| Tyler Robert E. Lee Class of 1968 40th Reunion |
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| You are the Visitor to this page. |
| Read what your Classmates had to say about the Reunion! |
Old Friends,
The reunion was such a blast! The book with everyone’s life story is a treasure. It’s wonderful to be able t o read what
everyone has been up to over the past forty years, including many of the people who weren’t able to be there this weekend. I’m
so happy to have email addresses for people who we’ve lost touch with, but still care for. The website is amazing, too. I never
got to see the video and I’m bummed about that. But the party at Ace’s was fabulous and the party last night was awesome.
It’s clear that a lot of people put an enormous amount of time, energy, love, and care into all the tasks that made the reunion so
great. Roland and I thank each and every one of you for your contributions. Do we have to wait another 10 years to do this
again? There were people I didn’t get to visit with – or didn’t get to spend enough time with – or who didn’t come. Could we
have another reunion in 2013? I’ll help. As soon as you recover from all this work, please consider it. Love, love, love,
P. S. I left my memory book with my mother (who’s bringing it back to me next weekend) and she said she stayed up very, very
late last night, reading and re-reading the stories of all the grown-up kids she knew so many years ago. She loved catching up
on everyone’s lives, including yours. Thank you! Jennifer Brown Elbert
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Wonderful weekend! You guys did an outstanding job and I thank you. Both Anne and I enjoyed all of you. I have a request,
let's all write Buddy and Janice and let them know how much we missed them. I know Buddy would love to hear from as many
as would like to write! Thanks again. -Bobby Delk
_______________
it WAS great.... lots better than high school -- much less drama and angst. I mean, EVERYTHING was such a big deal back
then.so nice to be relaxed and with all of you -- some of whom I went to pre-school with.I'm looking forward to the next. John
Ellis had a great idea that we all go somewhere together -- like Cancun -- and then we wouldn't have to plan parties.Ponder it.
Love you guys,Camilla Cowan
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Thanks to all involved for a wonderful experience, and an AMEN to all that Betty said! Robert C. McKay
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Nancy, thank you for your endless hours of work on our Memory Book! I love the cover! And thank you, Bo, for having them
printed for us. What a
treasure this is! Jennifer, thank you for your endless hours of work on our website. When the webmasted the '67 class used,
became ill and back out of doing it, you stepped up and saved the day. My first thought when she said she was backing out,
besides a little panic, was this could be a blessing. And a blessing it was! You
took the layout and made it so much more special and personal that we would have ever had with the other webmaster! I love
it!!!! Bo, thank you for finding so many of the classmates! Thanks to you and the computer, we were able to find more than ever!
I enjoyed working with you on this. Roger...thank you for your devotion for the last year on making thie happen! It could not have
turned out any better! And Melinda...thank you for your countless hours doing our database, and for all the searching you have
done! I have worn out the database on so many projects! What a life saver it has been! Carrie, and the decorating committee...I
loved everything! It all looked wonderful!!! The mugs were a special surprise, too! What a great idea! Thanks for sending out
the "Save the Date" magnets, too! Eugenia...the food at Willowbrook was great! Thank you for all of your work and planning on
it. Ace, your party was so much fun...and those ballons! I think we all want to know where you get the batteries to put in them!
You were so nice to do this party for all of us! It was a fun and special evening that helped
to make this such a fantastic weekend! I enjoyed seeing everyone and wish there was more time to visit with many I missed
getting to visit with more than I did. I can't wait until our next party and/or trip! Betty Penn Blanchard
_____________________
Thanks to everyone that worked so hard to make this a perfectly wonderful blessed weekend... Roger, Carrie, Melinda.. Bo..
Claire.. Betty.. Thanks, Thanks Thanks !!!!! and NANCY... THAT BOOK !!! Incredible.. I know Jennifer helped alot, too... on
everything... But THAT BOOK.!!.the neat thing about it was just getting to know what is going on with some folks I never knew !!
Wow... So many neat " connections" that must have been God ordained for all of us... I look forward to connecting again .. and
again... God has truly put together a precious group of friends from our Class...Thanks so much Nancy Squryes !!!
