From The Reunion Chair

Those of you who attended our Reunion Fundraiser on April 22nd know it was a terrific evening.   Thank you for coming and supporting us. For those of you who were unable to attend I’ll share a few highlights from the event.  

As the guests were checking in and getting their name tags you could see the excitement on their faces as they greeted other guests they hadn’t seen in a while. You could hear other guests reminiscing about their temple memories. As they enjoyed their hors d’oeuvres and cocktails they listened to the sounds provided by The John Kern Quartet, while others had their pictures taken by Larry Burrows. Those pictures can be viewed and purchased on the web site www.collages.net. Click on view an event. The user name is BYBS Reunion and the password is 7174.  When you make a purchase the money goes towards the reunion fundraiser. We then went into the main dining room where Trudi Altman led us in hamotzi followed by a delicious dinner.  

Rabbi Dreyfus did a wonderful job introducing Rabbi Wolkow and evoking many memories by pointing out the many fun times shared by attendees and their families. She also shared some special memories of Cantor Henry Altman.  Rabbi Wolkow read one of his famous poems and continued with many heartwarming stories about our beloved Ossie. Ossie then took the stage for an emotional farewell including fond memories of generations of students and lifelong friendships.  

After that our attention went to the eight foot screens that displayed a great montage of TBY, CBS and BYBS created by Dan Gbur.  Every guest was given a copy to take home with them.  It was great to watch everyone as they watched the montage.  You could hear them say the names of people as they recognized them on the screen. There was joy and laughter in the room. Then came time for Aaron Freeman to start the auction.   There were twelve nice items that sold and added to our fundraiser. When the auction was over Aaron began his show that had the crowd laughing for forty-five minutes. He did a great job with both the auction and his show.

Thank you to my husband Dan and our two daughters Sam and Jessica for their help and support while my focus was on planning this fundraiser. I’d like to end by thanking everyone who donated their services and time to help put this reunion together. My committee worked very hard the last six months from getting addresses, to making invitations, to staying up all hours to make sure all the details were taken care of, and by doing so this reunion was a big success. I’d like to send a special thank you to Ilene Yohay, Mindy Carlson, Melani Davis, Jill Sevelow, Gayla Cahan and especially to Joan Mahler, I couldn’t have done this without you! Thanks again everyone for supporting our temple and please stay connected with BYBS by sending an e-mail about your adventrures to alumni@bybs.org                               

                  Tommie Gbur