Never let it be said that Ken McBride isn't persistent. He has wanted to get a group of KHS65 members together in central MO for a long time, and he pulled it off! Ken has a great interest in the demographics of our class, and our era, and is very good at putting together interesting groups of folks for interesting conversation. Eleven of us met at Arris Cafe & Bistro in Jefferson City Friday June 11th for a great gabfest! Dave Beardsley graciously chauffeured Bob O'Neill, Pat Moisio Ciapciak and myself from our Clayton & Lindbergh meeting place. Bev Schwarz Martin, Rocky Reece, Gary Schmidt, Vicky Will LaRue, Tom Ray, and Alan Yount joined us and of course Ken was there. Ken works during the week in Jeff City so he cooked up this great plan for those in the central MO area to meet there. We talked and talked, the poor waitress could hardly get us to order! We ate (great food!) and talked some more. Bev had to leave for another function later in the day, then some of the others departed, but Ken took those of us from St. Louis and Vicky to the now-closed MO State Penitentiary. We didn't take the $12 tour, but Ken told us alot about it from the parking lot. We parked right across from the old gas chamber where we could see the pathway from the basement death row door to the gate where the soon-to-be-executed were let out of the vehicle and walked down a bit of a sidewalk into the chamber. Some of the stone walls are crumbling, the buildings abandoned, and an eerie feeling floats on the air! We agreed we needed to go back for the tour! Then it was off to Central Dairy, think Baskin Robins in an old dairy building, for deliciously fattening ice cream and more talk....Ken forgot to tell Gary that we were doing the Pen first, so poor Gary waited and waited, but enjoyed the ice cream with us, just a short distance from his Jeff City home. It was a great way to celebrate our 45th anniversary. We'll do it again so more can join us. Tom Ray is an Associate Circuit Judge in Farmington, Gary is retired and taking it easy there in Jeff City, Vicky lives in St. Clair WINE COUNTRY, Alan is retired from Mizzou and playing his trumpet again in Columbia, Ken works for the Mo Highway Patrol (in what I still everyonceinawhile call data processing :-)) ), and NO he can't fix speeding tickets! Rocky lives in New Bloomfield I think, might have to correct that, Bev in the Fulton area. On the way there, we took a shortcut into Fulton which ends up right at the gates to William Woods where some of our galpals matriculated.
See all the photos at http://www.khs65.com/, but here's a teaser, what a great group of guys!!!
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