WANTED: Family Updates (and Your Interest in Another Reunion)

Whether or not you attended the reunion, we would like photos and updates from your family! I know that I didn't have the opportunity to visit with everyone and I'm sure that others had the same problem since we had such a wonderful turnout. So please email your family updates/photos directly to me so that I can add them as a separate post rather than them getting lost in the comments.

On another note, I've heard from some, but would like your comments on whether or not you would be interested in us having another reunion--say in two years? This time, we would have Roll Call and not a formalized program to allow plenty of time for visiting and catching up with one another. We would of course have food, door prizes, an updated directory, and maybe leftover DVDs! (We still have Reunion DVDs galore! The price is negotiable if you are still interested in having one.)

I'll look forward to hearing from you either to receive your family update or your comments on another reunion.

Family Update from the Driskells

Here is a short update of the Driskells for the last 20 years. We moved from Sun Valley to the church in La Grange, Texas and stayed there 13 years—long enough for Len to grow up and finish college. After we left La Grange in 1999, we moved to Rockdale to work with the church there. After two years, we then moved to Spring Hill, Florida for four years. In June 2005, we just wanted to come home, so we came back to Texas. We settled in a borrowed trailer in a trailer park owned by a friend from the La Grange church. We helped her run the park for several months, and then moved to an apartment outside of town near Schulenburg. For about a year, Leonard went to work for Lifeline Chaplaincy doing PR work in the Houston area, East Texas and western Louisiana. Then a friend from the Rockdale church offered us a job managing this storage facility. We opened up in November, 2007, and will probably be here as long as we can work since we could not find a church who wanted a preacher who was 70+. We celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary on Dec. 21, 2008. We are members at the Elgin Church, where we had made many friends while at the La Grange church.

Jeannie, our oldest, is still living in Spring with husband, Joe. Joe is working at the same place repairing small jets for GE near Bush International although it has changed owners several times. Krisa, their oldest, will graduate from U. T. in May with a law degree. She already has a job waiting in Houston. Their son, Bryan, is also living in the Houston area.

Dennis and Tammy are living in Austin, but are divorced. Dennis works in the records department with Child Protective Services. Their two kids, Nathan and Nicole, are grown now. Nathan married this past year after graduating from ACU with a degree in artistic design. Nicole will also graduate from ACU, with a degree in counseling. I think she plans to stay in Abilene and may have a job waiting.

David and family live in Birmingham, Alabama where he is in administration with BellSouth. He married a local girl named Mary, and they also have a boy and a girl. David, Jr., the oldest, is in his second year at Harding. I think he has just decided to become a dentist. Sarah Jane is almost through high school, and also plans to go to Harding, where mom and dad both graduated.

Karin is living in Littleton, Colorado, with husband, Randy Chamberlain. She has one step-son, Ryan, who lives in North Little Rock with wife, Emily. Karin is an executive administrator with an insurance company. Randy is retired from the Air Force and works in car parts.

Len is a Chaplain in the Navy (as of this past summer) and studied Bible at ACU. He is stationed in Norfolk, Virginia for the moment with Kara and their three girls: Rachel, 5/Kindergarten, Bethany, 3, and Naomi, 8 months, who just learned to crawl. Len will be shipping out in April in a Destroyer with approximately 250 men/women to minister to. Please keep him and his girls in your prayers.

Reunion Recap

The long awaited day has come and gone, and after debriefing everyone, I can get back to the regular posts of sharing family updates or other information. First and foremost, THANK YOU for your attendance once again and for being a part of our special celebration. From the many compliments, cards, and calls I have received, it seems the majority of you had a wonderful time and that is thanks enough for me and for those who helped plan the event. Of course the one thing that we all could have done without was the construction and traffic nightmare on the freeway and surrounding roads. Did any of you just give up and go back home?