_________________________
All of you are having such a great time talking about how great the reunion was – the reunion itself must have been off the
charts. Steve (Dickey) Arnold and I had a little 1-on-1 reunion at Starbucks a few weeks earlier when I came to Tyler to help my
parents move from one assisted living apartment to another; and if the quality of our conversation is any indication of what
went on at the Big Show, I really can’t imagine what a great weekend it was.
Sally & I really missed being with you, but we are really happy it was such a terrific time for all of you. My congratulations to all
the committee that worked so hard and to every person who was able to come. Maybe someday . . .Steve Breedlove
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WHAT A REUNION! In every sense of the word. I cannot remember when I have had such a wonderful time or laughed so
much. Do you suppose this is a tiny glimpse of what "reunion" might be like in heaven? WOW! I, too, am still smiling
throughout the day whenever someone or something said from this weekend comes to mind. I am going to get reconnected.
Roger & ENTIRE Committee, You are truly the best! I know you worked very hard on this event, but please know that it is
greatly appreciated. I cherish my Memory Book & am still referring back to it, thinking how very UNIQUE each one of us were
and are today. I am proud to call you my friends. Ace, How brave & gracious you were to have us all at your home! Kem,
Your message Sunday morning was RIGHT ON THE MARK. It was as if you brought the reunion, our lives, experiences, aging,
etc. all together and tied it up for us into a perfect ending. Thank you so much for speaking from your heart. I can tell from
some of the emails, that I missed seeing some who were there, and I certainly do regret that. I also missed having time to
really visit. If you were unable to come, know that you were thought of by many. I am already looking forward to the next one
and I hope it's not 10 years from now. That's just too long. We've been spoiled now! With fond memories, Susan Wallis
Chesley
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I heard the reunion was a lot of fun and featured some unexpected "musical moments". Wish I could have been there but
business commitments did not allow. If an Austin group forms, please keep me in the loop. Bob Goldsmith
___________________________
I just have to say this was the best reunion I can remember. To all the people who made it possible, I say "Thank you so
much". It takes a "village" and all you villagers went above and beyond. (please change my e-mail in your memory books: it's
"greenjl2000@aol.com (not greenj12000@aol.com)Thanks. Bless you all. Joyce Gantt Green
___________________________
I want to thank everyone. Roger you did a great job coordinating. I cannot imagine how many hours it took. Ace, what a party!!
I hope you didn't foot the bill for such a grand event. If you did, we need to help! It was fabulous!! Claire, I cannot believe with
what was going on that you came through as you did for us. And Bob Brewer, you did Soooo much with the technology to
make our reunion one to remember and you weren't even in our class!! Thanks so much for posting the pictures so that we
could make them accessible on the web. Having read all of the comments on the web, it is obvious that the most cherished
thing from the reunion was the Reunion Book. Nancy, thanks so much for all the work you did on it. What a treasure. And
thanks Bo for producing it and mailing it to those not at the reunion. You did so much research on our classmates too, along
with Betty. Betty, you scanned the entire yearbook so that classmates could enjoy it. What a job! How many hours did all of
you spend. Then there are the other planners who worked behind the scene to make a reunion that everyone says is the best!
Carrie with the magnets, cups and decorations, Debra with the nametags, Eugenia, Nancy, and Jane with the set up, Melinda
with the database management, Lew with his knowledge of our classmates, Jud and John with the computer input, and Paula,
Linda, Dickey, Steve, and Camilla with ideas ALL made this reunion the success it was. I love you guys!! I feel so lucky to be a
part of this wonderful class of people! Jennifer Anderson
___________________
What a wonderful job all of you committe members did putting together our reunion! You are all very special people to give of
your time so that so many of us could enjoy getting together with old friends. A great big THANK YOU to you all. I will not miss
the next one!!! All the best to everyone, Vicki Mosley Bailey
_____________________
Ace, that's right, we all missed the Blacks, Cospers, Brittons, Breedloves and the rest of our group that for one reason or
another could not attend. All the countless hours of HARD work that Roger ," Ginger", Bo , Claire , Nancy and all the other
committee members put in can not be thanked enough.Ace - Thanks for your usual stellar performance as the
"coordipartynator." What a beautiful setting you have made at the Gallop complex. All I heard all night was accolades and
where'd Ace get the balloons.This was a great !I can't tell you how many time I heard "do you remember ?"And "THE BOOK"
----- we're proud of our Rebels ! Accomplishments and service ! Mike Knudson
_______________________
Bill Black called and left word during the friday night party that he was in Hawaii and really missed being there with everyone.
