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Girls With Grandmother Faces
Spring Fling ~ 2003
(latest saga in the "Where in the World are the GWGF" series)

May 5-9
Mary Frances' Wilmington
and Carolina Beach, North Carolina
(Playing ~ "By the Sea")

The "hostess with the mostest"

Mary Frances greeted us at the front door of Tom's and her beautiful and
spacious home in Wilmington. She was a bundle of energy all week and had obviously
worked hard and planned diligently to make this a memorable Spring Fling.

Mary Frances' husband Tom, a wonderful gentleman and also our friend of many years now,
was a gracious host, and we enjoyed meeting her sister Ann who was visiting to help out
wherever she could. We would be amiss if we did not also thank Mattie for all her help regarding the details that went into planning Spring Fling. Mary Frances' good friend
in Wilmington, Libby Waldkirch, was such a joy to meet as she helped with planning
and executing many of the wonderful activities that we enjoyed. We thoroughly enjoyed Libby's friendship all week. She is also a long-time (50 plus years) friend of Dale's,
who stayed at her home.

We're not standing/sitting so everyone can be identified easily ....
but ... roughly listed,from bottom to top, are:
LaVerne, Nellie Faye, Theta, Mattie, Carolyn, Charlotte, Earlene, Wanda, Dale, Marian,
Hilna, Lois Jean, Mary Dean, Mary Frances, Nancy, Ann, Olive Belle, Barbara, Jean.
(Jama, Kitty, Anna Joyce and Helen had also planned to attend but were forced
to cancel almost at the last minute for various reasons/conflicts.)

This year 19 GWGF gathered for Spring Fling, 2003, from 8 states ~ Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Everyone is in the
picture above just after we arrived in Wilmington and Carolina Beach in time to gather at Mary Frances and Tom's lovely home for fun, lots of catching up, snacks out on the patio, picture-taking opportunities and later a sumptuous meal.

For the second year, I had put everyone's picture in a specially-worded mat as a memento. Monday night we had this "showing" of pictures taken during our college years. Some were able to find an old picture of themselves in a swim suit and most others in shorts. We found it wasn't easy finding these old pics, but it was fun and brought about some laughter.

The first night, we found a surprise "bouquet" sent to us from Carey Crantford ....
consisting of orange and blue-decorated Tootsie Pops. Shirley had sent specially worded
and decorated C-N/Spring Fling writing pads for everyone. Marian brought her beautiful traditional Eagle coaster for each of us. On the last night, Nellie Faye gave everyone a "goodie" bag lovingly put together with her special lavender and other bath luxuries.

We were pleased to see both Ed and Harrell, who came along so that LaVerne and
Ann would be able to attend Spring Fling this year!

Isn't this a lovely setting? I cornered Nellie Faye to pose in
Mary Frances' gazebo just off the patio.

Yolanda was, and always will be, missed but we treasure the memories and
special sense of love and closeness that she shared with her friends. This year she
"was there" in a unique way as most of us stayed on Carolina Beach at the
Golden Sands Motel which is partly owned by Jane and Steve, Yo's daughter and
son-in-law. They said Yo had always wanted Spring Fling to be held there,
and we owe our special arrangements to them .......also to Wanda who
worked with them on our reservations.

Several who did not stay at the Golden Sands, stayed in a condo on the beach
belonging to a friend of Lois Jean's.

Of necessity this year, since we were not all staying together, I can only give an
accounting of my own first-hand activities and of other things in general.

For a continuation of the story and more pictures, click on the link to the next page.

to second Spring Fling, 2003 page

to third Spring Fling, 2003 page

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