This event originally was to be a picnic at Live Oak Park.  Unfortunately, the heavens opened and the rains came down in torrents.  Fortunately, Penny Brogden agreed to host the event at her house, just south of the picnic area down Walnut Street.  Although Mara posted a sign at the original picnic site, Melody Meyers-McGruder and perhaps Bruce Duncan failed to find it.  Melody was very sad about this.  Despite the picnic washout, those who went to Penny's house had a great time getting reacquainted.  The guests of honor were Sydney Patterson-Otto and Roger von Seeburg, who came all the way from Arizona.  Other attendees: Judy Mazia and her husband Alan Wofsy, Shireen Mayeri-Burns and her husband Garth Burns, Walter Mills, Ann Yarwood, and George Goldman.  Mara French both attended and organized this Reunion and the last.  Please e-mail Mara and thank her for her continued efforts to reunite the classes of Oxford elementary school from the mid-fifties.  See also Roger von Seeburg's Page and his photos.

But also special thanks to Martin Stryker; and hereby hangs a tale.  The original plan was for Chef Stryker to barbecue chicken with his delicious marinade.  But at the last moment, he realized he had an urgent errand to attend to.  Nonetheless, he marinated the chicken, cooked it, and drove it to Berkeley Espresso, where he passed it on to Shireen.  So the gathered Oxonians partook of a delicious home-barbecued chicken meal grace au Chef Stryker.

Of the Reunion II setting, Mara writes: "Sitting next to Penny's bay window was a real treat.  We were actually facing the Live Oak tennis courts.  We started our "picnic" with the traditional paper plates, but for dessert, Penny served us on her handmade ceramic ware. She explained life living in SF and why she decided to return to Berkeley to live in the house her parents owned since 1942.  Looks like I didn't get a photo of everyone at the reunion. Roger also took a couple of photos."  Roger, we await those photos!

(See the text above.)

Walter has been living in San Mateo now for 25 years.  He told us about his job as a boiler maker. Mara French revealed her plan to retire some day and move to her Sutter Creek home.  Someday she plans to hold an Oxford reunion there, which is about 2 hours east of Berkeley. Mara just came back from a 3-week trip to Germany and Austria to visit her son, aunt, and cousin.

In the background you can see Penny Brogden's lovely home. It was a real treat to be there, and unlike having a picnic at Live Oak Park, we were able to have wine
which Judy Mazia provided.

Shireen has an expression on her face as though she was up to something, and she was. She had baked me a birthday cake and added only "one" candle (thanks, Shireen). Roger was getting reacquainted with classmates he hadn't seen in 47 years, and Sydney (and Judy Mazia) were telling us about the homes they completely lost in the Oakland Fire and how they dealt with the aftermath - and still need to. All their childhood photos are gone. If you have any photos of Sydney or Judy, please let them know. Both of them say that homeowners insurance is not intended for the homeowner.

The original photo was too dark.  Kent Rasmussen worked his magic with his PhotoShop Program.

Judy Mazia, Roger von Seeburg, and Mara French.  Behind Roger is Alan Wofsy (Judy's husband) who was not an Oxford elementary graduate but who graciously came anyway.  Roger spent about a week in California with his brothers John, Leo, and Jim. They get together once a year to play sports. He discussed a lot about his father's interest in model railroads and about his father's shop "Seeburg's Hobby Hangout" on Vine St. Roger attended Garfield for only a semester before moving to Oakland. Walter Conners and Carroll Sinclair also moved about the same time, so we hadn't seen these three classmates since they were 12 - about 47 years.