Ace
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Thank YOU, Jane, for thanking all of us!!! Truly, from beginning to end, it was an extraordinarily HEARTFELT weekend
and one that we will never forget. As Paula Patton Quinn said, "I felt the love!!!" And we, obviously, ALL did!!!
Our committee worked HARD and WELL, and Roger deserves a star (maybe 2!) in Heaven; he's simply THE BEST!!!And THE
FUNNIEST!!! Also, especially to Ace, what a FABULOUS PARTY you gave to each of us on Friday night!!! Your BEAUTIFUL
lakehouse was the perfect setting for our reunion to begin...THANK YOU SO MUCH. And to Kem...your words on Sunday
morning were SO awesome...inspirational, motivational, realistic, age-appropriate, and ABSOLUTELY hilarious, at times!!!
Thank YOU so much for a wonderful ending to a VERY special weekend. And to everyone else on our committee...we simply
could not have done ANY of this without your UNBELIEVABLE expertise and talents. You are all AMAZING!!! And last, but not
least, to all of you who traveled here, THANK YOU FOR COMING!!! With all my thanks and love, Carrie
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Dear Friends, I must say "Thank You" to everyone who made this 40th REL Reunion possible! This was the first one that I was
privileged to attend, probably because I moved around for so many years -- before coming "home". Thank you Bob Lauck for
"finding me". You are truly a dear friend and wonderful person! Roger, Nancy, Bo, Melinda, Jennifer, Carrie, Roger, Eugenia,
Betty and Ace (I hope I didn't leave anybody out) -- your hard work and effort along with your imagination and enthusiasm
showed everywhere, making the most magical event for all of us. My only regret is that I didn't drive down on Friday night to go
to Ace's. Boy I do wish I had gone! It was really a dream come true, and I have been thinking off and on since I came home (a
few tears also shed) about the love and comfort that surrounded us everywhere we were. Old friends are so precious! Every
now and then I catch myself smiling about memories of something funny that somebody did, or said. I am guarding my
Memory Book like it's a priceless artifact. Thank you for the mugs. I have mine on my desk. In closing I'll just say I had the
greatest Blessing just being with you all. Kem, I want to say a special "Thank you" for your words of wisdom and also the
humor and love in which you gave in the Service on Sunday morning. It made me (again) realize the important things - friends,
family and love. Thank you Bob Brewer for the photographs. They are lasting memories. II love you all. Jan Leake Hall
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The really good thing about this reunion is all of the communication between this group that has resulted because of it.
Thanks to everyone who made this happen. You served as the catalyst for not only a good time but good relationships to
continue far into the future. Jim Robertson
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Thanks for all of the hard on the part of the committee. You guys out did yourselves. It was a special weekend for all who
attended and great time to catch up with old friend and make new ones. I would not miss any future opportunity to party with
you guys! You’re the best! Gratefully, Kathryn Kimbrough Waldrep
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I want to thank you and everyone on the committee for planning the best Reunion we have ever had. You all worked so hard
and I really appreciate it. Everyone had a great time, the band was fun and the food was the best! It just couldn't have been
any better. What fun we all had renewing old friendships! Thank you all for all that you did to make this evening so very
special! Regards . . .Jane McKnight Fender
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God Bless You Kem !The service on Sunday was just what I needed.So good to see you. Melinda Haws O'Quinn
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Sock it to Me!....Wow, what a great weekend of seeing who, what, and where we have been! Thanks soooo much to all on the
committee for an outstanding effort and job!. (ACE, Sorry we missed your party…Jan’s folks (81 yrs. old) still live in Tyler and
when we come to town we have to spend time with them…wish I could have seen the UFO Balloons everyone is talking about.)
To all the rest of you rebels…put the next one on your calendar…as Camillla noted…no High School angst and drama, just a
group of great friends from a long ago season that helped have a good grounding and start in the world.
Kem Oberholtzer Titus 2:11-14
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We STILL know how to celebrate!!! It was so good to see everyone. I keep remembering things from Friday and Saturday that
make me smile... Thanks to all of you that worked so hard to put this event together. I hope we all can get together again soon.
