Bill Berube has cancer (69): LARAMIE, WY
Posted by Crystal Fassett Andersen (70): Walhalla, ND.
Gary, I am not sure if anyone has shared this, but Bill and Sheri are needing everyone’s prayers, so could you Post this for anyone who wishes to send Bill a note. I know he would love to know so many people are praying for him.
A new Journal entry for William’s CaringBridge website was posted at 8:44:00 AM on Jul 27, 2009.
Read the latest update: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/williamberube
Bill, Being away from home the past 3 weeks, I am a little late getting this posted. This message about blew me away. With the possitive attitude that you have, you can lick this. Hang in there. Our prayers and thoughts are with you. Gary
Folks,
We got home this morning from our wonderful trip. It was a 24 hour trip from Seattle. The longest leg was the 10 1/2 hour flight from Seattle to Japan.
The Seattle reunion and the Alaska cruise came off nearly flawless in my opinion. What great events. Starting with the Seattle reunion on July 24th with 59 folks in attendance many of us saw folks we had not seen in years and in some cases nearly 44 years. I believe it was Evie Gottbreht and Francie Gottbreht that had not seen each other in nearly 44 years. They are cousins too. I had not seen Francie in 45 years myself. That whole evening was so much fun talking and visiting with so many folks from the past. I think we have some pictures on our camera that Bernadette took during the course of the evening that I will post at a later date. I know many of you guys have some good pictures too that we’d love to see. Please share.
The Cruise was awesome. It was so wonderful seeing so many of our group each and everyday of the cruise. The food and the ships hospitality were wonderful. It made for a great atmosphere for us to just enjoy. We had a wonderful cocktail party the first night, compliments of the ship. It was at this party that we discovered we had great singing talent among us. Cheryl Haagenson sang several beautiful songs. Later on in the cruise she won a singing contest too. What beautiful talent. I understand Gary Metcalfe sang a beautiful solo one evening too, without music. I missed that one. The mornings were great for a lot of us folks too, up in the Market Cafe on the 12th deck, table hoping shooting the breeze as folks from our group filtered through for breakfast at different times. I think several days, several folks never left the Market Cafe from Breakfast until lunch at noon. There were lots of stories and memories told. What fun. On the 5th night the ship arranged for all of us to dine together for the evening dinner meal. Following the meal we had two beautiful professional pictures taken of our group that I have pasted below. I will post the identities of those in these pictures in a few days. Bill Grimme has provided a great key with numbers for each of these pictures that I will be sending out in a couple of days. For now I am just posting the photos. I plan on sending the total group picture to all three of the local Bottineau/Rolla/Belcourt papers too. I’d love some help with a newspaper article too. I am not the worlds greatest writer and they print everything pretty much as written that is sent to them. There are 26 of us in the photo of those of us that attended Dunseith that were on the cruise.
I have not posted everything that I have in my in box that I have recieved from you folks with this message. I should have my in box pretty well cleaned out and caught up in the next day or two.
From Diane Larson Sjol (70): Minot, ND.
Hi Gary and everyone on the blog…
First of all, I want to say that the cruise was an experience of a
lifetime. We were treated first class all the way. The ship and
everyone on it made the cruise an event to remember. Our weather was
perfect; the rooms fantastic and roomy; the food excellent; the
entertainment and company second to none…I could go on and on. I
think I took over 600 pictures..thank goodness for digital cameras. I
want to say that Gary, you did an amazing job of pulling this
together…words can’t say enough about the good you do in this
world….bringing us together in friendship….Bernadette, I was so
happy to meet you…you are beautiful and kind….The dinner before
the cruise was great and it was so wonderful to see so many people we
haven’t seen in awhile…and meet some I have never met before. I
think I am still on Alaska time….we flew in tonite from Seattle and
got into Minot at about 1130 pm and here it is 2:50 in the morning and
I am still up….
Well, it is back to reality….and a diet….I think I must have
gained a few pounds eating all that delicious food!!!
From Bill (Willie) (60) & Al-lyn Longie: Vancouver, WA
Gary,
I don’t know if you are still vacationing or have returned home and are or aren’t checking emails but I wanted to tell you again how much Bill and I appreciate all the work you did to provide an unforgettable experience for us. We would have loved to have spent more time visiting but aside from that the cruise was flawless. I had never imagined we would be seeing all we did and felt we were allowed extra privilege with the weather we got to enjoy.
Each person we met was a delight and every excursion memorable.
While most of you are still unwinding from this past trip I am already gearing up for the next. Please stay in touch and keep us posted on any future trip or plans to get together.
It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet you in person.
Al-lyn
