80th Birthday Party (memory form 2014 !!)

From March-2014:

Well folks, we had a great time last night ! 

 

My sister Lori and I threw a Surprise 80th Birthday Party for dad.  The low lighting made photos a bit of a challenge, but thanks to my photographers, Charles, Jordan and Angelina, we still managed to get some nice ones.  This restaurant is dedicated to Texas History, we were in a back room which looks like the inside of a log cabin.

 

 

Lori brought some old photos...

 

 

 Prep'ing and arranging...

 

 

 Guests beginning to arrive...

 

 

 

Instead of a guest book, we had folks sign a University of Texas banner.

 

 

 ...more trickling in...

 

Gathering and mingling.

 

 

We moved to "hide" down at one end of the room when Rafael (Lori's husband, who was driving Dad and Charlotte to the event) signaled us that he was a few minutes away.

 

 

Surprise was complete.  Lori lured dad to the restaurant based on a fake invitation to an FFA Banquet, supplied by Jordan's Ag teacher, on letterhead, all official looking...

 

 

 We had a mix of current folks from the office, some recent retirees, and some folks who had worked with us years ago, plus local immediate family, dad's cousins from Baytown and Charlotte's family.

 

 

 Dad and two of his cousins...

 

 Various tables of folks...

 

 ...four such tables...

 

 ...plus a longer one down the side of the room.

 

 Very nice setup, the room looks like it could squeeze in 50 or so...

 

 ...we had 41 in all I think.

 We asked Rafael (Captain, Houston Fire Dept.) if we could put 80 candles on the cake...

...he said "NO!"

 

 Several of the guests gave greetings and told brief stories for the crowd.  I read a few greetings for guests that were unable to attend.  Then dad addressed and thanked the crowd.

 

 Visiting and chatting...

 

 

 Can't see too much resemblance...

 

 

 Princesses on parade...

 

 

 Looked like everyone had a good time.

 

 

As I told the group, keep March 2024 open.  If you see the way dad get's around at 80, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if we did this again at 90.  (I didn't pick a date yet...also wouldn't surprise me if we again had to plan around his work schedule !)

 

I really want to thank all of those who attended.  Lori did the organizing, worked with the restaurant, etc., and my job was to get the people.  I had a lot of fun reaching out to folks we hadn't seen in a long time.  Only a few folks couldn't come, and most of those lived as far off as Canada, the East Coast or California.  All the rest just said "I'll be there !"

Y'all take care.

 

- Mark W. Laughlin