Carolyn Mallory Long
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Such a fantastic weekend seeing each of you. Thanks to committee members who worked above and beyond to insure a
wonderful reunion. 1968 Rebels are truly special people. Fred R Anderson
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Dear Rebels and Spouses of the Class of '68, I am one of the "spouses." I happen to be lucky enough to be married to Bill
Johnson. My first reunion for the Rebels Class of '68 was for the 20th class reunion. I have been a part of the reunion ever
since and have enjoyed each one. I even helped plan one! But this particular one was outstanding. I met some wonderful
new people and interacted with many more people than in the past. We had a complete blast! My thanks to all of you who
planned this fantastic event and to all who attended. I absolutely love your class! Dang, you people know how to have fun!
Lets do it again... PS: My sincere apologies to those members on my golf team! You sure were great sports. Pam Johnson
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Ladies and Gentlemen (and you too Roger)
I wanted to thank you for all of the positive thoughts and prayers you have been sending our direction during Carolyn’s battle
with breast cancer, and for how warmly you received her at the reunion. She was a little apprehensive about showing up ‘a
natural’ with her emerging hair look, but was quickly put to ease by your compassion and expressions of love and support. In
case I didn’t tell you, she finished chemo four weeks ago and started radiation last week. She will be done with it in early
October.Thanks as well for allowing me to interject myself into the reunion committee for the wonderful get together this last
weekend. Appreciate you putting up with my outside of Tyler perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed working with ya’ll and spending
time with you over the weekend. Even though Roger wouldn’t come up front to receive the recognition he deserved, I trust he
knows by now how much we appreciate his leadership and commitment to this cause. We will just call you Colonel Ruper
from now on. I am proud to be one of your loyal troopers. So sorry we didn’t get to sing the whole song for everyone. Special
thanks as well to Nancy Waddell Squyres for her labor of love in putting the memory book together. I am sure it will be the
model that future classes will try to meet. And we will continue to thank our web goddess, Jennifer, for the website. If you
haven’t checked it out today, there are already photos from the weekend posted on the site. Be sure to email her any photos
you have so she can include them on the website. Thanks for getting things going Jud with the yahoo site that allowed us to
start to build the momentum for the event and will continue to allow us to keep tabs. Thank you Melinda for searching for
people and for maintaining our database (and for always responding to my never ending stream of emails with updates) so
that we could insure we have the right information for keeping tabs on our classmates. Hopefully we will continue to get
information in the future. Betty, thanks so much for your work in helping track down our missing classmates and scanning ALL
of those photos from the Legend. Claire, you did a great job of keeping tabs on the reservations and who was coming to what.
So glad that Leonard is out of the hospital.Carrie and Eugenia and all others on the Saturday WBCC event, it was outstanding.
The decorations were great and the food was too. Truly a memorable evening. And the band was very good. Thanks Linda for
recommending and helping us secure them. Ace, you just went way overboard on the Friday party. It was spectacular. What a
great setting to allow us to really spend some time getting reacquainted. When do we get to go for a ride in you restored
Corvette? Appreciate all that everyone else did to make this a big success. I will be sending out the memory books to those
who sent in bios and could not attend, and to those who registered but did not attend. That will probably leave me with about
35 books that we could make available on a first come basis to those who ask about it. We may want to consider putting
something on the website. They could just email me to request one. Guess Roger will send out something in the near future
to talk about whether we want to do this again in five years or ten years. Plus I have seen the emails about a possible trip as
an alternative. Guess we will see what develops. Thanks again for the wonderful memories. All my best. Bo Allen
___________________________
Outstanding job! Extra credit to Ace for all the things he provided on Friday, but you all did such an impressive bunch of
planning and delivering a really fun event. Jennifer and I had a super time. Great to see everyone! Roland Elbert
___________________________
We really missed those that couldn't make it... Hope you can be at the next one.. You will be VERY GLAD you came... like we
were !!
