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DE LA SALLE LIPA 1984 REUNION
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
APRIL 4, 2004
At long last, the high school batch 1984 reunion finally happened! The
venue was awesome, the weather was great and the food was fantastic! In
addition, the turnout was superb! Kudos to Lloyd Lacambacal for
doing an extraordinary job in picking out the venue as well as taking care
of the batch's meal during the reunion. Angelica Bisnar-Ramos brought in the banner and
t-shirts for the reunion. In addition, she and
hubby Arnel help prepare the park by bringing the balloons and name tags for the
event.
By the time I arrived at the park site (about 12:30 pm), the place was rockin' already so to speak. Ronnie Reyes, Ignatius Tee, Andrew Padua, Eurico Palasigue, Ruschell Marasigan, Dennis Hernandez, Ronald Monje, Paulino Liay, Arsenia Castillo, Michael Ambal, Nilo Alday, Carlos Lucido, Angelica Bisnar-Ramos, Eric Celis, Junie Kalaw, Julius Castillo, Lloyd Lacambacal and Cesar Dimayuga were already settled in. A short time later, Raymond Africa came in followed by Aurea Seldura-Magpantay. I then bumped in to Myla Luna-Paspe. I did not recognize her right away. She sports a blonde do nowadays (either the Boston air changed her hair color or some sort of hair agent did hehe). Arnel Barba came in lugging our batch 84 yearbook. So we took it from him and we start running through the pages. With Japoy giving remarks on each picture, it's like being in high school all over again. No batch member was spared. You think 20 years will mellow us down? Nah! "Lahat nakantiyawan". Ronald Pasia came in fashionably late. "Natagalan daw sa pag ma-makeup" I overheard. Then from out of nowhere, someone yelled (si Ronnie yata) "Ang se-seksi!!!". I turned around and it was Madel Valdez-Kerlin and Mimi Torre-Haack. Still the best of friends after all these years. Got Mimi, Archie, Myla, and Aurea to pose for this picture. They all look great! Hey, where's Madel?
Marilyn Botardo-Peterson came to the reunion. I invited her to be our surprise guest and boy she did not disappoint. She spoke briefly in front of the group and even shared her own reunion pictures with us.
Anselmo Dimaano finally showed up at around 3:00 p.m (some things never change). Lucky for him we were not giving tardy slips. I hope he did not feel ignored just because he was not wearing a palda.
Each and everyone of us were given an opportunity to speak in front of the group. Most if not all were very thankful to be part of the event. The whole day was filled with laughter, jokes and lots of reminiscing about high school batch 84 life.
After the park reunion, Lloyd invited us to his place (nice house Lloyd) for dinner and continuance of our get-together. Lloyd's wife Chia, was very nice and accommodating to all of us. She set up the "magic sing" and Ronnie I think was the first one to belt out a song. The song "Falling leaves" (or hair) is not appropriate for him to sing nowadays. May buhok na si Ronnie and I think he found a way to reverse his hair loss. No drugs, no pills, no kidding. Just send $19.95 to Ronnie Reyes P. O Box ... Seriously, you can't call him bald anymore. Just check him out on this picture. Ano ba ang sekreto mo Ron?
Had a great dinner at the Lacambacal's. At around 11:30 p.m., Jun-jun, Junie, Cesar and myself left Lloyd's place and decided to drive back to our hotel room to check in. Jun-jun got a message from Doris Bonilla-Erfe. She was actually around the area about noon time trying to look for the venue. She got lost and after hours of fruitless search, she went back to the strip (disappointed nevertheless). So at around 1:30 am, the four of us decided to just visit Doris in the "New Orleans" hotel where she was staying and at least comfort her in a way. She was happy to see us. We chatted in the lobby and we showed her pictures of the reunion taken from my camera. I would say we made her smile again after her disastrous day. She said later on that her trip was not a waste after seeing us.
Many thanks to Lloyd, Angelica, Pinsan Jun-jun for making follow-ups to batch members, Marilyn Botardo-Peterson for giving me a 95 on my speech class (just kidding, pasang awa yata ako) and for showing up to be part of our reunion. For each and every batch 84 and their families who traveled far to take part in the recently concluded event, thank you so much. You are the reason why this reunion was such a huge success.
If I may quote Madel Valdez-Kerlin on her email to me last week, She said:
"I didn't mind missing the sights of Vegas -- our reunion was very much worth the trip".
Thanks Madel! I hope this sentiment is echoed by all 84'ers who attended the reunion.
Remember, 25 years is just around the corner.
John Carlo Silva
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Before and After Pictures
Check out these pictures! 20 years in the making!
Paulino Liay, Jr.
Dennis Hernandez
Anselmo Dimaano
John Carlo Silva
Raymond Africa
Arnel Barba
Doris Bonilla-Erfe
Cesar Dimayuga
Jojo Henson
Junie Kalaw
Carlos Lucido
Ruschell Marasigan
Andrew Padua
Ronnie Reyes
Angelica Bisnar-Ramos
Julius Castillo
Michael Ambal
Eric Celis
Lloyd Lacambacal
Myla Luna-Paspe
Ronald Pasia
Aurea Seldura-Magpantay
Minerva Torre-Haack
Madel Valdez-Kerlin
Nilo Alday
Eurico Palasigue
Arsenia Castillo
Ronald Monje
