CELEBRATIONS

On May 26 we went into Philadelphia for my sister's farewell party from Friends Select School. Lynda has been the secretary of the lower and middle school for the past 43 years. Her party was held at the Sofitel Hotel.

Lynda with Terry, the director of the Middle School.

The lower school presented her with an autographed picture.

Several people gave very nice speeches. I surprised her by speaking. Her stories about Friends Select have always been part of our nightly conversation.

I closed with reading a poem about her years at Friend Select written by Charlotte a friend of Lynda's.

Rose, the head of Friends Select, presented Lynda with a chair from the school. She is only the third person to ever receive one.

David Wood, the director of lower school, was the MC for the evening and did a very nice job even though he has only been at the school since September. He sang a cute song about Lynda with a Y not an I.

The autographed picture the lower school gave her.

The Friend Select chair with the school symbol on the front and a plague with her name and years of service on the back.

Lynda always has a special pen she uses at work and if anyone walks off with it she will track them down and get it back. So everyone at the farewell party was given a pen and they toasted her with them. They then could give them to her or keep it as a party favor. She received quite a few.

It was a very nice farewell party, a very special affair for a very special lady. I'm sure the school will miss her very much.

Sunday morning I surprised Lynda by showing up at her church and having a birthday cake for her after the service. (forgot to take a picture of the cake, and it was a pretty cake).

After church she and I went shopping at BJ's for some things I wanted to get, but I told her we had to be back to her house by 1:30 to go out for her birthday dinner with Bob. SURPRISE there were 14 people at her house for another party.

Some friends from church.

Charlotte, a friend from childhood.

Kathy, my friend since college, she is almost like another sister. Thanks to her Gena was able to come down for the party. Gena has known Lynda since she first started working. Gena hasn't been able to drive to Lynda's for almost two years so this was a treat for her to be there. Lynda took in Gena's cat, Smoky, when she couldn't keep him any longer, so it was nice she was able to visit.
We had fun playing a game to see how well they knew Lynda. I made up the questions and I even missed answering a few correctly.
It was a fun day and I'm glad we were able to surprise her for her 65th birthday.