___________________________
It was a great joy to be able to see so many of my "old" friends on the web site and in the memory book. The book brought
back so many fond memories of the past, and it was a real pleasure to read about former classmates at REL and the
interesting paths their lives have taken. Nancy, you did an outstanding job on the memory book!! I thank you for all of your hard
work, time & effort!! Sincerely, Theresa Graham
The reunion was such a blast! The book with everyone’s life story is a treasure. It’s wonderful to be able t o read what
everyone has been up to over the past forty years, including many of the people who weren’t able to be there this weekend. I’m
so happy to have email addresses for people who we’ve lost touch with, but still care for. The website is amazing, too. I never
got to see the video and I’m bummed about that. But the party at Ace’s was fabulous and the party last night was awesome.
It’s clear that a lot of people put an enormous amount of time, energy, love, and care into all the tasks that made the reunion so
great. Roland and I thank each and every one of you for your contributions. Do we have to wait another 10 years to do this
again? There were people I didn’t get to visit with – or didn’t get to spend enough time with – or who didn’t come. Could we
have another reunion in 2013? I’ll help. As soon as you recover from all this work, please consider it. Love, love, love,
P. S. I left my memory book with my mother (who’s bringing it back to me next weekend) and she said she stayed up very, very
late last night, reading and re-reading the stories of all the grown-up kids she knew so many years ago. She loved catching up
on everyone’s lives, including yours. Thank you! Jennifer Brown Elbert
_______________
Wonderful weekend! You guys did an outstanding job and I thank you. Both Anne and I enjoyed all of you. I have a request,
let's all write Buddy and Janice and let them know how much we missed them. I know Buddy would love to hear from as many
as would like to write! Thanks again. -Bobby Delk
_______________
it WAS great.... lots better than high school -- much less drama and angst. I mean, EVERYTHING was such a big deal back
then.so nice to be relaxed and with all of you -- some of whom I went to pre-school with.I'm looking forward to the next. John
Ellis had a great idea that we all go somewhere together -- like Cancun -- and then we wouldn't have to plan parties.Ponder it.
Love you guys,Camilla Cowan
________________
Thanks to all involved for a wonderful experience, and an AMEN to all that Betty said! Robert C. McKay
________________
Nancy, thank you for your endless hours of work on our Memory Book! I love the cover! And thank you, Bo, for having them
printed for us. What a
treasure this is! Jennifer, thank you for your endless hours of work on our website. When the webmasted the '67 class used,
became ill and back out of doing it, you stepped up and saved the day. My first thought when she said she was backing out,
besides a little panic, was this could be a blessing. And a blessing it was! You
took the layout and made it so much more special and personal that we would have ever had with the other webmaster! I love
it!!!! Bo, thank you for finding so many of the classmates! Thanks to you and the computer, we were able to find more than ever!
I enjoyed working with you on this. Roger...thank you for your devotion for the last year on making thie happen! It could not have
turned out any better! And Melinda...thank you for your countless hours doing our database, and for all the searching you have
done! I have worn out the database on so many projects! What a life saver it has been! Carrie, and the decorating committee...I
loved everything! It all looked wonderful!!! The mugs were a special surprise, too! What a great idea! Thanks for sending out
the "Save the Date" magnets, too! Eugenia...the food at Willowbrook was great! Thank you for all of your work and planning on
it. Ace, your party was so much fun...and those ballons! I think we all want to know where you get the batteries to put in them!
You were so nice to do this party for all of us! It was a fun and special evening that helped
to make this such a fantastic weekend! I enjoyed seeing everyone and wish there was more time to visit with many I missed
getting to visit with more than I did. I can't wait until our next party and/or trip! Betty Penn Blanchard
_____________________
Thanks to everyone that worked so hard to make this a perfectly wonderful blessed weekend... Roger, Carrie, Melinda.. Bo..
Claire.. Betty.. Thanks, Thanks Thanks !!!!! and NANCY... THAT BOOK !!! Incredible.. I know Jennifer helped alot, too... on
everything... But THAT BOOK.!!.the neat thing about it was just getting to know what is going on with some folks I never knew !!
Wow... So many neat " connections" that must have been God ordained for all of us... I look forward to connecting again .. and
again... God has truly put together a precious group of friends from our Class...Thanks so much Nancy Squryes !!!
_________________________
All of you are having such a great time talking about how great the reunion was – the reunion itself must have been off the
charts. Steve (Dickey) Arnold and I had a little 1-on-1 reunion at Starbucks a few weeks earlier when I came to Tyler to help my
parents move from one assisted living apartment to another; and if the quality of our conversation is any indication of what
went on at the Big Show, I really can’t imagine what a great weekend it was.
