In order to give everyone a chance to make the start of the reunion reception , we will start things at 7pm. I will be at the VFW setting up at 9am and will start checking people in then. We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night.
When John asked me if I would help put on the next event after the reunion in 2012 was over I quickly agreed with the stipulation that John stay on board as I felt it still needed a name attached to it that boat racers were familiar with. After all I never raced a boat , although I had the money in hand once and let the left brain - right brain thing discourage me , and most didnt know me til I did the trivia contest in 2012. The first two reunions were great successes and I hope this years event lived up to those. I hope it did and I thank John for his advice and support.
Alan , I thank you for your kind words and encouragement.
We want to thank all who attended and hope you had a good time. I am always open to comments and criticism in order to make future gatherings better than the one before so feel free to let me hear your thoughts.
I need to thank Mike Krier and Mike Schmidt who built and donated the two boats for the raffle and to Bill Seebold , Bruce Summers , Ralph DeSilva , Bernie Van Osdale and Steve Wilson who donated the silent auction items. Nobody profits from the reunions and all profits realized are donated to the "Save Lake DePue Fund " and it appears that they will be getting a donation again this year. Thanks to all who participated and congrats to the winners.
To Karen Cadle , George Taylor , the Juby's , Mark Suter , Bruce Summers and Dick and Mike Austin who brought their vintage equipment and\or inside displays for all of us to enjoy. It was good to wake up the echos on Lake DePue as Goerge and Dick ran their equipment on Friday. I have pictures to post as soon as I get through going over them.
Special thanks to Ray Rodda for being our speaker for the night. Great job as always Ray !!!!!!
If I have forgotten anybody I apologize.
Finally I saw Bill Seebold and Paul Bogosian before they left on Saturday afternoon and had a quick conversation. Bill told me that 4 years is even to long to wait for the next gathering and every three years might be a better time table. They said as long as they are able they will come back for every one. So I am here to announce that you need to mark the calendar for Friday July 26th 2019 for the next DePue Boat Racer Reunion party. I hope to make it bigger and better than ever.
Thank you to those that attended and to those of you that registered but were unable to make the trip your care package will be in the mail soon.
Dale
My father and I had an amazing time, while we couldn't keep her fired in the water, meeting all the racers was well worth it. Count us in for the next one!
While I have more pictures to post , I thought I would put this one up first. How is this for a group of great drivers. from left to right , RC Hawie , John Dortch jr , Pete Voss , Bill Seebold , Bruce Nicholson , Steve Litzell , Paul Bogosian , Ralph Donald , Lee Sutter , Rich Krier , Rich Fuchslin , Alan Ishi , Jack Kugler , John Maddrell - not to bad.
Hi Dale, Hopefully things will be much better for the next reunion. This getting old is not for the faint of heart. Wish I could have been there for this one. Great picture of present and ol racers.
Dale--
Thank you for all the work you did to put this reunion together. You too John!
In the lower right of your pic. is a man who was tough on the race course. I believe that half of a pic is TOMMY HOOTEN, David Hooten's dad. Both super racers.
Bruce
Yes Bruce, you are correct, that is Tommy. The reason for this picture was with the exception of Rc and Little John, These are the guy's that taught me through hard knocks how to race a flat bottom boat the ones missing are not with us any longer except for a few Like Jimmy Aderholt and Melvin Copper, I wanted a shot of us together again, we just were not in boats this time. Steve
Great picture of all those guys. There are 3 in that picture who tought me so much. Bull moose to me, Krier, and Fuschlin.
Here are some pictures from the Reunion reception on Friday night. A few things I wish I had done , 1) I missed getting a picture of Mark and Elaine Suter and Dick Austin with their displays , 2) taken down the banner a little sooner and have more guys sign it and 3) gotten a picture with John. All in all a fun evening and after talking with Bill Seebold and Paul Bogosian on Saturday afternoon before they left , we agreed that 4 years is even to long as Bill said " we dont see each other near enough ". So save the date , three years from now , Friday July 26th 2019 for the next DePue Racer Reunion.
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