Attendance: By our registration count, we ended up having 270 people who stayed the course, endured the traffic frustration and finally arrived at the church. I wish that I would have had the opportunity to visit with each and every one of you and that we would have been able to officially have Roll Call but since we got a late start, you will at least find a list of those that attended at the end of this post.

DVDs/Directories/Programs: We still have plenty of these items available if you forgot to get your copies. If you weren't able to attend, maybe having a copy of these materials would be the next best thing to being there. The DVD includes two photo shows: 1) "My Favorite Things" was a sing along slide show because one of the reasons why we had the reunion in the first place was because we aren't getting any younger. My comment was that if this presentation wasn't already too up close and personal for you, it would be one day! We rewrote the words from the original song from the "Sound of Music" and it was led by some of Sun Valley's former song leaders and/or those who were "Sound of Music" fans. 2) the Reunion slide show is a 16 minute presentation which broadly covers the years 1961-1997 in addition to current day photos of "Sun Valley." We really would like everyone to have a DVD that wants one. We had hoped to give everyone in attendance a free one, but when we had to postpone and reschedule, we weren't able to extend that offer since we then had double postage and mailing expenses. Although we are unable to refund any money, DVDs are $5 each unless you were not able to attend and had already made a previous donation to cover that cost. Email me if you are interested in getting a DVD.

Photos from the Reunion: I have set up a new link on the right side of this home page to view photos from the reunion all in one place. I encourage you to set up a free Shutterfly account with your email address and a password to upload and share any photos you may have taken. I'm not sure if this is the easiest way, but we'll try it. You can order prints from any of the photos and even add comments. Check it out. If you only have a few photos and don't want to set up an account, email them to me and I'll upload them.

And now for Roll Call. How many of these people did you talk to? Who did we miss?