Sally & I really missed being with you, but we are really happy it was such a terrific time for all of you. My congratulations to all
the committee that worked so hard and to every person who was able to come. Maybe someday . . .Steve Breedlove
__________________________
WHAT A REUNION! In every sense of the word. I cannot remember when I have had such a wonderful time or laughed so
much. Do you suppose this is a tiny glimpse of what "reunion" might be like in heaven? WOW! I, too, am still smiling
throughout the day whenever someone or something said from this weekend comes to mind. I am going to get reconnected.
Roger & ENTIRE Committee, You are truly the best! I know you worked very hard on this event, but please know that it is
greatly appreciated. I cherish my Memory Book & am still referring back to it, thinking how very UNIQUE each one of us were
and are today. I am proud to call you my friends. Ace, How brave & gracious you were to have us all at your home! Kem,
Your message Sunday morning was RIGHT ON THE MARK. It was as if you brought the reunion, our lives, experiences, aging,
etc. all together and tied it up for us into a perfect ending. Thank you so much for speaking from your heart. I can tell from
some of the emails, that I missed seeing some who were there, and I certainly do regret that. I also missed having time to
really visit. If you were unable to come, know that you were thought of by many. I am already looking forward to the next one
and I hope it's not 10 years from now. That's just too long. We've been spoiled now! With fond memories, Susan Wallis
Chesley
__________________________
I heard the reunion was a lot of fun and featured some unexpected "musical moments". Wish I could have been there but
business commitments did not allow. If an Austin group forms, please keep me in the loop. Bob Goldsmith
___________________________
I just have to say this was the best reunion I can remember. To all the people who made it possible, I say "Thank you so
much". It takes a "village" and all you villagers went above and beyond. (please change my e-mail in your memory books: it's
"greenjl2000@aol.com (not greenj12000@aol.com)Thanks. Bless you all. Joyce Gantt Green
___________________________
I want to thank everyone. Roger you did a great job coordinating. I cannot imagine how many hours it took. Ace, what a party!!
I hope you didn't foot the bill for such a grand event. If you did, we need to help! It was fabulous!! Claire, I cannot believe with
what was going on that you came through as you did for us. And Bob Brewer, you did Soooo much with the technology to
make our reunion one to remember and you weren't even in our class!! Thanks so much for posting the pictures so that we
could make them accessible on the web. Having read all of the comments on the web, it is obvious that the most cherished
thing from the reunion was the Reunion Book. Nancy, thanks so much for all the work you did on it. What a treasure. And
thanks Bo for producing it and mailing it to those not at the reunion. You did so much research on our classmates too, along
with Betty. Betty, you scanned the entire yearbook so that classmates could enjoy it. What a job! How many hours did all of
you spend. Then there are the other planners who worked behind the scene to make a reunion that everyone says is the best!
Carrie with the magnets, cups and decorations, Debra with the nametags, Eugenia, Nancy, and Jane with the set up, Melinda
with the database management, Lew with his knowledge of our classmates, Jud and John with the computer input, and Paula,
Linda, Dickey, Steve, and Camilla with ideas ALL made this reunion the success it was. I love you guys!! I feel so lucky to be a
part of this wonderful class of people! Jennifer Anderson
___________________
What a wonderful job all of you committe members did putting together our reunion! You are all very special people to give of
your time so that so many of us could enjoy getting together with old friends. A great big THANK YOU to you all. I will not miss
the next one!!! All the best to everyone, Vicki Mosley Bailey
_____________________
Ace, that's right, we all missed the Blacks, Cospers, Brittons, Breedloves and the rest of our group that for one reason or
another could not attend. All the countless hours of HARD work that Roger ," Ginger", Bo , Claire , Nancy and all the other
committee members put in can not be thanked enough.Ace - Thanks for your usual stellar performance as the
"coordipartynator." What a beautiful setting you have made at the Gallop complex. All I heard all night was accolades and
where'd Ace get the balloons.This was a great !I can't tell you how many time I heard "do you remember ?"And "THE BOOK"
----- we're proud of our Rebels ! Accomplishments and service ! Mike Knudson
_______________________
Bill Black called and left word during the friday night party that he was in Hawaii and really missed being there with everyone.
