GHS 45th Reunion 2013 Schedule of Events

-- 45^th REUNION SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

FRIDAY - June 28, 2013
Golf Icebreaker: If you are interested in either golf event, let us know. Ken Nibling will be coordinating the golf again this year and he’ll be in touch if you sign up with your interest in golfing. Tee times start Friday afternoon at the UF Golf Course on SW 2d Avenue.  Contact Ken at knibling@att.net.

Welcome Party! : 6 p.m. – “until”, Gator's Dockside Sports Bar, 3842 Newberry Road in the Royal Park Plaza. Attire: Casual. After the hors d's run out you can order drinks and menu items from the servers. No charge, cash bar, full menu.  Photos.

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2013
Golf Outing: Play another round this morning with tee times starting at TBD, again at the UF Golf Course. If you didn't beat the course on Friday there's always Saturday, or the next reunion in 2018!

“Guided” Tour of Gainesville High School: 9:30 a.m.– 10:15 a.m., Meet in front part of the school outside the Auditorium. Revisit the cafeteria, gymnasium, library, playing fields, classroom, Teaching Auditorium (“TA”), perhaps for the first time!

“Guided” and Air-Conditioned Bus Tour of Old Gainesville: 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Meet in the large parking lot at the front of Gainesville High School at 10:15 and soak up the purple sunshine. Stops (or at least drive-bys) at the Rec Center (Teen Time), American Legion Hall, Wise's Drugs, Citizens Field, GHS, UF campus and many other historic or otherwise memorable spots and sites in Gainesville, with refreshments included. Tour leaves promptly at 10:30. $10.00 to cover costs, tickets required.

Motorcycle “Ride in the Countryside”: Meet at 10:00 a.m. at the Courtyard Marriott near the Archer Road exit on I-75, at 3700 SW 42d St, in the front parking lot.  Take a ride in the countryside, lasting about 2 hours if you ride it all.  Led by classmates Ronnie Wright and Doug McCallum.  Biker chicks and other passengers welcome.  Free, but please register your interest on your reunion registration form

Afternoon Free

The “Big Event!” Dinner-Dance: 6-11 p.m., Gainesville Country Club off Williston Road, just west of I-75 at exit 382. Attire: Casual. Beverages at 6:00, Class of ‘68

Group Photo at 6:45, Dinner at 7:00. DJ: Tom Collette 8:00-11:00. 

Music, photos, and surprises. $80.00 per person, paid with registration.

SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2013Coffee Hour at 9:30 a.m., Gainesville Country Club off Williston Road.

Memorial Service and Farewell Breakfast: honor our deceased classmates: 10 a.m., Gainesville Country Club, overlooking Payne’s Prairie. Join us in remembering and recognizing classmates who have passed away, with a simple ceremony and memories from classmates.  The service will be followed by our
Farewell Breakfast at about 11 a.m., Gainesville Country Club. Full hot breakfast, $17.50 per person for both Sunday events together, tickets required,

Farewells: 12:30 pm

Message from Bill per events for '13 Reunion

Friday night icebreaker - Gator Dockside, 3700 W Newberry Road; Saturday morning tours -  GHS; Saturday night dinner-dance -  Gainesville Country Club, Williston Rd & I-75; Sunday morning memorial & breakfast -  Country Club.  A few more details will be out soon.  Bill

Lodging information for the 45th Reunion of the GHS Class of 1968

To out of towners attending the reunion: We have reserved rooms at two hotels. There are 10 rooms set aside at the Hampton Inn and Suites in downtown Gainesville. It is relatively new and right across the street from Lillian’s. All rooms have 2 queen beds; double occupancy is $129, single is $119. They charge a $6 parking fee per vehicle, and tax will be 11%. You may reach the hotel directly at 352-240-9300. Be sure to reserve by May 28th and mention GHS Class of ’68 Reunion to receive the group rate.

The other hotel is the Courtyard by Marriott at Archer Road and I-75. We have reserved 5 double doubles and 5 kings, both at $99 plus applicable taxes. Again, the group name is GHS Class of ’68 Reunion, and reservations need to be made by May 28 to secure the discounted room rate. Their number is 352-335-9100.

2013 45th Reunion Registration Form

Note new reunion date

GHS ‘68

REUNION UPDATE NEWS

You want NEWS?

I’ve got News, Good News, and GREAT NEWS!

Great News first.  You’ve probably been following Gator football, wherever you are.  Well, the only team in Gainesville with a better record now than the 11-1 Sugar Bowl-bound Gators is your UNDEFEATED Gainesville High Hurricanes!  Right now they are 13-0 and in the Class 6A (largest classification is 8A), State Semifinals this Friday.  They won their first playoff game by the dominating score of 60 – 3!  Shades of the Niblack years!

ESPN recently rated this year’s Hurricanes the 16^th best high school football team in the U. S. A. !!!

Good News next.  Your Reunion Committee is planning a great 45^th Class Reunion.  If you came to the 40^th, or wish you had, you’re really going to like the 45^th:  golf, motorcycle ride, tours of GHS and our old Gainesville haunts, good music, good food and fun. And high school classmates and stories galore!

That brings me to the Update – this is what you needed to hear.  Best laid plans, right?  After setting the date a year in advance, a conflict with our reunion plans still developed and we had to take action.  The Steering Committee voted to move the Reunion forward (later) by one weekend, so that the new Reunion date is June 28-30, 2013.  We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this causes you and we sincerely hope this change does not present any conflicts for you that you cannot resolve.  We want you to come.

SO HERE’S THE HEADLINE –

GHS ’68 – 45^TH REUNION – JUNE 28-30, 2013

ONE WEEK LATER THAN ORIGINALLY PLANNED.

PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD.

