El Toro High School Class of 79 Reunion

All I could say when I saw Debbie was..."Wow!"

Debbie and I recently attended out 30th class reunion and I must say that the whole weekend was like one big party and a true reunion of good friends. Debbie and I started dating during our Senior year so, we not only attended as husband and wife (Boy friend & Girl friend), but the both of us attended as Class Mates as well. This was to also be a time to pay our respects to one of our fallen classmates, Jeff Lee, who passed away this last year and one special ways that this was done was to have his two beautiful daughters Bianca and Camila attend the reunion. This is something they desired very much and I think there were many people there that enjoyed sharing stories of  their Dad to them.

David Andritch and Donald Beirdenau with Camila and Bianca Lee

Our party started Friday with airport pickups, hotel checkin’s, Double Double’s at In n’ Out burger, and Debbie going the girly thing with Nicki and Cassie and going for the new Hair due. Friday night was the casual mixer at a restaurant and it was more of an ice breaker of things to come. For us this times are fun because we get to hang out with friends we see all the time, plus people that we have not seen since the 20th reunion.

Saturday was the Big Day and it started with a bunch of us meeting for breakfast at Ayres Hotel and then the Boys went one way and the girls went another. One of our Buddies, Greg Silkwood (class of 81) wanted to swing and and say “Hi” to his mom and dad so the next thing you know Greg, his dad Gordon, myself and Don

Debbie and Cherie looked Gorgeous! You would have thought that it was our 10 year reunion.

Beirdenau we all caught up in a heated game of—-shuffle board! Needless to say the Don finessed his team to victory. From there it was off to the ball field to catch some Little League Action. Cherie Francis’ (Housenga) son Kalid was playing in the game and he even got to pitch! It was a real treat to hang out and cheer him on. Cherie was my girlfriend in our y Jr. Year of high school, and to this day she is still a very good friend of both Debbie and I.

Now it was time,,,,time to clean up, put on our dancing shoes and head out to the big event. Debbie looked gorgeous in her black dress and I think all of us cleaned up pretty good. First thing we had to attend to was to set up a Letterman’s jacket and pictures of our dear friend Jeff Lee,

Yes Sir!! We showed'm how to Cut a Rug!

then we had to make sure that both Bianca and Camila got in ok, and they did (thanks for the help in that Donald : )  ) . There was lots of food to eat, lots of “hey, how ya doing?” and we even had some teachers show up!

Eventually the music got going and we just had to make our way out and enjoy some dancing and although Debbie is not much into dancing she came on out with me and danced the night way. Even the Jeff’s daughters came out on the dance floor and we really had lots of fun as we all just kind of danced as one big happy family.  So it was a great night, had great fun, loved seeing old friends, reconnecting, and sharing with everyone what was happening in our lives and listening to what was happening in the lives of those we visited with. Fight On El Toro High!

Yes, Cherie was my Girlfriend in my Jr. Year, and she is still a great friend of mine and Debbie.

Lou was there!! Louise is best friends with my sister Lisa, so Lou has always been like a sister to me. So good to see ya Lou!

Some of the lower Quad Gang (L>R) Ildiko and Craig Takata, Joy Albright (Pastor), Dennis Hollenbeck, Debbie Hollenbeck (Hill), Greg Silkwood, Cherie Francis (Housenga), Norm Crawford, and my Mac Guru,,,Don Beirdenau

That's Debbie with my two Bud's, Norm and Greg