Ace
_______________________
Thank YOU, Jane, for thanking all of us!!! Truly, from beginning to end, it was an extraordinarily HEARTFELT weekend
and one that we will never forget. As Paula Patton Quinn said, "I felt the love!!!" And we, obviously, ALL did!!!
Our committee worked HARD and WELL, and Roger deserves a star (maybe 2!) in Heaven; he's simply THE BEST!!!And THE
FUNNIEST!!! Also, especially to Ace, what a FABULOUS PARTY you gave to each of us on Friday night!!! Your BEAUTIFUL
lakehouse was the perfect setting for our reunion to begin...THANK YOU SO MUCH. And to Kem...your words on Sunday
morning were SO awesome...inspirational, motivational, realistic, age-appropriate, and ABSOLUTELY hilarious, at times!!!
Thank YOU so much for a wonderful ending to a VERY special weekend. And to everyone else on our committee...we simply
could not have done ANY of this without your UNBELIEVABLE expertise and talents. You are all AMAZING!!! And last, but not
least, to all of you who traveled here, THANK YOU FOR COMING!!! With all my thanks and love, Carrie
_______________________
Dear Friends, I must say "Thank You" to everyone who made this 40th REL Reunion possible! This was the first one that I was
privileged to attend, probably because I moved around for so many years -- before coming "home". Thank you Bob Lauck for
"finding me". You are truly a dear friend and wonderful person! Roger, Nancy, Bo, Melinda, Jennifer, Carrie, Roger, Eugenia,
Betty and Ace (I hope I didn't leave anybody out) -- your hard work and effort along with your imagination and enthusiasm
showed everywhere, making the most magical event for all of us. My only regret is that I didn't drive down on Friday night to go
to Ace's. Boy I do wish I had gone! It was really a dream come true, and I have been thinking off and on since I came home (a
few tears also shed) about the love and comfort that surrounded us everywhere we were. Old friends are so precious! Every
now and then I catch myself smiling about memories of something funny that somebody did, or said. I am guarding my
Memory Book like it's a priceless artifact. Thank you for the mugs. I have mine on my desk. In closing I'll just say I had the
greatest Blessing just being with you all. Kem, I want to say a special "Thank you" for your words of wisdom and also the
humor and love in which you gave in the Service on Sunday morning. It made me (again) realize the important things - friends,
family and love. Thank you Bob Brewer for the photographs. They are lasting memories. II love you all. Jan Leake Hall
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The really good thing about this reunion is all of the communication between this group that has resulted because of it.
Thanks to everyone who made this happen. You served as the catalyst for not only a good time but good relationships to
continue far into the future. Jim Robertson
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Thanks for all of the hard on the part of the committee. You guys out did yourselves. It was a special weekend for all who
attended and great time to catch up with old friend and make new ones. I would not miss any future opportunity to party with
you guys! You’re the best! Gratefully, Kathryn Kimbrough Waldrep
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I want to thank you and everyone on the committee for planning the best Reunion we have ever had. You all worked so hard
and I really appreciate it. Everyone had a great time, the band was fun and the food was the best! It just couldn't have been
any better. What fun we all had renewing old friendships! Thank you all for all that you did to make this evening so very
special! Regards . . .Jane McKnight Fender
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God Bless You Kem !The service on Sunday was just what I needed.So good to see you. Melinda Haws O'Quinn
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Sock it to Me!....Wow, what a great weekend of seeing who, what, and where we have been! Thanks soooo much to all on the
committee for an outstanding effort and job!. (ACE, Sorry we missed your party…Jan’s folks (81 yrs. old) still live in Tyler and
when we come to town we have to spend time with them…wish I could have seen the UFO Balloons everyone is talking about.)
To all the rest of you rebels…put the next one on your calendar…as Camillla noted…no High School angst and drama, just a
group of great friends from a long ago season that helped have a good grounding and start in the world.
Kem Oberholtzer Titus 2:11-14
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We STILL know how to celebrate!!! It was so good to see everyone. I keep remembering things from Friday and Saturday that
make me smile... Thanks to all of you that worked so hard to put this event together. I hope we all can get together again soon.
