And so it begins...

The venue? The Olde Towne Carriage House on South Victoria in Pueblo provided a perfect backdrop for the first gathering of the '65 Central Wildcats' 45th reunion on September 10, 2010. Reunion Committee member Nancy Carhart Pope sets up the "Welcome" table where alumni entered, picked up a name tag and Memory Book - and off they went into the night for great fun reliving old times at Central, enjoying a wonderful array of appetizers (provided by Carolyn Daurio - that would be Mrs. David Daurio - of the Tamarack Grill) and a cash bar that stayed lively all through the night.

Plenty of memorabilia - pictures, pennants, newspaper clippings from back in the day - were on hand. Now...the question is - what's the best way to display all this? Rich Sell brought in some fantastic art display panels, which were perfect.

Reunion Committee member Pete Falletta gets some assistance from Chips Wood, Crete Crawford Wood's hubby and an honorary Committee member -he was always right there to help us when we needed it. And believe me - we needed it! (just kidding, guys...you were all rock stars!)

Les Robinson, also on the Reunion Committee, hangs out as the D.J. brought in for the evening sets up and tests his sound system. He kept us rockin' out all night.

Pete Falletta enlisted the aid of the current Central High art classes to make some posters to welcome the Wildcats home...talk about coming full circle! How great is it that our 100-plus-year old high school is STILL in business and a force to be reckoned with! Pride in our school was not in short supply at our 45th class reunion.

There we are...the 1965 Central High graduates - as we looked then. And just in case we couldn't quite recall what "Whos-it" looked like way-back-when because we didn't recognize them now, Nancy Carhart Pope did an awesome job compiling the folding display of our Central yearbook photographs.

Still grappling with the set-up, huh guys?....ok - "How many committee members does it take to...."

...Ah...coming along nicely...and it's almost finished! Everyone enjoyed looking at old photographs representing nearly 60 years of our history - on display were the KINDERGARTEN - yep, that would be, count 'em, 58 years ago - class pictures from Jefferson Elementary, Carlile Elementary and Lincoln Elementary as well as Keating Jr. High memorabilia.

Nancy Carhart Pope was beyond organized - we saw proof of her years spent as a teacher in the Pueblo area. Nancy had lists for everything. Even our lists had lists. If not for her fantastic organizational skills, we'd have been hard-pressed to keep it together. It's safe to say Nancy kept us all from going quietly insane.

So that's how it all went down the first night in setting up after months and months of planning. Up next are pictures of Friday night sent in by Jack Tomsic and Tim Trujillo - thanks guys! Got pictures for this blog? We would love to see them...simply send to Gale Hoover Hammond at galehammond@aol.com. I will get them up on this blog asap! Bye for right now - and GO WILDCATS!