch, subject
to other conflicting plans.
As August 26 got closer we confirmed the date with El Bajio Mexican
restaurant, and sent written and Email notices. We started hearing
back from people, and made a second call to some who had been
interested. Eventually we had a list of about 25 people who would
attend if possible.
On the 26th I arrived at the restaurant early, and was
immediately joined by one former member. As the official time
arrived, others started coming in. Most of these people had not seen
current members or each other for up to five years or longer, so
there were many greetings exchanged as people renewed old
acquaintances. As well, some of the long-gone members had never met
our president, Robert Bernardo, and some other “newer” members.
We had a great lunch, handed out our latest newsletter and a list of
Commodore websites, and sent everyone off happy and full.
The complete list of those attending were current members Bill
Terry, Dick Estel, Keith Sohm with wife and daughter Beth and
Tiffany, Meredyth Dixon, and Robert Bernardo; and former members
Barbara Monis, Bill Gilbert, Del Contreras with wife Lupe, Doug
Cunningham, Jack Dickey with wife Christine, Jeff Adolph, John
Weaver, Lloyd Warren, Randy Clays, Robert Loving and Sanjiv Kapoor.
People
I spoke with, but who were ultimately unable to attend, were Art
Gumprecht, Ben Briscoe, Jack Fisette, Pat Spears, Ruth Seibert, and
Zella Mallard.
Considering
the positive response and the success of the event, we hope to
repeat it again in a few years.
--Dick Estel, August
2006
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