Pam Aaron
Jean (Priestley) and Gary Adams and son, John
Lucille and Lynn Adams
Karen (Vinson) Aldridge
Lucretia and Robert Alexander
Marilyn and Jack Arnold
Mark Arnold and sons, Joshua and Samuel
Leita Rue Baten
Donna and Al Bayer
Marijane and Dale Beene and sons, Tyler and Dakota
Delwin Beene
Dorothy Beene
Gail and Ken Berry
Brittnie and Brandon Blackburn
Debbie (Richter) and Jack Blackburn
Jamie and Jay Blackburn and son, Josiah
Diana and Rick Bradshaw
Odessa Brewton and grandson, Michael Smith
Sharon and Tim Brinthaupt and children, Kristyn, Trentyn and Mikayla
Paula (Zoet) Brown
Leslie (Everett) Buffington
Cheryl (Gibbons) Burke
Sue and Don Burke
Pat Burke and sister, Billie Coleman
Lori and Terry Burke and daughter, Emma
Tena and Steve Bynum
Candy (Jones) Campise
Barbie (Cooper) and David Carlisle
Roy Carlisle
Norma Carter
Alice Cooper
Jackie and John Cooper and sons, J.C., Cody, Tommylee and Dakota
Euvonne (Davis) and Johnny Cooper
Jordan Cooper and friend, Stormy Tucker
Blake (White) and Brett Cross and daughter, Lily
Nancy Darland
Cammie (Everett) and Randy Doyal
Paula (Wynn) and Mike Drachenberg and daughter, Lauri
Leonard Driskell
Elaine Ebersole and son, Rowland Craig
Ruby and Johnnie Eddins
Diana (Mayhew) Eignus and her mother, Nadine Cochran
Lauri (Campbell) Enocksen
Alan Evans
Linda (Adams) and Greg Fabian and son, Matthew
Cindy (Day) Fletcher
Brenda (Richter) Flewellen
Staci (Burke) Flury and children, Melissa and Nathan
Glenda and Cliff Fridge
Margie (Morris) and Morris Fulks
Sharon (Brinthaupt) and Jack Galbreath. Daughter, Heather and grandson, Kaleb
Kathy and Gary Gibbons
Thelma and Lindsay Gibbons
Holly (Campbell) and Randy Gibbons and children, Benjamin and Justin
Karen (Aven) and Dave Gibson
Jo Gremillion
Paula (Day) Guillory
Dolly and Tony Gullo
Sharon and Dale Haines
Dianne and Garry Henderson
Carolyn Hicks
Pat and Ron Hill
Loyce (Grubbs) Horn
Betty and J.R. Hunt and son, Jay
Marsha and Joe Ickes
Sandy and Tom Jennings
Barbara and Marion John
Barbara and Les Johnson
Mary and Jack Jones
Kelsi (Aaron) Kenney and children, Karlee and Kylee
Lea and Jim Kimbrell
Gretchen and Brent King
Cristen and Jason Kirksey
Virginia and Jerrel Kirksey
Debi (Baten) and Mike Kirksey
Allison and Ryan Kirksey and daughter, Jordan
Annie and Everett Laas
Lavern and Allan Landin
Laura (Alexander) Magers
Chet Marston
Rebecca (Johnson) and Patrick McArdle. Children, Christopher & Timothy and grandson, Skyler
Jan (McCurdy) and Dennis McBee and granddaughter, Aubrey
Juanita and Harold McBee
Mike McBee
Joyce and Bill McCurdy
Diane (Landin) McDowell
Carolyn (Johnson) and Bill McFadden
Gloria and Brooks McKelroy
Pam and Keith Medford
Kelly and Darryl Morris and daughter, Kendra
Diane and Ronnie Morris and sons, Matthew and Jonathan
Dorris (Evans) Mosley
Terrie (Morris) Nichols
Sandra Niemeyer
Carol Northam
Kim (Roll) Padgett
Lillie Pearce
Janice (Priestley) Pearson
Phyllis (Grubbs) and Charles Powell
Billie (Everett) Preston
Eugene Priestley
Sharon and Randy Rainwater and grandson, Lincoln
Holly (Baten) and Ismael Ramirez
Loraine and James Ray
Jean Rhodes
Mary and Gary Richards
Johnnie Richey
Betty and Tom Richter
Linda (Gullo) Rodriguez
Millie Root
Jeraine Root
Joanne and Ronald Rusch
Ashley (White) and Ronnie Seals and daughter, Evie
Richard Sharp
Barbara and Herbert Shepherd
Brenda (Wells) and Kirk Shirk and children, Daniel, Emily Duet and Emily Shirk
Bobbie and Stacy Shott
Susan (Brewton) Smith and Haley
Dorothy Solomon
Karen (Burke) and Lyndall Stubblefield and children, Kendall and Kinsey
Helen and Boyce Tate
Bonnie and Marvin Vantrease and daughter, Marcie
Karl Vinson
Holly and Kent Vinson and sons, Matthew and Mark
Marilyn Vinson
Carolyn and Glenn Wells
Ryan Wells
Bonnie and Lance White
Marian and Jerry Williams
Billie and Raymond Williams
Nelda (Campbell) Winkler
Dora and Lester Wynn
Doug Young

Again, thank you for a wonderful day.

ABC's of Sun Valley Days (by Karen (Aven) Gibson)

A
Art lessons
Senia Atkinson, one of our elders wives taught many people art in her home

B
Bus
Bus Barn

Remember the flowers that we had on the bus during the height of the “flower power” 60’s
Lots of work was done on the old buses as I am sure Jerrel Kirksey can testify

I also remember sorting clothes to give to the needy in the bus barn

C
Cradle Rolls Class
Teachers such as Ms. Roye, Jodeen (Sweetie) and Bonnie to name a few played a role in helping our babies grow up to be Christian young men and women

D
Ditch
Deacon’s Breakfasts

For some reason I remember a car that was stuck in the ditch in front of the church building and how David took that opportunity to teach our children the dangers of drunk driving

The elders cooked breakfast for the deacons and their wives

E
Eating
As in every church I have ever attended, one of the favorite pastimes at SV was eating together.

