Group VI Has a Reunion--Will Their Glory Ever Fade?
Editor's Note
Anonymous
Editors Note (With a tepid apology to Tennyson and his 600 who rode hard and well, with canon on the left of them, more canon on the right and, well to the rear an aspiring poet, Group VI charged headlong into an unprepared San Francisco on the pretext of holding a Reunion. Yes, this is the same group which has been symbolically de-pledged by FOC for overexposure in its Newsletter! At the request of civil defense authorities, their Reunion was held at an undisclosed location. Thankfully, while serving time in Colombia, their numbers were small. They were distinguished more by those things they didnt do than by those oft told tales of what they were purported to have done, often at reimbursement rates which were called into question by Peace Corps/Bogota. One of its members had a blue-water capable yacht anchored at the Cartagena Marina, while another tooled around the country on a motorcycle. Once, he crossed the border into Venezuela and ended up in jail. After three days of an endearingly inept exchange on the use of the conditional verb form, e.g., if I hadnt taken a wrong left turn in Cali, I wouldnt be here today, the bemused police were finally convinced he really was with the Cuerpo de Paz, if temporarily off the reservation.)
From August 31 through September 4, many Colombian VI volunteers attended a fun-filled reunion organized by Dick Miller, who lives nearby in Foster City. Activities included a trip to the redwoods in Muir Woods; a visit, tour and lunch at the Niebaum-Coppola winery in Napa; a boat ride to Sausalito across the bay; visits to art museums and shopping at Union Square, and a banquet at a restaurant in Chinatown.
Highlight of the weekend was a performance at Beach Blanket Babylon, a spectacular, satirical musical review that makes fun of entertainers and politicians, while the performers sing and dance wearing enormous hats. Dick Millers sons attended the show and dinner afterwards at the Washington Square Bar and Grill.
Those unable to resist the temptation to renew old feuds or tried again to collect past bad debts, included: Bob Colombo and Sue Meyer, Irv and Robin Dubinsky, Joe and Genie Hindall, Duane Kline, John and Sarah Muccifori, Jerry and Margurette Norris, Bill and Shirley Salisbury, Jack and Cathy Swenson, Jim and Evelyn Todd, and Chuck and Myra Willson.
One Group member that could not make it was Mike Eubanks. He recently visited his old site in Colombia and kindly shared a letter of his contemporary impressions, though many questioned what he had been smoking.