The evening before the Purple Session, I dropped by the annual pre-session get-together at Audley Hewett’s office complex. The Old Boys from Atlanta were there and had already availed themselves of enough social lubricants to get the various discussions going. It was a great warm up to the main event the next night as people checked out classmates and friends they had not seen from “Wacky kill Phillup.”
The next day, it rained a few hours before the Purple Session but it all cleared up where I was staying and by evening there was almost no trace of the water. In fact, the weather was perfect as we walked into the Miramar Cultural Center where Dr. Ivor Nugent was collecting tickets and issuing wristbands.
A few steps into the lobby and Perry Bloomfield and the NY Chapter team were hawking Fortis merchandise such as shirts, license plate holders, key chains and bumper stickers from their table. Several sponsors also had tables and offered trinkets advertising various products and services.
A bit further along, Robert Rodney was taking pictures with a big camera and he has graciously provided some to accompany this article.
As usual, several Old Boys journeyed from various parts of the globe to soak up the reunion energy. Dr. Cedric Lazarus came in from Barbados; Barrington Salmon from Washington D.C.; Lenworth Smith from the Bahamas and Dr. Ray Fraser from Kingston, to name a few.
The evening’s entertainment line-up included the music of the Code Red Band, Deejays Michael "Mikey T" Thompson and Dave "Brenty" as well as the incomparable Lovindeer. The ladies were dressed in their finest while many Old Boys flaunted various variations on the color purple. All dancing stopped when door prizes were being drawn and it was standing room only in the main room and everyone checked their ticket stubs for the winning numbers.
It sure seemed as if there were a thousand people in attendance but I hear it was actually in the high hundreds. Take a look at some of our photos and see if you recognize some of your classmates and friends.