For months, our family has been planning Dick's surprise 70th birthday party.
I think he had an inkling that something was going on when all our
kids (except Billy) decided they were coming home for Thanksgiving.
I have to say that he was very surprised that it happened the day after Thanksgiving.
I told Matt that it was his responsibility to keep Dick busy in the morning so
that we could set up at the church. So, Matt took Dick and Matt's three kids
on a walk down by the lake while we set things up. Stacie made up a story about being at
a craft fair at the Brown Church and needing some help. Matt brought Dick over to
the church, and we were all waiting and sang Happy Birthday to him when he came in.
We had a pretty good turnout, with about 65 family and friends attending.
The grandkids sang "Puff, The Magic Dragon," which is one of Dick's favorite songs.
Dick and I with our grandkids. They are neat kids and we love them so.
Here is our family, complete with Billy on Skype. That was fun to be able to talk to him and
have him talk to everybody there.
Stacie, Shelley and Amy helped set up display tables and made the signs and decorations. They did a great job.
Jenny put together a slide show, which was amazing, and presented that. Dick's band played a couple of numbers. Scott Dalebout did a great job as the MC and told jokes and also facts about things that happened in 1943.
Bob Kimball and Billy sent CD's and told about memories they had of Dick. The other children also told about things they remembered about Dick. We had a delicious meal, and everyone enjoyed visiting with each other.
All in all, we had a great time. A special thanks to the girls (Jenny, Amy, Stacie and Shelley) who put in so much time and effort into
the displays and decorations.
It was wonderful and Dick had a great time.