Carolyn Mallory Long
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Such a fantastic weekend seeing each of you. Thanks to committee members who worked above and beyond to insure a
wonderful reunion. 1968 Rebels are truly special people. Fred R Anderson
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Dear Rebels and Spouses of the Class of '68, I am one of the "spouses." I happen to be lucky enough to be married to Bill
Johnson. My first reunion for the Rebels Class of '68 was for the 20th class reunion. I have been a part of the reunion ever
since and have enjoyed each one. I even helped plan one! But this particular one was outstanding. I met some wonderful
new people and interacted with many more people than in the past. We had a complete blast! My thanks to all of you who
planned this fantastic event and to all who attended. I absolutely love your class! Dang, you people know how to have fun!
Lets do it again... PS: My sincere apologies to those members on my golf team! You sure were great sports. Pam Johnson
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Ladies and Gentlemen (and you too Roger)
I wanted to thank you for all of the positive thoughts and prayers you have been sending our direction during Carolyn’s battle
with breast cancer, and for how warmly you received her at the reunion. She was a little apprehensive about showing up ‘a
natural’ with her emerging hair look, but was quickly put to ease by your compassion and expressions of love and support. In
case I didn’t tell you, she finished chemo four weeks ago and started radiation last week. She will be done with it in early
October.Thanks as well for allowing me to interject myself into the reunion committee for the wonderful get together this last
weekend. Appreciate you putting up with my outside of Tyler perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed working with ya’ll and spending
time with you over the weekend. Even though Roger wouldn’t come up front to receive the recognition he deserved, I trust he
knows by now how much we appreciate his leadership and commitment to this cause. We will just call you Colonel Ruper
from now on. I am proud to be one of your loyal troopers. So sorry we didn’t get to sing the whole song for everyone. Special
thanks as well to Nancy Waddell Squyres for her labor of love in putting the memory book together. I am sure it will be the
model that future classes will try to meet. And we will continue to thank our web goddess, Jennifer, for the website. If you
haven’t checked it out today, there are already photos from the weekend posted on the site. Be sure to email her any photos
you have so she can include them on the website. Thanks for getting things going Jud with the yahoo site that allowed us to
start to build the momentum for the event and will continue to allow us to keep tabs. Thank you Melinda for searching for
people and for maintaining our database (and for always responding to my never ending stream of emails with updates) so
that we could insure we have the right information for keeping tabs on our classmates. Hopefully we will continue to get
information in the future. Betty, thanks so much for your work in helping track down our missing classmates and scanning ALL
of those photos from the Legend. Claire, you did a great job of keeping tabs on the reservations and who was coming to what.
So glad that Leonard is out of the hospital.Carrie and Eugenia and all others on the Saturday WBCC event, it was outstanding.
The decorations were great and the food was too. Truly a memorable evening. And the band was very good. Thanks Linda for
recommending and helping us secure them. Ace, you just went way overboard on the Friday party. It was spectacular. What a
great setting to allow us to really spend some time getting reacquainted. When do we get to go for a ride in you restored
Corvette? Appreciate all that everyone else did to make this a big success. I will be sending out the memory books to those
who sent in bios and could not attend, and to those who registered but did not attend. That will probably leave me with about
35 books that we could make available on a first come basis to those who ask about it. We may want to consider putting
something on the website. They could just email me to request one. Guess Roger will send out something in the near future
to talk about whether we want to do this again in five years or ten years. Plus I have seen the emails about a possible trip as
an alternative. Guess we will see what develops. Thanks again for the wonderful memories. All my best. Bo Allen
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Outstanding job! Extra credit to Ace for all the things he provided on Friday, but you all did such an impressive bunch of
planning and delivering a really fun event. Jennifer and I had a super time. Great to see everyone! Roland Elbert
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We really missed those that couldn't make it... Hope you can be at the next one.. You will be VERY GLAD you came... like we
were !!
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It was a great joy to be able to see so many of my "old" friends on the web site and in the memory book. The book brought
back so many fond memories of the past, and it was a real pleasure to read about former classmates at REL and the
interesting paths their lives have taken. Nancy, you did an outstanding job on the memory book!! I thank you for all of your hard
work, time & effort!! Sincerely, Theresa Graham