F
Fellowship hall
This was the location of many potlucks and of my wedding reception

G
Gym
It seemed like all of us who had children about the same age, had to make a pact that we would all leave church at the same time because if one of our families tried to leave early, the children were upset because they had to stop playing with their friends.

H
Halloween Parties
Decorating the gym and dressing up

I
Ice Cream Social
We looked for any opportunity to fellowship

J
Jeremy
Jack Arnold

David’s and my son who was born while we were members there.

Jack was a wonderful song leader who also impacted my life as a school band director.

K
Kelly
David’s and my first child born and grew up until elementary grades at SV.

L
Lawndale
Elders at Lawndale bought the land the SV was built on.

M
Mohawk (the best camp) or was that Columbus?
Mother’s Day Out
both hold fond memories of relaxed fun and great friendships

MDO led first by Dorothy Beene, then Carolyn Smith, then me

N
New Building
I’ll never forget how excited we all were when the new building was built and we had the wonderful classroom space as well as the great gymnasium.

O
Open Bible Study
Taught by Bob Grigg and taken and used by many

P
Pot Luck’s
There’s that food again

Q
Quit
Members of SV never Quit running into each other over the years.

R
Ron & Pat Hill
They were a huge part of my teenage years, I babysat their children, learned from them formally and informally and Ron married Dave and I

S
Singings
Sunday night at someone’s house
Area wide and 5th Sunday

You didn’t have to have anything fancy to eat, just someone to come home and visit after church

T
Tropical Storm Alicia
blew the church steeple off

U
Humberto Hernandez
I know this starts with an H, not a U, but in absence of a U I used a U sound. Humberto created in many a desire to help Christians in Mexico.

V
Vacation Bible Schools
Visitation
Dressing up like Bible Characters
Crazy singing in the auditorium

Who can forget Jack Baten’s visitation teams and visitation dinners

W
Workroom
The envy of every other congregation; manned by Lillie, Glenda, Elaine and others.

X
X-rays
What my dad had after he drove David’s motorcycle up the outside wall of the church fellowship hall.

Y
Youth Devos
I remember watching the Ed Sullivan Show with the Beetles at Jack and Mary Jones house after a devo

Z
ZZ’s
Hope I haven’t put you to sleep with my Alphabetic Walk down memory lane.
One day, we will all fall asleep in the Lord, and won’t it be wonderful to have a huge reunion with all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Traffic a Nightmare but Reunion was Wonderful

Give me just a little bit more time to recoup and then I will post follow up information on the reunion. We will have ROLL CALL online since we were unable to do so on Saturday afternoon because of the time factor. I also hope to set up a photo link. I will start a photo album with the few pictures I had time to take and invite you to add your photos to the same album so that we may share them with everyone whether they were able to attend or not.

THANK YOU for a wonderful day!

REUNION IN only THREE DAYS!

I'm so excited but also a little anxious that our reunion event is in three days! Final preparations and last minute details are being taken care of and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful weekend weatherwise. Thank you Lord!

Reunion Attendees: The two slide show presentations that we will show at the reunion have been recorded on a DVD which may be purchased for $5 each. (Exact change would be appreciated.) We are limiting these to one per family on Saturday unless you want to hang around afterwards and see how our quantity is holding out. If you want to purchase an extra copy for yourself or another family who couldn't attend, you will be asked to write your name on the list and prepay for your order. If you aren't able to receive all of your requested copies that day, we will then mail the remaining copies to you as soon as possible. Directories will also be available for each family at no cost.

More reunion information regarding parking, registration, and assistance for those with physical limitations may be found in the previous post dated Wednesday, January 28.

Can't Attend? If you aren't able to attend but would like a directory or DVD, please send your order by email and mail your check payable to Sun Valley Reunion, c/o Clear Lake Church of Christ, 938 El Dorado Blvd., Houston, TX 77062.

We look forward to seeing you soon.