RURAL AFFAIRS - Washington, D.C. Reunion, April 8-11, 2010

Tony Cistaro has been the driving force behind this reunion!  Here are the plans, as of 08/30/2009:

• The reunion is being planned for Washington, D.C.

• The dates are Thursday, 8 April - Sunday, 11 April, 2010

• The hotel is the Holiday Inn, Rosslyn (click it for details of the hotel)

• People will be arriving on Thursday, so an informal get together should be in order

• Friday morning will be our meeting and reacquainting ourselves

• Tony hopes to get a State/AID tour for the attendees

• Plans for a Vietnam Wall tour and Arlington Cemetery tour are in the works

• There is interest in visiting the Smithsonian

• Of course a banquet will be planned for Saturday night

It's only fitting that the 5th reunion goes back to where the reunions originated:

The 25th Reunion was May 13th, 1987.

John O'Donnell was the original mover but he had to go to Latin America for 6 months, at which point Vince Puritano and Vlad Lehovich picked up the threads and put together a list (if anyone wants a copy of the list, email me to request it) of old hands and hired a hall in Rosslyn (Arlington) Virginia.  It was a fine Vietnamese restaurant where about 50 RA'ers had a long (about 5 hours) and loud gathering.
Participants from those not at Sequim included Hatcher James, the late Bob Burns, Mark Huss, the Puritanos, Linda Worthington, Dan Leaty, probably Oggie Williams and Rob Warne, Jerry French and Charlie Doe (an agency friend of Bob Burns), a number of "friends of RA" from the area, some not-really friends of RA like Les Gottlieb,  & others.  Missing from the Sequim attendees were Bert & Jean, many west-coasters, and most of the VN folks.  Tony Lam did fly in from the West Coast, and regaled us with a song.  There were many toasts -- most everybody got up and had something to say.  Not as much chance for visiting as at the Sequim reunion because everything was compressed into one evening of drinking, eating and toasting.  There was lots more drinking and loud toast-making and impromptu speaking than at Sequim, partly because it was a long affair, partly because many folks ordered drinks for everyone, partly because it was a different era. 

Thanks for Vlad Lehovich, John O'Donnell and Mark Huss for the info on this!