We are re-finalizing the plans and filling in the details.  We’ll send them to you in the spring so you can send in your reservations.  In the meantime, you can follow classmate news and reunion plans on Facebook at www.facebook.com/#!/GainesvilleflHighSchoolClassof1968  and on the Reunion Blog site atwww.ghs68.blogspot.com .  Check us out!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and See You at the End of June!

Your Reunion Steering Committee

Susan Hazen Balloon        Jackie Cooter Hoover        Jim Conner        Bill Harlan        Robbie Davis ‘77

 

RIP Gary E. Stanley, Ret. GYSGT U.S.M.C. My brother Gary died last night while officiating a high school football game in Ft. White. He was a true hero to me, a big brother, a man who fought for his country and would fight to his death to defend this country. he was a brother, father,son, uncle and grandfather and his family meant alot to his. he died doing what he loved (sports) SEMPER FI MY BROTHER, till we meet again. To his friends, they can contact me at 850 510-6978

THE GHS CLASS OF 1968 MOURNS WITH YOU JON. GARY WAS ALWAYS AS SPECIAL PART OF OUR CLASS AND WILL BE REMEMBERED AS A PRECIOUS FRIEND TO US ALL. 

Teddy George's mother, Lucille, has died.

Lucille Cairns George

In Memoriam

Guest Book

• "The board of the Historic Haile Homestead mourns the..."
  - Karen Kirkman

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Lucille Cairns George, 96, died August 18, 2012, at her home in Gainesville surrounded by her family.
Mrs. George's antecedents were among Gainesville's earliest residents. Great-grandfather Dr. Stephen F. Harvard came from Thomasville, Georgia in 1855, ten years after Florida was granted statehood. His entire family save one perished in the yellow fever epidemic of 1871. Grandfather Charles Axson Colclough came from Sumter County, S.C. in 1875 and became a prominent businessman, planter and civic leader. It was in his house at University Ave. and N.W. 1st Street (now gone) that Mrs. George was born May 12, 1916. The present-day Colclough Hill neighborhood in south Gainesville is the site of Mr. Colclough's former planting interests. He was a founding member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the Gainesville Country Club. There are several stained glass windows in Holy Trinity given by the family, including one restored remnant that sur-vived the fire of 1991.
Mrs. George's parents were George Holloway Cairns and Lucile Colclough Cairns. Mr. Cairns, a native of Oxford, Missisisippi, was Gainesville's first City Engineer and first City Manager. He installed the brick streets that you still see today in downtown Gainesville, and they were recognized nationally as among the best of their kind at that time. Mr. Cairns' father, Dr. George Adams Cairns, had taught during the mid-1850's at the East Florida State Seminary in Ocala, which was the forerunner of the University of Florida.
Mrs. George attended Gainesville schools and graduated in 1937 from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, where her mother had preceded her and her daughter Beverly would later succeed her. She then studied at the University of Florida College of Law, receiving her law degree in 1940. After graduation, Mrs. George was employed in the Trust Department of the Atlantic National Bank of Jacksonville and clerked for Circuit Judge John A. Murphree. She was invited to clerk for Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice H.L. Sebring but declined because of her impend-ing wedding. In 1942 she married Theodore S. George, a native of Pennsylvania who was on the faculty of the Mathematics Dept at the University of Florida. Her husband's career then re-quired them to move out of state for several years to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Patrick Air Force Base (Florida). They returned to Gainesville in 1956 when he became Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University. In 1969-70, they moved to Honolulu where Dr. George served as Scientific Advisor to the U. S. Commander-in-Chief-Pacific, who at that time was Admiral John McCain, father of the present-day Senator.
Mrs. George was well-known in Gainesville for her community activities and sociability, serving on many boards and in elected offices: Junior League of Gainesville (Board member 1961-62); Junior League of Greater Sustainers (President 1971-72); Spring Pilgrimmage (Chair 1985); University of Florida Women's Club (President 1963-64); Florida Museum of Natural History Associ-ates (Board 1985-89); University of Florida Art Gallery Guild (Board 1980-84); Gainesville Garden Club (Board 1987-90); Historic Gainesville, Inc. (Board 1990-95); Thomas Center Associates (Board 1987-90, 1996-2002); Evergreen Cemetery Assoc. (President 1988-89 and Director Emerita); First Presbyterian Church (Session 1996-99). She was a member of the Skippers social club and Gainesville Country Club.
At First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, she served on the Session Personnel Committee and Property Committee, and she was, at the time of her death, the member of longest-standing, having been born into the church in 1916, where her father was Director of the Sunday Schools.
In 2002, Mrs. George was honored by the Florida Supreme Court in a special ceremonial session as one of Florida's First 150 Women Lawyers. A plaque with the engraved names was hung in the Supreme Court Chambers.
Mrs. George loved to travel and had many international trips with her husband during his various consulting sojourns and later with friends from Gainesville and with her children, including a trip to Russia at age 85. She was "a happy person," as she once described her father, and loved people. She was very attached to her hometown of Gainesville and had many many friends, to whom she was loyal and devoted. The 1871 epitaph in Evergreen Cemetery for her great-grandmother, Latitia Harvard, could as well be said of her:
She was a loving wife, a devoted mother,
And a Friend to All

Mrs. George is survived by daughter Courtney Hyers (Kemper) of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, daughter Beverly George of Gaines-ville, Son Theodore George of Atlanta, and grand-daughter Courtney Cairns George of Gainesville. During her last years, Mrs. George was assisted by many fine caregivers, and the family would like to make special mention of Imelda De Leon and Glenda Mattair for their kind devotion over many years. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, where a Memorial Service will be held on August 23, 2012, at 11 AM. MILAM FUNERAL AND CREMATION SER-VICES 311 S. Main Street Gainesville, FL 32601 (352) 376-5361.