AS YOU ARE AWARE, CORONAVIRUS IS HAVING HUGE IMPACTS IN PARTS OF THE WORLD.
LARGE GATHERINGS SUCH AS WEDDINGS, FUNERALS, SPORTING EVENTS AND, DARE I SAY IT, REUNIONS ARE INDEFINITELY BANNED IN ITALY.
NO ONE KNOWS THE EXTENT OF THE EFFECT IT WILL HAVE HERE AT HOME, NOR DO THEY KNOW THE TIMING.
I AM PREPARING A CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR THE REUNION AWAITING SOME ADDITIONAL INPUT. I WILL BE SENDING ANOTHER UPDATE LATER THIS MONTH ABOUT THIS ISSUE.
March 10, 2020
Hello.
THE 2020 REUNION is now only 4 months away from today!
If this is your first Monthly Update, Welcome! THE 2020 REUNION will be held Friday, July 10 2020, at The Community House in Birmingham. You can catch up on all the past monthly updates at our facebook group page, Seaholm Class of 1970. The page was made private to stop advertisers. Simply click "ask to join”.
Classmate Search
We have found quite a few classmates this month as you can see for yourself in the updated Missing Info list attached at the bottom of this email. The names of classmates found in January have been removed, the names of classmates FOUND in February are in BLUE. The names in BLACK are classmates we still can not communicate with via email. Please take a moment to read through and see if there are any classmates you can help us locate.
The process has been getting more complicated, with more and more emails bouncing back as undeliverable. We suspect many are old and have never been removed. If you search for yourself you may find emails listed that you stopped using long ago. Or their mailboxes are full. Or they never check that old email. Or did our messages go into their junk mail?
So we have entered the next stage of search: snail mail. Letters are being sent out to all the addresses we have found that we think might be current, thanks to our volunteers, 'The Stamps'.
To date, we have “found” 347 classmates, learned that 61 are deceased, leaving 280 still “missing”. These are actually better search results than I ever remember, all thanks to the hard work of our Classmate Search Party.
Hotels
Karen Roth has found another discounted rate offer, this time from The Doubletree by Hilton, located at the former Kingsley Inn, Woodward at Long Lake.
Discounted Standard room rate: $199 per night. Available July 9 - July 12, 2020. Offer good on reservations made by June 8th. Use group name: Seaholm 50th Reunion. Telephone (248) 644-1400 ext. 0
Discount offers are still available at The Holiday Inn Express and The Townsend Hotel. Please refer to the February Update for their information.
Venue Search
Karen Roth, Sue Whitall and I are checking out all the restaurants in town today, for consideration as venues for peripheral events around our reunion. What events?
Well, on Thursday night we are repeating the popular Pub Crawl from 2010, but renaming it "Night On The Town". We need to find a new place for a "Meet & Greet”.
From there we will spread out across town for “Dinner” wherever you want. Make plans with friends in advance or go out with friends from the meet and greet. If you can plan ahead, I would recommend reservations.
To search for restaurants, google search "restaurant guide birmingham MI". You’ll see three restaurants listed and a map, then click ‘more places' below. There are multiple pages of listings and the map is convenient. Another helpful list is available at https://www.allinbirmingham.com/visitors/birmingham_restaurant_week.php
We also have to find a new place for us all to meet back up for “Late Night” - because Peabody’s has been torn down!
We are looking for a venue for late Friday night, for an “After Party” for those who want to stay up and play after the reunion at The Community House. The music could be louder. Much louder!
We think we have a plan for Saturday night, to be announced later.
And we will be looking for venues for Sunday’s "Memorial Service" and "Farewell Brunch”.
A Virtual Celebration!
Please remember to send your photos, toasting the class, by June 1st to be included in the Virtual 50th Anniversary Celebration movie. Include names, and maiden names please, and city and state if you wish. The movie will be delivered to your email box on the evening of June 11th - 50 years to the day of our high school graduation.
Reuniting
We reunite to remember our childhoods, our adolescent adventures, and share our lives as adults. We share our high points and low points, and share our accomplishments.
Remember our classmate Jim Hagen? He was a star of baseball and basketball. Ask him what he’s doing today and he will say he’s a photographer. But here, words are not enough. When I saw his work, I wanted to share it with you:
Come to the reunion. There’s a lot more to share.
Wood